My New Favorite Greens

It’s no secret that I love all of the dark greens that fall and winter bring. My new favorite? Collards.

 

I had never tried collards until they were substituted for the broccoli rabe I ordered in my CSA.

Best. Substitution. Ever.

In fact, some of the best veggies I have tried were due to a CSA substitution. 🙂

With their powerful anti-cancer properties and loads of nutritional value, they are an awesome addition to any comforting winter meal.

Or, if you make them this way, they are a meal all on their own.

Goodness, I love a ham hock.

Want a vegetarian way to prepare them? Try this one.

How about Brazilian style? These look awesome.

Let’s get beyond taste for a moment, though.

Collards offer much more than amazing flavor. Aside from cancer prevention (as previously stated), they also have been shown to lower cholesterol, decrease inflammation in the body and with their high choline levels, may help with fatty liver disease.

Get yourself some collard greens, and experiment with how you like to prepare and eat them.  While the ham hock recipe is delicious, it is probably also safe to assume that a lot of the nutrients are cooked out in their long cooking process. Either way, eating some greens is better than no greens at all, so find your fave way and eat them often.

Your body will thank you. 🙂

 

 

 

Chicken Soup…(and gluten free biscuits!)

I made a pretty killer soup the other night using some pretty awesome and simple ingredients.

I love a one-pot dish!

I wanted chicken and dumplings, but my family doesn’t love the texture of dumplings. I compromised by making a gluten-free biscuit, and pouring a thickened soup over the top of it.

The result? Down-home country goodness. YUM.

So easy, and frugal too! I served four with one chicken breast, which by itself is pretty darn impressive. 🙂

Ingredients:

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 box organic low-sodium chicken broth (or 4 cups homemade if you have it!)

1/2 of a yellow onion

3 carrots, sliced (From my CSA box!)

3 minced garlic cloves (Yep, CSA.)

1/2 cup sliced organic celery

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. olive oil (Bari is amazing.)

1 tsp dried thyme (CSA box again!)

1 tsp turmeric (the color it gives is amazing…plus, its super good for you.)

2 tsp salt (I used pink Himalayan)

1 tsp black pepper

1-2 tbsp. Pamela’s Gluten Free Artisan All Purpose Flour

Fresh parsley for garnishing (Can you guess where it comes from?)

Pretty simple process:

Heat butter and and olive oil. Slice chicken into bite-sized pieces, and sautee.

Once cooked, remove from pot, and set aside.

Add onion to pan and sautee until translucent

Add carrots, celery and garlic and cook for just a couple of minutes until it starts to sort of “come together”.

Add stock, herbs and spices, stir to combine then add chicken back. Put a lid on it, simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Now is the time to prepare your biscuits (Recipe below!)

To thicken, Remove about a cup of the broth, and combine that broth with your gluten free flour. Now, whisk that back into the big pot. Continue whisking until it is all combined so as not to produce lumps.

My basic biscuits are as follows. For this particular recipe, they are super yummy with thyme and garlic powder mixed into the dough:

2 cups Pamela’s Artisan Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 stick butter, chopped

1 cup raw, plain kefir

In food processor, pulse dry ingredients. Next, add butter and pulse until butter is the size of peas. Add kefir, and pulse 3-4 times until dough *just* comes together.

Remove from bowl, and fold over itself 3-4 times. Pat into a round disk, about an inch thick. Cut into desired size with biscuit cutter (or even a drinking glass).

Bake at 450* on parchment paper for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Pour your soup over a biscuit and garnish with fresh parsley (Which I totally forgot to do…I was a little excited to eat.)  YUMMM.

Perfect cold weather meal. So yummy and heart warming…and nobody complaining about dumpling texture. 😉

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Cranberry Salsa

It’s that time of year again! The holiday season is upon us. This means turkey, pumpkin pie, Christmas songs, overly decorated stores, extra calories, and that all too familiar frantic holiday pace.

It’s also time for my favorite dip in the world.

Cranberry Salsa over cream cheese.

OMG SO GOOD.

Mmmm Cranberries.

It’s simple. Take the following ingredients:

1 (12-ounce bag) or 3 cups fresh cranberries,  rinsed and drained

1/4 cup minced green onions

3 Serrano chilies, cored, seeded and minced

1/2 cup coconut sugar (Yes, it looks like a lot, but you need it with those cranberries!!)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro,  minced

2 tablespoons finely-grated fresh ginger or 2 tsp dried

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 (8-ounce) packages organic cream cheese

Cranberries and/or cilantro sprigs for garnish

It’s so easy to make. Pop all ingredients (minus cream cheese and garnish items) into your food processor, and pulse until everything is combined and slightly chunky. Pour over cream cheese. Garnish as desired, and serve with your favorite crackers.

The colors are perfect for the holidays and the flavor? OMG…you will be addicted.

I picked up some cranberries at Sprouts last week and when I placed my CSA order this week, I discovered that green onion, cilantro, and serrano chilies were all available.

It’s a sign.

Yes, it’s a dip, but I seriously serve this as dinner from time to time. My family loves me for it.

And they should! Cranberries are #1 when it comes to antioxidant power. They are so good for you! So is just about everything else in this recipe.

No mommy guilt here.

I’ll save that for the chocolate that never makes it to their stockings.

Bok Choy and Broccoli Beef

Alternatively titled, “What you cook when chicken is poison and you only have a few things in the house.”

So I hate factory farmed meat, but sometimes it’s the only budget friendly option. I had quite a few bags of a particular brand of chicken that was not officially recalled, but was essentially poison.

Ok, that was dramatic.

The chicken was supposedly fine if you cooked it well, but if you didn’t  you might end up with a drug-resistant strain of salmonella in your body.

I wasn’t taking chances. Every time I looked in the freezer, my brain so a big, red “X” over the bags. A germ-a-phobe just can’t help it. Truth? I’m a little bit food safety paranoid.

I live an hour away from the nearest [decent] grocery store, so I had to use up what I had, which was several packages of organic ground beef from Costco. It’s not only what I had, it’s what I had in abundance. I have used ground beef in a million ways in the last week.

I ordered bok choy in my CSA box this week with the intention of making a bok choy/chicken stir-fry. Obviously, that wasn’t going to work.

It was so pretty though, it had to be used somehow.

Because the cooking time of the stalks and leaves are different, I washed then separated the leaves from the stalks and chopped them both coarsely. I then set them aside while I cooked the ground beef.

Once the ground beef was browned, I added a bit of high heat sunflower oil and threw in my broccoli. I don’t have a wok, so I cooked it all up in my coated cast iron pot. A wok is better, but whatevs. My broccoli is frozen because I can’t find broccoli fresh around here yet. I was wishing I had more gai lan from my last farmer’s trip, but I was out. It would have been perfect.

While that was cooking, I prepared my sauce.

In one bowl, I whisked together:

2 TBSP cornstarch

2 TBSP water

and 1 tsp garlic powder.

In a separate bowl, I combined:

1/3 cup bragg’s liquid aminos (free samples on their website!)

2 TBSP coconut sugar

and 2 tsp ground ginger.

Set aside.

Once broccoli was beginning to thaw, I added the chopped bok choy stalks.

I added about 2 tablespoons of water to the pot and put the lid on, steaming the veggies for about 2-3 minutes. I like my veggies tender. If you like yours crisp, skip this step.

Once veggies were tender, I added the bok choy leaves and cooked another 2 minutes or so until they were wilted.

Once all veggies were at the desired tenderness, I whisked my cornstarch mix into the bragg’s mix and then added to the pot, stirring constantly until it thickened, about 1 minute.

Serve immediately. The kids had rice. We ate ours without. 🙂

Super yummy, and the leftovers were even better the next day. It came together quickly, had tons of veggies and protein, and did just fine standing on it’s own without its old buddy, Rice.

The best part? It screamed “resourcefulness” and didn’t require any fancy ingredients. I was able to make it from what I had on hand without involving the “Red X” chicken.

Not exactly a conventional use for ground beef, but a tasty alternative to paranoia. 😉

Dill Hummus (Or, Hiccup Prevention Dip.)

When you think of dill, what comes to mind?

Pickles?

Maybe a garnish on fish?

Dill can be so much more! And it’s so good for you. I found this graphic that outlines some of the health benefits of dill. There are so many great reasons to eat dill, but I’m pretty sure my favorite is unusual:

 

“Can halt the hiccups.”

Seriously? Amazing. I HATE the hiccups. And I can’t ever just get them once. As soon as my body opens the door to hiccups, they just come on in as they please, off and on, all.day.long.

So, I got dill (aka hiccup ninja herb) in my CSA box this week.

I wanted it to be more than a sprinkling on a hard boiled egg.

SOOO, I made dill hummus. Wanna make some? It’s pretty simple:

2 cans organic garbanzo beans, drained.

1/4 cups plain yogurt 

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

4 tablespoons freshly chopped dill leaves, plus extra for garnish

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 teaspoons hot paprika, plus extra for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pulse all in a food processor until smooth. Serve with veggies, pita chips or a SPOON.

Get more from your food.

Take that parsley and make it the focus of your dish, not just an accessory.

Make your cilantro the star.

Turn that butternut squash into the main course, not just a side.

Get creative, think outside the box, and (in some cases)  enjoy the hiccup-free benefits.

 

Celebrating Cilantro

Ok, so I have an herb obsession.

I have been collecting dried herbs from KMK Farms via The Farmer’s Daughter CSA for weeks, and discovered this morning that I have quite a stash.

The mason jar is FULL of dried mint. Makes the best tea ever. One of the bags lost its label, so I call it my “mystery herb”. One day I will remember what it was I’m sure. The plant? It’s a basil tree. Yeah. Tree. Lives inside or out (depending on season) and will live for at least five years. Leaves look like thyme but smell and taste like a mild basil. Kind of amazing. Not “frankenfood” by the way, just grafted. Kind of a fun “bonzai” type hobby plant too. I got distracted, sorry.

As much as I love to have dried herbs around, there is just nothing like fresh.

My favorite? Cilantro. Hands down. I LOVE the stuff. I use is instead of lettuce on tacos, chop it up into a spicy chicken salad, and have even juiced it with fruits and veggies. No matter how much I eat, I can’t seem to get enough of the stuff.

I opened my CSA box this week and saw the most gorgeous cilantro ever. It was so full and beautiful… and the smell. OMG.

Really, though, the results of Farmer’s last week were just gorgeous all the way around:

Cilantro on the right. I mean, just look at that. ❤

Want to make a fun sauce for tacos or dressing for a cilantro salad? It’s easy-peasy.

Take 1/2 of a  bundle of cilantro, chopped, and pop it in a blender or food processor.

Puree with:

1 cup of sour cream

2 jalapeno peppers

a heavy pinch of salt

Two peeled avocados

Once smooth, squeeze the juice of one lime in and puree until combined. If its too thick, add a bit more sour cream.

SOOO delicious, especially on fish tacos or over a mixed green salad w/chicken, tomatoes, fresh cilantro and some good quality corn chips crushed over it.  Simple and delicious!

Cilantro is loaded with good-for-you goodness. I went through a detox at the beginning of the year and cilantro was an important part of my cleansing process. It leaches heavy metals out of your body, which may result in a headache when eaten in large quantities, but I stuck it out, figuring it was doing its job! Here’s more info on this wondrous herb:

Cilantro season doesn’t last nearly as long as I want it to, so I’m eatin’ it up while I can. I’m also apparently stock piling any and all other herbs available.

Even mystery ones.

Ants on a Log, Deconstructed

Call me juvenile, but when I think of raisins, I think of “Ants on a Log”.

You know, celery, filled with peanut butter, topped with raisins (aka “ants”)?

When I ordered raisins in my CSA box last week, primarily for my middle child who is pretty sure the world revolves around raisins, I of course thought about Ants on a Log…which is really the only recipe I use raisins for.

As a kid I wouldn’t eat them. I hated celery, peanut butter belonged on sandwiches, and raisins were just grapes that’d had the life sucked out of them.

As an adult, I recently discovered I like celery, peanut butter can’t go on sandwiches because I’m not supposed to eat BREAD, and raisins? Yeah, they may still be grapes that have had the life sucked out of them…but they aren’t so bad considering what they’ve been through. 😉

Now, no matter what your cooking experience level is, I wouldn’t dare assume that you need a recipe for Ants on a Log. In fact, this post is less about cooking, and more about eating.  Let me show you what I mean:

In case you’ve never heard of it, “The DIrty Dozen” is a list of vegetables and fruits that, if at all possible, should be purchased organically grown. I am fully aware that organic foods can be very expensive (which is part of the reason why I am such a huge advocate for CSA and Farmer’s Market shopping…much cheaper!) But this list gives you a guideline for what items should be purchased organic if you can budget some, but not all.

Notice number ONE.

CELERY.

Which, by the way, is the LOG. (Ok, so maybe this blog is a little bit about the log.)

Where I live, celery is not in season right now, but you bettah believe I’m buying it organic. It is maybe a dollar more than conventional, and I am HAPPY to spend it.

While I’m on the subject of what’s in season, I’d like to point out that where I live (and I realize it varies around the country), apples, spinach, kale, collard green, potatoes, and raisins (aka GRAPES) are all readily available right now. My CSA has most of those items available right now, which means, most of them are in my fridge….except the potatoes. Those are in the pantry. 😛

Ok, so we have established we need organic celery.

On to peanut butter.

Remember when we were kids, and we were told which brand choosy mom’s choose?

Let me show you the ingredients label:

This is the part where I try really hard not to dissect every ingredient. Let’s focus on this: It contains “fully hydrogenated vegetable oils” (which makes it so they can label it “No Partially Hydrogenated Oils!”) What does this mean? It means that Jif is poisoning their peanuts with disgusting oils that were heated to 400* then pumped with extra hydrogen atoms. The result? A smooth, creamy peanut butter that doesn’t separate. Oh, and the oil turns rancid, toxifying your system. It’s foreign to your body, so instead of using it, your body has to work harder to essentially fight it off as as free radical (which is a known cancer causing problem.)  These oils are usually (and I only say “usually” to cover my back side) made from GMO ingredients as well.

Choosy moms boycott JIF.

Alternative? Many stores offer fresh ground peanut butter (Sprouts, Winco, Whole Foods) that you grind yourself. You can choose (in most cases) between plain (aka, no sugar or salt) or honey roasted (my favorite!)  Another good option if you have a costco card, is “Brad’s Organic” peanut butter.

Ingredients? Organic Peanuts”. The end.  I will add local, raw, organic honey to mine. 🙂

Always look for an organic peanut butter, and READ THE LABELS guys!

The last stop on our Ants on a Log journey? The “Ants”.

Organic raisins, or dried grapes, are remarkably good for you. They are rich in boron, iron, potassium calcium and the B vitamins, and are a good source of fiber. They are great for your eyes, can protect against gum disease and cavities, and are really high in resveratrol, the good stuff in wine. 🙂

Conventional raisins, however, not so much. In tests done on raisins grown on conventional farms, up to 26 pesticide residues have been found. Want a better understanding of what that means to YOU?

8 were known or probable carcinogens (aka cancer-causing)

11 were suspected hormone disruptors

5 were Neurotoxins

5 were developmental or reproductive toxins

and

9 were honeybee toxins, which is a serious problem…unless you don’t mind losing the majority of our fresh produce from the planet.

The solution? Organic Raisins. It’s not just what all the cool kids are doing, guys. This is a real, scientific issue, in so many ways.

As I said, this post wasn’t about teaching you how to make a favorite childhood snack. it’s about deconstructing that snack (and perhaps our current food system) in an effort to encourage you to treat yourself and your body better. As a result, you will be contributing to a far superior, sustainable, privately owned food system.

In short? We could change the world.

One raisin at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grain Free Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza

Although I do not always stick to a grain free diet,  I try. I shoot for 60-70% success and call it good. I have found that there are some things that  I just can’t give up, and have to have on rare occasion:  My mom’s chicken dijon over rice. The occasional bowl of freshly popped popcorn. Red Vines.

One thing that was also on my list for a while? Pizza. It has been so great since I discovered I could make a pretty decent cracker-type crust without any grains! The possibilities are endless, but the other day I made my fave pizza ever. Mozzarella, Prosciutto and Arugula pizza. YUM. For added flair, I added some lemon balm leaves that were calling to me from my CSA box. SO yum. Here’s how I did it.

For the crust, you will need:

1/2 cup tapioca flour/starch

1/2 cup arrowroot

1/3 cup raw shredded parm cheese (I love TJ’s)

4 TBSP of refined coconut oil or other high-heat oil such as high-oleic sunflower

1 TBSP water

1 organic egg

Combine all ingredients. It will be sticky and kind of gummy.

Prepare 2 pieces of parchment paper the same size as your pizza pan ( you can trim the edges later)

BRUSH BOTH PIECES OF PARCHMENT WITH OLIVE OIL. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, YOU WILL END UP WITH A STICKY MESS.

Scrape the batter/ dough onto the first piece of parchment (on the greased side.) Now lay the other piece, greased side down, onto the dough. With a rolling pin, roll the crust out into a circle.

Peel the top piece of parchment off and discard. Put the crust, parchment and all, onto your pizza pan.

Next up, TOPPINGS. This is where you can do whatever you want. One suggestion? Don’t use anything too wet, like fresh mozz. It will make your dough gummy. I also find that while a good thick tomato based sauce works, a dense pesto does better. This recipe only calls for olive oil drizzled over it first, but a thick fig butter or would have been amazing.

For this recipe:

Drizzle the dough with olive oil, and brush to spread evenly.

Top with slices of mozz cheese (NOT the fresh one…too much water)

Top with prosciutto slices and bits of lemon balm (and then take a poorly lit crappy cell phone pic of it):

 

Pop it in the oven. Bake at 400* for about 15-20 minutes. You want the crust nice and golden.

Once it comes out, top with the fresh arugula. I mixed mine with a bit of mesculin greens and some more lemon balm. 🙂 Some peeled, sliced fresh pears would have been awesome too, but I thought about it after the fact.

 

Crispy, spicy, flavorful and satisfying. I think, for me,  “satisfying” is the most important aspect here, as sometimes, my meals are anything but.  I also feel a certain sense of satisfaction when I am using foods in the height of their freshness…bought locally, purchased in season, and used shortly after buying them.  I guarantee the fresh arugula I brought home, fresh out of the ground, is a million times tastier than the one at the store in July. You just can’t beat in-season, organic, local produce. That said, bagged arugula is better than *no* arugula. Work with what you’ve got around you, just make sure you’re eatin’ the good stuff.

Your beautiful self is worth it.

 

 

All Hail Kale!

So excited about greens right now. I love “green’s season”! I am most excited about my favorite leafy love, KALE.  While I enjoy kale cooked in many ways, my favorite is the fairly newly popular kale chip. Crispy, satisfying, and easily consumed without having to try too hard, (aka, you don’t have to force yourself to eat them), the kale chip my favorite way to stock up on the goodness of greens.

Why eat kale? Here are a few reasons:

My recipe for kale chips can be found HERE. They are quick, easy, cheap and DELICIOUS. Season however you like. I prefer mine with a little sea salt and garlic powder, but I have heard they are delicious dusted with nutritional yeast too. 🙂

Kale is available at most grocery stores, but being that it is time for greens in so many areas, check your local farmer’s market to see if it is available locally grown. Go with organic whenever you can…especially with tender plants like greens. I ordered some in my CSA box this week and am so looking forward to bakin’ it up. So grateful to live in an area where so much fresh food grows. Even more grateful for the local farmers that take the time to grow our food without chemicals, pesticides and franken-seeds. 🙂

Take just a few minutes to prep these yourself, and save LOADS on the packaged ones. Homemade kale chips are a million times better than store-bought, and I prefer to know exactly what went into the process.

Love yourselves, ladies…from the inside out. 🙂

 

Dairy-Free “Choco-cado” Pudding

So, true story, I made this for a friend one time. She loved it. She ate quite a bit of it. She was very surprised that she liked it, because avocados had always grossed her out.

We quickly discovered that her body had been trying to tell her something all along:

She was allergic to avocados.

So in a way, I sort of poisoned my friend. Not cute.

Thankfully, she recovered just fine, but needless to say, avocados do not make an appearance in my kitchen when she is around.

Now that I have frightened you with that little tale, let me tell you how to make poisonous choco-cado pudding!

Ingredients:

2 med sized avocados, pitted and peeled. (I used mexicola from my CSA box)

1/4 cup organic REAL maple syrup OR  6-10 medjool dates

1.5 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Trader Joe’s)

1/4 cup vanilla hemp milk

Put all ingredients into the food processor. Process until creamy and smooth. If it is too thick, add more hemp milk about a tsp at a time. If its too thin, you need more avocado. 🙂  Fold in sliced bananas if desired.

 

Today was the perfect day to make this because I had 2 mexicola avocados on my counter that were *just* about to die on me. I saw this the other day and thought it was quite possibly the most perfect little bit of kitchen truth:

 

Right? I know.

Also, little sidenote; My favorite variation of this recipe:

Substitute the hemp milk for raw cream. Blend all of the ingredients (minus the cream) together first, then add the cream in. Puree for 5-10 seconds until it begins to “whip”, making for a really nice mousse consistency. 🙂

This is delicious with fresh strawberries too!

Definitely file this one under the “treat” category as the sugar content is pretty high in this one, but still a nice alternative to the packaged garbage. 🙂

Enjoy… Unless you’re allergic to avocados. 😉