Green: Eat Like You Mean It!

Enjoying the Fruits of the Harvest With Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

 

Simple, Simple Supper

Sometimes I prepare big feasts for  my family, sometimes I don't. There are lots of days when a meal has got to appear on the table fast. Last night's answer to the supper crush? Pizza bread. All you need is a decent baguette or two, some cheese, the topping of your choice, some olive oil and some pizza sauce.

Begin with a hunk of baguette.

Slice it down the middle lengthwise.

 
Heat up your pizza sauce.

Yep, you can just buy a can or jar of decent sauce at your local co-op or other grocer. I made mine by carmelizing some organic tomato paste in a small sauce pan with a little olive oil and raw sugar. After a time I tossed in some salt, pepper, dried basil, and water. I gave it a good whisking, then tasted it to make sure I had the rich, robust flavor I wanted. (It really doesn't take but a moment to make your own sauce, and it's so much better!) Once the sauce is ready, spoon it onto your bread.

Add  your toppings. This bread was for my kids, and they wanted fresh deli pepperoni. If I could eat the wheat bread, I would have chosen some garlic, arugula, and maybe mushrooms. Oh well...

At this point, I placed my bread in an iron skillet, and topped it with grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

After spending maybe 10 minutes in a 400-oven, out came some tasty-looking pizza bread, ready to cut and serve to hungry kidlets.

Served up with a little tossed salad, pizza bread is a super fast, super simple, super supper!

--Sheila

Waffles...Yum!

Who doesn't love waffles, I ask you...Well, my 10-year-old doesn't. Crazy baby. I love waffles. Everyone else in my family loves waffles. And what's not to love...sweetened batter, grid-fried on a hot iron, buttered up and ladled with pure maple syrup, maybe tossed with a few fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream. Now I'm hungry. Actually, I'm not, because I just finished eating my waffles!

It's kind of funny, really. Waffles are pretty much just pancakes fried up differently. But a heaping platter of waffles conjures up a different feeling somehow. Pancakes are hearty and loving, but waffles...waffles are a sure sign that someone adores you! With my giant griddle, I can pan-bake up to 16 pancakes at a time. Two rounds of batter and you're done. Plenty of pancakes for breakfast with some to spare for snacks and the next day's breakfast. But waffles take time. Once the batter is made, you have to stand at the iron, frying up just a pair at a time. It just feels special somehow, like visiting your favorite grandmother.

In fact, I have two waffle irons...the Belgian waffle maker I received as a wedding gift, and the old Westinghouse iron my grandmother used to make waffles for my cousins and me. I LOVE using that old iron, being reminded of how much Grandma loved us whilst I make waffles for my brood.
 
Today's batch was made on the wedding iron, however. In a large bowl, I dumped some tapioca flour, potato flour, corn meal, and some of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour. Can't say exactly how much, because, well, you know...that's just how I roll! I added a wee bit of xanthan gum, some fine-ground sea salt, some raw sugar and baking powder. In a smaller bowl went four egg yolks, vanilla and olive oil. I dry-whisked the powdery stuff in lieu of sifting it, then whisked the wet ingredients together and added almond milk and water. I stirred the wet into the dry and let it sit a wee bit to make sure the corn meal had a chance to absorb enough moisture to not stay crunchy. Meanwhile, I whipped the egg whites up until they were nice and fluffy. While the waffle iron heated up, I brushed it with a little olive oil (I use enough olive oil every day to indicate that I should have been born Italian...what gives?) and folded the egg whites gently into the batter.

Several rounds of spooning batter and stacking waffles later, it was time to eat.

Honestly, what's better than this? Waffles I can eat (I cheated with the whipped cream, but don't tell anyone!), no one else missed the gluten or, indeed, would have known they were gluten-free if not for the clue that I was eating them. And the best part of all, is that I ate waffles on one of my grandmother's old plates. Gotta have a little Grandma with my waffles!

--Sheila

Tostadas!

It's summer, we're all busy with my kids constantly scattering like dice on a backgammon board. Sometimes supper needs to be super quick. On tonight's menu? Tostadas!

To start, I tossed a few boneless chicken thighs and breasts in an iron skillet with some olive oil, salt and cumin.  While they cooked, I chopped avocado, cilantro and green onions. Meanwhile, I put a large can of organic puree in a saucepan and turned it into my version of mole sauce, adding in olive oil, salt, raw sugar, cumin, coriander, paprika, chipotle powder, and cocoa powder. (You could just buy a jar at your local co-op!) Finally, I shredded the cooked chicken right in the pan, and also shredded a block of co-jack. Start to finish at this point, half-an-hour.

All that was left to do was toss a few corn tortillas on a lightly oiled skillet to crisp them up. Then everyone just compiled their own as desired. Above was my daughter Aurora's tostada, with a little shredded chicken, lots of cheese, a splash of sauce and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Below is little Ada's, with more chicken, less cheese, more sauce and lots of avocado. She even tossed on the onions and cilantro.

FInally there's my all-veggie version, with lots of avocado, a little cheese, and plentiful sauce, onions and cilantro:

And so you have it:  A fast, easy summer supper flexible enough to satisfy everyone with only a few simple ingredients. What's better than that?

--Sheila

It Just Seemed Like a Good Morning For Crepes...

I woke up on the late side today, unusually, probably due to the fact that I stayed up waaaaay too late last night to watch a movie. The sun was shining, the children were happy, and not ready to get out of my jammies and face the world outside my door, I decided to make crepes.

Crepes are a delightful, delicious and easy breakfast to make, if a bit time-consuming. Today's crepes are cocoa crepes (organic, of course!) with pure maple syrup, whipped vanilla cream, strawberries and blueberries. And yes, they are gluten-free! (Why on earth would I make something so heavenly and not be able to eat it?!?!?)

To make crepes, I combine in one big bowl my flours (in this instance, brown rice, potato, & fava bean) with a pinch of salt, some raw sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder, and a small bit of xanthan gum. In another bowl I whisked together eggs, pure vanilla extract, low-fat vanilla yogurt, canola oil and water. I poured the wet ingredients over the dry, whisked to combine, and voila! Crepe time!

It starts with a hot cast iron skillet:

And a pour of the batter:

The next thing you know, you've got a tasty crepe hot off the griddle:

A few more pours and you've got a fine stack of crepes, enough, in my case to feed a whole herd of children!

 

Now all you need is some syrup, whipped cream and berries...

Finally, all that's needed is a fork, a napkin and a Cuppa' Joe!

Aaah...breakfast. Enjoy!

--Sheila

Tiramisu (aka Booze Cake!) It's Even Gluten-Free...

Who doesn't love a little pick-me-up, a little sweet something now and again? I know I do, but it's hard, out in the world anyway, to find something really special that I both CAN eat and would actually want to put in my mouth! Let's face it--there's a lot of sub-par gluten-free foods out there. Here's a show-stopping, crowd-pleasing dessert sure to be the life of the party. And I can promise you that no-one will miss the gluten!

The base of this Tiramisu is essentially a wheat-free sponge cake. This kind of cake has a sort of angel cakey flavor, but with a slightly denser and more reslient texture (you know I'm not a user of recipes; for actually proportions and such, find a respectable sponge cake recipe and play with it to make it your own!) I sift together my flours--in this case, a combination of potato, brown rice and tapioca flours with a pinch of xanthan gum--with a little finely-ground sea salt. (For one 8" layer, you'd need about a cup of flour total to about 4 eggs.)

Speaking of which, for this party-sized cake, I used a good 14 eggs, separated.

Into these lustrous yolks I briskly whisked my raw can sugar (about 3.5 or 4 cups). Once blended I added almond extract, Amaretto, Kahlua and Creme de Cacao. Of course, a more traditional Tiramisu would use finely ground espresso, but I like using the Kahlua for the coffee element.

Meanwhile, those 14 egg whites need whipping!

Once the flour mixture has been mixed into the egg yolk/sugar mixture, these beautifully-peaked egg whites get folded into the batter.

Now the better is ready to be poured into greased/floured pans and popped into the oven. For a good sponge cake, you bake for 10-15 minutes at a slightly lower temp (325), then for another 10-15, depending upon your oven, at about 350.

While your cake is baking, make the syrup which will be generously ladled onto the cake. Boil a cup  of water with about 3/4 cup of raw sugar and, yep, more Kahlua, Amaretto, and Creme de Cacao. Let it cool and make your cream filling/topping. A traditional Tiramisu would require mascarpone cheese, which is, indeed, a heavenly thing. I didn't happen to have it in stock and hadn't the time to shop. Instead I used a blend of heavy cream, rich Greek honeyed yogurt, raw sugar, and, indeed, more Kahlua, Amaretto and Creme de Cacao!

Once the cakes were out of the oven and a bit cooled, I took my layers out of their pans. The larger, bottom layer went on the serving platter and got a generous pouring of syrup AND some extra Kahlua out of the bottle for good measure. Meanwhile, I put the smaller cake into the now-empty larger cake pan and syrupped/Kahluaed it up, too.

Once those layers of spongy, liquory goodness where ready, I put a generous layer of (boozy!) cream on the bottom layer.

Now for another layer...

More cream topping...

And there you have it:  a rich, beautiful, delectable, gluten-free dessert destined to please anyone and everyone!

(The kiddies got a booze-syrup/booze-cream-free sugared sponge round:)

Enjoy!

--Sheila

The Trouble With Cheesecake...

Well, actually, there is no real trouble with cheesecake, is there, except that it's a dairy-rich delicacy that I can't really eat. Unless...

Unless it's a cheesecake made with chevre and goat yogurt! Goats--the "universal donors"--produce a milk that's much closer to human milk than cows, or so I've read. In any case, goat dairy doesn't mess with me!

The other night, I had a hankering for cheesecake, more specifically, for pumpkin cheesecake with maple toffee pecan topping. Here's how I did it, more or less (As I have previously confessed, recipes somewhat elude me; I think that following a recipe is too much like being told what to do! Thus I am somewhat useless when sharing my "recipes." Sorry.):

For the crust:

-Melt about 6 TBSP of butter or, in my case, Earth's Balance Buttery Sticks^TM
-In a food processor, grind up approx. 1 C of pecans into course meal.
-Add about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of flour. I used a combination of rice and sweet sorghum flour, though have been known to use potato flour, fava bean, whatever.
-Toss in a scant pinch of salt and a generous handful of raw sugar.
-Pulse to combine while adding the melted and slightly cooled butter-like substance.
-Press the dough into a 10-inch springform pan, and chill while you make the filling.

For the filling:

-In a large bowl, place 1 can of (organic!) pumpkin puree, approx. 18 oz of plain goat yogurt, one large log of plain chevre, and 6 eggs, previously lightly beaten.
-Mix well.
-Add in about 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup raw cane sugar (or other sweetener of your choice!)
-Toss in a good tsp. of cinnamon
-Blend thoroughly and pour into your waiting, chilled springform with the crust dough pressed firmly.
-Place into a preheated 350-degree oven and bake until firm and a knife inserted comes clean.

I'd love to tell you how long this will take, but it really depends upon your oven. I have a high-powered commercial convection oven, which makes a big difference in cook times. Allow at least 45 minutes, and up to an hour-and-a-half!

When it's done, take it out and let it cool completely before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before topping/serving.

Topping:

-In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt a stick of butter (or Buttery Sticks for we cow-dairy-free people!).
-While the "butter" is melting, add in 1/2 C. or so of pure maple syrup and maybe 1/3 C raw sugar.
-Bring to a boil until all the sugar crystals are well dissolved, the mixture is bubbling away and starting to turn a lighter brown, carmelly color.
-Toss in a generous couple of cups of whole pecans, and stir to coat.
-Place your cheesecake on a serving platter, release and remove the ring.
-Pour the carmelized pecans over the top, being sure to scrape out every bit of maple-toffee goodness over the whole thing, letting it drip over and down the sides.

Note:  Cheesecakes are actually darned forgiving. If the nature of the dairy content matters not to me (i.e. I'm not the one eating it!), I'll make it with cream cheese and heavy cream, with cream cheese and yogurt, with yogurt and ricotta--you get the picture! Just mix some quality dairy together with eggs, sweetener, flavoring and voila! Cheesecake.

Variations:  Sometimes I'll use alternative flours, buttery-substance (Earth's Balance Buttery Sticks are made from vegetable oil, but are NOT hydrogenated, and are therefore NOT margarine!), and cocoa powder to make a chocolate crust. If so, perhaps I'll mix my dairy, eggs, and sugar with vanilla, or lemon, or--my favorite--organic rosewater to make a rosecream cheesecake. I like to top that one with a layer of chocolate ganache and then whipped cream. Experiment--make your own signature cheesecake...you know you want to!

Happy eating. --Sheila

More Mushroom Mania!

'Must be something about Autumn, with its cold nights and pleasant days and and sky the color of chalcedony. Lots of the trees are bare, yet there's enough chartreuse and ochre and vermilion to make one dizzy looking down the street. Yep, something about this season makes me crave mushrooms--earthy, fleshy bites of goodness packed with fiber, potassium, selenium, B-vitamins and copper.

But tonight has been a busy one, and while I happened to have some crimini mushrooms burning the proverbial hole in my veggie crisper, I've also got the dilemna of precious little time and only a few mushroom-lovers in the family. Indeed, of my six children, only two love mushrooms, and another tolerates them. The tolerator, on his own in life, isn't around anyway. One mushroom lover besides myself is home, and the other will return later. What to do?

I also happen to have a couple of bags of brown rice pasta in the cupboard. Fortuitous! The pasta-hater among us is also not home! Hence, supper will be a simple pasta tossed with olive oil, chili flakes and parsley; a sauteed mushroom sauce for those of us who know how to enjoy life to its fullest; and a mixed green salad with apples and balsamic vinaigrette.

 
To bring yet another supper into being, I first put water in my pasta pot with salt and a dash of olive oil and set it to work on boiling. Meanwhile, I sliced my crimini mushrooms (with the help of my culinary-genius four-year-old!) and began sauteeing them in an iron skillet with a generous amount of olive oil. I minced some garlic and chopped some parsley and through them in with the mushrooms, along with some kosher sea salt and black pepper.

While the mushroom pot sauteed and simmered away and the pasta water was heating up, I rinsed the salad greens, spun them dry and tossed them in the salad bowl. I then chopped two medium apples directly into the greens.

By then the water was boiling so I tossed in the pasta. The mushrooms were soft and aromatic; to turn them from sauteed mushrooms with garlic and parsley into a sauce to ladle over pasta, I simply added a dash more olive oil and about 1/2 of a cup of unsweetend almond milk. (Confession:  I don't work from recipes, and I don't measure things. I have a devil of a time "translating" my cooking into anything resembling a recipe for others. I'm afraid you'll just have to experiment--you know--unleash your own inner culinary genius!)

By this time the pasta was ready to drain; I poured it into a waiting colander, then immediately back into the pasta pot. I poured olive oil over it, generously of course, tossed in some salt and chili flakes and black pepper, and a handful of freshly chopped parsley. For the mushroom-free members of my family, I conveniently place a bowl of grated parmesan cheese out to add to the pasta instead of mushroom sauce. I turned the mushrooms off, then dashed some olive oil and balsamic vinegar directly over the bowl of salad greens and chopped apples.

Voila! Supper is served.

--Sheila

Fun Wth Fungus, or 'Love Those Stuffed Mushroom Caps!

Sunday night and another supper is due. As much as I love cooking--and I DO love cooking!--I sometimes grow weary of that eternal question, "What should we have for supper? Given the number of people in my family, my desire to serve healthy but interesting meals, and my being a vegetarian, supper is no small task (see my maternal lament in the last post, below...)

Tonight's meal turned out to be pan-seared and oven-roasted balsamic chicken, green peas, wild rice, and stuffed mushrooms. Most of my family would eat the chicken, peas and rice. A couple kids would eat the mushrooms. And I'd happily devour the peas, rice and mushrooms. A winning meal all around.

I prepared the (locally raised, free-range) chicken by giving a generous offering of olive oil to my Very Large iron skillet (15" diameter) and turning the heat on medium-high. In went the 8-piece whole, cut-up chicken, and 5 extra legs besides. I seared one side, then the other.  I poured some balsamic vinegar over each piece, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then put the whole skillet in a 375-degree oven. The rice was simple:  I just put the Minnesota native-grown and harvested rice in my rice-cooker with double the amount of water as rice, tossed in some salt and pepper and olive oil, put on the cover and turned the little bugger on.

While the chicken and rice cooked, I prepared the mushrooms. First I removed the stems from my crimini mushrooms. After wiping each cap off with a dampened towel, I place them upside down in a glass pie pan. Then I drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and place them in the oven with the chicken to begin cooking. While the mushrooms were becoming hot and tender, I mixed the stuffing.

I finely chopped a bunch of flat-leaf Italian parsley, and tossed it in a bowl with grated parmesiano reggiano cheese, fine-ground corn meal, finely minced garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. When the mushrooms were tender but not fully-cooked, I removed the pan from the oven, spooned stuffing into each cap, and put the pan back into the oven to cook until the mushrooms were soft and the topping was golden brown around the edges.

When supper was all but ready, I put the peas, frozen but organic, in boiling water. Once cooked, I then drained and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

While supper overall took about 50 minutes to cook entirely, I probably only spent 25 of those minutes actively doing anything to bring it about. In the end, we had a beautiful, organic, tasty and nutritious meal. DO try this at home!

Bon apetit!

--Sheila

Yum...Potatoes

Potatoes. Not the most glamorous of ingredients in a culinary world full of pomegranate seeds, harissa, rioja reductions and weasel-digested coffee beans. Nonetheless, potatoes are among the world's most popular vegetables and deservedly so:  Rich in vitamin C and potassium, potatoes also contain respectable amounts of calcium, iron and phosphorous. And let's face it--they're darned yummy!

A common misconception about the humble "ground apple" (pomme de terre, if it makes you feel better) is that its starchy content is somehow bad for you and will cause uncontrollable weight gain. Not so! The potato does provide starchy carbs, but they are digestible and healthy carbs. Potatoes only cause unmitigated tummy bulge if you only take a little potato with your butter!

Having laid my cards down on the side of the humble spud, let me share one of my favorite potato recipes with you, one that I make often for my youngest child and I at lunchtime when she gets home from preschool:

Ingredients

-Begin with your choice of fresh, clean potatoes. I prefer Yukon Golds, but any spud will do. For just 2 of us, I use 3-4 sm/md potatoes. For more servings, just do the math!
-2-4 cloves of garlic
-2 handsful spinach
-goat feta
-ground cumin, coriander, kosher sea salt, black pepper
-red chili flakes
-olive oil

Note:  I use all organic ingredients purchased from my certified-organic-retailer natural foods cooperative. I cook this dish (like so much of what I cook) in a cast iron skillet.

Begin my cutting your potatoes into quarters lengthwise, then slicing thinly. Pour a generous tablespoon of olive oil into your skillet, turn heat on medium-high, and add potato slices. Add salt, pepper, chili flakes and other spices to taste (I like bold flavor, so I never skimp on the seasonings and spices). Stir potatoes occasionally while they heat up. Once they really start cooking, turn low and cover the pan to tenderize.

Meanwhile, peel and mince your garlic, and chiffonade your spinach (To chiffonade your spinach--or any other leafy wonder--make a stack of leaves, role them in a bundle, then cut into thin strips.) Now you've got about 10 minutes at your disposal. Return a phone call, check your email, pour yourself a cup of coffee or glass of wine (in moderation, so many things are so good for you!).

Return to your sizzling skillet. Remove the cover, and stir the spuds again. Check for tenderness. If they are just soft enough to eat, add the garlic and spinach. Stir a bit while everything melds and softens. When done, turn off heat and crumble in as much or as little goat feta as you like. Give it all one last toss, pour it onto your waiting plate, and enjoy your dressed-for-success potatoes.

Variations: This dish is wonderful as a brunch skillet with a sunny-side-up egg nestled on top. You can "Greek-ify" it by adding olives, capers and sun-dried tomatoes. Play with it; use what you've got in your cupboard. Find your own potato skillet bliss!

--Sheila