Accidental Epicure

Suzuki Roshi quote

2010-01-21T17:22:00.002-05:00

"To cook is not just to prepare food for someone or for yourself; it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in your activity in the kitchen."

-Shunryu Suzuki
from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Recipe of the Week: Quinoa Stuffing with Kale and Pomegranate

2009-11-25T12:35:00.012-05:00

Although I try not to pay much attention to celebrity docs (not Dr. Oz, not Dr. Phil and especially not Dr. Laura....perhaps Dr. Ruth....sometimes Dr. Drew....), I found this enticing recipe from Dr. Oz in the November issue of Natural Health. I decided to give it a try for the upcoming thanksgiving dinner (and made it ahead of time to leave room for a plan B, just in case). Turns out it was totally tasty! And healthy to boot!

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

6 cloves garlic, finely sliced, divided

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped

Salt to taste

White pepper to taste (I used black pepper)

1 1/2 cups pecans

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (I used 1/3 of this amount in dried Sage and Thyme forms)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme (strip the leaves from the stems)

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add half of the garlic and cook until soft but not yet golden. Raise to high heat, add the stock and kale and mix. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking, stir until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and white pepper. Set aside to cool.

Add cooled kale and pecans to a food processor; pulse until pecans are chopped and kale is shredded but mixture is still chunky.

In a separate saucepan heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat; add the onion and remaining garlic; saute 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sage and thyme; continue cooking until onion is caramelized, approximately 3 to 4 more minutes. Stir in the pecan-kale mixture.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the cooked quinoa and stir to combine. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of oil and melted butter. Season with salt and white pepper.

Add the egg and wine and toss to coat. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Garnish with pomegranate seeds before serving.

The sage, thyme, onions and garlic give the dish a traditional stuffing flavor. The quinoa, kale and pomegranate make it super-duper healthy. I give this recipe two thumbs up for fine holiday eating!

Food of the Week: Soybeans

2009-11-17T12:00:00.013-05:00

Food of the week: Soybeans

The nutritional benefits of soy have been sensationalized in the US in the past few years. It is true, the soybean does tout many health benefits. However, we have recently seen concerns emerging over the newly popular and widely used food. These concerns relate to both nutritional aspects and the way in which the soybean is mass-produced here in the US and in other parts of the world as well. Let’s take a look at the many sides of soy.

Photo Courtesy of thedailygreen.com

Benefits:

Excellent source of protein, which is why soy is commonly used as a replacement for meat.

Unlike meat, soy does not contain saturated fat or cholesterol and may actually lower cholesterol levels.

Good source of Omega-3 fatty acids, iron and magnesium

Fiber!

Soy increases levels of nitric oxide, which help to prevent atherosclerosis (Coronary Artery Disease)

Isoflavones in soy help to protect heart and bone health in post-menopausal women

The protein and fiber in soybeans help to stabilize blood sugar for people with diabetes. In fact, studies have shown that a diet including soy may help to prevent type 2 diabetes.

Soybeans contain Choline, which may lessen chronic inflammation

Additional benefits may include gastrointestinal wellness and protection against prostate cancer

Drawbacks:

Purified soy products (ie soy milk), often used in the US, do not have many of the health benefits of whole soy foods. These products can actually stimulate pre-existing breast tumors.

85% of soybeans produced in the US are genetically modified. There are no additional restrictions on genetically modified soybeans, they are treated the same as regular soybeans.

Ways to eat Soybeans:

As an appetizer, side or snack, blanch Edamame (soybeans in their pods)

Eat tofu or tempeh as a meat substitute

Use soybeans in Stir-Fry or Pasta

Little Known Facts:

Soybeans are the most widely grown bean in the world.

The origins of the soybean go back to China over 1300 years ago

Most soybeans produced end up being used as feed for cows, chickens and pigs (not their natural dietary choice, it helps to make their stomachs explode or get infections, but I digress….)

So it does appear that soybeans really do offer a lot of nutritional benefits, if you eat whole soy rather than refined products. As always, we need to know where our food is coming from and what has been done to it. This is not always an easy thing to do. There was an excellent documentary made this year about the food industry in the US called Food, Inc. There was a segment about soybean production that I don't think you would want to miss.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of August 3, 2009

2009-08-03T20:22:00.004-04:00

My public awaits! Here is this week's menu plan. I do have some recipes coming up, so stayed tuned, my dear fans.

Monday
Breakfast: Pina Colada Pancakes (recipe to come)
Lunch: Tuna Salad
Dinner: Chicken, Tots and Curried Vegetables (leftover from Friday's dinner)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Chai Latte and Hot Cereal
Lunch: PB & J
Dinner: Out

Wednesday
Breakfast: Bagel with Vegetable Cream Cheese
Lunch: Avocado Salad and Soup
Dinner: Mini Pizzas with Zucchini, Red Onion and Tomato (recipe to come)

Thursday
Breakfast: Chai Latte and Pina Colada Pancakes
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich
Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner

Friday
Breakfast: Bagel with Vegetable Cream Cheese
Lunch: PB & J
Dinner: TBD

Menu Plan Monday: Week of July 27, 2009

2009-07-27T21:51:00.008-04:00

More ingredients from the farmer's market this week. Nothing terribly fancy though. Lots of PB & J and Hot Cereal throughout the week. Very budget friendly! Also, I will have some dinners out later in the week (which will balance out that money I saved).

Monday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: PB & J

Dinner: Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and White Corn

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Tuna Salad with Crackers and Avocado Salad

Dinner: Spaghetti with Chicken

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Spaghetti

Dinner: PB & J

Thursday

Breakfast: Breakfast Burrito

Lunch: PB & J

Dinner: Out

Friday

Breakfast: Bagel
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich

Dinner: Indian with the ladies!

Recipe of the Week: Penne with Beets, Beet Greens, Goat Cheese and Walnut

2009-07-23T20:47:00.019-04:00

I have been so excited to use my fresh produce from the farmer's market. I started off the week by using a recipe from the association that coordinates my local farmer's market. It is a great pasta dish that uses my new favorite thing in the world, goat cheese, and something I've never really known what to do with, beet greens.

Just a forewarning, this makes A LOT of pasta. Be prepared to feed an army or have leftovers for days, maybe even weeks.

Penne with Beets, Beet Greens, Goat Cheese and Walnuts

2 bunches beets, with greens, trimmed and scrubbed - Save the beet greens (side note: I didn't actually get my beets at the farmer's market, I know....but they didn't have the beets with the greens still attached, so I had to go to my local supermarket.)

8 oz whole wheat penne

1/4 extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup heavy cream

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 tbsp chopped tarragon (I couldn't find this so I used basil instead)

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

4 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)

3/4 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake beets wrapped in foil for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, wash the beet greens and cut into 1/2 inch wide strips, set aside. When the beets are done, cool them under cold water and peel skin off. Trim ends and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Cook pasta until al dente, about 8 minutes.

In a skillet, heat oil. Add garlic, basil, and pepper flakes, cook about 1-2 minutes. Add beets and greens, until the greens are wilted.

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Stir in goat cheese and creme and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Serve immediately.

By the way, I've been fine with eating beets from a can. It just seemed like too much work to cook them in the oven. But, it was so worth it. They smelled so good! No more canned beets for me.

Should you eat a sizable portion of this beety meal, just be prepared for a health freak-out the next day. Just a warning. You're probably not hemorrhaging. But, who am I to say? I'm no doctor.

And here's my kitty. She does not eat beets. She's cute, isn't she? Sweet? Well....

Menu Plan Monday: Week of July 20, 2009

2009-07-20T19:42:00.006-04:00

I made a little trip to the farmer's market yesterday and got some fresh goods. I picked up some very fresh tomatoes, peaches, zucchini, basil, cucumber and goat cheese (I have recently developed a fondness for goat cheese). Now I'm excited to prepare some meals with these ingredients.

Monday

Breakfast: Mini bagel with PB, plus a few slices of Cheese and Apples

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich

Dinner: Avocado Salad with Red Onion and Cucumber, and White Corn on the Cob with butter, Parmesan cheese, lime and chili pepper

Tuesday

Breakfast: Chai Latte and breakfast burrito
Lunch: Leftover Beet and Goat Cheese Pasta (Recipe soon to be posted)

Dinner: Birthday dinner for a friend

Wednesday

Breakfast: Bagel with Vegetable Cream Cheese

Lunch: Leftover Beet Pasta (I will be eating this for days)

Dinner: Pizza with friends

Thursday
Breakfast: Chai Latte and breakfast burrito

Lunch: Avocado Salad and PB Sandwich

Dinner: Mini Pizzas with Goat Cheese and Zucchini

Friday

Breakfast: Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Lunch: Leftover Mini Pizzas

Dinner: Out

For your enjoyment

2009-07-10T15:41:00.002-04:00

LOLcats....in place of an actual post. :)

Recipe of the Week: Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa de Mancha Manteles

2009-07-01T20:00:00.010-04:00

I'm very excited, I recently bought The Tassajara Recipe Book. Tassajara is the name of a Zen Mountain Center in Northern California. All of the recipes are vegetarian and pretty healthy as well. Everything is really great for the soul.

Of course, I had to try the new cookbook out right away! So I decided to make dinner for my beau last weekend. Here is what I made for the tasty meal.

Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa de Mancha Manteles

The Salsa

8 New Mexico chilies - I could not find these so I didn't use them

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup almonds

2 Tbsp sesame seeds - the recipe calls for both these and the almonds to be roasted, but I did not roast them

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Small clove of Garlic, minced

1 oz Dark Chocolate (that's right, don't be afraid)

a pinch or two of Cinnamon

1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

Salt

Tomato Paste (optional) - I used this because there wouldn't have been much of a salsa without the chilies

Grind the almonds and sesame seeds.

Heat oil, add garlic and cook briefly. Add raisins and the blended almonds and sesame seeds. Add chocolate, cinnamon and sugar. Season to taste with vinegar and salt.

Add tomato paste and some water.

Cheese Enchiladas

1/2 Yellow Onion, diced

Olive Oil

8 oz Jack Cheese, grated

1/2 cup pitted Olives (optional) - I did not use these

2 oz canned Green Chilies, minced

Corn Tortillas

Garnish:

Sour Cream

Cilantro

Saute the onion in olive oil, set aside to cool. Add the cheese and chilies.

Line a 9" x 13" pan with 1/2 cup of the salsa from above. Heat tortillas to make them pliable. Dip both sides in some of the sauce on a plate. Add the cheese mixture to the tortilla and roll. Place in the baking dish. Do this until the pan is full. (The recipes calls for 12 tortillas, but I only fit 6).

Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. I sprinkled some cheese on top before baking it.

Garnish with Sour Cream and Cilantro.

I also made the Excellent Apple Salad and Green Beans with Sesame Paste and Garlic. Perhaps I'll post those recipes another time. Or you could just go and buy the book yourself.

Recipe of the Week: The quest for the perfect burrito

2009-06-25T14:25:00.023-04:00

Burritos are great! I'm always trying to create the perfect burrito. Really, perfect depends on what I am feeling at that particular time. It's very hard to beat the Seven Layers of Heaven Burrito, which has thus far stood the test of time. So, here's another attempt at burrito deliciousness. Actually, this was more like a burrito bowl, because the whole grain tortilla wraps, while healthy, are crap when it comes to staying in one piece. But, the photos are pre-eating and it appears that the burrito is in-tact, which it would be if I had used regular tortilla shells.

1 Chicken Italian Sausage (with pieces of peppers already in it, totally tasty!)

Refried Black Beans

Green Chilies (from the can)

1/2 Small Zucchini, sliced

1 Small Bunch of Broccoli, cut into small pieces
1/2 Avocado, Sliced

Handful of Shredded Cheese of your choice, I used a Cheddar-Jack combo

A few slices of an Onion

1 Tortilla Shell

Optional: Sour Cream

Slice sausage and saute in a skillet. Simultaneously blanch broccoli and zucchini.

While these things are cooking, heat up a serving of refried black beans and mix in green chilies.

Warm tortilla and spread bean mixture on it. Add the ingredients in the following order:

Sausage

Zucchini & Broccoli

Onions

Avocado

And voila! There's your burrito.

Also, here are some random pics that make me happy.

Pretty flowers to brighten up the apartment.

My ladies breaking it down. They've got such great moves that they coudn't be caught on camera!

Menu Plan Monday: Week of June 22, 2009

2009-06-22T22:25:00.003-04:00

It's actually Monday! I can post an honest Menu Plan Monday this week! Woo hoo!

Monday

Breakfast: Chai Latte, Nuts & Raisins

Lunch: Tuna Pita

Dinner: Huevos Rancheros

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bagel with Cream Cheese

Lunch: Salad

Dinner: Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

Wednesday

Breakfast: Yogurt & Almonds

Lunch: PB&J and crackers

Dinner: Tuna Salad & Crackers

Thursday

Breakfast: PB Toast & Banana

Lunch: Turky & Avocado Sandwich

Dinner: PB & J Sandwich

Friday

Breakfast: Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich

Lunch: Salad

Dinner: Sushi

Menu Plan Monday...er...Tuesday: Week of June 15, 2009

2009-06-16T12:57:00.004-04:00

I really meant to post this last night. But sometimes it seems like I just don't have enough time in the day. After my workout I HAD to watch the second half of The Reader (I feel asleep watching it the night before. It's what I do - falling asleep during movies. No matter how good.) It's a good thing though, to write this post after a few days into the week, to see how much I have diverted from the menu. It happens. Chaos is a part of life, and no matter how hard I seem to try, I cannot avoid the changes (okay, sometimes I try harder than others :). Essentially, I eat all of the meals on the list, but not always when I plan to.

So here's the plan for week. Monday and Tuesday are truly accurate. The rest is variable.

Monday
Breakfast: Yogurt and Almonds
Lunch: PB & J Sandwich and Salsa Sun Chips (they taste a little like Doritos, but better!)
Dinner: Sushi leftover from Sunday's dinner - I made Tuna/Avocado and Avocado Rolls

Tuesday
Breakfast: Blueberry Waffle with Peanut Butter
Lunch: Salad with Tuna and Avocado
Dinner: Burrito

Wednesday
Breakfast: Yogurt & Banana
Lunch: Burrito
Dinner: PB & J Sandwich

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: PB & J Sandwich
Dinner: Pasta with Zucchini, Onion and Garlic

Friday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich
Dinner: Out with friends

I am famous!

2009-06-15T13:07:00.004-04:00

Recently, I wrote an article for my zen center's newsletter. It was about my inability to stop drinking soda and how I used my zen practice around that. The newsletter has since been published and you can see the article, as well as the rest of the newsletter, here. Mine is entitled, A Tall, Cool Glass of RAIN, which I give my friend Ian the credit for. He also took the photo of the fizzing glass of soda.

Recipe of the Week: Lentil and Rice Casserole

2009-06-10T21:41:00.005-04:00

I got to use my crock pot again! And this was a simple but tasty dish. I found the recipe online, of course. Where else do you find recipes? Again, I took it to a potluck at my zen center. I forgot to add the cheese, but it was still pretty good. The first time I made it I remembered the cheese and it was better.

Lentil and Rice Casserole

3 tsp powdered chicken bouillon (I used vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)

2-1/2 cups very hot water

3/4 cup dry lentils, rinsed

1 cup white or brown rice

1 small to medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp dried sweet basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp minced garlic

Two handfuls or so of shredded cheddar cheese.

Combine everything but the cheese in a crock pot and cook on low for 3.5 hours. Add cheese and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of June 8, 2009

2009-06-08T23:07:00.011-04:00

I got this exciting new magnetic paper pads do-hickey at Barnes and Nobles recently. There are three pads of paper. I use them for my grocery list, my to-do list and my menu plan.

As you can see from the picture, the days of the week pad is perfect for my menu every week. And it goes right on the refrigerator, where I can see it everyday.

This is very exciting to me. Is that sad?

Anyhow, without further adieu, here is my menu for the week (you didn't think I would make you read it from the pictures, did you?):

Monday
Breakfast: Luna Bar and Iced Chai (so good!)
Lunch: Turkey and Avocado Sandwich
Dinner: Enchiladas (leftover Stouffer's family-size dish from Sunday)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Yogurt & Banana
Lunch: PB& J Sandwich
Dinner: Salad with Tuna and Beets

Wednesday
Breakfast: Luna Bar
Lunch: Turkey and Cheese Sandwich
Dinner: PB & J Sandwich

Thursday
Breakfast: Yogurt and Almonds
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich
Dinner: Out (Going to see Alvin Ailey!)

Friday
Breakfast: Yogurt and Almonds
Lunch: PB & J Sandwich
Dinner: Dinner out

Eating Lunch in Midtown Manhattan

2009-06-03T12:41:00.011-04:00

Okay, so I like to support cooking your own food and eating it, especially when it comes to lunch. Dinner, at times, calls for going out and trying something new. I usually try to bring my own lunch to work, as it saves me money and tends to be healthier. But sometimes, I do go out and get lunch. Luckily, I found this website about where to get cheap lunch in Midtown Manhattan. If you are one of the many, many, many people who work in this area of NYC (which I am), then this website is a must-have! For those of you who are not, just know this: Midtown Manhattan is not a culinary hot spot. Midtown is famous for a) annoying tourists who walk very slowly and stop in the middle of the sidewalk, b) theater, and c) bad expensive food. In fact, whenever I am in Midtown and looking for food, I usually make my way over to Hell's Kitchen, where there is good food at reasonable prices. Hopefully, this website will be useful to us working in Midtown.

I have added the site to my blog list on the left.

Recipe of the Week: Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

2009-06-01T22:35:00.008-04:00

I love peanut butter! I am declaring this first and foremost. I also very much enjoy a good Asian dish with a (non-spicy) peanut sauce. It's so tasty and filling! So, of course I decided, after having a delicious dish with a peanut sauce at a Tibetan restaurant, to try to make the sauce at home. Here's what I did.

Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce
Combine several tbsps of peanut butter, a couple tbsps of peanut oil and a dash or two of soy sauce in a pot. Cook on medium heat until it becomes a sauce-like consistency.

I cooked some broccoli, and edamame. Then mixed in some raw carrots, red cabbage and bean sprouts. Add any vegetables you wish.

Mix the sauce into the veggies. I topped the dish with Gomashio, as I do.

This dish was seriously filling. The food in the bowl (about 1 cup) pictured above was all I could eat. If I could have, I would have kept eating. I didn't even eat any rice with it. But I was so full after the one bowl. Hooray!

Menu Planning Monday: Week of June 1, 2009

2009-06-01T22:09:00.007-04:00

It's June, which means it's almost officially summer! It's already been feeling like summer here in NYC. The last two weekends were warm and sunny. It was great! Luckily the rain has kept mostly to the week days. Summer also means lots of great seasonal food. I'm trying to incorporate it more into my meals. Some days are better than others. Here's my menu for this week.

Monday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Chicken and Avocado Sandwich
Dinner: Pasta with Meatballs

Tuesday
Breakfast: Luna Bar
Lunch: Leftover Pasta
Dinner: Tuna Salad with Beets and Garbanzo Beans

Wednesday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: PB&J
Dinner: Egg Salad Sammie

Thursday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal with Bananas and Strawberries
Lunch: Egg Salad Sammie
Dinner: Burrito

Friday
Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwich
Lunch: Burrito
Dinner: Stir Fry (broccoli, peas, zucchini, cabbage, and carrots) with Peanut Sauce

Homecooked Meals

2009-05-28T12:49:00.004-04:00

Here's an interesting article about eating at home in New York City. With so many great restaurants in this city it's very hard to avoid the temptation of eating out all the time. Eating out can add up and before you know it, you're overspending on meals. The article was written by Cathy Erway, writer of the blog, Not Eating Out in New York (which has now been added to my list of cool food blogs to the left). What I like about the article is that she plans out a menu for the week, all food bought and prepared by you. Hmmm, sounds somewhat similar to a menu plan.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of May 25, 2009

2009-05-25T22:22:00.009-04:00

Back to planning my menus for the week. Today is Memorial Day (hug a vet), so I made a special All-American meal for dinner. Cheeseburger, Corn-on-the-Cob, Tater Tots, and Macaroni Salad. Ah, how patriotic of me. Anyhow, here's my menu.

Monday
Breakfast: French, nay, Freedom Toast (I've sunk to a new level. Americans are dumb...) and Bacon
Lunch: Brooklyn Pizza (at a restaurant in Manhattan)
Dinner: All-American Dinner and Berries & Cream
*Berries & Cream! Berries & Cream! I'm a little lad who loves berries & cream!* I always do the little song and dance as seen in the commercial below when there is berries & cream involved. Oh, how advertising has been embedded in my brain...

Tuesday
Breakfast: Luna Bar
Lunch: Lentil and Rice Casserole - expect a recipe soon
Dinner: BLT and Macaroni Salad

Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal with Cranberries and Almonds
Lunch: BLT and Macaroni Salad
Dinner: Luna Bar (before evening meditation)

Thursday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Salad with Tuna, Beets, Avocado, Garbanzo Beans
Dinner: Pasta

Friday
Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwich
Lunch: PB&J
Dinner: Veggie Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

Recipe of the Week: Vegetable Curry and Red Cabbage with Apples

2009-05-24T16:56:00.021-04:00

I am not a fan of spicy food, but an aromatic curry that is not too hot makes my mouth water. I recently made a Curry Lentil Soup in my crock pot, but it was nothing to write home about. I decided that I needed to learn how to make a good curry, so I googled curry recipes and tried to create one of my own out of what I found. I must say I was quite impressed with the results. Unfortunately I did not use exact measurements, so these are an estimate.

Vegetable Curry

1 Can Coconut Milk

1/2 Red Onion, Sliced

3-4 tbsp Curry Powder

2 tbsp Cumin

1 tbsp fresh Ginger, grated

2 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed

Cooked Vegetables:

Peas

Zucchini, sliced

Broccoli, chopped

Brown Rice or Angel Hair Pasta, cooked

Heat oil in a saucepan, add red onion. Cook until onions are soft. Add ginger and garlic and cook on high for 30 seconds. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add coconut milk. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Add Curry and Cumin. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat. Toss in vegetables and put over rice or pasta.

The curry was slightly on the spicy side, but nothing I could not handle. So, if you like spicy, add more curry powder.

I decided to cook some red cabbage as well and found this recipe.

Red Cabbage with Apple

1 medium head Red Cabbage, washed and shredded

1 large Tart Apple, peeled, cored and sliced

2 Tbsp Butter

1 Bay Leaf

Salt & Pepper

1/4 cup Dry Wine

2 Tbsp Vinegar

1 tsp Sugar

Melt butter in a large deep skillet. Add cabbage and apples, mix well.

Add bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Add wine, vinegar and sugar. Mix well, cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I seasoned the cabbage with some Gomashio to finish it off.

Recipe of the Week: Couscous and Sausage

2009-05-17T14:26:00.012-04:00

I've been on a Couscous kick lately. I'm not sure why, but I've just had the desire to eat it. One Friday evening I decided to buy a box of garlic flavored couscous on the way home from work. I needed a dish for my zen center potluck the next day and decided to take my leftovers, minus the Italian Sausage I made with it. Here is what I came up with.

Couscous with Sausage

1 box Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous (or similar)

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, Chopped

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, Chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 Egg

Italian Sausage (1 per serving)

Cook the couscous according to package directions (usually only takes 5 minutes or so)

Scramble the egg and add to couscous.

In a separate pan, cook the sausage and saute the peppers and onion. Mix the peppers and onions into the couscous. Cut the sausage into small pieces and lay on top.

The Italian Sausage and peppers add a spiciness that offsets the flavor of the couscous. I found it to be very tasty. The peppers also add a little color to the dish This can easily be made vegetarian by omitting the sausage.

They totally stole my idea!

2009-05-06T13:24:00.009-04:00

I've been thinking lately that there are no good recipe searches on the internet, should you have a few ingredients and are looking for something to cook. Sure, you can search by category of meal or main ingredient. But what if you have several non-main ingredients? So, I thought maybe this was something that needed to be created.

I got an email from a friend whom I told about this, for a website already putting this great idea to use. Although I am a little bummed that someone beat me to it, I'm thrilled that it's available. And imagine my shock when I saw it on a website that I often visit. Turns out you can search recipes on the World's Healthiest Foods website in this manner.

It's great! You just click on the ingredients you want to use, as well as any you don't and specific nutrients you're looking for. Not too shabby, eh?

I'm pleased to see that this kind of recipe search exists. However, this is only on one website. Has anyone seen this on other websites?

Recipe of the Week: "Borrowed" from NY Times Stir Fry

2009-04-16T12:57:00.002-04:00

Admittedly I have not been cooking much lately with the job starting and all. In the meantime, here is a recipe I found in the NY Times that looks pretty good. It's very healthy too. It looks like they're focusing on tofu for the entire week, so there are links to related recipes. Enjoy!

Food of the Week: Whole Wheat

2009-04-11T16:27:00.013-04:00

If you remember anything about wheat, it should be this: Whole Wheat with germ and bran intact = good. Refined wheat = not so good. The refining process extracts the most nutrient rich parts of the wheat, the bran and germ, removing much of the vitamins, minerals and fiber. Many of the products we eat in the U.S. contain refined wheat, things like breads, pastas and baked goods. Diet propaganda like the Atkins Diet played on this truth to get people to lose weight by not eating carbohydrates like wheat. But the largest and scariest hole in no/low carb diet plans is the inclusion of all carbohydrates into the category of unhealthy. Let’s take a deeper look into the nutrition of whole wheat.

Photo courtesy of http://www.cspinet.org/nah/wwheat.html

Benefits:

Women who eat whole wheat rather than refined tend to weigh less.
Helps to lower risk for Type II Diabetes and lessens Chronic Inflammation.
Helps prevent Gallstones, Heart Disease and Childhood Asthma.
Good for cardiovascular health in postmenopausal women.
The fiber found in wheat bran can act as a natural laxative. It helps you poo!
Whole wheat helps to prevent certain types of cancers. It affects estrogen levels in a way that helps protect against some cancers. It also helps to protect against colon cancer.

Drawbacks:

Allergies to wheat are very common.
People with Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance cannot eat products containing wheat.
Whole wheat contains substances called oxalates, which in high concentrations can exacerbate kidney and gallbladder problems.

Ways to eat whole wheat:

To ensure that you get the benefits of whole wheat make sure you purchase foods that are not refined. Whole grains should be listed as the first ingredient and items should have at least 3 grams of fiber.
Cereals high in fiber, such as raisin bran or shredded wheat.
Eat whole wheat breads and pastas.
Instead of using bread crumbs use rolled oats or bran cereal.

Little known fact:

A product marked multigrain does not necessarily contain whole grains. Make sure to read the nutrition information to make sure the whole grain is used.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of April 6

2009-04-06T10:44:00.003-04:00

Please forgive my lack of posts lately, I've been a little busy. But, I am back and going to start a job later this week. Woo hoo! So for this week's menu I need to start planning for breakfasts and lunches at the new job. I'm still trying to keep a budget, so I really need to make my meals and take them in to work.

Monday

Breakfast: Eggs and toast

Lunch: Asian Dumplings and Baked Beans

Dinner: Mexican Lasagna'

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bagel & Veggie Cream Cheese

Lunch: Salad with Tuna

Dinner: Pasta Primavera

Wednesday

Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwich

Lunch: PB & J and Veggie Chips

Dinner: Mexican Lasagna

Thursday

Breakfast: PB Toast

Lunch: Salad with Tuna

Dinner: Pasta Primavera

Friday

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Vegetable Wrap - with zucchini, avocado, lettuce, carrots, cucumber and sprouts

Dinner: Mexican Lasagna

Recipe of the Week: Pasta Carbonara

2009-03-25T14:33:00.003-04:00

Whenever I get bacon, I feel a need to eat it immediately. Because I am only one person, I have to make sure not to let the open package go bad. That would be tragic! Of course, there are breakfast foods and BLTs to eat, but I thought it would be interesting to try something new. Hence, here is my attempt at Pasta Carbonara. I found this recipe by doing a simple google search.

Pasta Carbonara
1/4 lb. bacon
1 stick (1/4 lb.) butter
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 lb. pasta - I used whole wheat angel hair pasta, my go to pasta
2 eggs, whipped
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan

Cut bacon into little pieces and cook in butter.

In a saucepan heat milk, and add the bacon and butter, add the vinegar, which will turn the milk to cheese.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce cooks smooth. I added frozen peas to the sauce.

Cook the pasta. Drain and return to pan. Immediately throw in the eggs, the bacon sauce and cheese. Toss and serve.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pasta Carbonara contains many of my favorite foods in one dish! Bacon, pasta, eggs... It did feel a little weird to put eggs in the pasta, but I got over it. It was pretty good. Not great, but decent. It was a little dry. I'm willing to try another recipe for Pasta Carbonara in the future.

Sorry, no picture. :(

Recipe of the week: Crock Pot Curry Lentil Soup

2009-03-19T20:26:00.007-04:00

I recently tried out a new recipe in my crock pot. One more step to becoming a crock pot culinary master!

Curry Lentil Soup

4 cups hot water

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

3 medium carrots, thinly sliced

1 large onion , chopped

1 celery ribs, chopped

1 cup dry lentils

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

4 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Stir and cook for 8 hours. Removes bay leaves before eating.

The curry is not very strong in this dish. But, it provides a nice contrast with the tomatoes. I recommend adding the salt. It's a bit bland without it.

Menu Plan Whatever day it is: Week of March 16

2009-03-17T14:42:00.006-04:00

Oops! No menu yesterday. Not to worry, I have one today. This week I am all about cheeses with chopped vegetables in them. They're so great! I love a good bagel with vegetable cream cheese. And today I found the same in a solid cheese, which I ate with apples and whole grain crackers for a tasty treat. For the rest of my menu, please see below.

Monday

Breakfast: Sausage and Potatoes

Lunch: Mac & Cheese

Dinner: Out with friends, I had some fancy pepperoni pizza.

Tuesday

I didn't really have breakfast today. Instead:

Lunch: Leftover Mac & Cheese

Snack: Cheese, Apples & Whole Grain Crackers

Dinner: Salad with Chicken, Cranberries and Walnuts

Wednesday

Breakfast: Not for Sissys Eggs

Lunch: PB& J Sandwich, Salad

Dinner: Pasta with Bacon & Peas

Thursday

Breakfast: Smoothie and Half a Bagel with Veggie Cream Cheese

Lunch: Salad with Tuna and Veggies

Dinner: Salad with Chicken, Cranberries and Walnuts

Friday

Breakfast: Eggs

Lunch: Bagel Sandwich with Veggie Cream Cheese and Chicken

Dinner: Pasta with Bacon & Peas

Recipe of the week: Gluten Free Tex Mex Mosaic Salad

2009-03-11T22:35:00.008-04:00

Last weekend we had a gluten free potluck at our zen center. We did this because we had a visiting zen priest who has Celiac Disease, a disorder in which a toxic reaction is caused by eating foods containing gluten. Potlucks allow the members of this zen community to share food and community with each other for an afternoon. Making accommodations for our visitor was a welcome to our community.

Gluten is found in a lot of food. It is a wheat/rye/barley protein used in pastas and breads. Typical food for potlucks tend to include pasta, bread and desserts containing gluten. So, in my search for a gluten free dish for the potluck I came across this blog. And I found this tasty little dish.

Tex Mex Mosaic Salad
1 (14.5 oz.) can of black beans, drained
1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or most of a 14.5 oz can)
1-1/2 cups steamed edamame
2 cups corn kernels

Dressing:
2 Tbsp. minced cilantro
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. hot pepper sauce (or to taste)
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix beans, corn and tomatoes in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients and pour over the mixture.

Sorry, I do not have a picture. There's one on the blog link I've attached to the dish name. That's pretty much what it looked like for me too.

Treatment of food industry workers

2009-03-08T11:37:00.007-04:00

It’s time to get serious, Accidental Epicure readers. I blog a lot about the happy side of food, whether recipes or shared experiences of food with friends. But, I think it’s super important, when we eat the food we are fortunate enough to enjoy, to be mindful of where the food has come from and how it got to our plates. Therefore this post focuses on some recent news and current conditions of workers in the food industry.

I was listening to WNYC, an affiliate station for NPR here in NYC, yesterday. One of my favorite shows on the station, the Brian Lehrer Show, had two guests who talked about slavery of farm workers in Florida. It piqued my interest and inspired me to write a post about where our food comes from. If you’ve read/seen Fast Food Nation, or have read up on the treatment of food industry workers, many who are undocumented immigrants working to send money back to their families at home, than this may not be much of a surprise. Even so, it’s a disgusting way to treat people and no one should ever have to endure slavery in any form.

At the most superficial level you can see what is happening. Companies hire undocumented workers for less money, no benefits and no protections because the workers won’t complain due to fear of deportation. Although the conditions are horrific, immigrant workers still come because they can make more money than if they were to stay in their native country. It’s a sad case when companies and people exploit this scenario with no respect for human life. Luckily there are organized groups taking a stand against this.

You may be asking what this has to do with you. You (hopefully) are not the one running the company or enslaving workers. But, the companies guilty of these crimes do not work in a vacuum. Please consider the following things:

-These kinds of systems function because of our demand for the products, whether direct or indirect. If we, in large numbers, boycott these foods, we no longer support the abusive practices and companies will have to change their ways or go out of business.

-Fast food restaurants and chain stores provide mass consumption of produce and meat. They do this to provide a service to the crap load of people who eat fast food. If you get the fast food industry to change their practices, it makes a HUGE affect on the food industry.

-When foods are out of season in our region we have to get them from elsewhere. We cannot support our local farms and must branch out to areas where these foods are common. This allows for large conglomerate companies to exploit workers in the areas where the food is. Since there is high demand, they need a lot of (cheap) help.

So it’s not so simple then. We are not outside of the boundaries of an abusive system. The system needs us to work. The most basic way we can help to prevent slavery of food industry workers is to be knowledgeable about where our food comes from. Simply do not buy food from companies who support this. Tell your friends to boycott them as well.

As far as grocery stores refusing to purchase produce from the tomato growers mentioned on the radio show, Whole Foods is the only one who has done so. We all know that Whole Foods is a bit expensive. The reason why your food is so cheap may have something to do with the small amount the company pays its workers. Times are hard but does that give us license to support the abuse of other human beings? If you must have something cheaper, many areas have local co-ops and farmers markets. If your area does not, maybe something needs to be done about that. These things will only come with demand.

We are responsible for the treatment of the people who pick and prepare our food. We can easily ignore this, because we are distanced from it. But by doing so, we are only allowing it to happen. The companies will not change unless there is an incentive to do it. There will be no rush of conscience. Justice may be brought to a company, but another one will do the same thing in its place. This is a capitalist system and therefore companies change policies based on what brings them business. We are their business, so we need to affect change with what we purchase and use in our daily lives.

I’ve really only touched on the tip of the iceberg with this post. I encourage you to continue researching and paying attention to this. Once you allow yourself to see what’s going on, it becomes much harder to ignore. You will not believe what you see!

Recipe of the week: Not for sissies eggs

2009-03-05T20:38:00.007-05:00

I love breakfast! Eggs are one of my top 5 foods in the world. So here is one of my favorite breakfast dishes that is a real treat in the morning (or afternoon or dinner for that matter).

Not for sissies eggs

Heat up store bought french fries in the oven as directed.

Prepare 2-3 sausage (or soy sausage if you prefer) links as directed. Chop into small pieces.

Add the cooked fries and sausage, chopped onions, and ripped up pieces of half a bagel into a bowl with 2 beaten eggs. Pour into a heated skillet and sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese. Cook as you normally would scrambled eggs.

Add ground pepper, if desired.

Depending on my apetite in the morning, as well as what I have planned in the afternoon, I may have a small glass o' smoothie with it. Here is my favorite concoction (not too orginal, but tasty).

1 small container fat free vanilla yogurt

1/2 banana, sliced

2-3 strawberries, sliced (sometimes I use a few berries from a frozen berry mix instead)

1/4 cup orange juice

Blend and enjoy!

Eating healthy while on a budget

2009-03-03T17:23:00.007-05:00

Yesterday there was an article in the New York Times about eating on a budget. May I bring your attention to the section about potatoes? That's right, Jane Brody agrees that potatoes can be an affordable and nutritious addition to dishes. She also recommends beans, cabbage and fruit.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of March 2

2009-03-02T22:02:00.005-05:00

Is it March already? Why did we get 7 inches of snow here in Brooklyn? Didn't mother nature get the memo that spring is on it's way? To inspire spring to come I've decided to add a few meals that I tend to eat more in the spring time. Hopefully this will be enough to fool my body into thinking it is spring already. I wonder if it will have the same effect on mother nature. Probably not. She's been fickle recently, doing whatever she wants to.

Monday

Breakfast: Not for Sissies Scrambled Eggs

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Tuna Wrap

Tuesday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Quinoa Salad

Dinner: Chicken and Veggie Pasta with Olive Oil and Parmesan

Wednesday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Stir Fry

Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Avocado, Tomato and Sprouts Sandwich

Dinner: Leftover Pasta

Friday

Breakfast: PB Toast (Pre-Workout) & Smoothie (Post-Workout)

Lunch: Leftover Stir Fry

Dinner: Lentil Soup & Salad

Food of the Week: Potatoes

2009-03-01T22:29:00.015-05:00

For this week's food of the week I've decided to break down some misconceptions about a food that has gotten a bad rap in recent years. Carbohydrates have sadly become the food to avoid or reduce in our diets. But, as you can see in my last post, carbs can play an integral part in eating on a budget. While there are very unhealthy carbs, this doesn't mean that all are bad. So, here it comes, the food of the week is potatoes.

Benefits:

Very good source of Vitamin C, which we all know is good for the immune system.
Good source of Potassium, Copper, Manganese and dietary fiber. Help to prevent cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and some cancers.
Good source of Vitamin B6, which is good for the nervous system, helping us sleep, manage stress and be less depressed.
Low in calories.

Drawbacks:

Many of the ways we tend to eat potatoes (ie french fries, potato chips, etc) are loaded with fat.
Potatoes are abundant and therefore budget friendly.

Ways to eat potatoes:

I got this idea from a Tibetan restaurant here in NYC. Sauté small chunks of potatoes with greens and chicken in soy sauce. Flavor with garlic and ginger.
A favorite for brunch, sauté cut up potatoes with onions, green peppers and garlic.
Mashed potatoes! Possibly the best food in the world!

Little known facts:

Potatoes have been grown in space.
Potatoes can be used to help relieve global hunger due to their abundance and ability to grow in harsh climates.

So don't you fret, little darlings! Eat potatoes and be happy!

Carbs are our friends

2009-02-27T00:20:00.007-05:00

The current market slump our country is going through is not new. Unpleasant for many but not new. During this time of scrimping and saving where we can, looking back to hard times of the past can teach us a lot. See this video of a woman sharing a recipe that helped get her family through the Great Depression.

So stop hating on the carbs people! They can get us through some hard times.

Recipe of the Week: Crockpot Chili and Quinoa Salad

2009-02-26T14:32:00.010-05:00

I got a new crock pot! Hooray! Because sometimes I don't want to just cook, I want to slow cook. Well I already broke the newbie in. Last week I made lunch for a friend and found a good recipe for crock pot chili from a crock pot recipes website.

I was going to use ground turkey instead of beef but I grossly miscalculated how late my grocery store was open and had to end up using turkey kielbasa. I liked it with the kielbasa but I think it would be better with ground turkey.

1/2 lb dry pinto or kidney beans
2 can tomatoes (14.5oz ea)
2 lb chuck; browned,
2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
4 1/2 cup water or 2 16-oz cans
2 medium onions; coarsely chopped,
1 green pepper; chopped
2 garlic cloves; crushed
1 salt to taste

The wonderful thing about crock pots - you just put everything in it and stir, then turn cook it over a long period and voila! This chili requires 10-12 hours on low, which is what I did overnight so it would be ready for lunch. Or you can cook it for 5-6 hours on high.

I also made a quinoa salad to go with the chili (I got to have quinoa).
1 cup unprepared quinoa
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 bag of lettuce or spinach
A few green onions, chopped
1 Avocado, sliced
Optional: cooked Edamame (I left them out for this particular lunch there was already beans in the chili)

Cook the quinoa as directed. When cooked, put on top of a layer of lettuce. Add tomato, green onion, avocado and edamame. Eat and enjoy!

I got this idea from a friend who said that whenever he needs some energy he eats quinoa with edamame. I had leftover tomatoes and green onions from another meal, so decided to add these as well.

Happy eating!

Menu Plan Monday: Week of February 23

2009-02-23T14:23:00.005-05:00

Another week of trying to include energizing dishes to my menu for the week. More complex carbs and protein all around. I started taking some classes at my gym that are very physically taxing, so I really need the better diet.

Monday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Leftover Sushi

Dinner: Light Fare at Launch Party

Tuesday

Breakfast: Eggs & Greens

Lunch: Crockpot Chili

Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta

Wednesday

Breakfast: PB Toast & Banana

Lunch: Quinoa Salad

Dinner: Burrito

Thursday

Breakfast: Eggs & Hot Cereal

Lunch: Tuna Salad Sandwich

Dinner: Black Bean Soup & Grilled Cheese

Friday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Quinoa Salad & Black Bean Soup

Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta

Recipe of the week: 7 Layers of Heaven Burrito

2009-02-19T00:05:00.011-05:00

Watch out Taco Bell! I've got a 7 layer burrito that will put yours to shame. I decided to treat myself to a lovely valentines dinner and came up with this wonderful treat. I've learned recently that less is generally more when it comes to cooking. But, I decided to throw this rule out the window and added all the good stuff I could think of. Here is my 7 layer burrito, broken down layer by layer.

Layer 1 - Refried black beans mixed with taco seasoning.

Layer 2 - 2 strips of bacon.

Layer 3 - Pieces of crunchy romaine lettuce.

Layer 4 - Matchstick carrots. I've been adding these babies to lots of sandwiches and wraps lately. They add a little crunch.

Layer 5 - Sliced avocado. I don't feel I need to qualify this layer.

Layer 6 - Now stay with me for a minute here. This really is a good addition. I saute slices of zucchini in olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Layer 7 - Sour cream.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of February 16

2009-02-16T12:16:00.007-05:00

In the March edition of Natural Health is an article about eating foods that help energize you. I am drawn to this article because I feel the foods I have been eating lately are weighing me down a bit. So, with the help of Natural Health I have decided to try to energize my menu for this week. Essentially they recommend including the following types of foods in your diet: Complex Carbohyrdrates, Protein and Healthy Fats. Additionally they list 10 specific foods with energizing properties. These include:

1. Brocolli

2. Brown Rice

3. Eggs

4. Green Tea

5. Oats

6. Oranges

7. Nut Butters

8. Salmon

9. Sea Vegetables

10. Yogurt

Monday

Breakfast: Egg and Hot Cereal

Lunch: Tuna Wrap with Carrot Matchsticks and Herbed Cheddar Cheese

Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Rice

Tuesday

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Toast with PB and Banana

Lunch: Quinoa with Edamame & Greens

Dinner: 7 Layer Burrito

Wednesday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Polenta with Sauteed Vegetables

Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Quinoa with Edamame & Greens

Dinner: Salad with Tuna, Beets & Chick Peas

Friday

Breakfast: Egg, Greens & Toast

Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich
Dinner: Sushi

Food of the week: Zucchini

2009-02-15T11:53:00.016-05:00

I was speaking to my roomie about a food of the week and she suggested zucchini. I was like, I already had zucchini as food of the week. I mean, if you've read my blog you can plainly see my affection for the vegetable. But, upon further inspection, sure enough, I have never written about zucchini as food of the week. What?!?! How did this happen?

This must be remedied immediately.

Benefits:

Excellent source of Vitamin C.
Good source of Folate, Potassium, Vitamin A, and Beta Carotene.
Low in calories.
High in fiber.
Source of antioxidants.
Good for men's prostates.
Grow and proliferate quickly.

Drawbacks:

Zucchini contains substances called oxalates, which in high concentrations can exacerbate kidney and gallbladder problems.
Grow and proliferate quickly.

Ways to eat zucchini:

One of the most simple ways to cook zucchini is to saute it in either butter or olive oil and sprinkle some parmesan cheese. (This significantly ups the calorie content, obviously).
Zucchini works great in stir fries, pastas and soups.
Zucchini-crusted pizza.
My sister makes a delicious zucchini bread.
I like to saute zucchini and add it to a burrito. (See an upcoming Recipe of the Week)

Little known facts:

Most of the nutrients in zucchini are in the skin.
Zucchini is a summer squash that origins trace back to Mexico. It later made it's way to Italy and into some tasty dishes. This totally explains my tendency to put zucchini in burritos!
The zucchini is related to the melon and cucumber.

Recipe of the Week: Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

2009-02-12T10:42:00.016-05:00

The Moosewood Cookbook has provided me with some delightful new recipes. All of the recipes in the cookbook are vegetarian and also quite healthy. Last weekend I decided to break it out to make a dinner for a few friends one evening. The recipe I chose for this little get-together was the Zucchini-Crusted Pizza. The recipe stuck out to me because a) I like pizza and b) I loooooooove zucchini. Here is the recipe.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Cups Grated Zucchini - I put small chunks of zucchini in a food processor

2 Eggs, Beaten

1/4 Cup Flour + Flour for the pan

1/2 Cup Grated Mozzarella

1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan

Optional: Pinches of Basil, Marjoram, or Rosemary

Plus the toppings of your choice. I included:

1 Large Ripe Tomato, Sliced

Extra Mozzarella, Shredded

1/2 of each Green and Red Peppers, Sliced

Handful of Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Sliced

Grated Parmesan, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 and oil a pie pan and coat it with flour.

Mix together the zucchini, eggs, flour, mozzarella, parmesan, herbs and 1 tbsp olive oil in a bowl.

Spread the mixture onto the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Halfway through, brush with the another tbsp of olive oil.

Cool for 10 minutes, loosen with a spatula from the pan, so that it won't break later.

Top the crust with the tomatoes, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and cheeses. Bake until heated through and cheese is melted.

The zucchini crust wasn't intensely flavorful. It honestly was hard to distinguish from a doughy crust. But it was much healthier and the whole dish was divine.

Food of the week: Leeks

2009-02-08T10:19:00.023-05:00

I used leeks for the first time when making the Winter Soup for the food of the week. While cutting and cooking, the delicate smell of the leeks really stimulated the senses. I decided that I really needed to learn more about leeks and maybe even use them more.

Benefits:

Reduce bad cholesterol levels.
May reduce risk of prostate, colon and ovarian cancers.
Good source of vitamins B6, C, folate and iron, which in combination help to stabilize blood sugar.

Drawbacks:

Leeks contain substances called oxalates, which in high concentrations can exacerbate kidney and gallbladder problems.

Ways to eat Leeks:

Great addition to any soup or salad.
Leek and Cauliflower Quiche.

Little known facts:

Leeks are in the same family as Onions, Garlic and Scallions. They have many of the same benefits, but are in smaller amounts in leeks. Therefore, to get the same benefits you need to eat more leeks.
Most supplies of leeks in the U.S. come from California, Michigan and Virginia.

Recipe of the week: Winter Soup and Polenta

2009-02-04T21:58:00.020-05:00

Monday night I hosted a crafting circle, which meant preparing a main dish for the hungry crafters. I decided that soup would be a good bet, given the time of year and the convenience of soup for large groups. My friend Alisa was there to help me prepare ahead of time. The soup came out great and we had a lovely time. Here are the recipes:

Winter Soup
I got this recipe from my roommate's vegetarian cookbook. I doubled the ingredients for a larger group of people. I added more tomato paste than called for, so my soup was a bit more tart than it was supposed to come out. But I still enjoyed it.

2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Leeks, thinly sliced
2 Zucchini, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, Crushed
2 - 14 oz Cans Chopped Tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf
3 3/4 cup Vegetable Stock
14 oz Can Garbanzo Beans
8 oz Spinach, Finely Shredded

Saute the leeks and zucchini in the olive oil over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, vegetable stock and garbanzo beans. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the spinach and boil for 2 minutes.

Polenta
I bought a tube of plain polenta from the grocery store. I cut it into 1/2" thick slices and flavored them with a mixture of cumin, garlic powder, ground pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Then I fried the slices in some olive oil.

My friend Barbara also brought some appetizers that were really good! Luckily I got the recipe from her.
Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped
Kalamata Olives, Chopped
Garlic, Minced
Basil
Olive Oil
Mozzarella Cheese
Baguette

Mix the vegetables, garlic, basil and olive oil.

Layer the mixture on thin slices of the baguette (toasted if you prefer). Add slices of mozzarella and put under the broiler to melt.

Menu Plan Monday (or Tuesday): Week of February 2

2009-02-03T10:30:00.010-05:00

Oops, I didn't post my menu for the week yesterday. I had a busy day of cleaning, cooking and socializing yesterday. Not to mention searching for a job. This was mostly in preparation for my monthly crafting night. I was the host last night, so it required some loving preparation. I made a tasty soup, which I will post for the Recipe of the Week tomorrow. And Ian was there, so I will have great pictures to go along with it.

Monday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Frozen Pizza

Dinner: Crafting night! I made a tomato-base soup and polenta. We also had these red pepper pesto appetizers and raspberry sorbet.

Tuesday

Breakfast: City Eggs (A dish I took from a place called the Mudd House that used to be a college hangout in Ypsilanti Michigan - you mix pieces of bagel and tater tots into scrambled eggs. They also added broccoli, but I don't have any. No healthy vegetables in this carbs on carbs wrapped in protein dish.)

Lunch: PB & J with Vegetable Chips

Dinner: Leftover Soup

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Pasta with Sauteed Beets and Onions

Dinner: Bean and Cheese Burrito

Thursday

Breakfast: Eggs and Toast

Lunch: Leftover Soup

Dinner: Quinoa with Beets and Peas

Friday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: PB & J with Vegetable Chips

Dinner: Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

Food of the week: Peas

2009-01-30T15:13:00.022-05:00

When trying to come up with a food of the week, a friend of mine suggested peas. The reason for this; her 4 year old loves peas. This boggled my mind. A young child likes peas? How can that be? It is a matter of fact that ALL children hate peas and have to go through the agony of being made to eat all of the peas on their plate. Thus, peas as this week's food of the week came to be.

For this post I am focusing on the Green Pea family, which includes garden peas, snow peas and snap peas, among others. No Black Eyed Peas here (sorry Fergie! ... no, no, no, no, don't funk with my heart...).

Benefits:

Good source of vitamins K, C, A, Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Mangonese, Folate, Fiber, and Phosphorus, just to name a few. (Yowza!) Therefore peas are good for bones, heart, preventing cancer and increasing energy.
Low in fat and calories.
Although we may not enjoy eating them as children, peas are fun to play with when our parents make us sit at the table until we eat all of them. A pea pyramid, anyone?

Drawbacks:

Peas contain purines, that may cause the gout or kidney stones in people who are sensitive to the substance.
Peas are commonly used to torture young children in the U.S. Pleas of "but Mo-om" are useless in the battle. Also, completely drowning the peas in ketchup is not helpful.

Ways to eat peas:

A healthy addition to a casserole, pasta or soup.
Snap peas are tasty in a stir fry.
Excellent in fried rice.

Little known facts:

Peas are legumes, just like beans and peanuts.
Frozen peas tend to retain flavor better than canned peas. They also tend to have less sodium.
An Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel, is credited for basic genetics (aka Mendelian Genetics) based on his experiments with peas. His research showed dominant and recessive traits in the legumes.

Photo courtesy of bub.blicio.us.

Recipes of the week: Budget Gourmet

2009-01-28T13:36:00.047-05:00

As you can see by my menu for the week, I am trying to adhere to a tight budget by using many affordable items repeatedly throughout the week. The resulting meals are simple but offer something a little different than the common budget foods. As a side note, I remember when I was an undergrad I used to eat half of a can of spaghetti oh's and a grilled cheese sandwich every day. Good for the budget, not so much for the soul.

Here are some of the meals I've crafted this week (and a few from previous weeks that fit in with the theme).

Grilled Pb & J

I've been eating a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately. And why not? We know that PB is healthy and that the ingredients are affordable. But, as much as I really enjoy a good PB & J, it's easy to get sick of eating them repeatedly. So, here's a little tweak to the traditional favorite. My inspiration came from a newly opened, local cafe that serves fried PB &J sandwiches. I thought, I could do that.

2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread

Peanut Butter

Jelly of your choice (I use a strawberry rhubarb from my hometown of Dexter, Michigan. I stock up on it a few times a year)

Butter

Make this as you would make a grilled cheese sandwich. Spread butter on the outside of both pieces of bread. On the inside of the slices spread the PB & J. Grill over medium heat until side of bread is brown, flip and repeat on other side.

Now, you may be hesitant to try this, but I assure you it is wonderful! Not so much healthy, but wonderful.

Bean and Cheese Quesadillas and Pomegranate Guacamole

I made these last weekend for some friends as an alternative to ordering in. They were simple to make and tasty. Much like for PB & J sandwiches, the ingredients for quesadillas can be stretched out and used for multiple things. For instance, I could make a bean and cheese burrito (as I am planning to later this week).

1 Flour Tortilla

Refried Black Beans

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Butter

I've previously used chicken sauteed in taco seasoning as well

Cut one large tortilla in half and butter one side of each half. Spread refried black beans on half of each half tortilla. Lay butter side down in a warm skillet, sprinkle cheese over the beans and fold over the tortilla. Brown each side in the skillet over medium heat.

I cut each one in half again to make small slices of the quesadilla.

As for the guacamole...

1 Ripe Avocado

1/2 Clove Garlic

Pomegranate Seeds

Smash up the avocado and mix in minced or chopped garlic. Add pomegranate seeds to your liking.

The seeds offer little pockets of fruity goodness against the contrast of the heavy, yet delicious avocado.

Pasta with Sauteed Beets and Onions

This is pretty self explanatory. It's so easy and it provides a different take on the usual pasta. I heart beets and they add a nice flavor to the dish.

1 Small Can Beets, Sliced in to small pieces

1/2 Small Onion, Chopped

Olive Oil

Whole Wheat Pasta, Cooked

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Saute the beets and onion in olive oil. Throw over pasta and flavor with parmesan cheese.

Quinoa Casserole

I made this dish one day while trying to make use of food I had at home. It's rather tasty and super healthy (well, except for maybe the cheese).

1 Cup Unprepared Quinoa

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 Cup Frozen Peas

1/2 Small Onion, Chopped

1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs

Cumin, Celery Salt, Garlic Powder

Milk

Butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare the quinoa as directed. While still warm, stir in about a tablespoon of butter, a little bit of milk, as much cheese as your heart desires (but save a little for the topping), the onion and peas.

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish (I use a small bread size dish).

Melt a tablespoon of butter and mix in the breadcrumbs and the cumin, celery salt and garlic powder to taste. Stir in some cheese and spread the mixture over the top of the quinoa mix in the dish.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the topping has become crisp and the cheese on top is melted.

Now you have 4 new recipes for budget friendly meals. When you see these come up on my weekly menu (and they will!) you will know what they are. Being broke doesn't have to mean eating ramen noodles or half a can of spaghetti oh's and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of January 26

2009-01-26T16:56:00.020-05:00

More budget gourmet this week (ooh la la!). To remain true to my budget I decided this week to use many affordable items throughout the week. These are items that are not only affordable but that can stretch out groceries through the week. Here are the essential items I am working with:

Peanut Butter (not contaminated with Salmonella)

Strawberry Rhubarb Jelly

Quinoa

Refried Black Beans

Tortillas

Whole Wheat Pasta

Can of Pasta Sauce

Box of Frozen Chicken Fingers (not exactly healthy and/or organic, but can be added to many dishes)

Beets (you can generally get good deals on cans of beets - at my grocery store I can get 3 small cans for $2)

Pomegranate

Eggs (an old standby)

Baguette

Vegetable Chips (a favorite of mine - the bag lasts a while too)

Plus a few standard items, like Shredded Cheese, Onion, Frozen Peas, Avocado etc.

Monday

Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Jelly Toast

Lunch: Out with a friend

Dinner: Pasta & Cheese and Chicken fingers

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot Quinoa with Pomegranate Seeds

Lunch: PB & J and vegetable chips

Dinner: Bean and Cheese Quesadilla with Pomegranate Guacamole

Wednesday

Breakfast: Eggs and Toast

Lunch: Chicken Sandwich

Dinner: Pasta with sauteed beets and onions, garlic bread

Thursday

Breakfast: Hot Quinoa and Scrambled Eggs

Lunch: PB & J and vegetable chips

Dinner: Burrito with Chicken, Beans, and Avocado

Friday

Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast

Lunch: Quinoa with onion, peas and beets
Dinner: Pasta with Tomato Sauce

Recipe of the week: Maki Sushi

2009-01-21T16:10:00.044-05:00

Last week I had an excellent tutorial on how to make Maki Sushi from my friend Yoko. The instructions were really great and she showed me how to make it without any seafood or even sea vegetable. (I'm a picky eater and do not eat anything from the sea, including sea vegetables. There is one exception, canned tuna. I don't know why so don't ask me.) So, I decided to make sushi for my roommate Kate and take it to her for lunch today. It was great and she seemed to really enjoy it!

Making Maki Sushi is not really that complicated, once you know how to do it. It just takes a little bit of time. There are really three major things to do for sushi; cook the rice, prepare the fillings and roll and cut the sushi. From start to finish it took me about 2 hours to make today.

Making the Rice

Ingredients needed: Sushi Rice, Sushi Vinegar and Water

It's easy to find Sushi Rice at most grocery stores. Prepare rice as directed on the package. If you cannot find Sushi Vinegar you can just combine vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Once the rice is cooked you mix the Sushi Vinegar into the rice. Rapidly mix for a few minutes. This gives the sushi a little bit of sweetness.

Total time to make rice: About 1 hour

Preparing the Fillings

Ingredients needed: Avocado, Cucumber, Eggs, Carrots, Shitaki Mushrooms, Soy Sauce, Water - And whatever else your heart desires.

Cut into thin slices the Avocado, Cucumber, Carrots and Mushrooms. Put the Avocado and Cucumber aside.

Blanche the Carrots in water and then remove, set aside. Cook mushrooms in carrot water until soft (My friend Yoko added some kind of wine-vinegar at this stage. I did not but it still worked out anyway). Remove the mushrooms and soak in soy sauce for a few minutes.

In a skillet, cook 3 eggs omelet style. Cut the omelet into thin strips and put on a plate with all other fillings.

Total time to make the fillings: 20-30 minutes (can be done while rice is cooking)

Rolling and Cutting the Sushi
Items needed: Bamboo Sushi Roller, Wax Paper or Syran Wrap, Sesame Seeds, Nori Sheets and a good sharp knife

Lay out Sushi Roller flat on a cutting board.

For Nori-less rolls: Lay piece of wax paper/syran wrap on top of roller. Cover half of the width of the roller with rice. Make a thin line down the middle (but be careful not to go all the way through the rice. Add thin slices of a few of the fillings (ie. Avocado, Carrot and Cucumber). Use the roller to fold over the edge of the paper and create a roll. Make sure that the fillings don't squeeze or fall out in the process. Press on the sides of the roller to make the roll firm. Remove the roller and paper/wrap. Sprinkle with Sesame Seeds. Cut the roll into inch long pieces and stand up on a dish.

For rolls with Nori: Lay a sheet of the Nori on the roller. Cover half of the Nori with rice. Make a thin line in the middle as described above. Add the fillings and use the roller to fold over. Make sure that the Nori completely covers the roll and press the roller to make the roll firm. This will also seal the Nori. Cut away any excess Nori. Cut the roll into inch long pieces and stand up on a dish.

Total time to make about 5 rolls: 30 minutes.

Note: It's a good idea to keep a towel near you while rolling the sushi. The rice is very sticky and some of the fillings will dirty up your hands as well.

I made the rolls with Nori for my roomie and and the ones without for both of us. I took some soy sauce for dipping. In addition, I made some Edamame, by simply boiling some frozen pods in lightly salted water.

Kate takes the classy route using chopsticks to eat her sushi.

I decide to use my hands instead.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of January 19

2009-01-19T18:15:00.009-05:00

What an exciting week ahead! Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and tomorrow is quite an historic presidential inauguration. Lots of things to celebrate. My brunch ladies, Kate and Joan, had today off of work and brunch was to be had. So here's my menu for the week.

Monday
Brunch: Mushroom and Broccoli Quiche, French Toast with Strawberry Sauce, Home-Fried Potatoes, and Mimosas
Dinner: Quinoa Casserole (basically Cheesy Quinoa Surprise with a bread crumb and cheese topping)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Left over brunch
Lunch: PB & J and Vegetable Chips
Dinner: Inauguration Dinner at V-Spot in Brooklyn

Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal
Lunch: Taking lunch to a friend at work. I cannot tell you what it is because it would ruin the surprise. I will post it as recipe of the week however.
Dinner: Black Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

Thursday
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Toast
Lunch: PB & J and Vegetable Chips
Dinner: Leftovers from Wednesday's lunch

Friday
Breakfast: Cold Cereal
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich and Vegetable Chips
Dinner: Pasta Primavera and Salad

Building a Community Around Food

2009-01-18T12:41:00.019-05:00

Food has always been something that has bonded cultures, family and friends. With so many people around the world, we all have something to learn and to share when it comes to cooking and eating. I have had the privilege of sharing this experience with many people. In fact, during this period of unemployment I have decided to enjoy food with those around me. Here are a few observations.

1. Allow others to take care of you and learn from them. Lots of people have been so wonderful to me, not just during my unemployment, but in general. Some people have cooked for me, like my mother who made me all of that Mexican Lasagna. My friends Elizabeth, Alisa and Aaron have made me wonderful dinners, that taught me about the elegance of simple recipes. Finally, my friend Yoko taught me not only how to make sushi, but how to adjust it to fit my tastes. When we let go of our pride, we allow others to give a part of themselves. Most people want to have something to give.

2. Share what you know and love with others. It's great to be open to what others have to give, but it's even better when you can pass it on to your loved ones. I don't have a lot to give people right now, but I can share with them the joy and friendship of shared meals. While unemployed I have decided that once a week I will take a homemade lunch to a friend at work. It really benefits all people involved; my friend gets a tasty treat in the middle of the day and I get out of the apartment and some companionship for a little while. I've found that you don't really have to be the best cook, people will just enjoy the intention and the company.

I also had the chance to cook with my nephew back in Michigan. He's 12 years old and already thinking about becoming a chef some day. So one evening he and I made dinner for our family. We made a simple stir fry, but I taught him how to cook rice and cut chicken and vegetables. His younger sister wanted to help out too. I didn't feel she was old enough to use a knife so I asked her to help me make the salad, which involved mixing all of the contents into a bowl. It was amazing how both my niece and nephew wanted to learn and be useful. I think they really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed it too!

3. When people get together it's natural to eat! Some friends and I recently started a knitting circle, which became a crafting circle, which became a crafting/eating circle. Most people bring food along, and we eat, craft and chat. It's a great way to enjoy each others company and to share our favorite foods with each other. Additionally, two good friends and I get together regularly for brunch. It gives us a chance every week to catch up with what's going on in each other's lives. Going to a restaurant every week can be a bit expensive so we decided that at least once a month we would make a brunch at someones home.

So there you have it, when you have friends you will never go hungry. I feel like this is a point in my life where I could really let things get me down. Luckily, I have wonderful friends and some resources to enjoy what would otherwise be a rough time.

Food of the week: Peanut Butter

2009-01-16T16:24:00.014-05:00

I asked my roomie for an idea for the food of the week. She quickly recommended peanut butter. It made me think of a conversation with a friend several years ago regarding the nutrition of peanut butter. She swore that it was not a healthy food due to its high sugar and fat content. I argued that PB can be very healthy and stand by this still. Please consider the following evidence.

Benefits:

Peanut butter contains unsaturated fat, which helps to reduce the risk of heart disease.
It's a good source of niacin and folate, which is good for cholesterol.
Its protein and fiber fill you up. Peanut butter is a cheaper way to get your protein than meat or cheese.
It contains high amounts of Resveratrol, which has strong anti-cancer properties.

Drawbacks:

Not a good source of carbohydrates (but we often eat it in combination with carbs - PB & J is a prime example).
Some brands contain lots of sugar or high fructose corn syrup (there it is again!), sodium or fat. There are healthier peanut butters but you have to look for them.

Ways to eat Peanut Butter:

PB & J sandwich, of course! It's an American staple.
Some Thai dishes are flavored with peanut sauces, PB can be easily used.
My mother got me into this at a young age - dip a spoonful of PB into a bag of chocolate chips. So good, it hurts!
Peanut butter on celery (a healthy snack).
Many energy bars are PB flavored.

Little known fact:

Peanuts are legumes (like beans) not nuts.
Lots of people are acknowledged as the creators of peanut butter as we know it today, including an unknown St. Louis physician and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.

Recipe of the week: Mexican Lasagna

2009-01-14T23:56:00.014-05:00

You have to love Moms! They always know how to give you that TLC. During my trip home for the holidays, mine gave a gift that only a mother could. A wonderful dish, combining the best of two worlds. I believe this was originally a recipe of my sisters. My mother made many small 1-2 serving dishes of Mexican Lasagna. Seriously, she made around 5 single serving dishes for me to bring back to New York. I put them in a little cooler and then in the freezer when I got home. They lasted for the next week, providing lots of meals.

Mexican Lasagna

2 lbs ground beef or turkey (can be left out for a vegetarian option)

2 packages taco seasoning

1 can of refried beans

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

6 cooked lasagna noodles

2 cups Mexican mix of shredded cheeses

Brown the meat and add the taco seasoning.

Drain the tomatoes, add to the meat.

In a 9 x13 pan (or multiple tiny pans for single servings) layer from the bottom up half of the meat, 3 noodles, half of the beans, 1 cup cheese, 3 noodles, rest of the beans, rest of the meat, 1 cup cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 40 minutes and then uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

So there you have it. It's a simple dish, but tasty. And also light on the wallet (especially when made by mom).

Food of the week: High Fructose Corn Syrup

2009-01-09T12:04:00.022-05:00

Chances are you’ve probably seen the commercials from the Corn Refiners Association. You know, the one where someone is eating some food containing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), much to the astonishment of an onlooker. The person then asks the onlooker, “what exactly is wrong with high fructose corn syrup?” The onlooker says nothing, because obviously high fructose corn syrup is not unhealthy and has been given a bad name.

I don’t know about you, but I had a very visceral reaction to these commercials. Maybe that’s the beef of the Corn Refiners Association. HFCS has become the bad boy/girl of nutrition. But, I just wanted to shout at the onlookers in the commercial, “Do your research on HFCS and you can clearly see the issue!” So, I will make it easier for people. Here is some information about HFCS, from a variety of sources.

Benefits:

Extends the shelf life of food.
Cheaper than sugar.
No artificial or synthetic ingredients.

Drawbacks:

Studies have shown a correlation between soda consumption and obesity. Some more recent studies have shown otherwise, but – surprise, surprise –many of them were supported by the beverage industry.
Most foods with high fructose corn syrup are high in calories and low in nutritional value.
Even if HFCS is no less healthy than sugar, would you consider sugar healthy?

Foods that contain HFCS:

Many beverages, including Snapple and sodas.
Many Cough Syrups, including Robitussin, Vicks and Delsym.
Many Kellogg’s brand cereals, including Raisin Bran and All-Bran.
Ketchup, Miracle Whip and steak sauce.
Pop-Tarts, Fig Newtons and cereal bars.

Regardless of whether HCFS is natural or not linked to obesity, the products that contain it tend to be unhealthy. Americans really need to get away from so many processed foods with no nutritional value. As a self-admitted soda addict, believe me when I say that we can do much better for our bodies. Even if there is not a proven direct link between HFCS and health problems, it’s plain to see that processed foods play a factor in health. How can we eat HFCS in moderation, as the Corn Refiners Association suggests, when it’s in so much of what we eat? Let’s be honest with ourselves here.

Consider the following from the USDA:

USDA recommends that the average person on a 2,000-calorie daily diet include no more than 40 grams of added sugars. That’s about 10 teaspoons, or the amount of sugar in a 12-ounce soft drink. Sugar–including sucrose, corn sweeteners, honey, maple syrup, and molasses–is ubiquitous and often hidden. In a sense, sugar is the number one food additive. It turns up in some unlikely places, such as pizza, bread, hot dogs, boxed mixed rice, soup, crackers, spaghetti sauce, lunch meat, canned vegetables, fruit drinks, flavored yogurt, ketchup, salad dressing, mayonnaise, and some peanut butter. Carbonated sodas provided more than a fifth (22 percent) of the refined and added sugars in the 2000 American food supply, compared with 16 percent in 1970.

Recipes of the week: Holiday Gifts, Part 2

2009-01-07T13:41:00.016-05:00

Yes, okay the holidays are officially over. But I have not posted my promised continuation of the holiday gifts. In addition to baked goods, I made some other things that people can use around the kitchen. These are things that can be used any time of the year, so they could be used for Easter or St Patty's Day (although not green), among other holidays.

Whenever we have meditation retreats at the zendo, we have very healthy meals. Almost always, Gomashio is provided for us. Gomashio is a mixture of toasted sesame seeds and sea salt. You can season just about anything with it. Seriously, I've used it in oatmeal, in plain rice and even in mac & cheese. You may remember my post on sesame seeds and their wonderful benefits. Using this mixture is a little healthier than using salt alone. Plus, it deepens the flavor. This is why I decided to make some jars of it for some family and friends as holiday presents.

Sometimes the gomashio is ground up after being toasted, but I did not do this. I enjoy the seeds whole.

Additonally, I made some nut butters. I've been making some of my own for a while, and decided to share them with family members. Basic nut butters are really simple, actually. You just toast the nut of choice in the oven for a few minutes and then combine them with nut oil and a little sugar in a food processor. It takes A LOT of processing to get to butter consistency, but that's really the hardest part.

I gave come people plain nut butters, like almond nut butter for instance. Then I also played around and came up with some special butters:

- Almond Butter with Chili and Lime
- Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter - I just processed cashews and dark chocolate chips to a buttery consistency. So good, but do not put in the refrigerator or it will become a solid, container shaped brick.
- Peanut Butter with Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice

I tried out a few other ideas, but they didn't work out so well. The above were my favorites.

The nut butters and gomashio made nice compliments to the cookies I made. This gave people some healthier Christmas goodies.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of January 5, 2009

2009-01-05T12:00:00.007-05:00

My apologies for the severe shortage of posts over the past few weeks. The holidays were exhausting and I needed a few days to recover. Happy 2009 everyone! I hope the new year has been good to you so far.

For this week's menu I plan to continue my broke college student theme. This is my first official week of unemployment so the money is super tight. Watch for some budget friendly recipes in the coming weeks. As you'll see here, I have some wonderful family and friends who have helped me out with meals already. I feel so loved! Here is my plan for this week:

Monday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Left over Mexican Lasagna (my mom sent me home with lots of this, which has been great since it has served as several lunches for me since I got back)
Dinner: Left over pasta with sun-dried tomato, peas, onion and pine nuts (my friend Elizabeth came over and *helped* me make dinner last night - and by helped I mean cooked)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Egg whites and hot cereal
Lunch: PB and J with Sweet Potato and Beet chips
Dinner: Mac & Cheese

Wednesday
Breakfast: Omelet
Lunch: Left over Mexican Lasagna
Dinner: Salad with Tuna and Beets

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: PB and J
Dinner: Leftover Pasta

Friday
Breakfast: Scrambeled Eggs
Lunch: Chili Lime ramen-like Thai noodles
Dinner: Salad

I promise to bring more of the posting and less of the lameness! Be back soon...

Lack of posts

2008-12-24T16:46:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lacks of posts, dear readers. I'm visiting family and friends for the holidays and away from my blogging post. I'll be back shortly, possibly with some recipes and stories from my trip.

Happy holidays!

Free stuff rocks!

2008-12-17T15:21:00.005-05:00

I happened upon a gift basket sitting at a colleague's desk this afternoon. She told me she didn't want anything in it and I should take as many things as I like. I don't know if she was being nice because I'm going to be jobless soon or if she just doesn't like cheese. Regardless, check out the free stuff I scored!

Is butter the answer?

2008-12-17T12:54:00.003-05:00

Apparently my inabilities as a baker have to do with butter. Who knew?

Recipes of the week: Holiday Gifts, Part 1

2008-12-15T21:45:00.037-05:00

I spent all weekend in the kitchen preparing tasty holiday treats. It has even spilled over into tonight. Whew, lots of time and energy. But, it makes for a great personal gift that I had an enjoyable time making. Much better than those lousy mass-produced gifts you can get anywhere. There's just one little problem with all of this. I am a lousy baker. It's true. I don't know how the baking gene passed over me, my sister is a great baker! So, I went into this with an open mind and prepared to have some misses but hopefully also some hits. And I think it is mostly the latter. Here are the goodies I made (if you are a friend or family member, you may want to stop reading right about now).

I have several friends and family members who are diabetic, so I tried to find some diabetic-friendly recipes.

First I made Sweet Potato Raisin Cookies. For some reason I had way more dry ingredients than seemed necessary, so I ended up not using them all. The cookies themselves came out okay, not the most exciting thing I've tasted. They were a little bland. But the raisins, nuts and bran added some much needed flavor. Not for those with a sweet tooth.

Another diabetic recipe I made was for Apricot Oat Treats. These were much better. I even had to fluff egg whites, which I have never done before. I was so excited to do it, but then it was a little bit of a let down.

Very much not a diabetic treat - I made a Paula Deen recipe for Cookie Dough Truffles. Very decadent and no baking required! I probably would make them smaller next time.

Lastly I made an oldie but a goodie - Chocolate Chip Cookies. (See my snazzy new apron in the pic!)

And of course, all this baking requires a play list. Here are some songs that helped get through the holiday baking.

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant make for good listening when you are deep in the throes of measuring and mixing. Here's my pick.

Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us ...

Here's a good one for getting into the holiday cheer. Van Morrison, you saucy boy, look how you've brought my spirits up.

Glad Tidings - Van Morrison

Finally, this is a great song to dance to while waiting for cookies in the oven. It's okay, no one's watching ;) (It's better if you don't actually listen to the words.)

Take Me As I Am - Wyclef Jean ...

I will soon post a part two, which will showcase the non-cookie treats. It was a busy weekend...

Menu Plan Monday: Week of December 15

2008-12-15T16:09:00.005-05:00

It's a sad, sad Menu Plan day. I found out last week that I will be laid off as of next week. Happy holidays! What? You mean I will not be getting paid to write on my blog all day? Boo!

So, due to the dwindling funds and the zen retreat I am participating in for part of the week, my menu will be quite simple and limited. Sorry folks.

Monday

Breakfast: Granola bar

Lunch: Beef stirfry with zucchini and onions over rice (leftovers)

Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner!

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bagel with vegetable cream cheese

Lunch: Rice with sesame seeds, side salad

Dinner: Goodbye party for a dear friend

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Soup

Dinner: PB and J Sandwich (I am heading straight from work to the zen retreat Wed, Thurs and Fri, so dinners will be eaten en route)

Thursday

Breakfast: Bagel

Lunch: Tuna Sandwich

Dinner: PB and J Sandwich

Friday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Soup and Salad

Dinner: PB and J Sandwich

Food of the week: Black Beans

2008-12-12T16:04:00.016-05:00

A few days ago I wrote a post about my wonderful birthday dinner at a Latin American bistro. It seems that this week I have been eating quite a bit of Latin/Cuban food. Tuesday I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and last night I found myself at a Cuban restaurant with a friend who was in town. While contemplating a food of the week I thought maybe I should incorporate a common staple in all of these cuisines. So today I present to you, the black bean.

Benefits:

Good source of cholesterol lowering fiber. This means that your blood sugar will not spike after eating them. Good news for diabetics and those with hypoglycemia. And since the fiber is insoluble, it helps to prevent constipation, irritable bowel and diverticulosis.
Protein that’s almost fat free (unlike those pesky meats)!
Detoxifies sulfites.
Antioxidants! And much like chocolate, the darker the bean the more antioxidants.
Help prevent cancer.
Lowers risk of heart attack.
Good source of Iron.

Drawbacks:

Because black beans contain Purines, excessive eating may lead to the gout or kidney stones.

Ways to eat black beans:

Cuban black beans and rice are a favorite side dish of mine. I always get them whenever I go out for Cuban food. Trader Joe’s makes a pretty decent version that you can just heat up and throw over some rice.
Amy’s Organics makes the best darn black bean soup I’ve ever tasted.
I process black beans with olive oil to make the base for my taco dip, which is loved by all. By all!
Essential in my Southwestern Quinoa recipe.

Little known facts:

Dried black beans can be stored for up to a year.
Black beans have been around for over 7,000 years.

The quintessential birthday dinner

2008-12-09T10:56:00.010-05:00

I had the distinct pleasure of celebrating my birthday last weekend with several of my closest friends. First I had a VIP dinner, with only my nearest and dearest, which was followed up by drinks and shenanigans at a local bar/lounge. It was quite a night! Probably the most memorable part of the evening though, was the delicious dinner. Even several days later my friends are still talking about how wonderful the dinner was.

Now, I love Latin American food, possibly more than any other food in the world. Seriously, beans and rice, plantains and sangria make me so happy! So, when my roommate suggested this Colombian and Latin America Bistro for my birthday, I was sold! And although we had to wait over an hour for our table (they didn’t take reservations after 6:30pm – WTF?!?!?!) we managed to sit at the bar-like section and get started on drinks and appetizers…which you know is just trouble…

Here is a break down of the totally wonderful meal.

6:58 pm Arrive and put our name in for a table. Wait for the entire party to arrive.

7:20 pm All have arrived and we decide that waiting outside for a table is for chumps. And we are not chumps!

7:30 pm The first pitcher of a red sangria is served alongside a dish of corn and plantain chips with several wonderful dips (guacamole, black bean, and salsa were the choices) at the bar.

8:00 pm We sit at our table and immediately order a second pitcher of sangria (and some order mojitos too…) from the very attractive waiter (hello Javier!).

8:10 pm We order our entrees.

8:20 pm The appetizers arrive, which include fried plantains with cheese and sour cream and a plateful of chorizo.

8:40 pm Our entrees begin to arrive. I enjoy the Quinoa Cakes entrée, which are made of quinoa and sweet potatoes, and come with a soy sauce for dipping. It comes with sides of shredded kale and a super-duper yummy mango-cucumber salad.

9:00 pm The time when we are supposed to get to the bar to meet those not coming to dinner. I feel bad for not getting there on ti…ooh, is that cheesecake?!?!?!

9:10 pm I come back from the ladies room and notice that the dessert menus have disappeared from our table. What are these people up to?

9:15 pm Some of the wait staff come to our table singing happy birthday and playing maracas. Best birthday song at a restaurant ever! They put in front of me a coconut flan and what can only be described as cheesecake heaven. The table devours both desserts like wild animals.

9:30 pm We sadly pull ourselves up from the table of gluttony and start heading to the bar. We get outside only to realize that it's snowing. Dancing and leaping ensue. Happy Birthday to me!

A perfect dinner - one part delicious food mixed with one part awesome friends having a great time. We finished the night with drinks at a lounge where we could converse on couches by a fireplace. Come on...how poetic is that!

Now this is how you celebrate the holidays!

2008-12-09T10:52:00.001-05:00

Menu Plan Monday: Week of December 8

2008-12-08T13:00:00.007-05:00

It's time to get back to the weekly routine of planning my menu's. Although, I know it will be put on the back burner in the coming weeks during the holidays. This week's theme is a little school lunch and a little more broke college student. The holidays are usually the hardest time for me financially, so I'm looking to eat minmally. This week is a bit busy with evening activities, so I will not be making many dinners at home (luckily some of the dinners out will be free!).

Also, I would like to add that although my menu's often look healthy, I don't always stick strictly to them and there are usually unhealthy snacks eaten during the day sometime. I find that if I make a plan to eat healthy ahead of time, I'm more likely to do it. But still, things happen.

Monday
Breakfast: Chai Latte (not helping the pocketbook) and a bagel
Lunch: Soup and salad
Dinner: Sushi (homemade by a friend!) and other foods brought by my knitting circle friends.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Hot cereal with raspberries
Lunch: PB & J and chips
Dinner: Out for Mexican with a friend

Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal with banana
Lunch: Salad with tuna, black beans and beets
Dinner: Alumni holiday party (free food and booze, woo!)

Thursday
Breakfast: Bagel
Lunch: PB & J sandwich and chips
Dinner: Burrito

Friday
Breakfast: Hot cereal with strawberries
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich
Dinner: Pasta primavera

Food of the week: Chocolate

2008-12-05T13:15:00.030-05:00

People, it was only time. I've done several foods of the week that are vegetables or fruits, but now I move on to a food that really has something to contribute in the drawbacks category. I feel though, that the benefits are such that chocolate really needs to be a food of the week.

I am not really differentiating between semisweet and dark chocolate, although I outline how they differ in health benefits and drawbacks at times. They are very similar and come to be through mostly the same process. I will NOT be talking about white chocolate, however, because it is an abomination to chocolate everywhere. You hear that white chocolate? An abomination! You're not really even chocolate, how dare you soil the good name!

Benefits:

Cocoa beans are high in fiber and antioxidants and help to lower blood pressure and prevent blood clots. These are diluted when mixed with milk, sugar and other additives. The darker the chocolate the better your cardiovascular health! (Actually dark, and even milk, chocolate rated the highest in antioxidants of all foods.)
Contains Phenylethylamine and Serotonin, which make us happy. Cocoa also helps to relieve PMS symptoms. See ladies, there is a reason why we crave chocolate every month!
Lots of essential vitamins and minerals.

Drawbacks:

When mixed with milk, chocolate can be high in cholesterol.
Chocolate itself is high in fat and sugar. Yes, even the darker chocolate.
Chocolate is high in caffeine. Do what you want with that.
Bad news if you’re prone to kidney stones and possibly migraines.

Ways to eat chocolate:

A few bites of dark chocolate while sipping (sipping!) on a spicy red wine (perhaps a syrah).
Mixed with peanuts and/or peanut butter. Reese’s sure has something right.
An idea for a gift or to make for yourself: I put a cup of cashews, 1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips and some peanut oil in a food processor and made a decadent nut butter.
Brownies!
Strawberries dipped in chocolate, even better in dark chocolate.
See my earlier post from today.
I could go on, but really, you know….

Little known facts:

Your mother lied! There is no link between chocolate consumption and acne.

Ever wonder how chocolate is made?

Chocolate is made using beans harvested from the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao. The beans are removed from their pod, fermented, dried, roasted and then ground to produce a cocoa mass or cocoa liquor. This is then pressed to yield cocoa butter and cocoa cake which is ground up into cocoa powder.

Why is dark chocolate healthier than milk chocolate?

As you add more milk, you increase the fat and cholesterol in chocolate.
Dark chocolate is made without hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.
As mentioned earlier, dark chocolate contains more antioxidants, for greater health benefits.

So, there you have it people. Eat chocolate and be happy, but not if you get kidney stones or migraines (you poor souls).

Some recipes to tide you over

2008-12-05T12:35:00.004-05:00

Here are some recipes passed on from my sister, from a friend of hers. I haven't tried them but they sound so good! Also, they relate to the food of the week that I am gearing up to post soon. Sorry, it's been a busy week at work, I'm still kind-of sick and yesterday was my birthday. What a week!

Chai Hot Cocoa Recipe:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 chai-flavored tea bag
1 envelope Hot Cocoa Mix

Heat milk & water to boiling then pour into mug.
Add tea bag. let stand for at least 1 minute.
Remove tea bag; tir in cocoa mix.

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake:
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate ifdesired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why
is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all
only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Thanks to my sister and her friend Kelly for the decadent recipes!

In the absence of an actual post

2008-12-02T12:32:00.008-05:00

You may have noticed, dear Accidental Epi fans, that I have been lacking in the blog posts. I'm sorry to disappoint but I've succumb to the virus that I've been fighting off for a while and have been a bit busy at work, both things keeping me from writing on this here blog. I'm sorry to say there will be no recipe of the week or menu planning for this week. But don't you worry, little darlings! I'll be back soon with the food of the week. What do you think it will be? Talk amongst yourselves.

To keep you entertained until my next post, I will pass the buck on to other bloggers.

How about giving away fetus cookies for holiday gifts?
Some ideas for your Thanksgiving leftovers.
Avocados, Avocados, Avocados! (And no, I am not linking to this post just because my blog was referenced in it. Although I do feel a bit like a celebrity. Avocados are a higher priority in my life than fame. If that seems to you in any way sad or wrong, I pose one question to you. Have you ever eaten an avocado?!?!?!?)

Recipe of the week: Southwestern Style Quinoa

2008-11-25T17:09:00.020-05:00

Recently I had lunch at a place called 'sNice here in Brooklyn. It was soon after I chose quinoa for food of the week, so their quinoa dish with beans, corn and avocado caught my attention. While eating it I thought a) that it was tasty and b) that I could probably make it on my own. So, I did. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was also good.

Southwestern Style Quinoa
2 Cups Prepared Quinoa

8 ounces Black Beans

5 ounces corn

1 Avocado

1/2 Small Red Onion, sliced

1/2 Medium Lime

Few tsp of Chili Powder

Few Tsps Olive Oil

Mix 1/2 Avocado, small queeze of lime (don't use it all) and olive oil until it is a sauce consistency. Put aside.

Mix the quinoa, beans, corn, onions and sliced avocado with a splash of lime and some chili powder.

Mix in or put on the side the Avocado-lime sauce.

The dish at 'sNice also had greens, I cannot remember if it was spinach or some kind of lettuce. I didn't use it in my recipe, but it could be easily added.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of November 24

2008-11-24T12:48:00.011-05:00

This week's menu includes a quinoa recipe I devised from a local restaurant, much of the old-standby dishes, and holiday treats. I'm very excited about this weekend and all the Christmas preparation that will commence after the the gobble gobble has hit my belly on Thursday. Hooray for shortened work weeks and spending time with loved ones! Happy holidays!

Monday

Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwich and Chai Latte

Lunch: Southwestern Style Quinoa (recipe soon to come)

Dinner: Chicken Burrito

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot! Cereal

Lunch: Pb & J Sandwich and Vegetable Chips

Dinner: Pumpkin Tortellini

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Pumpkin Tortellini

Dinner: Pasta Primavera

Thursday
Breakfast: Scrambled Egg Whites and Fruit (got to keep it light for the heavy eating to come!)

Lunch/Dinner: All of the holiday fixin's (I'm making rice pudding with pomegranate seeds and an apple crisp for dessert)

Friday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Food of the week: Pomegranate

2008-11-20T22:08:00.029-05:00

Pomegranates are in season! Yet another reason to love fall. I've been seeing and hearing pomegranate everywhere lately, it seems. I think it's time to make the pomegranate food of the week!

Benefits:

Rich in antioxidants, which help to prevent cancer and heart disease.
Good source of Vitamin C, Potassium, and fiber.
Low in calories.
May help lower cholesterol.

Drawbacks:

May slow the metabolism of some medications.
May cause low blood pressure when combined with blood pressure lowering medications.

Ways to eat Pomegranate:

The seeds can be added to yogurt or pudding for a sweet treat.
Pomegranate juice is tasty (fyi, I wouldn't drink it if you have a sore throat, it's a little rough)
Pomegranate martini, mojito, what have you....
I went to a party last weekend where there was guacamole with pomegranate seeds in it! Yum!

Little know facts:

How to cut open a pomegranate with as little mess as possible.
Pomegranates are known as Granada in Spanish and Grenade in French.
Pomegranate trees do well in dry climates, therefore in the U.S. they are most successfully grown in the southwest, Southern California especially.

Recipe of the week: Hot! Cereal

2008-11-18T12:57:00.012-05:00

I actually got this idea from a recipe I found online, in which you add sweet potato baby food to pancake mix. The pancakes didn't turn out that well, but this dish did. It helps to spruce up my breakfasts because the plain hot cereal just gets a bit mundane.

Hot! Cereal

1 cup prepared hot cereal of your choice

1 small jar sweet potato baby food

1/3 cup brown sugar

A couple of tablespoons of Cinnamon

A few teaspoons of allspice

Mix all together (make sure cereal is hot, so that the brown sugar melts) and enjoy!

I made this Sunday morning and ate it with some scrambled eggs.

I had leftovers for this week. I heated it up and added some seeds, nuts and raisins to help fill me up a bit.

Back to the crappy camera phone pics. Sorry!

See the pictures!

2008-11-17T16:36:00.002-05:00

I have posted the pictures my friend Ian took for last week's recipe of the week. Check them out. The food looks beautiful, doesn't it! Thanks Ian!

Menu Plan Monday: Week of November 17

2008-11-17T13:06:00.010-05:00

I'm afraid there is nothing terribly exciting about this week's menu. There are a few things affecting this:

1. I have been keeping some sort of virus at bay for the past month or two and my body is getting exhausted. I've been trying to fight it as best as I can, but I'm just tired a lot.

2. Thanksgiving is next week, lots of cooking to do then.

3. Between the new laptop and the holidays gifts I've started buying, I've got to tighten the purse straps (That's kind-of a ridiculous saying, don't you think? But I feel like using cliches today).

4. Any creative energies I do have are currently being focused on making new and tasty nut butters as holiday presents. Look for posts on these to come.

Anyway, so here is this week's totally unexciting menu.

Monday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal (with sweet potato - I'll post it as recipe of the week later)

Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich and soup

Dinner: Chicken Burrito

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Chicken Burrito

Dinner: Cheesy Quinoa Surprise

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Cheesy Quinoa Surprise

Dinner: PB & J Sandwich (I got a new Raspberry and Pomegranite Jam that I'm a little excited about)

Thursday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Breakfast Burrito

Friday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Soup and Salad

Dinner: Chicken & Vegetable Pasta

Food of the week: Quinoa

2008-11-13T13:02:00.016-05:00

Are you ready for this Mom? You're going to be so happy! This week's food of the week is none other than...duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh!....Quinoa.

It seems that quinoa has a very loyal following. Those that love it, want to spread its good word to people around the world. If there was ever a superfood, it would be quinoa. It's super-nutritious and easy to make.

Benefits:

Excellent source of magnesium, which helps prevent migraines and hypertension.
Helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol in postmenopausal women.
Fiber, fiber, fiber!
Lowers incidence of asthma in children.
Contains plant lignans which help protect against breast cancer and heart disease.
Lowers type II diabetes risk.
Good source of protein (especially for vegans because it provides all the essential amino acids found in meat and dairy).
Easy to cook
Cool looking

Drawbacks:

Can be more expensive than grains (but it expands a lot when cooking, so it kind-of evens itself out).

Ways to eat quinoa:

Substitute quinoa for pasta or rice, as I did with my Cheesy Quinoa Surprise.
Add it to vegetable soup.
Eat it like a hot cereal.
Use it in cookies.

Little known fact:

Quinoa is not actually a grain, but the seed of a plant closely related to spinach.

Recipe of the week: Green Tea–Poached Asian Chicken with Lemongrass and Green Onion and Brown Rice

2008-11-11T16:01:00.022-05:00

Okay, okay! Calm down! I know you've been sitting on the edge of your seat, awaiting this week's recipe. And after the decrease in blogging last week, you're hurting for more. I get it, I do. So, here's the fix for this week.

You may have noticed my shotty pictures of the finished products in previous posts. That's because my laptop died and so I've just been taking pictures on my phone and sending them to myself. Unacceptable, I know. Well, this week, I invited a friend to dinner in return for his mad food photography skills. Thanks Ian!

For this week, I chose another recipe from Natural Health, one that I've been eyeing for a while. It's Green Tea–Poached Asian Chicken with Lemongrass and Green Onion and Brown Rice. Who would have thought to cook chicken and rice in green tea? As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to try it. So, I did.

6 cups water
6 green tea bags
1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
1 cup brown rice (basmati is more aromatic, but any brown rice will do)

4 4-inch pieces of lemongrass taken from the bottom of the stalk
2 split skinless chicken breasts on or off the bone (4 halves)
1 red pepper
2 carrots
4 spring onions
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari
1 bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)

Basically you brew the tea and then cook the rice in 2 cups of the tea rather than water. Oh, and you throw in 2 of the stalks of lemongrass.

Then use the remaining 4 cups of tea to cook the chicken breasts. And use the rest of the lemongrass. This poaches the chicken. Do so for about 30 minutes over low heat.

After the chicken is cooked, shred it and put it back in the tea broth with the pepper, carrots, spring onions, and pepper flakes. Add the tamari and poach for another 3 to 4 minutes until the vegetables are crisp tender. Add the chopped cilantro.

Serve it over the brown rice and enjoy.

Not only was it a tasty Thai treat, it looked beautiful too! Ian helped me out and prepared the cranberry-walnut salad of Recipe of the Week fame.

I have learned something today

2008-11-11T12:11:00.003-05:00

A few things actually.

1. Plastic bowls do melt in the microwave if you put them in for long enough.
2. Essence of lemongrass is not quite the same as lemongrass.
3. Cheap prepackaged food that you heat up in the microwave hits the spot sometimes.

Things I will learn tomorrow.
1. How melted plastic in prepackaged foods affects the body.

Menu Planning Monday: Week of Nov 10

2008-11-10T12:33:00.005-05:00

Yes, I know I haven't been posting as much this past week. It was election week and it was exciting! But, I'm back today, with my weekly menu. I'm trying to save some money to buy a new laptop, so the menu's will be getting less fancy (because they were so gourmet before!).

Monday

Breakfast: Chai Latte and Bran Muffin

Lunch: Thai Dumplings

Dinner: Soup

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Thai Dumplings

Dinner: Salad with Tuna, Beets, Black Beans and Corn

Wednesday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Leftover Salad

Dinner: PB & J Sandwich

Thursday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: Soup

Dinner: Bacon, Lettuce and Avocado Sandwich

Friday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal

Lunch: PB & J Sandwich

Dinner: Pumpkin Tortellini

Don't forget to vote!

2008-11-04T08:44:00.010-05:00

Today is the day when all of the political rigmarole of the past year+ comes to a conclusion. This has been a historic and very heated campaign year. So, it's very important that we all use our constitutional right to pick who the president will be for the next 4 years. (Yea we're almost done with the previous idiot who has been "running" our country!).

Any who, if you need some incentive (other than having a say in who the next leader of the free world will be) to get your butt out there and vote, a few businesses are rewarding voters for their job well done. Starbucks is giving away free coffee and Ben and Jerry's a free scoop of ice cream. This was originally for people who voted, but I just heard on WNYC that it is actually illegal to reward people for voting or not voting, so they've changed it to anyone who comes in. Also, Krispy Kreme is sticking it to the man and giving away free donuts to people who have voted (and no one else!). So, you should take advantage of these give aways!

But honestly, if this is the only reason you decide to vote I am going to come over there and smack you over the head. I'm not a violent person, but really this election has been going on forever now. If you don't know who you are going to vote for, or worse - don't feel like voting, then you've had your head stuck in the sand and you deserve a smack over the head. You've been warned.

Recipe of the week: Stuffed Veggie Meat Loaf (aka Turkey Meat Mush)

2008-11-03T10:45:00.014-05:00

So this weekend I had the opportunity of doing some cooking with friends. I got together with my friends Alisa and Katie to make a feast for Saturday night. I love having friends who can cook and who are open to trying new things. Hooray!

Saturday, I brought a recipe for Stuffed Veggie Meat Loaf from the Natural Health website to Alisa's place for an autumn night feast. I'd never made a meat loaf before and I was drawn to the combination of meat and vegetables all in one dish! We decided that we needed a side dish to go with this, so we made a salad with cranberries, sunflower seeds, and crumbled blue cheese. (Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the results, so you'll just have to imagine the finished products).

Sounds like a lovely dinner, yes? Well, things happened during cooking prep and the recipe was sort of thrown out the window. Please consider the original meat loaf recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 medium carrot, small dice
1 celery stalk, small dice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (a packaged blend of dried oregano, basil, and other herbs)
½ cup spinach, finely chopped
1 1/3 pounds lean ground turkey (not extra-lean)
½ cup low-fat or fat-free chicken stock
½ cup shredded Parmesan1
tablespoon ketchup (We didn't use)
1 egg, beaten
15 low-sodium crackers, crushed
½ cup chopped leeks
½ cup chopped red bell peppers
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar (We used Red Wine Vinegar)
1 teaspoon organic evaporated cane juice sugar (We didn't use)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery, and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add ½ teaspoon salt, garlic, Italian seasoning, and spinach; stir to combine and sauté 5 more minutes, then turn off heat.

In large bowl, mix turkey, chicken stock, cheese, ketchup, egg, and vegetable mixture. Stir in crackers, then shape into rectangular loaf on oiled baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.

While the loaf is in the oven, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan and add leeks and peppers, sauté 5 minutes, then add tomatoes, ½ teaspoon salt, sherry vinegar, and sugar. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Blend in a food processor until smooth.

Remove loaf from oven and top with sauce. Place back in oven and cook about 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Now, here's we went rogue! Instead of putting 1/2 cup of chicken stock in the meat mixture we (I) put in a whole 14 ounce can. Also, we (I) mixed the undrained crushed tomatoes into the meat mixture as well. Needless to say, the mixture was very runny and was not going to form into a loaf shape. We improvised though and drained some of the excess liquid, added some flour and poured the mixture into a 9 x 12 glass baking dish. We left it in for about 45 minutes.

It wasn't quite loaf consistency, but woo was it tasty! The vegetables and herbs mixed so well together. Also, since I used the tomatoes in the loaf, we had to come up with an alternative for the sauce. So we cut up a little bit of fresh tomato with red wine vinegar, the leek and red pepper. It wasn't exactly sauce-like but did make a good topping to the meat mush. All the while, we were sipping on some Malbec (may have contributed slightly to not following the recipe exactly).

After dinner we played some scrabble and then had dessert - whipped cream and berries. Yum!

It was such a fun night. Even though we messed up the original recipe, we got creative and had a fun time together. But the food turned out great anyway and only added to our fun night!

Menu Planning Monday: Week of Nov 3

2008-11-03T10:22:00.009-05:00

It's election week! I have to make sure that I am fully fueled for this intense emotionally charged week. Here is my schedule for the week, which includes some pumpkin tortellini I bought from the market and a new recipe for cooking chicken in green tea. I'm so excited!

Monday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal
Lunch: Bean and Cheese Bites
Dinner: Pumpkin Tortellini with a Garlic/Parmesan Sauce

Tuesday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast and Yogurt
Lunch: Salad with Tuna, Black Beans, Corn and Beets
Dinner: Bacon, Lettuce and Avocado Sandwich

Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal
Lunch: Bacon and Apple sandwich/Small Salad
Dinner: Vegetable Soup

Thursday
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts and Avocado
Dinner: Out with some friends

Friday
Breakfast: Chai Latte and Muffin
Lunch: PB and Jelly Sandwich/Vegetable Chips
Dinner: Green Tea–Poached Asian Chicken with Lemongrass and Green Onion and Brown Rice

Let the cooking commence!

Food of the week: Eggs

2008-10-29T12:52:00.025-04:00

Eggs have always been one of my favorite foods around. They are eaten in so many tasty ways, how could you not love them? Now that I've done some research about eggs, I'm even more convinced of their necessity in our lives. The nutritional benefits heavily outweigh the few drawbacks (for most people) and eggs are used for so many things. Plus they're just so gosh-darn tasty!

Benefits:

One egg contains about 6 grams of protein.
Eggs are a good source of Choline, which is important for brain function and health and may help reduce inflammation; Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which may protect against vision loss; and vitamin B-12, which is good for your heart.
They help prevent blod clots and protect against Macular Degeneration and Cataracts.

Drawbacks:

Very high in cholesterol (but saturated and trans fats have much bigger effects on blood cholesterol levels than cholesterol in food.) The cholesterol is in the yolk of the egg. To cut out cholesterol, just use the whites.
If not properly stored and cooked, could lead to salmonella poisoning.

Ways to eat eggs:

Scrambled, poached, or fried with sides of potatoes and bacon (fakin’ bacon if you choose).
Omelets filled with whatever your heart desires! This heart desires green peppers, onions and cheddar cheese.
Eggs are the ingredient in baked goods that make it “risky” to eat the dough.
Soak some sliced pieces of a baguette in a mixture of eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Griddle and Viola! French Toast!
Hard boiled eggs are good in a variety of ways; cut up in a salad, egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, and plain with a few sprinkles of salt.
Quiche!
Eggs Benedict is favorite brunch entrée of mine.
Souffles and Meringues are made by beating egg whites vigorously, which increases their volume 6-8 times.

Little known facts:

If you do not store eggs in a container, they will absorb the odors around them.
The color of the egg (white or brown) depends on the breed of the hen.

Final Note:
As with much of the meat-packing industry, the egg industry draws into question the treatment of egg producing hens. We see a lot of “Cage-Free” eggs around now, which you would think would be more humane for the chickens. However, many stories have come out in recent years about the truth behind cage-fee chickens. As always, my recommendation is to buy eggs from your local farmers. That is, unless your local farmer is a mass-meat/egg producer that lines it’s animals up in small cages and feeds them things that make their stomachs explode.

More on Calorie Counts

2008-10-29T08:55:00.004-04:00

Looks like Calorie Counts at fast food joints in NYC has been successful in some ways. Though it is debated that the people who pay attention to the calorie counts are people who are already aware of their nutritional intake. Also, we know that calories are not the only consideration when thinking about healthy eating (but seriously, not getting a salad that is 1200 calories is probably a good thing). Regardless, some people find the counts beneficial and it appears that some restaurants are making changes to their menus because of it. I'd say that alone makes it worth doing.

According to the article there are some federal bills waiting to be passed, that could make this more of a national priority. Viva la calorie count!

Recipe of the week: Vegetable Soup

2008-10-27T13:07:00.012-04:00

Last weekend I made a lot of soup. It was easy, made the apartment smell nice and provided me with plenty of leftovers! I basically just threw in a whole smorgasbord of vegetables, but here are deets.

Vegetable Soup
1 - 32 oz carton of vegetable broth

4 large Idaho potatoes, cubed

1 large zucchini, cubed

1 large yellow squash, cubed

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 lb spinach

1 cup sweet peas

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

Cumin, to taste

Celery Salt, to taste

Oregano, to taste

Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

Add garlic, onion and bay leaf to vegetable broth in a large pot. Heat for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add potatoes and spinach. Sprinkle in some some cumin, celery salt, oregano, and black pepper, and cook on high heat until potatoes start to become tender and the spinach is wilted.

Take out a few cups of the mixture (make sure you have a good chunk of potatoes) and blend in a food processor. Add back to the soup mixture.

Add zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers and peas. Sprinkle in some more of the spices and red pepper flakes to give the soup a little kick. Simmer until the squash softens.

Menu Plan Monday!

2008-10-27T09:16:00.021-04:00

I've mentioned in previous posts that I like to plan out my menu for the week, in order to eat healthier and to save some money. I'm obviously not the first one to think of doing this, and the Organizing Junkie has dedicated a website to it. So, here is my menu for this week ( I think most people just do dinners, but I'm planning out all of my meals). I'm feeling excited about it!

Monday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Slice of Pizza and Vegetable Soup

Dinner: Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla

Tuesday
Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla

Dinner: Chicken Parmesan

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal with Raisins and Nuts
Lunch: Chicken Parmesan

Dinner: Pizza

Thursday

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Vegetable Soup

Dinner: Salad with Tuna, Beets, Black Beans and Corn

Friday

Breakfast: Hot Cereal with Raisins and Nuts

Lunch: Salad

Dinner: Grilled Cheese and Vegetable Soup

BTW - I made a large amount of vegetable soup this weekend, which will provide me with meals for a while! I put some of in the refrigerator, knowing that I would eat it over the next week, and the rest in the freezer.

Food of the week: Pickles

2008-10-22T12:34:00.028-04:00

It's embarassing to admit how old I was when I realized that a pickle was really a cucumber. So, I won't tell you. It's funny that we do not call them pickled cucumbers. Think about it, when we pickle anything else, peppers for instance, we call them pickled peppers. What's that about? Pickling is an action, not the food itself. Maybe there was a universal agreement that pickled cucumbers were the best tasting pickled anything and therefore got to claim the title of pickle.

What is pickling exactly? The fermentation caused by soaking food in vinegar or salt brine kills with a vengeance the bad bacteria that causes food to go bad!

Good examples of pickled foods: Pickles, Peppers, Cauliflower
Bad examples of pickled foods: Sauerkraut, Eggs
Haven't tried: Kim chi

There's lots of things to say about pickled foods. I don't have all day so I'm just going to focus on pickles themselves. Let's take a looksy-loo at pickles.

Pickles come in many varieties, Dill, Kosher, Bread and Butter, Gherkin. The difference is the way they are fermented, specifically what condiment, herbs and spices they are fermented in.

Benefits:

Low in calories and fat. But do keep in mind that most of us do not eat pickles alone.

Drawbacks:

High in sodium and sugar.

Ways to eat pickles:

Although there are recommended uses for each type of pickle, really they all taste good cut up on a sandwich or burger.
Beer battered pickles! It may not sound appetizing, but they're so good, especially dipped in some ranch dressing. Yeah, that's healthy.

Little known facts:

September 14 was International Pickle Day. Ah man, I missed it!
Should kids eat pickles? There's no definitive judgement (at least that I could find) that says pickles are good or bad for children. The consensus seems to be that they're not bad (low in calories and fat) but don't really have much nutritional value either.

The cool air goes to my head and my stomach!

2008-10-20T13:13:00.013-04:00

Last weekend welcomed fall as the temperatures were in the 50's, with the sun shining and a crispness to the air. The noticeable change in seasons motivated me to make some autumn-friendly foods. An additional motivational factor was I had a whole lot of apples and needed to find some ways to eat them all.

I decided to make some recipes from the Moosewood Cookbook. For dinner I made the Stuffed Squash recipe (which called for apples in the stuffing), along with some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I have to say I was very disppointed with the squash. It wasn't horrible, but it did not meet my expectations for all of the work that went into it. (I always hold my breath when cutting thick squash, I inherited terrible cutting skills from my mother. Both of us often draw blood in these circumstances. No blood this time though.)

The highlight of the dinner ended up being the apple crisp I made for dessert! This was also from the Moosewood Cookbook. I made a smaller batch then called for because it turned out half of my apples were rotten inside (ewww!). But the ones that were good made a totally delicious dessert. It consisted mostly of an apple-cinnamin-sugar-lemon juice mixture beneath a topping of oats, flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Delicious!

With my dinner and wonderful dessert I enjoyed a glass (or two) of a Cabernet Franc I got from a winery a few hours upstate. The apples, the wine, I was trying to keep it local!

Recipe of the week: Katy's Beet Pasta

2008-10-20T12:49:00.009-04:00

Who is Katy and why am I posting her beet pasta recipe on my blog? This actually comes from my friend Alisa, who got it from her friend Katy (who heard from Larry that Susie and Bobby were going steady...). I'm always looking for new ways to eat beets, and this looks tasty!

Katy's Beet Pasta
One bunch of Beets (with beet greens or you can use spinach instead)
One box o pasta radiatore, prepared
Chicken broth/water
Olive Oil for Sautéing
Parmesan or Romano Cheese, to taste

Chop beets. Sauté beets in olive oil under tender (add chicken broth or water after about fifteen minutes.) Add spinach or beet greens to wilt them. Mix with pasta radiatore.
Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Thanks Alisa...and Katy!

Food of the week: Pumpkin

2008-10-15T10:23:00.019-04:00

It's October! Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the brisk air, the fall foliage, and warm and comforting foods! It only makes sense that pumpkin is the food of the week.

Did you know that 80% of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October?

Benefits:

Drawbacks:

Some pumpkin recipes call for pumpkin pie mix, not pureed pumpkin. While pumpkin puree is just as healthy as fresh pumpkins, the pumpkin pie mix tends to have additives that increase sugar and cholesterol.

How to Select, Prepare and Store Pumpkins.

Ways to eat Pumpkins:

See last week’s Recipe of the week, Pumpkin Pancakes.
Pumpkins can used to make soups.
Pumpkin pie!
I found this recipe that I would like to make for Thanksgiving, it’s a baked stuffed pumpkin.
Pumpkin seeds are tasty too! They have their own health benefits.

Little Known Facts:

Pumpkins are 90% Water.
Pumpkins are grown in 6 of the 7 continents, all except Antarctica.

Recipe of the week: Burrito Bar Options

2008-10-14T12:56:00.024-04:00

You may have a noticed a brief absence of posts last week. I did not post a food of the week or a wine of choice. Forgive me, I had family in town and was having way too much fun to stop and blog! The good thing is that, out of all of my family fun, comes some yummy recipes for the blog this week!

My mom, sister and I decided one night while they were here to cook at home. With no shortage of activities in NYC, a quiet night at home was a nice break. We considered many options for dinner, including a tasty turkey meatloaf, but ultimately decided on having a burrito bar! (Yes, admittedly I got the idea from Rachel Ray, but we didn't end up using any of her recipes). So here's what we made.

Chicken with taco seasoning

Refried Black Beans

AvoSalsa (see recipe below)

Mango Salso (see recipe below)

Apple Ginger Salsa (see recipe below)

Lettuce

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheese

That's a lot of fillings to choose from! We felt that we needed some avocado, so we used this recipe from Avocado.org.

AvoSalsa
2 ripe medium California avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 large ripe tomato, diced
¼ Cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 large lime
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

I then got two salsa recipes from my friend, Elizabeth. The first was a tasty mango salsa, that I mentioned in a previous post. The second, was a peach and ginger salsa. When I asked Elizabeth for the recipes to her salsas, this was her reply:

HAHAHAHA. Recipe?????

I think it was a pull things out of my fridge sort of deal, as usual. Chopped mango, bell pepper, red onions or sweet white onions....something like that. You can also do it with tomatoes, but they make it more watery--I think mine was without because there were tomatoes in the taco filling already.

My other favorite is ginger peach salsa--you can do it with nectarines, too--cube peaches, and stir in finely chopped ginger, chili, and sweet red onion (you can leave that out as well)...add a dash of cinnamon, voila! And if you have mealy peaches that don't ripen, you can cook them down and then add the other ingredients at the end.

We ended up making an apple and ginger salsa instead, because a) we forgot to buy peaches at the grocery store and b) we had gone apple picking and had TONS of apples. I would like to try the 2nd slasa with peaches. Both salsas were great, but the apple and ginger had a bit of a kick to it.

Of course, I couldn't decide between the salsas for my burrito, so I piled them all on. Each bite of the burrito had a different flavor. Now that's how a burrito should be done!

Cultivating a healthy lifestyle

2008-10-07T09:49:00.008-04:00

As much as diet and exercise fad products would like to argue otherwise, there is really only 1 way to be healthy. A balanced diet and an active lifestyle. These are things that I am constantly revisiting, because it is so easy for me to fall into patterns of bad foods and lethargy. So, I thought I’d share how I keep myself healthy; in part to help you, but also to keep me honest.

Diet:

You can obviously see that I love food. My interest here has been a work in progress throughout the years as I try to expand my diet. As a child I was a very picky eater, and this ran into my teens and early 20’s as well. For a while, in fact, I subsisted on a diet of mostly McDonalds. In the last so many years, however, I’ve been acclimating to a healthier diet, eating things I never would have tried before. I try to be aware of where my meal has come from and what it will do to my body. I’ve stopped eating fast food altogether because it scores horribly in both catergories.

My biggest battle at this point is balancing the preparation of my own meals and buying them. If I don’t plan out my meals for the week, I’ll most likely end up getting breakfast from Starbucks, lunch from the cafeteria, and a frozen pizza for dinner. So, each week I try to sit down and plan out a schedule of meals for the week. Some weeks are better than others. And even if I do plan, life is always throwing wrenches in our plans, and I have to be flexible. For instance, last night I ended up eating much later than I thought I would. So the chicken burrito was replaced by a frozen pizza. Not ideal, but it had to do.

Today, I was much more prepared for healthy options. I got up this morning and made some hot cereal, and brought that and a banana to work for my breakfast (I have a hard time eating right when I get up in the morning, so I eat at work instead). Additionally, I packaged up some leftover salad, made a pb & j sandwich, and grabbed some vegetable chips for lunch. A well balanced breakfast and lunch. In addition, I plan to actually make the dinner I failed to make last night, which will leave me with leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.

Exercise:

Living in NYC, I tend to already have a somewhat active lifestyle. I take public transportation to and from work everyday, which includes a 10 minute uphill walk and 3 flights of stairs/escalators every day. But, this past year I noticed that I’m still out of breath when doing these things. I also found this to be true when hiking upstate last month. So, I recently joined a gym and am trying to find the right motivation strategy. At first I thought that I should not intimidate myself by scheduling a lot of time for the gym; I would start slow and work my way up. But, then I would make excuses or something would happen that would prevent me from going to the gym as much as I wanted to.

This is my new strategy. I am planning to go the gym everyday, if even for a short workout, and am taking my gym bag to work so that I can just stop on my way home. I figure with this schedule, should I miss a day or two, I will still be getting enough exercise. So far, I’ve gone to the gym the past 3 days in row. Let’s see if I can keep up that stamina. I do yoga once a week as well, which helps to keep me stretched and toned.

Mind/Mental Well-being:

I find that my mental state significantly affects both my diet and my activity level. This makes perfect sense and really is not a groundbreaking discovery in the terms of science and health. But, to truly acknowledge this and to incorporate it into your lifestyle is really the key to maintaining healthy actions.

There are a few things I do to keep myself healthy mentally:
- Having a set schedule: As I mentioned before, if I do not plan out my meals and schedule a visit to the gym, I will resort to unhealthy lifestyle choices. So, I try to schedule these things ahead of time, so that I’m not deciding what to do on a whim.
- Meditation: I practice Zen meditation on a weekly basis. Every Saturday morning I get up and sit 2- 40 minutes periods of zazen. This routine gives me a consistent point of grounding and a supportive social environment as well. The mindfulness that comes from sitting, as well as from my yoga practice, helps me to be honest with myself. Also, it helps me to really feel what’s going on throughout my body while eating or exercising. Food tastes better when mindful, because I notice more of the flavors and textures, and I feel when I am full. I am also able to increase my exercise activities when I stay present in my body and notice how the activity affects my body.
- Sleep: Getting a full night’s sleep is essential to my mental and physical functioning. If I am going to be sharp and energetic throughout the day, I need to get enough sleep. Mornings are a little rough for me, so I’ve been trying to schedule morning activities to help energize me while not taking much time away from my sleep. I recently wrote out a daily schedule of morning activities, including a few energizing yoga poses and some brief meditation time.

In reality, people have their own strategies for a healthy lifestyle. This is my strategy and so far it’s been okay. I have tweaked it and will continue to do so when I find a better way to do something. A healthy lifestyle requires constant attention. If you lose focus, it will not sustain itself. This is why so many people are unhealthy. There are lots of convenient ways to distract ourselves or forget to be healthy in our choices. I find mindfulness and planning the best ways to cultivate and maintain a healthy lifestyle. And, of course, I allow myself those times when I eat out with friends and have a few drinks. I need the balance of both to keep me healthy, both mentally and physically.

Recipe of the week: Pumpkin Pancakes

2008-10-06T13:20:00.006-04:00

I got this recipe from my friend Charlotte. I've had sweet potato pancakes before, which were very moist and yummy, but I've never tried pumpkin pancakes. I always trust Charlotte's judgement of food (with the exception of seafood, you know I just don't like it!), so I put great faith in her claim of the tastiness of these pancakes.

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 1/3 c. pancake mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon each, cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger
1 1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
2 eggs
1/2 c. pumpkin puree

"Mix ingredients and griddle! It makes a lot of pancakes, so I just make them all, put them in a container separated by wax paper and pop them in the toaster the next day! They also freeze really well and then can be heated up in the toaster as well.

They're great with a little poached pear or pear puree on top as a syrup alternative. Applesauce might also be good, but never tried it!"

I can't wait to try them! Thanks Charlotte!

Wine of Choice: Riesling

2008-10-03T13:46:00.025-04:00

Germans know how do more than just beer! Rieslings are Germany's apology for sauerkraut and spaetzle.

Riesling [Pronunced Reez-ling] is a white wine.

Where it’s from:

The Riesling has been cultivated in Germany since the 1400’s. More recently we see Rieslings coming out of France, California, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Yugoslavia, and Italy. But the wines of the German, French and California varieties have been the most acclaimed.
Riesling is also performing exceptionally well in New York’s Finger Lakes region, and Michigan’s northern appellations of Old Mission and Leelanau, as well as in Canada’s Niagara and Okanagan regions, and to some extent in soggy Oregon.
Australia - Riesling is connected to the German heritage of South Australia’s Barossa Valley, and was for years the most important white variety in Australia, vinified into a wonderfully unique, sturdier style of the wine.
Riesling is responsible for many of the world’s best dessert wines - Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany, Vendages Tardives and Selectiones de Grains Nobles in Alsace.

What it tastes like:

Riesling is powerful with floral undertones and apple-like aroma that frequently mixes in mineral elements from its vineyard source. They are spicy and fruity with a long finish.
California Rieslings are often dry and oaky, as well as a combination of ripe, developed fruit, coupled with acidity - typical fresh floral traits, but often adds the lushness of peach-like aromas.
French Rieslings tend to be fuller-bodied, more intensely fruity and dry to the palate.
In Germany Rieslings are graded in ascending order of sweetness as Auslese, Beerenauuslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese.

What to eat it with:

Pan-fried trout and grilled or sautéed sausage.
Appetizers, desserts, pork, poultry or fish.
Rieslings are able to handle the spice and zest of favored Asian foods.

New terminology:

Terroir – [pronounced teh-RWAHR] – The soil and other geographic factors that might influence the quality of the finished wine. For example, "because of both its cellar longevity and its ability to maintain varietal identity while reflecting the individuality of its terroir, Riesling may be the best of all the white wine grapes".

Urban farms - a brilliant concept!

2008-10-02T12:41:00.005-04:00

Will Allen of Milwaukee just got a McArthur Genius Grant for his organization Growing Power. It utilizes people in the community and it produces local food (both meat and produce) for an urban area. He additionally wants to expand to teach people to do similar things in their communities and use the system as a way to fight racism. I've seen some similar things (but not quite as large or successful) happening in New York City. It's a new way of farming and feeding ourselves, and I think it's great!

We’re having to go back to when people shared things and started taking care
of each other. That’s the only way we will survive. What better way than to do
it with food? - Will Allen

Of course, the idea of urban farming is not a new idea. Many cities around the world have urban farms of their own (this can be seen by doing a quick google search). Farming has also been a way to give kids opportunities to be involved with harvesting food and interacting with wildlife.

Food of the week: Sesame Seeds

2008-10-01T17:39:00.016-04:00

Recently I was looking up some information on sesame seeds. I rarely think of sesame seeds or their place in my diet, but I was very impressed with what I saw. These things are tiny, but man do they pack a nutritional punch! When I began thinking about eating sesame seeds, I realized that I really do enjoy these little guys. I mean, think about sesame seed buns and bagels. What a difference the seeds make!

Benefits:

Sesame seeds are an excellent source of manganese, copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc and dietary fiber. These things help rheumatoid arthritis, bone health, vascular and respiratory health, lower cholesterol and prevent Colon Cancer, Osteoporosis, Migraine and PMS.

They also contain sesamin and sesamolin, which have been shown to lower cholesterol.

Sesame oil may help soothe a minor burn or sunburn.

Sesame seeds aid digestion, stimulate blood circulation, and benefit the nervous system.

Good source of zinc for vegans, who may have trouble getting it elsewhere.

Drawbacks:

They get stuck in your teeth.

If you eat 1 cup of sesame seeds, you ingest 825 calories! But really, who is going to eat a whole cup of sesame seeds?

Ways to eat sesame seeds:

Tahini is a sesame paste that is commonly used in hummus and baba ghanoush.

Gomashio, a mixture of sesame seeds and salt, is a seasoning traditionally used in Japanese Buddhist monasteries. We’ve had this during sesshin at our zendo. I put it in everything! Really, in a stir-fry, oatmeal or a salad. Or even to jazz up rice.

Sesame seed bagels are great with cream cheese, or to use for a tuna/chicken/egg salad sandwich.

Little Known Facts:

Sesame seeds are the oldest condiment used by humans.

Unhulled sesame seeds (unprocessed, hulls act as protective coating) are traditionally used on crackers and breads, because they adhere better.

Comedian Mitch Hedberg does not share my affection for sesame seeds. He’s funny though.

Recipe of the week: Cranberry-Walnut Salad and a Sweet Stir Fry

2008-09-29T12:17:00.005-04:00

I did a full day sit at my zendo this past Saturday. Mindfulness and meditation from 9am-5pm. I very much enjoy these extended sits, although they can be challenging. One of the great things about such prolonged mindfulness is my heightened appreciation of food. Of course, during this time we do have to take some time to eat. When we do, we eat in silence, paying close attention to the action of eating. It’s amazing how the taste of food can actually seem different. It’s no wonder that I always eat healthier foods at this time. Last Saturday we were told to bring our own lunch. I took a sandwich with organic peanut butter and a pineapple-mango jam. It’s amazing how during these sits, the taste of a pb & j sandwich is just wonderful. Combined with the savory vegetable chips I ate, it hit the spot.

No matter how long I sit, whether it’s 40 minutes or throughout an 8 hour period, my mind wanders to food at some point. While I try to use my practice and let thoughts come and go, I usually take a few minutes to entertain my thoughts about what I will be eating afterward (I do this in yoga too). Not exactly the ideal practice, but I just really like food! Anyway, last Saturday I thought about making a yummy dinner that was influenced by my practice. I decided on two dishes that were not entirely fancy or new, but met my desires at the time.

Cranberry-Walnut Salad
There’s something about dressing covered lettuce after a day in the refrigerator, making leftovers even better.
1 Head of Romaine Lettuce, chopped
½ can of walnuts
½ package craisins
1 avocado, sliced
¼ small red onion, sliced
A few teaspoons of your favorite vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients in a bowl until it is lightly covered with the dressing.
(This will make about 3-4 small servings)

Sweet Stir Fry
½ lb chicken breast, cubed
¼ small red onion
1 small can green beans
4-5 tablespoons store-bought marinade, I used a peach-apricot marinade
2 servings, cooked brown rice

Mix 1-2 tablespoons marinade and raw chicken in a sandwich bag for a few minutes. Brown the chicken and sauté red onion in a skillet. Add the green beans and remaining marinade to skillet and cook for about 5-10 minutes.

Eat the marinade mixture over brown rice. (This made 2 servings for me, yea leftovers!)

A nice glass of a French Syrah was a great pairing for this tasty dinner. Okay, this might not have been the best observance of my practice, but it went so well with the dinner. Actually, wine tastes so much better to me after zazen or yoga. I am much more receptive to all of the intricate flavors.

Wine of Choice: Syrah/Shiraz

2008-09-26T13:25:00.012-04:00

I have been known to enjoy a good Shiraz. No, it is not the high alcohol content (although it doesn't hurt), but the spicy plumpness of the wine.

Syrah/Shiraz (pronounced just like they’re spelled) are Red Wines.

Where it’s from:

The Syrah originated in the Rhone Valley of France. The grapes are called Syrah in the US, France and just about every country other than Australia. Shiraz is the name for the same grape in Australia. It’s the most popular grape down under. The Petite Syrah is a wine from an entirely different grape.

The different soil conditions and climate in Australia produce a somewhat different character from the French version.

Australian winemakers often blend Shiraz with Cabernet Sauvignon.

What it tastes like:

Shiraz can be described as spicy blackberry, plum, and peppery, as well as a big, fat, juicy, in-your-face, modern wine. Shiraz can range from medium-bodied wines with strawberry flavors to darker wines.

Syrah is more spicy than fruity, also peppery with roasty, smokey, jammy and/or blackberry flavors.

Both tend to be high in alcohol.

What to eat it with:

Hearty or spicy foods.

New Wine Terminology:

Varietal - A wine made mostly from one type of grape. So when they say, “Syrah can lose varietal character when even slightly overripe”, they mean that the characters that define that grape can be lost when they are overripe. Ie don’t let those delicious Syrah grapes go to waste!

Food of the week: Mango

2008-09-24T12:34:00.015-04:00

Food of the week: Mango

Looking back on the foods of the week to date, I’ve noticed the lack of fruit. I thought to myself, I need fruit! I’ve always been more of a vegetable kind of gal, but I’m trying to open myself up to more fruits. And the very first fruit of the week is…duh, duh, duh, duh…the Mango!

Tropical, colorful, and sweet, the mango has it all. Ooh, la, la, it’s exotic!

Benefits:

“Excellent source” of vitamins A & C, good for strong bones and vision, as well as a healthy immune system, respectively.

Low in fat and high in fiber, a combination that helps prevent certain types of cancers.

Excellent for weight loss.

Help prevent anemia, because the vitamin C helps in the absorption of Iron.

Drawbacks:

The skin is inedible and can irritate your skin.

“When there are mangoes in the markets there is madness in the streets.” At least in Australia.

Ways to eat mangos:

I must admit, I’m new to the mango. I don’t have too many ideas (most are things I’ve had at restaurants and haven’t made at home). If you know of any good recipes, please let me know!

My friend Elizabeth made this killer mango salsa! I don’t remember what all was in it, probably tomatoes, green onions and some other things. There are plenty of mango salsa recipes available online, but maybe I can get Elizabeth to share her recipe with me…

Mango chicken stir fry! Yummy!
I used to have this mango-strawberry sorbet at Tsampa, one of my fave NYC restaurants. They stopped serving it though – boo!
Mango Lassi’s are a lovely Indian treat. It basically contains yogurt, mango and sugar, but there are many variations online. Here’s an example.
I tried to come up with my own creation the other night – green beans, mangos, red onions and red wine vinegar. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. I’m convinced that I can play around with it and make it a bit more superb. If anyone has any ideas…

In case you were wondering:

How to choose a mango

How to cut a mango

Little known facts:

The mango dates back to 4000 BCE in Hindu scripture.

Mangos and Mangoes are both correct spellings of the fruit in its plural form.

Tasty lunch

2008-09-23T12:20:00.008-04:00

I decide every few weeks to make a menu of meals for myself for the upcoming week. I'd like to say I do it every week, but it's not true. Life gets a little crazy and the next thing I know I'm heading for the building cafeteria for lunch every day. So, this week, I had the forethought of planning my meals. While I was making the dinner I had planned for last night, I also made my lunch for today. And I just want to say, it was deeeelicious! So delicious, in fact, that I had to share it.

My lunch for today was a tuna salad wrap. Not just any tuna salad wrap, or it would not be worthy of a whole blog entry. I added chopped red onions, cumin ('Nessa - you'll love this) and celery salt to the mayo, mustard, tuna mix. In addition, I layered carrot matchsticks (for some crunchy texture) and shavings of this cheddar cheese I got from the grocery store last weekend (it has dill, garlic and pepper in it!). Wrap it up and YUMMMMM!!!! I rounded out the meal by eating some vegetable chips with it.

You may be thinking to yourself, "man she is crazy! this does not sound that exciting". And perhaps it's not. But, I've been playing around with food lately and sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not (last night, for instance, my green bean, mango, onion, red wine vinegar mixture was not particularly great). And when it is good, I'm super excited!

Recipe of the week: Hummus

2008-09-22T09:18:00.008-04:00

My sister makes a very yummy hummus and was cool enough to give it to me for my blog. Yea hummus!

Hummus
1 - 15oz can chick peas/garbanzo beans
1 ¼ tsp salt (I use Kosher)
2 ¼-2 ½ tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
Hot sauce (as much as you like…I put in several dashes/shakes)
1 head roasted garlic
½ cup Tahini
Water – I use warm/hot water and put in enough to make it the consistency I like (between ½ & ¾ cup)

Combine it all and then add the water, until it’s the consistency you want.
Make it thinner for a veggie dip.

Yes, that's right, it calls for 1 whole head of garlic! (But it's roasted, so it's a little less pungent)