Flax crackers

This easy recipe makes really delicious, flavorful, and healthy homemade crackers. They are also raw, paleo, vegan, and gluten-free.

Cashew spread (cream cheese substitute)

Revised 3/3 to swap ice water for oil. It makes a much nicer texture and lighter feel.

This is one of those “substitutes” that’s just as good as the original while also healthier, inexpensive, and vegan. It can be used in place of cream cheese, as a spread on sandwiches, or just as a dip. Here I served a dollop on thick cucumber slices as an hors d’oeuvre, garnished with sprouts. Also amazing on classic cucumber tea sandwiches!

Cashews provide a neutral taste and creamy texture for whatever flavors you like. If you want to put the time in you can strain your finished product for a true smooth cream cheese texture but I like the sight crunchiness of an imperfectly blended spread. Quantities below are flexible as I feel they are determined by your own preferences and also obviously based on how much you need.

Base Ingredients:
Cashews
Lemon/Lemon juice
Ice water
S&P

Flavor:
I did scallions and carrots for a veggie spread. Another combo I LOVED is chives with fresh rosemary

In a blender or food processor, pulse your cashews until nearly flour-like. Add whole peeled lemon chunks or lemon juice until you reach a thickness like slightly chunky pie dough. Toss in your flavor ingredients and blend, adding ice water slowly until you reach desired consistency, Add s&p to taste.

I hope you try — and enjoy!

Quinoa tabbouleh

This is way more of a summer post but it’s kind of perfect for kicking off some clean eating for the new year. I love the sweetness of the raisins in this savory recipe. It keeps well for 5 days or so but never actually lasts that long!

Zucchini Lasagna

This is an easy dish, good for keeping it simple in the days before the cooking frenzy of Thanksgiving. It’s also satisfying without being too heavy — gotta save room for that turkey in a few days!

I’ve done polenta lasagna and I’ve done zucchini noodles but this combines the two ideas. This lasagna makes you feel a little less guilty than the heavy hearty original, and the zucchini (here I actually used summer squash) gives great texture between layers.

 

Ingredients:

14 oz can stewed tomatoes

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion

4 medium zucchini or summer squash

1 c shredded mozzarella

1 cup ricotta cheese

3 tbsp grated Parmesan

 

Chop your onion and sautee in a pan with your ground beef.  Once cooked, add your stewed tomatoes for another minute.

Meanwhile, cut your zucchini in thin slices as shown here. Use a knife carefully or a mandolin if you have access to one. Butter the bottom of your pan – I used a 2 qt Pyrex baking dish, but any pan of similar size will do – and layer half of your zucchini slices.

Layer: Zucchini – beef and tomato – mozzarella – ricotta – zucchini – beef and tomato – mozzarella – Parmesan.

 

 

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 if you’re eating it right away. If it’s for another day it can stay in the fridge, covered, for a day or two. Once it’s chilled it will require an additional half hour in the oven.

For a vegetarian version I’d recommend substituting the ground beef for lentils or beans (I’m loving pinto lately).

 

 

Sweet and Savory Roll-Up Snacks

Just imagine:

It’s a dreary fall Saturday. You have your sweats on, tea in hand, and you’re all prepped for a Harry Potter marathon. You NEED to have one of these snacks.

Sausage & Bean Stew

This is a hearty no-fuss winter meal. Sorry for the lack of photo- it’s not a very photogenic dish!

Ingredients:

1 lb dried Pinto beans

5 c cold water

1/4 lb bacon, cooked and coarsely chopped

3 c onion roughly chopped

1 lb sausage meat in chunks

5 cloves garlic, crushed

28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, crushed and not drained

5 carrots sliced

2 tsp tabasco

1 tsp fennel

1/2 tsp coriander

pinch of cumin

 

Allow beans to soak in the water for two hours in a large Dutch oven or other pot that you can put in the oven. Meanwhile prep the remainder of your ingredients.

Bring the beans to a boil and combine all ingredients. Boil for about 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350.  Put your pot in the oven for an additional hour stirring frequently.

VOILA!!!

This recipe serves about 6-8 but I use the large portions as an opportunity to freeze meals for later.

Veggie Stuffed Shells

This is a yummy and easy three dish, one hour fall/winter meal. It’s not too late to get your broccoli at the farmers market here in Maine!

Flourless pizza crust

You can’t really pick this up and eat it like an actual slice of pizza, but it’s a super delicious, and a hearty and healthy alternative. I’ve made this a few times and have sometimes blown it by ending up with a gooey crust that seems more like a dip, but when I’ve gotten it right it’s really good and holds together surprisingly well.

Fresh Egg & Potato Salad

I haven’t been eating enough lately (tough problem to have, right?) so I’m making an effort to get back to using recipes, planning a week of meals, and definitely making more snackable, transportable, and/or reheatable foods. Here’s a great spring recipe that I paired with fresh sliced tomato and super simple turkey-cilantro-garlic burgers on our mini grill:

Guacamole

This isn’t a full recipe, I’m really just posting it as a reminder you to make some fresh, healthy, summery deliciousness! Quantities and proportions here are entirely up to you:

• Avocadoes Buy unripe in advance. If you buy soft at the store, you may be buying rotten. Put in a paper bag with a bananas for 2-3 days. and they’ll be perfect. Mash with a fork, leaving some chunks.
• Tomatoes Chop and drain seeds and liquid
• Onion Chopped; Red for sweeter, white for a kick
• Fresh lime juice
• Garlic Finely chopped
• Cilantro Finely chopped
• S&P

Light baked artichoke spinach dip

Such an easy, cheap and delicious snack or hors d’oeuvre. Takes about ten minutes to prep, another 15 in the oven, and done!

 

Pre-heat your oven to 450.

 

4c fresh baby spinach – Wilt in a steamer or by pouring boiling water over it slowly in a strainer. Allow to drain and cool. Wring out with your hands. Chop roughly if desired. If you want to save yourself a step, buy a package of frozen instead and thaw it.

 

Pulse in a food processer….

3 garlic cloves
Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp. dried oregano
Half hot pepper
Tbsp butter (melted) or evoo

Add to food processor and pulse into chunky and blended:

15oz cannellini beans
15oz artichoke hearts

Scrape contents of food processor into large mixing bowl and stir in:

1c shredded mozzarella
1/2c grated parmesan

Add salt and pepper as desired. Transfer to over-proof serving dish. Put in oven for 10-15min

First-Trimester Food Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me

1. When you are thinking of getting pregnant, eat as much of your favorite foods as you can get your hands on, and those that are going to be off-limits. I was surprised by how suddenly and hard food aversions came on, and of course there are some foods you can’t eat even if you want to.
2. There’s the rule about not having unpasteurized dairy. I always check labels but nearly everything is pasteurized now so it’s not really a problem. Go figure.
3. Have your multivitamin during or immediately after finishing a meal. This is particularly finicky if you are only able to tolerate small meals. Multi-vitamins can make you nauseous regardless of pregnancy but when you already feel nauseous 95% of the time it’s way more sucky to know that you made it worse yourself.
4. I would describe “cravings” as non-aversions.  It’s not so much you want to eat something as that you can tolerate it.
5. Have someone else cook for you or eat out. It makes it much easier to tolerate a food if you don’t need to deal with the preparation.
6. Scent is my worst enemy, and it’s basically always food related. There’s no tips or facts or advice here, just a fair warning.
7. Find what you can tolerate that day and eat a lot of it. Nutrition be damned. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself hungry all the time and can’t figure out what to eat. That being said, don’t stock up on your favorite food too much as you don’t know when it will change.
8. Start your day with a good sized meal of something you like. Ironically the only foods my stomach didn’t abandon through this whole beginning happened to be breakfast foods: eggs and toast, cereal, fruit.
9. This experience has made me much more sensitive towards people with food preferences and this lesson will be surprisingly useful in a few years when I’m trying to get a toddler to eat vegetables.
10. This too shall pass. My first trimester felt, in many ways, like this Maine winter. Will I ever feel warm again?! = Will I ever feel well and enjoy food again?????!?! The answer is yes, to both. Sooner than I thought!

Non-toxic orange household cleaner

This is so easy.. and it looks so pretty!

Get a gallon of white vinegar. Find a large glass jug (try Goodwill). Eat oranges. Add your orange peels to the large glass jug full of vinegar. Voila. Allow to infuse for a few weeks, or fill spray containers as needed.

I use scented vinegar solutions for cleaning every -literally, every- room and surface in my home. I’m so excited for the fresh scent of this recipe!  Vinegar cleaning is particularly great for the kitchen so you’re not worried about contaminating any food with who knows what is in commercial cleaners. Did you know? Have I also mentioned that switching out your cleaners for vinegar will help you de-clutter AND save you money?

2-minute almond flour English muffin

A friend and coworker of mine who is exploring eating paleo shared this super easy recipe with me since I eat minimal gluten. (Jensine Fraser is also a trainer in the Portland, ME area based at Body by John. You’re going to want to give her a call after the holiday bingeing!) It’s instant and delicious, what more can I say?

• One egg
• 1/4 c almond meal/flour
• Pinch of baking soda
• Tiny pinch of salt (optional)
• Tiny scoop of butter (optional)
• Tbsp of nutritional yeast (optional)

Whisk together. Put in a microwave safe bowl with a circumference the size of a roll or English muffin. Microwave for about a minute. It will take two or three tries to get the time right based on the power of your microwave. A weaker or older microwave will need closer to two minutes. You’ll know it if your roll is too dry or hard. It should be soft and squishy. I have it with an egg and oftentimes fresh sliced tomato and fresh cilantro.

Treat your family to something homemade (yet easy!) on Christmas morning. You could also have a basket of these, sliced and toasted, as part of a delicious breakfast buffet!

Peanut butter & chocolate cashew treats

These are a great finger food dessert, a perfect little platter for your guests or as a contribution to someone else’s party.

• 16 oz cashews
• 10-12 oz peanut butter chips (butterscotch chips are wonderful here too)
• about 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Almond-cilantro pesto

This dip is a great take on your traditional pine nut and basil pesto. It’s rich yet fresh and, let’s face it, pine nuts are expensive so any substitution takes the edge off the wallet. All you need here is:

• Almonds
• Cilantro
• EVOO
• Fresh Garlic
• Salt & Pepper

Holiday party sanity

The holidays are most definitely upon us

If you’re reading this you probably love to cook and therefore have the same intense love/hate relationship with the holidays that I do.

Slow cooker cabbage-beef stew

Fall is in the air and I’m all about the slow cooker recipes. Here’s a super easy, hearty and delicious stew. Put the following ingredients into the slow cooker with enough beef or vegetable broth to just cover them. I cooked this for 24 hours on low, but my slow cooker isn’t very powerful so you can adjust the time as necessary.

• One medium cabbage, quartered and cored
• Five large carrots, sliced thick(ly)
• One onion, quartered
• One pound of stew beef
• Small package of button mushrooms, cut in half

I threw it together one evening, turned it on and it was ready when Peter and I got home from work the next day.

Enjoy!

Black-bean-and-meat balls

So easy! I love meatballs, and these are so delicious because the added beans and oats keep them super moist. I hope you like them!

Pre-heat oven to 375*. Thoroughly blend all the following ingredients in a bowl. I use my hands.

• One large onion, finely chopped
• Two eggs, gently whisked
• Quarter or less cup of nutritional yeast or shredded cheese
• One tomato, chopped
• 10-oz can black beans
• One cup oats
• One lb. ground beef

Scoop onto a baking sheet in ping-pong ball sized balls.  Bake for about 15 minutes, turning once, until they are browned. Allow to cool a few minutes as it will help them bind.

Enjoy with tomato sauce on noodles for some amazing comfort food, or these can even be an hors d’oeuvre!

Roasted brussels sprout and beet salad

Here’s another very easy one that you don’t need to think much about. Plus, beets and brussels are both in season right now! Simply cut your beets into uniform pieces (if they are big it’ll be about 6 pieces, smaller beets can be quartered) and toss with small brussels sprouts (or large sprouts cut in half). Toss with olive oil and put in a 425* pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes.

 

Toss again with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Rich butternut squash soup

Here’s an easy recipe perfect for this time of year using local butternut squash AND local apples! This soup is simple and delicious. I add lentils for extra protein and creaminess.  Hearty enough for a meal especially paired with a salad.

Roast a butternut squash about fifteen minutes at 425*. Remove from the oven and cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Return to the oven for another half hour until the meat is soft enough to scoop from he skin. Discard the skin. In a large pot or dutch oven add:

• the butternut squash meat
• 3 small apples cored and sliced
• 1/2 large onion peeled and sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 quart of veggie broth

Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to let the stew simmer for about an hour covered.  Add one cup of red lentils and cook for twenty minutes stirring frequently.  At this point your soup will be cooked and just needs to be put in a blender, or use an immersion blender in the pot. Sir in a little salt and pepper before serving.

Ready!

Can’t live without: apple cider vinegar

It’s apple picking season! This year, in addition to apple sauce, apple butter, fresh apple juice, and apple cobbler, that also means APPLE CIDER VINEGAR! Rather than tossing or even immediately composting my cores and peels from all these recipes, I’ll be using them to brew some of my very own very favorite household staple. I’m new to this, but I’m using this recipe as a guide. It’s dead easy.

I use apple cider vinegar for..

Household cleaner

Laundry detergent

Facial skin toner

Conditioner

in room-spray recipe

I hope you do, too!

Don’t forget to cook

Recently things have been a little crazy and it’s easy to forget to eat well or to take the easy route and eat out a lot. Times like this, I rely heavily on huge helpings of green smoothie and throwing together quick and satisfying dinners to avoid the need or urge to snack.

Tonight: pan fried scallop pieces (they were half the price of whole scallops at the fish market), rice noodles and steamed green beans.

Seasonal fruit and veg salad

A quickie, fresh local produce salad! I threw this together when trying to come up with something to do with the seemingly random variety in my fridge. It’s awesome how well sweet and savory go together sometimes.

Watermelon is especially great as a complement in light salads:

• One large tomato, cut into small chunks
• One large cucumber, in thin triangle slices
• One small red onion, sliced into thin rings
• One-half a medium watermelon (I used a golden watermelon to add color) cut into large chunks
• Cilantro, about one cup chopped
• S&P
• A few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Toss, chill and serve. Delicious!! And it stores fairly well for a few days.

What I’ve learned about kids eating habits

I get a free Parenting magazine in the mail because of all the baby products I’ve purchased for friends and family lately, and I love reading behavior and healthy eating articles.

I’m a big fan of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution which supports and initiates cultural and behavioral grassroots changes: more cooking at home facilitated by cooking in the community, and school, community, and corporations involvement and investment.

As with all learned behaviors, children adopt eating habits that they see. Making a habit of processed food and take-out does not only restrict children’s ability to learn practical cooking skills. It shows children that food should be on-demand; food is made by someone else behind closed doors; food should be easy, requiring no effort or time.

Found on Food, Inc’s facebook page

A good friend of mine who is vegan told me about a conversation I’ll never forget. Her husband, also a vegan, had a conversation during which someone said “I think it’s child abuse to raise a child vegan.” What’s interesting is that, due to lack of education, many people might agree.  But my friend and I feel that the way the average child is fed is more like child abuse. Don’t get me wrong you can be vegan and still be unhealthy, but the idea that eating vegan is inherently deleterious to a child’s health is absurd especially in comparison to what our society considers acceptable products for consumption like many breakfast foods.

It’s in our biology to seek out calorie-dense foods.  Eating healthier is work and requires training ourselves and those who rely upon our judgment. Give your child a healthy start and a foundation for making good decisions for the rest of his or her life!

• See where our eating habits have gotten us: Almost a third of UK primary pupils think cheese is made from plants and a quarter think fish fingers come from chicken or pigs (BBC News)
• Check out this food and parenting blog that I enjoy on other aspects of children’s eating habits.
• Watch this adorable video of a Portuguese boy giving his food some real thought.

Basil Slaw

This is a delicious, super fresh and light slaw. Very easy and great for a summer side. Peter and I love it on tacos or just to the side of a meal.

Chop a large bunch of fresh basil

Slice 1/2 a large head of purple cabbage

In food processor:

• 5 large garlic cloves
• 1/4 c oil (coconut, in liquid form, or evoo)
• 1/4 c red wine vinegar
• 5 tbsp dijon mustard

Toss all the ingredients. Done! Best if you let the flavors blend for an hour before eating. Also stays fresh and crispy in the fridge for nearly a week!

Easy peasy bean dip!

This would have been veggie burger recipe #4. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect recipe, though I’m personally a fan of the texture of #3:

• #1 with beans, oatmeal and veggies
• #2 with quinoa and sweet potato from Food Babe
• #3 my grillable recipe made with rice and mushrooms

A friend who is a cook in town recommended adding hummus to any blend of cooked beans. I used:

• Three cups of any blend of cooked beans: two cups of kidney beans, ne cup garbanzo beans/chickpeas
• One small onion
• About five garlic cloves
• Three roasted red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
• One-half cup flax seed (optional)
• A dash of cayenne pepper (optional, for heat)

I tossed all the ingredients in the food processor until basically smooth. My friend said I’d pack them into thin patties and sear on a flat grill until hot and browning. FAIL. The texture was like pancake batter that wouldn’t cook, but it still tastes delicious. What to do what to DO? Well, a dip of course! It’s creamy with bold, fresh flavors and so easy. Great for snacking or bringing to a friends. Also great as refried beans. Freezer friendly. Optional to heat in a pan or pop in the oven and sprinkle some cheese on top in a heat-proof serving bowl.

Enjoy!

Meals in Russia

Welcome to St. Petersburg!

Fennel Risotto

My brother’s CSA this week included a big beautiful fennel bulb, and I realized I had never cooked with fennel before! I did a little googling and decided on a risotto.

This recipe makes 4 heaping servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 large fennel bulb
• 1 large white onion
• 3/4 cup arborio rice
• 1 1/2 cup veg broth + about 1/4 cup extra held to the side
• Optional:
  • 3 zucchini
  • spoonful of nutritional yeast
  • small chunk of parmesan or pecorino

Chop your fennel and onion and sautee in coconut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.

Stir frequently for about 15 minutes. Add another tablespoon of oil or butter and then add your rice.  Sautee until the rice begins to turn transluscent.  Then add your broth, stir, turn the heat down to low/medium-low and cover.

Allow the risotto to simmer until the rice softens and absorbs the broth.  Stir frequently and add a splash of broth if the rice begins to dry out. Meanwhile, slice your zucchini any way you please and toss in coconut oil in a pan on medium-high heat.  Stir and toss frequently; they will take about 15 minutes to soften.

Toss the zucchini in the risotto with about a tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

Serve with a light sprinkling of grated parm or pecorino.

I love fennel!!

What lobby groups don’t want you to know

When Peter and I were in Belize over the winter, I was surprised to open the newspaper to find a number of really awesome food- and ag-related articles.

These articles were so honest, so cut-and-dried, and they got me thinking about the power of lobby groups in the United States. I suspect that these amazing articles were staring me in the face in a mainstream Belizean newspaper because there is less interest in their market by powerful companies, and therefore less attempt to control the dissemination of information (and fewer people being bought off or trading favors).

Please take advantage of the information you do have access to: use news sources like Grist.org and TakePart.com; read from Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman; watch Forks Over Knives and Hungry for Change; gobble up what you can!