June 8th, 2010
I get a lot of requests for ‘quick meals’ and healthy snacks that people can ‘eat on the go’ and my usual response is to ask “What’s the hurry?! Why the rush?”
In reality, I know very well what the rush is; it’s life! Things move so fast these days… super long days at work, trying to fit in time at the gym, time with friends, and time alone. We’ve got vacations, kids, baseball games, concerts, museums, the plumber, grocery shopping… All this stuff to do, and not enough time to do it in means that we’re stretched and overextended, and sadly for many, food is one of the things that ends up being swept into the corners.
The result is that we eat in our cars, on the subway, on the street, and at our desk. We’ve gotten so accustomed to eating at random times during the day, that we’ve become obsessed with the idea of “convenience” foods and having food available to us at all times. I remember the days when food wasn’t allowed in bookstores, but now, I dare you to find one that doesn’t have it’s own cafe! Who thought that the pharmacy, or worse, the gas station Read the rest of this entry »
June 8th, 2010
My favorite first “fruit” of spring, this tangy vegetable requires you to slow down and give it some love and attention before diving in. I suppose you could just eat it raw, but be warned, you’ll have the most pinched, sour face ever! Rhubarb, like fresh cranberries, are almost unbearably tart, and need to be tempered with sugar or honey before you can really enjoy it.
The word rhubarb comes from the Latin rhabarbarum, - “root of the barbarians” because the Romans believed Read the rest of this entry »
June 8th, 2010
This fruit compote is not only bright and flavorful, but its deep jewel tones are beautiful to look at! A simple recipe that can work with everything from pancakes to pork chops (or so I’m told). I particularly like this swirled into soft vanilla ice cream! Serve this over my Simple Vegan Pancakes for an extra special breakfast! Read the rest of this entry »
June 8th, 2010
Because vegans forgo dairy milk and eggs, regular pancake recipes just don’t fly. But cooking without them is a breeze, and this pancake recipe is proof positive! Full of flavor, and light and fluffy, these whip up in 3 minutes, so you really can have pancakes whenever the fancy strikes! Because a typical breakfast of pancakes, fruit and syrup doesn’t really provide you with anything other than simple carbohydrates and little fiber, this breakfast is not really going to “stick to your ribs”. I like to add a small amount of garbanzo bean flour to my pancakes to jack up the protein content, and add a subtle depth of flavor that plain flour just doesn’t provide.
Make a double batch of these, cool, wrap in parchment or wax paper and freeze for pancakes on the fly. Simply throw the frozen pancakes in the toaster, and wham! pancakes on a Wednesday morning? No Problem!
As always, serve this with 100% maple syrup, never that horrible ‘pancake syrup’ which is just corn syrup and flavorings. Ick! Add some fresh fruit (or make them blueberry pancakes!), or go fancy and add my Strawberry Rhubarb Compote for a sweet, tart kick. Read the rest of this entry »
June 2nd, 2010
A new research review, published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has determined that there is no measurable benefit to eating organic over conventionally grown foods. There was a “disappointingly small” number of well-designed studies that have looked at the differences of organic vs. conventional, so I’m not putting too much stock in the results of this research.
First, the few studies that have been done were based on short-term effects of consuming organic vs. conventional produce, looking particularly at anti-oxidant levels, rather than any of the possible long term effects. The research team combed through more than 98,000 articles and found only 12 studies in the last 50 years that looked at the distinctions between organic and conventional produce. Their formal conclusion was that “evidence is lacking for nutrition-related health effects that result from the consumption of organically produced foodstuffs.” Here’s my problem with that statement Read the rest of this entry »
June 1st, 2010
Memorial Day weekend is the kickoff of the grilling season… that unmistakable smell of charcoal smoldering and meats blackening, the plumes of smoke, and the gathering of friends and family. We have a love affair with grilling, and given the opportunity, many of us will gladly cook and eat all our meals outdoors. Men in particular have an attraction to grilling that comes almost second to none. But it makes sense, if you really think about it: cooking with fire is how it all started, and as men where traditionally the hunters (with women being the gatherers), they were also responsible for taking apart and cooking the animals they’d killed. Their place at the fire pit (or modern day grill) was cemented.
We’ve come a long way from our hunter/gatherer days, but the lure of the fire still draws us in. Read the rest of this entry »
May 24th, 2010
“Buyer beware? What gives? They’re just strawberries!!” That’s what you’d think, right? But if you’re buying conventionally grown strawberries from California (and if you’re buying strawberries from your grocery store there’s a 9 in 10 chance that you are), then you’ll be consuming some highly toxic pesticides along with your berries. Yum. The Department of Pesticide Regulation in California (CDPR) recently approved the use of super-toxic methyl-iodide as a pesticide on food crops as a replacement for the slightly less toxic methyl bromide which is highly ozone polluting. Good thing that they’re trying to protect the ozone layer and everything, but here’s the problem: methyl iodide is so consistently and potently carcinogenic that it’s often used in cancer experiments to cause cancer in lab rats. Lab technicians deck themselves out in highly protective gear just to handle minute amounts of this stuff! Read the rest of this entry »
May 11th, 2010
A few weeks ago I went to my friend Lucy’s house for a loose sort of pot-luck thing (I brought stuff for guacamole, and a chickpea & eggplant spread). Lucy is like me… concerned about the state of food in our country and due to some allergies of her own decided a while back to clean up her diet. She took out wheat because it didn’t really agree with her, something I know can be a very difficult and challenging task, especially if you’re still shopping at conventional markets. But my girl Lucy is a champ, and a good cook, and on that slightly chilly Saturday evening she introduced me to grilled flatbreads. You might think that someone cutting wheat out of their diet would have said farewell to breads long ago, but this is not your ordinary bread. It was extra-ordinary!
Making these flatbreads couldn’t be easier, and since that evening, I’ve been experimenting with making my own. I don’t have a big fancy grill like she does (sorry, like her husband does. That this is all Mike.), but my cast iron skillet makes a great substitute. I’d asked her how she made hers but could only remember snippets, so I set to find my own way. While she used two non-gluten containing flours, I ended up throwing some in mine, but really it’s good either way. We both started with Quinoa flour which, thanks to my coffee grinder (reserved solely for grinding grain and spices), gets whizzed up in about 8-10 seconds. My first attempt at a flatbread was pretty good, but not great. I paired garbanzo bean flour with the quinoa flour, some salt, herbs, oil, and water, and while the texture was nice and crisp, the flavor was a little too beany for me.
So I played around some more, and came up with the recipe below. The beauty of these kinds of breads is that they don’t need to rise, and they take about 5-10 minutes to grill up, which means you can whip it up while the rest of your dinner is cooking, or when guests are on the way over. These flatbreads go with just about any spreads, from hummus and tapenade, to guacamole or just a plain olive oil. You can use these flatbreads to make a grilled pizza, or an open-faced sandwich… really anything. As a bonus if you use quinoa and/or chickpea flour you’ll be packing a huge protein punch in a whole new way!
Ingredients
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-5 tablespoons water
fresh or dried herbs (optional)
Preparation:
1. Heat grill, or cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
2. In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add the oil and 3 tablespoons of water to start. Mix the dough using a wooden spoon, and add more water if necessary. If the dough becomes to wet or sticky, simply add more flour.
3. Turn the ball of dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times to smooth it out. Add more flour to prevent sticking. Flatten the dough out using your hands to a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick.
4. Place dough directly on an oil grill or oiled cast iron skillet and cook about 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.
5. Break apart, or cut into strips and serve.
May 5th, 2010
You’ve probably heard the term “mindless eating” before. Sitting at your desk munching on Hershey’s Kisses while you work, and WHOA, I ate the WHOLE BAG?! Or watching a movie in the theater while crunching a large sized popcorn, and then realizing that you’ve managed to eat HALF THE TUB and the previews aren’t even over yet! This has happened to everyone I know, myself included (barring Hershey Kisses - an abomination of chocolate!).
There are dozens of books on mindless eating, how to curb your cravings, and how to learn to listen to your bodies hunger and satiety cues. These can be great tools in learning how to stop mindless eating which can ultimately lead to excess weight, and is often associated with guilt (”Oh my god, I can’t believe I ate that!”) But what I want to talk about is not so much mindless eating as mindful eating.
Mindful eating has many layers and can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make it. I encourage people to go big and wide with the scope and complexity of their mindfulness around food, and here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »
May 5th, 2010
When speaking of mindfulness and “awareness” garlic certainly has it’s place!! Nothing like eating a nice garlic rich lunch only to be reminded of it the rest of the afternoon. But aside from adding a familiar flavor to our most loved dishes, (and the dreaded “garlic breath” after), garlic is known the world round for not only it’s versatility as a food, but as a healing medicinal ingredient.
We all know garlic for it’s ability to ward of Vampires and demons, but did you also know that some Christian Myths believe that garlic and onions arose out of the footprints of Satan after leaving the Garden of Eden?! If that’s the case, then I’m with Satan because I LOVE garlic! Read the rest of this entry »
