I have to admit, I'm not the world's biggest fan of chard. But my produce delivery service keeps sending it, and I keep forgetting to tell them not to. Plus, I'm not really someone who thinks gluten-free bread is worth the effort (to find or make), so while it's not super great on its own, chard can serve as a nice break from my rice cake or corn tortilla sandwiches. Here's an easy recipe for a wrap filling that is good with chard.
Curry Chicken and Cherry Wrap Filling
1 12.5 ounce can of chicken (white meat is best)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use vegan to avoid eggs. I honestly like it better
than real mayo anyway)
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 cup dried cherries (cranberries are also good, but not very summer,
IMHO)
Mix it together and put it in a wrap or sandwich-like vehicle, and
voila--a new and interesting lunch. (Oh, and tasty.)
It's over 100 here in Southern California, and I've been cooling off with some sugar-free treats made with real fruit.
The cantaloupe mousse (above) is moussier, while the watermelon is more like watermelon jello. Both can be served frozen or just chilled.
Cantaloupe Mousse
1/2 cup raspberry liqueur
1 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 medium canteloupe, seeds removed and scooped out of the rind
2 teaspoons pure stevia extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Pour the liqueur into a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the gelatin over it,
then bring to a boil, stirring in the gelatin. Boil for about a minute,
then set aside to cool. In a blender, mush the melon (sorry, couldn't
think of a better term. :) It just needs to be mushy, not melony. What
can I say?) Add stevia, yogurt, and gelatin mixture and blend. Pour the
mixture into serving-size containers and chill for a few hours. You can
either chill it in the refrigerator for a pudding-like consistency, or
in the freezer for something more like frozen mousse.
Watermelon Mousse
1/2 cup lime juice
1 sprig mint
1 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 seedless watermelon, scooped out of the rind
2 teaspoons pure stevia extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Pour the lime juice into a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the gelatin over
it,
then bring to a boil, stirring in the gelatin. Boil for about a minute,
then set aside to cool. In a blender, mush the melon. Add stevia,
yogurt, and gelatin mixture and blend. Pour the mixture into
serving-size containers and chill for a few hours. You can either chill
it in the refrigerator for a gelatin-like consistency, or in the
freezer for something more like frozen mousse.
There are a few foods I'm not crazy about unless I make them myself. Orange juice is one. (I'm not sure why, since it's not like it has a lot of complex ingredients.) Cole slaw is another. I'm not a huge fan of store-bought or restaurant slaw. Maybe because I know how fatty it is. Here's my slimmer version:
Cole slaw
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 can crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons pineapple juice (from the can of pineapple)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (vegan if you're avoiding eggs like me)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon pure stevia extract
You can chop the cabbage and radishes in a food processor. I got a
mandolin for Christmas, and it requires less work to wash the the
processor, so I used that instead. Combine the cabbage, radishes, and
pineapple in a salad bowl. In another smaller bowl, stir or whisk the
pineapple juice, mayonnaise, cumin, and stevia until the mayonnaise is
dissolved in the dressing. Pour the dressing over the top of the veggies
and toss the salad.
For several weeks in a row recently, my fairy food-mother was bringing me fava beans. I'd never even seen a fava bean, let alone eaten one. It was a joke among my co-workers who also get produce from Farm Fresh to You. None of us were quite sure what to do with them at first. I visited the Farm Fresh to You farm today for a picnic and tour, and I mentioned the widespread fava conundrum to my friend who joined me as we drove to the farm. Then, everywhere we went on the farm, we overhead Farm Fresh to You customers talking about fava beans! Yes, they are mysterious. But pretty tasty, and actually not all that hard to prepare. Here's my favorite version of what I did with them in those few weeks:
Fava Beans and Creme Fraiche
1 tablespoon oil or butter
1 cup shelled fava beans
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons creme fraiche (or sour cream)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
Heat the oil or butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the fava
beans until golden on both sides, stirring regularly so they don't
stick or burn. Add the garlic toward the end. Transfer the beans and
garlic to a bowl. Add the creme fraiche, lemon juice, capers, and
chives, sprinkle with salt, and stir it all together.
Favalicious!
I adapted a recipe for Broccoli and Roasted Pepper Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette from the best veggie cookbook of all time, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I ate an entire head of broccoli myself one evening a few weeks ago because I like it so much prepared this way. Honestly, I always feel like it's a little too crunchy when it's raw, and a little too soft when it's steamed (even steamed carefully). Her recipe called for blanching it (boiling it briefly in salted water) which was just right. My main change from her recipe was to take out the marjoram (who uses marjoram? It's probably better with it, and I actually have some in my cupboard, but I forgot since I never, ever use it.) I also added oregano and chives, since that's what I have in my little garden, and I dramatically reduced the amount of olive oil. I can't wait to try it with the tomatoes I have ripening outside my dining room door...
Ingredients:
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 2-3 leaves fresh oregano, cut in small pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoons chives, chopped
1 bunch broccoli
2 roasted red peppers, peeled and chopped (I buy them canned, in which case they are already peeled)
1 ounce crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Directions:
Put the tomatoes, vinegars, olive oil, oregano, garlic, and chives in a bowl together to let the tomatoes soak up the flavor. Separate the broccoli into small florets and cut up the stalk into small pieces as well. Bring some salted water to boil in a large pot and boil the broccoli in it for 1-2 minutes. Drain the broccoli. You can keep it hot, or cool it. I prefer it cool.
Mix the broccoli, tomato mixture, and red peppers in a large bowl. Serve topped with feta cheese.
I had some magnificent organic beets from my fairy food-mother that needed to get from raw to delicious stat. I was hungry. I found a website that said I could roast a beet in the microwave. The first one was fine. The second one literally caught fire. I stepped away from the kitchen for a minute and came back to a cracked plate and a microwave full of smoke. So, the first beet is the lovely photogenic one you see pictured here. I suggest using the canned stuff if you don’t have time to let your beet roast in the oven for an hour.
Chicken salad with beets
and horseradish dressing
2 cups cooked, cubed
chicken breasts
4 cups bok choy, chopped
1 cup lettuce, shredded
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled
gorgonzola
1 large beet, roasted,
peeled, and sliced (or a small can)
1/2 cup sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons
horseradish
1/3 cup rice wine
vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
I’ve been getting a ton
of leeks from my fairy food-mother. They’re best in soup, but they work well in
baked dishes, too. Photos courtesy of Photo Nouveau.
Baked Leek & Sweet
Potato Gratin
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
3 leeks,
chopped--white parts only
3 cloves garlic,
minced
3 tablespoons fresh
rosemary, chopped
2 sweet potatoes,
peeled and sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons rice
flour, or bread crumbs
2 tablespoons soy
cheese, or grated cow or crumbled goat cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. Coat
casserole dish with cooking spray. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over
medium-high heat. Add leeks, garlic, and 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary. Saute 5
minutes until leeks have softened.
It's been unusually rainy and could here in southern California, and I'm trying to be thorough about using the food I have before I make another big trip to the store. So, we've been eating a lot of soup. Nothing else can quite give you that same toasty-from-the inside feeling, can it?
One of my favorite restaurants is a Lebanese place. We go there so often we are now good friends with the owner, and he was kind enough to share his secret to their delicious lentil soup. Well, okay, he didn't so much share the recipe as he said it's a matter of putting some onions and lentils in a pot, boiling them, and adding lemon juice. Turns out that's actually about all there is to it. If only the garlic sauce he serves was so easy to reproduce!
Mediterranean Lentil Soup ($5.20)
Saute the garlic and onion in oil over medium high heat until onions are getting tender. Add the lentils, chicken broth, water, cumin, lemon juice, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils soften and come apart. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle parsley on the top.
