Tag Archives: quick

Savory Pumpkin Dip

19 Oct

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A quick snack for my over-worked brain.

A variation on the Yogurt Tahini Sauce from my last post. Just add pumpkin puree. This is definitely becoming my new ‘hummus’ (I usually eat A LOT of hummus, and even though there are no garbanzo beans in this recipe, it is still a nice change…).

Tear up some bread (I found a great rosemary bread at my farmer’s market) or serve with crackers or veggies.

A little dash of paprika on top makes everything pop.

This dip is accompanying me to a pot luck this weekend. I am also going to make it next week with the group of vivacious ladies and gents. at the senior center where I conduct nutrition lessons. So easy, requires no cooking, and you get all the goodness and nutrition of yogurt, sesame, pumpkin, garlic, and lemon. Hurrah!

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Savory Pumpkin Dip

a variation on this dip

1/3 cup tahini paste

2/3 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

paprika, for dusting on top

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings.

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Brain Food: Seasonal Frittata with a Potato Hash Crust

25 Sep

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School is in full swing, and I am having writers block like woah.

It is so hard to concentrate when I get paid to stare at these salty gems 3 mornings a week:

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…but I must remember to eat my veggies so that my brain can start working properly again…

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This is a funky time of year at the farmer’s market in New York City. Apples, pears, potatoes, and winter squash abound, but the tomatoes, peaches and plums, and corn are still pulling through for their final hurrah.

I just learned about the “nuke and shake method” for husking corn, and now before I blink my eyes three times, all of the corn will be gone! Drat.

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This is a simple egg bake that you could do with any seasonal ingredients–vegetables, herbs, cheeses, and meat. I adapted the recipe from Sara Forte’s The Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook. Sara’s recipe includes sweet potatoes and goat cheese; I happened to have a variety of small colorful potatoes on hand and a ball of mozzarella hanging out in the fridge, so into the frittata they went.

Fresh corn got thrown into the mix as well, because corn + eggs = awesome.

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Sure, I love a good quiche. How could you not love anything baked up in a flaky, buttery crust? But remember, we need brain fuel here, so potatoes for a “crust” will do. A few dashes of hot sauce always help fire up those neurons, too.

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Seasonal Frittata with a Potato Hash Crust

adopted from Sprouted Kitchen, also seen on Cookie and Kate

serves 4-6, depending how you slice and serve

6-8 eggs (I used 6 extra large eggs)

1/2 cup milk

pinches of salt and pepper

2 small sweet potatoes, or about 2 cups of colorful new potatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cups baby spinach

1-2 ears of corn, husked and sliced off the cob

3 oz. cheese, mozzarella ball or goat cheese

herbs, hot sauce, salt n’ pepper for topping

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, a pinch of salt and black pepper.
  2. Chop the potatoes into 1/4-inch cubes. In a 10-inch sauté pan (or well-seasoned cast iron skillet), warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and toss to coat, then sprinkle with cumin and 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir. Cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until they are cooked through and have brown marks, 10 to 15 minutes (add another little splash of olive oil if the potatoes start sticking to the pan).
  3. Sprinkle the garlic on top of the potatoes, then the spinach and corn. Cover the pan with a lid or cookie sheet if you have one, and cook until the spinach wilts, a minute or two.
  4. Turn the heat down to low. Whisk the eggs one last time and pour them over the spinach. Crumble or slice the cheese and plop over the top of the frittata. Put the pan in the oven and bake until you can shake the pan and see that the middle is just barely set, about 12 to 18 minutes.
  5. Set the frittata aside to cool down slightly. You can either leave it in the pan or flip it onto a plate. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper, and add some herbs and hot sauce if you’re feelin’ it.

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Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Sauce

3 Aug

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I recently made the Peas and Shells Alfredo from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Of course, it was outstanding, and dinner was ready by the time the shells finished boiling.

I try, however, to save a heavy pasta cream sauce for those special comfort dinners. Today’s recipe is a riff on that heavier sauce. There’s still shells, there’s still peas, but no cream! The sauce is thickened with boiled and pureed cauliflower, and wow is it good.

Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous vegetable family, along with broccoli, kale, collards, and cabbage. It is a rich source of vitamins C and K, thus providing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits! You can read more about cruciferous veggies here.

To make this pasta sauce, cauliflower gets boiled and pureed in a blender with milk (you could use non-dairy milk to make the sauce vegan). Added to a saucepan with some nutritional yeast, a little garlic, salt, pepper, and a dash of hot sauce, you would never know there was a vegetable hiding in all of that goodness.

I’ve heard the buzz about making mashed cauliflower. It is supposed to be a great alternative to starchy mashed potatoes. Even Bill Clinton agrees. Maybe as the season turns to fall I will experiment with cauliflower mashes…

Until then, this cauliflower cream sauce hits the spot. I used 1% milk (cow’s milk), which allowed my sauce to still fit the healthy bill without compromising on a creamy, luxurious taste. If you still want a little more decadence, you could always stir in a small pat of butter and a grate of cheese to the sauce. I won’t tell if you won’t…

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Sauce

adapted from Baker Bettie 

serves 8

**NOTE: I recommend preparing the sauce and saving leftovers in a tupperware.  Cook the pasta as needed, to order. It tastes fresher.

1 head of cauliflower 

2 cups of milk 

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

salt and pepper

1 lb of pasta (I used various pasta shapes throughout the week with this sauce: shells, angel hair, and egg noodles)

vegetables of choice (I used some frozen peas and a few fresh cherry tomatoes)

optional: fresh basil, dash of red pepper flakes, pat of butter, grate of cheese…

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating up, chop the cauliflower into florets. Boil the cauliflower for 15 minutes, or until very tender. Strain the cauliflower.

In batches, place the cauliflower in the blender with the milk (I did this in 2 batches). Blend until very smooth. Pour the mixture into a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring some more water to boil and cook your pasta until al dente (if using frozen peas, add them to the boiling water during the last 2 minutes of cooking). Combine the pasta, peas and tomatoes, and sauce. Toss with your favorite accouterment and enjoy!

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Yellow Split Lentil Dal with Seasonal Veg.

4 Jul

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A year ago I was blogging about green split lentils and blubbering about leaving my amazing job as a pastry cook.

Today I am officially done with my first year of nutrition graduate school!!! Woo woo. To celebrate, I will bring you full circle and present another split lentil recipe: Yellow Split Lentil Dal.

No matter how many different things I learn about in my nutrition classes, I always come back to FOOD.

A big fan of reading (and drooling over) Martha Rose Shulman’s NYTimes Recipes for Health, I never actually made anything of hers until recently. In the last month, I’ve gone on a Martha spree, making an eggplant pasta inspired by her recipe, finding my new FAVORITE way to prepare steel cut oats, and reading about her “sweet secret” (I guess there are a lot of us “health mavens” who find a niche in the world of dessert!). And this week when I bought a beautiful bag of yellow legumes, where did I find the inspiration to make a spiced lentil dal? Yep. Ms. Shulman strikes again!

Yellow split lentils (or peas) are super high in protein (10g per serving) and fiber (3g soluble fiber, 7g insoluble fiber per serving), and are a great source of folate and magnesium, with a decent amount of iron and zinc. Yay for plant-based protein! The slight downside is that they take about 45 minutes to cook, but you can just get your brown rice going in a rice cooker and simmer the lentils on a pot and by the time you’ve checked your email and browsed the Internet for what feels like a moment, dinner is basically ready.

Ooo and apparently yellow split peas can be used in baked desserts? Has anyone ever seen or tried a dessert with split peas in it?!

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Yellow Lentil Dal with seasonal veg.

adapted from Martha Rose Shulman of the NYTimes’ Recipes for Health

**I loved the flavor of the cumin seeds with the garlicky vegetables. I happened to have a bunch of seeds laying around from when I made these roasted nuts a while back. Feel free to use ground cumin if that is all you have on hand. 

1 cup split yellow lentils, rinsed

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1/2 medium onion (intact), peeled

Salt to taste

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons oil

1-2 cups finely chopped seasonal veg. (I used a few asparagus sprigs, a small broccoli stalk, and a yellow squash)

1 plump garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1. Combine the lentils, ginger, turmeric and onion half (don’t chop it) with 1 quart water and salt to taste (about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons) and bring to a gentle boil. Stir only once to make sure there are no lentils sticking to the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium – the lentils should simmer briskly – and cook uncovered until the lentils are tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

2. Stir in the lime juice. Stir together and simmer for another minute. Turn off the heat and using an immersion blender, an Indian mathani (a wooden tool used for mashing dal) or a wooden Mexican hot chocolate mixer, partially pureé the dal. It should be thick but not like a pureed soup.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and allow to sizzle, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add the garlic and cook until lightly colored, about 15 seconds. Add the vegetables and cook until slightly softened, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the lentils.

Serve over your favorite grain. I used short grain brown rice.

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Shutterbean’s (and Ina’s) Greek Panzanella

27 Jun

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My gal Michelle and I are both avid followers of Tracy Shutterbean and her food, family, and boozy adventures. The day Tracy posted about this Grilled Greek Panzanella, Michelle and I went nuts! Within 1 day, we were at my place, chopping away in anticipation of enjoying a cool crunch on a hot summer day.

Intense New York City summer weather means salad for dinner. A big honking salad with lots of bread cubes and raw veggies, salty feta, and “evoo”.

Store-bought hummus and tzatziki add an easy Mediterranean touch with a bit of protein. It makes a huge difference (aesthetically) to scoop the dips into ramekins or little bowls and embellish with your own spices i.e. adding extra paprika on top of the hummus.

Giant salad. Bread. Dips. A chilled bottle of white. And a small scoop of Steve’s Blackberry Honey (vegan) ice cream to finish.

Catch the recipe over at Tracy’s blog. We used a whole wheat French Bread, but you should use whatever bread strikes you (I imagine a white seeded bread would be nice!). We lightly toasted the bread on the stove top. And we used fresh basil instead of oregano.

Tracy served her salad with lamb meatballs and grilled eggplant. YUM!

Now get chopping and eat a giant bowl of this deliciousness! Makes great lunch leftovers, too.

 

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