“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
My husband and I are not vegetarians, but we eat a plant based diet most of the time. We enjoy food of all kinds, preferring food that is good for us, but happy to indulge in delicious food that may not be particularly healthy, on occasion. Our philosophy is that it’s what we do most of the time that really matters.
My dad was in the Air Force, and did a tour of duty in Korea for a year when I was in the fourth grade, so my mom and I moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. My family is from Harrisonburg, so we moved from San Antonio, Texas to be closer to family. Those Virginia kids told me I “talked funny.” What!? I don’t recall, but I probably thought they “talked funny” too. But I digress. For some reason, that was the year I decided to dabble in “vegetarianism,” in quotation marks because I didn’t know the meaning of the word at the tender young age of 9. I don’t know where I got the idea that mom and I should be vegetarians, because I’m pretty sure there weren’t many of them in the Valley at that time.
As adults, the beginning of my exploration into vegetarian food lies with a friend I worked with at Stanford Medical Center, where I worked on the oncology floor before returning to school full time for my teaching degree. Actually, I went back to get a degree in nutrition, but changed my mind and became a teacher. I’m sure I would have been happy in either field, but I have no regrets with the path I took. Erika was a vegetarian, and she introduced me to one of my favorite cookbooks, Laurel’s Kitchen.
We have been eating plain yogurt for a long time at our house. It started when I learned about falafel, from Erika and Laurel’s Kitchen. I can’t remember if my first falafel was from a local restaurant that served fried falafel balls, or the baked falafel I made from Laurel’s Kitchen, but they were both delicious. I’ll post a falafel recipe in the future, but for now, I’d like to say how delicious plain yogurt is, and how it can be the main focus or a tasty garnish. It’s probably safe to say that it is an acquired taste, and in my opinion, one worth acquiring. Here are a few favorite ways I like to eat plain yogurt. They are all seasoned with freshly ground salt, freshly ground black pepper and extra virgin olive oil-fresh herbs are always a welcome addition.
Try this for breakfast or lunch…you can make it however you like.
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Or this. . . Can you tell the orange bowl is my favorite??
Yogurt, tomatoes, preserved lemons, kalamata olives and sprouts
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James
This post was started at the end of May, and was then interrupted by a couple days at work and a trip to Oahu to visit family. I’m happy to be finishing it tonight!
On my walk this morning, I saw something on the ground, something that upon closer inspection, made me sad. It was a student-made book called “My Fourth Grade Memories.” The pages were bound between 2 royal purple construction paper covers. Did the book’s author know that his or her 4th grade “memoir” was on the ground? Was it casually tossed out because it wasn’t deemed important enough to take home to share with family members? Or did it simply fall to the ground because it wasn’t placed securely into the backpack? I wonder if the author has noticed that the book is missing. School is out now on Maui, so summer vacation has officially begun. My Washington teaching friends still have another month or so {sorry about that!!}. Soon their students will write their own memory books and summer vacation will begin for them {summer weather too, I hope}.
There is a children’s picture book called The Important Book {Margaret Wise Brown}. I used to share this book with my primary students when I taught elementary school. The book offers kids the opportunity to contemplate their own ideas of what is important about different things {daisies, grass, snow, apples, etc}. I’m not sure what made me think about this book now, unless it was the mystery 4th grader’s book on the ground. Anyway. . .
The important thing about Saturday is that it is market day. It is usually sunny, golden and warm, but sometimes the wind blows, rain splashes down and it’s chilly {really}. Green is most abundant in lettuce, kale, chard, scallions, broccoli, asparagus and arugula. Hues of orange and gold arrive in the form of kabocha squash, ripe papayas and mangos. Gingery brown kombucha is effervescent with spicy sweet fresh ginger flavor. Yellow Meyer lemons {!!!} burst forth with tart-sweet juice, and the pink grapefruits will be enjoyed soon. Purple beets will be pickled and purple cabbage thinly sliced into salads. Tomatoes are the only crimson in the collection of fruits and vegetables for next week’s good eats. Vendors and customers enthusiastically greet one another and share secrets about how to most enjoy this fruit or that vegetable. Electricity is in the air, as people fill their market bags and baskets with fabulous local produce and products, grown and made by hardworking people who care about good food. But the important thing about Saturday is that it is market day.
I was warm at the end of my 3 mile walk this morning, so I made a delicious banana frozen yogurt snack. I wrote about ways to use frozen bananas here and here, but this morning’s frozen yogurt was especially delicious. If you have bananas in your freezer, you are less than 5 minutes away from a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert. You can alter this “recipe” in so many ways that you almost never have to make it the same way twice, unless you want to.
It seems that I forgot to photograph adding the yogurt, vanilla & roasted peanuts, but you get the idea.
Banana Frozen Yogurt with Raw Cacao Nibs
1 large frozen banana, or 2 apple bananas {a local variety which is half the size of a Cavendish banana, the kind usually seen in the grocery store}
2 heaping teaspoons {a teaspoon you eat with, not a measuring spoon} plain yogurt {I used full fat this time}
1 heaping teaspoon {a teaspoon you eat with, not a measuring spoon} crunchy peanut butter
1/2 tbsp raw cacao nibs
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
2 grinds sea salt
splash of vanilla
Thinly slice the bananas into a small food processor {I have a Cuisinart Mini-Prep}. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth and creamy; you want to be sure that the bananas are completely broken down and smooth. The yogurt will be crunchy from the peanut butter, peanuts and cacao nibs, and that is a really good thing~yum!
Notes:
* If I think about it, I’ll put the yogurt into my serving bowl and pop it into the freezer for a little while, so my final product will be a bit more firm. You can put it into the freezer after it’s made also, if you like, but I wouldn’t leave it there for more than an hour or two, or it will be too hard.
* Try adding different nut butters and/or nuts.
* Substitute chocolate of your choice for the cacao nibs
* Cocoa or espresso powder anyone??
A few tidbits about cranberries. . .
~ The cranberry is native to North America.
~ Cranberries bounce because of air pockets inside the fruit. They are also called bounceberries.
~ If you were to string all of the cranberries harvested in North America last year, it would reach from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times!
Some time ago, I posted a few ways that we like to eat plain yogurt. Cranberry season is here, which means we can swirl some raw cranberry orange relish into creamy plain yogurt for a delicious breakfast treat. Topped with walnuts & a sprinkling of raw cacao nibs, it makes a great breakfast with a piece of toast and some tea. As I mentioned in a previous post, our favorite yogurt is Nancy’s.
Nancy’s Plain Yogurt
When you open up a new yogurt, stir it well until all the lumps are out and it is super creamy. Add whatever you like to make a healthy and delicious breakfast.
Plain Yogurt with Cranberry Orange Relish & Broken Walnuts
You could stop with the cranberry orange relish {recipe here} and walnuts, or do as I did and sprinkle a few raw cacao nibs over the top. In one fell swoop, you can boost the taste & the nutrition of your creamy bowl of yogurt. What a deal!
Try some raw cacao nibs on your bowl of yogurt!
I enjoy having some toast with my yogurt. It adds somewhat of a “savory” bite to counter the yogurt’s sweetness, even though this yogurt isn’t super sweet, since it only contains a bare minimum of sugar. I wrote about this bread before, but it’s worth revisiting. It is simple to make & tasty to eat.
Date Walnut Cinnamon Bread with Star fruit
Better eat it quickly, because the butter is almost melted! I prefer my butter sitting on top in cold, thin slices. Mmmmmm! This bread is just about as good as cinnamon rolls, but a lot easier and quicker to make. With the cranberry orange relish, more fruit isn’t really required, but the star fruit makes a pretty addition to the plate. Aren’t they cute? Star fruit is a tropical fruit whose season runs from July-February in the U.S. It is a good source of Vitamin C, potassium and fiber. According to Food Chemistry, star fruit is a good source of antioxidants, particularly the kind found in green tea and red wine.
1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F) 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup/140 grams whole wheat flour
1 cup/100 grams oats
1 cup/125 grams unbleached white flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
5 dates, snipped into small pieces
1 cup broken walnuts
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing {you probably won’t need it all}
In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit – 5 – 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, salt, cinnamon, dates and walnuts in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
Brush a 9” x 5” loaf pan {8 cup} generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat – to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn’t steam in the pan. Serve warm with butter.
“Fermented foods help people stay healthy,” Sandor Katz author of New York Times best-selling book “The Art of Fermentation.”
Before we get to the heart of the matter of cultured foods, here is a photo of yesterday’s sky. I was at the pool and the sky was so beautiful I had to take a picture. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea.
My husband and I do a good job of learning about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle in terms of eating and exercise, and then we implement what we have learned to the best of our abilities. Our latest foray into healthy eating is fermented {cultured} foods. Please understand that in no way do I consider myself an expert on cultured foods; I am far from an expert, and know just enough to be dangerous. We have been eating cultured foods for years, because we enjoy them, but have intentionally added more into our diet because of the health benefits. Here are some of our favorite cultured foods, all of which we buy at Mana Foods, for those of you on Maui: ~ Yogurt– Nancy’s Yogurt {contains 11 different culture strains} has been a staple for more than a decade. ~ Sauerkraut and Fermented Pickles- We have recently started purchasing sauerkraut that is raw and unpasteurized, so that the beneficial microbes are available to us. One of our favorite brands is Sonoma Brinery. Farmhouse Culture makes fantastic sauerkraut as well. I LOVE their Smoked Jalapeno Kraut; I don’t find it at all smoky, but perfectly spicy! My husband prefers the Ginger Beet flavor, which I also like, but not as much as the Smoked Jalapeno. Both of these companies offer excellent products that are reasonably priced. If you want sauerkraut, these are a must try! ~ Kombucha– We drink a little kombucha most days. Our kombucha comes from Maui Kombucha. ~ GoodBelly Probiotic Drink– This is a delicious nondairy nectar-like drink. My favorite flavor is Mango. If you sign up for their Goodbelly Challenge, they will email you some coupons! ~ Sour Cream- We often spoon a bit of cultured sour cream on our quesadillas. Sour cream is always a yummy addition to a spicy dish. ~ Tempeh– Tempeh is a fermented soy product from Indonesia. Our current favorite way to eat tempeh is seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper and sautéed in a bit of coconut oil until golden brown. Eat with ketchup and you have something that resembles French fries. A heavy drizzle of Sriracha Sauce is a great addition, if you like a little mouth burn, like I do. We also make a delicious sandwich that we call a “TLT” meaning Tomato, Lettuce and Tempeh. It is fantastic on toasted ciabatta bread. Our tempeh is in the freezer until we are ready to eat it, and then it thaws very quickly. ~ Miso- I like kale salad with Outstanding Miso Sesame Dressing. There is also miso soup, which is delicious!
Here are a few of the cultured foods we’ve enjoyed in the last few days:
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Tempeh Sautéed in Organic Coconut Oil
Slice tempeh into approximately 1/2 inch slices. Spray skillet {we use cast iron} with pan spray, then melt about 1 tbsp. of coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the tempeh slices. Season with freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Sauté, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Serve hot with ketchup and Sriracha Sauce, or whatever you like.
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Yogurt with Pineapple, Peach and Cranberry Preserves
Put some yogurt in a bowl, and top with homemade preserves, and your choice of any or all of the following toppings: unsweetened coconut, maple syrup {the real stuff please, preferably Grade B}, good quality honey, cinnamon, cacao nibs, nuts, hemp seeds, ground flax seeds, Buckwheat Chia Crunch or anything else you’d like.
Pineapple, Peach and Cranberry Preserves
**This is really more of a guideline than a specific recipe. You can adjust everything to your taste, including changing the fruits to what you have available.
1 Maui Gold pineapple
1 quart chunked fresh or frozen peaches
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
approximately 1 tbsp. good quality honey
Juice of 1/2 a juicy lemon
Grind of salt
Get a Maui Gold pineapple if you can {we buy ours at Costco, maybe Mainland Costco sells them also-I think they do}, otherwise a “regular” fresh pineapple will do. Cut up the pineapple into chunks {see previous pineapple blog post}. Put all of the pineapple chunks into a wide-mouthed saucepan {for better evaporation of the liquid}. Add 1 quart of peach chunks {we used the peaches we froze in August} and 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries. You can certainly use a different berry if you are not a cranberry fan, but you can’t really identify them as cranberries as far as taste goes . Squeeze half a lemon and add the juice, and then throw in a cinnamon stick and a grind of salt. Spoon in some good quality honey to taste. We used about 1 tbsp. Bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat and simmer on low until thickened. The timing will depend on how juicy your fruit is. The preserves will thicken as they cool.
These preserves are meant to be made and eaten within a week or so; they are not preserved, so will not keep.
These preserves also taste great with one of our new favorite breads, from 101 Cookbooks. I have made several of her bread recipes, and we have loved them all.
Photo from 101 Cookbooks
Easy Little Bread from 101 Cookbooks 1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100 g rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing
In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit – 5 – 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
Brush an 8-cup loaf pan {9″x5″} generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat – to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn’t steam in the pan. Serve warm, slathered with butter.
“There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s thoughts on enjoying the perfect pear may be true for raw pears, although I think his window is a little narrow. My new favorite way to enjoy pears is roasting them, which I will tell you about in a moment.
I try to walk most days, and enjoy listening to podcasts on my iPhone while I walk. I subscribe to a number of podcasts, several which have to do with my favorite subject-food. Here are some I highly recommend:
These podcasts are all hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, who is an American food writer and radio journalist out of Minnesota.
The Splendid Table– hour long program which is “public radio’s culinary, culture and lifestyle program which celebrates food and its ability to touch the lives and feed the souls of everyone.” Key 3– a series of discussions with great cooks about the 3 techniques or recipes that they think everyone should know How to Eat Supper/How to Eat Weekends– short shows {around 10 minutes or less} based upon the 2 books
After I baked a couple batches of Mocha Truffle Cookies Saturday, I turned off the oven and popped in some fruit. “What’s that?,” you say. Putting the fruit in after the oven is turned off? Yes indeed! I popped some pears into the oven for about 50 minutes, and what emerged was tender, juicy fruit ready to eat in a variety of ways. Look at the gorgeous browning that occurred in that short period of time.
The first time I tried this, I roasted Bosc pears and Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced. My husband thought they needed a little something extra, so he drizzled just a bit of local honey over the fruit, and a touch of freshly ground salt. As most of us know, a little salt complements the sweetness of fruit. I sprinkled the fruit with sliced almonds after it came out of the oven, and we enjoyed it with some dark chocolate. Delicious! I have also just put the fruit in with no extras, and that’s good too. Plain yogurt is excellent topped with roasted fruit, nuts, cinnamon and a sprinkle of cacao nibs.
I got the idea for roasting with the oven off from the podcast How to Eat Weekends {episode from 6 October 2011}. If you listen to the podcast, you will hear about many other foods that you can roast, but I haven’t tried anything other than apples and pears {yet!}. The beauty of this method is that it is energy efficient, it is tasty and you can use fruits or vegetables that may not have stellar flavor if eaten raw {think tomatoes, apple or pears that may be a little mushy, etc.}. I hope you will listen to this podcast and then try roasting some of your own fruits and vegetables. It is quick, easy and delicious!
Roasted Pears
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and fill with thinly {about 1/4 inch} sliced pears. Slide into the oven after you’ve turned off the heat and let the fruit “roast” for about 50 minutes. You can drizzle the fruit with honey and sprinkle with a little salt and nuts if you like. I didn’t put the nuts on before roasting, but think I will start doing this. Enjoy plain {warm or cold}, with dark chocolate or over ice cream.
Just for fun-perhaps you will find your city in this list of culinary winners from Saveur Magazine.
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” ~John Dewey
For some reason, I am having a hard time settling down to write. My mind has been wandering quite a bit lately, as I think about my friends in the Central Kitsap School District who gathered together again this past Monday, after about 8 weeks of well-deserved summer vacation. This is the week of back to school teacher meetings, sprinkled with moments to prepare classrooms for the children, who are coming next week. Going back to school is a mixed bag of emotions; it means the return of early morning alarms, and giving up your free time but at the same time, you get to see your friends and the kids again for the camaraderie and excitement of a fresh new year. Here’s hoping for a wonderful school year for all!
I’ve wanted to write about yogurt for a while now. We eat yogurt because it tastes good, but also because it is a healthy food. If you want to eat yogurt for its health benefits, there are a few things to be considered. Cultured or fermented foods, of which yogurt is one, provide beneficial bacteria for your gut, which is a good thing. But all yogurts are not created alike. Look for yogurt that contains the most variety of live active cultures; the more the better. Yogurt that has fewer ingredients is better for you. Some yogurt is full of added sugars, colors, stabilizers and other such ingredients which are not needed. We like to buy plain low-fat yogurt, specifically Nancy’s. Using plain yogurt allows you to customize your yogurt any way you like. Plain yogurt is like a blank canvas. Here is a generic “recipe” to follow to create a fabulous yogurt breakfast. It’s really up to you to add whatever you like.
Put some yogurt in a bowl.
Add fruit if you want. This can be frozen fruit, fresh fruit, fruit jam that you have made preferably with minimal added sugar {like our peach jam that I told you about}.
Add a grain. This can be cooked quinoa, brown rice, 2 tbsp of Buckwheat Chia Crunch, raw oatmeal {regular, not quick cooking, which can make your blood sugar spike} or granola {this granola is our current favorite-I reduce the maple syrup to 1/2 cup and the brown sugar to 1/4 cup}.
Make it nutty! Toss in some nuts or seeds and maybe some cacao nibs for a little nutritious chocolate “punch.”
Mix it all up & taste it. If it needs a little sweetening, add a little local honey or Grade B maple syrup. Maybe a few splashes of vanilla would be tasty. Once you get used to plain yogurt, you will find the presweetened stuff way too sweet. If we use a drizzle of maple syrup or honey it is most likely for the nutrients more than the need for additional sweetness.
Sprinkle with cinnamon {tastes great & is good for your blood sugar}.
Enjoy your nutritious bowl of deliciousness!
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Buckwheat Chia Crunch for Yogurt
1/4 c hemp seeds
1/4 c buckwheat {I prefer untoasted buckwheat groats.}
1/8 c chia seeds
1/8 c ground flax seeds {best to grind your own in small quantities as needed}
1/8 c dried fruit, cut into small pieces {optional}
Mix together in a small jar. When ready to eat, shake it up so you get all of the ingredients. Use about 2 tbsp per serving.
Makes about 3/4 cup
Here are a couple more ways that we like to jazz up our plain yogurt.
This is my savory breakfast yogurt. It includes diced cucumber, tomatoes, minced jalapenos, cilantro, cumin & a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. It is delicious with a Ry-Vita Cracker spread with butter, or a buttered piece of toast.
This has Buckwheat Chia Crunch, unsweetened flake coconut, cacao nibs & mixed berry jam {made from Costco frozen mixed berries & a little sugar}.
This is an excellent article about. the healthy bacteria in our bodies.
Sources: The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth {Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.} Super Foods {Steven Pratt, M.D.}
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
Maui Girl Cooks 