Category Archives: Make Ahead

Posted in BBQ, Dinner, Fall Food, Fridge Finds, Less is more, Make Ahead, Meat Substitutes, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged chickpeas, cilantro, Eggs, EVOO, garbanzo beans, lemon, micro sprouts, onion, toasted bread crumbs

Cheater’s Buffalo Chicken Salad

Posted on September 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Sometimes I just don’t have time for extensive dinner prep and if I make one more decision in a day my head will explode; enter, Cheater Buffalo Chicken Salad.

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2 Boca Spicy Chicken Patties
1/2 pound mixed greens
1 red bell pepper, diced
5 green onions, greens only diced
1 medium cucumber, seeds removed, peeled and diced
1/4 C ranch or green goddess dressing, diluted with 3 T cold water or milk
3 T Frank’s Red Hot sauce
2 T shredded cheese

Super simple plan: bake chicken patties according to package instructions, cut into bite-sized pieces. Assemble veggies into 2 medium bowls, top with baked chicken pieces, top with dressing made from ranch, water and Frank’s Red Hot; plus shredded cheese.

The beauty of this salad as you can use whatever you have on hand in the fridge. Heck you can even mix up the chicken patty for a black bean burger or any other faux veg protein for that matter.

Posted in Dinner, Fridge Finds, Leftovers, Make Ahead, Meat Substitutes, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Salad, Vegetarian

Tagged bell pepper, boca chicken patty, cucumber, Frank's Red Hot, green goddess, Green Onions, mixed greens, quick cooking, ranch, salad, veggies

Soggy Baby Cukes Remade Into Crisp Quick Pickles

Posted on September 1, 2011 | 1 comment

I’m a pickled veggie snob. I will spend $12.00 on a jar of pickles. I will eat one a week so as not to get rid of them too soon, savoring every bite, then I will keep the jar of juice and dump baby carrots into the remaining sea of spices until I drain the jar dry.

Today I noticed some very much neglected pickling cukes in the back of my crisper, not looking so much crisp as sad. Here is my science experiment and foray into quick pickles. I hope you like it spicy.

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Pickles:

6 baby cucumbers washed and cut into rings
1 habanero pepper cut into 4ths
2 jalapeno peppers cut in half
2 whole cloves garlic smashed
Handful kosher salt

Brine:

1 1/2 C white vinegar, cause I’m old school
1 C water
1 1/2 T garlic chopped
5 bay leaves, whole
2 T dried dill, or 4 T fresh dill
1 T black peppercorns
1 T agave nectar
1 T cumin seeds, whole

First, prep the cukes. Cut into rounds, place in colander, salt generously, let sit for 15-30 minutes. This should perk up your cukes if they were a little sad like mine. Place cukes, peppers, and garlic cloves in a couple of jars you have lids for, it could be a jam jar for all I care, just make sure it’s clean. Since we are not “canning” here, it doesn’t make a difference.

To make the brine, boil for 15 minutes the ingredients listed in brine list. Remove from heat, pour over veggies in the jars. Let cool on counter, then pop in the fridge.

Eat these little guys within the week.

Posted in Fridge Finds, Less is more, Make Ahead, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged agave nectar, baby cucumbers, bay leaves, cumin seeds, dill, garlic, habanero, jalapeno pepper, McClures Pickles, peppercorns, pickles, quick pickles, white vinegar

Pectin Free Blueberry Jam

Posted on August 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Short and sweet. This was a small batch I used to experiment with the ratio of sugar to Berries. I think I can still make it with less sugar. I’ll let you know what happens with a less sugary recipe later in the month.

If you have excess blueberries, save summer by making Blueberry Jam.

4 C Blueberries, mashed
2 C sugar, white
1 lemon, zested and juiced

In a dutch oven over medium heat, cook mashed berries until they boil add sugar, boil while stirring until sugar dissolves, then turn heat down to low and simmer mixture for up to 60 minutes, stirring every few minutes until it reaches your desired jam thickness. Once you hit the thickness you desire, for me this was 40 minutes, add the juice of 1 lemon and its zest, turn up to medium, bring back to a boil and then shut off heat.

Remove from heat, pour into canning jars and either freeze or if you have done the boiling canning method, seal and keep at room temp.

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Posted in Gluten Free, Make Ahead, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged blueberry jam, Gluten Free, jam, Michigan blueberries, pectin-free jam, recipe, seasonal produce, vegan, vegetarian

The Kohlrabi Has Landed…

Posted on August 11, 2011 | 2 comments

…in my CSA bag for 3 weeks in a row. I admit, even though I’m a well-seasoned vegetarian, this odd vegetable stumped me for uses and it was necessary to run to Google and figure out finally, after 3 weeks, what in the hell to do with multiple kohlrabi (is that the plural? So confusing.).

While strange looking, sorta like a hot air balloon while it grows, kohlrabi possesses many attributes worth notice:

Low in calories, only 19 for a half cup raw, sliced
High in dietary fiber, 2.5 grams for one-half cup
Potassium content peaks at 245 grams for one-half cup
Vitamin content for that same one-half cup includes 25 I.U. vitamin A, 43.4 mg. vitamin C, 11.3 mcg folic acid, and 16.8 mg. calcium.

Turns out, this little guy is also known as a German Turnip and is the bee’s knees in Kashmir where it is the most consumed vegetable (food must really suck in Kashmir). Everywhere I searched, the claim is that kohlrabi is delish both raw and cooked. Well, I’m here to tell you people, while there are several varieties of this alien veggie, I apparently got the two that suck raw. Both white and purple variety of kohlrabi, are dare I say it, horrible raw…so off to the interwebs I went in search of a way to browbeat this veg into submission. I found the perfect solution: empanadas! Pie crust can make ANYTHING taste better. I present to you: Kohlrabi and Sweet Potato Empanadas.

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated
2 tsp coriander, ground
2-3 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 large sweet potato, cooked and smashed
2 large scallions, both white and green parts, finely cut
1 radish, minced (optional)
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1 box of pre-made pie crust or one batch homemade*
1 egg

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In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger to brown. Add kohlrabi cubes, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Toss well and cook 3 or 4 minutes until kohlrabi are softening a bit. Add potato mash and continue to cook for 4 more minutes. Add scallions, radish, nutmeg, coriander and another pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and cook for one minute before removing from heat. Set mixture to this side to cool. It should be a very, very dry, looking mixture. Moisture equals disaster for empanadas.

Roll out dough to be a little thinner than pie crust typically is. If you are using pre-made crust from the store, run your rolling pin over it once or twice. Using a cereal bowl or large circular cookie cutter, cut out 6 inch-ish circles from the dough. It should yield about 15, give or take depending on your cutter and dough thickness.

Pre-heat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Prepare egg wash by beating egg with a teaspoon of water and set to the side along with a small bowl of water.

To make the empanadas, spoon one teaspoon of kohlrabi mixture into the center of a circle of dough (it’s better to have less filling than too much or the empanadas won’t hold together. Feel out the right ratio that allows you to close off the dough without any filling popping out.). Dip your finger in the bowl of water and run it around the outside edge of the dough. Fold dough over the filling to create a half circle. Press down edges. Carefully pick up the dough pocket and pinch edges or use a fork, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush with the egg wash. The video below shows how to appropriately fill and thus seal an empanada. Caution: it only LOOKS easy. By the time you have made all of your precious empanadas your last one will look like this person’s first one; it is however, well worth the effort.

After you assemble the dough pockets, pop them into the preheated oven, cooking for 8 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on a rack so they don’t get soggy. I served mine warm with what else, Frank’s Red Hot.

**My next kohlrabi experiment is going to be this: Kohlrabi Curry.

Posted in Dinner, Fridge Finds, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged alien vegetable, assembly, community supported agriculture, community sustainable agriculture, cooked, coriander, crust, CSA, egg wash, empanada, folding, german turnip, ginger, Google, Kashnir, kohlrabi, Michigan, Nutmeg, odd veggie, pie, pie crust, radish, raw, scallions, sweet potato

Replace Gluten AND Eggs? It’s Worth A Try.

Posted on August 8, 2011 | 3 comments

Warning: I’m not a *real* chef, AND I got a C+ in organic chemistry, B+ in inorganic chemistry. Proceed with caution.

Excess zucchini means science experiment time! I have lots of vegan friends and recently a handful of gluten free friends, so I decided to see if I could please both of them with a summertime staple: zucchini bread.

First, the research for a gluten free bread recipe was pretty easy, but…wait Xanthan Gum? What is that? I had an idea of what that did in gluten free baking but no idea where it came from or where even to get such a thing, certainly I wasn’t going out for it. Thanks to Wikipedia I again know way more about an ingredient than I care to, thus, had to find a replacement which WAS NOT a chemical. It dawned on me that flax basically can be used as a sub for anything….so why not as a sub for xanthan gum. Turns out, lots of people think xanthan gum is icky like I do, and use flax as a sub, teaspoon for teaspoon. Now…in my vegan banana bread recipe, I also subbed flax and water for eggs, decided to try that in this one too. Science experiment complete. I crossed my fingers hoping it would taste okay and had SUPER results!

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This bread came to work with me to our staff meeting and noshers said it was super moist, and slightly spicy. I particularly appreciated the crispy exterior and the chewy interior. Bonus is that it didn’t need a spread of any kind, it stands on its own two feet.

This recipe makes one loaf.

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 ½ cups freshly shredded zucchini
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (or to Veganize it: 1T flax seed ground with 3 T hot water)
2 teaspoons vanilla (check this, some have gluten in them-gross)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ cups GF Flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill chickpea and fava bean)
1 teaspoon flax sprinkles for each cup of flour
up to 13 teaspoons hot water (I know this sounds random, but it depends on the type of gluten free flour you use how much water you will need)

Shred the zucchini, allow it to rest on paper towel to reduce moisture and chop the walnuts in a food processor or by smashing them in a plastic bag and set them aside.

Use a mixer to beat the flax/water mixture and add the sugar, oil and vanilla. Add the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Slowly pour in the flour and flax sprinkles (dry) until well mixed. Now if you have made bread before, you will know that the end consistency is not thick like cookie dough, but rather, thicker than cake batter, so to get from cookie dough to almost cake batter, slowly add hot water 1 teaspoon at a time until you have a workable quick bread viscosity. For me, that took 13 teaspoons.

Last, by hand, mix in the zucchini and walnuts. Pour in greased & floured loaf pan and bake at 350F degrees for 55-75 minutes. Let cool.

3 Comments

Posted in Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Gluten Free, Make Ahead, Michigan, Product Review, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged Bob's Red Mill, Chickpea and Fava Bean Flour, experimental, flax, Gluten Free, gluten free vegan zucchini bread, ground flax, vegan, vegan baking, vegetable oil, vegetarian, walnuts, Xanthan Gum, zucchini, zucchini bread

Buckle Up…Another Raspberry Recipe

Posted on August 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you like berries but don’t want to be overwhelmed with a sweet dessert-like cake, this recipe is for you. Tastes great with coffee, or fatten it up with some ice cream. Be careful not to overbake or it will be dry, if anything, underbake it slightly so it retains its tender texture.

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Berry Buckle

2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ C shortening
2 C berries (mixed, raspberries, or blueberries)
¾ C sugar
1 egg
½ C milk

Topping:

½ tsp cinnamon
½ C sugar
¼ C Earth Balance, or butter
1/3 C all purpose flour

Beat shortening and gradually add sugar, egg and milk. Add dry ingredients. Stir in berries gently. Spread into 9 x 13 pan. Cut butter into flour, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Make Ahead, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged cake-like, Cinnamon, dessert, earth balance sticks, Earth michigan seasonal baking, flour, raspberries, sugar, vegan, vegan dessert, vegetarian dessert

Saved The Best For Crisp

Posted on July 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

While making the raspberry jam from the previous post with some of the mushier berries, I couldn’t wait to make this crisp from Ina Garten’s recipe with the perfect berries. Alas, I opened up the fridge and no butter. Each of Ina Garten’s and Paula Deen’s recipes begin with butter, so a trip to the store was needed before I could begin, but the outcome was well worth the wait.

You could make this vegan with Earth Balance sticks pretty easily. I like to over bake the crisp just a little so it’s super crunchy. It can be baked ahead of time and reheated but who in the world has the willpower to let a hot fruit crisp hangout for future consumption? Not this girl.

For your immediate consumption, I give you a modified version of Ina’s Peach and Raspberry Crisp, modified for the raspberry lover.

1 orange, zested
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups plus 2 to 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 pints raspberries
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the inside of a 10 by 15 by 2 1/2-inch oval baking dish.

Combine in a large bowl, add the orange zest, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the raspberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. If there is a lot of liquid, add 1 more tablespoon of flour. Pour this mixture into the baking dish and smooth the top.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and the cold, diced butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is pea-sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the raspberries. Bake for 1 hour, until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator and reheat in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until warm.

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Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Make Ahead, Michigan, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged butter, can be vegan, fresh raspberries, ina garten, michigan raspberries, oats, paula deen, raspberries, seasonal baking, seasonal cooking, seasonal ingredients, vegetarian

The Gift That Keeps On Givin’

Posted on July 25, 2011 | 1 comment

Mr. Wonderful and I have a very, very large raspberry bush. Since raspberries last for about 10 seconds after you pick them, I picked a few large batches and then cooked like crazy. The next few posts are all about the Raspberry. First up, Raspberry Jam.

4 C mashed fresh raspberries
4 C white sugar

No need for pectin here people, finally a use for the seeds!

Use a VERY large pot, like a dutch oven, add to it the mashed raspberries. Cook over med-high until the jam reaches a full rolling boil. Boil x 2 minutes. Add sugar and stir well. Bring back to a boil, stirring consistently, boil x 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Beat with rotary beater x 4 minutes. Pour into jars, either sterile and shelve when proper seal has been achieved, or pop into plastic containers and freeze.

*5# of berries is approximately 9 C crushed berries.

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Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged homemade jam, Michigan, Mr. Wonderful, mr. wonderful approved, old school recipe, raspberries, raspberry, raspberry jam, seasonal ingredients, sugar, summer, vegan, vegetarian

Secret Slaw Dressing Recipe

Posted on July 18, 2011 | 17 comments

I grew up in the Village of Manchester, just outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan. We take great honor in being the home of the FAMOUS (yes, really) Chicken Broil, a 600+ volunteer driven event that raises funds for community projects and organizations from band uniforms to Boy Scout equipment and just about anything in between. Chances are if you were a kid and grew up in Manchester, or have kids and currently live in Manchester, you have received some benefit from the cash raised by this mostly-male driven event which serves this amount of food in 4 hours:

19,000 lbs chicken
9,600 lbs charcoal
256 lbs butter plus 14,000 butter pats
48 22-oz containers of salt for chicken and dressing
1,100 lbs radishes
14,000 dinner rolls
40 gallons of vegetable oil for dressing
84 crates of cabbage
14,000 1-oz. potato chip bags
500 aprons and gloves

In honor of the 58th Manchester Chicken Broil serving over 12,000 meals this Thursday, I give you…. the secret recipe for the only vegetarian component of the meal, besides the roll. Which, let’s be honest, that’s not really part of the meal, it’s the afterthought/filler.

MANCHESTER CHICKEN BROIL FAMOUS COLE SLAW DRESSING

10 T sugar (or sugar substitute, I’ve used as little as 3 T sugar with great results)
1/2 C vinegar (white preferred, but I usually use rice vinegar)
1 C canola or veg oil
1 1/2 tsp Coleman’s dry mustard (no subs here)
1 T dried minced onions (I’ve used onion powder before, no probs)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 T celery seeds

Add ingredients to a glass canning jar, shake well until all sweetener dissolves and serve over shredded cabbage.

17 Comments

Posted in BBQ, Fridge Finds, Make Ahead, Recipes, Salad, Vegetarian

Tagged cabbage, Carol LaRock, celery seeds, coleman's dry mustard, coleslaw, community, Helen Hosmer, Helen Kensler, June Jenter, Manchester, Manchester Chicken Broil, MI, minced onions, oil, salt, sugar, summer, Village of Manchester, vinegar, World Famous Chicken Broil

Independence Day Holiday Weekend = Food Coma

Posted on July 7, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello summer! Nothing screams 4th of July holiday like making a ton of high-calorie food and carting it all over the city visiting friends, drinking adult beverages, and watching small children play with matches.

Mr. Wonderful and I started off the July 4th Holiday weekend relatively healthy with Yin and Yang Salad with Peanut Dressing from The Real Food Daily Cookbook as and it sorta went downhill from there.

I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it’s really just some ingredients used many times…tricky. Replication of flavors from ginger, garlic and sesame make this dish seem complex and rich, you don’t need to tell anyone you basically had to shop in two aisles, the “ethnic” and produce aisles.

4 cups shredded napa cabbage

1 sleeve soba noodles, cooked al dente, drained and cooled

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

1 (2 1/2-inch) piece daikon radish, peeled and julienned (I used red radish)

10 green onions (white and green parts), julienned

1 cup Peanut-Sesame Dressing (recipe follows)

4 cups 1/2-inch cubes chilled ginger tofu (recipe follows)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Toss the cabbage, carrots, radish, and green onions in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat. Mound the salad into 4 wide, shallow bowls or onto plates. Arrange the tofu around the salad. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.

Serves 4.

Dressing:

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup brown rice vinegar

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons tamari

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

Ann’s header notes: If you’d like a spicier dressing, just add more crushed red pepper flakes. This thickens up once it’s refrigerated, so you can either add a little water to thin it or leave it thick to use as a sauce on grains and other cooked dishes.

Blend the peanut butter, vinegar, maple syrup, water, tamari, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add the cilantro and blend just until it’s finely chopped The dressing will keep for 2 days, covered and refrigerated.

Makes abaut 1 1/4 cups.

Gingered Tofu

2 (12-ounce) containers water-packed extra-flrm tofu

2/3 cup tamari

1/4 cup brown rice vinegar

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

I tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

I tablespoon canola oil

Drain the tofu and save the containers. Cut into 1-inch wide strips, and pat dry with paper towels. Cover a large baking sheet with more dry paper towels. Place the tofu in a single layer over the towels on the baking sheet and let drain for 2 hours, changing the paper towels after 1 hour.

Whisk the tamari, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in a bowl to blend. Pour half of the marinade into the reserved tofu containers. Return the tofu slices to the containers, and pour the remaining marinade over. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400’F. Oil a heavy, rimmcd baking sheet with the canola oil. Drain the tofu and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes on each side until golden brown and heated through. Serve warm or cold, or at room temperature. The tofu will keep for 1 day, covered and refrigerated.

Serves 4 to 6.

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Posted in Fridge Finds, Make Ahead, Meat Substitutes, Recipes, Salad, Vegetarian

Tagged 4th of July, bbq, brown-rice vinegar, carrots, chilled ginger tofu, cilantro, daikon, farmers market, friends, garlic, ginger, Green Onions, holiday, Independence Day, kid-friendly, Maple Syrup, napa cabbage, peanut butter, peanut-sesame dressing, potluck, red pepper flakes, red radish, sesame oil, soba noodles, summer, tahini, tofu, veg, vegetarian, Yin Yang Salad

Just Because I Didn’t Make It From Scratch, Doesn’t Mean I Couldn’t, It Just Means I Didn’t [want to]

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 1 comment

There are certain things I don’t make from scratch because frankly, the effort is not worth the reward: ice cream, mayo, cheese, tofu, and I NEVER, ever, make my own veg burgers [sidebar: my friend Jon Dunn says to never attempt to make your own vegan tamales, from scratch, and if he makes a statement like that, I absolutely believe him-no tamales will grace my kitchen]. I make everything else from scratch. I make SALAD DRESSING [granted it’s usually just 2-3 ingredients] for the love of God, from scratch! The veg burgers in the grocer’s freezer are pretty much delightful so why tamper with perfection? I’ll tell you why, I ran across these slider buns at Meijer on a recent shopping trip [damn you marketing marvels] and today I find myself making Heidi’s Ultimate Veggie Burgers to take to a holiday party, certainly from scratch…in fact, I just made my own bread crumbs as Meijer in all its greatness, doesn’t sell WHOLE WHEAT breadcrumbs, which I personally think is some kind of hate crime. I digress, and give you, The Ultimate Veggie Burger recipe:

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2 1/2 cups canned garbanzos, drained and rinsed

4 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 onion, chopped

Grated zest of one large lemon

1 cup micro sprouts, chopped (try brocolli, onion, or alfalfa sprouts – optional)

1 cup toasted (whole-grain) bread crumbs

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or clarified butter)

Combine the garbanzos, eggs, and salt in a food processor. Puree until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts. Add the breadcrumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, you should have a moist mixture that you can easily form into twelve 1 1/2-inch-thick patties. I err on the moist side here, because it makes for a nicely textured burger. You can always add more bread crumbs a bit at a time to firm up the dough if need be. Conversely, a bit of water or more egg can be used to moisten the batter.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium low, add 4 patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties.

For the sake of time and volume (I doubled this recipe so needed 24 sliders), I baked them on a rimmed sheet pan (heavily greased) at 400 degrees until they were golden brown but not dry (check them every 5-6 minutes, and flip when one side browns). I kept these in the fridge until I was ready to serve them in the afternoon, then reheated them briefly on a grill top before serving.

Makes 12 mini burgers.

Posted in Dinner, Make Ahead, Meat Substitutes, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged 101cookbooks.com, canned beans, chickpea burgers, chickpeas, cilantro, Eggs, garbanzo beans, homemade bread crumbs, kid-friendly, lemon zest, make-ahead, meat substitute, Meijer, micro sprouts, recipe, sliders, veg, vegetarian, veggie burgers

If you plant a herb garden, you better damn well like pesto.

Posted on June 16, 2011 | 2 comments

My herbs are staging a coup d’état in the backyard.

I’m striking back with pesto.

One of my fave 101cookbooks.com blog posts is entitled “How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother”. She’s right. It’s a brilliant recipe; however, sometimes I do not have 1) pine nut cash allowance (so expensive!), 2) oh, I don’t know 1000 extra calories to inhale a 2 tablespoon mouthful of wonderfulness or 3) time to chop BY HAND (wtf?!) a zillion leaves into a paste-like substance-I guess that’s where the grandmother part comes in for Heidi Swanson’s recipe; grandmothers have lots of extra time for this stuff.

Tonight when I realized my parsley was about to FLOWER for goodness sake, I took it upon myself to hack it all down, grab some garlic and headed to the food processor to make, “Certainly not an Italian Grandmother’s Pesto” while muttering to myself, “it’s a damn good thing I like pesto.”

Pesto from the Fridge

2 lemons zested and juiced
2 large handfuls of something delish and green from your herb garden (could really be anything)
4 cloves of garlic, 2 if you are not interested in vampire protection (TrueBlood starts at the end of the month)
1/4 C good EVOO

**To make this real pesto, add 1/2 C toasted walnuts or pine nuts, sometimes called Pinons and 1/2 C grated parm cheese to the mix then increase your EVOO as needed to get a nice puree.

Hack down a bunch of your herbs you have been neglecting, use the tender leaf part for the pesto (wash and dry it) and the stems to clean out your garbage disposal, it will make it smell better after you grind them up in there and send them to their new water home.

In a food processor, take the peeled garlic cloves, lemon juice, lemon zest and all of that beautiful greenery and blend while slowly adding the EVOO. You might need less than 1/4 C depending on how liquidy you want the pesto. I like mine a little bit on the dry side.

To store, I take an old ice cube container, spray a little oil in the bottom and on the sides then portion out my pesto in the little wells which happens to make a nice amount of sauce for 2 people when I decide I need a pasta fix; freeze and then pop out and store in a freezer bag.

I have also used this concoction as:

Tofu marinade
Combined with greek yogurt to make dip, or thinned with water to make salad dressing.
Mixed with more EVOO and a dash of balsamic vinegar to create a quick and flavorful vinaigrette.
Tossed with pasta and raw veggies for a quick lunch or dinner.
Tossed with pasta, a little pasta water, goat cheese and toasted walnuts for a yummy dinner.
On top of crusty bread for the base for bruschetta or plain as garlic bread.
Tossed with saute’d mushrooms.
Base for marinated olives and bocconcini (baby mozzarella balls) skewers.
Base for tortillini soup.

Technically this recipe might be considered a Coulis due to lack of cheese; but whatever the case, it’s a flexible, cheap, quick and yummy way to put that herb garden to use and just about any herb or green will due. I’ve even used spinach with fantastic results. Pulling one of these little cubes out of the freezer in February makes my heart remember spring.

Posted in Fridge Finds, Make Ahead, Noodles, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged 101cookbooks.com, Basil, coulis, dip, dressing, EVOO, freezer, garlic, green, heidi swanson, herb garden, herbs, ice cube trays, parsley, pasta, pesto, spring, tofu marinade, vegan, vegetarian, Yummy

When life gives you over-ripe bananas, find an egg replacement and add a few walnuts to make Vegan Banana Bread

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 1 comment

I’ve been a vegetarian for quite some time now, and I have always had strong feelings about going vegan, as in, I’d really love to and then I start thinking…of cheese, eggs and Greek yogurt.

Confession: I am a dairy whore. The thought of not eating Habanero Mango Cheese from Horrocks ever again frankly makes me nearly faint. Like most things, jumping in to a vegan lifestyle with both feet is so scary, so I will make small changes where possible and hopefully will get there someday.

My friends Kolene (@suckahpunch) and Jon (@jon_dunn) however, have basically jumped in head first. I’m so proud of them. They began a Twitter group Vegan GR (@vegangr) and a website where they scope out vegan friendly restaurants and vendors around GR and basically run around doing good all day long. I’m serious. Case in point, Kolene’s birthday wish is raising money for Carol’s Ferals a non-profit feline organization which performs TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) services in Western Michigan and Jon works for Best Friends Animal Society where he is the wizard behind their online presence. I know, right? You want to hate them, but you cannot help but love these people! I don’t even LIKE cats and I gave to Kolene’s birthday wish. They are compelling people for the case of a vegan lifestyle. Lots of give in those two. They inspire me to try, at least sometimes, to foster a vegan diet and so perhaps with their help, I will kick my dairy habit and become a vegan too.

I’ve posted vegan baked goods on this blog in the past (Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles) from PPK’s Isa Chandra, but this recipe I took from this little cutie named Claire who runs this blog called Vegan Cooking. Check her out and while you are at it, bake a vegan dessert like this one I’m giving to Kolene for her birthday.

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Vegan Banana Nut Bread

1 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Demerera Sugar (I subbed brown sugar)
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
Equivalent of 2 Eggs Using Egg Replacer (I used 1T Golden Ground Flax Seed Sprinkles which I picked up at TJ Maxx of all places for about $3, mixed with 3T tap water)
2-3 Ripe Bananas Mashed
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift together dry ingredients. Stir in nuts, egg replacer, bananas, oil and vanilla. Mix well.
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 45-60 mins (until knife comes out clean). Cool for 5 mins before removing from pan. Cool on wire rack.

Posted in Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Make Ahead, Product Review, Recipes, Vegan

Tagged @jon_dunn, @suckahpunch, @VeganGr, baking, banana, banana bread, banana walnut bread recipe, Best Friends Animal Society, bread, Carol's Ferals, claire, create, dairy whore, delish, egg replacement, Flax Seed, flax sprinkles, fruit, greek yogurt, Habanero Mango Cheese, Horrocks, isa chandra moskowitz, Jon, Kolene, Non-Profits, quick bread, recipe, Stober Farms, sweet bread, Twitter, veg, vegan, Vegan GR, vegancooking.com, vegangr.com, vegetarian, walnuts, yum

Celebration Sunday!

Posted on May 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

This is a two for one blog post today. Last minute plans had Mr. Wonderful and I running to Lansing for the weekend to celebrate his kid sister FINALLY (as her father puts it) graduating from MSU, Mother’s Day, Mr. Wonderful’s mother’s birthday, and my new job. Whew! Nice to celebrate!

I’m going to air a little dirty laundry, The Wonderful Family is a little bit difficult to pin down in terms of actual PLANS, so late Friday night we decided on brunch at the Wonderful’s Farm (#walterthewonderdog loves it there). My portion of brunch was relatively painless and I made it ahead. Goat Cheese & Asparagus Strata and Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole. Win-win.

Warning these are not healthy recipes!

PAULA DEEN’S FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Praline Topping, recipe follows
Maple syrup

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla,cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

PRALINE TOPPING

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.

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Goat Cheese Asparagus Strata

Adapted from Epicurious.com’s Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Strata

18 slices firm white bread (original recipe calls for English muffin bread crust free, I used French with crust)
1 # asparagus tips, chopped
8 ounces Dancing Goat, goat cheese from Dogwood Farms in Byron Center , crumbled
4 ounces provolone, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
6 T thinly sliced fresh basil or 3 T dried
6 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced*
5 large eggs
2 c half and half
1 T Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter, melted

Line bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish completely with 1 layer of bread, cutting some slices to fit. Arrange half of prosciutto evenly over bread. Sprinkle half of goat cheese and half of provolone over. Sprinkle with half of green onions and half of basil. Top with second layer of bread. Layer remaining prosciutto, goat cheese, provolone, green onions, and basil atop bread. Cut remaining bread into 1/4-inch cubes. Sprinkle over top.

Whisk eggs, milk, mustard, and salt in bowl. Season with pepper. Pour egg mixture over strata; press down on bread with spatula. Drizzle melted butter over strata. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover strata and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Bake until center is set, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. Preheat broiler. Place strata under broiler until top is golden, about 30 seconds. Cut into large squares and serve.

*for your meat-eating friends

Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Make Ahead, Vegetarian

Tagged agave nectar, asparagus, Baked French Toast Casserole with Praline Topping, baking, Basil, Brunch, butter, Byron Center, Cinnamon, cooking, Dancing Goat Cheese, Dogwood Farm, Eggs, Epicurious, French Bread, Goat Cheese & Asparagus Strata, Graduation, Green Onions, Half-and-half, Jenny, Local, Local First, LocalFirst, make ahead, Maple Syrup, Michigan, Michigan State University, Microplane, Mr. Wonderful, MSU, Nutmeg, paula deen, pecans, Pralines, Provolone, recipe, spring, Strata, The Wonderfuls, vanilla, vegetarian, walterthewonderdog, yum

Sweet Potato Crisp

Posted on May 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

I think marshmallows are so gross, I don’t even want to tell you what gelatin is made from which is what holds those little guys together. So I took a topping that I love, from fruit crisp, and then modified it slightly for this dish. You could easily add 1/3 C oats to the topping and call this “health food”; however I didn’t do that.

Sweet Potato Crisp

Casserole:

3 C sweet potatoes, baked and mashed (approx. 4 large potatoes)
½ C sugar or Splenda
½ C margarine or butter, melted
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 C skim milk

Topping:

1/3 C melted margarine or butter
1 C light brown sugar or brown sugar Splenda
½ C flour
1 C chopped pecans
½ C – 1C sweetened shredded coconut

Mix together all of the casserole ingredients, place into a 9×13 greased pan.

Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over the top of the casserole dish.

Bake at 350 degrees COVERED for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 3-5 minutes or until just brown.

CAUTION: the sweetened coconut burns QUICKLY so in the last 3-5 minutes you are really watching for the coconut to brown and then remove promptly.

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Posted in Baking, Leftovers, Make Ahead, Recipes

Tagged butter, coconut, crisp, Easter, mr. wonderful approved, not-health-food, pecans, sweet potatoes, vanilla, vegetarian, Yummy

Macaroni and Love, er, I Mean Cheese

Posted on May 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

Many requests for this recipe. Lori got it from Martha and made some changes, then I’ve made some changes. I hope you decide to make it your own too.

Macaroni & Cheese

Adapted from Martha Stewart and Lori Peterson

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 ½ C Panko bread crumbs
5 ½ C skim milk
½ C flour (any type)
1 T Braggs Aminos (could also use Soy Sauce)
½ tsp Coleman’s Ground Mustard
Pinch of fresh ground Nutmeg
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
6 oz sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
6 oz white Cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
4 oz smoked Cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz light or ff cream cheese
4 oz Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 pound whole grain pasta, cooked al dente

Heat oven to 375. Butter a large, deep casserole dish. If you use a 9 x 13 pan, make sure when you bake it, you put a jelly roll pan with sides under it, the pan will overflow and you can save your oven.

Melt the butter, reserve 2 T with Panko breadcrumb in small dish and set aside.

In medium saucepan, heat milk. Add rest of melted butter from above, and slowly whisk flour into this mixture. Stir until becomes bubbly and thickens a little.

Remove pan from heat and stir in spices and all cheeses, MINUS the Parmesan. Stir in cooked pasta, transfer into your prepared dish/pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Panko. Bake until brown and bubbly, approximately 30 minutes. Cool slightly and serve.

#author’s note: just about any combination of cheeses will work here. I love Applewood Smoked Cheddar or Colby Jack in this as well as Havarti, Gorgonzola, etc. Create your own cheese flavor profile. Just follow the approximate measures above and do not sub for the cream cheese, you need that one.

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Posted in Make Ahead, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tagged #walterthewonderdog approved, Bragg's Aminos, butter, cayenne, Cheddar, Coleman's Ground Mustard, cream cheese, Easter, Gruyere, mr. wonderful approved, not-good-for-you-but-delicious, Nutmeg, Panko, Parmesan, veggie, White Cheddar, yum

My new guilty pleasure: Horrocks

Posted on March 30, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m sure this is old new to most of you, because I haven’t shut up about Horrocks for about 3 weeks now since my first visit to the grocer in Kentwood. My best find to date, besides their seed packets that are 40% “basically every day” according to the butcher in line behind me, is the Michigan grown lentils, peas and beans.

Horrocks carries Michigan grown and packaged dried items from Carlson-Arbogast Farm in Howard City (that’s 49329 for those of you keeping track). They even have a video on YouTube under the Michigan Farm Bureau Channel:

So what in the world do you do with dried beans? Well, you soak them on a Saturday night over night, then get up on Sunday and cook them about 70% done (while you are ironing or doing laundry) drain, dry, cool and freeze in bags to add during the work week to delicious stoups, soups, stews, tacos, casseroles, curries, etc. They will finish cooking in the pot of whatever delicious finished item you create. Why do this? Less sodium, a better quality, whole bean in your dish, AND they are CHEAP! From one bag of great northern beans, dried, I got 9 ziploc bags of cooked beans (2C per bag) to enjoy.

Now if you will excuse me, I’m off to make a lentil stew with white beans from a local grower, surely by this time, you know who I am referring to. Eat. More. Dried. Beans. Save a few bucks, help a local grower, and serve a higher quality product. Oh, and cross your fingers that Horrocks will hire me part-time this summer to feed my foodie addiction; I applied today.

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3 Comments

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Michigan, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged beans, black beans, black turtle beans, cook, cranberry beans, create, delish, Farm Bureau, freezer, green split peas, Horrocks, howard city, Howard City Michigan, local beans, local products, northern beans, northern-mid michigan, seasonal cooking, turtle beans, veg, vegan, vegetarian, white beans, yellow split peas, yum

Yahtzee! Red Pepper SALE=Spicy Red Pepper Soup

Posted on February 3, 2011 | 1 comment

Some like it HOT. I for one, basically drink Frank’s Red Hot. It has some kind of hold on me. A sale on red peppers is like hitting 3 or 4 numbers in the lotto, not the full monty, but you still get an excellent monetary reward…especially at D & W. So when I saw red bell peppers, 10 for $10 dollars and sprinted to the produce shelf, leaving poor Mr. Wonderful in the dust returning with 20 red bell peppers, he had no idea what had just happened. Since he knows better than to actually ask about such things, he agreed to just wait for the finished product which we lapped up 2 days in a row and several lunch servings later.

This recipe was adapted from the klutzychef at her blog; check her out she is cute and honest…and talks about burning Rice Krispie treats, my kind of gal.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

serves 4 people as a main meal

Ingredients

8 red bell peppers, roasted (no, it does NOT taste the same if you use canned-just roast them in your oven..super easy)
1 baked medium russet potato, smashed
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/4 cup half and half
2 medium chopped onions
6 garlic cloves peeled and left whole
2 tsp roasted red pepper flakes (half of this for a milder soup)
1 tsp chipotle powder (omit for mild soup, I like to hurt myself eating soup like this…)
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups crushed tomatoes (16 oz)
1 3/4 cups reduced-fat coconut milk (or whole fat, whatever)
2 cups veggie broth or water

Directions

Bake your potato, set aside to cool. Roast your peppers, whole, washed and then coated lightly with EVOO or canola oil on a foil-lined (you will thank me later for this step) jelly roll pan at 400 or so until they are black, yes, black. Set them aside in a tightly covered bowl to cool and then stem, seed, and peel them. This is not hard, suck it up and do it. Seriously, the taste is worth it.
In a covered non-reactive pot, heat oil in a dutch oven on medium-high heat.
Add onions, carrots, salt, pepper flakes, chipotle powder, and garlic. Sauté on medium heat for 15 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent. DO NOT INHALE DEEPLY when you put the flakes and powder to the oil. You might want to turn on the fan for a few minutes or suffer for about an hour.
Remove the pot from heat and add canned tomatoes, red peppers, coconut milk, smashed potato guts, half/half and broth/water.
Mix together so ingredients are fully integrated.
Now, in batches, add the soup to a blender or food processor to mix all together. An immersion blender works beautifully here as well since you can just throw it right into the pot. If you have a dish towel to spare and are using a standing blender, you may want to put the towel under the cover to prevent hot soup from spilling out the top.
Keep warm until ready to serve on stove over low.
Top with Frank’s Red Hot (I know it’s too much, but it’s soooooo good).

Posted in Leftovers, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soup

Tagged coconut milk, cook, create, delish, EVOO, Frank's Red Hot, recipe, red pepper, roasting red peppers, sale, seasonal cooking, Soup, vegetarian, yum

Simple Split Pea Soup

Posted on January 31, 2011 | 1 comment

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You know it has been too long since last you blogged, when you can’t remember the login or password to your WordPress account. Sorry friends. I have a few backlogged items to share with you in the next few days and then hopefully next week some new cooking (I have a few new cookbooks, shocker).

This easy and super cheap soup comes to use via my fave Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com. You can pre-order her newest and greatest cookbook on Amazon right now SuperNatural Every Day. If not for the recipes buy it for the food porn pics. She is as good a photog as she is a veggie chef.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (I used Fustini’s Meyer Lemon)

2 large onions, chopped

1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 1/2 cups dried split green peas, AND 1/2 cup dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed.

5 cups water

juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve the zest)

a few pinches of smoked paprika

more Meyer Lemon olive oil to drizzle

Add olive oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, just a minute or two. Add the split peas and water. Bring to a boil, dial down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through (but still a touch al dente). Using a large cup or mug ladle half of the soup into a bowl and set aside. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) puree the soup that is still remaining in the pot. Stir the reserved (still chunky) soup back into the puree – you should have a soup that is nicely textured. If you need to thin the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time. Stir in the lemon juice and taste. If the soup needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup really pops.

Ladle into bowls or cups, and serve each drizzled with olive oil and topped with a good pinch of smoked paprika and a touch of lemon zest.

Serves 4 to 6.

This froze well, and all my work friends were jealous when it was beef on noodles day again in the cafe’ and I was eating a bowl of spring yum. Also pictured with the soup was home-baked (from a freezer loaf) bread topped with chili sea salt and Meyer Lemon EVOO.

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soup

Tagged 101 cookbooks, cook, create, delish, EVOO, freezer, heidi swanson, Soup, vegetarian, yum

Holiday Leftovers II

Posted on January 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Leftovers to be transformed: pineapple, sourdough bread, green onions, heavy whipping cream.

Made grilled chipotle/raspberry open faced sandwiches with grilled pineapple, green onions on sourdough bread. Pineapple two ways for dessert, grilled and fresh/raw with cinnamon, nutmeg and are you ready for this? Peachtree schnapps. Yes. Schnapps.

The how: slice and press your tofu into “steaks”, marinade in chipotle/raspberry bbq sauce or any other sauce you have available for 20 minutes or so. While you are marinating, slice and grill your green onions and pineapple over high heat until just done. Remove pineapple and onion, then grill tofu until heated throughout and you achieve those super cool grill marks on both sides. Remove from heat and toss your bread right onto that mess in the grill pan. It will toast up with sauce remnants on it which isn’t a bad thing, trust me. Assemble as an open face sandwich (I only had 2 pieces of bread to work with).

For the grilled and fresh pineapple dessert with whip. Whip up some heavy cream with a dash of nutmeg, Splenda or sugar, cinnamon, and a douse of Schnapps. Don’t measure, just taste as you go. It’s not scientific, it will still be delicious-give it a whirl. If your household has more class than mine and doesn’t have Schnapps on your shelf, stand in judgement for a bit like I expect you to, then just use vanilla for the same type of flavor profile. 🙂 Add whipped tipsy cream to your fruit and serve as shown in photos.

Posted in Leftovers, Make Ahead

Tagged bbq, cook, create, delish, green onion, grill, Leftovers, Peachtree Schnapps, pineapple, recipe, sourdough bread, tofu, whipped cream

Doing The RIGHT Thing!! Leading By Example: Cooking Day With Molly

Posted on January 2, 2011 | 1 comment

My friend Julie is crazy. Like in all the very BEST ways, crazy. I’m so proud of her latest post to Facebook it nearly brought me to tears, I was forced to drop everything and brag about her in this post. But first, a little health education, as if you actually thought I could write about this topic and not go all geek on you!!

In case you have been living in a cave for oh, say 50 years. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. In ancient historic times a person’s weight was the gauge of their social standing. A thin person often meant poverty and a plum family equated to the fact that they were doing well enough to have plenty to eat. This is not the case now. Our culture is producing the first generation of obese children with the highest risk factor of developing diabetes. The National Institutes of Health estimate that over sixty five percent of Americans are either overweight or obese and the number is climbing. With the rise of obesity, the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes has also been increasing.

We are a nation obsessed with all the wrong types of foods and are constantly being marketed to buy and consume copious amounts of junk and fast food. The American Diabetes Association has been expressing alarm at the fact that approximately twenty one million people have diabetes with a potential of around another fifty four million diagnosed with pre-diabetes (an increased elevation of the blood glucose levels but not at a level to be officially diagnosed as type-2 diabetes). The obesity and diabetes statistics are alarming.

Diabetes is a dangerous disease, however, type-2 diabetes has been related as a lifestyle disorder. This means it can start at an early age with a high fat and high sugar diet that lends to the disease progress. By the time of later adult hood, the body functions are set in place to have type-2 diabetes.

Here’s what all the fuss is about:

Over two thirds of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be overweight or obese-
All adults total: 68 percent; Women: 64.1 percent. Men: 72.3 percent

About one third of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be obese-
All adults total: 33.8 percent; Women: 35.5 percent. Men: 32.2 percent

5.7 percent of adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be extremely obese.

There has been a steady increase in obesity in all ethnicities, genders, ages and education levels. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has increase from 13.4 to 35.1 percent in adults age 20 to 74. Since 2004, while the prevalence of overweight is still high among men and women. There aren’t any significant differences in documented rates from 2003, to 2004; 2005 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008. There hasn’t been any change in obesity prevalence in women from 1999 to 2008; 2009-2010 official statistics have not yet been released, but I’m predicting an increase.

The increase in obesity in children in a 2003-2006 study showed 12.4 percent of children ages 2-5 and a 17 percent of children aged 6-11 were overweight. Most studies show that there is an increased mortality rate associated with obesity due to all sorts of preventable diseases and recently, even the National Cancer Institute links obesity to CANCER!!!!

If we as a community and a culture are going to encourage a healthy life for future generations, and change these alarming statistics, we have to stop buying prepackaged and premade products from manufacturers that really don’t care about us. Their job is to sell us product people! We need to pull the junk food from the schools and replace it with healthier choices (this I could talk about for hours-vending machines in schools still selling regular soda!!? It’s an outrage and a totally separate blog rant later). We also need to begin learning to eat right and less in volume, no matter where we are. Lastly, we need to cook at home with our kids!!!!! I applaud you Julie ( you too Molly! ) for taking steps in the positive direction for change. I love that you begin with a very humble and also misunderstood veggie, Brussels Sprouts. Listed below is Julie’s note from FB, keep up the good fight gals!

(Statistics not immediately sited in text were taken from the Centers for Disease Control website: cdc.gov).

Julie: So, I’ve been inspired by Cooking Light Magazine and their “12 Healthy Habits of 2011” program (check out their website…it’s a pretty cool thing they’re doing!) January is the month of adding more vegetables into your diet. Clearly this will only benefit my effort of weight loss (and my SparkPeople program) so I went to the store today with a mission to get some veggies, try a NEW veggie, and prepare some stuff that will get me through the week.

My new veggie: Brussels Sprouts. Yes, Erin, I’m trying Brussel Sprouts. (I know…you’re tearing up 🙂 I’m linking the recipe that I’m going to use. (I’m hoping that the link works.)

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000522381

And, Molly and I created a Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili. It has butternut squash in it. Which just happens to be one of my FAV veggies 🙂 Here’s that recipe.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001949760

It’s going to be a veggie filled month, I just know it 🙂

(If I tag you, it’s because you’re either a foodie or a diet buddy, or just b/c I adore you.)

Smokey Chili Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Posted in Fall Food, Leftovers, Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes

Tagged brussels sprouts, cook, cooking light, create, delish, eat your veggies, eating well, epidemic, facebook, julie, kids and cooking, molly, new year new you, obesity, recipe, school nutrition, seasonal cooking, snack, squash, type-2 diabetes, vegetarian, yum

Christmas Day with The Wonderfuls

Posted on December 31, 2010 | 2 comments

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On the veggie menu:

Cranberry Crostini
Apricot Crostini
TLT Open Faced Baby Sammies
Sweet Potato Chipotle Gratin/Casserole
Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries
Chocolate Mallow Fondue with Dippers

Cranberry and Apricot crostini are this simple: toast a French baguette, slather a little goat cheese on it, top with dried fruit and honey if you so desire. For the cranberry crostini, I used cinnamon/cranberry goat cheese, topped with whole dried cranberries, and for the apricot crostini, I used honey goat cheese, topped with chopped apricots and lavender honey drizzle.

The TLT sammy recipe was adapted from Heidi over at 101cookbooks.com.

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados
2 pints tomatoes
2 packages fakin’ bacon tempeh
1 clamshell mixed baby lettuce leaves
1 small package regular plain goat cheese
1 French baguette, sliced and toasted
Juice of 2 limes
EVOO

The night before, preheat the oven to 400, toss the tomatoes with EVOO and roast until sweet and caramelized. Save these for the next day in the fridge. Day of, mash the avocado with the lime juice to make a make-shift-guac, this will go on the crostini at assembly. Prep the fakin’ bacon per the package instructions. To cook a bunch of it at a time, I cut the strips in half, put on a baking sheet and tossed into the oven for a few minutes until warm and crispy. Next, assembly is easy: take a crostini, top with a schmear of goat cheese, lettuce, avocado numminess, fakin’ bacon, and tomatoes. Or whatever order your OCD compells you to assemble this tasty bite.

So as not to lull you into submission or boredom with the length of this post here are the other recipes I made.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry Brown Butter

Chocolate Marshmallow Creme Fondue (use the creme so it’s veg friendly, sans gelatin)

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients

Tagged 101 cookbooks, apricots, baguette, bobby flay, brussels sprouts, casserole, chili, chipotle, chocolate, cook, cranberries, cranberry, create, crostini, delish, EVOO, fakin' bacon tempeh, fondue, food network, goat cheese, mallow creme, Mr. Wonderful, orange, recipe, sweet potato, sweet potatoes, veg, vegetarian, yum

Clean Out Your Cupboard Mexican Sopa

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I really, really wanted to go out and get half-off sushi at XO in downtown GR tonight, it’s just simply too cold to leave the house, really! Typically Mr. Wonderful and I eat at XO for lunch on Tuesdays, because can you really pass up a 9 dollar stuff your face with sushi lunch? No way. Today however, I had a lunch and learn speaker session to attend and could not go to half-off sushi day. I was crying on the inside, really. Instead, while listening to a charming and informative session put on by AMA West Michigan, I ate a crappy warm mixed greens salad without dressing (it looked gross), limp and flavorless “veggie pad Thai” (or my translation for the table was peanut butter spaghetti for white people-gag) and starchy, clumpy COLD rice, with a stale dinner roll. I pushed my plate forward and covered it with my napkin for a proper burial after I ate the greens and then waited to get home to eat my leftovers from last night’s Pineapple Tofu dish.

While I am known on occasion to exaggerate (I know you are surprised by this revelation), I have to get this out of my system as I work in a catering department of a very well-known west Michigan establishment and hotelier: food at other venues is shit compared to what we produce at my beloved place of employment. Yes, really, shit. I mean, I cannot emphasize enough, what an outstanding team of chefs and talented staff we have on our team. A luncheon on our turf, would NOT leave you wishing for your leftovers at home, this I assure you. I even passed on, are you ready for this…the Christmas sugar cookie. The Pillsbury cut and bakes I can buy in the refrigerated section are more desirable than the floury mess with butter frosting. Honestly people…and you call yourselves professionals?

Sorry about that distraction, I’m still mad that while my $40.00 paid to attend the session today was in my eyes a donation to the organization, approximately $0.00 went to the food bill. I feed my dogs better quality meals than I received at that country club, and not to the detriment of the host organization, this is all on the country club, 100% #epicfail.

On to the recipe.

As I wasn’t about to brave the cold, I took what I had and made “stone soup” or as I have dubbed it, “clean out your cupboard Mexican sopa”. Proof you can take normal stuff from your cupboards, toss it in a pan, add some broth and have a dinner in under 20 minutes. Mix it up people, your only limitations are what you currently have in your pantry or freezer. Good luck!

Ingredients:

3-15 ounce cans diced or whole tomatoes, zapped in the food processor to make your base
3-15 ounce cans black beans drained, or 4 cups cooked black beans, one cup zapped with tomatoes above for base
6 cloves garlic, zapped in food processor with first two ingredients
1 large sweet onion diced
1-15 ounce can whole corn kernels
1 can or 2 cups great northern beans drained
2T cumin, ground
1T ancho chili pepper, ground or your fave chili powder blend
3T chipotle en adobo, less if you don’t like spicy, play around with it beginning at 1T to taste
1tsp epazote, ground
4 C veggie broth or water
Juice of 4-5 limes

Really sophisticated directions here folks:

1. In a dutch oven, cook onion on medium high until translucent or browned whatever you like.

2. Dump into onion the base as described above with first 3 ingredients.

3. Next toss in whole black beans, whole northern beans, whole kernel corn, spices, veg broth, lime juice and chipotle en adobo.

4. Bring to boil, turn down to simmer, add salt and pepper to taste.

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Serve over baked tortilla chips or rice, sprinkle with cheese, top with avocado, sour cream, squeeze of lime, and chopped red onion. Freezes like a champ.