Kale Salad with Yam Noodles

I've heard so many people tell me they don't like kale.  Sadly, I hear it most often in our own house.  I don't get it.  Taste wise, kale is GREAT!  It's crunchy, lends great color to a salad, but the best thing about kale is its nutritional value!  I've heard it's the most nutritionally dense vegetable!  According to Livestrong.com

Dark green leafy vegetables are rich in iron, dietary fiber, calcium, vitamins B, E and K, protein, carotenoids and other antioxidants.

You really can't go wrong eating kale.

Zucchini Salad

A girlfriend gave me Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes recently.  I must say I'm very impressed with the layout.  Jamie provides a menu for dinner, then gives step by step preparation guidelines to successfully have a tasty, unique dinner on the table, in minutes.  While perusing the pages, I couldn't decide where to begin, so I started with page one.

Moosewood Cookbook: Sweet Potato Pancakes

I love sweet potatoes!  I love them grilled, roasted, boiled, etc.  When I discovered this recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook, I thought, "How could I go wrong?"

Moosewood Cookbook: Polenta Pie

Despite what nutritionists, diet specialists or hard core gluten-free groupies say I cannot seem to shake my love for pizza!  I've heard it said, if you refrain from eating something long enough you'll lose a taste for it.  I beg to differ, or my taste buds beg to differ!  No matter how long I stay away from pizza (and root beer), when I splurge and enjoy them I feel like my food-love bank is FULL!  They're the BEST!

Good Luck Grub Style Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Even though I've moved on to the Moosewood Cookbook, I still have Grub on my mind.  There was a recipe I wanted to try because it's part of a "New Year's Eve Good Luck Meal."  It is Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages.

I love quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).  It's one of those super foods hitting the grocery stores and popping up in more and more recipes everywhere.

Most people think it's a grain because it looks like one, but it's actually a seed grown high in the Andes Mountains in South America.  Although many Americans know little of it, it's actually and ancient food enjoyed by the Incas.

One cup of quinoa has about:

220 calories
38-40 grams carbohydrates
8 grams protein
3.5 grams fat
5 grams of fiber
and high in folate, magnesium (great if you have migraines), phosphorus, iron and copper and manganese

According to the Mother Nature Network:

Quinoa is stocked with life-sustaining nutrients all across the board, including all eight essential amino acids. There are other highly beneficial compounds, vitamins and minerals in this food that the Incas reverently called "chisaya mama" (mother of all grains).

 

Vegetarians would do well to incorporate quinoa into their diet often. It’s difficult for vegetarians to get all eight essential amino acids and an adequate source of protein from one food source. Usually, vegetarians and vegans need to combine foods like beans and rice to acquire all the essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

 

Those with gluten sensitivities or wheat allergies can rejoice in eating quinoa as it contains no gluten or wheat. (Spanish conquistadors during the South American conquest suppressed quinoa production, as it was associated with what the Spaniards perceived as non-Christian, indigenous, ceremonial backwardness. Thus, wheat was cultivated in the Andes region.)

With all that goodness in one food, no wonder it is considered a superfood AND included in the New Year's Good Luck Meal!

According to Grub, and tradition, "Each cabbage leaf represents $1,000 that you will see in the New Year, so eat up!"  I think I've eaten 2 cabbage rolls, and another 6-7 cabbage leaves for good measure!

Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
coarse sea salt
1 large green cabbage head
12 chives
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
4 garlic cloves, minced and sautéed in olive oil for 1-2 minutes until golden
1/4 cup currants
1/4 toasted walnuts, chopped
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
freshly ground white pepper

Quinoa

If it is not pre-rinsed, rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer under running water and drain.  Combine the quinoa, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups of water in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.  Let the quinoa steam with the lid on for 15 minutes, then remove the top and cool.

Cooked Quinoa

Cabbage

Meanwhile, bring a large, deep pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Prepare a large bowl full of ice water.

Cut the core from the cabbage with a small paring knife.  Drop the whole cabbage into the water and boil for 5-10 minutes, remove the cabbage head, and removed the softened outer leaves.  Shock the leaves in the ice water (ice bath) to set the color and stop the cooking.  Return the cabbage head to the boiling water to soften the next few layers of leaves, remove them, ice bath, and then continue with the rest of the cabbage.  Drain and pat the cabbage leave dry with paper towels.  To save time and paper towels I gently spun the leaves in the salad spinner.  Worked great!  Set aside.

Ice Bath

Bring water back to boil and add the chives.  Blanch for 10 seconds.  Remove them and place in ice bath.  Drain and set aside with cabbage leaves.

In a large bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, orange juice, garlic, currants, walnuts and parsley.  Mix well.  Add the cooled quinoa and toss well.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste.  Add white pepper to taste.  At this point, this is an EXCELLENT QUINOA SALAD!  You could serve this as a side dish if you like.  It's GREAT!

Dressing for Quinoa 

This would make a GREAT Quinoa Salad/Side Dish

Back to Packages...

With a sharp knife, cut the thick part of the stem from each cabbage leaf.  Place heaping 3 tablespoons of the quinoa in the center of each cabbage leaf.  Fold the sides toward the center and fold up each end of the leaf into a compact package. Wrap a chive around the narrower side of each package and tie it up into a knot. Serve on a platter with seam side down.

Rolling the cabbage package is like rolling a burrito.  Lay out cabbage leaf.

Place quinoa in center.  Fold in one side...

Then the other...

Roll up the bottom then bring down the top portion.

Wrap it nicely in the chive

Such a cute little package!

Good luck!  Or better yet, Good Health!

Yum!

Grub Recipe #3: Rosemary-Butter Biscuits

Sitting in my favorite rocking chic, inhaling the fresh scent of rosemary and slowly savoring recipe #3 from Grub.

This kids keep repeating in their best Martha pronunciation, "I smell a 'Herb'."

Yes , my loves, you do smell a herb.

Rosemary.

One thing I love about living in Southern California is the abundance of rosemary shrubs.  I love walking past a rosemary shrub and rubbing my hand along while activating the aroma.  It's heavenly!

It reminds me of what I dream cottage living in Avonlea would be like.  Specifically, when I think of such herbs I think of gardens and tea, leading me to think about Anne and Miss Lavendar Lewis.  I think Anne, Diana and Miss Lavendar Lewis would have loved these biscuits.

Today's selected recipe is truly scrumptious!

If I wasn't counting points and limiting wheat and gluten, I would have inhaled most of these delicious biscuits!  I'm practicing my best self-restraint right now!  It's difficult to say the least!

Rosemary-Butter Biscuits

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon organic raw cane sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh minced rosemary (I used between 1-1 1/2 tablespoons)
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits, plus more for serving
3/4 cups organic whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt into large bowl.  Stir in the rosemary.  I used less than the 2 tablespoons suggested because I wasn't sure how our kids would like the flavor of rosemary.  I didn't want the rosemary to overwhelm them.  If you or your kids love herbs go for the 2 tablespoons or if you're enjoying a hearty fall meal I think the 2 tablespoons would be great!  With a pastry cutter or fork, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal.

Sifting the dry ingredients

Cutting in the butter with a pastry blender.  A fork would work also.

Add the milk all at once and mix with a large spoon just until the dough forms into a ball.  With lightly floured hands, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface just a couple of times, until it all comes together.

Roll out the dough about 1/2 inch thick, and then cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter or drinking glass.  We went with a drinking glass that measured about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.  Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet a few inches apart from each other.  Bake until the biscuits are golden brown on top, about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, cut a widthwise slit halfway into each biscuit and add a thin sliver of butter.  Serve hot.

We made 13 biscuits with our 2 1/2-glass.  If you're following Weight Watchers, each biscuit is 3 points.

Grub Recipe #2 Sweet Potato Fries

There are some recipes when I glance at the ingredients I know we're in for a REAL treat.  There are other recipes, like Martha Stewart's homemade marshmallows that were so good I thought I'd never buy store-bought marshmallows again, but sadly, they've never had a second go-around.  There are some recipes I know will culminate into something I'll never like, so they'll never be attempted.  Then there are those I will try, they appear simple and worthwhile, but the truth is the recipe will never make it to the repeat file because of either hard-to-find and/or expensive ingredients, excessive time to prepare, or there's a convenient alternative that suits us fine.

Such was the case with Grub's Cinnamon-Dusted Sweet Potato Fries.

I'm glad I tried this delicious recipe, but don't plan on making again anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, I prefer making all things from scratch and these yummies were all-natural, made from scratch with healthy ingredients, and ever-so-tasty. This little number would also meet paleo parameters- the only ingredients were sweet potatoes, coconut oil, sea salt and a little cinnamon.  They were a HUGE hit with the kids and I ate my share of the tasty treat, but they seemed time consuming.  Not all at one time, time-consuming, just cut wait, pat-dry, fry, wait, fry, etc.

Perhaps if I had a deep fat fryer they would have proved easier to make, but then there's the oil issue.  The recipe called for the sweet potatoes to be fried in coconut oil.  I love cooking with coconut oil, but it's a bit expensive to use for deep frying.

So, with the expensive oil combined with the frying time, perhaps I won't be making these again soon.  Furthermore, we can buy tasty Sweet Potato Fries at Trader Joe's, pop them in the oven and have a yummy side dish in about 20 minutes. Another option I was thinking about while making them was the sweet potato chips.  Easy!

Furthermore, I roast and/or grill fresh sweet potatoes often and I like the taste of those just about as well as these.

If you're interested in trying something new, I'd say give this recipe a whirl.  They're very tasty and simple, but be prepared to put a dent in your $6-$8 jar of organic coconut oil.

Cinnamon-Dusted Sweet Potato Fries

The recipe stated prep time was 10 minutes.  Perhaps I was distracted, but it seemed to take me much more time than 10 minutes between peeling, slicing, soaking, patting, etc.

Ingredients

4 large sweet potatoes (about 4 pounds), peeled
Coarse sea salt (I used Kosher salt)
Organic, unrefined coconut cooking oil, for frying
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon (we didn't use the cinnamon- they were great without)

Cut the sweet potatoes into slices about 1/2 inch thick, then cut them lengthwise into the shape of slim fries (we went for the chip shape).

So thankful for the Cuisinart!

In a large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes with 1 teaspoon salt and enough cold water to cover by a few inches.  Cover and refrigerate for at least  1 hour, or overnight.

Thoroughly drain the sweet potatoes in a colander.  Pat (tedious work this patting is!) them well with paper towels until completely dry.

They were pretty!

Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan or deep-fryer over medium-high heat until it reaches a temperature of 325 degrees, 6-8 minutes.  (Details, details...I just heated oil and fried).  Fry the potatoes, in batches, until lightly browned.  Remove the fries from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate.  Increase the heat to high until it reaches 375 degrees, then add the par-fried potatoes (AGAIN, I have to fry?), in batches, back into the oil and fry until crisp, 2-4 minutes.  Again, remove the fries from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate.  Dust with cinnamon and serve immediately.  I didn't use the cinnamon.  I just dusted with Kosher salt and they were TASTY!

I was really stingy with the coconut oil as you can tell!

After first round of frying

Done and ready to eat!

Yum!

Grub's Wild-Style Salad

I can't believe it's Friday already!  What happened to the week?  Oh, yeah...we started school again.  Busy days!

In our homeschool, Fridays are fun days set aside for catch up, unlimited reading, field trips, cooking, projects and just playing.  We all love Friday!

By the end of the week, our brains are worn out so we've designed Friday to be our day of learning that is less about books and more about life.

Today we played beauty shop; I cut my girlie's hair.  She's now proudly sporting "long bangs."  One of our boys caught up on math, while another buried himself in his Tim Tebow book.  Did you know Tim Tebow and all his brother's have chin scars?  That's important boy battle scar information!  Furthermore, Tim Tebow's mom made placemats of states, presidents, the periodic table and more!  Learning was something the Tebow kids did while not even realizing it.  That's my kind of teaching!

Most importantly, I had some cooking time!  With Adele Radio playing on Pandora I made the first of my three recipes selected from the cookbook GRUB.

This salad is called Wild-Style Salad.  It looks like something you'd pay $7/cup at Whole Foods' salad bar. It's a beautiful salad filled with many healthy ingredients. It is vegetarian/vegan.  The only protein source would be the wild rice (7 grams/cup) and the minimal amount from the cashews.

The recipe calls for extra-virgin olive oil.  The flavor was so great without it, I didn't add it.  Although I workout 5-6 days per week, and watch what we eat, a few extra pounds have crept back into my life.  I'm back to counting points with Weight Watchers.  My focus will primarily be sticking to a paleo food program, but I still need to feed the rest of the family healthy whole/clean food.

I input the ingredients for this salad into the Weight Watchers recipe calculator. Three-fourths of a cup is 4 points; this is without the olive oil.

Wild-Style Salad

Salad

1 cup wild rice, rinsed and soaked overnight in the refrigerator
coarse sea salt
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (I used green onion)
1/2 cup cashews, toasted and chopped

Dressing

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sea salt
Freshly ground white pepper (I just used black pepper)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

For the Salad

Combine wild rice with 3 cups of water in medium saucepan over high heat.  Bring to boil, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

This is my beautiful new pot.  Thank you Jama!

Rice cooking away...put the lid back on.  It's not done yet.

Remove from heat; transfer to strainer; rinse under cold water until rice is completely cooled.

In a large bowl, combine cooked rice, bell pepper, carrots, celery, raisins, scallions, and cashews.

Yummy snack foods!

Combine rice, vegetables, raisins, and cashews

For the Dressing

In a small mixing bowl, combine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, maple syrup, garlic, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and white pepper (to taste).  Mix well.  Slowly pour in olive oil, if using, whisking until emulsified.

This is the dressing, minus the olive oil.

Pour the dressing over the rice and toss well.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow flavors to combine.

Remove the rice from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies

When my mom heard we were baking gingerbread cookies recently she requested I send some back with my Grandma when she returned home.  The problem for my mom in that is she suffers from Celiac Disease.  After years of health struggles, she was finally diagnosed.

The Celiac Disease Foundation states:

The cause of Celiac Disease (CD), also known as celiac sprue or gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE), is still a mystery. One out of 133 people in the United States is affected with celiac disease. CD occurs in 5-15% of the offspring and siblings of a person with celiac disease. In 70% of identical twin pairs, both twins have the disease. It is strongly suggested that family members be tested, even if asymptomatic. Family members who have an autoimmune disease are at a 25% increased risk of having celiac disease. Celiac Disease is not a food allergy - it is an autoimmune disease. Food allergies, including wheat allergy, are conditions that people can sometimes grow out of. This is not the case with Celiac Disease.

There's a minimal chance I could one day be diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  I limit my intake, not so much in concern with having Celiac, but because I hang out with a paleo-ish crowd.  More and more people seem to be limiting gluten, wheat and rice intake.  I've seen this especially prevalent in the CrossFit world.  Limiting processed foods and eating REAL food is definitely beneficial to the body.  Although this is a bit of a contradiction to the yummy desserts and foods I've been posting lately, we do primarily eat paleo-ish.

Thinking of my mom and her desire to have gingerbread cookies, I wanted to find a recipe for cookies she could enjoy that wouldn't cause her issues.

I found a recipe on noursishingmeals.com that fit the bill.  Granted, many of their recipes have ingredients I do not readily have on hand and I do not want to go out and spend $50 on ingredients to make one batch of cookies.  Consequently, I used what I had and I think the cookies turned out GREAT!  They are soft and chewy and have just a hint of ginger and molasses.  I may increase the ginger a bit next time, but they taste great the way they are.  Appearance wise, they're a bit on the wrinkly side, but I'm a bit on the wrinkly side so, so they pass the test.  

Despite the appearance they are chewy soft goodness!

Nourishing meals recommended using hazelnut flour and provided a link to buy some on Amazon.  I don't have the desire or the inkling to order flour on Amazon so I just used ground almond meal flour found in the grocery store bulk section (Sprouts carries it).  

Also, they recommended using coconut sugar.  I purchased some in the Whole Foods bulk section when I was originally going to make these cookies, but used it for something else.  I ended up using raw turbinado sugar from Whole Foods 365 brand. It's a finer sugar than other raw sugar brands.  I would steer away from using a raw sugar that has granules as large as something like Sugar in the Raw.  The granules don't really break down well in the cookie dough.

I know my mom isn't as crazy about the frosting, so we didn't frost these cookies much.  Unlike my sweetheart and kiddies, I prefer to have cookies unfrosted also. They're much too sweet with the extra sweetness lathered on top.  

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies

Dry Ingredients

2 cups ground almond meal flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Wet Ingredients

1 cup coconut sugar (or raw turbinado sugar- fine granules)

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 cup molasses

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix well.  

In an electric mixer combine wet ingredients.  Mix well.

Add dry ingredients.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for a couple hours.

Roll dough out to 1/4" thickness on surface sprinkled with sweet rice flour.  Using cookie cutters carefully cut out shapes and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet or on Silpat baking mat.  If you don't have a Silpat, add it to your Christmas list.  My mother-in-law gave me one for Christmas a couple years back and I LOVE IT!  Thank you MIL!

Bake 12-15 minutes.  If you bake them closer to the 12 minutes they with be soft and chewy.  If baked closer to the 15 minutes they will be crisper.

Ready for the oven

Our Peeps

Best Dressed!

Glamour Shot

This is a GREAT treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee, or perhaps the Christmas eggnog latte!

Mom, watch your mailbox...we're sending some friends your way!  Merry Christmas!