28Dec/110
Swiss Chard – What Do I Do With That?
Originally, all foods were "organic" - grown and prepared without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, irradiation to prevent spoilage, and microwave cooking.
Our food these days, whether of vegetable or animal origin, is not only deficient in
nutrients but also full of pollutants and farm chemicals. The modern denaturing of
foods through massive refining and chemical treatment deeply affects their
Energy qualities, making them devoid of the exact boost that we should be
getting from our food.
Here is a great recipe for the summer using some yummy, organic Swiss Chard:
Organic Swiss Chard
1 or 2 bunches Organic Swiss chard
1/8 teaspoon Brittany sea salt
2 teaspoon Organic virgin olive oil
4 lemon wedges
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1. This recipe works for many different cooking greens like: collard greens, turnip or
beet tops, mustard greens, spinach, tat-soi, and rapini (broccoli rabe)
2. Wash chard well to remove all sand and remove all tough stems.
3. In a large saucepan, bring to a boil about 1/2 inch of water and drop in the Swiss
chard leaves.
4. Return to a boil, cover and cook 2 to 3 minutes until leaves are tender.
5. Add salt and remove from heat.
6. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of cooking liquid.
7. Add oil to the reserved liquid and pour desired amount over the chard before
serving.
8. Serve each portion with a lemon wedge and sesame seeds.
9. Enjoy!
To your energy and success,
By: Heather Dominick
8Dec/110
Learn How to Cook Delicious and Tasty Weathervane Scallops
Weathervane scallops are the largest scallops around. They are one of the several species of true scallops found in the Pacific Ocean. Their sweet, succulent meat is considered a delicacy and they make an exquisite addition to any meal. Diners all over the world from Shanghai to San Francisco, enjoy these scallops. The Weathervane scallop harvest is a mere fraction of that of the East Coast harvest; so it is really a delicacy.? Although many weathervane scallop recipes favor searing, there are a number of manners for preparing these great tasting scallops.
When cooking scallops, be sure not to overcook them as they get tough and chewy quickly. As soon as they turn translucent to being opaque, they are done. It usually takes about six minutes to cook them. A simple but elegant dish, seared Weathervane scallops with green sauce, a mixture of garlic, ginger, green onions, basil and spinach blended in a food processor, makes a wonderful starter to any formal dinner. Just be careful not to over sear the scallop, otherwise it will lose its sweet, meaty flavor.
Another of our Weathervane scallop recipes involves a citrus marinade with Swiss chard and dill cream. This recipe brings out the clean scallop flavor. The citrus overtones bring out the delicate sweet taste. Try it with wine. You need about eight Alaskan Weathervane scallops, olive oil, orange juice, shallots chopped, grape juice, and salt and pepper. Mix together the juices oil and shallots. Marinate the scallops in the dressing for 20 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes. As for the Swiss chard, toss with any remaining dressing and serve with a mixture of crme fraiche, dill and caviar. This recipe is perfect for a formal brunch. Serve with champagne or sauvignon blanc.
Here are a few more weathervane scallop recipes and ideas. Bake your scallops with some heavy cream, bread crumbs and butter. Or try making scallop sushi, using nori, sushi rice, cucumber, avocado and roe. Serve with wasabi mayo dipping sauce.
Another way to prepare weathervane scallops is to grill them on skewers or broil them in the oven. Add a light marinade to keep the scallops moist and fresh, and you have yourself a great meal right there!
By: Allie Moxley
8Dec/110
Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving Fare
It's not Rocket Sallet... until it is.
Vegetables and organ meats shared a split personality for the Pilgrims in the 17th century. On the one hand, they're dainty morsels, served with verve and flair on the noblest of tables; on the other hand, they're the bits that are left to serve the poorest of the poor. Let's save offal for another day - there's a great haggis controversy bubbling up in food history circles...I'll keep you posted. But back to vegetables.
I'm sure you all remember back to the third grade when you learned that the natural world is divided into animal, mineral and vegetable. And that's exactly what a vegetable was in the 17th century - that whole large category of trees and vines and shrubs and grains and shrubs and reeds and cetera - not just the plants you grow for your plate (like at the first Thanksgiving).
If you grow it in your garden, particularly your kitchen garden, then it's an herb. Cabbage is an herb. Carrot is an herb. Rosemary and rue are herbs. Parsley, sage, thyme - herbs. Turnip, asparagus, skirret - also herbs. There are sun-categories of herbs, often overlapping: pot herbs, sweet herbs, physic herbs, herbs for strewing, and of course, salad herbs.
The Pilgrim's salads were made of herbs. Like so much else in the 17th century, there is a hierarchy of herbs, too. Cabbages, kales and coleworts (we know then as collards) - common, definitely food of the poor. Easy to grow, easy to keep, good for a long time in the garden, keep well after they harvested. Cabbages are also considered to be 'windy' - Nickolas Culpepper compares them to bagpipes and bellows...not dainty, even then! Garlic is considered to be 'poor man's treacle' - good for whatever ails the poor. It's also generally assumed that the poorer sorts are doing more physical labor, and therefore have more heat, hotter digestion, or decoction of their food. (That's Doctrine of Humours in 25 words or less!)
Asparagus, artichokes, broom buds, sapphire, purslane (not the nasty garden weed - proper garden purslane), cowslips, gillyflowers are all dainties. Beancods - plain ole green beans to us now - dainty. Potatoes are a dainty - that's gonna change, but not until the 18th century.
Lettuce is a salad herb, too, just not necessarily the first thing you think of for salad. It seems to travel back and forth between the dainty and the common. Just like now. Think of the difference between iceberg lettuce and baby Bibb. There are other leafy greens betwixt and between dainty and common. Arugula, known as rocket to 17th century Englishmen (and hence, rocket salad), spinach, endive, beets... If the technology is working for me today, (Buddy, I'm counting on you for backup!) there is a lovely image of a second year beet. But, wait a minute, aren't beets red things that grow underground - this are large and green and waving in the breeze - and what's with this second year business?
Side-bar on beets: what we now call Swiss chard is the beet of the 17th. What we now call beets is the beet root, or Red Roman beetroot of the 17th century. How did it become Swiss? I haven't a clue, but it doesn't happen until the 19th century. As for the chard part - that comes from the rib in the center of the leaf, which harkens back to the card in the cardoon....Why hasn't anyone written the Secret Life of Beets?
Perhaps in my copious free time....Beets form seed in their second year, so you have to hold a few through the winter to get more beet seeds.
Salads are usually boiled. Eating raw plants was sometimes fashionable, was sometimes disdained. Generally, cooking food made it more artificial (meaning very artfully), which wass a good thing for the Pilgrims in the 17th century because then it is improved by the hand of man. Cooked food was also supposed to better for your digestion.
So if boiled green beans or spinach or endive or Swiss chard have ever turned up on your table, then you have been making boiled salads unawares. In the 17th century Dutch cookbook The Sensible Cook there are recipes for boiled salads, and then there are recipes for various herbs, like boiled cabbage and boiled cauliflower that are not called salads, just a dish of....
So much for theory. Soon - Thanksgiving recipes.
By: Kathleen Wall
4Dec/110
Silverbeet, You Can Get Kids to Eat it
One of the easiest to grow of all the vegetables, Silverbeet, also known as under the names Swiss Chard and for the coloured stemmed variety Rainbow Chard, gives a huge harvest in a short amount of time. Two plants would be enough to feed one person with silverbeet for every meal of the week
PROPAGATION
You can grow these plants directly in the ground from seed, or you will get 6 to 8 seedlings in a punnet for around $3.00 at your local nursery.
Seeds cab be sown in early spring and late summer, early autumn. Put two or three seeds in the one hole about 40cm apart and 1cm deep. Keep the seeds moist, but not wet. I prefer late autumn plantings, as I find they are less likely to bolt to seed than spring plantings.
CULTIVATION
Even though these plants will grow just about anywhere with very little input, to get the best quality out of your silverbeet, grow them in soil enriched with organic matter, such as compost or rotted manure. Keep the plants moist, but not wet. They will grow in part shade as well as full sun. It doesn't hurt to liquid feed them over the foliage with a seaweed fertiliser once a month to keep the fresh leaves coming on. Also, harvest the leaves frequently, even if you aren't going to eat them. This helps stop them running to seed. Pests to watch out for are slugs, snails and caterpillars.
So you haven't been a fan of silverbeet in the past? Try these delicious recipies and you might just change your mind about this humble vegetable.
SUMPTUOUS SILVERBEET SALAD
Even my dad, who hates silverbeet, loves this salad. It has a real smokey flavour.
1 bunch silverbeet
3 cups bean sprouts
3 rashers cooked bacon
1/2 cup roasted cashews
DRESSING
1 tblspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1 tblspoon lemon juice
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1teaspoon sugar
Shred silverbeet and put in bowl with chopped bacon, bean sprouts and cashews. Mix dressing
ingredients together thoroughly and pour over salad and toss well.
SILVERBEET & RICOTTA CANTALONNI
1packet of instant cantalonni pasta
1 tub of ricotta cheese
1 bunch of silverbeet
2 cups of grated cheese
4 cups of neapolitan or bolognaise tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Shred silverbeet very finely, mix with the tub of ricotta cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste (I always use fresh ground black pepper and sea salt).
Stuff the ricotta mixture into the cantalonni shells. Lay stuffed cantalonni in a shallow dish.
Cover with neapolitan sauce and cheese. Bake in a preheated, moderate oven for 40 minutes.
By: Jody Taberner
14Nov/110
Low Caloric Nutrient Dense Foods Make Us Happy
Healthy Food Makes us Happy
There are many reasons to eat healthy foods. One of the most important reasons is that healthy foods make you happy.
Apples versus Java
It sounds like a computer program, but scientists have shown that a morning apple actually wakes you up better than a caffeinated drink. Apples also have less calories and lots of good things like fiber, pectin, and vitamins. This means that several hours later you'll not only be more alert, but feel better also.
The Crash Course
We all get tired from time to time. The inevitable sugar or caffeine break gives us a temporary feeling of goodness. In analogy, it is like throwing kerosene on a fire. It burns brightly, but quickly burns out. Healthy foods are like the logs burning in the fire. They keep you going for the long haul.
Getting temporary or extreme highs leads you to also get lower lows. This leads to a cycle of using the unhealthy food to feeling just good enough to get away from the lows. It has been said by health experts that caffeine is the most abused drug in our society. It is very addictive and very difficult to quit.
Comparison Eating
Humans are always comparing everything to a standard. For example, what is your favorite food and why? I might say that my favorite food is Swiss chard because of its high nutrient density and low caloric intake.
On the other hand, on some unconscious level, we are all comparing how good something tastes and nature has programmed our taste buds for sugar and fats. The problem is that we compare healthy foods with foods that are ultra man made packed with both fat and sugar. Unconsciously through nature itself, we crave these higher density fat and sugar foods.
The Solution
The solution is quite simple. Stop eating the man made foods full of sugar and fat. When you do this, your brain stops comparing foods and you will consume less of bad foods.
The big benefit is that healthy foods will taste a lot better to you than they ever have. Your taste buds will be more sensitive and you will love the flavor of natural foods. Through time, you will notice that you become more happy. You will have removed a source of stress to your body. Your body will thank you.
By: Jamie Rackenthaler
13Oct/110
Vegan Lentil Recipe – Ingredients And Directions On How To Make The Perfect Vegan Lentils
This vegan lentil recipe is a lentil salad dressed with a red wine vinaigrette. You can get a good portion of greens in this meal, which is always a healthy thing to do. This recipe incorporates both lettuce, which is served fresh and lightly dressed, and swiss chard, which gets lightly cooked with the lentils. Greens are something that can always get used more in your diet, and they help in the digestion of lentils. Protein and calcium are found in lentils, along with lots of other nutrients. Their earthly flavor is contrasted with a tangy sunflower seed crumble to top off this warm lentil salad.
Serves 4 as a meal.
Vegan Lentil Recipe Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil 1 diced onion 1 clove minced garlic 1 diced carrot 1 bay leaf 1 cup lentils (dry measure) 1 Tbsp red wine ¼ cup olive oil ¼ cup red wine vinegar pinch sea salt 1 bunch chard ½ head red leaf lettuce
Sunflower Seed Crumble Topping:
½ cup ground sunflower seeds 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast sea salt to taste 1 Tbsp olive oil
Vegan Lentil Recipe Directions
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Cook them until they are translucent. Next sauté the carrots until they are slightly cooked. Add the dry lentils and bay leaf, and add wine if using it. Add 2 cups of water to the pot bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer once it reaches a boil, and cook the lentils for 20-30 minutes, until they are soft but not falling apart. Whisk together red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and let sit to combine while the lentils are cooking. Make the sunflower seed crumble by grinding the sunflower seeds in a coffee grinder or blender. Pour them into a bowl and add nutritional yeast and salt. Add about a tablespoon olive oil, just enough to stir the mixture together into a crumbly texture. Drain any excess liquid off the lentils once they're cooked, and stir in most of the red wine vinegar dressing, leaving some to dress the lettuce. Chop the rinsed chard and add it to the pot, stirring it into the lentils. Leave this on the heat, on low, for at least 10 minutes. Rinse, dry and tear the lettuce. Toss it with the remaining dressing in a large bowl. Make a bed of lettuce on a plate, topping it with the lentil mixture. Finish this vegan lentil recipe off by sprinkling a tablespoon of the sunflower seed crumble on top. You will have some crumble left over for another meal. It's excellent on pasta, pizza, stir fry, or pretty much anything you can think of.
By: Heather Nauta
25Sep/110
Simply Delicious Swiss Chard, Cherry Tomatoes and Beef
This recipe sounds simple and it is simple. But it's delicious too! The simple flavours in this dish come together to provide a complete meal that is not only yummy, but quick and easy to prepare.
When I say this dish is complete, I really mean it. There is protein, a green leafy vegetable and another colourful vegetable that is also starchy, so there is no need for bread or rice or pasta with this dish. In fact, adding another starch would increase the carbohydrate level of this meal too high.
Believe it or not, some vegetables are starchy and carrots are one of them. I tell my patients that carrots are fine to eat, but they don't count as a vegetable because they are so starchy. But they are healthy and delicious and are a great substitute for other carbohydrates such as rice, bread or pasta (The Starchy Three). Having carrots instead of The Starchy Three will help you to lose weight.
To season the beef I use the Fine Herbs Salt from Lumiere de Sel. It is the most delicious flavour combination I've come across in a long time and is much, much better than other fine herbs seasoning salt I've tried. Also, it is 100% natural, does not have any MSG and the salt portion is Himalayan salt, which is one of the best salts to use. Use regular Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt (without herbs) to season the vegetables.
Ingredients:
- Very lean beef -- 3- 4 oz per person; not ground
- Swiss chard -- 2 large handfuls per person; tough parts of steamed chopped off
- Carrots - 1/2 cup (most women); 1 cup (most men)
- Cherry tomatoes - halved
- Garlic - minced and lightly sauteed in a little olive oil or organic garlic powder
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt - 1. Fine Herbs salt from Lumiere de Sel - available at most health food stores and Highland Farms
- Salt - 2. Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
Instructions:
1. Season the beef with Fine Herbs salt and cook as desired (poach, roast, stir-fry). Let rest for 10 minutes -- on a plate, off the heat and covered.
2. Steam the swiss chard and the carrots. Steam the carrots for one minute and then add the halved cherry tomatoes and swiss chard on top. Steam for 2-3 minutes or until swiss chard is bright green and tender. If it turns a dark or khaki green, you know you've overdone it.
3. Cut beef into thin strips.
4. Assemble meal on each plate as follows:
- Place swiss chard on plate with carrots and cherry tomatoes on top.
- Drizzle with 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- Season with garlic/oil or garlic powder and Celtic or regular Himalayan salt.
- Top with beef slices
Enjoy this super-healthy, delicious and easy meal!
By: Tina Christie
24Sep/110
Chef’s Knife and Large Cutting Boards – Your Best Friends in the Kitchen!
Do you feel your knives are your friends?? Or enemies?
Just like Harry Potter has his trusted tools in his tool box, a great home cooks who can whip up dishes like a wizard have some must-have items in hers or his.
A good Chef's knife is a must in an efficient kitchen.? I've cooked in other people's kitchens, and the No. 1 stress-inducer and time-waster in these unknown kitchens is a lack of good knives, specifically a decent Chef's knife.? In many American kitchens, I've seen too many small, dull or strange-shaped knives which tends to cut fingers instead of food. Not good.
Every kitchen needs a good chef's knife. Period.? I know they are not cheap,? but it's well worth the money if you plan to cook - even periodically.?? These knives actually make cooking easier and more fun.? You'll save time and most of all, your daily headache. Spend some time to find what feels good in your hand, and don't skimp on cost.? A good knife is literary your life-long friend in your kitchen, and makes you a better cook too.
So if you don't have one, get a Wusthof or Henckel, Santoku or Chef's knife. Plan to spend about $100.? You may find a better price at a commercial kitchen supply store or on-line.? I love my Wusthof Santoku (the kind Rachel Ray uses.). It's a hybrid of Santoku (Japanese style chef's knife) and serrated knife, so the scalloped side allow you to cut through soft veggies like tomatoes and releases better.? A chef's knife requires a rocking motion, and? with Santoku, you can cut thinner and smaller, but it's a personal preference.? Pick one that feels good in your hand, and ask the store clerk if you can at least mimic the chopping and slicing motions of all of your options.
If you don't have a honing steel, get one to keep the edge sharp.? If you have one in your set, use it regularly, if possible, daily.? That alone will make your chopping tasks so much faster and easier.
Jacques Pepin once said in his show that all you need is a Chef's knife and a paring knife.? I agree.? I have other knives, but I barely use them, except for a serrated knife for bread, once in a while.? Spend most of your knife budget on Chef's knife or Santoku.
Now the knife cannot do it's job properly without a cutting board or mat.? One of my pet peeves cooking at other peoples homes in the US is that their cutting board is often WAY too small! You need at least a large (18X24) or larger chopping boards for cutting things like a? bunch of Swiss chard.? Think about the time you waste on clearing and cleaning your chopping boards, or rolling rounds of carrots falling into the sink or floor! Pure frustration!
Now you can buy these cheap, flexible cutting mats everywhere.? One advantage of these mats are, you can use several and don't have to wash any till you are done. And carrying it over and putting the ingredients in to the pan is much easier, because it's flexible.
Once you have both, you'll be surprised how much easier it is to cook and prepare food. And cooking IS fun.
A first huge step toward cooking like a wizard, every day!
By: Mari Suzuki
22Sep/110
Quinoa For the Healthy Gourmet
If you pride yourself on your knowledge of food, you have probably heard of quinoa. If you haven't, you need to learn about it right away. Not only is quinoa a healthy substitute for grains and starches, it is delicious and versatile. It can add flavor and color to all kinds of foods and has great heath benefits as well.
Although quinoa is relatively new to Western cooking, it has been a staple food for the indigenous peoples of the Andes Mountains for thousands of years. It is grown in the elevations of the mountains and likes fairly poor quality, slightly alkaline soil. It has some of the properties of a succulent and needs little water, preferring arid areas. Sometimes called goose foot due to the shape of its leaves, quinoa is a relative of spinach, beets and swiss chard. The leaves are edible, but contain a mild toxin so they shouldn't be consumed in large quantities.
The seed of the plant is the most edible part. The seed is covered in a bitter tasting resin which must be thoroughly rinsed off before quinoa is prepared. The resin, called saponin, is used in South America as a detergent and as an antiseptic. Commercially sold quinoa has usually undergone rinsing, but it is still wise to rinse the seeds to remove any remaining residue.
You can cook quinoa the same way that you cook rice and serve it as an alternative to couscous. For extra flavor and softer texture, you can roast the seeds in a dry frying pan until they pop and then cook them. Quinoa has a light fluffy texture with a slight crunch and mild, somewhat nutty flavor. It can be used in soups, casseroles and stews in place of barley or rice. It can be served cold in salads. You can even cook it with fruit juice instead of water for a healthy delicious breakfast food.
Quinoa is high in protein, and the protein found in the seed is complete. It contains all eight amino acids and the minerals magnesium, manganese, copper, iron and zinc. It is also high in vitamin E and several B vitamins. It is very digestible and has the fiber found in most whole grains. It also contains antioxidants.
If you fancy baking, quinoa is available in a flour mix. Since the seed is gluten free, it can be used by people with celiac disease or those that are gluten intolerant.
Quinoa has many varieties, but the most commonly sold are the red, black and white seeds. The flavor varies slightly. You can use the variety of your choice to add color to any dish. Red quinoa in a salad is especially pretty.
If you pride yourself on you knowledge and enjoyment of food and you haven't tried quinoa, what are you waiting for? Quinoa is sold at health food stores both local and online and is even carried in some supermarkets.
By: Vanessa Sweeney
20Sep/110
Rigatoni with Braised Squash & Swiss Chard
This is a great summer recipe using summer squash, Swiss chard and whole wheat pasta. You can make this vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
Summer Squash are harvested when immature and the rind is still tender and edible. The name "summer squash" refers to the inability to store these squashes for long periods of time, unlike winter squashes.
Summer squashes include: Cousa squash, Yellow crookneck squash, Yellow summer squash, Zucchini
Ingredients:
4 slices reduced-fat center-cut bacon, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
crushed red pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound summer squash, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 small bunch Swiss chard, stems removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 ounces whole-wheat rigatoni
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil for the pasta.
2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until crisp, about 5 minutes. Set bacon aside.
3. Pour off fat and add onion to the pan; cook, stirring often, until they become translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
5. Return the bacon to the pan and add chicken broth and squash; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Add chard and stir to immerse. Cover and cook until the squash and chard are tender, about 5 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot.
8. Add the squash mixture, Parmesan, salt and pepper; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 201 calories; 6.37 g fat (2.99 g sat); 15.4 mg cholesterol; 25.8 g carbohydrate; 13.22 g protein; 4.63 g fiber; 696.11 mg sodium.
By: Thomas G