Beans Beans the Musical Fruit....

Planning one vegetarian dinner a week is a simple way to a healthier diet. Unfortunately, we scientists confused y'all in the 70's by obsessing that vegetarian meals needed to contain all 26 "essential amino acids." Cross-referencing tables of ingredients is not conducive to whipping up meals for hungry families. Moreover, humans survived for thousands of years with little meat in their diet-and no clue about amino acids. To find a vegetarian meal with "complete protein" just look to the common combination found in almost every culture's heritage foods: Beans and Grains.

Italians in the mountains=peas and risotto

Every Asian culture=soybeans and rice

Ancient Incas=red beans and quinoa

Middle East=chickpeas and couscous

Fancy French=lentils and farro

In our house we follow the great tradition of black beans and rice. A pot of black beans cooked on Sunday can be used throughout the week as a comforting soup, a do-it yourself burrito, or sprinkled on a salad to up the nutrition and punch. Plus extra beans freeze great to be recycled at a later date. Freeze beans after the first cook then reheat with sauteed onion, garlic and peppers to zip up the flavor.

Sunday Black Beans

The source here is important-beans sitting in plastic bags on grocery shelves are old and require soaking overnight. Try to get beans from a store with bulk bins with lots of turn over. Even fresher are last seasons beans from the farmers market.

Count on 1/2 cup of dried beans per person

Rinse to remove any debris, place in large deep pot and cover with water about 1-2 inches above beans. Add a bay leaf, a pinch of salt per serving, and a green bell pepper cut into one inch strips. Bring to a gentle boil then drop to low heat and simmer for 1-2 hours. After first hour check beans for doneness every 15 minutes. Beans should be soft but not falling apart.

While cooking, in a separate pan saute garlic, onion, red pepper, salt cumin and oregano until soft and fragrant. Use 1/2 garlic clove, 1/4 onion and 1/4 red pepper and pinch of each spice per serving.

When beans are done set aside any for freezing or salads then add pepper/onion mix (the sofrito to you cubans) and cook an additional 15 minutes. For black bean soup remove one cup of beans, puree in a blender and add back to remainder.

RECIPE

Chicken Piccata Now & Again

Chicken Piccata is a most forgiving and generous dish.  Incredibly easy to make and almost better the second time around.   I made this while listening to my dad contemplate how he will use up his perishable foods before he moves (he won't).


Chicken Piccata Now
4 Chicken breasts (Prepare at least double what you need for one meal)

1 Lemon

1 Qt Chicken broth

1 T capers

Olive oil

1 box pasta of your choice (whole wheat linguini)

Flour (whole wheat works here too)

salt pepper

1. Slice breasts in half horizontally. (Pound between plastic wrap or in plastic bag to increase tenderness).
2. Put flour and some salt and pepper in ziploc bag and place 2-3 breast pieces in, seal and shake.  Shake off flour.
3. Heat oil in pan (2 T) over medium heat. 
4. Cook pasta just a minute or two under the recommended time, drain.
5. Brown chicken on both sides in large pan and then remove the chicken. 
6. Pour chicken broth into pan, scraping the chicken drippings from the bottom of the pan.  Heat the broth and let it get thicker.  Don’t let it boil. 
7. Add lemon juice (lemon zest if you’re ambitious) from lemon and capers. 
8. Add the chicken back to the pan, let cook a little longer and add in the pasta. 

 Serve with vegetable.

Chicken Piccata Again

Freeze in vacuum sealed bags.  I use Foodsaver products I bought at Target. The manufacturer indicates that the handheld product and bags are for refrigerator only, but I froze the food and reheated it in simmering water without having to fork over $100+ for the freezing system.

Reheat in simmering water along with any vegetable (broccoli, asparagus).  Place vegetables in water midway through the reheat to blanche them.  Serve.

RECIPE

Breakfast for the Junior Conquerer

Sunday is Prep Day for the rest of the week here and so we start the morning with a big batch of waffles that can be frozen and reheated as the week drags onward. To boost up the nutrition for those long days where school runs immediately into sport practice, I mix 1:1 white flour with flour from a high protein grain. My favorite is emmer, also known as farro. Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum for you gardeners who love latin names) is the original ancient wheat. It was first cultivated in the Middle East then migrated to the Mediterranean where it literally fed the Roman Legions. Why were they so successful in building their Empire? Emmer flour contains twice the protein of regular white wheat flour!!

We get our emmer flour from a local farm, Bluebird Grain Farms but other local wheat producers are popping up all over the country to sell specialty flours. If you can't find emmer flour, look for flours made of "hard" winter wheat. Unlike wimpy generic cultivated wheat, these wheats are genetically programmed to survive harsh conditions by storing more nutrients-all the better to build strong healthy kids! The whole farro grains are fantastic on their own too, but I'll sing their praises on another day.

Protein Packed Waffles

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup canola oil

2 cups flour (one cup white, one cup emmer or other hard wheat variety)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Whisk wet ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients together separately. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Pour into prepared waffle maker.

RECIPE

Smoothies: One Batch, Three Treatments

Smoothies are fool-proof and easy, especially when you give them several presentations. Motto - make everything in bulk and reincarnate. This smoothie, one of my go-tos, serves as a breakfast beverage, a frozen to-go drink, and a popsicle.





Ingredients*

Frozen Strawberries
Vanilla yogurt (yea protein)
Banana
Orange Juice (lowest sugar possible)
ice cubes

*don't fret measurements, just play

Future smoothie ingredient

This weekold pineapple would get major complaints at the table...but not when I slip it into a smoothie. Make sure to freeze the fruit flat so you don't get a frozen fruit blob that makes your blender explode. Smoothies are not healthy for your walls!

RECIPE