Zucchini Squash Salad

There once was a vegetable that had a green color,
with seeds in the middle of its corehead.

When it was good it was very, very good

but when it was bad it was horrid.

This a very, very good way to eat zucchini.  It's raw and splashed with lemon juice, so you don't have that bitter or mushy business to deal with.  This summer vegetable is low in calories and filled with nutrients.  I modified this recipe from Eating Local, The Cookbook Inspired by America's Farmers which I bought to help me find something new to do with favorite vegetables and to learn what to do with the new items.
1. Slice zucchini with my preferred vegetable peeler  (or mandaline for you sassy types)
2. Add: 
    lemon juice
    s&p to taste 
    toasted pine nuts (they called for toasted sliced     almonds)
    torn lettuce (I didn't have arugula per the recipe)
    fresh basil
    garlic (I forgot to add and it was delish)
    shaved parmesan (leave off if you're vegetarian) 
I made a double batch - lunch and dinner today. 
Zucchini Ribbons Part 2 

Zucchini

RECIPE

Miso Dressing

"I don't have time to make my own salad dressing!" When you're feeling brave and motivated by the alarming nutritional data on packaged dressings, try preparing your own.  My teenage daughter likes Asian Chicken Salad which we all know is loaded with sugars and sodium, but at least she's eating salad.  I found a more acceptable dressing that takes me minutes to prepare and she loves: Miso Dressing (adapted from The Conscious Cook - the vegan cookbook from Tal Ronnen) I've added some suggestions in case you don't want to purchase all of the ingredients.

Miso Dressing

2 T miso paste (Whole Foods, Asian food stores - I  keep it in my freezer)
3 T rice vinegar (sugar free is available)
1 T agave nectar (honey)
1/4 t sea salt (regular salt)
1/4 t ground pepper
1/2 shallot minced (2 T minced onion)
1 garlic clove (1 t chopped garlic in jar)
1 T dijon mustard
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 T water

Pulse in food processor to combine.  With the motor running, in a slow stream, add 1/2 c. olive oil (canola oil or safflower oil acceptable).   You add the oil slowly to emulsify the dressing so the oil won't separate later.

This dressing is also great served over fish or chicken.

Note:  For calorie conscious folks, serve salad dressing on the side and dip your fork in it before each bite.  You'll use much less dressing and get all the flavor straight to your taste buds.

RECIPE

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

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

Salad Kids Love - Sunomono

This Japanese salad turns out different every time.

Here are the basics: sliced cucumbers, rice wine vinegar, something sweet (sugar, sweetener, agave syrup, I use Purevia - a natural, zero calorie sweetner from the Stevia plant - a bit much I know), soy sauce, water, salt.
Mix everything but the cucumbers to taste. Adjust to your liking and then pour over the cukes.

For the uncertain:
-one large cucumber
-2 T rice wine vinegar
-1 T sugar (one packet sweetener)
-1/2 t salt
-1/4 t soy sauce
-1 T water

For the adventurous: add in any of the following: sliced radishes, sliced red onion, crabmeat, imitation crabmeat, sesame seeds).
For the fancy: use English cucumbers, regular cucumbers-halved, scoop out seeds and slice, or Persian cucumbers (shown).

RECIPE

Can We Love a Fava Bean?

In my never-ending, and sometimes painful, drive to get more vegetables in my diet, I subscribe to Farm Fresh to You, a produce delivery service from local growers. It's also a good thing to eat local and seasonal food - tastes better, better for the environment and the rest of that do-good stuff. I'm challenged and intrigued with each delivery because there's always one fresh item that I've never cooked with or that I think I'll like, which brings me to Fava.
What to do with a giant bean that arrived in a pod nearly the size of a banana? Like Katrina De Voort ("Her house always smells like soup," Bleeker said to Juno.), I made soup.
And that meant I went to Chop Therapy first.

Chop Therapy session included carrots, leeks, green beans, asparagus, celery and "The Groovy Sixties" CD. You can get pre-chopped if you're in a hurry, but you'll be missing the soothing sounds of Me and Bobby McGee.

My culinary cousin Pam taught me to start with a mirepoix (fancy French term for chopped veggies that become the flavor base - pronounced meer-pwah) - two parts onion (in this case, leeks) to one part each celery and carrots. Cook in a little olive oil over med/med high heat for five minutes to bring out the flavor. Add in broth (veggie/chicken or both), all beans and asparagus. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add dried herbs here or fresh herbs before serving (thyme, basil, flat leaf parsley, mint -all work for spring flavors). Play with ingredients you prefer or those you have on hand and always taste as you go.

Spring Vegetable Soup with fava beans.

It's Sunday, I even had time to grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top.

I had dismissed the fava as just another bean of colossal proportion, but it tasted unique - fresh, an inexplicable spring flavor.

RECIPE

Saturday Morning Pancakes

Kids don't refuse pancakes, they beg for them. Let's use that motivation to do some good. "You get them started," I told my 9 year old son, Griffin. He did most of the work while I read the paper.I arrived in time to sprinkle the pancakes with flax seed meal before he flipped them.
I portion the syrup into small bowls because I once saw Griffin dipping sausage into syrup. Also, we're big on the real deal maple syrup. It is higher in sugar content than the 'lite' versions, but it's real and not loaded with chemicals. A little goes a long way in flavor. Ah, maple syrup -- a fine flavor savor in flavoring baked goods and salad dressings.
Sliced berries and a glass of milk (carb + protein for peak energy).


Today's Pancakes, Tomorrow's Toastercakes

RECIPE