Green Smoothies

For the past couple weeks I've been incorporating Green Smoothies into my diet. It's amazing the amount of fruits and vegetable servings you can consume per glass. Many people have seen marked health improvements by just adding one drink per day. Things like clearer skin, better digestion, and improved energy are just some of the claims. I have noticed clearer skin and less sweet cravings since drinking them. They taste really good-much like Odwalla Superfood and you can play around with the green to fruit ratio and with many different combinations. I've been making them in the food processor, which works fine, but we've just acquired a blender that I'm looking forward to using. I fill up the processor with as many greens as I can fit. Any combination or baby spinach, kale, chard, sprouts, or parsley is what I use most often. Some people use romaine or other lettuces but I really don't enjoy their flavor so I stick to the ones I listed. It's good to change which greens you use because some are high in oxalic acid that can be harsh on your system. So one day, use just kale or a mixture or kale and spinach and then change it up the next. Once I've crammed the processor with the greens I add a little water and blend-adding more water if necessary to get the smoothie consistency. Then I add one banana, an apple, and a handful or two of berries. You can add smoothie supplements at this point too-I'll throw in some Maca Powder sometimes...EFA blends, bee pollen, or hemp seed would also be great additions. Then I blend it again until it's smooth. This makes about a quart of smoothie so 2-3 days worth. If I'm replacing breakfast with it then I'll drink 16 oz. but if it's in addition to cereal or toast I'll have only 8-12 oz. It's a good idea to chew a little while you're drinking them because this will begin the digestion process and make your tummy happier. Here are some more sources that I've used while researching this topic:

• http://happyfoody.com/category/green-smoothies/


• http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/


• http://www.thedailyrawcafe.com/2007/09/green-smoothie.html


• http://www.vegetarianbaby.com/articles/rawgreensmoothies.shtml

Chai Apple Cake

My lab got out early today so I found myself with an extra hour and a half of free time. What did I do with that time? Shockingly...I baked! I've been thinking lately about making a tea infused cake. Early Grey is the kind I've been hearing about most recently but I was more in the mood for chai. Unfortunately, I had neither of these exciting tea flavors in my tea basket today so I settled on a chai-spiced cake because I always have a healthy supply of those essential Indian cooking elements. I've also been trying to stay away from refined sugar so this cake is sweetened with fruit juice and a little agave nectar. The recipe base is a sugarfree cake recipe that I tweaked to satisfy my cravings and the ingredients I had on hand.

I started by mixing up the spices that I wanted to use. They included 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. fennel, and 2 tsp. cardammom. Some clove and black pepper might be a good addition in the future but I thought I'd keep it simple today. I added these to my motar and pestal and ground it until everything was evenly combined. It made more than I needed but it's easy to find another recipe to throw in the rest. The recipe called for apple juice concentrate but I only had unconcentrated-so, I poured about 2 cups into a saucepan with a couple squirts of agave nectar and reduced it until it was about 3/4 cup. This allowed enough for the 1/2 cup in the cake and then I added 1 Tbsp. of butter to the last 1/4 cup as a glaze for the top.

Chai Apple Cake
2 eggs

1/2 c. reduced apple juice and agave or

thawed apple juice concentrate

1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. non-aluminum baking powder

3 tsp. chai spice blend

1/2 tsp. salt

1 McIntosh apple

1/4 c. apple glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a springform pan or other round cake pan. In a bowl, beat eggs and whisk in apple juice concentrate/reduction and vanilla. Slowly whisk in butter. In another bowl combine flour, baking power, spices and salt and mix to evenly combine. Blend dry ingredients into liquids and stir until completely incorporated. Core and thinly slice apple (with our without skin). Pour batter into pan and arrange apple slices in a circular fan-ish pattern (the technical term I'm sure).

Brush apples with a little of the glaze and place in the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes until firm and golden on top. Remove from the oven, poke some holes in the top with a fork and pour the rest of the glaze evenly over the top. Allow to cool completely before removing the springform if using.

I'm not a real cake person. I definitely lean towards pies or cobblers...but I love this cake. It's just sweet enough and it can be made more or less sweet just by altering the amount of agave added. The spice isn't overpowering so you can still taste each of the very few other ingredients. Apple and chai spices are a perfect complement to each other and with a cup of green tea or coffee it's a lovely afternoon tea-type cake (which is how I had it today while writing this post). Gotta love labs that get out early.

Granola

Oatmeal season is gone for sure. No more need for a steaming bowl of goodness to keep me warm all morning. I eat oatmeal literally every morning from fall through winter-but around this time each year, the thought of oatmeal for breakfast doesn't sound appealing at all. So, the natural alternative is granola...or muesli. Unfortunately, granola doesn't have the bulk of being cooked with water to be super satisfying...unless you eat a lot. It's kind of up there in the calorie realm so most servings should only be about 1/4 c.-which never really does it for me. To accomodate my need for a larger portion I made up a batch of granola, sweetened with apple juice and using only a few tablespoons of oil. It's really not sweet at all but adding a little vanilla to the milk or a squirt of agave nectar helps without straying from the original purpose.

The recipe is from the Rose Bakery cookbook. In itself, this is a beautiful cookbook from a Paris cafe I would LOVE to visit. They give two granola recipes-one being this sugarfree version and also a honey granola recipe. Both are delicious but naturally the one with honey is great in a wow-I'm-having-dessert-for-breakfast kind of traditional granola way.

My favorite part is the toasted almonds...oh, and the dried apricots that I use. I also added some shredded unsweetened coconut because I like how subtly it flavors the milk. While part of me is sad to see the comfort of oatmeal be tucked away for awhile, I'm totally prepared to embrace the onset of this granola season.

Sugar-free Granola

from Rose Bakery

4 c. rolled oats

1 c. whole almonds

3/4 c. sunflower seeds

1 c. pumpkin seeds

1/4 c. sesame seeds

1 tbsp. wheat germ

1/2 c. apple juice

4 tbsp. sunflower oil

dried or fresh fruits

*shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 325-degrees.

Mix all ingredients, from oats to oil, together in bowl.

Spread out evenly on a baking tray.

Bake, turning often, for 45 min. to 1 hr.

Remove from oven and leave until cool.

Add dried fruit and serve with yogurt or milk.

(I use vanilla almond/rice milk)

Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Burgers

Lately I've been experimenting with sprouting my own grains and beans. My first attempt came after reading an article in Yoga Journal about how healthy and easy sprouting can be. One of the recipes was for these burgers so I determined it my project for the week. I started with dry garbanzo beans that I soaked for about 12 hours. I used an old yogurt container as the sprouting jar and poked holes in the lid for proper drainage. After soaking, I continued to rinse and drain the beans 3-4 times each day. The jar was stored upside down in the dish rack next to my sink. After a couple days the sprouts were visible and by day four they were about an inch long. It was kind of fun and MUCH easier than I ever expected. Here's the recipe I used for the burgers.

The recipe is the same as the one from the magazine, but here the burgers are actually split and used as the bun-I used the burgers as burgers. The variation could be fun to try though.

The burgers are moist and flavorful-kind of beany if you can imagine. I served it open-faced on sprouted bread with cheddar, avocado, and sprouts...I think I met my quota of sprouts for that day. These are great for lunch and the recipe makes about 12 patties-most of which I frozen for later.

Another fun thing I did was to meet with some of the walkers from The Longest Walk. The group of about 130 people came through Flagstaff over the last weekend. A couple walkers met with my boss and she decided to make dinner for all of them one night. Saturday night we got together and prepped all of the ingredients for Kitchari, Hippie Popcorn, and green tea for the large group. We also made dinner for ourselves, which included molded rice balls wrapped in sesame leaves, a very thrown together soup with a tumeric and ginger broth, peanut noodles with fresh basil, and an aloe vera and grape juice cocktail. The walkers were amazing to talk to and we all kind of fell in love with their beauty. It's such a great cause they are walking for and I wish them the best of luck in the rest of their long journey.

For this week...I just started sprouting some barley to try a pizza crust recipe listed in the same Yoga Journal magazine. I'm pretty excited about that one. It will likely show up in a post sometime soon.

Mmm Soup

I definitely found a new favorite soup recipe. It's a recipe I've been want to try for a while and now I'm really glad I did! Everything is really simple but the flavors come together perfectly. The lentils make it smooth and creamy while the quinoa lends its light nutty taste. The dark leafy greens (kale...but I used chard) provide a yummy taste and some of the most readily absorbed calcium, iron, and protein available. To serve, a spoonful of tahini in the bottom of the bowl (the swirl you see in the photo) adds another layer of flavor and texture. This is perfect for spring and is just one of those feel good soups. A nice piece of bread, or indian flatbread as in the photo, make a very satisfying meal.

Another exciting note...my friend Joe is teaching me to brew beer. We make a batch just the other day and it's happily fermenting in my pantry as I write this. It'll be bottled in another week and then sit for a month to carbonate.

Joe did an apprenticeship at a brewery in New Mexico last semester-so, I'm hoping to learn his ways. I'll take some photos when we bottle and follow up with a little critique when it's finished. It's an IPA so here's Joe with his little ball of hops.

Spring Cleanse

So...this post is not going to be very exciting, which means there will be no pictures. I promise to make up for it in the next one though. I was gone last week, visiting family in California, and while I did do some cooking I, naturally, forgot to take pictures of any of it. Such is life. Quick descriptions of what I made: seared scallops with sauteed asparagus and saffron couscous one night and macaroni and cheese with wilted rainbow chard another. I was able to go to a nice farmer's market with my mom (I'm jealous of all those people who have farmer's markets year-round or at least this early in the season). We stocked up on organic cheeses, radishes, chard, basil, tomatoes, eggs, rhubarb pie, and strawberries that make my mouth water just thinking about them. After doing some other shopping in downtown Ventura we came home and I made some mayonnaise (with one of the beautiful eggs) for my mom to use in some amazing tomato basil sandwiches. The simplest meals are often my favorite.
Now that I'm back and the spring equinox has past, it's time for a spring cleanse. Basically, I'm eating really simple foods for the next week. Oat, corn, or rice porridge for breakfast with a green smoothie ( I may get addicted to these!) and soup and a light salad or Kitcheri for dinner. Kitcheri is an Indian dish of basmati rice and some variety or lentil (red, yellow, or mung beans) cooked into a porridge with a combination of spices. In Ayurvedic medicine it's traditionally used for the very young or old and for those that are sick. It's very easy to digest, which is why it is a perfect meal when doing a cleanse. I can eat as many vegetables and fruits as I want to fill my belly. No dairy, little to no wheat, nothing processed, and lots and lots of water. For everyone that knows my sweet tooth...this isn't so easy for me. I'm craving more pizza and Thai food than anything though. Ah, well it's just a week. If anyone has any questions or advice to offer on cleansing please share.
I will return with my next post refreshed and anew; ready to celebrate the new season with flavor.

Leek and Mushroom Quiche

There are some things that really just make food better. For example, a sandwich jumps a few points by simply toasting the bread. Sun dried tomatoes are another element that make foods like pizza or pasta go from good to great. Pastry, I think, is the ultimate. A meal is so much more enjoyable set in a crust or wrapped in a hearty layer of flaky pastry. With this simple addition, stew (delicious in its own right) becomes the comforting satisfaction that is pot pie. Custards and fruit, also quite nice on their own, are raised to pie and tart status with just a little flour and butter. Last night, with the same ingredients, I could have made a lovely omelette. Instead, I decided not to settle and went for the all out quiche. A spinach salad on the side, complete with vinegrette a la Maman, provided a crisp balance to the richness of the quiche.

Here's how I did it:

I began with a simple Pate Brisee made in the food processor.

Pate Brisee

1 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c whole-wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter
ice cold water

Add the flours, salt, and sugar to the food processor and pulse until combine. Cut the butter into chunks and add to them to the bowl. Pulse until the texture is of a coarse meal. Add about

3 tbsp water and pulse, adding just enough water to hold the dough together. Don't overmix or the dough will become tough. Wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Meanwhile...start on the filling. I didn't follow a recipe so I'll just explain. Wash and slice one leek-then, sautee in olive oil until tender. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Wipe two handfuls of mushrooms with a damp paper towel and slice-sauteeing in the same pan with a little more oil and some Herbes de Provence. Remove to a separte bowl. Whisk 5 eggs with just under a cup of cream or half-and-half, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Now for the layering...roll out the dough and lay into a greased and floured pie pan. Evenly disperse the leek in the bottom of the crust.

Pour the egg mixture over the leek. Scatter the mushrooms on top, followed by shredded Swiss Cheese and pine nuts. Instead of cutting off the excess crust (did I mention that's my favorite part?), I just folded the edges over the filling. It give it a kind of rustic look.

Bake at 375-degrees for 50-60 minutes.

I won't lie-it was pretty amazing. Leeks are a great substitute for people like me who don't like onions. Their sweetness is tasted throughout the egg filling. The mushrooms provide a nice savory balance and the pine nuts added that toasted element. This is one of those dishes that sun dried tomatoes could have really done something for-but that might just lead to overwhelming goodness. Is that so bad?