Spiced Lentils with collards over rice

This is a budget friendly meal that is healthy and has a good dose of flavor.  This is a homely little dish but what it lacks in visual pleasure it will make up for on your taste buds and in your body.  This is roughly what I did (I don't really follow recipes so writing what I do out on the blog feels a little weird for me most of the time.  It's good for me so I can go back and see what I did.  What follows is much more accurate to my method than typing out actual measurements).

Spice Lentils with Collard Greens over Rice

Soak lentils over night

Pressure cook in chicken broth til tender (about 7-8 min for me)

Boil a large bunch of collard greens in salted water for 7 minutes.  Drain into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking (basically you're blanching them).  You could use spinach instead of collards and skip this step and just at the spinach near the end of cooking (I liked the stronger taste of the collards though).

Caramelize 2 onions.  Add the following spices to taste: Cumin, Coriander, Fennel seed (so Jeremy can try to imagine there is some sausage in there somewhere), Arabic 7 Spice (recipe below), cardamom, salt and pepper.  Let it get frangrant.  Add 4 cloves garlic.  

Add the drained lentils (I used half of the 1 lb bag after it was cooked- saving the other half for something else).  Add the collards.  Splash of white wine.  A little chicken bouillon (I dissolved mine in about 1/4 cup warm water).  A squirt of Sriracha. Simmer.  Adjust to taste.

We served it over seasoned rice (you could do brown rice or quinoa or a nice flatbread).  It was very thick, not soupy.  And it was pretty tasty!

I used this recipe as my jumping off point: http://food52.com/recipes/8552-spiced-lentil-sambusas

  I would love to fill some wonton wrappers with the filling and bake it up for some snacks (I'm always so hungry around 4pm)- of course then it's no longer gluten-free but I'm pretty sure Jeremy will forgive me for eating most of the lentils as he is not over the moon about them in general).

Arabic 7 Spice:

I mixed up a bunch of Arabic 7 Spice a while ago and like to throw it things that I want to give a middle Eastern flair to.  (you could mix up a bunch too or just adjust the recipe above to reflect these flavors). The recipe is:

1/2 tsp Cumin

 "       Black pepper

 "       Cardamon

1 tsp.   Nutmeg

2 tsp.   Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

3/4 tsp.  allspice

Thai Beef Salad

I got the inspiration for this yummy salad from Iowa Girl Eats and then made it my own.  When you're married to a meat-loving man (even one who is starting to reform) sometimes when you say salad is for dinner you get that look.  You know, THAT look.  The one that says do we have any chicken breasts in the fridge?  Maybe I'll just pour myself a bowl of cereal after dinner.  Not so with this salad.  You see this salad is topped with meat, red meat.  I always underestimate the amount of time required to make a dinner salad because I think with no cooking involved it'll whip of in no time.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of cutting and chopping action so planning accordingly.  This salad was a hit and I would definitely make it again if the stars I mean ingredients align.

Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients:
For the dressing:

• Juice from one lemon (or two limes)
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger (I keep mine in the freezer and find it grates very easily after about a minute on the counter
• 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce)

For the Salad

• 1/2-1 cup of thinly sliced beef (I used left over roast beef from earlier in the week)
• Several handfuls of assorted spring lettuce greens
• 1 cup of cabbage, sliced thinly
• 1 mango, diced
• green onions, chopped
• cilantro, chopped
• 1 shallot, sliced thinly and sauteed in 1 tablespoon of butter til browned and crispy, drained on a paper towel.
• salted peanuts

Mix the dressing together with a whisk and pour about 1/3 of it over your beef to soak up the flavors.  Premix your salad ingredients or arrange salad bar style.  Top with dressing.

Our favorite way to eat broccoli

Broccoli.  Big Whoop.  I know, I know, but around here we love broccoli.  Even my two year old eats it and she hasn't been eating much of anything these days.  I doesn't hurt to have an AMAZING sauce to drizzle over the broccoli.  Jeremy has loved broccoli since he was a kid and he says this is his favorite way to have it prepared EVER.  It's not fancy but it tastes completely awesome.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Optional add ons: sesame seeds, salted peanuts or cashews, sprinkle of lemon zest...

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the broccoli into a steamer basket fitted in a large pot with about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes, or until tender but still crisp. Drain, and arrange broccoli put broccoli into a serving bowl.
2. Wipe out the pan and melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Crush the garlic into the butter and stir it for about 30 seconds.  Add the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and pepper. Bring to a boil for a few seconds then remove from the heat. (Mix in any add on here- we rarely do but the possibilities are intriguing).  Pour the sauce over the broccoli. Serve immediately. 

Creamed Collard Greens

I pretty closely followed one of America's Test Kitchen's recipes for collards for this side dish.  It turned out deliciously.  I have to say, I was surprised by how much the collards cooked down.  I think we all would have enjoyed seconds but there were none to be had.  Hopefully we'll get more collards again in a future CSA box.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts of water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• about 2 lbs of collard greens, stems removed and coarsely chopped

• 1-2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 medium shallot + half and onion (what I did) OR 2 medium shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 3/4 teaspoon of sugar
•  2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
• sprinkle of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring water and salt to a boil.  Add the collards and cook for 7 minutes.  Pour into a colander and run cold water over the greens to stop the cooking.  Wipe out pan and return to the burner.
2. Add butter to the pan and when hot add the shallot and onion.  Cook til softened and starting to caramelize.  Meanwhile chop the cooled collards into smaller pieces (I just wadded up the softened greens and slashed through with my knife). Add the garlic to the shallot and cook til fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add the collards and all remaining ingredients.  Simmer til the collards are warmed through and the cream has thickened.  Serve.

Gruber CSA Week 2

Last Thursday it was time again to pick up my box of produce from my Gruber Farms CSA.  I usually really enjoy planning my meals out more than a week ahead but not knowing what I'm going to get in my box each week makes that more difficult.  I think the trade off for fresh veggies is worth it though.  I pick up the box on Thursday and start to map out what we'll eat for the next week and what I may need to pick up at the grocery store to make it work.  I'm trying to really work with what we have and not pick too much up at the store.  I want the produce to be the main event so I find I'm mostly picking up staples as we run out of them. This is what we got last week and how we used it:

• 2 Quarts of strawberries (Again!  YAY!  This time they lasted til Sunday.  One whole day longer than last week!)
• 3 small crowns of broccoli (Rich in dietary fiber, minerals like calcium, manganese, iron, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and phosphorus, anti-oxidants, folates (good for pregnant women (yes, I did just insert a parenthetical notation inside another parenthetical notation! (twice!) My blog; I get to go crazy if I want!), and vitamins C and A.)
• Bunch of cilantro (tricky, since Jeremy is not a great lover of cilantro.  I might have to be sneaky.)
• 7 Sweet potatoes (Vitamins C and A, calcium, folate, potassium, and beta-carotene- all good for your eyes, skin, and muscles)
• 9 Sweet Onions
• 1 Large bunch of collard greens (Cholesterol lowering, cancer-preventing, Vitamin A, calcium, fiber)

Here's what we ate last week:

• Roasted bottom round roast with gravy, baked sweet potatoes, and creamed collard greens (it is worth noting that the roast has been/will be incorporated into many additional meals for the next two weeks because I meat consumption is very low now.  Jeremy says we're vegetarians not so much by choice but by budget- it's pretty true!).
• Thai Beef Salad (used some cilantro, onions, and cabbage still leftover from last week)
• Roasted Maple Butternut Squash over quinoa (mostly used up several onions)
• Jeremy made a rice and ground beef (with peppers, onions, garlic, and lots of Abrabic spices mixed in) dish and we had our favorite steamed broccoli on the side.
• Spiced Lentils with collards over rice.

Copy Cat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

I have adapted this recipe from a number of sources online to more or less replicate the Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden.  I have been making it for so long I don't even remember where I got the original inspirations. Sadly, no picture because we gobbled it up and gave the leftovers to my mother-in-law.  It's a creamy colored soup with curly green bits of chopped up kale and  flecks of brown from the potato skins.

Ingredients

• 1 large diced white onion
• 1/2 lb ground mild or sweet Italian sausage
• ½ tsp crushed red peppers
• 4 cloves garlic
• A good bit of Oregano, Basil, and Rosemary (or a very nice Italian seasoning blend- I like Penzey's)
• 4-6 cups good chicken broth/ or use chicken bouillon (I mentioned before, I usually have homemade chicken stock boiling on the back burner and I love to use it for this kind of thing)
• 1 cup half and half
• 2-3 large Russet potatoes, sliced
• A bunch of kale, chopped- as much as you want to throw in (You can also use spinach or Swiss chard- these take only seconds to wilt so throw them in at the very last second)

Directions

1. Saute the onion until it softens and add the Italian sausage and red pepper flakes.  Cook til the sausage is cooked through and the onion is carmelized.  Drain excess fat if necessary.
2. Add the garlic and cook til fragrant.
3. Add chicken brothto the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until softened but not cooked all the way through.  Add the kale (if your kale is more tender you can wait til the potatoes are cooked through but if it is tough add it a bit earlier).  Boil a few more minutes til kale is soft and potatoes can be pierced with a fork
5. Add the half and half cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.

Okonomiyaki or Japanese "Pizza"

First of all, I should say I have never eaten authentic okonomiyaki so I cannot attest to the authenticity of this recipe (I'm guessing it's not very accurate).  I still had lots of cabbage left over from Week 1 of my Gruber CSA so my mom suggested I check out 101 Cookbooks' Japanese Pizza.  This sent me on a recipe hunt for more variations of this traditional Japanese street food and I found out the recipe is surprisingly unspecific.  In fact, "okonomi" means "as you like it" (and "yaki" means "fried up").  So this dish is infinitely customizable.  Apparently, different regions of Japan have different traditional ingredients the like to add.  This is really more of a frittata or a pancake than a pizza.

Okonomiyaki- As I like It...

Ingredients:

The Veggies:

• 3-3 ½ cups cabbage
• 2 shredded carrots
• 3 med spring onions (green and white part thinly sliced)
• 1 cup chopped/shredded Chicken (optional, could also use slivers of beef or pork or tiny salad sized shrimp...)
• Approx ¼ c Cilantro (you could go heavier but my hubby isn't a great lover of cilantro)
• 3 very small sweet red Peppers

The Batter:

• 5 pastured eggs
• 2 ½  cups gf flour
• ¾ c chicken broth
• 1 T soy sauce (gf)
• 2 t toasted sesame oil
• Good pinch of salt

The Sauces:

• 3 T mayo
• 1 t sriracha
• 1 t soy sauce
• Squeeze of lemon juice

• ¼ c Ketchup
• 1 t mirin
• 2 t Worcestershire
• 2 t mustard 

Directions:

1.  Finely slice and chop all the veggies and chicken and toss together.

2.  Whisk together the batter ingredients and pour them over the veggies/chicken.  Mix til batter coats the veggies.

3.  In a non-stick skillet pour some oil and add about 1/3 of the mixture in a pancake-like layer over the bottom.  (I used a 10 inch skillet and this recipe yielded 3 pancakes- we had almost 1 and half pancakes left over to use for another meal/lunches).

4.  Cook for about 4 minutes on the first side, then slide the pancake out of the skillet onto a large plate.  Place another plate upsidedown on top of the pancake and flip both plates over.  Slide the pancake off the second plate and back into the skillet uncooked side down (it sounds complicated but is much easier than trying to flip a huge pancake with a spatula).

5.  Cook for an additional 4 minutes and remove to a serving plate.  Cook remaining batter in the same manner until non remains.  

6.  To serve, mix up sauces.  Smear the ketchup based sauce all over the pancake then drizzle with the mayonaise based sauce.  Garnish with additional green onions and cilantro if desired.

Jeremy said he thought it tasted like a doughier version of a spring roll or egg roll.  And gave it his approval.  I also liked it but would be interested it adding more pizzazz.  Abby like the ketchup sauce, didn't like the mayo sauce ("spicy mouth!") and barely nibbled at the pancake.  This was my own fault since I'd accidently left her unfinished peanut butter sandwich from lunch on the table and she ate that instead.  grrr.

Beet and Sweet Potato Hash

When I got my CSA box the beets intrigued me first.  Even though I've eaten beets before, I'd never cooked with them.

I started browsing recipes and found myself inspire by these two:

Red Flanel Hash from Spoon, Fork Bacon

Beet Hash with Eggs from Two Blue Lemons

Here is my variation:

Ingredients:

• 2 Sweet potatoes
• 3 Beets without greens (reserve the greens for another use)
• 1-2 yellow onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• a couple springs of fresh thyme
• pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1/4 c. chicken or vegetable broth (I usually have homemade stock simmering on a back burner so I used this)
• 4-6 free range or pastured eggs

Directions:

1. Chop the beets and sweet potatoes into bite sized cubes. 
2. In a large, flat bottomed pot (I used a deep saute pan) bring enough water to cover the beets and potatoes to a boil.  
3. Add the beets to the water.  Give them a head start since they take longer than the sweet potatoes.  After about 5-7 minutes add the sweet potatoes.  Cook an additional 7-10 minutes or until the vegetables can be pierced with a fork.  
4. Removed the beets and sweet potatoes from the pot and pour off the water (I reserved mine for later use since it is full of vitamins and minerals). Wipe out the pan.
5. Heat butter in the pan and add the chopped onion until it caramelizes   Add garlic and thyme and saute til fragrant. Add the beets and sweet potatoes.  Saute til it smells awesome and the beets and sweet potatoes are softened.  Add the broth to deglaze the pan.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Make wells in the hash and break an egg into each well.  Cover with a lid until the egg whites are cooked through and the yolks are still soft.  
7. SERVE.

This was so, so simple to make and tasted fantastic!  That's what happens when you have great, fresh produce- simple is best!  Here is a picture of my final result.  I could certainly see cooking some bacon right before adding the onion.  I was going to but then I didn't have bacon and honestly it didn't need it.

Gruber CSA Week 1

Last Thursday I picked up my first box of produce from Gruber Farms CSA.  I mentioned earlier some reasons why we decided to invest in this CSA.  I was super excited to get our first box.  Now, it's early in the season so it's worth mentioning that the variety was low but I expect that to increase as we progress through the next 12 weeks.

Inside:

• 1 HUGE cabbage- the size of my head! (high in dietary fiber (like a toothbrush for your intestines), high in antioxidants,  vitamin C, rich in phytonutrients which support the immune system, and anti-carcinogenic)
• 1 very large bunch of Kale ("One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus." link)
• 6 large Spring onions 
• 6 beets with greens attached (vitamin C, betaine- helps with cardiovascular health, blood pressure, and hypertension, dietary fiber, and a good source of protein)
• 2 quarts of strawberries- YAY!  (vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants)

This week's meals included:

• Beet and Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs
• Gluten Free pasta with spaghetti sauce (chock full of grated carrots) served with a kale and beet greens saute.  Abigail's take on the kale and beet greens "Yucky!  I no wuv it!  I no eat it!" So, yeah, that was successful.  I'll admit, it wasn't my favorite and needs tweaking.
• Roasted organic chicken served with a salad in which I used some of the cabbage and roasted beets in a bed of sauted beet greens (much yummier than the kale saute)
• Asian Sesame Cabbage salad- used cabbage and spring onions and some shredded up left over chicken.  Topped it off with sunflower seeds, homemade dressing (basically soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, lemon juice, sesame seeds, and fresh grated ginger), and sliced up oranges.
• A copy-cat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana to finish using up the Kale
• Japanese Pizza- to use up most of the rest of the cabbage and several spring onions.
• The strawberries were gone less than 48 hours after we opened our box.  We love strawberries around here!
• I also had several lunch salads to use the cabbage.  Seriously, it was a HUGE thing of cabbage.  I still have a little left and I have picked up box number 2 (thank God, no cabbage in this one!)

Eating Healthfully and Happily

One of my recent "hobbies," if you can call it that, has been putting more focus on the foods we eat and how they are sourced.  For the last year or so I have been educating myself on the food industry in the United States and frankly I've been pretty appalled at what is allowed to go on the shelves in the supermarket.  I won't go on and on here about Monsanto, growth hormones, artificial dyes, GMOs, and the dairy and meat industries.  There are many people who are more knowledgeable and eloquent on these topics than I.  If you're interested in doing some reading/research here are a few resources that may be helpful:

This TED talk
100 Days of Real Food
This article on growth hormones in the dairy industry
2 documentaries: Food Inc. (also their website) and Farmageddon

That said, I am convinced that it is super important to know where your food comes from and to source it locally, organically when possible, and humanely.  What we eat makes SUCH a difference in our health and well-being.   Nothing could have convinced Jeremy and I more of this than when we tried going gluten-free for a month to see if it might help all of Jeremy's health issues (migraines, IBS, depression, among others that would probably be TMI and he wouldn't appreciate having published for the world).  Jeremy has never been particularly disciplined about food choices so I was SHOCKED after that month when he said he would never eat gluten again and he STUCK TO IT!  His migraines were reduced from about 2 a week to maybe twice a month.  Irritable bowel? Not so irritated!  Depression?  Basically gone (no more meds!)-  though there are some other lifestyle factors that undoubtedly contribute to this as well.  It bears saying that going gluten free is not the answer for everyone but if you have a sensitivity to it, WOW it's like a miracle.  I don't have a sensitivity so I will still eat sandwich bread and other gluten-y things when he's not around.  That experiment provided such clear evidence to us that the food we put in our bodies can truly heal us or make us sick.

So, we've started making other changes as well.  We're not perfect at this and are working on implementing small changes little by little.  One of those changes is reducing our meat intake pretty severely.  We're not vegetarians by any means but we do have several meatless meals a week and when we do eat meat we try to do so in moderation.  From time to time we are able to afford organic chicken (with coupons!) or get some pastured meat (meaning it has been fed grass in a pasture rather than corn in a feed lot) but it's pretty pricey stuff (the flavor is AMAZING though).   It's really awesome when we can get meat from a farm that is family run and has been raised only a few hours from where we live!  But again, we're on a budget (a REALLY tight budget).  So how can we afford to eat healthfully with high quality ingredients on a salary that puts us below the poverty line? (Yeah, it's true.)

1. Like I said, we reduced our meat intake.  So even if the meat we eat is a bit more expensive we consume way less of it and at least break even with what we were spending on meat before (and sometimes it comes out less).  I admit though, that if I see meat at the supermarket that has been dramatically reduced in price I still pick it up (even though I know that it isn't really what I want to support).  For example, I have a roast in my fridge right now that I will cook up (it was reduced to half price) but that single roast will top multiple salads and get sliced thinly into stir fries and fritatas and round out several lunches/suppers for the next week.  I highly recommend the cookbook Almost Meatless for some great recipes that involves less meat but still loads of yumminess.

2.  We don't eat out (unfortunately, like NEVER).  I can cook way more servings for the price of a restaurant meal than we would get to enjoy sitting down once for the same price.

3.  We don't eat premade/processed foods.  Not even the "healthier" versions like Kashi or Amy's because they're expensive and even if they are organic and healthy (though Kashi is now owned by Kellogg so that's basicially a moot point) I'd have to buy at least 3 meals to feed my family (and Jeremy would probably end up snacking on cereal after dinner anyway since he works up such an appetite at work and I might join him since at this point in my pregnancy I'm basically hungry most of the time).  At $4-6 a pop I can cook healthier and cheaper meals myself.

4.  This one is my favorite.  Several weeks ago Jeremy and I signed up to receive a share of the crops from a local SC farm.  We figured out that most of our grocery money goes toward produce.  We decided that rather than spend "x" amount on produce that we don't know where it came from or how it was grown every week/month we'd rather bite the bullet (and use some of our tax refund) to put down a large upfront investment in a local farm.  I did a lot of research on what CSAs (CSA= community supported agriculture) are available in our area and which one seemed like the best deal for us.  I narrowed it down to Pinckney's Produce and Gruber Farms.  I ended up choosing Gruber because for the size share we wanted it was $11 cheaper and there were no delivery fees to have it dropped off at a site just a few blocks from my home (Pinckney had a $20 delivery fee).  So, for a medium share, which is 3/4 of a bushel (which, if you're like me, you have no idea how big a bushel is; picture a standard banker-size box just a few inches shorter) we spent $385 to have fresh, local produce delivered to us for 12 weeks.  I still pick up bananas, apples, onions, and garlic at the supermarket but other than that I rely on my box to dictate what kinds of foods I'll be cooking each week.  We figured out that the average weekly cost was about $32 for the produce which I'll happily spend for something as healthy and tasty as local produce (I was probably spending close to that already on lower quality foods).  Because we used some tax refund money and we're not spending $32 every week out of our paycheck we have a little bit more money available each month (to pay bills).

A few benefits of getting involved in a CSA:
1.  Locally grown food is tastier and healthier than food picked well before it was ripe and shipped in trucks cross country.  If I wanted to I could hop in the car and drive 2-3 hours and walk around the farm where my food is grown.  I kind of love that there is still dirt clinging to the roots of my veggies!  I know that the produce I bring into my house was probably picked within a day or two of my receiving it.

2.  You support local economy and traditional farming.

3.  Gruber isn't certified organic but they use way less pesticides on their food that large corporations that are shipping nationwide/worldwide.  It's kind of nice to know that the farmers didn't need to wear hazmat suits while they grew your food because of the poisons they were spraying all over it.  I'm not kidding!

14 Foods You Should Never Eat

4.  It has pushed me to taste and cook vegetables that I wouldn't usually try.  Like beets.  My mom made beets occasionally when we were growing up but when I got beets in my first box I realized that I had never actually cooked them myself!  Well, I have now, and they were delicious!

I am hoping to post about what I received in my produce box each week as well as link to recipes that I found or created to use that produce during the course of the week.