In another sign that eating less meat has become mainstream, Mark Bittman, author of The Minimalist column for The New York Times offers up How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
We're big fans of Bittman's How to Cook Everything cookbook, which features tasty recipes using minimal ingredients and prep time. Bittman offers up simple recipes and easy-to-follow instructions, followed by numerous variations. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian includes more than 2000 recipes and variations.
Weekend Reading: Adventures of an Italian Food Lover by Faith Heller Willinger
Admit it. Summer's over. Time to head back to school, back to work, back to everyday life. But that doesn't mean you can't dream about being somewhere else.
Personally, I'm headed to Italy, with a copy of a beautiful cookbook and set of stories from Faith Heller Willinger called Adventures of an Italian Food Lover.
Willinger, a contributor to Epicurious who lives in Florence, has compiled stories and recipes from friends across Italy into a sophisticated and highly readable book that pays tribute to warm, talented people, fresh local ingredients and the meals you can enjoy when you bring them together. With listing information for restaurants and buying information for products as well as recipes, it comes off as part cookbook, part guidebook, and part love letter to a country that Willinger has gotten to know through its cuisine.
Here's a recipe for tasty smoothie that's high in calcium, low in fat (no fat, actually) and packed with fruit and fiber. As someone who sometimes struggles to get enough servings of fruit in my day, this is one of my favorite summer breakfasts. Experiment with fruits and juices to get a flavor and texture you like -- or to use up fruits from your last trip to the grocery store.
Ingredients:
1 cup nonfat yogurt (I like Stonyfield Farm Organic for taste and its eco-friendly promotions)
1 cup frozen blueberries, raspberries or strawberries
1 banana
1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds
1/2 cup orange juice Optional: peaches, kiwis, frozen mango
Instructions: Add ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy.
Fresh-picked radishes taste like summer. And sauteed baby radishes with wilted radish greens? Well, they just taste delicious. Here's the recipe Russ and I used to cook up the bunch of radishes included in our CSA share.
1 bunch of baby radishes with radish greens
1 Tablespoon butter
salt and pepper
1. Wash radishes in cold water. Cut off the greens and set 'em aside.
2. Slice the radishes thin, and saute them in melted butter.
3. Add the greens (still wet) and saute until wilted (less than 1 minute).
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Our friend Miriam, a terrific cook, is always looking for ways to make recipes healthier. Here's a low-fat brownie recipe she adapted from Cooking Light. It uses prune puree instead of butter, so the brownies are, well, almost good for you. They're also a great source of fiber -- an added benefit if you're looking to add some fiber to your diet.
Miriam's Low-Fat "Magic Brownies"
Ingredients
1/3 cup Prune Puree (see Note below)
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon instant coffee or espresso granules
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups unsweetened cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
6 egg whites
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Vegetable cooking spray
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine the first 5 ingredients; stir well, and set aside. Combine cocoa and next 4 ingredients (cocoa through salt); stir well, and set aside.
Combine sugar and egg whites in a large bowl; beat at high speed of a mixer 3 minutes or until mixture resembles marshmallow creme. Add Prune Puree mixture; beat at low speed until well-blended.
Sprinkle flour mixture over egg white mixture, and fold in. Fold in chocolate morsels. Spread batter evenly into a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes or until brownies spring back when touched lightly in center. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
Makes 35 brownies. I suggest enjoying them with a big glass of skim milk!
Note: To make prune puree, combine 1-1/3 cups (8 oz.) pitted prunes and 6 T water in the container of a food processor. Pulse on and off until prunes are finely chopped. Makes 1 cup.
Here are some ingredients I like to add to our oatmeal to make it oat-mmm....:
- Granny Smith or Gala apple slices
- Grade B maple syrup
- chopped pecans
- ground flax seeds
- dried cranberries
- wheat germ
- fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (if you add frozen, add them to the pot and cook over low heat to thaw)
Pick some combo of the items listed above. Mix into your oatmeal before serving.
1 stick plus 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate (Valrhona or Callebaut are good choices)
2 Large Eggs
2 Large Egg yolks
1/4 cup sucrose or raw sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp organic unbleached flour
4 tbsp strong brewed coffee
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Butter and lightly dust (4) six-ounce ramekins with cocoa powder. Tap out any excess and place ramekins in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Melt the butter and bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt at medium speed until the mixture thickens and turns a pale yellow. Add a small amount of the chocolate and butter mixture to the eggs and whisk together. Add the rest of the chocolate and mix well. Stir in the flour and the coffee. Spoon the batter into the ramekins, about 2/3 full, and bake for about 11 to 13 minutes or until the sides of the cakes are firm while the centers are still soft. Set each ramekin on a plate and top with a dollop of java whipped cream.
Java Whipped Cream
8 ounces heavy cream
3 tbsp strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Pour cream and coffee into a cold bowl. Whip with a mixer until almost stiff. Add sugar and beat until the cream holds peaks.
Combine cocoa powder, sugar and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir with a whisk until hot (do not boil). Pour into your favorite mug. Add marshmallows. Enjoy.
On a cold winter afternoon, nothing beats good, old fashioned hot chocolate with marshmallows. And I don't mean the kind that comes in a packet labeled Swiss Miss.
Lately, we've been warming our bellies (and our hearts) with some locally produced organic cocoa from Taza Chocolate in Somerville and marshmallows from Tiny Trapeze in Hyde Park.
Taza Chocolate owners Alex Whitmore, Lauren Adams and Larry Slotnick source beans directly from farming communities and co-operatives in Mexico and South America to ensure that a fair price is paid for high quality cocoa beans. From there, they bring the beans to our chocolate studio in Somerville, Massachusetts and grind them into delicious chocolate. Buy the beans and grind 'em yourself, or buy them pre-ground in a chocolate drink like Taza's Velo Rouge.
Tiny Trapeze Confections, located in an old mill building in the Hyde Park neighbor of Boston, makes tasty, old world sweets using all natural and organic ingredients. My latest guilty pleasure - and the perfect topping for a mug of cocoa - is one of their Simply Vanilla marshmallows. Pillowy and sweet right out of the package, the marshmallows melt in your mouth. Better still, if you can stand the wait, they melt right into your hot chocolate, creating a smooth sweet marshmallow foam that's pure heaven.
Taza Chocolate's Velo Rouge Chocolate Drink is available at Taza Chocolate. If you live in Massachusetts, visit Taza's open house next Sunday, February 11th from 1-4 at their Windsor Street studio, or stop by their Chocolate Lounge on Thursday nights at Mariposa Bakery in Cambridge.
Tiny Trapeze's Simply Vanilla marshmallows are available at Whole Foods. If you're vegan, don't despair. Tiny Trapeze also makes a vegan marshmallow that is out of this world. (Call your local Whole Foods to see if they carry it.)
Here's something for folks who'd rather make their gifts than head to the store for a last minute shopping frenzy. Or who think spending quality time with the family is more important than material things - and if you can end up with something tasty to give away at the end of it, so much the better. Think of this as my gift to you.
Jess's Cranberry Almond Granola Recipe
(Adapted from Eating Well Magazine)
2/3 cup frozen concentrated apple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups oats
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets (with sides) with parchment paper, or grease them.
Place frozen juice concentrate, maple syrup, brown sugar and oil in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and turn off heat. Stir in cinnamon and salt.
Mix oats, almonds, sunflower seeds and wheat germ in a large mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir to incorporate.
Distribute mixture evenly on two cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring once. Reverse sheets and rotate top sheet to bottom oven rack and vice versa. Bake for another 15 minutes, untiil granola is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets.
Mix in the cranberries and transfer to mason jars. I like to tie a raffia bow around the top to make them more festive. Granola will keep for two months stored in the mason jars.
Not So Natural, but Oh-So-Delicious: Clementines and Cappuccino Truffles
Looking for a simple yet sophisticated holiday dessert that will have your guests oohing, ahhing and asking for more? One that requires basically zero prep time, and might even count as healthy? Well, you should probably keep looking, but I can tell you about something that knocked my socks off in Whole Foods yesterday afternoon:
Clementines and Cappuccino Truffles.
Recipes for Cappuccino Truffles abound on the Web. Amazon sells a pretty cool make-your-own-truffles kit which looks positively gourmet. Me, I was happy to plunk down four bucks and change for the Whole Foods variety, which had me moaning in the produce aisle.
Clementines are at their peak right now, so don't dillydally. Pick up a box, and next time you have the neighbors over, prepare them to be impressed.
We recently went out for dinner at Gargoyles on the Square in Somerville, and were titillated by a menu that include a Petit Veal Cutlet with cream cheese noodles, bee pollen popcorn, cocoa nibs, and onion powder. (Yes, we do, on occasion, eat veal.) The bee pollen popcorn got more rave reviews than the rest of the meal combined - and it was a very good meal - so we vowed to recreate it at home. After submitting our results to a dinner party of nine on Sunday night and receiving ovations, we feel ready to share.
Note: DO NOT serve this dish to anyone allergic to bees. Also, don't be tempted to up the quotient of bee pollen unless you're accustomed to eating it. Bee pollen can cause an allergic reaction in anyone allergic to bees, and too much of it can cause gastrointestinal distress to anyone who isn't used to it. That said, it's chock full of B-vitamins and anti-oxidants and is said to boost immunity. Also, on popcorn, it tastes really good. (See the Herbal Information Center for more nutritional info on bee pollen.)
Here's the recipe:
Bee Pollen Popcorn a la Jess Brooks*
1/2 cup popcorn (unpopped)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon bee pollen**
Approximately 2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
Approximately 2 teaspoons sugar (to taste)
Heat oil over medium high heat in a large, heavy duty saucepan. Place 3 kernels of popcorn in saucepan and cover. When they pop, you'll know the oil is hot enough. Pour remaining popcorn kernels into saucepan and shake continuously until popping bascally stops, leaving lid open enough to release steam. (You'll want to wear oven mitts, because the pan will get quite hot.) Remove from heat.
Grind bee pollen to a fine powder in a coffee grinder or flax seed mill. Sprinkle over popcorn and stir. Add salt and sugar to taste and stir to ensure that bee pollen, salt and sugar are distributed evenly. Enjoy.
Makes a great accompaniment to soup or salad.
* Again, credit for originating this dish goes to the chef at Gargoyles on the Square. Thank you, Gargoyles, for broadening our palates and exciting our tastebuds once again.
Weekend Reading: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
We've said it before - 
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A Really Natural reader recently recommended Ann Gentry's 
Here are some ingredients I like to add to our oatmeal to make it oat-mmm....:
Here's a recipe for 
1.5 Tablespoons unsweetened organic cocoa powder (we like 
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