Really Natural Books: Flat Belly Diet Cookbook Features MUFA recipes

What's MUFA? MUFA stands for "super-health monounsaturated fatty acids" that are supposed to flatten your belly. I can't tell you whether Flat Belly Diet! Cookbook diet really works, but I can tell you the recipes look delicious and are quick to prepare. It is not a vegetarian cookbook, but there are plenty of recipes for veggie heads like me, including a whole vegetarian chapter.  In addition, there are many recipes that can easily be adapted for meat-free eating. For example:

Chickpea Curry with Cashews
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth, divided
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 can (15 ounces) no -salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup unsalted cashews, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 Tablespoons fat-free Greek-style yogurt

1. Whisk the cornstarch in a small bowl with enough of the broth to dissolve. Set aside.

2. Combine the oil, onion, curry powder, salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes or until the onion is softened.

3. Add the remaining broth to the pan along with the reserved cornstarch mixture. Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened. Add the chickpeas and cashews. Simmer for 5 minutes for the flavors to blend. Stir in cilantro. Serve with a dollop of the yogurt.

Flat Belly Diet! Cookbook claims you can lose up to 15 pounds in 32 days! Whatever the veracity of this claim from the editors of Prevention magazine, you will at least eat well while trying!

Really Natural Recipes: Oven Roasted Balsamic Vinegar Cherry Tomatoes

My garden is exploding in produce, and I overplanted cherry tomatoes this year. One quick and easy recipe that uses up a lot of cherry tomatoes (and my daughter adores) is Oven Roasted Balsamic Vinegar Cherry Tomatoes. This vegan recipe is super simple to make and complements almost any main course.

Oven Roasted Balsamic Vinegar Cherry Tomatoes

• Preheat oven to 420 degrees
• Fill a 3 quart oblong glass baking dish with cherry tomatoes touching side by side
• Drizzle generously with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bake 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

These oven roasted cherry tomatoes are even good cold in your lunch on the following day!

Weekend Reading: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

We've said it before - vegetarianism is the new prius. (Well, actually, the folks at Treehugger said it, but we totally agree.)

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.

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian ships October 15th. We can't wait to pick up our copy.

Order How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

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.

Continue reading: "Weekend Reading: Adventures of an Italian Food Lover by Faith Heller Willinger"

Recipe: Nonfat Yogurt Smoothie

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.

Recipe: Sauteed Radishes and Wilted Radish Greens

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.

Yum.

Recipe: Oatmeal Pancakes from Cooking with Aloha

ReallyNatural's founder Jay Brewer recently returned from a trip to NYC where he met Ann Hall Every, the author of Cook with Aloha. We like the section of her site dedicated to Good Food, Good Health, where we found this recipe for oatmeal pancakes.

Cooking with Aloha Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup quick-cooking (not instant) rolled oats
2 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla or almond extract
Canola cooking spray

Continue reading: "Recipe: Oatmeal Pancakes from Cooking with Aloha"

Miriam's Low-Fat "Magic Brownies"

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.

Weekend Reading: Real Food Daily Cookbook by Ann Gentry

A Really Natural reader recently recommended Ann Gentry's Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian. We can understand why.

Vegetarianism is the new Prius, right?

Continue reading: "Weekend Reading: Real Food Daily Cookbook by Ann Gentry"

Adding Oomph to Your Oatmeal

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.

Enjoy.

Recipe: Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

Here's a recipe for Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes (from the Wild Oats website):

Prep time: 20 minutes, Serves 4

Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

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.

Find other recipes at Wild Oats Marketplace.

Organic Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows

Ingredients

1.5 Tablespoons unsweetened organic cocoa powder (we like Velo Rouge from Taza Chocolate, or Dagoba Organic Chocolate
1.5 Tablespoons organic turbinado sugar
1.5 cups of low-fat organic milk
2 Tiny Trapeze organic marshmallows (available at Whole Foods)

Instructions

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.

Taza Chocolate and Tiny Trapeze Marshmallows

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.)

Homemade Cranberry Almond Granola Recipe

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.

Enjoy with yogurt or milk.