There's a great David Benoit album called "Waiting for Spring". It's about time I put that one for a spin on the turntable once again. In these late winter days when it's dark when you wake up and it's almost dark when you leave work, we all are yearning for the warmth and sunlight of springtime. Even me, living in Southern California! Sorry, I probably sound like a BIG whiner to you guys out in Chicago or Buffalo.
But let's not rush the seasons like we rush through almost everything else in life. Be in the now, and focus on the delicious, nutritious winter vegetables that are right in front of your eyes. I know, you feel like you've been seeing the same vegetables in the store for the past few months, and you have! But let's take a fresh look and try something a little different for dinner tonight. A great example: winter squash -- this covers a vast array of different varieties, including pumpkin, acorn, and spaghetti squash to name just a few. Today, let's talk about one of the most popular types -- butternut squash.
Winter squash is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. It’s an excellent source of vitamin A, a very good source of vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and manganese, and a good source of folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B-1, B-3, and B-6, copper, and pantothenic acid. It's also an excellent source of beta-carotene. Our bodies convert beta-carotene to Vitamin A, which is essential for healthy skin, vision, and bone development and maintenance. They are also one of the few vegetables that do not lose nutritional quality after picking.
When mulling over in the store how much you'll need for dinner, a good rule of thumb is that 1 pound of whole, raw winter squash generates about 1 cup of cooked squash which is about 1 serving.
Butternut squash has exceptional flavor and is fairly easy to peel. The skin is a light tan-color, it has a long, straight neck and a roundish bottom. It’s incredibly versatile... Wonderful in soups, risotto...roasted, steamed, braised...it can even work on pizza...or dessert!
Be careful when cutting into it...take a heavy knife or cleaver and carefully whack the knife or cleaver into the squash, then bear down or tap it with a rubber mallet to open the squash – cut next to the stem rather than through it – always be mindful of where your hands are – just go nice & slow...it's also a good idea to put a dishtowel under your cutting board to steady it.
My recipe for Braised Butternut Squash is a simple recipe that you can handle on a cold winter's night when you're tired and just want to get dinner on the table. It's quick and the reward is tender, savory squash which can be interpreted as a main dish or a side dish. For a simple, satisfying meal, I would recommend serving it as a main dish and pairing it with a little rice and some garlicky greens. Visit my website for the full printable recipe at: http://www.complementarycolor.com/VegginOut/
Enjoy it while you still can! Spring and summer and the hot weather will be here soon enough. Luxuriate in the cool winter nights when cooking is a pleasure.
Share your favorite wintertime recipe with us...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Fear not the kale!
Kale is one of the healthiest foods you can possibly eat, however, to the uninitiated, it looks a bit intimidating. But fear not, young Skywalker! I will guide you along the path of the green leafy vegetables.
The secret: kale is actually fairly easy to cook once you learn the tricks. The kale we're going to talk about today are: lacinto (or "dino" kale) and regular green kale.
Kale is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with antioxidants, Vitamins A, C and K, and a great source of calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, lutein, Vitamin B6, and dietary fiber. On top of that, it's phytochemicals may protect against cancer. It's also an anti-inflammatory food. It's peak season is mid-winter through early spring, however nowadays it can be found year-round.
In this post-holidays flu season, what could be more energizing for your personal health than putting down the french fries and picking up a beautiful bunch of nutritious, organic kale at the market today - let's do it!
I'm going to be extra generous today and reveal my very own delicious, simple recipe for lacinto kale - at my house we call it "kale & corn". Chop up 4 cloves of garlic. Wash the kale and cut out the tough ribs/stems. Chop it crosswise into 1-inch strips. Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick skillet. Add about 1 1/4 cups of organic frozen corn to the pan, then add the chopped garlic and saute for 3-4 minutes. Then add the chopped kale, stir it all around, making sure the kale gets lightly coated with the olive oil. Cover the pan for a couple of minutes so that the kale will kind of steam while it's sauteing (this will help soften it). Then, take off the cover and stir it around, continue sauteing everything for another 2 minutes. Add salt & freshly ground pepper as desired. Voila! You've got a healthy, delicious, quick side dish ready to go.
For regular kale, here is a very basic but tasty treatment of it: Fill a deep stainless steel skillet about halfway with water and some salt and heat over medium heat until you get a nice simmer going. Meanwhile, wash the kale. Now, with this type of kale, you can either go ahead and cut out the ribs/stems with a knife and then cut the kale into large strips crosswise, or an even easier way is to simply tear off large pieces of the kale from the stems - this is really easy and kind of fun in a nerdy/veggie kind of way! Once the water is simmering, add the kale, and simmer it for about 5 minutes. Drain it, get out all the excess water and then toss it with some extra virgin olive oil and taste for salt & pepper. You'd be surprised how good it tastes - sometimes simple is best! Even hot chef Tal Ronnen (author of "The Conscious Cook") advocates this method.
For the last recipe of the day, I recently tried out the Garlic and Kale Soup recipe that's in the current edition (Feb. 2010) of Vegetarian Times. This is a great soup for some comfort or if you're trying to get over a cold or flu because it's chock full of heart-healthy ingredients. It has wheat berries, shiitake mushrooms, garlic and kale as the main ingredients. As I tend to do, I veered slightly from the recipe and used oyster mushrooms instead of shiitakes. Also, I didn't have any brown rice vinegar, so instead I used some regular rice vinegar with some ume plum vinegar. And, I also forgot to presoak the wheat berries the night before, so I cooked some quinoa instead. Even so, it came out good! I'm curious how it would have tasted if I had stuck strictly to the recipe--let us know if you try it. Regardless, it's a soul-satisfying soup that will make you feel warm (and virtuous) inside.
Please post your thoughts, questions, etc. I love to hear from my readers! :o)
The secret: kale is actually fairly easy to cook once you learn the tricks. The kale we're going to talk about today are: lacinto (or "dino" kale) and regular green kale.
Kale is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with antioxidants, Vitamins A, C and K, and a great source of calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, lutein, Vitamin B6, and dietary fiber. On top of that, it's phytochemicals may protect against cancer. It's also an anti-inflammatory food. It's peak season is mid-winter through early spring, however nowadays it can be found year-round.
In this post-holidays flu season, what could be more energizing for your personal health than putting down the french fries and picking up a beautiful bunch of nutritious, organic kale at the market today - let's do it!
I'm going to be extra generous today and reveal my very own delicious, simple recipe for lacinto kale - at my house we call it "kale & corn". Chop up 4 cloves of garlic. Wash the kale and cut out the tough ribs/stems. Chop it crosswise into 1-inch strips. Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick skillet. Add about 1 1/4 cups of organic frozen corn to the pan, then add the chopped garlic and saute for 3-4 minutes. Then add the chopped kale, stir it all around, making sure the kale gets lightly coated with the olive oil. Cover the pan for a couple of minutes so that the kale will kind of steam while it's sauteing (this will help soften it). Then, take off the cover and stir it around, continue sauteing everything for another 2 minutes. Add salt & freshly ground pepper as desired. Voila! You've got a healthy, delicious, quick side dish ready to go.
For regular kale, here is a very basic but tasty treatment of it: Fill a deep stainless steel skillet about halfway with water and some salt and heat over medium heat until you get a nice simmer going. Meanwhile, wash the kale. Now, with this type of kale, you can either go ahead and cut out the ribs/stems with a knife and then cut the kale into large strips crosswise, or an even easier way is to simply tear off large pieces of the kale from the stems - this is really easy and kind of fun in a nerdy/veggie kind of way! Once the water is simmering, add the kale, and simmer it for about 5 minutes. Drain it, get out all the excess water and then toss it with some extra virgin olive oil and taste for salt & pepper. You'd be surprised how good it tastes - sometimes simple is best! Even hot chef Tal Ronnen (author of "The Conscious Cook") advocates this method.
For the last recipe of the day, I recently tried out the Garlic and Kale Soup recipe that's in the current edition (Feb. 2010) of Vegetarian Times. This is a great soup for some comfort or if you're trying to get over a cold or flu because it's chock full of heart-healthy ingredients. It has wheat berries, shiitake mushrooms, garlic and kale as the main ingredients. As I tend to do, I veered slightly from the recipe and used oyster mushrooms instead of shiitakes. Also, I didn't have any brown rice vinegar, so instead I used some regular rice vinegar with some ume plum vinegar. And, I also forgot to presoak the wheat berries the night before, so I cooked some quinoa instead. Even so, it came out good! I'm curious how it would have tasted if I had stuck strictly to the recipe--let us know if you try it. Regardless, it's a soul-satisfying soup that will make you feel warm (and virtuous) inside.
Please post your thoughts, questions, etc. I love to hear from my readers! :o)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Welcome to Veggin' Out
Happy new year everyone! I'm Lisa Henderson and this is Veggin' Out. Visit frequently for vegetarian cooking advice and recipes, as well as discussions about vegetarian lifestyle (restaurants, shopping, animal welfare/politics). I enjoy focusing on a particular ingredient each week and giving you in-depth information about it along with an outstanding recipe. And I love to hear your comments and advice as well, so don't be shy!
Today, we're going to talk about quinoa. Quinoa is a high-protein grain--it actually has about twice as much protein as other grains or seeds. And it is a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids. It is also gluten-free. Quinoa is rich in magnesium, zinc, vitamin E, and selenium...it's high in antioxidants, rich in lignans, and is high in fiber...sounds like the perfect food, doesn't it? And, oh yes, I forgot to mention--it tastes great too!
You can find it in most supermarkets now...you can definitely find it in any natural foods market like Whole Foods, Mothers Market, etc....and to save money, look for it in the bulk bins, however you can also buy it in a small box or bag in the rice aisle.
The best recipe I've found for quinoa is the Curried Grain Salad in the Cafe Flora cookbook. Cafe Flora is an absolutely stellar vegetarian restaurant in Seattle, and they have an equally stellar cookbook, so check it out. The Curried Grain Salad recipe has quinoa, spelt berries or wheat berries, dried fruit, nuts, and a delicious Dijon Curry Vinaigrette which coats it. If you can't find or don't desire spelt berries or wheat berries, you can make it just with quinoa, and I think it's just as good and even easier that way. For the dried fruit, I like to use dried cranberries and raisins, and for the nuts, I like roasted cashews or pistachios. And this is a great recipe for leftovers or to bring to a potluck because it actually tastes better a day or two later. So, definitely try it the next time you have people coming over or you need to bring a dish into work to impress everybody! My husband, Lou, and I had it a couple of days ago as leftovers---I mixed into it some sauteed Quorn fake chicken chunks and zucchini and then garnished the quinoa bowl with some chopped cilantro--basically cleaning out the fridge--but it came together great! And then last night, we had the leftover curried quinoa again with some lightly sauteed kale and steamed carrots with fresh thyme, and that was a satisfying meal also. So this dish is a great side dish or base for a meal - a "quinoa bowl"! It's very versatile and, I promise, you'll enjoy it!
Please share with us your favorite recipe for quinoa...
Today, we're going to talk about quinoa. Quinoa is a high-protein grain--it actually has about twice as much protein as other grains or seeds. And it is a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids. It is also gluten-free. Quinoa is rich in magnesium, zinc, vitamin E, and selenium...it's high in antioxidants, rich in lignans, and is high in fiber...sounds like the perfect food, doesn't it? And, oh yes, I forgot to mention--it tastes great too!
You can find it in most supermarkets now...you can definitely find it in any natural foods market like Whole Foods, Mothers Market, etc....and to save money, look for it in the bulk bins, however you can also buy it in a small box or bag in the rice aisle.
The best recipe I've found for quinoa is the Curried Grain Salad in the Cafe Flora cookbook. Cafe Flora is an absolutely stellar vegetarian restaurant in Seattle, and they have an equally stellar cookbook, so check it out. The Curried Grain Salad recipe has quinoa, spelt berries or wheat berries, dried fruit, nuts, and a delicious Dijon Curry Vinaigrette which coats it. If you can't find or don't desire spelt berries or wheat berries, you can make it just with quinoa, and I think it's just as good and even easier that way. For the dried fruit, I like to use dried cranberries and raisins, and for the nuts, I like roasted cashews or pistachios. And this is a great recipe for leftovers or to bring to a potluck because it actually tastes better a day or two later. So, definitely try it the next time you have people coming over or you need to bring a dish into work to impress everybody! My husband, Lou, and I had it a couple of days ago as leftovers---I mixed into it some sauteed Quorn fake chicken chunks and zucchini and then garnished the quinoa bowl with some chopped cilantro--basically cleaning out the fridge--but it came together great! And then last night, we had the leftover curried quinoa again with some lightly sauteed kale and steamed carrots with fresh thyme, and that was a satisfying meal also. So this dish is a great side dish or base for a meal - a "quinoa bowl"! It's very versatile and, I promise, you'll enjoy it!
Please share with us your favorite recipe for quinoa...
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