A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

Oh my friends, I’ve missed you so . . . and I’m not happy to let you know it’s going to be a bit longer ’til I’m up and running again here on Semi-Sweet.  This moving thing, plus a series of other unfortunate events, have thrown this blogger under the bus.  I am pining for you though, rest assured.  So much so that I wanted to share a little pasta ditty I threw together tonight, just to touch base with you all one more time before I jump off the diving board into the deep end – our actual move day is Tuesday.

So being that we’re moving, I’m clearing the food decks as much as possible.  We’re only moving a mile from our current place, so we certainly can transfer stuff easily, but really, who wants to transport more food than she has to?  And then there’s that pesky (but fabulous) CSA share that just keeps on giving . . . every week the undertow of greens and veggies threatens to suck me down, but I’m keeping my head above water, yes I am.

Tonight I used up the delicious fresh tomatoes we got on Wednesday, along with a log of goat cheese I had in the fridge and some nice Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese.  You can alter the proportions of this to your liking, and if I’d had it, I’d have used whole wheat pasta for more flavor and nutrition.

Whatever you’re doing or cooking this summer, enjoy yourself for me, will you?  Moving’s exciting, but not so much fun.  I’m SO looking forward to cooking and blogging more in September . . . stick with me friends, the best is yet to come!

Cavatappi with Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Spinach

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, combine all the other ingredients except for the spinach in a large bowl and stir to combine – you want this to look saucy – the goat cheese will become smooth and the liquid of the tomatoes will help this.  Don’t be afraid of using a couple good glugs of olive oil – it’ll smooth out your sauce and add great flavor.  Dump the spinach leaves on top of this mixture.  Drain the pasta and while it’s still piping hot (don’t worry about extra moisture, it’ll help make your sauce more spreadable), pour it over the spinach and sauce mixture.  Stir to combine and to wilt the spinach leaves.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Serves 4-6, easily.  Pass the crushed red pepper for the heat-seekers at your dinner table.

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Baking?  In July?  Yes, friends, it was in the low 70′s here in Boston yesterday and I had a couple lovely, fresh zucchini from my Picadilly Farms CSA share.  No one but me in this house’ll eat zucchini as a veg, so I thought I might try the sweet approach.

I used this recipe from Elise Bauer’s super site, Simply Recipes and made it in a 12-muffin muffin pan.

There was a little left over, so I buttered up 2 little ramekins and baked that off.  Before baking, I sprinkled the muffin tops with turbinado sugar, so they’ve got a sweet little crunch to ‘em.  Oh, and I added the optional cup of raisins and chopped walnuts to these puppies, too.  These are nice – moist, nice crumb, not too sweet and they require no special equipment to make (although I confess to grating the zucchini in the Cuisinart – it’s just so fast!).  These are delicious alone, or warmed with a schmear of butter, or a drizzle of honey, or a schmear of butter and and drizzle of honey . . . .

And are you like me?  With a portion control issue with baked goods?  These pups will freeze well.  I intend to put at least a 1/2 dozen into a Ziploc and stow ‘em . . . you can defrost them individually for a treat, or en masse for a get-together. 

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

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Wednesdays are CSA share distribution days for us, and therefore Tuesdays are the days I freak about the stuff that’s still hanging around my fridge(s).  This week, there was a lot – we went away for the weekend and so I didn’t cook for a few nights.  I didn’t want to waste the precious bounty, so – here came this kitchen-sink green soup to the rescue . . . this soup will help you get your frugalista on, big-time.

My mother was poking around at the library and found a great cookbook called Love Soup by Anna Thomas, the author of the roundly praised Vegetarian Epicure.  Only after she’d begun to photocopy her favorites (um, mother of an intellectual property litigator) did my mother realize it’d be better to just buy the book . . . so many looked so good.  I received the photocopies (she’s not one to waste anything!) and this one caught my eye.

This isn’t so much a recipe as a method.  You can put anything in this soup – sky’s the limit.  Only a few things remain the same – you caramelize an onion to start.  You add some garlic part-way through, you garnish it with some lovely olive oil and perhaps a sprinkle of cheese.  But which veggies you choose is entirely up to you.

I used:

• a bunch of flat leaf parsley
• a half-bunch of cilantro
• a bunch of lacinato kale
• 3 bulbs (is that what they’re called?) kohlrabi
• 2 bunches of scallions
• 1 medium yellow onion

Get yourself a large stockpot or a big Le Creuset – I used my 7 1/4 qt. Le Creuset for this.  Thinly slice the yellow onion, and cook it with a sprinkle of salt, in about 2 T. of extra-virgin olive oil.  Cook it on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s golden brown and soft - you’re letting the onion’s delicious sweet flavor develop here.  Don’t rush it! This will take about 1/2 hour, but you’re going to be chopping while you do this . . . .

Meanwhile, clean and chop all your various veggies – you can use stems of things here, too, ’cause you’re cooking it ’til it’s soft. 

When your onion is sufficiently caramelized, de-glaze the pan with a little vegetable or low-sodium chicken broth.  Then add all those greens, along with approximately 3 cups of whichever broth you’re using.  Toss the veggies in the broth until they cook down a bit (my pot was practically over-flowing to start).  Also add 3-4 T. of arborio rice – this will add starch and will result in a velvety soup when it’s finished.

Once the broth begins to boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat, and let the soup simmer for approximately 1/2 hour.  Add more broth to completely cover the cooked-down vegetables, and add 2-4 cloves of garlic, depending on your taste (for all those veggies, I added the equivalent of 4 cloves of crushed garlic).

Once everything is sufficiently mushy (more or less time, depending on what you’ve got in there), remove the vat from the heat and use either an immersion blender or a regular blender (for goodness sake, be careful blending hot liquids, OK?) to puree the soup.  Return it to the heat, bring it back to simmer, and add the juice of one lemon, Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper to taste.  Voila!

Garnishes – a little extra-good extra-virgin drizzled on top adds a delicious richness.  Also good is some fresh white cheese – I used some ricotta salata, but Thomas suggests that feta or Cotija would be good.  You could also make up some croutons to throw on top.  If it hadn’t been 50-gagillion degrees out, I’d have hacked up a stale loaf of rosemary focaccia I have in the fridge and toasted that up.  Maybe tomorrow?

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It’s been been “triple H” weather in Boston lately – hazy, hot & humid.  We’ve fired up our “decentralized” air-conditioning here at chez Semi-Sweet, but the kitchen gets short-shrift, for sure.  It’s pretty decent in here until you start working hard (read: lugging laundry, or, unfortunately, cooking).  But a family can only subsist on hard-cooked eggs and salad for so many days, and I was inspired by more Picadilly Farm CSA loot I picked up on Wednesday.

This meal is a 30 minute nutritional powerhouse – especially if you serve it with brown rice (I will confess, we ate it with white).  But here’s the kicker – it’s also super-delicious and it won’t heat up your digs too much. 

You’ll have leftover vinaigrette.  I think it’d be a great Asian salad dressing, drizzle for a wrap with lots of veggies and shredded rotisserie chicken, or perhaps a raw cabbage slaw with cilantro.  If you do make this, let us know how you’re using your leftover dressing, will you?

Pan Seared Cod With Spinach, Snow Peas & Asian Sesame Vinaigrette (adapted from Gourmet)

Rinse the snap peas and trim the ends.  Wash the spinach well and spin dry.  Set a steamer basket in a large skillet with about 2 inches of water in the bottom, add the peas and cover.  Steam until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.  Remove and set aside.  Add the spinach and steam, covered, for 2+ minutes, until wilted.  Remove and set aside (I put the spinach and peas in a bowl and covered them w/aluminum foil to keep them warm).

Salt and pepper the fillet and dredge in a bit of flour. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the fish and cook until it flakes easily, about 5 minutes each side. 

Divide the rice between two plates.  Top first with spinach, then add the snowpeas.  Place 1/2 of the fish atop each mound, and drizzle with a few tablespoons of vinaigrette .  Serve immediately.

Serves 2, the fish and veggies can easily be scaled up and you’ll have plenty of dressing for 4-6 servings.

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I got a lovely head of Swiss chard in my CSA box last week, and since I was closing in on my next share, I had to think up a way to use it . . . I’m done with soups for now, done with the sausage/greens combo – I needed a fresh take.  This recipe is it . . . buttery braised chard, onions, salty ricotta salata all make a fab side dish, or, if you’re like me, your main course!

Greens & Ricotta Salata (adapted from the Food Network)

Wash the chard and pat it dry (leave some water clinging to the leaves).  Coarsely chop the stems and leaves and set them aside.

Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute longer.  Add the greens, broth, soy sauce, and pepper.  Cook, stirring often, until the greens have wilted, the stems become tender and most of the liquid has cooked off, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the cooked greens to a serving plate and crumble the cheese over the top.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

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In last week’s CSA share, we got some garlic scapes . . . have you tried these delicious creatures?  All curly and full of whimsy, yet with a garlicky zing that’ll knock your socks off.  I’d had them before, but never cooked with them myself, until Saturday night when I decided to whip up a pesto with them – and wow, were D. and I psyched.  It was garlicky and cheesy and nutty and coated the linguine so well.  A minimum of effort and fuss yields spectacular results here.  A perfect recipe for hot days – all you need to do is pull out your Cuisinart or blender and boil a pot of water.  Whip up a side-salad dressed simply with oil and vinegar (your tastebuds will need a breather after the pesto).  A loaf of nice bread, some fresh berries and cream for dessert, and you’ve got a lovely summer repast.

Garlic Scape Pesto (adapted from Umami Girl)

1 1/4 c. chopped garlic scapes
1/2 c. pine nuts, toasted
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, cut into chunks

Combine scapes, cheese, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.

Pulse until well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running.  Process until the mixture is fairly smooth and emulsified. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Makes 2.5-3 cups.

Serve over pasta (you might want to reserve some of the cooking water to thin out the pesto a bit so it spreads over the pasta more easily).  This would also be delicious as a base for a grilled pizza or as a spread for crusty bread. This’ll freeze well – think of how psyched you’ll be in January if you have a pot of this up your sleeve!  I have 2 cups in the freezer right now . . . .

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Monday, Monday.  Hope you all had a good weekend and are revved up for what the week brings . . . for us, it’s the last week of school, which makes L. very sad . . . yes, my girl LOVES school.  If you have kids, this is a CRAZY-making time.  There are so many end-of-year events/gifts/tributes/cards/etc. it can make your head spin.  I’ve said it before, but I’m gonna say it again, when times get tough, it’s even more important to eat well and take care of your body.  Whether you have kids or not, if you’re under stress and start shoveling too much junk in your face, you’re going to succumb to sickness.  Trust me on this one.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Eat those greens, friends!  [Read more →]

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This spring and summer, I have the pleasure of being part of the Picadilly Farm CSA.  Each week, I get to pick up a box of goodies, grown organically in New Hampshire.  This past Wednesday was my first pickup, and the box was packed with salad greens, radishes, hakurei turnips, cilantro, bok choy, pea tendrils and some lovely red Russian kale. 

I started getting creative from day one – I love the challenge of being presented with ingredients and having to dream up recipes.  I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge and so we had whole wheat rollups with lettuce, cilantro, chicken, grated sharp cheddar and enchilada sauce.  The next night was steamed tofu with bok choy and pea tendrils over rice, with a sauce made from low-sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, tabasco and chopped cilantro.  It was tasty, and it was pretty:

Saturday night, I sauteed the kale and added spicy Italian chicken sausages, tomatoes and garlic and served that over whole wheat penne with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  Delicious comfort food – and the kale was tender and sweet.

And last night, it was giant salads.  Red leaf lettuce topped with halved cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes and salad turnips.  I added some buffalo chicken meatballs from Trader Joe’s (pretty good and heat ‘n’ eat to boot!) and this delicious ranch dressing, inspired by a recipe in Eating Well magazine:

Combine all those in a jar and shake it up – preferably a little bit before dinner so that the flavors have some time to mesh . . . it’s creamy, tangy and a great compliment to the spicy meatballs and crisp lettuce.  Here’s what the final creation looked like:

 So hearty, and healthy . . . and once you start making your own ranch dressing, you’ll never long to go lookin’ for that hidden valley again!

Eating veggies this fresh spoils a girl . . . even for premium produce the likes of Whole Foods’.  There is just no substitute.  I’ll keep filling you in on what I’m doing, and for even more inspiration, check out this great blog, A Bushel of What? 

Do you belong to a CSA?  What’re you whipping up from your spring share?

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