A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

This morning, I’m reminded of the very good “Thanksgiving Countdown”on Epicurious.  We’re down to two weeks before the big day, but you can look back over the past weeks’ tips for ideas as well.  This weekend’s task is to make things you can freeze, and this recipe for Sweet Potato Rolls With Dried Tart Cherries and Cardamom sounds divine . . . .

And in my mind, there’s no better way to pass a cold, rainy November Saturday in Boston than cooking and eating!

Cheers!

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Today’s recipe combines sweet potatoes, another treat from my CSA share, with Thanksgiving:  my sure-fire crowd-pleasing Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.  I make this for every Thanksgiving and people LOVE it.  It’s sweet, nutty, and because it’s a riff off an old Cooking Light recipe, it doesn’t break the calorie bank.  This is so tasty, I’ve been known to eat this for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving (yes, leftover pie, too – no one ever said Thanksgiving weekend wasn’t a little bit of a nutritional nightmare).  If my SIL wants me to, I’ll make it this year, too, but I’ll use the local sweet potatoes I got in my share . . . sure to increase the deliciousness.

Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place the potatoes in a Dutch oven and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 12 minutes, or until tender; drain.  Using a stand mixer, whisk the half-and-half with the next 4 ingredients (through eggs).  Change to the paddle attachment, add the potato to the egg mixture, and beat at medium speed until smooth.  Spoon the potato mixture into a 9×13-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Combine the flour and sugar in a food processor; pulse to combine.  Add the chilled butter, pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. 

Toast the pecans in a small, dry skillet.  Stir the pecans into the flour and sugar mixture and sprinkle this over the potato mixture.  Cover and bake for 15 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes or until the topping is browned and the potatoes are thoroughly heated. 

This will yield 18 1/2-cup servings.

If you want to make this ahead of time – make up your potato mixture and store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days.  Make up the streusel mixture and store it in a separate airtight container.  When you’re ready to bake, put the potatoes in your baking dish, top with the streusel, and you’re good to go.

What if you don’t have a stand mixer?  Not to worry – you can use a hand mixer or some serious elbow grease and a potato masher.  No food processor?  Cut the butter into the flour and sugar mixture with two knives.

Have a great weekend, all!

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More cooking inspired by my CSA loot – last night I used local butternut squash and cilantro, and man, this recipe is terrific!  Sorta sweet from the squash, sorta zingy and a little spicy from the curry powder, nice toasty crunch thanks to the walnuts and nice, brite topnotes provided by the lime juice and cilantro.  A party in your mouth . . . and your belly, because every darn thing in here is great for your body.  This took about 40 minutes to prepare – that’s an outside estimate, which includes running into the living room twice to assist in the selection of an appropriate television show for L.  Your cooking time may vary . . . .

Lentils With Butternut Squash & Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Halve, peel and seed squash and cut it into 1/2-inch pieces. In a 9×13-inch baking dish, toss the shallot with the squash, oil, curry powder, and salt and pepper to taste until combined well. Bake squash mixture in middle of oven until almost tender, about 20 minutes.

While the squash is baking, boil the chicken broth in a small saucepan, add the lentils, and cook until the lentils are just tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Drain lentils in a sieve and transfer to a bowl.

Chop the walnuts and place them in a small, dry frying pan.  Toast the walnuts over low-medium heat, stirring constantly. 

To the lentils add the squash mixture, cilantro, lime juice, toasted walnuts and salt and pepper to taste and toss until combined well.

The original recipe says that this serves 2 as a side dish, but that’s a big portion of  what I’d consider a very hearty side dish!  I ate 1/2 of this recipe as my main course and was quite full . . . you could even serve this with brown rice or quinoa to stretch it out a bit if you like.

A note on toasting nuts:  did you know that if you toast your nuts before adding them to recipes it’ll boost their flavor?  All you need is a few extra minutes and a dry skillet.  Toast the nuts over low heat, and stir them constantly.  Watch them closely because they’ll toast all-of-a-sudden and can burn just as quickly!

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Hi folks – someone emailed me to let me know the comments were set to “off” on the Chia post – thank you!  I dunno why that happened, but they’re on now. 

Do weigh in on whether and how you use chia – I, for one, need inspiration . . . .

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I’m straying from my promised Thanksgiving prep theme here – let me know if you want me to veer back . . . I’m just having so much fun with all these vegetables.  When I started my gig as a stay-at-home mom (which as many of you know, I NEVER in a million years thought I would do), I found (still do) great pleasure and intellectual stimulation in seeking out new ways to cook different foods.  This share’s brought back that old feelin’ again – yesterday’s challenge was what do I do with 10 lbs. of apples and I don’t love radishes, what to do? 

L. loves applesauce.  She also loves to cook – so the logical solution to the too many apples problem was applesauce (better for mama not to have a pie, or apple goodie around the house anyway).  This easy recipe was our afternoon activity yesterday – peeling apples is a kid-friendly task, as is MASHING.  Kids love to mash.  Who can blame ‘em? (BTW, still have 8 apples left . . . hmmmmm).

Baked Apple Sauce

Set aside 2 9×13-inch baking dishes.  Place the apples in the dishes, dividing evenly between the two dishes.  In a small bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla; mix well. Sprinkle over apples. Cover each dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until apples are tender.  Uncover and mash with a fork or a potato masher.   This stuff is SO delicious.  Depending on your tastes and what sort of apples you use, you can play with the amount of sugar.  This is sweet as is, but not sickeningly so.  It’d be great on oatmeal, atop some fat-free Greek yogurt, mixed into wholegrain pancake batter (or on top of pancakes), as an accompaniment to latkes, etc. etc. 

Next task was radish rescue.  I’ve never been a fan of radishes – I mean, they’re OK, but I’d never buy some to nosh – only to make a salad look pretty or to use as garnish.  I had a beautiful bunch of bright red radishes from the CSA share . . . so I consulted Deborah’s Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone and made up this little ditty.  Cooked radishes are much mellower than their raw cousins - I like them a lot better.  The thyme in this went nicely with my leftover lentil soup.

Braised Red Radishes

 Trim the leaves from the radishes and scrub them clean.  Leave small radishes whole and halve or quarter the larger ones – you are aiming for uniform size (and therefore cooking time) here.  Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and add the shallot and the thyme and cook for 1 minute on medium heat.  Add the radishes, a bit of salt and pepper and enough chicken broth to cover the radishes about halfway.  Cover and simmer, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the radishes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Remove the radishes to a serving dish.  Boil the remaining liquid (there won’t be much left) until only a little bit remains – it’ll be a lovely pinkish color and will be loaded with shallot and studded with the thyme.  Pour this over the radishes, taste for salt and pepper and add more if you wish, and serve.  Serves 2.

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Aw yeah, I love love love all this fresh produce!  Sunday night we had an improptu pizza dinner at home, so I whipped up a quick tossed salad with what I had on hand – some of the delicious lettuce I got in my share on Saturday.  I added some diced super sweet red peppers that were also included . . . and it was delicious.  Even D. (a.k.a. “King Carnivore”) was raving about the tasty veggies.

So some of you have been wondering “what the heck is a CSA?”  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and here’s how it works.  The CSA I bought into is called the Shared Harvest CSA (formerly the Belmont CSA), which offers items from a few different farms in each share.  So far, so great!  I have one more distribution, next month, but I’m completely sold on them and will re-up for the spring/summer months if they go forward with that.  I don’t have the space or growing conditions (too shady) to have a vegetable garden in the backyard, so this is the next best thing.  Sure, I lack some control over what I get, but you know what?  It’s an adventure, and I know I’ll be trying things I never have before (rutabaga, anyone?).  Bring it on!

One of my goals for this fall and winter is to make more soup – it just hasn’t been something I’ve cooked often.  Dunno why.  Last night I made this Garlicky Lentil Soup using some of the garlic and onions I received in my share.  It’s pretty quick to prepare – about 10 minutes to chop up the onions and garlic and throw it all in the pot, then approximately 25-30 minutes to cook.  So you could come home from work, throw it together, then get lunches packed, answer emails, throw in laundry, etc. while it simmers. If you want to make it vegan, use vegetable broth instead of chicken.  In either case, your house will smell yummy from all the garlic and thyme. 

I served this up with a fresh green salad (I had more of my lettuce and peppers).  It’d be super-delish with some crusty bread or toasty open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches on the side . . . .

Garlicky Lentil Soup

In a medium-sized saucepan, saute the onions and garlic in the 1 T. of olive oil until the onions are translucent.  Add the lentils and the thyme, then pour in the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Stir in the parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Serve the soup drizzled with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar – the oil adds richness and the vinegar adds brightness.  This recipe serves 2, but could easily be doubled.  I ate one portion of this, and I imagine the leftovers will be spectacular today because the flavors will’ve had a chance to meld.

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We’re going to start the week on a healthy note.  Let’s take a little break from Thanksgiving prep to talk about a new adition to my diet, chia seeds.  Have you heard of chia? You might remember Chia Pets, the cute little terracotta figurines you smear with seeds to help them grow “fur.”  These are the same seeds, but don’t pilfer your pet’s stash – those seeds aren’t consumption grade.  The ancient seeds are actually packed with rich nutrients. Chia seeds are a genus of the mint family, originating in Mexico’s central valley and were widely cultivated by Aztec cultures in pre-Hispanic times.  Chia seeds were often used as currency for tax payments to nobility and as offerings for the Priesthood. They’re so nutritious that one tablespoon of seeds was believed to sustain an individual for 24 hours!

Chia is gluten-free, with very high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids (ALA), significant levels of antioxidants, dietary fiber, oil, protein, calcium, phosphorous, and potassium.  Two tablespoons of my Navitas Naturals chia powder have 70 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein.

So, why would a person choose chia over flax, another vegetarian source of omega-3′s?  Chia actually has a slightly higher concentration of omega-3 fatty acids than flax. Another advantage of chia over flax is that chia is so rich in antioxidants that the seeds don’t deteriorate, so they can be stored for long periods without becoming rancid. And, unlike flax, chia doesn’t have to be ground to make its nutrients available to the body.

Another big reason to choose chia over flax is phytoestrogens.  Are your eyes glazing over?  Stick with me here!  Those of you who’re living with breast cancer probably are already aware of phytoestrogens – they’re plant-based estrogens that may or may not mimic the natural estrogens in our body and therefore raise our estrogen levels.  You can also find ‘em in soy, which is why a lot of women who’ve had breast cancer avoid or limit their soy consumption.  Whether or not phytoestrogens raise your natural estrogen levels is still controversial, and I’ve heard differing opinions from reputable sources. So what’s the best alternative? Chia seed.  Chia contains no phytoestrogens. And since it’s just as good, if not better source of ALA, why not use chia instead?

Another note – you can’t compare the omega-3 fatty acids in chia (or flax, for that matter) to the omega 3’s you get from salmon. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. The type of omega 3 in chia (and flax) is alpha-Linolenic acid, or ALA, which is different from the omega 3’s in fish – DHA and EPA – needed for optimal health. ALA must be converted in the body to DHA and EPA – so you need to eat seven times the amount of ALA to get 1 gram of DHA.  That’s a helluva lot of chia.  The bottom line here is that chia is a nutritious whole food and a good addition to a healthy diet.  For a great all-around, but easy to understand primer on omega 3′s, take a look at this great post from Foodicate.

Whaddaya do with chia, anyway?  Chia has a nutty, but unobtrusive flavor. You can mix the whole seeds in water and add lime or lemon juice and sugar to make a drink known in Mexico and Central America as “chia fresca.” As with ground flax, you can sprinkle ground or whole chia seeds on cereal, in yogurt or salads, or grind them and mix them with flour for making muffins or other baked goods.  I’ve only tried them in smoothies, so far, and I will admit that I don’t foresee making baked goods with chia . . . I think that all the butter and sugar I use would negate any health benefit of the chia, frankly!

How ‘bout you?  Have you tried chia?  How do you incorporate these super-seeds into your diet?

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Happy Saturday, all.  Today was beautiful ’round Boston - crisp, dry and brilliantly sunny.  This afternoon, I picked up my first Shared Harvest CSA distribution and wowza! do I have some gorgeous looking stuff to prepare in the coming weeks.

Here’s what I got:

• Brussels sprouts
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Sweet red peppers
• Radicchio
• White potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Yellow onions
• Garlic
• Baby bok choy
• Escarole
• Napa cabbage
• Spinach
• Cilantro
• Red radishes
• Red and green leaf lettuce
• Hakeuei turnips
• Butternut squash
• Leeks
• Rutabaga
• Kohlrabi
• 10 lbs. of assorted apples
• 1 lb. of black calypso beans

A ton of stuff.  I’ve already mapped out some recipes for the coming week, including garlicky lentil soup, roasted lettuce, roasted radishes, curried Hakurei turnips, lentils with butternut squash and walnuts, pork tenderloin stir-fry with baby bok choy and clementines, and mmmm, a warm escarole salad with apples, candied walnuts and Saint Andre cheese.  Can’t wait! 

I’ll be posting recipes and providing commentary as I go along – there are a few things here I’ve never had . . . .  Stay tuned!

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