Asian Tofu Salad w/ peanut dressing

Asian Tofu Salad w/ peanut dressing
#GlutenFree, #Vegetarian

I first had a variation of this salad at a friends house, using chicken, slightly different salad toppings and a store bought dressing.  Although it was very good, I thought to myself this could definitely be done as a vegetarian dish, with all whole foods and an easy homemade dressing. If you are someone that wonders "what do I do with tofu?", this is a great dish to use that ever illusive ingredient!
It is one of my favorite salads to make and something that can be thrown together easily on a week night.  I will admit that my kids won't eat the spinach (without a lot of gagging) so I typically give them the tofu, rice noodles and mandarin oranges and they will eat it all up.  I also have served it with pot stickers.  I found frozen all organic vegetarian ones that are quick to make a go really well with this salad.    

Ingredients:

Salad

• 1 block Extra Firm Tofu, drained and cut into small blocks
• 2 Tbs gluten free soy sauce
• 1 can mandarin oranges (packed in juice, not light syrup)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 -1/2 package rice noodles
• 5oz package of organic spinach

Dressing
Wisk together the following:

• Gluten Free Soy Sauce
• Sesame oil
• Olive oil 
• Peanut butter
• Rice wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Soak rice noodles in water for 10-15 minutes
2. While noodles are soaking, heat 1 Tbs Olive Oil in pan.  Add tofu and cook on each side for 4-5 mins until brown.  
3. Add rice noodles and soy sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes
4. Place spinach in bowl and add almonds, mandarin oranges, rice noodles and tofu.  
5. Toss with peanut dressing

Why it is good for you:

• Spinach: Contains 23 vitamins and minerals.  Is one of the highest foods in vitamin K (blood clotting, bone health) and vitamin A (anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory) .  However raw spinach contains a compound call oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of calcium and iron.  One way to solve this problem is to pair it with foods high in vitamin C.
• Mandarin Oranges- High in Vitamin C
• Tofu- High in calcium and a great source of vegetarian protein.  
• Almonds- Vitamin E (anti-oxidant), fiber, magnesium, and potassium.  

Mediterranean Polenta

Mediterranean Polenta

#GlutenFree, #Vegetarian

We are a family that typically eats a lot of pasta.  At least once a week.  Recently, however, I have tried to find alternatives in an attempt to cut back on our wheat intake. Until this time I had never really been a polenta eater. I had tried it in restaurants, but never thought to make it at home. I am definitely glad I finally did!  Now, we always have some in our house.  I haven't yet tried making it myself, but instead have been buying the tubes, which make using it very easy. There are plenty of different flavors available as well ( i.e., plain, sundried tomato, basil and garlic, etc...). Just as a tip, when looking for it in the grocery store it is usually in the produce section....I had trouble finding it the first time I looked for it.   

The Mediterranean sauce that I make for this dish is nice because it is so versatile.  You can add or substitute ingredients very easily.  Most times I make it, I make it as a vegetarian dish, but it is also a great one to add chicken to. So that whole chicken you cooked...this is great recipe to use some of that in.  On the night I took this particular picture I didn't have artichokes, which I typically always use, so instead I substituted sauteed mushrooms and it was still really good.  Next time I might even try and use both!  Leave a comment and let me know if you add or substitute anything else.... zucchini, eggplant, pine nuts????   

Ingredients:

•       4 Tbl olive oil divided
•       ½ - 1 tube sundried tomato polenta cut into ½ inch rounds
•           1 clove garlic minced
•           1 large onion diced
•           1 jar artichoke hearts chopped
•           2 fresh tomatoes diced
•           4 Tbs sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil, diced
•           ½ tsp salt
•            Italian herbs to taste
•           1 can organic cannellini or garbanzo beans 
•           ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

     

-           Directions:

1.      Heat 2 Tbl spoons olive oil in a grill pan
2.      Add polenta rounds and cook on medium heat for approximately 5-7 mins per side or until crisp
3.      Meanwhile, heat additional 2 Tbs olive oil in sauté pan
4.      Add garlic and onions and cook till fragrant
5.      Add artichokes, fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, Italian herbs and salt.  Cook for approx 5 mins
6.      Add beans, and Parmesan cheese.  Cook for an additional 2-3 mins
7.      Serve sauce over polenta rounds and sprinkle with additional Parmesan.  

Why it is good for you:

• Polenta- Is made from cornmeal and when fried becomes nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.  Has a mild flavor that goes well with sauces with a stronger flavor.  Like I mentioned before, it is gluten free and a great alternative to pasta.  
• Veggies- Lots of vegetables = lots of vitamins and minerals.  Different colors, different nutrients.  All of them good for you!
• Beans- wonderful source of protein!  Eat it with corn (polenta) and you get a complete protein!  

Sheppard's Pie

Sheppard's Pie
#St.Patrick'sDay!

In light of the upcoming holiday and by request from my lovely cousin-in-law Holly, I thought I would post about Sheppard's Pie this week. This a great all-in-one meal.  Meat, veggies and potatoes all together in a casserole style dish. You can't beat it! Again, I advocate for the use of local pasture raised beef.  I do understand that it is more expensive then conventional beef and for good reason (better health of the beef, better health for you), but one way to make this dish more affordable is to use less beef and more vegetables.  We all could use more vegetables in our diet and in many dishes that call for meat you don't need to use a lot, just good quality.  Most Sheppard's Pie recipes call for 1 1/2lbs -2lbs ground beef or lamb and about 1-2 cups vegetables.  As you will see I wound up using only 1lb ground beef and 3+ cups vegetables and it was still delicious!   This time of year is great for Sheppard's Pie because you can still find many of the storage crops such as potatoes, onions, and carrots for sale locally.  As for the peas and carrots I used the frozen organic kind.  Another way in which I changed this recipe slightly from the traditional was by using a sweet potato mixed in with the traditional russet (I actually used red and kept the skins on!).  It gave it a little bit of a sweeter flavor and all the health benefits of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 3 large local organic potatoes cut into chunks
• 1 large organic sweet potato cut into chunks
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1lb local pasture raised ground beef or lamb
• 1 large local onion diced
• 1 cup local carrots diced (about 4 medium to large carrots)
• 1 cup organic peas
• 1 cup organic corn
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4-1 cup beef broth

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add all potatoes and cook for 12-15 mins
3. Drain water, mash potatoes and mix in butter.  Cover and set potatoes aside
4. While potatoes are boiling heat olive oil in pan
5. Add onion and cook for 2-3 mins
6. Add carrots and cook for additional 5-7 mins or until tender
7. Add beef or lamb and cook until no longer pink
8. Drain out fat
9. Add peas and carrots and cook for 3-4 mins
10. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup beef broth  
11. Cook for another 7-10 mins adding additional broth to keep moist if necessary.
12. Put beef and vegetables into 9x13 baking dish  
13. Spread mashed potatoes on top and bake for 20 mins.

Why it's good for you:

• Grass Fed Beef-  When cows are healthier you are healthier.  Cows are supposed to eat grass not grain.  When they eat grass they stay healthy and don't need antibiotics.  They also get lots of wonderful nutrients from the grass which they pass onto you including Omega-3 fatty acids.
• Sweet Potatoes- Vitamin A (great for eye sight),Vitamin B6,Vitamin C (supports immune system), Vitamin D (improves mood, energy levels, helps build strong bones, skin, teeth and nerves) Iron, Magnesium (stress reducer), Potassium, Beta-Carotene (eye sight and immunity) and fiber
• Red Potatoes-B6 and a good source of potassium, copper, vitamin C, manganese, phosphorus, niacin, dietary fiber, and pantothenic acid.  And keep the skins on, that's where you will find many of the nutrients.  
• Peas and Corn-  both are loaded with lots of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients.
• Carrots- best known for containing high amounts of Vitamin A, but also contain 17 other nutrients.  
• Onions- High in vitamin C and fiber along with other key nutrients

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Fries
#Gluten Free, #Vegetarian, #DairyFree

These are so easy to make.  They take a little bit of time to bake, especially if you want to get them nice and crispy, but in general the time it takes to make them is mostly hands off.  In my last post, Whole Chicken: A great investment, I said I would be posting recipes that incorporate all that chicken that was cooked.  Although the sweet potato fries don't use the chicken as an ingredient, it is great side dish to go along with it, especially on the day it is cooked.  You can take advantage of the time it takes the fries to cook by removing all the chicken from the bones.
Use some of the chicken that night for dinner
and serve with sweet potato fries and store the rest for dishes later on that week.

Ingredients: 

• 2-3 large sweet potatoes peeled
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika  

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut peeled potatoes in strips, trying to keep pieces similar in size and thickness (this will help them to cook evenly).  
3. Place sweet potatoes in a bowl and toss with oil, salt and spices, until evenly coated.
4. Spread evenly on baking sheet
5. Cook for 40-45 mins, turning potatoes 1/2 way through.

Why they are good for you:

• There are tons of vitamins and minerals in sweet potatoes including
• Vitamin A (great for eye sight),
• Vitamin B6,
• Vitamin C (supports immune system), 
• Vitamin D (improves mood, energy levels, helps build strong bones, skin, teeth and nerves). 
• Iron
• Magnesium (stress reducer)
• Potassium
• Beta-Carotene (eye sight and immunity)
•  Sweet potatoes are also high in fiber  

Whole Chicken: A Great Investment!

Whole Chicken

#Local Meat #Gluten Free, #Dairy Free

It really is a great investment!  You can get so much from a whole chicken and can get it for a great price! Not only will it provide you with a few nights dinner, but you can also easily make broth with it.  Most whole local pasture raised chickens will run you about $4.00-$5.00/lb. Buying the chicken breast alone will run you anywhere from about $8.00-$10.00/lb. There is slightly more work involved with the whole chicken, but really not that much and for 1/2 the price it is worth it!  Now, you may be thinking...what is she talking about.... $4.00/ lb is highway robbery!  I can go to the grocery store and buy a whole chicken for less than $1.00 per pound and chicken breasts for $2.00 per/lb!  But just remember... you are what you eat!  Which, in the case of those chickens includes hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified grains.  In order to give you an idea as to where most grocery store chicken comes from, take a look at a clip from Micheal Pollen's documentary Food Inc, that gives a glimpse into what Industrial Chicken Farming is all about.  If you haven't seen it before, I recommend watching it.  It is eye opening and very informative.  I don't think you will look at chicken the same way after seeing it.

If you decided to watch, you may now consider making the small investment of $4.00-$5.00/ lb for a pasture raised chicken.  The next couple of post will be how to use all that chicken in some different dishes.   But for today, lets talk cooking and making broth...both of which are simple!!!

Cooking a Whole Chicken: 
I love coming home to a house that smells of dinner already cooking! Whole chickens are great in the crock pot and don't require a lot of prep work.  I typically will throw in a few smashed up garlic cloves and rub the chicken with my favorite spices.   I leave it in the crock pot all day (8-10 hours) on low and it comes out great every time. I have even put it in frozen and it still comes out perfect.  Once it is done the meat will come off very easily, so I typically take it all off right away even if I am not going to use it all that night.

Broth:

• Chicken Bones
• 1 carrot chopped in large pieces
• 2 celery stalks chopped in large pieces
• 1 large onion cut in quarters
• 1 tsp salt

Once you have all the meat removed, place the bones back in the crock pot with liquids that have cooked off from the chicken.  Add carrots, celery, onion and salt.  Fill crock pot with water and cook on low for 10-12 hours ( I usually do this over night so it is finished in the morning).  Strain liquids into a large bowl and let cool in refrigerator.  Once the liquid is cool, remove fat from the top and divide liquid into freezer bags and place in freezer until needed.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Quinoa Tabbouleh
#Gluten Free, #Vegetarian, #Dairy Free #detox diet 

My favorite time of year to make this recipe is in the summer when I can use fresh mint and parsley that are grown in pots in my backyard. However, I also like to make it large batches anytime throughout the year as a quick and easy lunch to grab during a busy work week.  It is filling, but not so heavy that I feel weighed down after I eat it.  It is good enough to have on it's own or can be used as a side dish.
For a while I had stayed away from quinoa because I was having a hard time figuring out how to rinse it before cooking.  I couldn't find a strainer with small enough mesh so that the quinoa wouldn't fall through.  A few times, I just said screw it and didn't rinse it, but you can taste the difference.  It is much more bitter.   Recently I have been using a thin cloth (cloth diapers actually work great!), and lying it inside a colander.  I then put the quinoa on the cloth and rinse.  This way the water still drains through but I don't loose any of the quinoa.  Some of it does stick to the cloth when I go to move it into the pot, but I can usually scrape most of it off.  I don't know if this is the best way to rinse it, but so far it is the best I have come up with.  If any of you have any ideas I would love to hear them.  Leave a comment below so we can all learn!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quinoa
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 cup diced cucumbers
• chopped parsley (use as much or as little as you like.  Sometimes I use as much as 1/4 of a cup, other times only a few tsp...depends on how you are feeling or what you have on hand)
• chopped mint (again use as little or as much as you like)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• Juice from 1/4-1/2 of a lemon
• 2 Tbs Feta or goat cheese crumbled (optional)

Directions:

1. Rinse and cook quinoa according to package directions
2. After quinoa is cooked let it sit in refrigerator until cool
3. Mix in remainder of ingredients
4. Enjoy!

Why it is good for you:

• Quinoa: This seems to be the new "it" grain, but it really is a great alternative.  It is gluten free and contains a hefty amount of protein.  It also is a good source of zinc (helps you fight off illness), folate, and phosphorus as well as contains omega-3 fatty acids.   
• Tomatoes: Contain a large amount of vitamin C and A.  They also contain small amount of iron and calcium.  Tomatoes contain lycopene, which has been found to be a powerful antioxident.  
• Cucmbers: Contain many B vitamins and are 95% water so they are extremely hydrating.  
• Parsley:  Contains: folate, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K, calcium, iron and carotene-beta
• Lemon:  Good source of calcium, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium -- minerals and antioxidants that improve the appearance and condition of our hair, skin and nails.

A tasty twist on Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Carbonara
#Local Meat

I love pasta Carbonara.  My husband LOVES pasta Carbonara.  My kids even like it!  There is only one problem....I hate cooking bacon!  I am not good at it.  Most times that I have tried to cook bacon it turns out half burned or too limp.  Not to mention my stove gets covered in bacon grease, so it winds up taking me just as long to clean it all up. Cooking bacon is just not my thing.  When we do eat it, it is usually on the weekends and my husband cooks it (willing, I should add, since he knows it is not going to turn out well if I do).  Now the chances of us having left over bacon to use for recipes during the week is slim to none.  So, I have few options when it comes to making carbonara....don't make it (but it's so good!), wait for my husband to get home and cook the bacon (we would be eating at 8:00), or use bacon that I cooked (YIKES! I don't want to ruin the dish).  I will admit that I have used the bagged bacon bits in the past, but the preservatives in them make me cringe so I am trying to steer clear.  Long story short is, it hasn't been looking good for pasta carbonara in our house lately.  That is until recently. My friend and amazing chef, Emily Prial from Side Hill Farmers, gave me a new and simple way to make it!  SOOOOO GOOD!!!!  I was a little nervous when she first told me that the recipe included a ham hock.  I had never used one before and was a bit daunted about how to cook it.  I shouldn't have been because it could not have been easier!    

Ingredients:

• 1 local pasture raised Ham Hock
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups frozen organic peas
• 2 local pasture raised eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
• 12 oz organic linguine 

Directions:  

1. Place ham hock in crock pot and cover with water.
2. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
3. Take ham hock out. (save the water it was cooked in).  The meat will fall off the bone.  Separate fat from meat and shred meat.  
4. Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions for about 5-6 mins.  
5. Add peas and saute another 3 mins. 
6. Add shredded ham to peas and onions.  Mix together and heat for another 2-3 mins
7. Meanwhile cook pasta according to directions on the package.
8. After pasta is cooked and drained add 1/4-1/2 cup of water to the cooked pasta and stir. 
9. Add lightly beaten eggs to hot pasta with tongs until fully combined.  The eggs should cook from the heat of the pasta.  
10. Add and combine onion, pea and ham mixture to pasta.  
11. Add and combine Parmesan to pasta.
12. Serve and enjoy!   Sprinkle with extra Parmesan if desired. 

Why it is good for you: So you are probably thinking by now... "What is she going to say to convince me that pasta carbonara good for you"?  For me, the definition of "good for you" has to do with what goes into making a dish.  To me, if you are using whole foods sourced from quality places that care about their product and produce it in the best way possible for all involved, then it is good for you.  This dish contains all whole foods other than the pasta which is minimally process with organic wheat.  The onions are from my CSA share and the ham hock and eggs come from Side Hill Farmers, a butcher shop and market in Manlius, NY that gets its meat and grocery items from local farmers.  All meat from there comes from farms with pasture raised meat, no hormones, and no antibiotics.  To me, that is "good for you".