Lentil soup!
Ever since the holidays, I have found myself flipping through the Plenty and Jerusalem cookbooks and ooohhing and aaaahhhing over the beautiful, healthy recipes. Randomly, over the weekend, a friend made the most hearty, comforting, delicious soup from the same (brilliant) chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. I had to make a batch for myself. The soup is vegan, wholesome, rich, savory, and very Moroccan-esque. Definitely worth the effort in the kitchen.
The New Year is an opportunity to listen to your body and eat according to your dosha, your imbalances, the season, and the Ayurvedic composition. Currently in Vata season (and being a true Vata person), warm, homey, sturdy foods such as pumpkin and sweet potato provide balance and nourishment. So when I came across these pumpkin vegan cookies, I couldn’t wait to give them a shot.
One of the highlights of my Ayurveda Training was learning how to make different masalas. Masala is simply a spice mixture, and depending on the season and your dosha, certain masalas can help you become more balanced. Not only are the masalas delicious, but the act of creating, roasting, toasting, pounding, grinding, blending the spices is theraputic and rewarding. People over 5,000 years have been creating these simple blends in the same method — heating spices over hot fire, and pounding with a mortar and pestle. The aroma, the family bonding, the creation; it is all so great. Making masala is a metaphor for harvesting the spirit of ahimsa and maturing intelligence.
Mortar and pestle.
THIS IS SO GOOD OMG SO GOOD OMG YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT NOW! Do you hear my enthusiasm? Yeppers — so good that you will HAVE A NEW LOVE IN YOUR LIFE! BROCCOLI ! So awesome. This recipe is from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (buy it NOW. Make this broccoli dish first, and then BUY THIS BOOK!)
Ingredients:
Italian Tuna Salad! Incredibly tasty, zesty, and protein-packed. Great as a sandwich or on top of some lettuce for a salad, and so easy to make. Win-win!
Ingredients:
Ginger is known to be a cure all. It is a magical little herb that does everything from easing nausea, to aiding digestion, to relieving cold and flu symptoms, to reducing inflammation. It is kind of like a fairy godmother’s wand. TADA POOF MAGIC! And the ginger powder from Wakaya Perfection is even more magical.
WAKAYA!
Out of nowhere, New York is suddenly cold. Slightly depressed about the long, dark, cold, dreary winter ahead of us, I found refuge in cooking a big pot of soup. Nothing better than a healthy, scrumptious, hot bowl of soup (vegan, but packed with protein) to make me feel warm and homey!
Ingredients:
Officially sweets-obsessed, nothing makes me happier (and sugar-drunk) than eating Gooey Butter cake. This little piece of heaven was first introduced to me by my fabulous friend, Heidi-ho, a native St. Louis, mother, lawyer, *AND* an amazing chef and baker. Heidi grew up eating this cake, which is traditionally made in her hometown. It is the perfect combination of a brownie and a flourless chocolate cake… but without the chocolate.
Yep, folks, this is for reals. SO RIDICULOUSLY SCRUMPTIOUS.
Fruit crisps might not be the most photogenic dessert, but they sure are delicious. Even if they look gloopy and mushy (which they are), they still remind me of easy, relaxing, summer nights. This recipe for Peach Crisps was adapted from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food and can be used for any fruit crisp (raspberry, apple, blueberry, rhubarb, the sky is the limit!)
Ingredients:
Guest blogger alert! Here’s Ken with another fun grilling post:
Greetings! It is great to be out of sweltering New York, and more importantly, reunited with my summering wife and kids in Oregon for a week. I am blessed to have the ability to really focus on my true passions during my vacation: cooking for my in-laws, and guest-writing for a women’s lifestyle blog. Good times.
I have stepped in for the Josie Girl before, mostly with grilling posts on artichokes and fruit (and separately, Lemon Mint Pasta with Bacon and Tips for Expectant Fathers) The focus on fruit, vegetables and general health? Not necessarily my first choice (play to your audience), so it’s time for more of a traditional and fun (and manly) post on…. Beer Can Chicken.
Ingredients. 4 lb chicken, can o’ beer (room temperature), olive oil, salt, pepper, and if you have it, rosemary, and thyme.
This coleslaw is a great side dish for a summer evening. Crisp, crunchy, light, and tart. And best part: NO MAYONNAISE!
Ingredients:
I know, I know, I know. Sounds super boring and uninspiring. But trust me, this is a GOOD gazpacho. I always try different gazpacho recipes as there are so many versions and varieties out there, but I always go back to THIS one. So use this recipe to create a simple, lovely, and delicious cold soup on a hot summer day. This recipe is loosely based off the gazpacho recipe from The Breitenbush Cookbook.
Ingredients:
Although I love to cook, I get stuck in my own routine of cooking only a handful of meals. I am bored of my own repertoire, so I can only imagine what my meat-potato-husband thinks of my crunchy-green-leaf-dominated limited offerings. But I think I have found a solution: Blue Apron to the rescue!
Blue Apron is a service that sends you the ingredients and recipes of three delicious meals a week. You pick meat/fish versus vegetarian, they prepare the recipes and the portions, send you the fresh ingredients and deliver it to your door. Ridiculously awesome. All you have to do is COOK the food, and VOILA, an amazing-wholesome-fresh meal for you and your family to eat!
Perfectly balanced meal.
The weekly subscription (that you can cancel at any point — or skip for a week or 9) can be delivered to most states in the Northeast (Santa Claus year round!) They deliver to: CT, DC, DE, IL, IN, KY, MA, ME, MD, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA, VT, WV and in some parts of AL, AR, GA, IA, MI, MO, MS, NC, SC, WI. Basically, half the United States. Brilliant. The food comes tightly packaged in a box with ice to keep the ingredients fresh and intact. Then, you place the items in the fridge, plan out the weekly meals, and relax.
Insulated box, fed-ex over night shipped.
CHRISMAKKUH!
The week’s worth of ingredients. The produce is whole, the meat and fish is uncooked, and there are not any (or very few) processed ingredients, so you KNOW you are eating fresh and in-season produce and meat. Dream come true.
Channeling Gwyneth today. After reading her GOOP website, I decided to cook up some lentil meatballs that she featured. AND HOLY SHMOLY, they are beyond delicious. BEYOND. So flipping delicious and tasty, that I could (and did), eat them several days in a row.
Ingredients:
* 2 cups green lentils
* 1 small chopped onion
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup of panko or breadcrumbs (sorry gluten-free people, it’s a must)
* 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
* 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
* 3 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1 pinch of dried thyme and dried rosemary
* salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
* Cook the lentils (1 cup of dried lentils to 3 cups of water). Boil the water, put in the lentils, let them cook, lower the temperature, and let them sit for 30 minutes.
Lentils.
* Meanwhile, sautee the onion in a pan with olive oil until translucent. Add the dried herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper, sautéeing for about another minute or two until soft and fragrant. Turn off heat and set aside to cool.
A vegan, gluten-free friend of mine (no bread or cheese — what is the point of life, then???) pointed me in the direction of this green hummus, inspired by this food blog, Namely Marly. Spinach and garbanzo beans in a vitamix. AMAZING. So easy to make, and so delicious to eat. A gold medal star for this recipe.
* 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
* 1/4 cup tahini
* 1 – 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (juice from half a lemon)
* 1/2 cup of water
* 1/4 cup of olive oil
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon dried basil
* 2 cups of raw spinach
* Put all the ingredients into the vitamix
tada!
* Pulse
Chocolate Rolo Cookies, i.e. Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies are AN AMAZING AND INDULGENT SNACK! MAKE THESE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY and you will be sure to get some action. Just joking.
Ingredients
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 3/4 cup cocoa
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup softened butter
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 2 eggs
* 3 packages of ‘rolo’ chocolate covered caramels
Directions:
* In a bowl, place the flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Set aside.
Doesn’t this look delicious already?
* Beat butter and sugar until fluffy (you need arm muscles for this one).
Any recipe with lots of butter and brown sugar is heavenly.
So, I get it. I know I am all about making new “healthy” concoctions and swearing that they are delicious. And then, most people are turned off because they are “too healthy.” But let me tell you, if there is only ONE recipe you make from this blog, then MAKE THIS ONE. I promise that this recipe will give you the most delicious, edible, easy, amazing, scrumptious, and crowd pleasing “healthy dessert” of them all. And get this — low fat, no gluten, vegan, BUT AMAZING.
Ingredients
Make sure that you have these ingredients stocked in your fridge/cabinets from here on out. You will want to make these every week. I promise.
* 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
* 1 cup applesauce
* 1/4 cup of maple syrup
* 1 tablespoon of vanilla
* 1/2 cup of almond milk
* 2 cups of spelt flour
* 1 cup cocoa powder (I used raw cocoa)
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 2 cups of chocolate chips
An uber easy recipe for a colorful and delicious dessert/snack/pick-me-up. Pretzel kisses with m&ms!
Ingredients:
Basically, this is just like eating pretzels, m&ms, and a Hershey’s kiss at the same time.
* a package of (salted) pretzels
* a package of kisses (or hugs)
* M&Ms of any sort (original, peanut, peanut butter, or even pretzel)
I am sick. Sick of being sick, too. My head throbs, my ears ring, my nose runs, and my throat burns. Yes, cry me a river — I hear the violins loud and clear — but being sick is the worst. Nothing tastes good, everything is melodramatic, and I am boring and un-fun. The only thing I feel good about is my ability to make and drink lemon ginger tea.
For whatever reason, we have about 3 dozen different types of cups. No surprise, I am very specific about what size cups I like to use, and for what type of liquid/food. Coffee cups need to be mid size, tea cups are slender, and big cups are for ice cream and cereal. Handles are preferable.
Ginger is known for its magical characteristics that make it a natural remedy for many ailments. It is well known as a remedy for travel sickness, nausea and indigestion (I chewed on ginger chews daily while pregnant to help curb my morning sickness). It is a warming remedy, ideal for boosting the circulation and lowering high blood pressure. Ginger is anti-viral and makes a warming cold and flu remedy. Due to the spicy flavor and warming qualities of ginger, making a lemon ginger tea is perfect for a cold. Both lemons and ginger are high in vitamin C and together, they temporarily relieve sinus pressure, a burning sore throat, and can temper coughing.
I happen to LOVE ginger. The spicy and dense flavor tastes good in sweet or savory foods!
Savory, filling, hearty enchiladas are a perfect meal for a cold day (or for that matter, a hot day).
Ingredients:
We make a lot of homemade chicken broth, which leaves us a lot of chicken meat -- perfect for enchiladas.
* Head of kale
* Can of Enchilada sauce
* Shredded meat from 1/2 a whole chicken
* 1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded cheese (depending on how cheesy you want them to be)
* 1/2 cup of sour cream (or substitute like greek yogurt or cottage cheese)
* 1 sliced onions or several scallions
* 8-10 tortillas
* chopped cilantro
Directions:
* Preheat oven to 375 degrees
* Chop, de-stem, and steam the kale for 3 to 5 minutes
Steamed kale. Nothing feels healthier to me than a big head of steamed kale.
Fall Sundays often involve a decent amount of NFL football on in our household, as Ken is a huge fan. While having football on the TV (even if it’s on mute) is not my favorite thing in the world, Ken tries to make up for it by cooking something as well, so I guess you could call it an even trade. Last week, it was Pulled Chicken Sandwiches in our slow cooker (crock pot). They were really good (and definitely healthier than pulled pork).
ingredients
Ingredients:
* 2 1/2 pounds of chicken – use assorted pieces (we used breasts and thighs)
* 1 medium sized onion
* 2 peppers (any color, we happened to have yellow and orange)
* 2 carrots
* 2 stalks of celery
* 10 oz of barbecue sauce
* Buns (I like sesame)
This is the BBQ sauce we used. I am a sucker for packaging.
Directions:
* Chop up all of the vegetables.
pur-dy eggplant
I still am so inspired by the Josie Natori Fashion Show from Monday. While we all have to wait until Spring for the beautiful clothing to hit stores, at least now we can be excited that it’s eggplant season! You can find them at any farmer’s market, grocery store, or even corner Korean deli. A big fan of these tasty treats, my go-to signature eggplant dish is a simple but comforting casserole. This is a perfect dish to prepare on a Sunday afternoon and keep in the fridge. It also holds well and can be eaten the next day for lunch leftovers.
Ingredients:
This past weekend, I was gabbing on the phone with my sister-in-law and she asked me what she should do with all this cauliflower she had at home. She, like my parents, are members of a co-op where they receive a weekly basket of organic and local produce. (I am so jealous — wish I could do it here in NYC. But because I am on the west coast all summer and very few programs do partial shares, I do not do it. If anyone knows of a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – in NYC that offers partial seasons, let me know! I am definitely interested). In any case, when you participate in programs with baskets of vegetables, you never know what you are getting. So, this past week, my brother’s family had a huge load of cauliflower to deal with.
White and green!!!
I knew exactly what Katie and her family should make…Cauliflower-Broccoli mash! I used to make it all the time, but for some reason, it has been years since I last made it. So I was excited to make it again this week! And yes….for some reason, all my recipes (1) end up green (2) are mashed (3) require a vitamix…not sure what that is all about….
Ingredients:
Simple list of ingredients that are usually always in the fridge/cupboard.
* Cauliflower
* Broccoli
