The Big Chill: Soups and Adventures in Tahoe

My fiancé and I were recently invited to the birthday celebration of my fellow Soul Cycle freak and clean eating nut. There had been talk of the calmness and serenity of Lake Tahoe, but nothing prepared me for the tranquility and beauty that engulfed us upon arrival. The sun-filled days started with morning yoga and slowly progressed to sipping chilled wine while sailing the majestic crystal blue lake that was surrounded by snow-tipped mountains. Evenings were spent congregated around the fire pit with s'mores, liquid libations, melodic chatter, and good tunes. For the culminating meal and birthday celebration, the host arranged a jaw dropping seafood feast. I hope that the pictures below do some justice to the beautiful food and unforgettable scenery that we were fortunate enough to experience.

Now as I sit in my windowless office on a scorching summer day, I reflect back longingly on painted sunsets, crisp rose, and the cool lake breeze. Thanks LP for an unforgettable trip.

Do or Don't Detox

I was approached recently by a private client to create a two-week detox plan. I am not one who truly believes in elongated cleanses, juice fasts, or detoxes, but I happily obliged and created my version of a detox meal plan. Why am I not pro detox? Because I don’t believe in quick fixes; I believe in making permanent, sustainable and realistic changes to your diet that will improve your well-being long-term. 

Let Me Entertain You, Let Me Make You Smile...

Dinner For Two

I felt inspired by a magazine that I recently acquired that is devoted to gatherings. Whether it is a get together for two or twelve, the stories shared in the magazine demonstrate that there is a multitude of ways to make your guest feel special. I had the opportunity to entertain twice this past weekend-purveying artisanal smoked fish from the institution Russ and Daughters for brunch and composing a simple home cooked dinner for a dear friend. Food brings us together and good sustenance usually leads to a great time.

Spelt with toasted coconut and kale with a sesame soy dressing

For my dinner gathering of two, I once again utilized my new cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, to aid in inspiring my meal. I put together a simple and delicious potato and cauliflower soup that was enhanced with aged gruyere and finished with oat bran mustard croutons. For the croutons, I utilized a left over oat bran everything bagel from my brunch that stood up well in the soup and added a crunchy and flavorful element.

Despite the clean-up that usually follows entertaining, the convivial company and the act of sharing a meal always supersedes any size stack of dishes.

Cauliflower Soup with Aged Gruyere and Oat Bran Mustard Croutons

Recipe adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

Serves 4 to 6

Croutons

1 Oat bran everything bagel or 6 oz whole wheat bread, torn into cube-like pieces

2 tbsp Earth Balance Spread

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp sea salt

Soup

2 tbsp Earth Balance Spread

2 shallots, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tsp Salt

1 large potato, peeled and cut into small cubes

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 ½ cups vegetable broth (if you want a whiter soup use water)

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets

2/3 cup grated aged gruyere, plus additional for garnish

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Croutons-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place bread in a bowl

Melt Earth Balance over medium high heat and whisk in olive oil, mustard, and salt until combined.

Pour sauce over bread and mix well.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until crunchy and golden. Flip half way through.

Soup-

Melt Earth Balance or olive oil in a large pot.

Mix in shallots, onions, and a tsp of salt.

Sauté until onions are soft.

Stir in the potato, cover, and cook for 4-8 minutes or until the potatoes are softened.

Uncover, add garlic, and broth.

Bring to broil and check that potatoes are tender, if so, add cauliflower.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked.

Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender.

Stir in half of the cheese and the mustard.

If you prefer a thinner soup, add water or additional broth.

Taste and add additional salt if needed.

Top with an additional sprinkling of cheese and a few croutons.

Brunch For 7

Don't Get Your Coconuts in a Twist

 

Recently, I have been feeling highly motivated to experiment with creative vegetarian cuisine. If I had to put a label on my dietary habits, I would fall along the lines of a pescatarian who dabbles in Pio Pio’s deliciously roasted and flavorful chicken and someone who fully embraces the comfort of turkey meatballs on a Sunday night. To find inspiration, I flipped through a lovely cookbook called Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson. It is a vegetarian cookbook devoted to wholesome natural recipes. I found the author's philosophy about ingredients and cooking very in tune with my beliefs and was immediately consumed with decisions on which recipe to attempt first.

On a recent bone chilling evening, I decided on a curry and coconut accented split pea soup to serve alongside wheat berries with broccoli pesto and avocado. Both dishes turned out excellently and pushed me to experiment with ingredients that had been somewhat foreign to my pantry until now. Lite coconut milk and coconut oil added great depth to my soup, yet I was wary about coconut oil, which is full of saturated fat. After conducting some research and consulting with my fellow dietetic intern, I learned that not all saturated fats are created equal. The fat that is found in coconut oil is digested differently than that of saturated fat from animal skin, meat, and dairy. The medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil are immediately used for energy, and therefore are not stored in the body as fat (like long chain fatty acids). Additionally, they can boost the rate of metabolism, allowing for more lean body mass and can increase the rate of calories burned. Some studies have also demonstrated that coconut oil reduces total and LDL (bad) cholesterol. Coconut oil is also a good alternative to butter for vegans and works well in baked goods. (1,2) Everything in moderation they say, and coconut oil is still a fat, and even good fat should not be taken advantage of.

Both recipes adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

Serves 4-6

Split Pea Soup with Curry Brown “Butter” and Coconut Milk

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

5 ½ cups vegetable broth

1 ½ cups green split peas, rinsed and picked over

3 tbsp Earth Balance Spread

1 tbsp hot curry powder

½ cup lite coconut milk

Sea Salt

1 bunch chives, minced

Combine 2 tbsp coconut oil, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large soup pot over medium heat and cook until onions soften.

Add broth and split peas and cook until peas are tender, around 45-50 minutes

Once the peas are almost cooked, make the brown “butter”. Warm 3 tbsp of Earth Balance in a saucepan and let brown. Stir in curry powder and cook for 1 minute.

Remove split peas from the heat and add the lite coconut milk, ¼ tsp salt and blend with an immersion blender.

Stir in 1/2 of the curry “butter” and season with a little more salt if needed

Serve with minced chives and a drizzling of the extra spiced “butter”

 

Wheat Berries With Broccoli Pesto

1 ½ cups organic wheat berries

5 cups raw broccoli cut into small florets and stems

2 gloves garlic

2/3 cup of toasted pine nuts

1/3 cup grated Parm

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 small ripe avocado, sliced

Cook wheat berries for 45 minutes or until cooked (soften but still semi-firm with a slight crunch) in boiling salted water and drain.

Blanch the broccoli for 1 minute in boiling water, drain, and run cold water over to arrest the cooking.

Pesto: combine 2 cups cooked broccoli, garlic, pine nuts, cheese, ¼ tsp salt, and 2 tbsp lemon juice in a blender and drizzle in olive oil until smooth.

Toss wheat berries with the rest of the broccoli, 2/3 of the pesto, and lemon zest.

Fold in avocado and finish with the rest of the lemon juice.

If you celebrate Valentines Day or not, treat yourself to one of these delicious recipes that are good for you inside and out...your heart will thank you.

 

1) St-Onge MP, Jones PJ. Greater rise in fat oxidation with medium-chain triglyceride consumption relative to long-chain triglyceride is associated with lower initial body weight and greater loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue, International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders, 2003 Dec;27(12):1565-71.

2) Traister J. Coconut Oil and Medium Chain Triglycerides 2011 Aug. www.livestrong.com

Soup's On

Quick Fix Mexi Night

Sometimes you just can’t help but get those cravings for gooey, cheesy, spicy goodness. Instead of going to the local greasy fryalator restaurant, I opted to make these simple, healthy, and tasty quesadillas that fulfilled my mexi craving. Obviously, to no one’s surprise, I had to take a healthful spin on these quesadillas and chose Ezekiel’s sprouted grain tortillas as my foundation. These tortillas are more substantial than your average white flour variety and offer a more robust flavor while providing essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber which are not always offered in your run of the mill refined form. For the interior, I used canned low sodium fat free vegetarian refried beans and spread the mash down as my base. For my layers, I caramelized some onions, blanched some asparagus, and roasted a poblano pepper. To top it off, I used about a tablespoon and a half of shredded monterey and cheddar cheese per quesadilla and some organic Muier Glen corn and black bean salsa. I placed another tortilla on top and pressed down slightly and baked for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese was gooey. I topped off these fiestas on a plate with some sliced avocado and pickled jalapeño and was in spicy cheesy Mexican heaven. I am sure these quesadillas are an insult to any Mexican quesadilla purest, but these were great, very simple, and up for a variety of interpretations.

Additional fillers:

Sautéed mushrooms

Blanched broccoli

Roasted red peppers

Sundried tomatoes

Black beans

Spinach

“Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot!” Well, that being said, beans are not a fruit but are a legume and are considered part of the vegetable and protein family. They definitely do have some magical attributes! Beans are loaded with calcium, protein, iron, folate, and phosphorus. They are a great source of fiber and can get things flowing, hence the lovely rhymes. Depending on the preparation, beans can be fat free and are a great food choice to help fill you up without being calorically dense.

To accompany my quesadillas, I made an uncomplicated smoky and spicy tomato soup that completed my fiesta….all I needed was some chilled Patron with lime and a mariachi.

3 cups diced onions

1 clove garlic diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 quart low sodium vegetable broth

1 28 ounce canned San Marzano diced tomatoes

3 teaspoons minced canned chipotles in adobo with 2 teaspoons of adobo sauce

Optional Garnishes:

Fat free sour cream

Sliced avocado

Shredded cheese

Cilantro

Scallions

Crumbled baked blue corn tortilla chips

Sauté onions in oil until softened, 5 minutes.

Add garlic, cumin, and oregano and stir for 3 minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes, and chipotles, cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn soup off, allow to cool slightly, and blend in either a blender or with an immersion blender.

Serve and garnish

Easy Peasy Pesto

Buckwheat pasta with spinach basil pesto, oven roasted tomatoes, broccoli and peas

Gazpacho

After consulting with the family chef about proper tomato usage for this summery soup, San Marzano puree was used over fresh tomatoes or tomato juice. Unless the tomatoes are extremely ripe, high quality canned is recommended. At first, I felt like I was cheating, since this soup was intended to encapsulate summer, but once chilled, the gazpacho was the pure essence of tomatoey, cucumbery, and garlicky peppery goodness.

Besides swapping the tomato juice for canned, I relied on my trusty Moosewood Cookbook for guidance for the Gazpacho. A cucumber, red bell pepper, small yellow onion, garlic, parsley, scallions, lemon and lime juice, basil, cumin, and cayenne pepper were gently pureed with the tomatoes, white vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and chilled.

For a spin on another summery favorite, I pulverized a box of organic spinach, basil, parsley, four garlic cloves, two tablespoons toasted walnuts and a little drizzling of olive oil to create a pesto. I found that spinach has a high level of water content, so you really only need a little olive oil to meld the sauce together. I mixed in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to finish. To bolster up the buckwheat pasta, I added roasted cherry tomatoes and organic broccoli and peas (both frozen). The cherry tomatoes were oven roasted with oregano, basil, canola oil, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. This created a nice slightly charred and sweet tomato that burst with flavor.

The buckwheat pasta not only had a lovely hue, but also added a nutty quality and provided added fiber. The pasta was also loaded with vegetables from the spinach; which is packed with folate, beta-carotene, vitamin K, fiber, magnesium and calcium, the broccoli; which also has beta-carotene, fiber and calcium, along with iron and vitamins A, C and D, and peas, which are a good source of protein. Walnuts provided omega-3 and antioxidants.

This was a lovely summery meal that left plenty of leftovers…. too bad my fridge is broken.

Dear Asparagus, why do you make my pee smell?

Many people have pondered about the odor that arises post consumption of a spring meal composed of farm fresh asparagus. Sometimes even a few crunchy spears will cause the sulfurous smell to permeate your nostrils. Although debatable, most science blames the aroma on a sulfur compound in the asparagus called mercaptan. Believe it or not mercaptan is also found in skunk secretion, rotten eggs, garlic and onions. The smell that develops is due to the breakdown of this compound during digestion. Some fortuitous folks lack the enzyme to digest mercaptan and therefore do not have the stinky side effects. Despite the aftermath, asparagus has a bounty of benefits besides being versatile and delicious.  Asparagus has a nice balance of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. The green spears also have vitamins A and C, folate and lutein, which is beneficial for eye health.

For my farmer’s market fresh asparagus, I simply roasted the trimmed spears with a little olive oil, chopped garlic and parsley for 8-10 minutes at 350.

As the main event of the evening, a cioppino was prepared. Cioppino is a seafood stew that originated in San Francisco and is traditionally made from the catch of the day, therefore the ingredients are up for interpretation. For this cioppino, hake, a sweet, semi-meaty white fish was used as well as wild sea scallops, muscles, clams and shrimp.

Fennel, onion and garlic were first sautéed in olive oil. Red wine was then added to deglaze. After it reduced, a can of San Marzano diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of fish stock were added and brought to a boil. After about 10 minutes, the pot was removed from the heat and allowed to cool slightly and then blended with an immersion blender. Once thinly pureed, the stew was brought back to a simmer. The hake and sea scallops were salt and peppered and quickly pan seared. While searing, the rest of the shellfish were added to the stew and cooked until the shells opened, 5-10 minutes. Everything was plated together and chopped basil and parsley were added to the finished product. Toasted slices of Grandaisy whole wheat baguette smothered with roasted garlic were placed along side for dipping.

This cioppino was very simple, extremely flavorful and delicious and encapsulated the essence of the sea. This dish was low in fat, contained fiber, lycopene and the crustaceans, mollusks and fish provided lean protein. The total cooking time was around an hour. 

Who Wouldn't Want to Eat Spring?

Pea and Ramp Soup with Kefir

Spring has miraculously emerged over the past few weeks and to celebrate its arrival I made a soup to capture its essence. Even though peas are starting to pop up at the markets, I used frozen organic petite peas. Although I am not immensely proud of my usage of frozen peas, they are packaged at their peek, are simpler to use, more accessible than fresh and provide nice flavor.

Ramps, garlic and celery were sautéed in olive oil until lightly browned. A bag and a 1/2 of frozen peas were added and the pan was deglazed with a little north fork Pinot Blanc. Once warmed through, a container of organic low sodium vegetable stock was added and the soup was brought to a boil. The pot was removed from the heat and allowed to cool slightly. The soup was pureed using an immersion  blender,  (a regular blender can be used as well) until it reached the desired texture. The soup  was brought back to a simmer and served.

Garnished with kefir for texture and flavor and topped with some warmed whole peas.  

This soup is very simple, flavorful and low calorie. Peas provide more than 3 grams of fiber per 1/2 cup, are a plant-based protein and have iron. So… Pass the pea soup please!

Beet It

Chilled Golden Beet Soup

Stewed golden beets with garlic, onion, hot curry and vegetable stock. Pureed and finished with fat free plain yogurt and scallions.

Farro salad with organic garlic and herb goat cheese, rainbow chard, zucchini and mustard vinaigrette.

Farro is a nutty, slightly chewy grain that originates from Italy. It is a whole grain, meaning that it retains the complete properties of the wheat including protein, fiber and iron. When cooked, farro becomes slightly creamy and its versatility ranges from salads, soups and risotto-like dishes. To add an even more creamy consistency to the farro, I mixed in a little goat cheese, while the grain was hot so it melted and encased the grain with flavor. For a contrast in color and increased nutrient content, I added steamed rainbow chard, sautéed zucchini and finished the dish with homemade mustard vinaigrette.

Rainbow chard is the colorful version of swiss chard. It has slightly more nutrients since it possess more carotenoids, which are the colorful pigments found in plants and animals. Carotenoids act as antioxidants and may reduce the risk of certain cancers and heart disease. Rainbow chard is also a high oxalate green, meaning it contains calcium in an unabsorbable form and has binders that prevent calcium absorption. Boiling the chard can help reduce the levels of oxalate. Rainbow chard also contains high levels of vitamins A, K and C and can act as a lovely addition to a main dish or stand alone as a substantial side.