Friday Feature: Avocado 10 Ways

There are lots of great ways to eat an avocado–one of the superstars of a Mediterranean Diet. Easy to peel, they contain good fats and are linked with a reduced risk for chronic diseases. Here are ten ways to enjoy their buttery, creamy flavor and vibrant color:

1. Mash a quarter of an avocado on toast for a quick breakfast or lunch.

2. Top chili with chopped avocado and cilantro.

3. Use chopped avocado in place of tomatoes in salsa or add to a tomato based salsa, homemade or store-bought, to create a tasty dip for chips.

4. Slices of avocado taste great in sandwiches or wraps.

5. Try adding chopped or mashed avocado to pasta. I like the looks of this dish from Inspired Taste. Simple enough for a quick dinner.

This is the photo from the Inspired Taste website.

6.  Add chopped avocado to salads–both green and grain varieties.

7. Add to eggs or omelets before cooking.

8. Coarsely mash with a lemon juice and salt as a dip for chips or crackers. Or spread on sandwiches as a healthy alternative to mayonnaise.

9. Feed it to your baby! Avocado is recommended by baby expert, Dr. Sears, as a great first food for its healthfulness and versatility.

Sam enjoying his first ever avocados. He looks good in green!

10. Make an avocado butter by mashing a ripe avocado with one tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, salt, and pepper and use a topper for a baked potato.

And remember, if you find a good deal on them at the store, they can be frozen! (Best used in mashed form.) Stock up!

A rare sighting of the elusive, wild avocado. Yes, they grow on trees!

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8 Easy Ways to Go Mediterranean

As my husband, Vegan Man, likes to say, “It’s a Lifestyle–not a diet.” The same is true of the Mediterranean Diet.  And while this way of eating developed in a certain part of the world, far from our home in California, its increasing popularity is a result of its remarkable health benefits and delicious flavors.

A study conducted in Spain, with results published by the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that a Mediterranean Diet is responsible for a 30% risk reduction for heart attacks and strokes. It proved far more valuable than just eating a low-fat diet. They even had to stop the study early because the health benefits were so ridiculously clear that to continue would have been unethical.

Here’s the lowdown, eight simple ways to bring the flavors of the Mediterranean to your own family’s table without having to cross an ocean:

1. Eat lots of vegetables. With every meal. Fresh salads with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese, garlicky greens, roasted cauliflower, healthy veg topped pizzas. Vegetables are an important part of going Mediterranean.

2. Change your relationship with meat. Become acquaintances instead of best friends. Think of meat as a side as opposed to an entrée. Reduce red meat to no more than a few times a month.

3. Eat breakfast. Start your day with fiber rich foods including oatmeal and other whole grains, fruits/vegetables and a protein source.

4. Enjoy seafood once or twice a week. Fresh or water packed tuna, trout, salmon or mackerel are all good choices. Just nix the deep-fried variety.

5. Eat vegetarian one or more nights a week. Build your meals around beans, grains and vegetables. Experiment with herbs and spices to enliven your evening meal.

6. Use good fats. Olive oil is a good replacement for margarine and butter. Try olive oil with a splash of balsamic vinegar as a delicious dip for crusty french bread. Mashed avocado spread on toast is quite nice as well.

7. Enjoy dairy products in moderation. Eat plain yogurt with fruit and nuts. Use Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream. Try small amounts of a variety of cheeses.

8. Choose fresh fruit for dessert. Look for what’s in season. Limit sugary treats for special occasions.

And since it’s a lifestyle, not a diet, don’t forget to include other healthy practices like daily exercise and enjoying meals with family and friends. If you’re a wine drinker, you have the green light to enjoy a glass with dinner on occasion for its heart protective properties.

Cheers!

Leftovers? Hard Boiled Eggs 5 Ways!

Growing up as a young child in the late 60’s and 70’s, snacks were pretty simple.  There was a lot of grape jelly Wonder Bread, buttered saltines, sliced bananas in milk and, of course, hard-boiled eggs. My mother had four children to tend to, and in those days, snacking didn’t receive the attention (or advertising) it gets today.

And as Easter approaches, I start thinking about those hard-boiled eggs. Definitely one of the least processed food items of my youth.  Eggs offer a fair amount of protein and vitamin D.

If you’re flooded with hard-boiled eggs over the upcoming holiday weekend, here are a few tasty ways to put them to use:

1. Breakfast or snack.  I know, obvious.  But they are so great to have on hand for a quick breakfast, to pack in a lunch, or snack on after school with a grind of salt and pepper.

2. Deviled.  This is the one dish I take to an event that is always well received. Simple to make.  A food processor is handy here, and I found a cake decorator at a yard sale to do the filling. This is the recipe I use.

Makes those deviled eggs look almost too good to eat.

3. On salads.  When I add sliced egg, garbanzo beans and pumpkin seeds, salad becomes a one dish meal.  Love this slicer.

4. Egg salad sandwiches.  Comfort food for me.  Dice up a few eggs. Add mayo or an oil based dressing. Mix in whatever you like. Fresh herbs, olives, celery and onion all work well.

5. Frijole Mole.  Another type of egg salad I chanced upon in Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Click the link to get the recipe.  It calls for green beans and lots of basil, but these days I use broccoli and cilantro because it’s what I have.  I prefer diced red onion, raw, for color and crunch. Delicious on bread, sandwich style, or with crackers and veggies.

What’s your favorite way to use surplus Easter eggs?

Hippity, hoppity… Easter’s on its way.

Friday Feature: Bulgur, It’s What’s for Breakfast

This afternoon, shortly before picking Sam up at school, I was in the kitchen cooking up…breakfast.  It’s true, I’ve been a little preoccupied with breakfast lately, but I’m not completely disoriented.  In fact, my sense of timing has never been better.  I’m ahead of the game.  Tomorrow’s breakfast is done.

Lucky for Sam breakfast bulgur makes a great after school snack too.  Admittedly, he regarded my offering warily at first.  But in the end, he scarfed it down in record time.

Not an especially mouth-watering name, but bulgur is really quite tasty and versatile. Bulgur, wheat that has been hulled, dried and ground, is a quick cooking grain frequently used in a middle eastern salad called tabbouleh.  But it is so much more than that.

Turns out that bulgur (as well as many other grains) makes a great addition to the breakfast scene and is a simple and delicious alternative to oatmeal. The following recipe uses another handy kitchen tool, the rice cooker.  If you don’t have one, you can cook bulgur the traditional way, but the rice cooker gives you especially tender, fluffy results.

This useful machine is fitted with a round, removable, aluminum bowl.  A simple button turns it on, and it goes off by itself when your grain has absorbed all the added liquid.  It cooks basic grains in lots of different ways including risotto, pilaf, paella, and breakfast porridge (among other things).

Of course, you can cook grains without one–a pot with a lid will suffice, but the rice cooker makes perfectly cooked grains every time.  And clean up is about as easy as it gets. Keep your eye out for a rice cooker at yard sales or thrift stores.

Breakfast Bulgur

• 1 cup bulgur
• 1 3/4 cups water
• pinch of salt
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 T. butter

Add bulgur to the bowl of the rice cooker.  Then add the rest of the ingredients–stirring to combine.  The butter will melt during cooking.  Cover and cook.

When machine switches to “OFF”, let bulgur steam on the warming cycle for 10 minutes.  Fluff with wooden spoon and serve nice and hot.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, don’t fret.  All you have to do boil two cups of water, add bulgur and other ingredients.  Cover and reduce heat to a low simmer.  Check for water absorption at about 10 minutes.

I like eating mine with yogurt, apples and walnuts.  Sam enjoyed his with milk, blueberries and cinnamon.  It is lightly sweetened, but a drizzle of honey or syrup can be added if desired.

Leftovers?  Put them in a container in the fridge and heat them up as needed all through the week!

Recipe: Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Mornings are just plain busy—if not completely manic.  There’s not a lot of time to fuss over breakfast.  Since Sam took over putting together his own morning meal, he’s looking for easy.  But he also knows the requirements: whole grains, protein and fruits and/or vegetables.  So, while he’s quite adept at scavenging, (and what self-respecting teen isn’t) it’s also a comfort to know that Mom has a breakfast favorite ready to eat and only as far away as the freezer.

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

• 7.5 ounces (1/2 can) pumpkin pie mix (We like the Farmer’s Market brand.  It always goes on sale around Thanksgiving so I buy lots.)
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 T. butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups quick oatmeal
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Blend together well.

Stir the 3 remaining dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir with spoon until just mixed.

Spoon resulting mixture into a greased 8X8 pan and bake for 25 minutes.  Check for doneness with toothpick in the center.  Bake an additional 5 minutes if needed.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.  Cut into squares when completely cool.

Eat one right away, if you must (I always do) and pack the rest into a labelled freezer zip bag.  When ready for breakfast, simply remove a square or two from the bag and heat in a bowl in the microwave.  When hot, serve with milk, kefir or yogurt.  Top with fresh fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup if extra sweetness is desired.

Sam likes to use the remaining pie mix to stir into his yogurt.  This is also a breakfast he willingly makes on his own or becomes a snack after school.  Alternatively, you could simply double the recipe using the whole can of pumpkin pie mix.

This recipe makes a delicious, not-too-sweet, hot breakfast in a hurry. The hard part’s done; just heat and eat.

3 Ways to Build a Better Breakfast

We know that breakfast is an important meal, especially for children.  But what we eat is equally important.  Turns out the best morning meal is one that’s composed of three types of foods:

1. Whole grains

• whole grain hot cereals like oatmeal
• Whole grain toast
• Whole grain rolls, bagels, tortillas
• Leftover grain based salads
• Cold breakfast cereals that follow the Rule of 5:  no more than 5 grams of sugar and no less than 5 grams of fiber.

Heritage Flakes cereal follows the Rule of 5!

2. Lean protein

• Peanut or other nut butters
• An ounce or two of whole nuts
• Eggs
• Fish or chicken
• Yogurt/milk or non-dairy milk (check the label for protein)

3. Fruits and vegetables

• Fresh, seasonal sliced fruit
• Leftover dinner vegetables/salad
• Frozen fruit

Simply choose 1 or 2 food items from each category to create a breakfast that will not only taste good but will keep your brain sharp and your belly comfortably full until your next meal or snack.  You want a breakfast that will provide complex carbs, fiber, protein and a little fat.

Eat separately or combine foods to create a meal that not only feeds you nutritionally but pleases the palate as well.

• Scrambled egg on an english muffin and a side of strawberries
• Chopped hard-boiled egg and fresh spinach stuffed into a whole wheat pita pocket
• Bean and rice tostada salad, for breakfast, really!
• Oatmeal with fruit and milk
• Smoothie with fruit, peanut butter and toasted wheat germ
• Grilled chicken with lettuce and bell pepper strips on whole wheat bread

Obviously there are lots of options.  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3…  What are your favorites?

Who knew breakfast could be such fun. Kiwi, yogurt and whole grain toast.

Family Project: Bagels

Kitchen Disaster.  Yes, capital “D”.  I was attempting to make yogurt—with the last 1/2 cup of starter yogurt when I was distracted by a conversation we were having about lime juice and fish.  Long story.  I had just taken the milk off the burner to cool.  Only I forgot to cool it down.  I immediately poured a nearly boiling cup of milk over the starter yogurt.  It curdled. That was that.

It happens, OK?  I’m not going to cry over spilt or curdled milk.  But it was a disappointment.  Especially because my real interest was making yogurt cream cheese for the bagels we baked today.

Kitchen disasters are a dime a dozen—at least at my house.  I’ve learned that it’s all about improvisation and just plain making do.  So, that’s what we did.  On with the show!

*Note: This recipe uses a food processor that can accommodate 4 cups of flour. Alternatively, it can be made using the traditional method of proofing yeast in water, mixing in flours and kneading by hand.

Bagels

• 4 cups flour (I use 2 cups all-purpose and 2 cups whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 3 teaspoons baking soda

Step 1:  Add flours, yeast, salt and brown sugar to the bowl of the food processor.  Pulse or stir with spoon to mix dry ingredients.

Step 2:  Put honey and water in a small pitcher.  Heat in microwave (or on stove top) until approximately 115-120 degrees.  Microwaves vary.  Ours takes about 40 seconds.  Mix until honey is incorporated in water.

Step 3:  While processor is running, pour honey/water into intake tube in a slow stream.  Process is complete when dough is balled up into one glob.

Step 4:  Remove dough from processor.  Briefly hand knead for a few seconds and form round ball.  Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic.  Place in warm location to rise for approximately one hour.  (I heat a cup of water to boiling and shut the bowl in the microwave with it.)

Step 5:  After an hour, check “doneness” by depressing dough with a fingertip.  If it springs back easily, let it rise a bit longer.  If it doesn’t, it’s ready to go.  I wrench the dough into two pieces with a twisting method.  Then I twist those two pieces into two more and so on until there are 16 total.  Don’t worry about weights and measures.  They’ll all be refreshingly different from one another.

ready to go

Step 6:  Put a large pot of water with the baking soda on to boil while you are forming the bagels.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Step 7:  Form each small piece of dough into a smooth ball, pinching together on the bottom.  Turn over to the smooth side and punch out a hole.  I actually use the top of an old extract bottle but use your finger or whatever else is handy.  These “bagel holes”, as they are affectionately known in our house, are the most sought after and highly coveted bits.

Step 8:  Add dough bagels to the pot 5 or 6 at a time.  They should sink, then float to the top.  Let them boil for 30 seconds on each side.  Approximate.  Don’t worry too much about exact timing.  Then remove them to a clean smooth kitchen towel to drain.

Step 9:  Place bagels and bagel holes (don’t forget to boil them too) on a large baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes and check for doneness–golden tops and lightly browned bottoms.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes or more if needed.

Step 10:  Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.  Try not to fight over the bagel holes.  When cool, you’ll probably just gobble them plain, but later on, you’ll definitely want some yogurt cream cheese.

Kids love this project.  Give them some dough and let ’em go.  They could be any kind of shape after all.  Have fun with it!

Eating Breakfast: Yes and No

National School Breakfast Week was last week.  I had this post scheduled, but somehow it slipped my mind.  Unfortunately, this happens quite a bit.  But even though NSBW is over, breakfast eating goes on!  I can take some comfort in that.

The word on the street is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it’s also the most likely to be skipped.  Is eating that morning meal–literally breaking the fast–really necessary?

Here’s the lowdown:

YES:

• Children  The research is clear that kids who eat breakfast do better in school, have better concentration and more energy.   And children who eat breakfast are healthier overall.  Breakfast is a great time to get in more fiber by way of cereals and whole grain breads.  A 2008 study in the journal Pediatrics found that adolescents who ate breakfast daily had a lower body mass index than teens who never ate breakfast or only on occasion.

• Adults  The big issue for grown-ups is weight management.  Breakfast skippers are more likely to eat larger amounts at the next meal or snack on high calorie convenience foods.  As with children, breakfast is a great way to get in all the fiber, vitamins and minerals we need in a day.  And while studies show adults don’t suffer dramatically from decreased concentration and focus the way kids do, short-term memory doesn’t hold up well.

NO:

What if you’re just not hungry in the morning?  Maybe a cup of coffee and you’re good to go.  Is it really necessary to choke down something to eat simply because you’re supposed to?  I wondered about this because, honestly, sometimes a latte is all I want.

After consulting the Nutrition Diva, however, I learned that while breakfast is an important meal for most people, skipping (adults only) isn’t much of an issue as long as you observe these two rules:

1.  Eat good food.  Uh, no stopping at the donut drive-through.  And that grande mocha frappuccino?  That won’t work either.  If you’re eating out, look for healthier options like fruit or a sandwich.  I keep nuts in my car for “hunger emergencies”.  That way I don’t end up answering the siren call of a passing candy bar.

2.  Don’t wait too long.  If you’re at all like me, then you might actually reach the point of no return.  The all-consuming hunger that isn’t satisfied with a banana.  Rethink your morning food plan and recharge sooner rather than later.

Breakfast is personal.  Make the choice that works for you, but make sure your children are eating—and eating healthy foods that will support their brain function.  Perhaps my memory mishaps are part of the biology of aging—or maybe I should just eat up in the a.m.  It certainly couldn’t hurt.

I’ll take some oatmeal with that, thanks.