To Your Health

Weekly plan, 3/8

2010-03-08T13:53:21Z

With the beautiful weather (temperatures reaching up into the upper 50s this week!) I was seriously contemplating grilling some burgers, but our deck is still under at least a foot of snow thanks to the shade, so I guess that will have to wait (I'd rather not shovel when I'm busy pretending it's spring).

Monday: A spring birthday party! Starting with homemade hummus and pitas, then for dinner chicken scallopini, mixed greens salad with cranberries, pecans, and homemade orange zest dressing, and homemade whole wheat Italian bread, followed by fresh berries and ice cream.

Tuesday: Far less exciting...garden kale soup, leftover Italian bread, kiwi (vegetarian)

Wednesday: Sesame tofu stir fry, orange slices, homemade fortune cookies (vegetarian)

Thursday: leftover soup, kiwi

Friday: Pizza with banana peppers and feta cheese, brussels sprouts, pineapple (vegetarian)

Saturday: leftover stir fry, orange slices

Sunday: breakfast for dinner! Pancakes, eggs, turkey bacon, grapefruit

Mediterranean Mostaccioli

2010-03-07T03:39:23Z

First off, yes I know that isn't mostaccioli in the picture. The original recipe called for mostaccioli but I had whole wheat rotini just begging to be boiled, so that's what I used. I didn't change the name, even though I made several changes to the recipe itself, because Mediterranean Rotini doens't sound as good, and because next time I'll probably make it with whole wheat mostaccioli anyhow. We liked this one. Especially with a little freshly grated romano on top it was a real winner.

Mediterranean Mostaccili

Original recipe: Better Homes and Gardens
Yield: 4-6 servings
Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
● 12 oz. whole wheat mostaccioli
● 3 cloves garlic
● 8-16 oz. ground beef
● 3 cups sliced zucchini
● 1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed (about 2 1/2 cups)
● 18 oz. pasta sauce
● 1/2 cup shredded carrot
● 1/2 cup snipped fresh basil
● 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, or freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook beef, eggplant, garlic, and zucchini over medium heat until meat is brown; drain off fat. Stir in pasta sauce, carrot, and basil. Bring to boil then reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 2 minutes or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

3. Transfer pasta to a serving dish and cover with sauce. Sprinkle with cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Two-bean tamale pie

2010-03-04T05:36:54Z

This is a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, with a few alterations, of course. It's quick, easy, and pretty flavorful as well. It's also a nutritious vegetarian dish, thanks to the beans. Leave out the cheese or switch to soy and it can even be vegan, but you'll probably never get me to give up my cheese!

Two-Bean Tamale Pie

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
● 1 sweet pepper, chopped
● 1/2 onion, chopped
● 2 cloves garlic, minced
● 1 tbsp. cooking oil
● 3 cups each black beans and pinto beans, rehydrated, cooked, and slightly mashed
● 1 cup vegetable juice
● 1/2 tsp. chili powder
● 1 tsp. ground cumin
● 1 8-1/2- ounce package corn muffin mix
● 3/4-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. In a skillet cook sweet pepper, onion, and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in beans, juice, and spices and heat through. transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.
2. Prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions. Add cheese and stir until combined. Spread cornbread mixture evenly over top of bean mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden.

Weekly plan, 3/1

2010-03-01T13:11:00Z

Monday: Leftover burritos (yum! These are just as good left over as fresh)

Tuesday: Dinner away

Wednesday: Two-bean tamale pie (beans, tomatoes, onions, peppers, veggie juice and spices topped with corn bread), collard greens, cinnamon lime apple slices, and homemade pudding, just for a special treat.(vegetarian)

Thursday: Mediterranean mostaccioli (grass fed ground beef, tomato sauce, zucchini, peppers, onion, and eggplant, whole wheat mostaccioli), spinach salad, and fresh pineapple

Friday: Corn and chicken chowder, spinach salad, pineapple

Saturday: Leftover tamale pie, kale, pear slices

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner! Pancakes, eggs, orange slices

Weekly plan, 3/1

2010-03-01T13:00:00Z

Monday: Leftover burritos (yum! These are just as good left over as fresh)

Tuesday: Dinner away

Thursday: Mediterranean mostaccioli (grass fed ground beef, tomato sauce, zucchini, peppers, onion, and eggplant, whole wheat mostaccioli), spinach salad, and fresh pineapple

Friday: Corn and chicken chowder, spinach salad, pineapple

Saturday: Leftover tamale pie, kale, pear slices

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner! Pancakes, eggs, orange slices

Roasted red pepper hummus

2010-02-28T20:09:01Z

I don't have a picture of this one, and I didn't make it this week—I think Christmas was the last time—but I've often had requests for the recipe, and I can't believe I haven't put it on here before.

Roasted red pepper hummus

Origin: Healthy Cooking
Yield: 3 cups
Prep Time: 30 minutes
113 calories, 5g fat (1g sat), 4g protein per 1/4 cup

Ingredients:
● 2 large sweet red peppers
● 30 oz. garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
● 1/3 cup lemon juice
● 3 tbsp tahini
● 1 tbsp olive oil
● 2 garlic cloves, peeled
● 1 1/4 tsp salt
● 1 tsp curry powder
● 1/2 tsp ground coriander
● 1/2 tsp ground cumin
● 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
1. Broil red peppers 4 inches from the heat until skins blister, about 5 minutes, then use tongs to rotate peppers a quarter turn. Continue to broil and rotate until all sides are blistered and blackened. Immediately remove from heat and place in a bowl; cover and let stand for 15-20 minutes. Note—I do this in my gas oven. I have also done it over the flame of a burner, too, but that seemed to take longer. You really want the peppers blackened and falling apart before you are done.

2. Peel off and discard charred skin (this is easiest to do under cool water, sliding the skin off as you rinse). Remove stems and seeds. Place the peppers in food processor, then add beans, lemon juice, tahini, oil, garlic, and seasonings; cover and process until well blended. Transfer to a serving bowl with pita and/or crackers. Garnish with olive oil and pine nuts if desired.

Weekly plan, 2/22

2010-02-22T23:29:07Z

Monday: Leftover garlic bean soup with homemade cheesy garlic bread, broccoli (vegetarian)

Tuesday: Hearty lentil soup, kale, sweet potato notfries, pears (vegetarian)

Wednesday: Scrambled eggs with zucchini and tomato, cheese and spinach muffins, oranges (vegetarian)

Thursday: Leftover soup, fresh homemade bread, wilted spinach with walnuts, cinnamon apples (vegetarian)

Friday: Bean and rice burritos, collard greens, mangoes (vegetarian)

Saturday: Leftover soup (yes, again—it makes a lot, and that makes mealtimes easy; I just liven it up with some fresh veggies right in the soup and new dishes on the side), cheese and spinach muffins, melon (vegetarian)

Sunday: Leftover burritos, chard, kiwi (vegetarian)

It's an entirely vegetarian week, completely by accident—these are just the things that sounded good to us and made the best use of things we already have in the house. Yum!

Homemade fortune cookies. Really.

2010-02-20T03:42:00Z

I always thought they needed special shaping machines to make a thing as specific as a fortune cookie but last week I stumbled across a tutorial that said otherwise and I tried it. Every time I think "oh no, that's definitely something I will always have to buy premade" the internet comes to my rescue and proves me wrong, and now here I am, maker of fortune cookies, with still more hope for a truly homemade life.

Fortune Cookies
For original recipe and full tutorial click here.
Yield: ~12 cookies

Ingredients:
● 2 egg whites
● 1/2 cup flour, sifted
● 1/2 cup sugar
● 2 tbsp water
● 1 tsp almond extract
● 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Set oven to 400F degrees.

1) Place egg whites in a bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed until very frothy, almost soft peaks. Add sifted flour, sugar, and extracts, and mix until combined. Add ~2 tbsp water to thin the batter (you'll get a feel for this as you go long).

2) Prepare your baking sheet: the original tutorial suggested using a Siilpat (which I don't have but now desperately want), parchment paper, or just the ungreased baking sheet. I tried the parchment paper, but found that it got too wet, which made it hard to remove the cookie while it was still hot. I also tried the ungreased sheet, but in the end used a very light coating of canola oil, and I had to reapply the oil between each "batch"

3) Working from the center in a circular motion, spread 1 tbsp of batter into a thin 5 inch circle. Bake only two cookies at a time (that's all you'll have time to shape before they cool).

8) Bake until edges are lightly browned, ~5 minutes, but watch carefully—it happens fast! Take out of oven and immediately remove the first cookie from the pan with a very thin spatula.

9) Work quickly to shape: flip the cookie over and place fortune paper (if you made one) on top. Bring sides up and pinch together—you now have a cookie that closely resembles an upright, hard taco shell, sealed at the top. Next bend the bottom middle of the "taco-cookie" over the edge of a cup. Transfer the newly shaped cookie to a muffin tin to help hold its shape while it cooks, then quickly move on to the second one. For the shaping to work it must be completely finished before the cookie really begins to cool, which is fast because they are thin. If you don't work fast enough they will break instead of bending. The original tutorial suggest 10 seconds from start to finish, and also warns that working with hot cookies can be hard on the fingers; this is not an activity for kids.

Tada! Obviously it was a learning process, and some turned out better than others, but Jon said they all tasted great, and he was just as incredulous as I that they came from our own oven.

A word about Freecycle

2010-02-17T13:50:04Z

It's exactly what is sounds like—a hybridization of recycle and free—and it's a bit like garage saling any time of the year from the comforts of your home. More importantly it is a community based network of people who care about getting stuff moved in to homes where it will be used, and keeping it out of the landfill. These are things we care about, too, so we joined our local Freecycle group in January. Since then we've found new homes for three boxes worth of stuff from our basement that was slated for who knows where (it failed to sell at a garage sale two years ago, and wasn't the Salvation Army's style), and have given a new home to two phones, a book shelf, a large set of holiday window clings, and, my favorite so far, a huge box of fabric, all for the grand total of zero, zilch, nada.

Being a community based network, Freecycle is different in every location and the value of your local group depends entirely on the people who make it happen. Ours is a very active place. It is run as a Yahoo group and works through group messages—each message posted is a new item either being offered or sought. One of the things I like best about Freecycle is that as a poster of an item I am completely free to choose its recipient; my stuff doesn't have to go the first responder, but can go to the person who is the most polite, seems to have the greatest need, or strikes me as the one who will enjoy the item most.

Garage sales, thrift shops, and Craig's List are a big part of the living green lifestyle—the more stuff that we can repurpose, reuse, or recycle instead of buying new, the more we will save not just in terms of our bank accounts (although that's true, too), but also in terms of materials and energy. And let's not forget how fantastic it would be to decrease our nation's dependency on material objects, too many of which come from other countries. There is a whole world of people out there who care about these principles, and you can find some of them on Freecycle.

Weekly plan, 2/15

2010-02-15T13:53:00Z

Monday: Leftovers from our Valentines party

Tuesday: Stuffed acorn squash (with Michigan grass fed ground beef, bread stuffing, celery, mushrooms, and homemade veggie stock), wilted garlicky chard, and, of course, paczkis!

Wednesday: Tofu stirfry (with peanuts, brocoli, carrots, and sprouts), rice noodles, and homemade fortune cookies.

Thursday: Garlic bean soup, fresh homemade bread, brussels sprouts (the kid's choice)

Friday: Leftover squash

Saturday: Leftover soup

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner

From the dairy: Two 2% milks