sunday brunch

Sunday brunch time. Breakfast burrito with eggs, thyme* and paprika. Sauteed potatoes with a sprinklin of cumin seed gouda cheese and parsley. 

*parsley, thyme and potatoes courtesy of my dear friend Ellen. 

sesame balsamic bok choy with brown rice pasta

This took about 10 minutes to make. Bok choy is a mellow, simple and accessible green. I just diced them (stems and all) and sauteed with garlic and deglazed with some balsamic vinegar. Deglazing is just a culinary term that simply means adding a liquid (most often a vinegar or wine) to loosen and dissolve the caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan that form during cooking. It really brightens up the dish and gives it a lovely sweet flavor. I used a brown rice pasta that also adds a nice nuttiness and bite. 

2 heads of bok choy

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

8 to 10 oz brown rice pasta

salt and pepper

sesame seeds

chives

Fill a pot with water. Add salt and heat until boiling. Add pasta and cook for 7 to 10 minutes. While pasta is cooking, chop bok choy into bite sized chunks and add to a heated pan with garlic and olive oil. Saute for a couple minutes and deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped chives, add to the drained pasta and serve. 

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Some seasonal autumn goodness. I didn't have any white sugar, so I used a combination of sorghum syrup, barley malt and brown rice syrup. All of these sweeteners are super high in minerals and don't give you such a sugar rush like regular ole cane sugar does. Of course, the chocolate chips in here definitely have sugar, but really, sometimes we just need a little extra chocolatey sugar high. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup mixed sorghum syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt

2/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup canned pumpkin 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets. 

Mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices. In a separate bowl, mix together the syrups, oil, pumpkin, vanilla and flaxseeds until well combined. Add the wet to the dry, slowly. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for a couple minutes on a wire rack. Then eat it!

homemade crackers!

Ingredients: 

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons sea salt

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chopped basil/parsley or other greens/herbs can be added to dough 

garnish with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or any dried herb that's handy!

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  

2. Put the flour, salt, oil and optional added greens in a food processor. Pulse until combined. Add about 1/4 cup water and let the machine run until the mixture holds up and is not sticky. 

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4 inch thick or thinner. Add flour as needed. Score lightly with a sharp knife into rectangles or any shape you desire. 

3. Transfer dough gently to prepared sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt, seeds or dried herbs. 

4. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Tuscan tastes

Here's just a couple photos of my food adventures in Tuscany: 

Katherine and the amazing produce

The menu cover 

garlic scape pesto

Garlic scapes are the long, thin curly shoots that spring from the tops of the garlic plants. They have a mellow garlic flavor and can be used in place of scallion, garlic or even onions. They are only in season for June and a bit of July. So get em quick! I made a simple pesto with these ones.  Adding some walnuts and parmesan and a bit of olive oil and salt. That's it. Barely a recipe really. And so good. I added the pesto to pasta one night, a frittata the next and on toast for breakfast the following day. So versatile and lovely. 

8-10 garlic scapes

1/4 cup parmesan 

1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup walnuts or almonds or any nuts really! 

sea salt

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until pesto-like. Taste test and see if it needs more salt or olive oil (depending if you like a thinner or thicker pesto) 

Yields about 1 cup and can be stored in an air-tight container for a couple of days. Or frozen for a couple of months. 

banana cinnamon date bread

You know when you buy bananas and you don't eat them fast enough and they become past the point of eating raw, but you're too lazy to make banana bread right away? Well, freeze 'em! I had three bananas in my fridge for well over two months. They were perfectly fine. Super frozen, but fine. Run them over cold water to loosen the skin and then you're ready to make bread. I used olive oil because that's what I had on hand, but canola, vegetable oil or butter would work fine, too. For the sweetener, I used barley malt syrup which is made from soaking barley in water and then heating to prevent from sprouting, which is similar to the process of creating beer. Thus, this bread has a rich tasting, almost stout beer taste, like Guinness. 

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 barley malt syrup*

3/4 cup dates, chopped

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (for dusting on top of loaf)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very much mashed. Add lemon juice, oil, barley malt and dates. (Tip: Use the same measuring cup for the oil and barley malt. The oil will help the barley malt come out easily, because that stuff is damn sticky.) Mix. In a separate large bowl, stir together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together until just mixed. Pour into oiled loaf pan. Dust with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Test with a knife to see if done. Makes 1 loaf. 

*You can buy barley malt syrup in any health food store. It's pretty reasonable and much less labor intensive than actually soaking your own barley and making syrup. Because seriously, who's going to do that? 

quinoa burgers with lemon and dill yogurt sauce

These quinoa burgers are just adapted from a recipe I found on the Whole Foods website. They turned out quite well and the lemon/dill yogurt sauce is just so good.

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained 
2 cups water 
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion 
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic 
2/3 cup grated carrots 
2/3 cup seeded and grated yellow squash 
1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 
Zest of 1 large lemon 
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 egg 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
Extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt 
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium pot. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside off of the heat for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and set aside to let cool. 

In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa with onion, garlic, carrots, squash, spinach, zest, flour, baking powder, egg, salt and pepper. Form mixture into eight (4- to 5-inch) patties and arrange on an oiled baking sheet. Bake, flipping halfway through, until lightly browned and just crisp, about 25 minutes. 

Stir together dill, yogurt and lemon juice in small bowl, then spoon over warm quinoa cakes.

beet, daikon, fennel and carrot slaw with mint

This refreshing and light slaw is a variation on a cole slaw. No cabbages or mayonnaise though! Instead, I used beets, daikon radishes, carrots and fennel. Daikon radishes look like overgrown white carrots and have awesome detoxifying qualities. The sweetness of the carrots, beets and licorice-y fennel help to offset the sometimes bitterness of the daikon. Also, having a food processor  with a grating option makes this a hell of a lot easier. (Grating all of these root vegetables by hand is a major pain in the ass!) 

3 red beets, peeled and grated

2 daikon radishes, peeled and grated

1 fennel bulb, grated

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1/4 cup brown rice vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 T honey or agave

1 bunch of green onions, minced

2/3 cup of mint leaves, chopped fine

salt and pepper to taste

a sprinklin of sunflower seeds

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Grate beets, daikon, fennel and carrots in a food processor and add to bowl. Toss to coat. Add chopped mint leaves and a sprinklin of sunflower seeds. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Done and done. 

Peanut stirfry with broccoli, tofu, leeks, orange peppers and caraway seeds

This is something I just made up on the spot. I looked in my fridge and just grabbed what I had. It took less than 10 minutes to make. So quick and easy on a warm spring day. The buttery leeks are complimented by the earthy, almost licorice taste of the caraway seeds. And the peanut sauce really brings all the ingredients together quite well. 

Recipe: 

1 package of tofu (drained and patted dry)

1 orange pepper (small diced)

1 trimmed leek (washed and thinly sliced)

1 head of broccoli (cut into little florets)

1/2 cup peanut butter ( I used a natural, no chunk kind)

3 T soy sauce

2 T butter or oil (peanut would be great)

Heat a large saute pan. Add butter. When hot, add leeks. Let soften for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, whisk the soy sauce in a small bowl with the peanut butter. Taste and adjust salt, if you like. Add broccoli and tofu to saute pan, as well as the peanut sauce. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the tofu and broccoli have absorbed some of the sauce. Serve atop brown rice or any kind of grain really. Quinoa would be good too. Or eat it as is. Top with diced orange pepper. 

Serves 4