Easy Zucchini Salad

Easy Zucchini Salad

Ingredients

Zucchini
Summer squash
Sea salt
Lemon juice, red wine or sherry vinegar
Pepper

Directions

1) Slice squash lengthwise, as thinly as possible, into ribbons. Use a mandolin if you have one. Place in a colander and sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of sea salt. The salt is essentially going to “cook” the squash. Let sit for an hour or more, squeeze out water and rinse well.
2) Add some acidity to taste, either lemon juice or vinegar. Add pepper and enjoy.

Keeps very well in the refrigerator for a couple of days. A nice cool side salad to have around.

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Summer Fun: Cave in to your Cravings!

Summer Fun: Cave in to your Cravings!

Picture a beautiful, very warm summer day, and you sitting down for lunch with a nice steaming hot bowl of soup. What is wrong with that picture??? It’s just not natural. I don’t often have salad for lunch, but it definitely sounds better in the summer than in the winter.

Did you ever notice how your cravings shift from time to time? One day you can’t get enough avocado, and another you just can’t get enough of those fresh peaches and strawberries. Since we now get so much of our produce year round, it’s getting harder to stay connected to those seasonal cravings. And with so many conflicting messages out there about the foods you have to avoid to manage your weight, we have leaned away from listening to our bodies because the experts must know what is best. Our body still knows, and it communicates through cravings. The word ‘cravings’ is not a bad word, or at least it doesn’t have to be. Being in tune with what our body needs, and acting based upon our natural instincts, is key to a healthy lifestyle.

To help you fill those summer cravings, try this super Easy Zucchini salad.

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Quinoa and Sweet Potatos

Quinoa and Sweet Potatos

From Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook

Ingredients

Basic Recipe
¾ cup quinoa, rinsed in fine-meshed strainer
1 tbls olive oil
1 cup onions, diced
½ tsp sea salt
2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 2/3 cup water (or substitute low sodium broth)

Version One (my own modification, you can create many from this point)
¼ cup dried mushrooms, chopped
3 green garlic, chopped (or 3 cloves garlic and 3 scallion onions)
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Another Version
2 cups fresh spinach, lightly packed and finely chopped
2 tbls toasted pine nuts (2-3 minutes in a small dry pan on medium high heat)
¼ cup currents
1 tbls minced scallions
1 tbls lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste


Instructions

1) In a covered saucepan, warm oil and sauté onions and salt over low heat, stirring now and then until onions are transparent, about 8 minutes. Add sweet potatoes, whites of green garlic or garlic cloves, dried mushrooms, broth and quinoa, cover and bring to simmer. Lower heat and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender and the liquid has been absorbed. If the quinoa is still not done when the liquid is gone, add water until desired consistency.

2) Remove from heat. Stir in pine nuts and green part of green garlic (or scallion onions) and salt and pepper to taste.


Still more options, get creative!

1) Add minced fresh chilies and or garlic along with the onions.
2) Stir in chopped fresh parsley, basil, cilantro and/or scallions or chives before serving.
3) Garnish with toasted almonds or sesame seeds
4) Add a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice or a drizzle of soy sauce

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What's the Deal with Farmers Markets

What's the Deal with Farmers Markets

Looking for something fun to do? Need a little variety in your meals? Want to find some foods that actually taste great and are good for you? Looking for a unique breakfast or lunch option? If any of these are true for you, make a trip to a local farmers market on the weekend. (For you Austinites, try the Austin Farmers Market on Saturday morning at 4th and Guadalupe.)

So why is it healthy to buy food from a local farmers market? Here are MY top five reasons:

5. Tastes great! Produce and meats from local sustainable farms and ranches have more flavor than their more conventional alternatives. If it's from a small local farm, chances are very high that it is going to be organic, whether certified or not. Some are what I call ‘beyond organic as the farmers' standards are usually higher than the US Government's definition of organic.

4. Seasonality - Throughout the year our food cravings change for many reasons, one of which is the season. Since we can get almost everything we want year round, it takes a little effort to get back to the seasonal eating our bodies were engineered for. Walking through a farmers market is a great way to reconnect, to your community as well as your body.

3. More nutrients - Buying produce from small sustainable farms is going to give you the biggest bang for the buck in nutrients. That leaves larger organic farms coming in second and conventionally grown alternatives third.

2. Less pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and no GMO - We are continually exposed to toxins every day, from our food, as well as water, lotions, soaps, etc. It all adds up and keeps our body working overtime, not to mention keeping us in a state of dis-ease. Buying produce and meat from the farmers market is one way to lessen the load.

1. Whole foods - what you find at the farmers market is more of the foods that our bodies recognize as food, and therefore can easily digest and give our bodies a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals. Taking a break from the artificial ingredients and highly processed foods we have grown to love because of their convenience is a healthy habit to incorporate into our routine.

Just can’t get there no matter how hard you try? There are many CSA and delivery options. Email me and I’ll help you find the one that is right for you. dianaoconnell@yahoo.com

My top 5, being a short summary, touches on some much larger topics, and barely even eludes to food politics. Any thoughts on what was left out?

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Sweet Potatoes Are Your Friend

Sweet Potatoes Are Your Friend

Eating sweet potatoes seems to go hand in hand with the holidays, but don't stop there. There are many reasons to keep them in the line up throughout the year. To start with, cravings for sweets can be greatly reduced by adding sweet vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, yams, parsnips, beets, squash, turnips and rutabagas to your daily diet. Sweet potatoes in particular offer a creamy consistency that is satisfying and soothing, while elevating blood sugar gently rather than with the jolt delivered by simple refined carbohydrates, so there's no energy crash after you eat them. With a glycemic load of 17 (lower the better, on a scale of 1-100), it is half that of russet potatoes.

The list of health benefits of sweet potatoes is quite impressive for a sweet, grounding food that is readily available all year long. Packed with nutrients and antioxidants, and being a good source of fiber, sweet potatoes help to remove toxins from the body and sooth the impact of stress, play a role in the prevention of heart disease and cancer, lower the risk of diabetes and obesity, are anti-inflammatory and among the top 3 food sources of potassium. The fiber in sweet potatoes provides a feeling of fullness and satiety, which helps you to eat less. All great reasons to include sweet potatoes as a staple on your weekly shopping list year round. The more you have, the less room there is for unhealthy alternatives.

If you're going to eat them more often, you may need some fresh ideas. Besides the Sweet Potatoe Lasgne recipe included on my blog, which is one of my favorites, you can also: pack a baked sweet potato for lunch topped with plain yogurt or cinnamon-flavored applesauce, add peeled chunks to your favorite stew, bake some sweet potato fries.

Other ideas? I would love to hear 'em!

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Sweet Potato Lasagna

Sweet Potato Lasagna

Adapted from The Happy Kitchen, a program of the Sustainable Food Center of Austin.
(Serves 8)

INGREDIENTS
1 tbls oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 green pepper, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed (up to 2 will work if you want more)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
8 - 10 corn tortillas
1 cup Monterrey Jack or other semi soft cheese, grated
6-oz queso fresco or feta cheese (such as goat feta)
2 tbls fresh cilantro, chopped (optional, but makes a big difference)
1 cup plain low- fat yogurt (optional, but also makes a difference)
For a little spice, add 1/8 tsp chili flakes and 1 tsp hot chili oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Heat oven to 425º. Bake sweet potato until soft, approx. 45 minutes.
2) Reduce oven temp to 350º.
3) Heat oil in a large pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
4) Add oregano and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add green pepper, mushrooms, and bay leaf to the tomato sauce. Reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
5) Add the cooked and mashed sweet potato, salt and pepper.
6) Build the ‘lasagna’ by covering the bottom of a medium- sized casserole dish with the sauce. Then place 3 or 4 tortillas on top of the sauce. Break tortillas in half to fit pan size as needed. Next layer 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat until all of the sauce and cheese are used. Top layer can be torn up tortilla and cheese.
7) Bake for 25 minutes or until casserole is completely heated through.
8) To serve, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and top with yogurt.

NOTES

The flavor of this dish is fresh and tasty, but I sometimes add a little heat. One way to do this is to add some chili flakes as you are adding the green peppers. I have also added hot chili oil at that point as well.

To quickly cook sweet potatoes cut in half and place on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake at 400 for approx. 45 minutes, or until soft enough to mash with a fork. If you have the time, pierce with fork and cook whole . Once cooled for 10 minutes, squeeze cooked potato from the skin and mash.

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