Meredith Zucchini Bread

3 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 1 1/4 cups white sugar (or try sorghum) 2 cups grated zucchini 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup soft white wheat or whole wheat flour 1 Tbs flax 1 Tbs ground cinnamon 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 Directions 2 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans or one Bundt pan 3 In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. 4 Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until done.  Do not overbake! You can use a Bundt pan cook about 50-55 minutes, loaf pans about 35 minutes, muffin pan about 15 minutes. Bake until light brown and toothpick clean. Also yeilds 4 mini loafs.

Servings: 16 Feingold Stage One

Recipe Review: Eggplant Involtini

This recipe is from Cooking Light APRIL 2012- it highlighted several of this weeks CSA items so I was excited to give it a try!

CSA ingredients: eggplant, garlic and some Parmigiano cheese from our cheese subscription (we get family friendly cheeses every other week)

• Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: 3 eggplant rolls)
• Ready In Time:1 Hour, 30 Minutes
• Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 3 large)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed and divided
• 12 (1/4-inch-thick) lengthwise slices eggplant (about 2 medium)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1 ounce whole-wheat French bread, toasted and torn into pieces
• 8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, divided
• 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup) and divided

Preparation

1. Combine oil and tomatoes in a medium saucepan; stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 garlic cloves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups. Cool 10 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor; process until smooth. Set aside.

2. Preheat broiler to high.

3. Sprinkle eggplant slices evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper; arrange slices in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Lightly coat eggplant with cooking spray. Broil 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 375°.

5. Place remaining 2 garlic cloves in a mini food processor; pulse until chopped. Add nuts and bread; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs form. Add ricotta, rind, and egg; process until smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup basil and 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano.

6. Spread 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce over the bottom of an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread 2 tablespoons ricotta mixture onto each eggplant slice; roll up jelly-roll fashion. Place rolls, seam sides down, over sauce in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over rolls. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining basil.

My version:  This recipe is fairly time consuming.  I used bottled marinara (my favorite is 3 cheese from Trader Joe's) since I did not have too much time today.   So I started at Step 2.  Cut eggplant very thin.  Since the kids are not eggplant fans I added extra tomato sauce and cooked some pasta.  I used the sauce from the eggplant over the pasta for the kids.  Lexi however ate 2 servings of eggplant so I have won one over!  Also if you do not have the french bread on hand bread crumbs can be used in place. 

To seed a tomato simply cut it half and scoop out the center part that is full of seeds the same way you would seed a canaloupe. 

Wheatberries and summer vegetable salad

What are wheatberries? It is a whole grain that is rich in protein and fiber.  1/4 cup of this nutrient rich grain has 7grams of protein and 5grams of fiber with only 1 gram of fat (unsaturated).  It is also called farro.  It is simple to cook, like rice.

We can purchase wheatberries through our CSA.  In the above salad I used pearled farro (pearling removes the outer husk and shortens cooking time) with summer vegetables mostly from our garden.

Ingredients

4 cups water

2 cups pearled farro (if not pearled adjust cooking time)

2 red bell peppers (or any color), chopped

2 regular sized cucumbers or 1 large, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

3 scallion, sliced thin

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

To prepare farro:  bring water to a boil.  Add 1/2 tsp salt.  Add farro and reduce heat to medium-low  Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes until tender to taste.  Drain any excess water and cool to room temperature.

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper (1/2-1 tsp of each to taste).  Pour dressing over farro and blend.  Mix in vegetables but hold fresh herbs.  May prepare up to this step ahead of time (up to one day ahead).

Mix in fresh herbs and serve.

1 cup of this salad has 177 calories, 20 grams carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein and fiber.

More beets please....

CSA ingredient: beets

Mixed greens with melon, proscuitto and beets

I still had roasted beets left from when I roasted the most recent batch.  I enjoyed this salad inspired by a long standing pair honeydo melon and proscuitto.

Ingredients

4 cups mixed greens
2 cups thinly sliced peeled honeydo melon
4 pieces thinly sliced proscuitto in bite sized pieces
2 medium beets thinly sliced, chilled
1/4 cup olive oil
1tbsp balsalmic vinegar
1/2 juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Mix olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Put melon, beets and proscuitto on top of greens. Drizzle dressing over salad and serve.

Beet salad with Blue cheese and pecans

Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Pecans

CSA ingredients: beets

Beets- some people love them, others hate them, most just don't know what to do with them so they avoid them.  The tops are great greens for cooking (see greens recipe).  I love them roasted and than chilled as served in this salad.

Roasting the beets

Turn oven to 350 degrees. 

Cut the green tops off to the very top of the beet.  Remove and thick stem on the bottom as well.  Wash them.

Wrap each beet in tinfoil.  For small and medium beets I will put 2-3 in each foil wrap.  Place on a roasting pan. 

Place roasting pan with beets in oven and leave alone.  Small beets=40 minutes, medium=50 minutes and large= 60 minutes.  They are done when you can put a fork through them easily.

Once they are done roasting let them cool at room temperature (30-60 minutes).

Now you can peel them.  I just rub the skin with my hands and it just peels right off. Don't worry if you get pink hands- it washes right off once they are cooked.  I find it difficult to peel them raw and my hands get stained.  Once cooked it is very easy. 

Chill beets (can stay chilled up to 5-7 days)

Preparing the salad.  This serves 6.

While oven is hot for cooking beets plan to toast the pecans.  Toasting them really enchances the flavor for this dish- don't skip this step.

To toast pecans put chopped pecans on baking sheet and toast 2-3 minutes at 350 degrees- watch closely they can burn easily!

Salad

4 cups mixed greens (could use argula or bibb lettuce as well)

2 cups sliced chilled roasted beets (awesome if you have two colors such as salad above)

1/2 cup blue cheese

2 tbsp chopped toasted pecans

Dressing

2 tbsp orange juice

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp chopped shallots

1/2 tsp salt

To make dressing put the above ingredients into a mini food processor and chop until well blended (if shallots very finely chopped can simply mix in a bowl). 

Toss greens in dressing evenly.  Put 1/6 of greens on each plate.  Top with sliced beets, blue cheese and sprinkle toasted pecans over top.  Serve.


Alternatives:

You can use goat cheese instead of blue, or try walnuts, candied pecans, or spicy pecans. You can also add citrus such as peeled oranges slices and/or grapefruit slices for another version.  Want to use more greens? Just make more dressing and you wll be all set.

Quick Pesto Pasta

CSA ingredients: basil, garlic

 

Tonight I did not plan ahead for dinner, 6pm rolls around now what?  Should we order pizza?  No- we ate out for lunch what can we have a home?  This was a quick dinner solution.

In this weeks box was a bunch of basil.  I have an herb garden but my basil is not growing great this year so the basil bunch was destined for pesto.

Pesto

2 cups basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup parmesean cheese, grated

1 tbsp pinenuts (can use walnuts instead)

1 cloves garlic

salt to taste (may not need any!)

1/4 cup of reserved cooking water (from pasta)- this helps reduce the amount of oil you need

Put all the ingredients except water into food processor with steel cutting blade.  Pulse until a course paste is formed.  Add hot water and pulse a few more times to blend.  Mix with up to one pound of cooked pasta.

Kitchen TIP: Make pasta while water coming to boil and prepare the rest while the pasta cooks.

Kitchen TIP: Double or triple this if you have lot of basil.  You can freeze the basil in 1/2 or cup sizes or put into an ice cube tray and freeze.  Than put the frozen pesto cubes in a freezer bag.  They defrost in a minute in the microwave.  They are very nice to add to a soup or as a spread on a panini.

Green Bean Pesto Pasta

You can really add almost anything to pasta and make a pesto pasta meal!  Here is tonight's version based on what was avaliable in the fridge.  If there are leftovers it can be served cold or room temperature for a great lunch.  The nuts add some protein and flavor. 

1 box whole wheat penne pasta

Pesto- 1 recipe above

2 cups green beans cut in 1 inch pieces

1 cup grape tomates, halved

1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese

1/4 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

Cook pasta cooked al dente in lightly salted water.  During last 5 minutes of cooking the pasta throw in the green beans into the boiling water with the pasta.  Drain.  Add pasta, beans, and pesto to bowl and mix.  Add in tomatoes.  Top with cheese and nuts. 

BLACK BEANS AND RICE WITH GREENS
Starwberry-rubarb Crisp for dessert

It has been a year since I have worked on this blog.  Life is just so busy!  But I am inspired to try to get a weekly post back on with the theme "Using your CSA box".   CSA stands for Community Suported Agriculture.  It is a program where you support local farms but paying up front and getting a weekly "surprise box" full of local goods.  There is a post about this if you look under old post. In my initally post I said it was more expensive- a year later I can say the meat is but the produce is actually a big savings over organic produce from the grocery.  In additon it holds up much longer since it is so fresh not having been shipped across from the country but grown right here near home!

 The items below were from my recent box and are the main ingredients for tonights meal.  We have kale, beets (I am only using the beet tops for this meal) swiss chard, onion, garlic, and local black beans.  Not included in the photo is local Monterey Jack cheese and bacon.

 Black Beans and Rice
serves 6

Ingredients

6 slices thick cup local bacon cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced 

2 cups dried black beans, dried

4 cups vegetable broth (can substitute chicken broth)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1-2 hot peppers

1/2 tsp red chili powder (optional)

2 green onion, green parts, sliced

1 cup shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack but could use Chedder or a Mexican blend)

3 cups brown rice, cooked

Night before preperation: Rinse beans in water and pick out any old beans or debris. Drain beans and pour into crock pot.  Saute bacon over medium heat about 5 minutes until just starting to crisp on edges.  Add onion saute 3 minutes.  Add garlic for an additional minute.  Put this mixture into crock pot.  Add vegetable broth and spices.  Soak the mixture overnight. 

In AM put on LOW on crock pot 8 hours. 

Prepare brown rice according to package directions (you need about 45 minutes to cook brown rice). Kitchen TIP: did you know you can double to amount of brown rice you cook and freeze the rest for another meal.  Simply put cooked brown rice into freezer bag and freeze. About an hour into freezing time shake the bag a bit to decrease clumping.  To reheat put into microwave safe bowl, add about 1/4 cup of water and microwave 5-7 minutes covered.  This is much less expensive than purchasing pre-cooked brown rice at the grocery.

I used pre-cooked rice tonight so the main course was basically done when I got home from work!

The ratings:  4 stars across the board!

Meredith's Greens

Every week in the CSA box there are alot of greens so about once a week I cook them down and they get eaten up every time!  This week I had kale, swiss chard and beet tops.  To prepare the greens I rinse throughly.  For the kale I simply pull the greens from the stem and break it up to bite sized pieces by hand.  The swiss chard I cut the stems onto 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.  Then cut the greens into bite sized pieces.  For the beet tops I removed them from the beets cut off the tough part of the stems and cut the rest into bite sized pieces.

6 servings

Ingredients:

Greens (lots- need enough to full a large pot to the top and if more it is ok)

1cup red onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp Sorghum (local) can use raw local honey or agave nectar instead

1 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 red pepper, dried

Heat olive oil in large pot.  Add onions and saute over medium heat about 5 minutes. Add garlic and swiss chard stems and saute one more minute.  Add broth and greens.  If greens fill the pot let them cook down a few minutes and add the rest.  Add remaining ingredients.  Simmer 30 minutes. 

This recipe is vegan. If you prefer a meat version use 2-3 sliced diced bacon in place of olive oil and chicken stock (instead of vegetable).

Ratings: 5 stars from everyone!!


Strawberry-rubarb crisp

This went so fast I did not get a picture!  In the CSA box there was a bunch of rubarb.  I made this simple crisp. 6 servings.

Ingredients
4-6 stalks of rubarb, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices (like slicing celery)
1 pint strawberries (or one bag frozen) hulled and rinsed
1/4 cup whole can sugar* (can use white sugar if desires)
1 tbsp raw local honey**
1 cup oats
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix rubarb, strawberries and whole can sugar.  Put into 9x9 baking dish. Drizzle with honey.  Mix oats, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon- blend by hand until it forms a crumble.  Put evenly on top of fruit mixture.  Bake 40 minutes.  Allow to cool 10-15 minutes.  Serve warm with whipped cream.

Ratings:
Clay 4 stars
Lexi 5 stars
Colin 5 stars
Meredith 4.5 stars
Jamie 4 stars

*Whole cane sugar is sugar before it gets processing.  Since it is not processed it does not form glucose in your blood stream as quickly meaning it has a lower "glycemic index".  It also has a pleasant and stronger flavor.  You can find it at health food stores and some groceries.
**Raw local honey also is unprocessed and therefore offers a lower "glycemic index".  It is delicious!  Local honey helps your immune system fight off local allergens.

Eggs for dinner

I have too many eggs this week.  When I got my first dozen eggs from CSA I still had a whole 18 egg cartoon in the fridge.  Well this fits in well on eating less meat-we will have eggs for dinner.  With that in mind I came up with this recipe. 

Truth about eggs:
Eggs are a good source of protein.

Eggs are good for your eyes.

Eggs are a good source of choline which helps regulate the brain, nervous system, and cardiovascular system. aka good for your memory.

Eggs have 5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated (bad fats) each.  To further reduce fat eat the whites only.

Do eggs raise cholesterol? Contraversial. Older studies say yes newer ones say no- maybe even help protect your heart.
American Heart Association says that one egg a day is acceptable.  If cholesterol is a concern (those with heart disease, diabetes, or a high level of LDL 'bad' cholesterol) choose a small or medium egg or eat the egg whites which have no cholesterol.  I find mixing a whole eggs with 1-2 egg whites to be quite good and avoids the artifical food colorings in egg substitutes. If you are limiting cholesterol and eat eggs you should choose foods that are not high in cholesterol the rest of the day to keep overall cholesterol intake down.

Bottom line: Moderate consumption of eggs is fine. Like everything else it is about moderation.  Eating a high protein and healthy food like eggs will like reduce cravings for less healthy simple carbohydrates.  Bottom line: You may actually comsume less bad stuff by eating eggs. 




Eggs with spinach, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes

3 slices bacon, diced (can change to 1 tbsp olive oil for vegetarian meal)
1 cup mushrooms coarsely chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil; drained, oil reserved, chopped
8 large eggs , lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup Milk/whipping cream
1 cup  mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 tsp kosher salt to taste
1/2 tsp Pepper to taste
1 tsp herbs de providence
4 slices whole wheat bread

1. Brown bacon in sauté pan until crisp.  Remove bacon.  Reserve fat for cooking. 

2. Chop mushrooms, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and bacon in food processor- course chop- not too fine.  Also chop bread into course crumb.

3. Sauté mushrooms 2 minutes, add spinach 3 minutes, add tomatoes, cook one more minute.

4. Spray 9x13 casserole with cooking spray.  Add bread.  Pour veggies mixture over the top.

5. Add milk and spices to eggs.  Pour over bread mixture.  Stir.  let stand 20 minutes.  Add more milk if dry should be runny when putting it into oven.  While mixture standing preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Add diced bacon and 1 cup of shredded cheese and stir.

7. Place in oven and bake 20 minutes or until top firm and just starting to brown slightly.

Servings: 8

Ratings: (everyone loved it and enjoyed breakfast for dinner) 
Jamie ****
Meredith ****
Clay ****
Colin ****
Lexi ***

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/8 of a recipe (5.4 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 266.13
Calories From Fat (61%) 163.47
% Daily Value
Total Fat 18.32g 28%
Saturated Fat 7.39g 37%
Cholesterol 239.07mg 80%
Sodium 618.12mg 26%
Potassium 383.69mg 11%
Total Carbohydrates 10.51g 4%
Fiber 1.66g 7%
Sugar 3.35g
Protein 15.39g 31%

Basically this is the days limit of cholesterol for those with heart disease and over 1/3 of the days fat intake for everyone.  If you do not consume a lot of high fat foods throughout the day this is a fine meal for supper.  You can reduce the fat and cholesterol in this recipes to create a more health friendly version by omitting bacon and using olive oil to saute.  Replace 4 of the eggs with 6 egg whites.  Use reduced fat cheese or use 1/2 cup feta which is stronger so you don't need as much.

Tips
Serve with fruit salad

Can use any cheese.  Mozzarella gives a nice mild flavor.  You could use 1/2 cup feta cheese
You can change the flavor with different cheeses.  Can try white cheddar or 1/2 cup feta.
I recommend using 2% milk.  You can use some cream for a a richer dish, you can milk cream and milk, two types of milk- get the ide

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Walnuts

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Walnuts

1 butternut squash peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 box pasta
1/2  cup olive oil (plus a few tbsp for roasting squash)
1/2 cup walnut pieces
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried sage (or 2 tbsp fresh)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Gouda cheese or Parmesan cheese
1 TBSP garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup reserved cooking water

1. Mix the butternut squash with a 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil- enough to coat.  Add garlic, 1 tsp kosher salt.  Roast at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until tender but not mushy.

2. Cook pasta until al dente

3. Heat olive oil in saute pan.  Add walnuts and shallots and cook until light brown (about 10 minutes on low heat) Add sage.  fresh sage would be best- some diced and a few whole leaves for "fried" sage leaves as a garnish.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Toss cooked pasta with sauce adding 1/2 cup reserved cooking liquid.

5. Mix 1/2 cup shredded cheese in pasta and put rest on top.  Allow to melt and serve.

Servings: 6

Sorry I don't know why the underline won't come off.  I gave this a try tonight to use a lovely squash a co-worker gave me. I thought the gouda would go well with the walnuts but I think Parmesan would work equally well.  This recipe is high in total fat but low in saturated fats (the bad kind).  I like to use the Barilla pasta.  I have never acquired a taste for whole wheat pasta- but this is loaded with good stuff and you can barely tell that it is not regular white pasta.  The label did not photograph well but it is loaded with healthy whole grains- great product.  I made enough butter squash for 2 meals when I roasted it- i can freeze it and have it ready next time.  

Ratings

Jamie ***

Meredith ****

Colin ***

Clay ***

Lexi ***

Colin doesn't like nuts but did not seem to notice them.  None on is crazy about butternut squash except me but they all ate some (except Colin) but he LOVES pasta so we are even.

Note: This was even better the next day with a little Parmesan on top.