Cilantro Chutney (an herb sauce)

Some yeas ago, Edward Hamann, a culinary expert on food from the Asian subcontinent and a wonderful cooking instructor who is now at Sur La Table, taught a small group of us how to make his fabulous Fresh Cilantro Chutney (Dhaniya ki Chatni ).  I started with his amazing recipe, added turmeric, black pepper, and made a few other minor changes, and that’s how this Cilantro Sauce recipe came to be.

This delicious sauce transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary – and it’s easy to make. We love it! For a while this sauce was the new “ketchup” at our house. I served it with everything from scrambled eggs to pan fried fish, and, of course, curries. In fact, it was this Cilantro Chutney that made me want to learn more about herb sauces and led me to create the other herb/vegetable sauces on this blog: Charmoula, Arugula Pesto, and Artichoke Lemon Pesto.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
¾ cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon peeled and roughly chopped fresh ginger
4 cloves peeled garlic
2 Serrano peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped, including some of the seeds
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ – ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
3 bunches (about 7/8 pound) fresh cilantro, including all but the very ends of the stems

Note: I like to add dry ground or finely chopped fresh turmeric (and freshly ground black pepper) wherever I can get away with it. It’s so healthy! Adding 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric to this recipe does not negatively affect the taste, in fact you hardly even notice the turmeric, so why not add it?!

DIRECTIONS

Food processor

Add all the ingredients to the food processor fitted with the metal blade and process to desired consistency.

Blender

Place the ingredients into a blender – in the order given above — but do not put all of the cilantro into the blender at one time. Blend and then add more cilantro and blend again. If needed, stop the blender; push the cilantro down toward the blade; then place the cover on the blender and blend until a lovely smooth sauce results.

HOW TO STORE

• Store in the refrigerator for a few days

• Freeze in 100% food grade silicone muffin pans. When frozen, just pop the frozen “muffins” out, and place them in a plastic freezer bag; store in the  freezer for use anytime.

A FEW OF THE MANY WAYS YOU CAN USE THIS CHUTNEY (SAUCE)…

• Use as a condiment to liven up almost everything, including fish, chicken, eggs, or tofu.
• Use as a hot or cold sauce to go with almost everything.
• Mix with ripe avocado to make a lovely dip or spread. I just put some of this Cilantro Sauce-avocado mixture on slices of daikon and it was fabulous. The next time I need to bring an appetizer to someone’s party, this is what I plan to bring – it’s delicious and a great conversation starter too!
• Sauté any vegetable in olive oil and mix some of this sauce in at the end.
• By the way, I just mixed some of this sauce with some sautéed greens. Superb!
• Add to soups — bean soups, chicken soups, vegetable soups, fish soups.
• Add olive oil to make this sauce into a salad dressing!

STOCK – Made with Chicken and Beef Bones and More

I woke up this morning to the wonderful aroma of stock simmering on the stove. It’s been simmering for 14 hours and I intend to let it do so for another 5 or 6 hours. After a total of 19 or 20 hours, great flavor and lots of bone-building minerals and collagen will have leached out of the bones and into the stock.

I’m really obsessed with making stock making these days! It’s so healthy! And it brings me back to the days when my mom made stock in the “deep well” in our gas stove and my grandmother made a clear chicken soup (stock) flavored with dill for every family gathering.

I am excited to share with you my basic bone stock recipe and and a few tips that I have picked up from reading and experimenting these past few weeks.

RECIPE FOR STOCK

• 1 part bones
• 1 part vegetable “formula” (shown below)
• A few additions (shown below)
• Cold filtered tap water to cover contents of pot with 2 inches of water

Note: I use a mixture of bones. In the stock pictured below, I had beef marrow bones, oxtails, chicken backs, and chicken necks. In the future, I would like to add knuckle bones and also chicken feet because they are excellent sources of collagen (which my doctor who is an expert in osteoporosis says is good for bones, though I have not found much literature on this yet). And, if available, I get bones from grass-fed beef and the most humanely raised chickens that have not been given antibiotics or hormones.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1.5 pounds chicken backs and necks, 1.5 pounds beef marrow bones, and 1 pound oxtails.

Beef marrow bone

VEGETABLE FORMULA

2 parts yellow organic onions
Note: I remove and discard the first layer of the brownish onion peel. Then I remove the inner layer(s) of the brownish onion peel and toss those into my stock pot. Next, cut off the two ends of the peeled onion, and then roughly chop the onion.
1 part carrot, sliced
1 part celery (including the flavorful leaves), sliced

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 large onion, 3 medium carrots, 2 stalks celery.

Onion skin goes in too!

ADDITIONS
The amounts of these additional ingredients should be proportional to the quantity of stock you are making.

Bay leaves
Whole black peppercorns
Organic lemon, cut in half with seeds removed. Squeeze the juice into the pot, and toss the remaining lemon halves into the pot. Lemon peel is nutritious and flavorful! If you do not have an organic lemon, you can use apple cider vinegar. Note: The lemon (or vinegar) adds acid which helps leech the calcium and other minerals out of the bones – and does not give a lemony or vinegary flavor – unless you use too much.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 fresh organic lemon (and next time I’ll try 2 lemons), 2 large bay leaves, and 6 whole peppercorns.

Lemon helps to leech minerals from bones!

DIRECTIONS for making stock — could not be easier — all you need is a big pot and patience

• Bring the contents of the pot to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the pot simmer, covered, for about 20 hours.  Note: If you do not want to leave the pot simmering on the stove, you can always put it in the oven. For a discussion on the correct oven temperature for simmering stock, see Chowhound. Or if you prefer, use a slow cooker as they do for this chicken stock recipe.
• When the stock has been simmering for hours and the marrow bones will give up their marrow easily, insert a chopstick or blunt knife into the marrow and let the marrow slide out and into the stock.
• When the cooking time is up, remove the bones, most of which will not have much meat on them anymore. I used a pair of thin tongs to remove the dainty chicken bones, but next time I might just tie the chicken (or at least the chicken necks) up in cheesecloth so I would not have to fish out all those little neck bones.
• Pick the remaining meat off the bones and add it back to the pot, or if you wish, reserve the meat for another use.
• Remove the bay leaves, lemon halves, and onion peel, and discard after you have squeezed the stock out of the lemon halves. (See tip below.)
• In the interest of food safety, cool the stock down as quickly as possible (See “Cool Your Stock” shown below.)
• Refrigerate the stock in glass containers, for no more than 2 or 3 days. For longer storage, freeze.
• Right before you are ready to use the stock, remove the layer of fat on top of the stock. (If stock is frozen, warm it just a little in microwave so you can remove the fat.)

The stock making directions in this post do NOT make a clear stock. If you want a clear stock, you need to modify the directions so that you:
SKIM THE FOAM(scum) that forms at the top of the simmering soup and discard the foam. (I read that contrary to wham a lot of chefs say, the foam doesn’t have an affect on the flavor…and since I can’t find any effect, I don’t skim it off.)
Simmer stock UNCOVERED and add water as needed.
STRAIN OUT all the vegetables and REMOVE the meat.

DIRECTIONS FOR COOLING AND STORING STOCK – be sure to read!
Since stock is a nutrient rich medium (a great place for bacteria to flourish), so it’s important to cool your stock quickly.

COOL YOUR STOCK
For food safety reasons, cool your stock quickly! To do this, I  put empty glass storage bowls into a big pan. Then I add ice cubes to the pan scattering them around the bowls. Next I ladle the hot soup into the bowls. Then, I pour cold water over the ice to make an ice-water bath that the bowls with the soup sit in.  After about 1 minute, I stir the stock. After another minute or two, I stir it again, and let it sit until it’s cool enough to refrigerate or freeze.

And when I make a lot of stock at one time – and I mean a lot (about 10 quarts), putting even warm stock into the refrigerator and freezer, is not that great for the refrigerator or freezer ,and it will temporarily raise the temperature of the refrigerator so it’s a bit higher than the safe temperature (40 degrees F and under). That’s not a great idea. So what to do?

So here’s a nifty trick: Throw a few ice cubes of frozen stock from your freezer into each bowl of your freshly made stock that’s been cooled by the method I’ve just described. And, if you are making stock for the first time, use ice cubes of store-bought chicken or beef broth. This ice cube trick helps bring the stock temperature down even more before you freeze it. Just one word of caution about this ice cube trick… For food safety: Always make your ice cubes out of a fresh batch of your homemade stock or an unopened container of store bought broth!

Cool hot food QUICKLY for food safety!

STORE STOCK IN REFRIGERATOR OR FREEZER
Cover the cooled stock and and refrigerate the stock, for no more than 2 or 3 days.
For longer storage, freeze.

I like to have small portions of stock available for later – to use in cooking or as a base for making a single serving of soup. So I always freeze some of the stock in silicone muffin pans. Details of how I do this are given in the post, Silicone Muffin Pans – A Kitchen Staple – But Not For Baking!

NOTES

• Remove the layer of fat on top of your stock right before you are ready to consume the stock as is or use it in cooking.
• Some people make stock in a slow cooker (crock pot) and others make it in a pressure cooker.

MORE INFORMATION

• Chowhound discussion board:  information about making chicken stock ,  making chicken broth from bones ,and beef bones used for stock.
• International variations on chicken stock recipes: whats4eats.
• Tips on making chicken stock, see About.com.
• Chicken feet – for making stock that’s full of gelatin and extra delicious. Here’s how to prep chicken feet for your stock pot.
• Beef – recipe based on Michael Ruhlman’s stock recipe as given in his book, Ratio.

WHAT CAN I DO WITH STOCK?
Just about everything! In upcoming posts, I’ll tell you what I’m doing with mine…

BREAKFAST and EXERCISE — good food and bone-building exercise

Chocolate Banana Gelato

Chocolate Banana Gelato with Blueberries

This gelato is made from frozen bananas. You may wonder: Why feature a recipe made from bananas when bananas are not one of the more nutritious fruits? According to the ANDI scoring system of nutrient density, bananas rate a mere 30, while strawberries are 212, and cantaloupe comes in at 100. Why do bananas score so low? Because they’re not chock-full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, or phytochemicals.

In addition, per unit weight, bananas are quite high in sugar, and very respected medical nutrition experts have been waving the red flag against sugar.

But what if bananas came packaged with cocoa – which is rich in antioxidants, proanthocyanidins, and many polyphenols? Then the ANDI scoring system would surly give bananas a much higher score! So…

• Step one: Add cocoa to bananas as we do in this recipe.
• Step two: Enjoy this gelato at the end of a meal – especially at the end of a meal loaded with fiber — not as a snack all by itself (as explained by the medical nutrition experts who caution against sugar, as mentioned above).

CHOCOLATE BANANA GELATO
I absolutely love this desert! And it’s a lot healthier than the square of dark chocolate I used to eat after dinner. After all, compared to even just a small piece of a dark chocolate bar, this Chocolate Banana Gelato is very low in fat and saturated fat. Just take a look at this table to see how cocoa and dark chocolate compare.

Each serving of Chocolate Banana Gelato contains 2 tablespoons of cocoa. A 1-ounce serving of bittersweet chocolate has about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa, if made according to the recipe provided by Joy of Baking. So Chocolate Banana Gelato is a great low-fat way to get the health benefits of cocoa without all the saturated fat that comes with a chocolate bar!

Serves 2

Method 1 – food processor

Ingredients

1 large very ripe banana, peeled, cut into triangular chunks, and frozen (See ingredient note below.)
1/4 cup high quality cocoa (See ingredient note below.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a little freshly grated nutmeg
2 – 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (See ingredient note below.)
Your choice of berries for garnish

Directions
Place the frozen banana chunks, cocoa, vanilla extract, and nutmeg into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Wait a minute or two to let the banana thaw ever so slightly (makes it easier to process the bananas). Then place the almond milk into the feed tube of the food processor and process the mixture until it’s smooth and creamy.

Method 2 – Vitamix (heavy duty blender)

I don’t quite have the quantities down, but you can wing this on your own. Just use about 4 frozen bananas broken into 1-2-inch pieces (they do not have to be pre-cut into triangles). Put the bananas into the Vitamix along with all the other ingredients (in about four times the amounts shown above). Be sure that the almond milk comes up to right over the blades; if not, add more almond milk. If you have to add a disproportionately large amount of almond milk in order to cover the blades, then add about 1/2 of a ripe avocado. That will keep the resulting gelato nice and creamy!

Freeze for later

You can freeze this yummy desert for later, too.  Just freeze in individual serving dishes or in silicone muffin pans. If you are using the muffin pans, then remove the frozen individual servings and store them in a plastic bag for the freezer.  When ready to enjoy, just microwave (set on defrost) to bring the frozen gelato to the right consistency.

Ingredient notes

Banana - cut into triangular pieces

Bananas – For food processor only: Cut the banana into triangular pieces as shown in the photo so that there is more surface area for the blades of the food processor to grab onto, which helps the processor process faster and better.  Also, when you freeze the banana pieces, spread them out on a baking sheet so that they freeze individually, not clumped together. This will make it a lot easier for you to remove just the quantity you want when you are ready to make your gelato.

Note: Click on photo to read details

Penzeys High Fat Cocoa – Be sure to choose a pure cocoa powder – not a cocoa mix that contains sugar and other ingredients! I like Penzeys Natural High Fat Cocoa, even though it has more fat than cocoa not labeled “high fat.” But the Penzeys product is still not high in fat when you compare it to chocolate itself! And this Penzeys Cocoa is also not Dutch processed, which is good because Dutch processing (adding alkalizing agents) destroys some of the antioxidants in the cocoa.

Almond milk – It’s best to use almond milk rather than dairy milk because dairy foods interfere with the absorption of the antioxidants in cocoa.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

How to cook chana dal

General directions for cooking chana dal
- just plain chana dal to use in recipes that call for cooked chana dal

This recipe is for 3 cups of uncooked (about 8 cups of cooked) chana dal. I like to make a lot of chana dal at one time and freeze what I don’t use right away.

Ingredients
3 cups uncooked chana dal
cold tap water (for rinsing)
6 cups cold tap water (for cooking)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bircarbonate)

Step I: Inspect and pick over chana dal
Inspect the chana dal for foreign matter. Discard foreign matter and grey shriveled-looking chana dal, if any.

Step II: Rinse chana dal
Place the chana dal into a strainer (or small collander) and place the strainer into a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold tap water and, using your hands, mix the dal around; discard the rinse water. Repeat this rinsing process 3 or 4 times until the water runs almost clear. Discard the final rinse water out of the bowl.

Rinsed and drained chana dal – ready for cooking

Step III: Soak chana dal
Place the strainer with the rinsed chana dal back into the empty bowl and add cold tap water to cover the chana dal with 2 – 3 inches of water. Let the chana dal soak at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.  Then remove the strainer with the dal from the water in which it was soaking. Discard the water.

Step IV: Add water, baking soda and cook
Place the chana dal that has been soaked and drained into a large pot, and add 6 cups of cold tap water to the pot. Add the baking soda and mix it around with a large spoon.

Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat down to gentle boil (almost a simmer). Gently boil for 10-12 minutes, uncovered, or until the chana dal is cooked through but not mushy.  Note: While cooking the chana dal and water mixture will froth quite a bit, but that’s OK.

Chana dal cooking – lots of froth at first

Chana dal cooking – less froth later

Yeild: About 8 cups cooked chana dal and some liquid you can use in cooking or making soups.

Storage: Store your cooked chana dal in your refrigerator or in freezer.

Why baking soda?
Adding some baking soda when cooking beans or dal (split beans) is traditional in many South Asian recipes. It helps soften the bean/dal in less time than it would take without the baking soda. In my experience, the baking soda cuts the cooking time in half. Also adding baking soda, makes the resulting food more alkaline-producing and there is scientific evidence that this is good for bones.  I am NOT saying that you should start ingesting baking soda to help prevent osteoporosis! But it you are interested to learn more about an alkaline- vs. acid- producing diet and its effect on bones, see:  Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Starting on page 349 of this American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article, you will find a short discussion of the health implications of an acid- vs. alkaline-producing diet.

A recipe for chana dal: Mark Bittman of the New York Times offers this recipe for chana dal.  I would make this recipe by first soaking the chana as mentioned above. Soaked chana  will take less time to cook than chana that’s not soaked, so you will want to adjust the cooking time. Also, you can always add a little baking soda to Bittman’s recipe if you like. And I would use olive oil instead of the oils he has suggested.

Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni

Lebanese-Style Lentil Soup with Kale and Spinach

The calendar says fall and the abundance of summer veggies has tapered off…so it’s time to start making hearty soups again! Yesterday my husband and I had lunch at the Lebanese Taverna where they serve a wonderful Lentil Soup (Shorba Addas) that’s rich in greens (spinach?) and spiced with lemon, garlic, and cilantro. With this soup on my brain today, I picked out a Food and Wine recipe to make a lentil soup like the Lebanese Taverna’s.

But instead of making the recipe as shown, I made the soup using Monamifood Garlic Flavors Cubes, Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes, and Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes – which meant I didn’t have to run to the store for any ingredients; just open my freezer! It made it easier and faster to whip up this soup for a Sunday lunch…and, if you ask me, it made this wonderful soup even more delicious than it was when I made it by following the Food and Wine recipe!

This recipe makes a LOT of soup, so you will have plenty left over to give to friends or freeze – or both!

Ingredients

2 cups small green lentils, picked over and rinsed

* Small (really tiny) green lentils are available in our Whole Foods store in the bulk section. But this variety of lentils is not essential. I have used brown lentils before, with good results.

16 cups water (yes, 16 cups!)

3 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Organic Chicken Base (or Vegetarian No Chicken Base)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 very large onions, diced

2 pinches of crushed red pepper

4 Monamifood Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

4 Monamifood Cilantro Sauce flavor cubes

1 Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cube

1 bunch organic kale (curly variety), stemmed and torn into small pieces

2/3 of a 16-0uncd bag of frozen chopped organic spinach

Directions

In a large stockpot, place the lentils, water, and Better Than Bouillon Chicken (or No Chicken) Base. Partially cover and cook over medium heat until the lentils are barely tender – about 25 minutes. (Do not over cook the lentils or they will split and the soup will be grainy!)

Note: Unless you have two, large (11-inch diameter), non-stick saute/frying pans, you will need to saute the onions in two batches. If you were to put all the onions in one pan, they would steam rather than saute.

While the lentils are cooking, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, add half of the diced onions and one pinch of the crushed red pepper; saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to get lightly browned. Remove the onions from the pan and set them aside.

Cook the remaining onions with a pinch of crushed red pepper in the same 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the second batch of onions start to get lightly browned, add these onions — and also the reserved onions — to the pot with the lentils. Stir to mix.

Continue to cook the soup over medium heat. Add the cubes (Garlic, Cilantro Sauce, and Citrus) and stir the soup while the cubes melt. Taste and add a little more Better Than Bouillon Base, if desired.

Add the chopped fresh kale and cook for about 3 minutes. It will soften and turn a lovely deep green color. Then add the frozen spinach and simmer for another minute or two.

Individually season the soup at the table

Individually season the soup at the table! Just pass a small pouring container (creamer, perhaps) containing a few defrosted Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes and a small bowl with a few defrosted Monamifood Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Roasted Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

Roasted Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

I went to the farmer’s market and came home with about 20 pounds of tomatoes – all seconds. What a delight to have so many beautiful tomatoes of all sizes, colors, and stripes! And what fun to take the afternoon to turn these beauties into a delicious soup!

With just a few simple and healthy ingredients, this wonderful and healthy soup is easy to make. It just takes time.

To find out more about how tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and oregano help to prevent cancer, see these earlier posts:

• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Thyme and oregano

Ingredients

about 20 pounds fresh tomatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

12 Monamifood Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

Fresh thyme

Fresh oregano

Freshly ground black pepper and a little salt, to taste

A few extras, if desired:

• A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• A few tender tips of fresh thyme
• A squeeze of fresh lemon – very nice, especially in cold soup!

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes for cooking:

• Large size tomatoes – Using a sharp serrated edge knife (cooking gear recommendation at end of this post), remove the spoiled sections of each tomato. Cut each tomato in half (through the widest midpoint; not thru the stem). Separate the large tomato halves that feel soft from those that feel hard.

• Small and medium size tomatoes – Using a sharp serrated edge knife, remove the spoiled sections from each tomato.  This will result in odd shaped pieces. That’s perfectly OK.

Take two, full-size baking sheet pans (with lips on all 4 sides) and line each one with a silicone baking mat, such as such as a Silpat mat. (See cooking gear recommendation at end of this post.) If you do not have a silicone baking mat, that’s OK, you can use parchment paper or just use  a silicone pastry brush and brush the baking sheet with olive oil before you place the tomatoes on it.

As your oven and the number of baking pans you have permits, fill each silicone lined baking pan with either:

• Large and hard tomato halves, face down

• Large and soft tomato halves face up

• Small and medium size tomatoes so that as much of the cut sides of tomatoes are exposed as possible

Notes:

• When tomatoes are placed cut side down, they roast AND steam at the same time, which helps large and hard tomatoes cook faster. When placed face up, the tomatoes just roast, which probably gives a slightly better flavor, but I decided to opt for faster cooking which also takes less energy.
• If you need to reuse the same pan to roast a second batch of tomatoes, be sure to wipe the surface of the baking sheet and the silicone mat with a paper towel to remove the burnt, or soon-to-burnt, bits that will end up tarnishing the taste of the soup.

Generously grease all of the exposed surfaces of the tomatoes with olive oil. (I just poured about a tablespoon of olive oil — per baking sheet — into the palm of my hand and rubbed the exposed surfaces.)

Start preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.  (Note: No need to waste energy waiting for the oven to preheat; just pop your baking sheets into the oven as soon as they’re ready to go.)

• Place the baking pan with the large tomato halves on the top rung of the oven.
• Place the baking pan with the small and medium tomatoes on the shelf that’s two rungs below the top rung.

Here is the timing that worked for me:

• Hard tomato halves, face down on the top rung of the oven — about 60 minutes or until they looked like this:

• Soft tomato halves, face up on the top rung of the oven — about 40 minutes or until they looked like this:

• Small and medium size pieces of tomatoes when cooked at the same time as the large tomatoes — about 40 minutes, but they were on the third rung of the oven, underneath a pan with the large tomatoes.

When the roasted tomatoes have cooled down enough to handle, use your fingers to slip off the peels; discard the peels. As needed, use a sharp serrated edge knife to cut off the hard stem ends and cut the large tomato halves into a few smaller pieces. Discard the stem ends.

Place the cooked, peeled, and stem end-removed tomatoes into a large non-aluminum pot. (Aluminum reacts with tomatoes.)  Pour the juices from the baking pans into the pot.

Here’s what my 20 pounds of tomatoes cooked down to!

Using an immersion blender (cooking gear recommendation at end of this post) chop/blend the tomato pieces so that you get a smooth yet chunky mixture. Heat the mixture over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until steam starts to rise from the pot. During this time, stir the pot occasionally with a sturdy silicone spatula and scrape the bottom of the pot so as to prevent burning. When the steam starts to rise from the pot, turn off the heat. (Cooking briefly helps preserve the fresh taste of this soup.)

Add 12 Roasted Garlic Flavor Cubes (mine were made in a silicone mini-muffin pan and were only ½ inch high) to the pot and then stir to dissolve and mix the roasted garlic into the soup.  Using a pair of sharp kitchen shears, cut the fresh herbs finely and let them fall directly into the soup. Stir to mix.

Note: I don’t think you have to measure the herbs, just use as much as you like. This photo will give you an idea of how much I used:

Fresh tender thyme and oregano on saucers

I did not cook the soup any more at this point. I just cover the pot and let the herbs meld into the soup for about 15 minutes.

Soups on! (Thanks to Ricky Dahne for the beautiful bowl)

• To serve hot, heat and serve as is or mixed with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice. with a little olive oil drizzled over each serving and a few tender tips of fresh thyme for garnish.

• To serve cold, refrigerate the soup in small glass bowls (so it can cool down quickly) and then, if you like, mix in some fresh squeezed lemon juice. Serve garnished with olive oil and fresh thyme, if desired.
• This soup freezes well.

Cooking gear

Note: I do not have a relationship with any of the companies whose products I mention on this blog. I simply want you to know about my favorite cooking and food related products are so that you can have a more successful cooking experience.

• My favorite serrated edge knife that’s great for tomatoes and other soft fruits and veggies with skins is Ergo Chef’s “Knuckle Sandwich 5 ½ inch utility knife – ‘Draggon Dagger’ with Fork on Tip”.  I had a hard time overcoming the look of this knife, but it works so well…that I forget what it looks like! Some of you may even like its looks! If you decide to buy it, talk with the folks on the phone first; they’re very helpful. Have them explain to you how to hold the knife. Grasping a knife the right way, makes a  big difference.
• Silicone baking mat, such as such as a Silpat mat.
• Immersion blender: Phillips 4 Speed Hand-Held Blender . Only the metal parts of this immersion blender touch the food.

A few other notes….

• If you would love to make this soup — or another healthy soup like this one — but you just do not have the time…you can buy great freshly made, seasonal, salt-free, soups (made with as many organic or pesticide free foods as possible) from 100 Bowls of Soup which are carried at the Organic Butcher of McLean in McLean, Virginia. Also, when the farmer’s markets in Northern Virginia are open, you may find Katharine Mardirosian, the mom who started 100 Bowls of Soup, offering tastes of her delicious high-quality soups at the markets, including the one in Reston, VA.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Instant, Healthy, and Delicious Lunch

I threw this lunch together at midnight last night because I needed to have SOMETHING to eat the next day at work. It looked so pretty I took a picture of it (above).  I wasn’t so sure I’d like it, but it turned out to be DELICIOUS. The only thing I would do differently next time is include two – not just one – frozen frozen mango ‘cube’.

I really loved the mixture of quinoa, wheat berries, and mango — which I just mixed together with my fork after the meal had been heated. This contrasted nicely with the smoky-salty bean soup.  And then the kale mixed with the cilantro sauce, was another delicious and interesting flavor.

So if you are looking for a light and healthy – and easy to throw together lunch – try this one yourself!

Ingredients

1 pre-frozen portion of Whole Foods Black Bean Soup

1 pre-frozen flavor Cilantro Chutney

1 pre-frozen cube of pureed champagne mango ( Just puree peeled and seeded mango in blender, freeze puree in  silicone mini muffin pan, and once frozen store in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer – just like you may already do for all your ‘flavor cubes.’)

1 portion of cooked quinoa

1 portion of cooked wheat berries

For details on how to cook wheat berries without soaking them overnight, see Eating Well.

1 portion of lightly steamed kale leaves (stems removed)

Note: Kale is a member of the cruciferous family so it has all the benefits that cabbage has!

Directions

To make this lunch, I just assembled these items. That’s it! It’s that easy!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Check It Out! Tap your natural defenses to fight cancer…

You can now listen to Dr. David Servan-Schreiber’s talk, Natural Defenses in Preventing and Treating Cancer, through a link to the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine site (which offers a number of other worthwhile talks, too) or through the You Tube site (which gives you more control if you need to stop and re-start or back up and re-listen).

Even if you have heard some of Dr. Servan-Schreiber’s other talks, as mentioned in previous Monamifood “Check It Out” blog entries, it’s worth listening to this one because it has new information and also presents some of the familiar information in a new way. I think listening to Dr. Servan-Schreiber’s presentation may help you, as it did me, stay motivated to eat healthier and exercise  more.

In fact, while listening to this program, I heard Dr. Servan-Schreiber talk about how scientists have documented that a couple drops of extracts from anti-cancer veggies helped the rats’ bodies defend themselves a lot better against cancer! Amazing! Convincing! And since I had some left-over baby Brussels sprouts in the refrigerator, I grabbed a few to munch on — right then and there! Yum!

The baby Brussels sprouts I had on hand were the 365 Brand Petite Baby Brussels Sprouts from the freezer section in Whole Foods. Now I plan to stock up on these little gems; heat them up in the microwave and store them in the refrigerator for quick and healthy and delicious snacking!

Enjoy and be healthy!

Leni

Mulberry Dressing for Salad

It’s mulberry season in my little corner of our world. Mulberries – like grapes and red wine – contain resveratrol, a polyphenol that “…can also slow the three stages of cancer development—initiation, promotion, and progression—by blocking the action of NF-kappa B.” [page 119-120, Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, David, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, 2009 edition]

My mulberries were not very sweet or juicy, so I make them into a salad dressing — which turned out great.

Mulberry Dressing for Salad

Ingredients

1 cup fresh, ripe, black mulberries (thoroughly washed and drained)

juice of ½ orange

1 tablepoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until nicely pureed.

Pour over mixed fruit or lettuce greens.

Freeze the dressing for later

 

freezing the salad dressing to use it later

 

With five cups of mulberries, I ended up with far more salad dressing than we could use at one time…so I poured the dressing into the muffin cups of my silicone muffin pan, placed the filled muffin pan in the freezer, and then I popped the frozen salad dressing mini muffins into a plastic bag for the freezer. Now I have mulberry salad dressing to defrost and use anytime!

Freeze the mulberries for later

• Wash the mulberries and let them drain
• Lay the mulberries out in one layer on a cookie sheet (or in pie pans)
• Place the sheet/pans in the freezer
• When the berries are frozen place them into plastic bags for the freezer.

A word of caution

Regarding red wine, a source of resveratrol — just like mulberries, Dr. Servan-Scheiber warns: “Because resveratrol also acts as an antiangiogenic, like thalidomide it can interfere with fetal development. This is one more reason to avoid alcohol (even red wine) during pregnancy.”[Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, David, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, 2009 Edition]

And…in general, always remember to consume a wide variety of healthy foods — not a lot of any one food.

More information

This is the article from the Journal of Nutrition where I learned that mulberries contain resveratrol.

Here’s a video with some good how-to suggestions for harvesting mulberries.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni