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28 Feb Anatomy of a Monster…

Something weird happens to me in late winter and continues into spring. When I’m cold and just want to bundle up in thick sweaters and eat pots full of stews and soups, I also start craving – I mean craaaaaving - green smoothies. They’re cold and raw – not very winter-friendly qualities – and I want them more than anything else in the world for breakfast.

Let’s be clear, I’m talking about green smoothies. Not your typical yogurt and fruit milkshake from Jamba Juice. Also known as Green Monsters, these babies are loaded with dark leafy greens. Yes, that’s right: kale, spinach, chard, wheat grass, even seaweed. Why in the world would someone do that? Well, I’m glad you asked!

They’re deeelicious!
They’re packed with vitamins, minerals aaaaaaand… chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is an antioxidant, has anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties, repairs tissue damage and neutralizes free radicals, helps in delivery of oxygen in the blood and helps our cells assimilate important minerals.
Depending on what you add in, they’re also a good source of protein, healthy fats and anti-inflammatory and blood sugar stabilizing supplements.
From my personal experience, and what I hear from other folks who rave about, they’ll make your skin glow, your immune system hum and give your energy a boost.
For most people they’re super easy to digest. With everything blended up, digestive juices in your stomach can more efficiently break down nutrients for assimilation. This also makes them a great pre or post-workout meal.
They’re easy if you’re in a hurry, on the go, living in the fast lane – in other words if you don’t have a lot of time to cook breakfasts or prepare snacks, they’re fast to make and portable.

When it comes to introducing new, healthier foods, I don’t employ a lot of “tough love,” but… for everyone who is “eww”ing at the green goodness pictured above, I only have one thing to say: get over it. Yes, it’s green (so is a Shamrock Shake). You can do a million things to make it taste amazing and/or not like greens at all. So, don’t be scared off by the beautiful, brilliant color of healing chlorophyll. Stop whining, hitch up your big-boy or big-girl pants, grab your blender and prepare to feel great!

Okay, now that thaaaat’s out of the way, let’s get to brass tacks!

Green smoothies have a very simple formula, portions to be adjusted according to taste:

greens (fresh, frozen or powdered)
supplements, as desired (e.g. herbs, spices, raw cacao powder, amino acid powder, etc.)
a touch of protein (nuts/nut butters, peanut flour, seeds or protein powder, e.g. hemp, whey, egg, soy, etc.)
fruit (provides great vitamins and a sweet contrast to the green goodness) or other vegetables (canned pumpkin or butternut squash are popular)
liquid (water, fruit or vegetable juice, or soy, almond or coconut milk work well, too – don’t be afraid to experiment to make things more interesting)

The first important trick I’ve learned is that layering helps. I usually follow the order of the bullets above, which helps minimize powder puffs all over the blender.

The second important trick is to blend, blend, blend.

At first, I was shy – it’s just so loud, all that grinding and whirling – and would stop blending too soon. But I got over it. Now, I sometimes stop it after 7-10 seconds to scrape down the sides if any powder or large bits of fruit or greens are sticking out of reach of the swirling mass below. But then I let ‘er rip again and keep going until it’s smoooooooooooth. You don’t need a Vitamix, just some patience.

There are approximately 1 trillion permutations of green smoothies (recipes here). It’s totally up to you and your creativity. This is the combo I’ve been rocking for the past few weeks:

1 C frozen spinach
handful chopped apple (probably ~ 1/2 medium apple)
1 small clementine (“cutie”)
1 large spoonful (1 1/2-2 T) peanut butter
~1T chia seeds (good protein, fiber, Omega-3 source)
~1 t cinnamon (good for blood sugar stabilization)
~1/2-1 t turmeric (anti-inflammatory)
small coin of fresh ginger (good for digestion)
1- 1 1/2 C water

This makes about 16oz, enough for me to fill an empty almond butter jar – which makes for easy transport. It’s also enough to fill me up for a lighter breakfast or a pre-(long)workout meal.

When I want to shake things up, I’ll make my smoothie on the thicker side (less liquid), toss on a handful of chopped walnuts and/or cacao nibs, and eat with a spoon.

Once you get going, you can experiment in all kinds of directions – feeling nostalgic for fall, how about a pumpkin pie green monster? – until you find the basics and combos that you love (e.g. bananas instead of apples, almond butter instead of protein powder, a dash of nutmeg to give it an extra kick, etc.). And then, heaven is only a slurp away.

Already a monster lover? What’s your favorite recipe?

23 Feb As American as Apple Galette…

To celebrate a very important birthday on Monday (sorry George and Abe, it was for a different founding father, my founding father, Bob), I took this blurry fuji apple and turned it into a gluten-free apple blueberry galette.

So far in my gluten-free baking explorations, I’ve tried two different brands of all purpose gluten-free baking mixes: Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour and Pamela’s Baking Mix. Sorry Bob of the Red Mill, but I like Pamela’s better. I find Bob’s a little gummy and, while the final products turn out okay, the batter for cookies, brownies, etc just doesn’t taste good (what’s the point of baking if you don’t want to lick the beaters??). Pamela’s on the other hand… yum, beaters and all.

I’m working up to making my own mix and cooking with alternative flours (loving almond flour and coconut flour, trying some bean flours, too), but this dessert was decided on the fly and in a grocery store far away from my pantry, so to a mix I turned once again, straight to Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix and Flour Blend (it’s good for breads and pie crusts – bingo!).

Apple Blueberry Birthday Galette

Galette crust:

1 package Pamela’s (minus the yeast packet) or use your favorite gluten-full recipe

Galette filling:

one large fuji apple
large handful blueberries
1 lemon, zest and 1T juice
pinch salt
1/2-1t cinnamon (to taste)
1-2t butter (leave out to make vegan)

Instructions:

1. Make crust dough. Either follow Pamela’s package instructions, or instructions for your favorite pie crust recipe. Before you add water and start to work the flours into a ball of dough, zest half of a lemon into the mixture. I’m always afraid (mostly because of the dire warnings I read) to add too much water to the dough. As a result, I error on the dry side and my final product can be a little more crumbly than flaky. I think I finally learned my lesson this time: don’t be afraid to add enough water to make a nice ball of dough.

2. Chill for 30 minutes and get cracking on the filling. First, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Core and thinly slice apple. (You can peel if you want, but I don’t think it’s necessary.)

4. Place apple slices in bowl with blueberries, other half of lemon zest, 1T lemon juice, cinnamon and pinch of salt. Stir with a large spoon to incorporate ingredient and thoroughly coat apple slices.

5. Chill until dough is ready.

6. When dough is ready, take half (wrap up and freeze other half) and roll out between two sheets of parchment paper to approximately 1/8 inch or a little tiny bit more. The beauty of making a galette vs a pie is the liberty you can take in your base shape. Clearly from the pictures, I wasn’t too concerned with being perfectly (or at all) circular. The imperfections will either be hidden by the pleating or add a charming “rustic” quality to the dessert – I love that! You want it large enough to be able to arrange your apple slices in a pretty, medium-tight spiral with enough of an edging of dough to fold and pleat (~1-1 1/2 inches).

7. Transfer galette base (keeping it on the bottom piece of parchment paper) to a cookie sheet.

8. Arrange apple slices in design of choice – you can spiral it like I did (two layers of spiral) or just plop them in the middle – add blueberries.

9. Fold edges of base in a pleat (as loose or as tight and uniform as you like). You want the center of the filling exposed, but you don’t want the juices of the cooked fruit to ooze out of the bottom. (My less than circular base had me doing little patch jobs, which was fine with me – rustic, remember – but did cause a little juice oozing.)

10. Add a dollup or two (1/2 t each) of butter to top of apples.

11. Bake for 20 mins. Check to make sure no edges (apple or crust) are burning and test tenderness of apples. Cover with foil to protect if anything is starting to look too crispy. Bake for another 15-20 mins (will probably depend a lot on your oven). Keep an eye on it. It’s done with crust is golden and fruit is soft.

12. Remove, cool until you can’t stand it anymore, EAT IT. Whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream… all lovely toppers.

Bob was pretty stoked (well, as “stoked” as he gets) with his founding father birthday galette. I wish I had brought a piece back home with me!

18 Jan Cold Killer…

This is how I know that deep down I’m an optimist at heart: when I meet someone at a party who has lost his voice from a cold he caught from his 7-month-old son, I don’t immediately think, “Danger! Danger! Move away from the potentially contagious person.” Nope, I think, “Bummer… but cute hat… gosh, I wish I could understand what he’s saying….” So, it’s my own fault that last weekend, after meeting this person, I woke up two days later with a screaming sore throat, stuffy nose and no energy, a.k.a. a cold. Not in the mood to get sick, I looked around my kitchen and tossed together something that I thought would be better than Nyquil: Cold-Killer Beet Greens.

Dark leafy greens are packed with vitamins and minerals crucial to a strong immune system. Raw garlic is credited with antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, plus it’s a good source of vitamin C and B6, as well as a host of minerals. Olive oil, of course, is a healthier fat and good source of omega 3 fatty acids. And, that’s basically the magic potion. One dinner of this delightful dish halted the cold’s progress; after two dinners of this, cold was successfully beat back (beet back?) and victory was mine!

Obligatory disclaimer: Obviously, I can’t guarantee this will cure all ills, I just know that this infusion of nutritional power helped me. Staying healthy during cold and flu season means staying hydrated and moving your body to flush out toxins and pathogens, as well as taking advantage of the season’s nutrient-dense bounty (dark leafies, vibrant orange winter squashes, citrus, etc) to keep your nutrient stores stocked and ready to protect, fight and heal. So… sick or not, these garlicky greens are a good idea. Plus, they’re really tasty.

Cold-Killer Beet Greens

1 bunch beet greens
olive oil
1-3 medium cloves garlic, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
red chili flakes, optional
Bragg’s amino acid or tamari, optional

1. Clean beet greens thoroughly (they’re usually pretty dirty) by cutting off stems and soaking leaves in a large bowl of water.
2. Lift out of water (pouring into a colander means the dirt gets dumped back on the greens), pat dry and chop (I prefer making a stack, running my knife vertically across the stack to make ribbons and then giving it one or two horizontal chops).
3. Heat a large pan, medium-high. Make sure pan is hot before adding up to 1 T of olive oil. Swirl pan so oil coats it evenly.
4. Let oil heat for several seconds before adding the greens. They should sizzle when they hit.
5. Give greens a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper or red chili flakes, if you’re so inclined. Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or toss with tongs to make sure greens are cooking evenly.
6. Meanwhile peel garlic. The amount of garlic is really up to you – how much raw spice you want and who you’re talking to or kissing afterward.
7. When greens have wilted and deepened in color, turn off heat and, using a garlic press preferably, add garlic. Stir to incorporate.
8. Serve as is or add a dash or two of Bragg’s or tamari. I love this with or without the Bragg’s.

(Sorry, the picture came out a little steamy and dull, which I’m blaming on night-time lighting. They’re really quite a beautiful, vibrant green.) One bunch of beet greens is just enough for me… so adjust as necessary depending on how many cold fighters you’re feeding. I like eating these topped with a poached egg, with a scoop of quinoa or some roasted squash.