Breakfast

Breakfasts are a big deal around here. We never have cereal, well, occasionally a warm bowl of oatmeal, or muesli or granola over yogurt. But normally it's eggs (organic and free range, and preferably pastured) every which way and sometimes pancakes or muffins and normally a smoothie and yes, a salad.

This morning it was a plain ricotta & sour cream frittata. I usually use the frittata as a conduit to adding veggies, left overs and fresh, but today we did the salad on the side. The sour cream added a creaminess and ricotta just lightens up a frittata beautifully so I try to keep some grass-fed ricotta stashed in the fridge.

• 8 eggs
• 1 package ricotta
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

that was it - simple, easy and really tasty. Mix it all together. Heat butter slowly on medium stove. Pour into a pan warmed on the stove once the butter bubbles a bit. Transfer to a preheated oven at 375F for about 30 minutes until it's puffy and golden.

It will fall so make sure to present right out of the oven so you get the ooohs and aaahhhs.

We served it with some greens and a salad of tomatoes, avocados, parsley, sea salt, and a squeeze of lemon.

We usually nosh on the frittata throughout the morning since it can be eaten warm or at room temp.

I had lots of yogurt I needed to use so I made a quick easy smoothie:

• 1/2 bag of frozen strawberries
• 32oz container plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons of honey or agave
• 1 ripe banana

Blend, serve, enjoy.

I add chia seeds to morning smoothies. Chia seeds are high in omega 3s and fiber, very important for good health. I add them every morning to the kid's smoothies. They come whole or ground. I use the ground in the smoothies because the kids don't like the texture of the whole in a drink. They get jelly-like when combined with liquid so you can actually store it in the fridge in water (9 cups water to 1 cup chia seeds) and use that slurry for baking and smoothies. You can easily add chia seeds or the gelatanous liquid mixed with chias to smoothies, yogurt, baked goods, and cereal or granola.

Since I had a lot of yogurt on hand and since the kids asked for muffins, I decided to try some banana yogurt muffins.

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup succanat
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks

Mix wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients on top and mix. Add chopped bananas and mix gently. Spoon into well buttered tins (the bananas will get sticky!) and cook for 30 minutes until they are done in the center.

The bananas get ooey gooey and fall to the middle and bottom so I served them upside down. I bet it would have been prettier with some powdered sugar on top. Everyone loved them.

All in all our breakfast doesn't take that long to make but we do sit around the table together and gab and take our time enjoying it. It's a whole lot better than something out of a cardboard box and I know they are full of stuff that will keep them going strong all morning. A good breakfast is the best start to a productive day.

Mango Salsa & Wild White Pacific Salmon

This week's share from our buying club offered a bounty for Cinco de Mayo fun. I chopped up Avocados, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Scallions, a ripe Mango from the week before, and Tomatoes into this incredible salsa. A squeeze of fresh Lime juice and a shake of Alea Hawaiin Sea Salt and it was unbelievably fresh and tasty with a bite that kept us going back for more.

• 1 avocado, cut into chunks
  
• 1 handful of cilantro chopped
• 1 mango, cut into chunks
• 2 good size roma tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 1/4 - 1/2 jalapeno, seeds, ribs and all because we like the heat, chopped very tiny
• 1-2 scallions chopped
• all the fresh juice of 1 lime
  

I used it to top Mahi-Mahi and Wild White Pacific Salmon which topped a green salad and Sweet Potato Hash made up of Chopped Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Red Bell Peppers from a couple weeks ago (a little wrinkly by now), an Onion, and some Jalapeno diced small.

• 2 medium sized Sweet Potatoes, chopped, grated or sliced in thin strips
• 1/4 - 1/2 Red Pepper, chopped
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1/4 Jalapeno, diced thin
• 1-2 Garlic cloves, chopped
  

Heat pan, add olive oil. Add sweet potatoes and cover. You'll want to turn it every couple minutes so the bottoms don't burn. When almost tender add onions, garlic, red bell pepper, jalapeno, and saute until onions are translucent and potatoes are done and getting brown. We have topped this with eggs for brunch last week and today topped the hash on one side and salad on the other with white wild pacific fish.

White salmon is a rare and delectable treat. It has a firm flesh and the flavor of Ivory or White salmon is more delicate than the Red Salmon. It is comparable to regular king salmon in omega 3s and less of a "fishy" taste from regular pink salmon.

Why White? The color variation is due to genetics. Salmon get their typical red or pink color from carotene in the food they eat (crustaceans such as shrimp and krill), but 1% of the salmon are genetically predisposed with an extra enzyme to process carotene rather than collect it. This can only occur in the wild so you can be assured your salmon is indeed "free range" when you buy Ivory or White Chinook Salmon.

Why Wild and not Farmed? Farmed sounds better, we are protecting the wild fish, right? But it's not that simple. When you hear farmed, think agri-business, think of those huge dairy and cattle farms and chicken pens where they sit on top of one another. Ah, it's getting clearer now.

Yes, the fish are raised in confined areas (cages or nets) in the ocean. "Ocean-raised" is another name for farmed fish so don't be fooled there. The fish do not have room to move and are treated much like conventional livestock on top of one another to maximize profit.

They don't get to use their muscles and really swim as they should. They are in close proximity to one another and therefore, like other animals raised in big agri-business, are prone to sickness. They are infested with sea lice (30,000 times more than normally occurring in the sea!)

If and when they get out, (and they DO get out - some by accident while others are let out on purpose to get rid of a sick population of fish easily) they mingle with the wild fish which in turn gets them sick. They infest the surrounding sea with disease and sea lice.

If they are not sick when they get out, the wreak havoc on the delicate ecosystem - they are super-fish that eat more than the regular wild salmon. The farmed fish are genetically engineered salmon and they are sadly taking over the environment.

Since they are in such close living quarters, like the beef and chickens on big conventional farms, they are routinely fed antibiotics. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org), over 68% of all seafood consumed in the United States is imported, and most of it is industrially produced. Most are farm-raised and have little oversight regarding antibiotic drug use. While the U.S. government has standards that should ban imports with high levels of antibiotics in seafood, there is essentially no enforcement.

Farmed salmon have more antibiotics administered by weight than any other form of livestock. Farmed salmon have significantly higher levels of PCBs, dioxin, and other cancer causing agents over wild salmon.

Farmed fish are fed coloring agents (no doubt petroleum-based) to give them that pinkish blush we are accustomed to seeing, otherwise they'd be a blah unappetizing grey.

Farmed fish are fed pellets and undoubtedly contain GMO and soy in the grind. Those pellets DO NOT get converted by the fish to make the powerful omega 3s for us like the wild salmon's regular food. Farm raised salmon doesn't have as high nutritional value. Omega 3s are an essential fatty acid that are most easily found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna. It can be found to a lesser extent in some seeds and nuts including walnuts, chia & flax seeds, but our bodies don't convert the foods into omega 3s the same way so the best source is fish.

We didn't even discuss flavor, there is absolutely no comparison. I always thought I hated salmon until I had real wild salmon. It is delicious.

Wild is the only sustainable approach to fishing as long as they are not using those nets that pick up everything from the ocean killing innocent fish that are destined for nothing more than to be tossed overboard. I choose Vital Choice brand because they sustainably harvest. Their fish are line caught by hand from the pristine Pacific waters. They explain that only two percent of the Alaskan Salmon are caught by line and all of their fish are line caught. Net fishing damages habitats making more species endangered.

Yes, it's more expensive, it's cheaper to throw in a net and catch some and kill a few other things. But then again, there is a lot more nutritional bang for your buck in a wild salmon so cheap is all relative. Our choice of what to buy and feed our loved ones impacts our lives, our future, and our planet so choose carefully and if you think it's too expensive, just eat less of it. Cheap is not food. Choose food not cheap.

Then there was that article in the NY Times about the farmed fish being sold as wild for more money. You are more likely to have wild salmon if it is frozen, unless you live on the Pacific coast, but here on the East coast, I only eat salmon that is fresh frozen on the boat the same day it is caught - it doesn't get any fresher. It is incumbent upon us as the consumers to choose a source we trust and understand the facts.

Farmed salmon are administered antibiotics, pesticides, synthetic coloring agents, growth hormones and GMOs. Wild Salmon is also much higher in heart and brain healthy Omega 3s and just taste so much better. In my mind, and I hope you agree, WILD fish is the only choice. And of the wild fish available, please learn which are safest (lowest in mercury, flourishing in a healthy habitat, and not over-fished) to make a sustainable choice for your table and our future. Check out the Seafood Selector by the Environmental Defense Fund and Seafood Watch by Monterey Bay Aquarium.

This is part of Food Renegade's FIGHT BACK FRIDAYS where people who are fighting back against the dominate food culture blog about our adventures in real food including:

• updates & stories about our Real Food journey,
• tips,
• recipes,
• anything we think others might find useful, helpful, encouraging, or inspiring.

Eat Your Veggies

Kids will eat their veggies when prepared properly, offered regularly, and abundantly set in a great colorful variety.

Children will go through a fussy phase. Sometimes it starts when they see another child (older sibling, friend, cousin, classmate) give the puke face to a certain food. But other times it seems to just come out of nowhere. This is to be expected. We have to remember that children have a a much finer palate than we do as adults. They have twice as many taste buds (or taste bugs, as we call them in our family) so sour tastes sourer and sweet that much sweeter. When you think about it, this evolution in our bodies makes sense. As children, a new plant that might cause severe stomach cramps in an adult could kill a child.

We're told to introduce them as infants to veggies first so they don't get a taste for sweet first, but that is not really true. After all, their first food, breastmilk, is very sweet. It is supposed to be like that. So don't despair if you offered your child fruits before vegetables as an infant. It's never too late. You can (and I feel must) teach your child good eating habits as early as possible but it is never too late.

Children are instinctively curious. If they see you enjoying something, they will enjoy it too. So the first and best way to get veggies into your child is to enjoy and eat them regularly in front of your child. They learn by example.

Kids will often be more apt to try something that they chose. Have them shop for something in your refrigerator or with you online or in the grocery store or farmer's market. Have them help prepare it with you. "I did it!" can help instill a sense of pride in their food; with rave reviews on their cooking, they may willingly give it go.

Some kids grow out of their finicky phase gracefully, but some may never grow out of it so don't wait for it to just happen. We need to insist that they try new foods and we have to try new foods too. Be patient, extremely patient for your must stubborn child, and absolutely lovingly yet firmly insist they must try it. Be prepared. They will make gagging noises, cry, scream, threaten, even all out puke, oh gosh, I've been through it myself too. Just be calm, and be ready to sit there for a half an hour if need be, until they take a bite. It starts small but eventually they will start eating their vegetables and actually enjoy them! Your patience and persistence will impact their future so take a deep breath and do it now, no matter their age.

The day they ASK for a certain vegetable will be a gracious reward for all those painful hours that you will finally be able to look back upon and laugh.

How to get your kids to eat their veggies:

1. set a good example
2. offer a colorful variety
3. offer vegetables at (virtually) every meal and for snacks
   
4. let your child choose what to try
   
5. cook with your kids
   
6. prepare them deliciously - do not overcook
   
7. put it on their plate, at least one tiny piece to start
8. be patient, insist that they take a bite, you have all night
9. next step is to insist they take at least three bites
10. offer it again at another meal maybe prepared differently. Insist that they try a new food at least ten times before they express their displeasure (this is ten times over weeks or months, not all in one day.)

It may not be easy. It may be close to impossible. I promise, they will not starve. Eventually they will see that you mean business and they will take a bite without any fuss. But they are clever and know how to push your buttons and they will try and avoid it. Stand your ground. You are doing the right thing. Have them try the new vegetable first or after two bites of another food that they like on the plate but don't wait until the end of the meal. Be patient. Be persistent. It is worth this aggravation.

Roasting vegetables is such a simple and delicious way to prepare vegetables.

Here I have some yellow cauliflower and asparagus.

Just put in a pan, don't crowd it, drizzle on olive oil, sprinkle on some sea salt, and roast in a preheated 425F oven until it begins to caramelize and brown and until tender, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes depending upon what you're roasting and how thick it is.

Roasting with oil and salt intensifies the sweet flavors and, as you can see, the colors, of the vegetable.

Any vegetable can be prepared this way: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, leafy greens, really any vegetable, give it a try!

I sometimes sprinkle on some dry spices, like the curry powder I added to the green beans, before tossing it with the olive oil. I think it's important that children try a variety of flavors from spicy to sweet, all within reason of course, and I ask them to try it and give their review (while certain words like gross, disgusting, foul, are off-limits) of that food empowering them in their decision. Yet, they know they will have to try it again one day too. We've talked about how their taste bugs change as they grow up.

Other ways to get veggies into the kids:

• have them available in the fridge: have cleaned carrot and celery sticks in the fridge ready for dipping in a nut butter or ranch dip
• add veggies (even pureed) to breakfast frittatas (we love spinach basil pesto and even my fussiest pickiest worst vegetable eater now loves it! Believe me, I have one and I DO understand. See most post on greens for the recipe.)
• You can add a kale leaf to the breakfast smoothie and they won't even notice. If you add 2 (remove the tough stalk) then it will take on an enticing pale green color.
• Juice with your kids! Kale and Apple are a great combo - have them do a blind taste test at first or use a shot glass to have them gobble it quickly until they realize, hey, this is delicious (because it tastes like sweet apple juice - only it's green! I've even said how they can freak out their friends with their green food the next time they're over.)
• Use veggies to decorate the plate - better yet, have your child do that. Use carrots as legs of animals, make a face with different vegetables.
• Add pureed greens to soups, stews, even baked goods if you want. Add pureed cauliflower to mashed potatoes. Add pureed butternut squash to macaroni and cheese. Make a sauce from pureed veggies. Add pureed veggies to your egg base before making chicken fingers or fish sticks. Add pureed leafy greens to pasta sauce. Casseroles and stews can hide a multitude of healthy veggies. Add tomato paste to ground beef for tacos or meatloaf. Offer a selection of veggies for homemade pizza.
  
• Get some dried veggies and have fun sampling those.
• Kids may actually eat FROZEN peas cold as a fun treat. (btw, frozen grapes are fun too!)
• Top with melted cheese - melted cheese makes everything delicious.
• Add crunchy bits of bacon - everything is better with bacon.
• Cook in a tablespoon of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil.
  
• Teach good nutrition lessons so they know why vegetables are so important. Explain how many we should eat and why. They will eventually hear you and understand it better.
  
• Play like an animal and have fun eating leaves like a giraffe or a baboon and act them out.
• Include fruits and vegetables in their lunch box.
• Eat dinner as a family, have a good selection of fresh vegetables available, set a good example by eating and enjoying your vegetables yourself.

Instilling healthy eating habits that last a lifetime, teaching and setting a good example, the rewards for this patient lesson (even when you're ready to pull your hair out and give up) is the best thing we can do for their good health and future.

This is part of Food Renegade's FIGHT BACK FRIDAYS where people who are fighting back against the dominate food culture blog about our adventures in real food including:

• updates & stories about our Real Food journey,
• tips,
• recipes,
• anything we think others might find useful, helpful, encouraging, or inspiring.

Cauli-Power

My kids love cauliflower! Bet you can't say that. Maybe you can, maybe you understand the smile that starts in your toes and draws to both sides of your face when your child asks for a fruit or a vegetable or something as unhip as cauliflower.

I admit it; I was a cauli-hater. I saw no real redeeming value in that white (so I figured tasted bad AND not high in antioxidants) cabbage-like vegetable. That was until I roasted it one day and the bowl hardly made it to the table as we all tasted and tasted and tasted. That's still our favorite and easiest way to prepare cauliflower. The kids LOVE it. I love it. Even the Husband loves it. I bet the dog would too if he ever got any but we clean the bowl. Now I buy and make two at a time to keep up with our ravenous cauli-tite.

Like Broccoli, Cauliflower is a cruciferous super-vegetable that helps ward off and fight certain cancers. Only cruciferous vegetables are rich in the nutrients isothiocyanates, sulforaphane, and indole-3-carbinol, all linked with reducing the risk of breast, prostate, cervical, lung, and other cancers. Cruciferous vegetables boost the immune system, support cardiovascular health, build bones, fight cardiovascular disease, fight age-related macular degeneration, and help fight against birth defects. We should all make them a part of our healthful delicious diet.

Be on the lookout when YELLOW or ORANGE and PURPLE Cauliflower is available. Broccoflower and Romanesco Cauliflower, that's the one that looks like a lime-colored crown, are also fun and different. We love to try new vegetables and in new ways but hey, when you find something you love, like roasted cauliflower, well we make that all the time.

Roasted Cauliflower Power

Preheat oven to 425F
Chop up the cauliflower into sort of even size pieces so they cook the same
Drizzle on some olive oil and toss it around to coat it. Sprinkle on some sea or grey salt.
Lay on a cookie sheet. Do not crowd it. This is important, if you crowd it, it will steam, not the delicious goodness you are looking for so don't crowd it.
Roast 15-20 minutes, maybe more depending upon the size of your pieces, until it browns and caramelizes at the tips and tops and is tender. (Fork it to be sure, you don't want it tough or chewy, should be tender and soft and delicious!) Enjoy hot out of the oven - I dare you to get it to the table without a massive dent in the bowl.

Will make a cauli-lover out of any cauli-hater, takes one to have known one.












Roasting vegetables this way can actually make any vegetable more delicious as it caramelizes it. You can chop KALE and do the same thing (again, be careful not to crowd it and WATCH IT - don't overcook it - then crunch away like potato chips.) Broccoli is great roasted too. So is sliced cabbage. Remember the secret is not to crowd the pan.

So good. So easy. Roasted veggies are a healthy food my kids love!

Some other things I do to add nutritious foods to our kids bellies:

• Breakfast Smoothies of course - I add flaxseed meal, flax oil, or chia seeds for added omega 3s as well as a healthy amount of fresh and colorful fruits, splash of vanilla, some honey or maple syrup and maybe a dash of cinnamon to milk, yogurt or kefir.
• I add leafy greens to stews, dinners, lunches and our favorite is adding a healthy dose of Spinach to Basil Pesto which I add to everything from brunch Frittatas to Stews to Pizza. Getting more veggies is much easier when you start the day with foods like frittata. See my post on Greens here with that recipe and more ideas.
  
• We have a hot breakfast in the morning, no cold cereal, rarely hot cereal, it's usually eggs. The lutein, antioxidants, protein, are all good to start their day. Some of them like scrambled, others like the yellows good and runny. Of course only organic and preferably pastured and free roaming and not soy-fed.
  
• The kids love grassfed meat and rice and of course I add shredded zucchini and other vegetables, like a stir-fry.
• The kids enjoy (healthful) yogurt as a snack or a meal. They like dipping spelt pretzels into it or fruits. Make sure it is real yogurt, not the ones loaded with sugars, emulsifiers, fillers and rBGH. We like Seven Stars organic biodynamic brand best - the vanilla rocks but we usually get plain and add the maple syrup and vanilla ourselves.
  
• We eat together. We eat our meal not several different meals. We eat together. I had to say that twice because I have seen several friends feed their kids "kid-food" first and then clean up the kids, send them away, and sit down for the adult meal. Kids need to be part of that adult meal. They need to see us taste new foods, even if we don't like it. They need to see us eat our vegetables. They need to be with us and we need to be with them.

I'm not a believer in hiding vegetables in the brownie. If that's your thing, that's cool, it's just not mine. I think that the brownie should be experienced unadulterated and pure, with very little flour and only whole wheat, and succanat, but you will not find spinach puree in my baked goods.

I will, however, hide vegetables in ground beef, meatballs, meatloaf, pesto.

I think kids should see and enjoy the color of vegetables and experience each one at least three times, yes, even under duress and threat of taking away every electronic device that they cannot bear to live without. They won't starve, I promise, well, they may for a couple days if they are as stubborn as one of mine, but hey, it's part of the adventure and eventually they will indeed eat the food you prepare for your family.

For more tips on how my children make good food decisions on their own see: How Has Real Food Changed Our Lives?

This post is part of two Carnivals:

Getting Human is the topic for today at

and

is about Kid-Friendly Real Food - Healthy Food Kids Love! Join the Real Food Wednesday Carnival by heading over to CheeseSlave and Join the Works For Me Wednesday Carnival by going to We Are That Family.

Crispy outside Chewy inside Chocolate cookies and Palm Shortening

Not super healthy but hey, we all want a little chocolate time and again and these are probably the best chocolate cookies we've ever had!

I didn't have butter so I had to search for a cookie that used shortening or substitute it when the recipe called for butter. Though I don't seem to use it that often, I keep the organic Spectrum shortening made from Palm oil on hand for just in case moments.

I based these on a recipe from The Enlightened Cook with only a few modifications. I changed the sugar to brown sugar for the texture and cut back on it a bit, as I always do, but you could try 1 full cup if you like your cookies sweeter.

The cookies came out crispy on the outside outside (if you allow them to set and cool and don't devour them all while hot, which is easy since the batch makes a lot!) and chewy on the inside, they even pull when you tear them in half. For us, they are the perfect cookie with great texture and flavor.

Crispy outside Chewy inside Chocolate cookies:

3/4 cup dark brown sugar or Succanat
1/3 cup spectrum organic palm shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large organic egg
1/3 cup unsweetened Fair Trade cocoa powder
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon non alum baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Add vanilla and cocoa and mix well. Then just dump or gracefully add all the dry ingredients right on top of the wet mix in the order listed. I like whole wheat flour with chocolate recipes, it adds another dimension and more depth of flavor. Mix it all until blended just a minute or two, do not over mix it.

Using a smaller ice cream scooper make cookie rounds on a nonstick cookie sheet. I use a silpat. They will spread, no need to push them down. You will have slightly thicker cookies if you refrigerate the dough first or if the shortening is colder and they are a prettier cookie that way too (see the single above recently made in a new batch) but none less delicious either way.

Bake 9-11 minutes and cool on cookie tray a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or your mouth. Makes 31 cookies. Note: storing in an airtight container will keep the chewy texture but you'll lose the crispy exterior.

About Shortening:
Shortening is solid at room temperature and is traditionally lard or hydrogenated oils like Crisco. Nowadays, most of us don't like the idea of using lard which we know is a saturated fat. Saturated fats have been accused of clogging arteries and leading to cardiovascular disease. We all know that Crisco is full of trans-fats and is not good for us so we need to avoid that fake fat.

Palm oil is naturally solid at room temperature making it a perfect substitute for traditional shortening. Extracted from the palm fruit, organic palm oil shortening is a whipped white/clear shortening with no flavor so it works well for cooking (though unlike butter, adds little flavor) in baked goods, and it has a high melting point so can be used for sauteing and even deep frying. Organic Palm Shortening is non-hydrogenated and trans-fat free. Palm oil is a mixture of monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids and is made up of short- and medium-chain fatty acids where lard is made up of all long-chain fatty acids. It is a source of antioxidants and MCT (medium chain trigylcerides) known to speed up the metabolism.

Palm shortening is prevalent in Europe and would be the most popular oil in the world but for the high soybean use in the U.S. The only real problem with palm oil is in its harvesting. Many companies will plow down forests instead of working the land sustainably. Choose a brand like Spectrum or another that works with nature, is organic, and fosters stronger communities and schools where the palm oil is harvested.

Have some on hand for those just-in-case moments and to use whenever. It has a very long shelf life (even well past the date stamped on there) and is a good pantry item to stock.

"That Sure is Colorful Lettuce, Mommy!"

We are greeted at the grocery store by fresh colorful produce piled high. Apples in pyramids, bananas stacked like a puzzle, and then there are those lovely crisp greens nestled one on the other. If you are like I used to be, you approach slowly, touch them, maybe even pick one up only to shrug not knowing what to do with it. Not anymore! Turns out it's easy to prepare that wide variety of fresh greens. They are versatile and delicious, nutritious and an essential part of good health.

Greens offer a nutritional wallop of high levels of vitamins and minerals including Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, beta-carotene, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, folate, lutein, phytochemicals, cartenoids, and chlorophyll. Greens are naturally high in fiber, low-fat, low-sodium, and low in carbohydrates. Most greens are also considered cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables are rich in nutrients isothiocyanates, sulforaphane, and indole-3-carbinol, all linked to reducing the risk of breast, prostate, cervical, lung, and other cancers. Not only do they work to lower the incidence of cancers, cruciferous vegetables boost our immune system, support cardiovascular health, build bones, fight cardiovascular disease, fight age-related macular degeneration, and help fight against birth defects. If you're looking for a super-pill, greens are the answer!

Most all greens can be simply sauteed in olive oil with garlic and onions. Some people like them spiced up with hot sauce or dried chili peppers or with a little kick from a splash of vinegar. Some greens are bitter but turn sweet as they cook longer. It's very easy to incorporate greens into your regular meals, both raw and cooked. The variety makes it easy to enjoy them in everything from breakfast frittatas and omelets to souffle, stews, salad or quick saute.

Many people discard the stalks but I have found that those can be cooked and used along with the leaves. What I normally do is add the stalks earlier in the cooking process to get them started, add the leafy greens toward the end to keep them vibrant.

Greens tend to be dirty so clean them easily in a sink full of water, just agitate every so often. The dirt will fall down to the bottom. Pat dry before cooking or salad spin dry if using raw to get off the excess water.

Chard is a lovely green, very much like Spinach. Chard, also called Green Chard or Swiss Chard, has green leaves with white stalks. Red Chard, pictured below, has green leaves with red stalks. The color adds antioxidants but they are all Chard, pronounced with a hard CH like choo choo. Rainbow chard pictured at the top has vibrantly colorful stems.

When my then 3 year old saw it he declared, "that sure is colorful lettuce, mommy!" He was right. You can use chard raw or cooked. It is mild so does not need to be cooked a long time like collard greens (Today we're just talking about more mild greens but I'll attack more bitter greens like collards, which are absolutely delicious when cooked low and slow!, another day.)

The stalks of chard can be used much like you'd use celery. They are perfect added to a stir-fry.

Sweet & Salty Chard Saute

1 bunch chard, washed, rolled and sliced into thin ribbons
.25lbs pancetta (optional but it adds a nice salty bite)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chicken broth (or veggie or even water but we like chicken broth)
handful chopped almonds (lightly toasted if you like)
splash of apple cider vinegar

Saute the pancetta until crispy. Remove. Add the onions and saute until caramelized, add garlic. Add the chard, don't worry, it will cook down. Top with stock & raisins and cover. Cook on medium covered for 8 minutes turning every so often to mix it all up together. Uncover and cook a couple more minutes, continuing to turn in pan. Top with chopped almonds. My husband likes a splash of apple cider vinegar too.

Another fave with Chard is Syrian Swiss Chard with Chickpeas by Joan Nathan. We make that every Rosh Hashanah.

Kale is another mild green. It comes in Dino or Lacinato Kale which has a more prehistoric look as well as Curly varieties - both Red and Green. Kale is a good one to juice since it's not bitter or strong and even the kids will like it if you add an apple as that masks the veggie flavor.

Kurly Kale Chips
1 bunch curly kale
olive oil
sea salt

Rip off the leaves and roughly chopping in appealing uneven pieces. Toss with some olive oil and salt and roast at 425F for a 3-5 minutes until crispy but NOT brown. You will probably need to flip them 1/2 way through the cooking. The secret is to keep them in a single layer when cooking so that they will crisp up instead of steam.

Black-eyed Peas, Kale, and Red Pepper

3 pieces bacon (optional)
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper chopped
big bunch of fresh greens like Kale
1 can black eyed peas
1/4 cup chicken (or veggie) stock or water
hot sauce

I made it with bacon but you can certainly leave it out. What I did was cut a couple pieces of bacon into pieces and fry them up. Once crispy, I removed them and set them on a towel to drain and poured off most of the grease. I left enough to saute 1 chopped onion until translucent and then added 2-3 chopped garlic cloves. Let that saute up another minute. Added a whole bunch of chopped Kale (you can add stems first and cover for 2 minutes and then add the leaves but for this dish I discarded the stems because I didn't want that firmer texture with the creamy beans.) Add the diced red pepper (I love the flavor of fresh red pepper so I don't saute that with the onions. The fresh flavor, crisp texture and lovely red color remains if you don't cook it out.)

Add one can of black eyed peas, sea salt, freshly grated black pepper, and 1/4 cup chicken stock (if you omitted the bacon, you can add water or veg stock instead to make it vegetarian) cover and simmer 5-8 minutes. Some people like their greens more wilted but Kale isn't one of those bitter greens so we enjoy it a little fresher. You can cook it longer if you prefer.

Take out everything with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid by cooking another minute or two uncovered. Top with a splash of hot sauce, fresh diced tomatoes, the crunchy bits of bacon and serve over brown rice. This is a meal in itself but you can use it as a side dish.

Spinach is another super veggie and we try to eat it twice each week. Bunches are usually inexpensive but bags of baby spinach can be a super convenient for salads or adding to stews, soups, or a quick saute. If using a bunch, do not chop off all the stems, trim gently at the base as the sweetness is in the stems.

While some juice spinach, we prefer it cooked since cooking breaks down cell walls and allows us to absorb more of it's nutrients. However, there is debate on whether to eat spinach raw or cooked since it contains oxalic acid. Cooking breaks down the oxalic acid into crystals that can limit the absorption of iron so always add some iron-rich foods with spinach. Eaten raw, oxalic acid in spinach cleans our intestinal tract but also binds with calcium and diminishes the absorption of calcium so enjoy calcium-rich foods when eating it fresh.

I make and freeze basil spinach pesto which I then add to stews, soups, and frittatas. I like to keep it in the house fresh and frozen so I have it on hand for all sorts of things including:

Basil Spinach Pesto
This is a good way to get spinach into the kids and husband and they won’t even know it! The spinach adds nutrients and a lovely green color but you won’t even know it’s there. If you don’t use it all in a couple days, freeze it into ice cube trays and then you can take out a cube whenever you need it.

1 bag of (organic) spinach
1 bunch (handful) of basil
Handful of pine nuts (about ¼ cup)
1 – 2 garlic cloves
¼ teaspoon Salt & grinds of Pepper
Lemon Zest (optional) (from one organic lemon)
Olive oil (about a ½ - ¾ cup)
½ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (imported or organic)

Boil a pot of water. Drop the spinach in for a moment then remove and put in ice water. Drain well and dry best you can. (Spinach offers more nutrients when cooked but you can also use raw spinach if you prefer.) In a blender or cuisinart blend the spinach , basil, pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper until ground into a thick paste. With the blender on, stream in olive oil. Stir in cheese by hand. Taste, add more salt if necessary.

This is very versatile and flavorful and perfect to have on hand to make any meal gourmet. Toss with pasta by itself or add chicken and/or veggies. Use as a spread on sandwiches with cheese and deli meats. Use as a pizza topping. Add to soups or stews for an Italian flavor. Mix in cream cheese and use as a dip. Add a little cream or cream cheese or use as is to top meat, fish, veggies, or chicken before or after cooking. Mix with eggs to make a green eggs frittata.

I made green eggs for my son's class when they had Dr. Seuss day with spinach-basil pesto mixed in a frittata. The kids said they were the best eggs they ever had!

Green Eggs Frittata

8 Eggs
¼ cup milk or cream
1 small container Ricotta Cheese (8 or 12oz)
1 handful Parmesan Cheese
¼ cup Spinach Basil Pesto (or more to taste)
¼ teaspoon salt & some grinds of pepper

Preheat oven to 425F. Put pan in oven to heat. Mix all ingredients together.

Remove pan and butter around all sides of pan. Add egg mixture. Cook for 20-30 minutes until slightly golden on top and done in the center. Depending upon your oven, you may need to turn the pan around after half-way through cooking for even rising and browning. This is a soufflé so it will fall therefore serve immediately. Great for breakfast, brunch or lunch served with side salad and toasty garlic bread.

Creamed Spinach is classic and actually simple to make. You can use a roux if you don't have cream to thicken the sauce. So many recipes on the web so I won't add mine here but be sure to add a scrape of fresh nutmeg to your white sauce.

Spinach Souffle is easy, light, and tasty.
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package frozen bag spinach
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare souffle dish with butter and then coat with bread crumbs or some grated parmesan cheese. This allows the souffle to climb up the wall and cling to the side.

Beat egg whites on medium to high with a pinch of cream of tartar if you like, for added insurance.

No need to defrost the spinach, just break it up and put it in the food processor. Pulse until grated.

Make roux - add butter to pan and melt. Add flour and stir. Allow to cook one minute and bubble but not brown. Add milk and stir to make sure no lumps. Once it boils again it will thicken, mix in the shredded cheese. Mix in the frozen grated spinach. Add the 4 egg yolks. The pan should be cool enough now from the frozen spinach to add the egg whites but you can move it all to a bowl instead if you prefer.

Take 1/3 of the egg whites and mix into the spinach mixture to lighten it up some. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites. Bake 33 (don't peek or open the door for at least 30 but check at that point if it maybe needs 5 more minutes.)

Nontraditional Picadillo
1lb grassfed beef
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 to 2/3 cup or so pitted olives stuffed w/almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper diced
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon grey salt or sea salt
black pepper
spinach, frozen or fresh, whole package

Saute onion and garlic. Add ground beef and brown. Add can of tomatoes, tomato paste, raisins, olives, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper, cover and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add fresh spinach and toss in there to wilt it (if you're using frozen spinach put that in with the raisins and then cook uncovered a bit more if too liquidy) and cook 2 more minutes. If you don't have olives with almonds, add olives and then chopped up almonds on top before serving. Serve over rice.

Chicken Spinach Stew
I was kind of sick so I didn't fuss too much and was surprised how delicious and easy this came out so had to share it.

2 packages chicken (we used breast w/bone and thighs w/bones)
1 big red onion diced
2 tablespoons flour (optional as thickener)
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 12oz can stewed tomatoes
1/2 lb carrots
1 package frozen spinach, like 10 oz
water
1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Warm pot, add chicken skin side down until it browns, about 6 minutes. (I normally would have removed the chicken then and added the onions, garlic and stir around a bit to get up the brown pieces. Then add the flour and cook one minute. But I was not feeling well so I just threw it all together in one step and mixed the flour with the water and added that when I added the water.) Then to the chicken, onions and garlic add a can of stewed tomatoes and then fill that can with water twice and add that with diced (or whole baby) carrots, sea salt, pepper, cadamom, and frozen spinach. Simmer 30 minutes until done. Enjoy with rice.

Even better the next day, take all the chicken off the bone and shred it up. Add the rice and warm it all up together. Made me feel all better.
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If you think your child won't touch greens, first, set a good example. Then explain. My 3 year old is on a non-veggie kick, take them off his plate and move them away from him. I showed him that it was all yummy. Took a couple bites in front of him while we actually talked about how healthy vegetables are and how they make you strong all the while making yummy sounds. He finally said, "souwy, mommy, I want to try it." and ate the whole thing, well, until he looked at the spoon and then looked at me and said "I just don't like to see it." so we got a different bite that hid the greens and he asked for more. It takes patience but they will eat their veggies, especially when they are not overcooked and are delicious.

Greens create a classic salad, can be added to sandwiches and wraps, can be used as a wrap instead of bread. You can create pockets using greens, like mixing meats or beans with grains like rice or bulgur and then steam them in the big green leaves or braising them in a tomatoes or stock. When we make soup I always toss in some greens, frozen or fresh, at least a couple handfuls. Greens can be added to omelets and frittatas, mixed with pastas, or pulverized in your food processor to be mixed in meatballs or used as a topping to chicken, beef, fish. Juice fresh greens (we like a bunch of kale, 2- 3 stalks celery and one apple) to supercharge your day

Add Greens, fresh or frozen, raw and cooked. A super-food, they come in a huge variety and can add great texture, color and flavor to your menu while adding lots of nutrients to your life.

Chocolate Brownies

More baking today - we needed chocolate bad and decided brownies would meet our craving. But I didn't want to deal with melting chocolate so I looked for a recipe that used Cocoa Powder instead. I made these courtesy of Alton Brown with some modifications. Love that there was only 1/2 cup of flour in the recipe but I goofed and only put in 1/4 cup. It's almost like a flourless torte. And we made two 8x8 trays with the batter so we doubled the servings or halved the calories for one brownie but they were not very thick. I also cut the sugar considerably by not packing the brown sugar and only using 1/2 cup of Sucanat instead of a full cup of regular white granulated sugar, this cut the calories too and made it a very chocolatey decadent brownie.

Preheat oven to 300F

Beat together with a whisk:

4 organic large Eggs
1 cup of organic Brown Sugar (not tightly packed)
1/2 cup of Sucanat (this compliments the brown sugar nicely)
Beat this together for 5 minutes until it doubles in size and gets lighter in color.

Melt & Mix together:
1 stick of organic Butter
1/2 cup of Coconut Oil
1 cup of fair trade Cocoa Powder (not dutched)

Once that cools add 2 Teaspoons Vanilla.

Slowly stream the melted butter mixture into the egg mixture with the whisk beating at medium/low (you don't want to get chocolate all over the kitchen!)

Just as the the mixture comes together sprinkle into it:
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I actually used salt flakes from the Murray River in New Zealand) and mix briefly to incorporate or simply fold into the batter.

Pour batter into 2 buttered and floured 8x8 baking dishes or better yet, into one 9x13 baking pan. The recipe said to bake for 45 minutes (mine were done in 40 minutes since I had split the batter up) until almost done (toothpick will come out with some parts sticking to it.) The recipe is particular to cool them in the pan completely before cutting or they may fall apart. Of course we couldn't wait and the picture above are just hot out of the oven - they held together fine and were very moist and flavorful.

Since I had split it into 2 pans, I got 18 (9 per pan) decent size brownies. By cutting back on the sugar and putting the batter into two pans, we decreased the calories considerably but still got the chocolate punch.

These are cloud-like chocolate pillows more than fudgey brownies but still very moist and rich; and the chocolate was spot on. The kids loved them and didn't miss the flour or sugar that was cut out.

Carrot Orange Morning Muffins

I try not to use flour or sugar too much in our lives but we make the exception for birthdays and for a breakfast treat once in a while. Today the little one requested muffins but I have been trying to add veggies to our morning routine so after reviewing several recipes I put together a breakfast muffin that was super moist, full of veggies, and very tasty.

You can see how moist these are above and how colorful with the green pumpkin seeds, orange carrot bits and brown juicy raisins. Since they are low in sugar, they'll be a good snack for the kid's lunch box too.

When I was preparing them I tried to keep the carrots a secret (they all say they hate carrots!) but they kept asking about what kind (I told them cinnamon was in them, that wasn't a good enough answer) so I fessed up. Of course they balked when they heard carrots. I got the puke face and delightful noises that go with that, lots of whining and well, I don't need to tell you. They smelled really good so we all agreed, ok maybe I forced them with all the patience in the world - we'll sit here all day, to taste it and surprisingly (to them and to my delight), they all loved them!

preheat oven to 350 F

Mix:
2 large organic Eggs
2/3 cup melted organic Coconut Oil
2 teaspoons Vanilla (I use organic Nielsen Massey)
3/4 cup Sucanat (that's a natural sugar with more flavor - Sugar Cane Natural = SuCaNat)
2 teaspoons Zest from one organic orange or tangerine

Add:
3 cups grated organic Carrots (about 3/4 lb of carrots)
1 cup organic Raisins
1/2 cup organic Pumpkin Seeds
1/2 cup organic Coconut (not the sweetened coconut, just grated natural coconut)
1 shredded organic Apple

After that's all blended together add the dry to the mix:
2 cups whole wheat or wheat pastry organic flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon (a good quality cinnamon makes all the diff)
1/2 teaspoon salt

It will be a thick batter. Scoop with an ice cream scooper so the muffin tins are 3/4 full. Bake 25 (one batch took 23, another 25 - I made 24 muffins) minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

I was tempted to use applesauce in the recipe but didn't have any handy. Next time I may cut the oil but 1/3 and add 1/3 cup applesauce to it instead but these came out so moist and perfect, I may not change it at all.

We sprinkled a little powdered sugar over them and enjoyed them with breakfast.