Comunidad Health Foods

Last night was supposed to be spent making homemade applesauce. Today was supposed to be devoted to baking up a batch of deliciously festive applesauce cinnamon rolls, complete with honey drizzle to ring in the Jewish New Year for the belated family dinner I’m having tonight. But you know what they say about the best laid plans, and instead of doing all of that baking, I find myself pathetically just barely able to cut a chicken breast by myself – much less peel, core and chop 3 pounds of apples, knead the dough, and roll it all up into a irresistibly crafted confection.

You see, I finally got what I had coming to me. I’m not the most attentive in the kitchen. I don’t always curl my fingers under when chopping a carrot, I have a bad habit of using my hands to try to clear out sharp utensils like vegetable peelers and used cans of food, and I definitely don’t spend enough time cutting away from my body. And so, it was only a matter of time before karma came around to see me. On Wednesday I was trying to separate two frozen-together tortillas to make a wrap to take with me to a meeting around lunch time, and I chose a very sharp serrated knife for the job. Unfortunately, halfway through the prying process, my knife decided that it would much rather peel apart my left thumb, so it slipped right through those stinking tortillas and jabbed me smack down the side of my finger.

Four hours and five stitches later, I was asking my roommates to just this once please do the dishes for me, and watching a marathon of Say Yes to the Dress to counter the “trauma” of my first real ER experience. Now, that ridiculous bandage is off, but there’s a smaller one in its place to keep the stitches clean, and I still am having trouble with some fairly mundane tasks. So, it’s probably best that I wait on those beautifully tempting cinnamon buns. Just be sure that next week when I come home for Fall Break, I won’t be able to park my car and get in the kitchen fast enough to get these babies baking. Recipe to come, indeed.

Now, though, I can at least give you a recipe that involves apples. There’s no honey and it isn’t a dessert, so I’m afraid that it isn’t entirely festive, but it is breakfast. And we did just recently wake up and welcome in the Jewish year of 5772 with the first meal of the day. And it could have been this recipe for fried eggs with sweet potato and apple hash. And if it had been, it would have been a mighty fine start to the year. Cooking the egg this way is unbelievably easy, but if you like liquidy yolks, definitely keep the cooking time to a minimum – I thought I did, but in the end I would’ve preferred it even less cooked. The apple:potato ratio is perfect, though I might like the potatoes to be a little bit more cooked if we’re going to get really knit-picky. I mixed some of the leftover potato hash with chicken sausage for lunch the next day, and that was equally fantastic. The colors are vibrant, the meal isn’t greasy or heavy, and it’s super tasty, so definitely give this a shot!

I think cabbage gets a bad rep. It’s what you shred to make cole slaw, and somehow, that seems to be the only acceptable method of preparation. My mom seemed surprised when I told her I was cooking with cabbage (though really, why anyone who knows me is surprised by my cooking anything unconventional, short of a deep fried twinkie, is beyond me at this point); even my roommate, a fellow Nutrition major, eyed one of the dishes I’m about to share with you and told me it looked and sounded way too healthy. Apparently, cabbage turns people off, and I’m here to stand up for it. I’ve done an ode to Brussels sprouts. And now, I think, it’s time for an Ode to Cabbage.

Cabbage, once you take away all the mayonnaise from cole slaw, has a complexity of flavors that leads to a subtle bitterness that is not unlike what Brussels sprouts bring to the table. Because of this, I guess I can see where people are coming from when they have a hard time embracing this veggie. It’s something that needs the right complement flavors and ingredients, along with a little bit of time to grow on you. I’ve found that the more bitter foods I’ve come across become more and more palatable with each successive taste test, to the point where I now love it when I bite into something that has a little bit of a bitter bite to it. I’m even coming around to plain greek yogurt, which is a whole other ode, I think. Really, the point is that if you give the right recipe a chance, you may find that you’ve come to appreciate the subtle bitterness. It’s refreshing in a world that caters to our more primal gravitation toward excessively sweet foods.

So, to try to sway you over to the realm of cabbage love, I have two recipes for you – I loved them both, and they’re equally simple to make and enjoy. That’s what’s really great about cabbage. Cabbage is healthy comfort food, without a doubt. Curl up with a warm bowl of either of these cabbage and bean mélanges on a cold, rainy day, and you won’t miss that heavy chicken pot pie or lethargy-inducing lasagna. Well, maybe sometimes – there are those days when only a heaping pile of pasta and cheese will do, I know – but for the most part, this will be enough.

The first recipe for curried cabbage with cannellini beans is spicy and comforting, warm with a slight crunch from cabbage that hasn’t fully wilted. The second, also a cabbage and white bean dish, is simple and filling, nothing showy or flashy, but wonderful between the browned beans and ever-so-bitter cabbage. Try one, try them both – but do try them.

2 tablespoons olive oil

So there you have it! Two dynamite, easy, and satisfyingly simple recipes that use cabbage in a way that doesn’t involve a heavy duty food processor or copious amounts of mayonnaise. 

Also, for anyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah, I wish you a very Happy and Healthy New Year! I'm a little bummed that I can't go home for the first night of the holiday this year, but plan to drizzle a little honey over a cinnamon apple loaf in my freezer for dessert tonight. Then, tomorrow I'll be able to go home for a more traditional, family gathering for the holiday. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday and is able to spend it with those they love!


 Tweet

For the last week of September, I have one more mushroom recipe for you! Today, we’re channeling our inner Mexican food enthusiast with Mushroom & Pobalano Tostados. Although I had to use tomato sauce instead of salsa because that’s all I had, I still thought it was really good. I also used two smaller corn tortillas instead of one regular wheat tortilla/wrap. This is a perfect example of how you can have a satisfying meal without the meat. My one complaint is that I was hoping for a little bit of spice, especially with the word “poblano” in the title, so I think if I were to make this again, I would add in a chopped up jalapeno (or maybe I’d just make sure I had some hotter salsa on hand instead of my make-shift tomato sauce). You could also opt out of removing the seeds in the poblano to crank up the heat. Basically, this recipe is good – not knock-your-socks-off, but good. Very good, even. And that’s the kind of recipe I like to get experience with, because although those out-of-this-world dishes are fantastic to run into now and then, it’s the “goods” and “very goods” of the recipe world that are there for you when you need something fast and don’t have time for fuss and detail.

On a completely separate note, today is National Pancake Day, and I really can’t let this one go by unnoticed. I’m still working on finding that Perfect Pancake recipe, so I don’t have anything to share with you (hence the mushrooms!), but here’s a quick look back on past pancake posts here at Floptimism:

There’s something about smoothies that draws our minds immediately to the word “healthy.” Maybe it’s the fact that they often boast ingredients like “real fruit,” “yogurt,” and even more obscurely alluring ones like “wheat grass” and “flax.” How can stuff like that be bad? The problem is, most of the commercial smoothies you get can be real calorie bombs, and a serious problem for your poor blood sugar levels. The portion sizes tend to be too big and the simple sugars – even if they’re coming from real fruit – too high. Plus, I’ve learned that “yogurt” can really just mean “frozen yogurt” which is often no better than ice cream and “real fruit” can mean “real fruit juice with a banana thrown in for good measure.”

Needless to say, you have to be careful if you’re looking for a health drink; or, you just have to make your smoothies yourself! The best part about this second option is that it’s actually a lot easier than you think. Once you have the ingredients in stock, it’s really just a matter of throwing a handful of things into a blender and mixing them up for 30-60 seconds. You can make your mornings flow even better by assembling the ingredients in the blender the night before and storing in the fridge, or even making a whole bunch of smoothies in advance, freezing them, and pulling one out into the fridge to thaw overnight. At that point, it becomes even faster than stopping at your local Jamba Juice or (I shudder to think) McDonald’s.

If you’re interested in getting started but don’t really know what to buy, here’s a breakdown of what I normally put into my smoothie:

-A protein base: Because of how concentrated the sugars in a smoothie can get, I like to match them with a touch of protein to help slow the absorption of the simple sugars and stabilize my own blood sugar in the process. I usually use around 6 ounces of greek yogurt for this, but I’ve also seen recipes that call for silken tofu. Just the other day I added in a cooled scrambled egg, even, though unless you have a really high power blender, you might be left with some egg “debris” particles that some may dislike texturally. Of course, you can also use milk/milk alternatives, regular yogurt, or fruit juice as the base for your smoothie, but like I said, I like choosing something that’s relatively low in sugar and higher in protein most of the time.

-Fruit Add-Ins: Most smoothies are going to include some kind of fruit. Bananas are great additions because they have a mild flavor (so they pair well with just about any other add in you choose) and they help to thicken up the smoothie a little. Don’t feel boxed in by the rest of the fruits out there, though – there are so many possibilities! I think it’s easy to stick to things like berries or peaches, but I’ve heard of people using apples, pineapple, kiwi – you name it! Just know how strong your mixer is before you start throwing in really hardy fruits. It’s also always nice to keep some frozen fruit around, either bought that way from the store (this is a nice option because they’re often already in good bite-sized chunks and require no prep time on your part – just make sure they’re not packed in any kind of syrup) or frozen yourself. If you use a combination of fresh and frozen fruit, you’ll get a nice, cold, thick smoothie without adding any ice cubes which can, over time, make the smoothie watery.

-Vegetable Add-Ins: Yes, I put vegetables into my smoothies, too! This is actually an excellent way to pack in a few of those recommended daily servings, because most of the time you can add them without altering the taste at all. If I have it in the fridge, spinach goes into all of my smoothies; it turns the drink green, but you won’t taste it, I promise. Any type of puree works, too, though this is more likely to alter the flavors, so either add these in lesser amounts or make a smoothie focused on those flavors (think pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, for example). In fact, the smoothie I’m going to share with you today is a Sweet Potato Power Smoothie!

-Some sort of fat: Just like protein, fat can help slow down your digestion of simple sugars, so it lessens the load that all of that fruit and yogurt is putting on your body. Plus, there are a lot of vitamins and nutrients that require or are enhanced by the presence of fats to even be absorbed, so you’re doing yourself a disservice if you go totally fat free. 1-2 teaspoons of nut butter, flax, actual nuts, even some avocado – these are all excellent additions to a smoothie because they deliver a modest dose of healthy fats.

-Extras: Now it’s time to jazz it up! Once you have all of your other ingredients in there, consider what other flavors you might like. For something with pumpkin puree, add some cinnamon, nutmeg, and freshly grated ginger; with apples, considering a small drizzle of honey or maple syrup; for berries, think about lemon zest. These are the ingredients that don’t really add nutrients or large amounts of calories (just watch with the honey and maple syrup – 1 teaspoon is often plenty!), but they can really make the other flavors in the smoothie pop.

 

Now that you know the basic steps I use for building a better smoothie, here’s a recipe that I created for a Sweet Potato Power Smoothie. I made it for the first time earlier this year, and it really didn’t turn out well. The ginger drowned out all of the other flavors, for one thing. For another, it was excessively thick and I wound up eating it with a spoon. And then there was my brilliant idea to throw in some black beans at the tail end, except this idea came to me after I had poured it into my glass. So, instead of putting it back in the blender and mixing it all up, I just tried to mash the beans myself and mix them in by hand. I know, I know, your stomachs are turning at the thought of it. It was really, really not good at all, but I had a feeling I could get the hang of it yet, so I made one more attempt, and it was wonderful! I mean, really fantastic – it was sweet, full of cinnamon and ginger, with a slight hint of sweet potato in a way that doesn’t detract from the texture one bit. I used vanilla yogurt to sweeten it up, and ice cubes because it didn’t really require any other ingredient that I could’ve had frozen.

This is the story of a girl, a day that left no time for cooking, and a meal that demanded way too much time in the kitchen. I left the house just after 10 in the morning to volunteer at an involvement fair on campus. Straight from there, I drove home for a doctor’s appointment. I managed to fit some study time in there. Straight after the appointment, I drove another 40 minutes back to school. Oh yeah, and it was torrentially downpouring. And there was construction on the highway. I walked through the door of my apartment at 8pm, cracked open my cookbook, and realized that this Eggplant Marinara Pasta that I had picked out for that night was no quickie. So I did what any tired, hungry person would do in this situation – I took shortcuts. I didn’t measure, I didn’t wait for things to roast or cool, and I didn’t really do much of anything the recipe told me to do. I burned some of the ingredients, too.

But in just 20 minutes, I had a piping hot bowl of food in front of me, and even if I was still tired, I at least wasn’t hungry anymore.

And when I took my last bite, I stood up, walked back into the kitchen, and started baking a cake for L’s birthday.

Yeah. It was a long day.

At least the meal was enjoyable, never mind the fact that it’s a far cry from how Rachael Ray intended it. This is another solid recipe from her cookbook. Allowing the eggplant to roast fully (as I didn’t) would probably add a depth of flavor, but I certainly liked it a lot the way I made it. It was comforting and filling, but it did make a strange amount of food. Granted, I did a lot of pouring and dumping of food into skillets, and not a lot of measuring, so maybe I just made a whole lot more food than I should have. Still, I think this more appropriately serves 6 than 4, especially if you add in sides like a salad or crusty bread.

As much as I like to create routines for myself and plans for events and outings, deep down crave change. This is especially true when it comes to food. There are some people who are perfectly content eating their favorite meal or food combinations day after day, and I really do think that’s fine if you’re that kind of person, but it just isn’t for me. I want new flavors, new ingredients, new combinations.

I made this black bean chilaquile for dinner one night when L was visiting, and I liked it for that very reason – sure, it used Mexican flavors and ingredients, which is something I’ve done numerous times before, but it was in a form that I had never tried. Tortillas, in a casserole? Not that it sounded weird (it takes a lot more than that to weird me out with food!), but it wasn’t something I had considered before.

I made my own tortilla chips because ever since I learned how I’ve been addicted, but it’s possible that they weren’t crispy enough. The ones I make always err on the side of chewy with a slight crunch, as opposed to the store bought ones that you can hear someone chomping down on from a mile away. I still really enjoyed the meal, but there wasn’t as much of a sharp contrast between textures as I think there was meant to be, or at least as I had hoped there would be. Next time I would also definitely up the veggies (surprised?) and potentially reduce the black bean filling and/or tomatoes.

 

It's still September, and that means it's still National Mushroom Month! Although I took a break for 30 Minute Thursday and this weekend's cookie cake, I have a few more fantastic mushroom recipes to share with you before the month is out. This mushroom and pasta dish is especially perfect for the chillier weather settling in slowly but surely, as it's warm and filling, and completely satisfying. The flavors are subtle, and the texture is creamy and soft, if soft makes any sense as a description of a food. It also makes very large servings, but in the end it felt 100% appropriate - it's really more of a cabbage dish with pasta, so it's not nearly as heavy as a more traditional pasta dish would be.

I altered the recipe a little bit, using red wine vinegar and stock made out of bouillon and the pasta water instead of the wine (I just never keep wine in my apartment), and substituted dill in for the sage. I think that the sage and wine would add a really nice depth to the dish, but I enjoyed it as it was, so don't feel too tied down by the ingredients the recipe calls for. This is absolutely a recipe that you keep in the back of your head but don't write down - remember the flavors, the experience of the meal, and recreate it liberally based on whatever you have on hand. It'll still be delicious, I'm sure.

Alpine Mushroom Pasta, adapted from Eating Well
Yield: 6 servings
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
8 ounces whole wheat pasta
6-8 cups shredded or chopped cabbage
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 portobello mushroom caps, gills removed and thinly sliced
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons stock (can be made from leftover pasta water)
2 teaspoons whole wheat flour
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cheese¹
3/4 teaspoon dried dill

The Method
Bring water to a boil for the pasta, and cook for just 4 minutes. Add in the cabbage and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until both the pasta and cabbage are tender - roughly 4 additional minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid plus another 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (the latter for the stock).

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium and add in the mushrooms, onion and garlic. Stir the mixture often as it cooks, approximately 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have softened and started to release their liquid.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the stock, red wine vinegar, and flour. Pour it into the pan, season with pepper, and stir until the vegetable mixture thickens, approximately 1 minute. Add in the tomatoes and cook until they just start to break down, another minute or so.

Finally, add the pasta, cabbage, and reserved 1/2 cup pasta water to the skillet along with the cheese and dill. Remove from the heat and toss to combine.

Notes:
¹The recipe calls for "diced smoked" cheese but I just used what I had on hand - presumably a sharp cheddar of some kind. Again, this recipe is forgiving - use what you like, can afford, and have in your fridge already. If that happens to be "diced smoked" cheese, all the better!



 Tweet

 

Every now and then, usually while I’m in the midst of decorating a cake or planning a dessert to bring to a family gathering, my mind wanders off into a daydream. There I am, dream me, absorbed in the process of swirling buttercream onto 3 dozen cupcakes or rolling out sugar cookies for baking – except, in my daydream, I’m not baking them for myself or to bring with me to L’s Christmas dinner. No, I’m being paid to do this. A neighbor, a friend, a friend of a friend of a friend – someone has hired me to partially cater their graduation party, their birthday, their retirement celebration. I’ve worked with them on choosing the food, and now I’m doing what I love, sharing it with other people, and, admittedly, earning a little bit of extra money for my efforts. I have always wanted to be recruited for small events here or there, which is one of the reasons why I’m working so diligently on improving my cookie decorating technique and finding my standard recipes for go-to items like vanilla cupcakes, chocolate birthday cake and, of course, sugar cookies. I can’t exactly expect people to pay me for cake that I don’t have a recipe for, or cookies that I don’t know how to make look beautiful.

Well, my daydream has, kind of, in a way, sort of come true! For the first time ever, someone tasted my dessert, loved it, and paid me to make a full batch for their family. My fee was nominal – I barely covered the cost of ingredients – but I was so excited just to have a “client” that I didn’t care.

This recipe chocolate chip cookies is what I baked for them. Originally, the recipe is intended to be turned into a cookie cake, which is exactly how I made it on my first go around. I brought it into work one day after having decorated it to look like a classic cheese pizza (with some adorable regular cookies on the side made from the extra batter), and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. The cookie cake was soft and rich, as it should be, and the sweetness from the icing was a welcome (though not necessary, I admit) addition.

I do have some notes on this recipe. First of all, if you do choose to frost the cookies or cookie cake, know that the icing will mask the nuances of the almond extract from the dough. This doesn’t make it bad, but it is something to consider. Second of all, letting the baked cookies/cake cool at least 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge is absolutely critical. I tried to shortcut the system the second time around, and the cookies completely fell apart. Letting them sit for those 10 minutes helps them firm up; don’t worry, they’ll still be soft when you bite into them, as any good cookie cake should be.  Lastly, when I had leftover dough from the cake, I portioned the extra out into muffin tins rather than free-form on a cookie sheet. I will eventually try them as drop cookies, but I have to say, baking them into muffin tins leaves you with some pretty adorable saucer cookies, with a perfect thickness and consistency. I put maybe 1-1 ½ tablespoons dough in each tin (though I didn’t actually measure them) and patted them down to be even and flat; you want the dough to just barely coat the bottom. They puff up when you bake them (which only takes 8-10 minutes, by the way, so watch out if you’re doing a cake-cookie combo that you don’t leave them in for the same amount of time).

Aside from that, these cookies are phenomenal! I don’t know if they’ll be my go-to regular chocolate chip cookies, and I certainly have some more experimenting to do (can you say white whole wheat flour??), but I have at least found the base for all future cookie cakes in the Floptimism kitchen.

Now that school’s back in session, “easy” becomes a new favorite adjective of mine when describing a recipe. Some days, I don’t get back to the apartment until close to 5, so long and involved preparations are just out of the question. I’m sure a lot of you are in the same boat, and if you are, my Thirty Minute Thursday posts are perfect for keeping things hassle-free in the kitchen on busy nights. If Rachael Ray does one thing well in the cookbook I’m cooking my way through, it’s providing recipes that go from stove to plate easily. Not all of the recipes are actually 30 minutes or less, but they are all simple and stress-free.

This chicken curry is one of the really great options for time-crunch dinners. It was sweet and just a little spicy – and I mean, not very spicy at all. Even people who don’t like heat – including kids – will be able to enjoy this one. The flavors are simple and the colors are appealing. I added a little bit of yogurt to make it look and feel more like a real curry (or what I imagine a real curry would be like, anyway), and I used fresh mango instead of chutney to make it a little fresher and less sugary. I also added in scallions, peanuts, and fresh bell pepper (use a hotter variety if you like spice), and ate it without the rice. I actually scooped some of the curry into an ice cream cone to eat. Don’t judge me so fast! I recently researched some creative ways to use up ice cream cones, since I don’t tend to eat enough with ice cream to go through them before they get stale, and one of the suggestions was to fill them with things you’d normally put in a sandwich – chicken salad, tuna salad, etc. The curry reminded me of that, so I figured I’d test it out, and it was pretty nice! The cones don’t stay crunchy for too long, so you might not want to use it as an appetizer idea that will sit out for a while before people get around to eating it, but it’s a fun and different way to mix things up otherwise.

Today is National TV Dinner Day, and unlike National Mushroom Day, this is not the kind of food holiday I can get too excited about. Yes, I do keep a few packages of convenience foods in my kitchen. Right now the closest thing I have to that is a package of Annie’s Mac-n-Cheese, but on more normal weeks I might have one frozen dinner and one Healthy Choice microwavable meal in stock. They’re there for the times I get snowed in, rained out, so sick that I can only stand upright long enough to punch some numbers into a microwave, or so unbelievably stressed that dinner becomes one more thing on my to do list.

I prefer to make my own “frozen” or “tv” dinners. Last year, I batch cooked all the time, making enough for 4 people when I was the only one eating, and storing the leftovers in my freezer. I never needed Lean Cuisine to rescue me, because my own preparedness had solved any problems of time crunches, deadlines, or inclement weather. However, this year, a new set of roommates brings a new dynamic to the kitchen, and the freezer just ain’t big enough for the three of us. It’s rare that I batch cook these days, and my supply of homemade easy meals has dwindled to a pitiful one or two items at any given time.

Still, I survive without falling back on conventional tv dinners too often, because it can be just as fast to make a fresh meal from scratch. Seriously! It’s cheaper, too, but I’ll bet you’ve heard that one before. This Southwestern Tofu Scramble is a perfect example of a fast, nutritious and delicious option that can be enjoyed at any time of day – breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can’t freeze it, but why would you need to, when it can be thrown together in minutes flat? Plus, it’s adaptable to whatever seasonings, vegetables, and other add-ins you may have on hand. Just think up all the possibilities you have! This doesn’t have to be Southwestern at all. It could just as easily be Asian, Middle-Eastern, African, Southern…consider this “recipe” to be more of a technique, and then see where your imagination and kitchen supplies take you. I changed this by swapping in a green pepper for the zucchini, paprika and red pepper flakes for the chili powder, and adding in some broccoli, just for fun. It was filling and delicious without being too spicy or heavy. Definitely a keeper!

Summer may not officially over, but the rain has rolled in with cooler weather that looks like it’s here to stay. Pumpkins sit outside my grocery store and the blogosphere is peppered with ideas for using them this season. I can’t deny it anymore: gone is the season for rampant salads and cool wraps. It’s time to break out the oven mitts and give my range its first real work out in months!

This recipe for chicken parmesan doesn’t call for an oven, actually, but it is warm and comforting enough to make it equally fall-worthy. I made it a little lighter by removing the breading, parmesan cheese, and side spaghetti and adding in a whole lot of broccoli and some onions. Despite making it less heavy, it was still more than enough food and definitely satisfying enough for a full dinner! It also tasted pretty wonderful, though like most chicken parmesan recipes, this isn’t anything radical. It tastes, well, like a chicken parmesan recipe, so if you haven’t yet found your go-to recipe for this dish or if you just feel like switching it up a bit, go ahead and give this a shot. It’s light, refreshing, and delicious, but I wouldn’t go so far as to put it up against your Passed-Down-For-Generations-From-Grandmom-Italy-Herself version. We’ll just leave it at that.