Comunidad Health Foods

When you need to wake up a full 1 ½ - 2 hours earlier than you’d ideally like – especially if you need to do so for an extended period of time – breakfast better be something special. You just need something to look forward to when your alarm starts harassing you. This morning, I was so not into waking up that I didn’t even register that my alarm was going off until it was well into its “desperation mode.” I don’t know about your alarms, but mine starts with a nice calm audio of waves crashing against the sand. Then the seagulls start. And then, if you’re really stubborn and don’t turn it off, the fog horn  from the fishing ship starts. Well today, not only did I awake to fog horn extravaganza, but the frequency of the horn was speeding up, as if my phone was saying, “ALRIGHT JESS, NO MORE MR. NICE PHONE!” Probably revenge for all the times I bad-mouth my phone in its presence.

Anyway, all of this to say, some mornings, a plain cup of yogurt or a bowl of cereal just won’t cut it. Some mornings, you wake up, and you can tell – this day is going to be a doozy. You have to prepare yourself. And I can think of no better way to make having to wake up early bearable than knowing that you have ice cream to look forward to for breakfast.

Ok, sorbet really. Sorry, I’m a dietetic intern – only on rare occasions do I support cracking open a pint of Ben & Jerry’s as the sun is still rising. Still, this might as well be ice cream to your taste buds – it’s cold enough to give you brain freeze, yet creamier than a popsicle or Italian ice. And did I mention it’s healthy? Yup. Totally breakfast worthy. So you may be treating yourself to something that feels indulgent, something that will make you totally excited to hear that fog horn blaring from your phone, because it means it’s time for breakfast….without feeling like you’re sacrificing those awesome healthy habits you pride yourself in during less cranky times.

I call this Summer Sunrise Sorbet and I highly suggest that you make it for breakfast (and pretend you’re eating ice cream for breakfast), but it’s really wonderful any time of day. Plus it’s easy and doesn’t require any fancy ice cream maker. Did I mention that it’s awesome? Because it is.

One Year Ago: Feta-Stuffed Burgers with a Greek Side Salad

Two Years Ago: Strawberry-Mango Power Smoothie

Yield: 1 serving

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

(printable recipe)

1 heaping cup frozen cantaloupe chunks¹

1 heaping tablespoon plain, non-fat greek yogurt

2 strawberries, chopped

2-3 teaspoons slivered almonds

Add the cantaloupe to a food processor or blender and process until the mixture resembles shaved ice or a granita (it will be blended but not smooth). Add the yogurt and 1 ½ strawberries and blend further until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and top with the remaining ½ strawberry and a sprinkling of slivered almonds.

Source: Floptimism Original

Now that we’ve gone over the nitty gritty technique of how to cut a jicama, it’s time to get to the good stuff – the recipe. Jicama is a pretty versatile ingredient because of its mild flavor. Some people whisk up a simple lime vinaigrette to poor over julienned jicama for a raw, healthy take on fries. Other people chop up jicama and sprinkle it over their salad for a nice crisp crunch. This recipe uses jicama the way I like it best – as the basis for what is essentially a much cooler, hipper, tastier version of a slaw. It’s kind of like taking those jicama “fries” I just mentioned and putting them over a bed of lettuce. It’s sweet without added sugars, crunchy and crisp without any vats of oil, and bursting at the seams with flavor. If you’ve never had jicama before, this is a great first recipe to try. Once you do, let me know that you’re ready for the next step up with this other great jicama salad recipe I have waiting (im)patiently in the wings (this one, thai inspired)!

One Year Ago: El Diablo Black Bean Casserole

Two Years Ago: Vanilla Almond French Toast

Yield: 6-8 servings

Prep Time: 35 minutes (including chopping the jicama) plus 15 minutes down time

Cook Time: 0 minutes

(printable recipe)

½ large bulb jicama root, peeled and julienned

a sprinkling of coarse kosher salt

½ cup lime juice

1-2 hearts of romaine, coarsely chopped

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil¹

Place the jicama sticks in a very large bowl and sprinkle with salt and 2-4 tablespoons lime juice. Toss to coat, then fill the bowl completely with cold water. Let the jicama sit for 15 minutes before draining well.

Meanwhile, stir together 2-4 tablespoons of lime juice with the cilantro and cumin. Whisk in the olive oil to emulsify. Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter and top with the drained jicama. Pour the cilantro-lime dressing over the jicama as evenly as possible, and serve.

Leftovers may be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Most of Rachael Ray’s recipes are fuss-free. They’re straight-up, straight-forward, and downright simple. Mostly. I like this about her recipes. Sometimes, I like putting on heirs and pretending I’m some gourmet chef who owns half a dozen Zagat-rated, 5 star restaurants peppering the entire globe. Like when I decided to make that ridiculously elaborate graduation cake. But a lot of times, it’s just nice to get in the kitchen, throw around some pots, pans, and ingredients, and come out with something perfectly edible though perhaps not all that photogenic.

I was a little surprised, then, when I encountered this recipe in Rachael Ray’s cookbook – couscous and vegetable stacks seemed entirely too fussy amidst the burgers, “sammies,” “stoups” and semi-homemade (oh wait, that’s another FoodNetwork show…) desserts. As good as the dish sounded, it took a while for me to get up the motivation to attempt it.

Rachael Ray’s approach to the stacking process is cumbersome, and antiquated as it tells you to use metal cans with their tops and bottoms removed. Cans aren’t made that way anymore – the bottoms don’t come off. Believe me, I tried. And tried. And handed the can to my mom to try some more. Don’t bother. Really, it’s way more involved than it needs to be. In the final throes of cooking, as I became more and more desperate to get food on the plate and into my belly, I did the biggest hack job of stacking I could think of – I just threw it on the plate. Almost, very nearly, quite literally. And you know what?

It worked. Beautifully.

So take that, Mr. Fussy Veggie Stack. This is how we do things Floptimism style.

Also à la Floptimism, I changed a bunch of the ingredients. It tasted fantastic. I also paired it with some chicken (for the parents) and a nice chickpea and almond salad (for all of us, but really, mostly for me).

This vegetarian dish is light, healthy, and bursting with summer-ness. That is, it would, if it were possible for a food to burst of a season. It is mildly labor intensive, but a lot easier to put together than the original and overall very doable. Enjoy!

Are you in need of a last minute side dish for the 4^th? If so, I have the perfect recipe for you (really, even if you don’t need a recipe for tomorrow, I still think you’ll like this Thursday, Friday, or sometime next week). Asparagus is one of my favorite warmer weather vegetables, and what better way to celebrate summer than adding fresh tomatoes and a little bit of cheese to make it a truly memorable side dish?

I’ve tweaked the recipe a little – lightly sautéing the asparagus to get a little char on all sides (you could also grill them; I just haven’t yet conquered my oh-my-god-I’m-a-girl-I-can’t-possibly-use-the-grill phobia – maybe next year), using mozzarella instead of feta (though the latter would add a nice tang to the dish – really, use whatever cheese you love most and it will probably be fantastic), and taking great care in straining out some of the excess liquid to perfect the package. What you get is a side dish that is simple (not bland!) and delicious. The tomato-cheese topping would be equally good in other ways – I added some to my jalapeno chicken sausage sandwich and it was spot. On. I’ve also made the entire dish with an omelet, but grilled chicken or burgers would be great pairings, too.

 

I made a vow to myself that I would stop blogging about unperfected recipes. Gone are the days of trying a recipe, getting it almost right, and telling you about it with little disclaimers here or there. That was ok when I was blown away by having 5 followers. Now that more people are sitting up and taking notice of Floptimism (it’s still a small following, but each and every one of you make my day by sticking around, seriously!), I feel as though I owe it to you to really only give you the recipes that I can say 100% work – ones that have already been tweaked and tested. I’ve started remaking things two or three times to get them right, and I can honestly say that I’ve even enjoyed the fine-tuning aspect of this whole process. It really seemed like the days of close-but-no-cigar recipes were over – no more “well the flavor was right, but the consistency…” or “I totally burned it but I think you can do better so here it is…”

That is, until I met this frozen yogurt. I debated this one for quite some time. I really shouldn’t tell you about it. This should not be happening right now. But it is, it has to, because after I took one bite, and then a second, and then a third, and then suddenly I looked back on the past 3 days in a row to discover that I ate a bowl of it for dessert each of those three nights…well, I can’t let National Frozen Yogurt Day go by and not tell you about this flavor and recipe. I don’t care if the consistency is borderline atrocious, one of the downright worst textures I’ve made to date you’ll feel the same.

This is frozen yogurt at its almost purest state, and it’s not for everyone. If you like that tang of plain yogurt, particularly Greek, you’ll enjoy this. The Nutella just barely sweetens it, giving it a deep chocolate flavor without masking the beautiful flavor of plain, unadulterated yogurt. You could add more Nutella – the original called for equal parts but warned that it was cloyingly sweet that way – to subdue the yogurt and bring out the Nutella a little bit more. This would also fix the problem I ran into with the consistency – Nutella is oily enough to supposedly prevent the ice cream from getting too solid in the freezer, when used in greater amounts. However, the amount that I used wasn’t nearly enough, and I wound up with a brick after freezing it, and a stubborn brick at that. It does not soften quickly on the counter. Last night it took me 2 hours of refrigerator time to get it to a point where I could scoop it, and even then it probably could have used a little bit more patience on my part. A few nights before that I microwaved it and wound up with more of a sauce (which I poured over a different flavor of frozen yogurt – so not a bad thing!) than froyo. Suffice it to say, this recipe has its kinks. But it’s sheer perfection when it comes straight out of the machine (so if you want to serve/eat it immediately, all of these textural issues go out the window), and the flavor is so heavenly enjoyable that you can look past the glitches. This is the kind of froyo that makes me never want to buy the processed, overly sweetened cartons at the grocery store. This is the queen of all Froyo, and true to her title, the queen can get away with any offense – including being hard and stubborn as a rock.

By the way, don’t feel boxed in by this recipe. My brain is already in overdrive thinking of the possibilities for this as the foundation of many other flavors: stir in thawed bananas or make a banana split, top with strawberries, add peanut butter and honey (it’s seriously one of the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had – I can’t believe as a teenager I actually ate that calorie & sugar bomb for lunch on a regular basis), or reinvent my raspberry-banana Nutella sandwich in froyo form. Just think of all of the incredible ways that you like to eat Nutella, and find a way to make it work as a frozen yogurt flavor.

What’s your favorite way to eat Nutella? (Yes, “with a spoon” is a perfectly legitimate answer.)