Thursday, February 10, 2011

broccoli frittata and raw beet salad recipes!

I thought I'd make the recipes their own post, since they really have nothing to do with the Bering Sea.

I've been cooking a lot of great recipes, and when I get more time I will post a few of my versions. Last night I made this recipe from Cooking Light magazine - Coconut Curry (Chicken) Soup - but I made it with tempeh instead of chicken and it was great!

This is a recipe from my friend Elissa who is an awesome chef!

Broccoli frittata


2 heads broccoli
2t butter
2 small onions
1 cup water
1 ½ t salt
3 large whole eggs
9 large egg whites
½ ounce grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil


1. preheat oven to 375. cut broccoli stems into ½ “ pieces and cut florets into 1” pieces, set aside. Melt butter in a 12” sauté pan over medium head. Add onions, cook until translucent, about 5 min. add broccoli stems and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 min. add florets and water, cook until broccoli is tender and liquid has evaporated, about 5 min. salt and pepper, remove from pan to a bowl to cool completely.

2. wipe out pan, coat with olive oil. In a bowl on an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine eggs and egg whites. Beat until extremely light and frothy, about 8 – 10 min. heat pan over med-high heat. Fold parmesan and broccoli mixture into eggs. Add to pan, dot top with goat cheese. Cook, without stirring for 2 min. transfer to oven and bake until top is golden brown and frittata is set, about 30 min. let cool for 1 minute before sliding out of pan.


NOTES: I left out the cheese "Cut the cheese" - ha ha I'm so funny, and added herbes de provence - it's super yummy! I've also made it with leeks and broccoli. You can add any herb. Without cheese, it's only 150 cal/serving. Don't count on it "sliding out of the pan"... unless you coat the pan VERY well but it serves just fine out of the baking dish.


I made grated beet salad which is another great one from Vegetarian Times. It was good but not an absolute fave but very healthy, and raw. (Image is my grated beets in my Cuisinhart - the best thing ever)


2 cups grated jicama
2 cups grated raw beets (3 medium beets)
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 navel orange, peeled, sectioned, each section cut into thirds
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 Tbs. thawed orange juice concentrate
1 Tbs. lime juice
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
11/2 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

1. Place beets in medium bowl along with jicama, avocado, orange, and cilantro.


2. Whisk together orange juice concentrate, lime juice, cumin, and coriander. Whisk in oil. Pour over beet mixture, and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Sprinkle each serving with toasted pumpkin seeds.

I add fresh avocado to each serving, rather than put it in the salad, since avocados get brown very quickly when exposed to air. And I skipped the cilantro so my kids would try it, and pumpkin seeds to save fat calories. :)

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Back to the frigid Bering Sea


One of only 3,000 of the world's endangered short-tailed albatrosses - soaring across the Bering Sea. Copyright (c) 2010 Wendee Holtcamp


Boy with the weather this winter in Houston you'd think I was in the Bering Sea again... it normally freezes once or maybe twice a winter but this one has been crazy. Back and forth, up and down. It is now about 22 degrees F outside, and tomorrow it's supposed to feel like 5 with the wind chill! Then by next Tuesday it will be back to 70.

Speaking of the Bering Sea, my second article on the research expedition I spent a month on is out in BioScience's Feb 2011 issue - Rime of the Bering Sea Mariners(PDF). It's not quite online yet at the BioScience AIBS website, but I have the PDF reprinted at my website here. I thought it turned out good and I got to go in more depth and focus on some different research than in the shorter Nature piece - The Tiniest Catch - published last Oct.

In other news- life is good! Some great things happening here, which I'll reveal in future posts. I am about to head to the coast to report for the 10th annual Water issue of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine and visit places such as the upper Texas coast, which has the highest rates of beach and coastal wetland loss of anywhere on the Gulf Coast (close to Louisiana, which has comparable rates of loss). I will also spend some time in the Columbia bottomlands, a little-known place that has some of the south's only remaining old growth forests.

I'm starting up another session of my online writing class - recently renamed the Magazine Writing Bootcamp on Feb 26 (signup deadline Feb 19)! While originally designed to focus on environment writing, the course assignments can be tailored to any topic, and it gets consistently great feedback! Email me if you would like more info (bohemian_AT_wendeeholtcamp.com) or check out the Bootcamp website.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Welcome to February!

Daydream Island, Whitsundays in far north Queensland, Australia
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp


Welcome to February! At the moment, far north Queensland is getting hammered by Cyclone Yasi. Category 5 when it made landfall, it was as big as Hurricane Katrina, and is expected to drop more rain. Poor Queensland can't catch a break. Brisbane in southeast Queensland got hit with intense flooding just a week ago. I'm trying to get back over there to report on the aftermath of the floods and the cyclone. Yasi hit right near Mission Beach, a quaint coastal town on the "Cassowary Coast" which I visited in 2008, and wrote this article, Saving Big Bird, for Wildlife Conservation magazine.

A couple new articles have come out. I'm proud of this essay that came out in The Daily Climate: Can eating less meat curb climate change?

And just out today - Rime of the Bering Sea Mariners in BioScience, my second piece on the trip I did last summer.

I am about to head on a road trip along the coast to report for the 10th annual Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine Water issue within the next few weeks, which should be fun.

Well that is all for now! Hopefully I'll be back before another month goes by!