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.

Grated Raw Beet Salad with Jicama, Avocado, and Orange

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. :)

Wrestling with Seitan & other adventures

The other day, I found myself in the kitchen, wrestling with Seitan...
Seitan is a wheat protein-based "fake" meat (kind of like tofu is soybean curd). I have never had it, but I had bought some on sale at the grocery store to try it out! I made...drumroll please... Braised Seitan Cutlets in Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce - from Vegetarian Times Magazine. The ingredients...

1 8-oz. pkg. seitan, drained and halved into 2 thin cutlets
1 Tbs. unbleached flour
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped parsley

NOTE: On this one I pretty much followed the recipe. The only thing different is that I used red onion because that's what I happened to have but I would really recommend a white or yellow onion. I also used a Merlot and it was a bit too strong in the sauce for my taste. I'd almost try a cooking sherry but you can experiment. I also used about 5 or 6 garlic cloves.

I love fresh vegetables! Oh that reminds me, I added a red bell pepper to the recipe in addition to the mushrooms (Baby Bellas) and the red onion and garlic.
Here are some of the ingredients I used. You can see I like to buy stuff that's on sale! The Seitan comes in plastic-sealed packs (inside the cardboard packages), and even though the package expiration date was in May, and I kept it in my fridge until... September, it was still good. I did the sniff test to make sure but it smelled fine and upon cooking tasted great! (I promise if I open an eatery I will not use expired food!) :) The stuff in the bowl on the right front is the seitan - it was pretty tasty! The silver thing on the left is my Pampered Chef garlic press, which I LOVE. In fact I love all Pampered Chef products I have ever bought. I have had a few "parties" and gotten lot sof their products - I have their cookware, which is great, their stoneware, and lots of other things. I don't sell it, but I probably should!

Directions

1. Coat seitan pieces in flour. Heat oil in large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add seitan, and cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side, pressing pieces down to brown evenly. Remove seitan from skillet, and keep warm.

2. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to skillet. Sauté 7 to 10 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned. Whisk together red wine, mustard, and thyme in measuring cup. Add to mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper, if desired; and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Whisk together cornstarch and vegetable broth in same measuring cup, then add to mushroom mixture. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes, or until thickened, stirring constantly. Place seitan cutlets on plates, top with mushroom sauce, and sprinkle with parsley.

These are ingredients of the sauce - the (organic!) dijon mustard, thyme (I freeze the fresh herbs), cornstarch, vegetable broth (I use a garden veg broth bouillon cube thing) and red wine. That's a Pampered Chef cutting board which goes with the food chopper by the way!
I decided to add something small to my vision board. I have a collection of magazine clippings in a plastic baggie for use in making my journal collages, so even though I plan to do some serious magazine page browsing sometime soon, in order to really fill out my vision board, I wanted to place something on it (other than the photo of my kids, which I love, but that was already on the corkboard). I went through the clippings and the image that spoke to me most was the one of the world/globe inside the oyster. I like the imagery it represents and the marble earth is so beautiful too. I also had this tag from some pants I bought that looks like a map, and I have always been drawn to maps. It has "passport stamps" on it as well so it went on the board too.

In The Artist's Way book, Julia Cameron says that as you continue to read it and do the exercises within, as you reconnect with your creativity, you may find yourself doing new things, wearing new or slightly different clothes (or resurrecting old ones). That has happened to me again as it did in the last time I did this a couple years ago. I mentioned that I've been making changes around the house - like painting my kitchen wall yellow, painted my bathroom ceiling, etc. I also rearranged my closet to make it more spacious - and I LOVE to see the difference every time I go in there (it was quite cluttery before). In the process of rearranging the closet, I found some old skirts I hadn't worn in a long time, and I've been wearing them lately.

Related to making small but practical and helpful changes to one's life - one thing I've wanted to do for a while now is to start air-drying my clothes to save energy. I used to have a wood drying rack like this but it broke and I never replaced it. Until the other day! When I was at Target I bought this metal one.
I've used it twice now. Savie did not like the way her clothes felt all scratchy... I used to actually think that way too when my exes' mom used to dry the clothes out on the clothesline, but I have found I don't mind anymore. They smelled really good and fresh! And I'm helping the polar bears.

Speaking of polar bears, I have two articles out that I want to point out and link to. Please check them out if you can, and leave comments there. I love comments!

• My September blog post for Adventures in Climate Change went live-
  Saving Polar Bears, One Light Switch at a Time
  
  
• 9/11 Tribute Traps 10,000 Birds - This post on my weekly Animal Planet blog has already gotten over 12,000 visitors in just a couple days! It has received a lot of comments, too, which are very illuminating. By and away most people say they'd like to not have a 9/11 memorial tribute that contributes to the death of more creatures. Granted it's Animal Planet so the audience may be skewed but in the other hand many non-regular readers have gone and visited the blog since this post was Dug on Digg.com, and posted on Reddit and got Retweeted around the Tweetosphere (is that what it's called?!)

The last thing I'll mention is that tomorrow 9/16 there's a Free SARK and Marney Dream Boogie telecall *How your Inner CEO and Inner Spirit can get along* at 9pm ET - or you can get an mp3 to listen to at any time!

percolating ideas

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Copyright (c) 2010 Wendee Holtcamp

My mind has been ripe with ideas lately. I always find that when I'm engaged in various activities, reading books, doing bible studies or other spiritual practices that it really energizes my soul and spirit and makes me feel more alive and more creative (something that sort of had died down over the past couple years). As I mentioned, I've been doing the Inner Mean Girl Cleanse and I've started re-reading The Artist's Way and doing some of the exercises within, including journaling every morning (the author, Julia Cameron, calls them morning pages).

Today I started the Beth Moore Bible study at my church, Living Beyond Yourself, which is on the Holy Spirit and specifically on the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). I was actually present when Beth filmed the video series back in 2003 so this is my second time doing the study. That was the year in which I separated from my ex, so... it's somewhat poignant being here in the same study in a completely different place. And hey I just realized you can do the study online - check out the link above, if you're interested.

I wanted to share visually some of the things that have been percolating in my mind and heart. Some of which are edible! I make these absolutely delicious protein fruit smoothies. The other day I made one I decided to name Blackberry Bliss. I use frozen fruit, whey protein powder (yum! Much better than rice protein powder which I've used before too), Almond Milk, and (sometimes) yogurt. I don't even use ice because the frozen fruit does the trick. Mango MAKES the smoothie - of any flavor. There's something about their consistency that really makes a smoothie, well, smooth. :)
One of my "ideas" - and it's not really that new but within the past year or so - is that I really would love to open a healthy eatery someday... and I would definitely serve these. I make a variety of flavors, depending on what is in my freezer, but I came up with names the other day for what I'd sell: Succulent Strawberry, Blackberry Bliss, Mango Madness...
This is the second time I've made this Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wraps recipe and it's soooo delish. I used curly leaf lettuce and I highly recommend something more substantial because they don't stay together very well this way. You can also see the awesome salad spinner I got for Christmas this year and which I love! Sam likes to spin it too... it's like a spinnie toy I guess! Anyway the recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine, and the ingredients are:

Filling
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbs. minced lemongrass
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 lb. extra-firm tofu, crumbled
1 8-oz. can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
4 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
4 Tbs. hoisin sauce
1 to 2 tsp. vegetarian chile sauce, such as vegetarian sriracha
16 butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce leaves

Garnishes
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts
Hoisin and chile sauces

* I modified it by using leeks instead of onions this time because that's what I happened to have. It was great! It was good with the onion last time too. I also used 4 instead of 2 garlic cloves (you can never use too much garlic, in my opinion!), 2 instead of 4 Tbsp of soy sauce (I actually use Bragg's liquid aminos which is kind of the same thing flavor-wise, but it's definitely not low-sodium). I had some dried lemongrass rather than fresh and that worked fine too. It's really simple to make:

Directions
1. To make Filling: Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic, and cook 7 to 10 minutes, or until onions are soft and beginning to brown. Add tofu and water chestnuts, breaking tofu into small crumbles; cook 4 minutes, or until heated through. Stir in soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and chile sauce. Transfer to serving bowl.

2. Place lettuce leaves on platter, and set out garnishes in small serving bowls. Wrap tofu mixture in lettuce leaves, and top with your choice of garnishes.

Another thought process coming out of all this idea-ripening is that I may start another blog just focusing on healthy eating, cooking, healthy lifestyle stuff. What should I call it? I have to have Bohemian in the title I think. The Healthy Bohemian? I will have to see if my talented daughter can help me design a blog template. She is so incredibly amazing in that department. She's redesigned her own blog about 10 times and I love them all! She's a super talented photographer, and good with the graphics design programs, is in photojournalism and yearbook in high school and well I just can't say enough good things about her. And she has an incredible passion for orphans around the world. And I have to mention my super-smart son who just started high school and who turns 14 this weekend - wow!! They grow up so fast! I love them both to pieces.
I have tweeted about Stone Soup before, but this is a photo when all the fresh ingredients are just starting to cook. I call it that because of the popular children's book but it's the recipe I use coming off the Master Cleanse, and I make it now and then because it's super healthy and yummy too. I just throw in whatever I happen to have in my freezer or fresh produce drawer at the time - usually things like frozen butter beans, corn, celery, okra, spinach, tomatoes (or salsa), leeks, onions, and then I add in quinoa, millet and/or rice, as well as lots of curry and turmeric and a touch of cayenne pepper and salt. So there ya go. Throw it in the crockpot and let it cook for 24 hours.
Today, I was at Target shopping for my son's birthday present and I came across this towel which was on Clearance. I needed a new towel for my bathroom because I have a white one I got last year and well that didn't work so well, with makeup and such getting wiped on it... It's amazing how very simple changes can make a corner of your bathroom look so much happier! OK I'm easily delighted, what can I say.
My last pic of the day is my blank Vision Board... obviously it's just a corkboard now. But I have been wanting to make a Vision Board for along time and the time is now! I got this out of my closet and bought some thumbtacks today (all the ones I have are used up on my map of the world - I put tacks in the places I want to go, and the places I've already been). My talented and inspiring friend Jessica - who owns the clothing/shoe manufacturing company Joyfolie - was talking about her Vision Board and it inspired me to start my own, finally! I hope to blog again tomorrow or Tuesday about the totally inspiring and helpful live Inner Mean Girl Reform School Open House tele-call from Saturday. They're offering another one Wednesday - so whether or not you've signed up for the free Inner Mean Girl Cleanse, you can call in for this and get some good nuggets of wisdom!

Delicious carrot soup recipe!

I made the most delicious soup this week and I thought I'd share the goodness. I made some modifications but it was sooooo good, healthy, and even my daughter liked it! (My son wouldn't try it but that's typical!) Above are most of the ingredients though I didn't have the leeks in the picture. I am a huge fan of leeks since I tried them out for the Baked Leek and Sweet Potato Gratin recipe I shared before in the post bread of life.

Carrot-Miso Soup with Wasabi Peas
1 Tbs. canola oil
1 medium leek, sliced into thin rings (1 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1 ½ lb. carrots, peeled and sliced (5 cups)
3 Tbs. jasmine rice
1 4- x 2-inch piece kombu
1 ½ Tbs. white miso
2 tsp. agave nectar
1/3 cup crushed dried wasabi peas, for garnish

Directions
1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Cook leek in oil 7 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add vinegar to deglaze pan, and cook 1 minute.

2. Add carrots, rice, kombu, and 5 cups water. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 30 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Remove kombu, and blend soup until smooth.
3. Spoon 1 cup soup into small bowl. Whisk in miso and agave nectar until smooth. Whisk miso-agave-soup mixture back into soup. Serve soup with wasabi peas sprinkled on top.

You boil it up on the stove, and this is before it was pureed. The way I modified it: I did not use the piece of kombu or the miso concentrate but instead used the miso soup from the carton I had, which happened to be made with kombu. Since it was liquid and not concentrate, I used less water. So I think it was like 3 cups I had of the miso soup stuff and 2 cups of water. I used two cloves of minced garlic because you can't use too much garlic! I also didn't have wasabi peas but had these dried tamari peas and I don't recommend that... the soup was GREAT on its own. It may have been good with wasabi pea garnish but it's definitely not important. Oh, I used brown rice instead of Jasmine (white) rice. One more thing - I also added in some celery! I forgot to mention that.
I use the Cuisinhart I got as a wedding gift in 1993! I LOVE that thing!! All I can say was Oh. My. Gosh. This is soooo yummy and I'll definitely be making it again!
I wanted to include another shot of my yellow wall which I love! It looks much better in the light than in the fluorescent lighting which brings out the greener tones. You can see how it looks next to the brick red, and the wood floors. I love being in the kitchen now - the wall makes it so sunny! The border that you can see to the far right was also on the wall that is now yellow, and that's the one I originally wanted to remove from my entire kitchen. But it proved very difficult and the blue wallpaper remover stained the wall blueish - hence the need to paint. I'v been very busy working on an article about the oil spill, and I just booked a flight for a trip to West Texas mid-September for a couple articles I'm doing. I've been a busy girl!

taxes, writing & more yummy veg recipes

A butterfly rests on a wildflower at Glacier National Park. My friend and colleague and butterfly enthusiast Alana told me it's a Milbert's Tortoiseshell.
Copyright (c) 2008 Wendee Holtcamp

It's 11pm and I'm sipping the curried cauliflower soup I made for dinner, which I just finished making. Topped it with some freshly ground black pepper. Yum! It has the perfect amount of curry to make it a bit spicy, which I like, but doesn't overwhelm the cauliflower flavor (I will upload pics and post the recipe in a later post - but have some other recent experiments below).

I didn't get home from the gym until nearly 9pm, and as I tend to do, I multi-task-cooked. I was writing my Monday Animal Planet blog post, checking Facebook, chopping cauliflower, drinking coffee and eating a yummy Swiss easter cookie my friend Amalia gave me at the gym! Hey, I earned it since today I did two exercise classes in a row - body pump (weight lifting to music) and spin. I never do that, so it was awesome! Then Amalia and I went to the steam room, chilled and chatted, then after a shower I headed home finally!

And... I finished my ^&$#@ taxes today, finally. Being self-employed they are a royal pain in the patootie. I actually sat down on my couch, and attempted to get them done one weekend in January, and the file folder full of receipts and such sat there on my coffee table until... 3 days ago. Ha! But I finally tackled the beast, and everything is all filed and done. Next on my agenda is writing some Animal Planet blog posts, giving feedback to my writing students, researching a story I'm writing (not due until June), and pitching some new ideas to magazines. I've been sending out lots of queries! I had slacked a bit late last year, but have lots of new story ideas. I also have to spend a bit of time editing my book chapters before the writing retreat which is only a few short weeks away. And ... Doug will be back in a few weeks too, just before I leave for 5 days. But at least I will see him for a couple days, and then he can get moved into his new apartment and then we can spend some good quality time together when I return.

The only other thing is that I decided I'm going to spend my 40th birthday in Oregon with family and friends out there! I'm so excited! And that's why I'm querying like mad, so I can get some new work!! Doug is going to come with me, though whether we can go on the same flight - or whether he can go at all - and all depends on when he gets assigned to go on his next "hitch" offshore. So with that said, here are some pics of some of my latest recipes I've tried. If you try one, let me know what you think!
Enchiladas verdes. It looks nice, but this recipe was actually not a favorite. It was decent but not fantastic.
This is one of my fave things to make: veggie quesadillas. I don't have a recipe but in this case I used the Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain tortilla (fyi Ezekiel 4:9 is a bible passage that says "Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself"). I've also used rice tortillas which are really good. To make the quesadillas, I put a tiny bit of olive oil in the pan, and place the tortilla in there, filling with already roasted or sauteed veggies (I had mushrooms, red peppers, and onions), and a bit of mozzarella as a low-fat cheese. I serve it with salsa and it's sooo good!
I made Tempeh Cutlets Provençal, which turned out great but the tempeh was a little dry. This is my first time cooking tempeh, and only my second time eating it (the first was at the Laughing Planet Restaurant in Portland). Any suggestions for how to cook it without drying it out are appreciated! It's served with a sauce made of red peppers (I used yellow), onion, capers, and here has a garnish of rosemary.
This is the brand I bought, and what it looks like if you've never seen it before... I bought it at Whole Foods.
Here's a pic of the tempeh coming out of the oven. Looking at the photo of the recipe on the Vegetarian Times website, the cutlets look wider and thinner. I knew that I'd cut mine smaller but maybe making them thinner would make it less dry? I'd also recommend doubling the sauce, as the recipe did not make very much!

the bread of life

A green tree frog at Martin Dies, Jr. State Park in East Texas.
Copyright (c) 2005 Wendee Holtcamp

I had been wondering why God had me so excited about food these days, and while I don't have the complete answer, one thing was revealed to me in my morning bible study today. I'm doing Experiencing God with a group of awesome women at my church (which I am thoroughly enjoying) and today one of the exercises involved reading over the "names" of God in the Bible and seeing which we relate to, or recognize in our interactions with Him. One that stood out to me was the Bread of Life. Of course this relates to when Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life" (or specifically, "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35) and that relates back to when Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt where they were enslaved and to the promised land of Canaan. Only they kind of screwed up and God had them stay in the desert for 40 years.

That's a very true-to-life scenario in life, it seems to me that sometimes due to our own mess-ups, we end up in a desert place. Sometimes we end up there due to circumstances totally beyond our control, but often we are involved in the desertification of our own lives... At any rate while in the desert God would send "manna" from heaven which was some sort of sweet flaky bread-like stuff. ("Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day" Exodus 16:4)

It was just enough to eat and so they didn't starve but not enough to be sated. In Deuteronomy later in the bible, it says, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

I have always related to that, because it's how God delivers spiritual wisdom most often, and how He provides for our physical sustenance in the hard times. Somehow He has always come through, at least in my life, and no matter how hard it is or how challenging something happens - a check arrives, some unexpected help, a new assignment. And since I've totally grooved on food lately that one struck me! Enough of the Bible lesson, onto the recipes! Oh but first, I wanted to mention that the last few nights have been really good for endangered Houston toad breeding! This bit won't make it into my article, and I'm excited for the toads! After several really bad years, it's shaping up to most likely be a good season for them.

This first recipe was utterly divinely delicious. So simple and healthy. I already blogged about leeks but baking them this way just was sooo awesome. I worried they may overwhelm the sweet potatoes but not at all. They were very mild and sweet.

Baked Leek and Sweet Potato Gratin
3 medium leeks, white and light green parts chopped (6 cups)
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil, divided3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
3 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary, divided
2 medium sweet potatoes (2 lb.), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
1/3 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
3 Tbs. Italian seasoned dry breadcrumbs
2 Tbs. finely grated Romano cheese, optional

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat 10-inch round pan with cooking spray.
2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add leeks, garlic, and 1 1/2 Tbs. rosemary; sauté 8 minutes, or until softened. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Arrange one-third sweet potato slices over bottom of prepared pan, overlapping slightly. Spread half of leek mixture on top. Arrange another one-third sweet potato slices over leeks; top with remaining leeks, followed by remaining sweet potatoes. Drizzle broth over dish. Cover pan with foil, and bake 35 minutes.

4. Stir together breadcrumbs, remaining 1 1/2 tsp. oil, remaining 1 1/2 Tbs. rosemary, and Romano cheese, if desired, in small bowl. Remove foil from gratin, and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes, or until breadcrumbs are browned and crisp. Let gratin cool slightly before cutting into 8 wedges and serving.

Here's the sweet potato slices going in. One top of the first and second layer goes a layer of leeks. And then it's topped by more sweet potatoes and then some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, then drizzled with vegetable broth.
This is a bit out I chopped leeks in half moons, as the recipe called for. This is the Pampered Chef knife - the only good knife I have. It's sturdy and awesome!
After rinsing, it calls to spin the leeks in a salad spinner, which I had thanks to Doug's Christmas present!
The recipe says that you should soak the chopped leeks to ensure that you get all the dirt off. Then you rinse it in a strainer.
I did this damage all in the same day I made it. YUM! It was sooo good, and so good for you and low fat too!
Just wanted to share a cool find from Target. I try to drink decaf as much as possible, and all my grocery stores had stopped carrying organic decaf. I used to get Newman's Own but they discontinued carrying the decaf version. I had read that coffee growing uses a lot of chemicals, so I try to buy organic where possible. I don't mind paying a little more to support organic growers, and I really love when I find a fair trade brand as well. So imagine my delight, after having to go back to non-organic decaf for a few weeks, when I found this - Fair Trade, organic decaf - and only $7.99!
And here is a picture of my completely overstuffed freezer! Remember it was emptied out after Hurricane Ike, since we had no electricity for almost two weeks. How did it get so full again? I am on a mission to eat the frozen veggies and stuff in my freezer! The problem is that I will find recipes that use the ingredients in the freezer but require me also to buy new stuff! :)

more yummy recipes

Delicious colorful veggies - mushrooms, red peppers and cauliflower
Copyright (c) 2010 Wendee Holtcamp

I've done more recipe experimentation, and they're all really good!!! I don't know why God has me so excited about food and cooking these days, but that's where I'm at. The first recipe I made yesterday because I had a half cake of tofu I needed to use up. I didn't have that high of hopes, but to my delight it was really very scrumptious! I modified it a bit which made it even easer to make. Oh did I mention it caught fire? Oops. That's because I have a gas oven and had the tofu on the top rack - as it was supposed to be - but the "mango sauce" dried up on the pan and I guess somehow caught fire. Luckily I caught it before it got out of hand! The blackened baking sheet is now in my backyard...

Broiled Tofu and Steamed Mustard Greens with Spicy Mango Sauce

•2 Tbs. canola oil
•1 small onion, quartered and thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
•1 small red bell pepper, coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
•¾ cup hot mango chutney, such as Patak’s
•1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)
•2 16-oz. pkgs. extra-firm tofu, drained and patted dry
•2 12-oz. bunches mustard greens, thick stems removed'

1. Heat oil in medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper, cover, and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally. Stir in mango chutney and tomato. Cover, and simmer 5 minutes more. Keep warm.

2. Preheat oven to broil, and place oven rack in highest position. Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Halve each tofu block crosswise to make pieces the size and thickness of sandwich bread. Cut each tofu piece into 4 triangles. Brush each tofu triangle on both sides with mango mixture (it’s OK if some bell pepper and onion bits stick to tofu); season with salt and pepper, if desired; and place on prepared baking sheet. Broil 4 to 5 minutes. Flip triangles, and brush with more mango mixture. Broil 4 to 5 minutes more, or until browned and crispy. 3. Meanwhile, bring 1 cup water to a boil in large pot. Add mustard greens, cover, and steam 5 to 7 minutes or until greens are crisp-tender, turning occasionally with tongs to make sure greens cook evenly. 4. Divide mustard greens among serving plates. Top each serving with 2 tofu triangles, and drizzle with 1/4 cup mango sauce.

NOTES: To simplify I didn't make my own mango chutney. In fact I didn't use chutney at all but thought that "Thai sweet chili sauce" that I already had on hand (that I used as dipping sauce for the wraps I made a few weeks ago) would work peachy. It did! And I used red Swiss chard instead of mustard greens. The broiled tofu was really good!! And amazingly so was the chard! It went together very nicely, and though this isn't something I'd ever have thought it making in a million years, it was on the page of some other recipes I'd photocopied, and I'm glad I made it.

Here's the charred pan with the tofu triangles sitting outside before I rescued them and put them on a plate (above). They didn't burn at all, but the extra sauce on the baking sheet did.

My next job was an attempt to make the inedible edible = Brussels sprouts. I used to hate them but hadn't eaten them in years. About a year ago, DJ Liz Jordan (on my fave radio station KSBJ ) had Domenica Catelli from Mom-a- licious as a guest and she talked about the way to make Brussels Sprouts yummy. Since then I have had that idea at the back of my head that I had to try roasting them. I didn't use her recipe, but used one from Vegetarian Times with cauliflower, which I love. It also had carrots and though I love raw carrots, I have never liked them cooked. But as it turns out, roasted carrots are awesome! This recipe was a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. I liked the cauliflower and carrots, and the Brussels were edible but not fantastic. It's defintely healthy though!

Herb-Roasted Winter Veggies
2 cups bite-size cauliflower florets, each halved lengthwise
2 cups halved Brussels sprouts
2 medium carrots, cut into sticks
1 medium yam or sweet potato (1/2 lb.), diced
3 Tbs. garlic-infused olive oil, divided
1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450°F. Place cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and yam in large bowl. Add 2 Tbs. oil, rosemary, and thyme, and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Scatter vegetables evenly on baking sheet, and roast 20 minutes, turning 2 or 3 times with spatula. Increase oven temperature to 500°F, and roast vegetables 10 minutes more, or until tender. Transfer vegetables to large serving bowl, and add parsley, lemon juice, and remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Toss to mix, and serve.

NOTES: I didn't use the sweet potato but that would've been good, I'm sure! The Brussels sprouts still had that odd Brussels sprouty flavor so a friend recommended adding some rice wine vinegar to cut that bitterness. I didn't have any rice wine vinegar and I try to use what I have on hand, so I used a bit of balsamic and it did help. I also liked using the Thai sweet chili sauce with these veggies. The photo below reminded me that when they came out of the oven the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts had charred and separated from the rest of the sprout. So I separated them out rather than mix them into the other tasty veggies.

I am proud to say that I have eaten very little meat the past month, and the only meat I've bought was Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable wild-caught Alaska salmon from Target. Target recently eliminated all farm-raised salmon because it's not good for the environment - read about it here! I baked it with a bit of lemon juice and lemon pepper. I ate one fillet and have been eating the second fillet on my daily salad.

And how can I forget? I made a delish Thai red curry soup. I love all this healthy food!

Vegetables in Thai Red Curry

1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets (3 cups)
1 cup green beans, stems removed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 Tbs. canola oil
1 cup cremini mushrooms, ends trimmed (left whole if small, quartered if large)
1 14-oz. can light coconut milk
1–2 Tbs. Thai red curry paste
2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into slivers (1 cup)
20–30 fresh Thai basil leaves

1. Blanch cauliflower 4 minutes, or until al dente, in pot of boiling, salted water. Remove with strainer; rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Repeat with green beans in same pot of water; set aside.

2. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until mushrooms have browned and released some of their juices; set aside.

3. In wide saucepan over medium heat, combine coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, tamari, and 1/2 cup water. Start with small amount of curry paste and adjust for spiciness. Add cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, bell pepper, and half of basil. Simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining basil.

This recipe is adapted from Tassajara Dinners & Desserts by Dale and Melissa Kent, and my best friend Daline spent time at Tassajara! If you've been following along a while, you may remember that in 2007, my kids & I visited her when she was at Green Gulch, which is a sister Zen monastery to Tassajara, both in California. Check out the Bohemian Adventures archive from June 2007! You can see my Pampered Chef cookware, which I got several years ago and LOVE!! It's very heavy and sturdy. In fact I love most Pampered Chef products! Maybe I should start selling their products...??

Last, I hope no one thinks my photos are an attempt to actually do "good" photography - it's only an attempt to add some color to the blogs! I'm not near as good as my daughter at making the uninteresting look cool in pictures.

Veggies are good for you!

My lunch today was a yummy salad - romaine lettuce topped with garbanzo beans, cucumber, capers, ground flax seeds, some leftover sauteed bok choy from yesterday, and my favorite low-fat organic ginger dressing (I used to use Annie's Naturals but this is the same dressing from Whole Foods brand). I also made the Indian dish Mujadara which is Lentil, Rice, & Caramelized Onion Pilaf. I halved the recipe but here's the way it was printed in Vegetarian Times.

1 1/2 cups basmati or long-grain brown rice
1/2 tsp. salt, divided
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced (2 cups)
1 15-oz. can brown lentils, rinsed and drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked brown lentils
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. ground cumin

1. Bring rice, 2 1/4 cups water, and 1/4 tsp. salt to a boil in large saucepan. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until rice is tender, and all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 30 minutes, or until onion is soft and browned, stirring occasionally.

3. Transfer rice to large bowl, and fluff with fork. Stir in onion, lentils, parsley, thyme, lemon zest, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

NOTES: I made my lentils from scratch rather than canned, and used a wild rice/brown rice mix that I cooked using vegetable broth in my steamer. I made the lentils using vegetable broth (rather than water too). In fact I got some bulk mixed-lentils from Whole Foods yesterday and used that instead of just brown lentils. I cooked 1 cup lentils with 1 cup broth & 1 cup water (I wouldve used all broth but I was out). It ended up slightly runny (leftover water) but good enough for government work. ;) I made the wild rice mix because I made enough so I can use the rest in another recipe - Autumn Wild Rice Rissoles.

I love love love roasted red peppers. I use this Veggie Wash to clean my fruis & veggies. Not sure how good it works... anyone know anything about it?
Just cut them into strips, add a touch of olive oil or flax oil and roast at 400. Here I combined red and yellow peppers.
Here's a photo of the collard green coleslaw! I learned that it doesn't keep well. Make a small batch as it starts to sour after about 2 days in the fridge. It's yummy and super healthy!

Washing up the collard greens! Sorry this is out of focus.

new recipe experimentation!

Cosmos at Green Gulch Zen Center Organic Farm
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I've been continuing my recipe experimentation, which I'm loving though it can take up a lot of time if I'm not careful. Plus I have tons of leftovers that I love, but the kids aren't so fond of everything. And Doug is like, you're becoming vegetarian? What the heck?! Anyway... everyone's fave so far is the chickpea croquettes with Greek topping. That was a big hit with me, Doug, and the kids (well Savi) when I made them plus two vegetarian "wraps" the other night. I LOVED the spicy tofu lettuce wrap, but the kids and Doug preferred the ginger-miso yam wraps. Here are the recipes if you want to try some easy-to-cook and healthy Asian recipes! I halved both recipes since I only had one chunk of tofu.

Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wraps
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tbs. minced lemongrass
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 lb. extra-firm tofu, crumbled
• 1 8-oz. can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 4 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 Tbs. hoisin sauce
• 1 to 2 tsp. vegetarian chile sauce, such as vegetarian sriracha
• 16 butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce leaves

DIRECTIONS
1. To make Filling: Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic, and cook 7 to 10 minutes, or until onions are soft and beginning to brown. Add tofu and water chestnuts, breaking tofu into small crumbles; cook 4 minutes, or until heated through. Stir in soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and chile sauce. Transfer to serving bowl.
2. Place lettuce leaves on platter, and set out garnishes in small serving bowls. Let guests wrap tofu mixture in lettuce leaves, and top with their choice of garnishes.

My prep notes: I accidentally used, um, slightly too much oil. 1 Tbsp instead of 1 tsp (halved). Oops. But so instead of halving the onion I used the whole thing. The taste was fantastic, so I think it was a success. I also used Bragg's Liquid Aminos, instead of soy sauce. It tastes the same and I think it's healthier! Instead of fresh lemongrass, I have this "Gourmet Gardens" squeezy bottle of lemongrass. If you don't have miso, it's probably not going to matter, but it is a probiotic and healthy for the gut. It is often found by the Asian food section where they make fresh sushi, if your store has one of those. I didn't use any garnishes (supposed to be carrot, green onion, chopped fresh mint and/or chopped peanuts). Though actually come to think of it, I did have some chopped fresh cilantro but I put that on the other wrap. I used both Hoisin sauce and Thai Sweet chili sauce to dip the wraps in, yum!!

Ginger-Miso Yam Wraps
• 2 small yams or sweet potatoes (1 lb.)
• 2 Tbs. white miso paste
• 1 Tbs. smooth peanut butter
• 2 Tbs. finely chopped shallot
• 1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 6 oz. firm silken tofu, crumbled (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. chopped cilantro
• 8 collard green leaves, stems removed

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut thin slice off both ends of yams, and poke skins with knife in several places. Bake 50 minutes, or until soft, turning once. Halve yams, and scoop flesh into bowl. Mash in miso and peanut butter.

2. Meanwhile, coat skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Sauté shallot, ginger, and garlic 3 minutes, or until soft. Add edamame, 1/4 cup water, and cayenne; cook 3 minutes more. Remove from heat, and stir in tofu,cilantro, and yam mixture. Cool.

3. Place 1 collard green leaf on work surface. Spoon 1/3 cup yam mixture in center of leaf. Roll bottom edge over mixture; tuck in sides. Roll up to top edge. Place, seam-side down, and repeat with remaining ingredients.

My prep notes: I didnt use collard greens but rather romaine lettuce leaves, because I had a 3-pack package and I wanted to use what I had in the fridge. I have some leftover wrap innards (that doesn't sound too appetizing now does it? ha), and just bought collards for this coleslaw recipe so I'm going to try the wrap next with the collards and I'll report back! I used sweet potatoes rather than yams. I always thought they were the same thing, but I learned a couple years ago, they're not! This tasted good, but I thought the chunks of tofu seemed odd, since the recipe doesn't call for them to be cooked just crumbled into the cooked sweet potato mix. I thought maybe if it was blended, so the chunks of tofu weren't visible, it would have been more appealing. I went ahead and briefly pan-fried (in a tiny bit of olive oil that had previously sauteed the onion for the other recipe) the tofu crumbles. I used this sweet chili sauce for dipping, and it was also used in the spicy tofu lettuce wrap recipe.


Here's the other recipe I made yesterday (just had some for lunch). Super healthy and very tasty!

Collard Green Coleslaw
• ½ lb. collard greens, tough stems removed (8 leaves)
• 3 medium carrots, grated (2 cups)
• 1 medium onion, grated (1 cup)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
• ½ cup rice or cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 tsp. powdered mustard
• 1 tsp. celery seed
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1. Stack 3 or 4 collard leaves flat on work surface. Roll tightly into a cylinder, hold together, and thinly slice to make narrow strips. Coarsely chop strips once sliced. Repeat with remaining collard leaves, and transfer to large bowl. Stir in carrots, onion, and bell pepper.
2. Whisk together vinegar, sugar, oil, mustard, celery seed, salt, and pepper in small saucepan, and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, and pour hot vinegar mixture over collard and vegetable mixture. Stir to coat vegetables with dressing. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and chill 4hours or overnight.

PS The key to yummy tasting morning millet breakfast cereal - use a smidge of butter. It really makes the taste come together that all the chopped dried fruit in the world, and even brown sugar or maple syrup doesn't.

adventures in cooking

It's been a morning of cooking and experimentation! This morn I made an early grocery store run so I could cook the next recipe on my list:
Sesame Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Broccoli (also from Vegetarian Times magazine).

But first, I had to juice because I had so many vegetables they would hardly fit in my refrigerator! My juicer was still sitting on my countertop from the Master Cleanse (thank God for Jack Lalanne's juicer! That was one most excellent expenditure). I decided to make Dr. Oz' Green Juice. My friend Gia shared this yummy fresh juice with me, and the recipe, a couple years ago and I've made it before but not in a while. Here's the recipe from Oprah Winfrey's website but I halved it.

2 cups spinach
2 cups cucumber (I just used one cucumber)
1 head of celery
1/2 inch or 1 tsp fresh ginger root
1 bunch parsley
2 apples
juice of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 lemon

You can modify it to taste. I added 4 carrots because that was on the recipe Gia gave me (you can't add too many carrots - they give it a nice sweetness). I omitted the parsley because I didn't have any, and I add more ginger root. For my taste buds, the ginger root really makes the drink. I also accidentally used the full amount of lemon/lime while halving the recipe so it was too lemony this time, but still drinkable. It's "a glass of fresh" according to Dr. Oz! You basically throw it all in a juicer - I don't know any other way! I save the pulp in a freezer bag and use it in the veggie (stone) soup I make.

I also tried to cook some millet in my steamer, but little experiment is proving more difficult than imagined. I have used millet for a couple years, but always in soup. It's a grain that doesn't have gluten (the ingredient in wheat, oats, barley that many people are allergic to or that causes digestive problems). The first time I bought and used it, I was like, this looks like bird seed! Then I realized, this IS bird seed! Yep. Millet is the same little round grain that makes up bird seed. Who knew, it's also good for people! I've never made it as you would simply make say rice, so this was quite an experiment. I read that you should not use water but vegetable or chicken broth or it's hopelessly dull. You can use broth even if you intend to use the grain as a breakfast grain cereal, which I do. I used organic chicken broth because I had some that I got super cheap because it was past expiration (not a big deal in a vacuum-sealed container, at least for me).

Well I looked online and it said you can either boil it on the stove, requiring constant supervision (which I'm awful at) or use a steamer. I have a steamer - wha- la! However I usually cook veggies in it not rice or grain.

So the first time I tried to steam the millet, I poured in 1 cup and it was so small it went right through the holes into the container thingie below... I didn't know if this was ok or not but I went with it. Put it on for 30 min or so. After it was done, I looked and the grain was cooked around the edges of the steamer but not in the middle (you can see that in the above picture - to the left is cooked millet, and the rest is uncooked). Grr.

And when I took the inner basket out I realized the chicken broth had caked onto the bit that heats up the steamer. So I cleaned it off and tried again, using the same grain I just threw it all back in the steamer, but this time I put it in the basket. Maybe that is where grains are actually supposed to go?! I guess I should find the directions... I put more water in (no broth this time) and cooked another 40 minutes. This time more was done but still not all! I added another 20 min to the timer and it's finally all done now! I think the conclusion is that a little millet goes a long way, and I probably put too much volume in there. I have some yummy recipes to make this into brakfast cereal, like adding dried fruit (apricots, prunes, raisins, whatever) and nuts. I will also make a recipe using millet and chopped veggies! Will share, when I do.

Back to the main recipe: Sesame Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Broccoli
• 4 cups bite-size broccoli florets, halved lengthwise
• 2 small sweet potatoes, each cut into 16 wedges (1 lb.)
• 6 green onions, each cut into 4 segments
• 3 Tbs. toasted sesame oil, divided
• ¼ tsp. coarse salt
• 2 Tbs. orange juice
• 2 Tbs. low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
• 1 Tbs. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbs. mirin
• 1 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
• 6 cups baby spinach (8 oz.)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place broccoli, sweet potato wedges, and green onions in large bowl. Add 2 Tbs. sesame oil and salt; toss well to coat. Spread vegetables on baking sheet, and roast 20 minutes, turning with spatula 2 or 3 times. Increase oven temperature to 500°F. Roast vegetables 10 minutes more, or until tender and browned.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together orange juice, tamari, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and remaining 1 Tbs. sesame oil in small bowl. Place spinach in large serving bowl, add roasted vegetables and orange juice mixture, and toss well to mix.

In case you don't know what the heck mirin is, I didn't either! I asked at the grocery store, and discovered mirin is used in Asian cooking and my grocery store sells it over by the fresh sushi, but instead of paying $5 a bottle I decided to look for a substitute. I found that Cooks Thesaurus says 1 Tbsp Mirin = 1 Tbsp dry sherry cooking wine + 1 tsp sugar (I used corn syrup so I didn't have to melt the sugar). You can also use white wine and sugar instead of sherry and sugar.

So how did it turn out? I think my oven cooks high (it's a gas range) and so the broccoli got a bit too browned for my preference but not burnt. I think next time I'll turn down the temp. I sliced the sweet potato wedges about 1/3 inch thick and that turned out to be the perfect thickness as they cooked perfectly in that cooking time. The sauce was delicious! I think my sesame seeds are a bit stale as I've had them in my pantry for years and I finally dragged them out for a recipe! I toasted them in my toaster oven set on the lowest setting (if you put it higher than low, they will burn - I learned this from toasting nuts).

My biggest disapointment was putting the whole thing over spinach. I prefer a saucier veggie mix, and by adding all that spinach you really dilute the flavor of the sauce. It seemed like it was missing something, so I tried adding a few chopped yellow and red bell peppers, but I don't think that went too well with it. So I think overall, this was a 2.5 out of 5. I think if the sesame seeds were not stale, the broccoli didn't get overcooked, and I just put the sauce over the broccoli and sweet potato wedges it would get a 4 or 4.5 out of 5. So I'll have to try again! :) You can learn from my experimentation.


The broccoli and sweet potato wedges in the oven ready to roast!

The final product, over spinach. You can see the yellow and red bell peppers I added into the "salad" -I don't recommend this. I think the veggies would be best with the sauce without salad or anything else. :) If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you!