So, Christmas – Done. New Years Day – tomorrow! Another year older and hopefully wiser.

Have you noticed all the food traditions associated with the new year? Of course my Texan Missus has hers, which involves black eyed peas and leafy greens (representing good luck, good health & good fortune), which is now a tradition I’ve adopted.

I’m thinking the feast you just had on Christmas might have yielded some leftover turkey or ham and with a lot of you in the midst of winter right now one of the easiest, healthiest & quickest meals to put together is a great big ol’ pot of soup, which is also a great way to use up the leftovers. (If you don’t have any ham check out this turkey soup recipe.) I bunged this together in about 30 minutes (hassle-free indeed) and man was it good! You’ll love how good this smells cookin’ up in your kitchen and will probably serve you well as a good hangover munchie.

RECIPE:
Serves 6ish

1 cup white onion – small dice
1 cup carrot – small dice
1 cup celery – small dice
3 bay leaves
3 cups cooked ham – fat trimmed, diced
2 cups potatoes – small dice
2 cups dried black eyed peas, soaked overnight & drained*
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 bunch fresh thyme – wrapped with string like a bouquet garni
7-8 cups low-sodium or homemade chicken broth
NOTE: The beauty about making a soup like this is that the measurements don’t have to be exact. If you have more potatoes or carrots who cares, bung em in. The more the merrier. Just add enough liquid to make it soupy. At the end of the day guys it’s just food. Enjoy cooking.
*Feel free to use canned black eyed peas but rinse them first. Canned beans are already cooked so you should add them in towards the end of the cooking time. But if you do use the dried peas, be sure to check out my trick for making them flavourful!

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat large soup pot on medium heat for 1 minute. Add olive oil and onion and saute for 2 minutes, stirring. Next add carrot, celery, bay leaves and ham and saute for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once veg are beginning to soften add broth, potatoes and thyme and soaked black eyed peas, bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 2o-30 minutes until veg are cooked through. Add more liquid if needed.

Taste and season with S&P.

That’s it. How easy was that?

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY AND THANKS FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT.

CHEERS TO A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS 2010!!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

In case you’re thinking I made a typo in the title, you saw correctly with pluot (PLEW-OT). I came across these at the farmers’ market and was instantly intrigued. Pluots are a cross between plums and apricots and they are brilliantly juicy and sweet. There are about 20 different varieties of pluots (who knew!) and as I watched the kids scarfing down the samples I thought, that’s a seal of approval if I ever saw one! SOLD! Turns out they’re not only delicious but they’re believed to be a great source of vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber, just like their ‘parents’.

Now that I had them what was I going to do with them? I saw this interesting recipe in an old Eating Well Magazine that used a peach salsa and thought why not try it with pluots and plums and while I’m at it how ’bout some cherries? After all, this week’s theme for Summer Fest is Fruit from Trees. I thought the brilliant red colors would not only look lovely together but taste amazing so I gave it a go. My work family loooved it and really, how could you not? Just look at all that goodness!

Good for the body, good for the kids (they’ll think this is fried!) and good tasting! Can’t beat that with a stick!

RECIPE:
SERVES 4

1 lb Organic or grass fed turkey breast, cut lengthwise into 4 x 4oz portions
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 large egg whites
1 1/4 cup Ener-G gluten free breadcrumbs or regular crumbs if preferred.
1 cup finely chopped pecans (Pulse in food processor for rough chop or by hand)
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven 400F.

With a meat mallet or a rolling pin, pound the turkey between sheets of plastic wrap to 1/4″  thickness.

CLASSIC BREADING TECHNIQUE:
This is a classic three step process for meat and fish: flour, egg, breadcrumbs. TIP: When you dip the turkey in the flour (both sides) you must make sure you shake off any excess flour (it has to be very fine dusting) then dip in the beaten egg white and finally the breadcrumbs which in this case is our Pecan crust.

Grab your three bowls and an oven tray–
#1: Combine flour, paprika, chili powder, S&P and lemon zest together in medium bowl or dish.
#2: Beat egg whites together slightly and add to a second dish.
#3: Mix breadcrumbs and pecans together in another dish.
#4: Oven tray ready

The simplest way is to set up an assembly line with the flour, egg ,breadcrumbs and a foiled oven tray at the end. You’ll work from left to right.
Dredge the turkey in the flour on both sides, shaking off the excess flour into the flour bowl. Next dip the turkey in the egg whites and coat both sides. Let the excess egg drain off over the egg dish. Finally lay the turkey in the breadcrumb dish and pat down so the coating sticks to both sides. Lay on oven tray. Once all turkey is coated, refrigerate ’til needed. This step can be done a couple hours ahead of time if needed.

CHERRY PLUM SAUCE

RECIPE:

1 cup fresh cherries – halved, pitted
1/2 cup fresh plums – small dice
1/2 cup fresh pluots – small dice
1 tbsp fresh ginger – grated
1 cup water
1 tbsp Agave nectar

DIRECTIONS:
Pop your cherries in a small saucepan along with the water, ginger and Agave. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 5-6 minutes. When done remove from heat and fold in diced plums & pluots. Stir and let stand.

Meanwhile as cherries are cooking, preheat large non-stick saute pan. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and once heated place 2 turkey cutlets in the pan to brown. Cook 2-3 minutes each side until golden.  Once browned, remove to a foiled oven tray. Using a kitchen towel wipe out pan and add 2 more tbsp olive oil. Repeat browning process.

Once all turkey has been browned pop in preheated oven for 4 minutes to finish cooking.

Serve with warmed or room temp fruit compote. Mmmmmm Delicioso!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

So, tomorrow is July 4th and the biggest barbecue day of the year. I’m having my own barbecue tomorrow for my friends and I’m really looking forward to it. I love the traditional barbecue foods of burgers, hot dogs, ribs & all that good stuff but I also like to do some different types of dishes as well. This is a great healthy recipe for grilled steak tacos. I love people to get involved in the cooking so I serve these up and let everyone help themselves. You’ll love how easy and tasty this is and your guests will be well impressed you went the extra mile to something a little different.

RECIPE:
Serves 4
1 lb organic or grass fed flank steak
1 red pepper – sautéed
8 corn tortillas (2 per serving)

STEAK MARINADE:
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 lime – zested
¼ cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
Mix marinade ingredients together and rub into steak. Marinate covered in the fridge from 4 hours to over-night.

AVOCADO SALSA:
1 large avocado – diced
1 Roma tomato – diced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro – chopped
squeeze fresh lime juice
S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your grill on high.
Remove steak from fridge 30 minutes before grilling to let meat return to room temp.
Once grill is hot, cook steak for 3-5 minutes each side for medium-rare to medium.
NOTE: Very important to let the cooked meat rest for 10 minutes after grilling before carving. This lets the juices redistribute evenly back into the meat and not all over your cutting board.
While the meat is resting, mix all the salsa ingredients together and refrigerate.
TIP: When carving, slice thinly on the bias against the grain. (The grain being the lines you will see on the meat) Always cut across these otherwise the meat will taste chewy!

To assemble: place some sliced steak in each warmed tortillas along with some red pepper and finish with a nice dollop of the avocado salsa.

If you want to do small bite sized tacos like I did, get the kids involved and with large cookie cutters, cut them out. You can even cut the leftovers into strips and bake them to use with some guacamole for your barbecue.

Now, off you go to get grilling.

Happy 4th guys.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Many of us will be glued to the box this coming Sunday. If you’re like the Missus you’ll be watching all the glitz and glamour of the Academy Awards and if you’re like me, you’ll be watching the golf. Whether you’re flying solo or having an Oscar party, chances are you’ll need a little something to nosh on as the hours go by. Before you reach for the bag o’ chips and dip why not go for the win with this healthier alternative that takes just a little extra effort.

Garbanzo beans, also called chickpeas, are a good source of protein and are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, as are most other beans. Pistachios are one of the lowest calorie, lowest fat, and highest fiber nuts. An ounce of pistachios provides 3 grams of fiber, or twice the fiber of walnuts and about the same as a serving of oatmeal. This means you’re also eating a heart-healthy snack, which is brilliant considering this is American Heart Month. Am I good or what?
I adapted this recipe from one I found long ago from Bon Appetit. Feel free to give it your own spin–that’s what cooking is all about.

RECIPE:
Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 15 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained & rinsed
1/8 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup raw pistachios, shelled
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Also preheat your rimmed baking sheet so it starts toasting the beans as you spread them out. Toss chickpeas with the oil, salt, cumin, pepper spices and lemon juice. Transfer mixture to heated baking sheet. Bake until chickpeas are golden and crisp, stirring occasionally with metal spatula, about 20 mins. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Keep at room temp.)

Stir pistachios and thyme into chickpea mixture. Bake until everything is crunchy, about another 12 mins. It’s as easy as that.

How’s this for timing?
I was in the grocery the other day trying to pick out a pasta sauce. My ol’ reliable, the kind I usually buy, was not available so I found myself staring down the shelves of sauce alley. Which one, which one. Although I’m not big into buying prepackaged foods, because I go through so much pasta sauce, it is one of the things I do buy for convenience. Of course I’m not your typical shopper. I’m a bona fide label reader. What am I looking for? Natural ingredients are key for me and my eyes are trained to look for added sugar content, where extra calories lurk. Take canned corn for instance. You think you’re being healthy and you probably expect just corn to be in that can. Ever look at the labels? You’d be surprised that some brands add sugar and salt. Same with all canned veg, beans, peanut butter and of course pasta sauce.

Then I saw this segment on the Today Show this morning. It’s called good timing and I’m right on target.
Hidden Sugars in Your Food

When you picture chowder, what do see? Well, since this is actually a rhetorical question, I’ll tell you: You probably picture a cream based, heavy tasting soup, chock full of fish and/or vegetables. Unless you picture Manhattan chowder, which is tomato based, but then we’re talking about two different things.

Chowder is traditionally quite a high calorie, high fat soup, which, as you’ll see, is the polar opposite of mine.
This “chowdah” is a great idea for a healthy weekend lunch to warm your bones.
Continue reading on Health Habits>

One of the great skills to master as a cook is to learn how to cook a steak well. People get intimidated about cooking steak to their desired temperature and unfortunately the only way to learn by trying. I grew up eating a lot of red meat back in Ireland but in my later years I’ve basically eliminated that from my diet although I will say I do enjoy a good steak on occasion.

RECIPE: 2 Servings

2 x 8 – 10 oz organic Rib-eye steak
1 bunch baby carrots – trimmed & washed (not peeled)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. agave
S&P
Olive oil
Grapeseed oil (Grapeseed oil reaches a higher temperature than olive oil so is perfect for searing on high temperatures)

DIRECTIONS FOR STEAK:
Preheat grill pan / saute pan on high heat for 5-6 mins. until just smoking. Drizzle 1 tbsp grapeseed oil.
Season steaks with 1/2 tsp. salt each side and pepper to taste. When searing meat I like to over-season the meat as some of the salt will come off and stay in the pan. If you season as normal the meat will be bland and under seasoned. Sear steaks on stove ’till they’re a nice golden brown color 3-4 mins each side.
Place on oven tray and roast for 7 mins approx for medium rare or internal temperature of 130 degrees.

DIRECTIONS FOR CARROTS:
Meanwhile place the carrots in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil, squeeze lemon juice, cumin, agave and salt & pepper. Toss and roast on foiled oven tray for 15-20 mins. or until tender and caramelized.

NOTE: A key element to cooking steak is RESTING. Any cook will tell you to let your steak rest after cooking for 3-4 mins. depending on the size of it. The reason being it will allow the meat to relax, the heat and juices to spread out and the meat to become more tender. This is a vital step to the perfect steak so don’t forget it.

Now off you pop and give it a go.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

No no, not free as in you don’t have to pay for it. Free as in Wheat Free/Gluten Free.
This Friday’s post for Health Habits is a recipe for a lentil loaf (it tastes better than it sounds, believe me). Naturally DR (Mr. Health Habits) was impressed because lentils are super nutritious, but he also had this to say:

“I want to try it out, but the Missus and I don’t eat wheat. Can you suggest an alternative for bread crumbs?
In the past, I have used coarsely ground oatmeal, rice cooked al dente and even quinoa as a bread crumb replacement. Any suggestions?”

So off to the internet I went to look up alternatives for ‘free’ bread crumbs if you will, that would serve the ‘real’ bread crumb purpose and here’s what I found. All of these choices were liked and recommended by people with Celiac Disease on various sites.

• You can make your own Gluten Free Italian-style bread crumbs pretty easily. I found this recipe on glutenfreebay.blogspot.com and it’s easy peasy. Here’s what you’ll need from your pantry:
  ITALIAN GLUTEN-FREE BREADCRUMBS
  12 slices gluten-free bread (stale bread and ends are good)
  2 teaspoons salt
  2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
  2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  2 teaspoons garlic powder
  1 teaspoons onion powder
  1 teaspoons dried oregano
  1 teaspoons dried basil
  She also gives you two ways to make these bread crumbs: Fresh or Dry. Click here for the directions.

But if you don’t want to make them from scratch (say you don’t have any ‘free’ stale bread lying around) I’ve found 3 prepackaged varieties that can be purchased online or in your local health food store:

1. Gillian’s Foods Italian Style Bread Crumbs.
   Ingredients: Rice flour, Water, Yeast, Sugar, Sea salt,
   Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Garlic Powder, and Black Pepper. Sounds good. The only thing that I’d be careful of is the sodium content at 430mg per 1/4 cup serving. But with 60 calories per serving, .05g total fat and zero saturated fat & cholesterol, this looks like a great alternative if you can find it.
2. Ener-G Foods Bread Crumbs.
   Ingredients: Filtered Water, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Pear Juice Concentrate, Yeast, Methylcellulose, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Glucono Delta Lactone, Nulomoline…. Per 1/4 cup serving it has 100 cals, 4.5g total fat, zero saturated fat & zero cholesterol. Though this one has a fraction of the sodium, 100mg, there are too many things I can’t pronounce which is never a good choice in my book.
   
3. Holgrain Brown Rice Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs.
   Ingredients: Medium grain brown rice. (that’s it!) A quarter cup has 40 cals, 0 g total fat, 0 trans fats, 0 cholesterol, NO sodium either…this would have to be my choice out of all three just by looking at the nutritional info. Perhaps what I’d do here to flavor it up a bit is add in the dried herbs mentioned above so it’s sort of like making your own from scratch. Aha good idea you say!
   

I hope this gives you good information and choices to try out. If you’re familiar with any of these choices or know of any I should know about I’d love to hear from you. I haven’t tasted any of these so I’m curious to know which one reigns supreme.

Healthy Twice Baked Yams

If you recall last year I had my first official Thanksgiving (i.e. I wasn’t working). Not only was it my first but it was my first experience tasting Southern Thanksgiving food. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. This year, we are combining efforts and spending the day at another friends house and ironically they’re from the south as well. (Remember the Missus is a Texan.) We’ve been asked to bring something special so we decided upon making twice baked yams. We have an ongoing debate where twice baked potatoes got it’s start: she thinks from the south and I think from across the pond (doesn’t everyone associate potatoes with the Irish?)  Regardless we put our origin differences aside and created an extremely simple, delicious and healthy Thanksgiving dish that’s sure to please everyone.

RECIPE: Serves 6-8

4 Large Yams
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup broth (vegetable or chicken)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Individually wrap potatoes in foil, pop in the oven and forget about ‘em for about an hour. After an hour, check to see if they’re cooked by piercing with a toothpick–the potatoes will be soft so the toothpick will easily go in. I cooked mine for about an hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.
Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yam pulp leaving about a 1/4″ shell to support the peel. Transfer the pulp to a large mixing bowl, add the broth and S&P. Mash together until the mixture is fairly smooth. Use a spoon to fill the shells with pulp mixture. TIP: If you’d like your potatoes to be fuller, only use the shells of 6 halves with the mixture of all 8 halves.

Transfer yams to a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. These can be made ahead of time and frozen in a covered air-tight freezer container. Just be sure to thaw potatoes overnight before baking.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and tuck in! Easy peasy and absolutely delicious!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.