Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

As I mentioned in my last post, we had friends over for dinner last night, and I made this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp for dessert. I found the recipe when I was looking for strawberry recipe ideas for the Co-op's produce newsletter. I really like the way this turned out; it has a lot of fruit and very little sweetener, and the rolled oats give it a nice crunch. It's reasonably healthy for a dessert, and very flavorful. I think it would also be really good with sliced stone fruit (peaches, plums, etc.) and/or other berries.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
adapted from a recipe on skinnytaste.com
For the filling:

1 lb strawberries, hulled and quartered

6 rhubarb stalks cut into small pieces

zest from 1 orange
juice from 1/2 an orange

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup agave nectar or honey

For the Topping:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or garbanzo bean flour if you want to make a gluten-free version)

1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries and rhubarb in an oven safe dish. Add agave nectar (or honey), then orange juice and orange zest; sprinkle with cornstarch and toss until fruit is well coated. Mix remaining ingredients for the topping in a medium bowl then spread over fruit. Bake until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 50 minutes.

Quinoa with Lemon, Walnuts, and Parsley

We are having friends over for dinner tonight, and I decided to try out a new quinoa recipe. This was a good gamble, as it is so delicious! If you haven't tried quinoa before, I highly recommend it. There are lots of great articles about quinoa's nutritional benefits and how to cook with it, including this one from Cooking Light, and this one from Eating Well. Quinoa is often touted as being high in protein for a grain, and one of the coolest things about quinoa is that unlike most other plant foods, it contains all of the amino acids, which makes it a gem for people like me who get most of their protein from plant sources.
Many recipes advise rinsing quinoa before using it, but I've never found this to be necessary. Quinoa does have naturally occurring coating that can give it a bitter flavor, but most of the quinoa available commercially has already been processed to remove this coating.  If you like to rinse it, go for it, I just find it to be an extra (and messy) step. At any rate, below is a modified version of a recipe I found on Cooking Light. I added lemon zest and juice since they are such natural flavor affinities for  parsley and nuts. I also substituted walnuts for the pine nuts in the original, but I'm sure it would be delicious either way. The recipe in Cooking Light also had a cook time for the quinoa that was way too short (it was still crunchy at the time the recommended). I usually cook mine for about 20 minutes,  so that's how long I cooked it for, and I added an extra 1/2 cup of broth to the original. This recipe makes plenty for four people with leftovers to boot. I hope you try it and enjoy it- it's easy to make and really good!

Quinoa with Lemon, Walnuts and Parsley

2 cups uncooked quinoa

4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

2 tablespoon minced garlic

3 cups broth (if unsalted you will need to add the salt)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)

1/2 cup walnuts

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots; sauté 1 minute or until tender. Add minced garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add quinoa; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add broth and optional salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender.

2. While quinoa cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add walnuts to pan; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Combine quinoa mixture, nuts, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and pepper; toss.

"Bikini Body"

Today I saw an ad in a "health" magazine that made me feel completely enraged. In the ad was a beautiful woman, smiling and holding a glass of cloudy liquid. Next to her was a list with "My Bikini  Plan" written at the top. Would you like to know her plan? For the first week, she is going to replace all of her meals with a supplement powder that is stirred into water. She also gets to add one teaspoon of oil to each drink, and as a bonus, she can drink as much vegetable broth as she likes! Wow! For the "Second Week and Beyond", she will do a slightly modified version of this plan that allows her to add a little low-fat milk and some spices to her drinks and eat some vegetables and lean meat once a day. Can you imagine trying to be an active person if you were actually following this plan? I can't. I think this type of advertising plays a huge role in why many women are insecure about their bodies and turn to fad diets like this one to fit into a particular idea of what advertisers tell us a beautiful body looks like. The concept of eating a certain way (or not really eating at all in this case) so that you can look a certain way in a bikini is repulsive to me. Sadly, it is also a type of cultural conditioning that I have struggled with myself many times over the course of my life.  You know how I want my body to be? Strong, muscular, fit, and healthy. In order to achieve that end, I try to eat a balanced, whole foods diet (which includes actual food, and plenty of it!) so that I will have enough energy to work-out and be active. As something I saw recently said: "If you want a bikini body then put a bikini on your body". I say amen to that.

Spicy Arugula Spread

This morning I noticed that I had a huge amount of arugula that was ready to harvest in the garden. In looking for an arugula pesto recipe online, I found one that incorporates a small amount of cooked garbanzo beans for extra fiber. That gave me the idea to incorporate more beans and nuts to make  a more substantial spread with the arugula. I ended up filling collard green leaves with the arugula spread, which I then topped with red peppers, carrots, and celery. I served these delicious wraps with a fruit salad and a few tortilla chips. Yum! This spread would also be great on sandwiches or as a dip for vegetables, and you could easily substitute other beans and nuts for the ones I used.

Spicy Arugula Spread 
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (canned are fine)
4 cups (packed) arugula
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar or parmesan
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 tsp salt

Puree all ingredients except 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans and 1/4 cup of walnuts in a food processor and puree until smooth. Chop remaining 1/4 cup of walnuts and stir into spread. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans.

Green Tortillas

Today for lunch I enjoyed some yummy burritos, but instead of tortillas, I used raw collard greens. If you've never tried this before, I highly recommend it. Collard greens are easy to wrap and roll, they have a mild flavor and a nice texture, and they are super nutritious. I filled these collard greens with a brown rice and black bean salad topped with chunks of avocado. They would also be really tasty with hummus and veggies, but really anything you can put in a tortilla would be great in these. I think collard green wraps would also make really pretty and unique appetizers. There is a good tutorial here on how to wrap them. The long and short of it is to use them as you would a regular tortilla; just lay a whole collard leaf flat, remove the stem, place whatever filling you are using in the middle, fold the sides in, and roll. Easy, tasty, and so good for you!

Dancing is Fun and Great Exercise Too

Tonight my niece asked me if I'd like to join her exercise class. She was listening to music and doing jumping jacks on the coffee table when we arrived at her house. Of course I said yes, and after dinner my nephew and I joined her for some fun in the living room. She taught us a couple of cool exercises, but was a very forgiving fitness instructor, allowing pretty much whatever moves we wanted to do. When I asked her if it was ok to just dance she said "Of course, dancing is really good exercise!". She's right, dancing is really good exercise, and it's a lot of fun too. Even if you can't make it to the gym or to a yoga class, you probably do have time to put on music you like and boogie down with your favorite kids (or pets) in the living room.  I'm glad I said yes-this will probably be my favorite exercise of the week!

Silly Kitchen Tip #1

Ok, this is a funny little post- not really about health or fitness, but I just wanted to share a kitchen tip that I learned a couple of years ago and use all the time. See how close that little hedgehog is to my kitchen sponge? That's because my kitchen sponge smells good enough to be that close. My kitchen sponge used to start smelling gross before it would wear out. I always felt bad about throwing it away and starting another one, but I also guessed that whatever was causing that smell wasn't good to be rubbing on my dishes and counter. I've never been able to get my dishes as clean with a dish cloth, so I wanted to keep using sponges, but I didn't want to be wasteful either. Happily, I learned that you can kill the bacteria that cause stinky-sponge by getting the sponge really wet and microwaving it for 3 minutes. Pretty cool, probably more sanitary, and makes sponges last a lot longer.