Food prep day

I didn't really plan it, but this afternoon I did a giant amount of food prep while the little guy napped. It started with a trip to the farmer's market this morning, where I got some beautiful rainbow-colored Swiss chard. I was inspired by the cold salad a friend made for our post-run meal last night. When I got home to put away my colorful produce (also including peaches, corn, cucumbers, and salsa), I remembered the beets I'd bought last week. They were quickly prepped for roasting, though sadly I waited too long and the greens weren't good to use like I have before:

On to the chard...

Ten stalks of chard got washed, trimmed, and sauteed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then mixed with sauteed mushrooms, a chopped carrot, a green onion, freshly minced garlic, dried thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. All of this was mixed with precooked quinoa, and stashed back in the fridge. Dinner side dish/lunch-to-go done.

As the chard-quinoa was mingling flavors and warming through, I started a batch of adzuki beans. They don't require presoaking like many dried beans, and they cook in just about an hour. Great to have available for any number of midweek meals! I'm looking forward to making these burgers, since I also have a few partially-used bell peppers in the crisper.

While the adzukis simmered away, the beets finished roasting. They were gorgeous! Each one just bigger than a golfball, and such a beautiful shade of magenta. I've been craving one of my summer favorites, this beet salad, for a few weeks. For the first time since I started making it, today I toasted the walnuts in a dry skillet before I added them. What a great difference! I used crumbled bleu cheese instead of feta, tossed in some organic celery, dressed it all with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, pink sea salt, and fresh black pepper, and returned it to the refrigerator. Lunches/snack for me done.

While I was poking around in the fridge, I realized we were out of rice. Thanks to the rice cooker, another batch (plain, white--to feed the gastrointestinally-challenged dog) was ready in a half an hour. Right around this time, two hours after he'd gone down, the little guy woke up. While the rice cooked, I prepped some steaks for The H to grill and stirred up another summer favorite, cucumber-sweet-onion salad. Those two things just get thinly sliced and simply dressed with a mixture of plain yogurt, white balsamic (or red wine) vinegar, evaporated cane juice, sea salt, and pepper. The H and I enjoyed this with dinner, and I was a little bummed I didn't think to make leftovers. Tangy, cool, and refreshing-- the candy onion I used isn't halitosis-inducing at all. Definitely buying more of those at the market! Another dinner side dish done, dog supplement done.

Once the rice was ready, I piled some into the dog's bowl with a scoop of pumpkin and some plain yogurt so he could go to town. The H brought in the steaks, and we sat down to eat. Just then I realized it was the first time I'd sat down since the little guy and I got home from our morning/afternon errands, and my feet were pretty darn tired. But I felt so accomplished! It's a great feeling to have these goodies and makings of meals, along with a stash of my beloved kale-quinoa-chickpeas, in the fridge heading into the weekend. Happy Friday!

Summertime, and the livin' is CHILLY!

The high temperature yesterday was barely into the 70s. It was breezy and sunny, and perfect--as close to fall as we'll get for the next few months! My favorite. I celebrated it with a trip to the farmer's market AND by looking ahead to *real* fall weather and registering for my first full marathon in October! (FYI, a marathon is always 26.2 miles--always. Anything less is not a marathon; anything more is an "ultra"marathon.) I've been following an 18-week training plan for the past 2 1/2 weeks, so it was about time I officially registered. Wish me luck!

Lunch was a lovely little autumnal beet-green-and-poached-egg skillet topped with crumbled goat cheese, sea salt, and black pepper. Those odd little yellow-green things are garlic scapes and green onions, from last week's trip to the market. I chased it all down with a warm, steamy mug of Oregon Chai. Cheers to summertime fall!

Celery--who knew?

Over time I've come to realize that, while I don't really care for cucumbers as much as I think when I see them in the store, I really do like the taste of celery, especially when I find it in a meal where I wasn't expecting it. My photographer friend's Pad Thai is one of these meals--she snuck some celery in there last time I had it, and my tastebuds did a little dance when they tripped over that light and crunchy bite. The same thing happened when we enjoyed our stir-fry soup this week. Celery goes great in chicken soup! The crispy pieces in the middle of the soft noodles and tender chicken was just right. Springy and fresh!

Celery is sometimes called a "negative calorie food," meaning it takes more calories to chew and digest it than the food itself contains. The idea that celery is a staple of dieters who are severely limiting their calories is kind of off-putting to some people, which is maybe why I never remember that it's actually quite tasty AND good for you. It *looks* really boring, but it's so not!

Did you know that celery is actually a great source of vitamin C? Yeah, that vitamin found in oranges and bell peppers and broccoli--it's also hiding in those pale, unassuming stalks. No wonder chicken soup is so good when you're sick! Celery can also help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. You can see more of celery's awesome credentials here, one of my favorite sites.

While the Clean Eating Machines don't eat a 100% organic diet, celery is one of the items I always buy organically. It is on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list--a list of the 12 most contaminated fruits and veggies, which they recommend you purchase organically if possible. What makes celery so dirty? Its lack of skin or peel makes it highly susceptible to pesticides and chemicals used on conventional crops, which are hard to wash off with just soap and water. Buying organic celery ensures that your stalks are safer. You can see how the produce is rated here.

When I buy a bunch of celery, I try to wash and prep it right away, to keep it from getting limp. It's also a lot easier to add a handful to your soup, stir fry, or simple sandwich when it's already washed and cut! I like to cut one bunch (a package usually contains two) into sticks, which I store in a dish with water to keep the ends from browning; the other bunch gets chopped into smaller chunks.

Here are my favorite ways to enjoy this crunchy powerhouse:

--In my favorite Chicken Beet Salad, which I will make this week with beets from the farmer's market.

--Mixed with tuna, Greek yogurt, dill, chopped fresh tomato, and Dijon mustard for a tuna salad sandwich.

--In chicken stock or soup, Asian-inspired or not! This is a great way to use the celery you may have forgotten about and allowed to get a little soft... I won't tell.

--As a quick and crunchy side with burgers or other summertime fare, dipped into homemade Ranch (or other) dip made with plain yogurt.

--In this tabbouleh recipe from Clean Eating Magazine.

Is there a fruit or veggie you tend to forget about until you have it, then realize how much you enjoy it??

Roasted Beet Frittata with Goat Cheese

This was my first experience with beet greens. When I've bought fresh beets in the past (and it's been less than a year now) they've either been trimmed already, or the tops didn't look appealing enough to save. This time, however, the set of greens on my beets was so fresh and vibrant that I couldn't imagine throwing them away. Instead, I set out to find a great recipe for them.

My search led me to a starred post in my Google Reader, Roasted Beet Frittata with Beet Greens, Shallots, and Goat Cheese from Cara's Cravings. I've made a lot of great recipes from her blog, and this was no exception.

Roasted Beet Frittata with Beet Greens

from Cara's Cravings

serves 1 as written

1 small shallot, minced, about 20g

1 bunch fresh beet greens, rinsed well and rough-chopped

Freshly roasted beets, about 85g, sliced thin

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp non-fat milk

Salt and black pepper, to taste

1 oz soft goat cheese

1/4 oz chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. On the stovetop, heat a small, oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Spritz with cooking spray and add shallots. Cook for a few minutes until softened.

3. Add beet greens to skillet and continue to cook until wilted.

4. Whisk together eggs and milk; season with salt and pepper. Arrange beets on top of shallots and greens in skillet.

5. Raise the heat to medium-high and pour the eggs over the vegetables. Let cook without stirring for a few minutes so the bottom can set.

6. Crumble the goat cheese over the top and add pecans. Place skillet in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until top is set.

I thought I had everything to make this as written, but it turns out the last of my pecans got tossed into my oatmeal this morning, so I subbed in pine nuts (which the little guy calls "pinecone seeds") and we proceeded without a hitch (the first pic above shows walnuts, which I thought I'd use, but decided against because of their stronger flavor). My 12" cast-iron skillet worked great for this recipe (use a pot-holder on the handles!) since I sort of doubled the recipe to feed the three of us. It was a little thin, but nobody seemed to mind.

When you use beet greens, make sure to rinse them really well. They are dirty, sandy little buggers! Even though I rinsed several times and spun them dry on food-prep day, I still had to let them sit in cold water tonight (twice) and swish them around to loosen all the grit.

As for quantities, I used two shallots, three whole eggs and two additional egg whites, about 128g of beets since that is what I had left after roasting some this weekend, 2 ounces of goat cheese, 0.5 ounces pinenuts, 1/4 cup of milk, and five fresh baby bella mushrooms to bulk it up a little more.

The H ate half of the skillet shown, and the little guy and I shared the other half. He happily gobbled up his slice, beets, greens and all, which blew me away. He loved that we called it "cheesy pinecone seed eggs." I've said it before--when it comes to kids (or picky husbands)--whatever works!

I love how quickly and easily this came together, considering that my beets and greens were already mostly prepped, and my goat cheese was pre-crumbled. While this was on the stovetop I thought two things: 1) add the cheese and nuts right after you add the eggs, so the cheese can really soften and the nuts can "settle" into the eggs more, and 2) this would make a beautiful addition to a Mother's Day brunch--I will definitely be making it again, and probably very soon.

Hard-boiled eggs and my mama's hummus

My mom makes a phenomenal hummus. It blows mine out of the water. It might have something to do with simmering the garbanzos first, something I just never seem to have the time or patience for. When I want hummus, I want it yesterday. Tonight, in my food prep for the coming week, I decided to make a double batch. I still didn't boil the beans, but I must have gotten the proportions just right this time. Tangy from the lemon, creamy from the tahini, with a touch of garlic and salt in the mix. Not quite as smooth as Mom's, but it's good. It will go very well with the red and yellow peppers and English cucumber I cut up for snacking.

While shuffling things around in the fridge in preparation for the massive quantity of pureed chickpea about to take up residence there, I came across a container of roasted beets that I made last week for chicken beet salad. Yummy. In a flash of brilliance, I remembered that fellow blogger Branny had made a stunningly-colored beet hummus and I decided to throw a few into the food processor with the garbanzos and garlic.

When it was pureed smooth, it reminded me of one of those obnoxiously-sweet Jell-O fluff salads that seem to appear out of nowhere at church potlucks. Rest assured, it tastes nothing like it. The beets did not affect the flavor whatsoever. Just like the spinach in a green monster smoothie, the taste is masked, but the color and benefits of the veggies are there. Did you know that garbanzo beans can help lower your cholesterol? I learned this by poking around on one of my favorite websites, "The World's Healthiest Foods." Here is the link to the page about garbanzo goodness.

I made enough for The H to take on the road for work, some for snacking tonight, two tiny boxes for me and the little guy to grab on the go (great use of reused leftover baby food containers!), and a big ol' tub for use during the rest of the week. I love my label maker!

As most moms do, I was multitasking as I was whipping this up, also boiling eggs for snacks and the little guy's meals. More on that in a future post.

My method for hard-boiled eggs is to put the eggs in a pan and cover with cold water:

Then bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then dump the hot water and flush the pan with cold water. I like to add a handful of ice cubes to help speed up the process.

When the water is cool, or after about 10 minutes, I set the eggs on a towel to dry, then store in the fridge.

Here is the recipe for my mama's hummus, just the way she makes it. Adjust quantities of lemon, garlic, and salt to taste.

Mom W's Hummus

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, liquid reserved

1/3 cup tahini

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 lemon, juiced

1. Simmer the beans in half of the reserved juice for 10 minutes; let cool. Do not drain.

2. Process beans, garlic, and tahini to a rough consistency.

3. Add the olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. Process to desired consistency.

Chicken Beet Salad

The other day I roasted up a bunch of gorgeous red beets, but that was as far as I got until tonight. Their purpose all along has been to become Chicken Beet Salad, inspired by Tosca Reno and perfected by my own self, but I didn't have time to make it until just now.

Following Tosca's directions for roasted beets* I cubed them and stuck them in the fridge until later. Cooked beets are so bright, smooth and shiny; they look like little gems. Tonight I combined them with leftover cooked chicken, celery, feta cheese, walnuts, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar. This salad is a great combination of colors and textures. I'd been looking for a way to enjoy beets other than on my typical Greek salad, and this chilled salad fit the bill. I wasn't so sure about it at first, as beets aren't exactly a mainstay of my diet, but after I tasted this when I made it a few months ago, I was hooked. The beets are deliciously sweet, feta and vinegar provide a nice tang, walnuts add a nutty dimension, celery is just the right kind of crunch, and leftover chicken punches up the protein factor. What a fantastic lunch or snack, straight out of the fridge! I might try some in a whole-grain wrap tomorrow.

* Oven-Roasted Beets, from The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

6-8 medium-sized beets

Extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, passed through garlic press

Parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Wash and scrub beets. Remove any strings. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place beets on the lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle mixed garlic over beets. Cover tightly with tin foil and place in the oven.

3. Bake 1 hour.

4. Remove from heat. Let cool enough that you can handle the beets. The skins slip off easily at this point. Slice and place on a dinner plate next to your main course. Beets keep well in the fridge.

Looking forward to lunch....

Kate