Food for Real

I finally made it to the Cape over the weekend! Second time all summer, and the first time to my parent’s vacation house. Hard to believe, considering I’ve spent a great deal of time on Cape Cod (or “Camp Cod” as my family puts it) every summer since I was born! Joined by some great friends, I enjoyed the Cape from Friday after work until Sunday morning. It was short, but lovely. On Saturday, we went to Bank Street beach followed by lunch at The Squire in Chatham followed by a nap, some amazing grilling, and a night out at an Irish Pub where an incredible 80’s cover band rocked our worlds a little.

First things first: the grilled pineapple. Is it really surprising that after an incredible weekend, one of the main things that stands out in my mind is something I ate? Hardly. But seriously, grilled pineapple is like candy. Simply slice up a pineapple and throw it on the grill. Easy, delicious, and healthy dessert! A special thanks to Thom for grilling up dinner for the ladies!

Thom slicing up the pineapple

Donna and Paula enjoying a lovely Cape dinner

Bank Street Beach

Lunch at the Squire

The apps! Honey baked brie, fresh fruit, and oysters

Lobster Salad Sandwich and fresh fruit

Scooby Doo Silly Bands! Thanks Julie!

Dinner: YUM. Grilled squash, mushroom, and my favorite, pineapple

What a great way to spend the last weekend of summer before school starts up again! This is my last week of training for the triathlon on Saturday in Plymouth. For the rest of this week, I’ll be posting info on how I’m preparing nutritionally for the upcoming race.

What’s your favorite thing to put on the grill?

How do you prepare for an upcoming race?
I always love to hear from you. Enjoy the last few days of August!

It’s another gloomy day in Boston, but I really don’t mind! It’s kind of nice to feel the chill in the air and a little rain on the skin. Of course, it makes anyone want to stay cozy in bed with a good book, but my triathlon is coming up a week from Saturday, and today is the first day that I will run the whole thing through once. If you read yesterday’s post, you know that this week, I’m trying to eat only whole foods or foods with three or less whole ingredients. I promised to post a few recipes, snacks, and strategies throughout the week to help you do the same. Last night, I had the pleasure of cooking dinner for my friends Julie and Tom:  Parmesan crusted cod w/lemon zest, rainbow swiss chard w/garlic and shallots, and sweet potato.  Here’s the recipe!

My lovely roomies! Bootsy and Julie

Tom & Julie chatting before dinner

Recipes:

COD

• Preheat oven to 350
• Put two plates on the counter. Pour skim milk into one. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese into the other
• Dip cod into milk first (the top side) then put it top side down onto the parm-plate. Make sure entire top of cod is covered in parm.
• Cut up some lemon zest and sprinkle it over the fish
• Sprinkle the fish with lemon pepper.
• Bake for 17-20 minutes

SWEET POTATO:

Usually, I like to bake sweet potato, but Julie and I were pretty hungry, so I decided to take a short cut: the microwave!

• Wash sweet potatoes and pat dry
• Punch holes into the potatoes with a fork
• Microwave for 11 minutes
• Voila, you’re done with the sweet potato!
  
• Add butter or cinnamon or both (Yes, I am a dietetics student, but I think a tiny bit of butter is ok sometimes if your heart is in healthy condition).
  

RAINBOW SWISS CHARD

• Fill pan with olive oil
• Mince garlic, thinly slice shallots. Add to olive oil on medium heat
• Heat the garlic and shallots on medium heat until the aroma is apparent or you can hear the garlic start to crackle

*NOTE: Garlic and shallots are vegetables of the genus allium. The flavor compounds in these vegetables are water-soluble, s0 unless you desire a mild flavor, I suggest using olive oil to cook them (also included in the allium family: onions, leeks, chives).

• Add washed swiss chard and cover the pan for a few minutes, turning the swiss chard over and over again intermittently. Once the chard has wilted a bit and looks covered in olive oil and allium veggies, it’s done.
• Bon appetit!

Cook the leaves and save the stems. They taste like celery and add color to your salad for lunch the next day!

Garlic and shallots in olive oil

Enjoy dinner with friends!

For desert, Tom brought over some delicious stone ground chocolate from a place in Somerville (my home town!) called Taza Chocolate. We had vanilla bean chocolate and almond chocolate. Delicious!

Cooking with whole ingredients is a lot less difficult than shopping for them. Invite some friends over this week and try it out! The best part about cooking, in my opinion, is dining w/loved ones afterward.

Have you been trying to eat mostly whole foods lately? What kind of obstacles are you encountering? I always love hearing from you!

Finding whole foods in the grocery store can be harder than you think! This morning, while food shopping at Whole Foods, I decided that I would only put items in my shopping cart if they had 3 whole ingredients or less. Believe it or not, this decision had me place many surprising items back on the shelves: some yogurts, whole wheat bread crumbs, certain milk alternatives, frozen yogurt, hummus, soups, cereals, breads, and even cheese! What’s with all the additives in these healthy foods? Are they really necessary? All additives and preservatives on the market right now are FDA approved and technically safe, but do you really want “gum arabic” in your yogurt or “modified cornstarch” in your hummus? These ingredients are both thickening agents and are considered safe, but it’s just the principle that bothers me. I’ve written about eating close to nature before, so if you follow Food For Real, you probably already know that I’m quite fascinated by the foods our ancestors ate. It’s pretty mind boggling to think about the changes the human diet has gone through over time.  Food Science has taken us to a whole new level with preserving shelf life and altering the mouth feel of certain products. In the realm of history and time, these practices are relatively new, and I question their necessity and outcomes they may have on our health.  This week, I challenge you to eat as many whole foods as possible. Look at your ingredient lists, and if a non-whole food item is listed there, opt for something else if possible. I’ll post different recipes and snacks throughout the week to help guide you on your whole food quest. I’d love to hear about how you feel after doing this for a few days! Here’s my shopping list from this morning:

Shopping List

Fruits and Veggies

Cheese, Chicken, Cod

• Kale
• Rainbow Swiss Chard
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Shallots & Garlic
• Sweet Potatoes
• Lemon
• Cherries
• Watermelon
• Skim Milk
• Chocolate Milk
• Coconut Milk
• Wild Caught Cod
• Rotisserie Chicken
• When Pigs Fly 100% Whole Wheat Bread
• Cheese (Parmesan and Jarlsberg)
• Fresh flowers (No, I don’t eat these. I just enjoy looking at them!)

Other things in my kitchen:

• Eggs
• Raspberries
• Lettuce
• Quinoa
• Almond Butter
• Frozen wild caught cod

Tonight for dinner: Parmesan crusted baked cod w/lemon, baked  sweet potato, and garlic/shallot rainbow chard. Recipe coming tomorrow!

I’d love to hear about your experience in the grocery store. What’s your take on foods  containing additives and preservatives? Do these ingredients bother you or are you happy w/it if it’s FDA approved and scientifically proven to be safe?

California is such a beautiful state! I returned from my vacation there yesterday morning feeling refreshed and excited despite having taken the red-eye flight. From the wild & and ever-so-chic parties in LA to the enchanted Redwood forests in Marin County and beautiful views of San Francisco, I am totally in love with the west coast. And it didn’t hurt that I had some of the best tour guides a girl could hope for: My good friends Brandon Andrew, Brandon Lehr, Ian Fedorov and lifelong quasi-cousin Danny Osterweil and his parents Jody and Linda.

The food culture in California runs the gamet. In LA, we dined on authentic Mexican one day and then on locally grown, organic food the next. Brandon and Brandon took us to an amazing restaurant called LOCAL where they serve organic, locally grown food in the form of one of the best menus I’ve ever seen. I ordered the Quinoa Burger w/Avocado. The burger is made from quinoa, zucchini, golden beets and pine nuts. So good! The food truck culture in LA is much more common than in any other city I’ve experienced. Normally, I would be reluctant to eat from a street stand  or truck selling fish tacos, but the Brandons assured me that the food was clean and delicious…and they were right!

Greenz on Wheelz! Best Food Truck

The Brandons dining on Burritos at Tacos Delta in Silver Lake, LA

Best Coffee Ever...Intelligencia in Silver Lake

Danny and Brandon A. at late night taco stand in LA

Veggie juice of the day at Local: Beet, Apple, Ginger, Carrot

Quinoa Burger at Local: Zucchini, Red Bell Pepper, Golden Beets and Pine Nuts

Brandon and Brandon picked a beautiful spot to live in Silver Lake. Their apartment is comfortable, stylish, artistic and there is a breathtaking view from every window. Naturally, I was drawn to the kitchen where I whipped up dinner the night before Danny and I set out on our drive up the coast to San Rafael. The unique stove, ample counter top space, and view from the kitchen made this one of the most enjoyable cooking experiences I’ve ever had. The menu: Rosemary & Thyme Lemon Baked Tilapia, Whole wheat pasta salad with asparagus, red bell pepper, and garbanzo beans, and garlicky kale. The rosemary came from a bush right outside their front door, and the rest of the food came from a Whole Foods store in Santa Monica.  I dressed the pasta salad in a recipe I made up that night: Spicy balsamic dressing. Here’s the dinner recipe!

View from the kitchen

1. Cover tilapia in olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Sprinkly fresh rosemary and thyme over fish. Place thinly sliced lemon circle on top of each fillet. Place in fridge for about 20 minutes to let flavors soak in.

2. Boil pasta and blanch asparagus. When they are done, run them each under cold water to stop the cooking. A good trick: add some ice cubes to speed up the cooling process.

3. Rinse garbanzo beans (I usually like to cook them from scratch, but that takes about two hours. When time is a factor, I go with the canned kind. I rinse them as much as possible to get rid of excess sodium).

4. Chop cooled asparagus, and red bell peppers. Add them to a bowl with the garbanzo beans and let sit while pasta continues cooling and drying.

5. Preheat oven to 350. Add Tilapia and bake for 17-20 minutes.

6. Fill pan with olive oil and minced garlic. Once you hear the garlic crackling a bit, add fresh, washed kale. Cover over low heat and stir around occasionally for about 7 minutes or until Kale is soft. (Tilapia should still be baking at this point).

7. While kale is cooking, add veggies to pasta for pasta salad.

Spicy Balsamic Dressing: I did this all from taste, so I recommend doing it the same way. It’s an interesting way to learn about cooking and to discover different ratios of flavors you find more appealing. I started with 1/2 cup olive oil and 2 minced garlic cloves, then added about 1 and 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar. Then I added salt and pepper and chili powder and a little red wine to taste.  I stopped adding things when the strongest flavors were balsamic vinegar and chili powder with undertones of garlic.

8. Cover the pasta salad in the balsamic sauce and stir.

9. Remove kale from heat and add to bowl.

10. Tilapia should be done cooking at this point. Take out of oven.

Beth, Danny, Brandon A, and Brandon L at the dinner table

Last Step: Enjoy dinner with your friends!

I love cooking healthy meals for my friends and family. Maybe it’s the Italian/Jewish in me, but nothing makes me happier than to see my loved ones enjoying eating well. This meal contains some of the most powerful nutrients and foods. Olive oil is super heart healthy as is fish. Tilapia is always  a good choice because it’s a low mercury fish. Garlic has anti-disease properties, and kale is jam packed with vitamins and minerals. The whole wheat pasta provides an extra kick of fiber, and red bell pepper contains a powerful antioxidant known as lycopene which has been found to have anti-cancer properties.

The next day, Danny and I set out on our road trip to San Rafael. Along the way, we saw some truly beautiful views of mountains, oceans, trees, etc. We listened to good music, kept the windows down the whole time, and filled each other in on the last three years  of life.  Definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had.

On the way, we stopped in the “Artichoke Heart” of the world, Castroville, where we snacked on fried artichoke hearts and cucumber margaritas. What’s a vaca without a little fried stuff and tequila? The artichoke hearts most likely came from the acres upon acres of artichoke crops directly across the street. Yes, please. Thank you.

In my mind, food and fun go together. It just feels so good to exert yourself with experiences like hiking through Redwood forests followed by a dinner of salmon, salad, and fresh greens. Or to run barefoot on the beach followed by a light beer and fresh tacos. California is one of the best places to do this, because the food is fresh, the weather is just right, the beaches are plentiful, and the hiking is beautiful. I’m very much looking forward to the next chance I get to visit again.

What’s one of your favorite food experiences this summer?

What kind of foods do you like to eat and what kind of activities do you like to do on vacation?

When you think of California, what foods come to mind?

I always love to hear from you! Be well, and enjoy the day.

So much of who we are and what we enjoy comes from our families. With every year, I see more of my parents in myself. Some of the characteristics are tangible, like my love for food, music and yoga, while others are harder to pin point. I try to visit my parents for dinner at least one per month if I can. I love to explore the house in which I grew up; looking at old pictures of my loved ones, playing the old piano, looking out my old bedroom window, visiting my childhood pets,  realizing how much has changed since I lived there…and being thankful for the things that didn’t.

Mum and Dad at the dinner table

It was a beautiful night last night, so I decided to ride my bike to my parents’ house for dinner. On the way there, I took a few detours around the familiar neighborhoods, smiling at the memories around almost every corner. I got to my parents’ a little early, and decided to have a snack while I chatted w/my mother. I poured myself some tangerine orange zinger iced tea and filled a bowl up with fresh organic red cherries. I showed my mom some pictures from when I lived in New York this summer, we talked about my nieces and nephews, we remembered my grandfather, we called my grandmother to say hello. My mom showed me the beautiful garden out back that she and my dad have been working on,  we played outside with the dog (Herbie!),  she told me about the novel she is currently reading, explained her latest yoga-revelation, showed me her fabulous new shoes, and offered to let me borrow a skirt. And of course had a moment of wisdom that will most definitely stick with me for the rest of the week, “Being kind to yourself and being kind to others is a balancing act.” This is our routine.

Tangerine orange zinger iced tea and a bowl of cherries

Mum making iced tea

Herbie waiting patiently for me to throw the tennis ball

Baby watermelon

Corn

beets

Basil

family of ducks I saw during the ride over there

My father got home around 6 p.m. and the cooking began. Dad was sent to the grill to work on the Sweet Italian Sausage, while Mom whipped up rice noodles with Italian tuna, garlic & lemon, capers & olive oil with a side of steamed broccoli. I joined Dad outside for a little chat while he fired up the grill. We talked about my upcoming trip to California, the upcoming triathlon I’m registered for, school, my apartment, my car, and we tried to plan a trip to the Cape before the summer ends. This is our routine.

Dad firing up the grill!

Where I always want to be

Mum snipping fresh oregano

There’s always two options at the Horton dinners. My mom is mostly vegan (though she does eat fish), and my dad is most certainly not vegan. Growing up I always had a choice: Veggie burger or Cheeseburger, chickpea stew or beefstew, Tofu & greens or grilled chicken and salad. I learned to just have a little bit of everything, because I didn’t want one parent to feel left out! Plus everything is always so good, it’s hard to pass up!

My plate: a little of everything as usual

Dinner with mum and dad, as always, was a lot of fun. Everything was delicious! Check out the recipe for the Rice noodle dish as well as the iced tea below. When dinner was over (and after a lecture about riding my bike at night), my mom loaned me Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (no, I haven’t read it yet!) and my dad showed me that he got me a Food Network Magazine for my plane ride to LA this Thursday. I headed home feeling a lot of gratitude. It’s nice to step back and take a look at how the people you call your parents are people too, and they have shaped who you are in ways you will never understand. The dinners and routines and pictures and disputes and the things they give you to read or listen to…I used to hardly give these things a second thought, but now I realize they are all part of who I am, and that makes me smile.

What’s one of your favorite family meals? How do you feel your family has influenced your food likes and dislikes?

Be well, and enjoy the day!

RECIPES:

Tangerine Orange Zinger Iced Tea

• 6 Tea Bags
• One pitcher of water

Fill a pretty pitcher up w/cold water, add tea bags to water, cover and refridgerate. You never have to take the bags out of the pitcher, because it doesn’t get bitter…simply flavors the water more.

Rice Noodles w/Italian Tuna, Capers, Lemon, Garlic and Olive Oil

• Rice noodles
• Italian tuna packed in olive oil
• Capers
• Fresh Oregano
• Lemon
• Garlic
• Black pepper

Boil the rice noodles for 2 minutes. Then turn off heat and allow the noodles to soak for 20 minutes. Brown garlic in olive oil on a skillet over very low heat. Add tuna and cook for 2 minutes. Add capers and lemon and heat for another minute or so. Add rice noodles and oregano and heat for about 5 -10 minutes on very low heat, stirring occasionally. Add black pepper to taste and serve hot.

Lori, Christina, Ricky, and Becky at the Doris Family Dinner!

Tuesday evening was a perfect summer’s night. I was invited over to the Doris house for family dinner, and wow, it was really incredible. My good friend Lori Doris lives with her two sisters Christina and Rebecca in Somerville with their adorable cat Sydney. Lori is a culinary master and Christina is an incredible baker, and the two of them work  at Mooo in Boston – Lori in the back of the house and Christina in the front…What a team! The three girls (and Sydney of course) were joined by myself and Grillmaster Ricky for a delicious summer dinner: Rosemary and thyme grilled chicken w/fava bean puree and Israeli cous cous with summer squash, zucchini and pine nuts followed by a dessert of avocado panna cotta with chocolate butter cookie, chocolate chip cherry sorbet, and vanilla bean whipped cream. Amazing.

Chef Lori Doris! Holding a fava bean and the fava bean puree

Christina's avocado panna cotta was out of this world! Check out the recipe below

The cooks! Love the aprons

Grill Master Ricky grilling the Rosemary & Thyme Chicken

I met Lori about 8 years ago (whoa – time flies). A few years later, she came to the realization that not only does she love cooking, but she is also really good at it. So she decided to go back to school for culinary arts, and I must say, I am so happy she did! It’s so much fun to watch Lori cook. In all the years I’ve known her, it wasn’t until Tuesday that I really got to see her in action. The Fava bean puree is one of the tastiest, most unique dishes I’ve ever had. Try it out! Here are the dinner recipes courtesy of Lori:

Fava bean puree

• 3.5lbs Fava beans
• 4 cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 sprigs Rosemary
• Water
• 2tbls Butter
• Lemon juice
• Heavy cream
• Salt
• Pepper

Peel fava pods and remove beans.  Blanch the beans, cool them in ice bath and then peel.  Sautee garlic in olive oil.  Add the fava, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper, and partially cover with water and simmer for about 15 min until fava are cooked.  Add butter.  Puree mixture with oil, cream, water, and lemon juice until desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Israeli Cous Cous with Squash, Zucchini and pine nuts

• 4 cups Israeli cous cous
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 summer squash – diced
• 2 zucchini – diced
• 2 shallots – small dice
• Lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• Toasted pine nuts
• basil
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Toast the cous cous in butter.  Add stock, bring to boil, and simmer for about 12.  Add some oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Sautee shallots in oil then add squash and zucchini.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until tender.  Add cooked cous cous, basil, and pine nuts.  Season with salt and pepper.

Chicken

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Lemon juice
• 4 cloves of crushed garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Mix everything together and marinate.  Grill chicken until it’s done!

Grilling the chicken

Cooking the Israeli cous cous

Pine Nuts - Lori's favorite!

Check it out - Lori was in the Improper!

Grilled Chicken over Fava Bean Puree w/veggies and pine nuts. There's no way you're not having seconds.

Thanks, Bill. You're the best

And as if I wasn’t impressed enough, dinner was followed by dessert. Incredible cooking runs in the Doris family, without a doubt. (As does humor, check out Becky’s blog: If I am a Wild Beast)! Here are the dessert recipes courtesy of Christina:

Avocado Pana Cotta

• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups cream
• 1 avocado
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 packets gelatin
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 vanilla bean, halved w/seeds

Sprinkle the milk with gelatin and let sit for 5 minutes. Boil 2 cups of milk, cream, lemon zest, sugar, and vanilla bean for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Whisk in gelatin/milk mix, and puree until smooth. You peel and puree the avocado and then add half of the cream mixture to it and puree again until smooth. Then you add that puree to the remaining cream mixture and whisk to combine. Fill molds and cover. Chill for 2 hours. Then enjoy!

Chocolate Butter Cookie

• 3/4 c butter, soft
• 1 c powdered sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

- sift flour, cocoa and set aside
- cream butter and sugar until fluffy
- add yolk and vanilla, mix until combined
- on low speed slowly add flour mixture and continue beating for about 5 minutes
- form dough to disk, wrap, and chill 30 minutes
- roll out, cut to desired shape and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Avocado panna cotta, chocolate chip cherry sorbet, vanilla bean whipped cream, chocolate butter cookies....heaven!

Wine goes with everything

The Hulk really wanted some more (He and Bill are regulars at the Doris Family Dinner)

When I first told Lori I wanted to blog her, I think her first reaction was “oh no, now I have to cook something ‘healthy.’” But I told her, “Lori! I think all eating is healthy. The only stuff I try to avoid is the  stuff I can barely pronounce.” Clearly, I’m about real food. And that’s exactly what the Doris family dinner was made of. I admire how Lori was able to take some staple kitchen items (chicken, beans, vegetables, grains) and turn them into a gourmet, flavor packed, four star meal. In my opinion, culinary and dietetics really go hand in hand, but for some reason, in academics, they are separate. I’ve never been enrolled in a culinary class, yet, as a dietitian, I am responsible for telling people what to eat! There’s a disconnection here!

I asked Lori what specifically she loves about cooking, and she responded with, “It relaxes me, and it makes me happy. I love when other people like eating what I created, and  I love when things look beautiful.  Overall, I think it’s fun!” Awesome! There is nothing better than working at something  you love that also relaxes you. Cooking together and sharing a meal is one of my favorite ways to spend time with friends and family. Thanks to the Doris sisters, Rick, Sydney, and Bill Cosby for such a wonderful night!

If you have been following Food for Real, you probably have noticed I have a thing for “guiltless eating.” I believe that other than the relationship you have with yourself, your relationship with what you eat is among the longest and most important. That’s why I teamed up with my favorite partner-in-food Elizabeth Jarrard in an effort to spread the message that you can have your cake, eat your cake, and feel good too.

Check out our new team-blog called Guiltless. We’re hoping that people will send in guest posts to iamguiltless@gmail.com. Posts can be about anything that has to do with self love, body image, mindful eating, empowering people, inspiration, struggle, challenges, you name it! We want this to be collaborative, community based effort with people writing in at least once per week. We hope to hear from you soon!

Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/IamGuiltless and become a fan on facebook!