If you follow me on Instagram, then you probably know I am slightly obsessed with bowls. Bowls provide a vehicle to create a balanced meal in one dish. If I had to place the origin of my "obsession" with bowl life, it can be traced back to the beginning of my CSA. I felt overwhelmed by all the beautiful produce and was eager to use most of it at once. By all means, I am not claiming creative ownership over the "bowl" situation as it is far from original or unique.
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Chili is always an autumn staple in my kitchen, mainly because of its accessibility and versatility. It can really be as basic or as complex as you want but, regardless of your chili style, it can serve as a great platform for a complex carbohydrate, fiber, and vegetable protein-dense meal.
I'm always one who gets excited over the prospect of garnishes, and chili is the perfect way to provide yourself and your dining companions with options to add their flavor specific flare. For the chili, I made a little pico, some lime tinged "crema", toasted organic corn tortillas, and, of course the obligatory avocado.
Urban flame roasted poblanos, coffee, raw cacao nibs, and aged balsamic vinegar all played their parts in adding depth of flavor to an autumn kitchen staple.
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I will admit that I used to fall victim to those instant microwaveable sugar-laden packets of oats, where the oats have been cut and processed and lack much of the beneficial fiber, iron, and phosphorous. Steel cut and minimally processed oats are always best in order to retain much of the oat’s inherent benefits. To literally "spice" up my oats, I utilized seasonal apples and created a "crunchified" version of the instant apple cinnamon flavored packs.
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Saffron infused couscous served as the foundation for this grain salad that I brought to a Rosh Hashana celebration. Tart cranberries, crunchy pistachios, and caramelized onions were thrown into the mix to provide a nice contrast of flavors with plenty of pops of color.
Serves 4
Place saffron in water or stock and bring to a boil. Once bubbling, turn stove off, add couscous and cover pot with a towel and a lid to steam the grain for 10 minutes. Once grain is cooked, transfer to serving bowl, fluff with a fork, and add a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice. Incorporate cranberries and nuts, reserving 1 tbsp of each for garnish. Taste and adjust the flavors by adding more lemon juice, olive oil, salt or pepper.
For the shallots, you can simply caramelize or you can make some crispy turmeric-cumin shallots for garnish. Mix together flour, turmeric, and cumin. Add dry shallots to flour mixture and toss to coat. Heat coconut or avocado oil in skillet over high heat. Add shallots and cook until crispy, about 2-3 minutes.
Top the couscous with the remaining cranberries, pistachios, and shallots. Finish with parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
If you follow this blog or my IG, than you know grain salads are a major staple of my diet. I love the diversity, creativity, and simplicity of composing a grain salad based on what you have on hand from the pantry or recent CSA loot. It also serves as a perfect vehicle for a complete and filling meal. As a lunch box packer, I always make multiple servings of the grain salad I am composing or simply of the grain itself in order to have at least one lunch on hand to grab on my way out the door.
Mark Bitman wrote a great piece last week in the New York Times about the accessibility of packing your lunch and provided some simple ideas for your work-midday-meal.
Still not won over by the prospect of bringing your lunch? Packing your lunch will trim your weekly expenses and your waistline:
Major money saver- if you live in NYC, it is rare to have a lunch that is under $10. By packing, you could be saving $50 a week, $200 a month, and $2,400 a year!
Waist saver: by packing your lunch, you have total control over the ingredients that you are putting into your body. Most restaurants and take-out joints load their food up with sodium, oil, and/or butter, which can add up to many unneeded grams of saturated fat, excessive calories, and sodium overload.
Portion Control- You decided how much you should be eating, not a fast food chain or restaurant.
Utilize your leftovers: when wrapping up your leftovers from dinner, portion out a lunch-sized serving. You can always fluff it up with some added salad greens or baby carrots for contrast and crunch.
Although requiring some advance planning, packing your lunch has major short –term and long-term ramifications that will make you think twice before your next calorically dense lunch special.
It is impossibly hard not to have the post-vacation blues, especially when you get back from a place like Kauai. The "garden island" was filled with gargantuan mountain formations, lush greenery, and red dirt covered canyons. Ocean waters ranged from emerald green to turquoise blue, there were black lava and white sand covered beaches and the food, well the food was what little crunchy radishes dream of.
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Peaches have been an abundant staple in my CSA loot these past few weeks. In order to preserve the life of some of the stone fruit that were about to cross over to the "other side", I decided to utilize them in a different manner than mixed with my Ezekiel cereal or Siggis at breakfast. Sure, I could have gone down the salsa or galette route but, when surveying the cheese department one afternoon, I knew what had to be done. Grilled peaches served as a flavorful catalyst for this summertime salad indulgence. Why do I consider this salad an indulgence? Solely because it was tossed with torn, creamy morsels of burrata. Hey, everyone has their vices; and mine typically fall in the stinky and fermented category.
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I first came upon chickpea poppers, as I fondly like to call them, in a Canyon Ranch cookbook while searching out healthy snacks to serve at a party. Many many variations later, I have kept them in rotation for parties or solo dining. The lifespan of the little poppers is short, but they can be revived when thrown into the oven and re-heated for 5 minutes. What makes the poppers so great is that they are able to scratch that crunchy, salty, itch which creeps over you during cocktails. They can also serve as a salad flavor booster, standing in for calorically dense croutons.
Read moreNothing personifies summer more to me than sipping crisp rose and eating chilled oysters or tart and tangy ceviche. Aside from the sticky and thick atmosphere that engulfs New York, summer pleasures can be simplified into hours slipping away at an outdoor cafe with animated conversation and ice cold wine. It also marks the beginning of my CSA. This is my second year as a supporter and participant in a local organic farm share. I love the unpredictability and challenge of receiving a bounty of produce and farm fresh eggs every week. There is also an inexplicable freshness and crunch that the produce has that you cannot obtain from your local Whole Foods. This past week’s bounty consisted of: kale, swiss chard, zucchini, green beans, mint, basil and mixed greens.
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My fiancé and I were recently invited to the birthday celebration of my fellow Soul Cycle freak and clean eating nut. There had been talk of the calmness and serenity of Lake Tahoe, but nothing prepared me for the tranquility and beauty that engulfed us upon arrival. The sun-filled days started with morning yoga and slowly progressed to sipping chilled wine while sailing the majestic crystal blue lake that was surrounded by snow-tipped mountains. Evenings were spent congregated around the fire pit with s'mores, liquid libations, melodic chatter, and good tunes. For the culminating meal and birthday celebration, the host arranged a jaw dropping seafood feast. I hope that the pictures below do some justice to the beautiful food and unforgettable scenery that we were fortunate enough to experience.
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It's no new revelation that breakfast is an essential meal. "Back in the day" I used to be a breakfast skipper, and in those "dark days," it would not be uncommon for me to reach for an undesirable mid-morning snack, traditionally in bar form, or overdo it at lunch and then feel weighted down and lethargic. Sound familiar breakfast skippers? Breakfast is the meal that breaks your overnight fast. For skippers who are also getting the ideal hours of sleep, you could be going around ten hours without adding any fuel to your body. Imagine then, if you wait until lunch, you could possibly be fasting for 16 hours. That's long enough to put your body into starvation mode and slow your metabolism down.
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