Millet and Arugula

I can never resist arugula when I see it at the farmers market.

This zesty spicy green is great with pasta. I recently stirred it into cooked millet, which improved the grain immensely.

Millet is a small round grain that is much enjoyed by budgies. Practitioners of macrobiotics say that it is the least acid-forming of all the grains.

It's a good source of magnesium, so it is a heart-healthy grain. Magnesium is known for lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart attack. Millet also contains niacin to lower cholesterol. So it should be one of the grains in the rotation.

I cook it like rice - 1 cup grain to 2 cups water. It cooks in 15-20 minutes.

So it's healthy and fast to cook - it's only downside is that it's a little boring. Arugula perks it right up.

Millet and Arugula
1 tbsp oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic, chopped
1 lb arugula
3/4 cup millet
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tamari

Sauté the onion in oil for a minute, then add garlic and cook about 4 minutes until lightly browned.

Wash, trip and coarsely chop the arugula. Stir into the pot with the salt and cook, covered, 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the millet in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until golden, about 5 minutes. The seeds will pop slightly as they cook.

Add the millet to the arugula along with 1 1/2 cups water and the tamari. Stir well, then cook, covered, over medium-low heat until the millet is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 20-30 minutes.

Serves 4

Stretching out the meals

As I mentioned in my last post, we came back from two weeks away to a relatively empty fridge. Three dinners loomed between us and the Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market where we would replenish our vegetables with produce from our favorite farmers.

I couldn't manage lunches, so we ate those out. But thanks to our garden, the dinners were pretty good.

Thursday night I made pesto with basil from the garden, garlic and olive oil from the pantry, and walnuts from the freezer. Tossed over pasta from the pantry, it was a great dinner.

Friday night my jet lag had lessened and I was more inspired. I pulled some cooked brown rice from the freezer before I went to work. In the evening, I whisked it with an egg and a few chard leaves from our garden. First I steamed them and chopped them coarsely then stirred them into the rice along with some salt and pepper. It went into a small casserole dish and a few slivers of old cheddar cheese were scattered on top. It was great.

Steamed carrots alongside. (Carrots last well in the fridge.)

And our out-of-control garden provided the final dish: stewed wax beans.

As you can see in the picture, the wax beans were prolific and large. (They're the green tower to the right of the blue agapanthus flowers.) The beans were too tough to steam, but excellent braised for 30 minutes until they softened and took on some additional flavor.

I trimmed them and cut them in 2-inch lengths. Then I put them in a pot with a 14-oz can of diced tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. I covered the pot and put it over medium-low heat to simmer until the beans were tender, stirring occasionally so it wouldn't stick. Just before serving I tossed in some fresh shredded basil from the garden. The slightly saucy beans were great with the rice, and you couldn't tell that they had started off tough.

That was the end of my inspiration. Saturday night we ate pizza in front of the hockey game. And then Sunday morning we replenished our fridge at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

Sunday Shopping

We returned late Wednesday night from two weeks away.

It was good to be home, but sad to look at the empty fridge. (Grapefruit, olives, carrots, one egg - not very inspiring.)

Fortunately the Hollywood Farmers Market was only a few days away. This is what we filled our bags with Sunday morning:

2 maui onions
1 red onion
6 grapefruit
15 oranges
5 red potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 red lettuce
1 green lettuce
feta
2 lb bag of white lima beans
1 pint strawberries
arugula
1 avocado
beets
parsley
1 cucumber
2 small green zucchini
1 yellow summer squash
St Benoit Yogurt: 4 small (1 plum, 2 honey, 1 lemon) and 1 quart of plain
4 ears of organic corn from Finley Farms
2 dozen eggs
fava beans in the pod from Tutti Frutti farms
asparagus
turnips with their greens
cilantro
collards
watermelon
La Bolsa Huehuetenango ground coffee from Cafe Organico
celery
2 tomatoes
spring onions
6 apples
2 peaches
2 nectarines
5 plums (3 fabulous tiny ones from Flora Bella)
3 apricots - dry farmed from Flora Bella - we ate them for breakfast

Also, plants from Jimmy for the vegetable garden
2 lettuce
1 dill
1 cilantro

It feels good to start the week with a full fridge.

Zucchini Salad

Zucchini is a pretty bland vegetable. It is good filler in brown rice casseroles, ratatouille and grilled vegetable sandwiches. But it needs some help to take the starring role.

In this simple salad, the zucchini is marinated in lemon juice, giving it zest, and then layered with parmesan cheese, making it delicious.

Only make this if you have small zucchinis - maximum 6 inches long. Any larger and they get spongy inside and even more bland-flavored. A mixture of green and yellow is nice, but remember that yellow zucchini go bad in the fridge very quickly, so use them within a day or two of purchase.

This salad is quick to make and keeps a couple of days in the fridge. When serving it as leftovers, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the zucchini to perk it up.

Zucchini Salad
3 small yellow and green zucchini
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
parmesan cheese

Trim the ends off the zucchini and discard. Slice them thinly lengthwise using a mandoline. Toss with the olive oil and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and paper. Thinly shave some parmesan on top.

Serves 2-3.

Cooked

From my old Sunset bread book -
more complicated than Pollan's way.

Michael Pollan was on Democracy Now recently promoting his latest book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

He's always good to listen to about food politics, and his enthusiasm for making bread with the natural yeasts flying around the kitchen has inspired me to re-discover sourdough starter.

It's a fun interview. You can listen to it or read a transcript of it here: Democracy Now

Arugula and Lime Salad

Arugula is a zesty green. When you can find small leaves of wild arugula at the market, pick them up to toss with lime juice and garlic in this simple salad that gives a lift to any meal.

It also adds a boost of nutrition. Arugula is in the cruciferous family, so it has the anti-cancer benefits of cabbage and broccoli. It's also high in antioxidants, vitamin C, and bone-supporting minerals.

Arugula and Lime Salad
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch arugula (4-6 cups)

Mash garlic with a little salt. Whisk together with lime juice, cilantro and olive oil. Season to taste.

Wash and dry arugula. Remove any really thick stems. Put in a bowl. Toss with a little of the dressing, just enough to coat. Serve the extra dressing on the side.

Serves 4

Root Vegetable Salad

Move over cole slaw. You are being replaced with this healthy and beautiful grated root salad.

It's easy to make in the food processor and keeps well in the fridge, thus fulfilling the requirements for lazy summer dinners.

This is a great recipe to introduce your family to raw turnips and beets. The lemon juice cuts some of the earthy flavor, and the carrots make it sweet.

Turnips are cruciferous vegetables, so they have similar cancer-preventing substances to cabbages and broccoli. They are anti-inflammatory, good for the heart and circulatory system, and full of minerals and fiber. Beets are a good source of iron and fiber, and are great liver tonics.

Plus, just looking at the colors of this salad will make you happy!

Root Vegetable Salad
3 carrots
3 medium turnips
1 large beet
small wedge of cabbage (about 1 cup grated)
1 cup corn (thawed frozen is fine)
juice of 1 lemon

Grate the carrots, turnips, beet and cabbage in the food processor (or by hand). Tip into a bowl and stir in the corn and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I find this salad great as it is, but you can serve your favorite salad dressing on the side if you like.

Serves 4-6

Eden Foods Disappoints

Eden Foods, the organic food company that makes canned tomatoes, canned beans, soymilk and much more, is suing the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act.

Company CEO Michael Potter says birth control is not natural, and his company should not be required to offer it through their employee health plan. Read more here.

(The ACA requires health insurers to cover the cost of birth control at no cost to women. The Catholic Church did not want to offer its female employees birth control so an exemption was negotiated for religious organizations. The insurance companies will offer additional contraception-only plans to the employees of these institutions. If you managed to avoid this ridiculous story the first time around, you can read about the birth control controversy here.)

Eden Foods wants an exemption from having to offer birth control, the lawsuit says, because birth control "almost always involve(s) immoral and unnatural practices."

Hmm. Wonder if they think the same thing about Viagra.

Something to remember when choosing which brand of canned tomatoes to buy.

Marinated Chickpea and Red Pepper Salad

I found baby artichokes at the farmers market last week, and used them in this bean salad that was excellent for lunch and dinner.

If you can't find tiny artichokes, use one large one. It will take longer to cook. Or you can use a small jar of marinated artichoke hearts.

I pulled a roasted red pepper from the freezer. (Last November I thought I was freezing too many, but my supply is running low and this season's harvest won't be at the market for a few more months.) You can substitute a small jar of roasted red peppers if you like.

This salad would also be good with some feta cheese crumbled on top, or some fresh oregano stirred in.

Marinated Chickpea and Red Pepper Salad
1/2 cup dry chickpeas, cooked (or 1 can, drained and rinsed)
1 roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded and diced
6 baby artichokes
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Tear the leaves from the artichokes, pare off the bottom of the stem, and cut them in half lengthwise. Pull off any thistly parts of the choke. Put them in water with lemon juice as you work so they don't go brown. Cook them in boiling water about 3 minutes until they are tender. Drain.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Stir well. Season to taste. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This dish keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Serves 4-6.

Portobello Mushroom Burger

Who needs meat when you have a portobello mushroom?

I had the most delicious burger ever on Memorial Day.

It was a portobello grilled with a marinade of 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp tamari. Larry did the cooking, and says he poured a little beer on it to make it extra good. I believe him, although he was drinking Corona which doesn't really have a lot of flavor.

Then I placed it on a mediocre Whole Foods bun spread with chipotle mayonnaise, and added a slice of grilled red onion and a few wedges of avocado. What a feast!

It's easy to make your own chipotle mayonnaise. Start by puréeing a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce. Store this spicy paste in a jar in the fridge and add spoonfuls to soups, stews - anything that needs a kick. Stir a little into mayonnaise along with a squirt of lemon or lime juice for a zesty spread that will improve any sandwich or burger.