Curried Chickpeas for Jeremy

The fact that I have prepared warm, spicy, velvety, curried chickpeas twice this week says something about the spring season so far. But enough about the weather. . .

Last weekend, a very old and dear friend was in town and, after succumbing to the prospect of an oncoming cold, I decided last minute we'd stay in and I would cook. After making an out of town guest shlep across the beltway to my house during rush hour traffic on a Friday, dinner had better be GOOD, I thought.

But as I've tinkered with odds and ends ingredients over the years, a cooking mantra has stuck to me like fat drippings to an all clad pan: good doesn't have to mean complicated.

Since fate was left to the Friday night traffic, and the estimated time of arrival ranged between 25 to 60 minutes, ingredients came out of the pantry quickly. What took the longest to cook went on the stove first. Brown rice in one pot and onions in another.

(A note: when my students in cooking class openly resist those untimely ingredients like rice or dried black beans, I gently offer a new perspective in defense of these foods and the "cooking ahead" strategy: it's not YOUR time, it's the beans' time.")

By the time my friend came to the door, all ingredients were in the pot cooking and dinner was on its way.

The meal fed three and a half of us. Luckily the dish satisfied my two dinner mates with one helping. As for myself and my other pregnant half, we went back for a second bowl.

Curried Chickpeas
Serves 2-3

2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon oil
1 onion chopped
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 Tablespoon black mustard seeds
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups cooked chickpeas (if using canned, drain and rinse first)
2 cups canned diced tomatoes, plus 1 cup juice drained and reserved
1 1/4 cups light coconut milk
2 1/2 Tablespoons curry powder
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
pinch red pepper flakes
cilantro garnish (optional)

Heat 2 Tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add onions and salt, cook until tender. Move onions to one side of pan, add remaining 1 teaspoon oil and black mustard seeds. Cook until mustard seeds make a popping sound and mix in with onions. Mix in tomato paste and cook 3 minutes. Add chickpeas, diced tomatoes, tomato juice, coconut milk, and remaining spices. Heat until mixture bubbles and cook 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Serve over rice.

Getting Fresh with your Food

This is the season of anticipation.

The smell of mulch wafts down the street, birds deliberate atop treetops and bushes, sending down encouraging chirps to baby buds, and seed packets get pulled out of the freezer to be tested for viability.

The mouth anticipates as well. As the palette turns its nose from hearty soups, root vegetables, and velvety flavors that sustained it through the winter months, it turns to lighter fare and the fresh flavors that compliment spring lettuce, spinach, and sugar snap peas.

But, as we say at work when plugging in plans to the calendar year. . . we're just not there yet.

So last week, I decided that if my food couldn't be fresh, then I would have to bring fresh to my food. The theme was faux fresh Mex.

To bring on the fresh, I started with a favorite cooking strategy, "component cooking." Make a mixture of xyz, and throw it into several dishes throughout the week.

Frozen peppers and corn were roasted, mixed with black beans, freshened up with a cilantro lime vinaigrette and chopped avocado (throw in an avocado to anything, and i'm somehow transported to a beach in san diego), and the cooking began.

This Faux Fresh Mex filling created a delicious dinner salad (with tofu added for more protein) and fish tacos that were superb.

While my fresh flavor additions were quite unlocal, walking to the market to greet Virginia farmers is a mere month away. So at least as my pregnant feet swell up in size this summer and bulge out of my flip flops, my carbon footprint will be under control.

Here's the fish tacos:



1. Roast veggies

1 bag frozen corn (16 oz)
1 bag frozen peppers (16 oz)
Roast corn and peppers in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

2. Make veggie and black bean mixture

2 cups of roast veggie mix (above)
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado diced


3. Make Cilantro Vinaigrette

1/2 cup cilantro
3 TBS olive oil
4 limes, juiced
4 TBS apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine in a blender or food processor. Stir into veggie and black bean mixture.

4. Cook Fish

2 Tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces tilapia
salt and pepper
garlic powder
1 can chipotle chilis packed in adobe sauce
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon water


Heat an electric skillet with olive oil over medium high heat

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides of fish.

Combine 3 Tablespoons adobe sauce, 1 Tablespoon tomato paste, and 2 Tablespoons of water.

Add fish to skillet and cook 4 minutes each side. Add tomato paste mixture and cook 3 more minutes.




5. Assemble Tacos

6 soft corn tortilla shells
1 romaine heart

Heat 6 corn tortillas on a skillet or in microwave for 15 seconds.

Fill corn tortillas shell with fish, romaine lettuce, and black bean veggie mixture.

Sunday Supper

A grilled cheese fixation hit hard last week.

While innocently conversing with colleagues about the wonders of good melted cheese sandwiched in between toasty buttery bread, I found myself, like a deer caught in the headlights, face to face with a craving.

When a craving arrives, it doesn't knock softly, rather, it seems to transfix and woo me into submission. But like Harry Potter's Patronus is to a dementor, my deep breathing and mindful food/memory associations turn a craving into what it really is: something else. On that grilled cheese day, it worked.

But then Sunday came, and with it, rain, and more grilled cheese cravings. So I interpreted the steady stream of precipitation and gray coldness as a sign from a higher power that grilled cheese was destined to be made for Sunday supper. And tomato soup too.

The soup is made with straightforward tomato flavor. While more finessing is in store for this dish, I found it to be a very tasty sidekick to my sammy.

As for the grilled cheese, the best guidance I can offer is just get some good cheese, bread, butter, and a frying pan, and you're on your way to grilled cheese heaven.

What I enjoy about eating this dish is that the tomato soup is light and zingy, while the grilled cheese is buttery and satisfying. This combination of light and substantial pairs well with March weather, when Spring is quite indecisive.




Tomato Soup
Makes 4 cups

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 large onions sliced
1 tsp salt
1 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
3 large cloves garlic, diced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
In a medium sized soup pot, heat oil and butter over medium heat. When butter melts and is frothy, add onions and salt. Cook 30 minutes on low heat or until onions are golden, stirring every 10 minutes. Careful not to burn onions. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, and pepper flakes, bring to a fast simmer, and cook 15 minutes. Blend together (immersion blender is great here) until soup is smooth.

Grilled Cheese
(Makes 4; one sammy for dinner, one for lunch)

Ingredients
3 Tablespoons Butter, softened
6 slices Good bread, sliced evenly
12 ounces of your favorite cheese, sliced evenly

Directions
Heat a large non-stick frying pan (preferably one that has a lid) over medium heat. Butter one side of each bread. On unbuttered side of one piece of bread, lay cheese slices evenly. Close sandwich with second piece of bread, buttered side on the outside. Assemble remaining sandwiches. Cook one side until golden and flip. A few times during cooking, cover with a lid to encourage steam and get the cheese melting.

Pregnant Lentil

Some time has gone by since the last Red Lentil blog post. But offline, there has been plenty of cooking and experimenting over the past year. I've tinkered with gluten free, vegan, holiday recipes, and the like. But now, I'm really hungry.

With pregnancy, eating and cooking have taken some interesting twists and turns. My poor kitchen has been insulted by looks of repulsion and acts of neglect, while innocent foods (in my case mushrooms and waffles) have been blindsided by my sudden hatred of them. But having since moved on from the initial gagging stage, a new found passion for cooking has descended upon my kitchen. Now, when something gets cooked on the stove, I delight in being ravenous, feel eating satisfaction deep inside my bones, and find revelation in recipes as I never have before. For me, this is pregnant cooking.

While stories over the next six months will be about pregnant cooking, it will still very much be about just plain ole cooking. We're all hungry, we all need protein, and we're all too tired to cook. So now that I am more tired, more hungry, and need protein and iron like a fish needs water, let's see what comes out of the kitchen this time.

This morning its was a protein smoothie.

The day I went to the store in search of protein powders, I was shaking inside. As the body seems to be speaking in code when pregnant, it took about a week to decipher what the "shakies" meant. Was it low blood sugar? Nah. Withdrawal from caffeine? Nah, I keep green tea to a minimum. Protein. It had to be protein. So off I went to the store. I searched the shelves of Whole Foods like I was trying to find a missing shoe from the closet. Finally, one appeared with ample protein and no added sugar or flavoring.

(Eating chicken for 3 days straight also did help the "shakies," which was the body's way of saying, "Get some vitamin B12 stupid!" But that's for another blog entry).

With this smoothie, I've gone with simple, fast, and tasty. There are plenty of enhancements and explorations to be made, but that's what weekends are for. As I drink this before heading off to work, I not only indulge in the protein, I indulge in a flavor that, to me, is reminiscent of vanilla ice cream.

Protein Smoothie
Serves 1

1 frozen banana
1 Tablespoon creamy natural peanut butter
2 TBS protein powder (I use natural brown rice protein powder)
1 cup soy milk
**2 tea iced cubes (can use green tea, twig tea, or an herbal fave)
agave to taste (optional)

**Steep your favorite tea, freeze in ice cube trays, enjoy in your smoothie!
Combine in a blender until smooth and enjoy! If needed, add more liquid for desired thickness.



A note about the blender. I keep it close by so it seems less of a chore to remove it from the cupboard. And a quick rinse immediately afterwards (dried crusty smoothie is not fun to clean) means a smoothie the next day is more likely in the cards.

Roughly 22 grams of protein to start the day isn't bad.

Now what's for morning snack. . .

Dessert in the Baking

Recently, the "Banana Bake" has made a kitchen comeback.

I first encountered the Banana Bake one year ago via work. The Banana Bake, a combo of healthy fruits and desserty flavors, consistently achieved high marks and accolades from students in cooking class. Students also expressed their awe at how simple it was to transform this starchy fruit into a warm delicious dessert.

When the Banana Bake moved out of the classroom and into my kitchen one year ago, the recipe morphed and changed by the dictates of available pantry ingredients, and emerged as Banana Bake II. This time bananas joined preserved blueberries (canned the previous summer), canned crushed pineapple (fruit staple in the winter), and frozen mangos (the remaining slices that overstayed their welcome in the freezer). The Banana Bake kept finding new ways to be delicious.

Then, last spring, the elusive Banana Bake disappeared. As fresh strawberries began to grow on vines, there was no need for it. . . until now.

The Banana Bake re-emerged a few weeks ago. While planning a simple yet genuinely homemade lunch for colleagues. The meal, lentil chili and homemade bread, desperately needed a sweet ending. "What to dessert on?", I asked myself merely hours before the arrival of my guests. A quick stop at the store, 12 minutes of assembly, a small shove into the oven, and there it was: Banana Bake III. Eaten warm and topped with a plain yogurt agave mixture, all agreed BB III was delish.

And finally, we have arrived to yesterday, when I put the fate of Banana Bake III into the hands of my husband. Following instructions over the phone, my husband did a splendid job of replicating the recipe. It was different than my own recent bake, and may in fact be the inspiration for Banana Bake IV.

Hoping the Banana Bake finds its way into your kitchen this winter.
Be Well.

Cooking up a Storm

While shopping at Whole Foods last Friday in search of ingredients for food gifts, I had dismissed the long lines and hoards of customers as part of the holiday season's hustle and bustle.

Later than night, when the first flakes of snow began to fall, which we soon learned would be a 26 hour snow fall-athon, I realized what I had witnessed earlier was snow panic.

Since my own snow panic never struck, when the storm did, we were left with dwindling remains from food purchases the week prior, frozen produce from summer, and staple dry goods.

So in between hunkering down and digging ourselves out, creative cooking also filled time in the days that followed.

Snow Shovel Breakfasts:
Oatmeal, stretched with couscous, combined with dried milk, (to spare our soy milk from taking a hit) dried fruits, nuts, and spices that were on hand. Day 2 breakfast was "eggy mash", a concoction I created for Umami mornings. This mixture of shredded egg, mayo, soy sauce, Sriracha, and sesame oil, is rich, creamy, salty, and protein packed.

Snow Shovel Snacks:
Pretzels w/homemade hummus. Dates and walnuts.

Snow Shovel Dinners:
Tortilla pizza topped with odds and ends. It's an amazing thing how, shmearing tomato paste on a tortilla, and topping it with with canned toms, various veggies, garlic and spices, parm, and Monterey Jack cheese, makes a great thin crust pizza. Our second dinner, multi grain waffles, tapped into quinoa, oat, and buckwheat flour reserves. Topped with agave syrup these were hearty and filling, and enough leftovers remained for 3 more breakfasts.

Tonight it will be wontons with fillings TBD, and a batch of creative granola bars, sans oats.

Tomorrow, off to the grocery I'll go.

May your staples always see you through the storm.

Be Well.

Raising the Bar

Yesterday it was time to make muffins. The snow outside was a calling to my oven to become steamy, and to emanate smells of warm cinnamon and banana.

My no-recipe muffin formula came together quickly- mashed bananas, oil, sugar, vanilla, milk, egg, and cinnamon, combined together with flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Time to jazz up the bowl a bit.

Shelves were scoured and 2 of my finds were dried cranberries and a half bar of dark chocolate.

This particular bar, a hostess gift from way back in October, had oddly survived late night grazing over the past two months. Even intentional household chocolate purchases don't last this long, and therefore never become the baked good it was intended to be. This bar was a survivor.

Partly because, when nibbling through it over the past 2 months, I noticed that while the bar did offer deep dark flavors, an accompanying fatty smooth backdrop was missing, and no satisfaction ever came.

So choppity chopped it was and tossed together with dried cran. The cran-choc combo is kind of odd, kind of dynamic, and much more rich than either ingredient is on its own.

Time for the final mix and the oven was ready to radiate the smells of Cranana Chocolate Muffins.

As for the taste. . . well, when the warm melty dark chocolate met the muffin, let's just say, this time, I was satisfied.

May chocolate cravings be satisfied in many ways this winter season.

Be Well.