I’ve always followed the food trends—what’s in, what’s out? They can be as trendy and entertaining as fashion. As the new year, new food articles come out, sometimes I laugh and sometimes I grit my teeth. We’re inundated with how to be healthy and hip.
Apparently in 2020:
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Eating blue food is in. (Blueberries have always been “in” for me.)
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Awareness that how we eat affects global warming is up. (A necessity, not a trend.)
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Impossible Burgers lead the food industry parade of new food. Everybody’s excited about a burger made of plants with meat-like qualities. (But—are they really made of plants?)
Here’s the trend I’m seeing: it’s simplifying.
Wouldn’t it be great to take the stress out of going into the kitchen? Make cooking NOT this complicated thing in our lives, especially when there are so many demands on our time?
We’re all being bombarded by a LOT of information, about the planet, the politics, your kids, your dogs… life happens fast, but we have to keep ourselves nourished. We need to find a simple way.
I look back at my first cookbook and think gosh, could I have made this recipe more complicated? With a laundry list of spices, including ⅛ teaspoon of cardamom? Like I couldn’t live without that? I say this as the author of 5 cookbooks and someone who’s helped chefs in restaurant kitchens, home cooks, community cooks… the whole spectrum.
This is my year to crack the code and come up with a formula.
I’m putting it out there, the challenge I’ve set myself that I think will help many of us. What if it could just be simpler?
On a recent Sunday, I was in my pantry trying to find baking powder. If you know me, you know I’m not a baker. Soup, yes! Baked goods, not so much. So I have a little bin at the top of my cupboard where I keep less-used things that I have to get on a step stool to reach. I stretched up, got down my little box, pulled out the baking powder… and noticed the expiration date. Embarrassing!
I started going through everything in my cupboard and putting things on the kitchen table. Oh my gosh! I had forgotten about all this stuff. Here’s what I realized: My cooking patterns have changed.
Maybe kids go off to college… maybe you stop entertaining so much, or you start entertaining a lot more! When I’m recipe developing, I explore a dazzling number of ingredients that I certainly don’t need when I’m not. Things change in our lives and in how we cook. We’re always shifting.
Maybe you want to join in and give it a try as well? Or maybe you’re a slaw expert already. What this post is really about is the orange tahini dressing that will make any shredded raw vegetables shine, and also a little bit about the sad yet exciting fact that we are selling our home with my dream kitchen.
Popping in really quickly today to share the recipe for this holiday table dessert contender – baked apples! These babies are fun to make and on the healthier side as far as desserts go, but still so satisfying and festive. They are taken up to that next level with the pockets of poppyseed dukkah cozied up inside each apple, as well as a crucial drizzle of homemade coconut caramel :D
Popping in really quickly today to share the recipe for this holiday table dessert contender – baked apples! These babies are fun to make and on the healthier side as far as desserts go, but still so satisfying and festive. They are taken up to that next level with the pockets of poppyseed dukkah cozied up inside each apple, as well as a crucial drizzle of homemade coconut caramel :D
Thanksgiving can be full of joy, gratitude, warmth, friends, family, and of course, good food! But it can also be an emotionally wrought holiday, especially when it comes to food.
Everyone has a favorite dish they look forward to on the table. Remember Campbell’s Classic Green Bean Casserole, created by Dorcas Reilly, Campbell Test Kitchen Manager, in 1955 that went viral in a pre-internet world? Apparently, the distinctive combined flavors of cream of mushroom soup, green beans, soy sauce, and French’s pre-cooked crispy onion rings has proved unforgettable to a multitude of Americans and is still a staple on Thanksgiving tables.
Referencing the old saying, Everything old is new again—all of a sudden, cooking at home is trendy! A recent article in Bloomberg Business with data about current eating habits says,
“Home cooking would be making a comeback if it ever really went away. Restaurants are getting dinged by the convenience of Netflix, the advent of pre-made meals, the spread of online grocery delivery, plus crushing student debt and a focus on healthy eating. Eighty-two percent of American meals are prepared at home [emphasis mine]-- more than were cooked 10 years ago, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. The latest peak in restaurant-going was in 2000, when the average American dined out 216 times a year.” Read the full story.
Way back in the day, you just didn’t have a choice! You grew and cooked your food or you starved, with none of the distractions or choices that people have today. Being in the kitchen, cooking and feeding a family was a necessity. Things started shifting after World War II when convenience features and choices like frozen TV dinners manifested. Now we’re eating IN by choice, because it’s more economical and because we’re more concerned about our health and well-being.
Typically, chutneys are rather easy to prepare. In general, the fruits and spices are blended together and served. In some cases, the spices are roasted first and then added to the blender.
The three chutney recipes below are from Heaven’s Banquet by Miriam Kasin Hospodar.
The addition of apples can add a sweet and tart flavor (depending on the apples), and ground almonds makes this pancake batter nutritious and nourishing. Cooked fruit is also wonderfully pacifying for Vata dosha. Cinnamon and cardamom help with digestion, and ghee adds a touch of sattva (the quality of lightness and purity).
These pancakes are made with a crepe batter which is softer and more moist than regular pancake batter. They are also sweeter because of the apples, so they don't require any topping and can be eaten by themselves.
Apple Pancakes
Makes 16 three-inch pancakes
Ingredients
- 1½ cups unbleached white flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot
- 1⅓ tablespoons organic sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground almonds
- Pinch of cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons melted ghee
- 1½ cups plain soy milk
- 3 sweet apples
Directions
- In a mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add ghee and soy milk and mix into a smooth, thick batter with a mixer or a whisk.
- Peel and core apples and grate on a medium-size grater. Stir grated apples into the batter.
- Place a skillet on medium heat. Lightly coat with ghee. Pour ⅓ cup of batter onto the skillet. Pour 3 or 4 pancakes at a time, depending on the size of your skillet.
- When the sides of the pancakes start to turn hard, flip them over with a spatula. Cook both sides to a golden brown.
Organic | Organic | Organic |
This is a recipe to help keep the summer heat from getting to you. It's fast and delicious. And it's lighter than you might think. Remember to use organic ingredients whenever possible.
Also remember that Pitta season runs from July to October. As soon as the first heat waves of summer roll around, most of us feel the effects of the increased Pitta in the atmosphere — perhaps a shorter fuse than usual, maybe more irritability and frustration, occasionally outbursts of anger. Whether you are predominantly Pitta by constitution or not, take measures to keep the fire element in balance during the heat of the summer.
Today we are cooking the creamiest, most perfect chowder from a new cookbook that we are completely in love with, called Power Plates. If you frequent the high-vibe recipe blog world, you probably already know the author of the book, Gena Hemshaw, who is the nutritionist and author behind The Full Helping, and a glowing light in the world of plant-based cooking.
Gena’s new cookbook has the most brilliantly simple concept behind it: each recipe features a complete meal, in the sense that it has a balance of complex carbs, healthy fats, and protein, all provided by a variety of whole food ingredients. Thus, each recipe results in a true plate of power. This dreamy chowder, for example, calls for corn and potatoes, as most chowders do, but also includes protein-rich yellow split peas, which take the soup to a complete meal territory, and blend in seamlessly with the rest of the ingredients. It is so good.
Summertime means lots of gatherings with family and friends sharing good food and drinks. Whether it's a pool party, block party or just because party, a weekend free is always an opportunity to play hostess. Chips and charred salsa is always a good fall-back plan but having a a few new ideas in your back pocket can create a new experience.
This is a great quick recipe for an appetizer to a larger meal. It is substantial and piquant. Serve at a group gathering along with crudités and your other favorite hors d'oeuvres.
Makes approximately 16
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp. garlic ghee
- 2 tomatoes
- Approx. 2 cups (16 oz.) small white beans (cannellini), soaked and cooked until tender
- ⅛ cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. ginger preserve
- 1 tsp. dried dill weed
- 1 tsp. coarse salt
- ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
- 1 very fresh baguette, cut lengthwise and in 3-inch slices (approximately 16 slices)
Hot soup has always been my ultimate comfort food, and I know I will be needing lots of it in the months to come. Vietnamese pho is king when it comes to soups that warm you from the core, and I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian pho recipes during the past couple of weeks.The main component of any pho, but especially vegetarian pho, is the broth. This pho broth is first and foremost based on toasted spices – star anise, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, peppercorn, and clove – each bringing its individual character to the flavor profile. I’m not normally the biggest fan of cinnamon in savory dishes, but in this broth it balances with tamari, brown rice vinegar and chili to create a fragrant and deeply nourishing broth.
I grew up with home-pickling and fermenting as the norm. Food in the Soviet Union was not only scarce, but also highly seasonal, so if you didn’t take care to preserve some tomatoes or cucumbers for the winter, you wouldn’t be able to taste any until the next summer. My mom made sure to stock our cool basement with jars of pickles, tomatoes, and fruit preserves every summer, as did pretty much every woman around. Other common fermentation projects included kombucha (or the ‘tea mushroom’ as we call it) way before it was cool, kefir, and of course sauerkraut.
As the weather begins to turn cold, a big pot of soup simmering on the stove warms the heart as well as the hearth. Adding some whole grain barley to the pot will improve your health along with the flavor of whatever soup or stew you're cooking. In addition to its robust flavor, barley's claim to nutritional fame is based on its being a very good source of molybdenum, manganese, dietary fiber, and selenium, and a good source of copper, vitamin B1, chromium, phosphorus, magnesium, and niacin.
In this recipe, barley is sautéed similar to what you would do with rice. The added herbs and spices makes this a great dish on its own or serve with with a salad. Enjoy!
Barley Sauté
Ingredients
- 1 cup barley
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh basil, minced
- 2 tablespoons red bell pepper in small slices
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions
- Bring water to a boil. Add barley and reduce to low heat.
- Cover and cook for 40 minutes or until water is cooked out.
- In a separate frying pan, heat olive oil.
- Add mustard seeds; when they begin to pop add cumin and fenugreek and cook for about one minute.
- Then add fresh ginger, turmeric and red pepper.
- After 3 minutes add the cooked barley. Cook for several minutes and garnish with parsley and basil.
- Add salt to taste.
Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of any disease. If you have any serious acute or chronic health concern, please consult a trained health professional who can fully assess your needs and address them effectively. If you are seeking the medical advice of a trained ayurvedic expert, call or e-mail us for the number of a physician in your area. Check with your doctor before taking herbs or using essential oils when pregnant or nursing.