VEGGIPALOOZA

Last night was a clean out the fridge type meal. I have had scraps of vegetables leftover from various clients, not enough to make their own side dish. So, I combined all the orphan veg into one happy side dish, well, two really. The first was a combo of julienned carrots, asparagus, zucchini, and of course, kale. The second was a combination of spinach, collard greens and kale that I pureed with a little cheese. The two accompanied two different main courses, one for my husband and one for me.

Normally, I am not in the habit of making separate meals, but I really wanted seafood and he is not a huge fan. Both dinners were exactly the same, with the exception of the protein. I am at the end of a two week cleanse and have been trying to incorporate way more vegetables into my meals. This was pretty quick and easy and most importantly, delicious.

LUNCH?

Sometimes, I plan my dishes, other times I just open the fridge, nose around and then put something together and hope it works out. Usually, it does. I knew I had some chicken leftover from one that I roasted last night. I also knew that I had mustard greens that were on their last leg and some asparagus. A closer inspection of the kitchen revealed an open box of orzo, a bag of organic slivered almonds, some vinaigrette from a previous meal and of course the staples-red pepper flakes and garlic. If you haven't figured it out yet, those two along with some good olive oil form the basis of many of my meals.

As I was looking upon all of these, a plan started to come together-toast the almonds, shred the chicken, sauté the greens with the olive oil, garlic and red pepper and toss it all together with the orzo and a splash of dressing. Voilá!

DETOX DINNER

This meal was inspired to Robin's recent detox. Especially as the weather gets warmer, it's a good idea to have a couple of go-to salads for nights when you do not want to turn the oven on. These are really light dishes, but you could always add some garbanzos or leftover chicken to make them more main course meals.

Above is a miso soup I whipped up in just a few minutes by adding some sliced carrots and asparagus to boiling vegetable stock or water. When those begin to soften, add sliced shitake mushrooms, finely shredded kale and then lower the heat to a simmer. Whisk in white miso to taste, being sure not to let the soup boil after the miso has been added.



Avocado & Onion Salad
Thinly slice a white onion and toss with lemon juice. Set aside.
In another bowl, add sundried tomatoes, sliced avocado, finely chopped fresh mint. Add the onion. Drizzle with olive oil and add more lemon juice as needed. Season with salt and pepper.




Detox Delight-
Like almost any salad, vary the ingredients based on the season and what you have in your fridge. Here, I shaved some raw asparagus, chopped some pea shoots, artichoke hearts and romaine and added some kelp noodles. The kelp noodles are crunchy, but they don't have that briney seaweedy taste that can sometimes be overpowering. Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil and ume plum vinegar. Ume plum vinegar can be found in the asian section of the supermarket, but if you can't find it substitute lemon juice.

QUINOA-TWO WAYS

Well, really I am only going to show you one way and tell you about the other. I ate too fast to have any evidence of the first quinoa dish. Quinoa (it's pronounced KEEN WA, mom) falls into that category we hear people talking about called "whole grains," although technically, it's a seed. It is a really great source of protein, which is why you should be eating it.

In general, none of us is probably deficient in protein. We are deficient in quite a few vitamins and minerals due to the fact that we don't eat enough fruits or vegetables-that and we eat too much of the stuff that we shouldn't like sugar, refined flour, caffeine etc...So why, if we don't need to worry about protein am I suggesting quinoa? Because it is cheap, versatile and doesn't have the saturated fats that are found in many other protein sources. It cooks like rice does, in a ratio of about 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa and it cooks in about 20 minutes.

This morning, I made a big pot of quinoa. I put half of it in a bowl in the fridge for later. The rest, I left in the pot, added some almond milk, a spoonful of almond butter and a spoonful of vanilla whey powder, topped with fresh berries - quinoa porridge. Yum. Prepare it according to package directions, then treat it as you would oatmeal. I added the whey powder because I have been experimenting with other sources of protein, but you can easily omit it, add some honey, nut milk (or organic cow's milk), nuts, berries or whatever else you normally put on your oatmeal. I added a little almond butter because fat phobes, fat doesn't make you fat, but it does help fill you up so you aren't hungry as soon as you put the bowl down.

I used the remaining quinoa to create this Mediterranean inspired dish. In this house, garlic and red pepper flakes are almost always found when olive oil is present.

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package directions*
1/4 cup olive oil, give or take
2 cloves sliced garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
leftover steamed vegetables (asparagus & broccoli)
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1/4 cup feta

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for a minute or two, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the capers and the vegetables and cook for another couple of minutes. Because the vegetables are already cooked, you just want to reheat them and coat them with the oil, red pepper and garlic. When everything is coasted in the oil and reheated, pour on top of the quinoa, added a little crumbled feta and more olive oil as needed.

Just in case the package doesn't say it, you should rinse the quinoa before cooking or you will notice a slightly bitter taste.

This is one of my favorite main course salads. It is fairly light, yet filling. I love to make this after an evening yoga class or after the husband returns from a night of basketball. The best part about it is the cleanup-there hardly is anything. Everything is cooked on the grill so there are no pots and pans.

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons mustard
1/3 cup fresh oregano or marjoram
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1 head romaine lettuce, quartered-root intact
1 bunch asparagus
4 slices baguette or country loaf
1 bunch broccoli, blanched and shocked*
1/2 cup feta

Combine garlic, mustard, oregano and 1/4 cup olive oil in a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Put half of the marinade in a large bowl or large ziploc bag, add shrimp and toss to thoroughly coat. Refrigerate at least one hour.

Heat a grill or grill pan. Drizzle romaine, asparagus, baguette and broccoli with olive oil and place on grill. Remove when warmed through. Grill shrimp until golden and cooked through. Chop vegetables and put in a large bowl. Add shrimp and feta. Toss with remaining marinade and serve over grilled bread.

Jess and Robin make a Spring Feast

Last night Robin was in town so we made dinner together, of course. Whenever we are together we cook. I picked up some of my favorite springtime vegetables-asparagus, fava beans and fresh English peas. Those made up our side dish of a really simple spring vegetable sauté. Robin brought over some crab, my husband rolled out some fresh pasta and in no time we had a feast!

Spring Vegetable Sauté
Serves 4

1/2 pound fresh fava beans, shelled and blanched and shocked*
1/2 pound fresh English peas, shelled and blanched and shocked*
1 bunch asparagus
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1-2 tablespoons mint, chopped
1/4 cup feta, crumbled (optional)
1/4 cup good quality olive oil

In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the vegetables and sauté for a minute or two. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Continue to cook until the vegetables are cooked through. Toss in the mint. Remove from heat stir in feta and serve.

*Once you shell the fava beans, there is a thin shell surrounding each bean. To remove it, you want to blanch and shock them. First, drop the favas into boiling water for a minute or two, then shock, but placing them in a pot of ice cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, you can squeeze the favas from the shell.