Category Archives: Aromatics

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grains and Greens

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This is a recipe that features the grain you feel like eating today*, the greens that are in season, and whatever vegetables you are in the mood to sautè. For this particular version, I chose quinoa, red peppers, and spinach, but you can saunter through your kitchen, gather up your choices, and start chopping. If you get your veggies organized, and do your chopping early in the day, you’ll be able to throw this meal together quickly. And if you make the grains the evening or weekend before, you’ll feel like a pro when everything comes together in just a few minutes.

At the moment there are bowls of millet, quinoa, and brown rice in my fridge. I don’t usually have three different options, but that’s what there is today. I like to make grains after dinner so they cook during cleanup, and they’re done when you are. Once they’re cooked, I leave them to cool on the stove for a while. Then I transfer the cooked grains into a storage dish, and place them in the refrigerator to use whenever. I recommend doubling this recipe so you can eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

  • 1/2 cup raw quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
  • 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 3/4 tsp. smoky paprika
  • 3/4 tsp. turmeric
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. Kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped
  • 2-3 cups baby spinach, rinsed well and dried

Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan until fragrant, add the garlic, and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced red pepper, and cook 1-2 min more. Make a well in the center of the vegetables, and add the red pepper flakes, paprika, and turmeric. Stir the spices for a few seconds, and mix in the vegetables from the edges of the pan. Then add the broth and quinoa. Add salt and basil, stir once more, cover, and simmer 20 minutes until the grains are soft and cooked through. Remove pan from heat, stir in raw spinach, and serve immediately. 

Divide the recipe among 4 bowls, sprinkle with almonds, and serve. This recipe is delicious all by itself, but it is also great with a cup of tomato soup. 

*If you choose to use a grain other than quinoa, change the ingredients to one cup of cooked grain and 3/4 cup of stock.

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes

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Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Although my father was the main cook in our family, my mother took over the kitchen on the holidays, and dad’s primary responsibility was to make the brisket.

Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, my mother made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring, for Passover. She never used recipes, preferring instead to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did. Truthfully, though, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Mediterranean Roasted Onions

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Generally speaking, I read a lot about Mediterranean cooking, but lately I’ve been focusing on its emphasis on simplicity. I keep seeing one particular idea, that you need only a short list of ingredients in a small kitchen to make spectacularly flavorful dishes. No need for 40 herbs and spices. Maybe five or ten. Here’s what I mean. Today I have in mind an exceedingly simple recipe: roasted onions. These onions are really, really gooooood, and they add a special something to every meal you can imagine. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Orange Soup

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One of our family’s favorites, Orange Soup (mah-RAHK kah-TOME), is a recipe that I have shared in the past. I have found that no matter how large a pot you make, it is always gone within a couple of days. In other words, this recipe makes a lot of soup, but it still won’t last very long. It’s quintessential comfort food. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Yellow Eye Heirloom Bean Soup

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Today was a lovely day, temperatures notwithstanding. School was cancelled, of course, because no one in their right mind could require children to stand outside in these temperatures waiting for school busses. This is why, having received the text from my daughter late yesterday, family camp was in session today. 

The children unrolled our many yoga mats end-to-end all over the living room, and then raided the pantry to build a long winding row of mostly dry and canned beans that they subsequently climbed over and among for close to an hour. In the meanwhile, I put up a pot of soup in my beloved 5.5-quart Staub Dutch oven (cocotte). Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Butternut-Peanut Soup

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Make this one cold evening with a couple of friends, light some candles, and sit back with a glass of wine while you wait for the soup to cook. Then ladle the soup into mugs and pass them around. This soup will warm you from the inside out. Remember that peanuts are a legume, so that makes it nourishing and a good source of protein. Also, be forewarned: the peanut butter and coconut milk make it quite rich, so one cup goes a long way. If you’re up for it, you can add a simple green salad, and call it a meal. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentils & Sweet Potatoes

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I think that it might be exactly the right time of year to have this recipe in the refrigerator. You can make this recipe over the weekend, and then have it ready to eat on the days between the endless holiday parties, celebrations, after-work stopovers, and other seasonal social events. It’s incredibly flavorful, it’ll give your mind and belly a well-deserved rest, and you’ll be glad not to have to think too much about what to make for dinner. Or lunch.  Continue reading →

The Introverted Vegetable

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This is a post about pale vegetables, the ones that don’t have much color. They may not be the stars, but when it comes to nutrition they — like costume and scenery professionals — provide essential support. You might say that sometimes they win the Oscar for outstanding contributions in the field. Continue reading →

Planning Ahead for the Holidays

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This is a very good time of year to begin thinking about what you’d like to make for the upcoming holidays. Especially if you are planning to host vegetarians and/or vegans, but not only. These recipes are amazing no matter what your style.

My kitchen counter is once again covered with pumpkins and onions, and here are two extraordinarily delicious and unusual recipes for your pumpkins and onions. If you have the time, try to get the onion recipe made the day before, because as good as they are, they taste even better the next day! These two recipes are keepers, and they are special enough for holiday celebrations, too, so keep them in mind for the weeks ahead. The pumpkin (in particular) makes a beautiful presentation, and slicing it at the table is a nice and memorable touch. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Yellow Squash Soup

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This soup is perfect for all the cold days and nights ahead, and it cooks up beautifully in a crock pot. If you throw together all the ingredients in the morning, the house will smell heavenly all day, and the soup will be ready to eat come dinnertime. If, on the other hand, evening works better for prepping the ingredients, the house will smell heavenly through the night and when you awaken, and the soup will be ready at lunchtime. For the record, it will also keep ’til dinnertime. Continue reading →