Through the years I have shared quite a number of crockpot recipes with you on this blog. The crockpot is one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment, and my family and I have a long history of looking forward to the recipes that come out of it. I even gave each of my children a going-away present when they left for college: a crockpot of their own, a simple recipe, a large package of dry beans, and a few small spice packets to allow them to fill their crockpot to feed themselves and friends whenever they chose. Continue reading
Category Archives: Beans & Legumes
The Art & Science of Magical Fruit
On the occasion of my ninth birthday, half a lifetime ago, my beloved Uncle Lenny gave me a book called The Human Body, which still has a place on the shelves that hold my important books. I called it “The Body Book,” and carried it everywhere I went until I had memorized everything in it, cover to cover. I was fascinated not only by the descriptions and illustrations, but also by the idea that each part of the body was uniquely designed to do exactly what was required of it. Form followed function, and I couldn’t get enough. That, parenthetically, was also the year I decided I was, someday, going to become a doctor. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Cholent (Crockpot Stew)
A happy reprise of my seasonal fall cholent recipe, from when my dad was still here to enjoy it with us:
This past week, I made a version of this recipe for the first night of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival, and we ate it inside our beautiful sukkah that my husband built last week. It warmed us from the inside out in the chilly weather. And then it was gone, I mean really GONE, just a few hours later. Even my father, who said “I don’t like cholent,” ate a huge bowlful and said he changed his mind. Please make a note of that. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Two Brand New Salads
A couple of weeks ago we were making plans to a host dinner for a large group, and I got inspired to come up with a couple of new salads to add to our regular lineup. I sat down, started thinking, and before you knew it, I had come up with recipes for two brand new salads. And with a bonus — not only did they use up some of the contents of our pantry, they added only a few items to the shopping list! Continue reading
And the Winner is Real Food
Years ago, the article Can We Say What Diet is Best for Health?, by David Katz and Stephanie Meller from Yale University School of Public Health, was published in the Annual Review of Public Health. A related essay by James Hamblin, Science Compared Every Diet, and the Winner is Real Food, was subsequently published in the Atlantic.
Katz and Meller compared low-carb, low-fat, low-glycemic, Mediterranean, DASH, Paleolithic, and vegan diets, concluding that “A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.” Michael Pollan said, “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” More recent research continues to confirm these findings. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Carrot-Zucchini Soup
Here’s a lovely plant-based soup that I tossed together a couple of weeks ago. I made it in a little green Staub Cocotte that I’ve had for a very long time. It always seems like everything I make in that pot comes out so flavorful and delicious. Any soup pot will do of course, but it’s always nice when you have a favorite. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Bob’s Red Mill Quinoa Salad
You may or may not have heard, but last month, on February 10th, Bob Moore, a founder of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, passed away at the age of 94. And I felt the need to write a post about this man who made such a remarkable difference in our food supply. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Lentils & Collards Soup
I’ve posted this recipe in these pages once before, but it’s so unusual and delicious that it’s definitely worth repeating. Plus I have a lot of collards in the fridge at the moment. I love how the aromatics supplied by the cumin and cinnamon and lemon in this soup yield a result whose flavors are so different from the spice combinations I normally tend to reach for. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: The Season for Cholent (Crockpot Stew, vegan/GF)
This weekend I made our first cholent of the season for Sukkot, the fall harvest festival. We ate it inside our beautiful sukkah, built mostly by my husband, but this year with the help —for the first time — of our very young grandchildren. Cholent warms you from the inside out in chilly weather, and then, just little while later, it is gone.
I have made cholent (a crockpot stew traditionally served on holidays and Shabbat) a thousand times or more in my life, and no two versions have ever come out exactly the same. But, like riding a bike, there is a rhythm to the recipe, and once you get the rhythm, it belongs to you for the rest of your life. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Soup for the Holidays
In the days when my house was full of school-age children, I used to make crockpots full of soup every weekend, and hope that it would last into the beginning of the following week to provide warm lunches or dinners until it was gone. I don’t make weekly crockpots anymore, but I still love using my crockpot to make soup in the fall, around the holidays, and in the early spring, before the weather begins to warm up.
This time of year, with the nights cooling and plenty of holidays on the calendar, it’s always a great feeling to fill the crockpot and see what develops. And it doesn’t have to be chicken thighs. You can also fill your crockpot with beans! An overnight crockpot fills the house with a sublime perfume, the stomach with a delicious and satisfying meal, and the hearts of those you feed with all kinds of warm and cozy feelings. Continue reading