Years ago, I attended a special lunchtime celebration honoring a co-worker who was expecting her first baby. This salsa was contributed by an exercise physiologist named Heather, and it was so good that the recipe was distributed by popular demand to the entire department the following day. It was sooo good! Its simplicity is a huge plus, and the combination of sweet ingredients with mild sour notes and aromatics gives it wonderful flavor. Balsamic vinegar is sweet, corn is sweet, red peppers are sweet, onions are sweet, and tomatoes are sweet. Plus, I like honey. Continue reading
Category Archives: Beans & Legumes
A Hierarchy of Carbohydrates
I’ve been thinking about an idea that I am calling a “hierarchy of carbohydrates.” This concept divides the enormous category of carbohydrates into discrete groups, each of which affects insulin release differently. Read on to learn more about what this means for you. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Chickpea Chica’s Summer Salad
This week I am all about this summer salad, created by our very own Chickpea Chica! Chickpea Chica has a gift for creating dozens of recipes that showcase bright flavors you would never have thought to combine. If you have one can of chickpeas, a single peach, and a few herbs out back or on the sill above your kitchen sink, then you probably have everything you need to make this recipe. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Lentil Soup with a Splash
I’ve come across a really good and relatively simple recipe for lentil soup, and thought I’d share it right away before I misplace it! I wish I knew where I got it from, but that information will sadly have to wait until I figure it out and can add it to this post. I made this recipe for the first time on a rainy day in early spring a few weeks back, and was so pleased with the results that I decided to write a post about it. Lentils are a special food, a special type of legume, with all kinds of important benefits for your health. And they taste good. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Yellow Eye Heirloom Bean Soup
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
Breakfast in Winter
I really love snow, and last weekend Northeast Ohio got more than a foot of snow, a real snowstorm. My neighbors reported that their dachshunds’ morning walk was extremely challenging, and the roads weren’t passable until mid-morning. I myself spent a lot of time shoveling snow, so I needed to eat a breakfast that provided more fuel than usual. Today we’re talking about breakfast. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentils & Sweet Potatoes
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
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Yellow Squash Soup
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
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Sweet New Year Soup
Next week we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah foods tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet for a sweet new year, and circular to represent the seasons that run one into the next, year after year, around and around. At this time of year, we even twist our challahs (egg bread) into rounds instead of the characteristic braided loaf we eat all year long.
We eat lots of fruits, especially apples, prunes, pomegranates, dates and apricots. Chosen vegetables might include sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, and leeks (sliced into rounds of course). Dishes made with black-eyed peas and lentils are a frequent addition to the table. And there is always lots and lots of honey, especially for dipping bread and apple slices. Continue reading
P is for Phytonutrients
I’m writing today about something I’ve been thinking about for a while but have not known how to put to words. A few weeks ago, I attended a wedding. After dinner, the woman seated beside me at the table remarked that now that she had eaten her “protein and vegetables,” it was time to go join the dancing. I hear friends describe how they ate their “protein,”or how they make sure to get the little ones at their tables to eat their protein. It’s like saying you ate your “produce” instead of your tangerine. Or your “fat” instead of your peanuts. People don’t say that. But I hear people say that they ate their protein all the time. Continue reading