A few of my favorite things!

As I was making my menu and grocery list this week, I realized that I generally make recipes featuring pretty much the same ingredients just jazzed up in different ways. Of course there are pantry staples that span cuisine type like onions and garlic, but don't  you find that you usually cook with similar foods during a particular season? For me, in the winter, I often include hard squashes, root vegetables, breads and legumes like lentils and chickpeas. In the summer, I do a lot less cooking and a lot more preparing of tomatoes, zucchini and other summer squash, peas, peppers, and berries.  


I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite things to cook or prepare all year round. Post a comment and tell me about your favorite foods!


AVOCADOS
Like tomatoes, avocados are actually fruit, not vegetables  (who knew?!). I love them because they are deliciously rich and an excellent source of heart healthy monounsaturated fat. Avocados also have about 60% more potassium than bananas and are a good source of fiber. One of my idols, Ina Garten, says the best avocados to buy are the ugly ones with the black skin, not green. You'll know they are ripe enough to eat when you press near the narrow end and they give slightly to the pressure. 


I enjoy avocados sliced up in salads and as a substitute for cheese or mayonnaise on a sandwich. Of course, my favorite way to eat avocados is mashed up in guacamole. A great tip: You can actually freeze mashed fresh, ripe avocados to have on hand for guacamole. Just mash the avocados with a fork and add about one teaspoon lime or lemon juice per avocado. Mix well, transfer to an airtight freezer bag or container and freeze. 


Here's what's cooking...

COTE GUACAMOLE

My take on the classic. I think there are three essential ingredients for good guacamole: cilantro, lime and salt. Everything else can come or go, but to me it doesn't taste the same without the essentials. Feel free to doctor to your own taste.

Ingredients:

4 avocados

1/2 c. red onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1/2 c. tomatoes, chopped

1/3 c. cilantro, chopped

1 lime, juiced

kosher salt to taste

How to prepare:

Once you've removed the pit from the avocados, make cross cuts (like a checkers board) down to the skin of each half. You'll then be able to easily run a spoon inside the skin and scoop out the flesh.

Coarsely mash the avocado with a fork. Stir in the onion, garlic, tomato, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice. Season to taste with salt. YUM!

TOASTED PINE NUTS

Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees. About 1/3 protein, they are also a source of dietary fiber. Pine nuts are quite expensive relative to other nuts, so I usually try to buy and prepare them in small quantities. They can go rancid pretty quickly, but if you store them in the freezer they will stay fresh much longer. You don't generally buy pine nuts toasted at the grocery store, but I think they taste best this way. If you've never tried them, toasted pine nuts have a nutty, almost smokey bacon flavor. I like to have them in salads and on top of middle eastern dishes. They are also delicious paired with blue cheese. 

The best way to toast pine nuts is to saute them over medium heat in a dry skillet. 

Shake the pan every couple of minutes and turn off the heat when they are golden brown. Your nose (and taste buds!) will thank you. 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

The butternut is a type of winter squash. It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin. Grown on a vine, the most popular variety, the Waltham Butternut, originated in Stow, Massachusetts. Yeah, New England! Nutritionally, butternut squash is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, vitamin A and potassium. I think butternut squash is seriously under-appreciated. I love it in just about any type of recipe and most often roast it to bring out the best flavor. 

Here's what's cooking...

WINTER SQUASH SOUP 

WITH DRIED FIGS & TOASTED PINE NUTS

This soup is a warm and satisfying winter meal. While a little more involved, this is well worth the effort and tastes even better after a day or two in the fridge. I adapted the recipe from the cookbook Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool. I like to serve it with a simple green salad and baguette toasts. Make baguette toasts by slicing up old bread, drizzling with olive oil, salt and pepper and baking in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 lg. yellow onion, chopped

3 med. carrots, chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1/2 dry white wine

1 small butternut squash

1 med. acorn squash

1 lg. sweet potato

4 c. vegetable broth

1 tbsp. dried thyme (or 2 tbsp. fresh)

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 c. cashew milk (instructions below) or 1 c. coconut milk plus 1 c. water or broth

kosher salt to taste

freshly cracked black pepper to taste

2 tbsp. pine nuts, toasted

8 dried figs, thinly sliced

How to prepare:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Using a very sharp knife, slice the butternut and acorn squashes in half and scoop out the seeds. Place all the squash and the sweet potato on a baking sheet. If you like, drizzle a little olive oil, salt and pepper over all.

 

Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes until just tender. Your fork should easily pierce the flesh, but it shouldn't be soft enough to mash.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium in your favorite stockpot. Add the carrots, celery, fennel and onion. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the vegetables until they are soft and caramel in color. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to pull up any bits that have stuck. Cook a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the broth. 

Remove the squash and sweet potato from the oven. Scoop the squashes into the pot of vegetables and broth. Don't worry if you scrape a little skin into the pot; it is edible (packed with nutrients!) and will be pureed with everything else. I wouldn't recommend putting it all in as you'll discolor your soup. 

If you let the sweet potato cool for about 5 minutes, the skin should peel right off. Add the sweet potato flesh to the pot. Cover and let simmer for about 5-7 minutes until the squash is completely tender. 

Puree the soup either with an immersion blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Add the thyme, coriander, and cinnamon.  

If you plan to use cashew milk, puree 3 cups of water with 1 cup of raw cashews in a blender. Strain in a fine mesh strainer or a colander lined with a kitchen towel. I actually really like the flavor that this adds to the soup. It may seem like a silly step, but makes a difference. If you prefer not to fuss, you can substitute the 2 cups of cashew milk with 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water or broth. 

Add the cashew milk or coconut milk mixture to the soup and heat through. 

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with the dried figs and pine nuts. Delicious, warm and nutritious! Great on a cold winter day.

Sweet Swap!

To make this a sweet soup instead of a savory one, substitute the ground coriander with (real) maple syrup to taste and increase the cinnamon to 2 tsp. This would serve well with crunchy spice cookies as a dessert. 

Winter Salads: Contradiction or Nourishing Convenience?

I love salad. I love all kinds of salad with all sorts of goodies thrown in. Give me a plate of some mixed greens, nuts, fruit, cheese, or unexpected vegetables tossed together in some kind of vinegar or citrus juice and I'm a happy camper. So you can imagine that a serious dilemma ensues in the winter when us North Easterners enter the barren season and have a limited or non-existent supply of fresh, local produce. But in the winter, as much as I should say no to produce because it is not in season locally, I can't!

No matter what the growing season, it is a constant struggle for me to balance being a locavore with the desire to eat organically grown foods. What is the order of precedence? If food isn't local & organic, is the next best choice local & conventional or not local & organic? I suppose a lot depends on the reasons for purchasing that way and where you want your food dollar to count. Not to mention the fact that we've become spoiled in our expectations for produce availability year round. If  you've never read about what it means to eat locally and why it is so important for our environment, here is some information and here is a really good article about a person who stuck to a 100-mile diet in Philly. I also highly recommend reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

As a partial reconciliation (I like to tell myself), I've taken to expanding my definition of local in the winter. Citrus fruits are in season right now in Florida, so I am loading up on oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines. Pomegranate, cultivated in Florida and California in recent years, is just ending its peak season. Here's a great site to find out what is in season near you. When early Spring rolls around, we'll have more options at our local farmers markets and I'll go back to a more narrow definition of local. And, someday when we have space for a garden, it will be even easier.

Here's what's cooking...

CITRUS SALAD WITH POMEGRANATE

I love this recipe! This salad is packed with nutrition and in the winter is a sunny reminder that spring is around the corner. Easy to throw together after a long day of work, I might add in a can of garbanzo beans or some tempeh to make a complete meal. This is adapted from The Mexican Cookbook by Marlena Spieler. 

Ingredients:

1 lg. pomegranate, arils (seeds) removed

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

2 oranges, peeled and sectioned

1 avocado, diced

1/2 med. red onion, thinly sliced

zest of 1 lime

zest of 1 orange

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 limes, juiced

1/2 tsp. sugar or honey

1/4 tsp. dry mustard or 1/2 tsp. your favorite mustard

5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

kosher or sea salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

8-10 cups of your favorite lettuce or salad mix

1/3 c. raw almonds, roughly chopped

How to prepare:

The easiest way to remove the arils from the pomegranate, is to cut it into quarters. 

Then, press back the outer skin to push the arils into a bowl. 

Trust me, you want to do this yourself rather than buying the arils already removed at the store. They taste about 100 times better removed at home and it takes literally less than 2 minutes. 

Gently toss together the sectioned grapefruit, oranges, avocado and red onion with the pomegranate arils.

In a separate bowl, combine the lime zest, orange zest, garlic, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, and mustard. Season to taste, then wisk in the olive oil. 

Place your lettuce on top of the dressing, add the citrus mixture and toss to coat. Top with chopped almonds and serve immediately. 

Did you know?

Citrus is most commonly thought of as a good source of vitamin C. However, like most other whole foods, citrus fruits also contain an impressive list of other essential nutrients, including both glycemic and non-glycemic carbohydrate (sugars and fiber), potassium, folate, calcium, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B₆, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and a variety of phytochemicals. In addition, citrus contains no fat or sodium and, being a plant food, no cholesterol. No wonder Florida is called the sunshine state!

Tackling Tofu

Okay, I'm getting it out of the way now: the misunderstood tofu. Scared? Just hear me out.

I have come to learn that tofu is a lot like wine; you won't truly enjoy and appreciate it until you know a little bit about it, how to work with it and how to combine it with other foods so it tastes its best. Let me show you...


Straight from Wikipedia (hey, don't judge, its as accurate as an encyclopedia!), tofu is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is of Chinese origin, and it is also a part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. Tofu has very little flavor or smell on its own, so it can be used either in savory or sweet dishes, and it is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish. 


There are three main reasons I love tofu: 
1. It is a really good source of lean protein for omnivores, not just vegetarians! One 4oz serving has a skinny 80 calories, 4g of fat, and 8g of protein. 
2. Its cheap! A 16oz package of extra firm organic tofu will sell for just under 2 bucks at any good grocery store. That is about 50 cents per serving and a measly 6 pennies per gram of protein. 
3. Okay, cheap and healthy, I'm already sold! But, I also love tofu because you can toss it into virtually everything and it tastes yummy.


Ready to give tofu a try? Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for and preparing tofu. 


Regardless of how much (if any) organic food you buy, I would always encourage you to purchase organic tofu. Soybeans, from which tofu is made, are one of the major food crops that have been genetically modified (aka scientist with a petri dish messes with nature). In 1997, about 8% of all soybeans grown for consumption in the United States were genetically modified. In 2010, the figure was 93%. I don't know about you, but I prefer to eat real food, not frankenfood, thank you very much.

As with anything, eat tofu and all soy products in moderation. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I don't cook with soy more than once or so per week. I have read some interesting articles about how our bodies metabolize soy based products. Some researchers say that there may be a link between soy consumption and hormone irregularities in women due to the naturally occurring phytoestrogens. 

Last, know how to prepare it! I recommend buying extra firm tofu to achieve a texture closer to meat. The night before you are going to make a recipe with tofu, take it out of its packaging, drain off all the water and place it on a plate in the refrigerator between folded paper towels. 

Overnight, much of the excess moisture will drain off and you'll be left with a firmer texture that will be easier to work with.

Here's what's cooking...

CURRIED COCONUT AND SQUASH STEW

This is one of my favorite curry recipes. It is very satisfying and is delicious all week. I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks The Gluten Free Vegan by Susan O'Brien. We serve ours over wild rice, but it is just as good alone.

Ingredients:

1 generous tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 med. red onion, chopped

1 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 med. red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 jalapeno, minced (and seeded if you prefer mild heat)

1 med. butternut squash, peeled and chopped

4 tsp. curry powder

1 c. light coconut milk

1 c. unsweetened organic soy milk

16 oz. extra firm organic tofu, drained and chopped

juice from 1 lime

1/3 c. cilantro, chopped

kosher salt to taste

freshly cracked black pepper to taste

A great ginger tip - to always have fresh ginger on hand, buy it from the store, peel it and store the unused portion in an airtight freezer container. When you need to use the ginger, simply pull it out from the freezer and grate it on a microplane. It never goes to waste and always tastes fresh! 

Also, here is a video showing an easy way to chop butternut squash.

How to prepare:

In your favorite stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium and saute the onion until softened.

Add the ginger, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno and continue to saute for 1-2 minutes. Add in the butternut squash and cook another 5 minutes. Add the curry powder.

Add in the coconut and soy milk, cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the squash is just tender. Add in the tofu and stir gently. 

Squeeze in the lime juice and season with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Serve over rice or as is, but be sure to top it with some fresh cilantro. Yum!

Maybe now I've converted you? If not, try tempeh or baked tofu. Other soy proteins, both have a much firmer texture than your basic block of tofu. Post a comment and tell me what you think.

Tomato Fennel Soup: Refueling after a long vacation

What a great vacation! It was so good spending time with family and having a break from work. But, after 3,000 miles driven, 16 days passed, lots of family seen, presents given and opened, and sugar (Gram's cookies!) eaten, it is safe to say that Tim and I are ready to get back into our routine following the holidays. As hard as we try to stick to our normal diet, we inevitably end vacation with digestion issues and feeling less than 100%.

After getting home from Florida yesterday, we have spent most of the day grocery shopping and cooking for the week ahead. I like to make hard boiled eggs, granola bars (post with recipe coming soon), and chop up snack vegetables like carrots, celery and cucumber for the week ahead. I also made a batch of Edamame Hummus (recipe from food network - thanks, Taryn!) to eat with the vegetables.

Here's what else is cooking...

TOMATO FENNEL SOUP

This is an incredibly simple recipe I adapted from eatbetteramerica.com that can be made ahead of time and frozen. Delicious both cold in the summer and hot in the fall/winter, Tomato Fennel Soup is incredibly versatile. During the summer I use fresh tomatoes and in the fall/winter, canned. Tonight we served this with roasted broccoli florets and homemade wheat bread for an easy filling meal.

Ingredients:
1 generous tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lg. or 2 med. yellow onions, diced
4-8 whole cloves garlic, smashed
1 lg. fennel bulb, diced
28 oz. tomatoes, diced (if using canned, do not drain)
3-5 c. your favorite broth
kosher salt to taste
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

How to prepare:
Heat the olive oil over medium in your favorite soup pot (thanks, Gram for my new cast iron!). Toss in the onions and garlic allowing them to soften.

Add in the fennel, tomatoes, and about 3 c. of your broth. Stir, cover and reduce heat. Allow soup to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the fennel is tender. 

Remove from heat and puree the soup in a food processor until it reaches your desired texture. I prefer mine to be a little bit chunky so this is a relatively quick step. You can also feel free to add the additional broth here, again, depending upon your preferred texture. If you don't have a food processor you can use a blender, but be sure to let the soup cool completely otherwise the steam will pop off your lid (learned from experience!).

Once pureed, return the soup to your pot and season to taste with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. You may need more or less salt depending upon the broth used. I like my soup to have some zip so I add about 3 tbsp of cracked black pepper. You could also add red pepper flakes. Serve hot or chill and serve cold. Delicious and super healthy!

Hey, where's the protein?!

Common perception is that since meat isn't present in this meal there is no protein. Wrong! The fennel, tomatoes and onion in this soup all contain vegetable protein. While vegetable protein does not provide all essential amino acids, we will compensate by eating protein in other meals throughout the day. We've also paired our soup with whole wheat bread and broccoli florets which contain about 3 grams and 2 grams of protein per serving, respectively. To up the protein without adding meat to this particular meal, I might skip the puree step and add a can of beans such as garbanzo or white northern. Still healthy, still delicious!

Cooking at the Cote's - Welcome!

A self described foodie, I love eating delicious and nutrient dense food, talking about food, reading about food, cooking/baking food, thinking about food, drinking wine...the food related activities are endless! So often I get questions from family and friends about where I get recipes and how I prepare a lot of what my husband and I eat. This blog is meant to share what's cooking in the Cote household - on the stovetop and otherwise - so that you can learn (and share!) tips, inspirations, recipes, resources and other food related tidbits. Nourish your bodies!

A bit of background on my food philosophy.

Over two years ago while reading “Fowl Play,” an article in Self Magazine, I learned about the practices of what I now know to be called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (learn about CAFOs here). Animals in CAFOs have higher incidences of infection, lethargy, anxiety and premature death. I was appalled to realize that the food industry I had so blindly trusted with my personal health was simultaneously responsible for such atrocities. I was also greatly taken aback that this article was my first exposure to information about the practices of America’s industrialized food system. 

Aside from growing disgusted and angry, since reading that article, I have made it my business to read several other accounts on the topics of locally supported organic and sustainable agriculture, food safety, nutrition and metabolism, and the “slow food” movement. 

I have come to the realization that American food culture has moved away from wholesome, nutrient dense foods – a diet of seasonal fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grains - to a diet of highly processed foods containing substances foreign to our bodies. These additives, including high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and artificial preservatives among others, provide no nutritional value to our diet and are linked with contemporary illnesses such as Type II Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. 

Jillian Michaels, in her book Master Your Metabolism, puts it best by explaining that our bodies have not evolved in modern times to be able to process man-made additives. She advises that if a food item doesn't grow from the ground or have a mother...you probably shouldn't eat it. I try to operate under just that philosophy. While following a vegetarian diet, I cook with whole, nutrient dense foods, including mostly: fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains (as unprocessed as possible), nuts/seeds, eggs and cheese. I cook with everything in its most natural, raw/unprocessed form as often as possible.

While you may not love every recipe or share my food philosophy, I hope you take something away from this. Please post comments and enjoy!