Healthy Meal / garlic

The emphasis is on the spaghetti, not the squash! I was delighted the first time I made spaghetti squash, which, as the name suggests, is a lot like spaghetti inside. When compared to pasta, this squash has a lot more going! Here's the side by side comparison-

1 cup cooked pasta (made from white flour) has:

220 calories / 42 grams carbohydrates / very few nutrients

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash made by Mother Nature has:

42 calories / 10 grams carbohydrates / a good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese, and a good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C.

I'll take nutrient dense, low carbohydrate plant food over-processed carbohydrates any day. Once you try this recipe, I think you'll agree!

 

photo courtesy of steamykitchen.com

How to Bake Spaghetti Squash

• Spaghetti squash are readily available this time of year, and easy to grow yourself, if you are planning your summer garden.

• Cut squash in half, lengthwise, from stem to end. Scoop out the seeds. Lightly oil the inside and then place, skin side up/cut side down, on a baking sheet.

• Bake at 350 for 25 minutes for a smaller squash, and up to 45 minutes for a big one.
• You want to make sure to cook thoroughly, and no more! Over baked spaghetti squash gets mushy, so check it towards the end by pressing the skin, when it's done it will give a little under the pressure.

• Remove from the oven, flip it over, and let it cool a bit. I use a clean kitchen towel to hold the squash in one hand and a fork to remove all the spaghetti like strands.

• Top with your favorite marinara, puttanesca or pesto sauce, or try Lottie's recipe below, which you can make ahead.

 

photo courtesy of runonveg.com 

 

 

Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

By Health Coach Lottie at RunOnVeg.com

Preheat oven 300/325 (depending on how hot your oven is)

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes

• 2 Rome tomatoes cut in half

• 2 medium size onions largely chopped (1 cup cooked)

• 6 garlic cloves

• 1/2 cup basil

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 cup Unsweetened Fire Cider or apple cider vinegar

• salt to taste

Optional add in:

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1-2 tablespoons hot sauce

• 2-3 dates

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and non-stick spray. Place your tomatoes, onion and garlic on the baking sheet

2. Cook for 45-50 minutes until garlic is golden brown, remove the garlic from the tray

3. Cook the remaining ingredients (tomatoes and onion) for an additional 1 hour, for a total of 1 hour and 45-50 minutes

4. Once everything is cooled place all your ingredients in a blender including optional add ins and blend until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!

A guest blog post by Alana from Eating From The Ground Up a Berkshire based blog about food, family, and the wonderful chaos that ensues when the two combine.  Check her out after you try Alana's Butter Braised Collard recipe!

"We’ll start with the butter. In general if you hand me a vegetable, I’m going to steam it. I’m a big believer in the steamer pot (that’s a shorter pot with holes that fits into a larger pot) as opposed to those funny collapsable things that are THE MOST FUN thing in the kitchen drawer for toddlers to play with, but even in a pinch I’ll lazy steam with an inch of water and a covered pot. This is the vegetable cooking method I was raised on, and, picky kid that I was, I probably wouldn’t have grown about 5 feet without my daily dose of steamed broccoli. I’ll steam anything except cauliflower, as cauliflower was put on this earth to be roasted.

And yes, that brings us to roasting, the hip method of the moment way to cook all vegetables. Like most hip food trends ( kimchi, good chocolate, cronuts), it got that way from being delicious, and I fully support roasting.

But then there’s braising, which, in the case of vegetables, involves a bit more water and time than lazy steaming. This all started when Alice Waters (or the army of Californians who make up Alice Waters) told me to braise cabbage in water with a big nob of butter. I think it’s called buttered cabbage in her book, and I’d choose it over most foods. Even if you’re not a cabbage lover, buttered cabbage will turn you.

This method–the hearty green, the inch or two of water, the big knob of butter–it lubricates the very fiber of the green so that it becomes plump and buttery through and through. I’ve come to do this with cabbage whenever I have the chance, but also with broccoli raab and most recently, collards. Lately I’ve been loving the final addition of Fire Cider, a magical spicy concoction which I usually just drink straight (a shot every day, plus extra if I’m not feeling my best), but is so so good with butter and collards. This Fire Cider  is made by my friends who, since the last time we spoke of them, have gained full organic certification and have continued to stretch their reach farther across the country, spreading wellness and deliciousness as they go. I feel very proud to have them here in this little county, and especially there in my sidebar.

If you don’t have any Fire Cider, let’s try to remedy that, you can find store locations here. But if you want to make these greens right now,  a fitting substitute in this recipe would be some apple cider vinegar just there at the end, maybe with a little extra garlic and something spicy.

Butter Braised Collards with Fire Cider

2 tablespoons butter
1 large bunch collard greens
3/4 cup water
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt
2 to 3 tablespoons Fire Cider

1. First, prepare the collards: Cut the stem out of each leaf, and roughly chop the stems. Then cut the collard leaves into thin ribbons.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped stems and 1/2 cup of the water and bring to a low boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook until the stems are tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the collard leaves to the pot along with the remaining 1/4 cup water. Cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for an additional 10 minutes. Remove the lid, raise the heat to medium high, and add the garlic, stirring to combine and toss the greens in the buttery liquid for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss with 2 tablespoons of Fire Cider. Taste, and add an additional tablespoon of Fire Cider if you like."

View the original post  HERE!

This past Father's Day weekend I did what all good children do: grilled with my dad!  It was really fun, especially since I was trying out a new marinade that Chef and Butcher James Burden recommended to me.   I went to Berkshire Organics in Dalton to stock up on everything we needed for dinner.  I picked up fresh, organic veggies: eggplant really soaks up marinade so it's great for grilling, plus onions, zucchini and some red and orange bell peppers. Red Apple Butchers, at Berkshire Organics, had 30 day, dry aged steaks, so I had to try a few of those.  And I also bought about 2 and 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs with the skin on.  Here's the marinade recipe plus a bonus curry mix from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything, which is as useful as it sounds.   Last week I wrote to Mr. Bittman about Fire Cider and his assistant wrote me back saying she had tried it the last time she was in the Berkshires and would be happy to share a sample bottle with her boss.  How cool is that?! Marinade for 2-3 pounds of Chicken  Yes, of course you can use this marinade on tofu, fish or veggies.  For fish and veggies, about 20 minutes in the marinade will do.  For meat, like the chicken, make the marinade the day before and let the meat marinate overnight.  I made double this recipe, one half for the chicken and one half for the veggies. Ingredients: a generous 1/4 cup Fire Cider 2 Tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 2 teaspoons salt 1 big tablespoon fragrant curry powder blend (see photo below for the recipe! Yes, you can use store bought as well.) a pinch of asafoetida a pinch of chipolte pepper 1 teaspoon garam masala   Method: First, make up the fragrant curry powder blend, this will make enough for this recipe plus plenty left over for all your curry spice needs, it's awesome on pop corn! [caption id="attachment_618" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Mark Bittman's curry blend.[/caption] Get the spices together and toast the spices in a dry skillet. [caption id="attachment_619" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Whole spices ready to toast![/caption] [caption id="attachment_620" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Mmm, toasty and very fragrant![/caption] [caption id="attachment_621" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Use a small spice grinder to turn toasted spices into powder and then add powdered ginger and turmeric.  Homemade curry powder![/caption] Once you've made the curry blend,  combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. [caption id="attachment_624" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Yes, that's a gallon of Fire Cider. Beware the underdose![/caption] Pour all the marinade over the chicken and marinate over night in a sealed bag or sealed container. The next day, when you are ready to cook, remove the chicken, discard any leftover marinade and grill the chicken til it's done! For veggies: chop bite sized pieces of onion, bell peppers, zucchini and eggplant, make up more marinade and marinate for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to coat each piece.  Slide onto skewers and grill with the chicken. [caption id="attachment_622" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Grill ready chicken, veggies and steak.[/caption] The 30 day dry aged steaks were perfect as is so I let them sit out at room temp for about an hour, lightly salted them and then grilled them for a few minutes on each side for perfectly rare, melt in your mouth awesomeness. [caption id="attachment_623" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Happy grilling, all summer long![/caption]

Recipe by Noel Prophet Last summer Dana and I went to a pot luck beer and food pairing: everyone brought a dish and a beer that went with it.  Dana made a summer saison that was a bit citrus-y  and it went well with the berries n biscuits I brought for dessert.  However, I thought the best dish was the jerk chicken that Noel and Kristen brought along with some very appropriate Red Stripe.  Just recently Noel sent me his jerk sauce recipe which I was pretty darn excited to see if I could replicate.  As per his suggestion, the recipe can be modified to suit, the one that follows is enough to marinate 3 pounds of chicken/meat/tofu with enough leftover to serve as a side sauce for greens.   I only made a few changes to Noel's recipe and the end result was deliciously hot and there were no leftovers! [caption id="attachment_551" align="aligncenter" width="516"] Bright ingredients makes for a spicy brown sauce.[/caption] Suggested Ingredients:

• Up to 6 scotch bonnet peppers or whatever hot peppers you like - I used the one Habanero that was ready in our garden and then some of the chili peppers that Pete and Jennifer from Woven Roots Farm gave us at the Harvest Festival.
• 2 Tablespoons each: dried thyme, ground allspice, Fire Cider, salt and black pepper
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger (fresh or powdered), to taste.
• 8 garlic cloves
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup or less olive oil
• 1/2 cup or less tamari
• Juice of 1 lime or lemon, or more, to taste.

Method: Chop up everything and then put all in the blender.   Or, put all ingredients into a wide mouth mason jar and use a wand blender to puree, same difference.  The marinade is done, ready to eat now on cooked greens or... Poke holes in your chicken (or tofu!) before you jerk it so it will hold the flavor better. Marinate overnight. When you are ready you can bake, grill, roast, etc your jerked chicken.  This would also work well with tempeh or tofu or other meat. Here's what I did with the chicken I let marinate in the fridge, well covered, for over 12 hours: Pre-heat the oven to 365.  Spread the chicken breast (I had about 2 pounds) and the jerk sauce I used to marinate it, in a wide glass baking dish.  I covered the dish with aluminum foil (or a glass lid if you have one) and baked it for about 45-50 minutes, until the thermometer read 142 and when I sliced into it, it was juicy and cooked through! Dana made coconut brown basmati rice to go with the baked jerk chicken.  I made a huge side of broccoli rabe dressed in olive oil and salt, which we ate with the remaining jerk sauce. [caption id="attachment_552" align="aligncenter" width="538"] All covered in Jafakin' Jerk Sauce![/caption]

I love Joe's new recipe, it's made using many of my favorite foods and flavors.  Avocados are full of vitamins, fiber and healthy fats, the kind that protect your heart, have anti-inflammatory properties and also taste really, really good.  Black beans, and beans in general, have a bit of a bad reputation for being difficult to digest.  Don't avoid this super food because of improper cooking!  It's easy to cook delicious, digestible beans, using a crock pot and adding kombu seaweed during the cooking process.  You can find easy to follow instructions on the website Nourishing Days.com under the post titled, 'Why Beans Are Hard to Digest & 8 Tips For Making The easier on the Belly' Alternatively, canned beans are super convenient and when combined with plenty of good for you fats, like the olive oil and avocado in this recipe, they are an easy to digest source of vegan protein and fiber.  This quick and easy salad is full of flavor that gets better with time. Take this to your next picnic or pack it for lunch! The following recipe was created by local Berkshire County Chef Joe Dewey.  Joe has been helping us in the Fire Cider kitchen and he's come up with a whole bunch of exciting new recipes for us.  So if you love this, stay tuned for next week's Fire Cider blog post by our new guest chef!