Cooking Artichokes is Not Scary

The sharp spiny tips of the artichoke poked my mom in the hand as if to say, “Let’s battle.” I too however, was ready to fight. I have been afraid of the artichoke for some time now. Unless jarred and marinated, artichokes had yet to find their way into my cooking repertoire.

I have eaten the deliciously crisped leaves of the Roman style artichoke; the Jewish ghetto is the best place to find these beauties and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I however naysay the necessity of frying; I wanted a more healthful preparation of this beauty. So I rolled my sleeves up and prepared to disembody the beast.

Thanks to Deb’s in depth post, I didn’t fear the cleaning process. I peeled off the outside layers, gave the other leaves a haircut and trimmed the stem.

Opening up the artichoke is a technicolor experience. The vivid greens fade to cream and then BAM! A fuschia crescendo awaits. Instead of boiling the veg, I stuffed it silly with minced garlic, salt and pepper and fresh sage.

She roasted away at a 425 degree oven for an hour and the results were delectable. Tender, meaty leaves that you could snap off and rake with your teeth. Then a succulent heart, tucked beneath the leaves became the star of my dinner. I diced it up, added it to a “pasta” made of sauteed parsnip, zucchini and carrot noodles and devoured every.last.bite. Who knew facing your kitchen demons would be so tasty?

Roasted Garlic and Sage Artichoke with Pesto Vegetable Noodles

Serves 2

Roasted Artichokes

1 Medium Artichoke Trimmed

4 Cloves of Garlic

½ Red Onion

Noodles

2 Carrots

2 Parsnips

2 Smallish Zucchini

Lemon

Sage

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Earth Balance

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Balsamic Vinegar

1. After setting the oven to 425, use Deb’s tutorial Here to trim your artichoke

2. Mince 4-5 cloves of garlic and a handful of sage

3. Peel back your artichoke layers slightly and stuff them intermittently with spices and garlic. Also give it some salt and pepper loving

4. Dice up your onion

5. Lay down a healthy piece of tinfoil and place artichoke and onions in the center and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Unceremoniously wrap the hole package up and place in oven on center rack for 1 hour

Veggie Noodles- I had some Pesto in the fridge that I had made several days ago but you can substitute store bought or make a batch of your own! I timed this so I had ten minutes left on the artichoke when I started prepping my veggies

1. Rinse the veggies and grab a peeler. Y shaped is best here but both work! Peel Your veggies into thin slivers from one end to the other. (I used the Longest veggies I could find)

2. Glaze the pan with a capful of olive oil. Once heated (about 2 min on med high) Add salt pepper, and spices for about 30 seconds. Add a .5 tbsp of Earth Balance, margarine or butter and add your noodles.

3. You will have more noodles than pan space but just turn them frequently with tongs. They cook Down substantially.

4. Once they are looking al dente noodle-y, 4-5 minutes, Remove them from the pan.

5. De leaf your artichoke to get to the heart, It will pop out of the center with a little pressure on the stem. Dice him up and add him to the pan along with your pesto (1-2 tbsp) and A half cup of water.

6. After giving the sauce a stir, add your noodles back to the pan and coat them with the sauce.

7. To Serve add a drop of lemon juice, sea salt, and Cracked black Pepper!

The Accoomplished Muesli

’ve become fully-convinced of accomplishment power. Our ability to recognize this superability makes us infinitely more productive, creative and effusively positive minded.I witness this on a daily basis through coaching, tutoring and running (i.e. my life neatly packaged in gerund form).

During a difficult workout indoors, it is crucial to my athletic well-being to think about the LAP at hand. The task at hand. Accomplish what is directly at stake and to hell with what’s coming next. For my Wellesley girls, I emphasize this same self induced blindness. If there is nothing coming, there’s no way you can worry about it. Applaud yourself every time you finish a lap “You killed that one,” then forget it happened. You have one task at hand, the lap of now.

When I start to stress about ohmygodamIgoingtograduateschool?! I have to immediately find something to occupy my thoughts to focus on right here, right now. Bring you back to the place as the yogis say.

Given that my current recipe well is on the dry side, if I need to refocus and accomplish something…anything…I toast nuts and oatmeal to make my own muesli. Alpen, a swiss version of the breakfast goodness, is available for the cost of your kidney at the local grocery store. I  like my kidneys and my stomach can’t handle their use of wheat flakes so this is a nutritious and gluten free Version of the breakfast classic.

Fruit and Nut Muesli

2 Cups of Pecans

2 Cups of slivered almonds

1 Cup of Oats (gluten free)

!.5 cups of dried fruit (I used Raisins and blueberries)

1 tablespoon of Cinnamon

1 tablespoon of Sea Salt

1/4 tsp Cloves

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

*2 tbsp Chia Seeds

Toasted Nuts

I have often lamented the exponential toasted nut property with DJK. The the nuts are finefinefinefinefineOHMYGODBURNTTOCINDERS if you aren’t careful. At Flour, toasting nuts was uber important to many of our recipes so I learned to smell for success (and use the timer!) 

Slivered almonds (LOW AND SLOW) at 300 4 minutes and then move them around on the pan reset timer for 3 minutes. They will be done when they turn Sand color and smell intensely like almond extract

Toasty P’s

300 for 4 minutes and move them around in the pan. Then they’ll have another 4 minutes. These guys should not have black char marks and if you break one open, they will have a snap to them and a slight golden lining to the meat of their interior.

Oats 

Take the Oven up to 350. These guys will be in there for 10-12 minutes and need to be jostled in the pan every 4 minutes. They will take on a more golden color and the smell is undeniably oat-y.

Thats it!

Find a large lidded container and pour all your toasted friends into the container along with the spices, dried fruit and chia seeds. Shake, shake shake it up!

And now pat your back because you have just made yourself killer breakfast for the week served with milk, yogurt and or fruit. Traditionally, muesli is on the softer side. It is left to sit and thicken in the dairy (or non-dairy milk!) of your choosing. I love it both ways; crunchy or porridge like it makes for a killer companion to my morning coffee.

Easy does it

We all find it difficult to take it easy on ourselves- myself included; Apologies to any coach I've ever had, I know I can be as thick as a doorstop.

Going hard on EXCITEMENT

While starting to feel anxious about my daunting list of nothingness I had to make up and then annihilate today,  I stumbled on this article about unnecessary battling. If you ever find yourself wanting to really sock it to yourself on an easy day, eat less than you should for the simple exercising of will power, remember you may need that strength for something bigger tomorrow.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/30-things-you-should-stop-putting-yourself-through.html

Roasted Health and Heartiness

Roasted Beet and Winter Vegetable Soup

I love the girls I coach dearly. They inspire and motivate me to be a better leader, a better athlete and a better coach. They have however, been feeling fairly lousy. Given the fact that they are sleep-deprived college students that are under a consistent amount of ever building stress- it should come as no surprise that many of them have gotten sick.

Although its rumored that sharing is caring, I would prefer to have opted out of this one. I woke up one morning more congested than Downtown Boston on a Friday.Mucus was omnipresent and in short, I wanted to curl up in a ball and melt into my bed.

So, what did I do? I went home and made soup. The kind of healthful and and clearing presence that would allow me to breathe again. Math was never my favorite subject, but food equations make perfect sense to me.  Beets+Ginger+Miso+Lemon=Feel better fast.

Beets are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C, an excellent source of folic acid and a very good source of fibre, manganese and potassium. Its known as a detoxifier of the liver and a multiplier of white blood cells. Their job? Killing off sick, abnormal I’m going to make you feel like poop sick cells.

Ginger is an antihistamine and decongestant. Stuffy nose no more!

Miso, the rather reddish looking paste that is synonymous with Asian food, is a probioticc. That means intestinal flora are kept happy and healthy and it will clear out any foreign and ill desired invaders.

In case you were wondering, I feel completely better-not even 48 hours later.

Ingredients:

Ginger and Beets are Meant for Each Other

1 Medium Squash

3 Medium Beets

1 White Onion

Cinnamon 

Lemon Juice

Fresh Thyme

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper 

One Box of Whole Foods 365 Miso Broth

1/2 Inch piece of ginger grated

Aluminum Foil

1. Oven to 425, place aluminum foil on pan (you’ll thank me later when the clean up is quick)

2. Slice squash or other root vegetable into 1/4 inch rounds, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper

3. After washing beets drizzle them with Olive oil and wrap in Aluminum foil

5. Squash rounds- 5 minutes per side, beets roast for 50 minutes to 60. Check for Doneness by stabbing it with a fork and knife- it should easily sink into the beet.

6. While those are roasting, dice your onion. Drizzle a medium sized to large pot with a tbs of olive oil on medium high heat. After about three minutes, or when you feel the heat coming off of the pan, sauté your onion for 5-7 minutes. 

7. Grate your ginger right into the pan and sauté with onion.

8. Remove pot from heat,  and squash from the oven.

Go do your laundry while the beets take their sweet time. 

9.  Chop the beets roughly (no need to remove the skin- packed with nutrients) and add beets and squash to the pot along with a tsp

Add box of Miso broth, and bring to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes.

10. Using your food processor or preferably immersion blender, puree until soup reaches desired consistency

Finish with cracked black pepper, squeeze of lemon juice and a knob of goat cheese for pureed perfection

*Toasted almonds or pecans also make for a great crunch

Algae to the Rescue

Grind, Definition. Mile 9 of a 15 mile run, hour 3 of an 8 hour car ride. These are points in a journey when the strain of what is to come seem insurmountable. Of late my days have seemed similarly Sisyphan, a perpetual struggle through a pile of tasks only to realize that the next day simply holds the same daunting list as the one that preceded it. Coach, bake, tutor, write run. Rinse, Repeat.

For a time, I enjoy the battle. I relish in the exhausted satisfaction of collapsing into bed, spent by the labors of my day. The only way I make it through these long days is properly fueling myself with healthful food. Some days it can feel like a its own battle as I spend a half an hour preparing each meal for the next day. But as Benjamin Franklin said, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” 

Fingers, toes and hamstrings crossed, I haven't gotten sick (Alto Cinque to a blueberry packed breakfast), the team I coach has been improving steadily and significantly and for the most part my body has stayed unbelievably healthy. With a few food allergies to maneuver however, ensuring I consume sufficient protein can be challenging. 

Looking for non-meat protein sources is tricky thanks to the cacophony of fitness, nutrition, athletic, emotional, spiritual, pathological and otherwise-ical experts that are constantly informing the public about their latest dogma. “Eat more almonds, more red meat, lamb, bison, heck even…bacon covered kale” http://www.yummly.com/recipes/bacon-cooked-kale. 

Well looking at things realistically, vegetables good? Yes. Protein needed? Yes. So low and behold I found something edible that satisfies all of these demands. Enerybits. Yup, these power packed tablets are straight algae.  Algae has the highest concentration of protein, chlorophyll, beta carotene, antioxidants and vitamins with health benefits that include increased energy, reduced blood pressure and prevention of colds. Its grown and not manufactured in a lab so rest assured the FDA isn’t going to come asking you questions about doping. Only power that you are working with here is that of Mother Nature.

Handfulla Pie

There are times when slow, methodical work are necessary; care and dedication need apply. Working in the food industry has bestowed a serious appreciation for those who relish this type of work.  

In all honesty, there are times when a slapstick breakfast of fruit+bowl+milk+granola= answer to life. There are times however, that  that thoughtful, careful production, makes consuming the end result lip smackin’ satisfying.

At Violette this week, we have been product testing for Bob’s Red Mill by using their Gluten Free Pie Crust Blend. This product is perfect for the days when you want the taste of time with none to spare.

Our head baker Jae rolled out dough until her triceps threatened mutiny. Inside the tender, layers of dough a hearty dollop of homemade nutella lay. In case that wasn’t good enough, I drizzled them with 70% organic dark chocolate after they came out of the oven. The USB sized hand pies were then happily delivered to unsuspecting customers at local Market Baskets.

The multi-step methodology of pie making is beautiful; Bob’s Red Mills pie mix offers allergy sufferers the opportunity to sink their teeth into slow and into the satisfaction of delayed gratification. Nothing tastes sweeter than the fruits of your own labor…especially when it’s stuffed with Homemade Nutella!

Piet Mondrian Would be proud of those lines

Nutella Hand Pies

1 Box of Bob’s Red Mill GF Pie Dough or GF Mix of your own blend

2 eggs

Homemade Nutella

2 Cups of Hazelnuts

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/2 Cup Organic Cane Sugar

Olive Oil

First take your hazelnuts and roast them. Thats about 8-10 minutes in a 300 Degree oven until the skins are coffee brown or blackened. Appreciate that they look slightly like a bum.

Once out of the oven you can roll off the the skins in a dry towel with a vigorous rub, or freeze them until you are ready to make the dough!

Naked hazelnuts in hand, pop them in a food processor, process them for a minute. Add your sugar and cocoa powder and process for another minute. 

Then drizzle the olive oil in until you have your desired consistency. I usually shoot for 2-3 tbs!

Now you have the stuffing for your dough.

Preheat your oven to 325 and place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Make the dough according to the box descriptions and roll it out until its the thickness of a CD case. Then use a circular cutter, or a glass dusted with the GF flour mix to cut the perfect hand pie sized pieces.

Plop a tablespoon of nutella into each hand pie and fold the dough over the filling like a taco. Then take a fork or your fingers and press down the edges (think vacuum packed!)

Now grab your eggs and crack them into a bowl and slightly beat them with a fork. This is your egg wash. The protein in the eggs is what browns up the pies so nicely and makes them look simply irresistible.

Then these guys get popped into the oven for 8-10 minutes. From working both at Flour (where I baked off their homemade poptarts) and at Violette, I have learned that pastry dough needs to be a deep golden brown before its done. You are looking for the color of a paper bag at the edges and a sand color in the middle.

Once they reach their golden glory, take them out and let cool for 5-10 minutes. They will be delicious eaten as such but to go the extra mile, pop them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

While they are chillin’ melt some dark chocolate. 30 second blasts with a strong stir after each one until the chocolate is liquid (duh).

The way you drizzle the chocolate is up to you. Spoon, fork, parchment paper cone.

Grab the hand pies out of the freezer and drizzle to your liking!

Corner-copia (Oh I went there) of hand pies

Hazel Apple Snackin' Cake

Who doesn’t love apple season? Although the triteness of the phrase threatens me with asphyxiation, I fold to the pumpkin, apple and “OMG I would love a cup-of-something-warm” bacchanal that rages from September to November. Le sigh.

Amidst the glut of fall sponsored babble, memories of Flour quietly flood my thoughts. The hyperextension of bowl scraping and the shrieky accolades of bite sized critics cheered me then and now.During my shifts, the last 3 items on my mise-en-place, prepping twice baked croissants, pulling quickbreads and undirtying my surroundings tapped the well of Herculean resilience that I only have experienced while racing. The imminent finish line promises reprieve, brain off push on.

So this apple cake is a Namaste to the Vegan Apple Snacking Cake, part of my ritual bread pull, that was the hot air to my deflated energy. Thanks bud.

My apples are courtesy of Brooksby Farm- Tis’ the season! Go Pick while the going’s great!

Pro-Baker Tips

• This is an oil cake Beurre? Non, merci Beaucoup! The oil coats the flour so that the gluten does not activate, maiming your well-intentioned efforts at a tender crumb.
• This beauty is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free and vegan. It just tastes so good you won’t have to tell your samplers about its components. It’ll be our clean little secret.

Serves 8-12

This is a hug for your soul and your stomach.

3 Cups of All Purpose Gluten Free Mix I use the ratios Shauna gives at Gluten Free Girl  (You could also use AP Flour or a Mix of WHole Wheat and AP)

1/2 C Vegetable Oil

3 tablespoons of ground flax

1 C of Nayonaise Light (You could simply add 1 1/2 C of Vegetable or other Neutral Oil)

1 C of Sucanat

1/4 C Agave Nectar Light

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Vanilla

3 Cups of  Peeled, Cored and Chopped Apples (I used Cortland, Gala and Macintosh)

1/2 Lemon

Poppy Seeds

Optional But strongly suggested Add-ins 

1 Cup of Nuts (I used Hazel) 

1 Cup of Raisins or Currants

1. Preheat oven to 350. If you have a silicone bundt pan like the one I used, no need to grease it. Otherwise, grease your pan de choice.
2. Beat the Oil, Nayonaise and Sucanat In a stand in Mixer for 5 minutes. Use your stove timer. It should be the color of caramel and the texture of hand lotion when its done.
3. While this is beating, flax egg time: Add your three tbspoons of ground flax to a bowl. Then add three tablespoons of water for each tablespoon of flax (So 9 tbs total) Stir with a fork until uniform in texture. Add your generous tablespoon of vanilla extract to the egg mix.
4. Add egg mix to the mixer and mix for 1 minute until uniform in texture. Squeeze your lemon into the wet mix making sure to prevent seed paratroopers that want to hop into the bowl.
5. Assemble the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Remember when adding the flours scoop from the container and level it off with a knife or spatula. You want it fluffy, not packed in! Add the spices to the flour and whisk. 
6. Add the dries to the wet in 3 additions. Add some and let incorporate and repeat. After you add your last of the dry, stop the mixer
7. After scraping the paddle attachment, use a spatula to finish off mixing. This prevents over beating and ensures that you discover any hidden agrocrags of flour at the bottom of your bowl. 
8. Add your nuts, raisins, and poppy seeds. Mix with spatula.
9. Transfer the mixture to your pan-in-waiting. Bake for 1 hour and check for doneness with a toothpick. It should come out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack before attempting lift-out. 

Serving Suggestions: A swipe of almond butter, coffee and the latest New Yorker. 
Or just a giant slab with coffee will do.