Eating our way through week 3/5/12

theherbalpeasant.com

Eating our way through week 3/5/12
When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste. Laiko Bahrs

The quote is a perfect example of how our program works. It is kind of a whisper down the alley. I say to the first cook "add a smidge of cinnamon, unless you love cinnamon, then add a dash". The message gets passed along. Who knows what the fellow at the end hears LOL. But that is OK, I'm standing right next to the poor chap. However, when we bake it goes more like this "only add a pinch of baking soda, if you add more, well, you are the one eating it!"

One of our WoWs of the week: we were contacted by a local publication (Kapp Advertising The Merchandiser) and requested an interview for an article on The Herbal Peasant culinary program.
Who would turn down free advertising? It is a great way to help "Change the world, one bite at a time".
We will post it when written.

Another WoW - we "hired" an intern. Brittany Fisher is her name. We met in 2010 when I was hired as a healthy cooking trainer at a MR/MH agency. The staff and the folks they care for participated in the program. Brittany was a new hire and during the healthy cooking segment in the orientation class I noticed she had a purse with a peace sign on it. I told her we were going to get along just fine.
After a year, the program expired and we kept in touch. Fast forward a year, she's our herbie intern.
Yea! Welcome my friend.

This week's menu: Fennel Crudités,  French Onion Soup,  Asian Pear Salad, Stuffed Peppers, Cinnamon and Spice Smashed Sweet Potatoes, and  Crispy Rice Cups with Fresh Fruit.

Let us start with the appetizer: sprout or cook a 1/4 cup any small grain such as quinoa or amaranth. Finely chop the inner layers of a fennel bulb, finely chop sundried tomatoes, onion and carrot. Scoop into a bowl.

Add lemon juice, zest, olive oil and dill.

Add the grain.

Garnishes of chia seeds and radish slices are added.
Use squares of red pepper and extra fennel bulb slices for crudités.

French Onion Soup: slice 4 button mushrooms, saute. Set aside. Saute 6 thinly sliced sweet onions until caramelized. Add vegetable broth, white wine, powdered bay leaf, rosemary, and mashed garlic. Simmer. Preheat broiler. Ladel soup into broiler safe bowls. top with a slice of healthy bread such as Food for Life brand. Place slices of mushrooms on top, top with provolone or a faux cheese such as Daiya brand (made from tapioca starch)  mozarella .
Place under the broiler until chesse is melted.

Asian Pear Salad: we need our greens! Try watercress, Romaine or dandelion. Chop radicchio, dried or fresh apricots and onion. Slice an Asian pear or sub an apple, pear or something crazy like jicama (if you have not tried the Asian pear it tastes like an apple and pear combo and has an excellent crunch. The jicama is a good crunchy substitute).  

Place prettily on a plate, garnish with heart healthy walnuts and breath freshening parsley.

Add oranges and thinly sliced raw cheddar cheese or a faux cheese. Or try a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.
For the dressing simply squeeze the juice from an orange and a drizzle of oil such as sesame, walnut or olive. 

Stuffed Peppers: Finely chop sundried tomatoes (or raw tomatoes), for raw sprout chickpeas (48 hours earlier, for directions go to sproutpeople.com) or open a can, drain/rinse.
Chop greens such as arugala, mushrooms try shitake, and onion.

Roast or grill peppers, of course for raw skip this step.

For non-raw - saute. Near the end of the cooking time, add corn fresh off the cob for raw, or use thawed frozen corn. Toss in parsley and give it a stir. Remove from heat.
 Dice an avocado, make the dressing by adding to a bowl; olive oil, vinegar and basil.

Stuff the pepper. Top with the avocado and drizzle with dressing.

Cinnamon and Spice Smashed Sweet Potatoes: thinly slice a sweet potato.

Steam, bake, grill or simmer until soft.

Mash and add butter or as we did Earth Balance (a vegan's substitute). Add a bit of agave or raw sugar cane, orange zest and cinnamon, grated frozen ginger (love freezing ginger), cloves, nutmeg and or 5 spice.

Spoon into a casserole dish, top with sliced almonds and unsweetened shredded coconut.

Or try the savory version; omit the sugar and add sauteed onion, celery, garlic. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until hot. The almonds and coconut get a little toasty and tastes wonderful paired with the sweet potatoes.

What is this concoction? Crispy Rice Cups with Fresh Fruit. We started by melting the better chocolate chips such as Enjoy Life brand (only 3 ingredients to make the chocolate!) Add a nut or seed butter - we used almond - crispy rice cereal, we used Nature's Path brand, the only ingredient is puffed brown rice. Add  a liquid sweetener such as agave, flaxmeal for more fiber and omega 3s, and ground oats to whisk away cholesterol. Stir only enough to coat the crisp rice. Form into cups. Place in refrigerator until hardened.

Chop fresh luscious mango, add kiwi for a beautiful complement of color, a pinch of  unsweetened shreded coconut and melt a little more chocolate. Fill the cups with the fruit. Drizzle that sweet, wonderful chocolate nectar over the fruit and allow to run down the sides and puddle on the plate.

To register for a culinary class:
theherbalpeasant.com
or theherbalpeasant@yahoo.net


Peace and health, my friends.