Pamela, Author at Pamela Salzman

Green monster popsicles recipe

I am so excited to pick up Mr. Picky today! He has been gone for 13 whole days and I sure do miss him and all his pickiness. I can tell from the photos the camp posts online everyday that he is having such a fun time. And just like I predicted in a previous post, I notice that most of the clothes we packed have not touched his body. No problem. Less laundry for me! On the other hand, I have already sent two packages to Daughter #1 who forgot to bring her favorite white jeans, her “cool Bohemian gold sandals,” and an umbrella. Why do kids from Southern California never remember that it rains in every other part of the country, even in the summer?

Mr. Picky will surely come home and tell me about all the “awesome” food he had at camp. He has no pickiness when it comes to “kid cuisine” — hamburgers, sugar cereal, pizza, French fries. Is a detox appropriate for a 9-year-old? I agree, probably not. As long as he doesn’t complain when I serve lots of green veggies tonight and tomorrow. Woohoo! My poor daughter is having the opposite experience at the college she is attending this summer. The food is “so gross” and she is trying to make do with the salad bar and fruit and nut bars that she orders from Amazon. The funny thing is that the food at her school is practically identical to what Mr. Picky is eating. See what can happen to a picky child in few years!

I just finished making these awesome green popsicles for Mr. Picky’s return. I figure they’re a great way to ease him back into “Pamela cuisine.” I can look the other way if the kids eat non-organic ice cream or pizza every once in a while, but there are a few things that I just can’t feed my kids. Artificial food coloring is a total no. I will tell you when I am giving you my opinion about something controversial, but there is no data out there to suggest that artificial dyes have no effect on the body. I was so inspired when Lisa from 100 Days of Real Food blog petitioned Kraft to stop using artificial colors in the macaroni and cheese they sell in the US. Can you believe Kraft doesn’t use these chemicals in the food they export to Europe? But I guess enough people in this country don’t seem to worry about the horrible effects of these chemicals on our bodies. Popsicles are a big source of nasty artificial colors and flavors and they are beyond easy to make at home. I remember as a kid freezing orange juice into paper Dixie cups and sticking a wooden stick in them. They were great! Who needs Red 40 and Yellow 6? Blech!

These green popsicles are totally delicious. I would say they have a hint of pineapple, but otherwise I can’t label them any particular flavor. Pineapple and banana work well because they’re naturally very sweet and their colors don’t counteract with the green from the kale and spinach. If you start blending blueberries or strawberries with greens, I can’t say the popsicle color will be quite as nice. But any smoothie that tastes good to you will taste just as good frozen into a popsicle mold, especially when it’s a million degrees out. Speaking of molds, there are many good options out there that don’t contain BPA, another toxic chemical I advise you to avoid. For these images, I used this BPA-free popsicle mold. But I also have this stainless steel one which I love because you can very easily just run one popsicle under water to loosen it.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and that you find a way to stay hydrated and cool. These popsicles will surely help!

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Green Monster Popsicles

Author: Pamela, adapted from Delicious Living Magazine

Serves: 6 popsicles

Ingredients

½ cup spinach
¼ cup kale leaves, chopped (tough stems removed)
1 ½ bananas
½ of a whole pineapple, peeled and cut into chunks
⅔-3/4 cup water

Instructions

Combine spinach, kale, bananas, and pineapple in a blender and puree.
Add water and puree a second time.
Pour into popsicle molds or small cups, add Popsicle sticks, and freeze for at least 2-3 hours.

Blueberry sauce recipe (refined sugar-free)

I know what you’re thinking. “We waited five whole days for a new recipe and it’s blueberry sauce? That’s the best she could come up with?” You know what, friends? I have been busy! Daughter #1 is still far, far away playing college student and Mr. Picky is at sleep away camp for two weeks. I sure do miss those brats. But Daughter #2 is an only child right now and is acting like it. She wants all of our attention, especially since it was her birthday the other day. She wore a tiara for three straight days. If you’re new here and you’re envisioning a toddler, Daughter #2 is 15. Just to paint an accurate picture.

Besides doting on my newly crowned princess, I have been taking advantage of a little more freedom and I am trying to tackle my list of ambitious projects and must-dos. Why does it seems as though two weeks is plenty of time to reorganize the garage, Mr. Picky’s room and the pantry AND watch the entire season of “The Americans” AND test new recipes AND exercise, get a manicure and visit a museum? Well, I am 10 days into those two weeks and I think I moved a box of finger paints from one corner of the garage to another and took Mr. Picky’s room apart, but haven’t put it back together. No so productive. The hubby and I did go to the Hammer Museum in Westwood Saturday afternoon before meeting our friends for dinner who also have kids away at sleepaway camp. Lovely. We also obsessively watched the entire season of “The Americans” in three nights. “It’s only 11:45. One more episode!” So testing new recipes has sort of fallen by the wayside, sorry!

But before you think this blueberry sauce is something you can live without, I will tell you to think again! We have been eating this on everything, it’s so amazing. My husband keeps asking me, “Is there anymore of that blueberry sauce left?” “Where did you hide the blueberry sauce?” Maybe you’re hiding it, dude. In your stomach! I’m so not funny. The point is, we have found so many ways to enjoy this, albeit not such original ways — swirled into yogurt with or without granola, on pancakes, on top of hot oatmeal or porridge, over vanilla ice cream. And it takes a whole 1 minute of prep, about 5 minutes to cook and makes everything seem extra-special. See, I had time for something.

Can we chat for a second about some of the other blueberry sauce recipes out there? I’m not pointing links or anything, but what’s up with the 1 cup of sugar for a pint of blueberries? Fruit is already sweet, for goodness sake. I don’t get it. If you don’t want to taste blueberries, don’t make blueberry sauce!

I absolutely love blueberries and I can argue that they are one of the most beneficial foods out there. How excited are you right now? Delicious and insanely good for you! Blueberries have one of the highest antioxidant profiles, as well as lots of fiber and Vitamin C, and they’re lower in fructose than most other fruits. High antioxidant + low glycemic = beauty food. Botox or blueberries? You don’t have to answer that. In all seriousness, blueberries contain compounds that support the health of the cardiovascular system, as well as eye health, cognitive function, and blood sugar stability. Have I convinced you to give this a try? Good. Gotta run. Hubby wants to watch the entire season of “House of Cards” and Mr. Picky is back on Saturday!

5.0 from 3 reviews

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Blueberry Sauce

Author: Pamela

Serves: makes 1¼ cups of sauce

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pint blueberries
3 Tablespoons Grade A maple syrup (Grade A is light in flavor than Grade B) or cane sugar
3 Tablespoons water

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk the arrowroot in the lemon juice until dissolved. Set aside.
Place the blueberries, maple syrup and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 minutes.
Add the arrowroot and lemon juice mixture and stir to combine. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes until blueberries are very soft and sauce has thickened.
Serve warm over pancakes or ice cream or refrigerate up to 5 days for later use. Sauce will thicken as it sits and cools.

Kale salad with creamy lemon dressing (dairy-free recipe)

One of my students was joking with me a few weeks ago about who does the PR for the Kale Board, because they’re doing a pretty good job! Think about it, who was eating kale 10 years ago? I wasn’t, but I now buy several bunches of kale every week and consume it in so many different ways from juices and salads to pastas and spaghetti squash. Kale is hot is because it is not only versatile, but so incredibly nutrient-dense. Superfoods like kale are getting a lot of attention because these days we need all the nutritional help we can get!

But I’ll be the first to admit that kale can take some getting used to if the only leafy green in your life has been romaine lettuce. Kale can have an assertive flavor similar to broccoli leaves, which makes sense since they’re related to each other. When I add kale to my fresh juice in the morning, I need to balance it with mild-tasting vegetables like cucumber and celery and maybe even some green apple. If you’ve never tried kale, I think a great place to start is with my Kale Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette. It’s really my favorite salad in the whole world. I taught it in a class about 3 or 4 years ago and I swear I think I have eaten it once a week for the last 5 years. What I love about it is that the bitterness of the kale is balanced by the sweet, tart, citrusy dressing. And I can add anything I want to the salad and it always tastes good. Even Mr. Picky has come around to eating it. Did you ever see the kale salad video I did for Elizabeth Street with Mr. Picky? Check it out here!

This latest kale salad is completely different from the the other. The dressing has much more punch and is similar to a lemony Caesar. I still highly recommend massaging the dressing into the kale leaves as that softens the leaves so that you feel like you’re chewing lettuce and not cabbage. The croutons here are completely optional, But if you do use them, you must tear the bread by hand and not cut them with a knife. Big difference! The croutons torn by hand have more open nooks and crannies to latch onto dressing and tomato juice. Trust me. Speaking of tomatoes, don’t skip them unless you’re allergic because the tomatoes add a very important sweet note to balance the kale and the pungent dressing. I actually tried the salad without the tomatoes once and it just wasn’t as good. You might try making a meal out of this by adding grilled chicken or shrimp. Avocado slices would be delicious here, too.

There are so many ways to make this easier on yourself by planning ahead. It’s the only way I get anything done around here!

Wash your kale a few days in advance and prep the leaves.
Make the dressing the day before.
Make the croutons 2 days in advance.
Massage the dressing into the kale an hour in advance, if you want.

kale salad with creamy lemon dressing | pamela salzman

Are you new to kale or is it in the regular rotation? What’s your favorite way to eat kale?

Shop the tools I used for this recipe by clicking on the images below:

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Kale Salad with Creamy Lemon Dressing

Author: Pamela, adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

2 cups torn country-style bread (1/2 inch pieces)
Olive oil as needed (about 1 Tablespoon should do it)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
½ cup Vegenaise (I like soy-free) or good quality mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon lemon zest
1 ½ Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pound Tuscan kale, stems removed, leaves cut into chiffonade (very thin)—you should have about 12 cups of cut kale
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (optional)
Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Arrange bread on the prepared baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake until the croutons are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the Vegenaise, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, anchovy paste, mustard, pepper to taste and a pinch of salt. Put the kale in a large bowl and toss with enough dressing to coat. If you massage the dressing into the kale, the leaves will soften a bit.
Top with the croutons and cherry tomatoes and garnish with cheese. Serve the remaining dressing alongside.

kale

What you should know about food labeling

This post is part of a series I am doing for Positively Positive.

If you are trying to adhere to a healthful diet and lifestyle, it is helpful to educate yourself about what foods will support your health better than others. Whereas it should be clear that choosing as many whole, unprocessed foods as possible is the best approach, most people still buy some packaged foods.

I am obsessive about reading labels on packages in order to help me make the best choice I can. But the FDA allows food manufacturers, even for organic products, to take so many liberties in wording and, furthermore, don’t insist that everything in your food be labeled as such that it could be argued that we consumers are being deceived.

Here are some guidelines to help you understand what much of this labeling really means.

“Natural” or “Pure” The words sound wholesome and even healthful, but whether you are buying chicken or juice or vanilla extract, these words mean practically nothing since there is no official definition for what can be labeled “natural” or “pure.” For example, “natural chicken” just means it is chicken and not play dough. It doesn’t guarantee anything healthful, organic, or good for you. Food labeled “natural” can contain processed white sugar, pesticides, heavy metal toxins, MSG, and lots of other non-natural ingredients. Also note that if you see “natural flavors” listed in the ingredients of a “natural” product, don’t think here’s anything natural about them. Natural flavors are created in a lab and are supposed to imitate flavors found in nature. Not exactly natural.

Click here to read my recommendations and the rest of the post at Positively Positive’s website.

Baked Parmesan Chicken Caprese Recipe

I hope you all had a lovely Fourth of July and that you had a day off of work at the very least. If there’s one thing I think many of us need more of it’s a little rest and relaxation. We had a nice mellow day with friends and no work all day at all. Nice. In fact, I even watched a little tv while I was putzing around the house before going out. Computer time has wiped out my tv time in the last few years, so watching tv is a real treat for me. Although it’s funny that when I have time off from work (i.e. cooking), I choose to watch the Food Network or the Cooking Channel. I have my favorites to be sure, but some of the really popular shows I just don’t get.

Can anyone explain the appeal of “Chopped?” I’ll tell you one thing — it’s not “reality” tv. What’s reality about being given a bunch of ingredients not normally found in a regular person’s pantry and being forced to have to make something tasty out of it given the resources of an unbelievably stocked pantry? I have learned so much from watching Ina and Giada and Tyler, but there isn’t much I get out of seeing what three chefs can do with graham crackers and squid in 30 minutes. Does that show talent? What do you think?

Let me tell you what I think takes some skill — making dinner for my family on a typically insane weeknight. You think the judges on Chopped are tough. Ha! They eat everything, even cheese, unlike Mr. Picky. Try making dinner for Daughters #1 and 2 and Mr. Picky under a time constraint. During the girls’ finals week earlier last month, I had a day that did not go as planned and I found myself in a dinner prep predicament. We always eat dinner together every night around 6:30/6:45 and I thought this was one of those nights, but no. Daughter #1 had a study group at 6:30 and Daughter #2 switched her music lesson without telling me and she would be coming home at 6:15. I found all of this out at 4:30 and I had soccer carpool to do. Oh sure, easy, right?

Do the contestants on Chopped have two teenage girls yelling at each other about the last ugly photo one posted of the other on Instagram? They do not. And Mr. Picky is not bouncing a basketball in the kitchen while the chefs are trying to figure out what to make for dinner very quickly with the contents of a very basic pantry. Bounce, bounce, bouncety-bounce! Ok, think. Do some prep now, then you have 15 minutes when you get back from soccer drop-off before driving to music. “But the picture you posted of me was much worse than the one I posted of you!” Bounce, bounce, bouncety-bounce! I have chicken, tomatoes, white rice is fast, thank goodness I washed lettuce yesterday. “Mommmmmmm, did you see what she’s getting away with? So many people liked that picture already!” “Really? They liked it? That’s good, right?” “OMG, Mom! No they didn’t like it! Make her delete it!” Bounce, bounce, bouncety-bounce! I can bread the chicken now and bake later. “I am NOT letting her drive me to school anymore.” Whoa there, missy. Now you’ve got my attention. “Delete it this minute!” Bounce, bounce, bouncety-bounce! “STOP PLAYING BALL IN THE HO– USE, MR. PICKY!!!!” Can you imagine doing this sober? Why don’t I drink? I need to rethink that.

I know this isn’t just my house, or maybe it is and I am deluding myself. But I think a lot of home cooks have skills that you just can’t learn in culinary school or by watching some pros on tv. I managed to pull something together that night that we ate at exactly 6:15 and we all liked it! I would have likely gotten “chopped” on tv for something so unoriginal, but this is the kind of food we like to eat and it’s reasonably healthful. One of the reasons this worked for me that night is because I was able to bake the chicken instead of sautéing/frying it. I didn’t know if it would work, but I learned the technique of getting crispy breading by greasing up the chicken with some fat before dredging it from an old Gourmet magazine recipe. That way, I didn’t have to babysit it on the stovetop, plus baking is more healthful than frying and MUCH less messy! This would also be a great method to use when cooking for a crowd.

Speaking of cooking for a crowd, for the next episode of “Chopped,” I’d like to see a challenge where the chefs have to prepare a dinner party for 12 guests in Los Angeles. “Oh, sorry, no gluten for me.” “If you don’t mind, I don’t eat dairy. Or meat. Or eggs.” “I’m easy. I eat everything except nuts. I am deathly allergic to all tree nuts. Deathly!” Now that’s something I would watch!

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Baked Parmesan Chicken Caprese

Author: Pamela

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed (about 4 ounces), optional
2 -3 Tablespoons unrefined olive oil, plus more for coating chicken and pan
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large leaves of fresh basil, chopped
¾ teaspoon sea salt, divided
⅔ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Pecorino-romano or Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon paprika
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush a baking sheet generously with olive oil. You can line your baking sheet with parchment paper if you want and then brush the parchment with oil.
In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, mozzarella, 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, basil and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
In a shallow dish (such as a pie plate), combine the bread crumbs, cheese, and paprika. In another shallow dish, pour a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Slice the chicken crosswise in half so that you have two thin cutlets. Check out this post for a visual on what I'm referring to. You can remove the tenders if you wish and coat those separately. Sprinkle one side of the chicken pieces with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. This is the total amount of salt and pepper for all the chicken.
Dip the seasoned chicken first into the olive oil and turn to coat. Then dip chicken into the breadcrumb mixture and press to coat both sides completely.
Place the breaded chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn chicken with a spatula, not tongs which might break the breading, and bake another 3-5 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.
Remove garlic cloves from tomato mixture and discard. Spoon tomato mixture on top of chicken.

Notes

This serves our family perfectly with no leftovers, but we're not big meat-eaters. If one chicken cutlet is not enough per person, then increase the chicken and breading ingredients.

basil chicken garlic mozzarella olive oil parmesan tomatoes

Apricot, cherry and almond crisp recipe

I was racking my brains thinking of something to post today for July 4th that would be red, white, and blue. But really I’m not nearly as creative as all the people I pin on Pinterest or fave on Foodily and I’ll be honest, I couldn’t come up with something you haven’t already seen. Although for 5 minutes I thought was a genius — potato salad with red, white and blue potatoes! Until I googled it and saw that this was not an original idea.

But then I was thinking that I don’t ever make anything red, white and blue for the 4th, so why the pressure? Our friends Melissa and Adam usually invite us to their beach house for a party where they serve the most delicious Tex-Mex food. Not ribs or barbecue or anything cut into the shape of stars. But it’s all crazy delicious and everyone is so happy. I often bring a dessert or appetizer. Last year Melissa asked me for Peach and Blueberry Crisp. It was so yummy, but not red, white, and blue and I didn’t hear anyone complain that I didn’t have spirit.

A few weeks ago, I taught a 4th of July menu for Jenni Kayne and her friends. Jenni asked me for a fruit crisp and I knew she would love this one with apricots and cherries. When I was prepping for the class that morning, I asked her if I should throw in blueberries to add some blue to the red, and she responded, “Only if they would make it better.” She’s so right. Of course. Who cares if it’s red, white and blue? You want to know what I said? I said, “They won’t. This crisp is so insanely delicious already. Why mess with it?” That’s really what I said. This crisp is so darn good, I have dreams about it. I made this same crisp for some friends a few weeks ago and I could swear I heard moaning. In a good way, naturally.

I have a theory that fruits and vegetables that grow in the same season taste good together. I saw cherries and apricots sitting next to each other at the farmers market and voilà! A new crisp. I also read somewhere that the Prunus family of stone fruits also includes almonds. An almond looks like an apricot pit, don’t you think? I find all of that to be so interesting….and delicious! Now the addition of almonds did make this crisp better. Of course, leave them out if you have an allergy or substitute something crunchy like sunflower seeds. Crisps are so easy to adjust for allergies, in fact. You can make the topping completely vegan by using coconut oil (more natural) or Earth Balance. For a gluten-free crisp, I used half GF oat flour and half King Arthur Multi-purpose GF Flour (which is free from cornstarch unlike some other very popular GF flours, like Cup4Cup — sorry Thomas Keller. Love your food, though!) Rice flour works well, too.

I think you should make a fruit crisp for the holiday. Absolutely everyone loves them. There are no blue food dyes involved. It’s mostly seasonal fruit. They are sooooooo easy. You can make your topping right now. Yep. In fact, you could have made it a month ago and frozen it. You can make 10 times the recipe for crisp topping, freeze it and make a crisp every week for the rest of the summer and into Labor Day. Or if you’re making a crisp for Thursday, make your topping today and keep it refrigerated. Just sprinkle it on top of your prepared fruit and bake away. No coming to room temp or any of that nonsense. But if you just can’t make a dessert for the 4th that is missing one of the colors of our fair flag, then by all means add some blueberries or blackberries. Or, dig deep and find your spirit of independence and make what you think you’ll love the most. Hope you all have the best weekend!

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Apricot, Cherry and Almond Crisp

Author: Pamela

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

1⅓ pounds of ripe, fresh apricots, pitted, quartered if large
⅔ pound of dark, sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted (I love my cherry pitter which I haven't seen anymore at Williams-Sonoma, but this one looks similar.)
½ Tablespoon pure Grade A maple syrup or cane sugar
½ Tablespoon flour (whole wheat pastry or gluten-free flour)
less than ⅛ teaspoon of almond extract
Topping:
¾ cup coconut palm sugar or brown sugar
1 cup flour (whole wheat pastry or for GF a combo of GF oat flour and King Arthur Multipurpose GF Flour)
½ cup old fashioned rolled oats (for GF, look for labeled GF oats)
½ cup chopped raw almonds
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon sea salt
8 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter or Earth Balance, cut into 1-inch pieces or unrefined coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
Toss the fruit with syrup or sugar, flour and almond extract. Transfer to an 8- or 9-inch baking dish or pie plate.
Add all topping ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend until the mixture resembles small peas. This can also be done by hand with a pastry blender. Squeeze with your hands to create small clumps.
Arrange topping over fruit to cover.
Place baking dish on a cookie sheet and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and topping is golden brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream, if you like.

Notes

For the crisp in the photographs, I doubled all the ingredients and used a 13 x 9-inch pan.

almonds apricots butter cherries maple syrup oat flour oats whole wheat pastry flour

Individual baked oatmeal cups

I’m down one child for the next six weeks since I dropped Daughter #1 off far, far away in upstate NY for a summer college program. There were some tears before I left. I know how most of you think, but no, those tears were not mine. I love my daughter to pieces, but hear me out. If you were 16 years old and had the opportunity to study architecture at one the best universities in the US, on one of the most beautiful campuses, meeting interesting kids from all over the world, without your parents telling you what to wear or eat or when to go to bed, would you CRY? Hell-oooooo? I am so excited for her! I think back to when I was 16, and I would have given my right eye to get the heck out of sleepy Stony Brook, Long Island, where I am from and do what she’s doing. Cry tears of JOY maybe. I guess Manhattan Beach, California is much more fun than Stony Brook when you’re 16. But just so you’re not worried about her, a mere 24 hours later there were no more sad texts, only pictures of cute boys, usually South American.

Ironically, I am with Mr. Picky visiting my family in Stony Brook, the place I lived for basically my entire life, but the place that I thought was the most boring town on the face of the planet. It is about 60 miles away from New York City, arguably the most exciting place on the planet, although I didn’t get there too much, and especially not without my parents. Stony Brook is absolutely darling, but there was not much going on here when I was a kid, except for a few small beaches which are also very quiet, a lovely (and quiet) duck pond, a carriage house museum (totally true) and a cute ice cream shop. So of course when it was time for college, I needed excitement! A big city! So I left for Philadelphia where I attended college and then moved to Los Angeles after graduation. Many, many years later, after much excitement, I cannot believe I am saying this, but I so look forward to my visits to Stony Brook.

Have I mentioned how quiet it is here? I woke up in the middle of the night last night because I didn’t hear anything. How weird is that? Perfect silence. Actually, it’s AMAZING. I am thrilled beyond words to be in a quiet, sleepy town for the week where I don’t have to battle traffic or stressed out motorists or all the noise that goes with them. And the fresh air is a huge bonus.

It's so hot here, the coconut oil is liquid at room temperature! — It’s so hot here, the coconut oil is liquid at room temperature!

Mr. Picky and I are having a ball with my parents and my sisters and their kids. I am always appointed head of the kitchen when I’m here which is fine as long as someone else is head of dishwashing. Honestly, I don’t mind cooking for a crowd every day. It’s actually easier than cooking for two. And my sisters’ kids which range in age from 3-7 are all fantastic eaters which makes my life very easy.

I heard that all the kids liked the baked berry oatmeal recipe I posted a few months ago, so I thought I would do something a little different and bake the mixture in a muffin tin to make individual portions. Also, my sister’s son leaves early for lacrosse camp every day, so it’s nice for him to be able to take a couple for the road. I made the oat mixture with a few nuts, but then used different “toppings” for each cup just to mix it up a bit. I used blueberries, strawberries & mini-chocolate chips, and mini-chocolate chips & walnuts. The kids all gravitated towards the ones with chocolate, naturally and I’ll admit, a few of them were wondering why there were no chocolate chips throughout the cups and only on top. Next time I’ll throw a few into the mixture as well. The oatmeal cups were popular enough that they were finished off in the afternoon after the kids worked up an appetite after a few hours in the pool.

Keep in mind, these oatmeal cups are the equivalent to having a portable mini-bowl of oatmeal. They don’t have the light, tender texture of a muffin, so don’t expect that. I ate two blueberry ones and felt very satisfied until lunchtime. Remember that oats have a lot of fiber, both soluble and insoluble, making you feel full for a good long time. But I do find that I need to have some good fat with my oats, so the addition of walnuts was perfect for me and also added some nice crunch. No doubt you and I will have some fun with this recipe and find a way to add apples or pumpkin in the fall or bananas, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. My summer just got started and I plan to make it go as slowly as possible.

update 7.3.13: I just made these again, but with my own muffin pan which only yielded 9 cups instead of the 12 I originally wrote. I think my mom’s pan is smaller than mine, which is standard, so I updated the recipe to 9 oatmeal cups which I think is more accurate.

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5.0 from 3 reviews

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Individual Baked Oatmeal Cups

Author: Pamela

Ingredients

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (look for labeled gluten-free oats to make this a gluten-free recipe) - Do NOT use steel cut oats
¼ cup walnuts, almonds or pecans, chopped + extra for topping (optional)
⅓ cup 100% pure maple syrup (I like ¼ cup is just fine, but my family preferred ⅓ cup)
1 ½ cups milk of choice (cow, almond, hemp, etc.)
1 large egg or ½ cup mashed banana or ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 ½ Tablespoons melted unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
toppings: fresh blueberries, sliced fresh strawberries, chopped nuts, mini-chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with 9 unbleached parchment liners.
Combine baking powder, salt, oats and nuts in a large bowl.
In a separate medium bowl whisk together maple syrup, milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla (or combine them in a blender.)
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir to combine. You can certainly add chocolate chips or fruit to this mixture if you want all the cups to be the same.
Ladle the oat mixture into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about ¾ full. Sprinkle any additional nuts, berries or chocolate chips over the tops of each.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set and wet ingredients are fully absorbed. Eat warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten straight away or warmed in a toaster oven at 350 until heated through.

almond milk eggs rolled oats vanilla

Beet Green Crisps Recipe

Daughter #1 is lucky enough to be attending a great high school summer program at an East Coast university for the next 6 weeks. My daughter, Mr. Picky, and I are currently en route to get her there and settled before he and I spend a week on Long Island with my family. Because Daughter #1 had finals up until yesterday afternoon, there was no packing done until…last night. So not my style to do things at the last minute, but I needed to supervise what went into that bag. I love the idea of letting the kids take responsibility for themselves, but there is a certain amount of guidance that I needed to ~~impose~~ offer in this situation. Clothing that looks like something I use to mop the floor should stay home. Outfits can most definitely be repeated during a 6-week time period. Not every single pair of underwear that one owns needs to be packed. Repeat after me, “I can do laundry.”

It’s a huge contrast to when I will prepare Mr. Picky for 2 weeks at sleepaway camp next month. Most of the clothes we pack him will come back unworn. And even though he showers every day at home, I doubt he will shower at camp more than twice. “The lake gets me clean, Mom.” Whereas my daughter brought a separate carry-on bag just for toiletries, including her straightening iron, hair dryer and several brushes, Mr. Picky packs a toothbrush and toothpaste and a body wash that doubles as shampoo, which, like I said, he probably won’t use.

Both scenarios make me chuckle and say something about each of them. I was thinking about that late last night when I finally got around to packing for myself. It seriously took me 15 minutes to pull my personal items together for my week at my parents’ house. I need very little as I keep some basics there and I do laundry regularly. But I do spend A LOT of time packing food.

First there’s the food I bring to my parents’ house, like homemade granola, dried persimmons from the farmers market for my dad, truly raw almonds and my nut milk bag so I can make almond milk, and a few ginormous lemons from my tree just to show off a little, among other things. And then there’s food to eat on the airplane because I just cannot deal with boxed “snack packs.” Cannot deal.

I always pack a lot for long flights because I am a total crankypants if I get hungry. So I swear I spent more time yesterday prepping for a hot breakfast at home, as well as lunch and snacks on the plane than I did packing for all three of us combined. No joke! I made pancake batter and fresh blueberry sauce for breakfast. Then I put together containers of raw veggies and cut fruit, sushi rice and edamame for Mr. Picky, quinoa, roasted vegetables and salad dressing for my daughter and myself, as well as trail mix and these awesome beet green crisps.

Can you believe it took me all this time to get to the fact that this post is about beet green crisps? Anywaaaaaay, I was having lunch at my friend Marta’s last week after I had a Panchakarma treatment which I promise to tell you about soon. Lunch was dal, basmati rice, roasted beets, green beans and these crispy greens which I thought were Swiss chard. You’ve heard of kale chips, so think that but with Swiss chard leaves instead of kale. SO AWESOME!!!!! Light and crispy with a little sea salt and not quite as strongly flavored as kale. Addictive. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Then it hit me that the leaves were much smaller than Swiss chard and she had made beets for lunch, so they were obviously beet greens. By the way, beets and Swiss chard are related and the leaves from both taste very similar. I use them interchangeably, but normally if I buy a bunch of beets, the greens aren’t enough to make a side dish for all of us for dinner. I just found my new favorite way to use them!

You know you should be eating more dark green leafy vegetables, as they are among the most healing foods on the planet. This is a great way to enjoy your greens and these crisps would have made the perfect snack for traveling if I literally had not eaten the entire platter after I photographed them. Literally the entire platter.

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Beet Green Crisps

Author: Pamela

Ingredients

1 bunch fresh beet greens, washed and dried well
unrefined coconut oil, melted or olive oil for coating the greens
fine sea salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper.
You can trim the stems off the leaves and just roast the leaves if you want. I did a mix of both. The stems become very tender, but not crispy. Place the greens in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with a little coconut oil. You only need enough to lightly coat the leaves. Rub a little coconut oil on both sides of the leaves and arrange the greens in one layer on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with a little salt. Be conservative with the salt since beet greens are high in natural sodium.
Bake for 5 minutes and then turn the leaves over and bake for another 5 minutes or until dry and crispy. Oven temperatures vary wildly, so if your oven runs hot, you may want to check the greens after 3 minutes. They won’t taste good if they’re burned!

beet greens coconut oil sea salt