Pamela, Author at Pamela Salzman

Five Friday Favorites 01.12.18

Happy Friday! It’s time for a new Five Friday Favorites, but first some administrative business to discuss! First off, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing so many of you jump on this pantry/freezer cleanout challenge. I did this last year, but not in a formal way. And this year I took the same approach. I just mentioned on Instagram that I wasn’t going grocery shopping, but instead I was going to use what I had in the pantry and freezer. It has been very satisfying and even more satisfying has been seeing so many of you feel great about doing the same in your kitchens! Yay for us!

Next, Clean Eating Magazine has decided to re-launch the Batch Cooking 101 online course I developed for them last fall! Very exciting! It’s a 6 or 7 week program, depending on if you eat animal protein, and it starts on January 15th. For my readers and students, they have given me a discount code to offer you which is PSALZMAN50 for $50 Off. Click here for more information.

Speaking of online cooking classes, I am going to be offering the classes I teach every month online as well. I was going to launch them this week, but I decided to wait until the Clean Eating course began to avoid confusion. I teach the same menu 4 days a week for an entire month at private homes in Los Angeles and since I can’t add more days to the week, I decided to film one of my classes and offer them online. More information will be coming very soon. But if you haven’t been able to get into one of my classes or you don’t live in the area and you’ve wanted to learn from me in the kitchen, this is it! There will be a private Facebook page coming which will offer daily support as well as regular FB Lives to offer real-time interaction. I will be filming this month’s class within the next few days and then I’ll be ready to put it out there. I am super excited!!

Ok, onto the faves! Here are some things I have been into lately:Continue reading

Banana-Chocolate Oatmeal Recipe

Banana-Chocolate Oatmeal | Pamela Salzman

After I posted this banana-chocolate oatmeal on my Instagram stories last week, I asked out loud, “should I post this or not?” Silly question! I knew lots of you would want the recipe. Not that this is much of a recipe. I threw it together one day and then proceeded to make it virtually everyday for 2 weeks, I was so obsessed. To be fair, I did change up the toppings almost every time. But I am like this — I become addicted to a flavor, an ingredient, a dish and then I am happy eating it every day. Someone told me that highly successful people wear the same type of outfit every day. Why? Because it frees up their brains to think about other things and not waste time on what to wear. There are benefits to repeating recipes!!Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of January 8th 2018

Every year at this time, I spend some time organizing my pantry and freezer. Whereas many people might be throwing out bags of food, my goal is to use as much of what I have as possible as quickly as possible. My new year’s challenge for myself is to try to use what I have and don’t go grocery shopping unless it’s really necessary (i.e. when I run completely out of fruits and vegetables – including frozen.) This forces me to be a little creative, to waste less, to realize that what I have is enough, to get back in the habit of planning my meals around what we have first, rather than what I’m in the mood for. Some really delicious and satisfying meals have come from this challenge, but nothing as satisfying as throwing away empty bags and cartons because I finished off what was in them!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

Meatless Monday: Cauliflower fritters and green salad with cooked lentils, white beans, shredded carrots, walnuts, avocado and everyday salad dressing #2

Tuesday: Thai coconut chicken soup (we are totally satisfied with a big bowl of soup for dinner, but if my son or my husband needs a little something more, I’ll make a salad or some avocado toast.)

Wednesday: Kibbeh kebabs with lavosh, tzatziki sauce and fall tabbouleh

Thursday: Kale and Soba salad with miso ginger almond dressing (I might add some roasted shrimp or tofu) from The Crunchy Radish

Friday: Italian wedding soup

Saturday Lunch: chickpea “tuna salad” served with butter lettuce leaves, sprouts and avocado

Sunday: Mexican millet casserole from my cookbook and Mexican chopped salad

Here’s what you can prep ahead if you need to:

Sunday

Wash greens and herbs

Make chicken or vegetable stock

Cook beans, if not using canned

Make salad dressings

Steam cauliflower for fritters

Shred carrots (you can use your food processor shredding disc attachment to make this job easier and quicker! See this video for a how-to)

Make quinoa

Make millet

Make lentils

Tuesday

Kebab meat mixture can be made today and refrigerated until tomorrow night

Make tzatziki sauce

Prep all ingredients for fall tabbouleh (with the exception of the apple) and refrigerate

Thursday

Prep the meatballs for the soup and refrigerate until tomorrow

Here’s alink to my previous dinner planners.

If you like my recipes, you’ll LOVE my new cookbook! If you have cooked from my book and you are enjoying it, it would mean so much to me if you would write a review on amazon. 🙂 If you make anything from the website or the book, please tag me on Instagram @pamelasalzman. I love seeing all your creations! xoxo

Vegan Chickpea “Tuna” Salad Recipe

Vegan Chickpea "Tuna" Salad | Pamela Salzman

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that my meat-loving husband went vegan about 3 1/2 months ago. He did so for health reasons and has never felt better. I am still eating the exact same way I always have, mostly plant-based with occasional bits of wild fish or lean poultry, an egg here or there and a smidge of dairy every now and then. But his new diet has forced me to make more satisfying, hearty vegan recipes that he enjoys. I find lots of plant-based food very appealing, but my husband needs a little help.Continue reading

Immune-Boosting Soup Recipe + an Instant Pot Version

I have been able to avoid conflict and controversy all these years on my blog and on social media, until I posted an image of this soup on Instagram a little over a year ago. If you read my recent post on how to get well quickly, you know that I favor homemade broths, ginger, garlic and very digestible foods like soups and rice. In my post how to boost the immune system, Japanese mushrooms are a top food. My assistant Lauren has two little boys who seem to catch every virus at pre-school and she suggested to me that I teach an “immune-boosting soup.” Great idea! So I did last January and in the recipe-testing phase I posted an image on Instagram. Oh man! I offended so many people by calling this an “Immune-Boosting Soup.” To many, this is congee and I disrespected those who eat it by not labeling it as such.

I have had congee many times before and what I know of it is that it is a thick porridge made of very well cooked white rice. The rice is cooked in water or chicken broth for a long time so that the rice really breaks down and the porridge is like oatmeal. If you google “congee” and look at the resulting images, the soup/porridge is very thick. Honestly, I feel as though if I called this congee, just as many people would be offended that my rice soup wasn’t cooked long enough or wasn’t thick enough to be called congee. If you are offended by this post, it is not my intention. I’m just trying to help people make something for their families in the thick of cold and flu season that’s easy, tasty and digestible.

This became a very popular recipe with my students because you can make it in 20 minutes, it’s delicious, and easy for digestion. Remember that white rice is much more digestible than brown. This soup intentionally has no fat or oil for maximum digestibility. You can 100% do what you want with this recipe and I will not be offended. 😉 Feel free to add poached chicken at the end, cilantro, hot sauce, loads more garlic or ginger, even turmeric. And I give you permission to eat this soup even if you’re not sick! xoxo

If you make this soup, please tag me on Instagram with an image of your creation! @pamelasalzman #pamelasalzman

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Immune-Boosting Soup + Instant Pot version*

Author: Pamela

Serves: 6

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons (or ½ cup if you want more rice) white jasmine rice (you can use other types, but jasmine has the best flavor here)
3 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (feel free to add more - I have added up to 8 cloves)
1 ½ -inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced into thin matchsticks**, about 2 Tablespoons
Sea salt to taste, according to saltiness of stock (start with ½ teaspoon)
3 cups chicken stock or bone broth, preferably homemade (or mushroom stock for a vegan option)
4 cups water (or use all broth)
pinch of crushed red pepper, if desired (or see ideas for optional add-ins)
2-3 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps wiped clean and sliced (you can also use frozen mushrooms)
Ideas for optional add-ins:
Sliced red chiles
Chili oil
Sliced scallions (green and white parts)
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Shredded, poached chicken or frozen green peas

Instructions

Place the rice, garlic, ginger, salt, broth and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Add crushed red pepper (if using) and mushrooms. Raise heat to bring up to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until rice is super soft. Taste for seasoning. Add optional add-ins at this point and warm through. Serve hot.

Notes

*For the Instant Pot version, place all ingredients in the pot and cook on Manual High Pressure for 6 minutes. After the cooking time is up, use the manual release or natural release.
**If you don’t care to eat the ginger, slice it into rounds and remove from the soup before serving.

Dinner Planner – Week of January 1, 2018

Happy almost new year to one and all! January 1 signifies a fresh start to many, although I do think we have many opportunities to wipe the slate and start anew, including every morning! But if you have made any resolutions and they involve improving your health, then I will assume more cooking at home is in store for you.

I have been posting these dinner planners for the last 2 years, and so many of my students and readers have attested to the fact that planning and organization is the KEY to eating healthfully. I have been making a weekly dinner plan on Sundays for over 20 years and it is the only way dinner gets made, given my schedule. Knowing on Sunday what you are cooking for the week will also allow you to go throughout your day without the “dinner cloud” over your head. You know the one that is always nagging, “what are you going to make for dinner tonight?” “Should you start defrosting that chicken?” “Hurry and run to the market before after school pick-up!”

You can also follow me on Instagram where I post my weeknight dinners, as well as breakfasts and anything else that’s inspiring me at the moment. Happy cooking and here’s to your health!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week:Continue reading

How to Get Well Quickly

My advice for getting better when you’re sick is not to get sick in the first place! It’s actually much easier to stay well than to get over a virus or a bacterial infection (or worse.) You can read this blogpost from many years ago about how to boost your immune system.

That said, I usually succumb to some sort of cold or virus once a year and it’s usually when I’m run down and pushing myself too much, which happened this year the day after Thanksgiving. I was super sick for 2 days after Thanksgiving, but I rebounded very quickly. Many people I know had a similar illness but they say it lingered for weeks. Twice I posted a few Instagram stories about what I did to get better lickety split. And since then, I have received many direct messages every day on Instagram which ask me to repeat my list of go-to cures because ‘tis the season. This clearly deserves a dedicated blogpost!Continue reading