Do-it-yourself almond milk — 3 versions

You saw from my Alternative Milk Guide that these non-dairy beverages are basically nuts/seeds/grains pureed with water and strained.  Although Mr. Picky drinks raw milk regularly, the rest of us don’t and the non-dairy milk that is used most often in our house is almond milk.  Once I learned how easy it is to make your own extremely delicious, pure almond milk, I have never purchased it off the shelf again.  This is a great, non-messy activity to do with your kids since they can help with the process and it is also really cool for them to see how almonds become almond milk.  It was also really cool for my husband to see how to “milk” an almond because he was having a tough time visualizing it.

I made a basic almond milk from almonds and water the first time around and it was the kind I was familiar with.  But then my friends Baelyn and Shiva told me about The Mylk Man in Venice, California who makes and delivers fresh organic almond milk made from almonds and coconut water.  Genius!  Lastly, my friends at Pressed Juicery in Brentwood make an unbelievable almond milk from almonds, dates, vanilla, sea salt and water.  I had to give both of these a try at home since I’m not always in the city and voila!  Amazing!

We met our friends Jane, Matt and their daughters for dinner the other night at our local YMCA tennis club and Matt happened to mention that he is recently dairy-free and has discovered the joys of almond milk.  Where most couples might go out for an after-dinner drink, I knew where we were going — back to our house for an almond milk taste testing! Everyone was blown away by the coconut water and date-sweetened versions.  We even figured out what to do with the almond pulp I had saved from straining the milk.  Drinks and dessert!


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Basic Almond Milk
Author: 
Serves: makes about 2¾ cups
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup raw almonds
Instructions
  1. Soak 1 cup raw almonds in bowl with plenty of room temperature water for 6-8 hours. (Soaking will make the almonds softer and more digestible.)
  2. Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse with fresh water. Remove the skins from the almonds by pressing them through your thumb and forefinger.
  3. Discard the skins and place the almonds in a blender or Vitamix. Add 3 cups fresh water and blend until the nuts are pulverized.
  4. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, cheesecloth or a nut milk bag into a glass bowl. If using a sieve, use a spoon to scrape the almond meal around and allow as much liquid to drain through.
  5. Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate, covered for up to 4 days. Add the remaining pulp, sweetened with honey or maple syrup, to hot cereal, granola or fruit.

almond milk with coconut water

Soak almonds in regular water, but use coconut water to blend with the skinned almonds.

 

 

almond milk sweetened with dates

Follow directions for basic almond milk, but blend skinned almonds with water and 8 pitted dates.  You can add a drop of vanilla and sea salt, if you like, but it is delicious just like this.  You don’t need to sweeten the remaining pulp if you choose to eat it since it is already sweet from the dates.

Corn and edamame succotash

This house sure is quiet.  The girls are still in Connecticut and Mr. Picky is off at the batting cage for a little bit with his dad.  I don’t think I’ve been alone in my house in a year.  Or more.  It’s sooooooooo nice.  Don’t get me wrong.  I adore my kids and my husband, but solitude is a precious luxury that I never get to indulge in.  And silence.  Just heaven.  I find it funny that all this peace and quiet makes me hungry, so I give myself permission to make an early dinner for me and only me.  It never happens that I only have my cravings to consider for dinner.  I think being conscientious of many people’s likes and dislikes is a big challenge when planning meals for a family.  But not tonight!

At yesterday’s farmer’s market I scooped up two of my summer favorites — corn and tomatoes.  I was especially excited about the tomatoes since my plants won’t be producing fruit any time soon.  Unfortunately, Manhattan Beach does not have tomato weather.  The parsley and basil are doing beautifully in the garden, though and if I am lucky enough to have frozen shelled edamame in the freezer and turkey bacon in the fridge, corn and edamame succotash will be my dinner tonight.

Hooray!  It’s all here!  I secretly hope that my husband and Mr. Picky call me and ask if they can grab a bite out instead of home.  I have visions of me and a giant bowl of corn and edamame succotash in front of the tv watching the new episode of “Million Dollar Decorators” without my husband doing Martyn Lawrence Bullard impressions so that I can’t hear what anyone is saying.  Am I getting old that this is my idea of bliss tonight?  Don’t care.  I’ve got succotash to make.

I taught this recipe in my classes last August and I got great feedback, although people admitted they were skeptical of eating something called “succotash.”  True, not a very sexy name, but succotash really just means a few sauteed vegetables usually mixed with corn and lima beans.  I had found a recipe from an old Gourmet Magazine (sniffle) and changed it up a bit to suit my family, and I just love it.  Since my kids are crazy for edamame, I always have bags of it in the freezer.  That was a natural sub for the lima beans.  It makes such a nice side dish for a weeknight family dinner or for entertaining in the summer, or a main dish since it is loaded with protein.  It’s so tasty, as well as colorful, nutritious, and quick to put together, especially if your kids shuck the corn for you.  Even by myself, I pulled this together very quickly.  You definitely don’t need to use turkey bacon in this if you are vegetarian or just don’t like it, but I would compensate with a pinch of salt.  As I sat there on the couch, by myself, eating this gorgeous succotash, I was able to concentrate on the food and really enjoy it.  I couldn’t help but think how much I loved the crunch of the corn and edamame and the sweetness from the tomatoes.  Couple more bites.  The apple cider vinegar adds great tang and the smoky, salty flavor from the turkey bacon is perfectly complementary.    Another few bites.  I can’t believe there’s no salt.  Yes, the edamame were cooked in salted water and the bacon has salt, but there’s no added salt and I don’t miss it.  A few more bites.  This is supposed to serve 6-8?  Is that a typo?  I’m halfway done with the bowl, but I keep eating anyway.

“Hi Mom!  We’re home!”  Well, it was nice while it lasted.  Mr. Picky asks for some succotash.  “Hey, that looks good.”  Really?  Tonight is the night you decide not to be picky?

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Corn and Edamame Succotash
Author: 
Serves: 6-8 as a side dish
 
Ingredients
  • 12 ounces frozen shelled edamame
  • Kosher salt
  • ¼ - ½ pound nitrate-free turkey bacon*(optional)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • ¾ lb cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 4 ears corn, kernels cut off cob
  • 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup packed small fresh basil leaves or larger leaves chopped
  • ¼ cup packed flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Instructions
  1. In a medium pot of boiling salted water, cook edamame 5 minutes, or until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.
  2. Chop bacon. Add oil to a large skillet and cook bacon over medium heat until starting to crisp, 3-5 minutes. Add onion and sauté until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Don’t worry if the bottom of the pan is getting brown from the bacon. The acid from the vinegar and tomatoes will clean it up.
  3. Add tomatoes, corn and vinegar to the skillet. Cook, stirring until tomatoes begin to lose their shape. Stir in edamame. Remove skillet from heat and stir in herbs. Serve immediately.
Notes
*Or bacon can be cooked separately a 350 degree oven. Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and arrange the bacon slices in one layer. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once, until slightly crispy. Chop cooked bacon and add with edamame.

 

Hummus 4 ways

I was talking with my summer intern Hannah about how much I love hummus and how easy it is to make.  I think I have been making my own hummus since before she was born, but the last couple years I have felt hummus boredom so I’ve had a little fun experimenting with different flavors.   Hannah was intrigued since she thought hummus was like puff pastry, which NO ONE makes from scratch.  Well, I knew we had a cooking lesson on our hands!

Hummus is a Middle Eastern dip made from cooked chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans) pureed with tahini (a paste made from ground up sesame seeds), garlic, lemon juice, and salt.  I add a little liquid from the pot (or can) of cooked chickpeas and some people add olive oil.  Sure you can add cumin or hot sauce, but essentially that’s it.  I maintain that hummus tastes so much better when I make my beans from scratch, although really you can use canned and it will still be fabulous.  But what kind of a cooking lesson would this be if we used chickpeas from a can?  So I started soaking a ton of dried chickpeas that day, cooked them for 90 minutes the next morning and we began our hummus factory.

I had an idea to make several of my favorite flavors just for kicks, so we also roasted a couple beets, a red bell pepper and cut some cilantro from the garden.  After we made our first batch, which was the traditional kind, Hannah looked at me in disbelief.  “That’s it?! ”  Yep.  That’s it.  “If people knew how easy it was to make hummus, they would never buy it!”  I’m so glad that thought was put out there to the universe.

After that, we made hot pink hummus with a roasted beet, which I agreed would be super cute for a (girl) baby shower or a bachelorette party (Hannah’s idea.)  Cilantro hummus turned out a lovely pale green with a fresh herby flavor.  Lastly, my favorite was roasted red pepper hummus to which I added a little smoked paprika and a dash of cayenne.  We tried all the flavors with raw carrot, cucumber and sweet bell pepper slices, as well as some gluten-free chips.  But I also love the red pepper version on veggie burgers and the cilantro one on a turkey sandwich.  The beet hummus is for pure shock value since despite adding a roasted beet, it just picks up a subtle sweetness and really tastes a lot like the traditional.  You can never have enough healthful dips for summer entertaining.  With July 4th around the corner, there’s no better time to add some pizzaz to an old classic!

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Traditional Hummus
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups cooked chickpeas, if canned, drained and rinsed, liquid reserved*
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • ½ cup sesame tahini
  • 4-5 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 6 Tablespoons chickpea liquid
  • 1 teaspoon plus a pinch sea salt
Instructions
  1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until the hummus is smooth. Taste for seasoning and texture.
  2. I like it very smooth and creamy, so I let the food processor run for a few minutes. I also prefer to eat it immediately at room temperature, but if you will be refrigerating it, you can add a little extra chickpea liquid since the hummus will thicken after it has been refrigerated.

 

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Variations:

Beet Hummus: add 1 large roasted and peeled red beet to Traditional Hummus ingredients in food processor.  Blend until thoroughly combined.

 

Cilantro Hummus: add 24 sprigs of cilantro and a few dashes of cayenne pepper to Traditional Hummus ingredients in food processor.  You can use either lemon juice or lime juice.  Blend until thoroughly combined.  Feel free to use more cilantro.

 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: add 1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika, a few dashes cayenne pepper and 1 large roasted, peeled and seeded sweet red bell pepper to Traditional Hummus ingredients in food processor.  Reduce lemon juice to 1 Tablespoon and sea salt to ¾ teaspoon.  Blend until thoroughly combined.  Taste to adjust seasonings.

Grilled chicken paillard with arugula and lemon vinaigrette

chicken paillard with arugula

By now you have figured out that I promote one meal for the whole family.  I think there is a beautiful connectedness that comes from everyone sharing the same meal and sharing the same energy from that food.  In addition, I believe that we help our children develop better eating habits when we expose them to a wide variety of foods during their lives and we encourage them to try new things.  By giving in to the picky eater in the family and making him chicken tenders or buttered pasta every night because he won’t eat grown-up food, we are basically ensuring that he will grow up with only a taste for “kid cuisine” and the flavors associated with it.  Not only that, who in the world has time to make more than one meal every night?

Mr. Picky is my 7-year-old and he is a challenge at mealtime even though I have done everything right.  I am a great eater and I have set a good example for him (the most important thing.)  I have exposed him to every vegetable and whole grain countless times.  He has helped me prepare dozens of meals.  We have gone shopping together at the supermarket and farmer’s markets.  We have planted seeds and grown our own food.  And he is still a total pain in the ass neck and still quite picky, although he is slowly coming around.  But I am not stressed out about it because Daughter #1 was the exact same way, even worse!  Until one day something clicked and now she eats everything I eat from beet greens and bok choy to millet and muesli.

What does this have to do with chicken paillard and arugula salad when 99% of kids hate arugula?  Of course they hate it.  It is peppery and bitter and their tastebuds haven’t developed to the point that it tastes good to them.  I didn’t like arugula when I was 7, but I am a maniac for it now.  I even grow tons of it in my garden.  So should I cater to the lowest common denominator in my family and prepare arugula-less meals?  Heck no!  I want arugula salads every now and then with a lemon vinaigrette and thinly pounded chicken breast.  It’s one of my favorite quick-fix meals.  But this is where I think flexibility should play a role.   I will cut the chicken into strips and lay them on top of the arugula so that  it is more appealing to my son and I allow him to eat just the chicken.  He can look around the vegetable crisper and see if there’s something else that he would like, such as a raw carrot.  In this way, I am not making him a whole different meal for him and the rest of us get to eat what we want.

No one likes everything, not even me.  I very much dislike papaya, tarragon and poached or runny eggs.  If you dislike arugula, feel free to substitute spinach or a crisp romaine.  If you dislike chicken, you can add steak or chickpeas and shaved parmesan cheese.  This is a great recipe to make for a crowd or for just one.  The photo below shows a big platter I made when my cousin Joanna and her husband Anthony stopped by for dinner.  I literally came home after they arrived at my house and whipped this together in front of them.  The other finished photo at the top is my lunch yesterday when I was working at home testing recipes.  As luck would have it, Mr. Picky came home for lunch and asked if I would share my chicken with him.  My pleasure, as long as I get all the arugula for myself!  One day he’ll be asking for that, too.

 

chicken paillard with arugula

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Grilled Chicken Paillard with Arugula and Lemon Vinaigrette
Author: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Juice of 1 lemon + 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 8 ounces arugula
  • 1 tomato, chopped
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken breasts one at a time in between to pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound to a ¼-inch thickness. You can use a meat mallet or a rolling pin. The idea is to get the chicken to an even thickness all around. Remove from the paper and place in a glass baking dish and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon on top. Drizzle with an equal amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
  2. Heat the grill to medium. In the meantime, prepare the salad dressing. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the inside of a medium bowl with the cut side of the garlic. Add the garlic to the bowl. To the bowl, add 3 Tablespoons lemon juice, Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and black pepper to taste. Whisk to combine. Pour ½ cup olive oil into the bowl, whisking constantly to emulsify. Taste for seasoning and tartness. Add more oil if necessary.
  3. Remove chicken from marinade and grill a few minutes on both sides until golden brown. Place on a cutting board. Arrange the arugula on a platter and drizzle with enough of the dressing to coat lightly. Cut the chicken into strips and arrange on top of the arugula. Scatter tomatoes on top and drizzle a little more dressing. Or arrange the chicken on a platter and top with dressed arugula leaves and tomato.
Notes
I also love this salad with chickpeas, olives, shaved parmesan cheese, or thinly sliced fennel.

Do ahead: you can make the dressing several days in advance and wash and dry your greens in advance, too. Just wrap them in a damp kitchen towel and store in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

 

White bean salad with celery and mint (and sometimes tuna)

Happy summer!  I really can’t believe it’s here, but I am just thrilled to bits.  Even though I still teach during the summer, I find that my schedule with the kids is a little easier and frees me up to spend a bit more time cooking.  The ironic thing is that during the summer, we don’t need to “cook” as much.  The weather is warmer and our bodies can tolerate more raw or lightly cooked foods.  But this has to be my favorite season for just the sheer bounty of vegetables and fruits available.  You can find me literally bouncing around the farmer’s markets in the summer overbuying berries and stone fruits, corn, eggplant, greens and tomatoes.  This past Saturday I bought a bushel of mint that was so gorgeous and fragrant, I couldn’t resist.  But I should have since already I GROW mint on my patio.

I also love summer since we entertain much more frequently and it’s a wonderful chance to catch up with friends.  I enjoyed a little quiet time this morning planning some weekend meals with guests in mind.  I have several new recipes I’ll be trying out, like chicken and vegetable kabobs with chimichurri sauce, black bean burgers with a smoky red pepper spread, and cantaloupe and cucumber salad.  I’m hoping they get the thumbs-up and I’ll post them before the end of the season.  Also, the kids and I have been having fun dipping big chunks of peeled ripe bananas into melted dark chocolate and freezing them.  But in as much as I get excited about experimenting, I also love my favorite stand-bys.

One of my regular dishes in the summer is this white bean, celery and mint salad.  By now you know I have a thing for creamy and crunchy together and I clearly have no self-control when a healthy bunch of mint seduces me.  On a beach day, I like to put the fixings out for a make-your-own sandwich bar.   Whether we choose to eat a quick bite at home or pack the sandwiches to go, this bean salad is always the perfect side to chicken salad, grilled vegetables or a humble turkey on wheat.  It is a great salad to bring on a picnic since the beans and celery don’t suffer after sitting in dressing for hours.  But the recipe is so easy that you might find yourself at home for lunch one day and decide that you can pull a beautiful healthful salad together with that can of white beans in your pantry and a simple vinaigrette.

Beans are a great source of inexpensive, low-fat protein and contain a ton of soluble fiber — so great for helping balance the LDL and HDL levels.  I am pretty good about planning meals in advance, so I will usually soak dried beans and make them from scratch, but opening up a can of Eden Organic beans is just fine, although a tad more expensive.  Sometimes I add canned tuna to this salad and you really need nothing more, although my girls love to take crusty bread and scoop up the salad and eat it that way.  Now would be a good time to mention that I dread BPA, which is a plastic and resin ingredient found in the linings of most cans, as well as water bottles and is associated with several health problems including breast cancer and infertility.  Thankfully, Eden Organics and Vital Choice Seafood do not use BPA in their can liners.

Please stop in again for more fresh, healthful and seasonal recipes to share with family and friends.  I’m looking forward to a great summer!

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
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White Bean Salad with Celery and Mint (and Sometimes Tuna)
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound dried Great Northern or cannellini beans*
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 1 stalk celery, quartered
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 2-inch piece kombu (if you have it)**
  • 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
  • Dressing:
  • ¾ cup unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar, preferably unpasteurized
  • ½ teaspoon raw honey
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 ½ cups chopped celery
  • 1 shallot, cut into thin half-moon slices ar ½ red onion, small dice
  • 1 ½ cups loosely packed mint leaves, chopped
  • 1 7-ounces can albacore tuna packed in oil or water (optional), flaked
Instructions
  1. Rinse the beans and pick over for small stones or debris. Soak the beans in cold water overnight with a 2-inch piece of kombu.
  2. Discard the soaking liquid, and place the beans and the other ingredients for cooking them in a 6-quart pot. Add enough cold water to fill the pot half full. Bring to a boil. Simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours, until the beans are tender. Turn off the heat, add the tablespoon of kosher salt and allow to cool in the cooking liquid. Drain and discard the cooking liquid, onion, celery and kombu.
  3. Whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until emulsified.
  4. To make the salad, transfer the cooked beans to a serving bowl. Add the celery, sliced shallot, fresh mint and (optional tuna.) Pour the dressing over the beans and toss to blend. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
*Or you can use 6 cups drained and rinsed canned beans, approximately 3 or 4 cans.

** Kombu is a seaweed which helps tenderize the beans and make them more digestible. If you also cook the beans with the kombu, it adds alkalinity. I buy Eden kombu at Whole Foods or from amazon.com

 

white bean salad with celery and mint (and sometimes tuna)

serves 8

 

1 pound dried Great Northern or cannellini beans*

1 medium onion, quartered

1 stalk celery, quartered

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 2-inch piece kombu (if you have it)**

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

 

Dressing:

¾ cup unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar, preferably unpasteurized

½ teaspoon raw honey

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

 

1 ½ cups chopped celery

1 shallot, cut into thin half-moon slices ar ½ red onion, small dice

1 ½ cups loosely packed mint leaves, chopped

1 7-ounces can albacore tuna packed in oil or water (optional), flaked

  1. Rinse the beans and pick over for small stones or debris.  Soak the beans in cold water overnight with a 2-inch piece of kombu.
  2. Discard the soaking liquid, and place the beans and the other ingredients for cooking them in a 6-quart pot.  Add enough cold water to fill the pot half full.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours, until the beans are tender.  Turn off the heat, add the tablespoon of kosher salt and allow to cool in the cooking liquid.  Drain and discard the cooking liquid, onion, celery and kombu.
  3. Whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until emulsified.
  4. To make the salad, transfer the cooked beans to a serving bowl.  Add the celery, sliced shallot, fresh mint and (optional tuna.)  Pour the dressing over the beans and toss to blend.  Serve at room temperature.

 

*Or you can use 6 cups drained and rinsed canned beans, approximately 3 or 4 cans.

** Kombu is a seaweed which helps tenderize the beans and make them more digestible.  If you also cook the beans with the kombu, it adds alkalinity.  I buy Eden kombu at Whole Foods or from amazon.com

 

Iced Blended Mocha

If you opened this post with glee and thought I actually put a recipe on my site for a real iced blended mocha, well then, you don’t know me well at all, do you?  But if you clicked on the link anticipating a recipe for something that tastes just as delicious as an iced blended mocha, but is actually good for you, then we are probably already friends.  Iced blended mocha is a cold coffee drink mixed with chocolate, very much like a Starbucks Frappucino, and usually pureed with ice.   My husband, who has a real taste for all things toxic, used to drink sweetened iced coffee drinks much too often.  Before we were married, he used to buy the sweetened chocolate powder mix and coffee “extract” from our local coffee shop so that we could make them at home.  The mix was full of all sorts of scary ingredients, not the least of which was sugar and partially hydrogenated oil.  Needless to say, I haven’t made my husband one of these since I became enlightened.

But his sister, my healthful food soulmate, has just come to his rescue!  She made up a truly guilt-free version of an iced blended, but sweetened with dates.  My daughter and I were playing around with the recipe last weekend and tried a few different variations and they were all delish, even the batch we made with faux coffee granules.  I think we’ll surprise her dad Father’s Day morning with a blast from the past!

 

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Iced Blended Mocha
Author: 
Serves: makes about 20 ounces, enough for 2 medium drinks
 
Ingredients
  • 2 big handfuls of ice
  • 2 Tablespoons carob powder or unsweetened cocoa powder (we tried both and they were equally good)
  • 2 teaspoons decaffeinated instant coffee granules or grain-based coffee substitute, such as Pero (again, we tried both and they were equally good)
  • 16 pecan halves or ¼ cup pecan pieces
  • 6 pitted dates
  • 1 - 1½ cups unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
  1. Put everything in a blender and process until smooth. Taste before serving. You may prefer more ice than I did. Also, I would use 1 cup of almond milk for a more intense mocha flavor or 1½ cups to keep it light. You can serve this over ice, if you like.

 

 

Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

Father’s Day is this Sunday and we are getting ready to celebrate the man of the house.  I have already begun planning my menu, which no doubt will involve some grilling since we all know that’s a man’s favorite thing to do.  If my husband had his way, the meal would consist of cheeseburgers, hot dogs, grilled corn and ice cream sandwiches.  And the reason my husband has been able to maintain his girlish figure all these years is because he is not in charge of meals.  Before you accuse me of being no fun whatsoever, please know that grass-fed burgers with raw cheddar cheese and Applegate Farms organic grass-fed hot dogs will be in the house.  Thankfully several people in our family like my turkey burgers enough that I will be making a batch of those.  But more importantly, what am I going to eat?

Did I really find a way to make Father’s Day all about me?  No, no, this will be Dad’s day, but it’s my job to make sure there’s a little balance in the meal and protein for the non-hot dog eaters.  Like me.  When I think about one of my favorite things to make for a backyard barbecue, something versatile enough to complement anything, delicious in its own right, lovely to look at and healthful enough that you can almost justify eating all that meat, quinoa tabbouleh immediately comes to mind.  Just look at it!  Light and bouncy quinoa mixed with sweet cherry tomatoes (use whatever colors you like), crunchy cucumber and all those fresh herbs.  Who wouldn’t want to eat it?  Don’t answer that, because I know what you’re thinking.  I took this salad to my friend Karen and Jonathan’s house the other day for a barbecue and every man there not only tried the quinoa, but finished every little grain.

Quinoa works really well as a substitute for tabbouleh’s traditional bulgar wheat.  (Like you really need to eat more gluten.)  You can even mix different colors of quinoa and different colors of tomatoes.  When I brought it to Karen’s, the quinoa was still too warm to mix with all the vegetables and herbs so I kept that in a separate container and brought a little glass jar with the lemon juice, olive oil and salt.  Everything else was prepared ahead and kept in a serving bowl.  Before we sat down to eat, I mixed the quinoa with the vegetables and herbs and poured in the dressing.  Super easy, really nutritious and you know what?  Real men don’t eat quiche, but they do eat quinoa!

 

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Quinoa Tabbouleh
Author: 
Serves: serves 6 as a side dish
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • Sea salt
  • 2 cups diced unpeeled Persian or Japanese cucumber (or cucumber with a tasty skin)
  • 2 cups halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon minced garlic
  • ¾ cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley or as much as you can chop -- the more, the better!
  • ¼ cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
  • ⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ⅓ cup unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Rinse quinoa in a bowl with water or place quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. Transfer to a saucepan and add a healthy pinch of sea salt and 1 ¾ cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes.
  2. Transfer quinoa to a serving bowl and allow to cool. Fluff with a fork periodically.
  3. Combine cooled quinoa and remaining ingredients plus 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt. Toss to mix well. Taste for seasoning.

 

 

Tasty turkey burgers

Let’s play a little word association game!  When I say “turkey burger,” you say …?  I think I heard “bland,” “dry,” “flavorless,” “pointless.”  You know what I say?  “No thank you!”  Until now.

I have never been a big meat-eater, even though I think there’s a place for high-quality grass-fed beef in one’s diet if you like it.  At barbeques, I’m usually the one looking for the non-beef burger option, but I had never met a turkey burger that I liked.  Father’s Day is around the corner, and there are lots of dads who are trying to cut back on beef, so I think now’s a good time to post a great turkey burger recipe.

My goal is not to make a turkey burger that tastes like beef, because it won’t.  But I want to make the turkey taste savory and moist and like something you would actually want to eat, as opposed to something you are settling for and all the time wishing you were actually eating a hamburger.  I also want a basic burger that everyone in my family will like, especially my hamburger-loving husband who once claimed that real men don’t eat turkey burgers.  I accept the challenge!

It’s amazing what a few simple ingredients do to boring ground turkey.  I add a little olive oil for fat, minced onion for flavor and moisture and worcestershire for a meaty undertone.  A bit of dijon and ketchup get mixed in for an additional boost and my husband declared he would eat this turkey burger any day.  Of course, you can tailor this burger to your liking and make it a little fancy, if you want.  Add in some finely chopped sundried tomato and basil or go Tex-Mex with some red bell pepper, corn, cilantro and cayenne.  How ever you make it, I have a feeling you’ll hear “Mmmmm……that’s tasty!”

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Tasty Turkey Burgers
Author: 
Serves: makes 6 patties
 
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ pounds ground turkey (white or dark meat)
  • 6 Tablespoons minced raw onion (cook the rest of the onion for a delicious burger topping)
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons worcestershire sauce
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons unrefined, cold-pressed olive oil + more for the griddle
  • ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 6 sprouted grain or whole wheat buns or lettuce leaves
  • Toppings: grilled onions, avocado, sprouts, tomato, lettuce, cheese, barbecue sauce
Instructions
  1. Heat a griddle to 400 degrees or an outdoor grill to medium heat.
  2. In medium bowl, mix the turkey with all the other ingredients. This is a very moist mixture.
  3. Form into 6 patties, about 5-inches in diameter.*
  4. Brush the griddle or grill with a small amount of olive oil.
  5. Carefully transfer the patty to the griddle and cook for 4-5 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 4 minutes, or until cooked through.
Notes
*If making these in advance, place on a parchment or wax paper-lined platter to remove easily.

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