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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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Individual Baked Oatmeal Cups

Pamela

5 from 3 votes

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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)
1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup I like ¼ cup is just fine, but my family preferred 1/3 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.

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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.

Beet Green Crisps

Pamela

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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!

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beet greens coconut oil sea salt

Supersmooth, Light-as-Air Hummus

Why is the best hummus always in restaurants, especially Middle Eastern ones? I think I make a delicious, flavorful hummus that has a great consistency and is better than the ones you find in the supermarket. But, it doesn’t compare to the silky, light and creamy hummus that I’ve had in restaurants. I want that kind. The kind that will drip, not plop, off your pita if you’re not careful. The kind you can suck up with a straw. You know what I mean.

I got into bed with a book the other night, because reading helps me wind down and relax from my typically crazy day. But of course, I read cookbooks in bed before I go to sleep which is an absolutely terrible idea because that does nothing to quiet my overactive brain which doesn’t stop thinking, thinking, thinking! Regardless, I was reading Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s not-so-new, but gorgeous book , “Jerusalem.” So many recipes, so little time, people. I turned to their recipe for “Basic Hummus” and I swear I almost flipped the page without so much as a glance, because like I said, I already have a perfectly great hummus recipe which I have actually turned into four different flavors. But then I thought “have some respect, you never know.”

The word “supersmooth” caught my attention immediately and then I knew I found it — the hummus of my dreams. Let me jump to the chase. The Ottolenghi hummus is the kind I love at restaurants and they tell me all their secrets. Most importantly, the chickpea skins are removed after cooking and before pureeing. I know!!! Why didn’t I think of that? But before you think I have the kind of time to sit around peeling chickpea skins, think again. After soaking and draining the chickpeas, they are cooked with a little baking soda and then water is added to boil the beans. Most of the skins float to the top of the pot and you just skim them away. I know!!! Brilliant. They also add a lot more tahini (sesame paste) than I do which makes the hummus so creamy. And water. I would never have thought to add water, but it really makes the hummus lighter and cleaner than adding the chickpea liquid which is how I do it. “Better late than never,” is what I was thinking.

I wouldn’t say that my first attempt came out quite as smooth as Ottolenghi’s primarily because not all the chickpeas lost their skins and I was not about to go peeling them, but it was really, really good and very smooth. You can see the image of that below. I also tasted the hummus after adding 2/3 cup of tahini instead of the recommended 1 cup + 2 Tbs. and I thought it was divine. I made it a second time and did take the time to pull off any skins that didn’t come off during the boiling process and the hummus was a tad bit creamier, but I’m not sure it was worth the extra 12 minutes it took me to do that. You should do whatever makes sense to you and if you have the time, feel free to pick out every last skin. For that matter, you can buy canned cooked chickpeas and pull off the skins and proceed from there.

This is the one I made first where I did not remove every single last chickpea skin.

I served this to friends the other night, friends who have had my hummus a million times and they all said “where did you get this? This is so good.” I know, a tad insulting since the implication was that I could not have made it, but I was totally fine with that. Since then, we’ve enjoyed this immensely with pita bread and raw veggies (wow, I could actually hear you yawn through the computer), slathered on a baguette with grilled veggies and slow roasted tomatoes (my recommendation), and dolloped on a Greek salad with chicken souvlaki (we had this for dinner the other night — major hit!). There is an insanely beautiful picture in the book of the hummus topped with whole cooked chickpeas, pine nuts, chopped parsley, cooked lamb and the whole thing drizzled with olive oil. A-mazing.

No matter how you make it, hummus is rather nutritious and especially high in protein and fiber. It’s one of the more healthful spreads and dips, provided you don’t go to crazy on the pita bread or chips. I have even used it in place of mayonnaise in chicken salad. I have even eaten it with a spoon. I have even dreamt about it. You will too, until you make it!

Supersmooth, Light-as-Air Hummus

adapted from "Jerusalem" by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

4.70 from 10 votes

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Ingredients

1 ¼ cups dried chickpeas garbanzo beans*
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ½ cups water
1 cup light tahini paste Ottolenghi recommends 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons, but I thought anywhere between 2/3 and 1 cup was great
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 medium cloves garlic crushed
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
6 ½ Tablespoons ice cold water
Unrefined olive oil and sweet paprika for finishing if desired

Instructions

Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with at least 4 inches of cold water. Allow to soak 6-8 hours.
Drain the chickpeas. In a medium saucepan over high heat, add the drained chickpeas and the baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Make sure the water covers the chickpeas by at least 2 inches. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming off and foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas cook faster this way and may only need from 20-40 minutes to become tender, but possibly longer. You know they’re done if you can squish a chickpea in between your thumb and forefinger.
Drain the chickpeas. You will have about 3 2/3 cups. Transfer the chickpeas to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until you get a stiff paste. With the machine running, add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Lastly, slowly drizzle in the ice water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes until you get a really smooth and creamy paste. I actually set my timer for 5 minutes and washed the dishes in the meantime.
Transfer to a serving bowl and allow the hummus to rest for at least 30 minutes. If not serving right away, refrigerate until needed. Make sure to remove it from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving. If desired, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.

Notes

*Or you can use 2 15-ounce cans of cooked chickpeas, drained, and peel the skins manually. Place the peeled chickpeas in the food processor and proceed with Step 3.

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chickpeas garlic lemon juice tahini

Slow Cooker Pulled Barbecued Chicken

You’ve heard of Meatless Mondays and Taco Tuesdays, but in this house we’ve had “Slow Cooker Thursdays” for the last two months. It doesn’t have the same ring as the other two, but it has made my life way easier. Mr. Picky had baseball games every Thursday (and Sunday) since March and they were conveniently scheduled at dinnertime. Scrunchy face. Picture hubby and me sitting at a little league game until 7:00 or 7:30 (gotta love extra innings!) while my daughters were texting me from home “We r starving! When r u coming home? Can we eat without u?” Then of course I actually had to assemble dinner in record time once I finally returned home. That happened once, until I figured out that Thursdays would have to be “Slow Cooker Night” unless I wanted to let the girls eat acai bowls for dinner (because that’s about all they would take the time to make even when “starving”) or allow Mr. Picky to eat hot dogs or microwaved canned chili on top of Fritos from the snack stand at the field. Um, no.

I work really hard to make sure we eat together every night. It’s actually more important to me than what we eat. I’ve always said that breakfast might be the most important meal of the day from a nutritional perspective, but dinner is the most important from an emotional perspective. However, getting the five of us at the table at a reasonable time for dinner can be a challenge, especially during Little League season. And no matter how hard I tried to get Mr. Picky to find baseball boring, he just wouldn’t see it my way. So if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and that’s where I found myself every single blessed Thursday night. Deciding to make something in the slow cooker on Thursdays was my ticket to freedom so I wasn’t stressed out every time a player was walked or someone got a hit, both of which keep the game going on and on and on.

When I first started using this slow cooker in December, so many people asked me for good slow cooker recipes. I was honestly surprised since one quick search on Foodily turned up thousands. But as I’ve experimented, I have realized what everyone else already knows — that not every slow cooker recipe is a good one, and certainly not a healthful one. Never said I was a quick learner!

I recently invested in the book, “Slow Cooker Revolution” by America’s Test Kitchen and it looks promising. I tried their recipe for barbecued chicken and we all loved it! I have been experimenting with making my own barbecue sauce and I’m super close to posting it, but not quite. I did use one of my homemade BBQ sauce experiments and the chicken turned out super tender and flavorful. We had it the first night on cracked wheat buns with homemade cole slaw — super delicious. And the next day I put it into quesadillas for the girls’ lunch. They asked for it again the day after that, but sadly it was all gone.

I thought to share this recipe with you this week for a possible Father’s Day menu item or for a July 4th party. It’s also a good time to remind you why grilled animal protein isn’t that good for you. Check out an earlier post on that here. Slow cooking with low heat cuts way down on carcinogens from forming. It’s a win-win! Even though Little League is over, my slow cooker is staying and so is this chicken!

Slow Cooker Pulled Barbecued Chicken

Pamela, adapted from "Slow Cooker Revolution"

5 from 2 votes

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Servings

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat (or use all thighs)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle powder or cayenne
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ cups barbecue sauce

Instructions

Place chicken pieces in the slow cooker.
Mix together chili powder, paprika, chipotle powder, salt and pepper and rub all over chicken.
Pour ½ cup barbecue sauce over chicken and toss to coat. Cover and cook until chicken is tender 4-6 hours on LOW. (5 hours worked great for me.) The slow cooker can also go to the WARM setting if you are not ready to eat the chicken after cooking 4-6 hours.
Transfer chicken to a large bowl and allow to cool slightly. With two forks, shred meat into bite size pieces, but not too fine.
Pour the liquid that remains in the slow cooker into a fat separator (or leave the liquid in the slow cooker and try to skim the fat off the top with a large spoon.)
Heat the remaining 1 cup of barbecue sauce in a small saucepan until hot. Toss shredded chicken with hot barbecue sauce and 1 cup of braising liquid. You’ll have extra liquid if you need it. Serve warm either by itself or on toasted whole grain buns or in a quesadilla.

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barbecue sauce chicken chili powder ground chipotle paprika

(A more healthful) chocolate chip cookie recipe

One of my students asked me the other day if I had a good chocolate chip cookie recipe and I instinctively said, “Sure, just check my website.” To which she replied, “I did. But all you have on there is your Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.” And then it hit me. I have neither taught in a class nor posted my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Gasp! Coincidentally, Mr. Picky had been asking if we could make homemade ice cream sandwiches, so I got to work lickety split!

In my defense, there are good reasons I haven’t posted my chocolate chip cookie recipe. First of all, I do use refined white sugar because it just makes the best cookie. But it isn’t exactly clean and healthful and I want this site to be your destination for high quality recipes. However, even with the white and brown sugars, I use whole grain flours and everything is organic so these will be waaaaaaay better for you than bakery cookies or packaged (really now?) ones. It’s all about balance and moderation!

The other issue is that I keep changing my recipe when I learn something new to make them even better than the last time. And this has happened often. Many of you are so in the know about food trends that you might think my ah-ha chocolate chip moments are sooooo 2005, but I never said I was an early adopter. Let me first make it clear what kind of chocolate chip cookie I love, because that’s what you’re getting here — my favorite. If you love the thin and crispy kind, hmmmm, today’s not your day. Cakey? Yeah, not me. Milk chocolate? Don’t waste my time! Friends, I like a cookie with some heft and substance, something that you can sink your teeth into. But I also don’t want a greasy cookie which makes me feel like I’m sucking on butter. Slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with chunks of semisweet or dark chocolate is the way I roll. Sometimes I’m feeling fancy and I’ll add a pinch of flaky sea salt on on the tops and that is just heaven.

Something I learned to achieve my perfect cookie is to use cold butter instead of room temperature, which is a trick I learned from Mrs. Fields (not that I met her, but that’s how she makes her cookies.) The combination of cold butter and a low oven temperature help to keep the cookie from spreading out too thin and too fast. I also started adding a little oat flour after I saw this Neiman Marcus cookie recipe which I found out later was not the official recipe but the oat flour stayed in mine. The oat flour makes the cookie a little nuttier and dense. Ina Garten taught me (via television, of course) that a chocolate bar cut into pieces is much more satisfying than chocolate chips, although I do use those often. And every fancy restaurant in the last several years has added a pinch of flaky sea salt to the tops of their cookies — a smart and delicious move.

I grated some of the chocolate into the batter

It may have taken me a while to bring it to you, but I’m sure with certain special occasions coming up, like Father’s Day or end-of-the-year parties, it’s never too late to try a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. Of course, if you have the latest and greatest twist on chocolate chip cookies, I’m always open to improvement!

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pamela

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Ingredients

1 cup 2 sticks cold unsalted butter or organic Earth Balance, cut into ½-inch pieces
¾ cup cane sugar
1 cup brown sugar or Muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour you can take a cup of rolled oats and process them in the food processor to make your own oat flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
18 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate bars chopped coarsely or use chocolate chips
1 ½ cups chopped walnuts or pecans optional
flaky sea salt optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or silicone mats.
Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of stand mixer and blend on medium speed until the mixture is smooth.
Add the baking soda, eggs and vanilla to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder and sea salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend on low speed until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
Scoop the dough with a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper onto the prepared baking sheets or use a tablespoon. Space them evenly apart. I was able to get 12 on each sheet.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until just set. The cookies will be slightly soft in the center. If you like them crispier, bake them for up to 23 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Notes

Raw cookie dough can be frozen, but it’s a great idea to scoop the dough into balls first and freeze those so you can just pull out as many as you want to bake instead of having to defrost the whole batch of dough. I have even baked cookies in the toaster oven!

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baking powder baking soda brown sugar butter cane sugar chocolate chips cookie eggs flaky salt oat flour vanilla extract whole wheat pastry flour

Feta and Cucumber Dip Recipe

To me, Memorial Day weekend signifies nearing the end of school/beginning of summer — an easier pace, a lighter workload, more time to relax with family and friends. I am especially relieved for Daughter #1, who is a junior in high school and is over most of the big hurdles for this year. I don’t know if you have or had or know kids in high school, but junior year is brutal. My daughter regularly goes to bed well after I do and she is often bit stressed out which I think is a real bummer for a 16 year old. These kids work so hard, often taking more than one AP class, which is basically at the college level. I consider myself a smart person and when my daughter asked for help with her AP History reading at the beginning of the year, I looked at her and said, “I can’t believe I am saying this, but I have no idea what I just read.” This stuff is tough! But she/we have gone through ACTs and AP exams and we’re in the home stretch until the end of the year. Group exhale…….

I am ready to focus more of my energy on entertaining at home, which we do much more often in the summer and one of my great pleasures is coming up with an assortment of great menus for the months ahead. Believe me, I still stay in my comfort zone of simple, fresh and tasty food. Even though I have more time in the summer, I’m not about to complicate my life with fancy recipes. I love to start a summer dinner with one or two light hors d’oeuvres or bites, preferably with a bottle of chilled rosé. There’s something about rosé that makes me feel like I’m in Capri or the South of France, even though I’m really just in little old Manhattan Beach!

One of my favorite super simple noshes is this Eqyptian feta and cucumber dip that my friend Cheryl made for me a few years ago. It’s fresh, salty and very cooling. Because the star of the show here is the feta, it is ultra-important that you buy a really good one. I much prefer fetas made from goat or sheep milk, or a blend of both. The fetas made from cow milk are too dry and rather flavorless. Also goat and sheep milks are much easier for us to digest than pasteurized cow dairy. You want a feta that is crumbly, but creamy and a little tangy. If you are vegan or dairy-free, I have seen vegan feta in my local natural foods markets, but I haven’t tried any yet. I’m very curious to know if they are any good since, except for a little ghee, I haven’t had any dairy in a few months. Let me know if you have a favorite brand.

The easiest way to serve this is just as a dip in a bowl with some great pita chips. If your friends like feta, they’ll love this no matter how you serve it. But if you have a few extra minutes, it’s always nice to include some washed endive spears or wide strips of sweet bell pepper, just for a nice, more healthful change from wheat/flour-based foods. And if you’re really feeling your inner-Martha (love her!), dollop a little of the dip inside a hollowed-out cherry tomato (place the stem side down and slice a bit off the top which is actually the bottom of the tomato, and hollow out with a grapefruit knife or something small) — fabulous!

Here’s to slowing down this summer, friends. Cheers!

Feta and Cucumber Dip

Pamela

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Ingredients

12 ounces feta cheese preferably sheep or goat, drained
4 Persian cucumbers seeded and minced
½ cup finely chopped mild white onion green onion or shallot
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup unrefined cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh mint leaves or more to taste, chopped
sea salt if you need it and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pita Chips
Whole wheat pita bread
Unrefined cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
Zhatar* or sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

Crush cheese with a fork in a bowl. Add onion, lemon juice, olive oil and cucumber. Mix to combine.
Add mint, salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pita on a large cutting board. Split pita in half so you have two large whole thin rounds.
Pour about ¼ cup olive oil in a small bowl. Brush olive oil on both sides of pita bread. Stack rounds and cut into eighths or sixths, as you like. Arrange in one layer on a large baking sheet or two.
Sprinkle with Zahtar* or sea salt and bake until crispy, about 10-20 minutes.
Serve dip with pita chips and/or raw veggies.

Notes

You can leave out the cucumber and serve the dip in hollowed out cucumber “cups.” You can also put some of the dip in seeded cherry tomatoes as shown above.
*DIY Zhatar: ¼ cup sesame seeds (raw or toasted), ¼ cup sumac, 2 Tbsp. dried thyme, 1 Tbsp. dried oregano

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Raspberry chia seed jam

Poor Mr. Picky was crying a little when I put him to bed last Sunday night. I thought it was because his baseball team got walloped in their playoff game which then ended their season. That wasn’t it. I thought it might be because his pitching was lousy and he felt bad it. Nope, apparently he had forgotten about his performance already. Oh, wait. It’s because I forgot to pick him up from religious school. “No, Mom! And who cares? I only had to wait like 20 minutes.” Bless his heart. Then what’s the matter? “The weekends are too shoooooort,” he sobbed and buried his face in his pillow. Ahhhhh, you are quite right, Mr. Picky. Quite right indeed. That made me a little bummed out since I don’t think I felt time fly until I was much older than his 9 years. Is life more fast-paced now than it used to be or does my family have too much going on? I don’t know. But I have good news, Mr. Picky — it’s a 3-day weekend! Hooray! And not only do we get an extra day of leisure, there are no practices or tournaments or stuff like that. We’re on easy street.

I remember when I was a stay-at-home mom, I used to think, “Oy, the weekend!” Weekends were so much more work for me to coordinate the kids and naps and birthday parties and soccer games. I loved Mondays! Mama got some quiet time. But now, it’s a different life and even though I love my work, I also love a little break from a 5:30 am alarm clock and not having to face LA traffic in the morning, which has anyone noticed gets WORSE every year?

I’ve mentioned before that I so look forward to leisurely breakfasts on the weekends and vacations. I just made a double batch of this raspberry chia “jam” and I can’t stop day dreaming about all the ways I’m going to enjoy it this weekend! I have never made “real” jam in my life because it just seems like a bit too much work and sugar. But this is a raw jam that requires nothing more than a quick stir and some patience as it needs to sit a bit to thicken. And it’s so much better for you than the cooked sugary kind!

The secret ingredient here is chia seed, which is such a little miracle food. They’re naturally rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, which are super anti-inflammatory, as well as chock full of fiber and calcium. When chia seeds come into contact with liquid, they become very gelatinous and thick. So they make an awesome “pudding” when mixed with almond milk and help thicken up your morning smoothie. They have no taste at all which makes them very easy to use. They key is just knowing the right ratios of chia to liquid so your pudding or smoothie doesn’t get too thick or too thin and giving the chia seeds a little time to work their magic.

All you do here is defrost some frozen raspberries, which are good and mushy and already a little seedy, and mix with the chia seeds and a little maple syrup to sweeten. Feel free to use a couple drops of stevia if you prefer. After at least 6 hours in the fridge, you have a lovely, spreadable jam which is perfect for nut butter sandwiches (excuse the not-whole-grain bread here), pancakes or stirred into yogurt. You could even do a yogurt-granola parfait with a layer of this raspberry -chia jam. It’s always a nice idea to start your day off with a healthful breakfast during a holiday weekend, especially if you’re going to a BBQ later and you want to indulge a little. Here’s hoping your Memorial weekend is a restful and restorative one!

Raspberry Chia Seed Jam

Pamela, adapted from eatgood4life.com

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Ingredients

2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons chia seeds
10 ounce package frozen organic raspberries thawed (drain the raspberries if you want a very thick jam)
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup or more to taste

Instructions

Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to mix, making sure all the chia seeds have been moistened with the juice from the berries.
Cover and allow jam to thicken in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. Lasts for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

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chia seed maple syrup raspberries

Roasted smashed potatoes recipe

Everyone thinks it’s so funny when I whine that I don’t get invited much to peoples’ houses for dinner. There is an assumption that I’m an accomplished chef and I must have such high standards for eating therefore it’s too intimidating to have me over for dinner. Ha! Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m a home cook who never went to culinary school and I don’t ever make recipes with three sauces. I could never work in a restaurant or hotel or be on one of those shows where you have to figure out what to do with octopus and cornflakes in 20 minutes. Just for the record, I love simple food. I don’t need anything fancy or chef-y. I am very easy to please as long as it’s fresh and natural. And I’ll bet that you are as good a cook, if not better than I am. Anyone can have a food blog, friends!

What I do love is sharing recipes that work for me, because I think we’re a lot alike. And it makes me happy if more people are cooking at home, even if I’m not invited. Wink, wink. These roasted smashed potatoes are my favorite kind of recipe — uncomplicated, tasty, easy and healthful. They go with whatever I’m serving and every single person in my family loves them. If you’ve never made smashed potatoes, you are totally missing out. They’re both fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside and if you add enough salt, damn delicious. I could just eat a half dozen of these and some scrambled eggs and call it a night. If you invited me over for dinner and made these potatoes with scrambled eggs, I would be in heaven. Yep, that’s all it takes.

The other night at our dinner table, there were several ways to eat these. My husband makes up for my dairy abstinence by melting cheese on everything, including these potatoes. Mr. Picky dipped his in mustard and Daughter #2 topped hers with guacamole, salsa and sour cream. Daughter #1 and I ate these plain and simple. I’m going to start teaching the little miss how to make easy recipes like this because she’ll be off to college before I know it. Sigh. Wait, what am I talking about? Yippee!

These are divine out of the oven, but I don’t love potatoes reheated. To do some of the work ahead of time, boil the potatoes and refrigerate them. Then, smash them and roast them to crispy perfection. What is great is that you’ll use the whole potato, since most of the nutrients are in the skin or just underneath the skin. And if you follow the Body Ecology Diet, red new potatoes are the only potatoes permitted since they have the fewest sugars of any potato. Just an FYI. Of course, most of you are not on the Body Ecology Diet, so use whatever baby potatoes you can get your hands on, like Yukon Golds.

When I taught in France last year, I did some roasted potatoes in duck fat, which I know doesn’t sound healthful, but to be honest, I think animal fats can be good to cook with at high temperatures, unless you’re a vegetarian. Unsaturated fats (vegetable oils) can oxidize at high temperatures (above 350 degrees) which create free radicals. Yuck! Those are pro-inflammatory compounds that will age you from the inside out. Saturated fats don’t do that. Listen, I use olive oil at higher temperatures sometimes if it’s the only fat that works, but you’re better off with coconut oil, ghee or duck fat, in this case. Do what you’re comfortable with because you’ll love these no matter what!

Roasted Smashed Potatoes

Pamela

4.50 from 2 votes

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Servings

Ingredients

2 pounds baby potatoes such as red-skinned or Yukon Gold (about 15-18)
1 Tablespoon kosher salt for boiling the potatoes
4 Tablespoons fat of choice divided (e.g. olive oil, duck fat, or ghee)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or rosemary
½ teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scrub the potatoes and place them in a large pot with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. Fill the pot three-fourths with cold water. Place the pot on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes. You should be able to insert the tip of a paring knife easily into the center of a potato.
Drain the potatoes in a colander and shake to get off as much moisture as possible. Place the potatoes back into the pot and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil. Roll them around to coat with the oil.
Arrange the potatoes on the prepared baking sheet and evenly space them apart from each other. Take another large rimmed baking sheet and position it right on top of the potatoes and press down, smashing the potatoes to about a half inch thick. Remove the top baking sheet.
Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil on top of the potatoes and sprinkle with the chopped thyme and salt and pepper.
Bake until potatoes are golden and crisp. I took them out after 30 minutes, but you can go much longer if you want them really crispy. Serve hot or warm.

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duck fat olive oil pepper potatoes rosemary salt thyme

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