Easy Eggplant Cacciatore

It's a great feeling when you come up with an experimental recipe AND it doesn't take too long. Many times the experimental recipes I'm happy with are delicious, but they take longer than I anticipated or have several steps to get them "just right." This is one of those recipes that is fairly quick and you can't get much simpler as far as how to prepare it. It was a winner in our home, and will be made time and time again.

I was thinking the other day of how easy my chicken cacciatore recipe is and how much I love that it lasts for more than one meal. I wanted to do something different, though, and make it even healthier. I can do without meat for most of meals and wanted something that was very filling and would last for leftovers. I switched out the chicken for eggplant in this recipe and wasn't disappointed. It uses only three ingredients!

In the photo above, I just spread a little spinach to the side of the cacciatore. To eat it, I served over a bed of fresh spinach. The spinach wilted a little from the heat and they taste great together.

Projected time, start to finish: Under 1 hour (note if you use brown rice, this will take a little longer unless you cook it in advance)
(Printable Recipe)

2 medium eggplant
Kosher salt
3 cups cooked rice
23 ounces marinara sauce of your choice (I used a jar of Prego marinara)

Start rice to cook, unless you cooked it ahead of time. (When it's finished, let it sit.)

Wash eggplant and chop off ends. No need to peel. Slice eggplant into 1/2-inch (approximately - you don't want them too thin) rounds and then cube the rounds by slicing vertically and then horizontally. You want good-sized chunks of eggplant.

Place eggplant in large bowl and generously sprinkle with kosher salt, tossing to combine. Let sit for about 15 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place eggplant in a colander and rinse off the salt, shake to remove excess water then pat eggplant with paper towels to remove more moisture.

Turn eggplant onto parchment paper in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

Pour marinara sauce into large pan or skillet, then add eggplant and stir to coat. Heat on medium heat until bubbling, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Fluff rice while eggplant simmers.

Add rice to eggplant, stir to combine and simmer for five more minutes.

Serve with salad or over a bed of fresh spinach (heat will wilt spinach a little bit).

Enjoy!

My photo of beauty today isn't the best quality, but it was the best I could get of this mockingbird. Because I wasn't trying to sleep, the chatter didn't bother me. It was running all around in the front yard making all sorts of racket and looking quite cute.

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Super Strawberry Green Smoothie

I came up with this concoction for breakfast this morning and enjoyed it to the last drop. I hope you do, too.

Projected time, start to finish: Under 5 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

 6 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries
1 peeled banana
2 large handfuls (about 2 cups) fresh spinach
1/8 cup alfalfa sprouts (optional)
1/2 to 1 tsp. spirulina powder
2 to 3 tbsp. hemp protein powder

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Enjoy!

And for my photo today, I took a walk around the park this morning and mostly looked up. I saw several sparrows twittering around a hole in a branch, nearly at the top of the tree. I zoomed in on my lens to get  a better look, and realized that a mama sparrow was making her nest in the hole. In the photos below, the daddy sparrow is guarding the hole. I didn't get a shot quick enough of the mama flying back into the hole, but I did get a couple of her peeking out. I'm glad I was looking up this morning.

I hope you find beauty today.

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Cheese Baked Eggplant with Warm Red Quinoa (and a sunset)

Yesterday was an incredibly busy and hard day with one thing after another. After another. After another. And a disaster caught before it did too much damage. (Thankfully, but still a headache!) I hadn't thought at all about dinner and didn't want it to be another breakfast-for-supper night because that would mean I was eating more acidic than I wanted to for another meal in a row more than I wanted to.

I scanned the pantry and refrigerator and came up with this incredibly easy meal. It was so easy and quick I didn't even jot down ingredients, and don't have much in the way of measurements for you. I didn't even spend time setting up a photo. What I can tell you is that it was good. The whole family liked it. And I felt good about eating it. Easily make it vegan and dairy-free by switching out the mozzarella with vegan cheese.

And after I got it all prepped and cooking, I ran outside a few times to catch yet another gorgeous sunset in our sky. I'm so thankful to live in a place with beautiful sunsets! If you enjoyed yesterday's post sharing my daughter's sunset photos as well as my own, I don't think the volume of sunset photos in this post will disappoint you. Enjoy the beauty, and find some in your day today!

Projected time start to finish: About 1 hour

(Printable recipe)

Eggplant:

2 small to medium eggplant

Kosher salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Approximately 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (use vegan for vegan or dairy-free)

Italian seasoning

Quinoa:

Scant 2 cups uncooked red quinoa, rinsed thoroughly

Water

Pinch of kosher salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Half a lemon

Garlic granules or powder

Wash eggplant and chop off ends. Slice lengthwise in 1/4-inch pieces. Place on two baking sheets and sprinkle salt over top of slices. Let sit about 15-20 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.

While eggplant is sitting, rinse red quinoa thoroughly a few times in cold water. In a medium to large saucepan, add quinoa and about 2 1/2 cups water. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until almost all the water is absorbed. Turn off heat.

While quinoa is cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Rinse eggplant and firmly pat dry with paper towels or clean lint-free dish towels to remove excess moisture. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush each side of eggplant with olive oil and place on parchment paper. Bake (top rack for gas oven) for about 15-20 minutes.

While eggplant is baking, toss shredded cheese together with a few dashes of Italian seasoning. Don't overdo it - you want just enough to give a light taste but not overwhelm.

Remove eggplant from oven and turn each slice to the other side. Sprinkle seasoned cheese over each slice and return to oven for about 10-15 minutes.

While eggplant is cooking, return to quinoa and toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. Add a dash or two of garlic granules or powder to taste (start with a small amount). There should already be enough salt in it, but add more if you need to.

Serve eggplant together with quinoa.

Enjoy!

Here are some more of the sunset photos from last night, in order of the sunset progression. When I first saw the sun setting last night, I thought it was a beautiful sky but it didn't really indicate that it was going to be a spectacular sky later. Sometimes you can tell, sometimes you can't. I was in awe more and more each time I looked out the window and stepped outside. It was just the kind of beautiful ending I needed to such a crazy day. Thankful!

It was one of those sunsets that just filled the sky, even from the side there were beautiful aqua and pink colors.

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

(Potato) Kale Soup and Cookbook Review

If you're looking for a comforting soup that you can feel good about eating, you're in for a treat. This soup is not only healthy, it's really quite delicious - and my entire family agrees even with the green color. Both children have asked for seconds when we've eaten it.

(2/28/2012: As a side note, I'm linking this post up to the very cool #Soupapalooza event hosted by Dine and Dish and TidyMom. See the bottom of this post for details and how you can join in, too. There are some really awesome prizes!)

The recipe is just very slightly adapted from the "Kale Soup" recipe in Barbara Kafka's new cookbook "The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food without Gluten and Lactose." Barbara Kafka not only has celiac disease herself, but she is the author of several other cookbooks and is the recipient of the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.

I was contacted with a request to review this book and I'm pleased to say that I've so far tried two recipes from it and the whole family has loved each one. I love that all the recipes are free of both gluten and dairy. While I am lactose-intolerant myself in the form of milk, cream and ice cream in their pure forms (I can cook/bake with them and I can eat a little with a Lactaid), I am able to eat cheese, a little yogurt and butter without problems. However, I know several people who aren't able to eat gluten or dairy, or have children who aren't. This would be a great cookbook for them.

Recipes in this book are broken into the following categories: Breakfast; Hors D'oevuvre & First Courses; Pasta & Risotto; Glorious Soup; The Wide World of Salads; Fish & Seafood; Chicken & Other Birds; Beef; Perfect Pig; Lamb; Other Meats; Vegetable Main Courses; Sides; Desserts; Sauces; Basic Recipes (seasonings, stocks, etc.); as well as a pretty comprehensive section covering starches and information on the different types available in this diet.

While the dessert section doesn't include much in the way of baked goods, the recipes look delicious and I look forward to trying them. I especially loved the soup section, which includes a large variety of different kinds of soups. There are a total of 300 recipes in the book, and I think there are plenty to suit any individual's tastes. I don't eat pork because I believe I've developed an allergy to it (didn't really like it before, anyway), or even fix it for my family (my husband cooks up some bacon for himself and the girls on occasion), but I'm sure the rest of my family would like several of the pork recipes offered in this book.

Projected start to finish time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
(Printable Recipe)

1 1/2 pounds kale, washed, stemmed and roughly chopped (about 6 cups)
Approximately 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
*4 1/2 cups gluten-free chicken stock
*4 1/2 cups gluten-free vegetable broth (*use all vegetable broth to make vegan)
4-5 good sized red potatoes, scrubbed with peel on and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste, if desired

Place chopped kale into food processor (work in batches if you have one with 7-cup or smaller capacity) and process until almost pureed. (I probably got it really close to pureed when I made this.)

Move to large saucepan, add oil (she recommends 1/3 cup in original recipe but I found it worked fine to use less - add more if needed) and cook over medium heat for about 25-30 minutes or until the kale has become soft and dark.

While kale is cooking, pour chicken stock into another large saucepan and add potatoes. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes can be easily pierced, about 10 to 12 minutes. (She uses peeled Idaho potatoes in original recipe, but I prefer to use red with the peel on when I'm able.)

If you have an immersion blender, you may want to use it for this next step. I have one, but it's not the greatest so I didn't use it for this recipe. If not, I recommend the blender. I tried this in the food processor first in about 1/4 of the processor bowl (and I have a large processor) and it splattered everywhere and was hot. So, work in batches and add the stock and potatoes to the blender (don't fill too high with hot liquid!) and blend until mixture is smooth and uniform.

Add blended stock and potatoes to to cooked kale and whisk together. Salt to taste, and add just a little black pepper if desired.

Serve with gluten-free crackers if desired.

This recipe made enough for our family of four to make two meals out of it.

Enjoy!

Note about book review: I was given a free copy of this cookbook for review. The opinion of this book, however, is entirely mine.

I'll also share today's photo of beauty in this post:

One of our little male house finches, enjoying a meal in our dining room window feeder.

Find beauty in your day today!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

**More #Soupapalooza information (see second paragraph above): Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset

Spiced Quinoa Millet Hot Cereal

I'm obsessed. This breakfast became an instant second to my favorite breakfast - baked oatmeal, and may even at some point be tied in first place. And it's SO. Simple. Period.

When I read the lovely Angharad's post on her warm spiced breakfast quinoa last month, it was on my mind until I made it for myself. (If you aren't familiar with her blog, Eating for England, you really should be.) I love quinoa and I love millet, but had never put the two of them together. And before this, I'd only eaten whole quinoa in savory dishes and salads.

But after reading Angharad's description of the cereal, I thought perhaps - maybe, just maybe - I might have a hot cereal I could not only manage to eat but also actually love. You see, I love baked oatmeal and oats that aren't slimy (aka bake the slime out). I love grits (grew up eating them with salt and a pool of butter) but only if they aren't sweet. I can't stand mushy, slimy or clumpy hot cereals. Or cold. I don't even eat my cold cereal with milk because it will get soggy and mushy.

I have no idea how or when I developed such a picky attitude toward breakfast cereals, and I've tried hard not to let my kids on to this lest they become my copycats, but I can't help it. It's who I am. I watch my family eat their hot cereals and wish I could join them in that comfort food.

And now I can.

Because this hot cereal is not slimy. It's not clumpy. It's not mushy. It has crunch. It has comfort. It's delicious. And it's alkaline. (If you omit the yogurt.)

As I stated in my juice post last month, I'm trying to eat more alkaline lately. I'm not giving up all acidic foods, but I'm trying to make sure I'm balancing them out with plenty of greens and alkaline foods.

This recipe is basically the same as Angharad's mentioned above, but I don't add add extra water or milk in mine because of my breakfast cereal issues. Add them if you want. It is so easy to make. I like to make it in the evening and then refrigerate it in an airtight container (after cool - if it's still hot I just stick the pot in the fridge til morning). Scoop some into a bowl, warm it up and spice (or not) and sweeten as desired directly in the bowl. You're done.

I like to flavor mine with a little ground ginger and cinnamon with some maple syrup (like she suggests in her recipe), then sometimes top it with a little vanilla yogurt. It's also fantastic with no spices and just maple syrup.

The flavor combinations in this cereal are limitless. For these photos, I added baked apple slices with a little vanilla yogurt and cinnamon sprinkles. Try it with bananas. Berries and cream. Go tropical with some pineapple and coconut, maybe some macadamia nuts. Try pecans. Almonds. Make it savory. Take this cereal to whatever flavor you want, just make it.

Healthy, alkaline, filling. High in protein, fiber, iron and more. You can't lose!

Projected cook time: 20-25 minutes; Projected prep time: Under 5 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

1 cup whole quinoa (it's easier if you get a brand like Bob's Red Mill that pre-rinses the bitter off)
1 cup millet
4 1/2 cups water
Pinch of kosher salt or sea salt
Spices, as desired (see above for suggestions)
Maple syrup or preferred sweetener, sweeten to taste (two spoonfuls is usually sufficient with the maple syrup)
Yogurt (optional)
Butter, if desired

Rinse grains off first if you don't have a brand that pre-rinsed the quinoa. Place quinoa, millet, water and salt in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed (takes about 20-25 minutes).

Serve hot or let cool in pan and then place in an airtight container and refrigerate until use. Spice, sweeten and fruit it up as desired (see suggestions in paragraph above recipe).

Enjoy!

And I'll also share my photo of beauty I found here in this post. I loved the color of this dove against the white bark of the tree:

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Roasted Golden Beet Salad with Greens

I made this salad the other night 30 minutes after the last shred of natural daylight I could have used. The photos do not do this salad justice. It's very good. Next time, I'm adding sliced almonds. It's ridiculously easy to prepare this, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I created this recipe with inspiration from the "Roasted beets and edamame and arugula" recipe in the February 2012 issue of Whole Living magazine.

Roasting the beets: 1 hour; Projected prep time: 10 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

3-4 medium golden beets, whole, scrubbed and peeled
Extra virgin olive oil
Approx. 1 1/2 cups torn fresh green chard
Approx. 2 1/2 cups fresh spinach (torn if the leaves are large)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Sliced raw almonds, for garnish, if desired
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a parchment paper pocket large enough to hold the whole beets. Prepare an aluminum foil pocket large enough to hold the parchment paper and beets.

Scrub and peel beets, then place them whole in the parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil on top. Seal well by folding edges. Seal in aluminum foil and place on baking sheet.

Roast in oven for about an hour or until beets are tender. Let cool a few minutes, then slice.

While beets are cooling, prepare bowl of green chard, spinach and basil. Toss well.

Whisk balsamic vinegar and olive oil together in a small bowl.

Place sliced beets in bowl with greens and pour vinegar oil all over. Toss well, then season with salt and pepper, toss again. If desired, garnish with sliced almonds. Serve soon, or refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Morning Green Juice & Using Your MIXER As a Juicer

This. Is. Good. Stuff.

I've been drinking a lot of this green goodness lately. And can I let you in on a little secret? I'm using my KitchenAid mixer and attachments for juicing. 

Yes, I've turned my mixer into a masticating juicer. I have NO more room in my kitchen for another countertop appliance, so I figured out a way to successfully use a current counter-top appliance in place of an additional juicer. I may at some point pull out my mother's gigantic Champion juicer or even invest in a more compact quality juicer, but for now I'm happy with this setup. I'll tell you how to make it below.

I actually took a hiatus from juicing last week because I had surgical biopsy to rule out some things. I'm so THANKFUL to report that the biopsies were benign and the health issues I've been experiencing have nothing to do with a very scary diagnosis. (Thank you to those of you who were praying for me and keeping me in your thoughts.) It was a little stressful for a while, thinking it could be. I'm getting back to drinking this green juice this week now that I'm recovering, if moving a little slower.

If you read this blog with regularity, you've noticed that I've been missing for a few weeks. You've also noticed that things slowed down the last few months, and that I've mentioned health issues in a post or two. What I'm experiencing could still be attributed to the recurring and chronic active Epstein Barr virus (mono) I've been diagnosed with - the dreaded illness of my late teens coming back to bite me from getting too run down and stressed. It could also have been triggered by something we haven't figured out yet, but regardless, I'm greening it up these days.

I'm NOT giving up my beloved sweets, eggs and other acidic foods at this point but I AM making greens first and everything else step in line behind them, thank you very much. I already, like many of you, eat better than the average American. Probably even better than the above-average American. BUT I've been reading a lot lately about alkaline and acidic foods and realized that while I was eating well, I wasn't eating more alkaline than acidic on most days.

On a friend's recommendation, I picked up a copy of Crazy Sexy Diet. While I don't enjoy the profanity liberally lacing the pages of this book (I read a plethora of crime and legal thrillers that might contain such words, but my kids know adult books on my nightstand are off-limits - I like, however, to be able to keep a reference and cookbook out and not have to keep it out of my reading children's reach), I have learned quite a bit on the alkaline diet. I've also been enjoying the Alkaline Sisters blog.

I've been reading how disease has a harder time living in an alkaline body, and started thinking that making my diet more alkaline combined with more rest and new ways to refocus my stress might be key to getting over all of this and back to normal. It might be a slow process, but at least it will be a process in the right direction.

So, in the mornings I'm trying to drink fresh-squeezed lemon in warm water first thing. Then, trying to drink only juice until lunch. For lunch, I'm eating a huge amazing salad. Then I'll eat anything I want for supper as long as I include some greens. I'm also sprouting my own sprouts and adding them to everything. The family is loving it, and I'm not being sarcastic. It's wonderful! (I'll tackle sprouts in another post.) If I get hungry between meals, I let myself snack on some raw almonds or other alkaline snack, and perhaps a bite or two of very dark chocolate. 

If I "cheat," I don't sweat it because I don't consider it cheating, and I don't consider this a diet. I'm just making sure I get more than enough of my greens in most of my days - and it's really easy to do if you juice them or make a smoothie in the morning and have a huge salad at lunch. Even if you only did this once a week, which would be beyond easy, you'd be better off than not doing it all!

My morning green juice recipe is inspired by a couple of juice recipes that Kris Carr gives in Crazy Sexy Diet, but I've done my own thing with this to create a juice that is delightfully refreshing to my taste. Before this, my idea of "green" juice was juiced fruit with a bit of spinach and/or kale. Other than some lemon, there's no fruit in this juice and it's delicious! I've found that for me, lemon is key in making a true "green" juice delicious to me. It gives a great tang that I love.

Projected prep time: 5-10 minutes; Projected juicing time: 10-15 minutes, depending on your juicer (some are faster)

This recipe will give you about 9 ounces of juice using the mixer juicing method.

(Printable Recipe)

1 organic cucumber (organic so you can keep the peel on - peel it if it's not)

2 handfuls fresh spinach

2 stalks kale

1 small carrot (scrubbed & peeled if necessary)

Half of a whole lemon - peel, seeds and all

Cut cucumber, carrot and lemon into smaller pieces. It's not necessary to chop the spinach or kale.

Place pieces into feeding tube a few at a time and continue feeding until everything is turned into pulp or juice. If necessary, feed the pulp back through a few times to extract even more juice. 

Pour and/or strain juice into glass and enjoy!

If you are using the KitchenAid mixer method, you'll need the food grinder attachment and the fruit & vegetable strainer attachment. I already had the food grinder so only needed to buy the fruit & vegetable strainer. I noticed that they are sold together, but I priced them and it's cheaper to buy them separately. I had been eyeing this setup and wondering about juicing with it for a while. I noticed that some people wrote that they were using it to juice in reviews - even for juicing grasses - so I figured I'd give it a try. It works!

Again, like I said above, at some point I may pull out the Champion juicer I'm currently storing for my mom or invest in a smaller quality juicer but for now this works for me. It may take a little longer this way, but it's worth it for me to not have another counter-top appliance taking up space I don't have to spare.

Position a bowl to collect juice beneath the spout of the fruit & vegetable strainer attachment piece and another bowl to catch the pulp.

You'll be pushing the vegetables or fruit into this tube at the top:

The pulp first dropping into the bowl will be large and there is plenty of juice left in it.

Run it through again.

Run it once or twice more, and you'll hardly have any left:

Now, you'll see a finer pulp coming out of the sleeve at the top, where the auger is pushing it through:

A little of this will probably fall into the juice bowl, but you can easily strain it out with something like this strainer as you pour it into your glass. If you see a large amount falling into the bowl, grab it and put it on the tray to feed through the tube. When you are finished juicing the larger pulp, scrape this finer pulp off and place it in the tube to juice it. You'll get A LOT of juice out of this.

One more tip: I'm not sure how clearly I can explain this without you trying it yourself, but you'll notice that the auger doesn't reach all the way to the back of the tube until vegetable pieces are pushing the spring back. If you start out making sure that the pieces fall directly on the auger and give it a chance to push the spring all the way back behind the tube, then start to put more pieces in (don't jam the tube, though) then the pieces will be pushed forward and won't get stuck behind. Even if they do get stuck behind, it's not a huge deal and they'll find their way out. Just a little something I learned.

Now you're finished! For cleaning, I find that a metal cake tester or kabob stick is useful to push into the tip of the auger, which will have a little veggie pulp stuck in there. I also love the Avent bottle brush to clean out every nook and cranny and scrub the little holes. I have an older model of this brush, but I'm assuming this newer one is just as good.

Drink up that goodness!

Do you juice? What are your favorite vegetables to juice? I'm just getting started - I've been experimenting with several flavor combinations and plan to share more juice recipes from time to time. What juicer do you use? I'm curious to see if any of you with other juicers will get a different volume from this same recipe. Please let me know!