Roasted Vegetables with Charmoula Sauce



I love it when I find a recipe for a sauce that turns ordinary ingredients into a special meal without a lot of fat or calories. Carrmoula, a simple Moroccan sauce that’s made with fresh parsley and cilantro and ground spices, is just such a recipe. I’ve paired it here with a combination of roasted vegetables (use whatever vegetables you have on hand), but you can serve it with fish or roasted chicken too. It’s best not to make it too far ahead, since the herbs will lose their bright green color after a couple of hours.

Roasted Vegetables with Charmoula Sauce

Makes 6 servings

6 ounces fingerling potatoes or small baby potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half

4 carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips

1 small acorn squash, cut into wedges and seeded

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth or water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

Generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the potatoes, carrots, onion, bell pepper, and squash in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and toss to coat. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on two large rimmed baking sheets. Bake, turning the vegetables once, until tender and well browned, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, the parsley, cilantro, broth, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, paprika, and cayenne in a blender and process until pureed. (the sauce makes about 1/2 cup)

To serve, arrange the vegetables on a serving platter and drizzle evenly with the sauce. Serve hot or warm.

Each serving: 20 g carbohydrate, 146 calories, 7 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 2 g protein, 179 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable

Barley and Asparagus Risotto





Celebrate the bounty of fresh California asparagus that’s in the markets right now with this fantastic risotto. If you’ve never made risotto with barley, you’re in for a treat. It has a delicate flavor that pairs perfectly with the asparagus. Serve it as a light entrée, or as a side dish alongside grilled salmon or roast chicken.

Makes 6 servings

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth  

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 leek, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced  

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup pearl barley

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces   

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Pour the broth into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and keep the broth hot.  

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Add the leek, mushrooms, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened, 5 minutes.

Add the barley and wine and cook, stirring often, until the liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Add the hot broth, 1/2 cup at a time, and stir occasionally, until the broth is absorbed before adding more.

After 15 minutes, stir in the asparagus and continue adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time until the barley is tender, yet firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Stir in the cheese. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and pepper. Serve at once.

Each serving: 33 g carbohydrate, 235 calories, 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 12 mg cholesterol, 7 g fiber, 11 g protein, 258 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 2; Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 fat



10 Ways to Get More Fiber

If getting the recommended 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day is a challenge, and on most days, you don’t come near that, try working high fiber foods into meals and snacks, even when you’re on the go.

1. Don’t skip breakfast. A high-fiber cereal or oatmeal will get you off to a good start on your fiber goal for the day.

2. Make a high-fiber smoothie. Use fiber-rich berries or an unpeeled apple or pear. Once apples and pears are pureed, you won’t know the peel is there, but you’re still getting the fiber. Add a tablespoon of

3. Choose only 100% whole grain bread. Most brands that are 100% whole grain will have at least 2 grams of fiber per serving. Make sure the label says 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain to make sure you’re getting the most fiber and nutrients.

4. Munch on dry roasted edamame. I love these! Just 1/4 cup has 1 carb choice (16 grams), 150 calories, and a whopping 5 grams of fiber.

5. Hummus is good for us. Buy it or make your own and look for varieties that have at least 2 grams of fiber in a 1/4 cup serving. Enjoy it with fresh broccoli florets or celery sticks for even more fiber.

6. Make crackers count. Choose Wasa or Finn Crisp fiber crackers which have 2 to 3 grams of fiber per serving.

7. Eat more beans. Add canned dried beans to salads or soups or use them to make burritos, quesadillas, or salsa. Fat-free canned refried beans are great too. Best choice: Red kidney beans with 8 grams of fiber in 1/2 cup.

8. Have a side of whole grain. Use whole wheat pasta, whole wheat couscous, bulgur, or quinoa. Try brown rice, but if it’s not your favorite, there are other types of whole grain rice to try: Wehani, brown jasmine, or black japonica.

9. Go vegetarian a few times a week. If you’re replacing meat, chicken, or fish with beans or whole grains, you’re automatically getting more fiber.

10. Have fruit for dessert. Enjoy an unpeeled apple or pear, fresh berries, or a small banana and you’ll get some fiber, about 15 grams of carbs, and a lot of healthy nutrients.

Lemon Vinaigrette to Eat with Everything

I’ve been emailing with a friend today discussing whether people actually still cook or not. I don’t think I’m a good judge of whether people do or do not cook. I am so consumed every day with cooking for myself and convincing other people to cook through this blog and my recipe development projects that I just assume everyone starts with fresh ingredients and makes themselves a healthful and delicious dinner every night. Don’t they?

According to my friend, people don’t have time to cook. They buy pre-fab food at Costco, eat fast food, or get food delivered. I say: You’re killing yourself if you’re not cooking. Especially when it’s so easy and so delicious!

Yesterday I made this wonderful lemon vinaigrette that takes about 5 minutes to make and is perfect to drizzle on almost anything. It’s made by simply pureeing the lemon segments—which give it potent lemon flavor—and then whisking in some olive oil. I had it with a pan seared fish that took about 3 minutes to make, but use it for grilled or baked salmon, chicken, shrimp, scallops, or on green salad, pasta salad, roasted vegetables…it’s good on almost anything. You can make a double batch and refrigerate it for up to a week.

Recipes like this one that you can make ahead and serve with a lot of different foods will inspire you to cook every day. When food is this simple and this good, I am baffled as to why people don’t want to cook.

Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes generous 1/4 cup

1 medium lemon, well scrubbed

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Grate the zest from the lemon and transfer the zest to a small bowl. Use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and the white pith.

Holding the lemon over another small bowl, carefully cut along both sides of each section to free them from the membrane and let the sections fall into the bowl. Squeeze the juice from the membrane into the bowl and then remove any seeds from the sections. Transfer the sections and the juice to a blender. Add the sugar and salt and puree until smooth.

Transfer the puree to the bowl with the zest. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, then whisk in the pepper.

Each serving (generous 1 tablespoon): 3 g carbohydrate, 73 calories, 7 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, 70 mg sodium

Carb Choices: None; Exchanges: 1 1/2 fat

Sugar is Toxic?

Gary Taubes, the science writer and author of “Why We Get Fat,” had a thought-provoking article in the New York Times magazine on Sunday about the potential toxicity of sugar.

Here's what I took away from the article:  

• Sugar has only empty calories; it contains no nutrients. 
• Sugar is often combined with high calorie foods (butter, shortening, oil, cream, nuts) to create products that have little nutritional value (cakes, cookies, ice cream).
• Sugary foods either displace more healthful foods in the diet, or are consumed in addition to other foods that we already eat. Neither of these options will lead to optimal health and in most people will lead to weight gain. 
• When populations who do not eat a Western diet (aka American diet) begin to do so, their rate of cancer and diabetes increases. 
• Lewis Cantley, a researcher from Harvard Medical School, says that “up to 80 percent of all human cancers are driven by either mutations or environmental factors that work to enhance or mimic the effect of insulin on the incipient tumor cells.” Because of this, Cantley will not eat sugar or high fructose corn syrup. 
• Consuming sugar makes your liver works harder and in animal studies, when the liver gets a big dose of sugar, it is converted to fat. This results in insulin resistance, which causes obesity, heart disease, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes. We know this happens in laboratory animals; not enough studies have been done to prove it also happens in humans. 
• Saturated fat consumption and sugar consumption are both predictors of heart disease. Some researchers believe that saturated fat is the culprit; some believe it’s the sugar.

What does it all mean? Here’s what I think: No matter what researchers finally conclude that a healthy amount of sugar might be, it is no doubt way less than most of us are consuming. With the shocking numbers of Americans who are overweight and have diabetes or are at risk for developing diabetes, it’s safe to say the vast majority of us eat too much sugar.

Am I going to stop eating sugar? No, but I eat very little now and am going to try to start eating even less. How about you? Does reading this article change your mind about sugar?

Photo: milosluz

Healthy Homemade Meatloaf

Heinz, maker of Classico pasta sauces, said today that they were surprised by the National Consumers League criticism. The NCL thinks Heinz should not be allowed to say that their products are made from fresh tomatoes, when in fact, they are made from “reconstituted industrial tomato concentrate.” Read the article at Food Navigator.

This news, along with the leftover brown rice from yesterday’s post, made me think of having a great homemade meatloaf topped, not with ketchup or with a jarred pasta sauce, but a quick and easy homemade tomato sauce.

You can make the sauce in less than 30 minutes, while the meatloaf bakes, and though it’s not made from fresh tomatoes, it has none of the added sugars that almost all jarred sauces have and certainly no industrial tomato concentrate. Serve it on pasta, chicken breasts, grilled salmon, almost anything.

Meatloaf with Homemade Tomato Sauce

Makes 8 servings

Meatloaf

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small red bell pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced  

1 clove garlic, minced

2 pounds extra-lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice  

1 egg

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley  

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Tomato Sauce

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 (14-ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or use about 1/2 teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried basil)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°.

To make the meatloaf, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Add the bell pepper and onion and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl to cool slightly.

Add the ground beef and all the remaining ingredients to the onion mixture and mix well with your hands. Place the beef mixture in a large shallow baking dish (a 13 x 9 Pyrex is perfect) and shape into a loaf (about 12 x 5 inches). Bake the meatloaf uncovered for 1 hour.

While the meatloaf bakes, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the tomatoes are very soft, about 20 minutes. You can leave the sauce as it is if you prefer it chunky, or for a smoother sauce, use a potato masher to break up the tomatoes a bit. Stir in the basil, salt, and pepper (the sauce makes about 3 cups). Cut the meatloaf into slices and serve topped with the sauce.

Each serving: 17 g carbohydrate, 240 calories, 8 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 83 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 25 g protein, 257 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch, 3 lean protein, 1/2 fat

Quick and Healthy Veggie-Packed Lunch

If you’re lucky enough to be at home at lunch time, you can make a healthy lunch in less than 10 minutes. Miso soup is ready in the time it takes to boil water, and you can add almost anything to it, making it perfect for using up leftovers.

            Start with the recipe below as a guideline. I like to use a little less miso than most recipes call for, since it’s so salty and I’m trying to do better with my salt-tooth. Most recipes say 1 tablespoon miso for 1cup of water, but let your taste and your blood pressure guide you.

            Other healthful ingredients you can add to the soup include leftover diced chicken breast, small shrimp (either cooked or raw; they’ll cook in a couple minutes), or cubes of tofu. The protein will make the soup more filling. And you can use cooked whole wheat pasta or soba noodles instead of the rice. Use whatever veggies you have on hand: quick-cooking vegetables such as small broccoli florets, shredded carrot, thinly sliced summer squash, bell peppers, or scallions, or fresh bean sprouts. If you like sesame, add a tiny drizzle of dark sesame oil to the finished soup.

           

            Another great way to have miso soup is to have just the broth for an afternoon snack. Boil water, remove from the heat, and whisk in the miso until smooth. Pour it into a mug and drink it like tea. When I’m craving something sweet that I know I shouldn’t have, like a chocolate-dipped macaroon from Lety’s Bakery (conveniently located just steps from my front door), if I have something salty, it stops the sugar craving. Give it a try.

When you’ve no time for lunch, yet want something really healthy and really quick, dig around in the refrigerator, see what you’ve got, and turn it into miso soup. I’d love to hear what you add to yours.

            Oh, and brown rice, cooked perfectly. No one does it better than Alton Brown.

Miso Soup with Spinach and Rice

Makes 2 servings

3 cups water

2 cups chopped fresh spinach or baby spinach

1 cup cooked brown rice

2 tablespoons white miso

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the water into a small bowl.

Add the spinach and rice to the saucepan and cook just until the spinach is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the miso to the water in the bowl and whisk until smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the miso mixture. Serve at once.

Each serving: 30 g carbohydrate, 148 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 5 g protein, 509 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 2; Exchanges: 2 starch

A Healthy Breakfast Can Lower Your Blood Pressure

            According to the results of a study presented last week at an American Heart Association meeting, eating whole grain cereal at least seven times a week decreases your risk of developing high blood pressure by 20 percent. And, the American Diabetes Association says that as many as two out of three people who have diabetes have high blood pressure. So, eating whole grains at breakfast is a great thing.

However, the report did not say which whole grain breakfast cereals the participants were eating. I’ve been trying to think of pour-from-the-box cereals that would be as good for you as plain old steel cut oats. I’ve only been able to come up with two cereals that are all whole grain with no added sugars:  Grape Nuts (the original, not the flakes) and Shredded Wheat. Even All Bran has added sugar!

I recommend going for a simple, whole grain, no-added sugar breakfast by cooking your own steel cut oats. If you soak them overnight, they cook in the morning in about 10 minutes. You’ll be rewarded with a delicious, warming breakfast that will keep you going all morning.

And as for the sugar, I am not against it at all, but you’re better off adding it yourself. If you add 2 teaspoons of brown sugar or maple syrup to a serving of steel cut oats, you’ll still be eating less sugar than you’d find in a cup of All Bran cereal.  

Wonder why those participants had lower blood pressure? Was it something in the whole grain, or was it because they ate a healthier breakfast at home than they would have if they had breakfast from the drive through? The researchers didn’t have an answer on that either.

10-Minute Steel Cut Oatmeal

Makes 2 servings

3 cups water

3/4 cup steel-cut oats

Pinch of kosher salt

The night before, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in the oats and salt and remove from the heat. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight.

In the morning, bring the oats to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the oats are tender, but still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes.

Each serving: 20 g carb, 111 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein, 35 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch

What To Do With Rutabagas

My husband and I belong to a CSA. Let me describe that a little more accurately. We belong to Farm Spot, the Community Supported Agriculture program in our neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, NY. He sometimes picks up the fruit and vegetable deliveries about five blocks from where we live and I eat 99 percent of the produce myself. The vegetables come from Golden Earthworm Farm, an organic farm on the North Fork of Long Island. Fruits come from Briermere Farms located close to Golden Earthworm in Riverhead, NY.

A few weeks ago, he picked up a 30-pound granny cart load of root vegetables, greenhouse grown kale and spinach, and storage apples. Some woman in front of him said she didn’t like rutabagas, or Swedes, as they are sometimes called.

He said, “Oh, I’ll take them, my wife loves them.” Never mind that I have 6 rutabagas in the refrigerator that we—or, more precisely, I—have not eaten since our last CSA delivery 3 weeks ago. Now, we have 18 rutabagas. Here’s the simplest and one of the best ways I’ve prepared them. The lemon gives me hope of spring, the rosemary adds a piney note, and the honey softens the slight bitterness that rutabagas can have.

Note: If you don’t know what a granny cart is, it is a wire frame fold-up cart that elderly ladies and people who buy groceries fifty pounds at a time use in NYC to carry home their haul. It is very uncool to use a granny cart at any age (I use mine almost daily)!

Rosemary-Lemon Glazed Rutabagas   

Makes 4 servings

2 large rutabagas, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or crumbled dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Place the rutabagas in a large rimmed baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with the rosemary, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange the rutabagas in the pan in a single layer.

Bake, stirring once, until tender and well browned, 45 to 50 minutes.

Whisk together the honey, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a serving bowl. Add the hot rutabagas and toss to coat. Serve hot or warm.

Each serving: 20 g carbohydrate, 118 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 2 g protein, 179 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat

Winter Into Spring Soup

The calendar says spring, but the weather here in NYC is still tottering on the borderline and leaning more toward chilly evenings and ear muffs than warm nights and sleeveless dresses.

My friend and cat sitter Madalyn Benoit shared with me the perfect recipe for this time of year. It’s a soup that pairs two ingredients that I’d never put together before: sweet potatoes and red lentils. What makes it perfect for this in-between weather is that it’s warm and soothing and uses the sweet potatoes that I still have left from my last winter CSA share, but it’s drizzled with cool and creamy yogurt and topped with sprinkle of springtime mint.

Madalyn got the recipe from Sophie Grigson at TheWednesdayChef.com and I’ve made a few slight changes, using less oil and adding a bit more of the high-fiber lentils and a dash of cayenne pepper. The soup freezes well and Madalyn says it’s just as good if you make it with winter squash instead of the sweet potato. It’s just the thing to help us make it through a few more weeks until the real spring arrives.

Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup with Yogurt and Mint

Makes 8 servings

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger

5 1/2 cups water or reduced sodium vegetable or chicken broth (if you use water, add a little more salt)

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (1 1/4 pounds)

1 cup dried red lentils, picked over and rinsed

1 whole star anise

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Plain low-fat yogurt, thinned with a little low-fat milk

Minced fresh mint

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes.

Add the water, sweet potatoes, lentils, star anise, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the star anise.

Puree the soup in a food processor or blender in batchers until smooth. Stir in the lime juice. Spoon the soup into bowls and drizzle each serving with a tablespoon of the yogurt mixture. Sprinkle with the mint and serve at once.

Each serving: 28 g carbohydrate, 158 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 8 g protein, 118 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 2; Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 plant-based protein