Recipes

Sautéed broccoli stalks & radish greens

Yes, you read that correctly, I am doing an entire post on broccoli stalks. They are one of my new favorite foods and I bet you will love them too if you just give them a chance!

When you buy broccoli, do you just eat the crowns and then throw the thick stalks into the trash or compost? I used to do that because I thought they were too woody and tough to bother with. Over the past year or so I’ve become increasingly interested in using ALL of the parts of food we buy, both plant and animal. I was so disturbed by my own wasteful actions that I figured out ways to eat a lot of things we had previously tossed, including broccoli stalks. Oddly enough, I have come to prefer the stalks to the crowns. They have a mild flavor and a nice watery crunch. The trick is that you have to peel the tough outer layer off of the stalk (and yes, trash it or compost it…). The inside of the stalk is then ready to eat raw like a carrot, chop up into a salad, or sauté with radish tops and garlic as shown in the photo above. Those are just a few ideas. The stalks are incredibly versatile and would be delicious on a crudité tray, in soup, in stir-fry…the list goes on. I admit that the first time I decided we would eat the stalks I opted to cook them because I don’t like the flavor of raw broccoli and figured the stalks would taste similar. Not so! Removing the outer layer also removes that odd bitterness and the inside is, I dare say, almost sweet! Below is a recipe for my a delicious green side dish featuring two commonly thrown-away items, broccoli stalks & radish greens.

Garlicky Broccoli Stalks & Radish Greens

2-3 broccoli stalks
1 bunch well-washed & spun (or blotted dry) radish greens
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-1 Tbsp olive oil
A pinch or two of sea salt

Peel the broccoli stalks using a paring knife (really, a peeler is pointless here), quarter lengthwise, and slice thinly. Heat olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add garlic and broccoli stalks. Sauté for a minute or two, until you smell that delicious garlic aroma and the stalks look a little less raw. Add the radish greens and stir to distribute the oil and get all of the greens in contact with the heat. You may need to add a tiny bit more oil at this point if it seems that you don’t have enough in the pan to cover all of the greens. The oil helps them cook and also helps you absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the veggies, so don’t be shy. Toss in a pinch or two of sea salt. Continue to stir the greens (it’s really more of a folding motion, actually) until they are all wilted, which takes about 5 minutes or so. Enjoy!

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We eat a lot of frittatas around here. A LOT. I make huge frittatas (the one pictured above was made with 20 eggs, which is the norm), so there is pretty much always some frittata in the fridge for breakfast or snacks. Frittatas are one of my favorite foods because they are healthy, easy, and can be made with whatever I’ve got laying around. They are an especially great way to use up veggies (or eggs, for that matter) that are getting a little past their prime.

The basic method I use is to sauté whatever ingredients I want in my frittata, add them to a bowl of beaten eggs, then pour the whole mess back into the pan, distribute the “fillings” evenly if necessary, and let it cook for a while over low heat. No stirring! At the end I throw the pan under the broiler for a couple minutes to thoroughly cook the top and get it a little brown. When the frittata is cool, I slice it into wedges and store in an airtight container in the fridge; it will keep for 5-7 days that way. You can eat the frittata cold, let it come up to room temperature, or heat it in a toaster oven or microwave. We don’t do the microwave thing and I find that about 7 minutes in the toaster oven at 350F gets my fresh-out-the-fridge frittata warm without drying it out.

Technique notes:

• Make sure your ingredients are in small pieces. Brian has a habit of putting gigantic pieces of kale in our frittatas and it’s really no fun to bite into the frittata and come away with an entire kale leaf hanging out of your mouth. Especially in front of company, oy!
• If you are using meat (we prefer sausage removed from its casing), cook that thoroughly first, add to the beaten eggs, and then use the grease from the meat to sauté your veggies. I typically use about a 1/4 lb of sausage for 16-20 eggs.
• If you are not using meat, I suggest the following fats for your sauté purposes: bacon grease (you should really have a jar of rendered bacon grease in your fridge at all times), butter, olive oil. My dad would put coconut oil on this list but he is crazy. If you don’t mind the taste of coconut in your savory egg dishes, go for it.
• Cook your veggies thoroughly before adding them to the eggs unless you want raw veggies in your frittata.
• Salt & pepper your eggs. I also add salt to my veggies while they are cooking.
• I typically plan 2 eggs per serving. We use large cage-free eggs.
• Greens cook down a lot so use more than you think you need, especially with really wilty greens like spinach or radish tops. You may need to cover tougher greens like kale to cook them through, it’s really unfun to get semi-raw, fibrous, hard-to-chew pieces of kale when you bite into a frittata.
• Obviously you will need an oven-save pan for this method. This is also one of the few occasions that you really need a nonstick pan, too. And please make sure your pan is large enough that your frittata is no more an inch or so thick or you will have a hard time getting it to cook through without burning the hell out of the bottom.
• Do not walk away while your frittata is under the broiler. It really only needs a minute or two and burnt eggs are yuck.
• You can mix cheese into the eggs or put it on top. Try both and see which you prefer, they both yield a slightly different flavor. I prefer it mixed in because cheese on top gets a little soggy in the fridge and in my opinion never fully recovers. Another option is to leave the cheese out of your initial cooking and keep a container of shredded cheese ready to go so you can sprinkle it on top when reheating your frittata.

Ingredient combination ideas:

• Spinach, onion, garlic (that’s the combo pictured at the top of this post)
• Chorizo, lacinto kale, onion
• Rutabaga greens, onion, parmigiano-reggiano
• Italian sausage (we like a mix of hot & mild), garlic, bell peppers
• Zucchini, onion, cheddar (cut the zucchini into small thin slices & get it a little brown)
• Spinach, mushroom, onion, garlic (be sure you cook the mushrooms until they are shrively and brown, otherwise your frittata will be wet)
• Mushroom, onion, garlic, bell pepper
• Spinach, feta, onion, garlic (this one is also good with zucchini)
• Garlic sausage (they have this at Whole Foods), radish tops, broccoli stems (peeled & sliced thin), onion
• Bacon, spinach, cheddar (broccoli is also really good in this one, just make sure it’s in small well-cooked pieces)
• Bacon, kohlrabi bulb (peeled & sliced thin), garlic

If you have questions please leave them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them. And please leave your frittata ingredient ideas, too!

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For lunch today I ate:

• Salmon salad
• Sprouted grain toast with butter and homemade fig spread
• Mixed Greek olives in spicy marinade

In case you are wondering, it was delicious! Also, because I’m sure you’re curious, I did not make the fig spread, it was a gift from a very talented friend who has also bestowed upon us blueberry jam, salsa, and grapefruit-ginger marmalade. Oh, yeah.

Salmon salad is one of my go-to meals when I need something quick. It takes 5 minutes to whip up and the ingredients aren’t set in stone so you can really make it with whatever you have lying around. Because this is the inaugural What We Eat post, you also get a recipe! So here it is, even though you probably don’t need one for this dish:

Salmon Salad

1 7.5-oz can sockeye salmon, drained
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 chopped green bell pepper
1 scallion, chopped
Dill (1 tbsp if using fresh, 1 tsp if using dried)
Juice from 1 lemon wedge
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Toss the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Enjoy!

Other vegetables that work well in this dish are tomato, cucumber, red onion, and radish, but you really can use anything you like. Fresh parsley is nice, as is fresh garlic if you are feeling crazy. If you want your salmon salad to resemble more of a traditional seafood salad, dice your veggies up small and mash everything together with slightly more olive oil and lemon juice than is listed in the recipe above. Just please don’t add mayo, it makes salmon sad. Lastly, I drain off the juice/oil that is in the can and give it to Cooper, but Brian prefers his canned salmon with all of the juice, it’s really a personal thing so try it both ways and see which you like better.

I feel it necessary to note that the deliciousness of your salmon salad is directly related to the quality of the canned salmon you use. Please don’t use that nasty Bumblebee stuff, okay? We buy ours from Vital Choice and get the salmon with the bones & skin–it tastes much better and is way more nutritious. We eat the skin and the bones, except for the little salmon vertebrae because they totally freak me out.

I also feel it necessary to note that the photo above is in fact NOT an iPhone photo. I don’t believe this is the first “real” photo to appear on this blog, but it’s certainly the first one in a long time. I deserve a pat on the back!

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We eat a lot of nuts around here. They are a great source of fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals. The thing is, sometimes plain nuts are a little bit boring. In an effort to jazz things up a bit, I concocted this trail mix. Who needs a recipe for trail mix, you say? Good point. But I know that sometimes I can get stuck in a rut, making the same trail mix again and again, so I figured I’d share this mix in an effort to inspire you to include something different the next time you make yours.

A few key points to note are that I’ve used raw nuts rather than roasted (a healthier option because the fats are not oxidized in raw nuts like they are in roasted) and unsweetened coconut (to keep sugar to a minimum). Also, opt for mini dark chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips–there are no extra additives (chocolate chips have them so they’ll keep their shape when baked!) and the percentage of cacao is much higher. If you can’t find mini dark chocolate chunks in your grocery store, just get a dark chocolate bar (preferably 70% cacao or higher–yum, antioxidants!) and chop it up.

Kick-Ass Trail Mix

1 heaping cup raw almonds
1 cup raw cashews (pieces work better than whole nuts)
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chunks

Mix all the ingredients together in an airtight container. That’s it! You can store this in the fridge to keep it tasting fresh longer, but I bet that you will eat this so quickly that freshness will not be an issue.

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Me, after just finishing lunch: I need more food.

Brian: Do you want some of these leftover potatoes?

Me: Yes, I was going to fry them up in the skillet that’s soaking in the sink.

Brian: I’ll do it. Do you want cheese on top?

Me: YES! GRATED CHEDDAR! AND COOK THEM IN BACON FAT!

Brian: Well, of course.

Note: Potatoes were small Yukon Golds that I quartered and roasted the other night, but I messed up and they came out more baked than roasted. Brian sauteed them in a cast iron skillet with bacon fat and onions and then grated very sharp Vermont cheddar on top. You should do this!

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Something we’ve gotten into the habit of doing since we moved to Seattle is making our own granola from scratch. We were inconsistent for a while, but lately have been making a batch every week. It’s delicious and easy to make, and so much healthier and cheaper than store bought. Tastier, too – I can only think of one store-bought granola that even comes close (and we can’t get it on the west coast anyway). One batch lasts us about a week, give or take depending on how much we gorge ourselves. We eat it with almond milk, or sometimes just grab a handful as a snack. For the past couple weeks I’ve been tossing a handful of organic Thompson’s raisins on top of each serving since I’m trying to keep my iron levels up (no sign that they’re dropping, but this is around the time in my pregnancy that they would be likely to, as the baby takes more and more for himself).

Note that this recipe doesn’t make chunky granola. I still haven’t figured out how to modify it to make the chunks, but it is crunchy and holds up well in milk. Feel free to halve the recipe to make a smaller batch, or use all honey instead of a mix of maple syrup and honey. You can also modify the nuts and seeds you use, but I highly recommend trying this combination before you go crazy  – it really works well in terms of flavor and texture. Yum!

GRANOLA

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup raw walnuts (chopped)
3/4 cup raw pecans (chopped)
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Set out two large rimmed baking sheets.

Roughly measure out the coconut oil and melt almost completely in microwave (in glass measure). Use whisk to stir in small lumps so that the oil is completely liquid. The amount when melted should be 2/3 cup or slightly less. Add honey & maple syrup to glass measure and whisk to combine with coconut oil (this takes a few minutes). Add vanilla to liquid ingredients and whisk to combine. Make sure that the mixture is completely uniform, especially at the bottom of the measuring cup.

Measure dry ingredients into large bowl and stir to combine. Pour liquid ingredients over dry ingredients and stir THOROUGHLY. This takes a while but it is very important that all of the dry ingredients are evenly coated with the wet ingredients. Divide mixture between two baking sheets making sure the layer of granola on both sheets is pretty uniform.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, stirring and turning every 10 minutes until toasted. Switch the position of the two baking sheets each time you stir the granola. If granola is not uniformly reddish-brown after 20 minutes, put one or both sheets back in the oven for as many 3-5 minute increments as necessary, being careful not to burn the granola.

After baking, allow to cool on sheets thoroughly. Loosen granola from pan with a spatula, breaking it into small chunks as you go. Store in airtight container.

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