The big new today is the Government health agencies (USDA and HHS) have issued new Dietary Guidelines for 2010.

That’s great, but how are we doing on the old ones?  I like their thinking – if we couldn’t meet the old ones then, lets make some even more restrictive ones and see how that works!!--NOT  

Seriously, we all probably need to make some improvements in our eating – and get out and get moving.  

The new guideline emphasize eating more plant-based foods and cutting down on some of the fat and sugar in our diets.   That is good advice, but lets be reasonable - don’t forget to enjoy what you are eating. 

We believe at First Kitchen we do practice a balance of incorporating healthy eating with enjoying food- that includes sharing the fun with family and friends.  

Here’s a recipe that would make the writers of the new guidelines proud.   And it tastes really good!  So get out and pick some of the those herbs your planted and get cooking!

                                                   

Garbanzo, Feta, and Tomato Salad

Makes 3 cups

1 15- ounce can garbanzo beans, drained (about 1½ cups)

¾ cup diced fresh tomatoes (or grape or cherry tomatoes, halved)

¼ cup finely chopped green onions

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (and/or basil, oregano, thyme)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

Salt

Pepper                  

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

In a medium bowl, place garbanzo beans, feta, tomatoes, green onions and herbs; pour oil and vinegar mixture over salad, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Serve.

Memorial day weekend seems to officially kick-off the summer grilling season. 

With that it might be worth a reminder of the need for extra care when handling and preparing food in the summer heat.  We have many basic food safety tips in our First Kitchen DVD, but there are some extra precautions when it come to warm weather food handling and cooking.

1. When buying meat, fish or poultry for that out-door barbecue you’re planning, take it right home.  Don’t stop for a latte with your groceries still in the car. Or if you do, have a cooler with ice in the trunk of your car to hold your purchases if you can’t get home within the hour. 
2. Just as we tell you about careful handling of meat- and especially chicken- in your kitchen, the same holds true for out-door grilling.  Use separate utensils and platters for raw and cooked food. OK- this may not be totally green, but this might be a good place to use paper plates.  As we say, “Eliminate, don’t contaminate!”
3. Refrigerate leftovers right way.  If you are using a cooler with ice for holding the food, a good idea is to use a separate cooler for beverages.  That way when continually opening the cooler to get a cold drink, you won’t be warming the food. 
4. Cook hamburgers and chicken thoroughly just as you would at home.

By following a few simple food safety tips, we can avoid the mysterious “24 hour flu?” we often get.

                                          

 Try our Surf and Turf Kabob recipe (or maybe just the Turf). Have fun and get cooking! 

A recent article in USA today reminded me to remind us all that we should not underestimate the benefits of walking.  Good for maintaining your weight, reducing risk of certain diseases -and that means at any age. How easy can it be? 

We don’t need any special equipment or expensive club dues!  It can be social thing- call a friend and say, “let go to for a walk”. It can be way to keep you and your dog happy, or you can take meditative walk in the woods- all will benefit your health and your waistline.

Want to challenge yourself? A fun way is to get a pedometer and set a goal of a certain number of steps a day. (The recommended level is 10,000 steps.) You’ll be amazed how the steps add up- just walking around doing every day things. Start with a longer walk from the parking lot or a quick walk after lunch.

Now that weather is nice all over the country- even here in the Northern clime- lets get out and get healthy.

The side bar of this article in USA today has many more tips for counting your steps.

We love asparagus.  We eat it year around, but unfortunately it is more expensive, not as tasty, and of course, not as sustainable as the locally gown.
Asparagus is delicious steamed or grilled  with a little olive oil and lemon and served hot or cold.  We have made it into a delicious fresh asparagus soup (check out our recipe).  Or if you want a little more creative dressing, check out the  Parsley Lemon Pesto recipe - our collaboration with Green Mountain at Fox Run. 
So what else do we know about asparagus?  It must be good for us, right?   It's certainly is low in calories, a good source of fiber, a great source of folic acid and I read somewhere that eating asparagus can help ease hangovers.  Well we wouldn't know about that.

                                    

On another note. Our friend Francesca, who was here making pasta with us last week, has finally made it back to Italy.  She had an extra stay here in the States due to all the flight delays from the volcano fall out.  We miss you, but glad you're back home.

Happy Spring!

Francesca teaches pasta-making classes in Bologna and we were so lucky to have her make a wonderful dinner for us.

She made two kinds of pasta- Artichoke Ravioli and Fettuccini with Ragu, delicious Baked Fennel and Tomatoes and a scrumptious dessert - Panna Cotta with fresh berries.

Some of us have had the good fortune of visiting her in Italy so we know what a great chef she is, but for the other guests this was their first experience eating one of her fabulous the meals

Northern Italian cooking is simple and fresh, healthy ingredients, but tastes unbelievably good.

 

You may not want to try making fresh pasta without her help. but here is something you can try. A simple recipe for making baked fennel.

Baked Fennel:

2-3 fennel bulbs                               

1 cup bread crumbs

1-2 cloves garlic, choppe

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil for dipping fennel (about 1/4 cup)

Heat over to 400 degrees

Trim and wash fennel bulbs and steam for about 30-40 minutes. Cool . Cut in wedges.

Meanwhile toss together bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.

Dip fennel wedges in olive oil and coat with bread crumb mixture. Place wedges on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.   Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

               

If you want to learn how to make pasta and other wonderful foods of Italy, Francesca and her parents can a plan a wonderful cooking tour for you. http://www.bluone.com

                                   

It is officially spring here in Minnesota but I am still anxiously awaiting summer- lakes, sun and fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market.  So, until then, I’ve been creating my own version of a summer treat…. smoothies!   I am starting to get obsessed with trying the different combinations and flavors I can create. J 

I have recently found a lot of the frozen fruits to be on sale, which started my smoothie kick.  Frozen fruits are great to have on hand in the cold months to throw in your yogurt or as I found out, a smoothie!   I also buy fresh fruits when they are affordable which have mainly been bananas and oranges.  (However, I was at the local supermarket yesterday and saw that fresh strawberries were only 1.79/lb!  Summer is coming…). 

Typically, although I am not a smoothie expert, there are some necessary ingredients to a smoothie: fruit + liquid, but from there it is up to your taste!  Into the blender I throw in about ½ cup of berries, ½ cup pineapple or peach and then ½ of a fresh banana.  I then add either yogurt or juice- whichever I have.  Sometimes I add my secret ingredient that gives the smoothie an extra health kick- spinach.  Don’t knock it until you try it!  It gives the smoothie a murky green color but leaves no taste of the spinach.  All that is left is the delicious fruit flavors and the benefits of spinach, which are endless! 

Basically here’s is the deal:

Choose 1-2 fruits, ½ cup each:

Bananas

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Peaches

Pineapple

Choose a liquid, ½ cup:

Apple juice

Orange juice

Grape juice

Soy or regular milk

Yogurt (I know, not exactly a liquid, but it does the trick and gives a little creamy/thick texture)

*If you need a little more sweetness, add about 1-2 tsp of honey or pure maple syrup. 

* Add 1- cup fresh spinach to increase the nutrients of your smoothie.

* Add 2 tablespoons peanut butter for a protein packed smoothie

* You may want to add about ½ cup of ice if you aren’t using frozen fruits

Add all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth.

Smoothies make a delicious snack or a nutrient fueled breakfast. 

                                

For other great smoothies recipes go to Green Mountain at Fox Run. 

Happy spring!

Do you find yourself digging through packaged salads in the produce sections to find the latest “ best before” date?  Then you get it home and after a few days it looks bad before the date.  Or you have a half -gallon of milk that is past the date but its still seems ok.  What do you do??

These are frustrating, if not expensive situations.  We have tried to spell out some helpful guidelines in our First Kitchen DVD.  For example, milk usually stays fresh up to a week after the sell by date if it has been handled properly.  Yogurt is probably a couple of weeks.

Here is another perspective from a packaging expert.  He says, “ Ignore expiration dates, and use your eyes and nose to determine what’s fresh enough to consume”.  Check out his article, Expiration Dates on Labels Only Cause Confusion.  I think he makes some valid points.

A few months ago we wrote a blog about Vitamin D, but I started thinking about it again today seeing it spotlighted in the news discussing the growing evidence and controversy about its many benefits.  

While the jury is still out on some of this research, no one is suggesting that we are getting enough. And every one accepts that fact that at a minimum we need Vitamin D to help with calcium absorption-so essential for healthy bones and teeth.  I think we all agree that’s a pretty big deal.

Lets face it most of our diets are lacking in Vitamin D and majority of us have had little sunshine on these last few months.  (Sunshine is necessary for the body to convert the sunlight to vitamin D in our bodies.)  So it might be worth taking another look at where we stand. 

Are you drinking Vitamin D fortified milk or including Vitamin D fortified juice or cereal as part of your diet?  I am fairly certain none of us is taking cod liver oil or eating a lot of fish!  Are you getting a few minutes of sunshine everyday?  Should you be taking a supplement?

Stay tuned because the scientific group (Institute of Medicine) that sets the recommendations for nutrients levels is meeting this summer to re-evaluate the current recommendations.  With newer science about its benefits, they will raise the Vitamin D levels, but what will those numbers will be, we don’t know yet. 

In the meantime, lets go out and get a little sunshine now that Spring is here!

We had a great time doing an FK cooking demo at Blue Condos in Minneapolis, MN.  The residents enjoyed the FK production of:  Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Chicken with Tomato Salsa, Oven Roasted Winter Vegetables and Fruit Kabobs!  The residents were able to participate in some of the food prep and cooking, but they were also happy to watch Allison and I get our hands dirty…J

The night went with only a few kitchen blunders:  the sea salt shaker exploded into the winter vegetables (we added a few more potatoes to soak up the salt and added some extra vegetable broth), the food processor I brought wouldn’t work (even though it had just worked a week ago), the Blue kitchen wasn’t stocked with a vegetable peeler (Allison did great improvisation with a paring knife).  The beauty of cooking is that it doesn’t have to be perfect, sometimes you have to go with the flow and make the best of a situation.

Until next time,

*Mollie

Here is the recipe for the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus as promised to some of the residents @ Blue, enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Hummus

1 can Garbanzo beans (+ liquid from can)

1 red bell pepper, roasted*

4 large garlic cloves, roasted**

¼ cup Tahini***

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice (~1 small lemon juiced)

½ teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender; blend until smooth and creamy.  Add more salt/pepper to taste. 

Serve with crackers/baguette/pita bread or use it as a spread on sandwiches.

*Roasted Red Pepper

Cut red pepper into wide strips; remove seeds and trim edges.  Lay on cookie sheet coated with olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Let cool completely or place directly under cold water to help remove skins. (It is not necessary that you remove skins but they can sometimes give a bitter taste, I usually remove them).

**Roasted Garlic

Cut top of garlic cloves off (the rough part on top) but leave the skins on and place in pan with red bell pepper or you can cover in tin foil.  Coat with olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Let cool.  Once cool, you can pop out the cloves of garlic from their skins and put them into the blender.   Roasted garlic has a softer flavor than raw garlic, so you many want to use more that 4 cloves if you desire more of a garlic flavor. 

***Tahini is made from ground or hulled sesame seeds mixed with oil and ground into a paste, popular in Middle Eastern cuisine.  You can find in at most grocery or ethnic food stores or it is found in bulk at co-ops (that way you can just get what you need for the recipe).
 

Now that I'm committed to cooking 4 times week, I have to find ways to make this even easier.  I know  a lot of simple healthy recipes, but I’m challenging myself to see how simple can it be.  One of the ways I’ve found is by investing in some inexpensive but time saving tools. 

Some of the best tools I’ve found are:

• Foreman grill – It’s so easy to grill chicken, meat, fish or even asparagus or fresh pineapple.  It is fool proof and no messy stove or pans to clean.
• Garlic press-Just pop the garlic clove in the press and you have minced garlic -and the best part you don’t have smelly hands!
• Citrus press-This makes squeezing a lemon or lime so much simpler and you don’t waste any of the juice. 
• Rice cooker-ok one final one because I am a big fan of rice, I splurged on a rice cooker.  It may not be a necessity for you, but I love mine!

To get help on the basic equipment you need to stock your kitchen, check out the Getting Started section in the First Kitchen DVD.

Here's to Easy Cooking!