Good news! And Spinach and Cottage Cheese Omelet

Healthy eating is paying off! I don’t know yet about my cholesterol, but I’ve made a big dent in my blood pressure. My systolic blood pressure is still high at 140, but I’ve brought my diastolic blood pressure down a full ten points from 90 to 80!

My favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I loved starting my day with a big plate of hash browns, pancakes, cheese grits or copiously buttered cream of wheat with about two or three eggs and a pile of bacon. I can’t do that anymore, but that doesn’t have to mean the end of healthy, tasty breakfasts.

I’ve always loved omelets, so I decided to try a healthy version with Eggbeaters, cottage cheese and spinach. First, I sautéed a couple cloves of minced garlic and a cup of spinach leaves (packed) in olive oil until the spinach leaves wilted. I then poured two eggs worth of Eggbeaters on top of the spinach and garlic. When the Eggbeaters started to set, I added a quarter of a cup of low fat cottage cheese. I let the cheese heat through and get a little gooey before I folded the omelet over. I garnished it with a “bread mix,” which is pre-mixed herbs and grated parmesan that can be combined with olive oil to make a tasty bread dip, but regular grated parmesan alone would also make a great garnish.

Chickpea and Green Bean Salad

The one thing with getting farm-fresh, organic produce is that it doesn't last very long, so I had to figure out what to do with a pound of green beans and fast.

After perusing the internet and several cookbooks, I settled on this chickpea and green bean salad from one of Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks (who incidentally is married to violinist Sanford Allen, the first African-American musician appointed to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). I already had most of the ingredients, and I'd been dying to use the garam masala I bought at Whole Foods last week. So after a quick trip to Publix for some ginger root and canned chickpeas, I was ready to go.

While this recipe is basically two simple steps: 1. make the chickpea salad and 2. blanch and make the green bean salad, the chickpea salad ideally needs to marinate for a couple of hours (Ms. Jaffrey suggests even up to five hours).

I started by heating up a 15.5 oz. can of chickpeas, in its liquid. It turned out to be about half a cup fewer chickpeas than Ms. Jaffrey's recipe calls for, but since I'm using more green beans than her recipe calls for, I did not adjust the spices down.

While the chickpeas are heating up, make a dressing using a half a cup of vegetable oil, a quarter cup of wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar), a quarter teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garam masala, and two cloves of garlic that have been crushed to a pulp (I used a meat tenderizer) and some red pepper flakes to taste. After the chickpeas are hot, drain them and combine them with the dressing. Do this while the chickpeas are still hot. Don't let them cool. Cover and set aside in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.

Next, blanch the green beans. Put enough water in a pot to cover all the green beans, but just enough. When the water comes to a full boil, drop in your beans, salt to taste and keep boiling on high for about 3-4 minutes. Watch the time because you want your beans to come out lightly crunchy, not soggy. Drain the green beans and let them dry while you make their dressing.

In another bowl, combine a quarter cup of vegetable oil, juice from half a lemon (the recipe calls for two tablespoons, but I just "winged it"), half a teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon garam masala, a quarter of a finely minced onion (again, officially two tablespoons) and one teaspoon freshly grated ginger root.

After the beans are dry, add them to the dressing, combine the two salads, and you've got a satisfyingly spicy, completely guilt-free dish!

Steamed bok choy with broiled salmon and okra with Indian spices

As I mentioned in my last post, receiving my weekly "mystery box" from Homegrown Food Co-op is stretching me as a cook. I got a head of bok choy in my first box this week. I've NEVER cooked bok choy in my life. What the heck am I going to do with bok choy? Thankfully, Chef Emeril Lagasse knows.

Chef Emeril's steamed bok choy with broiled salmon is not a recipe old Aaron would have tackled. It looks like just too much trouble on the surface. But one you look at the recipe, think about it and organize your thoughts, it's only three simple steps: 1. make a roast tomato and lemon vinaigrette, 2. steam some bok choy, and 3. broil some salmon.

Making the vinaigrette turned out to be the most challenging step for me since broiling has hitherto been a dirty word in my cooking vocabulary. To make the vinaigrette, you will need 2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes, one tablespoon fresh marjoram leaves, a quarter cup of olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter of a teaspoon of black pepper and the juice from a lemon. Quickly saute these ingredients. I'm not sure my humble cookware can tolerate broiling, so I transferred my vinaigrette to my broiling pan before proceeding. Broil it between eight and ten minutes, until the tomatoes caramelize. I failed at this step - the tomatoes will be screaming bloody murder under the broiler. Just ignore them. Set this aside and let it cool (the recipe says for at least ten minutes), then toss with two tablespoons of chopped basil leaves.

The recipe calls for steaming bok choy in a Dutch oven (because they are fairly long stalks), but since I don't have a Dutch oven, I cut that corner and just boiled them for about eight minutes, with a half a teaspoon of white pepper and a half a teaspoon of salt. I did not measure the water. I just used enough so that all the bok choy would be submerged.

Broiling the salmon was the easiest step. Coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with some marjoram sprigs and stick those puppies under the broiler for about six to eight minutes. I'd never used fresh marjoram until now. It charrs when broiled, imparting a nice crunch and smoky flavor.

When done, assemble the dish from the bok choy at the bottom, then the salmon, then your vinaigarette, and BAM, as Emeril would say, you've got a simple, tasty nutritious meal.

For my side, I chose okra, another vegetable that leaves me perplexed, unless it's to bread it with corn meal and deep fry it to within an inch of its life.

Trimming the okra (cutting off the tough ends) was the most time-consuming part of this recipe.

I took three cloves of garlic and a small onion (both minced, of course) and sauteed them for about five minutes on medium heat. Don't make the mistake of turning the heat on full blast to heat up the pan. I used to do that and wonder why my sauteed garlic always tasted burned. Just wait for the pan to heat. Then add the okra and sautee for another five minutes or so. Then add the spices - I used about a quarter of a teaspoon of ground turmeric, and salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Once everything is coated, then add a quarter cup of water, cover tightly and let it simmer until the water has boiled off and the okra is tender.

I served it with some freshly steamed rice, and plain yogurt as a condiment for the okra, and it was every bit as satisfying as the most decadent comfort meal I've ever had. Judge for yourself below:

The Beginning, or How I Learned to Make Baba Ganoush

Several weeks ago, I attended a health fair at work. I thought I'd been careful about what I eat and drink, and hey, the times I slipped, it's ok because I either go on a long run or to cycling class at the gym 3-4 times a week, right?

Wrong-o.

My blood pressure was 140/90. I insisted that couldn't be right and made them do it again. The second time around it read 155/100. The nurse would not do a third reading. The bad news continued: my cholesterol was an artery-clogging 278. The only bright spot was my blood glucose was within normal, if a little on the high side of normal.

When what you're doing isn't working, doing more of the same isn't going to help. It's not going to be enough for me to pay little more than lip-service to eating healthy and going to the gym (or on a run) a few days a week. It was time for me to take serious action. One of the first things I did was become a member at Orlando's Homegrown Food Co-op. Every week, for the sum total of twenty five bucks and 75 cents, they deliver a box of the freshest produce they have on hand at the time.

And that is where the purpose of this blog comes. I've never approached cooking from the standpoint of, "This is what I have and I'm going to do something creative with it." I've always been an uncreative, read-the-list-of-ingredients-then-go-to-the-grocery-store kind of cook.

Case in point. Yesterday, three eggplants arrived in the box. I don't think I've EVER cooked anything with eggplant in it. What in the world am I going to make with three eggplants???

Lisa then suggested baba ganoush. Duh! Why didn't I think of that - I LOVE baba ganoush. We found a basic recipe, then I had my second revalation - I have most of the stuff to make it already! After a quick trip to Publix for some tahini, lemons and pita bread, I was ready to try and make baba ganoush for the first time.

Step one is broiling the eggplants. Broiling has been a dirty word in my cooking vocabulary, since every time I've ever broiled anything, it's ended up in disaster. I poked a bunch of holes all over the eggplants with a fork and put them under the broiler. Keep turning them periodically to insure that they get roasted all the way through. The heat is intense, so it won't take long. When the skin starts to look charred all around, poke the eggplant with a fork. If it pierces the skin easily, it's probably done. You could try cutting into it as well, with larger eggplants (mine were pretty small).

Peel the eggplants (I put mine in the freezer for a bit to cool them down), then throw them into a food processor with garlic (the basic recipe I used said 1-2 cloves, but I love garlic and used 3), 3 tablespoons tahini, juice from a lemon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, puree until creamy, and you have a wonderful, garlicky, lemony baba ganoush. I also topped mine off with freshly chopped parsley.

Keep in mind, I used three relatively small organic eggplants. You may only want to use 1 or 2 if you're using a regular grocery store "franken" eggplant.

Tomorrow, I will tackle bok choy for the first time with Emeril Lagasse's steamed baby bok choy with broiled salmon, accompanied by okra cooked in Indian spices. And I will remember to take pictures.

Comfort food doesn't have to be what we've always thought it is.