20-minutes sauteed greens with beans & bacon

As befitting the very quick lunch I had to ad-lib yesterday, this is a very quick post. Yesterday I was ravenous around noon for some reason (despite having had more than my fair share of cookies earlier in the day), and I decided that I would prepare something involving beans, since I know them to be so filling. But what? I remembered a cooking class I attended at Williams Sonoma once, when the instructor whipped up some chard in a pot and made it taste incredible, just with some spices and bacon. Before that, I hadn't known that cooked leafy greens like chard, kale or collard greens can be so palatable! I had only had them raw, in salads instead of lettuce or blended in smoothies, as I often still do. Yes, I know - I didn't know much about food back then (although to this day I find cooked spinach to be slimy and unappealing, and I don't foresee this ever changing). So that cooking class was pretty memorable.

Little did I know that, months later, I would be standing in the kitchen holding up a bunch of kale, famished and conflicted, and suddenly remembering this episode. So I quickly rounded up a couple cartons of beans, an onion, garlic, bacon and kale, and got to work. I got so excited I moved at triple the usual speed! I proceeded to remove the stems from the kale leaves, cut them in half, roll them up, slice them and spice them, and... Best meal of the week, on word of honor! You'll get four fair servings out of this, and whether you eat it as a side or a main dish it'll be very satisfying.

By the way - if you're wondering why I'm talking about "cartons" of beans, it's because nowadays I try not to buy canned foods anymore, given the poisonous BPA lining in cans. I used to soak and cook beans myself (which is awfully high-maintenance for me), but recently I found beans in little cartons at Whole Foods, and have been buying them like that. They're just plain, unsalted, unspiced, cooked beans, just like you would find them in a can - only in a BPA-free carton. And organic, to boot!

20-minutes sauteed greens with beans & bacon 

~ makes 4 servings

1 bunch kale leaves, stems removed, rolled up and sliced thin (see here how)

2 14-oz cartons of beans, kidney and white (or another duo of your choice)

3 strips turkey bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp crushed chilies

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Heat up coconut oil in a large pot and sautee the onion on medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until translucent. 

In the meantime, toss the kale in a large bowl with the olive oil, crushed chilies, garlic and salt. Add the kale to the pot, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until the greens soften, stirring occasionally. 

In the meantime, cook the bacon with a small amount of coconut oil in a non-stick pan, just enough to give it an amber color. Add the bacon and beans to the pot and cook for about 3 more minutes (or more, depending on how wilted you like your greens). Remove from heat, add salt if needed and stir in the apple cider vinegar. 

Enjoy!

Post-Thanksgiving comforting sweet potato soup

Swamped with projects of all sorts, I've been remiss in sharing reports of my cookings. Shame on me. The cookings, however, have happened nevertheless. And lots of them! I am halfway through a cleaning diet that I plan to dedicate an entire post to, soon. It's worth it. 

Lately I have been doing my best to eat more meat (at least once a week) because I've been feeling my strength diminishing at the gym, and I thought a lack of protein might be the cause. Well that isn't it. It may be a lack of Vitamin D!

So with a view to Thanksgiving, when I'll undoubtedly get my weekly value of protein in one sitting alone, I tried to go totally vegetarian for a few days before the great feast. This cauliflower-sweet potato soup is very tasty, and garam masala plays an important role in its deliciousness, so if you don't have it in your pantry I suggest you acquire it right away. It's a wonderful spice that goes well with sweet vegetables (pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes), and it's also inexpensive. Let this soup be your own post-Thanksgiving cleansing meal.

Post-Thanksgiving comforting sweet potato soup

~ serves 6 hungry ones

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 large sweet potatoes (or American yams), cubed

1 sweet onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil

garam masala, about 1/2 tsp

1 tsp Celtic salt

6 cups water

In a bowl, toss cauliflower with some olive oil until well coated. Place on a tray and sprinkle with garam masala. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes until it looks like this:

In the meantime, get a large pot, set it on medium heat and throw the sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, salt and water in there. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes or so. 

Add the roasted cauliflower. Then, remove from the heat and blend it until smooth with a hand blender. If you like chunks in your soup, transfer only half the soup into another pot and blend it, then return it to the pot and stir well. Reheat the soup if necessary.

Eat and be merry!

Recipe adapted from Manifest Vegan.

2-minute superhealthy avocado soup

The cold came over the city overnight, it felt. One day I stepped outside and it was in the thirties. It's getting harder to peel my eyes open every morning, and prepare to jump on my two-wheeled horse to step into the ear-numbing, face-biting air. Even though I look forward to the snowy outdoors and to Christmas, I find myself terribly nostalgic for summer. Besides, I'm not prepared to switch to my fluffy wardrobe just yet! At least one thing about this transition has me excited though: hot soups. I'm very enthusiastic about attempting lots and lots of soup recipes this coming winter. Something about a steamy bowl of vegetable potion is so comforting, and it always makes me think of home.

As a last homage to summer, here is a soup that's become one of my staples for anti-inflammatory action. This is served at room temperature - it's probably the last recipe of non-hot soup I'm trying this year. I've noticed that many of the foods I eat (and love) cause inflammation in my body. Normally I would just say so what, I'm not going to give up bread and cheese just for the whims of my cells. Except, I have noticed that some foods make my face swollen. Yes, seriously. And I'm not talking about a little "nobody will notice" kind of swollen, I'm talking about froglike, puffy eyes like I'm sick and haven't slept well in weeks. Spicy foods, bread and salt are some of my most uglyfying foods. 

Nobody likes to look Humpty Dumpty-faced, so - enter anti-inflammatory soup. Avocado in particular has many, many nutritional benefits, and one of them is its anti-inflammatory effect. There is an endless list of anti-inflammatory things you can eat for this purpose. But unless you make a habit of targeting those foods specifically, and avoiding the foods that have the opposite effect, you won't see much results because they will cancel each other out. This soup however is definitely a start in the right direction. It's also raw, healthy, quite tasty and of course, beautifying. Make this in a Vitamix or the blender of your choice.

Anti-inflammatory avocado soup

~ serves 2

1 large avocado or 2 small

1 bunch cilantro or parsley (cilantro is better)

2 cups sunflower sprouts, spinach or other wholesome leafy greens

1 cup chopped green onions

2 cups (16 oz) coconut water

juice from 1 lime

Throw everything into the blender and blend away! Serve immediately. Don't store this soup to eat later, because avocado becomes oxidized in time and the soup will not only taste funny, it also will have lost much of its healthy enzymes.

By the way: the site nutritiondata.self.com includes the inflammation factor (IF) for most food items. A negative IF is inflammatory, and the higher the number the stronger the effect (just out of curiosity, look up "bagel"). A positive IF means the food has anti-inflammatory effects, and the higher the IF the more anti-inflammatory the food is. Try to eat more of the foods with high positive IFs, such as avocado, papaya, ginger or turmeric.

Recipe adapted from The Facelift Diet.

Beer muffins

Living in Albuquerque is just like living by the ocean, only without the ocean. Each time I'm driving (and it doesn't happen too often), I expect to take a turn and see the great blue at the end of the road. I don't know why this is. Maybe the relentless sun and soothing dry air fool me. I can almost taste the salt in the air. But even though no roads ever lead to the ocean around here, one of my favorite things to do on weekends is to start toward a brewery on two wheels. Only the desert, the open road and the promise of beer at destination.

And since I'm a beer zealot and make no secret of it, I decided to made beer muffins. Truth be told, it wasn't my idea. I came across Kate's recipe for beer biscuits and my interest was totally piqued, especially because the process is so simple. Mix and bake! Kate spiced these up with rosemary and she also had the genius idea to add cheese into the mix. My mouth waters just thinking about it. I on the other hand have become fond of herbes de Provence ever since the herbal crackers, so I was itching to see what else this versatile spice goes well with. I decided to go simple.

I used a porter beer I like from Whole Foods. If you choose this type of darker beer, your muffins will be slightly bitter. I happen to enjoy that, but you might not. If you're wavering, or if you're not that knowledgeable about beer, go for a blonder variety the first time. I personally look forward to making these with a nice stout!

For all you beer fans out there, I recommend this documentary. It's like a giant commercial for beer, but it will tell you many things you didn't know about your beloved drink.

Beer mufins

~ makes 12 muffins

3 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp herbes de Provence
1 12-ounce bottle of blonde (if you prefer a milder taste) or porter (if you prefer a bolder flavor) or even stout (if you're really edgy) beer

Mix flour, salt, sugar, baking power and spices with a fork. Add the beer and blend well. Pour into lightly greased muffin pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

These will work best warmed up, with butter. Don't go crazy on the butter though, it's not good for you and you know it.

Recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate.