Healthy (and heartburn friendly) greens with lentils and chicken

This recipe has become a new standard in our household.  The idea originally came from Everyday Food which my wonderful mother gets my husband and I a subscription to.  The original recipe was a bit bland in my opinion and to be honest I don't even remember what it was.
Eric has been really into buying greens this spring and summer, and I often do not like many of the healthier greens.  This recipe has changed that.  Additionally, Eric has been trying to go off of the heartburn medicine and control his heartburn with diet.  This dish fits the requirements of that restricted diet.

1 cup dry lentils
2 cups water
juice of 1 lemon
1 pkg. chicken breast tenders
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. fresh oregano (minced)
2 tsp. fresh rosemary (minced)
2 tsp. dried thyme
2 bunches of kale (I like the curly leaf kale)
1 small onion (diced)
1 clove garlic (minced)
salt to taste

There are 3 parts to this recipe: chicken, lentils, and kale.  Marinate the chicken tenders in lemon juice, 2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. rosemary, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. thyme.  Combine water and lentils and boil for 2-3 minutes.  Reduce heat and simmer covered until the lentils are soft.  Drain the lentils if necessary.
Meanwhile, prepare the kale by tearing into small pieces and removing tough stems.  Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large pan.  Cook onions until soft.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add 1 tsp. each oregano, rosemary and thyme.  Add the kale and cover.  cook over low-medium heat until the kale cooks down.  Add salt to taste.
While the kale is cooking, saute the chicken in a skillet until cooked through.  When all three parts are done, mix the drained lentils with the kale.  Shred the chicken and serve on top of the kale lentil mixture.

Delicious!

Close up

When making this recipe, I used herbs form our garden which somehow survived our three week trip without being watered.
One of the best things about this recipe is that it can also be made vegetarian because the lentils are a good protein source.  Just leave out the chicken.

Happy eating!

Quinoa for breakfast (a twist on hot cereal)

I am back from our wonderful long trip and ready to start posting eating experiences again.  I will be posting about the food we ate on our trip slowly, but surely, but first, here is a new breakfast (or healthy dessert) recipe that I discovered, and of course, altered a bit.  Quinoa is high in protein for a grain and therefore makes a good breakfast option.

I found the idea for this on allrecipes.com.

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

2 cups apple juice

1/2 apple- chopped

1/2 pear- chopped

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. vanilla extract

salt to taste

Rinse quinoa.  Combine quinoa and water in a pan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and continue cooking covered until all of the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes).  Meanwhile, chop the apple and pear.  When the quinoa is cooked, add apple juice, apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, chopped apples, and chopped pears.  Cook uncovered until it boils down to desired consistency (about 20 minutes).  Add vanilla and serve warm.

(The original recipe called for raisins instead of apples and pears, so feel free to add those if you wish.) 

The taste is yummy and a bit tart.  You can sweeten it if you wish.  You could also add milk or soy milk to make it a bit creamy, but I ate it just plain and it was good.  

Enjoy! 

New Ingredients from the Farmer's Market

New ingredients:
Sorrel
Beef Short Ribs

Occasions:
Graduation Party (bringing a dish to share)
Dinner with friends at home

On Saturday morning during our semi regular foray to the farmer's market downtown, Eric and I decided to purchase grassfed beef short ribs from Fredericksburg Farms even though I was not sure how I wold prepare them.  I figured mushrooms would go well so I bought some of them too.  Turned out to be a great purchase.

We also were convinced to try sorrel at the tasting booth by this teenager who is part of the Urban Roots Program.  Urban Roots is a a very cool program in East Austin to help young people living on the east side help create positive change in themselves and their community.  For more information, check out this website www.youthlaunch.org/programs/seeds.php  Anyway, this kid told us that he really liked sorrel because it had a sour taste.  Eric and I tried it and we both liked it so we went back to the Urban Roots stand and bought some sorrel.  That night we took a salad to our friend's graduation party.  I made it with lettuce, sorrel, cucumber from our garden, tomatoes from our garden, mint and chives, from our garden, and a homemade dressing also using herbs from the garden (oregano, basil, and rosemary).  I highly recommend sorrel in a salad.  Try it!

Back to the short ribs...
I started looking for recipes online, but didn't want to barbecue the ribs.  Eventually I found this recipe at yummly.com:

2 lb. beef ribs

1 tsp

salt

1 tsp

black pepper (ground)

3 tbsp

vegetable oil

2

onions (diced)

2

carrots (peeled and diced)

2

celery ribs (diced)

3

garlic cloves (minced)

11/2 tsp

dried thyme

2

bay leaves

4 cup

beef broth

11/3 cup

dry red wine

6

plum tomatoes (coarsely chopped)

1/2 cup

fresh parsley (chopped)

I added 1 lb. of baby bella mushrooms and some oregano and rosemary from the garden.

1	Sprinkle the short ribs with half each of the salt and pepper.
2	In a shallow Dutch oven, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat and brown the short ribs.
3	Transfer to a plate and drain the fat from the pan.
4	Heat the remaining oil in the pan over medium heat.
5	Cook the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and remaining salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 6 minutes. (I added the mushrooms, oregano, and rosemary here)
6	Stir in the broth, wine and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
7	Return the short ribs to the pan.
8	Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until tender, 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
9	Transfer the ribs to a plate.
10	Bring the sauce to a boil and boil until reduced to about 5 cups, 12 minutes.
11	Meanwhile, remove the meat from the ribs. (I cut most of the fat off too and threw it away, but you can include it if you want.)
12	Dice the meat and return it to the pan.
13	Stir in the parsley and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes.
14	Discard the bay leaves.

15 Serve over pasta. (I used pappardelle)

The meal was delicious and enjoyed by the friends as well as by us.  

 

Introduction

A little about me:
I love cooking, eating, exploring, and learning about food.  I love food from all over the world and from many different cultures.  I love local food and healthy food.  I love food from Farmer's Markets and our garden.  Thanks to my husband, we eat mostly organic food.  I love vegetarian and meat based meals.  I love enjoying good food with friends and family. 
Cooking and enjoying food out are things that I do to relax.  Finding new ways to use ingredients is thrilling as is finding new ingredients to use!  I almost never use a recipe as is.  I always tweak it a bit.
I decided to start this blog in order to share my love of food and cooking with others.  And, on a selfish note, it may help me capture those changes I make so that if they turn out to be good changes, I  can repeat them in the future.
I have many other interests as well, but let's keep this focused on the food, shall we?

About the name:
My brother is an amazing chef and has introduced me to so many things in the world of food that I would not have experienced otherwise.  I am awed by his knowledge and skills and inspired by him.  I have nowhere near the culinary know-how that he does, but I do alright for my husband, family, and friends.