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Yellow Split Pea Soup with Pea Shoots Garnish
Makes 6½ cups 1½ cups green or yellow split peas 9 cups water (4½ cups to soak, 4½ cups to cook) 3-inch piece kombu seaweed 2 large bay leaves 2 teaspoons high-heat olive oil blend (equal parts extra virgin olive oil <EVOO> and a high-heat oil from Spectrum such...
Roasted Buckwheat Pilaf with Sesame Salt
Makes 3 to 4 servings or 5½ cups Thanks to Danuta Nguyen of Cracov, Poland, and author of the article “Stay Safe with Buckwheat,” and to chef Sachi Kato whose recipe inspired me to cook this delicious whole grain dish. Both appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of...
Tender Cooked Kale with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Makes 3 servings Kale: Water to measure 3 inches deep in a 3-quart pot ½ pound kale, ends trimmed off and discarded, sliced down center ribs then crosswise Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette: ¼ cup Meyer lemon juice 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons EVOO ½ teaspoon unrefined sea...
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Makes 2 servings Japanese and Hannah sweet potatoes (as well as garnet and jewel yams) are wonderful when prepared this way. Sweet potatoes and yams contain more moisture than regular potatoes, so are softer in texture. 1 pound or 2 medium sweet potatoes, about 4...
Perfect Poached Pears
Makes 4 servings When selecting pears—Bosc, Comice, Bartlett, D’anjou or French Butter Pears—choose fruit that is fairly firm. Poaching Liquid: Makes 3/4 cup1 cup apple cider or apple juice2 tablespoons pure maple syrupZest of one-quarter orange or half a...
Tuscan White Bean Soup
Makes 5 to 8 servings or 5½ to 8 cups We learn that “Tuscans are bean eaters” in Pino Luongo’s cookbook, A Tuscan in the Kitchen (1988). Look for white beans that are grown organically in the US or include heirloom white beans from Rancho Gordo or Community Grains. 2...
Soft Polenta with Braised Wild Mushrooms
Makes 4 to 8 servings In the 80s and 90s, I taught cooking classes in London, England and around Europe (Amsterdam; Kiental, Switzerland; Berlin and Cologne, Germany; Rome, Italy; Tenerife, Spain; and on an organic farm in Kaz, Turkey). On one of several trips to...
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Makes 4 servings or 3½ to 4 cups Blanching the Brussels sprouts before oven-roasting them makes for the most pleasing texture. 1 pound Brussels sprouts, 4 to 6 cups, stem ends trimmed, halved if large 4 large cloves garlic, sliced 1 tablespoon olive oil blend (equal...
Tre Colore Salad with White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Makes 4 servings The three colors (tre colori) in this salad are those in the Italian flag: red, green and white. White Balsamic Vinaigrette: Makes 1/3 cup 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon EVOO 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea...
Almond-Orange Heart Cake
Makes 8 servings or one layer In a mountainous region outside of Milan, a young female baker prepared a different dessert every afternoon for students attending our holistic health seminar, serving it with either cappucino or tea. A one-layer cake got my attention for...
Parsnip Soup with Horseradish Cream Topping
Makes 4 to 6 servings or about 5¼ cups 1 tablespoon EVOO 1 onion, sliced 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt 1 pound parsnips (1 to 6 depending on size), about 4 cups, peeled where needed, sliced 3-inch piece kombu sea vegetable 3 cups water or vegetable broth 1/2 cup...
Wild Rice Pilaf
Makes 3 to 4 servings or 3¾ cups Wild rice is the native American grass popular for its nutty flavor. It grows wild in the shallow waters of the Great Lakes region of northern Minnesota and was originally hand-harvested in canoes by Chippewa Indians. “Wild”...
Beet & Arugula Salad with Almond Brittle & Winter Citrus Vinaigrette
Makes 4 servings This stunning salad takes a little longer than normal to prepare, but enjoying a special dish in Jan. 2021 is a much-deserved pleasure. 1 pound small red and yellow beets, about 8, greens removed, roots scrubbed Water Almond Brittle (recipe...
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
Makes 4 servings McEvoy Ranch is the largest producer of extra virgin olive oil in the US. A tour and tasting at the ranch, on the border of Marin and Sonoma Counties, near Petaluma, California, makes for a really fun outing. Their gifts are worth giving, especially...
Delicata Squash with Sweet Miso Paste
Makes 8 servings The Japanese Miso Yaki sauce with its rich barbecue flavor inspires this luscious topping for the squash. Vary flavors by changing varieties of squash and miso. One pound delicata squash, 1 medium-large squash, halved lengthwise, seeds...
Baked Stuffed Apples
Makes 4 A tried-and-true favorite in the U.S. since Colonial times, baked apples are a plump, succulent dessert that can be made in a jiffy while diners enjoy their meals. Make extra for a quick snack or dessert later. 4 apples, cored Stuffing: 1/4 cup nut or...
Cranberry Bean Chili
Makes 4 to 6 servings or 6 or 7 cups The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Grower’s Guide, Steve Sando’s 50 Favorite Varieties, is full of photos and information on the history and use of these precious beans. www.ranchogordo.com 1 cup heirloom chili beans (Cranberry Beans,...
Wild Mushroom Bruschetta
Makes 3 to 6 servings or 6 half slices The Oxford definition of “bruschetta” is “toasted Italian bread drenched in olive oil and served typically with garlic or tomatoes,” but nowadays there are many variations. The holidays are the season for wild chanterelle...
Crostini with White Beans & Bitter Greens
Makes 8 servings “Crostini” is defined by Oxford as “small pieces of toasted or fried bread served with a topping as an appetizer or canapé.” This recipe makes a great small lunch or dinner meal on its own or when served with soup. 1 cup White Bean Purée (see recipe...
Pumpkin Pie
Makes 8 to 10 servings Vegetable custard pies are an historic favorite in North America. Yankees prefer pumpkin or squash pies while Southerners cherish their sweet potato or yam pies. This very fine pumpkin pie satisfies every time without the usual ingredients:...
Apple Streusel Pie
Makes 10 servings I prefer making pies with pre-baked fillings because they take a shorter time to bake, and the crust comes out beautifully. There’s a rich but simple sweetness in this pie along with bright notes from the citrus, spices and vinegar. Filling: 2½...
Oven-Roasted Mini-Squash with Herbed Bread Stuffing & Mushroom Gravy
Makes 4 servings 4 mini-squashes (golden nugget, carnival, sweet dumplings or mini-pumpkins) 4 big sprigs parsley for garnish Herbed Bread (or Cornbread) Stuffing: Makes 2 to 2½ cups The powdered poultry seasoning I used most recently is Spicely Organic...
Orange-Maple Cranberry Sauce
Makes 10 servings or about 2½ cups The popular canned cranberry sauce contaims cranberries, high fructose corn syrup and water. I’ve chosen maple syrup over the malted grain sweeteners (brown rice syrup or barley malt syrup) because its stronger sweet taste balances...
Warm Vegetable Salad with Sweet Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette
Makes 4 to 6 servings or 5 to 6 cups Sweet Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette: Makes 2/3 cup This is one of my favorite dressings because it has a great flavor and it’s thick enough to coat the vegetables. ¼ cup brown rice vinegar ¼ cup brown rice syrup 2...
Pecan Pie
Makes 10 servings In southern kitchens, sorghum syrup is the main ingredient in this pie. The other traditional ingredients are brown sugar, dark corn syrup, or molasses; lard or shortening; butter or margarine; and eggs. This more healthful version sacrifices none of...
Three Sisters Soup with Cilantro-Lime Pesto Topping
Makes 5 to 6 cups This quintessential autumn soup honors the indigenous peoples who introduced corn, beans and squash—the three sisters—to the early American settlers. Kabocha (the Japanese word for “squash”) is the sweetest-tasting squash and has a bright orange...
Moroccan Red Lentil Soup
Makes 4 servings or 4 to 4½ cups Moroccans use "seagreens" in their cooking, so the kombu (kelp) is a natural here. After reading Moroccan cookbooks, I focused on including the seasonings in the proportion they do for this recipe. The soup tastes balanced with the...
Spicy Yam & Coconut Soup
Makes 5 to 6 servings or 5 to 6½ cups Simple and luscious! The vegetables for this soup are baked whole, then puréed with light coconut milk, flavorful herbs and spices, and white miso. Notice that the fat content is far less than 20% of calories, the amount cited to...
Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Makes 1 dozen These crowd-pleasing Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies are modernized by the addition of complex carbohydrates—in the forms of whole grain pastry flour and more natural sweeteners—in place of the simple carbohydrates from refined white flour and white sugar. A...
Spiral Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Chickpeas & Arugula
Makes 3 to 4 servings According to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, due to the magic ingredient lycopene, cooked tomatoes help prevent heart disease, as well as cancers of the prostate, cervix, skin, bladder, breast, lung and digestive tract. The...