Category Archive

For some reason, most people think that in order to have a gourmet meal, you must possess amazing culinary skills and years of experience. This is just not so. Some of the best meals can have fewer than six ingredients and take only a short time to prepare. The secret? Good quality food. As long as the starting ingredients are fresh, you really can’t go too wrong.

Here is a suggestion that should only take 30 minutes, including prep:

Wild rice, Curried Tilapia and Sauteed Spinach

I have to admit that, when I made the meal, most of the ingredients had come from Costco. There’s a part of me that cringes about it, but they have made efforts to keep up with the demand for organic foods and I’m not going to pretend that the fish wasn’t cheaper there and still of very high quality. We purchased about 5 lbs. of fish and froze 2 -3 fillets in separate plastic bags to be thawed as needed. We also picked up a gigantic box of organic spinach (which I think is slightly evil because of the plastic waste) and organic wild rice blend (also in a slightly evil plastic container).

The morning before our meal, I took the tilapia out and put it on a plate to prevent fish juice puddles. By the evening, the cats had not found out about it, so I was able to cook our meal.

Rice First

I began by letting the rice cooker do its job. Wild rice needs water in a 1:2 ratio so, 2 cups rice to 4 cups water. Add about 1-2 teaspoons sea salt to help with taste and cooking. Another secret is to use a bouillon cube or two for flavor added directly to the rice cooker.

Using a pot is OK, too. When I cook rice in a pot, I just turn up the heat on high until it’s boiling, then turn it down to almost the lowest setting and keep the lid on for 40 minutes simmering. Then, turn off the heat and let sit for another 10 minutes. The rice kernels should be split open yet not mushy.

Fish next

What you will need: rice and/or corn flour, curry powder, sea salt, cumin seed, coconut oil….and the fish, of course.

Put about 1/2 c. flour on a plate then add 1 teaspoon each of curry, sea salt and cumin. Mix it up.

Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a saute pan (either cast iron or stainless) over medium heat. Flour each side of each fillet, dust off excess, and place into pan. The pan should be hot enough that they sizzle.

When one side is lightly browned, use a spatula and flip them over to the other side. Let them cook until the meat flakes or is firm to touch. Turn down heat and transfer them to a plate.

Spinach

Ok, here’s the grand finale.

We heat up a teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan over medium heat, throw in a couple handfuls of spinach, add a pinch of sea salt, and stir it around until wilted! If you want to get fancy, you can add a teaspoon of minced garlic.

That’s it!

My favorite salad is simple to prepare and so incredibly delicious. Thank you, Dr. Portuondo of Honolulu, who taught me how to make this wonderful dish.

Kale Salad

1 head of kale
1 lime
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid aminos
(or substitute 1.5 tsp. tamari sauce)

Chop up the kale into fine strips.

Send the garlic through a press, then mix with the juice of your lime, olive oil, and Bragg’s. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix it up. This is best left to marinate for a half-hour or so to “cook” the kale and let the flavors mingle together. The dressing ingredients are approximate so feel free to experiment.

Kale facts

Kale is a member of the cabbage family and is high in Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Manganese. You also get a good amount of fiber, as you might imagine.

There are several varieties of kale to choose from including dinosaur kale, or lacinto, green leaf, red leaf, and Russian red leaf, although my Russian friend claims never to have seen it before. Go figure. Any of these can be used for the salad or even mixed together with a doubled recipe.

Accompaniment

This is fantastic with Black Bean Soup, which can be created by using the left-over black beans. Use a carton of vegetable stock and a cup of cooked beans, heat in a pot (a stainless steel pot), and add cilantro at the end of cooking for added flavor.

I was glad to have soaked the beans over the weekend. On Saturday, I threw a quart-sized mason jar of dried black beans into the crock pot and covered them with water. By Sunday evening, I was ready to begin.

First, I drained out the water and rinsed the beans, refilling the crock pot with filtered water until the beans were covered. Next, I sauteed one organic yellow onion in coconut oil until translucent and added five or so cloves of organic garlic. Then, I tossed the spices in: 2 tablespoons of cumin, 2 tablespoons salt (or maybe 2, and a pinch of red pepper. After stirring the mix all up, I dumped it right into the beans. Lastly, I added a few bay leaves to the pot and stirred it all up.

That’s it! Next, I put the crock pot on low and went to bed. When I left for morning yoga, the aroma left my nose and stomach anxious to try their first meal of the day.

This simple dish went on to become breakfast, then dinner, when I mixed the beans with some slivers of hard goat cheese and left-over rice pasta from the previous night. All this was accompanied by a parsley and mustard salad with Bragg’s Vinagrette (my current favorite).

Most salad dressings are made with canola oil, which I tend not to use from its reported link to certain cancers. Sallon Fallon knows what she’s talking about in this article regarding this “healthy” oil: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/conola.html

To summarize the recipe of the day:

1. 3c. beans (black, in this case)
2. 1 onion, diced
3. 5 cloves garlic
4. 1 tablespoon coconut oil
5. 2 tablespoons cumin
6. 2 teaspoons red chili
7. 3 bay leaves
8. 2 tablespoons sea salt
9. 1 tablespoon curry (optional)

Soak the beans overnight. Drain water, rinse, and place in crock pot or other large pot. Add filtered water until beans are covered again.

Sautee the onion in coconut oil over medium heat until onions are soft, then add garlic. Next, stir in all spices and cook for another minute. Empty onion/spice mixture into crock pot and stir.

Cook for 5 hours on high or 10 hours on low. For non-crock people: Cook the beans for 3 hours on medium heat, adding water as it is absorbed.

Recommended with: rice, quinoa, salad, goat cheese (if you are not sensitive to dairy)