Jamie Oliver's 9 Food Rules.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Here are my(Jamie Oliver speaking) 9 Food Rules.

1. Cook at home

2. Avoid packaged foods

3. Avoid too much refined sugar

4. Trade refined grains for whole grains

5. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables

6. Teach my kids to cook and use many different ingredients

7. Read labels and reject what I don’t understand

8. Choose food grown and raised close to home

9. Try new foods

I love Jamie’s food rules for day to day life.. Here are a couple of thoughts…

Rule 1: I’m not giving up going out to eat! I love going out to eat. There is a lot I can make at home, but I still love going to my favorite Afghan restaurant, out for sushi, or getting authentic ethnic food of any variety.

Rules 2 & 7: I thought Jamie said the best thing during the show. He suggested reading labels and if they read like your Grandmother’s pantry, buy it, feed it to your kids, and enjoy. If there are lots of ingredients you aren’t familiar with, leave it on the shelf. I tried it this week with a new applesauce with berries, knew lots of the ingredients, and my kids have a new favorite snack.

Rule 4: I’ve almost replaced every grain in our house with whole grain.

Rule 6: In Jamie’s TED talk he suggested kids leave home for college, etc. knowing how to make 6 -9 dishes. My kids can currently make pizza…8 to go. Thank God I have 11 years till they leave.

Rule 8: YEAH local food! Can’t wait for the outdoor markets this week!

Broiled Tuna with Cilantro Sauce and sauté Carrots

Dinner last night was a bounty of local produce. Delicious! The cilantro in our sauce was local, the carrots were local, the leftover asparagus from lunch was local (which the husband said he loved!), and the salad greens and scallions were all local. I’m getting excited about how much is coming from the local markets!!!!

Broiled Tuna with Cilantro Sauce
With help from the directions that came with the tuna and this recipe
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/seared_tuna_with_avocado/

¼ cup fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 T lime juice
¼ cup soy sauce
1/8 t sugar
Salt and pepper

2 tuna steaks

With immersion blender combine first 8 ingredients.

Rinse tuna steak with cold water and pat dry. Baste with cilantro sauce. Broil 4-5 minutes on foil lined cookie sheet with cooling rack placed within (or well greased/lined broiler pan). Turn, baste again, and broil an additional 5-6 minutes. 145 in center.

Serve with additional cilantro sauce.

Sauté Carrots
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1932668

This recipe could be a go to recipe anytime you have carrots. Here is a list of herbs that could replace the sage depending on the time of year and what you have on hand. List compiled from “The Flavor Bible” by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.

allspice, basil, chives, cilantro, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, ginger, nutmeg, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme

“The Flavor Bible” is an index that takes an ingredient and has a list put together by experts on what flavors combine well with that ingredient. I love that book and use it all the time.

Asparagus for Lunch

My friend came for lunch and I served my favorite Asparagus dish, Spaghetti with Shaved Asparagus. I’ve been waiting all year for Asparagus to come back into season to make this dish. We had it for lunch today, but it would also make a great side dish for dinner – carbs and veggies all in one side dish! My favorite thing is shaving the asparagus so that it mimics the spaghetti noodles. They mix together so well! And guess what, it is so simple to make.

Here is the link to the recipe. The only thing I did different was use Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of butter. I made that substitution for the first time and I loved the smell of the EVOO and lemon juice mixing together.

Spaghetti with Shaved Asparagus
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/spaghetti-with-shaved-asparagus

Also at the market...

…Herbs and annuals. I got some herbs and a few flowers (notice they are purple!) for color to make a window herb garden. I’ll have an herb garden outside too (later in the season), possibly these same herbs – we’ll see how the window garden goes. I am not very good with plants, especially house plants. But here is what I got…basil, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, and at a local garden center some cilantro.

How could I get more local than my own kitchen?

Market Menu Week of April 25

I got asparagus, carrots, cilantro, red leaf lettuce, scallions (forgot to put those in the picture), and spinach.

Here’s the plan for the week…

Asparagus – Spaghetti with Shaved Asparagus – I’m making this for lunch with a friend. My husband does not care for this dish. He is CRAZY! See what you think.

Carrots – Sage Carrots, and we’ve been going through these as carrot sticks with hummus at snack time.

Cilantro – tuna with cilantro sauce, garnish

Red Leaf Lettuce – to make a simple salad with herbed-yogurt dressing that will go with a BBQ chicken pizza on tortillas

Scallions – Teriyaki Burgers

Spinach – sauté for dinner one night, maybe with the Teriyaki Burgers

Next week the year round market I've been visiting on Sundays will move outside and my favorite market will begin on Thursdays. YEAH!

Stacked Asparagus, Salmon, Poached Egg Salad

Asparagus is in season! This salad would make a great breakfast/brunch dish or enjoy it for dinner like we did Thursday night.
I’m still learning how to make a poached egg. I have had the most success with suggestions from Marcela Valladolid of the Food Network. I find the instructions in “The Joy of Cooking” to be lacking. Happy Poaching.
The asparagus and egg in this dish were from the market.


Stacked Asparagus, Salmon, Poached Egg Salad
Serves two for dinner
Adapted from http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906375
Poached Egg instructions from
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/eggs-benedicto-chipotle-eggs-benedict-with-blender-mock-hollandaise-recipe/index.html

1 ½ T lemon juice
2 ¼ t grated parmesan cheese
1 t thyme
½ t minced garlic
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
¼ t Dijon mustard
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
2 oz. smoked salmon
2 eggs
1 t vinegar

Combine first six ingredients in a small bowl, stir with a whisk. Gradually add the olive oil, stirring well with the whisk. (I actually combined the first six ingredients with my immersion blender and then kept it running as I slowly added the olive oil.)

Steam the asparagus covered for 3 -4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Divide and arrange the salmon on two plates. Arrange asparagus spears evenly over the salmon.

In a heavy saucepan bring 2 quarts of water to a simmer and add 1 t of vinegar. Break 1 egg into a small bowl or cup and slide the egg into a ladle. Lower the ladle into the water, and hold it there, for 1 minute before removing the ladle and leaving the egg to cook for 2 minutes more. Poach at a low simmer until the whites are firm and the yolks are still runny. Repeat with each remaining egg. Transfer the eggs, with a slotted spoon, hold over a paper towel to dry and then place on top of the salmon, asparagus stack.

Drizzle stack with approx. 1 T of the reserved dressing.

Green Garlic

Ever since I got garlic from my CSA I have not enjoyed any of the garlic I got from the grocery store. I'm so excited garlic is back at the farmer's market. I got a huge green garlic from one vendor and a bunch of smaller garlic bulbs from another vendor. The smaller bulbs almost look like scallions.

You can use the whole thing...bulb, stem, leaves with green garlic. I always ponder how to balance the flavor and color when using the whole green garlic. When I got home from the market I just threw it all into the food processor and got the blend pictured above. I plan to use a teaspoon for every clove called for in a recipe.

Market Menu Week of April 18

Here's what I got at the market this week...green garlic, lettuce, asparagus, carrots, and swiss chard. Here's the market menu...

Lettuce - always good to have on hand. I'm sure I will want a salad with dinner or for lunch sometime this week.

Asparagus - Asparagus, Poached Egg, and Salmon Stacked Salad

Carrots - Roasted Vegetables

Green Garlic - check out my next post.

Swiss Chard - for a friend, but it was so pretty I put it in the picture.

Lasagna with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

The original recipe calls for no-boil spinach lasagna noodles. I couldn’t find those or the suggested alternative, regular spinach lasagna noodles. I used whole wheat noodles. I would also add some crushed red pepper to the sauce in the future to give it a little kick. From the market I used garlic and spinach. This would make a great dish for Meatless Monday. We really enjoyed this dish and will make it again, just remember to give yourself enough time for the prep work – about one hour and then it bakes for 35 minutes and an additional 10 minutes to rest before serving.

Lasagna with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
Adapted from “The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook”

2 T olive oil, plus 2 t olive oil
1 ½ T flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ t crushed red pepper
1 cup plain soy milk
1 cup vegetable stock
2 green onions, sliced
½ cup sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 shallot, minced
1 T fresh parsley, chopped
¼ t salt
6 cups baby spinach leaves
2 cups nonfat ricotta cheese
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg white
12 lasagna noodles (spinach no boil, spinach, or whole wheat)
1 T fresh basil, chopped

In a saucepan, heat 2 T olive oil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and continue to whisk until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the soy milk and stock, cook until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions and sun-dried tomatoes. Set the sauce aside.

In a large frying pan, heat 1 t of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and shallots and sauté until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley and salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 t of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and stir quickly until the spinach is wilted, but still bright green. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat together ricotta, ½ cup of the parmesan, and the egg white. Stir in the spinach and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread ½ cup of the sauce in the dish and cover with three sheets of pasta. Spoon half of the spinach mixture onto the pasta and spread gently. Cover with 3 more sheets of pasta. Top with another ½ cup of sauce. Spread the mushroom mixture on top and cover with another ½ cup of sauce, then a layer of 3 sheets of pasta. Spoon in the remaining spinach filling and top with the last 3 pasta sheets. Add the remaining sauce and the remaining ¼ cup of parmesan. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with the basil.

Fruit Share

I added a fruit share to my CSA yesterday. I'm not sure why I haven't done this before, except that I wasn't sure we would eat the fruit. My kids love berries, berries, berries and I don't think we'll get too many of those.

My husband has always been fine with us having a CSA, but now that he is making an effort to eat healthy he was putzing around the website for the farm our CSA is from. He asked why we didn't have a fruit share. So now we have one. From what I hear the peaches alone are worth the price. AND I figure now I'll have dessert recipes for the blog.

Market Menu Week of April 11

The busyness of our spring break caught me by surprise this year. But, the market was open this morning and I got a few things – eggs, romaine lettuce (the first of the season for that farm), and spinach. I didn’t buy any, but lots of vendors were selling annuals and herbs for the garden or a window box. I’ll keep my eyes on those, but still a little early for planting.

Market Menu

Spinach – I’m going to try a spinach lasagna recipe from the Mayo Clinic Cookbook. I’m also going to make the egg, spinach, ham pizza with a variation and replace the ham with salmon.

Romaine – Salad. I discovered instead of red wine vinegar I bought raspberry vinegar. I’m working out a salad dressing in my head.

Eggs – they’ll be used for the pizza and my kids are currently into hard boiled eggs, a perfect quick lunch.