Minestrone Soup

This flexible recipe is a lovely meal all on its own. It’s specially exciting if you have some pesto and croutons to top it.

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 or 4 carrots, sliced

2 celery sticks (optional, but add lots of good flavor)

4 to 6 cloves garlic

1/2 cup tomato paste, or 1 cup of tomato sauce, or 3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

2 potatoes and/or 1 or 2 zucchini or other summer squash and/or green beans, or other seasonal veggies, chopped

2 cups spinach and/or kale and/or turnip greens and/or beet greens or other seasonal greens

1 tbs fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano

1 tbs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme

2 or 3 bay leaves

8 to 10 cups water and 3 cubes vegetable bouillon or 8 cups liquid vegetable broth

1 tsp salt or more as desired

1 tsp pepper (optional, but cooks in to add wonderful flavor)

1 cup pasta (elbow, rotini or shell pasta works well)

2 to 3 cups cooked white beans (black eyed peas work well, too!)

Optional Toppings—

lemon juice

parmesan or nutritional yeast

parsley

basil

microgreens

INSTRUCTIONS

In a pan, saute onions with olive oil for a few minutes, when starting to become translucent, add chopped garlic, carrots and celery and saute for 3 more minutes. Add a splash of water if it’s looking too dry

In a pot, add the water and bouillon or vegetable broth, cooked beans, sauteed onion, carrots, celery and garlic, chopped potatoes/zucchini, summer squash/green beans, herbs and spices, cover and bring to a medium boil for 10 or 15 minutes, until the potato is cooked through

Add pasta and greens and boil for a few more minutes until the pasta is cooked.

Serve hot and serve with any or all of the optional toppings for your steamy enjoyment!

Delightfully Fresh Strawberry Spinach Salad

I stumbled upon this simple, but delightful combination at Torque Moto Cafe, a woman-owned space that seems to have been one of the local small business losses coming out of this pandemic. Although it’s bittersweet to share this ‘recipe’, this fresh and nourishing dish helps lift my spirits! Here’s my flexible take for you do what you’d like with it—

INGREDIENTS

strawberries

spinach (any mix of salad greens is equally delightful here!)

salt and pepper to taste

Make it a super healthy meal by adding your protein of choice—Try any combination of lightly roasted pecans, walnuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, roasted garbanzos, edamame or even feta cheese.

I love this just as is, but if you’re a dressing-on-your-salad person, try a vinaigrette.

My Mom's Colache Recipe

Colache is a comfort food in our family. It’s what you do when you have a calabacita (zucchini or other summer squash) that’s really big, or your harvest is just so abundant…in short, it’s a great way to use up your summer squash. My mom just moved in with us and my kids are so lucky to have their abuelita around to play, teach and make yummy food. I am so lucky that she’s embracing retirement and spending her time with us. For the first time in my almost forty (!) years, I am getting her to write down some of her recipes for me. Here’s the first:

3 medium zucchini or other summer squash (or 4 smaller ones, or one HUGE one…), grated

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup chopped onion

1 chile (anaheim, or bell pepper if you don’t want it to be spicy), finely chopped (you can also skip the chile entirely to make it more kid-friendly!)

4 tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves

2 cups corn (optional)

1 cup queso fresco, crumbled or grated (optional)

1 cup water

2 cubes veggie bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Add tomato and chile and saute for a couple more minutes

Add water, bouillon cubes, corn and grated zucchini or other summer squash and cook over low medium-low heat for a few more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and top with queso fresco, if you like.

Cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Zucchini (a.k.a. Calabacita) at its Simplest and Most Exquisite

So, every now and then I feel the need to give a shout out to the person who brought a certain dish into my life. Ok, quite often, I feel this. All of my favorite foods have a person tied to them, so many come from moments of awe that something so simple could taste so revolutionarily delicious and nourishing—Rich invented the avocado tacos for me, Marta served up the best steamed broccoli…and this zucchini recipe comes with a big thank you to Ramon, aka Moncho. I am sure he will smile proudly and think I’m a little crazy for crediting him for this. He’s a big meat eater and is always a little stressed, I think, when he invites us over dinner and feels the need to create veggie options. But I do think he is one of my prime examples that it’s the love that goes into the food that makes it amazing. And sometimes, the simpler the dish, the more love it can freely gush out at you. So, here is the simplest and most exquisite calabacita recipe:

Ingredients:

Zucchini

Salt

Pepper (or lemon pepper)

Olive oil

Instructions:

Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise.

In a pan (cast iron is best!) pour a little olive oil and spread it around.

Place the zucchini open face down on the pan.

Cover the pan and let cook for a few minutes.

Flip the zucchini over so the open face is up and add salt and pepper (or lemon-pepper) once the open face is slightly charred and the zucchini is nearly cooked. It’s up to you how well-cooked you like it. If you are happy with the level of crisp on the open face, but would like it to soften up a bit more, add little water after flipping it and cover to cook further. The more you cook it, the softer the zucchini will get. Of course, zucchini can be eaten raw, so there’s not minimum cook time.

That’s it! Serve immediately, alone or as a side. I often make this a quick lunch by serving it with refried beans.

Agua de Melon (Cantaloupe Water)

Cantaloupe!

Few things remind me of my dad growing up like Agua de Melon…ok, lots of things, but this is one close to my heart. Nobody could make agua de melon as good as my dad. He also made agua de sandia (watermelon) and his favorite one to talk about was agua de tomate (yea, tomato). But my favorite is still this one—Agua de Melon. It’s so simple, but so amazing.

Here’s the recipe:

Canary Melon

1/2 a melon, cut into cubes with the peel removed (any other type of melon also works)

juice of 4 or 5 limes (or two large lemons)

water (enough to fill the blender)

a shake of salt

Instructions:

Put all ingredients into blender and blend. Some people strain, but we never did. Once well blended, pour into a pitcher and add more water if you like it less thick. It is important, for maximum deliciousness, to make this on a hot day and put in the refrigerator until it gets very cold. Then pour a big glass and enjoy.

Pesto!

This pesto recipe is might be close to traditional, but I tried to build in some flexibility. The deviations from more traditional recipes are because I like my pesto extra nutty and prefer the vegan option.

Ingredients:

1 cup basil (tightly packed)

2 garlic cloves

1/3 cup pine nuts (traditional, delicious but expensive!!), pistachios (not traditional, but still kinda pricey!) or sunflower seeds (saves you some $)

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil (or more, depending on your preference)

1/8 cup nutritional yeast (this is the vegan option!) or parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp salt

Makes 1 cup.

Instructions:

There are a few ways to do this.

Method 1: To destress (if you’re not in a hurry!) get your molcajete out (your mortar and pestle for those of you not familiar with the Spanish term with Nahuatl roots) and put your strength into grinding. I recommend you do the garlic first, then your nuts or seeds of choice, and add the basil last, a little bit at a time. Your setting yourself up for frustration if you pile the basil in—it’s just a lot harder to grind so many layers of leaves at a time. For me, it’s unsatisfying! But if you add two or three leaves at a time, you can really take pleasure in the meditative transformation of the beautiful leaves into a bright paste. After the garlic, nuts or seeds and basil is ground, scrape it out into a dish and then add the salt, nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese and, finally, the olive oil. This is where you decide how thick to make your pesto. If you don’t want it so think, add more oil.

Method 2: Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Or, put it in a slightly oversized dish (like a 2-cup pyrex container, for example) and use the immersion blender directly in the dish. This is not the fastest, but by far, the easiest clean up if you can manage to keep the immersion blender immersed below the level of olive oil so that it doesn’t spray everywhere when you start to blend.

Final tip: It took me a long time to assimilate our italian roommate’s discovery that the way to mess up pesto is by adding too much garlic. I love garlic so that was hard to hear. I think he’s right though because the power of raw garlic can easily overwhelm. (This from a person who’s mouth waters at the thought of taking a bite of the fresh whole garlic clove!) So, the tip is—When in doubt, add less garlic.

Serve with pasta, in place of tomato sauce on pizza, or over soup—our family favorite (Thanks, Tio Kooki for this!) white bean pesto soup (I’ll post that recipe soon!).

Rice with Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Cauliflower and Carrots

Spring 2021 UPDATE —I’m stepping up the veggie load but the goals of this recipe remain the same— to keep it simple, quick (but not bland!) AND somehow exciting enough that both of my kids will eat their veggies. That said, I’m sharing two variations because…no single variation is seemingly successful with both of my currently very particular kids. The difference is simply that my 5-year-old (now 6-year-old) will eat the veggies if they’re chopped up beyond recognition and magically transformed into colorful “sprinkles” that make the rice “rainbow”. My two-year-old (now 3-year-old), on the other hand, loved big chunks of vegetables that she could grab individually and stuff into her mouth. Apparently, now she’s flipped and joined the “sprinkles” club. So here goes—Rice with Bok Choy and Carrots!

Ingredients:

1 tbs whole cumin seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbs toasted sesame oil

1 bunch of green onions, chopped (optional, if this isn’t a dealbreaker for the kids. Currently, it is for one of mine…)

3 cups rice

2 to 3 cubes bouillon (I use veggie bouillon.) Two cubes may be plenty, depending on how salty you like it.

1 bunch bok choy and/or swiss chard (thinly sliced, or chopped obsessively into “sprinkles”)

12 tiny carrots, or 6 regular-sized, sliced (or finely grated into “sprinkles”)

1/2 head of cauliflower more or less, grated into ‘rice’ or roughly chopped into ‘arbolitos’ (little trees)

microgreens (optional, for garnish!)

Instructions:

1. In a pot (preferably one with a thick bottom so rice doesn’t burn so easily) over medium heat, add sesame oil, cumin seeds, coriander and optional green onions and stir fry for a minute

2. Add rice and stir fry for another minute (I hear this helps get rid of some of the starch that brings blood sugar levels up…)

3. In a cup of hot water, dissolve the bouillon cubes and add to pot. Add 4 1/2 more cups water and the veggies (carrots, bok choy, swiss chard and cauliflower).

Cover with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.

Garnish with microgreens, if you like, and enjoy with your favorite protein (Try mung beans or peanuts!) for a complete meal.

Fried Green Bananas

If you have access to a banana tree and are feeling impatient, or perhaps, the tree falls over before the bananas ripen on the stalk (which may have happened last week to us!), it’s good to know that eating green bananas is actually better for you in a couple of ways, though both ripe and unripe bananas are nutritious. So, here’s a few ideas on how to use green bananas, and a recipe of sorts:

Put them in a paper bag for a couple of days. When they start to turn yellow (or not), try frying these semi-green bananas in palm or coconut oil with a sprinkle of salt. Spice them up with any or none of these: paprika, crushed garlic, cayenne pepper and/or lime juice.

Think about the benefits of the green banana’s resistant starch and pectin that contribute to your gut health and blood sugar regulation. Dream about a trip to central america where you can get these left and right! (C:)

Laotian-Inspired Eggplant

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs. roasted sesame oil

• 3 cups cut into 1 inch slices Japanese eggplant

• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes tomatoes, cut in halves

• 3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce

• Juice from one orange

• Juice from one lime

• 1 tbs miso

• 1 box pea shoots

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint (optional)

Instructions

Heat oil in wok or large pan over high heat. Add eggplant, onion and garlic and stir-fry 6 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and stir-fry for two more minutes. Add soy sauce, orange and lime juice, and pea shoots and cook 2 minutes more. Garnish with mint. Serve over rice.

You can add tofu to the stir-fry to make it a complete dinner. Add your favorite pepper to spice it up. I’m learning to do this on my own plate, to keep it palatable for my kids. It’s tough not making everything spicy right from the start!

Eggplant and Zucchini Fries

Check out this article Do You Really Need to Salt Eggplant and other recipe ideas for this strange and nutritious fruit.

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants (cut into 1 inch slices, then cut each slice into 1 inch sticks)

1 large, two medium or three small zucchinis (cut into 1 inch thick sticks)

3 eggs

1 cup almond flour

1 cup corn meal or bread crumbs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast

2 tsp salt

spices of your choice (I like 1 tsp each oregano or italian seasoning mix, paprika, garlic powder and black pepper)

olive oil

Instructions:

In a small bowl, blend the first five dry ingredients (including the spices)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a fork

then add the eggplant and zucchini sticks and mix with the egg.

Sprinkle with the dry mixture until well coated

Place on a tray lined with parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

Don’t even take out the sauce if you want kids to love them as is… or dip in a marinara or barbecue sauce as a special treat.