Spinach Not-A-Fritta-Ta

I really wanted a frittata. No eggs, no oil, what was I doing to myself? Until now I really haven't had any of those "oh I wish I could have..." feelings and I surely didn't want to cave in to that, or feel bad about it. So, as with my yoga and meditation practice, I turn to the sandpaper that is grating on me and I look at the surface that is emerging. It is the practice to use the hard parts and the easy parts. So when the fresh spinach looked good at the co-op, I thought, it's going to be a Spinach Not-A Fritta-Ta...  It turned out to be a light, filling lunch with good protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin c and other lovely attributes.  There are lots of possibilities to play with this format, and to mess around with crusts under or over it, thin tomato slice topping or even a different vegetable base. If you don't tolerate soy, you can even skip the tofu and use more of the chickpea flour "sauce" to bind it together.

Spinach Not-A Fritta-Ta

half a bunch of fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
medium onion chopped medium fine
half a block of tofu (7 oz)
10 Picholine green olives in bits (optional)
small zucchini, grated
1 tsp herbes de Provence
1.5 tsp tamari
handful sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
(nice with 1-2 Tblsp tahini)

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Chop spinach, parsley, onion, olives. Grate zucchini.
3. Mash tofu with all the chopped ingredients. Add herbes de Provence and tamari.
4. Put this in a large cast iron fry pan/skillet. Flatten it, mashing it in a little. Put the mushrooms in the top surface, pushing them in a bit. (I used whole little bunashemeji and another time, 3 cut up cremini.)
5. Mix the chick pea flour and soy milk into a medium thick sauce. Pour this onto the surface of the not-a fritta-ta.
6. Bake at the high heat about 10 minutes, then turn it down to 400F for 15-20 more minutes.

This went very well with a slightly spicy kimchee and some sweet grape tomatoes. A delightful lunch for any time. My husband and I immediately started dreaming up variations:  "This would be good with leeks." "Imagine this with a little chickpea flour crust under it, like a quiche." "Could work with broccoli too." etc.  Go ahead -- give it a try with anything you like!  If you leave it in a while longer it will crisp more. Forget the eggs, this is not-a fritta-ta and has its own place in the food pantheon!

Spinach Tofu Not-a-Fritta-ta

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 quarter not-a fritta-ta (161g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	126	6%
Total Fat	6g	9%
Saturated Fat	1g	4%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	313mg	13%
Total Carbohydrate	11g	4%
Dietary Fiber	4g	14%
Sugars	3g	0%
Protein	10g	21%

Vitamin A	11%	•	Vitamin C	39%
Calcium	35%	•	Iron	16%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls

I had four large chard leaves saved for something special. My husband brought home a package of organic white mushrooms on sale because they were truly past their prime. That quick run to the co-op hadn't happened so the dinner project began with what I had on hand. This time I really made it up as I stood there, contemplating the colors, textures and possibilities. Black olives and white apple flesh, black mushrooms with white tofu crumbles, red sun dried tomatoes with the creamy garlic and farro and the vivid green of the chard... well it was just beautiful. A substantial dish, full of nutrition - fiber, protein, lots of trace elements and B vitamins - it offers a beautiful plate!

Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls (Makes 4 full-sized)

4 large chard leaves
1/2 cup farro
4 ounces white mushrooms
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
7 ounces soft tofu
1/2 apple
6 sun dried tomatoes
5 large black Cerignola (or other) olives
2 large garlic cloves
3 scallions
1 cup boiling water to soak mushrooms
1.5 cups water to cook farro

for the sauce:
1/2 cup dry roasted no salt cashews
1/2 tsp agave syrup (or not)
1 Tblsp (or less) Tamari
1/2 cup mushroom soaking water

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Soak dried mushrooms in 1 cup boiling water - this takes about half an hour, so about as long as the rest of construction time. Start farro in about 1.5 cups water. - this also takes about half an hour. Quick steam/water saute large leaves of chard and set aside -- do not overcook!


2. Prepare filling:  chop fresh mushrooms in small bits, mash together with tofu. Chop garlic fine, Chop sun dried tomatoes in strips and chop again in bits (not too small). Chop up apple in small 1/4" pieces. Cut up Cerignola black olives (I cut mine off the pit) into same size bits as apple bits. Chop scallions. When farro is nearly done, take soaked mushrooms out, SAVING liquid and putting 1/2 cup of this aside for the sauce. Cut the stems off, slice the mushrooms and chop across into medium small bits (these will be the chewy counterparts to the farro). Mix all this together with farro (which will still have a chew factor to it when it is "done").


3. Make sauce: chop cashews and put in a bowl, pour the 1/2 cup mushroom soaking water in, add the 1/2 tsp agave syrup and 1 tablespoon Tamari. Puree this but don't worry if there are still bits of cashew remaining in it.

4. Construct your rolls. I did this in the pan, placing the first chard leaf rib down near the edge of a 9X13 pan. plopping 1/4 of the filling along the rib, fold the inner edge up, and put the next leaf down, rib close to the 1st leaf. Fill that leaf and then fold in the top of the 1st leaf, fold in the sides, and roll it onto the folded side, so that the rib is on top. This way you can space the leaves -- and figure out how much filling to put in the remaining leaves. Put the third leaf in, plop in the filling, and then roll up the 2nd leaf, doing the same with the last leaf.  Don't worry if there's a little filling left -- taking a spoon, you can gently lift the end of the stem on each roll and squish in that last bit of filling!  Pour the sauce over the whole thing.

5. Bake at 350F covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for 10 minutes. Serve & Eat!

Nutrition Facts: Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls  Serving Size: 1 chard roll (375g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	285	14%
Total Fat	10g	16%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	468mg	19%
Total Carbohydrate	39g	13%
Dietary Fiber	5g	21%
Sugars	7g	0%
Protein	12g	25%

Vitamin A	10%	•	Vitamin C	33%
Calcium	10%	•	Iron	21%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Green Split Pea Soup

Cold days of February and the imminent arrival of house guests prompted me to consider cooking ahead so that there would be easy lunch or ways to extend dinners. What better than pea soup? Using staple kitchen veggies and organic green split peas from the bulk section of my food coop, this soup is a 15 minute prep, about an hour and quarter or less to cook, a quick puree.  It stores in the fridge for several days, and freezes well too. Makes about 5 pints.

Green Split Pea Soup
1.5 cups green dry split peas
7 cups water
1 onion chopped (medium-large)
3 carrots (chopped)
1 parsnip (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
5 sprigs chopped fresh parsley  (3 Tbsp)
1 medium potato (chopped)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp garlic (fresh or use garlic powder)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt


1. Wash and chop all the veggies. If you like a pureed thick soup, you can cut them in smaller bits and add an extra potato.  If you want to eat it country style chunky, keep the pieces larger.

2. Start with about 1/2 cup of water in the pan and put the onions, garlic, celery into that and soften slightly. Then add all the rest of the ingredients, including all the water, and bring to a boil UNCOVERED. Turn the fire down to a serious simmer, cock a lid on the pot so it is partially covered but there's good air circulation. Cook until everything is soft. Could be 45 minutes, or 1.5 hours depending upon how thick you want it, and how large the pieces are.  Add another cup of water if it cooks down too much too fast.
3. Puree and eat! Very nice with a little fresh pepper, or croutons if you are eating such things.

Split Pea Soup

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving (342g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	187	9%
Total Fat	1g	1%
Saturated Fat	0g	1%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	37mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate	36g	12%
Dietary Fiber	12g	48%
Sugars	5g	0%
Protein	11g	21%

Vitamin A	9%	•	Vitamin C	27%
Calcium	6%	•	Iron	15%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Cabbage Rolls - Stuff em' & Sauce 'em up

It was lunch time of our second day of whole grain/veggie/fruit eating. Sandwiches were no longer in the equation (especially since we had eliminated all the bread from the house and had not yet found the Ezekial sprouted grain breads or the dark rye whole grain flat breads). So I thought, how do I make a lunch that's not a soup or a salad? I thought of those delicious Vietnamese spring rolls, and saw the cabbage in my fridge. This is what happened! With sauces and fillings, these have infinite possibilities. Make this sweet, salty, spicy, nutty, etc. That part is up to you, as is basically ANYTHING you want to put inside a steamed rolled cabbage leaf. There are a few sauces below -- and ideas to get you started.

 Meanwhile, I ransacked the fridge and made variation 1.

CABBAGE ROLLS, variation 1
6 large cabbage leaves
1 cup watercress
bunch of cilantro
1 package enoki mushrooms
some thinly sliced red onion
some thinly sliced red pepper
one dill pickle, thinly sliced, in strips
GARI (pickled ginger - can be bought or follow the recipe to come)

1. Peel 6 large leaves carefully off a head of cabbage, placed them curl side down around a steamer basket in a pot, and steamed them (lid on of course) until the were just soft enough.
2. Lay out one leaf at a time on a plate, curl side up, placing some of each ingredient  along one side of the stem.
3. Roll the leaf edge up and around the ingredients tucking under close to the stem and then roll to the opposite edge. Place on a plate rolled side down! Decorate with a couple thin slices of onion or red pepper or sprig of cilantro -- whatever pleases your eye!

And then for a more substantive meal, Variation 2.
CABBAGE ROLLS, Variation 2


Same exact process, except I cooked the stuffing:
1 sweet potato, peeled & steamed in slices
approx. 1 cup of snow pea pods
approx. 8 shiitake mushroom caps, sliced
clump of fresh parsley
1 TBLSP tamari

1. Steam the sweet potato slices. Steam the cabbage leaves.
2. In a small saute pan, put 1/2 cup water and after de-stemming the snow peas and muhsrooms, place t them in the pan with 1 Tblsp tamari, cover and cook, stirring a bit, until ready to eat.
3. Construct same as above, plopping sweet potato and some of each of the snow peas, mushrooms and parsley inside, and rolling.

SAUCES: Make What You Like! Use these sauces on the Cabbage rolls, but also pour them over plain vegetables, use Peanut Sauce them to make Brussels sprouts into satay ... or the Lemon Savory Sauce to turn Green Beans into a heavenly side dish. All can be used for dipping, or to make leftovers into a party. In fact, making Cabbage Rolls out of small leaves, you can stuff them with anything you like for a party -- olives with mushrooms, curried sweet potato, crunchy edamame and sunflower seeds... what ever you like.  For kids, you can put together small bowls of ingredients and have them roll their own!  Turn cabbage leaves into the new tortilla to lose weight, filling them with your favorite beans, rice and hot sauce!

Mushroom broth:  Use the cooking water from the snow peas and mushrooms and add Black Vinegar.
Peanut Sauce: This is a great addition to nearly any plan vegetable.  1/4 cup peanut butter (we use crunchy with a little salt), 2 Tablespoons Tamari, 1 tsp Black Vinegar, 1/4 cup water -- stirred until well mixed. You can dip in this, or pour it over brussels sprouts ...
Lemon Savory Sauce: Another great one for vegetables (we love it on green beans). Juice of 1/2-1 whole lemon plus about 2 tsp Ume Plum Vinegar -- add garlic if you like -- top veggies with slivered roasted almonds, or just dip your cabbage roll!
Dumpling Style Sauce:  2 Tbsp Tamari, 1 tsp Black Vinegar or white wine vinegar, 1 clove garlic finely chopped, 1/4-1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger root, 1/4 cup water
Miso-ChickPea Creamy Sauce: 1 Tbsp white miso, 3 tsp chick peas (cooked soft or canned), 2 scallions finely chopped, fistful of cilantro finely chopped, 1/2 cup water (hot if you want it on hot veggies)