I used to try to avoid eating peaches in public.  Yes, they are delicious and sweet, but all that lovely juice is a guaranteed disaster on a messy eater like me.  I have never managed to eat a peach without having juice trickling down my chin, my fingers, my clothes…  Living in Asia, alas, means that peaches are the least of my problems.  Asian food is just a minefield of potential messiness and disasters, and means kissing goodbye to tidy eating and, often, dignity.  Despite spending four years in Asia I still can’t hold chopsticks correctly, and while I cope with most foods, getting hold of slimy little morsels is still a futile exercise in juggling, dropping and eventually giving up and shovelling things in with sticky fingers.

So peaches are back on the menu, not least in the form of this simple and effective little breakfast.  It’s lovely and summery, and feels healthy despite the butter!

Roasted Peaches

Serves 2, from Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights

Ingredients:

3 ripe peaches

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tbsp butter/sunflower oil

250ml vanilla yoghurt

a little honey

fresh mint leaves (optional)

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 230C.  Wash and halve the peaches, remove the stones and place in a roasting tin.

2.  Mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over each peach half.  Dot butter (or oil) on top.

3.  Roast in the oven – cooking time varies according to the size of the peaches.  The original recipe states that 10 minutes will suffice, but mine were massive and needed more like 30 minutes.

4.  Divide the yoghurt between two bowls.  Top with three roasted peach halves each, drizzle with honey, and garnish with mint if you like.

We hadn’t seen our moms use it in their cooking though, so when we first encountered its popular culinary cousin, the sweet summery basil, we fell in love with its crisp aroma and the heady, minty, anise-like notes it infused in our regular pastas and pizzas. Slowly basil graduated from being just a pretty garnish to a full-fledged ingredient in our kitchen experiments, coolly and often replacing the old standby – cilantro (coriander) in our curries, stir-fries and chutneys. And it’s in a similar vein that we were inspired, one serene Sunday morning, to toss in a cupful of basily goodness into a bowl of whipped eggs, into which were dipped slices of whole-grain bread, to be fried up into savory French Toasts. Topped off with a few dainty cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of salty Parmesan, it easily became our quintessential summer breakfast.

Basil Summer Toast

(Serves 2)

• 3 Eggs
• 1/3 Cup milk
• 1 Cup basil leaves, loosely packed
• Salt to taste
• 2 Pinches crushed red pepper
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 Slices whole-wheat bread, halved
• Olive oil to fry

In a wide, flat-bottomed dish, beat the eggs together with the milk. Put the basil leaves into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, or chop by hand. Add these to the egg mixture along with the salt, peppers, cheese and tomatoes. Stir well.

Preheat a skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Dip a piece of bread briefly into the egg mixture, scooping up lots of the basil on top. Place this carefully in the hot oil. Add another piece of bread the same way. Using a spoon, fish out some of the tomatoes and add to the pan. Once the bread is browned on one side, turn it and cook the other side. Remove the toast and tomatoes from the pan, plate and keep warm or serve right away. Fry the remaining bread, adding more oil to the pan, as needed.

Give a light, summery feel to your plate with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan, some freshly cracked pepper and a few leaves of fresh basil.

v

Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day for kids. It improves their concentration at school and helps maintain a healthy body weight. Also, breakfast often provides some key nutrients including fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin C. Healthy breakfasts don’t have to be big affairs, just balanced by including at least 3 food groups.

• Cereal and Milk and Fruit – This is a breakfast staple for many household. The devil is in the details.
  Portion Size – How BIG is your cereal bowl? Keeping your portion to 1 cup or less is about right.
  Cereal Choice – Look for choices with at least 3 grams of fiber and less than 10 grams of sugar.
  If you want to add more fiber toss on a spoonful of wheat germ or oatmeal.
  Milk – Add 1% Lowfat milk, skim milk, fortified soymilk, or fortified almond milk.
  Fruit – Fresh or frozen berries are easy, banana slices, dried fruit like cranberries or raisins.
• Toasted Waffles – Toasted waffles are a fast choice for late days. Here is how to make it well-rounded.
  Choose between butter or syrup – You really don’t need both to make a tasty waffle. Use the cap of the syrup container to drizzle on a teaspoon of syrup. If using butter or soft margarine, 1 teaspoon is the measurement rule as well.
  Toppings to try – yogurt, cottage cheese, “real” cheese, chopped nuts – These are sources of protein which give you stamina for the day.
  Adding Fiber – You can use whole grain waffles or toss on a teaspoon of wheat germ.
  Fruit – crushed canned pineapple, sliced fruit, ½ cup of fruit juice are all good additions to a waffles breakfast.
  A little whipped topping is ok if you are making your waffle healthier than usual!
• Toast and English Muffins –
  Choose a whole wheat or whole grain product at least ½ the time – Why? More iron, more zinc, more fiber, more flavor…
  Try a nut butter – Get back into the healthy choices nuts provide – peanut, almond, walnut butters are delicious on top of toast. Just serve with juice or low fat milk and you are ready to go.
• Egg sandwiches – Eggs are still a #1 health food when eaten in moderation. Fry up one with a small amount of fat in a non-stick pan, warm a slice of ham, add a slice of “real” cheese, and place in a warm English muffin for a satisfying and delicious breakfast!

Fruit Salad

Make a fresh fruit salad the night before and top with a variety from the following: yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, granola, wheat germ, sunflower seeds.

Smoothies

Have a variety of frozen, fresh or canned fruit available to you so that you can make quick smoothies in the morning.

Just writing about a good, fresh breakfast makes me want to go eat one!

Nutritionally Yours,
Selina Lai, M.S., R.D.

p.s.  Send me your nutrition questions! And I will use them for my blogJ

now that’s breakfast

RECIPE:  1 serving

1/2 cup cottage cheese (curd size and fat content is your own choice)

1 peach chunked (leave skin on)

6 blackberries

1/8 cup shaved almonds

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp honey

*place cottage cheese into a single serve bowl, top with peach chunks, blackberries, and almonds.  sprinkle cinnamon on top of cottage cheese sprinkle, drizzle with honey.

In our house.

Most importantly, Jared is working out a very, VERY important purchase for us.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I will soon be the proud owner of a CENTRAL A/C and heat system.

When this truck pulled up, I cried a little.
Installation is on Tuesday.

Thank you, JESUS.
And Jared.

So, I made a celebratory breakfast for us this morning.

BOOM.
Let the icy cold rooms commence.

I found this recipe on a Paleo/Primal website, called PaleoPlan.com.
Find the original recipe here.

Summer Vegetable Frittata

Get your ingredients together first.
Don’t they look beautiful?

1 1/2 Tbs olive or coconut oil
1 (6″) zucchini, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 Sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
10 Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
4 large eggs

 Heat oil in a 10″ oven-proof skillet over medium heat.
When hot, add zucchini, pepper, onion, thyme, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/8 tsp pepper and garlic.

Cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 5-7 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Stir in tomato.  Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes more or until liquid evaporates.

Combine eggs and remaining salt and pepper and whisk until frothy.

Pour eggs over vegetable mixture and stir gently.
Cover, reduce heat and cook until eggs are done.

Meanwhile, preheat broiler to low.
Finish frittata with 3 minutes under the broiler (until fully set).

DIG IN.

I topped my little frittatas with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan, which isn’t strictly Paleo/Primal.
Anyways.

This dish is naturally low-carb, high in fiber, nutrients, and protein.
And it’s D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

There. That’s all she wrote.
Make it today. Or tomorrow.

Just don’t forget.

Happy Saturday!

Our farewell brunch was cooked by talented Sasha, who, on our final morning in Ithaca, casually whipped up one of her famous frittatas. (They are beautiful to look at, and they taste even better in real life!) This one was studded with sweet corn, basil, feta, and fingerling potatoes. I ate three fat wedges! There was also a mouthwatering tomato and peach salad, tiny blueberries, and a simple green salad. I was really glad I didn’t miss this meal, because I felt bummed after missing this one. Sasha’s food is so special, it made me want to stay forever, which may have been her plan all along.

There are many sweet things about being back in Israel. Tiny countries (or this one, at any rate) have the tendency to feel like an extended neighborhood. There is a sense of one-ness, smallness, and that, “we’re-all-family-here” feeling. Along with that comes everyone treating each other like family, for better or for worse. Shouting at strangers with a vehemence usually reserved for teenage daughters barking at their moms, is not at all uncommon on the streets of Jerusalem. Nor is responding to a stranger’s question with a tone that mixes condescension and playfulness, the way an older relative or sibling might respond. When I’m feeling more Israeli than Bostonian, I find it charming, on days when it is the opposite, well… not so much.

Whatever my mood, the warm weather makes just about any bad day seem a little less so, and good days, even better, as my body continues its great inner-thaw of 2011. And since it is my firm belief (instilled by my dad) that I won’t get very far without breakfast, I must continue to find warm-weather morning-meals, accordingly.

Although I don’t think I’ll ever tire of my favorite granola recipe, it’s good to switch things up a bit sometimes, and with the summer coming a little sooner here, and lasting quite a bit longer than it does in Boston, a lighter, seasonal granola was in order.

Summer Granola, adapted from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman

While it may be a tad controversial, I admit to subscribing to many of the food-rants in the modern-day vegan manifesto, “Skinny Bitch”. I would like to qualify my appreciation of their book by saying that I do not think it is suitable for young girls in particular, because it does — to my mind — come a little too close to equating being “good” (as in, a good person) with being a healthy eater, which as some of us know is a recipe for disordered eating. That being said, they make many excellent points about health, and expose the nasty underbelly of the meat industry in a way that grabs the reader’s attention very effectively.

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups chopped nuts (they recommend sliced almonds, I do a combo of almonds, walnuts and either sunflower or sesame seeds)

3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 Tbs rice syrup (I use date honey, or more maple syrup)

2 Tbs safflower oil, plus more for greasing the baking sheet (I used coconut oil last time, which needs to be melted)

1 cup chopped dried fruit (optional, I don’t like dried fruit in my granola)

Preheat oven to 300°F/149°C

Arrange the oats on a large rimmed baking sheet, stirring occasionally until lightly toasted, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile in a large bowl, combine the nuts, coconut, and salt. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the oil and syrups. Stir the toasted oats into the nut mixture. Add the syrup mixture and stir thoroughly to combine.

Grease the baking sheet. Spread the granola evenly on the sheet and bake, stirring occasionally until golden 25-30 minutes. Stir in the dried fruit, if using, and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Date & Nut Bread

Driving to NJ this week to pick up my mother-in-law and bring here back to Cincy for a visit.  As I plan the meals I decided that one of the breakfasts would be a variety of breads and muffins; served on the deck in the morning sunshine.    There is something relaxing about idling over a second cup of strong coffee and enjoying sweet breads adorned with a bit of butter or some creamy cream cheese.

The good news is I can make these ahead and simply pop them into a plastic baggie and then into the freezer to be rapidly thawed and served almost warm later in the week.  I bake them in 4 inch springform pans so that I can take just the right amount out of the freezer and keep the rest for a later time.  I think I will make some banana muffins, blue berry muffins and maybe a few palmiers just for grins.

Date & Nut Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 81/2 X 41/2 X 3 inch loaf pan.

Put dates, walnuts, baking soda, salt, karo syrup and butter in a bowl. Heat water to the boil and pour on top of date mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Beat eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the flours and stir. Add in the date mixture and stir until well blended. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake 40 -50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slide a knife around pan and invert over a serving plate. May be frozen.

Find the recipes for the muffins, the palmiers and more at emealsforyou.com.

Its summer time here in Hyd and Andhra heat is soaring day by day. And you start making calls to your mom, friend’s mom, granny…great granny….in quest of coolants. There are n-number of cool drinks…the unbeatable SI Neer mor( i do not know the eng/hindi name) , NI lassi, panagam, Mango panna, sweet tea with mint and lots more….but then is there some light meal kind of recipe too??

Any lady of the house would die to get such a recipe which would save her from sweating through the cooking ritual during summer.Here is one such recipe apart from the usual Pazhaya sadham (leftover rice) using broken wheat/rava (see pic).

Ingredients:

Broken wheat/Dalia – 1 cup

Water – 2 cups

Pachai payaru/Green moong dal – 1/2 cup soaked in water the previous night

Buttermilk – a pitcher

For seasoning:

Oil, cumin seeds, salt & chilly powder

Method:

 1.Heat the water in a vessel and empty the rava when it star ts boiling, add salt and cook it well till the rava turns soft. If using a microwave, mix the water, rava and salt and cook it for 3-4 minutes. I used the Mayil mark Rava which I bought from coimbatore, but dalia would work fine too

2.Allow it to cool and meamwhile prepare the pachai payaru. Steam the payaru adding little salt and then in a pan heat a spoon of oil , splutter cumin seeds, add the payaru, salt & chilli and cook it for a minute. Thats it

Once the cooked rava cools down mix it with cool buttermilk to soup like consistency and have it with pickle and payaru. Its wholesome and gives a refreshed feeling instantly