Fabulous Potato Leek and Spinach Soup

by Zita Harkaran Posted on October 7, 2012

Hi everyone,
It’s been a while since I posted anything to my unsweetness blog. In my admin page I have many drafts with great recipes that I enjoyed, but unfortunately I never got to publish them.

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I have to get this one out. Here is a short background story. Since Macrobiotic Millet recipe I fell in love with the simple but flavorful vegetable called leek and basically replaced onion in every dish with it. Since then i wanted to try leek and potato soup. And as you can see I waited looong time to make it.
Maybe it’s because I underestimate soups. I mean, who wants to go through all the peeling, chopping, cooking, dish washing and only end up with soup, right…?
Well arrival of my little baby angel Arianna (she was the main reason for my blog absence), had finally gave me the final push to make this soup. I’m the first time mom so when I started breastfeeding, I blamed everything I ate for Arianna’s crying. There are a lot of articles on the internet that tells you what breastfeeding moms should not eat (almost everything) and articles about what we should eat are vague and general. The bottom line is, no one can know for sure because every baby is different. I tried eliminating a lot of different foods (milk and dairy products, onion, garlic, peanuts, chocolate, wheat, potatoes …) at one point I ate only spinach salad (for the iron). But I missed warm cooked meal so I decided to make this soup. The left over spinach came in handy when I got the genious idea to add it into potato and leek soup!!!

Please make it, you won’t regret it. Just not when you are breastfeeding your newborn. Lol. It gave my baby horrible gas and made me feel pretty guilty. It was well intended though. For a really great soup for breastfeeding moms please check out this incredibly simple soup. Courtesy of my mom and her internet research.

Potato, Leek and Spinach Soup

2 leeks
2 medium red potatoes
2 cups of chopped spinach
3 tbs of butter
3 cups of water
1 cube of vegetable bouillon

1/2 tsp of thyme

Chop leeks and sautee them in butter until translucent then add thyme, bouillon and water. Bring water to boil.
Add small cubes of potatoes and let it cook for about 10 minutes (smaller the potatoes shorter the cooking time). When potatoes are almost done throw in chopped spinach and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Transfer half of the soup to a blender and blend. Mix it together with unblended soup. This way you’ll have creamy/solid soup. First I didn’t think I’ll blend my soup partly, because of laziness but I’m glad I did. …Maybe I should get the hand blender…

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Pickled Red Onions and Beet Salad

by Zita Harkaran Posted on April 18, 2012

I love pickled onions but I don’t get to eat them enough since there are only few places that serve them. So what is one to do? Make it yourself. Actually not being able to get what I want has draw me to cooking in general. Peaches, a restaurant in my neighborhood, serves red pickled onions on a beet salad and that’s where I got my idea for this weekend’s dish.

The weather has been beautiful this weekend and all I wanted to eat was some light vegetables and fruit. This amazing beet salad with freshly made pickled onions has totally hit the spot and turned out very similar to the one at Peaches.

Now to the pickled onions. I have researched many recipes most of them use red vine vinegar, which is unacceptable in my case because I can’t stand the smell of vinegary red vine. I guess it comes from bad experience with cheap red wine…? Plus all I had at home was regular white vinegar.

I decided to try the base recipe from Simply Recipes (their mango salsa is OUT of this world) and compliment with spices I like. The result? Amazing! The sweetness of onions comes through the vinegar and the strong oniony smell is gone. It’s simple and quick to make, the taste is perfect and it will last refrigerated for more then a month.

 

Ingredients: 

2-3 medium onions

1 1/2 cup of vinegar

1/2 cup of sugar

3 bay leaves

6-7 pepper corns

Process:

1. Cut up onions and throw them in a pan with boiling water. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Drain all the water in a colander.

2. Meanwhile combine vinegar, sugar and spices in a saucepan and bring it to boil. When it starts boiling, cover up, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Add onions into the vinegar mixture, cover and let it simmer for 1 minute. By now you should see characteristic red color to emerge.

4. Transfer into a glass jar with a cover. Let is sit open for about 2 hours to cool down and then close the top and store in a fridge. Taste gets better in next 24 hours but I couldn’t wait and had to use it in my salad couple hours later.

This is what I mixed in the salad:

Baby arugula, fresh radish, shredded beet salad since this what I had on hand, tangerines, of course my pickled red onions and light raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

***Sunday 4/15: I have started a little windowsill garden. I have planted radishes, onion and lettuce. I can’t wait how will they come out tasting, if they will come out at all. It would be so wonderful to be able to grab some lettuce leaves right from my window. I will keep you updated on my windowsill gardening.

Here is 1 of 2 pots:

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Caraway Soup (for breastfeeding moms)

by Zita Harkaran Posted on October 8, 2012

Just a day or two after I came home from the hospital after the birth of my baby, my mom calls and demands to tell me two soup recipes. My body is still in pain after c section, my mind is so blurry that I have to stop mid sentence because I can’t remember what I wanted to say and of course there is the constant worry about the baby. So I kindly asked my mom to email me these recipes because I don’t feel like processing anything to my memory. She refused, saying there is nothing to write that’s how simple they are. So at the end of our conversation she tells me this recipe. It went in one ear and out the other but it did seem simple so next week when we talked I asked her to repeat it again.

It’s one of those easy to make dishes that have very distinct and grounding flavor you’ll remember for a long time despite their simplicity. And I admit, it made me and Arianna feel pretty good.

Caraway soup

2 tbs of butter
1/2 tsp of caraway seeds
3 cups of water
2 tbs of whole wheat flower
3 eggs
Salt or soy sauce to taste

Process:
Melt butter in a medium pot. Add caraway seeds and let them fry up for about 2-3 minutes. Next, add flour which will thicken the soup. Make sure you mix it well so you don’t burn it. Then add water and bring it to boil. When water is boiling throw in eggs and mix them thoroughly with the soup. Just like egg drop soup. I like to add soy sauce to taste.
This serves 2.

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Beet-Carrot Casserole Recipe

by Zita Harkaran Posted on August 22, 2012

This recipe is from the book Foods for Health and Health Healing by Yogi Bhajan. The book states this dish is cleansing to the liver and the digestive tract.

What you gonna need:

2 bunches of scallions (approx. 2 cups chopped), 3 cloves of garlic, 1-2 tbs of ghee or vegetable oil, 1 bunch of beets (approx. 1 and 1/2lbs.), 1lb. of carrots, 1lb, of grated cheese (any that you like), 2 tbs of soy sauce, freshly ground black pepper.

Scrub the beets and carrots from any dirt, don’t cut of roots or stems. Steam the beets whole (if you don’t have a steamer just fill the bottom of a soup pot with water and cover it. After about 15 -20 minutes add carrots and steam them additional 10-12 minutes until they are tender but firm.

Meanwhile saute scallions and finely chopped garlic in oil or ghee for about 3 – 5 minutes. Cool of your veggies and remove the outer peel. This should come off very easily now.  Grate the beets and carrots but keep them separate to preserve their colors. Then toss them together with scallions that you just sauteed and generously sprinkle with black pepper.

Now you are ready to place your mix in oiled casserole dish. Sprinkle with soy sauce and cover with grated cheese. Broil in the oven until cheese is golden brown.

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Rabanada – Brazilian French Toast

by Zita Harkaran Posted on April 5, 2012

So… I know this blog is suppose to be about healthy eating but I just couldn’t resist to not make this at home the other day and then not to share it with you. Let’s not forget it is also time for wonderful spring holiday called Easter, which celebrates birth and life in general with tables full of rich foods of all kinds.

This Brazilian French Toast is rich and sweet and sooo good for you (for your soul more than your body). I felt so guilty yesterday as I finished the whole batch of this delicious breads in one sitting at 10:30 at night!!!! So embarrassing!

When I first discovered Brazilian French Toast few years ago on Chow’s website, I knew this recipe will stay with me forever and it is my responsibility to make Rabanada for mine and everyone else’s children and grandchildren.  It’s perfect for messing up your hands and then licking up your fingers. Plus even after a day or two in a fridge these wonderful bread still taste amazing.

Oh… here is a little background scoop. In Brazil this is served on Christmas morning after the bread was soaked overnight. It is also common to have during Easter as well. I love traditions, especially the ones with international twist.

Taste best when served with a fresh fruit like raspberries or blackberries.

Here you go no more talking let’s share:

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sweet or sourdough baguette
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Vegetable oil, for frying

Process:

1. Night before slice up stale or fresh baguette to about 3/4 inch thick.

2. mix eggs, condensed milk, regular milk, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl.

3. Soak you baguette slices in the egg and milk mixture then snugly line up on to baking sheet cover up and let it soak for at least 4 hours or over night.

4. The original recipe suggest using a lot of oil but I did’t find it necessary. Just make sure the oil is nice and hot and when you put in your french toasts. Let it fry up on medium low for about 4-5 minutes on each side.

5. Last step, let your slices rest on paper towel and while still hot cover them in mixture of sugar and cocoa powder. Arrange on a plate serve with fresh berries and enjoy.

*I tried variation of cocoa powder and sucanat and although it didn’t look as pretty because sucanat doesn’t melt like sugar, I preferred the taste. It still had that chocolaty flavor but with a little less sweetness.

Another variation that I might try next time is using less condensed milk and more of regular milk it might make the bread juicier.

Try it out this Easter, I know will.

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Absolutely Perfect Cole Slaw (not counting weeks)

by Zita Harkaran Posted on March 18, 2012

In past weeks I’ve been doing quite a little bit of cooking but not posting about it. To be honest mainly because it somehow didn’t come out very good. For example last week I was excited to try this creation of mine, wild rice with sweet potatoes and sweet pepper. Nope it didn’t work, I didn’t like it at all, potatoes had no flavor and rice was too dry, and … but enough about unsuccessful concoctions. Today I looked through my pictures and decided to write about this successful, light and healthy cole slaw.

I discovered this recipe on Honest Fare blog (what a wonderful site) and tested it out on Super Bowl Sunday. I was going to see the game at my friend’s place and traditionally these gathering are not known for variety of fresh and easy to digest vegetables therefore, cole slaw sounded like a nice to compliment to bring to a Super Bowl feast.

With cabbage and fennel as its main ingredients this cole slaw works as a powerful grinder in your belly. Fennel, especially, helps digestion and makes you feel fresh and light even after a heavy meal. In cooking we use many different parts of this plant from bulb through seeds to pollen. In this case, recipe calls for fennel bulb. And ladies, I just read on wikipedia that fennel is a source of phytoestrogens, which promote growth of breast tissue.

Ok there are also other wonderful ingredients in this recipe, like almonds and greek yogurt to add a little fat…

*I have to digress a little bit, is anyone else except me bothered by the fact that except greek yogurt you can’t find full fat yogurt anywhere in a supermarket? Before Fage came to the market there was no yogurt with fat in it. I know it because I was looking for it. Low fat and no fat yogurt varieties are just too blend, but unfortunately they were the only option for a long time. So for years I would not buy yogurt. People fell in love with Fage greek yogurt not because of the ‘greek’ flavor but because there is finally something that is authentic and actually tastes like yogurt and not like water down curled milk with sour cream. Please go to your local supermarket and look for a regular yogurt that is not low or fat free, let me know what you’ll find. I’m not saying regular yogurt doesn’t exist but it is pretty rare.

What a disappointment I experienced recently, Stonyfield (great organic yogurt brand) doesn’t want to be left out on a greek yogurt hype so they created their own greek yogurt under brand Oikos. It intrigued me because they had chocolate flavor and with my pregnancy in a full swing everything with chocolate sounds amazing. I have to say it is pretty… pretty… good. After eating maybe 2 or 3 of these little containers I discovered it is BIG O% FAT!!! Normal person would say, good for you, you omitted on having all those bad calories from fat. But I’m thinking like this, do you know what sort of extra stuff they had to add to this yogurt to make it taste real? And what a difficult chemical process it had to go through to end up 0% fat? Nature created milk with fat and therefore yogurt as well, please give me a chance to choose my fat and eat foods the way they were intended.

Thanks for reading, just had to get this out of my system. This cole slaw recipe is definitely a keeper and I will try to include it other food festivities.

Here is the recipe which I adopted from Honest Fare

1/2 head of green cabbage, 1 fennel bulb, 3/4 cup slivered almonds, 3/4 cup greek yogurt, Juice from 1 lemon, 1/3 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste), cracked black pepper to taste, 1 tsp poppy seeds, splash of water, splash of white vinegar

  1. Cut fennel bulb into thin strips. Quarter head of cabbage and cut 2 quarters into thin strips (reserve rest for other use). Toss in large bowl.
  2. Place yogurt, salt, garlic powder, lemon juice, vinegar, cracked black pepper and tiny splash of water in bowl and whisk well. Pour dressing over cabbage and fennel. Toss. Add in almonds and toss evenly. Add in poppy seeds and toss again. Add any additional salt or pepper to taste.
Bon Appetite

Zita

 

 

 

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Week 28th: Granadier’s March (pasta)

by Zita Harkaran Posted on February 16, 2012

 I am back, back to writing for my favorite blog! Last month was pretty hard on me, not only I was working long hours but I was also experiencing some pregnancy tiredness, nausea and had lack of interest in the outside world. Yes I can’t believe I’m saying it so publicly, I am just about 4 months pregnant (14 weeks). This dish exactly represents perfect meal for nausea. It is comforting, simple in flavor, easy to make and comes with pickle. Just looking at the picture makes me want to make it again. I’ll probably will! I totally understand if the picture or the ingredients seem boring to you. This not at all true about the taste. I guarantee you it will surprise you, how wonderful it is. 

Granadier’s March what an interesting name right? This is indeed official name for this traditional dish in Slovak cafeterias. I did a little research about the origin of this funny name and didn’t find anything in whole wide web of Slovakian internet. I guess the name is so deeply rooted no one ever ask why is it Granadier’s March? Duh…

Well I found an answer on a french blog Vie Slovaque written (I guess) by one Slovak immigrant. Thank God for Google translate because my French is not the best. Basically it said that this was favorite dish of soldiers in Austro-Hungarian army and as well of Emperor Franz-Joseph.

It’s something that we would have for Saturday Lunch after we cleaned up the whole house. Tired and hungry with no time for shopping the lunch has to be very simple, easy to make and ingredients had to be handy.

 

This is what you gonna need:

2 -3 large potatoes, 2 onions (medium size), 1 Tbs of fresh paprika, 1/4 cup of oil and one box of small sells pasta 1 Tbs of salt

1. Boil potatoes with their skin on, until soft. Set water to boil for pasta

2. Meanwhile you can chop up onion and fry it up in oil until translucent and golden. When that’s done add 1 Tbs of paprika and mix it all together.

3. Peel potatoes and cut them into small squares. Add them to your onion mixture and mix well. For even better taste you can mix in some butter and salt to taste.

4. Hopefully by now your pasta is cooked and you can slowly add it to potato onion mixture. From experience I would recommend this approach no the opposite because you might end up with not enough potatoes for pasta.

Enjoy with pickle. That’s classic.

 

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Week 27: Sweet and Spicy Carrot Bisque

by Zita Harkaran Posted on February 15, 2012

Carrot Bisque sounded very good, adding bananas and coconut milk to it even better. I could almost taste it in my mouth. It was sweet, smooth, a little bit sour and creamy. In reality it didn’t turn out anything like what I imagined.  To tell the truth it tasted too much like a curry. I will definitely make this soup again, probably sometimes in summer but with some adjustments. That’s why in my ingredients list you’ll see my adjustments [noted with*]. You may choose to follow them or not, it’s up to you. I know I will.

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. canola oil 1 medium yellow onion [*1/2 a cup], 1 tsp. plus 1 pinch salt, 2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger [*1Tbs of ginger], 1 Tbs. curry powder [*pass on this one], 1 pinch cayenne pepper 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch rounds (4 cups) 1 ripe banana [*make it 2 bananas], 1 13.5-oz. can light coconut milk, divided 2 1/2 Tbs. lime juice

Directions
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and pinch of salt, and sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in ginger, and cook 1 to 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add curry powder, cayenne, and 1/4 cup water. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring to coat onion and ginger with curry mixture.
2. Add carrots, banana, 1 tsp. salt, and 4 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes, or until carrots are soft enough to be pierced with fork.
3. Purée soup in batches in blender or food processor. Return soup to pot, and stir in 1 cup coconut milk and lime juice.
4. Simmer remaining 3/4 cup coconut milk in small saucepan over medium-high heat 10 minutes, or until reduced by half.
5. Ladle soup in bowls, and swirl 11/2 Tbs. coconut milk reduction into each serving.

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Week 26: Chickpea Kale Rolls (and what they became)

by Zita Harkaran Posted on January 13, 2012

I had dried chickpeas in my pantry for quite some time, because I was not sure how to take advantage of them. Then I came across this recipe in Vegetarian Times and was instantly sold. The recipe has no gluten, minimal oil, it is vegan and has kale which is like a super vegetable these days. Another big plus for this recipe, I only needed to buy fresh kale leaves, all the other ingredients I already had at home. That’s how simple this recipe is.

I learned that preparing a dish from dried beans is not very difficult but it does require some planning ahead. So night before I soaked about 1/2 cup of chickpeas in 2 cups of water. When I was ready to start cooking, I just put chickpeas in a pot with fresh water and let them cook until they soften (maybe 20-30 minutes). Basically the longer you soak them shorter you have to cook them. In my opinion dried beans are so much tastier, plus they have long shelf life and don’t take up a lot of space.

As my chickpeas were cooking i had time to prepare

1/2 cup of chopped onion, 1 tsp. olive oil, 11/2 vegetable boullion cubes, 1/2 cup thai jasmine rice, 11/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, 12 large Lancinato kale leaves with ribs removed.

Process:

I warmed up oil in a pan and fried up onion for about 3 -5 minutes until light gold. Next I added all other ingredients cooked drained chickpeas, rice, boullion, cumin, paprika and two cups of water.

Bring to boil and cover with tight fitting lid for 15 – 20 minutes.

Original recipe didn’t mentioned prepping kale in any way but I know it can be little bit rough and bitter when raw so I steamed it for few minutes.

By them my chickpea mixture was ready and I started rolling it in my freshly steamed vibrantly green kale leaves.

While chickpea mixture tasted so awesome, kale leave wrap was not really complimenting it in any way. It was hard to hold, stuffing was coming out and the bitter taste of kale was not completely eliminated.

So I said forget the rolls, I’m just gonna prepare kale separately. From Week 8 I learned that kale can be cooked in oil, balsamic vinegrette and soy sauce with amazing results.

What did I had to loose? Awkward rolls oppose to perfectly balanced light dinner? Results were extremely satisfying, I want to make it all the time!!!

I will be on a look out for these sort recipes. Everyday cooking needs to be simple to make, simple to shop for, easy to digest, and have a lot of nutrients. If anyone knows of these sort of recipes please let me know.

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Week 25: Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies

by Zita Harkaran Posted on January 11, 2012

It was only a few days after New Year’s celebration, when I remembered I need to deliver one more Christmas gift. My husband had requested home made butter cookies and since Holidays were spend shopping, cleaning, and of course visiting families, we agreed on a later delivery of this special gift.

I found my recipe on Smitten Kitchen and slightly adjusted it. I can definitely see Deb’s (Smitten Kitchen) strong feature is in making sweets. These cookies came out absolutely heavenly. You know sometimes it’s hard to judge your own creation; is it me being hungry, or is it me being surprised at my abilities, or is it just really really tasty? That’s why I love to hear from other people. The best compliment actually is when someone remembers a particular dish you made later on. It means it wasn’t just great at that moment but it also agreed with their digestive system and left a mark in their memory. I had few of these sort of dishes this Holiday season.

But back to my cookies, in my humble opinion these come out as best as they could. I was worry that maple syrup will make it too sweet. But I didn’t have to worry, there was no flavor that was overpowering the other. Maple syrup added smoothness and it’s distinctive flavor, nutmeg a little spice, you could even taste a little salt which went very well with butter flavor. I see a little bit more baking in my future this year ;)

 

Recipe:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup maple syrup, I used Grade A, 1 large egg yolk, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon table salt

1. with electric mixer beat together sugar with butter until light and fluffy. In separate bowl whisk flour, nutmeg and salt.

2. add these too mixtures together until combined.

3. gather the dought and wrap it in a plastic wrap. Let it lest for about 2 -4 hours in your fridge.

4. Take out the dough and wait till it gets closer to room temperature. Cover your working surface and rolling pin with flour and start making 1/4 inch thick sheet of dough. Use your cookie cutting form to cut out any shapes you like. ( I only used wine glass, since I don’t bake that often)

5. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Until you see that your cookies are changing colors and getting slightly darker hues, specially around the edges.

 

*****At last I have to apologize, I wont be making my cooking videos for a while. But I promise I will get back to them as soon I will have time. My cooking though, is still going strong. Stay tuned!

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