Edible Explorations Book Club: Grub by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry

Grub: ideas for an urban organic kitchen, by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry, is in many ways similar to Mark Bittman's Food Matters, recently reviewed here. Grub is divided into two main parts: a discussion of organic food and how it relates to our health, diet, environment and the American food industries, and a selection of "Grub"-style menus with recipes and wine suggestions. Essentially, Lappe and Terry are outlining a new dietary plan involving organic and whole grain food, and focusing on home-cooking.

Part 1 is written by Lappe, highlighting the reasons for supporting the organic movement, and debunking many of the arguments against organic farming, such as efficiency, cost, and lack of product choice. She makes a strong argument for why you, the reader, should adopt the authors' plan (called Grub), and outlines how to prepare your kitchen and pantry for this new style of eating.

One small section I found very helpful was the Cheat Sheet for a Cocktail Party, consisting of the "top 10 reasons why eating grub is a very good idea". These are short elevator speeches you can use at parties or when you end up in a discussion with someone skeptical of the organic movement (if you, yourself are a supporter of course).

The second part of the book, written by Terry, is full of Grub recipes, divided by theme and season. Many of the recipes sound very good, and he incorporates Tina-approved ingredients, such as whole wheat pasta and other whole grains. I did think some of the meals had too many elements, calling for a substantial amount of time in the kitchen and the creation of a lot of dishes. This is something I try to take into consideration, especially when cooking during the week. Perhaps those menus could be saved for a special occasion.

Check out the Grub website for more information on the recipes and shopping lists.

Hummus

One of my favorite snacks and sandwich spreads is hummus. I like it on bagels, in wraps, or on just about any kind of sandwich. I have also found it to be good with salads. Hummus tends to travel very well, so I like to bring it when am bringing my lunch with me to work, for a picnic or anywhere really.

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 of a lemon, juiced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 tbs. olive oil
3 tbs. tahina (or more to taste)
3 pinches chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. paprika
2 tbs. water
Salt, to taste

Place chickpeas in a food processor and blend to break down. Add tahina and water, blending until beginning to form a smoother paste. Add crushed garlic and half of the lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Add 2 pinches chopped parsley, cumin, paprika, salt and rest of lemon juice. Process until well mixed.

With the processor running, add the olive oil until blended. Taste the hummus and add more garlic, tahina, lemon juice, or seasoning as desired. This makes a fairly thick hummus that lends itself to sandwiches, but if you desire a looser, creamier texture, you could add more tahina or water to loosen the mixture.

Garnish with parsley, whole chickpeas, paprika or olive oil.

Edible Explorations Book Club: Food Matters by Mark Bittman

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, by Mark Bittman, is just plain fun to read. His writing is very accessible, flows well and his recipes are easy to follow, often lending themselves well to customization. The first half of the book is a general overview of Bittman's healthy eating plan - how he changed his way of eating and why. He discusses the sordid details of the meat industry, the American diet, and how this has changed for the worse in recent history. Bittman offers not a diet, but a lifestyle change, and makes it sound easy and fun. This is a great book for someone looking to change how and what they eat, but who doesn't quite know where to begin. He even offers a sample meal plan for a month.

As previously alluded to, the wonderful thing about this book is that it is completely pliable for each individual. Bittman's plan is very general and flexible. Each reader can adjust to his/her personal tastes. In line with this, the second half of the book provides 75 recipes, divided into each meal of the day. These are general, with ideas for substitutions and customization. This section includes some great ideas on how to incorporate whole grains, small amounts of meat and increased amounts of fruits and vegetables into your diet.

I highly recommend giving this book a read. It is very informative in terms of the food industry in this country as well as personal nutrition. My only criticism is that Bittman is sometimes too general when specifics would benefit his readers. For instance, in the section on stocking your kitchen, he doesn't give specific ideas about what ingredients are best to keep around (spices, specific grains and vegetables, etc.). For people who have not cooked much previously and are looking to start fresh, it would be a good idea to give more information.

Update: Homemade Peanut Butter, Take 2

In my first post, I discussed my first attempt at making peanut butter at home. Since then, I have been working on the recipe, trying to make it healthier and smoother. I think I have made some improvements on both fronts, and am set on relying solely on homemade peanut butter from now on.

My new-ish and improved recipe is as follows:

15 oz. roasted, unsalted peanuts
~1/2 tsp. salt (no more, but can be slightly less)
1 tbs. honey
1 tbs. grapeseed oil

Add the peanuts to your food processor in small batches, making sure that all of the peanuts are broken down and beginning to clump together before adding the next batch. Once all of the peanuts are in the machine, run the food processor for a few minutes, until the natural peanut oils have been extracted and the mixture is becoming a paste. Add the salt and honey to the peanuts and blend together for a few minutes, until the mixture resembles a ball of dough. With a spatula, spread the peanut butter out, so it is not clumped in one big ball. While you run the processor again, add the oil and let blend together with the mixture. You will want to stop the machine occasionally to make sure none of the peanut butter is sticking to the underside of the blade. When you think the peanut butter is done, let the machine run for about another minute.

The key seems to be to keep processing the mixture longer than you think you need to. The longer you let the peanuts process, the more natural peanut oil is released, and the less oil you need to add.

I have reduced the amount of honey by 1/2 tbs. and the amount of oil by 1 tbs. This has, of course, greatly helped the calorie content of my peanut butter since many of the calories came from the grapeseed oil.

Since I began making this at home, I have noticed that we are not going through our peanut butter jars by week's end, as we used to do with store-bought peanut butter. I believe this is due to the robustness and increased peanut flavor in my homemade variety. We don't need to use as much on our sandwiches because the consistency is much thicker. Thus, we are now saving money by making the peanut butter at home.

Adam's Vegetable Paella

My husband, Adam, recently made this for dinner, and I feel that this meal encompasses much of what Edible Explorations is all about. This meal is both healthy and frugal, and can be adapted for all seasons, thus promoting the use of local ingredients. Many of the ingredients are flexible, meaning that substitutions can easily be made depending on what you have at home or what you can easily obtain.

The type of paprika you use is optional (it does not have to be smoked). Paprika can be easily obtained from any grocery store, but it is usually more budget-friendly to try to find a natural foods store that sells spices in bulk, or an ethnic market with a spice section. If you are in a pinch, you can substitute turmeric for saffron. Your paella will not have the exact same flavor, but it will have the same coloration (and it will definitely still taste good). In addition, you can use white button mushrooms instead of shiitakes (we just happened to have them at home). This would definitely be a way to increase the frugality of this meal. If you are vegetarian, you can substitute in vegetable broth, or if you are in a pinch, you can simmer the mushroom stems in water for an hour to make a cheap, homemade broth.


1 cup short-grain brown rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 small zucchini, cut any way you please
5-6 shiitake mushrooms, with stems removed
2 tbs. tomato paste
3 small tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
3 tbs. olive oil (2tbs. for the rice, 1 tbs. for the veggies)
A pinch of saffron
1 tsp. smoked paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Begin by par-boiling the rice for 12 min., in slightly salted water.

Saute onion and garlic in oil, until translucent. Add tomato paste and cook with the onion and garlic until the paste begins to darken. Stir in the paprika and cook until fragrant. At that point, add the rice and let toast for approximately 1 minute.

Add chicken broth, saffron, and a pinch of salt to the mixture and bring to a boil on the stove-top. When the paella comes up to a boil, neatly arrange the veggies on top of the rice, pressing slightly.

When the paella has reached a healthy boil, place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed and the veggies are cooked through.

Serve hot.

Edible Explorations Book Club: Harvest For Hope by Jane Goodall

Much like other books of this sort, Harvest For Hope, by Jane Goodall, is a good overview. It is mainly written from an anthropological perspective, which is unique, but I did feel that she included much of the same information as other authors do. For example, Goodall uses Joel Salatan's farm in Virginia as an example of a deep organic farm; this is the same farm and farmer Michael Pollan devotes much time to in The Omnivore's Dilemma.

However, Goodall's discussion of GMO (Genetically Modified) products was very interesting and covered information I did not previously know. It also led me to a website listing common brands that use and do not use GM seeds (The Center For Food Safety Shoppers' Guide). I had not thought about how pervasive GM products are in the food industries, including the meat industry. If an animal is given feed grown from GM seeds, the meat you buy could have traces of GM products. Goodall also included an interesting discussion of how animals will instinctively stay away from feed that comes from GM seeds, if given the option between that and organically-based feed. Products certified as organic cannot contain any GM ingredients.

Given her background in anthropology and primatology, it is not surprising that Goodall's discussion of animals and their treatment was so comprehensive and moving. She writes with such passion for the animals and describes vividly and eloquently the horrors of the conditions many animals are forced to live in. It definitely convinced me to be careful of where my meat comes from.

Ginger-Carrot Muffins

In my latest exploration of healthier snack food, I am trying my hand at muffins. I have a weakness for coffee shop muffins, but of course they are a "sometimes food". Instead, I am trying healthier, homemade muffins of various kinds. These, based on a recipe from Cooking Light (August 2007), are a first try:


1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup plain, low-fat yogurt
1/8 cup grapeseed oil
1/8 cup low-fat milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups grated carrot
1/4 cup dried currants (or raisins)
1/8 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Either grease a muffin tin or place paper muffin cup liners in the tin.

Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a large bowl and stir with a whisk. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a smaller bowl, combine yogurt, grapeseed oil, milk, vanilla extract, egg white, and whole egg. Whisk together well and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir until just moist. Add carrots, currants and pecans and fold in carefully.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until muffins spring back in the center. Remove from pan immediately and let cool on a wire rack. (They are also really good on re-heat).

Yields 9 muffins.