Healthy dishes and tasty nibbles

This week has been a jumble of contradictions in relation to food. It started with an invitation from the residents of the Independence community in Millsboro. Each year they organize a weight-loss or healthy-lifestyle series of activities, and this year they invited me to give a talk on healthy eating. 

Their clubhouse facility is beautiful with a large function room in which they had arranged tables and chairs like a theater in the round with my workstation in the middle. After some introductory remarks, I added tomatoes and chicken broth to the pot where shallots and mushrooms had been sautéing as people took their seats. 

Soon, steam began rising from the pot as the tomatoes simmered and softened. Once they started falling apart, I broke them down further with a potato masher and kept the mixture at a roil. When the texture was soft enough, I brought out my immersion blender and puréed the vegetables into a creamy-textured soup. 

While the soup was cooking, I tossed together a salad of quinoa, garbanzo beans, black beans and feta cheese. I turned to my favorite Penzey’s salad dressing mix - Country French Vinaigrette - and whisked together olive oil, white Balsamic vinegar and the jarred seasonings. We served tastes of the quinoa mixture on a bed of lettuce (which might have been better drizzled with some dressing or lemon juice). 

Although I ran out of soup before everyone had a sample, they forgave me because of the generous supply of peanut butter cookies I had brought. These are one of my favorite recipes for cookies, since I usually have everything I need on hand: peanut butter, sugar and egg. Of course, we then enjoyed a vigorous debate about which peanut butter brand is the best. 

My next cooking demo was for the Cancer Support Community, where I shared examples of healthy comfort foods: pancakes with Greek yogurt instead of butter, and a version of macaroni and cheese embellished with broccoli florets and far less fat and flour than a traditional recipe. 

In between these healthy excursions, we spent a few days visiting our friends Andy and Lucille. They are both terrific cooks and generous hosts, and our weekend was filled with delicious dishes. Dinner on Friday began with an array of appetizers that could have been the meal itself. 

As you can see in the photo, the centerpiece was a pile of stone crab claws with cocktail sauce and homemade tartar sauce. You may not be able to see everything else on the table: thick slices of salami, prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella balls, bite-sized bits of Parmesan cheese, a rosemary-covered goat cheese wedge, oil-cured olives, tasty crackers and fresh semolina bread. 

We took a welcome break between hors d’oeuvres and the first course: fresh mushroom ravioli in a creamy walnut pesto sauce. The entrée followed: broiled lobster tail with drawn butter and roasted Brussels sprouts. Dessert was an impossibly rich chocolate-hazelnut layer cake iced in more dark chocolate and elaborately decorated with cracked hazelnuts. 

I’m going to steal Andy and Lucille’s menu for our next special-occasion meal. In the meantime, I plan to stock up on a variety of tasty nibbles, so I can arrange a spread as lovely as this one. To keep you from gaining as many pounds as I did during this brief visit, I’ve included recipes for some of those healthy dishes. 

Creamy Tomato Soup 

1 T olive oil 
1 carrot, diced 
1 celery stalk, diced 
1 onion, diced 
1 pressed garlic clove 
1 C chopped mushrooms 
3 lbs tomatoes* 
2 C broth 
1 t basil 
1 t tarragon 
salt & pepper, to taste 

In a large saucepan, sauté carrot, celery and onion in olive oil until just beginning to brown. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer over medium, stirring often, until they begin to disintegrate. Pour in broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add basil and tarragon; cover and simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes. Using a food processor or immersion blender, purée the soup to desired consistency. Adjust seasonings, to taste. *Note: this can be a combination of canned, fresh and frozen tomatoes; no need to remove skins.

Quinoa Salad 

2 C cooked quinoa 
1 T lemon juice 
1 1/2 C garbanzo beans 
1 1/2 C black beans 
1 C crumbled feta cheese 
2 T white Balsamic vinegar 
2 T olive oil 
1 t Italian seasoning mix 
salt & pepper, to taste 
4 C spring mix lettuce* 

Place the quinoa in a serving bowl and add lemon juice; toss gently to coat grains. Drain and discard the liquid from the beans. Add beans and cheese to quinoa; stir to combine. Whisk together Balsamic vinegar, olive oil and seasoning mix. Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and pepper. Serve chilled or at room temperature on a bed of lettuce. *If desired, toss washed lettuce with lemon juice and a splash of olive oil.

Yogurt Pancakes 

1/2 C flour 
1 t baking soda 
1/2 t cinnamon 
1 egg 
6 oz Greek yogurt 
1/2 t lemon zest 

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg until smooth. Add yogurt and lemon zest; whisk until combined. Pour yogurt mixture over dry ingredients and stir; the batter will be quite thick. Coat a griddle pan with nonstick cooking spray; preheat over medium high. Spoon batter into pan and cook until the top surface is covered with bubbles. Flip pancakes and cook the other side to a golden brown. Serve with sautéed bananas, fresh berries or maple syrup.