Longing for Spring? Try this Spring Leek Soup

We can long for spring today, while the snow is falling.

Why not make something green? This Winter Green Leek Soup from my upcoming Spring Meal Plan has been fantastic!

Leeks are rich with soluble fiber, also known as inulin, which is a powerful prebiotic. Prebiotics feed healthy bacteria that grow in our gut microbiome. We need about 20-30 grams of fiber each day-- from both soluble (soft) and insoluble (adds bulk.) While fiber may be largely undigestible, we do know that the bacteria in our gut feed off of soluble fiber to create healthy microbiome balance.

This soup is a quick fix to get that dose of fiber, while brightening the palate with a pop of dill + providing relief from the weary, dreary winter with it's bright green color.


This soup has a dose of fiber both from the leeks and the peas.

With only six ingredients, it is quick and simple to assemble.

It is satisfying both in its chunky and pureed forms: for added flavor I like to put a little extra dill sprinkle on the top.



 Recipe
1 tb butter or olive oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen peas 
1 qt vegetable or bone broth
2 tb fresh dill
. 
Sauté leeks and onion in butter until soft over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add peas and broth and cook for 10-12 minutes. Add fresh dill salt and pepper. Purée. . . .

For more recipes like this, check out a full list of the recipes in the Spring Meal Plan here.

SPRING LEEK SOUP

By NORA SHANK NUTRITION

This simple, high fiber soup is delicious and healthy with a bright pop of flavor from dill cooked in just 20 minutes from 6 simple ingredients

Prep time: 5 minutes, Cook time: 20 minutes, Total time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 Tb butter
2 leeks, split, rinsed and thinly sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 cups peas (frozen is fine)
1 qt vegetable or bone broth
2 Tb fresh dill, minced
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Instructions:

INSTRUCTION

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan

Saute leeks and green onions until soft, for 8-10 minutes

Add peas and broth, then bring to a simmer, about 10 minutes

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Serve or blend first with an immersion or standing blender.

Sweet Treat Traps

I had a client today who was sad he didn't lose any weight today.

He didn't see it as a "win".

 " There was Valentine's Day, and then it was a special anniversary; and my spouse brings sweets home all the time." 

But after a week of many of these special treats, he didn't gain any weight. That's a win, friends.

When we eat well at other times, our bodies handle those extra calories with grace. This is the point of metabolic training with consistent meals and enough fiber and healthy fat at each of those meals--> it leads to flexibility.

 " I'm sure I've gained weight." 

The scale said the exact same number. The proof was there that even with all those extra treats, the body is able to maintain homeostasis. No weight gain.

You can drink. You can eat sweets. You can have treats. 

And still not gain weight.

 " I'm sure its because I've eaten too much sugar. Sugar makes you fat."

The problem isn't just in the sugar (which does cause problems to the metabolism overall)-- I believe the problem starts with our self-talk traps.  If we constantly create confusion about sugar between our willpower (sugar is bad, it makes me fat) and our body  (where we have created a loop of desire and satisfaction with sugar that has been repeated by thousands of positive/happy experiences and reinforced heavily by dopamine)

- Sugar is not a bad food that makes us fat. -

We must change the conversation inside of ourselves.

Once the conversation inside starts to shift, we can move away from a dieting mindset.

Who wants to live losing and gaining the same ten pounds over and over?

Here's a simple way to get off that merry-go-round:

1) Start noticing what negative things you say to yourself about food

2) Find a new phrase to use about sweets, like " I enjoy this food" 

3) Figure out the context for the craving (is it emotions, physical, medical, environment)

4) Feed your body with the right food.

How to feed your body when the craving comes? Here's a new handout called Sweet Swaps that will help guide you to make good choices so that you can get a handle on those cravings.

Sweet Swap Tips by Nora Shank, RD

Fight Time, I mean, Dinner Time

I want to go on strike.
To quit making dinner. Can we just go to Chick-fil-A?
This is not the dietitian talking.
This is the mom, who is tired to fighting to feed every single bite of healthy food into my children's mouths.

Maybe it's because I'm tired or pregnant, but our dinner time has become a major fight time with my two children. I attribute this all to the prolonged winter weather and record cold temperatures, and the lack of the ability to lock send my children outdoors before dinner.

There are stages where it is explainable, commonly known in the nutrition world as "food jags", when kids get stuck on certain preferred food items-- but what about all the other times?

A RDN (registered dietitian nutritionist) named Jill Castle, wrote a great series on feeding toddlers, as well as wonderful resource for raising healthy eaters through childhood. In her article, "Your Toddler's Development: What to Expect and How It Affects Nutrition" she says,

Toddler eating can worry parents. Understanding how the toddler develops, both physically and cognitively (fancy word for brain development), can help you get a grip on why your toddler behaves the way he does, especially around food and eating.

Instead of giving up, I try to remember that children use food as the first power play-- they are learning to exert their independence as well as using it as a power play with parents and the limits we set. My role is simple: make and offer healthy food choices and model good eating behaviors.

In agreement with Castle's guidelines, we have never had many "rules" for eating at the table, but we have structure and standards for manners like: sitting still and not getting up from the table until you are finished with your meals, saying "please" and "thank you for dinner", not complaining about the meal, and trying at least one bite of a food that is "not your favorite".

I think it has worked for the most part, but with our long winter, I've been relying on a lot of warm foods, like soups and stews, which seem to be particularly difficult for them to try, because they can't separate the ingredients.

My husband was so kind as to offer to help me make some freeze-ahead meals for the next month or two, so I started by writing a list of our children favorite meals.

Here's a snapshot of what I came up with:

For the full list, you can find it on my Pinterest page here.
I am going to get a shopping list and few of the recipes together and start posting them as I go and fill up my freezer again with some of the freeze-ahead versions and shopping lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

Muffnies

That's what Grant called them until a few days ago. So sad that he is losing his baby talk and exchanging all words ending in "-nie" for words like "memoirs" (The Pooh Movie). Sniff.

It is our practice run week for school. K is in camp, going to a "Hop into Kindergarten" week every morning, so that we can practice getting ready and out the door for real school. Its the third day and she said to me this morning, "Mom, I don't really want to go away from you."

Double sniff.

That what you call a "muffin morning". When we woke up, it was low 60's outside too, so it really was a perfect cooler morning to try these muffins and heat up the kitchen with the warm smell of bananas, spices and oats.

 Here's a gluten-free recipe for you to try: Banana Oat Spice Muffins.

Banana Oat Spice Muffins.

1.5 cups gluten free flour (trader joes)

1.5 cups quick steel cut oats, whirred in the food processor for 2 minutes

1.5 teaspoons baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1.5 ripe bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk (I used kefir :)

Salted, shelled sunflower seeds (opt) for garnish

In a stand mixer bowl, beat wet ingredients (except buttermilk) until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes, until bananas are broken down evenly into other ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and other dry ingredients. 

Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients, mix on low speeds, then add buttermilk, until ingredients are just combined.

Let stand for one hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

Scoop into standard muffin tins. Sprinkle with seeds if desired.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned on edges and firm to touch on top.

Enjoy!

Back to school

I am trying to get prepared for a very busy fall. We head to our (last) beach trip the week after next and then it's back to school. Since I have a kindergartner and a preschooler this year, I have to make take-and-go lunches for the first time since I was in highschool.

One food challenge is new to me: the "nut-free" dilemma. Fortunately, with my background as a dietitian, I have some experience with this topic. That doesn't mean that it is easy to apply. Especially when you add two peanut-butter addicts to the mix.

When I asked K why she likes peanut butter so much, she said, "Because it's thick. It's salty. And it's crunchy.And it makes me feel good."

Enough said.

It's all this guy's fault: meet D, the man who eats peanut butter every day. I think my dad put a genetic code into our bodies to love the stuff. It might be a little thick to run like blood through our bodies, but with the amounts that my collective family eats, it might as well.

Alas, this causes a slight problem for school aged children in my household. Fortunately, for K, she can have nuts in her lunch, just not in her snack. Here's a list of lunch ideas I came up with to post on my fridge  (note: K doesn't like most cheese, so that creates additional obvious eliminations) so that I know what to do on coming morning rush moments...

Work at...Nutrition

Who doesn't love food? As a dietitian, I love nutritious foods. But as a caterer and not-so-secret fan of butter, I love good food.

Good foods comes at a price though. As we head into the holidays (Halloween to New Years generally generates a lovely five pound gain), consider how you take thought for nutrition, despite the busy season. Are taking care of your health with some good tasting, but good-for-you foods?

I have been seeing a lot of clients lately in my private practice who are having problems controlling their insulin levels, and thus, their weight. One of the ways you can start doing this is by cutting down on your refined carbohydrate intake (i.e. sugar intake).

Although I advocate for carbohydrates all the time, weight loss is easily achieved by following a modified low-carbohydrate diet (for those of you looking for more specifics, just email me here  for a free handout). Some of the challenges of these kinds of dietary modifications is that you really miss some textures, especially the crunchy one.

Here are three popular crunchy recipes I give clients when they are trying to follow this diet: Two of them use seasonal vegetables for salty crisp additions to your salads or snacks and one of them is a new way to think of chicken fingers.

from all recipes.com

Baked Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale, washed and thoroughly dried
1 Tbsp olive oil or olive oil spray
1 tsp. pink sea salt (or other rougher texture salts)

Lay kale in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Spray or sprinkle kale with olive oil. Bake at 350 preheated over for 10 to 15 minutes until brown, without edges burning. You may need to turn and shake the pan several time to ensure even baking. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt.

These add a great crunch to boring salads that are missing their croutons.

Crispy Leek Rings
2 leeks, thinly sliced (only whites and light green parts)
Cooking oil spray
Pink sea salt

Lay out thinly sliced rings on a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Separate rings as much as possible and spread in a single layer. Spray with cooking spray or olive oil. Toss to coat. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, turning frequently, until onions are brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with salt and let cool.

Lastly, an old favorite, that replaces bread crumbs with almond flour

Almond Chicken Fingers
1 lb chicken tenders, tendons removed
Wet mix: Whole milk yogurt, about 1 cup mixed with 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Dry rub: 1 1/2 cups almond flour (I use Trader Joes-- not too finely ground)
1 tsp pink sea salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Herbs de Provence

Heat oven to 400 degrees F and place oven rack in middle-high position. Dip chicken pieces in yogurt mixture to coat. Then roll individually in dry mix until covered. Shake excess dry rub off before laying each coated piece on a baking sheet covered in non-stick foil or parchment paper. Spray all the coated tenders with a non-stick spray or drizzle with olive oil. Season again with salt. Bake for 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and almonds begin to brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

The yogurt coating keeps the chicken moist and tender and the cornstarch add minimal carbohydrates to the overall meal. The carbohydrates contributed by the yogurt is less than one might think as the proteins cook in the heat similar to the effect of heat on milk as you make cheese.

Enjoy!

More new recipes.

This recipe, Bombay Style Sloppy Joes was fantastic. Especially if you are looking to add something just slightly different to your month. We really enjoyed the slightly spicy, very flavorful variation to traditional sloppy joes.

New Year. another new recipe.

I am trying to add some soups to my repertoire. This one popped up in 101 Cookbooks called,  A Luxurious and Deeply Aromatic Noodle dish, that we tried and really enjoyed.  I added some raw shrimp as well as some shelled edamame and carrots carrots to the broth to increase the satisfaction around here. Even Grant like it!

New year. New recipe.

We enjoyed this recipe, Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken, with Travis' brother and his girlfriend the other night. I enjoyed it but it was a little sweet for my taste. I will probably reduce the sugar next time. I served it with rice and a mixed stir fry of Asian vegetables.

New year, new recipes.

This menu is a little bit more work but an awesome special occasion recipe that we tried for Travis' birthday dinner called Blackened Swordfish with Sweet Potato Crab Hash.  Although I had to shorten the recipe a bit by using store-purchased BBQ sauce, I plan on making the Voodoo sauce sometime because it looks so good. Travis and I practically licked the sauce off our plates. If you are looking for a recipe for your husband that doesn't involve beef but satisfies...this is it.

New Year. New recipes.

Don't you get stuck in the same recipe rut? I love variety and generally have a large recipe repertoire; but I am just like everyone else-- I need to spice it up once in a while.

I will be posting some of my new favorite for you to try along with me.

Here is a new everyday recipe for one of those meatless nights off of 101cookbooks called Giant White Chipotle Beans. What makes it special and fresh is the gooey, creamy queso fresco, the toasted breadcrumbs and the cilantro pesto poured over it at the end.

Christmas Preparations

It was quite a shock to come home and have only three short weeks to prepare for Christmas. You see, I love Christmas preparations. I love decorating, baking, crafting, and designing. I love gift strategy, gift surprising and gift giving.

So my house is clean. My cookies are baked (favorites from last year are from Sunset magazine here). My crafts are sewn. My cards are sent. My house is decorated. I just love these new felt ball garlands I added to our decorations this year which Janis spotted on clearance at Crate & Barrel last year.

One little problem.

I came home and I had purchase exactly two gifts. I also hate mall shopping. Thank goodness for the internet. Tomorrow I am going to tackle the rest of the in-person shopping. But here are some holiday finds that I have used to make things go a little more smooth.
     North Face Gear here at great prices. (They even send you a $20 coupon for your next purchase!)
     Desk accessories at West Elm with free shipping.
     Amazon Wish Lists with free shipping.

I'll let you know how the real shopping goes tomorrow. It's quite a list of place to go :)

Mother's Day

This picture grabbed me. The flavors sounded so fresh. So call me crazy, but I mostly cooked my own Mother's Day meal. Isn't the work worth it though sometimes? How could one not like shrimp cakes, eggs benedict and fresh hollandaise sauce? We had this ridiciulous brunch made from this menu out of the Arizona Republic from our local Four Seasons hotel. We made a few adjustments like shrimp jalepeno cakes instead of crab with chipotle due to the lack of available fresh crab meat, and a less alcoholic sangria; and beware of the proportions. They are really off for number of servings (leave it to a chef to resize wrong). Every bite was worth it. Here's probably one last picture of just the three of us before we gorged ourselves.

rocky road cookies.

the last one.

a sad day.

rocky road cookies.
adapted from maida heatter's Cookies

2 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 oz semisweet chocolate
3 oz unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp powdered espresso
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup mini marshmallows

Melt chocolate and butter in a sauce pan. Cool slightly.
In a mixer, whip eggs, sugar, coffee powder, and vanilla at high speed for a two minutes.
Beat in melted chocolate/butter into above mixture.
Add dry ingredients until just incorporated.
Mix in remaining chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut and marshmallows.

Bake on parchment or Silpat at 350 for 12-15 minutes or so. The surface of the cookies will be dry but the insides will be soft. There is no way to test the doneness. Let cookies cool on sheet before removing to a rack to cool completely. Then try one :)

Meatless meals

I always fall back on the favorite Lentil Casserole, but my friend Becky proposed a new stand-in that was surprisingly good. Both my husband and daughter ate two bowls of it each.

Apparently this is from Nourishing Traditions?

Barley and Broccoli Casserole

2 cups barley, soaked overnight, drained
4 cups chicken broth
1 bunch green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb. broccoli, trimmed into florets
16 oz cottage cheese
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper.

Cook the barley in the chicken broth (I added the garlic midway through). Then mix together the remaining ingredients, minus the cheese, and season. Put into a 9X13 pan and sprinkle with the cheese. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Granola

Among our all things fall activities, Kate and I made an exceptionally good batch of granola the other day, using her fresh little pumpkin we baked.
---
Pumpkin Granola

In a large mixing bowl, mix together:
9 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup each: coconut, sunflower seeds and pepitas
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 Tbsp. ginger

Boil in a medium saucepan:
1 cup honey
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 c. oil
1 cup water
1 cup pumpkin puree
Once brought to a boil, remove from heat and add 1 tsp. each vanilla and almond extract

Pour wet over dry ingredients, mix thoroughly, let stand 5-10 minutes. Bake on 2 foil-lined baking 1/2 sheet pans at 325 for 15-20 minutes. Stir and rotate pans. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Continue this process until granola is lightly browned. Let cool completely and store in an air-tight container.

Enjoy!

Chicken.

Let's face it ladies.
We need inspiration.
Daily.
Dinner time rolls around and the same 20 ingredients stare you in the face in your kitchen.
I'm back in the kitchen again too.
Every night.
On my own, for the first time in over a year.
Here's a new one I tried tonight that I really liked. I altered it to be a sauce without heavy cream (substituting a roux with whole milk) and added chunks of pre-cooked chicken to it and served it over pasta. I liked the fresh taste of the mushrooms with the snow peas. I also added some frozen peas to the sauce for my little pea-in-the-pod Kate (her favorite vegetable).

Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Snap Peas
adapted from The Food Network Magazine, June/July 2009

4 chicken cutlets, patted dry, salted and peppered, lightly dredged in flour
2 Tbs. oil

1 Tb butter (I used olive oil)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (1/2 cup wine and water can be sub) 3/4 cup heavy cream ( I used whole milk)
2 cups snap peas, stemmed and cut in half lengthwise
---
Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet on medium high heat. Sear the chicken breasts on each side until golden brown for about 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat and place on a plate.

Wipe out the skillet and add butter. Saute scallions and mushrooms over medium heat until mushrooms begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Scrape the bottom of the pan to scrape the browned bits. Let boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add cream (milk) and stir to combine. Add snow peas (and peas), then top sauce with chicken breasts and cover, reducing heat to medium. Simmer until chicken is cooked through about 5-8 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Second and Third

How odd that it was that I received an email from my uncle stating that he was just asked for the recipe for the marmalade....I told him not to worry about it; I've got plenty to go around.
On the second day, you merely boil again then let it soak.
Here we are on day three, and we boiled it again, this time just adding a little water.
We're on our way to some magical Arizona sunshine in a jar.

When it's hot outside...

make marmalade out of free citrus.
Day One of Three.
Today was the manual labor.
Thirty oranges and six grapefruit are soaking their thinly sliced selves in filtered water to release their golden citrus goodness.
Follow us tomorrow for day two of this exciting process as we create one of our favorite free preserves.

Organic Panic

I often get emails in my inbox from family and friends and friends of friends or family...
What should I feed my toddler? What could I pack for lunches? What are healthy snacks?
You get the idea. They are all looking for advice or nutrition counsel.

Here's the most recent request from my second cousin:
"I have a friend who is due to have a baby. Some friends and I are trying to make them some meals that they can have in their freezer for after the baby is born. The wife only eats organic. We thought some soups might be nice--any other ideas, Nora?"

This is a difficult request because for most of us, we do not keep an organic kitchen, much less an organic pantry. Here's what I told her for her non-organic friends to try to make:

-organic pasta dishes made with multigrain pastas because they freeze better...any "baked ziti" type recipe will work here with sauce, meat and cheese-- organic ground beef in smaller packages is cheaper, and the sauce can be purchased as a unit. Same goes for mozzarella cheese.
Don't worry about spices and herbs or garlic or olive oil not being organic.

-soups are great too...but remember that organic broths are more expensive and I think Costco has a pack of organic chicken broths that would serve well here. An easy chicken soup can be made with an organic store roasted chicken (try Whole Foods). Check here for my recipe.

- muffins are a great addition to the meals-- they can be frozen fully cooked. All my postpartum friends love muffins as an easy healthy snack. Try for an organic pancake or muffin mix and then add your own mix-ins. It can be difficult if you don't buy organic eggs and milk but they can be bought in smaller quantities.

-marinate an organic steak in some olive oil/rosemary/garlic in a ziploc bag and then they can just grill or freeze it. This plus a bag of organic salad would be an easy and great meal.

-Jumbo organic baked potatoes with purchased toppings like cheese, green onions-- even include this with:

- organic chili since all the ingredients can be bought in cans, this is an easy way to make sure it is all organic plus the organic ground beef can be cheaper than all the other organic meats.

- one of my favorite is Lentil casserole which would be very easy to make organic and it is super cheap...for the recipe visit here.

- Leftover grilled salmon (just buy wild cohoe salmon-- don't bother with organic here) with steamed green beans (easy to buy the frozen organic package) with a rice pilaf (again, easy to buy the organic quick-cook package). I cook extra of this meal and freeze a few for Travis' lunches.

-Chicken pot pie-- this is easy when you combine packages of frozen organic mixed vegetables with an organic cream of chicken can of organic soup plus a small package of organic chicken breast boiled and cut into chunks and then put it into a premade organic frozen crust. Usually the frozen crusts come in packs of two so just use the other frozen crust to form the top crust. The whole thing can then be frozen.

-Mexican meals like burritos can be easy because you can buy organic canned beans, tortillas, cheese and then a quick pack of rice and your in the game... a homemade salsa can be organic with the quick salsa recipe and a bag of organic chips. The frozen burrito thing is great too because it helps with lunches as well.

Hope this helps Annette!