Honoring Campbells...No, not the soup!

Today was a toss up...there are so many people doing great things with food that it was hard to pick just one for the Red White and Food post. And so, I picked two! I saw this interview in the New York Times and thought you would enjoy it.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas Campbell is a book I have on hand here at home, have listed as a resource on this blog and have spoken about many times. Powerful, compelling information, quietly and factually presented. No hype...just decades of scientific research. For those of you mulling over a more plant-based diet, combining my comments yesterday and this piece may help you decide. I can help you get going, too! Some of you may remember what  I discovered my food addiction was...seems I am not alone. Here is the article. Have a great day!!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nutrition-advice-from-the-china-study/?ref=health

No, it is not the Flu

I was sick to my stomach all weekend. No, not from the flu. From the tragic, mindless, senseless violence in Arizona. Then, something happened which helped and I will get to that later.

Good Morning Angel

A year ago, I gave up eating animals and that choice was not primarily for health reasons. The major reason I have switched to a plant-based diet was to stop the violence that my tastes and hunger created. (I live in Little Rock, a city with a pretty violent track record, too. I believe it is in the top 10 cities with the most per capita violent crime.) I decided that changing how I eat was the one thing I could control and create peace with every day. For my plate to be a peaceful place is a start. Do no harm. May that mantra be as contagious as the flu.

Anyway, I am still very upset and wanted to talk about beans today, Meatless Monday. Beans are great and there is a big, peaceful movement a foot to bring back some heirloom varieties. If you have not had an heirloom bean, you are missing out. Many of the beans in the grocery store are old and dusty tasting. Like tomatoes, teas, apples and many other crops, reviving the heirloom varieties of beans has popped out some very exciting flavors. Every Christmas for the past couple of years, I fix an heirloom bean dish using Christmas Limas, a giant lima bean. They are beautiful, crimson-y colored with lovely white markings. The recipe below is one of my favorites and it appeared originally in Food and Wine.

Delicious beans combined with a beautiful snowfall warmed my soul. Nourishing peace is also snow much fun!!!

Stewed Giant Limas

3 cups dried giant lima beans or gigantes, rinsed and picked over, then soaked for 4 hours and drained 
Kosher salt 
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
1 medium onion, finely diced 
1 garlic clove, minced 
One 16-ounce can whole tomatoes—juices reserved, tomatoes coarsely chopped 
2 tablespoons chopped oregano 
1 cup coarsely crumbled feta cheese (6 1/2 ounces), for sprinkling 
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs

Pesto 
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tablespoons chopped oregano 
2 tablespoons chopped parsley 
1 small garlic clove, minced 
Kosher salt 

Prepare the lima beans. In a large saucepan, cover the lima beans with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the limas are just tender but still al dente, about 2 1/2 hours; add water as needed to keep the limas covered by 2 inches. Season the limas with salt and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Drain the limas, reserving 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid. 

In a medium saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderately low heat until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano and the reserved bean cooking liquid and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 1 hour. Season the tomato sauce with salt. 

Meanwhile, make the pesto. In a mini food processor, combine the olive oil with the oregano, parsley and garlic and pulse to a coarse puree. Season the oregano pesto with salt. 

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, mix the limas with the tomato sauce and sprinkle the feta on top. Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 40 minutes, until the beans are bubbling and the cheese is browned. Remove the baking dish from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the bread crumbs and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until toasted, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. Top the beans with the bread crumbs, dollop with the oregano pesto and serve. Serves 6-8.

This dish is fabulous as leftovers, reheated and topped with an egg!!

Now, s'more snow much fun..

Two bemused Sous Chefs...one stayed inside as evening snow fell

and turned into a morning wonderland

Neighborhood snow cuties

Snow much fun!!

It was snow much fun!!! There, I said it. I loved the blizzard...the snow was fabulous. The Category 3 hurricane winds blasting my mom's house were a bit much, especially as day 3 wore on but all in all, it was really fun.

While not a big New Year's reveler, this year's fete was a blast Catskills-style...the most fun New Year's yet since India where we all danced to the disco beat with people half our age. ..well, at least half my age. I don't remember having ever been to the Catskills and it was fun to be in the land of the legendary Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Last of the Mohicans. It is truly beautiful...gorgeous mountains, streams, birch trees, rocks, ice, snow...you name it. Well, even kale was there, but I will get to that in a moment.

Close as I ever want to come to the native wildlife. I have serious bear issues!

Part of the fun was that Hunter Mountain was right across the street from us. The call of the wild beckoned. I felt the urge to wax up and hit the slopes until I saw that a few things had changed since I had last been skiing...about 30 years ago. Let's start with the clothes...more zippers and pockets that you can imagine and waterproof. And the boots. Goodness...so high tech. Then the size of the skis...what happened there? They are so short!!!! And then, snowboards...how cool to see them up close. Jon even had a really clever board that split into two cross country skis! Gosh...where have I been?

Thoroughly Modern Lissa

Lissa trying to update Mom with borrowed gear

Wanting to find my ski legs before actually putting them to the test, I found the perfect slope sport for me. Take a look...

I already have several trial runs in and I am ready for this to be the next Olympic sport. Forming a team? I'm in. Mastered that tube. Rocked the 3-5 session.

You all know by now how kale crazy I am and can find it anywhere. While still in NYC, I had several fab kale salads and even found a shirt with my name on it.

And so, it came as an extra delight that as part of the wonderful New Year's Eve feast Jon and Melissa  prepared Catskills-style, there was a delicious kale salad. It was just as delish for breakfast the next morning!

When I got back to Little Rock, I had to take a dish to a Gal's Night Supper and natch, chopped up a kale-ish salad...kind of a morph of some of the salads I tasted over the last two weeks. Here it is...

Unpacking the Suitcase Kale Salad

Herb salad mix

Kale

Fuji apple (or your fave)

Organic cheese of choice, optional

Hazelnuts, toasted

Slice kale leaves into little ribbons. Dress with Tangerine Vinaigrette and let rest for a few minutes. Then, add in salad greens, diced apple, grated cheese of choice and toasted hazelnuts. Toss with extra vinaigrette.

Tangerine Vinaigrette

Zest rind of one juicy tangerine and set aside. Squeeze juice to make about 3 tablespoons. Add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste (sometimes I add in a little natural sweetness but the tangerine this time was really sweet enough for me). Blend in 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil and reserved tangerine zest. Mix well and taste for seasonings.

This salad is very fresh tasting. You can always deepen the flavor by adding in a shallot or onion but I didn't have any on hand. Have a great weekend!

Last Call...It's Twelfth Night

With hundreds of pictures, it is a little hard to squeeze them all in without going into overload mode. Today is the "official" end of Christmas...Twelfth Night and so I thought it would be fun to show you the holiday dressings in New York. Last call. Most will be gone tomorrow. Then, I am ending this post with a few fun literature and wine pairings I got from a friend.

Little (?) Drummer Man setting the beat

Ice skaters at Rockefeller Center and a tea party at Anthropologie

I guess one puts the entire Cartier building...contents and all on the list? Anyone got a pen?

Beautiful ballerinas at Henri Bendel

Always whimsical Mackenzie Childs

Foodie holiday antics at Barneys

Lovely simplicity

Believing in sugar (plums) at Macy's

My pictures from Bergdorf's did not turn out but the windows were spectacular. Maybe they are online somewhere...you should have a look at them. The creativity of all I saw was beyond words.

Sherry Lehman's

The last stop of that stroll leads me into the thought for today. Sherry Lehman is a wonderful wine store on Park Avenue. It served as the model for the wine stores my great uncle Jurgen opened up in Cleveland, Ohio. He came from Germany right before the war and was largely responsible for introducing Ohio to fine European wines and his wife, Burrie, for introducing gourmet cooking with a fresh European flair. Julia Child would have loved her. They had an amazing shop...gorgeous windows, incredible wines and cooking goodies to make Williams Sonoma envious.

So, one of my resolutions is to read more books and a couple of you have shared that is yours as well. Here are a couple of fun wine pairings I got from a friend to help you turn those pages. Happy Twelfth Night! Happy Thirsty Thursday!!

Read these classics with these pairings:

Wuthering Heights- a brooding Shiraz.

Scarlet Letter- Pinot Noir

A Tale of Two Cities- a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Pride and Prejudice- Rose

Read modern tales with these pairings:

Fall of Giants- Malbec

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest- French Sryah.

The Sentimentalists- Riesling

Back on track

Two weeks, umpteen suitcase moments, a monster blizzard coupled with a three day nor'easter, two huge holidays, lots of delicious food, lovely family and company... and yes, very limited internet gave my blog its own holiday! Like the cheeks on my mom's overfed chipmunks, I have so much to share.

Here are a couple of pix...I have scads!

Little stovetop tree decorated with shells, crab claws, driftwood and pinecones gathered and returned to the beach

Santa's in the house!

Family smiles

Some of our food 

Thar she blows! 

and blows!

Peace returns for a day

And now, on to other things for a minute...While not much of a football fan (I grew up with soccer) there was a very profound comment during last night's Sugar Bowl. Lou Holtz said this: "If you have a poor self image, be certain...you will live up to that." Got me really thinking.

This is a new year. "Higher" resolutions are always in order. What self-fulfilling image am I putting out there? How "high" can I go? What does it take...really...to keep getting better, stronger, fuller? For me, it boils down to this...knowledge. I always want to be learning something, learning how to apply that "something" to my life and then learning how to share it with others who are interested.

There was a beautiful little stream on the property of my daughter's MF. Deep in the Catskills, there were so many beautiful images, but the stream caught my eye as a special "New Year's moment".  Water rushed down the rocks and there were rocks of all sizes and shapes. I imagined each one had a story to tell, perhaps even with another chapter of the tale hidden beneath the moss or in the near-frozen mud.

This is the message I got...I have to keep turning over rocks. To see what's there...to see what story each rock holds, how they all fit together, how all the pieces of rock make up the peaces of life. I have "put it out there" that I am on a journey to peace. According to Lou Holtz, I am certain I will live up to that.

To give my body a little peace, I am back to my morning shakes. They are a certainly a rock solid foundation for each day of this fabulous New Year! I got a new blender for Christmas...the mother of all blenders and this is a recipe that came with it, rocks and all.

Nutty Fruit Smoothie (from Vitamix)

1/2 cup spring water
1/4 cup yogurt of choice 
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 medium banana, frozen
2 tablespoons walnuts ( jagged rocks!)
1 tablespoon blanched almonds (smooth rocks!)
1 tablespoon local honey or 2 dates
1/2-1 cup ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until consistency desired.