Simple Indian Dal

We eat dal like an Indian family, never get sick of it! Every week I make a big pot and we would eat it as a main protein with rice for dinner, have it with pita bread for lunch or as a soup to supplement a meat dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 - 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp crushed chillies
• 1 large tomatoes, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• a big handful of cilantro, chopped

In a large pot, put in lentils with 3 cups of water.  Add 1 tsp of salt, turmeric and crushed chillies. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Half cover the pot and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

When the liquid is almost fully absorbed, add another cup of water. Give it a good stir. Simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Once lentils are softened, add in diced tomatoes. Cook for another 10 minutes. Check for consistency and add more water if necessary.

Meanwhile brown garlic in a small pan with olive oil.

When dal is cooked to desired consistency, turn off the heat. Stir in fried garlic and cilantro. Add more salt to taste and serve warm.

Coconut Dessert

My family does not have a dessert habit. Usually we have a piece of fruit if we feel like something sweet after dinner. If I want something more elaborate, this is my go to sweet treat.

Half a banana, chopped pineapples, the secret is a dab of Anita's unsweetened coconut yogurt, a few chopped nuts as toppings. Simplicity is heaven!

Morning Millet Porridge

You can make porridge from any breakfast grain. Lately I have been obsessing with millet porridge. It is more neutral than quinoa and breaks up the monotony of daily oatmeal.

How to cook millet:

1. In a large saucepan, toast 1 cup of millet over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until they turn into a rich golden brown and become fragrant.
2. Add 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Stir. Increase heat to high and bring water to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let it sit covered for a few minutes. Fluff and serve.
4. Save leftovers for morning millet porridge.

How to make millet porridge:

1. In a saucepan combine 1 cup of cooked millet, 1 chopped banana, 1 cup of almond milk or water. Bring it to boil and turn the heat to low.
2. Add a pinch of cinnamon. Allow it to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir frequently.
3. When done, top with a few slices of apple or pear, a sprinkle of coconut flakes and your favorite chopped nuts and seeds.

Falling Leaves Salad

This hearty salad reminds me of the deep vibrant colors of the Fall season. Delicious and beautiful to look at!!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head small red cabbage
• 1 raw beet, scrubbed
• 1 or 2 carrots
• 1 pear
• salad greens (preferably arugula)
• toasted walnuts and pistachios
• fresh pomegranates, dried cranberries or raisins

Method:

1. Julienne red cabbage, beets, carrots and pears.
2. Combine with greens, walnuts and pomegranates or dried fruits.
3. To make the dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 Tbs apple cider vinegar, 1/8 cup umeboshi vinegar, 1 Tbs tamari and 1 Tbs maple syrup.
4. Toss salad with dressing and serve.

Easy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

These baked sweet potato fries have become a staple in my household. We have them for dinner, my daughter loves them as snacks. They are a perfect balance of sweetness in taste and crispiness in texture!

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 Tbs coconut oil
• salt and pepper
• smoked paprika, cinnamon or a seasoning of your choice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash and pat dry the sweet potatoes well. With the skin on, cut them into matchstick size, adjusting to your preference of thickness.
3. Place them on a tray lined with parchment paper. Toss in coconut oil, salt and pepper. Add in extra spices (optional).
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, flipping the fries once or twice, until they are tender in the middle and brown on the edges.

Fingerling Potato with dill and lemon-saffron vinaigrette

This is another Lemonade recipe of classic potato salad with dill and a mimic of French mayonnaise mix. 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup lemon-saffron vinaigrette
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh dill
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced

Ingredients for the lemon-saffron vinaigrette:

• large pinch of saffron threads
• 2 Tbs hot water
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the potatoes in a large baking pan. Drizzle with oil. Coat evenly and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes till golden on the outside and tender when pierced with a knife. Shake the pan from time to time. When done, set the potatoes aside to cool. Potatoes can be prepared in advance and refrigerated.
3. In a small bowl, combine saffron with hot water. Allow it to sit for a few minutes.
4. In a blender, combine egg yolk, mustard, lemon, turmeric, saffron (with the water), salt and pepper. Blend on medium speed for a few seconds, then reduce to low. Slowly add the oil until emulsified. Add a Tbs of water to thin out if needed.
5. Slice the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces and put into a mixing bowl. Add the vinaigrette, yogurt, dill and shallot. Toss to evenly combine. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chilled or warm.
6. Keep leftover vinaigrette in an airtight jar and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

I used the leftover vinaigrette to make an egg salad and tossed it into cooked quinoa with a little scallion. It works beautifully!

Cauliflower with almond, raisin and curry vinaigrette

I had this delicious dish from Lemonade and was determined to try making it myself soon as I could get to a kitchen. To make the curry vinaigrette, there are more steps than I'd like for every day cooking, but once you've made a batch, you can put it in quinoa or practically anything that can soak up it's rich flavor. 

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup toasted almonds
• 1/4 cup golden raisins or dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup Curry Vinaigrette 

Ingredients for the Curry Vinaigrette:

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 granny smith apple, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 Tbs turmeric
• 1 Tbs curry powder
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs honey or maple syrup
• 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbs orange juice
• salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 - 450 degrees F. ( I like my cauliflower slightly charred so I prefer 450.) Put the cauliflower in a large baking pan, drizzle with oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes till charred and tender. Turn the cauliflower once or twice. 

To prepare the curry oil, put a small pot over medium-low heat and coat with 2 Tbs of oil. When the oil is hot, add apple and onion. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add turmeric and curry powder and cook for about a minute or 2, till the spices begin to darken but not burn.

Pour the remaining oil and stir everything together. Increase the heat to medium and bring the oil to a boil. Boil for 1 minute , then remove the oil from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Strain the oil into a container and discard the pieces of apple and onion.

To prepare the vinaigrette, in a mixing bowl, combine the mustard, honey, vinegar, lemon and orange juices. Gently blend with a whisk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the curry oil, lightly whisk until the ingredients just come together.

Put the roasted cauliflower in a mixing bowl. Add the almonds, raisins or dried cranberries. 

Toss with the curry vinaigrette to coat evenly. Serve warm or cold. 

Keep any leftover vinaigrette in an airtight jar and refrigerate for up to a week. Shake it up just before you are ready to use it.

Why I love Lemonade

I was in Los Angeles when a close family friend suggested going to Lemonade for lunch. He said, "you would like this place!" I could see out of the corner of my eye, how my teenage nephew winced at the idea of going to a "healthy", "girly" restaurant to eat.

Lemonade is a healthy version of fast food deli with multiple locations in LA (even at the airport). It is a self-service cafeteria where you order food by the scoops - $2.75 per scoop on a sliding scale, the more scoops you order, the less per scoop costs. When we arrived at the Lemonade Cafeteria in Pasedena, the line of customers was already all the way to the exit.

I started scooping around. Ummmm, interesting.....there were at least a dozen vegetable items in the first food station, from kale salad to curried cauliflower to roasted beets and sugar snap peas, not meat. Then there were other items like seared tuna summer rolls, halved avocados with tuna and grilled salmon. Then there was a whole range of meat and chicken stews, sandwiches and soups. Finally, desserts and lemonades! Surprisingly (because it's a chain), everything looked exceptionally fresh and well presented! After I greedily ordered my 4 scoops of veggies, I bought the cookbook at checkout without even tasting the food!

Stepping into Lemonade was love at first sight, like connecting to a culinary soulmate. The core of the Lemonade philosophy is making vegetables fun, yummy and accessible to the general public, that eating vegetables should not be a "punishment". They call their veggies "market place vegetables", not salads, because they want to showcase each vegetable as more than a few lettuce or a side dish - a dish complete in itself with flavors, colors, textures and style.

In fact, they don't even label their food healthy, or organic or sustainable, it is simply "Southern Californian comfort food". They call their cuisine "vegetable-centric", not vegetarian.

This is exactly the diet I am propagating to my clients : Meat is not necessarily bad, but veggies and more veggies please! At least 1/2 a plate of veggies for every meal with a little meat accent if you care for it. A combination of raw veggies, steamed veggies, baked veggies, sautéed veggies, veggies in soups, in stews, a happy medley all in one meal, so veggies take the lead and not play the supporting role.

Lemonade is making a bold statement to support this claim!

This is how I'd like my plate to look on any given day.....

Small bowl of dal and purple rice, steamed broccoli with sesame oil, curried cauliflower and quinoa, salad with baby kale, carrots and boiled egg, avocado and heirloom tomatoes drizzled with lime-infused olive oil and lavender balsamic vinegar.

What does yours look like?

A Real Vacation

To me, a real vacation is one that makes you feel rested, energized and rejuvenated afterwards, one that doesn't require aftermath cleaning up efforts to put you back on the right path. As we all know, when our every day routine is taken away from us during vacation time, we have less control over our healthy habits - the food we eat, the company we keep, the amount of sleep and exercise time we have etc. This might not be so bad for those who do not have healthy habits to begin with, but for those (like myself) who really care about what to eat, where the food comes from and how it affects our general being, traveling could be challenging. So how do we have fun and manage to stay on track at the same time?

I just came back from an amazing month long vacation in California. No post-vacation weight gain, no sluggishness or intoxicated feelings I used to have after many long vacations. Ok, the destination matters. I was lucky that I was in California where the sun always shines and the quality of food is superb.  But I also had a few home court habits that protected me from post-vacation blues.

HOME COURT HABIT  1 : HOMECOOKING

I cook or pack food whenever I can. Having access to the kitchen is always a challenge when you are traveling. Instead of hotels, I am staying almost exclusively in vacation rentals, airb'n'b type accommodations these days where I can make my own meals. If you are lucky enough to be in a place like Santa Barbara where the Farmer's Market is out of this world, there is extra incentive to sample the local produce, make something extraordinary and share with all the people around you! So home-cooking is still the number 1 rule to stay healthy on or off the road.

When I can't cook, I pack. I must look really nutty to my family because I literally travel with a ziplock bag of nuts and seeds in my pocketbook! When I order oatmeal from the hotel where it comes only with brown sugar and raisins, I reach for my pumpkin seeds, almonds, chia and flax from under the table and turn my oatmeal into a nutritionally balanced meal!

HOME COURT HABIT 2 : MAKING INFORMED CHOICES

I seek out healthy eat-out options. This might sound intuitive because when we travel, we always look for fun, local places to eat anyway. However if you are traveling with family or friends who have different eating habits, it could be quite challenging to choose a restaurant that caters to everyone's tastes.  I find it helpful to be proactive. I google, do all the research, make suggestions and back up the restaurants of my choice with good reviews and recommendations. My enthusiasm pays off every time!

When I was in Los Angeles, I visited two restaurants I found absolutely inspiring! The first one is Lemonade - a fast-food deli chain that has multiple locations but serves unbelievably fresh "market place vegetables" by the scoops at a reasonable price.

The other place is Cafe Gratitude - hands down the best 100% organic and vegan restaurant I've ever been to, apparently the current hottest spot in Venice, LA, right next to the Yoga Collective. When you order food, the waiter entertains you with "mindfulness" comments like "just think about what is the most important thing to you at this moment" (seriously!) Ummm....am I  doing a downward dog or just ordering brussels sprouts?

More beautiful restaurant food.

HOME COURT HABIT 3 : STAYING ACTIVE

I stay active and move whenever I can. Whether you're in California or Cancun, there is a lot you can manipulate to make your vacation more active and less sedentary. I jogged almost daily with my friends in the Santa Barbara hills before we got our occasional morning coffee (did I say coffee?)  I jogged from Venice Beach to Santa Monica before everyone else was awake. I ran around the suburban grid in Seal Beach when I was staying at my in-laws' house. I did my infrequent yoga practice on the patio. I walked to get to the local Whole Foods. I hiked to Montecito Peak and the Nevada Falls. I influenced the itinerary by voting hikes, and more hikes!

Montecito Peak

Tunnel View, Yosemite

Mariposa Grove, Yosemite

Nevada Falls, Yosemite

Vernal Falls, Yosemite

Taft Point, Yosemite

HOME COURT HABIT 4 : HAVING FUN

Alright, I must admit I also drank way too much good Californian wine and had way more fun than otherwise, but all in all, I feel pretty good coming back!

Refreshing Real Vitamin Water

If you ever get tired of quenching your thirst with water alone in the hot summer months to come, hydrate with these refreshing fruit-flavored "real" vitamin waters.

Some ideas:

Cucumber, Lime, Mint
Pineapple, Orange, Lime
Orange, Blueberries
Cucumber, Water Melon, Rosemary
Strawberries, Mango, Lemon

Keep the jars in the fridge and let the content sit in the water for up to a day.
Be creative with your fruit and herb combos!