The Hemp Connection:
recipes

I have a new favorite recipe that I thought you would like! If you use the anchovy paste, you'll get additional omega-3's; if you're vegan it's fine to use soy sauce. I use lite soy sauce to cut the sodium content. I have also cut the oil in half from the original recipe; feel free to add more if you need it. Just remember that it is the fat in the Caesar that can throw the calories out of whack.

Add chicken or salmon…or even canned tuna…for protein…and you've got a tasty, hormone-friendly meal!

Kale and Romaine Caesar Salad

Ingredients

- 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 T anchovy paste from a tube (or substitute soy sauce)
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 3 T olive oil
- 2 T + 2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 4-5 oz. romaine lettuce, thinly sliced, washed and dried
- 4-5 oz. dark green kale, washed, dried, and thinly sliced

Preparation

Blend the lemon juice, anchovy paste (or soy sauce), garlic, and Dijon in a food processor and pulse together a few times. Add the olive oil one tablespoon at a time, pulsing for a few seconds after each tablespoon is added. Stir in 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan and season the dressing with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Put dressing in the fridge and chill until ready to use, or if you want to make the salad right away, chill it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so.
Thinly slice romaine lettuce and kale into 1/2 inch strips. Wash, then spin dry or dry with paper towels.

Place the kale strips in a salad bowl, and pour in salad dressing. Massage dressing into kale with your hands until the leaves change color. Add romaine and toss to coat with dressing. Add the remaining 2 T of freshly grated Parmesan to the salad and toss again. Serve right away.

We all know we should more veggies. But it doesn't often work out that way. I think a big part of it is the part of our brain that decides how to prepare them, gets locked into thinking they either have to go into salads, or they are steamed on the side (like the ubiquitous broccoli I mentioned in my recent restaurant review). Juicing is ok…but for our group, the high carbohydrate to protein ratio is not really hormone-friendly.

I also think, this same part of the brain that persists in thinking vegetables are bland and boring, is the one that also has us believing that if we are"good" and we eat veggies, we are giving up things we like to eat.

If that is not the worst marketing for a great concept I have ever seen!

Why not…make something you like with new and different ingredients? (slaps forehead)

Here is a collection of links to recipes for pizzas, in which the crusts are made of vegetables instead of flour. Majorly simple way to healthify your dinner without compromising taste.

Have fun, readers!

 Cauliflower Crust Hawaiian Pizza

Kale-Crust Pizza

Kale Pizza with Sweet Potato Crust

Carrot Crust Pizza

Turnip Crust Pizza

Zucchini Crust Pizza

Beet Crust Pizza

Spaghetti Squash Pizza

Someone on our Facebook page recently asked how you cook kale. And she asked at a perfect time, since we've been getting it almost weekly at Chow Locally, and I've been the one who's been curating recipes and techniques to keep our customers excited!

First of all, a bit about kale. It is actually a type of cabbage that never gets around to forming into a head. In this photo you see curly kale, which is one of the more popular kinds, what you often see used to make kale chips. It comes in a variety of colors and leaf shapes, all of which can be enjoyed!

Here are some of the great things kale can do for you.

1. It can lower your cholesterol.
2. It can lower your risk of cancer.
3. It is a great food for detoxification.
4. It is extremely high in antioxidants — over 45 have already been identified.
5. One cup cooked kale has 1328% of your RDA's for vitamin K, 354% for vitamin A, and 89% of vitamin C. And only 36 calories.

Now that is what I call nutrient dense!

For the longest time, I thought kale was just the pretty gray-green curly stuff you used to decorate party platters, but didn't really eat. Then antioxidants were discovered, and kale topped the charts, and people started deciding, maybe they should figure out how to eat it. It can be a bit of a challenge because it is bitter. Unless you are Kitty, who loves raw kale (this is white peacock kale here), it's best to know a few cooking techniques!

Here are some of the easiest ways to enjoy kale.

1. Juice it. There are a bazillion recipes for juicing kale on the Internet. I am linking you to just one here.

2. Massage it and eat it raw. Interestingly, kale's bitter flavor dials back a bit if you chop it, and massage it with some type of oil until the color pops green. Here is a great blog post with three massaged kale salad recipes, along with more ideas (colcannon, which is mashed potatoes and kale, is a recipe I sent to our customers with this week's box.)

3. Saute it. Super easy, as you can see in this recipe!

4. Make pesto with it. One week we got gorgeous purple peacock kale in our boxes, and it intimidated some of our customers. It's the same vegetable, just a different color, and to demonstrate, I made a purple pesto. You can make this exact same pesto with any kind of kale…curly, dinosaur, peacock, Toscano…because it's still kale!

5. Steam/wilt it. This is one of my all time favorite kale recipes, by Rachel Ray, steamed kale with portobello mushrooms. I often make this dinner!

6. Kale chips. This is all the rage right now. I'm giving you the recipe and I encourage you to try this with any sturdy greens you might have available — kohlrabi and beet have worked very well in my kitchen.
7. Braise it. Braising is a way to slow cook and infuse the flavor of a wine, vinegar, alcohol, broth, or other liquid. I just found this great salsa-braised kale recipe while surfing for this post…it is on my list to try!
I hope this gets you started! Let us know how you end up cooking yours!

We know you all love recipes and inspiration, so we are excited to be joining a group of bloggers that will provide you even more of what you're looking for!

Recipe Redux is a monthly blogfest showcasing the creativity of registered dietitians who love to cook. At the beginning of the month we are each given a theme to work with, and on the 21st of each month, our creation relating to that challenge is posted, along with links to all of the other recipes our colleagues have provided.

Dietitians participating in this club agree to focus on at least one of the following in their recipes.

• reduction in overall calories and/or sugar
• increase in fiber
• lowering of saturated fat and/or increase in mono- or poly-unsaturated fats
• reduction in sodium/salt from processed foods
• showcases at least one food group mentioned by the Dietary Guidelines as the basis of a healthy diet: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, seafood and beans

Our challenge this month was to create something using either maple syrup or honey. I decided to use one of my favorite treats on a cold night, champurrado, as the basis for which to create Mexican Oatmeal. Champurrado is a hot drink traditionally made with masa (the cornmeal you use to make tortillas), flavored with all of the spices native to Mexico (chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, fennel seed, and some type of sweetener). All of these are beneficial for inflammation and insulin resistance, so adding them to oatmeal makes a perfect hormone-friendly breakfast!
I simply took those spices, switched out the masa for oatmeal and created the following breakfast you can make in your microwave. Think Mexican Hot Chocolate and oatmeal all mixed together…yummy, healthy, and full of energy to get you through to lunch!

Buen apetito!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup 1% milk
1 wedge Abuelita Mexican chocolate*
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove, stir until chocolate is completely dissoved, and microwave for one minute more.

Serves 1

Nutrition information 330 calories, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 55 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fiber, 13 grams protein, 7 mg cholesterol, 111 mg sodium

*You can use any dark chocolate, really, I just chose this one because it's what I keep around to make Mexican hot chocolate. The darker the chocolate the better…vegan chocolates will give you more antioxidant power as milk tends to bind the beneficial compounds and render them metabolically unavailable.

Practically ever client I have ever had, has come to me with some kind of expectation that the secret to their weight problem/eating disorder/heart disease lies in a magical set of recipes filed away on my computer. If I don't hand them recipes, they feel as though I have failed them.

It's not that I don't mind creating recipes, in fact, it is one of my very favorite things to do! But I feel as if I give you too much structure in what I encourage you to do, you miss the point of cooking. And I feed the delusion that some specific set of instructions on a piece of paper is going to magically fix your problem.

So today I thought I would share what my morning has been like. I hope you will see, that the best kitchen inspirations come from the most surprising places. You often have to put the recipes away in order to see them.

My culinary challenge this week for Chow Locally is developing recipes for mustard greens. My big barrier to this challenge is that try I as I might, and trust me, I have done so many, many times, I just can't get into mustard greens. They are pretty bitter to my palate. But since we have about 125 customers wanting to know what to do with the mustard greens we gave them, and since mustard greens grow pretty well in Phoenix, I got the feeling the Universe decided to tell me it was time to cut the mustard (Ha! Couldn't resist!)

I didn't snap my fingers on this one. I am pretty sure by now, in fact, I have read every single blog post about mustard greens, looking for ideas that sounded like they might work for a wide spectrum of taste buds. When I woke up this morning, needed to try a recipe, I had no idea what I was going to do.

In typical procrastinator's style, I decided to clean my kitchen instead. And…there sat inspiration #1: a couple of inches of stale beer that I was not able to finish last night. It was tasty, a local brewery's White Chocolate Ale, and I didn't want to throw it away. I realized since it was sweet I could get away with less sugar, which I had been thinking of using.

On the way but not totally there, I decided to procrastinate even more by working on my pile of samples from Expo West. This is what my living room floor looks like for about 2 weeks after I get home!

Out from the pile popped my collection of samples from a great family-owned business over in Orange County, Matt's Munchies. They have created a fun variety of healthy fruit leathers. The ginger spice, which is really a ginger and cinnamon-laced mango leather, became ingredient #3.

I poured the beer in a skillet, heated it up to dissolve the mango leather, and then put my chopped mustard greens in to let them braise. I cooked them all the way down until the sugars started to caramelize.

OK, I lied, it did use recipes in this process…but not in the way you are thinking. Because I'd read literally hundreds of recipes in search of inspiration, I noticed that a lot of Indian recipes for greens incorporate just a touch of brown sugar. So I knew if my concoction had something sweet in it, it would caramelize and offset the bitterness that make mustard greens challenging for me.
I am not going to give you any more instructions than this, and you won't get a nutrition analysis. You all know the ingredients here are good ones, and to give you more of a script defeats the purpose of my nudging you to free yourselves of overly rigid behavior in the kitchen. I promise you, your very favorite foods will be the ones where you left the script and started having some fun!

Finally, I threw in just a touch of sweetened coconut flakes for color and texture.

So many of you are artistic, and appreciative of color…it occurred to me while working on another project the other day, that perhaps thinking about food in a different way would work better with your creative brains.

We had a challenge recently at Chow Locally, we got a beautiful head of peacock kale. Many people who received it had questions about what to do with it, and when I looked online for recipes to share, I didn't find many. And that meant my weekend was going to be devoted to coming up with ways to use it that were easy to make and not too avant garde.

I went with my backup for greens, pesto, and came up with this really pretty final product! The recipe can be found here.

Another one of our customers, Barefeet in the Kitchen's Mary Younkin, also a food blogger, came up with this beautiful purple smoothie made from the same kale. She went with more of a fruity theme, which you can read about on her blog.

In recent weeks, I've also enjoyed some other colorful creations!

Here are some egg salad wraps. I used a simple egg salad recipe and added chopped spinach for color. And I saved a few leaves of a gorgeous head of Merlot lettuce for the wraps. Simple recipe, made exotic simply by switching out the colors!

We had a bunch of bright lights chard, so I made risotto, another one of my favorite ways to use greens. The stems are a beautiful array of reds and yellows, so instead of throwing them out, as many risotto recipes will tell you to do, I minced them, sauteed them, and added them in for a confetti effect.

This head of romanesco surprised me by turning fluorescent green while it slow roasted! I really didn't do much to this, it decorated itself in the oven. But I loved the surprise that came out of the oven!

And here is a Daikon radish slaw! I was really doubtful about this one since radishes are not my favorite veggie, but it was so colorful it enticed me to taste it, and I ended up loving it!

We're no different from Mother Nature's other creatures. We are attracted to foods for a variety of reasons. One of the most important ones is color. Fortunately, the foods that add color are usually the ones loaded with nutrition.

When you are in the kitchen, take off that healthy cooking hat and put on your creative"PCOS brain" hat. Ask yourself where the color is! If it's not inherently there, don't be afraid to deviate from the recipe. Create your work of art, and trust that if it's naturally colorful, something in that food is going to benefit your health.

Source: Uploaded by user via Monika on Pinterest

We got a really fun vegetable in our boxes this week that I wanted to share with you. This is Romanesco cauliflower. Isn't it exotic? It almost looks like it was harvested from a coral reef!

Source: Uploaded by user via Monika on Pinterest

We get so many requests for"recipes" here at inCYST. Just wanted to make the point that when you eat really good, really fresh food…you don't need a lot of complexity in the kitchen. Just a little tweak to bring out the natural flavors.

I recently received a review copy of the Glycemic Index Cookbook for Dummies, by Meri Raffetto, RD, and Rosanne Rust, MS, RD, LDN. Meri's name may sound familiar to some of you, as she also wrote the Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies.

This followup book is a nice practical guide to putting the principles of the glycemic index into action. I like this. I can't tell you how many times I've spoken to groups of women with PCOS who can repeat the many sound principles of diet for PCOS, as if they have more education than I do on the topic, but look at me like a deer in the headlights at the end of the presentation when I ask,"OK, now what are you all cooking for dinner?"

What really matters is not how much you KNOW about what to eat, but how often you EAT based on what you know. This book transitions you from theory into practice.

This book is not lacking in theory, however. It nicely distinguishes between low-glycemic foods and a low-glycemic diet, for example. You don't always get both with the same food choice.

The authors are also very good about discussing in detail the many factors besides diet (like stress, binge eating, not attending to portion sizes, for example), that can interfere with good blood glucose control.

Once they make sure you're on board with the principles of low-glycemic eating as they were intended to be used, they proceed to what to eat. Even there, they're entirely practical, reminding readers that if you haven't taken the time to stock your kitchen with the right items, you're not going to eat the way you say you want to. From planning your menus, and making your shopping list, to organizing your kitchen to navigating the grocery store, Meri and Rosanne work you through setting yourself up for success.

And then…about 2/3 of the book is actual recipes to use. If the recipes don't make you wonder why it took you so long to try this way of eating, the beautiful food photography in the middle of the book will certainly start you thinking!

Trust me, I saw chocolate, cream cheese cake, asparagus and goat cheese and toasted walnuts, cheesy quinoa with spinach, and even spaghetti, yes spaghetti!

If you're done with the theorizing and ready to get in the kitchen and get your eating plan off on the right foot, consider adding this book to your library.

Click here to order the Glycemic Index for Dummies
Click here to order the Glycemic Index Cookbook for Dummies — paperback version
Click here to order the Glycemic Index Cookbook for Dummies — Kindle version

Disclaimer: I do want to add that Meri is a personal friend and she did mention inCYST in her book as a PCOS resource. Because of this I do have a bias that cannot be avoided. However, I have declined to promote friends with other books, products and services on the blog that were not the right fit for our audience. I do my best to stay 100% fair, but I want you to know it's not a perfect world. Just wanted to be sure you know where I stand on the issue.

Source: kalynskitchen.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I've now worked with three Chow Locally boxes, and for the most part I was cruising along. Until this past week when arugula showed up in the box. A few years ago, I belonged to a CSA at a farm where arugula grew particularly well. So for weeks at a time, it would show up in the box. I was not particularly fond of it in the first place, but when having to eat it for weeks on end…well, let's just say I developed an intense dislike for the green.

But my job at Chow Locally is to show people how to use foods in season. I decided to use this as an opportunity to put myself in many of my client's shoes, and I chose to challenge myself to learn to eat--and like--arugula.

Flipping through some recipes, I happened across arugula pesto. And I like basil pesto, so I figured it might be fun to try it with arugula. It turned out so tasty I was eating it by the spoonful!

So I cruised the Internet and found a lot of recipes for pesto using a lot of other greens that people often turn their noses up at. I found kale pesto, collard pesto, and mustard green pesto.

I think I was open minded to and expecting to like this recipe because I had an expectation of the taste that would be positive. Trying something completely foreign on top of a new food would have been too much. Expectation is half the battle!

So if you're trying to learn to cook and eat new foods, think of ways to cook the new so that it is familiar. Willing to bet it helps you add more new things to your repertoire than you thought yourself capable of.

Source: elanaspantry.com via Valerie on Pinterest

Kale is the new rage. I've even seen it hailed as The New Beef.

Problem is, for newbies to this green way of eating, kale is a bitter veggie to swallow.

I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to work with kale that get you out of the bitter and into the tasty zone!

1. Make chips! I put a photo album on our Facebook page showing you how to do this with pretty much any green, including kale. It's soooo easy!

2. Cook with Parmesan cheese. Cheese, for some reason, helps to take bitterness out of greens.

3. Massage with oil. I'm sharing a couple of links here to recipes describing tis technique, which is basically breaking down the membranes of the leaves with your hands while massaging in a little oil. The first recipe, Kale Salad with Grapefruit, and photo are from friend Valerie Griswold. The second recipe is for the popular kale avocado salad at Whole Foods, which is what I always encourage people to try if they have never had kale. The avocado does the job that the oil does in the previous recipe.

4. Throw a handful into smoothies! You won't taste it at all, and you'll still get the benefit of its goodness.

5. Add to soups. If I get close to the next weekly veggie box and I still have things I haven't used, I make soup. Kale is a great thing to throw in anything.

Excerpt from: Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Dummies ®, Wiley Publishing, Nov. 2011

Meri, Meri, Meri…you've got me trained like a Pavlov's dog…every time I see an email from you entitled"recipe"…I'm salivating before I even open it!

Photo by http://www.lovjoyphotographer.com/

Chicken Stew with Chick Peas and Plum Tomatoes
Prep time: 12 min Cook Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken thighs
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 (14.5oz) can chickpeas, drained
1 large can (28oz) plum tomatoes
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
¼ cup red lentils
½ cup long grain rice
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

1 In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Add the onion, celery, spices, and chickpeas and cook for 3 minutes to heat spices.

2 Pour in the tomatoes and chicken stock and then add in the lentils and rice. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat, cover and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

3 Stir in the lemon juice and divide stew into 6 bowls. Garnish each bowl with 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and serve. Per serving: Calories 346 (From Fat 82); Fat 9g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 38mg; Sodium 721mg; Carbohydrate 47g (Dietary Fiber 6g); Protein 22g.

My friend Kate recently showed me the Whole Foods Market app on her iPhone. It has a lot of features which could really be helpful to someone who's overwhelmed with the thought of menu making and cooking.

Its recipe lists can be filtered based on special preferences such as gluten-free.

If you enter ingredients you already have in your kitchen, it will search for and display recipes using those recipes. Or, you can build your own list from scratch.

If you select a recipe, it will add needed ingredients to your shopping list.

It will work even if you're not shopping at Whole Foods, but if that's what you want to do, it will direct you to their nearest location.

Kate shared that it did the tedious work for her and made a task she used to hate, even a little fun.

This application can be downloaded at the iTunes store.

I thought I'd shine a little light on one of the season's antioxidant powerhouses — cranberries. We tend to associate antioxidants with summer foods such as berries, but check out some of the things cranberries can do for you!

--They may keep ulcer-causing bacteria from attaching to the stomach lining.

--They help to prevent cancer

--They help to protect against cardiovascular disease

Cranberries contain the same antioxidant, anthocyanin, as blueberries. What is interesting about cranberries, though, is that they are grown on the water, which helps to increase their anthocyanin content. Antioxidants aren't just created for humans, they're found in plants where they are doing their protective work. You can say that in cranberries, these anthocyanins are working kind of like sunscreen does for us! And they do double duty when you eat them yourself.

Cranberries are most likely to provide the highest benefit when eaten whole (not as a sauce or in a Cape Codder)…so since most of us don't really know what to do with cranberries outside of those two things, I looked up a few cranberry recipes. The salsa recipe comes from http://www.allrecipes.com/, and the rest come from the Cape Cod Cranberry Grower's Association, where you might want to visit for even more ideas.

Here's to red food keeping us healthy!

Cranberry Salsa

1 (12 ounce) bag cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch green onions, cut into 3 inch lengths
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 limes, juiced
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt

Combine cranberries, cilantro, green onions, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a medium blade. Chop to medium consistency. Refrigerate if not using immediately. Serve at room temperature.

Cranberry Almond Goat Cheese Log

Servings: 2 logs
11oz goat cheese
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup natural sliced almonds — divided

wax paper

Place goat cheese in food processor work bowl.

Pulse several times until cheese is crumbled.

Add orange zest and chopped dried cranberry to crumbled goat cheese. Pulse for 5 seconds, or until cheese mixture will start to form a ball.

Remove cheese mixture from work bowl and separate into two balls. Form each cheese balls into a log shape approximately 2x4 inches each.

Place half of the almonds onto a piece of wax paper. Roll one goat cheese log over almonds, covering the entire surface of the log, gently pressing to assure the almonds stick.

Repeat with the remaining second log and almonds. Wrap the logs individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving. Serve on Baguette Croutes (see recipe below).

Cranberry Almond Goat Cheese Logs will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Bake until just golden, 10-12 minutes.
Transfer to a serving tray and let cool.
Spread Cranberry Almond Goat Cheese Log on Baguette Croutes and serve.

Warm Baby Spinach and Cranberry Salad

6 servings

1 package baby spinach, washed and cleaned thoroughly
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup Italian Salad Dressing
2 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoon olive oil
Place cleaned baby spinach in serving bowl.

Place sauté pan over medium heat. Add oil.

Add pine nuts and sauté quickly until lightly browned.

Add minced garlic and sweetened dried cranberries and stir quickly to coat with oil.

Let simmer for about 30 seconds.

Add Zesty Italian Dressing, stir, remove from heat and pour over baby spinach.

Serve immediately with entrée as a side dish.

Cranberry Couscous

4 servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup chopped white onion
1 ½ cups cranberry juice cocktail, heated to a simmer
1 cup couscous
¼ cup chopped pistachios
2 scallions green parts only
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries
salt and pepper (to taste)

In a medium saucepan add olive oil.

Add the white onion, sweetened dried cranberries and pistachios, and saute gently over low heat until onion is translucent and slightly fragrant.

Add the couscous and the warm cranberry juice cocktail.

Stir with a fork to combine, cover.

Let sit for 10 minutes.

Add the scallions. Fluff with fork.

Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.

Turn into serving dish.

Serve hot.
.

We have Temecula, CA inCYSTer Meri Raffetto to the rescue.

Meri is the co-author of the recently released Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Dummies, and she forwarded this recipe from the cookbook.

I'm in!

Orange, Chocolate and Pistachio Biscotti

Prep time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Yield: 36 servings

Ingredients

¾ cup pistachios (whole)
¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips, chopped lightly
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon orange blossom water or 1 tablespoon orange zest
¼ cup flour, for work surface
Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl mix together the pistachios, chocolate chips flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Cut in the butter and mix with a spoon.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the eggs, egg yolk, and orange blossom water.

4. Using a hand mixer, mix the egg mixture into the flour mixture forming the dough. Lightly dust hands with flour and form the dough into a ball.

5. Transfer the dough onto a work surface that has been dusted with flour. Knead the dough 5 times for 1 minute. Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a log 8 inches long and 3 inch wide and 1-inch thickness. Place each log onto the parchment paper about 5 inches apart. Bake the logs for 20 minutes.

6. Remove the logs from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

7. Gently transfer the logs to a cutting board and with a sharp knife, press down and cut biscotti pieces horizontally every ½ inch. The cookies will be ½-inch wide by 3 inches long. Place the cookies cut-side down onto 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

8. Bake the cookies for 5 minutes, turn each cookie over and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on baking sheets before storing. Cookies need to be kept in a tightly covered container and can be stored at room temperature for 2 weeks.
Per serving: Calories 80 (From Fat 23); Fat 3g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 3mg; Sodium 42mg; Carbohydrate 13g (Dietary Fiber 1g); Protein 2g.
Excerpt from The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook For Dummies®, Wiley, Nov. 2011.

It's probably because I love food that I became a dietitian. And it's also because I love food that I hang around so many foodies.

One of my dear foodie friends, Tony Arranaga, recently posted a favorite meal on his Facebook page that I wanted to share with you. Here is Tony from his Phoenix days, when we all knew and loved his foodie advice as the famed Light Rail Blogger.

These days Tony is incredibly busy working long hours in the office of Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, so he doesn't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. But he still loves good food! His crockpot helps him make that situation work anyway. This recipe for salsa verde chicken machaca really needs to be on all of your"super super easy" lists. Here is how he makes it.

Machaca is a traditional Mexican dish, typically with beef. My twist uses chicken breast (4) and two jars of Salsa Verde. Toss it in a crock pot. Let cook on high all day, then half hour before you serve, throw in a can of black beans. It tastes great alone, or with tortillas, or even on a bed of lettuce. Let me know how it turns out!

Let us know if you try this! If you have something for our"super easy" collection, send it our way!

The following is a guest blog post from Dawn Marie Black, a woman with PCOS. Dawn is learning to cook in hormone-friendly ways, and has a great blog, Much Madness Is Divinest Sense, in which she records her experiences on this journey. In this post Dawn shares information about coconut flour.

If you'd like to try coconut flour but cannot find it locally, here are some options for online ordering.

What flour is high in fiber, and protein, low in carbohydrates and gluten free? We're talkin' coconut flour here!

I have PCOS, and found that these things are better for me, and having tried this flour I found I really like it.

Coconut flour is fiber from the coconut meat after most of the oil has been extracted to make Virgin Coconut Oil. Each brand of coconut flour will vary in their content of protein and fiber, but the protein and fiber is higher than gluten based flours, and that makes this flour very appealing for keeping my baked goods low carb, and to reduce other gastric issues that gluten can aggravate. Who really likes having IBS issues? I, for one, am not a fan. It is also considered a hypoallergenic food since so few people are allergic to coconut, which makes this easy to offer to many of your friends who may have other allergies. There are three things to remember when using coconut flour: One, always sift. Two, extra liquid is needed. Three, it needs something to bind it all together.

Coconut flour can be used in all recipes calling for flour. Most can be substituted with anywhere between 10% — 30% coconut flour, adding in the equal amount of liquid into the recipe as well. Other recipes may need further adjustments, for binding agents and liquid depending on the amount of fiber in the coconut flour. The easiest recipes to convert to 100% coconut flour are muffins, bars, pancakes, cakes, and quick breads. There are recipes on the internet and in print that can be helpful in building new recipes from. I have tried doing an equal exchange of flour, and without the extra binding agents and liquid the muffins were really dry, enough to toss with one bite. It was awful. If it looks dry, add more liquid.

There are several things to remember when using coconut flour. Always sift before measuring whether the recipe calls for it or not, it is inferred. If you forget to sift, you will be disappointed with your results as it will be dry and crumbly. This flour is very"thirsty", the fiber in the flour soaks up moisture, so more needs to be added to your recipes, it's usually an equal amount. Sticky sweeteners, such as brown rice syrup, can be included in your measurements for liquid, but oil is not included. Then you'll want to remember that since the flour has no internal binder, it requires additional eggs. The ratio is between 4-5 eggs per cup up to 1 egg per ounce of flour, there are other binders that can be utilized as well, egg whites, soaked flax, sticky sweeteners help with binding as well. I have found that those who are cooking vegan know many other binding agents and are good sources to ask regarding other alternatives in your baking. I've compiled a list of alternatives you can find by clicking here. I personally like eggs, they provide protein and are tasty, but I do substitute egg whites for some of the eggs, especially when I know I will be eating them in other forms through out the day.

If your batter is dry your baked goods will be dry, add in more liquids to moisten the flour for a more moist baked item. I forgot this once with a quick bread recipe, the batter was dry, and when the bread came out of the oven it was more lumpy and dry then when I had put it in the oven. Do not be afraid of a more moist batter, the fiber soaks it up. Coconut flour can be used in other common purposes such as breading and as a thickening agent for soups, stews, etc. If you are using it as a breading, make double the sauce to pour over your item in order to allow for the soaking up of the liquids. I made a Coq a Vin for a party, and overnight the breaded chicken soaked up all the sauce that was to be poured over the pieces of chicken. The flavor was there, but it would have been more delicious with the sauce to pour over the meal. Do not be afraid to make adjustments, print out your recipes make notes with your changes, decide how you liked your item and either make more corrections or make a note letting yourself know if you liked it or not. There will be some things that you will love the flavor, but maybe you will want a different texture. I'm still working on gooey brownies, I will be adding apple sauce to increase the moisture in my next batch.

Here are some helpful links to find recipes to begin your journey of cooking with coconut flour, and don't forget these three things when using coconut flour: always sift before measuring, extra liquid is needed, and it needs something to bind it all together.

http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/gluten_free_coconut_flour_recipes.htm

http://www.kokonutpacific.com.au/OilSales/OilIndex.html?Health/CoconutFlour.php

http://www.simplycoconut.com/coconut_flour.htm

http://www.tiana-coconut.com/coconut_flour_recipes.htm

At inCYST we love the Mediterranean diet! You saw the announcement about Meri Raffetto's book, The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Dummies.

Recently I've been experimenting with a part of the Mediterranean that is often overlooked in discussions about this cuisine…the southern shore, or North Africa. It's fabulous.

It all started when my friend Kate turned her house into a Moroccan lounge and hosted a potluck dinner, where all of the guests were challenged to bring a dish that fit into the theme. I had the opportunity to try some incredible combinations of sweet and savory, and started looking for other recipes to try. What I love about what I've found, is that the dishes tend to be packed with vegetables, and they're a powerhouse on your palate.

These dishes combine all of the foods we generally associate with the Mediterranean, with all of the spices that come from its location along one of history's major spice trading routes. You'll need to stock your kitchen with turmeric, all of the peppers, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cloves, curry, fenugreek…before you get started. But I think you'll be pleased with what you get.

One of my favorite rules for eating out is to eat authentic ethnic. Those are the places you'll find the cuisines that keep healthy eating interesting and exciting. Northern African cuisine, whether it's Moroccan, Tunisian, is going to be a good bet for dinner out with friends that will keep everyone happy without anyone having to dissect the menu looking for something"healthy", which can be a buzzkill for any social outing.

Here is a recipe I recently tried that is going in my file to use again. It hit the spot on a cold winter night, fed me for several days, and did not leave me feeling like I needed to go searching for something after dinner because in the process of eating healthy I was not satisfied. It originally appeared in Sunset Magazine.

Pearl Couscous with Fall Vegetables and Caramelized Onions

Recipe Time
Total: 2 Hours, 30 Minutes

Amount per serving
Calories: 407
Protein: 11g
Fat: 7.2g
Saturated fat: 1g
Carbohydrate: 77g
Fiber: 7.4g
Sodium: 861mg
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey

Couscous and vegetables
3 to 4 medium carrots
3 medium zucchini
1 jalapeño chile
4 small turnips
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash*
3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3/4 teaspoon cumin
2 cinnamon sticks
7 cups reduced-sodium vegetable stock
2 cups pearl (also sold as Israeli) couscous

About 1 tsp. harissa*
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1. Make caramelized onions: Put onions in a large frying pan with 1/2 cup water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until softened, about 30 minutes. Remove cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onions are golden. Increase heat to medium-high, add olive oil, and cook, stirring, until deep golden. Meanwhile, soak raisins in hot water 15 minutes; drain.

2. Stir in spices and honey; then stir in raisins and cook, stirring, until nutty brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Make couscous and vegetables: Halve carrots and zucchini; cut into 1 1/2-in. pieces. Halve jalapeño (seed it if you want less heat). Peel and quarter turnips. Peel and seed squash; cut into 1-in. chunks.

4. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add 1 tsp. salt, the pepper, saffron, cumin, and cinnamon sticks and fry, stirring, 1 minute. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add carrots, turnips, and jalapeño and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Add squash and zucchini and cook, covered, until all vegetables are soft but not falling apart, about 20 minutes.

5. Transfer 2 cups hot stock from vegetable pot to a 4-qt. saucepan. Add 1 cup water and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, stir in couscous, and cook, covered, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

6. Transfer 2 cups stock from vegetable pot to a pitcher and stir in harissa to taste.

7. Spread couscous on a platter, making a well in the center. Using a slotted spoon, arrange vegetables, including cinnamon sticks, in the well; discard jalapeño. Scatter onions on top and sprinkle with cilantro. Moisten the couscous with some stock and strain the rest into a second pitcher. Serve couscous and vegetables with the two stocks (plain and spicy) on the side.

*Buying cubed butternut squash will save you some time. Harissa's heat level varies wildly depending on the brand, so taste before adding.

Make ahead: Up to 1 day. Finish making all five components of the dish—caramelized onions, vegetables, couscous, harissa-spiked stock, and plain stock—and chill separately. Ten minutes before serving, reheat in a microwave and serve as directed.

I live two blocks from Fresh and Easy and I love to take my lunch breaks over there to see what is happening at the sample counter and new on the shelves.

Yesterday I checked out their new line of simmer sauces, which are simply ready made sauces that can be used as the basis for a quick and easy meal.

I encourage clients to maintain an inventory of"emergency" ingredients for 2 or 3 easy meals to make in a pinch. Simmer sauces would be perfect for this. They're a bit high in sodium to use on a daily basis, but once in awhile, they're so much better than a pizza or fast food run.

Of the 11 varieties that I found in my particular store, 5 were made with anti-inflammatory fats. I played a little game of"Stump the Demo Guy" with my friend Steven, asking him what he might make if he had these in his own kitchen. Here is what he came up with.

Cacciatore: poured in with sauteed mushrooms and eggplant and served over quinoa.

Provencal: used with tilapia, served with green beans and olive oil-brushed, rosemary-sprinkled sweet potato fries.

Burgundy wine: as a cooking sauce for a lean cut of beef, such as flank steak

Chile verde: a healthy rice bowl with pre-cooked brown rice, canned black beans, chopped tomatoes, topped with the simmer sauce.

Texas chili: along with browned ground turkey and a can of kidney beans, poured over zero-carb shirataki noodles with a bit of shredded low-fat cheese for a Cincinnati specialty (more commonly known as five-way chili).

Winter squash is one of those vegetables I didn't learn to like until I was an adult. But now that I've discovered it, boy do I love it! I recently made an Indian squash-lentil stew that was a fabulous way to blend the outgoing flavors of summer with the incoming comfort food season. hinking there are many other adults out there who also had a thing against squash, I thought it would make a fun blog post. I learned new and interesting things pertinent to our insulin-resistant readers.

As with many of the fruits I profiled over the summer, squash isn't bad just because it's starchy. Again, Mother Nature was thoughtful enough to put compounds in squash that help to counteract that carbohydrate. In fact, some of them actually help to improve insulin function and reduce the progression of diabetes. I'm really starting to see, as I research for all of you, that what we were taught long ago, that it was about the carbohydrates no matter what the source, was not correct. When we eat carbohydrates right off of the tree, or right out of the ground, they come packaged in a way we were designed to handle them. It's when we refine the good stuff out of them that our bodies don't do well with them.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that squash may be one of those vegetables that is extremely important to purchase from an organic farmer. I would have assumed, if asked, that because this vegetable has a skin that you can peel and discard, that it would be safer from pesticides than a lot of other vegetables. However, squash is unique for its tendency to absorb contaminant chemicals such as residual DDT and DDT derivatives from the ground in which it grows. So much so, that farmers often plant squash in between plantings of other crops to pull contaminants out of the soil and improve soil quality.

Just to be safe, be sure anything you purchase in the squash family (summer zucchini, winter squash, pumpkin, any kind of melon) comes from an organic farm, which is less likely to be using chemicals on an ongoing basis that have any need to be removed from the soil.

Please don't let the second half of this post scare you away from squash. My intent was more to motivate you to get to the local farmer's market in search of a big, beautiful butternut and discover how much flavor, color, and nutrition it can add to your fall menus! Here's a recipe for a roasted vegetable medley to get you started, from http://www.allrecipes.com/.
Thomas JE, Ou LT, All-Agely A. DDE remediation and degradation. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2008;194:55-69.

Cofield N, Schwab AP and Banks MK. Phytoremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil: part I. Dissipation of target contaminants. International Journal of Phytoremediation. Boca Raton: 2007. Vol. 9, Iss. 4-6; pg. 355-370. 2007.
White JC. Inheritance of p,p'-DDE phytoextraction ability in hybridized Cucurbita pepo cultivars. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jul 1;44(13):5165-9.

One of the reasons I always have trouble providing menus, is because I am a farmer's market and sale rack shopper. My inspiration never comes from sitting at the computer poring over recipes…I totally love the challenge of figuring out what to create given certain limitations. So rather than provide a menu, I'll walk you through how I came up with a fantastic lunch today.

I walked over to Fresh and Easy's sale rack, where I found pomegranate seeds and figs on sale. I still had the taste of the figs Ivonne and I made for a Moroccan potluck on my mind, so those had to go in my bag. The pomegranate seeds were beautiful so I bought those too.

But what to do with them? I had almost bought hummous, so I knew I was in the mood for something spreadable on crackers.

Ricotta cheese came to mind! So that went into the shopping basket too.

Here is how I put them together for lunch.

Took half a container of ricotta cheese and stirred in two packets of True Orange (dehyrated orange powder, no sugar, a great flavor aid for all kinds of beverages and cooking!)

Chopped up three figs…aren't they beautiful on the inside?

Stirred the figs along with a couple of spoonfuls of pomegranate seeds into the orange ricotta.

Noticed some sunflower seeds on the back of the counter, so I added them too.

Served on canola oil-baked pita chips.

I never would have come up with that if I'd been riveted to a shopping list. It happened because I was practicing"mindful grocery shopping", that is, noticing what was around me, taking the cues, and being creative. Of course I use lists, too. But sometimes, a lot of the time, actually, I like to go the market and wing it.

And usually the times I go off the list…are the times I enjoy my meals the most.

Give it a whirl!