vegan Archives - JoyFoodly

Bursting with Spring Buckwheat Noodles

May 5 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Beautiful photography in this post by Nina Menconi.

Spring makes me happy. It’s not just the sweet strawberries and ripe cherries that start popping up everywhere this time of year, or the yellow daffodils and tulips that tell me that winter is a distant memory. It’s the baby carrots and happy easter radishes, crunchy sweet sugar snap peas, and tender stalks of asparagus that make me want to cook and play in the kitchen. From radish dips to noodles bursting with spring produce, I’m energized to find ways to easily work in these yummy seasonal treats into my weekly meals.

And it’s not only because I love the taste of spring. Do you know how many nutritious goodies (including energy!) these vegetables and fruits provide?! I love looking at Ashley Koff’s spring vegetable “picks” list to feel great knowing that I’m treating my body and my family’s health right! The key of course is to “try” not go overboard–playing with new recipes should be fun, not stressful. That’s why I love simple one dish meals like soba noodles. I use my go-to sauce from the Joyful 12 kitchen learning lab and just mix up the seasonal produce on hand.

One of my new favorite things to add to soba noodles is roasted tofu. It sounds a little crazy, but I’m a newcomer to tofu as a protein source that makes it home in my shopping cart! I just never played with it much until recently when I was trying out a recipe that called for roasting it. In just 20-minutes, roasted tofu develops the most beautiful brown color and deep flavor without having to pan sear or fry it in a bunch of oil. And while I have the oven on anyway, I throw in some diced asparagus for ten minutes–just long enough to develop flavor but not lose the vibrant green hues.

When it comes to play, my motto is always to have fun making mistakes. Take this goof for example. I put my cooked soba noodles into my pan, along with the sauce and veggies and stirred and stirred and stirred, and guess what. The noodles broke! So much for long beautiful soba noodles–more like soba rice! But that just gave me the chance to make this recipe one more time for my husband, Jim, who adores soba noodles. After a little research, I discovered that the trick to not breaking your cooked noodles is to first wash them after cooking them in a big bowl of cold water (to remove some of their starch) AND to add your sauce and veggies off the heat and gently toss them just before serving. Version one was still delicious!

If you’re looking for a seriously happy and delicious spring meal, perfect for Meatless Monday, grab some sugar snap peas and asparagus and let the soba noodle party commence!

Bursting with Spring Buckwheat Noodles

2016-05-03 21:07:09

Serves 4

Save Recipe

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

Asparagus, 1 bunch
Olive oil, 3 TBS (divided)
Salt, ½ tsp (divided)
Tofu, firm, 14 oz
Black pepper, ⅛ tsp
Green onion, 1 bunch
Sugar snap peas, 1 cup
Ginger (fresh), 1tsp finely chopped
Soba noodles (100% Buckwheat) 7 oz

Noodle Sauce

Hot pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp
Rice wine vinegar, 2 TBS
Tamari (gluten free soy sauce), 1/4 cup
Sesame oil, 1/4 cup
Ginger (fresh), 2 tsp finely grated

Instructions

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Preheat oven to 425F.
Cut asparagus on the bias into medium sized pieces. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Dry off tofu and cut into medium sized (bite-sized) cubes, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper.
Place tofu and asparagus on two different baking pans lined with parchment paper--roast the tofu for 20 minutes and the asparagus for 10 minutes at 425F.
Cut green onion into small pieces. Set aside some of the green tops to use as a garnish on the noodles when you serve them.
Cut the sugar snap peas into bite sized pieces.
Chop 1 teaspoon of ginger and set aside for the vegetable saute. Finely grate 2 additional teaspoons ginger for the noodle sauce.
Make the pasta sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and stirring together.

Cook

Cook noodles separately, according to their package instructions (approximately 5-7 minutes in boiling water--DO NOT salt!). Get a colander ready so you can rinse the noodles right after they are done cooking in cool water. Note: soba noodles should not be al dente, but you also don’t want to overcook them so taste one before pulling the pot off the heat. Once they have been rinsed, you’re now going to dunk the cooked noodles in a big bowl of cold water and “wash them” of their starch. Use your hands and rub them in the water. Drain again in the colander. Now they are ready to be used.
In a pre-heated pan, saute green onion, peas and ginger in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat for 3 minutes.
Add roasted asparagus, tofu, and your sauce to the saute and continue cooking another 2 minutes.
Gently toss sauteed vegetables and sauce with the noodles in a bowl (off the heat).
Serve in bowls garnished with a little extra green onion and sprinkled with hot pepper flakes, if you like it extra spicy!

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Summer Moroccan Salads

Jul 27 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Tearing off a hot piece of the freshly baked Berber bread, we dove in with gusto. Green, red, orange, and purple colors danced on the plates put down before us. Mounds of airy grated carrots, heaps of perfectly diced tomatoes and fire grilled bell peppers, glistening chunks of earthy purple beets–all displayed at once–were the starters for our first lunch in Morocco.

Wait. What just happened? Hadn’t we ordered “the Moroccan salad” appetizer? Yet, it felt like a parade of salads had just made its grand entrance into our meal. I love the way Paula Wolfert describes these sensory delights in my favorite of her many beautiful cookbooks, The Food of Morocco:

Moroccan salads are not like ours, mixtures of greens doused with dressings. They’re closer to Italian antipasti, served at the beginning of a meal to inspire the appetite and excite the palate: spiced or sweetened, cooked or raw, or pickled or stewed vegetables, as well as cubed and grilled meat or fish.

Our appetites were inspired…and excited. This was a side of Moroccan cooking I had never experienced stateside. We were all too familiar with tagine and couscous but had yet to relish in the glory of these heavenly treats at the beginning of every meal. You see, the area of Morocco we started our trip in, around Rabat, Meknes and Fez, is known for their agricultural delights–from grapes for wine to artichokes, beets, tomatoes, olives and a whole myriad of vegetables that make this part of Morocco the culinary capital.

And then I wondered. How do families really do this in their own homes? Was this a restaurant show or really a part of their food culture? As it turns out, most Moroccan families will have their three or four go-to salads, usually prepared a day in advance that can be pulled out of the refrigerator and served quickly at the start of a meal.

Both simple and seasonal, the brilliance of the Moroccan salad spread is the reliance on a few seasoning combos that you see repeated in numerous variations of the same salad–from the basics of olive, salt and pepper, to spices like cumin, paprika, and coriander to fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro. So when I got back home and tested out my own version of this glorious buffet of salad bites, I kept to the same principles. And some salads were pre-made things I picked up, like an amazing artichoke hummus at our local farmers market and some harissa brined olives from Bi-Rite Market.

Others, I made up as I went along, making a game of seeing what flavors would work together. Diving into Paula’s cookbook, I grabbed ideas from here and there. For example, she has a beautiful carrot and orange salad that’s as simple as mixing together grated or peeled carrots and tossing them with a tiny splash of orange blossom water (I use the Sadaf brand that’s about 2 bucks), a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, cinnamon, and a pinch of sugar. You just can’t imagine how refreshing grated cucumbers are with that same flavor combo!

But the one recipe I must share with you that’s pure summer Moroccan love is from my buddy, Chef Tarik Ait Yahya at Atelier De Cuisine. Recreating his “favorite” summer salad was so easy and delicious–even back on my home soil. The only thing that takes a little planning with this salad is roasting the bell peppers, which I chose to do in my oven since I don’t have a charcoal grill in my small city apartment. At 400F, flipping them after 20 minutes per side (40 total),it was an easy and foolproof way of roasting them enough to extract those rich flavors.

Being rebellious, I chose not to peel my tomatoes as is suggested by any good Moroccan cook–I just couldn’t bring myself to do it with the juicy dry farmed Early Girls I’d bought that morning at the farmers market. I was afraid I’d lose too much juice and good bits…and it worked out just fine!

Literally, 1, 2, 3–with the tossing of diced onion, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and the tomatoes and roasted green bell peppers–the MOST heavenly summer salad came together. Take your own family on a culinary adventure this summer, and start a new tradition of Moroccan Salads to start your meals that are sure to surprise and delight your appetites!

I hope you’ll also enjoy exploring my post on chicken tagine and my six favorite things I learned about Moroccan food and culture on our blog from July. And as I explore and continue to learn about Moroccan cooking, I can not begin to tell you how in love I am with Mourad Lahlou’s cookbook, Mourad: New Moroccan. From Marrakech to San Francisco, Mourad cooks from his childhood memories but in his own Northern California style–full of love, flavor, and the beauty of Moroccan flavors.

Special thanks to Elle Wildhagen, our photographer and videographer, for this beautiful shoot.

Chef Tarik’s Roasted Green Pepper and Tomato Salad

2015-07-20 13:01:00

Serves 4

Adapted slightly (based on my memory) from the original recipe we learned from Chef Tarik Ait Yahya at Atelier de Cuisine outside Marrakech, Morocco

Save Recipe

Prep Time

40 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

55 min

Prep Time

40 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

55 min

Ingredients

Tomatoes, 4 medium (Early Girl variety works great)
Green bell peppers, 2 medium
Red onion, ¼
Lemons, 1
Olive oil, 2 TBS.
Salt, ½ tsp.
Black pepper, ¼ tsp.

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce.
Chef Tarik recommends roasting the green peppers over charcoal. If this is not an option, what we did was to roast them for 40 minutes at 400F in our oven, flipping them mid-way through cooking time.
As they are roasting, juice your lemon, dice the red onion, and measure out your spices and olive oil into a bowl.
For fresh summer tomatoes, I do not recommend peeling them, even as this is the traditional Moroccan way. In Morocco, we used a tomato that appeared to be a paste tomato variety (Roma) and with a small pairing knife, starting at the bottom of the tomato, we worked our way around the skin, peeling slowly. Later, we made roses with our tomato skin!
Dice peeled tomato and add to the bowl.

Assemble

When the peppers have finished roasting, place them into a bowl and cover with saran wrap. Let them sit at least 5-10 minutes. This will help the skin to release. Peel the bell peppers, dice them, and add to the salad.
Toss all of the ingredients together. Taste to make sure you have enough seasoning. Enjoy with fresh bread or your favorite Moroccan main dish.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Elena’s Kickin’ Southwestern Quinoa Salad With Mango Salsa

May 18 by Elena Dennis Leave a Comment

Please welcome Elena Dennis to our Joyfoodly community. She’s not only our spring intern at Joyfoodly, but she’s a fellow educator who has a passion for teaching children to love eating seasonal vegetables and fruits through the camp she started at the tender age of 17–Camp Cauliflower. Please welcome Elena as she shares her passion for living veggie love in these next few blog posts:

I still remember the expression on my best friend’s face when I told her. We were sitting in the food court of the Northgate Mall, a bowl of teriyaki chicken and rice placed in front of us. The majority of the broccoli and carrots were pulled to my side of the plate while the tender chicken strips were gathered near her fork. Surprised that I wasn’t digging into the sweet and sour flavors of this slowly roasted bird, I decided to break the news.

That’s right folks. I officially announced my vegetarianism. However, I didn’t realize the slew of questions I would receive when converting over to a life full of veggies. Let me share some of the FAQs I’ve found over my three years of being a veg.

#1: How do you live?

Well, I’m able to talk, breathe, eat, and laugh, so living isn’t too difficult. I’ve never been the biggest red meat eater, and to be honest, I love vegetables so being vegetarian isn’t a bad lifestyle for me. However, I can see why people ask that question all the time, which brings me to #2.

#2: How do you get enough protein?

Research. It’s all about taking out the fat Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition and reading. I’ve found that my favorite sources of protein are quinoa, beans and rice, greek yogurt, and almonds. These are also incredibly versatile ingredients, which you can use and substitute into about any recipe.

#3: What do you usually make for dinner?

And this question brings me to my favorite dish: quinoa bowls. Whether it’s chopped cold carrots and celery or sautéed chard and kale doused in a ginger-miso sauce, I can confidently say that you could put anything on quinoa and feel satisfied after. These fluffy seeds are chock-full of essential amino acids that fulfill my complete protein requirement per day. I’ve been one to sprinkle toasted almonds and pecans over a honey-drizzled bowl of quinoa or create a cheesy quinoa mixture and stuff it into a roasted pepper. However, there is one quinoa dish in particular that I could eat for the rest of my life.

Behold, the Southwestern Black Bean Quinoa Salad. Whew—that’s a mouthful. But it’s a mouthful of deliciousness! I’ve always loved the combination of black beans and cilantro; it reminds of my father’s famous beans and rice that he introduced to me when I was a youngin’. This dish definitely leaves me feeling full, but not lethargic, which is very important as a hustling and bustling student.

With bursting colors of orange, green, white, and black, this zesty salad truly knows how to bring a family together. I’ve been one to finish off a whole bowl of this stuff with my brother and parents in one sitting. Sad? Definitely not! Because even though we left the table feeling as if our stomachs were a couple of inches wider, we were able to enjoy each other’s presence in the process.

Elena’s Kickin’ Southwestern Quinoa Salad With Mango Salsa

2015-05-14 13:40:47

Serves 3

Culinary note: You can top this bowl with just about anything! My favorite is avocado or the mango salsa, but you could throw in some regular pico de gallo or plain ol’ tomatoes.

Save Recipe

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

10 min

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

10 min

For the Quinoa Bowl

Black beans, 30 oz
Quinoa, 1 cup (uncooked)
Cilantro, 1 bunch
Carrots, 4, medium
Green onions, 1 bunch

For the Lime Vinaigrette

Limes, 2
Olive oil, 1/3 cup
Cumin, 1/4 tsp
Garlic, 1 clove
Maple syrup, 1 tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp

For the Mango Salsa

Mangoes, 2
Garlic, 2 cloves
Habanero pepper, 1-2 (small)
Shallot, 1
Lime, 1
Salt, approximately 1/2 tsp

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach. Wash all ingredients.
Cook quinoa. Being 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water up to a boil. Once you reach a boil, turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 15 minutes. Leave this mixture cooking while you prep the vegetables.
Peel and shred the carrots. Place in large mixing bowl.
Remove lower stems only and rough chop the leaves. Add to carrots.
Chop the green parts of the green onions and add to the other vegetables. Make sure to save the white parts of the onions for another recipe!
Drain and rinse black beans. Add them to the bowl.

Make the mango salsa--in a separate bowl, prep and combine

Peel and cut mango meat off of pit and place in separate bowl. Using your hands, squeeze pulp off of the pit and place into bowl.
Peel and chop garlic.
Rinse and chop Habanero pepper. WARNING: do not touch your eyes after handling Habanero peppers; they will sting! Make sure to thoroughly wash your hands after touching them.
Peel and finely chop the shallot. Make sure the pieces are very small!
Juice the lime and add salt. Set aside.

Assemble

Once quinoa has finished cooking, take a fork and fluff the grains. Pour the cooked grains onto a cookie sheet, spread them, and let dry while you prepare the vinaigrette.
Measure out all the ingredients of the lime vinaigrette and whisk in a bowl or quickly blend in blender.
Add cooked quinoa to the bowl of prepped veggies, give the mixture a solid toss, and then mix in the lime vinaigrette.
Enjoy a bowl of my Southwestern quinoa dish with a large dollop of mango salsa on top, or eat them separately! Both options are equally delicious!

By Elena Dennis

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

I want to give a BIG thank you to Chef Hollie Greene for allowing me this amazing opportunity to intern and blog on JoyFoodly. From working with her, I can already feel my skills as a blogger, educator, and lover of fruits and vegetables grow!

-Elena-

How to Stretch a Meal into Multiple Meals

Aug 21 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Even the best cook struggles with limited time each week to make the home cooked meals they want to make and still get everything on their checklist done. With school back in session, your family may also be experiencing this feeling of time shortage. That’s why when you do cook, it’s important to make it count for not just one meal but multiple meals that you can easily throw together.

Enter my Tomatillo White Bean Chili. Making this one filling dish will help you feel like your time was well spent, especially when you’re breezing through days two and three meals that will require no more than a little imagination. Here’s how this one dish is an ideal foundation for multiple meal planning and how you can apply these same principles back in your own kitchen.

Time:

Brown rice does take time to cook, around 30-40 minutes, but it’s worth it. As a nutritious whole grain that can be used as the foundation of numerous dishes, cook extra so you’re only having to watch the clock once during the week to make this hearty starch.
The flavor base of this chili uses the blender to chop everything instead of manual hand chopping. This sauce is also great over fish, mixed into guacamole, or as a dressing for a potato salad. Once you make it, go ahead and make extra and use it multiple ways.
Look for other shortcuts like frozen vegetables when you don’t have time to buy fresh, and organic canned beans when you don’t have time to soak and cook dried beans, as we use in this chili recipe.

One of the tricks of making one meal last is that your family must love the flavor components of the original dish. This chili hits all the familiar take-out flavor notes.

Flavor:

Tomatillos, garlic, onion, jalapeno, lime and cilantro as our flavor base will remind your family of their favorite Mexican take-out dishes. When you decide to make an anchor dish that you’ll transform into multiple meals, start with a base you know every member of the family will like.
Another flavor base I use often is onion, garlic, crushed tomatoes (Italian in a box), hot red pepper flakes and a little white wine. From this base, I can throw in shrimp and serve it over quinoa, or I can toss a little ground turkey or grass fed beef in and create a fast and yummy pasta dish.

Instead of worrying about your family turning their noses up at leftovers, turn day two and three meals into fun flavor adventures where the kids, young and small, feel they are making choices in building a dish that will delight their unique taste buds.

Fun Toppings as Options:

Probably the most important aspect of day two and three meals is a bar of options that mix in the new with the leftover. Even the first night you serve the chili, give a few extra options, like purple cut cabbage for crunch, hot sauce or salsa on the side, shredded cheese and sour cream. This way, each member will feel they can build their dish exactly how they want it.
Day two and three options like a taco salad or stuffed burrito follow the same logic. Why not take some leftover blue corn tortilla chips and crush them with your hands as a fun salad topping that’s crunchy? Green onions, extra herbs, and other sauces you may find in your refrigerator that you know your family already love can also be great toppings.

Here are my two favorite ways to use leftover chili for my family’s meals. I hope you fall in love with my late summer Tomatillo White Bean Chili for your back-to-school menu planning. As the chief family cook, don’t forget that you deserve nights off, too. When you challenge your family to use their imagination from what you already have on hand to build a beautiful plate with color, crunch, and flavor, you can relish in the hard work you’ve put into getting them to their leftover masterpieces!

If you’re looking for ways to make planning your weekly family meals a little easier and time efficient, join me in my Joyful 12 Kitchen Learning Lab for a year of eating in season. You’ll be able to explore and cook 144 recipes making 48 vegetables and fruits sing with flavor, access video tutorials for prepping produce quickly and with imagination, and join a community of families just like yours who are passionate about feeding their loves ones well.

Tomatillo White Bean Chili

2014-08-18 17:48:07

Serves 4

Save Recipe

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Ingredients

tomatillos, 4 medium sized
garlic, 2 cloves
cilantro, 1 cup (packed)
onion (white), medium sized, 1/2
jalapeño pepper, medium sized, 1
salt, 2.5 tsp
lime, 1
olive oil, 2 TBS
chili powder, 2 TBS
ground cumin, 1 TBS
navy beans, 2 cans (15 oz size)
green bell pepper, 2
corn kernels, frozen, 1 bag (10 oz size)
water, 2 cups
brown rice, 6 cups cooked
cheddar cheese (organic), 4 oz (optional topping)
sour cream, 1/2 cup (optional topping)

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Wash all produce.
We like to serve this chili over brown rice. You can also choose to eat it plain. If you’re making brown rice, we recommend cooking two cups dry, to yield six cups cooked. Follow the instructions on the package of the rice you’ve purchased. Put the rice on early while you are preparing the chili, so they’ll be done at the same time.
Turn on your oven’s broiler to high.
Remove the husks from the tomatillos.
Rinse the tomatillos under water to remove the sticky coating. Cut them into halves, and place on a parchment or tin foil lined cookie sheet with raised sides, and broil for 10 minutes.
Peel the garlic and set aside.
Measure out 1 cup cilantro, packed. Don’t fuss with picking leaves. Just rip off the tops of the cilantro. They will go in a blender, so it does not need to be perfect.
Peel and cut the onion into two halves. One half will go into the blender as well, so go ahead and quarter it to make it easier to blend.
Deseed the jalapeño. The easiest way to do this is to cut down one side, like you would an apple, trying to avoid the core. Then, you can cut down the other three sides. You should be left with a stem attached to the spicy seeds. Discard the stem and seeds. The remaining pieces will go into the blender. Don't forget to wash your hands after handling the jalapeño! The oils from the pepper get on your skin and can sting your eyes or anywhere else you touch. Many people wear gloves when handling jalapeños.
Juice and zest the lime.
Cut the bell pepper into medium sized pieces.

Cook

In a blender, add the broiled tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, onion, jalapeño pepper, salt, and the zest and juice of the lime. Pulse until chunky.
In a large soup or stew pot, heat two tablespoons olive oil on low heat with the chili powder and cumin for 2-3 minutes to warm up the spices. Keep an eye on them, as we want to warm the spices, but not burn them!
Turn the heat up to medium high and add the chopped green bell peppers. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring the peppers every so often to help them brown.
Add the navy beans (drained from their juices and rinsed under water), tomatillo sauce, water, and frozen corn and stir together in the pan.
Bring up to a simmer to help all the flavors come together.
Cook uncovered on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.
We like to serve our chili over cooked brown rice topped with shredded cheddar cheese and a spoonful of sour cream or guacamole. It’s also great the next day on top of a bed of salad greens for a crunchy taco salad, or as the filing of a veggie burrito.

Notes

Culinary note: even as this recipe has a long list of ingredients, it’s really easy to prepare. It just takes time. The first seven ingredients will go into your blender to make an amazing tomatillo sauce. The rest of the chili is a breeze. This recipe suggests serving the chili over pre-cooked brown rice. A great shortcut is to use up extra rice from take-out. Otherwise, you will need to cook 2 cups dry brown rice to yield the 6 cups cooked this recipe is created for. Follow the cooking instructions on the rice packaging.
Note on Substitutions: If you don’t like green bell pepper, use red or orange or just leave it out, but do throw in another green summer veggie you’d enjoy. We use frozen corn (to save time) , but two ears of fresh summer corn would be even better! If you want to use quinoa instead of brown rice, that’s a great time saving option and would be delicious.
How to add protein: this chili is so flavorful and filling as is! If you want to add extra protein in addition to the beans, some grass-fed organic ground beef sautéed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little chili powder is a great addition.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Rainbow of Peppers Onigiri

May 29 by Michelle Venetucci Harvey 1 Comment

When I was growing up, my absolute favorite grocery store was Uwajimaya, a giant Japanese grocery store in Seattle. They had pocky yogurt sticks, melon flavored gum, and these funny clear sodas that were sealed with a marble. But one of my favorite treats – and one of the only things that could credibly pass as lunch – were little rice balls called onigiri.

Onigiri (that’s fun to say!) are rice balls that are often wrapped in nori and stuffed with salmon or something pickled. In Japan they’re so common that many kids eat them for lunch, and you can buy them in almost any convenience store.

When Hollie suggested we make onigiri for one of our Joyful 12 summer recipes, I was so excited. Onigiri are easy to make, easy to transport, and were incredibly fun to eat when I was a kid. The best part about onigiri is that you can stuff them with basically anything that goes well with rice. Hollie’s idea was to dice different colored bell peppers and do a quick pickle, which makes a really colorful onigiri filling.

You could buy special onigiri molds, but it’s just as easy to use a small bowl and some plastic wrap for your onigiri. These are the perfect snacks to make with kids, where they get to build their onigiri, decide what goes inside, and have fun forming it into a ball or triangle with their hands. Throw in some colorful peppers and you have a great snack!

Rainbow of Peppers Onigiri

2014-05-28 23:03:53

Serves 6

Save Recipe

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

45 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

45 min

Ingredients

sushi rice, 2 cups (uncooked)
bell peppers, 3 (a mix of colors: red, orange, yellow, or green)
limes, 2
rice wine vinegar, ⅓ cup
hot chili flakes, ¼ teaspoon
sugar, 2 tablespoons
sesame seeds, black, 2 tablespoons
nori, 1 package
salt, 2-3 teaspoons

Instructions

Note on substitutions: onigiri are such a fun, simple snack that you can stuff them and decorate them with your favorite things: smoked salmon or carrots or the traditional pickled plum. Have fun with these and make them your own! They don’t have to be perfect, but you can bet they will be tasty and so much fun to make with your kids.

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Cook the sushi rice according to package instructions. Let cool before handling.
Dice bell peppers.
Juice and zest the limes and mix with the sugar, hot chili flakes, and rice wine vinegar in a bowl. Toss the diced bell peppers in this mixture for a quick pickle effect.

Assemble

Set up an onigiri making station

A bowl of water to dip your fingers in before handling the rice (this will keep it from sticking to you)
A small teacup for making the shape of the onigiri
Plastic wrap
A few teaspoons salt
The pickled bell peppers
Nori
Black sesame seeds

To make onigiri

Line the teacup with plastic wrap. Push down into the tea cup and have enough wrap that it is hanging out over the sides.
With your fingers sprinkle some water inside the plastic wrap and a sprinkle of salt. This will keep the rice from sticking too much and the salt flavors the rice.
Wet your fingers. Then grab some rice and fill the teacup. No need to press down.
Make a small hole with your finger in the middle of the rice. Then stuff that hole with the pickled bell peppers.
Put a little more rice on top of the peppers to cover them.
Gather the plastic wrap at the top and twist it until you have a tight ball.
To form the onigiri in a triangle, cup the rice underneath with one hand and the other in the shape of an L, and keep moving around the rice to make the triangle shape.
Remove the plastic wrap and decorate with black sesame seeds, more bell peppers, and a strip of nori. It’s fun to make a face on the onigiri like you are decorating a snow man, especially if your children request these for their lunch box.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Build An Arugula Salad

May 16 by Michelle Venetucci Harvey Leave a Comment

I often fall into a salad rut. It’s easy for salads to get boring. But let me give you a little tip: it’s also easy to get really creative with those salad ingredients. Boring salads be gone!

I love arugula for a lot of reasons. Some people aren’t sure about the peppery taste of arugula, but I find that the right dressing really mellows it out, and the hardy flavor helps it stand up well to heartier salad ingredients like roasted squash, nuts, pomegranate seeds, and avocados. And that dark green color really makes for a beautiful salad!

There’s a great arugula salad in JoyFoodly’s online kitchen learning lab, the Joyful 12, which is good enough to convert any salad skeptic. After making it a few times I got inspired to change it up with what I have on hand, using arugula as a base. I wanted to share some of my combinations, but you can use these basic principles to build your own salad any day of the week!

The Dressing

For most arugula salads, I love using a basic dressing made up of olive oil, champagne vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and some minced shallots for an extra level of flavor. A fun alternative is a cumin lime vinaigrette, which pairs great with most of these salad toppings. For tips on creating your own dressing, see Chef Hollie’s recent post on salad dressings!

Add Texture

Think of fruits and veggies that have a texture you like. Avocados are always a nice addition to any salad (or any meal, am I right?), and in the winter I think persimmons add a nice flavor and texture to a salad.

Add Crunch

Not all salads have to be “light”. It’s nice to really feel like you’re eating something substantial. I often add ingredients that give the salad some crunch, like pomegranate seeds, pumpkin seeds, or even nuts.

Try Roasting

Arugula salads go great with roasted root veggies like sweet potatoes or fingerlings. Just slice them up, lightly coat in olive oil and a dash of salt (feel free to throw in some cumin or curry powder!), and roast in the oven on high heat (400 – 450F) until you like the texture! It’s always important to use a pan with low sides so that the heat can actually reach the veggies evenly. I love slicing and roasting delicata squash when it’s in season, which forms pretty yellow half-moons that look great (and taste even better!) in the salad.

Or Fruit!

Does fruit on a salad seem weird to you? Get rid of that thought right now! Fruit is a great addition to salad, both for all the great textures and flavors it can offer. I like to add apples for some crunch, or stone fruit like nectarines for the sweetness and texture. Dried fruits are also easy additions to keep around the kitchen. I even like adding mango every once in a while – can’t go wrong there!

Make Your Own Salad Dressing

May 14 by Chef Hollie Greene 1 Comment

When I was 19 I lived with a French family that made their salad dressing every night. I was amazed by how easy it was and so incredibly delicious, and the cool thing was that once you knew the basic vinaigrette recipe, you could play with all kinds of versions. It really inspired me to adopt this practice, and I hope your family has fun trying out homemade dressings. You’ll feel good knowing exactly what’s going into them and your taste buds will thank you!

When making my own salad dressing, I often build on a very basic set of ingredients and then taste-test to see what other flavors would go best with my salad. I can throw together a great dressing in under 3 minutes – and then keep leftovers in the fridge!

There are a lot of directions you can take salad dressing, but all you really need to know are the basic building blocks. In just a few minutes you can become a salad dressing pro! For a basic oil and vinegar dressing, here’s how I start adding ingredients:

The Ratio

The basic vinaigrette ratio is 3-to-1: 3 parts oil, 1 part vinegar. This is just a baseline, so make sure you keep tasting it and adjusting. If you add some citrus like a lime, you may want to add more oil, or if you want it to have a stronger vinegar flavor, add more vinegar!

Oil and Vinegar

Oil and vinegar form a great base for a classic salad dressing. I like using olive oil and balsamic vinegar, which has a complex flavor. If you feel like balsamic would be too strong, I often use champagne vinegar or even red wine vinegar. you can also play around with the oil you use. I use olive oil mostly, but when I want to have a nutty or heartier taste in a winter salad, I use a walnut or hazelnut oil, and when I want a sweeter dressing like a champagne poppy seed vinaigrette, I use vegetable oil instead of olive oil, which gives a more delicate and neutral flavor. Start with the basic 3-to-1 ratio and then taste for yourself and decide!

Emulsifier

You know how oil and vinegar separate when combined? They don’t mix! If you put that on a salad, it will coat the salad with oil and leave a sad puddle of vinegar at the base of your bowl. An emulsifier is something you add to your dressing to help the two ingredients combine properly, and it helps stabilize the mixture. My favorite salad dressing emulsifiers are honey and dijon mustard, but garlic, tomato paste, cream, and egg yolks are all emulsifiers. They taste great too, so think about which ones work best for your salad. If you want to learn more about emulsifiers, there’s a great breakdown of emulsifiers and salad dressings over at Serious Eats.

Salt and Pepper

Don’t be afraid to salt your food! Salt can help bring out all the dressing’s flavors, and the more you enjoy your salad, the more you’ll want to make it again next time. Taste, season, and taste again! Sometimes chefs even add a pinch of salt to their salad greens right before eating.

Flavors!

Here’s where things get really fun. What kinds of flavors would taste good with your salad? My go-to addition is always a squeeze of citrus, but you can add spices, fresh herbs, poppy seeds, or other vinegars. I am especially fond of minced shallots to give my dressing an extra savory taste!

Dry Your Salad

Water and salad dressing generally don’t mix. Once you’ve got a great dressing it’s important to help it stick to your greens, which is why I always air dry or spin the salad greens well after washing.

Making your own dressing is a great way to start thinking about flavors in your food. I like to ask kids what ingredients they’d like to add to dressing, and have them taste-test by dipping a leafy green into the mixture. Dipping your salad ingredients into a dressing is the best way to taste it, since it helps you understand how the dressing will actually taste on your salad! Kids also love measuring ingredients into a mason jar and shaking it until it’s completely mixed.

Nutty-n-Sweet Teff Porridge

Feb 17 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

We’ve kicked off 2014 with our top JoyFoodly lifestyle habits that taste great, make us feel great, and are good for the environment. This week, we’re sharing our Food Habit #4: Super Grains that Rock our World. See our first, second and third habits!

Even as the smallest grain in the world, Teff surely starts my mornings with a whole lotta love. If you’re not a porridge eater, I can relate. Our Nutty-n-Sweet Teff Porridge might just change your mind forever on how amazing breakfast can be.

I’ve never liked porridge in general. Whether oatmeal or cream of wheat, they all had the same mushy and creamy texture that I could never get excited about. But that all changed when I was diagnosed with allergies to eggs and gluten. That’s when my mornings got really adventurous.

Enter the super grain that rocked my world, Teff! This mighty gluten free grain has been a staple of Ethiopian cuisine for thousands of years. It’s amazing how a grain the size of a poppy seed could be so powerful. If you’re into food stories, you’ll love these cool facts about this ancient grain I learned from the Whole Grains Council and Bob’s Red Mill:

Teff’s Story:

Teff is a grain that comes from lovegrass.
Many people think its name refers to the word “lost” because it’s so small you could lose it!
Its small size makes Teff ideally suited to semi-nomadic life in Ethiopia.
It’s a hearty grain that can grow almost anywhere.
Teff leads all the grains in its calcium content.

It’s an excellent source of vitamin C.
And it’s full of protein!

When we hear our Teff grains start popping on our stove on a cold winter morning, we know our day is about to get a whole lot better!

So to get your family’s morning off to a healthy and tasty start, go for a super grain like Teff, or try one of the nine grains from Bob’s Red Mill, each with a cool story of their own from far away lands and super cool food cultures.View Recipe

Ch-ch-ch-chia Seed Breakfast Bowls

Oct 23 by Michelle Venetucci Harvey Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, sometimes the ingredients in cereal freak you out. Even food coloring is starting to be connected to behavioral problems and hyperactivity, making my trips down the cereal aisle long and tedious as I look at all the ingredients. But what if I told you there was another way?

Remember back in the 90’s, when those chia pets were all the rage? Well, it turns out you can eat the chia seeds, and they’re fantastic for you. As an extra bonus, it’s pretty fun to watch them turn from small, crunchy seeds to gelatinous pods within the space of a half hour.

Chia seeds are very high in omega three fats and fiber, making them a great food to start the day with. They have very little flavor of their own, so they take on the flavor of whatever you add to them to. You can throw them in smoothies, in yogurt, or use them as an egg substitute, but our favorite way to prepare them is a quick and easy breakfast bowl. Choose your favorite toppings and dig in!

Bob’s Red Mill Grains of Discovery

This September, Chef Hollie participated in a fun Google+ hangout hosted by Dr. Jean Layton, the Gluten Free Doctor, and Bob’s Red Mill to share tips and recipes for cooking with Farro, an ancient Roman grain, known as the mother wheat, that’s full of fiber and nutrients. As a thank you for our participation, we received the most amazing travel case of nine ancient grains to explore from Bob’s Red Mill. A huge thank you from our joyful kitchen to yours Bob’s Red Mill. When we use chia seeds, we are exploring the land of the Aztecs; chia is the seed of endurance! To explore all nine ancient grains, you can find recipes and information here.

View Recipe

Technique Timeout: Family Friendly Measure-n-Shake Salad Dressing

Oct 7 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Put down that grocery store dressing. It’s loaded with stuff you and I can’t even pronounce! Instead, get a good old fashioned mason jar, measure out these simple pantry ingredients, and ask your child to help you make this sweet and tangy salad dressing to show your butter lettuce some love tonight! You’ll feel great serving this dressing to your family any night of the week.