Author Archives: Lia Huber

Plum Parfaits with Bulgur and Vanilla Yogurt

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Pick a few extra plums for this ultra-simple, healthy dessert. It’s got both grown-up aesthetic appeal and a healthful hit of whole grain, thanks to the bulgur.

plum-parfait-bulgur-yogurt-recipe

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup bulgur, fine or medium
2 cups plums, pitted, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in bulgur, turn off heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Stir together plums, sugar, orange juice and cornstarch in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, until thickened slightly. Stir in almond extract.

In each of 4 small, tall glasses, layer a third of the yogurt, plums and almonds. Add a layer of half the bulgur, then repeat with half the remaining yogurt, plums and almonds. Finish with a final layer of bulgur, yogurt, plums and almonds.

Serves 4

Lose Weight, Feel Great–Join My Nourish Mentor!

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I can’t tell you how much fun it is to hear the a-ha’s and awesome success stories from My Nourish Mentor members (My Nourish Mentor is the companion small group coaching program to NOURISH Evolution). Here’s one account of how My Nourish Mentor prompted an eye-opening, life-changing journey. And from another, the news that 12 pounds have dropped off without her ever feeling deprived or like she was on a diet. “I can’t imagine ever going back to how I ate before,” she said. “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to.”

To see a video introduction to the program, take a tour, get more information or sign up, visit the My Nourish Mentor website.

We’ve got another group starting up in just a few weeks, so sign up now to get your spot! If … you truly want to change your relationship with food–for good.

Thursday Giveaway: The Earthbound Cook

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Win a free copy of the new Earthbound Cook!

We love Earthbound Farm. Lia had the pleasure of working closely with owners Drew and Myra Goodman on the last cookbook and found out first-hand that they truly walk the talk. And man their talk is delicious. In this follow-up to Food to Live By, you’ll find 250 more recipes that are good for body and planet (and we love that here at NOURISH Evolution!)–like Truffled Kale Casserole and Coconut-Crusted Salmon–along with advice on things like making smart meat choices and six reasons to protect our oceans.

But, friends, you have to play to win this totally awesome book.

So here’s the deal. Leave a comment here to be entered to win (important: be sure you’re signed in to NOURISH Evolution so we can find you … or sign up, if you haven’t already–only NOURISH Evolution members are eligible to win).

Lia will announce the winner in next Friday’s Friday Digest!

Good luck!

Taste of Sonoma!

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If you haven’t bought tickets for Wine Country Weekend yet, you’re not too late (yet … click here to buy one).

Saturday. September 4th. 11-4. At the gorgeous MacMurray Ranch in Russian River.

More than 150 Sonoma County wineries will be pouring thousands of wines, and over 60 local chefs whipping up cool pairings. You’ll also get informative and entertaining wine seminars, lively cooking demonstrations (including several by yours truly), get-your-boots-dirty vineyard tours and more.

And NOURISH Evolution will be there showing how to nourish body, soul and planet with live cooking demos featuring Alaska scallops and sablefish, and new Jovial Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta. Join us in the marketplace for a taste!

Buy your tickets here.

Do You Call Yourself a Locavore? … Why?

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My, my, my … there’s been a tizzy of discussion as of late about how misguidedly futile it is to be a locavore. Which, I’ll be quite frank, annoys me a titch. I think one of the downfalls we face time and again in America is that we jump on bandwagons and ride them hard to the end of the road until they fall apart in a heap. We don’t seem to learn that what starts out as something inherently positive—buy organic, buy local, buy wild-caught—turns sour when all other options are ruled out as blasphemy.

Which is what I feel is happening with the organic versus local versus (now) low carbon footprint discussions. First of all, not everyone who sources their food locally is doing so because they think it will save the planet (as we found out when we asked you to weigh in, both here and on Facebook). That, in perfect bandwagon style, is lopping off big chunks of the big picture.

Many people I know, myself and other NOURISH Evolution members included, buy food from local growers because it fosters community and connects us deeper to the place we call home. We also do it because we can ask farmers how they’re growing their food, and ranchers how they’re raising their livestock. Not to mention the fact that a locally-based food system (bear in mind this could mean regional sourcing … it doesn’t need to mean Farmer John down the street) may just be safer too.

So how do you keep from swaying from ‘got to buy local’ to ‘got to buy organic’ to throwing your hands up in exasperation? Ask yourself what’s important to you.

Is a low carbon footprint top on your list? Then you should probably start a garden of your own and, while you’re at it, seriously consider cutting down on how much meat you eat. Are chemicals and genetic modification what concern you most? Then you’ll want to stick with certified organic, or buy from farmers directly—organic or not—so you can ask them how they grow their food. Is supporting your community what excites you? Then suss out farmers markets and give a few CSAs a try.

This isn’t to say that you can’t challenge yourself to move in other areas as well. I’m awfully dialed in on sourcing food that’s free from conventional chemicals and manipulation, but I could certainly grow in the lowering my carbon footprint department. I drive to town all the time, for example, when I could easily bike the few blocks to market (I even bought a basket and pumped up my tires … now I just need to do it).

The important thing is to make an informed choice of your own, not blindly follow what someone else says … no matter how virtuous it may sound.

Zucchini Frittata

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By the luscious, creamy texture and complex flavor of this zucchini frittata, you’d never guess it was barely more than squash, onion and eggs. Choose the freshest eggs you can find for this since they play such a prominent role. We like to pack this frittata for picnics with a fluffy bibb lettuce and herb salad and my Go-To Vinaigrette.

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Edamame Spread

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In a week exploring the power of “no,” I thought I’d give you something to say “yes” to: this easy, flavorful (and kid-friendly) edamame spread. Serve it as an appetizer with toasted baguette slices or whole-grain crackers. It’s great on sandwiches, too.

edamame-spread
2 cups frozen edamame beans (green soybeans) (removed from pod)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook edamame for 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to a food processor.

Add garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano and lemon juice to the bowl and process until smooth. Drizzle in olive oil and blend until emulsified. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and spoon into a serving bowl or onto toasted baguette slices.

Makes roughly 2 cups, about 8 servings

Sauteed Succotash with Corn and Summer Squash

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This succotash recipe is a perfect example of how much bang for your buck you can get with just a little bit of butter. In this case, it draws out the rich, velvety flavors in the corn and summer squash for a luscious, easy side dish.

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Think of Food as Food

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Several years ago I was interviewing the highly-respected Greek nutrition scientist Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou. She had studied thousands of Greeks over a span of several decades in order to understand the nutritional effects of a Mediterranean diet (defined by an abundance of healthy oils, whole grains, vegetables and legumes) on long-term health. “So just how healthy is olive oil?” I asked, eager to codify the benefits of each food group for the article I was writing.

food as food“Olive oil is an essential part of what makes the Mediterranean diet healthy,” she answered. But as I scribbled notes and scanned studies, she continued on. “If we look at one nutrient at a time, though, we miss the way they interact. It’s a cocktail of everything that makes this type of diet so good.”

As I tried to deconstruct food into its building blocks, Dr. Trichopoulou kept bringing them back into context, talking about how tasty greens are when sautéed in olive oil with garlic and a squeeze of lemon, or how Greeks like to snack on simmered beans. “It’s much more effective to look at the health of your whole lifestyle rather than individual foods.”

That interview changed the way I thought of healthy eating. Yet amid the constant barrage of diet and nutrition advice here in America I sometimes find myself slipping back into that old reductive view of food. Avocados and olive oil cease to be really tasty things and instead turn into “good sources of monounsaturated fats” (with a tinge of guilt because, well, they’re fats). Tomatoes morph from luscious little orbs into things that are “packed with lycopene,” and whole grain bread goes from being a textural marvel to being “heart healthy.”

While it’s important to understand the impact that certain food groups and nutrients have on our bodies–and we have and will continue looking at them from several different angles on –what Dr. Trichopoulou taught me is that it’s even more important to carry that information back up to 35,000 feet and remember that, ultimately, if your plate is full of things that didn’t come out of a box or container it’s probably a healthy meal.

Most important of all, though, is to remember to think of food as food.