Delicious Zucchini Basil soup via Ina Garten

The Barefoot Contessa's Zucchini Basil Soup!



Today I made Ina Garten's Zucchini Basil soup from her new book, Make it Ahead. I actually dragged 4 friends to see Ina speak last week in Cupertino, and she was very inspirational, but for $100 we wanted to EAT some food, not just listen to her talk about food.  So I decided to break in the book with this recipe for a cozy Sunday night with Michael. He loved it, although he asked me politely if he could add siracha.  So here is the recipe, courtesy of The Barefoot Contessa:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil or less
1 large onion, chopped
2 T minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
3 pounds unpealed zucchini (about 4 large), chopped in 3/4 inch chunks
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t crushed red pepper flakes
t salt
t freshly ground black pepper
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock (I use Better Than Boullion)
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup greek yogurt (non-fat or regular, but make sure its plain)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pot and add onions. Stir for a few minutes until they are translucent but not brown, then stir in the garlic for one minute. Add the zucchini, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper, and stir for another 10 minutes until the zucchini becomes soft around the edges. Add the wine, stock, basil, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Ina then suggests you churn the soup through a food mill, but I don't have one, so I used the pulse-puree setting on my blender for about 10 seconds, blending the soup in sections, ensuring the balance of liquid and solid in each batch.  I like soup a little chunky, but you can puree it as much or as little as you'd like. This would make an excellent meal for babies in a very blended form, too! Once you have the right consistency, but all the soup back in your pot (simmer again if it has cooled a lot, but then turn it off), stir in the greek yogurt and most of the parmesan cheese.  Serve with more freshly ground black pepper and fresh parmesan cheese in each bowl, and siracha if thats what your man loves :)

Embracing the California Coast: how to shuck an oyster

Pulled Chicken Chili - Loaded with Veggies

This recipe is modeled after Jamie Oliver's recipe for Chili con Turkey, which is delicious too! Here's what you need:

The Veggies:
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped finely
1 habanero pepper, chopped finely
1 leek, cleaned and chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 red onion, chopped

Roasted Chicken:
1 large roasted chicken - I buy one from Whole Foods, pull it apart while its freshly roasted, and reserve the carcass to make chicken stock for later use. If you buy ahead of time, pull it apart while hot and save all the meat in a bowl in the fridge. If you stick a whole roasted chicken in the fridge it will be very difficult to pull a part later.

The spices:
1 bunch of cilantro - stalks chopped, leaves reserved for garnish later
1.5 teaspoons smoked paprika
1.5 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon (or more, to taste) Slap Yo Mama hot seasoning, or cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon runny honey
few splashes white wine vinegar

The BEANS & sauce:
1 can no salt Garbanzo beans
1 can no salt black beans
1 can no salt kidney beans
2 cans diced tomatoes - large San Marzano are best, although WFM brand are good too



Method:
Combine all veggies in a large pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil and cook on low, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Add all the spices and stir; cook for another 20 minutes until blended and soft. Add  the small chicken pieces (you can chop up the pulled meat if you want smaller pieces, which I always do) and all the beans & chopped tomatoes.  Stir, taste, and cover on low heat for about an hour



Serve with cilantro leaves, shredded pepper jack cheese, plain greek yogurt (or sour cream), tortilla chips, avocado slices, lime wedges and chopped fresh onions. I also love to serve this with garlic bread or corn bread! Enjoy my loves!

Tarragon Chicken salad in Endive boats

Recently I made appetizers for my dear friend, Erica's party at her beautiful boutique spa on Sacramento Street, Tre Balm.  (side note, for the next month, she's offering 40% off treatments, so y'all might want to get on that...)

The menu was:

Tarragon Chicken Salad in Endive Boats

Prosciutto-Cantelope Sticks

Caprese Sticks

Garlic Shrimp

Lots of Champagne, and lots of Vodka. 

So, my chicken salad: the basics are pretty much the same across the board for most of my salads -- cut the mayo in half and use greek yogurt (or maybe 1/4 mayo, 3/4 greek yogurt).  Honestly, you just need a little bit of that mayo flavor and then the greek yogurt will add lots of light fluffiness without adding to the fat content. Its important to use plain, non fat, bc any other flavor of yogurt would taste super weird. If you don't want to use mayo at all, use greek yogurt and lemon juice. Its really amazing.

For these endive boats, I tried to replicate a rather expensive, heavy chicken salad from Whole Foods: the tarragon chicken salad.  To make enough boats for 20-30 people, here's what you need:

-- 5 or 6 endive bulbs

-- One roasted chicken, pulled apart (save the carcass to make a broth if you want, or use some of the chicken for dinner if you don't need a lot of salad) OR load up a whole foods salad container with the roasted chicken in the salad bar -- maybe about 3/4 lb or 1 lb.. that way its already roasted and cold. Chop it into small pieces on a cutting board, and put into a big bowl.

At $8/lb at the salad bar vs. $14/lb of the prepared chicken salad, you're looking pretty good on costs so far. It would have been about $150 to buy as much chicken salad as I needed, but all the ingredients combined cost about $50. 

Combine: 

-- 3 TB white wine vinegar

-- 2 TB dried tarragon (or fresh if you can find it... I actually found some that was dehydrated instead of dried, so that the vinegar sort of "brought it back to life")

-- 1/4 cup dijon mustard

-- 1/4 cup mayonnaise

-- 1/5 cup non fat plain greek yogurt

-- salt & pepper

-- 4 stalks of celery, sliced long and thin, then chopped 

-- 4 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

-- 1-2 teaspoon agave or honey

You might need more of the above, depending on how much chicken you have, but this roughly the right quantitates/ratios. If it doesn't feel moist enough when you're stirring it all together, start by adding a little more greek yogurt, or maybe some lemon juice. 

Take the outer leaves off the endives and arrange them on a big platter, and carefully spoon the chicken salad into each.  I also served a platter of chicken salad on pop chips in case people didn't like the slightly bitter taste of endive, but the pop chips got soggy... so you could do regular Cape Cod potato chips which hold up better, or crackers, etc... This salad is also really great ON an arugula or other salad. 

Healthy Taco Salads

Tonight, Michael and I collaborated on dinner. He grilled the chicken and I compiled the salads.

I used:
Romain lettuce, chopped
Red cabbage, shredded
Avocado
Roasted onions, red pepper and zucchini (roasted at 400 for 20 minutes while I prepped the rest)
Jalapeños, minced
Parmesan and pepperjack cheese
Fresh tomatoes
Cilantro and basil

Lunch a la The Plant - how to Make Dino Kale Salad with Cumin-Lemon dressing

Inspired by The Plant's fabulous Dino Kale Salad, I made my own, without the quinoa in honor of my raw reset this week. You could easily add a quarter cup of cooked red quinoa to bulk this up a bit, but I promise it will fill you up even without the quinoa. Kale is super filling due to its high fiber content, and if you prepare it correctly it wont taste grassy or raw at all.

First, to make the dressing, combine 2 Tb evoo with 2 Tb fresh lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon of cumin, salt & pepper, and whisk with a fork in a large bowl.

To properly prepare kale, you need to follow these steps:

- strip the leaves off the center vein and put it all in a colander in your sink

- wash it thoroughly, wringing with your hands several times

- break it up into bite-sized pieces and put them into the bowl with your dressing

- kneed the dressing into the kale pieces, massaging it with your fingers for several minutes, this will break down some of the fiber and make it more digestible and more enjoyable to eat. 

Add arugula, chopped euro cucumber, thinly sliced (or julianned) carrots - I use a mandolin - 1/2 an avocado, 1/2 a tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes (thats what The Plant uses), and 2 Tb chopped raw or toasted almonds. You can serve it as I did, all sectioned off and then mixed with a knife and fork, or mix it all together before serving. Enjoy!

Day 5... To infinity and beyond!

One peach, half a pear, half a banana, lemon wedge squeeze, mint & coconut

Dinner out - making it work

Char and I had an event at 7p, so we did what every smart savvy diva should do: get a kale salad first.

Here are two delicious Dino Kale Salads from The Plant on Steiner. Yes there is cooked quinoa in there, but in the grand scheme of things we are doing great.

Lunch is a such a silly word

I mean, I eat lunch but I also eat two breakfasts... So some people could just say I eat two breakfasts and two dinners. I like to eat at 8, 11, 3 and 7. Either 11 or 3 is the biggest meal, and the 7 is always the smallest. I learned that in Spain. And anything past noon should have booze. But I digress.

Here is lunch on day 4 of my raw reset:

- arugula, chopped carrots, one tomato, half an avocado, pumpkin seeds, ginger-carrot (no oil) dressing, fresh dill & basil. It actually looks like one of my normal salads, except I would normally make a more interesting dressing with Greek yogurt & olive oil, and maybe have some feta on here....those were the days...

hey you raw snack

Who knew that pickled onions, raw cashews, cucumber & celery could be so delicious?!

Breakfast day 4

Last night Char and I talked about doing a raw til 4 lifestyle, potentially. We decided that mornings are easy, lunch is medium, and dinner is hard. We aren't the only ones who feel this way, considering there is already a #rawtil4 movement for people like us who a) have a life, and b) actually like food. A lot.

So here's my post-workout breakfast on day 4:

- half a cantaloupe, one perfectly ripe peach, a kiwi, raw coconut flakes, lemon wedge squeeze & fresh mint. It's delightful.

Dinner raw raw raw

For dinner tonight, I kept it simple since I by accident (not) ate some raw (not) crab at lunch. This salad was so good I totally forgot it was a special salad until I smelled Michael's nachos and leftover lasagne. 

- arugula, mixed greens, shredded red cabbage (using the mandolin slicer in the picture), chopped Euro cucumber, carrots, 1/4 of an avocado, chopped snap peas, basil, mint, raw pumpkin seeds, dried currants and lemon juice, salt & pepper.  

Lunch might have crabs...

So for mom's final lunch in San Francisco I took her to The Ramp because it has pretty harbor views and great seafood. I knew it might be challenging for me, but honestly, her experience was way more important to me than mine.  

I ordered a Crab Louie salad because thats the only thing that had raw anything... and as soon as it arrived and took off the egg, the dressing and gave some crab to mom. She insisted that I eat some of it, and honestly, whats the big deal. So I had some crab. I used lemon juice for dressing and it was delicious. I even ate the raw onions, which everyone knows I normally hate.  Really, I wanted to challenge myself and see how this works in the real world, not in my raw-sheltered-life of Whole Foods salad bars and my own fully-stocked kitchen. It was a good experience for me -- seeing how I normally eat and how much more extreme the Raw lifestyle is. I thought being gluten-free and totally OCD about fresh whole foods was enough, but no... raw is a whole new pole up your butt. 

Day 3 - 5am and Feeling Grand

I'm off to teach early sessions at Bodyrok, but before I go it's time to fruitup on

-one banana, half a pear, half a nectarine, a few dried currants, raw coconut flakes

Dinner on day 2!

So for dinner I made everyone else a delicious grass-fed beef lasagna (gluten free of course, for my mom and sister), and served it with an Italian salad and fruit & cheese plate. Thats how I normally eat. But tonight I'm raw, so Char and I made this deliciousness:

Gazpacho made from 66 Square Feet, raw lettuce wraps drizzled with a delicious dressing that we made with 1/4 cup almond butter, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, a dash of raw agave and a dash of soy sauce.  We also made two little adorable salads with sesame seeds and WFM Carrot-Ginger dressing.

After a long yoga & swim session...

Those delicious wraps didn't entirely hit the spot, so I dipped an apple in raw almond butter and now I'm feeling grand.

Lunch!

Hey hey!
So I found these delicious wraps from whole foods, and thought the wrapper was cabbage but upon further inspection I realized it's rice paper, so I carefully pealed it off and ate each little morsel with chop sticks. It was super fun. I also dipped them in a little almond butter that I blended with a dash of siracha and raw coconut milk. So delicious!

Second breakie

After teaching all morning I made a beautiful second breakfast of

- sauerkraut, raw cashews, and a salad with a small carrot, half an avocado, cucumber, chopped peas, dill & basil with lemon juice.

Day 2!

This is fantastic so far. Unlike the juices where I felt angry and low, this feels fun because we actually get to make food!

Here's breakfast:

- half a pineapple, one plum, one small grapefruit, one kiwi, mint, lemon juice & raw coconut flakes.

Dinner out on RR

Dining out on a raw reset is kinda tough... But I made it work! I ordered two salads, one that had beans (which I avoided) and the other had cooked beats (of which I ate some). I had some wine because I love wine and it technically is raw, but I just had one glass.

WFM

part of our first haul

Lunch yum yum

After yoga (which was amazing) Char and I went to Whole Foods where we wandered around for over and hour, reading labels and asking each other various healthy raw questions. We decided that guacamole is in, and wine is out. We also decided that avocado oil is out, but coconut oil is in. Then we realized we couldn't use the oil to cook anything, so we didn't get it.

We hauled everything home, up three flights, and then enjoyed our salads from the salad bar:

- Spinach, arugula, radish, celery, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, sun flower seeds, guacamole & lemon juice.

Driving to yoga

While driving to yoga, Journey blasting, I feel amazing*

*Sudafed is raw

Margot // Sent from my iPhone

Raw Food Reset

Hi guys!
Because it's the middle of the year, the new moon is in Capricorn, and we've been partying like maniacs at weddings all month, Char and I have decided to do a 5-day raw reset. We'd like to call it a "cleanse" or "diet" so that you can all understand what we're going through, but those words terrify us. So RESET it is.

Over the weekend on our drive up to Tahoe for the Fourth of July, I got a little crazy and actually told Michael that I was considering using our joint credit card to purchase a vitamix blender so that I could be a rock star on my raw reset... I hadn't told him about the plan, so as long as he wasn't going to have to eat rabbit food for a week he told me to go ahead. I was thrilled. A few minutes later he asked how much it would cost and I mumbled $600, whereupon he pulled over and said that if a vitamix is "really important to me" and it's truly what my "heart desires" than we'll have to turn around because that's the cost of our cabin for the weekend and I can't have both.

So we went to Tahoe and I'll have to blend things by hand or with the cheap magic bullet that one of his darling sweet old roommates got after a late night of infomercials.

So, day one, July 7th. Here's breakfast at 8am, after 4 8-oz glasses of plain water for 2 hours.

- half a pinapple, one apple, half a pint of blueberries, half a squeezed lemon and 1 oz chopped raw almonds. Yummy and sweet.

For second breakfast, around 11am, I made:

- one carrot, half an avocado, one tomato, 2 stalks of celery, fresh dill, lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Now off to the yoga and then whole foods to stock up! Shout out to Healthy Holistic Krista for being our guide through this.

Black cod with red potatoes & roasted vegetables

Salad: all day, every day

Thinly sliced carrots, cucumber, celery, kumato tomatoes, with arugula, spinach and Italian Tuna belly in simple Dijon dressing (evoo, champagne vinegar & dijon)

Baked wild salmon with pesto & roasted veggies

This is so so simple, so you have no excuse.

1 tablespoon of pesto on a beautiful piece of salmon (about 6 oz),
Sliced mushrooms, zucchini, onions, carrots and any other veggies you have or love, sprinkled with evoo s&p.
Bake the veggies for about 20 minutes, checking and tossing a few times, and then put the salmon in the oven for the last 8 minutes. Don't worry too much about time -- just check the salmon after 6 or 7 minutes and pull it out when the inside is still a little pink.

Enjoy! Happy weekend y'all!

Perfect breakfast

Egg white scramble with onions & peppers; arugula salad with carrots, radishes, pine nuts & freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Recipe Hack Tuesday: Mary's Gone Crackers

Perfect Brussel Sprouts

The Brussels sprouts are tdf: slice in half and arrange face-up, then combine crushed garlic, evoo & fresh thyme and patiently brush onto the top of each face, sprinkle with salt & pepper, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I served these bad boys with roasted chicken, baked sweet potatoes & onions. It was delicious. 

Thai lettuce wraps - vegetarian, healthy, gluten free, tasty, and beautiful. What could be better?

Iceberg lettuce, filled with rice noodles (cooked briefly then blanched), cucumber, carrot, mint, basil and peanut sauce (which is peanut butter, hoisin sauce, hot water, rice vinegar). Make lots of sauce, its great for dipping... and of, course, great with champagne. 

Deviled Eggs for days...

1 doz eggs, boil for 13 minutes, then cool in ice bath for another 10 minutes, peal and slice. Mix yolks with 1/4 cup plains nonfat Greek yogurt, 2 Tb mayonnaise, 1/4 cup pickle juice, dill, paprika, salt & pepper. Scoop the mixture into a plastic bag, cut the end and fill the whites! Top with fresh black pepper.

The bomb French Onion Soup

Thinly slice 4-5 yellow onions and cook on low with 3 bay leaves, 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, a little butter and olive oil, stirring constantly, for 45 minutes...add a cup of white wine and 32 fl oz beef broth, and simmer for another 20 minutes, adding salt & pepper to taste. Meanwhile, slice some beautiful baguettes (and #glutenfree baguette) on the diagonal and bake at 350 for 8 minutes, flip, bake another 8 minutes until evenly toasted. Remove the thyme sprigs (peal off the leaves and leave them in the soup) and bay leaves, and divide the soup into oven-safe bowls or ramekins. Top each bowl with the toasted bread and shredded gruyere & parm cheese, and broil for 5 minutes in the oven. Careful! They are hot!

Petrale Sole with homemade chimichurri sauce...

...butter mashed potatoes, baked kale & onions, and Michael's glutinous garlic bread 💖

Three part perfect Brunch party lineup... Gluten free, healthy, delicious

Seasonal Vegetable Frittata:
For a 9-inch skillet (either cast iron, or a regular caserole dish)
Preheat oven to 400
4 or 5 medium russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped asperagus
fresh dill
3 oz fresh goat cheese
1 cup shitake mushrooms, or other mushroom you like
1 dozen eggs
1/2 cup milk, any kind

Spray or oil your skillet and put all the potatoes and onions evenly around the bottom. Then place the mushrooms and dabs of goat cheese evenly on top. Next comes the eggs... Separate the egg whites and yolks and beat the whites for about 5 minutes so they become a little fluffy. Its not necessary to whip them completely, but if you are short on eggs, whipping the whites is a great way to create more volume. Also, if this step seems too arduous, you dont have to separate and whip the eggs at all, you can just beat them in a bowl. Fold yolks into whites and add milk. Pour the eggs into your dish, then put the asperagus and dill on top...It will all sort of blend together, and thats OK, its just important to have the potatoes at the bottom so they cook.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 15 minutes, then check -- the middle should still be jiggly but the edges should be cooked. Now remove the foil and cook another 15 minutes until the entire frittata is cooked through. Test with a fork in the middle -- it should come out clean.

I served this with homemade pesto, which is super simple as well! Just blend 1 cup (or more) fresh basil, 1/2 cup pine nuts, 1/2 cup olive oil, 5 cloves of garlic and 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese. Pesto is super easy, and there are a million ways to make it. Sometimes I add jalapeños when I have spicy guests at my table.

Also, the above recipe includes seasonal vegetables, but you can use anything you like. I often do this with leeks and carrots as well, or broccoli and gruyere cheese... basically anything will work as long as you cut everything into same-size pieces. Don't be afraid toe experiment, and tell me all about it!


Baked Apple Quinoa or Oatmeal:
1 cup dry quinoa or oats
2-4 cups vanilla almond milk
2 or 3 apples, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon agave
chopped nuts and coconut for garnish
steamed milk for garnish

Mix quinoa or rolled oats with 2 cups almond milk, cinnamon, salt and chopped apples and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add agave, stir. Keep stirring and adding milk as needed until the quinoa sprouts and becomes the consistency of porridge. Undercooked quinoa is a big tred, it seems -- restaurants dont wait until it sprouts enough, in my humble opinion. Its pretty hard to overcook it, so when in doubt, wait a few minutes more. The apples should get nice and soft. Serve warm with freshly steamed milk, chopped nuts, coconut or other fresh fruit.


Shaved Fennel & Pear Salad:
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly shredded.
2 anjou or other soft pears, thinly sliced
3 cups arugula
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup organic olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave
fresh dill or thyme

I use a mandolin slicer for most of my dishes -- it allows me to quickly and evenly slice potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, fennel, pears, apples, etc. I have the handheld Zyliss one for the road, and a bigger stainless steal one at home. Both are available at William Sonoma. Start with the Zyliss or other easy handheld mandolin slicer.


With your mandolin slicer, shred the fennel and pear into a large bowl. Add the arugula and pom seeds and mix. In a recycled jar, combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, agave, dill and salt & pepper, and shake until blended. Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss. You can save any leftover dressing for several weeks in the fridge. Enjoy!