No, this is not stock photography. My yogurt actually comes from here!

Since I first discovered Green Valley Organic lactose-free yogurts, two more national brands have launched their own versions of lactose-free yogurts–Lactaid® and La Yogurt®.  Initially, I was excited about this development… more choices for me and my lactose-intolerant comrades *had* to be a good thing, right?  A quick scan of these other yogurt labels deflated my high hopes.  Both were loaded with added sugar– with the La Yogurt fruit flavors containing 26g of total sugar!  (With all the additives their products contain, I estimate that no more than 10g–and possibly less– could actually be from naturally-occurring milk sugar… which suggests a full 4 teaspoons of added sugar per modest 6oz cup!)  Neither brand offered plain, no-added sugar flavors.  Neither brand used organic milk.  And both were loaded with highly-processed additives like corn starches and preservatives.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I wouldn’t eat these products myself, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to a patient.

Fast-forward a year and a half from my initial blog post: Green Valley Organics contacted me to see if I’d be interested in formally teaming up to spread the good word about their products.  Since  I was already buying their products on my own, and recommending the brand to my patients and friends, I figured that I might as well make this one-sided love affair an official courtship.

So there you have it: I’m going out with the country’s best dairy farm.

Can't wait to introduce my kids to these kids!

Related posts:

1. LACTAID (Finally!) Launching Lactose-Free Yogurts Nationwide
2. A New Lactose-Free Yogurt Hits the Market
3. MORE Yogurt Options for the Lactose-Challenged

Not surprisingly, my latest experiment was to create a high-iron burger that was moist and delicious enough for the kids to accept, but healthy enough for the adults in the family as well. For the latter reason, I chose turkey instead of beef, though red meat does have more iron than turkey.  By using ground dark meat turkey and adding iron-rich quinoa as a binding agent, I thought I could compensate for some of the difference, while sparing us all the extra saturated fat.  (Oh goodness.. reading this out loud I just realized that Turkey-Quinoa burgers are exactly the kind of thing people imagine nutritionists feed their kids, aren’t they?  Along with beet pancakes, that is… am I right?  When did I become such a stereotype…?)  My inspiration was a gluten-free, Turkey-Quinoa meatloaf I tasted once at a health food restaurant called Calista Superfoods.  By using cooked quinoa and a bunch of cooked veggies as binders for the loaf, it was super moist and not dense at all.

Recipe: Turkey-Quinoa Burgers

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini (or substitute 1/2-3/4 cup well-chopped spinach)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce (can substitute Dijon mustard if you avoid fish)
• 1 lb ground turkey (preferably dark meat/thighs)
• Kosher Salt

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions in a very small saucepan.  You may need to add a bit of extra water to account for evaporation since the quantity is so small.  Note that 1/4 cup dry yields about 1 cup cooked.
2. Meanwhile, while quinoa is cooking, saute the shallots and garlic in olive oil for 1-2 minutes until starting to sweat.  Add the zucchini (or spinach) and continue to saute for 2 minutes more until veggies are soft and sweating.  Remove from heat.
3. Combine ground turkey, cooked quinoa, worcestershire sauce and sauteed veggies in a mixing bowl.  Add a generous pinch of kosher salt.  Mix with hands until well-blended.
4. Form mixture into 4 patties of equal size.
5. Grill burgers on a preheated grill until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  (About 10 minutes on an outdoor grill, flipped halfway through; 7-8 minutes on an indoor sandwich press grill, such as the Cuisinart Griddler, set at “high”)

Approximate nutrition info per serving: calories: 230, protein: 23g, carbohydrate: 7g, fat: 12g, iron: 2 mg

Related posts:

1. Jumping on the Quinoa bandwagon

Blame my kids, who will eat anything so long as it is in pancake form.  It’s forced me to get a bit more flexible with meal planning, but also made me realize that, if you take poetic license to include croquettes, fritters, crepes and other relatives, you can hit all 5 food groups without ever leaving the frying pan.  The best part is that the recipes below will be welcomed by all family members, from the finger-food set all the way to adults, and many of these recipes are flexible enough to serve as entrees for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.  Oh, and did I mention how fast and easy they are to make?

Here are some of the winning recipes we’ve sampled in our house over the past few months; you may recognize some of them from previous posts, but I’ve resurrected them to take up permanent residence in this veritable Pancake Pantheon.

Fruit pancake favorites:

Most people have this one down.  Add sliced bananas, diced apples or fresh/frozen blueberries to the batter of your favorite storebought pancake mix and cook as usual.

Veggie pancake favorites:

Pink (Beet/Sweet Potato) Pancakes: Add 1/4 cup of my beet-sweet potato puree to your favorite storebought pancake mix.  Prepare the mix per package instructions without making any modifications (except perhaps to leave out the sweetener if you wish).  This recipe will produce truly pink pancakes if you use a lighter-colored mix, or dusty-rose colored pancakes if you use a darker mix, such as buckwheat.

Pumpkin pancakes: Add 1/4 canned pumpkin puree (or look for Fig Foods’ Pumpkin Puree in a BPA-free tetra-pak) and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice to your favorite storebought pancake mix.  Prepare the mix per package instructions without making any modifications (except perhaps to leave out the sweetener if you wish).  Since pumpkin is such a concentrated source of Vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene), even this modest addition can make a big dent in meeting a toddler’s daily requirements.  The rough numbers are as follows: assuming a standard batch makes 6 pancakes and you add 1/4 cup pumpkin puree to the mix, each pancake has about 25% of a 1-3 year old’s daily Vitamin A needs.

Zucchini Pancakes: This easy, dairy-free recipe, from the Barefoot Contessa, is a winner!  Unlike many other allegedly zucchini pancake recipes, zucchini is actually the main ingredient here–rather than, say, carby potatoes or white flour.  To make it gluten-free, lower-glycemic and even more nutritious (fiber, protein and iron), I swapped out the 6 TBSPs all-purpose flour it called for and substituted 5 TBSP garbanzo bean flour (a.k.a., chickpea or gram flour).  After the first batch was in the pan and the remaining batter was sitting around getting liquidier, I added an additional TBSP of garbanzo bean flour to thicken it for the next batch.  I might also suggest halving the salt it calls for; the full 1 tsp yielded a slightly too-salty pancake for my tastes.

I liked these so much that I may even make them for Hannukah next year as a lower-glycemic latke for my Diabetic relatives.

Protein-rich (entree) pancake favorites:

These recipes are lower carb pancakes whose calories primarily come from protein and healthy fat, yet their textures are deceptively cake-like or bready.  They will fool even the die-hard carbophile toddlers, such as mine, who will gobble them up and be none the wiser that they’ve actually consumed a nutritionally balanced meal.

Elana’s Almond Flour Pancakes:  This recipe, from Almond-flour guru Elana Amsterdam, was an instant hit in our house.  I couldn’t believe how easy they were, what a great texture they had, and how yummy!  I make them in the evening to prepare for the next morning’s breakfast, and they heat up beautifully on the second day.  I’d suggest keeping the pancakes smallish, and use a spoon to spread the batter as it hits the pan so the pancakes don’t wind up too thick; otherwise, they may not cook through before the outsides are brown and you risk burning them.

I love this recipe for a few reasons.  First of all, almond flour is super nutritious and low carb/low glycemic, making it a wonderful substitute for traditional grain-flour based breakfast pancakes among adults watching their weight or blood sugar.  If you use agave nectar instead of honey in her recipe, it keeps the glycemic index down that much more.  Secondly, I found these almond pancakes to be the perfect way to introduce tree nuts to my babies, since whole nuts are a choking hazard for young babies, and most of the almond butters I come across are a bit too stiff/chalky in texture for them as well.  Leftover pancakes also make a mess-free, portable snack for older infants/todders, and add nutritional variety to baby diets that tend to be so carb heavy.

Grandma Esther’s Salmon Croquettes:  As I’ve written previously, these salmon croquettes are a very convenient way to add some substance to a light lunch, as a topping or accompaniment to a salad or perhaps a light veggie soup.  The original recipe called for canned salmon with bones, though now that I’ve got kids, I updated the recipe to include a version that utilizes boneless/skinless canned salmon…it’s a major time saver, and helps prevent a possible choking hazard if serving to little ones.  The last time I made this, I used a plain cultured yogurt drink in lieu of buttermilk; you could do the same, or use a plain kefir as well–both are excellent substitutes, as they contribute the acid required to activate a chemical leavener (baking soda).  These salmon croquettes freeze beautifully, and have a very cakey, light texture– not at all like a “salmon burger” which is much denser.  If you’re looking to minimize canned food in your family’s diet due to concerns about BPA, check out my previous post for a list of canned salmon products that are in BPA-free cans.

Chickpea flatbread (Socca): While most moms seem fixated on whether their kids are getting enough protein, I’m way more obsessed with my kids getting enough iron.  Chickpea flour is a terrific source of iron; a 1/4 cup serving has 10% of the adult daily value for it, which translates into about 16% of the daily value for a one-year old.  It’s high in both protein and fiber, making it a beautiful lower-glycemic choice for the whole family, and entrees made from it perfectly suitable as the main course.  I resurrected my favorite Socca recipe for this occasion, since it’s an easy skillet bread that you can top with any number of your favorite ingredients… like thinly-sliced veggies, sauce or grated cheeses… to give it a pizza-like effect.  And what kid doesn’t like pizza?  A “chickpeazza” is far more nutritious than the ‘better for you’ whole-wheat crust based pizzas you see being marketed for kids, and it’s grain-free and gluten-free to boot.

Dairy-based pancake favorites:

Ricotta Pancakes: I hear some moms have trouble getting their kids to drink milk, and they’re worried about calcium intake.  One way to diversify the standard kiddie standbys of yogurt and string cheese is to make Ricotta Pancakes.  Ricotta pancakes are fluffy and light; most recipes use very little flour, rendering them a naturally low-carb and high-protein affair (so long as you go easy on the maple syrup, of course).   Note that ricotta cheese is relatively high in lactose, so if you’re on the more sensitive end of the lactose intolerance spectrum, this isn’t a recipe for you.

I made Mark Bittman’s Bulgur-Ricotta pancakes one evening for the kids, which, as you will see, are most certainly NOT gluten-free.  It’s a lovely, nutritious recipe for those who can handle wheat.  But they were labor-intensive as far as pancakes go.  And they got a bit dense the day after.

I came across a lighter, gluten-freer and far faster recipe in the Canadian blogosphere at poppytalk, in the form of these Buckwheat Ricotta Pancakes.  True, they are not *as* dairy-rich as the Bittman recipe, but my kids can easily polish off the entire batch, which yields a solid 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese per head.  Not that I have any trouble getting dairy into them, but I’m just saying.

No related posts.

You see, I have a freezer full of pureed vegetables–neatly frozen in 1 oz cubes– that my once-adventurous fressers now refuse to eat.  Never one to waste food, I’ve been looking to repurpose these colorful little cubes of wholesomeness, and have tried many different experiments to that end.

My most successful experiment to date has been the fluffy pink pancakes that resulted from adding 2 oz of thawed beet-sweet potato puree to a storebought buckwheat pancake mix.  (My kids will eat anything in a pancake form, as it turns out.)  Since the mix was not gluten-free, however, I’ve been unable to sit with them and share breakfast, which is an important part of raising good eaters.  So I turned my attention to finding a good, gluten-free buckwheat pancake recipe that the whole family could enjoy.

I love the beet-buckwheat combo for so many reasons.  For starters, buckwheat is naturally a good source of iron, which makes it a great grain for women and kids alike–gluten-free or not.  Beets are a fantastic source of folate, another female-friendly nutrient that, notably, is missing from most gluten-free flours and baked goods (whereas conventional wheat flour must be fortified with folic acid by law).  For those adults and kids who aren’t getting enough leafy greens (read: most of us), beets are a great alternative source of folate.  Beets have a natural sweetness and mild flavor to them as well, making them easy to blend into a pancake recipe.  (Because they tend to be watery, I mix them with sweet potatoes for the puree to keep it nice and creamy).  Lastly, as an Eastern European gal by ancestry, beets and buckwheat speak to my inner Ashkenazi.

Blini, for the uninitiated (or those of us who don’t get invited to fancy parties), are mini pancakes of Russian origin, traditionally made with wheat or buckwheat, topped perhaps a dollop of sour cream, and served as the base for caviar.  While bona-fide blini are made with yeast, my American-style shortcut uses a chemical leavener (baking powder) to save effort and time.  Though this recipe may seem just like a breakfast pancake by another name, these blini are decidedly in the salty/savory camp– they lack any semblence of sweetness.  If you are keen on modifying them to be more breakfasty, you could add 2 TBSP sugar to the dry ingredients.  Or just leave them as-is and top with maple syrup.

Regarding the topping: while caviar is not a staple in my pantry, Beluga lentils– the “caviar of lentils“–most certainly are.  They’re easy enough to make from scratch, but for the seriously time-pressed, note that Trader Joe’s does indeed sell pre-cooked Beluga Lentils in shelf-stable packaging.  In addition, you can add an optional dollop of sour cream, crème fraiche or plain greek yogurt to anchor the lentils in place if you wish.  A storebought horseradish cream sauce would be fabulous here as well.  Of course, you need not limit yourself to these toppings.  Savory buckwheat blini would make a fabulous, gluten-free base for a variety of toppings and spreads– smoked fish especially (think whitefish salad or herbed cream cheese with lox).

Recipe: Gluten-free Buckwheat Beet Blini with Beluga Lentil “Caviar”

Makes 24-30 blini.  Great as a party appetizer… and leftovers double as a fabulous toddler snack.

For the lentils:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup dry beluga lentils, rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cups water
• Salt, to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan.
2. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes
3. Add 1/4 dried beluga lentils, bay leaf and water.
4. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for ~20 minutes (or until lentils are tender to your liking)
5. Add salt to taste.  Remove bay leaf.  Set aside.

For the blini:

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup beet-sweet potato puree (click here for recipe)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/4 cup milk (you can use a dairy-free milk substitute, such as soymilk or almond milk, if you wish)
• 2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine, plus more butter for frying
• Optional garnish: sour cream, plain greek yogurt or créme fraiche

1. Cook beluga lentils as per above.
2. While lentils are cooking, combine buckwheat flour, salt and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl
3. Add beaten egg, milk, melted butter and beet/sweet potato puree to the dry ingredients
4. Stir mixture until just combined
5. Melt just enough butter in a large, non-stick frying pan to coat the bottom.  When pan is hot, pour small amount (about 2 tablespoonfuls) of batter for each blini.  Cook 1 to 1½ minutes, turning when edges look cooked and bubbles begin to break on the surface. Continue to cook 1 to 1½ minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool blini completely before garnishing with toppings and serving.

Related posts:

1. The Caviar of Lentils
2. Buckwheat: The groats that float my boat
3. Red Lentil Soup

My son Max @ 10 months, after a lunchtime beet/sweet potato encounter

This easy puree does doubles duty, both as an ingredient to spruce up the nutritional profile of plain old pancakes for people of all ages, as well as a nutritious baby food for infants over the age of 6 months. See note below for more on this topic.

Use what you need and freeze the leftovers in an ice cube tray to thaw as needed.  If adding to regular breakfast pancakes, try thawing and using 2 oz per batch of batter along with the wet ingredients; no need to modify the recipe otherwise.

If serving as a baby food, you can spoonfeed it directly, or try mixing it in with plain, whole milk yogurt.

Recipe: Beet and Sweet Potato Puree

• 2 medium or 3 small beets (~12oz), cooked*
• 1 medium/large sweet potato/yam (~12 oz), cooked until very soft

1. Under running water, peel skins off cooked beets.  Chop into large pieces and add to food processor.
2. Remove skin from baked sweet potato and scoop out cooked flesh directly into food processor.
3. Puree beets and sweet potatoes in the food processor until very smooth and creamy.

* Note: to cook beets, you can either boil them in water or bake them, wrapped in foil, until they are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork.  In either case, wash beets first, giving a little scrub to remove surface dirt.  Trim the greens off, but leave a little nub of the stem on the beetroot; doing so helps prevent excess bleeding of the pigments.  Click here for more details on how to cook beets from my previous post.

 A note on Beet-Sweet Potato Puree as Baby Food

Experts recommend waiting until baby is 6 months or older before introducing beets, particularly home-made beets, due to relatively high levels of natural compounds called nitrates.  In immature bellies that don’t produce lots of stomach acid (generally under 3 months of age… though babies that age shouldn’t be eating solid foods, anyway), nitrates in food can be converted into compounds called nitrites that can inhibit proper oxygen transport in the body.  This can theoretically result in “blue baby syndrome,” a serious condition in which a baby does not get sufficient oxygen.  I say theoretically, because this extremely rare condition is generally caused by well water that is high in nitrates, not from high-nitrate veggies like spinach, carrots and beets–particularly when consumed in the miniscule quantities that most infants eat.  Nonetheless, if you boil your beets in water rather than baking or roasting them, some nitrates will leach out into the cooking water and lower the nitrate content of the beets themselves.

In babies who are old enough, beets make a wonderful veggie to introduce!  Naturally sweet and mild in flavor, they blend beautifully with sweet potato to add some folate (a B-vitamin essential for healthy growth for its role in cell replication) to the meal.  When I fed it to my kids, I often mixed it together with plain, whole milk yogurt, and they ate it all up.  I called it “baby borscht.”

Admittedly, beets are a very messy food for the younger set, and their faces and fingers are very likely to become stained magenta (photo op!).  In addition, it is likely you’ll encounter some magenta pigmentation in the diaper the next day– which is totally normal and totally benign.  Just be sure to warn the babysitter the next day so she doesn’t freak out, as mine did, if you feed your baby beets for dinner one night.

Related posts:

1. Sweet Potato Pie
2. My Beet-y Valentine
3. The Jerusalem Artichoke: An apolitical tuber seeking to win the hearts and minds of potato-addicts everywhere

Well, here are some of the goodies on my shopping list this year.  Given the sad state of the economy, all of my selections this year are super affordable–mostly in the $15- $30 range.  Looking for more inspiration?  Check out last year’s Tasty Holiday Gift Guide as well!

Best Gift for the Intestinally Challenged Foodie: A Fabulous, ‘Free-from’ Cookbook

If my blog and others of its ilk haven’t proven to you yet that gluten-free cooking can be every bit as delicious (and indulgent, at times) as its wheaty counterpart, then its time to bring in the heavy artillery: Barbara Kafka’s new tome, The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food Without Gluten and Lactose .  Like a modern ‘Joy of Cooking’ for those of us who have gluten or lactose intolerance– and those of you who host us at your homes for Thanksgiving and other holidays–this book is an essential reference of fantastic recipes that can be enjoyed by everyone around the table.  While I’m not buying this for anyone else, I’m hoping my Secret Snowflake reads my blog with some regularity and picks up a copy of this for me for our family Hannukah gift exchange this year!

Best Gift for your Long-Distance, Sweet-Toothed Sweetie: Mail-order Macarons

Macarons from Mad Mac are created by Chef Florian Bellanger, a veteran of Paris’ best patrisseries, including Pierre Herme (swoon) and Fauchon.  The company will ship trays of their divine, freshly-baked, gluten-free macarons anywhere in the country via UPS.  These are the real deal, people.  And you don’t even have to wait on line for an hour at Ladurée for a taste of the best version of Paris’ signature pastry available on this side of the Atlantic.  Choose from collections of the classic flavors, or treat your sweetie to the limited edition Winter collection, which includes pumpkin, cinnamon, earl grey, chocolate/orange, white chocolate and chestnut/whiskey.  Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard now.

Best Gift for your Favorite DIY’er: Mozzarella Cheesemaking Kit

I’ve been DYING to make my own Mozzarella Cheese, which is reportedly super easy to do.  Alas, it cannot be done using UHT (ultra-high temperature) pasteurized milk, which applies to all of the Lactose-free milk I come across (Lactaid and Organic Valley brands).  *Sigh*.  This Mozzarella Cheesemaking Kit, therefore, should be reserved for the lactose tolerant person in your life who loves to play around in the kitchen and make pizza or other mozz-centric Italian dishes.  If they have access to awesome local milk from nearby dairy farms or farmer’s markets, whis would make an even cooler gift (and more delicious cheese).

Best Gift for the Kids in your Life:  The Gift of Fun Mealtimes

The Mr. Food Face plate reminds me of those toys as a kid where you’d use a magnetic stylus to move around magnetic “hair” on a variety of cartoon heads.  What better way to acquaint a highly neophobic young eater with the friendly side of their fruits and veggies as they delight the unique colors, shapes and textures these foods add to a meal?  (Of course, it comes in a Ms. Food Face version as well.)

Along similar lines, school-aged kids have fun with their food using Constructive Eating’s Construction Plate and Utensils.  With all the fun of using the pusher to guide food onto the spoon… and ultimately into the mouths… kids may be tempted to finish everything on their plates.  Including their peas, brussels sprouts, lima beans and all the other delicious foods that children stereotypically won’t eat.

Best Secret Santa/Stocking Stuffer Gift for Your Single Friend/Brother/Sister: Perfectly Brewed Coffee for One

Why should the live-alone crowd have to choose between instant coffee (yuk), brewing a full pot of coffee when they only want one cup (wasteful) or investing in an expensive pod-based system ($$)?  Single people have rights, you know!  The Clever, sold by Gimme! Coffee, is an elegant, $15 solution: a countertop-to-mug contraption that produces perfect cups of filtered coffee from their favorite grinds.  While you’re browsing the site, check out some of Gimme’s! unique, sustainable coffee varieties, many of which are Limited Edition.

Best Gift for Your Green, Brown-Bagging Work friend: Reusable BPA-free Stacking Lunch Box

I don’t know about you, but I like to bring soups and chilis to work with me when I’m brown-bagging it.  And that tends not to work so well in the standard insulated lunchbox/lunchbag scenario.  This stacking version is reminiscent of the Indian “Tiffin,” allowing you to pack meal components in two different compartments (Soup and salad?  Leftover rice and stir fried veggies?  Chili and toppings?) and heat up one or both directly in the carrying case.  Clever!

Related posts:

1. My Tasty 2010 Holiday Gift Guide