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

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

First, kale is officially in season.  And soon it will be one of the only fresh veggies in season here in the Northeast.  So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Second, packaged kale chips have started showing up in our local food co-op and health food stores… at exorbitantly expensive prices.  And this coming from a person who routinely–and not unhappily– overpays for food.  Everyone has their limit.  The righteous indignation that overpriced, healthy food evokes in me often inspires me to make a home-made version that I can then smugly blog about.

Third, my increasingly picky babies have developed a strong preference for all things crunchy–but still not too many teeth– which makes it very hard to get vegetables into them.  Since storebought ‘veggie puff’ snacks which contain green vegetables are really more corn puffs than anything else (based on the paltry Vitamin A content), I figured it would be far more nutritious to just make my own veggie snacks at home.  Kale chips have a perfect, fall-apart-into-crumbles-in-your-mouth quality that should work well for the toddling crowd.

Lacinato Kale

Lastly, I’m a nutritionist, for god’s sake.  Why don’t I eat more kale??!!?  It’s, like, the Holy Grail of health foods.  And while I view the term “superfood” with more than a healthy dose of skepticism (it’s more of a marketing term than a nutrition term)– I would be hard-pressed to come up with a food more deserving of the title.  It scores a perfect 1,000 on the ANDI scale, after all.  It’s a powerhouse of Vitamins K, A and C, and is a good source of both calcium and iron.   (Unlike spinach, kale lacks dietary compounds called oxalates, which interfere with iron absorption.  In this regard, kale is a much better source of iron than spinach is, though the latter still tends to enjoy a strong reputation for its iron content.)

If you’re looking for something different to put out for guests as you prepare to entertain this holiday season, why not make up some seasoned kale chips to in lieu of tortilla chips or potato chips?  They’re lower calorie, lower carb and far more nutritious.

Recipe: Kale Chips Three Ways

I decided to offer 3 versions of the kale chip recipe, which partly reflects the fact that I watch too much Top Chef– where anything worth cooking once is worth cooking three times, three different ways– and partly reflects the versatility of this healthy snack, one version of which is sure to please every palate in your family.  Feel free to experiment with seasonings to suit your own taste. The base recipe is the basic, salted version whose standard recipe is simple and ubiquitous, though cooking times and temperatures vary considerably.  You can use flat-leafed kale or curly kale as you wish, though I think curly works better to hold seasoning and flat may work better for babies.  Credit for the base recipe provided here belongs to Chef Jenny Gensterblum of Léman Preparatory School in Manhattan, where my husband teaches.  She is known for her fierce arsenal of healthy but kid-approved dishes, most cooked from scratch.

Version #2 is a “cheesy” flavored one that uses nutritional yeast for seasoning instead of actual cheese.  This keeps it vegan/dairy free, and also bumps up the nutritional value by heaping sprinkles of B-vitamins on top of already Vitamin A-rich kale.  Vegan, baked kale topped with nutritional yeast?  A perfect, self-righteous antidote to the seasonal overindulgence going on this time of year, but delicious enough to keep you from feeling deprived like you would with, say, a rice cake .

Version #3 has got a little bit of a smoky/garlicky kick to it, a seasoning whose credit goes to Shauna James Ahern, the self-designated “Gluten Free Girl,” who suggests sprinkling on a combo of garlic powder and smoked paprika on just-out-of-the-oven kale chips.  Don’t mind if I do, Shauna!

Basic Version

• 2 bunches of green kale (I used Lacinato, aka., Tuscan kale/Dinosaur kale.  Other varieties work fine, too)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste

Directions: Preheat the oven to 500°F.  Separate kale leaves and thoroughly rinse and dry. Stack some leaves on top of each other. Cut out the tough center rib by cutting in a v-shape, or tear out the center rib with your fingers. Slice across into strips.  (Careful not to cut pieces too small, or they may burn.) Place kale in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil and a good amount of salt. Spread thinly onto one or two cookie sheets, depending on the size. Bake for 3 minutes, remove from oven briefly, toss (tongs work well for this), and bake for an additional minute or two, until starting to brown and crispy. Watch closely as kale burns rather quickly.

Dairy-free Cheesy Version: As soon as chips come out of the oven, sprinkle a generous handful of nutritional yeast on top of them.  Toss to coat.

Smoky/Garlicky Version: Combine 1/4 tsp garlic powder with 1/4 tsp smoked paprika and sprinkle atop kale chips just out of the oven.

Related posts:

1. For Those Drowning in a Sea of Potatoes and Kale, a Life Vest

I’ve been wanting to do a savory pumpkin dish for some time now, and as I eyed the beautiful curcubit specimens at our local farmer’s market, the memory of a dish I once had at an Afghan restaurant came to mind.  Warm, comforting, savory, beautifully-spiced but not spicy– it would be a perfectly seasonal vegetarian entree that would satisfy the grownup palates but produce ample leftovers to use for feeding the dentally-challenged highchair set.

Insofar as any Afghan dish can be considered “popular” in America, Borani Kadoo (alt: Kadu Bouranee) would probably be it.  From what I can tell, versions of this dish are also found in Persian (Iranian) and Pakistani cuisine, though they may simply be referred to as “kadu” (pumpkin) something and served without yogurt.  The term “borani” generally refers to a yogurt-based appetizer or dip, often served cold and with bread.  For example, there are many different types of Borani dishes in Persian cuisine, including spinach ones and eggplant ones.  And lookie there: we’ve officially exhausted my knowledge of Central Asian cuisine.

I found this recipe for Borani Kadoo and followed it pretty much to a tee (with the exception of omitting the jalapeno to make it less aggressive to baby palates).  It appears to be the most popular one floating around the web, and for good reason: it’s super simple and requires very little prep; the only real effort is actually cutting and peeling the pumpkin itself.  (If you’ve never done this before, click here to read my previous post on pumpkins to learn how to safely do it, and make sure you have a really good chef’s knife that’s up to the task.)  I used a Cheese Pumpkin, which is a beige-colored pumpkin with texture quite similar to butternut squash, which, incidentally, would be a perfectly acceptable stand-in for the pumpkin this recipe calls for.  I might also suggest a cilantro or fresh mint garnish for some visual interest and a splash of complementary herbaceous flavor to cut some of the pumpkin’s sweetness, though the sour yogurt works wonders to this effect.

Other serving suggestions: toss into an arugula salad to add some substance to a lunch meal; toss in with some pasta, ricotta cheese, grated Parmesean and fried sage leaves for a delightful one-bowl dinner; or cook it down a little softer than the recipe suggests, layer with the yogurt sauce and serve as a dip alongside pita wedges or gluten-free crackers.

To boost the nutritional value of this already nutritious, high-fiber, high Vitamin-A recipe, consider using plain 0% Greek Yogurt to make the yogurt sauce rather than plain regular yogurt.  Doing so will also cut the lactose content significantly if this is an issue for you.

Related posts:

1. The Great Pumpkin

I realized that with some better planning, I should be able to choose dishes–and make enough of them– to feed all four of us.  Especially considering that two of us only eat about 4 ounces in a sitting.

The first component of the inaugural family meal became clear to me when I passed our local Farmer’s Market and saw that purple cauliflowers had arrived.  I had been eyeing a recipe for Purple Cauliflower and White Bean puree from fellow RD Sophie Clarke’s blog, Mostly Eating, for some time, and knew that I could adapt it to my family’s tastes.  (See below for adapted recipe). My kids and husband all love roasted cauliflower… and can you think of any better way to jazz up a baby’s diet of mushy, pureed foods than to infuse it with a shock of bright purple?

A note on purple cauliflower nutrition

Purple fruits and veggies are rich in antioxidant pigments called anthocyanins

Is purple cauliflower more nutritious than its white counterpart?  It certainly appears to be, though the standard version’s nutritional credentials aren’t too shabby either.  Both are roughly equivalent on the “macronutrient” front: calories (about 25 calories per cup of raw florets), carbs (5g) and fiber (2g).  That same cup of white cauliflower has about 80% of your daily value for Vitamin C.  Vitamin C aside, the antioxidant content is almost certainly higher in a purple cauliflower, owing largely to the presence of the purple antioxidant pigments called anthocyanins– the same ones that make purple cabbage purple and blueberries blue.

While I could not find reliable information that quantifies the the nutritional differences in these two cauliflower varieties, I thought it might be informative to compare the difference between two very close relatives of cauliflower: purple cabbage versus regular (green) cabbage.  (Purple cauliflower, in fact, is believed to derive from wild cabbage plants).  Perhaps we may be able to infer something about the relative amount of phytonutrients in a purple cauliflower versus a white one?  (And if the faulty logic of this comparison pisses off any budding chemists in our midst, I hope it will spur them to undertake a proper analysis of cruciferous vegetable antioxidant activity and share the results with the rest of us).

While a 3 oz (100g, raw) serving of both red and green cabbage varieties has approximately the same number of calories (25-30) and fiber (2-2.5g), red cabbage has more antioxidant Vitamin C (about 100% of the daily value in red, versus 60% for green); 16 times more beta carotene– an precursor for antioxidant Vitamin A; and 11 times more lutein + zeaxanthin–two antioxidant carotene pigments that play a pivotal role in eye health and vision.  In other words, depending on the particular antioxidant measured–purple cabbage has anywhere from 1.6x to 16x the antioxidant content of the standard green variety.  (And these examples only account for a small percentage of the total number of antioxidants present in cabbage…)  Given these impressive stats, it seems to make sense to choose purple-colored veggies often–purple cauliflower included– to get that much more bang for your nutritional buck.

Recipe: Mashed Purple Cauliflower with White Beans

Mashed purple cauliflower with white beans: fresh for the family or frozen into single-serve portions for baby

A beautiful (and quirky), easy, delicious, family-friendly recipe for weeknight, Halloween and Thanksgiving dinners alike!  High in fiber and Vitamin C and low on the glycemic index, it’s a fabulous substitute for mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 large head purple cauliflower, cut into florets

3 TBSP olive oil

Kosher salt

Dried thyme

1 14.5 oz can cannellini beans, drained* (or other small white bean, such as Navy beans).

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine cauliflower florets, olive oil, a modest sprinkle of salt and a generous sprinkle of dried thyme (to taste), and toss well to coat
3. Arrange cauliflower florets on a baking dish and roast in oven for 20-30 minutes, or until florets are fork tender and just starting to brown
4. Remove cauliflower from oven and place in a food processor along with the canned white beans.  Puree until smooth.  (Alternatively, you can puree the roasted cauliflower along with the beans in a large pot using an immersion (stick) blender.)

* I use Eden Organic brand when cooking for my kids since the company does not use BPA in its can liners.

Related posts:

1. Pardon me, but is that Cauliflower soup in your lasagna?