With its bright, sprightly flavors, this is a wonderful springtime dish. But there’s nothing to say you can’t serve it with a green salad in summer or roasted vegetables in winter. To make the sunflower seeds more easily digestible, soak them overnight beforehand.
3 3/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
1 cup raw sunflower seeds, presoaked if you like
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Add the quinoa, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until all of the water is absorbed. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, toast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, for 3 to 5 minutes, until they are aromatic and start to pop. Add the sunflower seeds to the quinoa, along with the lemon juice and oil, and stir until well combined. Taste and adjust the seasonings if desired.
Variations
Quinoa with Herbs and Toasted Sunflower Seeds: Increase the amount of sunflower seeds to 1 1/4 cups. Omit the lemon juice and increase the amount of olive oil to 7 tablespoons. Add 1/2 cup of chopped marjoram or oregano leaves when you stir everything together. Taste and adjust the seasonings; you may want more salt.
Quinoa Tabouli: Add 1 cup of chopped parsley and 1 cup of chopped scallions when you stir everything together.
Swap pumpkin seeds for the sunflower seeds.
Forgo toasting the sunflower seeds; instead, add them to the saucepan when you add the quinoa.
Anti-oxidant rich and tasty, this smoothie is quick and easy to make. Try it for a snack or breakfast. Feel free to swap your favorite (pasture raised cow or sheep yogurt are also good choices. Other flavors of juice would also be fine. Feel free to use other berries: raspberries, and strawberries are great, too.
Serves 1 for a very hearty breakfast
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries ¾ cup plain goat yogurt ¾ cup tart cherry juice 2 Tablespoons Navitas Naturals Palm Sugar 1 Tablespoon Navitas Naturals Acai Powder 1 Tablespoon Navitas Naturals Maqui Powder 1 teaspoon Simply Organic vanilla extract
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Taste, and if desired, add additional palm sugar for a sweeter flavor.
For 15% off all Navitasnatural.com products, please enter the code leslie15 at navitasnaturals.com
Published by Editor in Chief of Modern Hippie Mag on May 9, 2012
Interest in gluten-free foods has surged as an increasing number of people have been diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye, or have discovered that they have a wheat allergy or sensitivity.
Those facing dietary restrictions due to a gluten allergy or sensitivity, take heart! Organic Gourmet Leslie Cerier presents gluten-free, vegetarian recipes the whole family can enjoy! In her new cookbook, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook (New Harbinger, $17.95), Leslie includes recipes for a wide variety of whole-grain foods including pancakes & waffles, casseroles, pasta dishes, and pastries! Within the pages of her cookbook you will find a wealth information about gluten-free whole grain flours and rice that can be used to create flavorful and delicious appetizers, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts.
As a pioneer organic chef, Leslie is a national authority on wheat-free baking. In addition to innovative recipes, her cookbook offers fun and easy tips for:
shopping green and using seasonal ingredients
understanding nutrition basics
incorporating fiber in your diet
creating food combinations for complete proteins
More about Leslie:
Leslie teaches exciting “garden to table” hands-on cooking classes in some of the most prestigious centers of holistic evolution and organic lifestyle worldwide. Her New England based business includes custom culinary work for private clients, as well as private and group cooking instruction and coaching. Cerier is a pioneer and national authority on gluten-free cooking and baking, the entire spectrum of whole grains, and cooking with wild foods. Her specialty in culinary nutrition has led to her being much sought after by health professionals and private clients to help them translate challenging dietary allergy issues into culinary success and meal satisfaction.
Oh my goodness! I am like a kid at the candy store at the Northampton Farmers Market: Pink and white salad turnips, watercress, morel mushrooms, radishes, kale, salad greens galore! Different veggies and different day from my Amherst Farmers Market, which I also love to support and feast from.
Farmers Markets are the best place to shop for local, seasonal, wild and organic produce. Unless, of course you can grow your own or belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
Everyone can benefit from eating a wide range of gluten-free whole grains. Gluten-free cooking and baking goes beyond just replacing the few popular gluten grains wheat, barley, triticale, and rye in favorite recipes. It is a celebration of the earth’s bounty.
There are more whole grains that do not have gluten. This means more choices, more whole grains and whole grain flours to mix and match with local, seasonal produce for an endless variety of daily meals. Doing so isn’t as hard as it seems if you follow some basic tips:
Create Gluten-Free Makeovers.
You can make pasta dishes, pastries—just about everything that can be made with gluten—into delicious, nutritious, gorgeous dishes with a wide gluten-free whole grains and flours.
Go Beyond Toast.
Start your day with nutritional powerhouses: gluten-free grains such as millet, rolled oats, teff, quinoa, and amaranth make tasty porridges cooked in water or coconut milk with a variety spices like ginger and cinnamon, and dried fruits. Top with your favorite yogurt, milk, fruit, or maple syrup for a great breakfast.
Pancakes and waffles are delicious and super nutritious made with one or a combination of gluten-free flours: teff, sorghum, quinoa, brown rice, corn, buckwheat, maca, and coconut flour.
It is easy to make grain loaves, polenta, and croquettes with corn grits, millet, and teff. Once cooked and cooled, you can cut them like a brownie. Slice and serve or refry; the possibilities are endless.
Cook Like An Artist.
You can make beautiful dishes mixing and matching grains with nuts, seeds, and colorful vegetables. Decorate finished dishes with edible flowers, springs of herbs, and sauces.
It is rare for whole grains to be complete proteins; however quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and oats are complete proteins making them ideal for main course entrees, and side dishes.
Employ a Variety of Textures.
You can create dishes with many different textures: running the gamut from dense, smooth dishes like polenta to chewy wild rice to crispy granola. In the realm of desserts alone, grains and their flours can be used to create textures ranging from creamy rice pudding, to dense and chewy hazelnut brownies, to crispy cookies made with teff flour.
Create Great Pastries Everyone will Love.
Bake delicious cookies, piecrusts, fruit crisps, muffins, and brownies with a great variety of gluten-free flours: teff, oat, brown rice, quinoa, coconut, ground nut and seed flours (hazelnut, almond, and flax seeds, etc).
Photo: Tracey Eller
Roll Some Sushi.
Vegetarian sushi, also known as nori rice rolls, are delicious and easy to prepare with a wide variety of rice: Bhutanese Red Rice, Forbidden Rice, brown rice, Jade Pearl Rice, sweet brown rice, among others. Mix and match fresh and sautéed seasonal vegetables (cucumbers, carrots, beets, salad greens, etc) with avocado, pickles, sprouts, seasoned tofu and ginger tempeh, and more.
Stake Out a Variety of Shapes.
Gluten-free pasta comes in many shapes and sizes and made from a variety of grains: rice, quinoa, corn, amaranth, and buckwheat. All are great topped with savory sauces: tomato, peanut, pesto, mushroom, among others.
Expand your Repertoire.
Say yes to abundance of choices: enhance your nutrition by including high fiber, whole grains in your diet. You can make pilafs, soups, stews, porridge, and marinated salads and more with gluten-free grains.
Enjoy Being Environmentally Friendly.
Going gluten-free can help you decrease your carbon footprint. Huge monocultures of wheat and other common grains have damaging impacts on the earth, especially when grown commercially using petroleum-based fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.
Because many varieties of gluten-free grains are more closely related to their wild cousins than the hybrids we’ve come to rely on, they can often be grown more easily, using less intensive methods. Some gluten-free grains are drought resistant, requiring less land and less water to produce high yields. Others grow in harsh conditions, arid uplands to moist tropical settings.
As a bonus, many of them offer superior nutrition and higher-quality protein than wheat and other common grains. That means more net nutrition from the same amount of land. And best of all, this approach to easing our impact on the planet offers a delicious culinary adventure.
Worldwide, gluten-Free whole grains truly are the foundation of a healthful diet—healthful not just for us humans, but also for our planet.
You’ve probably heard about the devastation of rainforests to create grazing land, water pollution from feedlots, and the problems with methane from cattle. And chances are, at some point you’ve read or heard that eating lower on the food chain is more sustainable, so I’ll just offer the reminder that it’s far more efficient to eat grain than to feed it to animals and then use those animals for food. As food resources grow scarce for an ever-increasing human population, it becomes more important to eat less meat, or avoid it altogether.
All of that said, I do believe that there’s a place for organic eggs and dairy products, especially when the animals that produce them are allowed to range freely and fed a diet that’s more natural for them (for dairy cows, that means grass-fed).
Leslie Cerier, “The Organic Gourmet,” is a national authority on gluten-free cooking and baking specializing in local, seasonal, whole foods and organic cuisine with 20 + years experience: Chef, Educator, and Author of 5 cookbooks including Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook (2010), and Going Wild in the Kitchen (2005). Leslie teaches exciting “hands-on” vegetarian cooking classes in some of the most prestigious centers of holistic evolution and organic lifestyle. She will be co-teaching a special workshop with 10.5 CEC; Thriving Gluten-Free July 6-8 2012 with Celiac Expert and Dietician Melinda Dennis at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. Check out more at http://lesliecerier.com/blog/class-schedule/.
Teaching Improvisational Cooking for Health and Vitality at Esalen Institute
Thanks to Tracey Eller for the Great Photos of my Hands On, Garden to Table, Gourmet Vegetarian, Cooking Classes for Health and Vitality at Esalen Institute March 2012
Teaching Great Meals with Great Grains Hand On Cooking Class at Esalen Institute
Mediterranean Sorghum Salad with fresh Oregano, Mint and Chives
Mediterranean Sorghum Salad with Mint and Chives
This was a big hit in the Great Meals with Great Grains workshop at Esalen Institute March 2012. Fresh oregano, chives and mint make a tasty dressing for this marinated grain salad. Serve on a bed of lettuce, topped with goat or sheep feta for an beautiful lunch treat!
Gluten-free sorghum, also known as Milo, is a small round grain, with a texture of pearled barley. Sorghum is good source of iron, potassium and fiber. A half cup serving has 11.3 grains of protein, higher than corn and almost as high as wheat. Sorghum is not a complete protein, but served here with feta completes the protein. Serving a grain with a bean also completes its protein profile.
2/3 cup sorghum grain soaked at least 6 hours, rinsed and drained
2 cups water
Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
1 cup sliced radishes
2/3 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh chives, tightly packed
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint, tightly packed
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
6 cups lettuce
2 cups crumbled goat feta loosely packed
Optional: 2 Nasturtium flowers
1. Bring the water and sea salt to boil in a medium saucepan, then add sorghum.
2. Simmer for about an hour or until water is absorbed and sorghum is somewhat soft, similar to cooked rice.
3. Cool sorghum to room temperature, fluffing with a fork occasionally.
4. In a large bowl, combine sorghum with all the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT the lettuce, feta and nasturtium flowers. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
5. Place lettuce on a platter or serving bowl. Add the sorghum salad. Decorate with crumbled feta and nasturtium flowers.
Celebrated cookbook authors Leslie Cerier and Robin Asbell suggest great ways to cook with cornmeal
BY Mary Margaret Chappell
Yellow, White, and Blue
Regional preferences for white versus yellow cornmeal can be as intensely debated as politics or sports—but it really boils down to a matter of taste, says Robin Asbell, author of The New Whole Grains Cookbook. Raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, Asbell confesses to a preference for yellow cornmeal, and enjoys making pancakes (sweet or savory), cornbread, and certain cookies and biscuits with it. “The taste and texture are familiar,” she explains.
White cornmeal is traditionally used in authentic Southern-style cornbread, so Asbell uses it in all kinds of Southern-influenced dishes. For instance, in a red beans and rice pie, she’ll opt for a white cornmeal crust. By the same token, she’d make Southern biscuits and spoon bread from white cornmeal. And she’d top off a Southern-style meal with a coconut cake made with white cornmeal.
Leslie Cerier, author of Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook: A Seasonal, Vegetarian Cookbook, believes that everything goes with either yellow or white cornmeal and cooks and bakes with both interchangeably. That said, Cerier does confess to relying on visual appeal to help her choose one over the other. For instance, if she has kale and leeks or onions on hand, she’ll make cornmeal fritters with yellow cornmeal because of the ingredients’ contrasting colors. “It’s about novelty, versatility, and being playful,” she says.
Cerier recommends making corn fritters with white cornmeal, carrots, and butternut squash, and savory pancakes with white cornmeal and quinoa or brown teff flour because of the way the colors play off the white meal. She also especially enjoys sweet pancakes and waffles made with corn flour.
Blue corn is a traditional Hopi Indian food, so Asbell recommends incorporating it into dishes that have a native American influence, including “three sisters”–inspired dishes such as squash-and-bean soup with blue cornmeal croutons and a casserole or tamale pie with squash, pinto beans, and blue cornmeal. Blue cornmeal’s heartier and cornier (than white and yellow cornmeal) taste is also great in savory muffins with chiles and sun-dried tomatoes as well as with apples and blueberries in sweet muffins, she adds.
Match the Grind to the Menu
Corn flour or fine cornmeal sops up excess moisture so batters stick. Make a batter with yellow corn flour and egg, then use it to coat and bake tofu, tempeh, or firmer vegetables, such as cauliflower and potato sticks, suggests Asbell. If you make pancakes or waffles with cornmeal it will have a crunchy texture; for smoother-textured corn pancakes, waffles, or muffins, corn flour is the way to go, says Cerier.
According to Asbell, medium-grind yellow cornmeal is key to hush puppies with just the right amount of crunch: a fine grind would make a mushy or hard fritter, and the coarse-grind’s little bits would probably be too hard, she says. Cerier likes to make cornbread with organic medium-grind cornmeal.
Coarse-grind cornmeal doubles as a release agent that adds a satisfying crunch to pizza and bread, she Asbell. To get the effect, dust the pan/stone with coarse cornmeal before getting to work. She also suggests a coarse-grind if making a piecrust and quiche because of the pleasing contrast to the soft, melted cheese and sautéed veggies.
Interest in gluten-free foods has surged as an increasing number of people have been diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye, or have discovered that they have a wheat allergy or sensitivity.
