10 Foods You Can Actually Eat

It seems like every time I open a magazine or gaze upon the interweb there is another food that I shudder to think about eating. In the past few years I've discovered that I get sick (stomach ache, gas, or worse) when I eat certain foods. Still others give me hives or headaches. Every one it seems is vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, intolerant, allergic, and still many other adjectives--all of these terms used to describe our relationship to food.

Crack open any Michael Pollan book, as my best friend tells me, and you'll discover all of our food is almost literally made of corn. Staying in tonight with your Netflix account? Food Inc. has made my brother-in-law think twice about purchasing any meat product at a big box store again.

Today another girlfriend posted this link from the Daily Beast, "Dangerous Ingredients," verifying that fake sweetners and processed foods are, shocker, bad for you. Photo galleries like this one help us to make informed decisions about the food we eat--where it comes from and more importantly what it does to our bodies. I am certainly not knocking the new food revolution. In fact, I think I might be part of it.

But, that said, are there any foods we can eat?

For this, I default to my power foods which taste good and are good for me. (For a larger list of other ideas you can check out this Belly Bytes article). The foods below make me feel good when I eat them. Satiated. Even--gasp!--happy sometimes.

1. Eggs
The eggs I eat come directly from the source. These chickens below actually. I know where they live, I know what they eat, and I know who cleans their coop (sometimes it's me!).

2. Avocado
This fruit, high in protein and potassium, is delicious. I cut them in half and eat them with a spoon. They are full of fat--but of the heart healthy kind.

3. Kale
The running joke around here is that this blog should actually be called "Kale & Other Bad Habits" because I eat so much kale and use it often (sometimes it seems in every recipe!). Kale, once used only to decorate plates at the deli, is enjoying its debut as the hottest new "superfood" and is rich in vitamins and antioxidants.

4. Garlic
Garlic is maybe the best thing ever. I mean, what else can so easily add to any dish? But the best part is that beyond its ability to ward off the cast of True Blood, garlic also lowers your cholesterol. If I feel a cold coming on I saute whole cloves and eat them like candy.

5. Ginger Root
Beyond the 2,000 years of Chinese medicine backing it up, eating ginger helps me to digest that giant plate of sushi. It also calms an upset tummy and makes a delightful tea. I just slice off a few slivers and add to hot water to calm my nerves (and any trouble in the soul).

6. Peppermint Tea
It's caffeine free, it settles an upset stomach, it smells really good, it soothes the throat. Should I keep talking?

7. Dark Chocolate
I'm sweet enough as it is (terrible, I know) so I don't often eat desserts. I like sweets, but in moderation. But I can never get enough dark chocolate. The food of the Aztec gods is also rich in antioxidants and may satisfy your sweet tooth more quickly that candies or other processed sugars. It also takes great with ginger or peppermint. How convenient...

8. FishYeah, I know, the oceans are over-fished and mercury is a problem. So maybe I'm a jerk for putting this on my list. But maybe not. Fishes, like salmon or trout or herring, are rich in heart-happy omega-3 fatty acids. Mouth happy and heart happy, a win-win?

9. Water
Your body loves it but most of us run around dehydrated. I've never been a soda drinker and have always been a camel of sorts, drinking glass after glass of good old fashioned H20.

10. Buffalo/Lamb
Protein? Check. Iron? Check? Yummy? Check. Buffalo or bison is a great substitute for ground beef in recipes for burgers or chili as is ground lamb. Both are red meats that provide a nice alternative to beef. Also, it can be easier to find grass-fed buffalo than beef and for a similar price point. Lamb is a lean red meat that beyond being chock full of protein and iron, also contains important amounts of zinc and B-vitamins.

We'll see if anyone ruins my delusion by telling me these foods are bad-bad-bad too!

Soft Fish, Tough Veggie-- Strong Partnership

Ugggggggh. Weekday slump. It's been a week that's been pretty ass-kicking mentally and pretty exhausting. So, for dinner options, the easier the better! This recipe is pretty rich in flavor and utilizes some simple fresh ingredients to pack a punch.  Dover sole is a light, flaky fish that almost literally melts in your mouth; the fennel bulb is a textured anise flavored vegetable.

Also, don't forget about the Operation Goodbye Gut contest!  It's pretty simple: send us a recipe, win a prize. You have until June 15th to email your recipes!

Dover Sole With Fennel and Kale
--1/2 bunch of kale (about 2 packed cups), stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
--olive oil, chopped
--garlic, minced
--small yellow onion
--fennel bulb, stalks removed and roughly chopped.
--1 lb. Dover sole filets
--2 TBSP flour

--salt and pepper
--paprika
--1/4 cup of white wine

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the kale evenly with olive oil and spread out in an oven-safe pan or on a cookie sheet.  Bake until crispy.

While the kale cooks, heat 1 TBSP of olive oil over medium heat in a large deep-sided skillet. Add the garlic, onion, and fennel to the pan and cook to translucency.

While the vegetables cook down, prepare the sole filets.

In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour with salt and pepper and paprika. Fluff the mixture with a fork.  Rinse the sole filets and gently pat with a paper towel so that the water is removed but the fish isn't completely dry.  Dredge the fish through the flour mixture until all fish pieces are lightly coated.

When the vegetables are cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Add another tablespoon or so of the olive oil to the pan and shake so that the bottom of the pan is coated in a fine layer of the oil.  Add the fish filets and cook each side for 3-ish minutes or until the fish is golden.

Add the fennel mixture back into the pan along with the wine. Mix together, careful not to completely destroy the fish filets. (Note: Dover sole is a light fish, it will tear when you move it around no matter how careful you are; just try not to rip the poor things totally apart.)

Add the cooked kale into the mix--or serve the filets and fennel mix on a bed of crisped kale, mmm. Once the wine has reduced serve!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 297 per serving

Two Loves, One Dish

Apparently I'm as obsessed with kale as I am with bacon. Kale seems to be popping up in all of my recipes lately. So today, let's combine my two loves and have a dish with bacon-y (and kale-icious) goodness! This dish can also easily become both vegetarian and vegan by removing the bacon and replacing the bacon grease with olive oil.

Bacon Mushroom Kale CousCous
--3 strips uncooked bacon
--garlic
--sliced button mushrooms
--sliced bella mushrooms
--sliced crimini mushrooms
--1 can of diced tomatoes
--1 bunch of kale
--1 box of couscous, cooked to package directions

PREP:
I have a pair of scissors that lives in the kitchen and is only used for food. I suggest cutting kale with these kitchen scissors, as it's easy to cut along the ribs to get the green parts free and then cut the greens into smaller pieces.

COOK:
In a large skillet cook the bacon on medium heat until done to your tastes. Remove to a plate for later. Pour half the grease into your grease jar and leave the remaining grease in the pan.

Saute the garlic for a few minutes before adding all of your mushroom varieties. Cook until mushrooms are tender.


Once mushrooms have cooked down, add the can of diced tomatoes. Stir well to combine and allow to simmer together for a few minutes.


Chop or tear the cooked bacon into smaller pieces and add into the mix. Add in the kale and mix everything up. Cook until the kale is done and is wilted but not soggy. Mix in the cooked couscous and serve!

Hello Stew, Meet Curry & Saffron

I tend to eat a lot of warm foods in the winter time. Winter just seems to loan itself well to soups, stews, and ragouts. The following is a modified version of one of my favorite recipes. It combines lots of veggies with two of my favorite spices: saffron and curry!

I made this while housesitting and just threw it together with what veggies were fresh on hand along with some from the freezer. Stews like this one can change throughout the year to reflect whatever veggies are in season.

Winter Vegetable Curried Stew
--olive oil
--yellow curry powder
--pinch of saffron threads--onion, chopped roughly into medium sized pieces
--garlic, chopped
--assorted chopped veggies (I used squash, kale, spinach, and carrots)
--1 can white beans
--1 package of chicken sausage, links chopped into 1/2" thick slices
--24 oz. container chicken or vegetable broth


In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. Once the oil coats the bottom of the pot add in the saffron threads. Adding heat to the threads releases their flavor. Add several healthy shakes of curry powder. Add chopped onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. The curry and saffron will coat the onion and garlic and make your stew taste delicious!

Begin adding in your vegetables one at a time. First I added my carrots and then stirred them all together so the curry/saffron mix coated them. Then I added my different squashes (I used 3 different types: delicata, yellow, and zucchini) and stirred the mix all together. Then I added my white beans on top and stirred together.


Pour the chicken broth over the veggies mix. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can simmer for up to 2 hours, but if you intend to simmer for this long, please turn heat down to low.

While the soup is simmering it's time to cook up our chicken sausage. I buy the package of 4 links and am really fond of the chicken and apple sausages because they add great flavor to this particular recipe. Most chicken sausage links are already pre-cooked but we want to sear the sides and warm up the sausage.

In a small to medium sized skillet, heat the sausage over medium heat until seared and warm.
Then add it to the simmering stew!

Toward the end of your simmering period add in the spinach and kale (or whatever greens you'd like to use). I remove the stems and either roughly chop these or rip them into pieces by hand.


Once everything is nice and warm it's ready to be scarfed!

Freezing Outside, Hearty & Warm Inside

It's been f-ing cold in Denver. Single digits, negative temperatures, wind. And to make this cold snap even more delightful, there is no heat in my house. Apparently there is a problem with the boiler and they're "working" to get it fixed. Meanwhile, I have nothing to do but freeze and cook to try to stay warm (the oven is an excellent space heater).

There's a dish over at Root Down that I quite fancy, and I decided to warm up by making my own version. This dish is completely different from theirs (which I crave constantly) but is inspired by it. I eat so much bacon that I keep bacon fat on hand but the recipe below assumes that you don't just have bacon fat hanging out in your fridge. (Sidenote: You really should have bacon fat hanging out in your fridge. It's the perfect flavoring for any kind of greens or beans).


Lamb Meatballs In Broth W/ Veggies

--olive oil
--1 lb. ground lamb
--several cloves of garlic, minced
--salt & pepper
--4 slices bacon
--small onion, chopped coarsely
--can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
--1 bunch of kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
--chicken broth
Heat olive oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Mix garlic and ground lamb together and form into meatballs. Season with salt & pepper. Cook 2 minutes on each side, turning so all sides are brown. Remove from heat.

In the same skillet/dutch oven cook the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon but leave the fat in the pan. Feel free to eat the bacon!

Turn heat down to medium and toss the chopped onion in. Cook for 2 minutes until begins to brown on the edges. Remove pan from heat.

Now the "tricky" part. Take a bowl or measuring cup and place paper towels on top of it. Take the pan and strain the onion and bacon fat through the paper towels. You'll have a golden liquid of rendered bacon fat (with onion flavoring) in the bowl and all the funky stuff is caught in the paper towel.

Pour the rendered fat back into the skillet/dutch oven. (I added some of the onions back in but that is completely up to you!)

Add the chickpeas/garbanzo beans and kale. Cover beans and kale with chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Add the meatballs back to the pan. Add more chicken broth if you like and allow to simmer until broth has consistency/amount you desire!