Anti-inflammatory foods on CBC's Weekend Morning Show

Yesterday morning I introduced these recipes for CBC's Weekend Morning Show with Host Terry MacLeod.  These are easy and delicious foods that have the added benefits of helping, and not harming you.  They help with inflammation.  Allium foods, such as onions, garlic, leeks, etc., are top of the list of anti-inflammatory foods.  Others include turmeric, cloves, pineapple, and high antioxidant foods such as beets, blueberries, saskatoons, etc.

Gorgeous beets, dark leafy greens, etc. are all available now at the Farmer's Market!

 Enjoy! 

Anti-inflammatory foods

1. Grilled Pineapple Salsa

1 pineapple, cored then grilled, then chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, roasted whole over grill then chopped

1 ear corn, roasted or 1 cup pan fried

1/2 cup cooked black beans

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground chipotle peppers

1/2 cup chopped or pureed tomatoes

salt, to taste

2 tbs brown sugar

2-4 tbs vinegar

drizzle olive oil

3 tbs fresh chopped mint

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Refrigerate and enjoy with tortillas or in your favourite dish.  Try with fish tacos.  Excellent local corn tortillas are available at Dino's Grocery Mart on Notre Dame.

2. Beet Chips (you might want to use gloves)

1-3 beets (try red, white, chiogga, golden, etc.)

Sea salt, to tastes.

Olive oil, to coat

Preheat oven to 400F.  Thinly slice beets with a mandolin (USE GUARD!), or with a food processor.  Place beets in a bowl of cold water and soak for about an hour.  Drain well on paper towels.  Lay chips on a Silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Drizzle olive oil over chips and sprinkle with a bit of salt.

Bake until starting to crisp up, about 15 minutes, checking.  Cool or place chips in a bowl and toss with salt.  Alternatively, you can fry in small batches in sunflower or canola oil. 

 Enjoy!

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles | #POPSICLEWEEK

It�s that magical first-week-of-summer time. When everything seems possible, when we shed our winter skins and people ride bikes naked through the streets, the sun sets later and later each night, barbeques and beers on patios are plentiful and stretch past our pre-solstice bed-times, camping plans and picnic plans and beach-day plans are dreamt up and mapped out, and here in the PNW, we wear tank tops and flip flops one day, rainboots and jackets the next, constantly unprepared for the heat or the rain. It�s also the time of year when Billy of Wit & Vinegar hosts Popsicle Week!


Popsicles are one of those things that give me all the nostalgic summertime feels. Childhood memories of being sent outside into the summer heat with frozen orange juice or frozen grape juice on a stick, melting faster than you can eat it. It seems impossible, no matter what sad and awful and hateful and terrible things are happening in the world and the nation and our lives, to not smile when you�re eating a popsicle. Popsicle week came at just the right time this year�I feel like we could all benefit from a few extra, sticky-frozen-sweet smiles this month.    

This popsicle is sort of my ode to the Pacific North Best�a gift to my comrades in the upper left USA who�ve waded through a long, wet, grey, sunless winter. To my fellow Seattleites who know the few months of sunshine we get every summer make the rest of year worth it. It has a bitter hoppy finish that I associate with the northwest. IPAs of course are all over the map, but they feel so PNWonderland to me�piney and woodsy, best accompanied by a flannel shirt, mountains, and evergreen trees. And the pineapple�that�s for those of us who never want to call another place home, but still long for tropical beaches.

I�ve been toying with the idea of a vanilla pineapple IPA beertail for some time now, and with popsicle week here, I decided rather than a cocktail, this would be the perfect popsicle! All the satisfying cool relief and childlike giddiness of eating an icy pop, with the contrast of the sweet tangy pineapple, the warm roundness of vanilla, and the bitter hops that our adult palates have come to know and respect. Note that these aren�t the kind of treats that have a little something for everyone�If you�re not an IPA fan (shame on you) or you�re an actual child, these aren�t the pops for you. There's a real punch in the face IPA-ness about them. Luckily, if you head over to Wit & Vinegar, there are a lot of other options to meet your summer frozen treat needs and wishes.



Why is it impossible to get the sticks in straight!?

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles
This makes about 1.5 cups more liquid than my 10 popsicle mold could hold. I started to do the maths to cut back, and instead gave up and poured the extra liquid in a glass over ice and was grateful for that decision, instant gratification for those of us that can hardly stand to wait overnight for these pops to freeze. Note that because they contain alcohol, they don't get a really deep freeze, and that makes them melt super fast...but the slushy pop gobbled up really quick before it melted away was my fave part. 

18 oz. pineapple juice *
16 oz (1 pint / 2 cups) IPA **
1 tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon vanilla ***

Whisk ingredients together and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until solid. Enjoy on a rainy or sunny PNW summer day.

* I used three 6 oz cans of Dole pineapple juice
**I used one from one of my neighborhood breweries� I tried to pick something a little summery and citrusy. If you can get your hands on a citra, that would be the winner
***I used vanilla bean paste, which I think has a deeper vanilla flavor plus I love the specs of vanilla bean (all those little black speckles at the tips of the pops), but regular vanilla extract and/or scraped vanilla bean will work

Charge up the BBQ's! Burger time on CBC's Weekend Morning Show!

I presented this burger for CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.  Have fun with how you do your burgers.  This is topped with a soft egg, Pineapple Thoren and served on a toasted naan bread with Dijon Mustard and a yoghurt tahini sauce.

Enjoy!

 Halal Beef and Lamb Burgers (Halal Beef and ground lamb are available at Millad�s on Notre Dame)

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
2 eggs (I loved to use Nature�s Farm eggs)
2 tbs Ras el Hanout (Available at Pollock�s Hardware Coop or through Chef Karen at the Farmer�s Market)
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients well and form into patties at desired size.  Freeze or prepare for the BBQ.  Enjoy with your favourite toppings.  Today�s will be options of yoghurt tahini sauce, pineapple chutney, Dijon mustard, and soft fried or poached egg, served on toasted Naan bread.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Thoren

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green chill, chopped
2-3 stem curry leaves (available fresh at Dino�s Grocery Mart on Notre Dame)
1/2 cup finely chopped unsweetened coconut
1 pineapple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tbs mustard seeds
2-3 tbs olive oil or coconut oil
1 tbs brown sugar
splash of vinegar
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt, to taste


Heat oil in pot over medium high heat and add mustard seeds.  When the seeds begin to pop, add the chopped onion, chilies, curry leaves and coconut.  Cook until onions are soft and translucent.  Add pineapple, brown sugar, vinegar, turmeric and salt.  Cook until much of the liquid has evaporated.  I often add an additional drizzle of coconut oil for taste.

Enjoy!

Shaved Ice Coconut Pineapple Sundae

We booked our honeymoon! Guess where we're going? I'll give you a few hints. 

It's a tropical paradise full of palm trees, coconuts, pineapples, shaved ice, ukelele music, waterfalls, beaches, coconuts, pineapples, and shaved ice. Did I mention coconuts, pineapples, and shaved ice?

Hawaii! Did you guess right? We're going to the island of Kauai, and I am stoooooookkkked. We went to Maui a hundred years ago (in 2008� ack!) and loved it a ton. For honeymoonin, we considered knocking out a bucket list destination like Vietnam or France, but in the end, we decided on good ol' Hawaii, for a few reasons. First off, for us west-coasters, that tropical palm-treed paradise is just a hop and skip away. A quick little flight. Which means less time in a plane/train/taxi-cab, and more time on a beach/hammock/surf board. 

Second, we aren't even tryiiin to get travel stress on our h-moon. Don't get me wrong, we love traveling to new, foreign places. But, you have to admit, there's always at least one currency/customs/language/map-reading stressor that comes up in a new country. And normally, I'm all about navigating those waters, but after 10 months of wedding planning, the last thing I want to do is run out of lempira and not have an ATM or credit card machine in site (like happened in Honduras), or get lost in the middle of the night in the pouring rain in Brugge because oh-my-god-i-thought-that-was-the-castle-by-our-hotel, but-every-mother-effing-corner-has-an-identical-castle. You know. Nothing major, but things I don't want to think about on my honeymoon. 

You know what I want to do on my honeymoon? Oh, and Evan's honeymoon? (Aside from that, perverts). I want to relax. I want to be holding a drink in my hand non-stop. I want to lay on the beach, with my husband (!) by my side. I want the option of doing absolutely nothing all day and not feeling guilty about. But. BUT! If we do want to adventure, Kauai is full of hikes and waterfalls and places where Elvis filmed movies. I think we're gonna have a really swell time. I think we're also going to consume a LOT of shaved ice. 

Which brings me to this dessert! I was inspired by a few recipes for this, and by Hawaii! Christina from Dessert for Two posted this coconut snow the other day, and I just couldn't get it outta my head. It's basically just semi-frozen coconut milk, granita style. She served hers with chocolate sauce, which looks so rich and good, but with Hawaii thoughts swirling in my mind, I wanted something tropical! Another recipe that been's in and out of my dreams is this roasted pineapple popsicle. So naturally, I decided to combine the coconut granita magic with roasted pineapple. And not just any roasted pineapple� roasted pineapple sauce! And then, since the coconut snow and roasted pineapple sauce was sort of reminiscent of classic ice cream sundaes (remember that pineapple sauce!?) I threw some cherries on top. And some black sesame seeds, for good measure.

Coconut shaved ice! Roasted pineapple sauce! Go ahead, you can pretend you're on my honeymoon. Oh wait, is that creepy?   

Coconut Shaved Ice Sundae with Roasted Pineapple Sauce

Makes 2 sundaes

This is a simple recipe, but you do need to scrape the coconut snow every half hour for 2-2.5 hours, so keep that in mind. You may have extra pineapple sauce, but it's delicious on ice cream, yogurt, oatmeal, with a spoon, in a box with a fox, you name it. 

1 can coconut milk (full fat)

Juice from 1 lime

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1 pineapple

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Pinch sea salt

Cherries, pitted

Black sesame seeds

First, get your coconut snow in the freezer:

In a bowl, whisk together coconut milk, lime juice, honey, and water until smooth and combined. Pour into a shallow, freezer-proof dish (I used an 8 inch cake pan), and pop into freezer. After 30 minutes, scrape it all over with a fork to stop from freezing solid. Repeat this every 30 minutes for around 2-2.5 hours.

While coconut snow is in the freezer, make pineapple sauce:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel one whole pineapple, and cut into bite-sized chunks (feel free to save out a few wedges for the sundaes). Add to a baking dish (smaller, not a full baking sheet, it's ok if the pieces overlap), and top with brown sugar and a pinch or two of sea salt. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Pineapple should be super soft, and there should be a bit of liquid in the pan. Let come to room temperature, then add pineapple and any extra liquid in pan to a blender, and blend until smooth. If it's too thick, you can add a splash of water.

Assemble the sundae:

In a glass or bowl, fill halfway with coconut snow, add a small layer of pineapple sauce, fill the rest of the way with coconut snow, then top with more pineapple sauce, cherries, and black sesame seeds. Dig in!

Coconut Snow from this recipe

Roasted Pineapple Sauce inspired by these pops

Hawaiian Sliders with Grilled Pineapple & Teriyaki Mayo

Sliiideerrrrz! 

I feel like sliders got really crazy big in like, 2009, and were everywhere, then after a year or two we were all like "sliders are so overdone, just give me a full size burger, already" and now we're at a place where we can enjoy a good slider now and then, without it being too mainstream OR too OMG-SLIDERZ. 

I personally love a good slider, because it's the perfect couple bites. You can have a hamburger without committing to a full hamburger, ya know?

Evan and I do Hawaiian style burgers or chicken sandwiches a lot. I guess the grilled pineapple is what makes it Hawaiian. For these ones, I also made a little teriyaki mayo sauce. So good!

You could absolutely make these into full sized burgers, but how fun would it be to bring a tray of pre-assembled Hawaiian sliders to your Memorial day BBQ!? SUPER FUN!

Hawaiian Sliders

Baby-sized ground beef patties

Swiss cheese, sliced

Pineapple slices, grilled

Avocado

Tomato

Teriyaki Mayo Sauce (below)

Slider buns

I trust that you can grill some burgers. Just do whatever you prefer. I did a simple home-ground beef mixture with salt and pepper, topped with swiss cheese. And also, grill some pineapple slices. I found some amazing brioche slider buns, but any little buns, breads, or rolls will do. To assemble, start with half your slider bun, then layer on teriyaki mayo sauce, grilled baby burger with cheese, grilled pineapple, avocado, tomato, and more sauce. Then top it off with the bun top! That's it! 

Teriyaki Mayo Sauce

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon liquid sweetener (honey, maple syrup, or agave)

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Hot sauce of your choice (Sriracha!)

Fresh ground black pepper

Whisk together all ingredients, and you're good to go! 

Peach Pineapple Crisp with Coconut & Ginger Crumble

Ok so, it's in the 80s in Seattle� I know, it's crazy and wonderful. I also know that the last thing anyone in Seattle wants to do on an 80 degree day is turn on the oven. A lot of our apartments and houses don't have AC, so it can be pretty miserable indoors on beautiful Seattle days. And, I mean, who wants to be inside when it's so amazing outside? 

That being said, if you happen to find yourself in an AC equipped home, or you don't live in Seattle, or you just love amazing tropical tasting desserts�then you should make this crisp. 

Peaches and pineapple together is such a winning combo. It reminds me of a tropical drink. And then if you top that with a buttery crumbling oat topping that has gingersnaps and coconut in it� c'mon guys. Turn on the AC. Blast the fan. Do what you need to do. Just make this dessert happen. 


And then go outside and enjoy this amazing summer weather.

Peach Pineapple Crisp with Coconut & Ginger Crumble 

I wanted to keep this really light and fresh tasting, so I didn't add a thickening agent to the fruit. It comes out a little runny and less set up this way, but I happen to think that it works. If you do want a firmer filling, add a tablespoon of cornstarch to the fruit and sugar mixture. 

2.5 cups cubed fresh pineapple (about half a large pineapple)

3 large peaches, cubed (no need to peel)

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.5 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons melted butter (1 stick)

10 gingersnap cookies, crumbled

1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

1 tablespoon turbinado (course) sugar

Preheat oven to 425, with rack in middle. Stir together pineapple through vanilla. Place in a buttered 2.5-quart baking dish (or two 1-quart dishes). 

Stir together oats, flour, brown sugar ,and salt. Blend in butter with your fingers until mixture is thoroughly moistened. Stir in gingersnaps and coconut. Press over fruit and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. 

Bake until juices are bubbling and topping is golden brown, about 25 minutes. 

Cool slightly, and serve with ice cream.