Tag Archives: vegetarian

White Sangría

26 Mar

I am a sucker for a white sangría… Ever since I visited Spain for the last time about 5 yrs ago, I prefer sangrías made with white wine/grape juice than sangrías made with red. They seem fresher and lighter to my taste.

We made this sangría at Alison’s recently when she invited me to “teach” her a few easy recipes she could make at home for her husband. It was funny because it started like a cooking class, yet we ended up with a nice party entertaining her friends and family celebrating the inaugural issue of the online magazine Karma Life & Style. You might recognize someone as the food editor… hum, hum.

Sangrías are so simple to make and excellent to entertain a crowd. Just mix in a large pitcher, keep cool and enjoy. And make sure to have extra ingredients to make additional batches. I’ve never been able to make just one batch… it goes down smooth like juice!!!!

WHITE SANGRIA

1 bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider or grape must
1 32oz bottle of natural ginger ale
½ can of passion fruit juice concentrate
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 orange, sliced
  • In a pretty glass pitcher, mix all the ingredients together. Let the flavors meld together for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
  • Serve over ice.

Serve over ice.

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Viva Pizza Sighting

23 Mar

Whenever I am in NYC, I MUST stop by Viva Pizza for 2-3 warm slices of whole-wheat or spelt crust cheese pizza and a China Cola. Bon appétit from me to me… Yum!!!

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We can all cook!!!!

21 Mar

Some of us love and enjoy cooking… Some of us just like to eat and would very willingly skip the cooking part because they find no joy in it at all. Or they just believe they do not have the skills necessary to cook delicious and healthy meals.

Such is the case of my friend Alison, the executive director of KarmaNYC’s Karma Life & Style Magazine. Alison loves to eat and she actually wants to follow a more healthful diet but feels her skills in the kitchen are an obstacle to her goal. She does not feel comfortable in the kitchen, AT ALL… not even her own kitchen. She doesn’t even know what kitchen appliances she owns!!!

She came to me for help… “Madelyn… I can’t cook to save my life!!! Where do I start??” Alison is not alone… I get this same question all the time from friends, family, even people I meet randomly. And what I suggest all of them do is start SMALL.

I now love cooking… but this wasn’t always that way. I remember there was a time when all I knew was to make things in the microwave. But it’s all a matter of exposure… exposure to flavors and techniques and ingredients that make your life easy and delicious.

I went to Alison’s home recently and created a whole dinner party menu ANYONE can put together, even kitchen-challenged Alison!!!! This menu is all about ASSEMBLY – mixing, layering, pureeing, tossing together ingredients which in the end all look and taste delicious. And on the best thing… it’s all good for you. Look at the directions of each of these recipes… lots of assembly, very little tending over a stove.

Here was our menu:

White Sangría

Hummus

Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato Sauce

Queso de Cabra Tapa - KFC

Asparagus Tart

Mesclun Greens, Figs and Blue Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Apple Crisp

I hope Alison and some of you “eaters-not-cookers” find the confidence to make at least one of these recipes at home. You don’t have to make them all for a dinner party… start small. Pick one and start building your self-confidence. You’ll see that in very little time you’ll slowly start enjoying cooking, or at least “assembling” a whole lot more.

Stay positive… I am rooting for all of you. Right, Alison???

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Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan

16 Mar

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

That’s what it comes down to. 

These are the words of my friend, Sheri.  She chose what she found to be the 12 most all-encompassing and useful rules from the book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan.   I have never heard of the book until the day Sheri posted this on Facebook.  Her words, and I guess Mr. Pollan’s too, resonated too much with me and KarmaFree Cooking’s philosophy.  That’s why I wanted to share this with you all…

And, in Sheri’s words – “May they keep you fit, healthy and energized in the new year!”

1. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.

2. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

3. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.

4. It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.

5. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

6. The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.

7. Stop eating before you’re full.

8. Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored. If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.

9. Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.

10. Do all your eating at a table.

11. Leave something on your plate.

12. Break the rules once in a while. “All things in moderation. Including moderation.”

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Meyer Lemon Thyme Granita

15 Mar

Ever since I learned what Meyer lemons were, I’ve been a tad obsessed with them… I guess you are always intrigued with what’s not readily available to you.

I love lemons. And I always have lemons around in my home. I use them in almost anything… but Meyer lemons are almost mystical. Maybe because you can’t find them anywhere here in Puerto Rico… unless you know someone with a little tree, like my friend Adriana.

So when I learned my friend Charles from California had tons of Meyer lemons from his backyard to share with us, his internet foodie friends, I jumped right at the opportunity. It took longer than expected, but the lemons arrived in this perfect flat rate box, almost unblemished.

I shared… I had to share them with my mom and uncle. I shared with the Yoga Center when I made an impromptu apple crisp one Saturday morning. But I wanted to do something special… something that would make the “sweeter” flavor of the Meyer lemon shine.

Because I am not much of a baker, I decided to go with a cold dessert. I had bought a bunch of thyme sprigs and I didn’t want them to go bad. That’s when the flavor combo clicked in my head.

MEYER LEMON THYME GRANITA

The juice of 12 Meyer lemons
The zest of only 6 Meyer lemons – save the rest of the zest for some other recipe…
2 cups of water
1 ½ cups of brown sugar
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
  1. Make a simple syrup by dissolving the brown sugar in the 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the lemon zest and thyme sprigs. Allow mixture to come to a soft boil until the sugar dissolves completely. Let the mixture steep together for about 1-2 hours covered until it cools significantly.
  2. When the simple syrup has cooled… remove the thyme sprigs. Add the juice of the lemons and mix thoroughly.
  3. Transfer to a glass dish to freeze overnight in your freezer.
  4. Cut pieces of the frozen mixture with a knife. Transfer pieces to a food processor and puree into ice chards.

Transfer to a pretty glass for your guests to enjoy.

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