Meatless Monday: Rainbow Chard Omelet

Rainbow Chard Omelet

Is there anything better than coming home?

Your dog greeting you at the door, bursting with profound joy. Sleeping deeply in your own bed. I never sleep well when I'm traveling, let alone smashed into a bunk bed in a cabin more suited to eight-year-old's. Not feeling guilty about parading around in dirty sweats all day long. The warm embrace of loved ones, and that moment after having been apart, where you simply want to be together. Not worry, not bicker, not banter, not disappear into the man cave, not even talk...

Did I mention my dog? He's on my porch, rolling around on the futon, looking like a big mess of fluffiness. If that isn't happiness, then I don't know what is...

And then there's breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day. Cooking it for myself -- just me, myself, and I -- feels like an act of extreme self-love. Eating it while perusing the New York Times (a lot of radiant news this morning) and sipping green tea. Still in my dirty sweats with my unwashed hair. Is there anything better? I challenge you to prove me wrong. Is there? Is there?

Meatless Monday has found it in their little veggie hearts to feature another of my recipes (I publish them every Monday). This little gem is a favorite of mine -- Rainbow Chard Omelet. Isn't is lovely? Try it out. I swear you'll love it.

Click here for the Rainbow Chard Omelet recipe on Meatless Monday

Bison Stew With Spring Greens

Divas, did you know that eating lean, grass fed meat has the same health benefits as eating wild caught fish?

That's right, it's chocked full of protein and omega-3's!  In fact, grass fed meat has more omegas and EFA's than 90% of fish.  And you don't have to worry about (1) pesky mercury and (2) overfishing.  Not only that, but grass fed meat is much healthier than both industrially farmed meat and farm-raised fish!

So this explains why my freezer is always full of grass fed bison from Lindner Bison!  Not only is bison very lean, especially when compared to beef, but the flavor is incredible and super meaty.  I'm in love with it.

This preparation, adapted from a French recipe, uses stew meat, which is a very affordable cut.  I sear it stovetop and then gently braise it in white wine.  When it's almost finished cooking, I stir in a ton of fresh spring greens from Sage Mountain Farm (baby chard, spinach), leeks and chives, and serve it over long grain brown rice.  Not only is this a super flavorful dish with great complexity, but it's also incredibly healthy and makes use of the wonderful greens that are in season right now.

And don't forget to enter the Avocado Giveaway!  The giveaway closes on Tuesday, so click here to enter!

Bison Stew With Spring Greens (Adapted From "Food & Wine" April 2010)
Serves 4 people
Cooking time: 20 minutes (active); 2 hours (inactive)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound grass fed bison stew meat (may substitute beef or venison)
salt and pepper
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups rainbow chard, chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1/4 cup chives, finely chopped, plus more for garnishing
2 cups cooked long grain brown rice, for serving

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a braising pan or large enameled cast-iron casserole pan, add the olive oil and heat over medium high heat.  Season the bison with salt and pepper.  Add to the pan and sear on all sides until browned, about 12 minutes.  Add the wine, cover the meat with a piece of parchment paper and the lid and braise in the oven ofr about one hour, until the meat is nearly tender.

Add the chard, spinach, leeks and chives to the stew.  Stir well and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cover again with the parchment paper and the lid and braise for another 30 minutes, until the greens are wilted and the meat is tender.

To serve, place the rice on a plate and spoon the stew over it.  Garnish with some chives and some fresh cracked pepper.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
grass fed bison stew meat from Lindner Bison (Hollywood Farmers Market)

organic baby rainbow chard and organic spinach from Sage Mountain Farm (Hollywood Farmers Market)

organic leeks and organic chives from Hollywood Farmers Market

white cooking wine and long grain Basmati rice from Trader Joe's

Wine Pairing
With this dinner, we drank a Tablas Creek 2005 Antithesis.  The wine is made from one hundred percent Chardonnay grapes and has a very Burgundian style, which was fitting for these this recipe which was created by two Burgundy winemakers. This crisp white wine worked beautifully with this dish! 

Meatless Monday: Rainbow Chard Omelet With Shallots & Goat Cheese

Did you know that you should eat within one hour of waking up?

That's right--your body has been in starvation mode all night, and the sooner you can get some fuel into it, the better.  This will jump start your metabolism, otherwise your body stays in starvation mode and you burn less calories.  This is why breakfast is often said to be the most important meal of the day.  Studies have shown that people who skip breakfast, actually end up consuming more calories during the day than those that chow down.

Another breakfast issue?  Empty Carbs.  The typical American breakfast is a processed, empty carb fest.  Take almost any name brand cereal.  Most are highly processed, high in sugar and low in protein.  That means you'll get some energy, and then crash.  Instead, I recommend that every meal consist of a good protein source, which is a longer-lasting, slower-burning energy source.  Eggs are a fabulous source of protein and nutrients, quick to cook up, and one of the most delicious foods in the world, if you ask me.

One of my favorite things to make for breakfast is a quick omelet stuffed with fresh greens, shallots and goat cheese. Instead of the usual three egg monstrosity served in most restaurants, I make a light, thin shell by whipping together one whole egg and one egg white.  For the filling, I saute shallots with organic baby rainbow chard (from Sage Mountain Farm), but any kind of green from spinach to kale would be fabulous.  The final ingredient?  A little bit of garlic and herb goat cheese from Soledad Farms and fresh basil.

Now my stomach is grumbling.  I'm going to make one of these right after I post this!  So next time, bypass the cereal aisle and try a healthy omlette.

Rainbow Chard Omelet With Shallots & Goat Cheese
Serves 1 person
Cooking time: 8 minutes

Ingredients
1 organic egg and 1 organic egg white
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon shallots, finely chopped
1 cup baby rainbow chard, chopped (spinach, kale or any green would work)
2 tablespoons chevre (goat cheese)
1 fresh basil leaf, julienned
salt & pepper

Directions
To make the omlette shell, beat together the egg and the egg white.  Add a pinch of salt and a little pepper.  Then, coat a small frying pan with nonstick grapeseed oil or canola oil cooking spray.  Add the eggs and cook for a few minutes on each side over medium heat, until cooked through.  Remove to a plate.

Add the olive oil and shallots, cooking for one minute.  Then, add the chard and cook for a few more minutes until tender.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To finish, spoon the shallot-chard mixture onto the omlette shell.  Crumble the fresh chevre on top.  Close the shell around the filling and top with the fresh basil.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
organic eggs from Healthy Family Farms, CSA (Hollywood Farmers Market)

garlic and herb goat cheese from Soledad Farms (Hollywood Farmers Market)

organic baby rainbow chard from Sage Mountain Farm (Hollywood Farmers Market)

organic shallots and purple basil from Hollywood Farmers Market

grapeseed oil cooking spray, olive oil, Kosher salt and organic black pepper from Whole Foods

Wine Pairing
Alright, I'm not going to pair a wine with this dish (though I lovely Roussanne from Tablas Creek would be heavenly).  Instead, I recommend having a cup of green tea like Immortal Green from American Tea Room.  This tea is my current obsession, and I first tried it at their lovely tea room in Beverly Hills.  Check out this description from their website:

In this blend, sencha the color of nori is flecked with brilliantly colored marigold blossoms. Juicy, thick scents of candied peaches and ripe passion fruit give this ethereal, misty yellow brew an almost palpable aroma. The infusion’s delicately grassy and richly fruity flavor gives way to a clean aftertaste with light astringency and lingering passion fruit notes.

Oh, man, this stuff is so wonderful!  Not to mention, green tea is chocked full of antioxidants and has been shown to lower the risk of certain types of cancers.

Here's the information on their tea room, where they serve tea and delicious little cakes and pastries.

American Tea Room
401 North Canon Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-4819
(310) 271-7922
Click Here For The Website

And if you want to buy some Immortal Green, here's the direct link!

Meatless Monday: Risotto With Walnuts And Winter Greens (Plus Music On Tap Featuring Camera Obscura)

It's all about risotto.

It's the first serious dish I learned to cook from Jaime Oliver in fact, right after I'd moved to Los Angeles.  When I was younger, I acquired a taste for it after my mother, The Original Diva, returned from a trip to Italy with a recipe for beet risotto in tow.  Obviously, it had a big impact on us kids, as risotto is one of my favorite dishes to make and a specialty in my Top Chef brother's restaurant (they do risotto fresh on the half hour).  And actually, it's at his urging that I've been blogging more risottos for Meatless Monday.

The great thing about this creamy rice dish is that it's one of the most versatile things you could possibly learn to cook, and once you have a basic recipe down pat, the variations are literally endless.  If you ask me, it's a must have in every divas repertoire!

This special meatless risotto utilizes a vegetable that's currently peaking in season: winter greens!  Right now, winter greens are all over the markets from kale to collard greens to rainbow chard, which is what I used in this recipe.  But any variety will work!  Then to add some protein and nuttiness to this recipe, I finished the risotto by whipping in roasted walnuts, parmesan reggiano and roasted walnut oil (instead of butter as is used in most restaurants).

Umm... delicious doesn't begin to describe it!  The nuttiness of the walnuts pairs superbly with the other flavors in the dish, making this a hearty, rich, but also nutrient dense meal (both winter greens and walnuts are considered superfoods with a stunning array of health benefits).

So try this risotto!  You won't miss the meat.  I promise.

Also, don't forget to click click click away on my blog!  In conjunction with Blog Away Hunger, I'm donating 100% of my January ad revenue to the World Food Program's disaster relief efforts in Haiti.  So browse through my archives - the more you view, the more money gets donated.

Risotto with Walnuts and Winter Greens
Serves 4 people
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 bunch rainbow chard or other winter green such as kale (about 4 cups), chopped
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth
1 shallot, chopped or half small Spanish onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
2 tablespoons walnut oil
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To cook the walnuts, arrange them in a single layer in a pie pan or other oven proof dish.  Toast them in the oven until golden, about 4 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Then, chop them.

To make the risotto, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the shallots or onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for one more minute. Then add the rice and stir for another two minutes. Pour in the white wine and stir until absorbed. Once the wine has been absorbed, slowly add the vegetable stock 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring until absorbed before adding more stock.

Once the rice is almost cooked (you've used about 1/2 to 3/4 of the stock), stir in the chopped greens.  Continue adding stock and cooking until the rice is al dente and the greens are tender (note: you may not use all of the stock).  Finish the risotto by stirring in the walnuts, parmesan and walnut oil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To plate, either serve family style or spoon some risotto into the center of a plate.  Top with a little fresh chopped parsley.  Enjoy!

Source for ingredients
organic rainbow chard, organic shallots, organic garlic, walnuts and walnut oil from the Hollywood Farmers Market

arborio rice, organic olive oil, parmesan reggiano and organic vegetable broth from Whole Foods 

Music On Tap

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

My current favorite album which I'm blaring on heavy rotation while I cook, this Scottish band brings fellow Scots Belle & Sebastian to mind as well as indie favorites The Smiths.  I simply LOVE it.

Click here to check out Camera Obscura!