While everyone’s been baking their little hearts out; tempting readers with homey gingerbread cakes, elegant pavlovas, and every deletable cookie imaginable, I’ve been busy experimenting with low-sodium, heart healthy, savory side dishes that will flatter the main attraction at your holiday table.

Always mindful of making meals that delight your taste buds while nurturing your body, this is the first time I’ve had to prepare a holiday dinner that doesn’t include sausage, bacon, pancetta, or cheese. I know we’re not alone in our gustatory passion for cured pork delicacies, unfortunately, these foods have no place in a low-sodium diet! And cheese - it’s practically a food group in itself! Rarely have we met a cheese we didn’t like -  whether goat, sheep, or cow’s milk, fresh, aged, brined, herbed, rolled in nuts, or sprinkled with berries -  and all have been sorely missed as I master the art of flavorful, low-sodium cooking to keep my man ticking.

Baking is a real challenge as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder (calcium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate) are essential. But, together, we’ve found a number of low-sodium products at Trader Joes (including no salt added chips that aren’t half bad) and online, including baking powder and baking soda that contain no sodium, but rather potassium as the active ingredient, and many other products that I’ll talk about in future posts.

Bread has a surprising amount of sodium, anywhere from 160 mg in a slice of whole wheat to 320 mg or more in a piece of cornbread, focaccia, pretzel bread, etc. Naturally, so do bread crumbs, even if homemade. Fortunately, I’ve always preferred Japanese-style panko for a crisp coating on my coconut shrimp or baked chicken and I was thrilled that the sodium content of Kikkoman’s Panko bread crumbs is only 40 mg per 1/2 cup serving. Other brand name bread crumbs had to be tossed, but the panko is here to stay

Which brings us to this earthy mushroom, tart green apple “stuffing” made with panko bread crumbs that I’ve served up several ways. Brimming with seasonal flavors, it takes succulent baked stuffed pork chops to another level and has garnered rave reviews when presented as vegetarian  stuffed mushroom appetizers, redolent with umami, it was easy to forget the sausage Here, I stole the idea of stuffing red onions, instead of mushrooms, that I spied in November’s Martha Stewarts Living.

Ours is an intimate Christmas dinner -  just the three of us this year, no travel to visit relatives in blustery environs with hopes for a White Christmas or escape-the-madness golf weekend in sunny Palm Springs… and I’m not disappointed in the least. It’s been a virtually stress-free holiday season for me and I’m ecstatic!

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It seems that BRUNCH, everyone’s favorite weekend pastime, has been trending for some time now. If you look around, every dining establishment, from hotel restaurants to your favorite local breakfast place, offers brunch – and it’s not just served on Sundays anymore. Now it’s a weekend brunch. There’s jazz brunch, gospel brunch, champagne brunch, seafood brunch, and even gourmet food trucks dedicated to brunch (I came across two in my Go-to research – one in Philly and one in San Francisco).

The reason I’ve had brunch on the brain is that I was recently contacted by Kitchen PLAY to participate in December’s Progressive Party. I was delighted to learn that the National Pork Board was sponsoring this month’s event and, rather than being assigned a particular course, each participating blogger was asked to create a pork recipe inspired by one of the holiday trends uncovered in their annual “Holiday Table Trends” survey.  And, you guessed it – my trend was brunch!

Brunch is a relaxing way to unwind on the weekend, but it’s also a wonderful way to entertain during this hectic time of year. With the holidays comes the joy of gathering with family and friends to celebrate and a welcoming, bountiful mid-day brunch can ease the stress of what often feels like the year-end frenzy of dinners and cocktail parties. When you think brunch, what immediately comes to mind? Exactly… eggs! Brunch is not complete without eggs and this satisfying, homestyle skillet hash with seasonal flavors of comforting sweet potato and apples, a bit of heat from chipotle-seasoned pork, topped with luscious poached eggs, is guaranteed to be the centerpiece of your holiday brunch.

And, please, take a minute to check out the other trends on Kitchen PLAY where The National Pork Board is also sponsoring a delicious giveaway. Simply recreate any one recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog, and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter.  All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win a National Pork Board prize valued at $100 (6 prizes total).  The deadline is December 31, 2011. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!

♥ Happy Holidays! ♥

Disclosure:  I was compensated for creating this original recipe for Kitchen Play and The National Pork Board. All opinions are my own.

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Today’s recipe has absolutely nothing to do with cookies or holiday baking, but everything to do with eating foods that are delicious, good for your body, and produced with the highest of standards. Don’t worry, you’ll find no preachy posts here, just a simple, heart healthy, gluten free, dairy free recipe that could grace your holiday table or provide a quick and easy weeknight dinner for you and your family any time of year – AND, it ends with a #Giveaway of Star Fine Foods, maker of the Extra Virgin California Olive Oil featured here, and an assortment of their other fine products.

Way back in September (Wow, is it really December!) I attended an Olive Oil Tasting hosted by Star Fine Foods and Diane Cu and Todd Porter of White on Rice Couple. Much like wine tasting, but instead we were taken on a tour of the world’s richest olive oil regions including Spain, the Mediterranean, and the Holy Lands and, while we were there, the first to taste STAR® California Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), one of the first olive oils made exclusively from olives grown in California.

Since then, their EVOO California Olive Oil has honestly become my go-to olive oil – it’s light with fruity notes and a bold peppery finish (doesn’t that sound like wine) which makes it an ideal choice for dipping sauces, dressings, and cooking vegetables and proteins when you don’t desire a bold olive oil taste. Here I’ve combined it with the warm flavors of apple cider vinegar and curry to lightly coat exotic ebony grains of organic Forbidden Rice from Lotus Foods dotted with the vibrant jewel tones of dried apricots and cranberry, crunchy pistachios and the pleasurable pop of fresh pomegranate seeds.

NOW for the GIVEAWAY!

One lucky reader will have the opportunity to experience Star’s EV California Olive Oil as well as an assortment of other Star Fine Foods products.

Included in the basket are four bottles of Family Reserve Olive Oils: one each of Fresh Basil, Fresh Rosemary, Lemon Peel, and Roasted Garlic; Star Balsamic Vinegar,, Star Red Wine Vinegar, Star Cannonballs Stuffed Spanish Queen Olives, Star Spanish Salad Olives, Cara Mia Marinated Artichoke Hearts and Cara Mia Marinated Mushrooms.

How to Win?

1. MAIN ENTRY(required): Like the new She’s Cookin’s page on Facebook and leave a comment below letting me know that you have and please tell us about your favorite use of olive oil, too!

2. BONUS ENTRY: Follow @shescookin and @Star_Fine_Foods on Twitter and tweet the #Giveaway, then come back and tell us you tweeted. To make it easy, copy and paste this:  I just entered to win a basket of Olive Oil, Olives and more from @shescookin & @Star_Fine_Foods. Enter here http://ht.ly/7IW27 #Giveaway

Important Details:

•    This giveaway is open to USA residents, age 18 and above only, and will run until Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:00 pm PST.
•    Winner will be chosen by random.org and notified via the email provided on the comment form information.
•    Winner has until midnight, December 8, 2011 to claim the Star Fine Foods gift basket or we will choose another winner.
•    Winner will receive one gift basket of Star Fine Foods products (retail value of $65). Product will be shipped directly to the winner by Star Fine Foods.

Good Luck

Disclosure: I have not been compensated to write this post and all opinions are mine. This is a way for me to give back to readers and followers of She’s Cookin’. Heck I’d like to be winning this wonderful basket of goodies!

Comments are Closed.

And, after qualifying the entries,  the Winner is…. Courtney! Congratulations Courtney

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By this point you should have your Thanksgiving menu decided upon and your grocery list done. HA! I have fragments of ideas ricocheting around in my brain and past issues of favorite Bon Appétit Thanksgiving issues opened to appetizing sides, and still confuse myself by gazing at delicious creations in the blogosphere.

Two things have been decided upon: for the first time I didn’t order an organic turkey, but rather a diminutive boned turkey breast and, with most of October spent traveling and College Girl only having four days off, we are looking forward to a quiet Thanksgiving at home and not being among the thousands of travelers flying the unfriendly skies!

So today’s post is a quickie because I’ve got work to do – and so do you I’m not going to tempt you with yet another idea for a Thanksgiving side, but rather a rustic, flavorful vegetarian dish that’s sure to please any non-carnivores or gluten intolerant guests at your feast as well as fulfill everyone’s craving for lighter fare after days of indulging in turkey and all the rich fixins. My Moroccan obsession, first realized in June with Moroccan Chicken and Green Beans, was reignited after reading Food Wandering’s review of  Paula Wolfert’s The Food of Morocco cookbook. I guess I didn’t win that giveaway, darn!

Silken strands of  Spaghetti squash became the vehicle for my rendition of Moroccan tomato jam flavored with aromatic Ras el Hanout*, cinnamon, and saffron water.  When Shulie said that nearly all the recipes in the cookbook that include saffron, add it in the form of saffron water—crumbled, dried, and crushed saffron threads soaked in warm water – and, besides being more economical, it brings out more of the spice’s aroma and flavor; I was excited to try it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

*Ras el Hanout can contain more than 30 ingredients and is a traditional Moroccan blend of herbs and spices, popular across the Middle East and North Africa. The name means “head of the shop” in Arabic and represents the very pinnacle of spice blends – for Moroccan souks (spice merchants) it’s a point of honor to have the most sought after version of this blend. Ingredients include saffron, paprika, cumin, ginger, coriander, tumeric, fennel seed, and allspice to name a few. I’ve been in love with a quality aromatic blend of Ras el Hanout from Awaken Savor Spices since “discovering” them at the Taste of Huntington Beach two years ago and use the spice to flavor stews, soups, eggs, and as a dry rub or mixed with olive oil to brush on meats, poultry, or fish.

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Indulge me for a bit as I share a few images of Paris, oui? Meandering the narrow streets of Monmartre after ascending the many famous steps to Sacré Coeur,

stopping to catch my breath and chuckle at the irony of a satirical poster of DeGaulle as Mickey Mouse,

recalling the early  morning street protest that stopped traffic along the boulevard during morning rush hour,

a normal day in Paris; organized dissension, self expression awaiting the street sweeper…

it’s so easy to fall back into our mad routine and let the magical times spent away recede into the fog of long-term memory.

I come away from these trips to Paris, pleasure trips for me – business as usual for Don, who, several times a year, resides at the Radisson Blue Hotel Ambassador on Boulevard Haussmann in the city centre near L’Opera Garnier and within walking distance of his office – invigorated, grateful, and with an altered perspective on life in the modern world, the history preceding us, being American, etc. Heavy stuff. But, no philosophical discourse here, let’s move on to the food.

Fortunately, we have the intrepid Muriel, a native Parisian who calls St. Germain home who speaks six languages and orchestrates all the business coming through the Paris office, to also orchestrate where we dine and assist us when our lame attempts at the French language fail completely. With business dinners every night, this is especially important now because of Don’s dietary restrictions and she made sure that the chefs were aware of his sodium allergy. She had told us that Europeans rely less on salt as a flavor enhancer than Americans and I think this is true. J’adore, Muriel! It’s wonderful to know that we have two excellent restaurants nearby that can prepare a delicious classic French dish with no sodium!

Only three blocks away, Au Petite Riche at 25 rue Pelletier, specializes in Loire Valley cuisine along with traditional French fare and an impressive selection of Loire Valley wines. Although I didn’t refer to any reviews before dining there, the Frommer’s review below is accurate and made me smile. Generally, we prefer traditional fare over haute cuisine and loved the old Paris ambiance, service was pleasant and efficient, and the restaurant was bustling with every table in each of the three dining areas occupied by 9:00 p.m. on both evenings (we returned on our last evening so I could try the Dover Sole which I’ve recreated here).

“No, that’s not Flaubert or Balzac walking through the door, but should they miraculously return, the decor of old Paris, with the original gas lamps and time-mellowed paneling, will make them feel at home. This place opened in 1865 as the restaurant associated with the very large and then-solvent Café Riche next door. After Café Riche burned down, the restaurant continued to attract lawyers, set designers, and machinists from the nearby Opéra Garnier, eventually becoming a well-known restaurant. Charles Aznavour is an occasional patron, along with politicians and anyone interested in the nostalgia of La Vieille France. Expect an impressive roster of Loire Valley wines and food that combines Loire Valley classics with traditional French fare. The house is famous for its Gillardeau oysters. Other examples include roasted rack of veal prepared à l’ancienne, a long-standing house special of tartare of beef, roasted whitefish in meat drippings, and seasonal game dishes such as civet of rabbit.”

Dover Sole in Butter Sauce

Roasted filet of duck, risotto with cepes

Beef’s cheek in red wine sauce

Serving a cheese course

We each started with an appetizer: David went with the homemade duck foie gras; I, the specialty Gillardeau oysters; Muriel, the rustic lentil salad with lardons, and a fresh green salad with steamed haricot vert for Don. Entrees are pictured above, except for David’s – he wasn’t waiting for the food paparazzi

But let’s get to the recipe – I usually don’t ramble on this long… Don raved about the Dover sole, so I recreated it at home with Petrale Sole from Santa Monica Seafood  and a little less butter! They also made him steamed potatoes and carrots, and I did the same – minus the aged cast iron server with the nifty hook on the side where you could put the lid when serving.

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Besides seasonal + simple, I emphasize healthy dishes here at She’s Cookin’ – and, the older we get the more important this becomes. This isn’t a new thing for me, it’s always made me feel good to prepare a delicious meal for my family and know that they are filling their tummies with foods that fuel their mind and body. Plus, seeing and hearing others enjoy the fruits of your labor is the most rewarding part for any cook.

If you have the desire to eat healthier (you have to want to do it), there are five simple methods or techniques that will help you prepare delicious, heart-healthy, lower-calorie, nutritious meals and allow you to mix it up and keep it interesting for everyone. Being in southern California, I tend to grill and broil frequently, some of you may rely on stir frying several times a week. This is all good, but can get boring.  Today’s Poached Salmon recipe was me reminding myself to change it up and step away from the grill and broiler. Plus, since I misunderstood September’s 5 Star Makeover Challenge, I wanted to prove that I know how to cook with wine, not just drink it In this dish, bright caramelized citrus pairs with rustic autumn flavors to express the transition from the light of summer to brisk days of Fall and satisfying comfort foods.

Moist, tender and flavorful – go ahead, take a bite!

Poaching is an excellent way to keep fish moist and tender. You can use any combination of chicken, seafood, or vegetables; simply place ingredients in a pot and cover with water or broth, or in this case clam juice and wine. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until cooked. Then use the nutritious, flavorful liquid for a sauce or save it for use in soup. The four other techniques that are part of a healthy cook’s repertoire are Steaming – excellent for retaining vital nutrients, Stir-Fry – loads of flavors and texture,  Roasting – comforting and rich flavors in caramelizing meats and vegetables, and En Papillote (Cooking in Parchment) – a fun and delicious meal in a packet! You can get the recipe for my Sesame Salmon En Papillote (yes, I love salmon and it’s loaded with healthy Omega 3 oils) and I’ll be featuring each one of the other techniques in the weeks to come, so check back

Gaya melon, yellow eggplant, and jujube fruit from the Farmers Market.

Hope your week is off to a great start! I’m frantically preparing for a three-week trip!

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With the heat of summer behind us, we welcome the balmy days and cool nights of autumn and harvest season! And, what better theme for September’s 5 Star Makeover Challenge and this beautiful time of year than cooking with wine!

But, I cannot tell a lie – somehow, over the past month, I got it in my head that the theme was a wine pairing dinner – don’t know exactly how that happened – maybe it was the wine tasting we did in Paso Robles on the way back from dropping College Girl off in Santa Cruz or the Girls Day Out in Temecula wine country that has been in the works for the past month, but it happened and I never thought to refer back to Lazaro’s email (or Facebook) to double check.

So allow me to introduce you to my new favorite wine: Grüner Veltliner [GROO-ner Felt-lih-ner] is a white-wine grape grown principally in Austria and is their most widely planted variety. This grape produces pale, crisp, light to medium-bodied, slightly spicy wines of good to very good quality. It can be fresh and lively to concentrated and intense and typically shows nuances of grapefruit and citrus, with a touch of fresh cracked pepper.

In my online reading, Grüner Veltliner was referred to as THE hip wine (a blog post from 2007) and my Total Wine Guide to Wine and Spirits noted that Austrian white wines have become the darling of sommelier’s across the country. Years ago a few sommeliers thought to offer it as a creative pairing with Asian cuisine – it’s now considered a classic pairing. Dr. Vinny at Wine Spectator says, “Grüner Veltliner’s bright acidity and appealing spicy quality pair it very well with all types of food. The most eye-popping match is how well it goes with Asian food—anything from Vietnamese to Thai to spicy Chinese flavors. Next, try it with seafood. Grüners also go very well with bitter greens and salads. Then have your favorite pork tenderloin dish. And finally, enjoy how that acidity can cut through salt and fat, like in a smoked ham.”

While there are many expert tips on pairing food with wine, a good basic rule that I’ve learned in various wine classes is that the wine of a particular region pairs well with the foods of the region. Sure there are other pairings that are more inspired and exciting because they bring together more unusual tastes, but if you’re a bit tenuous and still learning about the characteristics of wine, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to the classics.

As Ray Isles states in An Expert’s Pairing Advice:  “there’s a kind of default logic at work here: The wines of a certain region go well with the foods of a certain region because they’ re both from the region and everyone has always eaten and drunk them together. That said, climate and culture do seem to work together to create felicitous food-and-wine combinations; the rosé wines of Provence do taste awfully good with bouillabaisse, and Tuscany’s arista di maiale(pork loin roasted with rosemary and garlic) is a natural with Chianti Classico—the wine’s firm tannins and slightly herbal character just seem to go naturally with the herby roasted meat.

In part this is because these are regions that have hundreds of years of culinary and viticultural history, where the cuisine and the wine have grown up together, in a sense. Saying that the wines of Napa Valley are particularly suited to the cuisine of the Bay Area is, on the other hand, probably a bit more of a reach. But in general, it’s hard to go too wrong matching the wines of a region to the cuisine of that region.

 Although, I’ve been enjoying Gruner Veltliner since tasting several in the Wines of the World Class I took at UCI last winter, I decided to cook a classic Austrian dinner of Wiener Schnitzel to pair with a bottle of Heidel 2009 Grüner Veltliner  which was included in a wine tasting of German Rieslings  at Wine Lab Newport. For the makeover I served classic Wiener Schnitzel with a warm potato salad and a fresh, seasonal (apples) take on sauerkraut which added a bright acidity and lovely crisp freshness to each bite

Enjoy Thank you for visiting and don’t forget to check out all of the other cooking with wine creations done by the group by clicking the 5 Star Makeover link above.

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Don’t worry! You’re not too late, Hatch Chile season typically begins in late August/beginning of September and lasts until mid-October so you’re hitting it at its peak! Although, a touch of capsaicin adds just the zing I prefer in most dishes, I guess I’m not a true chile-head, because I wasn’t familiar with the short-season, infamous Anaheim-like peppers from New Mexico. That’s what distinguishes a Hatch chile – they hail from the Hatch Valley in New Mexico and their arrival is celebrated each year during the Hatch Valley Chile Festival. This year’s two-day festival attracted some 30,000 chile-heads, foodies, and celeb culinary entertainment from Food Network and BBC to pay tribute to Hatch’s most famous crop, sample famed chile recipes, watch the crowning of the chile festival queen, participate in chile ristra contests, and be a kid at the carnival.

For the past two weeks I’ve been a kid at my own chile festival as I played with nearly a bushel of the long green babies that Melissa’s Produce sent me. Some hot, some mild, my family and some of their lucky friends got a taste of hatch chiles in hash browns, salsas, sauces, stuffed, layered, and rolled. I think I’m officially addicted to them! But it’s a healthy addiction to have since  Hatch Chiles have zero fat, cholesterol, and sodium with practically no calories, and are high in fiber and vitamins A and C! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ingredient to get the creative juices flowing for my work in low sodium, heart healthy recipe development, thank you, Melissa’s.

Hatch chiles vary from mild, to medium, to hot, to extra hot and are best grilled over an open flame (or roasted) and peeled before they are used as an ingredient in sauces, salsas, marinades, stews, burritos, chiles rellenos, bread, etc.  Today, I’m sharing a simple, mild Hatch Chile sauce, served two ways: creamy and “straight”, with chicken enchiladas.  The creamy version, similar in flavor to a creamy poblano sauce, adds a cool balance to the piquant, smoky, mildly spicy note of the vibrant green “straight” sauce -  served over your favorite enchiladas it’s a flavor bomb!

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When people ask me what is my favorite food, I’ve never been able to give them a straight answer because I love variety and the unique flavors of so many cuisines. But, if I HAD to pick a favorite, pizza is certainly at the top of the list, so I was really pleased when Natasha and Lazaro announced that pizza was the theme for August’s Five Star Challenge.

The true origin of pizza differs depending on the source and whether you’re talking about the etymology of the word “pizza” (Latin), or what culture was the first to start adding toppings to flavor bread (Middle East and Mediterranean), or who invented the edible plate (Greeks). Generally, its agreed that pizza, as we know it, came from humble beginnings; a Galette flat bread with a red sauce, it was a dish of the poor people and sold in the streets of Naples, Italy in the 16th century. Later, after tomatoes were brought to Europe by explorers from the Americas, the sauce was made from oil and tomatoes.

Origins aside, pizza has evolved to gourmet status with a place on the menu of many a fine dining establishment. The pizza’s appeal transcends borders and its versatility knows no bounds – you can have pizza for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert now!

The pizza I created for this challenge speaks to my roots in the South (the S in SXSW), my love of Southwestern flavors (the SW), and the bounty of tomatoes from our garden. This year we planted three varieties of tomatoes: Organic Beefsteak, Heirloom Black Krim, and Sweet Tangerine Hybrid and I used each one in this delicious vegetarian thin crust SXSW Pizza.

We’ve been having a problem with the Beefsteaks developing “blossom rot”, so have been picking them before they mature into their biggest, brightest, beautiful selves – this is the variety I used for the fried green tomatoes. The Black Krim’s have a dark maroon skin with red flesh, they grow to a medium-size which is perfect for bites of pizza, alternated with slices of the extra sweet, golden orange Sweet Tangerine Hybrid. With Marcella Hazan’s dough recipe (thank you, Angela of Spinach Tiger), a sprinkling of aged Asiago cheese and the delightful crunch and Southwestern flavors of toasted pepitas and smoky roasted corn – this was a garden fresh, gourmet pizza bursting with flavor that I think you’ll love and that I’ll be making again and and again.

Besides being a catchy acronym for the South by Southwest flavors in this fabulous pizza, SXSW also makes reference to the annual  SXSW in Austin, Texas, the mega happening of interactive, media, music, and film festivals that one day I’d like to attend

Cheers to pizza in all its incarnations!

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I’ve found another TopMom during my food blog travels! Our August Mom of the Month’s name is Nami and when I first encountered her site, I fell in love with her personable style and how she made traditional Japanese dishes quick and easy for home cooks with simple instructions and beautiful prep-to-finish photos. Nami moved to the U.S. from Yokahama, Japan as a student 15 years ago and lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and their two young children. When she was young, Nami’s mom made sure that she learned the proper way to prepare the Japanese dishes she made for dinner each evening and Nami helped by washing and chopping ingredients. Thank you to Nami’s okaasan!

As a college student, Nami wasn’t very interested in cooking, but once she had kids she started preparing meals at home because she really wanted her children to eat healthy and nutritious food.  It’s very important to her that her family eats healthy because, as the saying goes,  “you are what you eat”.  Both of her kids love all types of food but especially Japanese food like sashimi, tonkatsu, gyoza, gyudon, and udon noodle soup. She loves seeing the joy on their faces as they enjoy the food she cooks and hopes that her recipes also bring a smile and happiness to the readers of her website Just One Cookbook who desire to learn to cook Japanese food at home.

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