Traveling, "Cracker Jacks" and a Give Away

The kids are roaming free around the neighborhood, the blue jeans and jackets are quietly tucked away in the closet, and the ice cream maker hums its happy tune. Ahhh . . . it must be summer. In a few weeks, we're embarking on a month-long road trip to several different states. I can't wait to catch up with old friends, stop at roadside stands for ripe, fleshy peaches, and sit on the beach with my toes in the sand. One issue I experience when we travel is "How do I eat a wholesome organic diet?" I'm not at all opposed to indulging, but I simply cannot do it for an entire month or I'll start carrying extra pounds and feel terrible. Over the last few years, I've come up with some helpful techniques for keeping my family eating heathfully on vacation.

The first thing I always do is pack our meals for the car, instead of stopping at a resaurant for lunch while on the road.  I usually pack sandwiches, fruit, washed and cut vegetables, something sweet like my wholesome cracker jacks, and lots of water. I try to book reservations at a hotel with a small kitchen so I can cook breakfast for the family.  I scope out the nearest organic grocer and buy food as soon as we arrive. It's been an adventure doing this - I've found some really great stores!

Travel food kit:

Jars of dehydrated nuts
Sunflower seeds
Kombucha
Granola (can double as cereal)
Granola Bars
Organic fruit leather (kids love these)
Bottles of water
Larabars (these come in all different flavors, here is a recipe for homemade larabars)
Cans of wild salmon or tuna
Hard boiled eggs
Dried Fruit
Whole Grain Crackers
Beef Jerky


One item I can't live without is my Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles.  These water bottles are made purely of stainless steel (no inner lining) and are leach and toxin-free.  They're also dishwasher safe.  Over the last year, I bought small ones for my kids and a few larger ones for my husband and I and we use them constantly.  Another great thing about them - if you leave them in a hot car, the water won't taste like plastic!  I'm giving a 40-ounce bottle away to one lucky reader.  All you need to do is leave a comment between today June 7th and Thursday June 10th.  I'll draw a number at random and announce the winner on Friday. Good luck!


Homemade "Cracker Jacks"
Sweet popcorn is a great snack to have in the car on long trips because it will satisfy your sweet tooth without all of the added preservatives and fillers.  I used almonds in this recipe but you can exchange them for the traditional peanuts. If you'd prefer to dehyrate the mixture instead of bake it, you can leave it in the oven at 170°F for about 4-5 hours or until mostly dry (it will fully dry and harden after it cools).
Makes about 16 cups

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup organic whole cane sugar or Sucanat
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 cups popped corn (I usually pop mine in coconut oil)

Preheat oven to 250°F. Stir together butter, whole cane sugar, maple syrup and almonds in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-low heat.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat and add the baking soda and vanilla.  Pour over popped corn and stir until popcorn is evenly coated.   Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour.  Cool completely before serving. 

Grilled Hamburgers with Sour Cream and Herbs

I was born in Dallas, Texas and raised in a 70s ranch-style home in the suburbs. The back of the house featured a spacious L-shaped deck - my favorite childhood spot. The deck was stained cherry red, with a pretty lattice work above for shade, and a built-in bench and swing. My brothers and I spent hours upon hours playing on the deck in the summertime - skipping rope, swinging and reading books, and propping the hose on the lattice work just right to create a cool water spray we considered as fun as any water park in town.  We also gathered wooden spoons from the kitchen and used them outside as microphones for "singing competitions." I confess, I always gave one brother a perfect 10, but downgraded the other's score. Don't ask me why I did it. They still give me grief for it. 

In Dallas, the weather was favorable for grilling year-round. My parents hosted parties on the beautiful deck and my dad would grill up hamburgers, ribs, chicken, and his famous fajitas. The food was always wonderful, but the grilling added family stress because of the legendary flare-ups. I'm not sure if that particular gas grill was poorly constructed or not, but we all knew what to do the second my dad yelled, "Get me some water!" My brothers and I immediately stopped everything else, made a bee-line for the kitchen, grabbed the first generally water-tight container we saw, filled it, and run as fast as our legs could carry us to the deck. My dad quickly doused the flame (and unfortunately the meat). I never thought the flare-up drill was strange. Well, I did question why the grill produced huge, glorious flames every-so-often, but I thought that was the price you paid for grilling. 

When my husband and I were newlyweds, Pete was happily preparing to cook a meal on our new grill when I asked if I should get him a pail of water. He looked at me quizzically and asked why. "Well, for the flare-ups of course!" I explained the entire "flare-up and douse" process and we laughed until our bellies hurt. I'd never seen the humor in the water-dousing drill before.

I haven't seen a single grill flare-up since I left that modest Texas house with the restful back deck. My dad grills almost every time I visit without producing a single shooting flame or urgent cry for "Water!" He has produced some amazing dinners on his new grill, though. He found a recipe for hamburgers that makes me smile just thinking about it. The beef is mixed with sour cream and fresh herbs, topped with grilled red onions, and served on a toasted whole wheat bun. I had forgotten about this creation and found it the other day in my family recipe book and decided to give it a whirl. Oh my. These burgers are good. The sour cream gives the meat a cool flavor and the herbs add a springtime touch. It makes me contemplate adding a hose to our patio roof and busting out the wooden spoons.


Grilled Hamburgers with Sour Cream and Herbs
Serves 4

1 pound ground beef (grass-fed preferred)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon parsley
1/4 freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 red onion, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
2 teaspoons coconut oil

4 whole wheat hamburger buns
Condiments of your choice

Gently massage ground beef, sour cream, thyme, rosemary, parsley, black pepper, and salt until just incorporated.  Divide meat into four portions.  Flatten each portion to 3/4-inch thick.  Gently press center of patty down to create a slight depression, about 1/2-inch diameter.  Cover and chill patties 1 hour and up to 8 hours. 

Coat red onion slices with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Remove patties from refrigerator and grill to desired doneness. While the patties are grilling, also grill the onion slices until lightly charred. 

Serve hamburger on whole wheat bun and topped with red onions and any condiments of your choice. 

Baked Garden Tomatoes with Cheese

Spring is finally here!  I'm a very happy girl seeing markets full of sweet berries, plump sugar snap peas, and the first ripe tomatoes.  I love exploring the market with my kids.  They especially enjoy the free samples.  Last week, we met up with Molly and browsed the market together.  It's a blast shopping with her because she's made a point of really getting to know the farmers.  I've a lot read about this concept in magazines and newspapers, but have never seen it truly practiced.  I was shocked the first time we shopped together seeing nearly every farmer greet Molly by name! 

My kids took to Molly quickly and we all enjoyed collecting our fresh produce and discussing our plans for it.  If you haven't Molly's blog (Organic Spark) you should check it out.  I appreciate how deep she goes with each topic she covers.  She's also working on a TV show called "Farm to Table".  Hopefully, we'll all get to see it soon!

The piles of beautiful spring produce at the markets provide a good reminder to buy organic as much as possible.  Pesticides and herbicides don't stay on the outside skin of produce, they can soak into the flesh, too.  Fruits and vegetables with thin skins absorb the most chemicals.  According to the Environmental  Working Group, different pesticides have been linked to cancer, nervous system toxicity, endocrine (hormone) system effects, and skin, eye, and lung irritation.  If you would like to read further, here is a simple and easy to read website with basic information about pesticides.

My mom gave me this recipe a few years ago and I think it brings out the sweetness of a tomato better than any other recipe I've tried.  You can eat it alone as a side dish, or use it as a topping on fish or thick crusty pieces of sourdough.  May the wondrous variety of the produce markets put a spring in your step!  

Baked Garden Tomatoes with Cheese

Adapted from Epicurious

Serves 6

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tablespoons green onion, minced

1 3/4 pounds (about 6) vine-ripened or heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F and adjust rack to middle position.  Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and green onion sauté for 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Stir in tomatoes and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cook until tomatoes just begin to soften, about 5 minutes.  Pour tomato mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes, until cheese melts and is golden. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Potato Gnocchi Tater Tots

I haven't had this much fun making a recipe in a long time.  I noticed these little treats in Food and Wine Magazine and hoped they would taste as good as they looked - they were better! What a blast kneading the fluffy potato with a little flour and arrowroot, rolling it into tiny logs, boiling then frying them to golden brown perfection. They taste way better than the tots you find in a bag. 

These tater tots aren't something I'd make every week, but make a great, fun break from the every-day . . . You could make them with your kids or friends while watching a game on TV, then celebrate victory with crunchy, heavenly potato bites. Coconut oil would be great to fry with, but can be very cost prohibitive. In my research, I've discovered peanut oil is good when frying occasionally.  Serve the tots with a good organic ketchup or use this delicious recipe from "Kiss My Spatula" for the homemade variety.


Potato Gnocchi "Tater Tots"
adapted loosely from Food and Wine
Serves 4

3 large baking potatoes, about 2 pounds, scrubbed
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons arrowroot
6 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 large egg, beaten
Peanut oil, for frying
Organic ketchup

Preheat oven to 375°F and adjust rack to middle position.  Place potatoes in oven and bake for about 1 hour until a knife can be inserted without resistance.  Cool potatoes. 

Cut the cooled potatoes into large chunks and press them through a ricer into a large bowl.  Discard the skins (I baked them in the oven with a little butter and salt until crispy - a great snack!).  Add the arrowroot, flour, cheese, salt and egg to potatoes and stir until combined.  Knead the mixture with your hands until it forms a soft dough.  Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. 

Bring a large pot of water to boil and also fill a large bowl with ice water.  Divide the dough into 4 portions and roll each piece into a long rope about 1-inch thick.  Cut the rope into 1 1/2-inch long pieces.  Repeat with remaining 3 pieces of dough.  Add 1/2 of gnocchi pieces to boiling water and cook until the dough rises to the top, about 45 seconds.  Immediately remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and place into the bowl of ice water.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Using a slotted spoon, remove gnocchi from ice water and place on a dry, clean dish towel.  Allow gnocchi to dry, about 30 minutes.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large saucepan to 375°.  Carefully add 1/3 of the gnocchi to the oil and fry, turning the gnocchi until golden brown.  Remove from oil and place on a baking sheet lined with paper towels.  Repeat with remaining gnocchi.  Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately with ketchup.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Every once in a while I get nostalgic and like to eat an oatmeal cream pie - you know, the ones that come in the little wrappers? I loved eating the little packaged snack cakes and cookies as a kid and want to find ways to make them at home without all of the extra additives and preservatives. So I'm today I'm beginning a "Little Debbie Series" where I will re-create these little treats for the home cook. My kids are thrilled with the idea as you can imagine, and I think my neighbors are going to like it too since they are the recipients of the sweets I bake.     

These pies are moist, chewy, and filled with a decadent buttercream - sweet, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth perfect.  Put one in a little package, and take it to work or stick it in your child's lunchbox without an ounce of guilt.  Now that's my idea of a mid-day treat. 

Oatmeal Cream Pies

This recipe calls for two types of whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is used in this recipe because of its buttery flavor, and whole wheat flour is used for its high protein count that gives structure to the cookie. Both flours are available at most grocery stores.

Makes: about 24 2-inch pies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup muscovado (a rich dark-brown sugar)

1/2 cup organic whole cane sugar or sucanat (click here to read more)

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (this one is a good brand to use)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups rolled oats, pulsed in a food processor until coarsely ground

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F and adjust rack to middle position. Place butter, muscovado and whole cane sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Using beater attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. With mixer on low, add egg and vanilla. Stir together flours, oats, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Turn mixer on low and slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until incorporated.

Scoop dough using a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop (if you don't have this kind of scoop you can scoop it out with a spoon, just try and scoop the balls evenly) and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 11 minutes. Cool to room temperature.  

Buttercream filling

2 eggs

1/2 cup organic whole cane sugar or sucanat
1 teaspoons vanilla
pinch of salt
2 sticks butter, softened, each stick cut into tablespoons

In the bowl of a standing mixer whisk together, eggs, whole cane sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt. Set bowl over pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees, about 5 minutes. Beat egg mixture on medium-high with whisk attachment until light and billowy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add butter one tablespoon at a time. When all of the butter is added it might look curdled, but keep mixing. Turn mixer on high and beat for 1 minute until light and fluffy.

To assemble cookies: Spoon buttercream into a pastry bag with a large tip attached. (If you don't have a pastry bag, simply spoon the buttercream into a ziploc bag and snip one corner off of the bag.) Pipe about 2 tablespoons buttercream onto half of the cookies. Top the frosted cookies with another cookie to create a sandwich.

Roasted Parsnips

Last night I watched the first episode of "Food Revolution" and it really struck a chord with me.  I was teary-eyed during most of the show and actually had to walk away from it for a little while to take a breath.  I knew the show was about Jamie Oliver going into a town and helping change their eating habits, but seeing how most American children eat on a daily basis was very difficult to watch.  I'm so thankful Jamie is willing to go against the mainstream and help people make a change. 

Whether you've been reading for a while or it's your first time here, I want you to know you're the complete reason I write this blog.  I truly want to help you succeed in the kitchen and enable you to feed your family healthy, delicious, homemade meals.  Seven years ago, I was a normal "supermarket shopper," looking for convenience, good taste, and price.  I didn't understand people who only ate organic foods or ground their own wheat, so if you're just starting out, I really do understand.  I understand this can all seem overwhelming and some days you'll want to throw in the towel, but I assure you that making even small changes can have a huge impact on your health and well being.

As many of you know, I have a cookbook coming out this fall.  The true motive behind writing the book was to enable more people to cook organic meals their whole family will love.  I really don't care how many books I sell or how many "hits" I get a day on my blog.  As long as I'm helping and teaching you to cook healthy meals at home, I've succeeded.  If you need more guidance or help, please feel free to email me and I'd love to give you more advice or point you to helpful sources so you can continue on your journey to healthy eating.

I've had many friends tell me they don't enjoy eating vegetables and I've found one of the most simple ways to add more veggies to your diet is roasting them in the oven.  It's simple and the high heat brings out the sweetness in any vegetable (in fact, many vegetables I don't enjoy raw or sauteed are fantastic when roasted).  I've received tons of parsnips in my produce box lately and we all loved them tossed with coconut oil, salt and pepper and roasted until golden brown and slighlty crispy.

Congratulations to ZarpandiT!  You're the winner of the Le Creuset baking dishes!  Please send me your information to: DeliciouslyOrganic [at] yahoo [dot] com.  I'm hoping you'll use them to create your own Food Revolution.

Roasted Parsnips

Serves 4-6

6 large parsnips, washed, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 tablespoon coconut oil (click here to read more about this oil)

Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and adjust oven rack to middle position.  Toss parsnips with coconut oil and season generously with sea salt and pepper.  Pour out onto an oiled baking dish in a single layer.  Roast for 15 minutes and then stir parsnips.  Roast for another 10 minutes until golden brown.  Serve immediately.