For last night’s first course we had a green salad with roasted pears, pecans and some mild goat cheese. The pears were roasted with some honey drizzled on top and some dried thyme giving them a nice savory component to the dish. I wasn’t watching closely enough and the pecans went just a bit to dark but really didn’t cause too much of a problem.
For the second course we had beef stroganoff served over buttered egg noodles.
Dinner last night was 
beef dip with au jus, caramelized onions and mayo with horseradish. The Arthritis Kitchen component is the apple cider vinegar dressing for the coleslaw.
Have you heard about Chia Seeds? They have been on my radar lately as a new super ingredient boasting some incredible health benefits. Chia seeds in their raw form contain more omega-3 than in salmon or flax seeds, have 5 times the amount of calcium found in milk, 3 times the amount of antioxidants than found in blueberries, 15 times more magnesium than broccoli – list goes on and on. The inflammation reducing properties of this food are a perfect fit for me during a flare and the more I read about using this as an ingredient the more excited about it I get.
This morning for breakfast, we had smoothies. I used the fruit pictured below along with 2 tablespoons of chia (soaked first), plain yogurt, milk and a touch of honey. The chia, expands and has a gelatinous quality to it once exposed to liquid giving nice body to the smoothie. Results were fantastic and I can’t wait for the next time I use these seeds. Stay tuned.
As sometimes happens with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am experiencing an unexpected new flare this weekend. Its in my right hand, right across my knuckles and in the upper palm making my hand very sore and with limited use. My Arthritis Kitchen strategy is to prepare meals that are super rich in antioxidants and high in omega-3 to help my body deal with the inflammation and to make things easy to prepare with little chopping and prep work.
Last nights dinner was a Thai Chicken Salad with noodles. A variety of dark leafy greens, sunflower and green lentil sprouts along with green onions made up the salad. This was topped with warm grilled chicken and a Thai Peanut dressing with shallots and ginger. Served over a bed of Asian noodles and tossed all together made for a fantastic meal full of antioxidants and vitamins.
To make this Arthritis Kitchen friendly with my sore hand I purchased some ingredients that would require less prep work. To avoid washing and cutting lettuce, I purchased a bag of pre-washed organic spring mix. I also purchased chicken tenders which required no chopping at all. While I generally purchase whole chicken and produce for the price and enjoy prepping them myself, when having a flare these types of things are definitely worth it.
For the dressing I used shallots and ginger. To avoid any chopping I simply used my fine grate microplane. It is my go to kitchen tool to make quick work of anything that your recipe calls for a minced or finely chopped.
This past week I made a hearty, healthy pureed root vegetable soup. I used a mixture of celery root, sweet potato, golden beet, potato, parsnip, sunchoke and white onion. There is a turnip and a crookneck squash in the photo but I did not end up using them. After cooking all the veg, they were put into a blender and pureed with a bit of the vegetable stock to thin it out. The texture was silky smooth and the flavors were an interesting combination of all the vegetables used. This meal was completely vegetarian and full of vegetable goodness. Several of the vegetables used have a natural sweetness to them which contributed to the soft round flavors. Serve with some great bread and your set for an easy, low calorie nutrient packed meal.
My family requested that I make a meatloaf for dinner when I came home from my weekend away. I served it with creamy Yukon gold potatoes and steamed carrots. It was a very comforting home style dinner. The secret ingredient to my meatloaf is using half a package of Lipton Onion Soup. Crush the onions into smaller bits so they are not too large. Add bread crumbs, an egg and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Mix all together and place into a small loaf pan to shape the loaf. Invert into a glass baking dish and bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done. For the last 20 min of baking spoon over the glaze which is a mixture of ketchup, a bit of mustard and some brown sugar.
The nutritional star of this meal was the carrots. Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A which supports your vision and immune system and also provide a good level of vitamin K which can protect your bones from weakness and fracture. I’ve been steaming carrots whole lately and then dressing them lightly with butter and some parsley. They turn out delicious and the Arthritis Kitchen benefit is that there is no chopping required.
This past weekend while visiting friends, they cooked up a feast of wings, coleslaw and hand cut, homemade fries. There were 2 kinds of wings – traditional hot and thai chili. Both were excellent. I hadn’t tried thai chili wings before and really liked the balance of sweet and heat.
The coleslaw was a mixture of green cabbage, carrots and some green onion. It was dressed with a red wine and mayonnaise dressing giving it a creamy tangy balance. Both the cabbage and carrots are high in fiber and nutrients.
The fries were fantastic and a real treat. They were made taking the proper steps to ensure perfect results. First, its important to select the right size and shape of potato. Look for longer as opposed to rounder shapes as seen here to give you the size and shape of cut you are looking for. Once you have peeled the potatoes, keep them under cold water until ready to cook.
The next step in making perfect french fries is to blanch them first at a lower temperature to partially cook them, drain then cook them a second time to crisp them up.
This extra steps ensures you have fries that are fluffy on the inside and perfectly crispy on the outside. Season with salt as soon as they are out of the fryer and then enjoy.
In my ongoing mission to eat foods that support health, tonight I chose a wild coho salmon fillet loaded with with inflammation reducing omega-3,s. Research has shown that Omega-3’s can reduce tenderness in joints, decrease morning stiffness, and allow for a reduction in the amount of medication needed for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
I seasoned each side with salt and pepper and baked in a pre heated 400 degree oven for 7 min. I made a quick sauce using minced shallots, ginger, soy sauce and lemon juice.
I like cooking with raw, organic apple cider vinegar as it is known to have properties that are helpful for rheumatoid arthritis. This meal has apple cider vinegar in the brine, and also in the ‘pesto’ that I made for the chops. These were boneless lean pork chops which can often be very dry and with little flavor. Using a brine makes a huge difference and is worth the simple step.
**See Arthritis Kitchen Tip
To make the brine I made a combination of apple cider vinegar, salt, brown sugar, bay leaf, peppercorns and a few chili flakes. Because this is a very short brine due to the small size of the pieces of meat, I wanted it to be really flavorful so I simmered the mixture in 1 cup of water to allow the flavors to steep. I then cooled this mixture, added 6 additional cups of cold water, place into a large freezer bag, added the cops and put them in the fridge for 6 hours.
After the chops have been in the brine for 6 but no more than 8 hours, remove, discard brine and rinse chops under cold running water for 2 min. Dry completely on paper towels. I made a mixture of shallots, lemon zest, rosemary, flat leaf parsley and sauteed briefly in olive oil, deglazed with a splash of apple cider vinegar. Let cool slightly then stir in some Parmesan. I topped the chops with this mixture and baked in a 400 oven for 40 min or until almost done, place under broiler for 3 min to give a grilled appearance if desired. I served this with sauteed crook neck yellow neck squash and red peppers and creamy scalloped potatoes.
Make this brine or any liquid based mixture right into a large zip lock bag that you place inside a mixing bowl. This keeps anything you are working with stable without having to hang onto, is extremely light weight and spill proof and is a perfect vessel for any marinade. The extra bonus – no clean up!!
Last night was New Year’s Eve and I wanted to make something that was both really easy and really delicious. For the easy part I picked up a tasty beet salad from Whole Foods and chose to do pan seared scallops – one of my all time favorites. I chose some nice diver scallops and decided to serve them on a bed of sunchoke mash. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes are an ingredient I have not used before but have been seeing a lot of chefs using them as a base for succulent seafood. I boiled 3 sunchokes along with one, small red potato, mashed and whipped with the immersion blender along with some butter and salt. The result was a silky, mild nutty mixture that we just loved. I set the scallops on top and surrounded with my pan sauce which had shallots, champagne (it was new year’s eve) and finished with butter. It was fantastic and a great way to say goodbye to 2009.
