Eating healthy during fall: Jamaican brown stew fish recipe

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Here is another great recipe to help us in our quest to continue eating healthy during fall!  I hope you love it and feel free to share your faves with me:)

Jamaican Brown Stew Fish

eating healthy during fall

Adapted from “Brown Stew Fish” found on JamiacaTravelandCulture.com

Some of you may already know that I spent a couple years in the U.S. Virgin Islands and loved it!  I really miss island food and culture especially when “the dark time” starts to creep in here in the Pacific Northwest.  Luckily I still live in a location with an abundance of fresh fish and I try to eat fish at least once a week, otherwise I am pretty much a meatless cook.  This week I bought some wild caught Pacific Cod not really having a recipe in mind.  After I got it home I searched around online and came across one of my favorite Caribbean dishes called stew fish (I pretty much loved “stew anything” while I was there).   This recipe was already pretty healthy but I did make a few adjustments.  I served this with brown rice and it was fabulous!  I hope you enjoy:)

Ingredients

  • 2lb fish fillets
  • 1 tablespoon of lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1 onion diced
  • 3 stalks of scallion minced
  • 1 habanero pepper minced (or adjust amount to your desired spice level)
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1/2 inch of ginger grated
  • 3 tomatoes chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of flour
  • 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 3 teaspoons of dried thyme)
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon of browning *see recipe at the bottom of this post
  • 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 2 cups of water
  1. Rinse the fish filets and put them in a bowl with just enough water to cover and lime juice, leave them to marinate while you make the browning sauce.
  2. Make the browning sauce, the recipe is located here and at the bottom of this post.
  3. Mix flour into 1/4 cup of water and set aside
  4. Take fish out of the water mixture and pat dry, season with salt and pepper
  5. Heat large shallow pan with oil, I used about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, until hot.  Add fish (I like to break it up into smaller chunks as I cook it).  After about 5 minutes when the fish has sealed you can add in the onion, scallion, habanero, red pepper pepper, garlic, tomatoes and thyme for three minutes.
  6. Add the water, soy sauce and browning and simmer for five minutes.
  7. Stir the flour/water mixture in to the stew then add the fish.  Simmer for five minutes, occasionally stirring gently.
  8. Serve with Rice or a traditional Jamaican “rice and peas”
  9. Put on some Caribbean music and enjoy!

Browning Sauce

A version of this sauce is used a lot in Jamaican cooking, this is a healthy version and it makes quite a bit.  Feel free to cut it down to only make what you need.  Also you can substitute brown sugar and regular salt if you prefer. This recipe comes from thatgirlcookshealthy.com.

Ingredients
  • 2 cups of coconut palm sugar
  • 1 cup of water
  • 2 tsp of himalayan pink salt
  1. Add the sugar to a saucepan and turn on medium heat.
  2. Use a wooden spoon and begin to slowly stir. The sugar will start to dissolve and turn into a syrup consistency while darkening.
  3. If the sugars begin to smoke too quickly then reduce the flame or switch off the stove and continue to stir while charring the sugar.
  4. Once the sugar darkens to a dark brown almost black in colour remove from the stove and carefully add the water. The saucepan will yield plenty of steam and splutter which is normal – keep on stirring the pan.
  5. Once the sauce is formed, allow to cool before adding the pink salt and pouring into a sauce bottle.

 

Delicious and healthy recipes for fall

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Delicious and healthy recipes for fall

I made so many good things this week that it is difficult to make a decision on what to share today!  Even though Summer is my favorite season I have decided that this time of year isn’t so bad, mostly because the sun still shines even though there is just a bit of chill in the air.  Food wise you can still get away with salads as a main dish and there are plenty of fresh local veggies piled up in the produce section. I have still been obsessing over my Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites Cook book.  Go buy it, seriously, it is So good…

Without further ado this weeks faves are:

healthy recipes for fall

Spanish Potato Garlic Soup

This soup just feels good to eat and it tastes so beautiful in your mouth!  I am an extreme flavor person so I like to double the herbs and spices in nearly every recipe and I definitely adjusted them in this recipe (though I left them the same below so that you can make your own choices about that).  I paired it with a simple salad of arugula, sweet pepper slices and almonds with a roasted pepper salad dressing.  According to Moosewood this soup is best enjoyed with classical guitar music and deep discussions of passion and death:)

Garlic Broth

  • 20 cloves of garlic peeled
  • 1/4 cup miso
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Roast garlic in the oven at 400 degrees on an unoiled pan for 15-20 minutes until golden.  Blend roasted garlic cloves in a blender or food processor with miso and a bit of water until smooth.  Combine garlic puree with all other ingredients listed above and gently warm until hot.

Spanish Garlic Potato Soup

  • 1 large onion thinly sliced
  • 2 large potatoes cut into thin slices
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • 2 teaspoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • garlic broth (above)
Saute the onions, potatoes and paprika in oil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the tomatoes and thyme and simmer for 4 minutes.  add the garlic broth and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Thai Vegetable Curry

I am not great at cooking Thai food typically, I don’t know why, but it is always a struggle for me to get the textures and flavors right.  This recipe turned out perfectly!  This is my adaptation of Moosewood’s recipe, it has quite a few changes but really the recipe really is great the way it is written *buy the book to find out!  I just adapted to my preferences and what I had on hand.  I served this with brown rice and it tasted marvelous-even better the next day!

  • 1 cup chopped onions
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
  • 2 cups diced sweet potato
  • 1 small jar of red curry paste (about 6 tablespoons)
  • 1 and a 1/2 cups pineapple juice
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups cut green beans
  • 1 cup chopped red bell peppers
  • 1 tomato diced
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 4 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
  • Optional habanero hot sauce or hot peppers
In a soup pot saute the onions, covered, for about 5 minutes.  Stir in the sweet potato, hot peppers (if using them) and curry paste and saute for 1 minute.  Add the pineapple juice, coconut milk, water and salt, bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.  Add broccoli and green beans and cook for another 5 minutes.  Sir in the peppers, tomatoes, lime juice and basil and simmer until veggies are tender.

YUM!

I really hope you are enjoying this healthy food series.  Please share your favorite recipes and cookbooks with me!  I am always looking for ideas:)

Have a great week and stay healthy!

 

Health is wealth: eat healthy with these recipes for fall

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Eating healthy through the colder months:

Healthy recipes for fall

I am going to tell the truth….

I have no problem at all getting plenty of water, exercise and sticking to a healthy diet in the summer.  I am a true sun lover and I love being outside when it is hot which means I walk everywhere, eat farm fresh veggies with every meal and in general live more lean and green.  But fall happens and as soon as the weather changes I get tired and hungry!  I start to crave pot pies, corn bread, cheesy casseroles and a myriad of other comfort foods from my child hood.  I avoid the outdoors and sleep a whole lot more.  I have lived in Portland for too many years now to claim that I am new or to wait for the acclimation to happen.  This year I am taking the challenge of finding out how to balance the long winter months with the easy lifestyle of Portland summers.  I thought some of you Portland transplants and maybe even a few native PDXers would be able to relate and might like to join me in the quest to eat healthy through what I like to call “the dark time” aka.  PDX fall, winter and spring.

I recently found one of my favorite cookbooks at Goodwill “Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites”  I have never made a single dish that has turned out less than delicious from the Moosewood cook books so if you are in the market I highly recommend checking them out!

Here are two of my favorite recipes from the book:

eat healthy

 

 

Vegetarian Feijoada

Serves: 6 to 8
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:2 cups chopped onions

  • 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
  • 1 cup minced celery
  • 2 red, yellow, and/or green bell peppers, chopped
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 cups canned tomatoes or tomato fillets (18-ounce can, undrained)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 5 cups cooked black beans (4 15-ounce cans, drained)
  • salt to taste
  • 1 1/2 pounds collard greens or kale
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 oranges
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce
  • toasted cassava meal (optional)

Procedure

Place the onions, garlic, celery bell peppers, and water in a large saucepan. Drain the juice from the tomatoes into the pan, squeeze the juice from each tomato into the pan and then chop the tomatoes and set them aside. Place the pan on high heat and boil the vegetables, stirring often, for about 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Lower the heat and sitr in the cilantro, thyme, fennel, and coriander. Add the black beans and chopped tomatoes, cover and simmer on low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add salt to taste.

While the black beans simmer, remove and discard the collard or kale stems and rinse the leaves well. Stack the leaves and slice them crosswise into 1/4-inch strips. In a saucepan, bring the greens and water to a boil. cover and simmer, stirring frequently as the greens wilt, for about 15 minutes, until the greens are tender.

Meanwhile, peel and section the oranges and set aside. When the black beans and the rice are ready, drain the greens and toss with the soy sauce. Serve the feijoada on a large platter as described above or on individual plates. Pass the toasted cassava meal at the table, if desired.

* I enjoy serving it with the Brazilian Rice dish from the same book.

Caribbean Stew

 

 

 

 

 

Caribbean Stew

  • 1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • ½ tsp ground allspice
  • 1 minced fresh chile, seeds removed for a milder “hot”
  • 1 large sweet potato, cut into medium chunks (about 2 cups)
  • 2 cups water or vegetable stock
  • 2 small zucchini, cut into 1” chunks (abut 2 cups)
  • 1 ½ cups undrained canned tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 4 cups loosely packed shredded kale
  • 1 tbls fresh lemon or lime juice
  • 2 to 5 tbls finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • salt to taste

Procedure

Sprinkle the onions with the salt.

In a covered soup pot, saute` the onions in the oil for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the thyme, allspice and chile and continue to cook for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Stir in the sweet potatoes and the water or stock and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes

Add the zucchini and the tomatoes (with their juice) and simmer 10 to 15 minutes more, until

all of the vegetables are barely tender.

Add the kale and cook another 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the lemon or lime juice, cilantro and salt to taste.

* I like to serve this one with brown rice and either jerk chicken or jerk tofu

I would love to hear your favorite fall/winter recipes!  I absolutely love to cook and I am always on the prowl for more ideas on how to eat healthy through “the dark time”.  Check back every week for more tips and tricks on eating and staying healthy this winter.   Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy:)

Find Balance at the Warrior Flow Wellness Retreat

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wellness retreat

Warrior Flow Wellness Retreat

Last year I had the great privilege of offering massage on a ladies wellness retreat hosted by Jennifer Oechsner of Warrior Flow.  I had never been on a retreat and really did not know what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised!  Even though I spent part of the time giving massage to the guests I left feeling rested, renewed,  more balanced and overall healthier.  I attribute this to all of the well planned and perfected details of the weekend.  The beautiful surroundings and views of the Pacific Ocean, the warm cozy environment of the house, the absolutely amazing farm to table meals provided by Yamhill River Farm, the after hours chats and wine in the hot tub and especially the daily yoga and meditation lead by Jennifer.  Every moment of the retreat was filled with the right amount of quiet, activity, camaraderie and relaxation.  Sometime’s we just don’t know just how much we need to be the receiver and to be taken care of.  I have discovered the reason for retreats now and that is taking the time to give back to the one that is most important and integral to keeping things in your world moving along smoothly: yourself.  To truly find peace and regenerate from all of the tasks set before us in life we occasionally need a good “time-out” where EVERYTHING we need is provided for us and the Warrior Flow Wellness Retreat offers this rare oasis.

wellness retreat

Yamhill River Farms

Have you been on a retreat?  If so I would love to hear about your experience!

Ready to find out for yourself?  Sign up for the next Warrior Flow Wellness Retreat in Cannon Beach, OR happening October 16th-18th by emailing Jennifer at warriorflow@gmail.com today!  *take 10%  off by mentioning this blog post

Looking forward to giving you a massage on the coast:)