Dairy and Gluten Free 

These protein-packed super food bars will keep your mind, heart, and lungs functioning at full capacity. Amaranth, the new super grain (actually a seed), is sure to replace quinoa on many grocery lists. As quinoa prices have climbed to over $6 a pound, I’ve switched to amaranth, which is only $2-3 a pound, and discovered that its small crunchy seeds offer a delightful texture and earthy taste, and it’s one of the healthiest ingredients out there. Imagine the prefect amino acid profile, a significant amount of iron, calcium, vitamin C, and fiber in a tight little seed (Coles). Now picture that seed coated in a thick bath of chocolate, almonds, blueberries, cranberries, bananas, coconut, and peanut butter.

I like to rate food by asking two questions: does it taste good, and what horrible disease will it prevent? Taste-wise, you can’t really fall down with the ingredients in this recipe. Health-wise, in each bar you will reap the benefits of naturally occurring chemicals and vitamins that have been proven to help slam down heart-disease, stroke, and most types of cancer. With each bite, you ingest anthocyanins from blueberries, cranberry’s proanthocyanidins and vitamin C (Bede), the flavonoids in chocolate, vitamin E, arginine, phenols, proanthocyanidins, and phytosterols from almonds (Hamblin), and potassium from bananas (Medical News Today). You couldn’t possibly bathe a seed in more super foods, unless you added chopped kale, which would probably taste weird. 

Makes 15 bars 

3/4 cup uncooked amaranth, washed and dried
3 large, ripe bananas
1-2 tablespoons honey (optional—Since I don’t enjoy sweet things, I often leave this out)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shredded coconut 
1 lemon, zested (no juice)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (unsweetened, if possible. If you can only find sweetened, add 1 tablespoon of the honey) 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt, to taste
1 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped (dairy-free) 
1 cup blueberries, frozen

1. Preheat an oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. In a food processor, place the bananas, peanut butter, shredded coconut, cranberries, lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger, salt, honey, and vanilla. Blend until relatively smooth, about 1-2 minutes. There will still be some pieces of cranberries, but everything else should be blended together.  

3. Place the mixture in a bowl, add the chopped almonds, and stir until incorporated. 

4. Working in batches, place ½ cup of amaranth in the bowl and stir the mixture until all of the grain is absorbed. Repeat this process until the entire 3/4 cup of amaranth is absorbed.

5. Gently fold in the frozen blueberries and chocolate.* I prefer frozen berries because fresh berries get mushy when you stir the mixture, and frozen berries retain their shape as the bars bake. 

6. Grease a large heavy glass baking dish with a light coating of olive oil. 

7. Scoop the mixture into the baking dish, and evenly spread it out over the dish’s surface. The mixture should be about 1 and 1/4 inch thick once it’s spread out. 

8. Bake the mix for 55-60 minutes, or until a fork placed in the middle of the dish comes out clean. Cool, cut, and gently lift the bars from the baking dish. 

9. Store these packets of protein in the refrigerator and consume them within a week. I enjoy these bars for breakfast and as a mid-day snack. 

*If you want to try incorporating chopped kale into the bars, this would be the step in which to add it (1 cup, finely chopped)

Works Cited

Bede, Pamela Nisevich. "Why Cranberries Are So Good for Your Health."         Runner's World & Running Times. N.p., 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 May 2015.

Coles, Terri. "14 Things You Didn't Know About  Amaranth." The Huffington  Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May  2015.

Hamblin, James. "The Dark Side of Almond Use." The  Atlantic. Atlantic Media  Company, 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 26  May 2015.

"Nine Health Benefits of Chocolate."  Womenshealthmag.com. N.p., n.d. Web.  26 May 2015.

"What Are the Health Benefits of Bananas?” Medical News Today. MediLexicon  International, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.

"What Are the Health Benefits of Blueberries?" Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 30 May 2015.

Dairy and Gluten Free



This recipe won the Lamb Festival Cook-Off in Dixon, California in 2006. After working at Oliveto Restaurant for just over five years, I had the opportunity to work as an apprenticeship on an organic farm that supplied produce to Oliveto, Chez Panisse, and other top Bay Area restaurants. With the support of Farmer Laura Trent and the other apprentice, the now famous pastry chef Krystin Rubin, our team grilled to victory on a hot, dry July afternoon while lambs pranced in the field to our left and vendors sold fried Snickers bars and lamb tacos (ground lamb, sour cream, salsa, and Cool Ranch Doritos—all in one bag).  

1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ medium red onion, cut in half down the middle, then thinly sliced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, removed from the stem
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
salt, to taste
 
1. Rinse the lamb, pat it dry with a paper towel, and place it in a gallon-sized plastic bag.

2. Put all of the ingredients in the bag, and shift the lamb rack around so that the ingredients are evenly distributed.

3. Seal the bag and store it in the refrigerator overnight.

4. Before grilling the lamb, use your hands to remove any onion, garlic, or sprigs that cling to the meat. Put the rack on a sheet tray, and season the meat with salt and pepper. Place the rack on a hot grill and turn occasionally to caramelize its sides and cook the meat medium-rare.

5. Remove lamb from the grill and put it on a wire rack loosely tented with aluminum foil. Allow the rack to rest for about 8-10 minutes before slicing it into individual chops.


Mint Salsa Verde

Spoon this refreshing and intense sauce over grilled lamb chops; the lively mint tang and acidic kick from the salsa match the intensity of the grilled lamb and brighten the meat’s flavor. Try substituting mint with parsley for an equally delicious sauce that retains its vibrant green color.

3 packed cups washed fresh mint leaves
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup minced shallots
1/5 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped capers (before chopping, rinse if brined, soak in water and drain if salt-packed)
salt, to taste

1. Wash the mint leaves and make sure all of the water is dried from the leaves.

2. Working in batches, stack the mint leaves, slice them in thin ribbons (chiffonade), then turn the ribbons, and slice them into very small squares. (If you want a quicker version of this recipe, you can place the mint in a blender with oil, and pulse the mixture until all the leaves are blended. I do not recommend this version if you have time to slice the mint because you will lose the unique texture and vibrant green that you can achieve with the first method.)

3. Spoon the mixture into a bowl. Stir in chopped capers.

4. Mince the shallots, place them in a small bowl, and submerge them in red wine vinegar. Stir in a little salt, and let the shallots macerate for at least a half hour in the vinegar.

5. Right before serving, mix the shallot-vinegar mixture into the mint-oil mixture. Mix in only what you will use for this meal; the shallots don't hold well in the sauce for more than a day. Taste for salt and acidic balance. Spoon the verde over the grilled lamb chops, and serve.

(Here is a link to the original recipe we created on the farm: http://www.dailydemocrat.com/lifestyle/20140924/chef-contest-being-held-at-dixon-lamb-festival) 

I discovered this brine on a working weekend when I scrambled to cross off fifteen items on my work and day To Do list, none of which included cooking, let alone eating a healthy dinner. With only five minutes to spare before I jumped in the car, I looked around at a nearly empty refrigerator and disorganized spice cabinet. While it is ideal to heat brines up so the aromatics have a chance to fully release into the liquid, if the rosemary gets a firm chopping and the orange zest a fine grating, you will have a similar aromatic release. With only five minutes of prep time, this brine allows you to eat chicken so flavorful you might think you had a day off, as the first bite erases all thoughts of labor.

4 cups, cold filtered water
4 tablespoons, kosher salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon black pepper, ground
1.5 pounds of chicken tenders, rinsed

1. Put all of the ingredients above in a gallon-size plastic bag, and shake until the salt dissolves. This usually takes about twelve vigorous shakes.

2. Wash the chicken tenders and place them in the bag. Make sure the liquid covers the meat, and that the spices, herb, and zest are distributed among the tenders.

3. Seal the bag and test its seal (or else!). Place the bag in the refrigerator, on the bottom self, with nothing underneath except a paper towel.

4. In about 10-20 hours, pull the tenders out of the brine and cook them however you like.* I don’t rinse the tenders because the salt content is mild, and the flavor of the brine would be rinsed off, at least somewhat.

* On my busy Saturday, I chopped an onion and three cloves of garlic, sautéed them until translucent before adding the chicken tenders, a splash of white wine, a handful of sliced Castelvetrano olives, and two fresh crushed Brandywine tomatoes.

Torn basil and a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil right before serving finished the dish.