Eat Simply, Eat Well

Healthy recipes & tips to help you live the good life. by Ann Plough

Just Eat It: Za’atar Eggplant Crisps with Yogurt

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This recipe is a classic case of planning one thing and ending up with something much, much better.

It all started with small video clip that I can’t get out of my mind: a man standing behind a giant pile of beautiful, yellow bananas, all perfectly edible, with a big note saying “rejected” on them – rejected because they are the wrong shape or size per supermarket regulations. What led us to this place where perfectly good food gets tossed away because it’s not cosmetically perfect?

This led me down a new trail to researching food waste.  I had been perusing food news as I often do – winding down just before bed.  I came across something I had somehow missed until just now: a trailer for a documentary that aired on April 22nd for Earth Day by a Canadian couple Jen Rustemayer and Grant Baldwin. The film, Just Eat It covers a year in the life of the couple as they spend the year eating only food that would otherwise be thrown away and researching the why, how and where of the incredible amount of edible food that is simply thrown away every day. The statistics shared in the short clips I saw made me want to get my hands on the entire documentary so that I can watch and learn a whole lot more. Take a look:

Here are a few highlights from the clips that made me think again about the value I place on food and ideas we all have about what constitutes good food vs. less appealing or inedible:

  • 40% of the food grown in America gets thrown away (btw: in the UK the number is estimated to be 50%)
  • 30% of the food grown in America gets thrown away at the farm – for cosmetic reasons: too large; wrong shape; minor defect (i.e. slightly different color on skin or growing mark)
  • the average American family throws away 25% of the food they purchase – a fact brought home with a clip of a woman leaving a grocery store with 4 grocery bags, dropping one from her hand, and continuing to walk on…
  • food wasted in grocery stores and restaurants mostly doesn’t get composted – it ends up on the landfill, where it proceeds to release methane gas into the atmosphere
  • 15 million American families struggle to get enough food every month

All this combined with things we may already be aware of: the world has a water crisis; climate change heavily impacts the ability to grow and store food in many parts of the world; the world’s major health problems are mostly diet-related – caused in many cases by eating food that is highly processed with a shelf life of “nearly forever” – implying that some of the food being wasted could be used to replaced the unhealthy stuff in people’s homes so that they could make better choices.

eggplant slices ready for the oven

eggplant slices ready for the oven

So I turned on the oven and went about making eggplant into something I thought I’d add to dinner, later. But as ‘way leads on to way’ (Robert Frost), I turned a corner when I pulled out the Za’atar and serendipitously created a snack I’ll be coming back to again and again.

Eggplant slices after roasting

Eggplant slices after roasting

So pull out a knife and your small, ripe eggplants, and get cooking. These are amazing and eggplants are really good for you. The eggplants are cooked to the point where they just begin to dry out but are still pliable.  The savory combination of salt, olive oil and Za’atar coupled with the smooth, tart yogurt is simply perfection. And you don’t need to wait until your eggplants are on their way out, either: just choose the smaller, younger eggplants so they aren’t bitter, and get cooking!

 If you’re interested in learning more about Food Waste, solutions being implemented, and what you can do, here are some resources:
Ready for dipping

Ready for dipping

Za’atar Eggplant Crisps with Yogurt

3-4 small eggplants, ends removed and sliced to 1/2″ or 1 cm

1 tablespoon Za’atar*

salt to sprinkle

olive oil to drizzle

1/2 cup Turkish or Greek yogurt (low-fat works great too)

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Lay the eggplant slices out on the baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices, and then sprinkle each slice generously with Za’atar.  Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly, and serve warm with yogurt that’s been sprinkled with additional Za’atar, if desired.

Serves 4 as an appetizer

 *Note: you can buy Za’atar from spice shops and grocery stores, or you can make your own. Try this recipe or this one.
 Looking for other eggplant recipes? Try these:

Did you like this post? What are your thoughts on food waste or how to make better use of the food you buy? We’d love to here from you! Go ahead and leave a comment below and share this with your friends.

3-Ingredient Ice Cream (non-dairy)

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3-ingredient-ice-cream

Can you feel the summer coming on in?  Can you? Oh yes. The weather is heating up, even way up here in the cold, dark north, where it isn’t really so dark anymore at all.  Nowadays the sun rises just before I do, 5:37, and sets just before 9:00 PM.  There are a lot of productive daylight hours available, plus a few extra for the slacking (ahem) research I do on social media.  And the temperatures are rising, too: a balmy 11°C today!  Things are definitely improving.

I was working from my living room today, with the sun beaming in through the windows making it feel like a summer day in July. I happily went to change into something lightweight with short sleeves. I realized that now is the perfect time to share with you the simplest frozen treat you’ll ever be happy get your spoon into:  3-ingredient, non-dairy ice cream.

A couple of years ago, frozen banana ice cream hit the blogosphere and food story headlines as the best thing since, well, ice cream itself.  It’s comprised of one ingredient: frozen bananas.  The bananas are blended up directly from their frozen state into a unbelievably sweet, creamy and delicious snack. You won’t believe there’s no added sugar, dairy, or anything dodgy.

This 3-ingredient ice cream takes that concept one step further by allowing you to create different flavors using banana as your base.  Feel free to play with this, but do get those bananas in your freezer right away so you can start by tonight, at least.

I suggest slicing the bananas before you freeze them as it makes blending them much easier.  In fact, if you have room in your freezer, spreading the slices out on a pan or plate not only makes them freeze faster, it also makes it faster to grab a handful, pop them in the blender, and get on with making this fabulous anytime treat.

Did I mention that this is a healthy indulgence?  You’ll get only natural sugars and good quality coconut fat as you consume one spoonful after the other, along with a good dose of potassium from the bananas and antioxidants and fiber from the berries (or other fruit you choose).  Sounds like the perfect post-workout snack to me!

3-Ingredient Non-dairy Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas (sliced before freezing)

2 cups of your favorite frozen berry or fruit (I used raspberry)

1 can organic coconut milk, 400 ml

Place all of the ingredients into a blender.  This works best if you have a powerful blender that can easily process frozen ingredients, but if you don’t, just stop the blender several times through the blending process, use a spatula to loosen and frozen chunks stuck near the blade, and blend again, until thick and smooth.

Now if you’re desperate for a cold treat, feel free to serve immediately and dig in.  It will be super soft but hard-to-resist-delicious. If you can stand to wait, though, you’ll get something even better, verging on sorbet.  It’s well worth the 3 or so hours it will take in your freezer to get there.

Serves 4.

Did you like this recipe? Let me know in the comments below and share with your friends!

Lemon Vanilla Coconut Snack Bites

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lemon_vanilla_coconut_snackbites

I know I’m going to have a busy week ahead, so I prepared for any potential energy slump by making a batch of these energy bites and stashing them in the fridge.  They are packed with cashews, oatmeal and coconut, and flavored with sweet dates, tangy lemon and smooth vanilla for a little piece of joy and energy anytime you need it.

All you need to make these is a food processor: just toss everything in, whizz it up into a clumpy mass, then divide into small pieces that you roll into balls, then into coconut. Easy & awesome. In fact, I may not need lemon bars anymore. There are no refined ingredients in these beauties: just real food that is good for your heart, your cardiovascular system, your health…

…and quite possibly your attitude.

Because how could you possibly be grumpy after snacking on one of these gems?

Lemon Vanilla Coconut Snack Bites

1 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup coconut flakes (desiccated coconut) + 1/4 coconut for rolling

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 fresh dates, pitted

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients except for 1/4 coconut flakes into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture begins to clump together; 3-5 minutes.  Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture out and roll in your hand to form tight rounds.  Roll the rounds in the remaining 1/4 cup coconut flakes.

Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Makes 18-20 energy bites

Did you like these?  Please let me know in the comments below and share with your friends!