Janice Feuer-Haugen – Chef & Food Blogger

with Mushrooms, Parsley, Rosemary & Thyme

Janice Feuer-Haugen
September-October 2020 • Vol 3, No 111

During these past few months of staying-at-home-and-cooking days, most of us have had the opportunity to experiment with recipes and discover new favorites. With its complex flavor, chunky-smooth texture, and straightforward preparation, vegan Lentil Walnut Pâté is one of those recipes. Just as it has in our refrigerator, this pâté may soon replace the ubiquitous container of hummus in your refrigerator, too. Enjoy it enfolded in a lettuce leaf, or as a tasty, quick, and satisfying high-protein appetizer or snack. With the addition of a few sliced vegetables, that snack easily transforms into a light, nutrient-rich and healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Pâté (pah-TAY) can be creamy smooth, chunky, or molded. A pâté is usually a blend of seasoned, ground vegetables and poultry, seafood, or meat. Instead, Lentil Walnut Pâté is a richly flavored blend of lentils, toasted walnuts, cremini mushrooms, and fresh herbs. Its texture seems “meaty,” though it is vegan. The pâté can easily be made gluten-free with wheat-free tamari replacing the soy sauce. Thus, a pâté for most everyone!

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Home Cooking—A Recipe for Living

Janice Feuer-Haugen
July-August 2020 • Vol 3, No 110

“Cooking is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your diet. What matters most is not any particular nutrient, or even any particular food: it’s the act of cooking itself.”
—Michael Pollan

Sheltering in place these past few months has certainly given us many opportunities to cook. We’re cooking a lot, whether it’s perfecting omelets, making one-pot meals or executing grand kitchen projects, such as baking sourdough bread, exploring fermentation or making big batches of soup. I’m guessing that along the way, you, too, have also discovered the joy of cooking and connecting with food. To engage in meal preparation can often be a great de-stresser. It keeps us centered in the moment, while activating and delighting each of our senses with visuals, aromas, tastes, touch and sounds. At these times, home cooking truly becomes a recipe for living a life well lived.

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Bringing Its Superfood Pedigree to the Table

Janice Feuer-Haugen
March-April 2020 • Vol 3, No 109

Along with versatility and flavor, cauliflower also brings its superfood pedigree to the table. As a cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower belongs to the same plant family as broccoli, kale, cabbage and collards. Each of these vegetables offers numerous anti-inflammatory benefits as well as support for our cardiovascular and digestive systems.

Cauliflower earns recognition as a superfood by being an excellent source of vitamins B6, C and K along with folate and pantothenic acid. It is also a very good source of dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids and manganese. And, along with minimal calories, cauliflower proves to be a good source of vitamins B1, B2 and B3, in addition to protein, niacin and magnesium. Whew, that’s a superfood!

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Incredibly Sweet, Tender & Simply Delicious!

Janice Feuer-Haugen
January-February 2020 • Vol 3, No 108

An almost effortless recipe for amazing sweet potatoes. And a complete contrast from the hot oven method we’ve all used to roast sweet potatoes. Game changing actually, the way long, slow roasting at 275º enhances both the sweetness and texture of sweet potatoes. Israeli chef and restaurateur Michael Solomonov developed Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Labneh (strained yogurt) after being inspired by a meal he enjoyed in Tel Aviv. Lucky for the rest of us, he’s shared his inspiration.

SLOW ROASTED TO PERFECTION
Saveur Magazine explains that slow roasting “will convert more starches into sugars and caramelize more of those sugars for deeper browned flavor.”

SUPER SPUDS
Although usually associated with Thanksgiving, nutrient- and fiber-rich sweet potatoes deserve a place on our plate throughout the year.

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with Poblano Chili

Janice Feuer-Haugen
September-October 2019 • Vol 3, No 106

Lime Miso Cabbage Slaw puts a new spin on the classic American coleslaw with its fusion of Asian miso, rice vinegar, ginger and toasted sesame oil with Southwestern poblano peppers, cilantro and lime juice. Enjoy it as a delicious side salad for picnics and barbecues, a colorful and crunchy addition to tacos, and as a main dish salad. With cabbage as its star ingredient, fresh, crisp, flavorful, creamy and healthful Lime Miso Cabbage Slaw becomes a salad for all seasons.

Cabbage—Another Super-Healthy Cruciferous Vegetable
Both purple (for some reason called “red” cabbage) and green cabbage belong to the same food family and are closely related to nutritional power houses kale, broccoli, collards and Brussels sprouts. Actually, 2000 years ago, European wild cabbages didn’t form a head as they do today, and looked more like leafy kale and collards.

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Cherry Season Is Short. Savor the Moment. Each Bite a Memory!

Janice Feuer-Haugen
July-August 2019 • Vol 3, No 105

Living in Montana, we wait all year for Flathead cherry season. Throughout the state, Flathead cherries reign supreme. Memories are made from eating these luscious, large, dark, firm, meaty, juicy, and sweet-with-a-touch-of-tart cherries. You definitely can’t—nor would you want to—eat just one.

Although dark, sweet cherries from Washington have begun appearing in our local markets, we’ll begin seeing Flathead cherries a little later than usual this year, in late July.

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Move Over, Hummus—There’s a New Dip in Town!

Janice Feuer-Haugen
May-June 2019 • Vol 3, No 104

Crunchy, sweet, nutritionally rich carrots appear on most every dip and vegetable platter. Yet, we never see carrots as the star. With today’s recipe, that’s what’s happening. Stand aside hummus, there’s a new dip in town. Rich, flavorful, light and vibrant, Roasted Carrot Tahini Dip is equally satisfying whether spread on a leaf of baby romaine, served as a dip with crudités, or enjoyed from a spoon as a quick pick-me-up.

Yes, you can find carrots in markets throughout the year. Though the freshest and most flavorful, locally grown carrots are available from June through October. Choose carrots with the deepest orange color for the greatest amount of beta-carotene. Generally, carrots with the largest diameters will be the sweetest, as they have a larger core, which is where the carrot’s sugar is concentrated. With organically grown carrots, there is no need to peel them, just wash them well.

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The Lightest, Fluffiest, Most Flavorful Quinoa

Janice Feuer-Haugen
January–February 2019 • Vol 3, No 102

TThe idea came to me a couple of weeks ago while enjoying a bowl of vegetable soup. Hmm, I thought, this soup would be perfect over a scoop of quinoa. Maybe even toasted quinoa. Interesting thought considering that I’d never before tasted toasted quinoa.

I made a small batch, toasting the quinoa in the same pan I would cook it in. The smell was incredible, the color change promising, and adding the boiling water exciting. The depth of flavor was rich, earthy, nutty, and fabulous, the texture amazingly light and fluffy.

I have never before used such words and adjectives to describe quinoa—and I love quinoa and have since before the turn of the century (something else I doubt I’ve ever said before). Toasted Quinoa may be my new best friend. I’m guessing it will become yours, too.

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with Coriander and Olive Oil

Janice Feuer-Haugen
September-October 2018 • Vol 3, No 100

Perhaps you’ve begun noticing a strange rather alien looking vegetable appearing at your local supermarkets and farmers’ market. Some of you may even have received a few of them in your CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box. If that alien vegetable looks anything like this photo, what you have, dear friends, is a celeriac, also known as celery root. Two popular ways of preparing celeriac include peeled, grated and eaten raw or peeled, diced and cooked with potatoes and mashed.

Today I offer you a third way inspired by Israeli-British celebrity chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. And now I, too, both suggest serving the celeriac unpeeled and roasted whole with coriander and olive oil. Try roasted celeriac as a meal in itself, serving it straight from the oven for dinner or from the fridge the next day for lunch. Whether hot or cold the flavors are perfect together. The celeriac richly flavored and luxuriously tender, the oil flavorful and the burst of flaky salt addictive.

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Stop and Smell the Lavender!

Janice Feuer-Haugen
July–August 2018 • Vol 3, No 99

Perhaps you’ve seen photos of the beautiful, deep purple lavender fields in the South of France. Each field a quilt of perfectly rounded mounds of flowering lavender as far as the eye can see. For years my bucket list included walking a field of blooming lavender flowers enfolded in their soothing, aromatic fragrance. Last July, right here in Montana, I did just that. On a hillside overlooking Flathead Lake at the Purple Mountain Lavender Farm, I walked among hundreds of sweet-smelling lavender plants in hues of purple, pink and white. Heavenly.

Relax with Lavender. One of our most powerful senses, the sense of smell, impacts both our mood and well-being. A recent study from London’s King’s College confirmed lavender’s ability to relieve anxiety. The lead researcher wrote that lavender worked so well that it would make for “on-the-spot anxiety reduction in dentists’ waiting rooms.”

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