Miraval Miracle Quiche

If you're an advocate for healthy eating, there's a new cookbook on the way from Miraval that you want to keep your eyes open for.

Never heard of Miraval?

Miraval is a top-rated, all-inclusive retreat with near Tuscon, Arizona that has more than 400 acres, an award-winning spa, and a bountiful cornucopia of activities including horseback riding, yoga, meditation, ropes courses, and more.

The cookbook is called "Mindful Eating" and the publication date is May 1st (although you can preorder on both the Miraval website and Amazon.) The Miraval website explains that "...mindfulness is the core of the Miraval philosophy. In everything we do, we encourage our guests to live in the present moment, conscious of our unique intersection of mind, body, and spirit."

The book is luxurious, the recipes seducive. The layout is minimal and easy to read.

About twenty pages, however, are given over to cooking hints, essential kitchen equipment, knife safety, tips for working with phyllo, and a list of vendors; it's almost as if the writers assumed the reader has no kitchen experience whatsoever. I did like the a large chapter worth of basic recipes used throughout the cookbook that include how to do a balsamic reduction, mashed sweet potatoes with feta cheese, cooking quinoa, and the miraval oil blend.

I selected three recipes to try. In truth, it was actually more like five because two of the recipes required additional recipes to produce. I started with the easiest: the crustless Garden Quiche.

I chopped a cup of mushrooms and tomato, added at least a quarter cup of Grand Pandamo cheese, and threw in a cups worth of chopped spinach and arugula. Scallion, red bell pepper, salt, and pepper topped off the mixture, and it was poured into a prepared 10" baking dish.

Quiche Ingredients

Baked Quiche

Quiche On A PlateThis went into the oven for around 30 minutes and came out of the oven --- creamy! velvety! Absolutely a lovely, easy to prepare quiche that I will make again. I ate almost every single piece of this (we're talking 8 pieces, so that's a LOT of quiche for anyone to eat in a week. And because the recipe uses far more egg whites than whole eggs, the fat comes in at about 3.5g per slice: healthy quiche!

Coming next: Salmon and Funky Veggie Bundles

Salad In A Newspaper

I'm betting you're thinking that I found this recipe somewhere inside of a newspaper. You would be so very wrong. I ate this salad out of a newspaper. Literally.

Let me explain.

 

Midnight Snacks: 150 Easy and Enticing Alternatives to Standing by the Freezer Eating Ice Cream from the Carton by Michael J. Rosen and Sharon Reiss is a delightful cookbook. It is crowded with good food that's easy to prepare. Just flipping through the book caught my interest as the titles are thought-provoking and only made me want to learn more. Any idea what type of food these would produce?

• Double-Down Doughnuts 
• Visions of Chevre Plumbs 
• Shaggy Dogs 
• All Dal-ed Up
• Flambe The Night Away

I have no idea what any of these recipes are for. And that's why I love this book. The titles seduce you into reading the rest of the description, which only made me want to run to the kitchen and sample every recipe. 

I tried "Cures What Ails You Soup" on page 12 and was pleasantly surprised. The soup was ready in less than 15 minutes, and eaten withn the next 15. It tasted good, and --with ginger and the juice of one lime lime-- was good for me, too.  

"Daily Salad In A Newspaper" on page 160 definitely caught my eye. There's a short explaination about how this type of salad is a traditional street vendor food in India, a quick sentence on the history of cucumber cultivation, then the authors suggest that this might be the perfect food to eat "on the balcony after making love" or "something entirely novel to serve when it's your turn to host the book club." 

So what on earth is the author talking about? Salad a "novel" food? In this case, you betcha. 

I picked up a newspaper at my local grocery store. You remember newspapers, right? Read the parts you'd like and set aside. 

Chop the veggies. I substituted sliced pork tenderloin for chickpeas so as to save the tenderloin from going green and moldy in my fridge. 

Get your spices in order: garam masala, Worcestershire sauce, cilantro. Note the ice cube of cilantro. This was frozen fresh last year - couldn't tell the difference in the salad. 

Add salt and pepper and mix together. 

Return to the newspaper and fold into the size of a legal pad. 

Add waxed paper.

Roll into a triangle. 

Fold the tip over to prevent juices from leaking and add salad. 

Don't forget the secret ingredient:  Rice Krispies. 

Your salad, my friend, is officially -and literally- in a newspaper. It's entertaining, portable, and delicious.

This is one salad I'm adding into my repetoire, especially for summer. I often get tired of an Italian caprese-style salad, so this is an excellent alternative. This fed me for dinner one night, and lunch at work the next day. Be sure to keep some Rice Krispies nearby as you're eating to sprinkle throughout and keep the salad crunchy. 

DAILY SALAD IN A NEWSPAPER

(adapted from Midnight Snacks) 

Makes about 2 servings

1 tomato, diced

1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced

2 small red skin potatoes, cooked and sliced

1/2 cup protein (I used pork tenderloin; you might choose beans)

2 teaspoons diced green chili (the canned kind)

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup (or more) Rice Krispies or similar

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together. It'd be nice if you have the time to let the flavors sit and marinate. I didn't have the time, and it was still yummy. Fold up you newspaper and waxed paper as described above. If you'd like, mix the Rice Krispies into the salad - I didn't because I like that crunchiness. Place the salad into the newspaper and eat it up!

P.S. More Rice Krispies on the way soon!