Two of my favorite foods in the whole wide world are bananas and avocados. But when one of my HealthCorps students, Sarah Frank, told me that she was combining them into one dish for a cooking contest with her high school students, I couldn’t help but be skeptical. When it comes to certain dishes, I’m a purist - and guacamole is one of them.

I’m happy to report that I was completely wrong. Sarah and her co-worker did a terrific job of creating a creamy banana avocado masterpiece.

The contest was finding a way to incorporate bananas (the secret ingredient) into two savory dishes, which is not so easy to do! Both recipes turned out delightful. Although they have a lot of steps, they are worth the time and energy. The final combination of the different flavors and fresh ingredients is tantalizing to the taste buds.

Viva La Nana (Sweet Quesadillas with Cilantro Pesto and Banana Avocado Dip)

Cilantro Pesto Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 bunches cilantro, washed, stems removed
4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Quesadilla

1 red pepper, chopped
1 green peppers chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 bananas, chopped
12 oz grated Monterey Jack Cheese (or one 12 oz bag of Fiesta Blend cheese)
9 flour or corn tortillas
Salt and pepper to taste
Cumin to taste

Banana Avocado Dip

1 very ripe banana
2 ripe avocados
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 jalapeno, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin (or more to taste)

METHOD

Cilantro Pesto
Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.

Quesadilla

Heat olive oil in a small sauté pan.  When hot, add onions and peppers.  Saute for 2 minutes and add bananas.  Saute one more minute. Take quesadilla filling off of heat. Spread sautéed vegetable filling on one tortilla.  Sprinkle with cheese and any desired spices. Cover with another tortilla. Heat large sauté pan and add ½ tsp. oil.  Cook quesadilla until cheese begins to melt and tortilla is golden brown and crispy.

Avocado Dip

Remove pit from avocado and scoop out fruit into a bowl.  Peel bananas and break into a few pieces. Add bananas to avocado bowl.  Mash bananas and avocados together with a fork or large spoon. Stir in jalapenos, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and cumin to taste.

Cut quesadillas with a pizza cutter and plate with a drizzle of cilantro pesto and a scoop of avocado dip on top.

Recipes adapted by Sarah Frank and Lilit Suffet from: www.marthastewart.com and www.verybestbaking.com.
Serves 6-8

Caribbean Heat (Sweet Caribbean Chicken Curry)

1  lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes and rubbed with salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
5 shallots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ habanero peppers, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon allspice powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
juice of 1 ½ limes
4 tablespoons dry white wine
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
2-3 ripe bananas, diced
1 15 oz. can low-fat coconut milk
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups brown rice, cooked in advance

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a large sauté pan.  When oil is hot, add chicken with a few onions. Cook chicken until it is no longer pink inside.  Take chicken out of pan, and set it aside in a bowl for later.
2. Heat oil in a large pot. When oil is hot, add onions, shallots, and red pepper.  Sauté until onions have softened, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, chili pepper, bananas, and ginger.  Sauté until the garlic is soft, about 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the turmeric, allspice, coriander, cumin, lime juice, and white wine.  Stir to combine all ingredients.
5. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
6. Add coconut milk and tomatoes.  Partially blend with an immersion blender to thicken.
7. Add chicken back in.
8. Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
9. Serve over brown rice.

Adapted by Sarah Frank and Lilit Suffet from: www.nevisblog.com

Intern for Nutritionist/Cooking Teacher/Cookbook Author
7/8/10

Are you passionate about food and dream of working in the culinary field? Nutritionist/Cooking Instructor /Cookbook Author seeking intern to assist me in growing my consulting business and marketing my new kids cookbook.  This is a unique opportunity to network with established chefs and food writers while learning how to become an entrepreneur. You must be a self-starter with superb organizational skills, excellent writing skills, and, ideally, some knowledge about food. The following skills are required: Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and tech-savvy (need to manage social media sites like Facebook and Twitter). Knowledge of short video editing is a plus (I plan to create a Youtube channel soon). This is an unpaid internship with the possibility of paid work in the near future (2-3 months). You can work from home. For now, approximately 6-10 hours per week.

Tasks include: setting up book signings and events, marketing new cookbook, researching grant opportunities, updating website, managing social media, uploading video content (and editing it, if possible), blogging (happy to give full credit), sending out monthly newsletter,  and general administration.

Please email your resume and cover letter to: julienegrin@gmail.com.

I attended the Farm to Cafeteria conference in Detroit last week, hosted by the National Farm to School organization and the Community Food Security Coalition CFSC).

I want to start with saying that the people in Detroit could not have been kinder or more welcoming! I’m glad that our conference brought some much needed income to this incredible town. One of the biggest cities in the country (140 square miles!), it was already suffering before the recession but now, it’s really struggling. The good news is that there are many dedicated folks who are working hard to revitalize the city through gardening and urban farming (which was written about in Oprah a couple of years ago). I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the country ends up taking pointers from Detroit in upcoming years….

There are so many things I could write about regarding this terrific conference! It was three days of informative sessions and mingling with 600 attendees, who are dedicated to bringing healthier food to children. If you’re involved in any part of the food industry, I highly recommend attending this fall’s CFSC conference in New Orleans from October 16-19. Jamie Oliver might be leading a revolution on television but there are plenty of people who have been steadfastly igniting a revolution for years from their school gardens, farms, classrooms, and offices.

My favorite part of the Farm to Cafeteria conference involved the kids (not a surprise!). Three teams of high school student were finalists for the Cooking Up Change cooking contest. For anyone who thinks that kids, especially teenagers, don’t like healthy food, check out the menus they created. The Cooking Up Change contest shows that kids will not only like healthy meals, they are capable of developing original recipes entirely on their own!

Here is a description of this inspiring program:

“Cooking up Change empowers students to show the world just how delicious and how healthy a school lunch can be. The contest challenges students to create a great-tasting lunch that meets nutrition standards on a tight budget, using only ingredients commonly available for food service. Students must create recipes that include no more than six steps so that they can easily be replicated on a large scale in real school kitchens. ”

The “tight budget” is that the recipes cost only $1.00. Why? Because that’s all school kitchens have to spend on school lunches! (Ridiculous, I know.)

Christie Vilsack (wife of Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture) is a strong supporter of the program and kindly came all the way to Detroit to award the winning students. The winners were three high school students of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona. Hopefully, all the teams feel like winners because their food was fantastic. We ate their creations for lunch one day and I think hotel banquet halls should consider hiring these teenagers to consult! Here are a couple of recipes from the other two finalist teams. The Polenta Pizza recipe is gluten-free and the Sweet Potato Pancakes can be made gluten-free. All of the recipes can be made for just a few dollars.

If you’d like to hold a Cooking up Change contest at your local school, visit the Healthy Schools Campaign or contact Sara Linkzing at sklinzing@healthschoolscampaign.org. You can make a difference!

St. Paul Polenta Pizza

6 cups water
3 cups cornmeal, coarsely ground
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onions, dehydrated
6 1/4 cups crushed tomatoes
7 ounces tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 garlic powder
2 tablespoon sugar
Dash salt
Dash pepper
2 cups spinach (frozen, thawed and drained)
3 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella, shredded
3 1/2 cups low-fat mozzarella, shredded

Heat water to boil, once boiling slowly add cornmeal and mix constantly until combined, then lower heat to a simmer and whisk to remove lumps.

Add the 1 teaspoon of salt and mix for 2 minutes, or until thick. Divide mixture into one well-greased baking pan (12 x 20 x 2 1/2″) or 2 small pans. Set aside to allow the polenta to firm up.

While crust is firming up:

In a saucepan, heat oil. Add dehydrated onions, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, Italian Seasoning, garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and spinach to oil and stir to combine then simmer for 20 minutes until thick.

Divide sauce evenly and spread half over polenta crust. Combine cheese and sprinkle approximately 3 1/2 cups onto each pizza. Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 350°F or until cheese is lightly browned.

UC Berkeley Sweet Potato Pancake

1 teaspoon canola oil
1 dash salt
1/2 cup sweet potato
2 tablespoon all-purpose, bleached flour

Steam the sweet potato (in a steamer basket on the stove) and mash it using a potato masher or your gloved hands. Add 1 dash of salt and 2 tablespoons flour; mix well. Form the mixture into small patties (smaller ones will stick together better). Add canola oil into a preheat skillet. Cook the pancakes until golden yellow or brown.

I received an email this morning from my brother-in-law, who very sweetly, asked me for a coffee cake recipe so that he could bake it for my sister for Mother’s Day. She became a mom for the first time last August so this is her first official mother’s day! Only one recipe came to mind and that was all I needed.

David Glickman taught this coffee cake recipe when we worked together at the JCC in Manhattan and I fell in love with it. It has a lot of steps but it’s worth taking the time to make it. I just discovered that he adapted it from the Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook by Carrie Levin. Good Enough to Eat happens to be one of my favorite brunch places in New York City so now it makes sense why this recipe ROCKS.

For those of you who don’t like to bake but are still looking for a present for mother’s day, check out my Last Minute Kitchen Gifts post from December where I gave kitchen equipment and cookbook recommendations. You could also sign your mom (or wife) and you up for a cooking class. Or, buy a gift certificate to her favorite restaurant. I love giving gifts that have something to do with food - they are always a hit! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping

For the Streusel:
3 tablespoons cold butter
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

For the cake:
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (for cake) plus 2
tablespoons (for bath)
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups sour cream

For the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut-up

For the Streusel:

1. Cut the butter into little pieces and mix together with the other ingredients until you reach a gravelly
consistency. Put in the refrigerator to keep the butter from melting until ready to use.
For the cake:

2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

3. Grease a 9-inch tube pan with some butter (not from ingredient list), and flour it, banging out the excess.

4. Using a stand mixer or a food processor, beat the butter and sugar together thoroughly until white and creamy.
Stop the machine and using a rubber spatula, scrape down any mix that has climbed the sides of the bowl.
Break the eggs into a measuring cup and stir together with the 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add this and beat together
at a high speed until incorporated. Stop and scrape down. If the mixture has a curdled appearance, that’s
good.

5. Combine and sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make sure there are no unmixed
lumps of any of the rising elements. Put one-third of the flour into the bowl and pulse or mix for 2 to 3
seconds. Scrape down. Add half of the sour cream; pulse for 2 to 3 seconds. Scrape down. Continue: onethird
flour, mix, scrape down; one half sour cream, mix scrape down; one-third flour, mix scrape down; and so
on. Make sure everything is incorporated—mix again if necessary. Remember to stop the machine each time
while scraping down and adding ingredients.

6. Put half of the cake batter into your tube pan. Drop the streusel evenly over the top, and bang down the pan to
settle. Now add the rest of the cake batter. Drizzle the 2 tablespoons of vanilla over the top of the batter (the
“bath”)

7. Put into the oven to bake for 50 to 60 minutes. At the 30 minute point you will put on the crumb topping.

For the crumb topping:

8. In a bowl at room temperature, mix the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.

9. Mix the butter into the dry mix a few pieces at a time. You want to try and completely coat the butter pieces
with the flour mix.

10. At this point, put both hands into the bowl and roll the flour and butter between your thumbs and fingers, letting
the contents drop back into the bowl each time.

11. Keep the mixture moving through your hands with minimal pressure and contact. The finished batter should
have a gravelly texture—shot through with uneven-sized pebbles of butter.

To Complete:

After the coffee cake has been in the oven for 30 minutes, sprinkle the crumb topping onto the cake. Don’t squeeze or
press the topping down. The coffee cake will be done after about 25 more minutes in the oven. Test with a slender, longbladed knife: After inserting in the middle, it should come out dry. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan and slicing to serve.

Get Ahead:

The coffee cake can be made up to two days in advance or frozen immediately after it cools for up to two months.

Recipe by Chef David Glickman, adapated from The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook by Carrie Levin
Serves 8-10

I scheduled an oil change for my car this week. It got me thinking about how we need to give our bodies a tune up too. And spring time is the perfect time to do it.

We often spend more time maintaining our “things” than we do our bodies. (I’m not referring to grooming - I’m talking about taking care of the insides.) Yet, we can trade in a car or an electronic device for a new one - but we only get one body per lifetime so regular “maintenance” is essential. Taking care of the body doesn’t need to be a ton of work or cost a lot of money. In fact, there are a lot of relaxing, fun ways to improve your mental and physical health. The more you nurture your body, the better you’ll feel (and look), inside and out.

Feed yourself regular meals and snacks. No more skipping meals. You heard it here - from a nutritionist (a Jewish one, no less): Eat! You’ll boost your metabolism, be more productive, have more energy, and will make better food choices.

Find a personal trainer. I’m a pretty frugal person but I think this is one of the BEST places you can spend your money. Because of the recession, many in-home personal trainers have lowered their fees. And some gyms offer group personal training packages which can be as low as $20 per person. You get lots of one-on-one attention, spend the hour yacking with friends (or new friends), AND get a great work out. How’s that for multi-tasking? Personal trainers will develop a customized program for you that you can do on your own for the rest of the week or month.

Indulge in a spa day. This also doesn’t need to be super expensive! Many cities have spa houses (often Asian or Russian) where you can pay a flat fee, as low as $15 dollars for the entire day, to spend hours in tubs, saunas, and steam rooms. For an additional fee, you can get a massage, scrub, pedicure, or manicure. Relaxation and “down-time” lowers your stress level which improves your mental and physical health.

Sleep in. Laying in bed all day isn’t just for “lazy” teenagers. (Teens actually need a lot of sleep so let them sleep!) Recent studies show that people who get too little sleep are actually at risk for diabetes. Now, if that isn’t the cheapest, easiest disease-prevention advice out there: REST. I don’t “keep” a traditional Jewish Sabbath but I always reserve Saturdays to relax. I realize this is hard when you have small kids but with a little arranging, it’s possible to get some extra zzzzzs on the weekend. Take turns with your spouse and let each other sleep in every other weekend.  And during the week, go to bed earlier and sleep in a little later. You can tell your boss that it will save them health insurance money down the road….

Get acupuncture. One of the best ways to “tune up” your body is to take advantage of Chinese medicine. Some health insurance plans cover acupuncture (it’s worth calling yours to find out). While it’s not always inexpensive, it’s worth it. It’s the only place you can say, “I need help sleeping, I’d like to concentrate on my work better, my knee hurts, and I feel a cold coming” and have all of those concerns addressed by a few little needles and a nap! And for those of you who are scared of the needles - it’s really not painful at all. If you need a comparison, getting your blood drawn is infinitely more uncomfortable. And if the needles really bother you, you can just get Chinese herbs instead.

Enjoy nature. I attended the Integrative Healthcare Symposium conference a couple of months ago, and it was incredible to learn how simply spending some time in nature can completely alter your biochemical state. This is especially important for children. We are animals, after all, so it makes sense that spending too much time in artificial settings can cause our bodies to feel stressed.  If you live in the city, try to find a park on the weekends and take a long walk. It can do wonders for your mental and physical health.

Meditate. At the IHS conference, they also touted the many medical benefits of meditating. I must admit this is not something I’m very good about doing on a regular basis (okay, not very good about doing at all) but I’m definitely motivated now after hearing about how much data there is showing as little as 20 minutes (even 5 minutes) can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, decrease depression, and improve all kinds of physical and mental problems.

Enjoy! That’s what life is about.

For more ideas on how to pamper yourself, check out this other article.

It’s starting next week. The bread-free holiday of the Jewish faith: Passover. I actually like Passover. As a kid, I survived the week by eating hard-boiled eggs and buttered matzoh. Fortunately, I’ve expanded my repertoire since then – and have some recipes to share with you.

I am including spring time recipes that will appeal to everyone regardless if you celebrate Passover. They include Spring Leek Patties (Keftes) and Seared Salmon with Sauce Gribiche (see below). For more holiday dish ideas, click here to find links (scroll down the page) to the four video clips and Passover recipes I did for New York’s channel, NY1.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and Happy Spring and Passover!

Mom’s Passover “Bread” Rolls
For those of you who do celebrate Passover, these “bread rolls” are a must. They aren’t the most attractive bread products you’ll ever see (flashback to my brothers and me eating them for lunch with peanut butter and jelly in a mostly non-Jewish elementary school) but they are a lifesaver for on-the-go meals during the holiday week.

2 cups matzoh meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a medium sized bowl, mix matzoh meal, salt and sugar together. Whisk eggs together in a separate bowl. Bring water and oil to a boil in a small saucepan. As soon as the water and oil reach a boil, add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir together. Wait a few minutes for the mixture to cool, then add in egg mixture. Blend well until slightly sticky. Shape into desired roll size and line them up on greased baking sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Recipe by Mama Negrin adapted from Manischewitz

Leek Patties (Keftes)
This Mediterrinean recipe is often served at Sephardic seders in Seattle. Leeks, which are in season for a little longer, are perfect for spring, Passover dishes.

2 lbs leeks (will need 1 1/2 cups of cooked leeks)
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped (you can omit for nut-allergies)
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup maztoh meal
2 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder or potato starch
Matzoh cake meal for dredging
Canola oil for frying

Wash, slice, and parboil leeks in a large pot of water for 10 minutes or until tender. In a colander, drain all of the water. Squeeze leeks to remove as much water as possible - leeks need to be very dry. Combine all of the additional ingredients except cake meal and oil. Moisten hands and shape into patties 3- to 4-inches in diameter. Dip each patty in the cake meal and pan-fry until golden brown. You can serve the leek patties warm or room temperature.

Seared Salmon with Sauce Gribiche
If you’re tired of eating meat meals two nights in a row at the seders, seared salmon makes for a lovely, light dish during the middle of the week. The gribeche is a little heavier but absolutely delicious. The key to searing is to make sure the pan is very hot - when you carefully lay the piece of fish in the pan, don’t try to move it. Once it’s cooked, you’ll be able to gently lift it up with a spatula and turn it over. If it’s a really thick piece and the center isn’t quite cooked, you can throw it into a heated oven for a few minutes - just make sure you don’t overcook it.

For the salmon:
4 (5-oz) pieces center-cut salmon fillet (about 1-inch thick) with or without skin
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the “sauce gribiche”:
6 hard boiled eggs, diced
1 large red onion, diced
4 tablespoons capers
1/2 cups kalamata olives, diced
3 anchovies, finely minced
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (omit for Passover)
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil

To prepare salmon, sprinkle each filet on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat vegetable oil in heavy large oven-proof skillet until it shimmers but not smoking. Add salmon fillets, flesh-side down in skillet. Sear until brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Turn fillets over and sear skin side until salmon is just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish.

In a medium bowl, mix together all sauce ingredients gently with a rubber spatula. Drizzle some of the sauce gribeche over the seared salmon filets and serve garnished with fresh parsley.

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Serves 4-6
Recipes by Julie Negrin and John Scoff (chef instructor at the JCC in Manhattan and Home Cooking New York)