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

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’ve found that the main reason people don’t do a lot of cooking is that they find the process overwhelming. It’s always best to keep it simple! So, for fathers (and anyone else) looking for some dinner ideas that can be made quickly and/or easily, I created a short list of menu concepts. Whenever people are unsure how to come up with a menu, I suggest that they start with a cuisine or a theme and work from there. If you have an Asian noodle dish you want to make, round out the meal with some edamame and grilled chicken or tofu.

I called a friend in Seattle who cooks the majority of his family meals and asked him for his most popular dinners. All of these (with the exception of the Pad Thai) are extremely easy to pull together. Since he rarely cooks from a recipe, I searched online for similar dishes that look tasty, have good ratings, and don’t take long to prepare. The cherry tomato pasta dish is so easy that his 10 year old daughter often  makes it by herself!

Top Five Go-To Meals by Dad

1) Latin: Chicken Fajitas made with Green Peppers and Onions, served in Flour Tortillas with Homemade Guacamole

2) Seattle: Barbecued Salmon, served with Steamed or Grilled Asparagus with Butter, and a Baguette

3) Asian: Thai Dinner: Pad Thai and Coconut Red Curry with Shrimp or Tofu served with Sticky White Rice

4) Italian: Penne with Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Garlic, Olive Oil, and Parmesan Cheese

5) American: Flank Steak made with Soy Sauce, Red Wine, Honey, Garlic, Salt and Pepper (marinated for 24 hours) served with Caesar Salad, and Baked Potato or Rice Pilaf (or Grilled Corn in the summer)

I’m keeping this post short and sweet. Happy Father’s Day to all the incredible papas who take such care good care of their families. We love ya.

We started the morning off with a breakfast hosted by SOS. The speakers included Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass. We then walked over to the White House where we proceeded through three checkpoints. We toured Michelle Obama’s organic garden before being seated to hear Chef Sam Kass and First Lady Michelle Obama speak on behalf of children.

I didn’t think I could admire Michelle Obama any more than I already did – but, WOW, I discovered that I could! She is not only advocating for kids health and opening the eyes of bureaucrats and calling out food corporations – she is also so dang COOL! The videos I shot of her are kind of shaky so here is a link to the “official” video. One of the best days ever. Read on to see what YOU can do to help improve the health of our nation’s kids.

To see more photos of my White House journey, visit my Facebook page.

On June 10th, Food Research Action Center (FRAC) organized a Lobby Day in Washington DC to advocate for the Child Reauthorization Act (CNR). This legislation is extremely important right now. It covers critical programs like School Lunch, Summer and Weekend Feeding Programs, and Women, Infant, and Children (WIC).  CNR is only up for re-signing every four or five years. If the Senate does not sign it soon, it will expire on September 30th and we’ll have to wait even longer to improve school lunches, increase funding for Farm to School, and fund all kinds of other programs that will help children receive access to food.

Farm to School/Community Food Security Coalition were kind enough to bring me down for Lobby Day last week. Chefs from around the country took time out of their busy schedule to fly to DC and lobby for the kids. I’m still very new to lobbying but I’ve already noticed how resigned many of the staffers (the people who work for members of Congress) appear in our meetings. After we started one particular meeting, where one staffer looked like she was ready to take a nap, two chefs walked in wearing their white chef coats, Bill Telepan (Telepan) and Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto and Top Chef Masters). You should have seen the staffer perk up! Suddenly, she was sharing stories about how her family shops at farm stands and what they like to cook together. This is why no matter what, my work will always involve sharing my love of cooking in some way or another. It’s the great common denominator, a tradition that every single human being on the planet shares. Now, if only we could get warring nations to cook a meal together….

It doesn’t surprise me that chefs are now championing children’s nutrition. Chefs are typically very energetic people who have one thing in common: they love nourishing others. Many of them have been working with children in the schools long before it became popular this past year. When Congressman George Miller announced his new bill for $8 billion for CNR (versus Blanche’s meager $4.5 billion) at a press conference on June 10th, it was chefs standing behind him. The troops supporting their leader standing strong in uniforms of chefs coats.

I know everyone is going a mile a minute these days but this is IMPORTANT. The healthier our kids, the healthier our nation. Please take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and call or email your representative - it’s very easy to email from the Healthy School Campaign website. Click here to EMAIL or click here to PHONE your representative. Thank you for supporting our kids!

To see more photos of Lobby Day, visit my Facebook page.

“If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.” –Maria Montessori

I have a recipe for one of the dishes which was superb. Salmon cakes are very inexpensive (you can used canned salmon) and extremely easy to prepare. Enjoy!

Ginger Cilantro Salmon Cakes

1/2 cup celery, minced
1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, plus 1 pinch (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (you can make your own in a food processor with stale bread)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lb (2 cans) canned salmon (you can substitute tuna, chopped chicken or sardines)

2 tablespoons olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the celery, onion, cilantro, ginger, garlic, mustard, cayenne, and sea salt. Add egg and breadcrumbs to mixture.

Fold in the salmon and mix well. Form small 2-inch patties for appetizer size salmon cakes or 4-inch patties for entree size cakes. Set aside on a platter.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan and fry the patties for roughly 3 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown. You will know when the bottom is nicely browned because the patty will slide easily across the pan when you try to flip it. Allow to cool and top with yogurt dill sauce or salsa.

Recipe adapted from Operation Frontline - Share Our Strength Chef Ana Villalobos

I know that a lot of people feel our country has been down more than it’s been up lately. But walking on the Hill reminded me that this is still a democratic country. And that means that we can all make a difference. Look at how much money we raised for Haiti in a matter of days! If we work together on these issues, we can turn it around. I believe that. Click here to make a difference.

I took this shot at the end of Lobby Day on my walk to the metro.

To see more photos from Lobby Day, visit my Facebook page.

A big THANK YOU to the chefs who flew in from around the country to lobby for kids and feed us!

CHRISTOPHER ALBRECHT, Eno Terra, Princeton, NJ

CATHAL ARMSTRONG, Restaurant Eve, Washington DC

ZACH BELL, Cafe Boulud, Palm Beach

BILL BRADY, Sonoma Restaurant, Worcester, MA

RJ COOPER, Vidalia, Washington DC

MICHELLE GAYER, The Salty Tart, Minneapolis

DAVID GUAS, Damgoodsweet, McClean, VA

LINTON HOPKINS, Restaurant Eugene, Atlanta

MARY SUE MILLIKEN, Border Grill, Santa Monica, CA

WILL MOONEY, The Brothers Moon, Princeton, NJ

BILL TELEPAN, Telepan Restaurant, NYC

ANA VILLALOBOS

JONATHAN WAXMAN, Barbuto, NYC

Help Schools Raise Money

I have lots of good memories of bake sales and school fundraisers at my elementary school. Every year, they had a cake walk. I played it so many times that I won cakes two years in row. But, times have changed. Recently, there was a heated battle about bake sales. New York City banned schools from selling homemade baked goods in order to prevent foodborne illnesses. School officials said it was also to fight obesity. Yet, Pop Tarts were on the list of approved products.

Schools need to raise money. This is indisputable. Instead of banning things - why don’t we come up with new ideas that are beneficial to the community AND raise money for schools? You don’t need to be a parent in order to make a difference at your local school. Perhaps you have a small business that you could promote at a school fundraisier while also providing goods or services at a discounted rate.  It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

By initiating fundraisers that do not involve selling sugary baked goods, we are sending an important nutrition message to kids as well as teaching them how to think outside the box and be creative business entrepreneurs.

Here are some inventive fundraising ideas. I included links at the bottom that include even more options.

Create a cookbook with healthy recipes from the community. With Mac computers and online publishers like Lulu.com and Blurb.com, it’s an easy and fun way to collaborate with members of the community and create a useful product to sell.

Sell items with the school logo on it. The site Vistaprint.com allows you to upload logos that can be printed on calendars, coffee mugs, or pens. It’s inexpensive, easy, and quick.

Help families go green. Sell BPA-free water bottles and eco-friendly lunch boxes.

Sell gardening kits or composting kits. Any time you make it easy for people to start a new eco-habit, you are doing a good deed!

Create T-shirts for a fundraising activity that helps the community. Start an annual school walk-a-thon or offer to build a garden at a local community center. By selling the T-shirts with an artsy logo, you’re promoting a good cause while also raising funds.

Hold your own farmer’s market. Enlist local farmer’s or grocery stores to get involved. Create your own farmer’s market at the school by having the kids build little stands with signs. Ask parents who are confident cooks to hold cooking demos.  One parent sold scripts from her local Farmers’ Markets. The market sold tokens at a 10% discount, then the parents sold them at full price. According to the Florida Fruit Association, fruit fundraisers can raise $8,000-$10,000 in as few as one to two weeks.

Sell local food products. You’ll be supporting local businesses and raising funds for the school at the same time. In 2009, schools in southern Wisconsin collectively sold more than $50,000 of local and fairly-traded products.

Cater a dinner cooked by kids. One of my colleagues runs a wonderful nutrition and cooking program within Children’s AID Society in New York City. Some of her high school students started cooking for school staff meetings and they loved the food so much that it’s now a side business where teens learn how to cook and run a catering business.

Sell flowers! You make the sales, Flower Power gets 50%, and your school gets the rest. The company will mail plants directly to each person who orders so that the parents and the school don’t have to do anything after the sale.

Hold an Iron Chef event. Find a local celebrity chef to be the judge and have different members of the community participate.  Charge each person per head and invite the press for media coverage. It’s fun, inventive and you can hold an auction - or silent auction - at the event in order to raise additional funds.

There are lots of options out there besides selling baked goods! For more ideas and information, check out the following links:

http://www.cspinet.org/schoolfundraising.pdf

Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Seattle Public Schools - scroll to PTA healthy fundraising for links

School Nutrition Association - Scroll to fundraising

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.

What bums me out is the prevailing misconception that healthy food isn’t appetizing. When people sit down to eat the meal at the end of my cooking classes, someone inevitably looks up and says, “Wait, this is delicious. AND it’s good for me?” My response is always the same: “I wouldn’t last very long as a cooking teacher if my recipes weren’t tasty!”

I hope to show people that healthy food CAN taste good, one recipe at a time. Or, in this case, two recipes at a time. Unless you live on the west coast, it’s likely you’ve never had tempeh. I admit that I didn’t like it the first few times I ate it but now I’m a huge Tempeh Fan. Give it a chance.

Tempeh is an Indonesian fermented soy product. It’s a good texture for people who like meat but are trying to eat more plant-based meals. It’s also nice because after eating a tempeh meal, you feel full without feeling super stuffed.

Cynthia Lair, who has a very informative website, Cookus Interruptus, full of recipes and cooking videos, recently posted her Szechwan Tempeh dish. It’s been one of my favorite recipes ever since she taught it in my Bastyr University cooking class when I was a grad student. When I make this recipe, I’ll prepare couscous (takes five minutes) and wilt some greens for a complete and satisfying meal. Click here for the Szechwan Tempeh recipe and watch a video on how to prepare it.

Here is one of my own tempeh recipes. The great thing  about tempeh is that it will take on just about any flavor  - so feel free to play around with this marinade and try different vinegars, oils, spices, and fresh herbs. The key to preparing tempeh is to marinate it for at least 15 minutes before sautéing or baking it.

Balsamic-Glazed Tempeh

1 (8 ounce) package tempeh
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon mirin
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 scallion, sliced
¼ cup water
Kosher or sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350° degrees F.

Cut tempeh into 1-inch slices and place in a 8×8 oven proof dish. In a medium-size bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, tamari, mirin, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, red pepper flakes, scallions and water. After whisking dressing together, carefully pour it over tempeh so that each piece is covered in dressing.

Let it sit at room temperature for around 10 minutes and then flip each slice over so that both sides soak up dressing. Marinate for 15 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 25 minutes. Serve over couscous, rice or with polenta.

*Note: if doubling this recipe, prepare only 1.5x the sauce.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves 2-4
Recipe by Julie Negrin © 2008

Check out Tempeh.com or Recipezaar.com for more tempeh recipes. It’s a fun ingredient to experiment with!

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

While the government is trying to figure out how to combat childhood obesity, HealthCorps is already in schools and educating hundreds of teenagers. HealthCorps “coordinators” are recent college grads who teach nutrition and physical eduction in the same high school for two years. One of the HealthCorps coordinators, Jake Ross (who was my student last summer) recently spoke about the importance of breakfast during a segment on the Dr. Oz show with six of his high school students.

We often hear how important breakfast is but some of us (even me) still slack off sometimes. “Break” “fast” - means exactly that: we are breaking our overnight fast. By morning, it can be up to 12 hours since our last meal. In order to stoke our metabolism (which burns calories), we must eat in the morning. Otherwise, our metabolism remains sluggish from the overnight fast and will shift into “famine mode” - slowing down in order to conserve calories. We don’t ever want to do anything to slow down our metabolism! Eating actually activates the metabolism which is why I’m always telling you to EAT.

Whatever you do, make sure you consume protein in the morning. And try to find something that you look forward to eating for breakfast. Food should be pleasurable - even when it’s good for you. Lately, my favorite breakfast is organic vanilla yogurt, peanut butter granola, and macadamia nuts. It tastes like dessert and I don’t get hungry for hours.

I taught this granola recipe at the JCC in Manhattan and one of my students, Anne Grossman, loved it so much that she started giving it as a gift to family and friends. It’s tastier, cheaper, and healthier than most store-bought products and takes only minutes to toss together.

Homemade Golden Granola
The nice thing about cooking from scratch is that you can customize each dish exactly the way you like it. If your family can’t eat nuts, you can omit them from the recipe. For those of you who are always in a rush in the morning, prepare little baggies of granola to bring to work along with some yogurt and eat it for breakfast at your desk.

4 cups rolled oats (Quaker oats work just fine)
½ cup slivered almonds (optional)
1 cup pecans (optional)
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
¼ teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 ½ cups mixed fruit (golden raisins, currants, dried cranberries or cherries, chopped dried apricots)
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup all-natural maple syrup (or ½ cup honey)
Optional: sunflower seeds, wheat germ, oat bran, brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, mix oats, nuts, coconut flakes, salt, spices, and dried fruit and stir together well. In a liquid measuring glass, whisk oil and maple syrup together. Pour it over the oats mixture and toss well to combine. Scoop entire batch onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure the pieces are spread out in a thin layer. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and then remove the pan and stir granola well so that pieces brown evenly. Repeat this process 10 minutes later.

After about 30 minutes, when the granola is golden brown and crispy, remove the pan from the oven. Pour it immediately into a bowl and break apart clumps with a wooden spoon. Serve with yogurt and fresh berries. Store granola in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (or longer in the freezer).

Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Yields ~10 cups
Recipe by Julie Negrin and Anne Grossman © 2008

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