3. Health – Fitting Out!

3. Health – Fitting Out!

What is Fitting Out and why does it make a difference in your health and well-being? Nature and birds teach us something, and so does Zemach Zohar, a former Israeli sergeant, as he advises us to escape the matrix.  Also, use the Circle of Life tool as a way to determine your satisfaction with your overall life and wellness. Part of wellness, eating the rainbow, obviously.  Check out my Godmother-Myrtia’s Marinated Vegetables – Lahanika Marinated recipe, it’s delightful and robust.

Nouna’s MARINATED VEGETABLES

Lahanika Marinata

The French call these bite-sized marinated vegetable appetizers, “Legumes a la Greque”.

MARINADE:

• 6 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 4 lemons)
• 10 sprigs parsley
• 1 stalk celery with leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 10 peppercorns, cracked
• 10 coriander seeds, crushed

VEGETABLES:

2 pounds – a combination of any of the following:

• small boiling onions of uniform size (1-inch in diameter), peeled and left whole (or frozen boiling onions, defrosted)
• tender young green beans, trimmed but left whole
• trimmed artichoke hearts, quartered (or frozen artichoke hearts, thawed)
• small carrots, peeled and cut length-wise into sticks
• small zucchini or yellow crookneck squash (6-inches long), sliced in 1-inch widths (if small squash are not available, half a larger squash length-wise and slice each half into 1-inch widths)
• small green, red or yellow peppers, seeded and cut length-wise into 1/2-inch strips
• celery stalks of uniform size, peeled and sliced into 1-inch widths
• cauliflower florets, cut into bite-size pieces
• broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
• small whole mushrooms of uniform size (1-inch in diameter)

GARNISH:

• 1 bunch red leaf lettuce
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Yield: 10 appetizer servings or 6 salad servings

• Combine marinade ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower temperature and simmer for 1 hour.
• Strain marinade into another pan, discarding herbs and seasonings. Return marinade to pot and bring to a boil.
• Add onions and when marinade returns to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover pot, and cook onions until tender but not falling apart (15 to 20 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, transfer onions to a large container with a tight fitting cover.
• Raise heat and bring marinade back to a boil. Add green beans and when marinade returns to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover pot, and cook beans until tender but still crisp (20 minutes). Transfer beans to container with onions.
• Continue in this manner with remaining vegetables, never cooking more than one vegetable at a time. The following chart gives the cooking time for each remaining vegetable.
  • Artichokes: 10 to 15 minutes, depending on size
  • Carrots: 10 minutes
  • Zucchini and yellow squash: 5 minutes
  • Peppers: 5 minutes
  • Celery: 5 minutes
  • Cauliflower: 5 minutes
  • Broccoli: 3 minutes
  • Mushrooms: 3 minutes
• When all the vegetables have been cooked, set marinade aside and cool to room temperature. Pour cooled marinade over vegetables, seal container with a tight fitting cover, and refrigerate vegetables for 12 hours or overnight.
• To serve, lay a bed of lettuce leaves on a large serving platter. Drain vegetables in a colander (reserving marinade for storing leftovers) and arrange pieces attractively over lettuce. Moisten vegetables with a little reserved marinade and garnish with chopped parsley.

NOTE:

Leftover vegetables will keep for several days refrigerated in marinade. The marinade can also be reused for preparing more vegetables.