Recipe: Swiss Chard, Tomatoes and Sprouts

I've been making a lot of vegetable dishes for dinner lately.  This is one of my favorites. I usually improvise, but I share the recipe to get you started on your own creations. I serve this with brown rice and fish. Fantastic!

Begin with a couple of chopped tomatoes in a skillet along with a Tablespoon of olive oil, a couple of cloves of minced garlic (or equivalent frozen/refrigerated). Cook for a few minutes on medium.

Next, I went out to my garden and harvested some Swiss Chard. I love fresh chard. It has a great texture and wonderful taste.

I also added sprouted mung beans, spinach, chopped red pepper, cilantro and chopped celery...

Let it cook down for 3-5 minutes...

I added some walnut pieces for some crunch toward the end of cooking.  Sorry, but no final picture on this one. Everyone must have been hungry!

Eggplant Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

My friend, Trish, created a similar recipe to this. We received eggplant in our Bountiful Baskets, but neither of us enjoy eggplant parmigiana. It was Trish's idea to roast the eggplant and puree it for a sauce. I thought it was such a good idea, I decided to try it out.. I think that cooked eggplant is the perfect starting point for a pasta sauce!

Begin by cutting off the ends of the eggplant (like I did, above), and then peel it. At this point, you can cut it up into 1-2" pieces.

Put it in a large skillet with about an inch or so of salted water. Boil until fork tender. The next step is to puree or mash it. I used an immersion blender in the pan. I drained part of the water off first. This is what it looks like once it is blended (below).

I cut some beet greens from the garden yesterday. Don't they look pretty?!

Beet greens take a little more time to cook than spinach. So, if you want to boil them first (2 minutes) to soften them, do that first. I just chopped mine up and put them into the mix. You can blend them with the tomato sauce if you think your kids will fuss. They'll never know they are in the sauce!

Above is a picture of everything tossed in. In addition to the beet greens, I added baby portobello mushrooms, fresh basil, diced tomato, canned tomato sauce, oregano, crushed garlic (I used 2 cubes of Dorot) and a pinch of salt.

I served it over some rigatoni with a little Parmesan.  This has a wonderful taste and is a nice thick sauce. A perfect vegetarian meal in my book! Leave off the Parmesan for a delicious vegan dish. You'll never miss the meat!

Here is the recipe:

Eggplant Tomato Pasta Sauce with Beet Greens

1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 small can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 large tomato, diced
10 baby portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 c. chopped beet greens or other greens
1 c. fresh basil, chopped
2 tsp. dried oregano
grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Peel and cube the eggplant. In a large frying pan, cook the eggplant in salted boiling water until fork tender. Drain off half of the cooking water (or leave if you want a thinner sauce, or if you intend to let the sauce simmer for awhile). Using an immersion blender, food processor or potato masher, make the eggplant into a sauce. Add tomato sauce, garlic and dried oregano. Add other ingredients and allow to simmer until desired consistency. Serve over cooked pasta.  Add grated Parmesan to taste.

Recipe: Hummus, Tomato, Spinach and Sprouts Sandwich

Today for lunch I looked in the refrigerator to see what I could create. It was slim pickings let me tell you! Husband and I were in California all week, and we just stopped by the little market in town on the way home for a few things. However, I still had some sunflower greens left (they keep for a week or two after picking if you put them dry into an airtight container in the refrigerator). I had just picked up the tomatoes and the Sara Lee Thin Style Buns (honey wheat) at the market. So, I spread some hummus onto the bun...

I used the Athenos Roasted Garlic Hummus that I had on hand.

Here is a picture of the sunflower greens that I grew a couple of weeks ago.

From there, it was just assembling all of the ingredients.

It was really very delicious. I put some spinach on (see it peeking out under the sliced tomatoes?).

For under 200 calories, this is a very delicious sandwich, full of flavor and nutrition.  Here's the recipe (copy and paste it to a word document, and then print it out):

Hummus, Tomato, Spinach and Sprouts Sandwich

Sara Lee Thin Style Buns  100 calories

2 TBSP Hummus, 50 calories

Sunflower sprouts, Spinach, Sliced tomatoes, 25 calories if that

Open bun. Spread 1 TBSP of hummus on each side of bun. Place spinach, sprouts and sliced tomato on either side of bun. Carefully put tomato side on top of sprout side to form the sandwich. Enjoy!

Try it and let me know how much you enjoyed it!

Oven Baked Ono with Spinach, Blueberry, Kiwi Salad

I've been fixing fish for most of our evening meals. I decided to bake some Ono and served it with a fantastic spinach salad. Here is the recipe:

Spinach, Blueberry Kiwi Salad

2-3 c. baby spinach, washed and torn
6 oz. blueberries
1-2 kiwi, peeled, cored and diced
1/4 c. walnuts
Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing, to taste

Plate the spinach. Add the blueberries, kiwi and walnuts. Squeeze the dressing as desired onto the salad. Serves 2-3.

Here is the dressing. I bought it at Whole Foods. It is oil free, and mostly fruit concentrates. Very light but perfect for this salad.

Creamy Avocado Salad Dressing or Dip Recipe

I've been trying out a few homemade salad dressing and dip recipes over the past week. I want a nice variety of recipes so that I can make my dressings, and have more control over the ingredients that go into them. Also, I want to keep the calories low. There is nothing more wasteful when you blow your calorie allotment on salad dressing. Do you agree?  I found this recipe over at Kitchen Of Health. 

This is a nice tasting dressing. I made some yesterday and took it to a book club. Everyone liked it. I served it with sliced cucumbers and carrot stips. I love it with the carrot strips!

Creamy Avocado Dressing

2 avocadoes, peeled and pitted
Juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
1 tsp. lime zest
1 peeled cucumber
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder
dash of sea salt

Blend all ingredients together in a food processer or blender until smooth, adjusting water to get desired consistency. Refrigerate unused portions. Yield 3 cups.

Best Granola Recipe

I've had this recipe for granola for years. I've seen people make it on YouTube since I've had the recipe, but I'm not sure where I got the recipe. I think it has probably been around for years. It is the best recipe I've tried for granola!

First, I had a picture of some of the ingredients that you'll need; unsweetened coconut, ribbon coconut, chopped raw almonds (I sprouted mine), wheat germ, raw sunflower seeds and sesame seeds are pictured below.

Here is the recipe. All you need to do is measure out your ingredients, mix it all together, and pop it in the oven. Easy, relatively healthy and delicious. What's not to like about that?! Not much :)

Best Granola

6 c. rolled oats
1/2  to 1 c. wheat germ
1 c. unsweetened coconut
1 c. nuts (I love sprouted, dehydrated chopped almonds)
1/2 c. ribbon coconut
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1/2c. canola oil
1 c. honey (you can use agave if you prefer)
1 c. raisins (or other dried fruit)
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 TBSP vanilla

Mix grains, nuts, seeds and coconut together thoroughly. Pour oil and honey over mixture and stir well. Spread on 2 lightly oiled cookie sheets (or one large roasting pan). Bake at 300* for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Stir occasionally while baking. When the mixture is golden brown, take out and mix in the raisins and any other dried fruit., vanilla and almond extract. Put back into the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Try not to eat it all once you take it out of the oven!

Above is a picture of all of the ingredients, except the oil and honey mixed together. And, below, once it is in the roasting pan to bake.

If you like a crunchy granola, then spread it out onto 2 cookie sheets.

Above, crunchy granola after baking. Below, served with Greek yogurt and banana slices.

 A close up.....

In a mason jar to use later!

Red Curry Salmon Chowder

I found this recipe in one of those freebie magazines that you get at the health food store. The name of the magazine is Delicious Living.  This soup certainly was delicious! This is one of the best recipes I have tried out in a while.

Red Curry Salmon Chowder

Serves 4 
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

1 TBSP coconut oil
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 TBSP Thai red curry paste
1 TBSP grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red Fresno pepper, sliced
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
1-2 cups low sodium vegetable or fish stock
2 tsp low-sodium fish sauce
2 tsp honey
1 pound skinless salmon fillet, cut into large chunks
2 small heads (1/2 pound each) bok choy, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 c. cilantro leaves and thin, tender stems
2 large limes, cut into wedges

Heat the coconut oil in a medium-large saucepan; cook onion and mushrooms for 3-5 minutes, until just softened.

Stir in curry paste, ginger, garlic and Fresno pepper; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, and honey; bring to a boil and add salmon and bok choy. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 3-6 minutes (depending on salmon thickness), until bok choy is tender.

Divide  among four bowls, sprinkle with basil and cilantro, and serve with lime wedges on the side.

377 cal, 29g fat (6 sat), 5 gm protein, 23 gm carb, 4 gm fiber and 211 mg sodium

How it all went down:

The recipe called for a pound of skinless salmon fillet, but I couldn't find any wild salmon at the stores yesterday, and I went to FIVE stores (ugh) to find it. No basil in any of those same stores. So we didn't have that as a garnish for the soup. As far as the salmon was concerned, I purchased canned wild salmon, and it was a good substitution. My son suggested for the next time I make it, that I add more salmon! OK, yes, this is my son that has always eaten fish and has loved it since he was little. But, a little more salmon isn't a bad idea if you are using canned. I'd use two cans of salmon in the future.

I also couldn't find a Fresno pepper, which is hotter than a jalepeno. None of the stores had fresh jalepenos either. All bought out. It was New Year's Eve after all. I should have planned ahead.
So, instead, I just used the red bell pepper that was in my refrigerator. It made for a milder soup. Fortunately, I had everything else on hand. The key to preparing any recipe is that it is OK to make a substitution here and there! Regardless, we will definitely make this again.

Whole Grain Cereal cooked in Crockpot

Last night I decided to cook some whole grains for today's breakfast. Slow cooked whole grain cereal may have been the breakfast of champions before processed, boxed cereal came on the scene. That was many years ago though, and now, many people think that hot cereal consists of just oatmeal or cream of wheat.

There are a few ways of going about cooking hot cereal with whole grains.

I decided to cook my cereal in a crock pot. If your crock pot doesn't run hot, you can probably just put the pot on low, and your cereal will be cooked in the morning. Mine runs hot, even on low, so after 3-4 hours, my cereal was finished. I just put it into glass storage containers and into the fridge once it cooled. The picture below is after it had been refrigerated overnight and I had scooped a portion out. I ended up with about 8 cups of cooked cereal.

This morning, I added a little water to 2/3 cup cooked cereal and microwaved mine to heat it up for about 1 minute. Perfect!

Another method is to cook the cereal in a covered casserole in your oven overnight. It can bake at about 150* to 200* overnight. Don't sleep in though, or you may have overcooked (hard) cereal!

From the old LDS Cannery Cookbook, there is a recipe for using 1 cup of whole wheat (or other grain), and adding 2 cups of boiling water to it in a thermos (with a little salt), and storing it overnight. I am sure this would be a bit on the chewy side!

Here is the recipe I used last night:

1/2 c. quinoa (Bob's Red Mill-prewashed)
1/2 c. hard red winter wheat
1/2 c. oat groats
1/2 c. pearl barley

quinoa top left, wheat top right, oat groats bottom left, pearl barley bottom right

I combined all of the grains in the crock pot with 4 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt. I added another cup of water after about 3 1/2 hours of cooking on low.  I think that erring on the side of extra water won't hurt at all. I unplugged the crock pot after about 4 1/2 hours, and it was perfectly cooked. You can use any combination of whole or cracked grains with this recipe, and even cut it in half if you have a smaller crock pot. The ratio is 1/2 c. grain to 1- 1 1/2 c. water.

I served my cereal with Greek yogurt and blueberries for breakfast. Delish!

Here is a close-up of the cooked cereal:

Portobello Mushrooms with Chicken and Spinach

Portobello Mushrooms with Chicken and Spinach

Looking for a delicious dish that you can indulge yourself with that will not ruin your healthy eating habits? I created this recipe using ingredients that were in my refrigerator, and now it is one of my favorites! It is easy to prepare and so nutritious.

First, here are the ingredients that I used:

Grated carrots, diced cooked chicken, diced mini portobello mushrooms (Costco purchase), baby spinach......

and Tomato Basil  Dressing from Whole Foods. You can find it in the refrigerator section of the store. 

I used about 8 oz. of mushrooms and diced them. I put 1 tsp of olive oil in the pan to saute them and then added the grated carrot.

Next, add the chicken. Since this is one serving I'm making, I measured out 2 ounces of chicken...and yes, I used a kitchen scale!

Once the chicken has been in the pan and is heated up, I put in the spinach. I put my cast iron skillet on the pan as a cover, and let the spinach steam for a minute or so.

Sprinkle some grated cheese on top. It not only tastes great, but it looks yummy as well!

Close up!  I have tried other no oil dressings such as the Fig Balsamic Dressing, but I really like the Tomato Basil Dressing the best. You could use fresh basil and a little tomato paste from a tube and a few other herbs if you don't have the Tomato Basil Dressing. Enjoy!

Calorie Count:  375 calories and no regrets!

Portobello mushrooms, 8 oz           60 calories
1 Tsp. Olive Oil                              40 calories
1  carrot, grated                               25  calories
2  oz. chicken, cubed                      110 calories 
1/3 c. mozzarella cheese, grated      110 calories
1 c. baby spinach                             10 calories
Tomato Basil Dressing, 2 TB          20 calories