Farfalle and Salmon Salad

This is a quick salad with a straightforward formula: pasta plus cold veggies (salmon or tuna optional.)

In this case I mixed up my JR Organics (JRO) spinach, lettuce, and carrots. Then, I boiled some bow-tie shaped pasta (farfalle) and towards the end of the boiling process I threw in some JRO peas. I drained the pasta and peas and then added a can of salmon (preferably you would use fresh salmon because of the BPA in the cans but this is good in a pinch.) I tossed everything with the veggies in our favorite dressing and voila! A one-dish healthy and light meal.

Sauteed Broccoli with Radishes and Garlic and more JR Organics Produce

I never ever would have thought to cook radishes but now that I have my weekly box of fresh organic produce, it's so much fun thinking up new recipes to make.

I just chopped the broccoli with the stems and sliced radishes and garlic very thin. I sauteed everything up with the some olive oil and it made a great side dish or mini-meal (pictured below). I topped it with some coarsely shredded Pecorino Romano cheese.

For our second week of produce, we received many of the same items as last week but instead of chard we got spinach. Instead of regular carrots and oranges we got blood oranges and red carrots! I also swapped some celery and radishes with some kale and peas.

Here are the lovely red carrots we got, light orange on the inside!

Blood oranges

And here are the super cute peas and spinach!

Cooking with JR Organics Farm Produce

With the eleven items in our first box of produce, I can already tell we'll have more than enough fabulous fresh fruits and veggies each week to keep us healthy and happy! It's also exciting to have a bunch of things that I might not normally put together so I consider it a challenge to work with some new combinations. I feel like I am cooking in an episode of Chopped.

First, nothing beats fresh fruit for breakfast to get the day started right. I often find that folks who might not grab fruit from the kitchen have no problems grabbing fruit that's nicely chopped and placed in front of them, such as these delicious apples and strawberries:


I LOVE the smell of fresh Rosemary, so I put it out on the coffee table as an air freshener.



I happened to have some organic chicken breast in the house, and since I love chicken with rosemary, inspiration struck! I decided I would make a roasted vegetable pasta primavera with chicken and rosemary.

I started by marinating the chicken in rosemary, sliced spring onions, white wine, and a little olive oil for a few hours.



Then, I sauteed the chicken up. The onions and rosemary became nice and tender with a little char. Yum.

I

I sliced up carrots, broccoli (stems and all), more scallions, and more rosemary. I tossed these veggies in a little oil and then put them in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes until they were soft and toasty. This picture shows the veggies raw.



In the mean time I cut up the chicken and cooked some organic whole wheat penne. When the veggies were done, I tossed everything together with some olive oil and salt and made sure it was all heated through. Then I topped it with Pecorino Romano cheese. We had this for dinner with a delicious salad of butter lettuce, radishes, and avocados.

Yummy egg "salad" sandwich brunch!

I just love adding greens or other veggies plus a tasty dressing to a fried egg and toast. It just lightens everything up. Here I fried up a free range egg and threw it on my favorite toasted bread. I blanched some kale and put it in there too. What you don't see is the "sauce" made of olive oil and a thin restaurant-style salsa. I spread it on the bread and dipped the sammy in the extras. YUM!

Yummy Healthy Juices!

I've been using my new Breville juicer a lot lately. Mostly, I have been making carrot orange juice (pictured above) and Natalia Rose's Green Lemonade (pictured below) which is just:

• 1 head Romaine lettuce
• a handful of dark leafy greens such as kale
• 1 lemon
• 1 apply

Juice it all up and drink! Surprisingly, it tastes excellent and is a great way to get a bunch of antioxidants, enzymes, soluble fiber and other goodness all in one yummy glass.

I can't wait to juice more!

Canyon Ranch Albondigas

I made this Mexican meatball soup for a friend a few weeks ago and she really liked it so I am fulfilling my promise to post the recipe. There are a couple of things to note and a couple of modifications I would make.. For one, I didn't feel like dirtying up a food processor to puree the Pico de Gallo. I liked the way it came out but if you do puree it you'll probably get a more tomatoey broth. Second, I think I'd prefer to use rice instead of potatoes next time because I am not a big fan of potatoes in my soup. Finally, I would use more of the herbs because I didn't taste a lot of the cilantro and mint coming through. The recipe posted below however is how it is written in the book,.

This recipe is taken from the "Canyon Ranch Cooks" cookbook. I usually don't post recipes from cookbooks but this book has been out for a while so I am making an exception. It's a good book and I'd recommend checking it out.

Albondigas

Meatball Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup cooked white rice
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 whole egg
• 1/4 cup minced yellow onion
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Soup Ingredients

• 1.5 quarts chicken stock
• 3/4 cup Pico de Gallo, pureed
• 1 cup peeled diced potatoes
• 1 cup peeled diced carrots
• 1 cup peeled diced celery
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil.
2. Combine all ingredients for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix well. Portion about 2 Tablespoons, about 1 ounce, and form into a ball with wet hands. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Do not overcook.
3. Heat chicken stock in a large saucepan. Add pureed salsa and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add vegetables, cilantro, salt, and meatballs. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Makes 10 servings, 135 calories each

Yummy Asian Shrimp Salad

I threw this really simple salad together last weekend and it came out really well. See those dark green things on the top? Those are strips of teriyaki nori and I am really enjoying throwing them on all kinds of stuff lately. They have a ton of nutrients but are pretty salty so watch out for that. This salad consists of:

• Baby spinach
• Arugala
• Shrimp
• Tomatoes
• Edamame (cooked)
• Sliced almonds
• Dressing of toasted sesame oil and seasoned rice vinegar
• Topped with teryiaki nori strips
• YUMM
  

Gingered Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

I'm really enjoying having veggie soups for dinners this week. I hope I can keep this healthy habit up! I found this recipe in the January/February edition of Women's Health Magazine. It's delicious, healthy, and pretty quick easy to make if you have a food processor.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 1 cup broth
• 1 medium sweet potato (really yam) peeled and chopped
• 5 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• About an inch of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• Greek yogurt, cream or other garnish (optional)

Instructions:

• Heat oil in a pot or large saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft, a few minutes.
• Add broth plus 2 cups water, then add sweet potato, carrot, and ginger.
• Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender, about 15 minutes.
• Strain out veggies and place in food processor. Puree until smooth, adding a bit of broth if needed. Pour puree back into pot and stir until well-blended and smooth.
• Season with salt and pepper, garnish (optional) and enjoy!

4 Servings, 119 calories each

North Meets South Soup

I just made my first real healthy recipe of the new year (besides those beet greens I made earlier today which were really a throw-together.) It came out great so I am sharing it with you here. I call it "North Meets South" soup because it uses "great northern beans" which seem to be from the north and "collard greens" which we know are from the south. This tastes like a Tuscan soup and I adapted it from the Escarole and Bean Soup recipe here. As an Italian, I love escarole but they didn't have any at the store today but they did have some beautiful organic collard greens. Collard greens are really a super food, especially if you are pregnant, because they are loaded with vitamins K, A, and C as well as calcium and folate. And the beans are great too, also with a lot of folate, fiber, calcium, and protein. It's about 200 calories per serving and super easy to make. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 5 cloves minced or crushed garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 (15 oz) cans great northern beans, rinsed. You can substitute navy bean or another white bean. I used Eden beans because they are organic and BPA free.
  
• 1 quart (4 cups) chicken broth. You could also use veggie broth to make this vegan. I use Better than Bouillon because I love the taste and it's convenient.
• 2 cups collard greens, washed, then cut into quarters lengthwise (keeping the stem in). Then, cut that into 1/2 " strips and measure out.
  

Instructions

1. Use a few tablespoons of the broth to cook the onions and garlic together over medium heat in the bottom of a soup pot until they are transparent but not brown.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the greens are tender.
3. That's it! Serve with fresh ground pepper and grated Parmesan or Romano cheese if desired.
   

My first attempt at truffle fries

If you've never had truffle fries, you need to get yourself down to Josie or a similar establishment and order them now! The flavor and aroma are just so amazing. I created a post about this before but basically the deliciousness comes from truffle oil. Now, you wont really find oil from a truffle anywhere. What you will find is oil infused with truffle aroma. So, I finally picked the oil up and attempted to make some "oven" fries with it. I used russet potatoes because they are on the "high levels of antioxidants" list. I knew the fries would be good tossed with the oil at the last minute, but since I needed to put something on them to go in the oven I drizzled both olive and truffle oil on the raw potatoes and immediately saw it was too much. The potatoes just didn't need that much oil and they soaked it up like a sponge. Then, the aroma of the truffle burned off! So, I just had to throw some more truffle oil on the cooked potatoes. They did come out quite tasty, but my goal was to create something that wouldn't be crazy fattening. SO, next time I plan to just spray the taters with some olive oil spray (which currently I am out of) and then toss the fries in the truffle oil at the end. I also tossed in some salt and finely chopped (or "dusted" as my cooking teacher called it) parsely.

Kale Stuffed Mushrooms

I just threw these together and they came out quite delicious with some nice, complex flavors, lots of nutrients, and not a lot of fat and calories. I didn't measure things but here's what i did:

I took about 7 large crimini mushrooms and pulled the stems out. I chopped the stems very small and threw them in saute pan with a few tablespoons of water and then I chopped up the leaves of two stems of kale and threw that in too. I covered the pan and steamed everything until soft. Then, I crushed in 1 small clove of garlic and cooked that up a but. Then I turned the heat off and stirred in about a 1/2 cup of fat free ricotta cheese and a tablesoon of grainy mustard. I then stuffed the mushroom caps with this mixture and then put the mushrooms back in the pan. I poured in about 1/2 cup of white wine and put the lid on and steamed everything for about 8 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked.

Delicious~

I am a guest blog poster!

Hey everyone! Check out my blog post at A Daily Dose of Dieting (http://adailydoseofdieting.blogspot.com/). My low-calorie butternut squash risotto recipe is featured there. Thank you, Ashley, for sharing my recipe!

Thin crust pizzas made with lavash bread

I've been using Trader Joe's whole wheat lavash bread to make some very tasty, quick, and easy "pizzas" lately. Lavash bread is very big, so try half of the piece worth of pizza paired with a side salad for a great, balanced and low calorie meal.

Here is the basic recipe:

• 1 piece whole wheat lavash bread
• A few squeezes Contadina Pizza Squeeze
• 1/2 cup shredded fat free mozzarella or cheddar cheese
• Fresh basil on top! (if you have it.. I've managed to keep a basil plant alive for a couple of months now, yay me)
• Toppings! Try turkey pepperoni, roasted veggies like eggplant, pepper, or zucchini, or any of your favorite toppings. I cubed up a serving of meatloaf and that was really tasty.

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Spread sauce, then cheese, then toppings, then basil on your pizza.
3. Bake on a cookie sheet until bread is crisp and cheese is melted, about 12 minutes.
   
   Tip: You can keep the lavash in the freezer and go straight from freezer to oven, just cook it a few minutes longer. Between that and the pizza squeeze in the fridge, you always have what you need for a quick, tasty meal!
   

Turkey Meatloaf smothered with Mushroom Gravy

This is a fantastic, comforting meal and the whole thing is under 350 calories (including the veggies). The meatloaf is a recipe from Weight Watchers and is published all over the web so I might as well post it here too. The mushroom gravy is my own recipe and I make GREAT gravy. The veggies on the plate are a combination of the baked cauliflower with herbed chevre and some roasted garlic green beans. DELICIOUS!

Weight Watchers' Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf
Makes 8 servings, 181 calories each

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1.25 pounds lean ground turkey
• 4 slices whole-wheat bread, made into fine crumbs (I lightly toasted the bread and then ground them up in the coffee grinder)
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 3 Tablespoons ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (or some garlic powder and salt)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crumbled
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350; spray an 8 x 5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a small skillet, heat the oil. Saute the onions until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the onion, turkey, bread crumbs, milk, egg white, ketchup, cheese, garlic salt, basil, thyme, and pepper; blend well.
   
3. Spread the mixture in the pan evenly. Bake until browned and cooked through, 50-60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Mushroom Gravy
2 generous servings!

• 10 medium sized mushrooms, sliced.
  
• 1 Tablespoon light whipped butter
• 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 cup broth, I make mine with Better than Boullion
  
• 1 teaspoon Gravy Master
  
• 1 pinch of thyme
• ground pepper to taste

1. Spray a saute pan with nonstick spray and saute the mushrooms over medium heat until tender. Remove the mushrooms from the pan.
2. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, and in the same pan add the butter and flour and stir constantly to make a roux.
3. Carefully stir in the broth a little at a time to gradually dissolve the roux, eventually adding all of the broth. Stir in the Gravy Master, thyme, and pepper. Add the mushrooms.
4. Turn the heat back up to medium and simmer, stirring occassionally, until the desired consistency is reached.
   

Baked Cauliflower with Herbed Chevre

This is a really great, hearty side dish that I came up with myself.

Here goes it:

Baked Cauliflower with Herbed Chevre

• 1 bag of frozen cauliflower florets
• 1 oz of herbed chevre (goat cheese)
• 1 Tablespoon of light whipped butter
• 2 teaspoons greated Parmesan cheese
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
   
2. Steam or microwave the cauliflower until tender.
3. Toss the cauliflower with the chevre and butter. Place in a baking pan.
4. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes.
   

The entire recipe is 280 calories. It makes about 3 good-sized side-dishes.

Cupcakes for a BBQ

I made some cupcakes for the boyfriend's bosses BBQ last weekend and they were a big hit. I opted for the vanilla/vanilla flavor combo because of its general likeability. People really loved them, but I honestly felt they were not as moist as I would have liked. I have to say the most moist cupcakes I have made have been from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, despite the obvious lack of butter. I used the recipe for cake and frosting from Bakeralla's site.

Also, apologies for my last of posts lately. I've actually been to a lot of restaurants and have made some tasty food lately but I have been so busy during the day with my new full-time job (4 month mile stone in a couple of days, yay for me) that I have not been in the mood to spend much time on the computer when I get home. But, I must try harder.

Cheerio

Quest for the Best: Cornbread Recipe

As some of you know, I recently finished a 6-month culinary program. This has really sparked my desire to work on my cooking skills and stop messing around. So, I think part of that is to really find the best recipes I can and learn to execute them as well as I can. I figure I'll start with things that are the basic foundations of cooking, as well as things I just love to eat. Since cornbread and corn muffins are pretty much in my top ten of favorite foods, I am working on finding a great recipe I can use. I have alluded to my love for corn muffins in a previous post. I love a really moist, sweet corn bread. I found and tried this recipe for buttermilk cornbread from Allrecipes.com (photo above). It was really good, and pretty much what I was looking for. I've already gobbled down 1/3 of the pan with some orange maple compound butter.

BUT, I am not satisfied. A recent trip to Austin Texas opened my eyes to the Southern cornbread. This is the cornbread that's less sweet, more "bready" if you will, and is delicious when sopping up BBQ sauce and eating with ribs. So now, while I love my sweet cakey New England corn bread, I am on a quest for the best Texas cornbread. Got a good recipe?

Salmon Buttermilk Chowder

This came out awesome! This is a hot yet refreshing and light soup. At the same time, it's hearty enough for a main meal. Hard to believe it is all of these things but it's true. Plus, it is super healthy. You're getting the benefit of omega 3's from all the salmon, the onions are a great detoxer and naturally stimulate the body to create healthy antioxidents, the turnips are a great source of vitamins, and you're getting low-fat dairy which is good for the bones. I adapted this recipe from one in the South Beach Cook Book.

Salmon Buttermilk Chowder

• 2 turnips, peeled and cut into small cubes


• 1 onion, chopped


• 1 rib celery, chopped


• 1 teaspoon dill weed


• 1 bay leaf


• 2 cups vegetable broth


• 1 6 oz can pink salmon


• Approx 5 oz cooked salmon fillet, skin removed and flaked into 1 inch pieces


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 8 oz fat free plain yogurt


• 1 Tablespoon butter


• 2 teaspoons hot sauce


• salt and pepper to taste


• fresh lime juice to taste


• fresh lime slices for garnish (optional)

1. In a large sauce pan, combine the turnips, onion, celery, dill, bay leaf, and broth. Bring to a boil over high heat.


2. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 12 minutes or until the veggies are tender.


3. In the mean time, mix together in a bowl the buttermilk, yogurt, and hot sauce.


4. Reserve 1/4 cup of the freshly flaked salmon for garnish. Reduce the heat to low, stir in both the canned and the rest of the fresh salmon, the buttermilk mixture, and the butter. Cook on low-medium or until heated through.


5. Taste and season with salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste.


6. Serve garnished with the extra salmon slices and fresh lime slices.

Mediterranean Eggplant Salad

OK! Now that we've got our batch of roasted eggplant, let's make a salad. I just love making this to bring to work for lunch. It's delicious a little bit warm, room temp, or cold so it's very versatile. It also holds up to the "dressing" so it's great to bring on picnics and such.

I don't have measurements here, but here's what goes in it. If you don't have something, you could leave it out of course.

• Diced roasted eggplant
• Diced ripe tomato
• Kalamata olives cut in half
• Chick peas/ Garbanzos
  
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Chopped herbs like parsley and basil
• Lemon juice
• Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Little salt and pepper to taste if you like
  

That's it! You can toss it all together ahead of time and let the flavors mingle. I have photos here of the before and after toss.

Veggie Basics: Roasted Eggplant

I roast a lot of eggplant. It's quite common for me to be sitting watching TV in the evening and periodically running back and forth to the kitchen to tend to my batches of roasting eggplant. Actually, what I do is broil the eggplant. If you don't have a broiler, you could bake the eggplant at a high temp in the oven.

This is super simple. Turn on the broiler. Wash and dry your eggplant. Then, cut it into 3/4 inch slices. Place some foil in a broiler pan (washing broiler pans is awful) and lay the eggplant slices down. Spray or brush them with a little oil. You don't have to do this, and sometimes I don't. It wont effect the moisture of the eggplant because they are loaded with water. Without the oil however the slices are more likely to char a little bit.

Now, roast then for about 4 minutes on each side, spraying the other side when you flip them. Take them out and eat them right away or let them cool for use later.

You can do all kinds of things with these. I like to make a salad (recipe coming next post), or a sandwich with chevre and maybe some roasted red pepper, pesto, and sprouts. Yum! You could just add some tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella for a quick eggplant parm.

(Sorry..I just realized I left photos on other PC. Will add them when boyfriend brings PC back from conference.