April 2011 Archives

This week's menu got the best feedback so far. Everyone thought it was great!

Believe it or not, the recipes from this week's class have actually already been shared with my readers. But in case you are new to my website, you will want to check these recipes out for sure!

Minestrone Soup

The first, Minestrone Soup, can be done in a crock-pot or in a regular pot. It always gets great reviews. Feel free to experiment with your favorite spices and ingredients. Today, we added peas and corn to the soup!

Chicken on Salad

We also made a grilled chicken salad. Only we broiled the chicken. Click here and scroll past the video for the salad dressing we made for the salad. We decided to add a bit extra vinegar and dijon mustard to give it a little more flavor. It was great!

For the chicken, it's quite easy, and QUICK! All you do is get chicken breast and slice it long ways (so it's thin). Or you can use chicken tenders. Sprinkle salt and pepper (or pepper seasoning, our new favorite spice blend!) to both sides, spray a pan and broil in the oven. It takes 6-10 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Once cooked, just slice and place on the salad.

Our salad today was romaine lettuce, corn and peas (thawed, from frozen), tomato and topped with the chicken. We saved the extra salad dressing to use on our bean and pepper salad next week.

Dessert

For dessert, we sliced purple grapes in half and mixed with canned 'light' peaches (in 100% juice). Easy and Delicious!

Try them out and let me know what you think!
- Julie

I really just see these recipes as "procedures". Like the frozen veggies, you should be able to cook just about any frozen vegetable in the same way. Try it out with your favorite and let me know how it works!

Collard Greens with Red Onion
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• ¼ medium red onion, chopped
• 1 package frozen chopped collard greens
• 1 can low- sodium chicken broth (14.5 oz)
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp salt

Recipe:

1. Place olive oil on skillet. Cook onion 3 minutes on MEDIUM heat until slightly brown and soft.
   
2. In the same skillet add the collard greens, chicken broth and garlic. Set on HIGH heat and bring to a boil; boil for 3 minutes. Cover skillet and set on LOW heat; simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Turn heat OFF and add in crushed red pepper and salt. Mix well and serve.

Note - I made this at home with fresh collards. I added the red pepper in the beginning and it was quite spicy. In a good way!

Grilled Orange Chicken Fingers
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Recipe:

1. Cut chicken crosswise into 3/4-inch-wide strips.
   
2. Whisk mustard, orange juice concentrate, honey, sesame oil and pepper in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the chicken and toss to combine.
   
3. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, prepare grill or preheat the broiler. Oil the grill rack or coat a broiler pan with cooking spray.
   
5. Remove the chicken strips from the marinade, discarding remaining marinade. Grill or broil the chicken until no longer pink in the center, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Season with salt and serve.

5 Minute Starch: Peas, Corn, Carrots

Ingredients:

• 2 T canola or peanut oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Large bag of frozen peas, corn and carrots
• Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. Mince garlic and chop onion
2. Heat oil in pan, add onion and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
4. Add frozen veggies and cook until heated through
5. Salt and pepper to taste

Next week, we'll be using leftover chicken (stored in the freezer) to make grilled chicken on salad!

Enjoy!
- Julie

Yep - you guessed it. We got spinach in our CSA produce box this week! We also had it last week. So I cooked both batches together last night, and it was GREAT!

Here's how I cooked it:

The Easiest Spinach Recipe Ever!

Here is my foolproof recipe for sauteing spinach!

Ingredients:

• Minced Garlic
  

  Image via Wikipedia

• Canola Oil
• Spinach
• Salt

Instructions:

1. Heat your pan.
2. While pan is heating, rinse the fresh spinach leaves
   
3. When the pan is hot, add just enough canola oil to lightly coat the pan.
4. Once the oil is hot,  add minced garlic (to your taste!)
5. Stir the garlic around in the pan and then add the rinsed spinach. The water from the rinsing will help steam it. No extra water is needed! Once it wilts, it's done. Remove from heat and season with salt or other spices.

Note: The cooking the spinach part of the process only takes a 2-3 minutes. Stir it around, it wilts quickly and its' ready to eat! Overcooking it is when it starts to get really bitter, mushy and yucky! I also find the mature leaves to be better in a saute than the baby spinach. I think the baby spinach gets really mushy. But not so mushy that I don't enjoy eating it!

What Makes Spinach So Good For You?

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, green leafy vegetables are one of the most researched foods when it comes to nutrition and cancer prevention.

Why? For many reasons! First, they are excellent sources of the following nutrients:

• fiber
• Folate
• range of carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin
• Saponins
• flavonoids

 When it comes to the carotenoids, it has been shown that foods containing carotenoids probably protect against cancers of the mouth, pharynx and larynx.

We know that fiber reduces your risk for colon cancer and the various other phytochemicals can help keep your body strong, healthy and fighting diseases like cancer and others!

Popeye had it right! Eat your greens!

Bonus Recipe: Simple Sweet Potatoes

Ok - sweet potatoes came in our box too. Here's a trick I learned from my mother in law. When you're in a hurrry and don't have much time, this makes it really easy!

Scrub sweet potato and cut off any rough spots. Slice it into thin slices (including the skin). They look like large coins. Place in a microwave safe dish, put water in the bottom 1/4 of the dish and set the microwave for the potato setting. Cook until they are soft! I used my Pampered Chef vegetable steamer that goes in the microwave and it worked perfect.

These slices are great to eat with a fork. If the sweet potato is fresh, you don't need to add anything. If it tastes a little bland, you can add some brown sugar and cinnamon. Yum!

- Julie

I have talked in the past about buying food from your local farmers through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. I am proud to say that I have convinced at least 9 other people to join me and purchase boxes of produce each week from one of our local farms, J&S Farm.

Our first box arrived yesterday and contained Kale, one of my FAVORITE veggies! I did not grow up eating kale, but it's something that I've learned to love after my mother-in-law cooked it. It's very hearty and grows well during the winter.

It also is one of the most researched foods when it comes to cancer prevention and nutrition, so I consider it a "super food". It's definitely one of those foods to incorporate into your diet regularly! However, I have found many people asking me -

How Do I Cook Kale??

Glad you asked! I have done a post on cooking collards, which is a similar method. But here is your "dummy proof" kale recipe:

Steamed Kale - It's as Easy as 1-2-3!:

Ingredients:

• 1-2 bunches of Kale
• 1 medium Onion
• Canola Oil
• Water
  
• Salt

1. Preparation: 

• Rinse and cut kale (including stems) into small strips. You can stack multiple leaves on top of each other and cut them all together cross ways.
• Chop onions (or purchase them chopped in the fresh or frozen section)
  

2. Cook:

• Heat stir fry pan, or pot over the stove. Pour a small amount of canola oil in the pan and let heat.
• When oil is hot, add onions (the more the better!) and cook until they become slightly clear
• Throw in kale, mix around so that it is coated with the oil and onions and let it cook 1-2 minutes.
• Add enough water to coat the bottom of the pan and put a lid on the pot.
• Cook 10-15 minutes, until kale is soft. Add water if the bottom starts to get dry.
  

3. Season:

• Season with salt or soy sauce.
  
• I have added green onion and chives for additional flavor.
• You can also add a little Texas Pete or hot pepper flakes to give it a kick!

Budget Friendly and Healthy Recipes!

I taught today - "Healthy Cooking on a Budget". It's one of a 4 week series that is really fun because we actually get to COOK and TASTE the recipes, rather than just talk about them! I had great feedback from the group. They really liked all three of these. They even commented that they are going to make them again this week!

Banana Parfait

Total time: 10 mins
Servings: 4
Cost: $2.00

Ingredients:
2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt
2 bananas, sliced
2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup Quaker Oatmeal Squares, crushed (or substitute any other healthy cereal or granola!)

Recipe:
Mix yogurt and cinnamon in a bowl until smooth.  Spoon half of mixture into serving glass or bowl. Top with half of banana slices and sprinkle with half of crushed cereal.  Spoon rest of mixture on top, layer again with banana slices and sprinkle with remaining cereal.

Tips:
●    Some types of granola can be packed with sugar, so make sure to read the labels carefully when choosing your granola topping for this recipe. For a homemade granola recipe, check this one out!


Broccoli Bacon Salad

Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 6 (1 cup servings)
Cost: $5.52

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups finely chopped broccoli
3 slices cooked bacon, crumbled (I actually don't use the bacon, but we did in the class!)
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Recipe:
Whisk garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar and sugar in a large bowl. Add broccoli, bacon, cranberries and pepper; stir to coat with the dressing.

Skillet-Grilled Catfish and Peach Salsa

Total time: 7 minutes
Servings: 4
Cost: $7.33

Ingredients:
4 catfish fillets (4 oz each), rinsed and patted dry
1 teaspoon salt-free steak seasoning or salt-free blackened seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt
1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
Mild or medium peach salsa

Recipe:
1. Sprinkle one side of each catfish fillet with steak seasoning and ¼ teaspoon salt
2. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Coat skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook fillets seasoned side down 3 minutes. Turn and cook 3 minutes more or until fillets are opaque in center.
3. Squeeze lemon wedges over all fillets. Serve with salsa.

Tips:
●    Serve over quick-cooking brown rice with coleslaw and light coleslaw dressing on the side.
●    Tilapia can be substituted for the Catfish in this recipe.

I hope you enjoy!! Let me know what you think.

- Julie