Category Archives: Healthy

Roasted Carrot and Red Lentil Soup

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I’ve been kind of obsessed with finding a carrot soup recipe because I’m on the lookout for healthy, vegetarian lunches and dinners. I’ll admit it doesn’t look appetizing at all – but it’s the taste that counts! 😉 This is a mix of a few different recipes I found – but it’s mostly a huge experiment of flavors. I added a little of this, and a little of that which resulted in a peppery, thick soup. I know it’s not my most favorite thing I’ve ever made, but it’s pretty good. I’m not the best at whipping up meals off the top of my head, but I’m getting more adventurous. Thanks for reading 🙂
Roasted Carrot and Red Lentil Soup – adapted from The Wednesday Chef
  • 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled
  • olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, sliced thin
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne
  • 1/8 tsp paprika
  • fresh orange juice ( I used about 1/4 of one orange), to taste, optional
  • cilantro leaves
  • kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
  • 4 cups vegetable stock

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the carrots in a roasting pan and toss with 3 tablespoons oil. Season with the salt and a few grinds of pepper. Roast for 20 minutes. Turn the carrots, add the onion and roast 15 minutes, until the carrots are brown and tender. When carrots are cool enough, cut them in bite-sized chunks.

2. Heat up a large soup pot over medium, add the carrot-and-onion mixture, cilantro leaves and the dry seasonings. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then stir in the lentils. Add the stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are falling apart. Squeeze in your orange juice, add more cilantro and check for seasoning and serve.

Roasted Broccoli

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Quick Post: I’ve never had roasted broccoli and have wanted to try it for some time. Broccoli was on sale today and I needed a “diet-friendly” side dish to go along with this tilapia and these mashed potatoes. These were so good – a little salty bite, savory, nutty a little sweet…so good. It’s my new favorite way to enjoy broccoli 🙂 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli –

  • 4 cups broccoli, rinsed and trimmed
  • olive oil for drizzling
  • kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.
Cut the broccoli florets into bite size pieces. Cut the stalk into 1/8-inch thick, round slices. Place the broccoli into a mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, kosher salt and pepper and spread out evenly on a baking sheet. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes.

Honey Mustard Dressing

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This was absolutely perfect compliment to my salad. I’m also loving the addition of apples, walnuts and feta to my basic salad toppings. The dressing couldn’t be easier to whip up – it actually took me longer to search for a recipe than it took to make. Three ingredients are all you need for this tangy and sweet dressing. This is my new favorite salad! Thanks for reading, enjoy 🙂

Honey Mustard Dressing – adapted from Food Network

  • 5 tablespoons honey
  • 3 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Directions:

Combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth.

 

Homemade Peanut Butter

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Quick Post: I had to make this – I just couldn’t help it. It’s so much more rich and flavorful than store bought peanut butter and it’s worth the little effort it takes to make. Tomorrow I’ll post the kids new favorite chocolate peanut butter spread. They couldn’t get enough of it! Thanks for reading, enjoy:)
Homemade Peanut Butter – adapted from A Homemade Kitchen
  • 1 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts
  • 1/8 to 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 to 2 TBSP honey
  • 1 tablespoon peanut oil (optional)

Place nuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. With lid on, pulse the peanuts until they become a smooth and shiny butter, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. If it seems your peanuts aren’t turning into a paste, slowly add the oil until incorporated and smooth. If peanuts turn into a paste easily, omit the oil. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Turkey Chili Mac

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Tonight was my chance to make a meal that I know my husband would not appreciate, and I haven’t made a dish like this since March. It makes a lot of food and it’s so cheap and a great meal for using up my pantry staples. This time I used organic ground turkey instead of the usual lean ground beef. The turkey wasn’t much more expensive than the beef, but I knew I wanted to make this as lean and healthy; so I chose it. The texture of the turkey is less dense than beef when cooked and I didn’t need to drain any fat off. I forgot to add the brown sugar to offset some of the acidity of the tomato, but we remedied that by adding ketchup to our bowl of chili mac. Personally, I love to add ketchup to any macaroni and cheese recipe because it gives a subtle sweetness and tang to the meal. M doesn’t get it, but the kids appreciate a healthy squeeze of ketchup too 🙂 Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Turkey Chili Mac –
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pounds lean ground turkey
  • Salt and pepper to season the turkey
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 or 5 mini bell peppers (*or one large bell pepper)
  • 1 Tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 TBSP brown sugar (*I forgot to add this)
  • 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 8 ounces (2 cups) elbow macaroni
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ cup cheddar cheese

Directions –

1. Heat oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat and add ground turkey. Season with a dash of salt, pepper, onion powder. Once the meat is no longer pink, pour into a bowl and set aside.

2. Saute the peppers, onions and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, onion powder, coriander, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and brown sugar and cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant.

3. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with garlic, elbow macaroni, and 2 cups water. Stir to combine, cover and keep at a high simmer for about 10 – 14 minutes or until juices are absorbed and macaroni is tender.

4. Stir in cheddar and season with freshly ground pepper. Taste for salt and add if needed.

Banana and Peanut Butter Breakfast Shake

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Quick Post: Another morning, another healthy breakfast! I’m having fun experimenting with all these new breakfast recipes and here’s another one I found but I have modified slightly to make it more substantial with the addition of oats. Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Banana and Peanut Butter Breakfast Shake – adapted from Natural Noshing
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 3/4 to 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/3 cup soaked oats
  • 1 1/2 TBSP unsalted peanut butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 TBSP ground flaxseed
  • dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. The night before soak  1/3 cup oats in 1/3 cup of water with a squeeze of lemon juice. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until combined. Pour into glass and enjoy!

Banana Bread Oatmeal

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Quick Post: This breakfast requires a little more time than the average, so it’s perfect for the weekend. Mine took at least 15 minutes for the liquid to absorb. My husband commented: “It looks like you’re killing your oatmeal”, to which I replied “I’m supposed to.” There is no oat texture left in this when it’s done and the bananas get all mushy, so if you have texture issues – fear not! The addition of walnuts helps cut the near slimy-ness of this oatmeal. After I took the pictures, I thought to add raisins which also helped add textural interest and a little sweetness. I can tell you that this is filling, but I’m not full – to me there is nothing worse than feeling full and bloated; especially in the morning when there is things that need to be done.
Banana Bread Oatmeal – adapted from The Edible Perspective
    • 1/3 cup rolled oats (*you can use 1/2 cup oats and 1/4 cup steel cut for a chewier texture)
    • 1 large egg, whisked
    • 1/2 banana, thinly sliced
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 1/2 cup water
    • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (*or cow’s milk if you’d prefer)
    • 1 TBSP ground flax meal (*I bought flax seeds and ground them up in my blender)
    • 2 TBSP pure maple syrup
    • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

In a small pot, over medium heat, whisk the oats, cinnamon, sliced banana, water + almond milk together. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a low boil. Stir a few times while cooking, until almond all the liquid is absorbed – about 6 to 10 minutes. Stir in flax meal and continue cooking for 1 minute. Temper your egg – In a small bowl, whisk your egg quickly and add about 1/3 cup of the hot oatmeal mixture slowly; being careful to avoid scrambling the egg. Slowly add the egg/oatmeal back into the pot and stir until thoroughly combined. Let cook, without stirring, for 2 more minutes then pour into a bowl and top with nuts and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Banana and Peanut Butter Soft Serve

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I am so surprised at how good this is and my kids loved it – even my husband thought it tasted good. It’s not too banana-y or peanut buttery. The texture is smooth and creamy, like a nice custard style ice cream. This was a good fake out dessert because ice cream is my absolute favorite  – I miss it! It’s been about four weeks since I have had any “real” dessert, but I was pleasantly satisfied with this treat. I added the chocolate chips mostly for visual interest, I gave the chocolate chips to my kids because the soft serve didn’t need anything. My son wants me to make this again soon – score 2 for mom! Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Banana Soft Serve – adapted from The Novice Chef

  • 2 to 3 frozen bananas, (*cut up before freezing for easier processing)
  • 1 heaping spoonful of natural peanut butter
  • optional: top with granola, slivered almonds or any of your favorite toppings
Directions:
1. I used my food processor for this, but you could use a blender to make it too. Place all the banana in the work bowl and pulse until nice and smooth. It took a little while at first, but once the peanut butter was added it

Brown Rice and Black Beans with Pico de Gallo

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Yum! I love black beans, but sadly my family doesn’t. If you have the time and you’re not starving, but you want a substantial meal plus leftovers, this is perfect 🙂  I got the idea for this here, but I modified the black bean recipe quite a bit to make it even more healthy. I read that draining and rinsing the beans decreases the sodium by about 40% ; and besides, the liquid inside the can kinda grosses me out. I love baking the brown rice and it’s a foolproof method of preparing it – not quick by any means, but entirely worth the wait. Once the rice is in the oven, you can make your pico de gallo and stash it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The beans are the quickest part of this meal and only take about 10 minutes. This is by far my favorite lunch and I ate the leftovers for four days, ( I had to make up another batch of black beans) and thankfully I’m not sick of it yet! Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Baked Brown Rice – adapted from Food Network

  • 1 1/2 cups brown rice
  • 2 1/2 cups HOT water
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Pour rice into the dish, add water, salt and butter; and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

Once it’s finished baking, carefully remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Black Beans –

  • 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained really well
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
  • kosher salt to taste
  • 1 TBSP chopped cilantro, optional
Directions:
1. Rinse and thoroughly drain your black beans. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan or skillet over medium heat, drizzle the olive and saute the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the beans, cumin, oregano, salt and about 1/3 cup of water to the pan. Cook for about 5 more minutes or until desired thickness, (you can smash some of the beans for a thicker sauce). Add your cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, serve over brown rice and top with your fresh pico. Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Salad with Whole Wheat Pita

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This is one of my sneaky ways of getting the family to eat healthier with me. It’s not that they don’t like this kind of meal, but I know if they had a choice – the first one wouldn’t be salad. I marinated the chicken souvlaki style and set it in the fridge for a couple of hours, and the chicken was moist and flavorful. I used my new favorite dressing – this stuff is so addicting I love it on veggies and sandwiches too. M didn’t like the pita because it was too chewy for him, but the kids and I didn’t mind that at all. Thanks for reading, enjoy!
White Whole Wheat Pita – adapted from King Arthur Flour
  • 1 3/4 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups Bread Flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (*I didn’t end up using this, but it probably would have helped keep these moist)
Directions:

1.Combine all of the pita ingredients (except the oil for brushing), and mix and knead to make a soft, smooth dough.

2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, till it’s just about doubled in bulk. Towards the end of the rising time, start to preheat your oven to 450°F, with a pizza stone on the bottom shelf, if you have one.

3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, cover them, and let them rest for 10 minutes.

4. Working with two pieces of dough at a time, roll each into a 6″ circle. If you roll the dough about 7″ wide, it’ll shrink back to about 6″.

5. Carefully flop the dough onto the hot pizza stone. If you’re not using a pizza stone, put it on an ungreased baking sheet, and put the baking sheet on your oven’s bottom rack.

6. Bake for 4 minutes. The pitas should rise enthusiastically. If they’re on a stone, they’ll probably puff up like balloons; if they’re on a baking sheet, they’ll still expand; just not as vigorously.

7. Turn the pitas over, and bake for an additional 60 seconds.

8. Remove them from the oven, and brush with your favorite olive oil, plain or flavored. Wrap lightly in a cotton towel, to keep them soft. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough