Category Archives: Vegetables

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

Green Almond Oat Smoothie

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Quick Post: Yes, another green smoothie – but this time with oats and chia seeds.

Green Almond Oat Smoothie – adapted from Natural Noshing

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup baby spinach
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1/3 cup soaked oats
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. The night before, soak your oats in 1/3 cup of water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate.

2. The next morning: Blend all ingredients and enjoy!

Basic Baked Eggs

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I knew I would need a heartier breakfast for gym mornings, and I figure the extra calories and fat are ok as long as I’m working hard. Lately I’ve been getting headaches, probably from not having any caffeine or refined sugar these past few days. Thankfully they’re minor headaches and I expect my body to come to terms with the new eating habits soon.

Protein and complex carbs are always good choices pre workout – so I’ve read anyway. I’m no dietician, but it makes sense to me 😉 I’m using some of the leftover roasted veggies that I made the other day to make this even more balanced and substantial. This recipe is for one serving, but it’s easily doubled, tripled, ect.

Verdict: I worked out for two hours after having this breakfast, and it made a huge difference in my stamina, reaction time and my overall “good” feeling. I wasn’t sluggish or tired and I felt great. After my workouts I eat an apple  and 1/4 cup of raw walnuts to refuel so I’m not starving until lunch time. During the day I have more energy, I’m never starving and my body just works better – I’m loving it! Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Baked Eggs –

  • 1 egg
  • butter for greasing the ramekin
  • small amounts of roasted veggies, grape tomatoes, spinach, ham, herbs, cheese – whatever you would like
  • kosher salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lightly grease your ramekin.
2. Place a few TBSP of your preferred add ins, crack and egg and drop it on top. Bake in the oven 10 – 15 minutes or until just set – if it looks fully cooked in the oven, it will be over cooked later.
3. Serve with fresh fruit and whole grain toast, enjoy!

Blueberry Morning Smoothie

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Quick Post: The name sounds nice, right? Well, there is a really unexpected ingredient in these, but I was willing to try it. PEAS! I needed to about a half cup more almond milk to thin this out for the blender and more banana to sweeten it up. The toast with real fruit preserves helped to get this one down! 😉 It wasn’t that awful, especially when I think of all the nutrition packed in this. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Blueberry Morning Smoothie – (never home)maker

  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup almond milk (plus more if needed)
  • 1 frozen banana
Directions –
1. Blend all ingredients until combined. Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables over Bulgur

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Lunch…I’m not always great at lunch. It’s usually leftovers, sandwiches or salads. This is more work, but I get at least 3 meals out of it. I chopped up some zucchini, summer squash, cremini mushrooms, tossed a handful of baby carrots and grape tomatoes on a baking sheet.  Use whatever veggies you love to roast, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper over all. Bulgur cooks really quickly and by the time all the vegetables were finished roasting I had a really healthy lunch ready to be enjoyed. This was surprisingly good! I knew I would love the roasted vegetables, but the bulgur was cooked in plain ‘ol water with a pinch of kosher salt added. It has a nutty flavor and a meaty texture and keeps you feeling full longer because of all the fiber and protein. I felt full for hours but didn’t feel bloated. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables Over Bulgur –

  • 1 small zucchini
  • 1 small summer squash
  • 5-6 cremini mushrooms
  • handful of grape tomatoes
  • handful of baby carrots
  • olive oil
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup of bulgur wheat, cooked to package directions
  • handful of baby spinach
  • zest of one lemon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil. Clean and prepare your vegetables – slice zucchini and summer squash into coins, slice cremini mushrooms in half and discard stems. Toss baby carrots with a drizzle of olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes. Take the pan out, toss the carrots and add seasoned squash and mushrooms to the baking sheet, roast for another 10-15 minutes. Toss in the grape tomatoes during the last 5 minutes. Serve 1 cup of roasted veggies over one cooked up of bulgur tossed with baby spinach leaves for good measure, and sprinkle lemon zest over top of all. Enjoy!

Green Monster Smoothie

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I’m going to be brave and hopefully I will enjoy this. I really need to get more vegetables into my diet! When I eat healthfully, I feel so much better inside and out; and I have so much more energy. I slacked off big time these past few months – food is my weakness. But now that school has started again I have a lot more time to get my workouts in and plan for healthier snacks and meals for me.

Verdict: Wow! Not bad at all 🙂 The more frozen banana the better though, and next time I’ll add some strawberries and maybe some blueberries. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Green Monster Smoothie –

  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 large handfulls of spinach
  • 1 frozen banana
Blend all ingredients until perfectly smooth. Drink, enjoy, feel healthier! 😉

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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Quick Post: This bread is so moist and rich and no one would ever know that there is zucchini in it unless you told them 😉 Sneaky, right? My kids love it, too. M on the other hand wont touch it because he knows there is zucchini…oh well, more for me! The original recipe calls for this to be baked in a 9×5 inch pan, but I wanted to make a taller loaf, so I baked it in a smaller 8×4 inch loaf pan. That’s why mine doesn’t have a dome on top – it baked completely flat because it couldn’t rise higher than the loaf pan. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread – adapted from Inspired Taste

  • 1 1/2 cup shredded raw zucchini
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (*I used espresso powder)
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup  light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions –

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a loaf pan (8×4 or 9×5) with nonstick cooking oil.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then set aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer beat the oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract and coffee granules for about 2 minutes.

Add the shredded zucchini to the dry ingredients and then in batches add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; use a spatula to incorporate everything until just mixed.  Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 55 – 65 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted in the bread and then be removed clean.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Chicken Enchiladas – His Fave…

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Out of all the dinners I can think of, this has to be his most requested. I don’t understand why, I mean – they are really good – but it’s chicken. Not beef…weird. He doesn’t even want to try any other kind of enchilada – which bums me out because I love variety and trying out new recipes. Like, I would love to make cheese enchiladas…I haven’t had those in years! Anyway, these are more work than my average dinner, but they are so good. This time I’ve roasted my chicken instead of picking up a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s. I figured I could use the practice because Fall is around the corner and I love roasted chicken.

See the extra toasty bits on the tortillas? That is my favorite part – for some reason it’s sweeter there, and the salty/sweet combo is my fave! These turned out to be a little spicier than I remember – but I didn’t remove any of the seeds or ribs from the jalapenos I used. I used 10 medium sized flour tortillas,  so this could easily serve 6 to 8 people. I suppose you could halve the recipe, but he leftovers are just as good especially if you warm them up in the oven. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa – adapted from Food Network

Tomatillo Salsa:
  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked
  • 1 white onion, peeled, sliced, quartered or whole
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
  • 1/2 lime, juiced
Enchiladas:
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup AP flour
  • 2 cups chicken stock, store bought
  • Chopped cilantro leaves
  • 1 roasted chicken (about 3 pounds), boned, meat shredded
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 10 large flour tortillas
  • 1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.

Enchiladas:

Meanwhile heat a 2 count of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized – this should take 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to ensure the flour doesn’t burn then gradually add the chicken stock to make a veloute. Continue stirring over a low simmer until the flour cooks and the liquid thickens. Turn off the heat, add half of the roasted tomatillo chile salsa, some additional fresh chopped cilantro and fold in the shredded chicken meat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Change the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F and begin assembling the dish. Take a large baking dishand smear the bottom with some of the reserved tomatillo salsa. Warm up the tortillas in the microwave. Using a shallow bowl, coat each tortilla lightly with the reserved salsa mix. Put a scoop of the shredded chicken-enchilada mix on top of the tortilla followed by a sprinkle of the shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it then place the tortillas in the baking dish and continue to do the same with all the tortillas. Finally pour over some more of the salsa and top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until bubbly and cracked on top. Garnish with cilantro and tomato.

Poblano Chicken Salad

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I was inspired by this post to make this yummy sandwich – “inspired” because I modified this a lot to suit our tastes and my cooking style. I am so happy with how this little experiment tasted and I will make this again. The poblano gave this chicken salad a pleasant smokey/grassy flavor but if you don’t like poblano you could substitute red bell pepper. If my husband liked those I would try that combo sometime because I love the sweet flavor of a roasted bell pepper 🙂 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Poblano Chicken Salad – 

For the Roast Chicken:

  • 1 bone-in, skin on chicken breast
  • olive oil
  • kosher salt and pepper
For the Poblano Mayo:
  • 2 poblano peppers
  • 3 TBSP mayonnaise
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/8 tsp chili powder
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 1 vine ripened tomato, sliced
  • Romaine lettuce
  • sliced pepper jack cheese
Directions:
For chicken: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Prepare your chicken for roasting by washing with cool water then drying with paper towels. Drizzle olive oil over the top and season generously with kosher salt and pepper. Bake for 30 -35 minutes.  Place on a cooling rack when finished and let cool for at least 20 minutes before shredding. Set the shredded chicken aside.
For the poblano mayo: Place a rack about 6-8 inches away from your oven broiler, and set your oven to “broil”. Rinse your peppers, cut off the tops, take out the seeds and ribs inside. Take your knife and carefully cut in half from top to bottom. Place the peppers on a baking sheet lined with foil. Place under the broiler for about 7-10 minutes. You want them to blacken and blister so you can easily remove the skin later. Take them out once they’re nice and charred – set them aside to cool until it’s safe to handle them. Peel the skin off all the peppers (it’s ok if you can’t get every bit off). Place the peeled peppers on a cutting board and dice them for easier blending.
Using your stick blender and carafe or a food processor, blend poblanos, mayo, salt, pepper cumin, chili powder, and lime juice together until the peppers are minced fine. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add the poblano mayo and diced celery to the shredded chicken then mix until combined. Serve on toasted bread (or in a wrap) with lettuce, tomato and cheese; enjoy!

Cheesy Orzo

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Quick Post: I really enjoyed this and I seem to have a thing for orzo pasta side dishes when I need something to go along with fish. I modified this more than I usually do for a first attempt with the addition of peas and lemon zest. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Cheesy Orzo – adapted from Food Network

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 box of vegetable stock
  • 2 cups orzo pasta
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • the zest of half a lemon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Direction:

Preheat a 8 inch pot with a tight fitting cover over moderate heat. Add butter, onion and garlic and saute for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo and return broth to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until liquid is absorbed and pasta tender. Remove lid and stir in frozen peas and cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon zest. You favorite fresh herbs may also be stirred into the orzo or rice to strengthen the flavor even more.