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Recipes
Recipes from my kitchen to yours…these are quick and easy and more importantly, the resulting meals are delicious, nourishing, and made with REAL food! Bon Apetit!
Best Beets Recipe
Yep, it’s true: Beets are delicious. If your memory of beets are from the canned, mushy slices your mom served you, be prepared to have your taste buds delighted and your body rejuvenated! Beets are nutrient dense and can be prepared in a very tantalizing way. Here’s my favorite recipe:
Ingredients:
Red or golden beets or a mixture of both
Blue Cheese, crumbled
Turkish apricots
Candied pecans or walnuts
Balsamic vinegar
- Wash and wrap beets in foil, bake at 400 for 60 minutes. Let cool completely (several hours).
- Wearing kitchen gloves, rub the beets gently and the skin will fall right off.
- Clean up the beet tips.
- Chop into bite sized chunks.
- Add crumbled blue cheese, chopped turkish apricots and (optional) just a few candied pecans.
- Drizzle with good quality balsamic vinaigrette (I used fig) and sprinkle a tad of salt and pepper.
- This dish can be eaten at room temperature or cold from the fridge in the summer. Enjoy!
Posted in Eat, Recipes, Updates | 
Tags: beets, delicious, nutrient dense, recipe, simple | 
5 Comments »Pasta dinner in less than 30 minutes
John’s favorite pasta dish, this is simple, delicious, and makes a great leftover lunch!
Prep time: less than 30 minutes
Ingredients:
onion and garlic, chopped
large can of diced tomatoes
kalamata olives (cut in half, if you’d like)
capers
1. Saute the onions until they are soft but not mushy.
2. Add in tomatoes, olives, and capers. Note: put pasta water on to boil at this juncture.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn down to simmer until pasta water is boiling.
4. Place the pasta into the boiling water, add a smidge of salt, and cook the appropriate amount of time, depending on what type of pasta noodles you are using. THEN, add chopped garlic (I use a lot!) to the sauce, turn off the burner, cover the sauce pot and let it rest while the pasta is cooking.
5. Drain pasta, return to pot, pour the sauce on top, and mix gently until the pasta is covered with this savory sauce.
If you would like, Parmesan cheese–freshly grated or packaged–is delish on top.
SIDE DISH NOTE: I almost always prepare greens to go with this dish; either kale and chard combo (plenty of garlic!), brussel sprouts (think garlic), green beans (guess what I add to this–yep, mo’ garlic) or if I am feeling adventurous, grilled zucchini. All of the side dishes can be prepared and finished while the sauce and pasta are cooking. It’s that simple! Check it out:
1. Wash and stem the chard and kale leaves.
2. Chop up plenty ‘o garlic.
3. Put them both together in heated up olive oil and saute for approximately 5 minutes. Allow the greens to stay somewhat crunchy! Sprinkle a tad of salt, and voila! You have a nutrient dense, fabulously flavored and gorgeous looking side dish.
OR
1. Place brussel sprouts, a few at a time, in your food processor, using the slice blade.
2. Add them, with plenty of garlic, to heated olive oil and saute with a pinch of salt for just a few minutes. Al dente rules!
3. This brussel sprout recipe will blow away any previous nightmares you have had since childhood, when your mother boiled the BS into a mushy, horrid mess.
OR
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Take the stems off the green beans.
3. Place them and a bunch of chopped garlic in a glass baking dish, toss with olive oil. Mix well.
4. Sprinkle with black pepper.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring them around once or twice. They will come out of the oven crisp, garlic-y, and a perfect compliment to pasta.
OR
1. Slice zucchini into long strips, not too thin and not too thick.
2. Rub with a little garlic infused olive oil.
3. Place the strips on a cookie type sheet and broil on low for 2 – 3 minutes on both sides. At the last nanosecond of broiling on the second side, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, which will then become a chewy, yummy, crusty topping.
Veggie Soup: A leftover lovers litany
Vegetable Soup: A leftovers lover litany
Simple, hearty, and delicious
Prep time: 20 minutes
Onions, celery and carrots are at the base of nearly every soup I make. As a vegetarian, I make my soups using the juice of the olive oil and butter sauté of those three essential soup ingredients. It takes a few minutes more to chop then cook them up, but I have become so used to this ritual, that for me, it’s not a big deal. The good news is that there is healthful and delicious veggie or meat broths available (Imagine or Pacific Natural come to mind), and by all means, use those without a second thought.
The ingredients are pretty much whatever leftover cooked veggies you have on hand and the last of the raw cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, corn, whatever! Even the veggies that you might not be so inclined to eat raw as they appear a day too old – yes, toss them in! You can also add in leftover pasta, beans, meat, anything that strikes you!
Ingredients:
Diced potatoes
Any and all leftovers
Directions:
- Start with either the broth or do the sauté with olive oil and butter combined. If you had time for the sauté, add in chopped fresh garlic near the end.
- Put this or the broth into a large pot.
- Add some water until it looks like you have a soup pot full. Bring to a boil.
- Add the potatoes and let them boil up, but don’t let them get too soft.
Here’s where it gets interesting…
- Depending on the leftovers, if they are raw, put them in now. If they are cooked already, wait until later.
- Consider adding canned beans, corn, tomatoes, or whatever else is handy.
- Season with pepper, a pinch of salt, and possibly some cumin.
- If you are adding leftover grains such as rice, pasta, or barley do it now at the same time as you add in the leftover veggies.
TaDa! You’ve got a fabulous dinner in no time flat and you used up the rest of what was in your fridge just in time for your weekly trip to the grocery store.
One last note:
I almost always make cheese bread to compliment the soup. This is another great use of leftovers…if a baguette has been around for an extra day, use it! Fresh bread works as well, of course. Slice up a good quality cheddar or swiss, layer it thinly on the sliced bread, and put it on a cookie tray under the broiler for just a couple of minutes. You will have yummy cheese bread that everyone will enjoy!
A quick and delish dinner
Simple Tortilla Casserole
Prep time: 10 minutes; Baking time: 30 minutes
Purchased ingredients: Prepped ingredients:
Whole grain tortillas Grated cheddar and jack cheese
Salsa or chili sauce Chopped cilantro
Black olives, drained Chopped green and purple cabbage
Grilled peppers, canned or jar, drained
Black or pinto beans, drained
- Pour a bunch of salsa or chili verde sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass casserole dish.
- Place 3 tortillas on top of the salsa or sauce.
- Cover with ½ of the cheese.
- Beans next.
- Then peppers.
- Sprinkle on the cilantro and olives.
- Layer with more torts.
- Top it off with a healthy dousing of salsa or chili sauce.
- Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 28 minutes.
- Remove foil, sprinkle on remaining cheese and bake 2 more minutes.
- Top with a lot of cabbage at the table for added zip and crunch.
This dinner is so quick, so yummy, and so simple, that you won’t even mind that it is a complete protein, high fiber, and low fat meal!
My choice is to shop at our local co-op for all canned or prepared items; I buy organic and I recommend you consider this as well—there will be no added fats, coloring, sweeteners, preservatives, etc. Having said that, the point here is to have a quick and delish dinner, you should buy whatever you think is best.
You already know that I am not a recipe user. I love free flow creativity in the kitchen. This dish can have virtually anything you want to put in it that you and your family like and that maintains the Mexican or Spanish flavor. And of course, you can leave out any of the ingredients that don’t thrill you.
Finally, I sometimes buy a bunch of rice to go with this dinner. There’s a fab little Mexican place in town, called Tortilla Grill, which uses all organic ingredients for their rice and beans. It makes me feel better to bring that kind of rice home for an easy side dish to an already simple dinner. The big box food stores sell cooked Mexican or Spanish style rice also, again your choice. Occasionally, if I am feeling really sassy, I will throw the rice into the casserole, on top of the beans to bake into the cheesy goodness!
Enjoy this meal—it is one that kids and spouses like—if you have them around the house—and either way, you’ll love it because of the ease and taste!
Posted in Recipes, Updates | Tags: delicious, easy, healthy, newsletter, quick, recipe, Tortilla Grill | 4 Comments »Simple, Spectacular, and Savory Soup Recipe
Yes! Another soup recipe being offered to you, for a quick, yummy, and healthful dinner.
Minestrone Soup
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
28 ounce jar of diced tomatoes
15 ounce can of cannelloni beans
pasta (elbow or penne)
1 large purple onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2 small zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
pepper and salt
dried basil and oregano
olive oil
a full-bodied red wine, to sip as well as to add into the soup
Directions:
- Place all of the chopped veggies in a glass casserole dish; toss with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. At 10 minutes into the roast, stir up the veggies, then finish the roast. Set aside.
- While the veggies are roasting, cook the pasta just to an al dente texture, and consider enjoying a glass of wine. Drain the pasta, saving the water to thin the soup stock, and set the pasta aside for a moment.
- In your soup pot, mix the tomatoes, beans and the roasted veggies, pour in 1/2 cup of red wine, and add the spices to meet your palate desires. Add about a cup of the pasta water.
- I’ve learned over the years to cook just enough pasta to put 1/2 – 3/4 cup cooked into the bottom of each soup bowl, then ladle the soup on top. If the pasta is added to the soup pot, it tends to get mushy, especially when you reheat the leftovers later.
- Enjoy! This is a rich, high protein and fiber, delicious dinner. For an easy side dish, I saute greens with garlic in olive oil, or I’ll slice a good quality baguette, layer the slices with swiss cheese, and broil for 3 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and yummy. Or I make both side dishes!
Yum!
Posted in Articles, Eat, Kitchen Zen, Recipes | Tags: delicious, easy, nutritious, quick meal, recipe, soup, whole grain | No Comments »Split-Pea Barley Soup: One of my all time favorites!
This quick, easy, and fabulous-tasting soup is a welcome shift in cooking and eating that acknowledges the change of season, from summer to fall.
Time required: 1 hour total, but ONLY 15 minutes of your physical presence in the kitchen is required!
Ingredients:
1 cup dried split peas, rinsed
1 cup barley, rinsed
1 medium purple onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
cumin
pepper and salt to taste
olive oil
Directions:
- Place peas in a large pot with enough water so that the water line is 2 inches above the peas; bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 – 60 minutes. Keep an eye on the peas after 45 minutes, so they do not become overcooked and mushy!
- Place barley in a different pot with 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Set aside.
- While the peas and barley are cooking, enjoy a glass of wine. Then sauté the onions in olive oil, on low until they are tender. Add in the garlic, carrots and celery, a tad of pepper and salt, and sauté for just a couple of minutes until the veggies start to soften but do not become overcooked.
- Add to the cooked peas: the cooked barley, and cooked veggies. Gently mix it all up. Sprinkle cumin—at least 1 teaspoon—but probably more to give it a divine flavor. Add pepper and a smidge of salt to your preferred taste.
There are two types of cooks: those that measure ingredients and those that do not. Those that follow recipes and those that do not. I do not. I love being in the kitchen creating a masterpiece, and have been cooking from scratch for nearly 30 years! Eyeballing how much to add, tasting frequently to be sure that I am getting it right is part of the fun for me. If “winging it” does not feel right to you, by all means use recipes and measure away. I have to say that my husband, when eating a delicious meal that I have lovingly prepared, will often sigh and say, “well, I won’t be enjoying that meal again…” What he means is that my meals do not taste the same way twice! Since I don’t use recipes or measure, I run the risk of not being able to recreate that fabulous meal the next time around. Life is an adventure!
1st Note: If you like soupy soup, you’ll want to have a water line remaining above the peas when they are done cooking—keep an eye on the peas while they are simmering to see if more water should added. If you like porridge style soup, then you can let all the water slowly absorb and evaporate in the cooking.
2nd Note: This is a chunky soup, which is how my husband and I like it! If chunky is not your preference, you are welcome to put the yummy concoction into a food processor to gently blend it to your desired consistency.
3rd Note: I taste while I cook. It is important to test the consistency of the grains, legumes, beans, pastas, and veggies, as well as the flavors once you begin to add spices.
Final Note: When cooking grains such as barley, millet, rice, etc. the ratio is 1 part grain to 2 parts water. The cook time is typically 30 minutes, but not always…quinoa for instance is cooked in 12 – 15 minutes, as are oats, but polenta (coarse corn meal) takes at least 45 minutes. This is where playing around in the kitchen is recommended so that you will gain confidence, as well as practical understanding of time required to create a fabulous meal.
The Really Final Note: When combining bean or legumes and grains, as in this soup, you are ingesting an incredible amount of fiber and protein. Way to go! Think of all the possibilities in other yummy soups and casseroles in which you bring beans and grains together. I will include additional recipes of my favorites in upcoming newsletters.
Happy Eating!
