Kale chips

I've been wanting to try to make kale chips for months, but I've been intimidated by the dehydrator.  I decided to finally go for it.  I used 1 recipe cheezy sauce for 1 large mixing bowl full of kale.  Mix well to coat, then put in the dehydrator.  Mine doesn't have variable temperature, so I just plugged it in and let it do it's thing for about 8 hours.  They are yummy.  My two year old kept begging for more.

Edamame Pate

Edamame Pate'(courtesy of Vegetarian Times*)

1 1/4 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed (You can buy frozen, shelled edamame at any grocery store).
1/2 cup walnuts
1/3 cup mint leaves (packed)
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. water

Puree the first 5 ingredients in a food processor until finely chopped.

Add lemon juice and water then process until smooth.

I used pecans instead of walnuts, because I had them on hand and it was still so tasty. This makes a great dip for veggies or pita chips. Very light and refreshing. You can also spread on a whole wheat tortilla and stuff with fresh vegetable goodness.

Trees and Flowers Casserole

This is a variation on a family favorite. Growing up, chicken-broccoli casserole was my favorite dish. As a teenager, I started having my mom leave me a chicken-free section. Today I had cauliflower and broccoli that needed to be used A.S.A.P., so I came up with this creation. The kids asked for second helpings.

Granted, this isn't the healthiest recipe, but it is definitely healthier than the original, and for me still hits the spot.

Ingredients
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 T lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 C milk
2 or 3 T butter
1/2 C bread crumbs
Shredded cheese

Directions
Bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil in a large saucepan. Add broccoli and cauliflower and cover. Boil for about 4 minutes. Combine soup through curry powder in a medium bowl, then thin with the milk. Melt butter in a separate bowl, then add bread crumbs and stir until combined.

Line the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with the vegetables. Pour the soup mixture over the top. Sprinkle with cheese, then cover with bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Asparagus Alfredo Pasta

I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1-box whole wheat thin spaghetti
1 lb asperagus
1/4 C butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 C milk
1/4 C flour
1 C parmesan cheese
salt, pepper to taste

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 425. Start water boiling for pasta. Meanwhile, trim the asparagus and cut into 1-2 inch pieces. Place asparagus pieces on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes. Add the pasta to the water when ready, and cook according to package directions.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When melted, add the garlic and saute for a bit. Then add the milk and flour. Stir until thickened (about 5 minutes), then remove from heat and add cheese, salt, and pepper.

When everything is done, place in a large bowl and toss together. Eat it as soon as you can.

This was a hit with the kids, who had already eaten by the time I made this dish. They both wanted to eat from my bowl when they smelled the food. My husband loved it as well.

Israeli Couscous Salad

This recipe is so delicious and slightly addicting. You've been warned.

1 cup Israeli couscous

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

4 T olive oil, divided

2 cups dried cranberries (craisins)

1 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup spring onions, white parts only, chopped

1/2 medium sized red onion, finely chopped

1 oz cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 shallot, minced

1/2 lemon

sea salt to taste

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat 1 T olive oil over medium high heat.
Add the couscous and stir about 1 minute, until the couscous is lightly browned.
Stir in 2 cups of broth.*
Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the couscous has absorbed most of the liquid and is al dente.
Drain in a colander but do not rinse.
Once cooled, stir in the remaining 3 T olive oil to coat and separate the grains.

In a serving dish, combine the couscous with craisins, pine nuts, spring onions, red onion, cilantro, lemon zest and shallots. Spritz with lemon juice and adjust seasoning with the sea salt to taste.

Note: This can be a very seasonal dish; simply dice additional fresh vegetables (butternut squash in the fall, zucchini in the summer) and toss in.
* Of course, you can always boil it in plain water as you would pasta and drain it; but I prefer the extra boost of flavor that comes from using a broth.

Recipe courtesy of this blog.

Quinoa Bean Salad

Hello, Run and Not Be Weary, I am Erika. I should warn you that I am not nearly as clever or brilliant as my cousins, Shauna and Lara. I am, however, just as interested as they are in tasty food! Here is one of my latest finds. It is completely satisfying, healthy, and it holds up as a delicious leftover for days.

Quinoa Bean Salad

Dressing Ingredients:
(Combine in a large bowl and whisk together)
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
3 T canola oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey or agave
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like spice!)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clover garlic, minced

Salad Ingredients:
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup green bell pepper, diced
1 cup celery, chopped
3 scallions (green onion), finely chopped
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
Add salad ingredients to the dressing, mix well, and chill for about an hour. Store in the refrigerator for up to five days.

This lovely recipe was plucked from my friend Marci's blog. Marci is a certified dietitian/nutritionist as well as a kick in the pants!

**This salad is a lot tastier than my photo might lead you to believe.

Becca's Bean Gunk

Hi Shauna! Thanks for including me in your healthy-bloggy-foody project. Here's a little vegetarian contribution.
Matt and I fell in love in our dingy student apartments over steaming bowls of this stuff. It's fast, easy, made of cheap ingredients, and tasty too!
Bean Gunk

olive oil
sea salt
one onion, chopped
garlic
2 or 3 cups of vegetables: celery, carrots, peppers--even fennel or hard squash would be good, too.
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 can of black beans, with their juices
fresh herbs-- cilantro is my favorite
other possible additions: chipotle tabasco, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric

Saute the onion, garlic in the olive oil until they're a little bit carmelized. Add whatever spices and the veg and cook for a few more minutes until everything is really combined and smelling amazing. Then add the tomatoes and the beans and let the stuff simmer for 10 minutes or so, until it thickens a little bit and everything is thoroughly combined. Add the chopped fresh herbs and voila!
I like to serve it on rice, with maybe some cheese or sour cream on top.

Note: You could expand this into a soup easily-- just add broth and/or white wine when you add the tomatoes.
I hope you enjoy it!

Crispy Chickpea Pitas

Here's one we had this past week. I got it from a magazine I love-Real Simple. Here's the recipe:

Crispy Chickpea Pita

hands-on time: 20 minutes, serves 4

Ingredients:

3 TB olive oil
1 15.5 oz can chickpeas
3 TB fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, plus 1/2 cup whole parsley leaves (if you have on hand, mine had gone bad, so we didn't use it this time)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 plum tomatoes (I use whatever I have in my fridge)
4 pitas or pieces of flat bread, warmed
1 8-oz container hummus (or you can make your own, look below)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (again we didn't have this at the time, so we just omitted it, but it's really good)
1 tsp hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 lemon cut into wedges

Directions:

Heat 2 TB of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the lemon juice, chopped parsley leaves, tomatoes, and the remaining oil, salt, and pepper, Divide the warm pitas or flat bread among individual plates and spread with the hummus. Top with the chick peas, onion, and hot sauce. Serve with the parsley salad, yogurt, and lemon wedges.

***note*** some yummy things to add may be kalamata olives, or just plain black olives sliced up, or (if you're not worried about keeping it vegetarian) cooked chicken pieces.

Hummus: Using a blender, food processor, or magic bullet (great thing!!) blend 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with 4-5 TB chicken broth, 2 cloves garlic, 1 TB lemon juice, and 2 TB tahini (or we added 1 TB sesame seeds). We added some olive oil as well to make it a little smoother. Salt and pepper to taste and serve chilled with sprinkle of paprika on top. It's really that easy!! And it can be a yummy appetizer with pita chips or pieces of pita bread while you get the rest of dinner going.

Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

Here is a recipe I've been experimenting with. My ten year old loves cream of broccoli and my husband loves cauliflower, so I decided to combine. It's not incredibly fast because of the vegetable chopping, but it took me only about 20 minutes to get it simmering on a day when the kids weren't too crazy and interrupting.

I love soups, too, Shelby, and love to experiment with them. This soup works well without as many spices, too, though it's a still a very subtle curry flavor. My whole family loves this soup, even the three year old.

Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

One large onion
Two stalks celery
Two medium carrots
One large potato peeled and diced
Handful of Italian Parsley
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. smoked paprika
1 T. chilli powder
1 t. garam masala or your favorite curry
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1 t. salt

1/2 c white wine (optional--I only use it if I have some on hand, which is rare--Trader Joe's has good cheap bottles)
2 c water
One large head cauliflower
2 c bechamel sauce (aka white sauce)*
1 c. cream, half and half or milk

Directions:

In heavy bottomed pot, sautee diced vegetables, garlic and chopped parsley in the olive oil gently over medium heat until soft and onion is transparent. Turn heat up to medium high and throw in ground spices--give the vegetables a few turns until the spices look like they've cooked a little, but before the vegatables brown too much. Add water and cauliflower. simmer until cauliflower is just tender. Add wine and simmer for several more minutes, then incorporate a cup of liquid from the soup into the bechamel. Transfer bechamel to big soup pot. Remove bay leaf. Finish with cream, and adjust seasoning. Don't let soup boil after the addition of the cream. This soup may be pureed or served as is.

*Bechamel (I use this as a base for everything, especially things you would use a can of creamed soup in.)

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 t. salt
2 c. milk
a light grating of nutmeg, if you like that flavor.

Melt butter over medium to medium high heat. Whisk in flour, and keep whisking until the color turns golden brown. Whisk in milk. Leave over heat until the sauce bubbles, then turn down to low and cover for ten minutes.

Veggie Stroganoff

Here is another example of creativity bread of necessity. This meal was thrown together from the few ingredients I had on hand.

Ingredients

4 veggie burgers, thawed
1/4 onion, chopped
some olive oil
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
oregano
bay leaf
1/4 C red wine
salt and pepper
cooked rice

Directions

heat oil on medium-high heat, add veggie burgers, break up with wooden spoon. Add chopped onion, and brown. Add soup and water, mix together. Sprinkle with oregano and add a bay leaf and wine (if desired). Reduce heat and let simmer for a while. Add salt and pepper to taste, remove bay leaf, and serve over rice (or noodles).

This dish received high marks from all of us. My three-year-old gobbled it up readily.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

I of course realized after I finished the last post that one of the main tenants of the blog was going mostly meat free, so I figured I'd better pull out another yummy soup recipe that's actually vegetarian...and really good!!

Also, this is a GREAT baby food. My son Sol loves this (minus the nut part). I got this here at Self.com.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Serve with a whole-grain roll and a piece of fresh fruit to turn this light starter into a filling meal.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons butter
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 leek, trimmed of all but 1 inch of dark-green top, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• White pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts

Preparation

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil; add asparagus (make sure water covers asparagus). Cook 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup asparagus water. Remove 16 asparagus tips; cut in half lengthwise; set aside. Heat butter in a medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cook onion, leek and celery, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft but not brown, 10 to 16 minutes. Add salt. Add broth; bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, 8 minutes. Puree broth mixture, asparagus (not tips) and reserved asparagus water in a blender, in 2 batches. (Remove center part of blender lid to prevent hot liquid from bubbling over. Instead, hold a folded dish towel over hole in cap.)

1. Return pureed soup to pot; heat until it just reaches a simmer. Season with pepper and, if desired, nutmeg. Cover; remove from heat. In a small pan, toast pine nuts over medium-low heat, shaking pan occasionally, until nuts are fragrant and browned in some spots, about 6 minutes. Season nuts with salt. Divide soup among 4 bowls; top each with 8 asparagus-tip halves and toasted pine nuts.

The Skinny

93 calories per serving, 4.2 g fat (1.4 g saturated), 10.3 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 6.5 g protein

Greek Garden Pizza

I started making pizza-dough, then realized I was out of shredded cheese. Here is what I came up with:

for the dough:

1 t yeast

1 pinch sugar

2/3 C warm water

2 C flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 C olive oil

put in bread mixer, select dough setting, press start. Or just make like regular dough.

Roll onto pizza stone (or a cookie sheet or upside-down jelly-roll pan), spread prepared sauce of choice on top, then cover with:

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/4-1/2 onion (depending on how much you like)

1 stalk of broccoli florets, chopped

1/2 red pepper, sliced

some pine nuts

top with feta cheese, then bake at 450 F for 12-15 min.

This dish earned high marks from my husband and I, but my daughter sneered at it. She ate a slice after she shoved all the topping off. She did eat the broccoli after removing it from the pizza, though.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

I've been trying new pumpkin recipes to use the pumpkin puree from our Halloween pumpkin. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com.

2 tbs. pumpkin seeds (optional--I used a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds--for the simple reason that they are stored together in the same mason jar)

2 tbs. butter

3 tbs. all-purpose flour

1/2 tbs. curry (I have a very strong curry powder. If yours is not so strong, or you just like things really spicy, add more)

4 C vegetable broth

1/4 C finely chopped onion

1 tsp. bottled minced garlic

3 1/2 C pumpkin puree (or 1 29 oz. can)

1 can (15 oz) coconut milk

2 tbs. soy sauce

1 tbs. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

the original recipe gives instructions on how to toast the seeds in the oven. I sprayed a skillet with cooking spray, then toasted the seeds for a few minutes that way. If your seeds are fresh from the pumpkin, oven toasting would work better.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble. Add onion and garlic. Gradually whisk in broth, and cook for about 10 minutes (or until thickened a bit). Stir in pumpkin and coconut milk. Season with soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat. Garnish with roasted seeds.

By the way, I resolved the Halloween candy dilemma in the following ways. First of all, we opted to go out for the evening, so we gave out nothing (it's kind of cheating, but it worked). Second, my daughter got sick of trick-or-treating early so she didn't end up with much candy. Third, I bought a toy to trade for her candy. This was a TERRIBLE idea for our family. She hated the idea of anyone (fairy or otherwise) taking her candy. I could see her point of view, so she ended up with the toy AND rationed candy. I won't do that again. Live and learn, right?