Cauliflower-sauced Scalloped Potatoes

 

Cauliflower sauce:

•         1 Head cauliflower – wash, chop small
•         1 medium onion – peel, chop small
•        1 heaping teaspoon chicken Better-than-Boullion
•         I cup almond milk (can sub some regular milk or half-n-half if you like)
•       ¼ cup butter or non-dairy Becel

Add cauli and onion to pot, cover with water , add ¼ tsp salt and bring to boil. Simmer on med-low for 30 min.

Drain most of water (but leave a bit in) and dump into Vitamix. Add remaining ingredients. Blend until silky smooth, which is like 30 seconds in Vitamix world.

You can use this sauce for pasta, add cheese to make a cheese sauce, or thin a bit and eat as soup.

Scalloped potatoes:

•    6 medium potatoes
•   1 medium onion
•  1 batch cauliflower sauce
• 2 cups grated cheese (cheddar or swiss or whatever you like)
• S&P
• Butter/ olive oil for pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Wash, trim, and run potatoes and onions through food processor slicer.

In a buttered oven-safe dish, layer potatoes/onion slices with s&p, cauli sauce on each layer

Sprinkle a bit of the cheese on the middle layer and the rest on top

Cover and bake for 30 min

Uncover a bake for 30 min more. If cheese gets browned before time is up, put foil back on

Lemon Velvet Cake

I've made this cake a lot lately....turns out lots of people really like lemon, so it keeps getting requested! I think I have perfected the recipe and as such it's time to record recipe for future bakes! 

Cake recipe adapted from Rock Recipes, with addition of lemon syrup soak, lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream. A fluffy yet moist cake bursting with lemony lemonness. You will need 4-6 lemons for all the components, depending on how big and/or juicy your lemons are.

Lemon Cake

·         1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 1/2 cups cake flour

·         1/2 tsp baking soda

·         1 1/2 tsp baking powder

·         1 tsp sea salt

·         1 1/2 cups sugar

·         2/3 cup vegetable oil

·         1/3 cup vegetable shortening (room temp)

·         1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

·         4 large eggs

·         1 1/2 cups buttermilk OR almond milk if you want to make it dairy-free

·         2 Tbsp lemon juice

·         zest of one large lemon

A few hours before (or the day before), put sugar in a bowl, zest lemon and rub zest into sugar. Cover.

Grease and flour 3 nine inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl or measuring cup, measure out the milk and mix in lemon juice. Let sit for 15-30 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs in one at a time.

Fold in the lemon zest.

Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk: Add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the three prepared 9 inch cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 22 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. While cakes are baking, prepare lemon syrup:

Lemon Syrup

·         ½ cup lemon juice

·         2 Tbsp lemon zest

·         ½ cup sugar

·         1 tsp vanilla

Bring to a boil in small pot. Cool slightly.

When cakes are done, cool for 5 minutes then use toothpick to poke holes. Pour half of the warm syrup over warm cakes while still in pans. Cool for additional 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks and pour remaining syrup over other side of cakes. Cool completely.

Paleo Lemon Curd

from What the Fork

·         4 large eggs, room temperature

·         6 Tbsp coconut oil

·         2 Tbsp butter (or earth balance for DF version)

·         zest of 2 lemons

·         1/4 C honey

·         2 Tbsp raw sugar

·         1/4 tsp fine sea salt

·         1/2 C lemon juice, freshly squeezed ( 2-3 lemons)

Add all ingredients to a pot. Whisk together until all ingredients are combined, while gently heating (on 5 or so). By the time it starts to boil, it should be nice and thick, this takes about 8-10 minutes. Strain through fine mesh sieve and cool in fridge with plastic wrap on surface to avoid skin.

Lemon-Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

·         3/4 cup salted butter OR earth balance for DF version, cool but soft (out of fridge for 30 min or so)

·         ¼ cup shortening

·         1 tsp vanilla

·         2 Tbsp whipping cream OR coconut cream

·         4-6 cups icing sugar

·         Pinch salt

Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy. Fold in ¼ of the lemon curd.

Assembly

If cake layers are not flat, trim them. On bottom cake, spread 1/3 of the remaining lemon curd. Dollop and spread some buttercream overtop. If you have done DF version, skip the buttercream as it will deflate with curd and get soupy, and then cause you no end of troubles.  Repeat with next layer and top with last cake layer. Cover with a crumb coat of buttercream and chill for at least an hour. Store buttercream in fridge but take out 20 min before next step.  Coat cake with a good layer of buttercream and decorate. Chill to set.

You can also make this as cupcakes, in fact the DF version is better as such, since you won't have to worry about the structural integrity of high-moisture-content buttercream (or lack thereof). Just cut the baking time to about 17 minutes (test with toothpick after 15). For decorating, fill a piping bag with the lemon curd, using a large tip. Now here's where you have to get intimate with your cupcake. Shove the tip into the centre of the cupcake, going about as deep as you figure the mid-point is, and force a squeeze of lemon curd in. The cupcake will resist a bit, but don't squeeze TOO hard, as you will suddenly feel it give and the cupcake will poof a bit. Pull out carefully and go on to the next.

I can't believe I said all that with a straight face. Ice with butter cream and decorate.

Egg Roll Stir-Fry

I haven't posted in ages but am compelled to share this, if only to remember it for myself. I tend to go through food phases, and then totally forget about something I previously loved until 5 years later I see it on a blog and think, oh YEAH I can't believe I haven't been making that. So, I bring to you, my take on the Egg Roll Sir-Fry.

A lot has happened since I posted last. Has it really been three years?? I got engaged, planned and executed a perfect wedding day including making my own cake (it wasn't brilliant but I had a lot going on that day lol), had an amazing honeymoon in New Orleans (lots of awesome food and music, so perfect for us!), applied and was accepted to grad school (finally, currently underway), started a new job that's not so new anymore (and that I love), renovated and sold our condo (which looked flippin' AMAZING after renos), bought a house (which does not look at all amazing but will someday) with a huge yard (turns out I have a real green thumb, woot!!), developed major gut issues which seem to be related to a terrible dairy intolerance, which led to much mourning for cheese (I can have a little now, but not much), and currently planning for a major kitchen reno. All that, and I still had time to gain back all the weight I had lost previous :S. Well, the only failure is not trying, right? So I try....I know what works for me, just have a really hard time sticking to it.I blame the microbes in my gut http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/second-brain-microbes-gut-may-affect-body-mind/  but until they come up with some killer cure, it's up to me.

This dish makes it look easy though....it's lower in carbs and fat, chock-full of veggies and lean protein, and a total flavour-bomb in your mouth! I have recently discovered kimchi and gochujang, both being good sources of probiotics, and as a bonus make everything they come into contact with delicious. They are a terrific add, but even without them it's a yummy dish, just not as cool, because well fermented stuff is pretty cool these days. I named it for its resemblance to the inside of an egg roll, and the internet supports it....this is not the first or only egg roll stir-fry out there! I contend it may be the best ;).

Egg Roll Stir-Fry

1 Tbsp oil of choice (I use avocado or olive)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1/2 head green cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, julienned
2 bell peppers, julienned (I like red and yellow)
1/2 cup kimchi, chopped small
1 Tbsp gochujang (or sriracha, if you can't find it)
1 tsp chicken or "no-chicken" Better Than Boullion
2 tsp sesame oil
3 green onions, sliced
2 small wads mung-bean vermicelli (a.k.a. bean threads or glass noodles)
1 pkg tofu cut into cubes or 1 lb ground turkey
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce or Bragg's aminos (GF and less sodium)

In a large fry-pan or wok heated to medium, add 1 tsp of the oil, garlic, cabbage, and celery. Stir-fry for 5 minutes and then add carrots and peppers. Cook for 5 minutes longer or until veggies are all tender but not too soft. Add the kimchi, gochujang, boullion paste, sesame oil, and green onions, combining well.

Meanwhile, soak vermicelli in water and heat a separate pot of water to boiling. Once boiling, drain the vermicelli and snip them so that they are shorter threads, about 3 inches long. Add them to the boiling water and boil for one minute, then drain and place in a large holding bowl.

Once the veggies are done, place them in the holding bowl as well and stir everything together.

Return the frypan to the stove and add the remaining oil and ground turkey or tofu. Fry until browned. Add soy sauce and fry until evaporated. I usually do both (separately), and divide the veggies into two to create both vegetarian and meatatarian versions.

Add the veggies back into the frypan with the meat or tofu, and combine well. Done!

At this point it looks like a massive amount of food, but it's actually just 5 servings, at 365 calories each! Compare to a similar amount of, say, pad thai, and its a third of the calories. Yet, totally deliciously satisfying.

Calories 365
Fat 15 g
Protein 29 g
Carbs 31 g
Fibre 5g
Sodium 568 mg

Cauliflower Crust Pizza (CCP)

It's no secret that I love pizza. There are a couple of pizza recipes already on this blog, so this one is not the first and won't be the last. The thing that makes it different is the crust - it's made of cauliflower! Examine the gorgeous toastiness, the well-formed roundness. It's looks tasty, doesn't it? Well, it WAS. This recipe truly belongs here in Yummyland. The pizza got a firm two-thumbs-up from all of us at the dinner table. And crazy enough, this recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, low-carb, in high in awesomeness. 

I had a conversation today about pizza, and how even the thinnest of thin-crust is still relatively high in carbs and so not a great choice for those with diabetes or pre-diabetic, which relegates it to the rare-treat department. Which got me to thinking about the vegetable-based crusts that are out there these days....which is the best? And at it's best, can it be anywhere near as good as the "real thing"? So I did a quick cruise around the interwebs and found this one. By all accounts it seemed like a good choice. I haven't credited the original site because there are so many versions of this out there, I have no idea where it came from originally. Several people who posted on it mentioned the importance of squeezing the water out of the cauliflower really well...listen to them. I may not have squeezed adequately and so the centre didn't get crispy like the edges, needed more time to brown and firm up, but as the edges were already brown I didn't want to cook too much longer so I ended up with a pale undercrust. Next time I will squeeze more and remember to heat up pan or stone before placing the crust on it, and get that gorgeous golden crust all over. Was it the same as wheat-crust pizza? Well it was less different than expected. Was it as good as wheat-crust pizza? Hmm I didn't think it would be, of course not, but you know what? It is equally delicious! And because of it's healthiness, even better. The kind of better that makes your mouth AND body happy. 

So here it is, without further adieu, my take on the popular cauliflower-crust pizza! Welcome to Yummyland, CCP! 

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower (about 500g)

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¼ cup mozzarella cheese

¼ tsp sea salt

½ tsp Italian herbs

½ tsp garlic powder

1 egg

Place a pizza stone in the oven, or baking sheet if you don’t have a pizza stone. Preheat oven to 450ºF. On a cutting board, place a large piece of parchment paper and spray it with olive oil (Mr. Misto is a great oil spray jar, get two and use one for olive oil and one for canola or other vegetable oil wih a higher smoke point and you will be set!).

Wash and dry a small head of cauliflower. Cut into florets. Pulse in your food processor for about 30 seconds, until you get powdery snow like cauliflower. You should end up with 2 to 3 cups cauliflower “snow”. Place the cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl, cover and cook on high for 8 minutes OR steam in a steamer pot on the stove top, whichever you prefer. Dump cooked cauliflower onto a clean tea towel and allow to cool for a bit before attempting the next step.

Once cauliflower is cool enough to handle, wrap it up in the dish towel and wring the heck out of it. This is the exact instruction from three or four different recipes....and it's maybe the most important step. You want to squeeze out as much water as possible. This will ensure you get a chewy pizza like crust instead of a soggy crumbly mess. So squeeze and squeeze and then when you are pretty sure your hands can't take any more squeezing, tag off and get someone else to squeeze some more. 

Dumped squeezed cauliflower into a bowl. Now add Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, sea salt, dried herbs, garlic powder, and a dash of red pepper if you want. Mixy mix, form into ball. 

Now the fun part. Use your hands to form the dough into a crust on your oiled parchment paper. Pat it down thoroughly, you want it well-compressed and smooth around the edges and a nice thin-crust thickness. 

Using a cutting board, slide the parchment paper onto your hot pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 8-11 minutes, until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from oven.

Spread with a simple pizza sauce (see below), cheeses, and whatever toppings you like, just not too much or your crust will get too weighed-down. Slide parchment with topped pizza back in the hot oven and cook for another 7 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and slightly golden.

Cool for a few minutes before cutting, then behold your delicious grain-free cauliflower crust pizza! Cut and serve wit ha big ole salad. This was such a great dinner, and not even a treat dinner, just a regular everyday healthy dinner! Who knew. Cauliflower is my new favourite thing. Remind to tell you about cauliflower rice sometime soon!

Nutritional info: for 1/3 of the crust recipe above, there are 136 calories, 6g fat, 13g protein, 8g carbs (woot!), 3g fibre, and 450mg sodium. The toppings are up to you!

Simple Pizza Sauce: 

1/3 small can tomato paste, 2-3Tbsp water, 1/2 tsp dried Italian herbs, 1/8 tsp cayenne, dash of salt and pepper. Combine in bowl, should be thick but not pasty, but good a spreadable. I find this sauce is great for pizza as it has lower moisture content (you can control that) and so does not make the crust soggy, especially important with this one. 

Split Pea and Barley Soup

I guess fall is on it's way, as today was a bit chilly and seemed like a Soup Day. Yay I love soup! We love split pea with ham around here, but with that being a three-day process (well the proper way!) and with the girl being a vegetarian, I decided to do a split pea with lots of veggies and some barley for good measure. It was warm and comforting and pretty delish, but we did miss the ham :).

If you are looking for a vegetarian version though, this one rocks! The barley makes it extra-hearty.

Note: This recipe is super-simple and easy...but if you decide "hey I want to make pea soup for dinner" at 6:20 pm, expect to be eating dinner at about 9. Yikes. And don't try to rush it, crunchy split peas are all kinds of yuck.

Split Pea and Barley Soup

1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1L vegetable stock (or chicken if you are not fussed about vegetarian-ness)
3L water
1 cup barley
1 cup yellow split peas
1 cup green split peas
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups diced potato
2 cups chopped carrots

In a big ole soup pot on medium heat, saute onion and celery in the olive oil until onion is translucent, about 15 min. Add dried herbs and saute one minute longer. Add stock and water, barley, and split peas. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potato, simmer 30 min longer. Add carrots, simmer 20 min longer. Add pepper and taste; add salt if needed (will depend on how much salt is in your vegetable stock). I like to add "better than boullion" instead of salt, as is my general habit. It adds tastiness and saltiness at the same time, so you end up needing less saltiness than you thought :). Add sparingly though, just a teaspoon will probably do the job!

And now to pack up all the remaining soup for lunches. Man I love soup lunches.

Chocolate Quinoa Cake

Chocolicious Quinoa Cake {gluten-free}
Adapted from Oh She Glows

 This recipe has so many great features – chock full of quinoa, gluten free, real whole ingredients – and seems pretty darn easy at first glance. Cook quinoa. Blend quinoa with some other stuff. Add to some sifted dry ingredients and mix. Bake. Easy peasy right? Well it is easy, but this recipe is one finicky lady. The tendency is to become a dense fudgey brownie-like brick. Not bad, but not really the intention; you should get a fluffy yet moist deeply chocolaty not-too-sweet cake. Here’s how!

 Ingredients
2 cups COOKED quinoa*
1/3 cup almond milk or hemp milk or whatever milk you like
4 large eggs (cage-free of course, otherwise you can taste the misery)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter (or vegan margarine, if you want it vegan/ dairy-free)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 cup organic raw cane sugar
1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder (or 2 tsp if your powder is more than 2 months old)
1/2 teaspoon salt

 Instructions 
 1.Preheat the oven to 350°F and then line two 8” round cake pans or one large (14”) round springform pan with parchment paper.
 2.In a food processor or blender, combine the eggs, milk, melted butter and oil, and vanilla extract then blend for ten seconds to combine.
 3.Add the 2C cooked and cooled quinoa then blend the heck out of it until completely smooth, about three minutes (or three periods of one minute to let blender engine cool down in between).
 4.Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt).
 5.Add the wet ingredients** in the blender to the bowl with the dry and mix together until very well-combined.
 6.Spread into pans and bake for 37 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Larger pan will likely take a bit longer, depending on your oven; mine in convection and still takes 37 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool.

For mini-cupcakes, bake 13 minutes.
For regular cupcakes, bake 15 minutes.
For smallish cakes, bake 18 minutes.

 Secrets to Awesomeness

 *Cooking the quinoa: approximately 3/4 cup dry quinoa will yield 2 cups cooked quinoa. I like to make a double batch: 1.5C quinoa and 3C water. Bring to boil, cover, and reduce heat to low so that it’s barely simmering at all, like for rice, for 35 minutes. Check towards the last 10 min to make sure it’s not getting crunchy on bottom, add a bit more water if bone dry but not too much. You want the quinoa fully soft, not at all crunchy, but dry at the end. Dry is important. Then measure out two cups of the cooked quinoa for the recipe and use the rest for a pilaf or something. I don’t know why but making a bigger batch helps it get drier and fluffier.

 **When extracting the quinoa mix from the blender, do not be tempted to add more liquid to make the task easier or to make the batter more like what you expect from a cake batter. It’s not. The batter is thick and uncooperative, you just have to show it who’s boss. Use a rubber spatula to remove from blender (watch out for blade!!) and use plenty of muscle when mixing into the dry ingredients. The batter should be very thick and you have to spread it in the cake pans rather than pour. It seems wrong but trust me it’s right! Oh She Glows also has a coconut milk-chocolate frosting to go with the cake. I cautiously recommend it…it’s heavenly when it turns out right and only has two ingredients (1 can coconut cream solids and 1 pkg (280g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, melted then cooled) but the chances of it turning out right are actually pretty slim. The coconut milk has to be the exact right kind – it has to be chilled to 4 degrees, the solids must completely separate from the liquids, the chocolate must be melted but no longer warm, you must beat on med-high  and watch carefully for it to change, and the stars must align exactly right in order to achieve a fluffy yummy frosting rather than liquidy goop or worse. You may want a nice reliable buttercream. What, you say? You don’t know of a nice reliable chocolate buttercream icing recipe?? Guess what, it’s butter and cream and icing sugar. Ok a couple other things too.

 Nice Reliable Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: this one from Kitchen Magpie rocks. 

Add I confess. I lifted this pic from another blog , as it's uncannily similar to how this cake looks, and I don't have a pic myself yet. Kudos to Playing with Flour for a gorgeous cake. 

Peppered Pears

If you are looking for an appie for the holidays, maybe something light and refreshing to precede a big holiday meal, this is a surprisingly delicious option. The idea was related to me by the head honcho at my work, I thought it sounded interesting and it was the perfect simple and light appie I was looking for.

You can see on the plate that I served the pears with some prosciutto and cheese (Irish cheddar)on separate skewers. It was widely agreed that the best combination was all three together, pears prosciutto and cheese living in sweet harmony in one bite, so next time I will skewer accordingly.

Peppered Pears
pears
limes
freshly cracked black pepper

Peel/ core pears and cut into bite-size chunks. Squeeze fresh lime juice all over them, covering thoroughly.Sprinkle pepper over all sides and pile on a serving plate. Skewer with toothpicks.

Amaretti Cookies and Cranberry-Pistachio Bark

More Christmas baking, and still more to come...so much for cutting back this year! Every year my mom and my sisters and I bake a bunch of cookies/treats and then do a cookie exchange, making up trays of delectable treats for friends, family and coworkers. This year I resolved to only bake two kinds, but that hasn't worked out for me. I just had to make these cute amaretti cookies from Alive magazine, not only are they made from healthy ingredients but they are also gluten-free, perfect for my mom (we try to make all our xmas baking gluten free so that they can all intermingle without concern). They turned out just like the picture in the magazine, and SO yummy!

The bark is, of course, a Christmas no-brainer. Cranberries, good...pistachios, good...chocolate, definately good! Yup these qualify as all good. And I must get it out of my house before there is none left for our cookie trays. I used craisins and pistachios for both kinds, both dark and white chocolate, but you could use any kind of dried fruit and nuts...cashews and flame raisins would have been nice in the dark chocolate. Next time!



Amaretti Cookies
from Alive magazine

1 3/4 cups almond meal
1/2 cup natural brown sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
zest of 1/2 lemon, grated finely
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup natural brown sugar
30 whole almonds (15 blanched and 15 natural)

Combine almond meal, 1/2 cup brown sugar, almond extract, and lemon zest in food processor until smooth (I just did it old-school with a wooden spoon). Refrigerate for one hour. Add egg whites and sorghum flour, combining well; dough will be soft and sticky. Scoop out a teaspoonful and roll between damp palms and then drop into a small bowl containing 1/3 cup natural brown sugar. Gently roll around in sugar, shake off excess. Place on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper and press one whole almond in the centre. Repeat with remaining dough, placing balls 1 inch apart.Bake in a 325F oven for 18 minutes or until golden. Remove to a rack and cool. Sotre in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week, or freeze them.

Makes 30. The original recipe says 40, but they lie.



Cranberry-Pistachio Bark
This doesn't really qualify as a recipe, it's really just a cheat but man it's yummy and is always a favourite on the cookie tray. Just melt down a block of good chocolate that you've chopped into bits (I did two kinds, Callebaut dark and white). Stir in a good handful of craisins and another of pistachios, you should have about the same amount of nuts/fruit as chocolate. Pour it all onto a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper, spreading it in a thin layer. Stick that in the freezer until it firms up, then take it out and peel it up off the paper. Break it into jagged peices. Done! And no one has to know how easy it was ;).

OPTIONAL: Just to be fancy, I decorated each kind with the alternate colour of chocolate. Reserve a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate after it's melted and before you add the fruit and nuts, then after you've spread the mixture out on the tray, just heap some melted chocolate on a spoon and wave it over the tray so that it drips in fine lines.I know I know, it's all very high-tech.

Parmesan Chicken Casserole

This recipe is my pick for Light Bites. It looked and sounded like a good fall comfort meal with a bit of zing. But, I will be interested to see what the other bloggers in the group thought of it, because I don't think I did it right. On close inspection, the recipe seems like there must be a mistake - it involves over two cups of liquid absorbing into the rice during only 15 minutes in the oven?! Doesn't seem right, but then again, it also says to use boil-in-a-bag rice which I have never cooked with and didn't intend to. I don't mean to be a rice Snobby McSnobberson, but boil-in-a-bag, really? Not in my house. Of course there is the possibility that said rice is somehow magic and can make 2 cups of liquid absord in 15 minutes, if so my bad. Instead, I used par-cooked rice and added less liquid to the casserole itself, I had to cook it for 50 minutes and even so the dish was a bit watery. Next time I'll use a bit of thickener in the liquid to it will be a lovely sauce...I say "next time" because this dish was SO yummy, definately a do-over is in order. Instead of plain brown rice I used a combo of red, brown, and wild, and added some red peppers and celery when sauteeing the onion. I also strayed from the recipe by seasoning and browning my chicken before adding to the dish. It seemed like the right thing to do. See the pool of liquid on the left side of the rice? Yeah baby, that liquid will next time be saucified.



Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserolemodified from Cooking Light

Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1 celery rib, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup mixed rice (dry)
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup half and half cream
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
cayenne
2 tsp cornstarch or flour

Directions
1. Add 1 cup of chicken broth to the rice in a small pot, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer gently until all the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and celery to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper, 1/2 tsp thyme, and some black pepper; sauté about 8 more minutes, until vegetables are soft and onion is translucent.
3. Add wine and vegetable mixture to rice; cook until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat and spoon rice mixture in an even layer into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Season chicken thighs with 1/2 tsp thyme, salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne. Brown both sides in a pan on high heat (chicken does not need to be cooked through). Place thighs on top of rice mixture.
5. Combine remaining broth, cream,1/2 tsp thyme and some pepper, stirring well; I am thinking that at this point adding a bit of cornstarch or flour would be beneficial, maybe 2 tsp or so. Pour over chicken and rice mixture.
6. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Severed Foot Cheeseball

I love Halloween, it's probably my favourite holiday of all.It gives me a chance to be creative in a gruesome way that is only acceptable this time of year! One of my best creations, in my opinion, is the Severed Foot Cheeseball. It's a Sherylyn original, conceived of in a moment of macabre brilliance, lol. The cheeseball recipe comes from my mom, and we have made versions of it for as long as I can remember. For Christmas we'd decorate them with red-pepper poinsettias, in summer they'd have carrot and radish blossoms on chive stems. But in my opinion, this Halloween version takes it to a whole. New. Level.



Severed Foot Cheeseball

The cheeseball mixture:
2 blocks reduced-fat cream cheese (NOT fat free)
1 cup grated sharp cheddar (I use reduced-fat for that as well)
1/2 cup finely grated Swiss cheese (or asiago or parmesan, anything really sharp)
1.5 cups chopped ham (I used black forest for that touch of black in the mix)
1/2 cup chopped olives with pimentos
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
2 or 3 drops of green food colouring

Reserve 1 Tbsp of the cream cheese for decorating. Throw all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well (easiest in a stand mixer if you are a wimp...otherwise a little elbow grease should do it!)and add green food colouring until desired pale green mouldy shade is reached. Shape into a foot-like blob and chill until firm (overnight is best).

Decorating:
1 mushroom stem
1/2 red pepper, chopped into a macerated mess
5 black olive halves
reserved 1 Tbsp cream cheese tinted pale blue for veins

Using a butter knife, shape the blob into a nice foot-like shape (should be easier now that the cheese is stiffer). Use your own foot as inspiration, or ask someone to be a foot model for you. You will want a foot and ankle so that you have a bit of a leg stump to decorate.

Once you are happy with your foot shape, pile the red pepper mush onto the stump. Jam in the mushroom stem, and then form the red pepper mush around the bottom of it.

Use the black olive halves for toenails (I trimmed down the four smaller toenails for a more realistic look).

Using a toothpick, drag the blue cream cheese across the top of the foot in a veiny pattern (examine your foot model!)

That should do it. Gruesome AND delicious, the perfect combo! I served this at work for a Halloween Potluck and did another for my Halloween-edition book club meeting, along with mummy fingers (spiced ground lamb wrapped in phyllo shreds served with sweet chili sauce), fruit decorated with insects, banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, and lots of red wine.

Here is a picture of my fabulous book club ladies in their literary-inspired costumes! We had a Nancy Drew, a Zorro, a Mad Hatter, and a John Steinbeck...can you pick them out? I was Sylvia Plath, it was a great deal of fun and I was really impressed with everyone's participation...it's a shame you can't see more of the room, it looked very spooky with the candles, cobwebs, window ghosts, pumpkin lights, and other Halloween decorations, along with the Rob Zombie movie "Devil's Rejects" muted in the background and Halloween-themed CDs I put together with songs like Bahaus's Bela Lugosi's Dead, Alice Cooper's I Love the Dead, Rob Zombie's American Witch, White Stripes' Little Ghost, etc. I was so proud.

Artichoke and Potato Gratin

I admit, the picture is not great and does this dish absolutely no justice. Because I gotta tell you, this was one of the most amazingly delicious potato dishes I have ever eaten, maybe THE best ever. I printed off the recipe from another blog several months ago and it got shoved off into the Big Pile of Recipes. Last weekend I decided to spend some time organizing them, finally, and came across this recipe. Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided it was time to make it, and boy am I glad I did! It was so good, we could could not stop exclaiming all through dinner "This is so delicious!". The sharp tang of the cheese and the wine sauce, the saltiness of the ham and tender artichokes, the textures and flavours all layered together to form one rockin gratin. This is how food should taste.

And the best part is that this dish achieves this amazing level of deliciousness without a smidge of cream and only a small smidge of butter. Who knew a scalloped potato-type dish could be improved by removing the very thing that I figured made it so delicious? I made a couple of minor modifications from the original recipe that came from Bon Appétit, the recipe does not need improving on but I just wanted to cut back on the ham content to make it a side dish rather than a main dish. Even with less ham the sodium content is pretty high, so better to pull some of that out. The calorie count is entirely reasonable, especially if you serve it with a lower-calorie protein like chicken or fish and a steamed veg...we had it with steamed broccoli and sauteed chicken with a pomegranate glaze for a total calorie count of 589, perfect for a weekend dinner. Try this. You will thank me.

Artichoke and Potato Grain
modified from Bon Appetit (just barely!)

•1 tsp butter
•2 cups thinly sliced leeks or onions
•kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
•400g russet potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced (I used mixed baby potatoes and it worked great)
•150g ham, chopped
•1 jar artichoke hearts, rinsed and sliced lengthwise
•90g (about 1 cup) finely grated Comté or Gruyère cheese
•1/4 cup low-salt chicken broth
•1/2 cup dry white wine
•2 tsp flour or cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a small casserole dish with cooking spray. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks or onions; sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Set aside.In the same pan, saute the chooped ham until very lightly browned.
Cover bottom of baking dish with 1/3 of potato slices, overlapping as needed, and season with pepper. Scatter 1/2 of ham and leeks/onions over, then 1/2 of artichoke hearts, and sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat layering with potato slices, ham, leeks, and artichokes, reserving a few leeks/onions for top. Cover with remaining potato slices and sprinkle with remaining leeks/ onions and cheese.
Whisk broth, wine, four and some ground pepper in a small pot over medium heat until flour dissolves. Bring mixture to boil; cook until smooth and thickened and slightly reduced, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Pour over gratin. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then cover gratin with foil, tenting in center to prevent cheese from sticking. Bake 30 more minutes or until potatoes are soft, topping is browned, and juices are bubbling. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Makes 3 servings.

Nutritional Info: 389 calories, 13.5g fat, 23.7g protein, 52.2g carbs, 5.2g fibre, 1000mg sodium.

Sausage and Bean Casserole

Ah Fall, with your cooler weather and promise of winter you put us in the mood for comforting soups and stews and casseroles. Since I've been on a casserole kick for a while now, this Light Bites choice of recipe was welcome. When I read over the ingredient list, I thought heyyyy this is just a fancied up wieners n beaners! Cool, I'm in!

The verdict? Hmm. Not a fan. It was only ok, despite attempts to jazz it up. I found it lacked depth...the brown sugar gave it sweetness but there wasn't enough flavour going on for that sweetness to enhance. I have the leftovers for lunch and am not particularly excited about it...and I even added bacon. Bacon, man! That should make anything awesome! Mind you it was low-fat peameal bacon so maybe the lack of fat in this dish just made it fall flat for me, I dunno. I am generally on the low-fat bandwagon, but not today folks. I'd only recommend making this as a last-minute meal; the trouble I went to soak beans overnight and whatnot was not really worth it, so the original recipe's recommendation of using rinsed canned beans is more in keeping with this recipe. Kids would probably love it.

Sausage and Bean Casserole
adapted from Cooking Light

1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
2 slices peameal bacon (uncooked Canadian bacon), chopped
200g light smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup water
1/2 chicken stock cube
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white beans, cooked al dente
1/2 teaspoon harissa
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 slice whole grain bread

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, garlic, and bacon to pan; sauté for 10 minutes or until browned. Add turkey sausage, and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add chicken stock cube, brown sugar, tomato paste, dried thyme, mustard, freshly ground black pepper, beans, and harissa. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs.Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over bean mixture, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned.

Buttered Sweet Potato Knot Rolls

This recipe represents my second entry for Light Bites, a Friday blogging group I joined. If you are confused because today is Tuesday, well what can I say, I have a busy life.

These rolls turned out so perfectly, and don't you love my cute little knots? I didn't think I could make them so pretty, but turns out it's a lot easier than it looks! I used yam instead of sweet potato (I think Americans call yams sweet potatoes anyway so it's probably the right thing), and replaced some of the flour with whole wheat flour but other than that stayed true to the Cooking Light recipe. Therefore I'll post the link rather than the recipe:

Buttered Sweet Potato Knot Rolls

They are soft and pillowy and a whole lot of delicious!

Lemon Bars, Dark Cocoa Cookies, and Cranberry Almond Macaroons

A trio of cookies for a departing coworker! I baked last night like it was my job.It was actually really fun, starting off with this big mess of bowls and spoons and ingredients covering every surface, then one by one completing a task and cleaning that part up, and in the end I had clean counters and neat rows of baked cookies. Of course I forgot to take picures, so instead my pics are of the remnants. The lemon bars were the biggest hit!

Each of the are made with a healthy component, like whole wheat flour or trail mix or yoghurt, but lets face it, cookies are meant to be savoured and enjoyed and to me that means real sugar and butter.I only made substitutions where I figured I could get away with it and not sacrifice taste, and they all worked out very well. And the last ones are gluten-free, to boot.

The first is a recipe I got from another blogger, Apples to Zuchinni, that came from a Cooking Light recipe.

Dark Cocoa Fudge Cookies
adapted from Cooking Light

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
5 Tbsp butter
7 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
1 cup raw (Demerara) sugar
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla

1.combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
2.cream butter and sugars with the yogurt and vanilla
3.add dry ingredients until moistened
4.drop by level tablespoons full onto parchment paper
5.bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until nearly set in the centers
6.cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes
7.transfer to wire cooling racks

Makes 18 cookies
Each cookie: 97 calories, 4g fat, 1.5g protein, 17g carbs, 1g fibre, 70g sodium.


These lemon bars were a huge hit. The recipe came from an online friend whose delectable description of them made me demand the recipe. They are super-tangy and sweet and delicious, and my addition of whole wheat flour gives them a bit of texture and nutty flavour. Watch out, these are pucker-licious!

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
2 Tbsp ww flour
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup lemon juice – about 3 lemons

Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare crust: beat flour, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Press dough into 9in x 9in pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Prick crust with a fork and bake for 25 minutes.
Just before crust is done baking, prepare the filling: Beat ingredients for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. (Don’t make this ahead of time).
Pour filling onto hot crust, and bake 25 minutes more. Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 20 bars.
For each bar: 119 calories, 5g fat, 2g protein, 17g carbs, 1g fibre, 70mg sodium.

And last but certainly not least, my personal favourite, coconutty yumminess in the form of macaroons. The recipe is from my mom, who has been making them as a Christmas treat for years. I left off the red and green glace cherry decorations and used craisins and cranberry-almond trail mix as the fruit and nut component, but you can use any dried fruit and nuts/seeds in this. Dates and walnuts, sour cherries and almonds, apricots and pecans, figs and cashews, the possibilities are endless. And a few mini-chocolate chips thrown in wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings either.

Cranberry Almond Macaroons

1 cup fancy shredded coconut
1 cup finely shredded coconut
1/2 can sweetened condensed skim milk*
1 egg white, beaten until frothy
3/4 cups cranberry-almond trail mix, finely chopped
1/2 cup craisins, chopped
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract

Method
Add all ingredients to a large bowl a stir thoroughly.
Dollop teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bunch together with finger so the drop is solid.
Preheat oven to 300F.
Bake at 300F till lightly golden- about 25 min. They burn easily, so watch them during the last 10 minutes. Turn oven off and leave in oven for another 30 minutes. This prevents them from going soggy.

*If you realize at the last moment you don’t have any condensed milk, a perfect substitution is 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp dry skim milk, 6 Tbsp sugar, and 2 Tbsp hot water. Combine all and whisk or blend in blender until well combined (I had to give it a shot in the microwave to dissolve all the milk and sugar). Chill for 30 minutes to set.

Makes 25 cookies.

Per cookie: 106 calories, 4g fat, 2g protein, 16g carbs, 1g fibre, 40mg sodium

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce

This recipe represents my first entry for Light Bites, a cooking/ blogging group I joined. Every Friday we blog a recipe from Cooking Light, which just happens to be one of my favourite magazines. This week's recipe is Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce, woo a dish right up my alley! And I only did a few minor modifications ;). I added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to add a bit of tang with the sweetness, upped the bacon (because I agree with Pam ,you can never have too much bacon, though I did use the slightly leaner cut of side bacon) and I used locally raised chicken thighs instead of breasts. I have nothing against breasts, but recently had a bad chicken breast experience and so preferred to use the moister, more flavourful thighs. Also added a few herbs, cayenne, and thickened the sauce with a bit of cornstarch, as others who'd reviewed it mentioned it was too thin and I can't stand a thin sauce, the cornstarch was perfect and made it a lovely, glossy sauce.

Verdict? Two yums up! Appley, bacony deliciousness. The chicken pretty much just came along for the ride, but I'm glad it did. Since I got behind and have a massive box of tomatoes to salsify this evening, I just had the chicken straight up for dinner, but I think the suggested sides of wild rice and broccoli would be perfect.

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 2

4 side bacon slices, chopped
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/4 tsp each freshly ground black pepper, Herbs de Provence, and cayenne
1 onion, sliced
3/4 cup unsweetened apple cider
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp cornstarch

Directions
Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan. Sesaon chicken with pepper, herbs,and cayenne and add chicken to drippings in pan. Cook 8 minutes on each side or until brown. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender and lightly carmelized, stirring occasionally. Add cider, broth, and bacon; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup (about 5 minutes). Add cornstarch and stir well to combine, when sauce had thickened add chicken back to pan. Cook for another 5 minutes or so to allow sauce to penetrate chicken.Serve with rice and broccoli, or if you have a vat of salsa to make, just chow it down.

Curried Chickpea Stew

With fall arriving, I have this urge to delve into comfort-food recipes and have been making soups,stews, and casseroles galore. This recipe originally came from a friend, and got morphed with a soup I tried at a restaurant last week and wanted to replicate. The result is belly-warming deliciousness. My dad would disagree, two of the foods he hates the most are yams and curry lol....this is the Anti-Dad Stew I guess! I've never been a big fan of curry myself, until recent years when I realized there are all sorts of different curries...I actually do like most of them.
I wanted to have red lentils in this stew to thicken it, but when I went to the pantry I discovered I was out...so curry, meet quinoa. A nutritious alternative that worked quite well, I believe, but red lentils would be super too.

Curried Chickpea Stew
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 cup diced tomatoes
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 yam, peeled and cut into 1” cubes (about 2 cups)
1 large carrot, diced
1/3 cup quinoa or red lentils
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat oil and add onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté on medium heat until onion is translucent., about 10 min.
Add stock, yam, tomatoes, and curry powder. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer, with lid offset, for one hour.
Add carrot and quinoa. Simmer for 30 more minutes.
Add chick peas and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir in cilantro and add pepper to taste.

Crockpot directions:
Combine all ingredients except cilantro in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours. Season the stew with pepper and stir in cilantro.

Nutritional Information per serving: 248 calories, 3.7g fat, 10.2g protein, 42.8g carbs, 7.6g fibre, 552mg sodium.

Pumpkin Oat Maple Muffins

A friend and I were talking muffins a few weeks ago, and I asked her to share a recipe she had found for for Pumpkin Oat muffins. They sounded so delicious, and despite having never made this recipe before, I threw caution to the wind and made my own modifications on the first run. Ha! I am such a rebel. I am currently basking in the glory of muffin success, gloating over my incredible muffin skillz, and soaking up the muffin love from coworkers. Hey take it while you can get it eh! Tomorrow might bring some horrible mashed potato mishap or grilling disaster.

I admit I had to borrow this picture, as I did not have time to take one before the muffins were inhaled. I searched the internet far and wide to find a picture that looked like my muffins, and looked like a picture I would take. This is close, I even have that plate!

Now lets talk muffins. These little beauties are packed full of what a friend calls "West Coast healthiness". Spelt and whole wheat flour, oats, oat bran, ground flax, and pumpkin make up the foundation of these muffins, with added deliciousness from raw sugar and maple syrup..so much so that I thought maple should get a front seat too! It's important to not overcook these, they have such wonderful moistness it would be sad to cook it away. I cut down the cooking time to 25 minutes and I think that was just perfect. Next time I might add something with texture, like apple bits or grated carrot or walnut peices. All would be awesome additions!

Pumpkin Oat Maple Muffins
modified from foodnetwork.com

•1 cup spelt flour
•1 cup whole wheat flour
•1/2 cup rolled oats
•2 Tbsp oat bran
•2 1/2 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/4 tsp sea salt
•1 tsp cinnamon
•1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
•6 Tbsp raw sugar
•3 Tbsp maple syrup
•1 Tbsp flax meal
•3/4 cup low fat milk
•1 can (397ml) pumpkin
•2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
•1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
•2 Tbsp olive oil
•1 egg

Topping
•2 Tbsp raw sugar
•2 Tbsp rolled oats
•1 tsp olive oil
•pinch sea salt

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375°F.
2.In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, sifting in the baking powder and baking soda. Stir through until well combined.
3.In another bowl, add the remaining wet ingredients, and stir through until well combined.
4.Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and gently fold and mix through, until just combined (do not over mix).
5.Spoon the mixture into a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners.
6.In a small bowl, mix the sugar, oats, oil, and salt together with your fingers, and then sprinkle on top of each muffin.
7.Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Nutritional values: Each muffin is 166 calories, 4g fat, 5g protein, 31g carbs, 3g fibre, 100mg sodium.

Mushroom-Jalapeno Bison Burgers

Ah, summer, time for grilling and drinking Caesars out on the patio. Is there anything more delectable than the smell of grilling meat wafting through the languid summer air? I don't think so. I also adore the smell of cut grass as a summer favourite, but it does not make me want to eat it. Grilling, however, turns me into a rabid dog whenever I pass a house with that unmatchable scent emanating from the yard.

These burgers will turn you into the envy of the neighborhood....like in those old commercials for Johnsonville brats, I'd make enough to feed a crowd ;).

And if that isn't enough good press for you, these burgers are low in calories, low in fat, and extremely high in yumminess! You also get the benefit of grass-fed, hormone-free meat, as bison are raised in fields not pens. That also means they had a decent life, as livestock go. Yay! You can taste the happiness. The addition of mushrooms means that the meat is stretched further, replaced by the mighty mushroom - fat free, protein rich, moisture-lending,earthy-tasting goodness. The resulting burger is lean yet juicy and packed with flavour. Add some kick from jalapenos, and maybe a slice of sharp cheese and man oh man I will be knocking down your door at dinner time.

Mushroom-Jalapeno Bison Burgers
900g (two 1-lb packages) ground bison
2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
1/2 egg
1/4C canned jalapenos, chopped
6 large or 12 small mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp salt
A few grinds of pepper (about ¼ tsp)


Sauté onions and mushrooms in a non-stick pan with some cooking spray until soft and mushrooms have released about half of their moisture, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients with hands. Squish through fingers until all ingredients are well-combined, do not over-mix! Remember, every time you overmix a kitten dies.

Divide mixture into 8 equal portions and form into patties, pressing firmly. Refrigerate until ready to cook (this helps them firm up a bit). Grill or cook in non-stick fry-pan until cooked through and brown.

If you like cheese on your burgers, top with slices of cheese and allow these to melt before removing burgers from heat. Pop on a bun, whole wheat for me, and garnish how you like.

I don't have to tell you what to do next ,do I?

Nutritional info: Each burger patty is 152 calories, 5g fat, 25g protein, 3g carbs, 0g fibre, 220mg sodium.

Thai Salad with Honey-Peanut-Lime dressing

This salad recipe is based on one from a lovely little cookbook I was given for Christmas last year. It's a Favourite Brand Name cookbook "3 books in one" with Chinese. Thai, and Japanese recipe sections. I love this book! And this recipe has no brand name items in it at all, same as many other recipes, so not sure why it's called Favourite Brand Names. Just as well! Apparently the recipe originally came from the National Honey Board, so it really gets around ;).

I've modified it, of course, I can never leave any recipe alone. One modification was including both Napa cabbage and romaine lettuce - the recipe had suggested either, which confused me as they are totally different things. I think including both makes it a cool coleslaw/salad morph. The dressing was way too sweet so I cut back on the honey (that it came from the Honey Board is now making sense!)and added extra lime juice for more tang. Also, I used basil instead of mint, but I think mint would be wonderful too. A few other changes and voila, a salad that has gotten rave reviews every time I make it!

You can add some chicken to it for a full meal deal, I've included the recipe for honey-lime glazed chicken as well. Enjoy!

Thai Salad with Honey-Peanut-Lime Dressing
1/2 head Napa or Savoy cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)
1/2 head romaine lettuce, shredded (about 4 cups)
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced into cute little crescent-moons
2 medium carrots, matchsticked
1/3 cup sliced red onion
2 small oranges, peeled and cut into segments (or suprêmes, if you are fancy)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

Dressing
5 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp natural peanut butter
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or mint
1 Tbsp minced jalapeno
2 tsp soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp lime zest

Whisk together dressing ingredients until well-combined. Pour over salad ingredients and toss to coat.

Nutritional values: Makes about 10 cups of salad. For each cup: 99 calories, 4g fat, 2.7g protein, 14.2g carbs, 2g fibre, 42mg sodium.

Variation: Add Honey-lime chicken: Combine 4 Tbsp honey, 2 Tbsp lime juice, 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp jalapeno, 1 clove minced garlic. Add 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, toss to coat and let sit in fridge for 2 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge 15 minutes before cooking. Grill on medium heat for 15 minutes, turning once, or until no longer pink inside. Let rest. When cool enough to handle,pull into shreds.

Pasta L'estate

This dish sings with the bright summery flavours of dill and lemon, balanced with the briney saltiness of capers mellowed in a tangy wine sauce. Is that flowery enough for you? I can't help myself, this dish inspires poetic thoughts!

Regularly, I am not a big fan of white pasta. I wish I could get whole wheat tortellini, because sometimes nothing but tortellini will do! One day I will make a bunch myself and freeze them for future use. In the meantime, I have a shameful little bag of white flour tortellini lurking in my pantry. By weight, it's slightly lower in calories than other dried pastas, I guess because the stuffing is less calorie-dense.

This dish could be modified to use any whole wheat pasta, but today we are looking at spinach and ricotta tortellinis in all their white flour glory. I used a very small portion and and pumped the dish up with tons of shrimp and asparagus, low-cal powerhouses loaded with protein and nutrients, respectively. I wanted a sauce that didn't add a lot of extra calories or richness, something light and summery, and one of my absolute favourite flavour combinations is lemon, capers, and dill. So in they all went to create a lusciously lovely summer pasta dish. I looked up "summer" in Italian just to name this dish ;).


Sherylyn's Pasta L'estate

1/2C dry pasta (corn or rice pasta for GF)
1 clove garlic, crushed
10 asparagus spears, cut diagonally into 2" peices
1/4C chopped onion (I used spanish onions from my balcony, exciting!)
1/4C frozen peas (fresh would be awesome)
200g frozen peeled and deveined shrimp
2 Tbsp snipped dill
1/4C dry white wine
1/4C low-sodium chicken broth
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp capers
fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated

Boil pasta as directed. In the meantime, heat a wok on medium-high heat and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Add garlic and onion, sauté for one minute. Add asparagus and saute for another minute. Add chicken broth and stir occasionally until broth is nearly evaporated. Asparagus should be al dente at this point.

Things are going to move very quickly from this point. Add shrimp, dill, peas, lemon, capers and pepper. Sauté until shrimp is pink, maybe one minute. Remove vegetables and shrimp with a slotted spoon to a bowl,leaving behind liquid, add half the wine and simmer. Allow the liquid to reduce to a couple of tablespoons, then add the cornstarch dissolved in the reserved wine. It will thicken very quickly, stir contstantly until it's a thick paste and add the vegetables and shrimp back in. Add the parmesan as well and toss to coat.



Nutritional values: 436 calories, 11.8g fat, 43g protein, 38.7g carbs, 7.3g fibre, 900g sodium.