Sunday, April 29, 2012

Stuffed Tomatoes

Turn a plain old tomato into something amazing!

Here's What You Need:
2 large tomatoes
1 cup feta
1 cup cooked spinach
2 tbs chopped sundried tomato
1/4 cup panko
1 tsp oregano

Here's What You Do:
Cut the top off of the tomatoes and dig out the insides.  Eat insides. :)

Mix all of the other ingredients together in a bowl and then stuff into the tomatoes.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Cheesy Veggie Pot Pie

One of the things that I do miss now that I'm a vegetarian is a good, creamy pot pie.  I came up with this recipe a few years ago to satisfy my craving.  Through experimentation, I added in a bit of cheese at one point, which, in my opinion, makes this extra tasty.  Feel free to try it sans cheese though.

Here's What You Need:
2 cups frozen mixed veggies (carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans)
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use the low fat kind)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup milk

Here's What You Do:
Cook your mixed veggies prior to adding them to the dish.

Mix your veggies, potato, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese in a bowl.  Pour into baking dish.

In separate bowl, mix Bisquick and milk.  Stir until it makes a thick paste.  Dollop on top of veggie and soup mixture and spread it out so that it totally covers the veggie and soup mixture.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until crust begins to turn brown.  Test with a fork to ensure that crust is cooked all the way through.



Saturday, April 28, 2012

Easy Apple Turnovers


Lately, I have been buying giant bags of apples so that I have healthy and easy snacks.  I find that I get very tired of eating just plain apples, so I decided to put my apples to good use with these Easy Apple Turnovers.

Here's What You Need:
1 can of crescent rolls
1 apple (any variety, I used Granny Smith)
2 tsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon

Here's What You Do:
Roll out your crescent rolls so that you have two triangles still connected to make a rectangle.  You will have 4 of these rectangles.

Slice apples thinly.  Coat slices in a bowl with honey and cinnamon.

Layer apple slices on one half of rectangle.  Fold other half of dough over and pinch around the edges.  Lightly baste with remaining honey/cinnamon mixture.

Bake according to directions for crescent rolls (mine was 375F for 13 minutes).

Easy to do, and only around 250 calories!  Not bad for a breakfast!

Baked Zucchini Sticks



Zucchini has become one of my new favorite vegetables.  I have found so many interesting new ways to prepare it lately.  One that is quite tasty is to bread and bake them.  

Here's What You Need:
2 large zucchini, peeled
1 cup breadcrumbs or panko
1 egg
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground pepper
cooking spray


Here's What You Do:
Take your peeled zucchini and slice them in half.  Cut each half into strips about the size of french fries.  Each half of mine gave me about 12 strips.  

In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, garlic salt, and ground pepper. 

In a separate bowl, beat the egg.  Dip the sticks a couple at a time into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture.

Place the sticks onto a pan coated with cooking spray.  After all of the sticks are on the pan, lightly spray them again with cooking spray.  (I use olive oil spray).

Bake at 400F for 25 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs turn a golden brown.

Serve with marinara sauce.

Adapted from: Skinny Taste and Eat Yourself Skinny

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Spinach and Feta Roll-ups

Try these little roll-ups dipped in marinara for a fun party appetizer or for an easy meal.  They take about five minutes to prepare before cooking.


Here's What You Need: 
1 can crescent rolls
1 cup cooked spinach (I used a bag of frozen chopped spinach)
1/2 cup feta (I used one with sun dried tomato and basil seasoning already in it)
1 tsp minced garlic
extra virgin olive oil

Here's What You Do:
Cook fresh or frozen spinach in EVOO until tender.
Mix with feta and garlic.

Roll out crescent triangles on baking sheet.  Put one spoonful of mixture onto each triangle and roll up.

Bake according to directions for crescent rolls.  (Mine was 375F for 11-13 minutes).


Kickin' Vegetable Mac and Cheese

Who doesn't love macaroni and cheese?  I think if you say you don't, you are a LIAR!  I recently found a recipe through Pinterest for a Summer Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese , and I decided to put my own spin on it.  I totally changed up how to make the cheese sauce and based the technique on how the hubby and I have been making mac and cheese for awhile now.  I thought that adding a little bit of spice, so I changed up the cheeses too, adding a chipotle flavor.  

Here's What You Need:
1 box of macaroni noodles
1 cup fresh squash
1 cup fresh zucchini
2 Roma tomatoes
1 cup fresh broccoli
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 cups milk 
1 cup chipotle cheddar cheese
2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese
3 tbs all purpose flour
3 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried mustard
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayanne pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
 extra virgin olive oil

Here's What You Do:
Boil the macaroni noodles according the instructions on the box.

While the noodles are boiling, take the cut squash, zucchini, broccoli, and carrots, and saute them in some olive oil for 4-5 minutes, until tender.  Stir into the drained macaroni.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Slowly whisk in the flour until smooth.  Slowly add the milk, followed by the onion powder, salt, dried mustard, nutmeg, and cayanne pepper.  Let it come to a boil over medium heat, then remove from the heat.

Stir in the chipotle cheddar and 1 1/2 cups of the extra sharp cheddar.  Pour melted cheese mix into the macaroni and vegetables and stir.

Pour macaroni mixture into lightly greased baking dish.  Top with sliced Roma tomatoes.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, or until top is slightly browned.





Pinterest

Does anyone else love Pinterest as much as I do?  I have found soooo many delicious recipes on there.  Today, I am adapting two of the recipes to make meals for this week.  It is so nice to come home after a long day of work, and all I have to do is reheat!  I'll post the new recipes after I taste test!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Roasted Chickpeas

A friend mentioned these to me about two years ago, and they have become one of my favorite snacks.  You can make them sweet, salty, or spicy, and they are much more healthy, and just as fulfilling, as chips and other snacks.

Here's What You Need:
12oz bag of dried chickpeas/garbanzo beans OR 2 cans of chickpeas
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
               
And, depending on what you're in the mood for:
                For spicy:
                salt
                pepper
                chili powder
                Tabasco sauce

                For roasted garlic:
                2 tsp minced garlic

                For sweet:
                Cinnamon
                Sugar

Here's What You Do:
If you start with the dried chickpeas, make sure to soak them overnight!  They won't be too appetizing if you forget to soak and then break your teeth. :)

Take your chickpeas and toss them around in the olive oil.  Make sure to coat them really well.  Apply the seasoning of your choosing, with as much of each as you can handle.  As long as you make sure to get some on each of the chickpeas, you should be good.

Put the chickpeas in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for an hour.  Make sure to check on them periodically to make sure they don't burn.  Burning is easy if you don't use enough oil.

Let them cool, and enjoy!

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This has to be one of my favorite soups to make.  It is so warm and creamy and CHEESY!  If you've ever had the Broccoli and Cheese Soup from Panera Bread, this is very close.  I discovered the recipe here, and modified it to use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock.  I didn't add in the carrots either, but I think it could be delicious either way. 

Here's what you need:
1 tbs melted butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half and half
2 cups vegetable broth
10 oz package frozen broccoli, thawed
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Here's what you do: 
Saute onion in 1 tbs melted butter until slightly browned.
Cook remaining butter and flour over medium heat for 3 minutes, whisking the entire time.
Stir butter/flour mixture slowly as you add the half and half.  Do the same as you add the vegetable broth, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add onions and broccoli to mixture and simmer for another 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. 
(At this point, if you want it creamy, you can pour it all into a blender and puree...I like mine with the broccoli chunks!)
Add grated cheese and stir until melted. Follow it up with the nutmeg.

It is supposed to make 4 servings, BUT, if you like it as much as I do, you may end up eating half of it at once!

Welcome!

Eat well.  Indulge in what is good.  Be happy.

Come join me on my journey.