Category Archives: Healthy Living

Collard Green Wrap

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , ,

Today’s post is not really a recipe, but rather a concept. :) Overall, being gluten-free isn’t altogether difficult, but there are times when I miss the ease of everyday breads, tortillas, and other baked goods. It takes more effort to make or more financial investment to purchase adequate alternatives.

My pantry typically includes corn tortillas for soft tacos or enchiladas, rice cakes for snacks, and Rudi’s Multigrain GF Bread for toast, garlic bread, and pb&j sandwiches.  Occasionally I splurge on gluten-free tortillas (other than the corn variety) so I can make hummus veggie wraps or bean and grain wraps.

Recently I tried using blanched collard greens for wraps and it worked out quite well. Once blanched the greens do not have a strong flavor, so you’re able to enjoy the filling. Not only does it save some money to use collard greens, but it also facilitates eating more leafy green veggies, which is excellent for all of us. I’ve seen this idea on a few healthy eating oriented blogs, but I followed the directions in the Nourishing Meals cookbook (are you getting the idea that I used this cookbook all of the time?!).

Collard Green Wraps

BLANCHED COLLARD GREEN WRAPS

To prepare the collard greens for wrapping: Wash the greens and cut the stem off the bottom of each leaf. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the collard greens by submerging them in the boiling water for about a minutes. Gently remove them with tongs and place them on a plate to cool.

To assemble your collard green wrap: Place a collard green on a cutting board. Spoon your desired filling near the stem end of the the green. Fold in the long ends of the collard green about 1 inch on each side and then tightly roll.

Baked Pasta Chee

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , ,

This recipe hearkens back to my childhood. My mom used to make this and we all loved it. It’s a healthy, tasty, baked, non-dairy mac-n-cheese-type recipe. And it has become a staple dinner at our house. I make it every couple of weeks and we enjoy the leftovers for lunches.

The original recipe comes from an unusual cookbook called Ten Talents. To add extra healthful benefits I’ve altered the recipe to include veggies. Any chance I can get to add more veggies to a dish, I’ll take. I’ve listed the veggies I most often use, but feel free to substitute with your favorites, or what you have on hand.

One note, the sauce includes an uncommon ingredient, nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast flakes are often used to add a “cheesy” taste to non-dairy “cheese” recipes. It can be found at a health food store and there really isn’t any substitute for it. (Active dry yeast and brewer’s yeast are not anything like nutritional yeast.) I hope you might consider trying this dish despite the ingredient list, it’s worth the effort.

(Finally, I realize this is not the prettiest of pictures. But I promise it tastes delicious!)

Baked Pasta Chee

BAKED PASTA CHEE
(adapted from Ten Talents)
Print This Recipe

1 lb pasta of choice (use brown rice pasta for gluten-free)
1 c. raw cashew pieces
1 c. water
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 c. nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (opt.)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
4 mushrooms
1/2-1 bell pepper
1 big handful baby kale
1 c. diced tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

While pasta is cooking, make the sauce. In a blender add cashews, water, lemon juice, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, salt, and spices. Blend until smooth while slowly adding the olive oil through the top. Then add the veggies and canned tomatoes and blend again.

Mix the drained pasta and sauce together and pour into greased baking dish. If desired, top with seasoned bread crumbs. Bake for 30-40 minutes to heat through.

Serve with a salad for a satisfying meal.

Savory Spiced Nuts

Posted by Stephanie in Gluten-Free Goodness, Healthy Living and tagged with , , , ,

Nuts are a staple snack in our house. In the interest of health, I’ve been avoiding buying the pre-roasted, salted varieties. So, I buy raw nuts and toast and spice them myself. This is our favorite savory spiced nut recipe thus far. It’s also quite easy as it’s all made on the stovetop. Once completely cooled, store the nuts in a glass jar.

Savory Spiced Nuts

SAVORY SPICED NUTS
Print This Recipe

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
1 c. raw almonds
1 c. raw walnuts
1/2 c. raw sunflower seeds

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add all the spices and stir to make a paste. Add almonds, walnuts, and sunflower seeds and stir to coat evenly. Continue stirring the nuts, toasting until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Cool in the pan.

Baked Falafel

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I love falafels because of my dad. He instilled a love of ethnic foods in all of us. My first falafel memory is an amazing falafel sandwich at a little mom and pop restaurant with my dad. Now when I have the chance to visit home again, my dad and I enjoy sharing conversation over a falafel lunch.

Traditional falafels are fried which makes them crunchy on the outside (and oh so delicious!). This baked version is much more tender, but the flavor is fantastic. My husband and I enjoyed these falafels piled on top of pita with veggies and homemade hummus.

Baked Falafel

BAKED FALAFEL
(from Parents Need to Eat Too)
Print This Recipe

1-15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 Tbsp flour or rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
Mixture of salad veggies (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushroom, bell pepper)
Pitas
Hummus, tzatziki, tahini

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Grease or line 2 baking sheets.

In a food processor combine the chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley or cilantro, spices, flour, baking powder, half of the lemon juice, 1 Tbsp of the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Pulse until well combined but mixture is still relatively coarse, you don’t want a puree.

Using your hands or a small cookie scoop, shape the mixture into 18-24 balls (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter). Arrange on the baking sheets and flatten each slightly. Brush the tops with 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, then turn patties (rotating trays); bake for another 10-12 minutes. The patties are tender so be careful when turning.

Toss the salad veggies with the remaining lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the falafels with veggies, pita, and hummus (or tzatziki or tahini).

In My Kitchen

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living, In My Kitchen and tagged with , ,

It’s been awhile, I know. But I have a few posts planned and thought you might enjoy a brief update on life in my kitchen.

The Year of the Olive experiment is going well. While I don’t love kalamata olives yet, I am enjoying them as an occasional accompaniment. For one dinner I stuffed bell peppers with a Greek-type filling of rice, chickpeas, onion, olives, parsley, lemon juice, etc. Quite tasty. Jeremy and I have also enjoyed sauteed kale with chopped olives and walnuts. I’m not ready to move on black olives yet, but perhaps this summer.

My gluten-free baking skills have taken a hit since my move last fall. Altitude. Texture is a huge factor in gf baking and altitude is forcing me to re-teach myself some of my skills. Everything I’ve made so far has been edible, but the texture is not quite right about 50% of the time. So, you won’t be seeing a lot of baking recipes from me for at least awhile.

Image

For the past month or so Jeremy and I have enjoyed experimenting with a plant-based diet. Doing without animal products has forced me to think outside the box with my meals (such as the Mediterranean plate pictured above). We’ve eaten very well. I don’t know how long we’ll continue eating this way, but it’s been a great experience. I plan to share a few of our favorite plant-based recipes with you here.

Stay tuned for some new recipes. Until then, I hope you’re finding inspiration in your kitchen.

Zucchini Noodles

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living and tagged with , , , , ,

A couple of weeks ago I came up with the amazing and revolutionary idea to make zucchini noodles. While I’m more than certain that many people before me have done this very thing, it still felt like my idea. :) While this post doesn’t contain an actual recipe, I’m going to share with you how I made my zucchini noodles. Perhaps it will inspire you as well!

I took my Pampered Chef julienne peeler (a birthday gift last year that I’ve used many, many times!) and cut down the length of a washed and trimmed zucchini, creating zucchini “noodles.” Once I’d sliced all my zucchinis into noodles, I placed the lovely green pile into a fine mesh colander and salted them with about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt (the salt draws out some of the water from the zucchini).

Then I left it to drain for about 30 minutes, squeezing out the excess moisture before sauteing in a little butter and olive oil for about 5 minutes. I seasoned them with a little more salt, pepper, and Italian spices before topping the noodles off with caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, a little sausage, and marinara sauce. It was delicious! I might even like it better then the pasta. And, if you’re a spaghetti noodle twirler, zucchini noodles will twirl around your fork too!

If you too would like to make zucchini noodles and don’t yet have a julienne peeler, I highly recommend you get one. :) It’s a small gadget, but well worth the space it will take up next to your vegetable peeler. I also like to use it to matchstick carrots for salads or stir-fries (they cook up much more quickly!).

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Posted by Stephanie in Gluten-Free Goodness, Healthy Living and tagged with , , , ,

We love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! We don’t eat them often because I’m anti-all the garbage additives. So, I thought I’d give this refined sugar-free recipe a try (unlike usual, I followed the original without any alterations). While they aren’t Reese’s, per se, they are sweet, peanutty and chocolatey, all good things! :) With coconut oil in the ingredient list, these definitely have coconut undertones, if that’s not your thing, you could try butter and see how that works. If you want a thicker layer of chocolate (I think I might), just double the ingredients for the chocolate layer. I hope you enjoy!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP
(from lifemadewhole.com)
Print This Recipe

For peanut butter layer:
3/4 c. natural peanut butter
1/4 c. coconut oil
2 Tbsp raw honey

For chocolate layer:
2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbsp raw honey

For the peanut butter layer: Line mini-muffin pan with papers. Melt the coconut oil, then mix together with the peanut butter and honey. Carefully pour into prepared pan. Place in the freezer while preparing the chocolate.

For the chocolate layer: Melt the coconut oil and butter together. Add the cocoa powder and the honey. Stir until smooth. Remove the pan from the freezer and evenly pour the chocolate into each cup. Freeze for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Store in the fridge or freezer. Makes about 24.

Carrot Cake Bites

Posted by Stephanie in Gluten-Free Goodness, Healthy Living and tagged with , , , ,

It’s time for another no-bake healthy treat recipe…

For my 5th birthday I requested carrot cake for my dessert. It’s been a standby ever since. (Though I’m sorely disappointed if I ever encounter carrot cake that has raisins lurking inside!) I have to admit to loving the cream cheese frosting that is the usual accompaniment and adds to my all-around love of the cake.  It’s been months, maybe even a couple of years since I’ve eaten a slice of my beloved carrot cake, so I was intrigued by this recipe for raw carrot cake balls I stumbled across on Pinterest. These are cream cheese frosting free, but I still thought worth sampling.

These don’t taste exactly like carrot cake, but they certainly are reminiscent and they are both tasty and healthy little morsels that make you feel like you’re getting a treat. So, they come with my recommendations. I did tweak the original recipe by adding nuts and spices. I’m sure coconut and perhaps a little nutmeg would be good as well. And maybe if you want to go really fancy, you can make a sweet cream cheese dip. :)

CARROT CAKE BITES
(adapted from gracefulfitnessblog.com)
Print This Recipe

10 dates
small handful raw walnuts
1 c. gluten-free rolled oats
1 medium carrot, finely grated
zest from one lemon
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt
finely chopped walnuts for rolling, opt.

Rough chop the dates and walnuts and then put them in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Process until date pieces are about the size of raisins.

Add the oats and process until the oats are ground.

Add grated carrot, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and salt and process until the ‘dough’ comes together in a ball. If it seems a little dry, add a few drops of water and process again.

Use clean hands to form into balls. Roll in chopped walnuts, if desired and store in the fridge. Makes 12-15 balls.

Peanut Butter Fudgy Bites

Posted by Stephanie in Gluten-Free Goodness, Healthy Living and tagged with , , , ,

Jeremy and I have a rather bad habit of wanting something sweet after dinner. I didn’t grow up having dessert every night, but I find that my mind wanders to a bite of sweet almost every evening. Most often we’ll enjoy a little dark chocolate, but I’ve been experimenting lately with finding some “healthy” treats for us to enjoy. The next few recipes I plan to share with you are some these sweets. So, perhaps you too can healthfully satisfy your post-supper sweet tooth.

First up, is a recipe that I now can’t remember where I found; however, in typical fashion, I’ve adapted the recipe anyway to suit our tastes. We love the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate, so are fond of these. As they are raw treats, be sure to store in the fridge. (Sadly, these little bites are really unattractive to photograph…I hope that won’t deter you from trying them. :) )

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGY BITES
Print This Recipe

15 pitted dates, rough chopped
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/3 c. shredded unsweetened coconut (my coconut is larger flakes, so I’ve been using a packed 1/2 cup instead)
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp chocolate chips

Place the dates in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade and process into smaller pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and process until thoroughly combined and ingredients form a “dough.” Roll into balls.

Green Soup

Posted by Stephanie in Healthy Living, Soup Pot and tagged with , , , , ,

I don’t think I’ve shared with you all yet the deliciousness that is Green Soup! Who doesn’t need more leafy greens in their life? This pureed soup packs a nutritional punch! I like to serve a small bowl before supper for an extra serving of veggies. Variations are rather endless, so find your favorite combination of greens and spices. Perhaps the first time you can try the “original” recipe, but then your brain and palate can lead you from there.

The soup is a bit labor intensive, but it is worth the effort every time.

I must credit Anna Thomas for this recipe. She published a wonderful cookbook a couple of years ago called Love Soup. I’ve checked it out from the library many times. The cookbook is sectioned by season and she offers several menu ideas. And for those that care, her recipes are all vegetarian. Every time I flip through the pages I see more soups I want to try. She includes a half a dozen Green Soup recipes.

I know winter is coming to a close, but this soup is light and year-round worthy, in my opinion. I hope you enjoy (despite the un-photogenic nature of the soup!). :)

GREEN SOUP
(from Love Soup by Anna Thomas)
Print This Recipe

1 bunch of chard or spinach (8 oz)
1 bunch kale (8 oz)
4-5 green onions, sliced
1/2 c. loosely packed cilantro
1 tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
3 Tbsp Arborio rice
1 medium onion
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
Marsala or dry sherry (opt.)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2-3 c. vegetable broth
fresh ground pepper
cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Wash the greens thoroughly, trim off stem, and slice leaves. In a large soup pot, combine the chard or spinach, kale, green onions, cilantro, Arborio rice, 1 tsp salt, and 3 cups water. Bring water to a boil, turn down to low, cover the pot and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the onion, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet and cook the onion with a small sprinkle of salt over medium until it is golden brown and soft. This will take up to 30 minutes. Don’t hurry, just stir it once in a while. Once cooked, you can deglaze the pan at the end with a bit of Marsala or sherry.

Add the caramelized onion to the soup. Put remaining 1/2 Tbsp oil in the onion skillet and stir the garlic in it for about a minute. Add garlic to the pot and simmer the soup for 10 more minutes.

Add enough broth to make the soup a soup–it should pour easily from a ladle–and puree it in the blender, in batches, or use an immersion blender and blend in the pot.

Bring the soup back to a simmer, and taste. Add more salt if needed, grind in a little black pepper, add a pinch of cayenne pepper and a Tbsp of lemon juice. Stir well and taste again. Adjust any seasonings to taste.

Garnish with a swirl of extra virgin olive oil.