Very Veggie Pizza

As part of our ongoing journey to eat healthier, we are forgoing our usual Friday night pizza and switching it up to a Veggies Only pizza. So far, our favorite one for take out is the thin crust vegetarian from Pizza Hut. However, this one, that I made, has been the overall favorite. It hardly qualifies as cooking, more like assembling, so easy to do on a Friday night.

It was super simple to do! We bought a pre-made, thin pizza crust from the supermarket. First, I spread 2 T. pizza sauce over the crust and sprinkled that with 2 T. low-fat mozzarella cheese. Then I topped it with a clamshell of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, some sliced  red onions, a roasted red pepper from a jar, 1/2 a green pepper, and a can of sliced mushrooms. All good for you, right? Then I measured out 2 ounces of feta cheese and crumbled that over the top of the veggies. We baked it according to the directions on the crust, making sure not to overcook it. Using no meat and controlling the amount of cheese is the key to keeping this pizza "healthy" and good for you. I had put so many vegetables on it that we did not miss the cheese. Additionally, we limited our servings to two slices each, but they were so loaded down, that was plenty. Quick, healthy and delicious.

Another favorite way is to make my own crust (recipe here), top it with a little pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, then pile on lots of peppers -- fresh green, roasted red, drained banana ones from the jar, and a few sliced olives. Not quite as low fat, but very, very tasty!

Lot of Peppers Pizza with Olives

Go veggie with your pizzas! They are really really good!

Thai Chicken Skewers With Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ok, here I am, a little out of my comfort zone -- Thai Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, Potstickers and Snow Peas. I've gotta' confess -- I'd never cooked Snow Peas before and a I'd never even tasted a spicy peanut dipping sauce! That being said, it turned out well! After all, we KNOW that EVERYTHING Tastes Better when it's cooked on a stick, right? As we continue our quest to eat seriously healthy, we've got to mix it up, or we'll get bored, and that's never a good thing.

Thai Chicken Skewers with Potstickers and Snow Peas



First, I marinated the chicken breasts about 30 minutes before I skewered them. I mixed up the dipping sauce too, so the flavors would have a little time to meld. This is a lighter take on peanut sauce, cutting down on fat and calories by using some non-fat greek yogurt, instead of all peanut butter. While the chicken skewers were grilling, I cooked the Pot Stickers Straight from Trader Joe's! (Here's an earlier post about that store) and steamed the snow peas quickly when the chicken came off the grill. This meal took less than an hour, start to finish, including the time the chicken was marinating. It was easy, quick and tasted great AND it's healthy eating! Bring on the skewers and fire up the grill, it's a keeper! This would also be good served with some fresh veggie rolls that you can make or buy at the market. As an added bonus, if you should have any leftover chicken, you can create wonderful wraps for lunch with it. Try shredding up some cabbage, add a little hoisin sauce and wrap it up.

Thai Chicken Skewers
1 boneless chicken breast for every person, cut into large bite sized chunks
Marinade:
3 T. soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
1 T. fish sauce
1 heaping tsp. brown sugar
1 T. rice wine vinegar
This is enough marinade for 1 - 2 breasts. Whisk everything together and pour over your chicken. Let sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Preheat the grill and when it's hot, thread the chicken on to skewers. If using bamboo, be sure to soak them first.
While the chicken is marinating, make the Dipping Sauce.
Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
3 T. plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 rounded T. smooth peanut butter
juice of half a lime
2 - 3 T. rice wine vinegar
zest of 1/2 lime
a pinch of dried hot pepper flakes (big pinch if you like it spicy)
1 T. minced fresh cilantro (optional, but we like it)
1 scallion, white and green parts, thinly sliced
Whisk together the yogurt, peanut butter, lime juice, vingar and zest. Stir in the hot peppers, cilantro and scallion. Let this sit for awhile so that the flavors have a chance to meld.
Prepare your potstickers according to the package directions. Make them from scratch if you want, but I promise, the ones from Trader Joe's are pretty darn good! Steam your snow peas briefly while the chicken is resting. Drain them, add a pinch of butter or soy sauce and salt very lightly.
Grill your chicken skewers 6 minutes on each side. Let them rest and remove from the skewers.
Steam your snow peas briefly while the chicken is resting. Drain them, add a pinch of butter or sesame oil or soy sauce. If you don't use the soy, salt them very lightly.
Voila! Easy, huh? Good too!

Portobello Mushrooms: Take Two



Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Crunchy Winter Salad

We're trying to eat seriously healthy.....seriously....it's a challenge at our house. I love to cook and my husband loves to eat. Well, that's not exactly fair, since I love to cook and eat. As part of our quest to eat healthier, last  night I made Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Crunchy Winter Salad, and it was delicious as well as being seriously healthy!   ( Here's my other portobello recipe ) And, here's the best part,  everything I made took me about 30 minutes AND it was pretty economical. Make your salad and set it aside, then start with the stuffing and cooking up the mushrooms. They were really, really good, even my meat loving husband thought so. He admitted to being full, in spite of no potatoes, no real dressing on the salad and LOTS of veggies. Score!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2 portobello mushrooms

olive oil and balsamic vinegar

1 tsp butter

1 medium onion, sliced

2 - 3 cloves of minced garlic

2 handfuls fresh spinach

1 link turkey Italian sausage**

1 slice Alpine Lace reduced fat Swiss Cheese

1 roasted red pepper, cut in half (from a jar is fine)

2 burger buns, your favorite, I recommend whole grain or "white/wheat"

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First prepare your stuffing: In a small non-stick frying pan, melt the butter with a few drops of olive oil. Add the sliced onion and cook until lightly browned but still slightly firm. Remove the onion to a bowl. Slit the casing of the sausage with a sharp knife and push out the meat into the same frying pan (discard the casing). Cook over medium, stirring and breaking up the meat, until the sausage is crumbled and brown. Add the garlic, and the onions to the pan along with the spinach. Sprinkle with a little Kosher salt and fresh pepper, stirring to incorporate the spinach. Cook for 1 minute. Cover and set aside. The heat will continue to wilt the spinach.

Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel. Using a spoon, remove the stems and most of the gills from them. A spoon works well for removing the gills. 

Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat. Brush the mushroom caps with a little olive oil. Put them on the grill and cover them loosely. Cook 5 minutes on each side, watching them so they don't burn. Use a sturdy spatula for this, so the mushrooms remain whole. You can press them down slightly so that they maintain good contact with the pan, but don't break them if you help it.

Place the mushrooms on a cookie sheet or baking pan and fill them with the sausage/onion/spinach mixture. Place 1/2 of roasted red pepper on top of each one. Put them into the oven for 5 - 7 minutes. Add 1/2 slice of the cheese to each mushroom during the last minute of cooking. While the stuffing heats through,, grill the buns in the same pan you used to cook the mushrooms, over medium to high heat. You kind of want to toast them a bit. Press them down gently with the back of the spatula so that they crisp up and get sturdy -- the mushrooms are heavy and juicy!  Top the toasted roll with your stuffed mushroom. Drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar. Serve with Crunchy Winter Salad, recipe below! Enjoy!!

**Cooks Note: To make this meal totally vegetarian and even healthier, eliminate the turkey sausage from the stuffing and crumble in some tofu or the veggie sausage crumbles that you find in the freezer section of the grocery store. OR add more spinach or some sauted, finely chopped zucchini.  I bet it would still be yummy. DON'T eliminate the balsamic vinegar, though, it really makes a difference!

Crunchy Winter Salad

1 small Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped

2 ribs celery, washed, halved and chopped

1 small carrot or 2 baby carrots, grated

1 ring canned pineapple, cut into small pieces (get the kind packed in it's own juice, not syrup)

1 - 2 thin slices red or purple onion, cut into small pieces

zest from 1/2 a lemon

1 oz. coarsely chopped walnuts

1 T. pineapple juice (from the can is fine)

1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix all the above together in a bowl. Serve it over:

2 handfuls washed and chopped romaine lettuce

2 handfuls washed and stemmed spinach, torn up a little

This salad is crunchy and really, really good! Any kind of nuts would probably work, but I was thinking along the lines of a Waldorf salad, sorta' deconstructed!

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I LOVE Thanksgiving because it is all about is Giving Thanks and simply that! So, be grateful, enjoy your family, eat a wonderful dinner and appreciate the freedom we all have here in America. God Bless Us Every One! Thanks be to God!

Punch? Here's 3 to make for the holidays!

When I was growing up, almost every gathering included some kind of punch. I am not sure why it's gone out of style -- maybe it's because you have to make it as opposed to buying it? I don't know, but I do know that if you want to entertain with style and stay on budget, punch is a great way to go!

My MIL entertained beautifully, as did my mother and grandmother. These southern ladies almost always served punch when they partied. So, party like it's 1965 and serve punch next time you host a gathering!

                                                    

Here are 3 to try during the holiday season. All of them include alcohol in the recipe, but give options to serve them with or without. You can add or subtract the alcohol, according to your taste and preference. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Cranberry Punch

1/2 gallon cranberry juice
2 750ml bottles champagne or other fizzy wine, such as prosecco OR ginger ale
1/4 c. triple sec or Grand Marnier (orange liqueur)
Sliced oranges
Chill your ingredients and pour it them into a punch bowl.
This is nice if you freeze an ice ring made from cranberry juice with a splash of orange juice. Put some sliced oranges and a few maraschino cherries in the ring before freezing, and it will look pretty while it keeps the punch cold! Use a plastic ring mold, like you'd make jello salad in or a bundt cake pan. We served this last Christmas -- with the champagne -- and it was a BIG hit!

Hot Spiced Apple Cider

1/2 gallon apple cider
2 c. orange juice
2 tsp. whole cloves
1 whole nutmeg
2 - 3 whole cinnamon sticks OR 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1 pint apple brandy (optional)
1 orange, sliced
Combine cider and sugar in a large pot. Add the spices to the pot. If you like, you can tie the spices up into a little pouch, like a bouquet garni. (**see cooks note). Bring the punch up to a boil and add the orange juice, lemon juice and brandy, if using. Turn it down to low and allow to simmer about 15 minutes. Serve warm.
** You can purchase cheesecloth specifically for this purpose at most fabric stores or kitchen supply stores (like Bed Beth and Beyond). I don't tie my spices up. Instead, I stud some orange slices with the cloves and let the oranges, nutmeg and cinnamon sticks float around in the punch.  I pour the finished punch into a crock pot set on low heat and let it simmer on the counter or the table. That way frees up your stove and lets people serve themselves. Lovely hot drink to serve at Thanksgiving or on New Years Day!

Pink Lady Punch
1 quart cranberry juice cocktail
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 quart pineapple juice
1/2 quart grape juice
2 quarts ginger ale OR 2 bottles club soda OR 2 bottles brut champagne
Chill all the juices and ginger ale or champagne. Dissolve sugar in the juices. Add the ginger ale or champagne. Makes approx. 32 1/2 c. servings. A ring mold made from grape or cranberry juice would be nice in this punch, maybe with some maraschino cherries in it. Even ice cubes made from the juices with one cherry in each would be cute! This is CLASSIC Lady Punch!
Break out that punch bowl and PARTY!

Quick and Easy, Healthy Marinara Sauce

When we say spaghetti at our house, we mean meat sauce. That's what spaghetti meant to my family when I was growing up and that's what it means when my kids ask for spaghetti. My mom was a pretty good cook, but there were a few dishes she really made well. One of them was meat sauce. She simmered it all afternoon and made enough to freeze so that we could have it again. I've tinkered around with her original method over the years, but it's still pretty close to what she made and what her mother made.

All that being said, over the years I've added different sauces to my cooking rotation (here's one). Lately, I've been making a super healthy marinara sauce. I got my inspiration from Giada on the Food Network, but have tweaked it just a little but, like I almost always do. For one thing, since it's just me and the hub around the house most of the time these days, I only make enough sauce to feed the 2 of us. It's a quick and easy sauce and full of veggies, so you can feel very virtuous when wolfing down your pasta. I found some delicious chicken meatballs by Sabatini at my local big box store, and often add 2 or 3 per person. Couldn't be easier! Whether you are vegetarian, trying to cook a little healthier of just need something good and quick to get on the table, you are going to love this recipe, I promise! If you are serving more than two, just double it. (This picture shows the sauce with the chicken meatballs added, but it's super good without them, too.)

Vegetarian Marinara Sauce with Chicken Meatballs

Vegetarian Marinara Sauce
2 T. olive oil
1 small onion
2 - 3 garlic cloves
4 baby carrots or 1 regular carrot
1 stalk celery
1  14.5 oz. can organic diced tomatoes
1/4 c. dry red wine
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried basil or 1 T. minced fresh basil
1/4 tsp. sugar
Put the onion, garlic, carrots and celery into a mini food chopper and pulse until they are of uniform size and well chopped. If you don't have a mini food chopper, chop them all together until they are finely diced. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed, deep skillet over low heat. Add the veggies and saute' them until they are soft and fragrant. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and sugar. Bring the sauce to a boil. Cover the skillet, turn the heat down to low and cook for 30 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta. If you are adding meatballs, simmer them for at least 20 minutes along with the sauce. This is a thick and chunky marinara, so stir it often and keep the heat low. Serves 2.