Apple, Grape, Cranberry Nut Salad

This is easy to prepare and very healthy!

To mix the dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 garlic glove minced
1/4 cup fresh squeezed juice of your choice.  I used grapes and squeezed them by hand. 
Whisk this all together and set aside.

For the salad:
Start with some mixed baby greens, organic.  Sam's sells a LARGE container for 3.98.  I probably used 1/4 of the container for this salad for two adults and one small child.
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup dried cranberries
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup pecans
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup almonds

Wash 1 cluster of grapes and one apple.  Cut up the apple into bite size pieces and add to the salad.'

Top with some feta cheese. 

This would be Daniel Fast Approved if you leave the feta cheese out. 

Chinese Stir fry

From Moosewood Cookbook

This took about thirty minutes from start to finish.  It was my first time to eat cauliflower and it was good! 

Prepare the noodles:
Boil water, then add in whole wheat noodles

Prepare the sauce:
Mix together
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tablespoon succanat or sugar
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine

In another small bowl, place 3 tablespoons cornstarch (I used wheat flour)
Whisk the other ingredients into the flour.
Set aside.

Prepare the veggies:
Clean and cut your veggies
1 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
1/2 bag frozen broccoli-I just rinsed with hot water for about thirty seconds to defrost
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 package of mushrooms, sliced

Cook:
Heat your wok on medium heat for a couple of minutes, then add 1 tablepoon olive oil
Add in the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot and turn up the heat towards high.  Stir fry for about 4 minutes, or until the veggies begin to get tender.
Add in the mushrooms and stir fry another 4-5 minutes.
Whisk your sauce again, then pour it all into the wok.  Within a few minutes the sauce will begin to thicken and your veggies will be shiny.

Put it together:
Drain the water off your noodles-don't forget to keep an eye on them while you are cooking your veggies.
Pour your wok ingredients on top of your noodles. 
Serve. 

Zucchini crust pizza

Adapted from Moosewood Cookbook

This will become a regular in our dinner line up!

Heat the oven to 400 F.

To make the crust:

Oil two pie/cake pans and coat with flour.

Grate enough zucchini to make 2 cups, packed full.
Grate 1/2 cup mozzarella
Grate 1/2 parmesean (I buy this type already freshly grated-not the powdery stuff)

Mix together:
Zucchini and grated cheeses
1/4 cup wheat flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Spread mixture into the two pans, flattening out. 

Bake for about twenty minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven.  After it has cooled ten minutes, use a spatula to loosen the crust from the pan.

Top with whatever you want.

Here is how I made margherita pizza:

Drizzle olive oil onto the crust and brush evenly.
Thinly slice a clove of garlic, then spread evenly.
Sprinkle fresh mozzerella to cover the crush
Thinly slice a fresh tomato and spread evenly.
Sprinkle some basil-I used freeze dried.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 

I am tellng you, this was delicious!

Teriyaki Chicken

Adapted from Whole Foods website

Make your marinade by mixing:
1/2 cup tamari soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice (I took a fresh pineapple, cut it up, then hand squeezed the juice)
2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice (or you could use brown sugar)
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1/2 cup red cooking wine

Cut up one chicken breast per person (we used two)

Put your marinade in a glass pan or casserole dish, except set aside 1/3 to 1/2 in a separate bowl. 

Add your chicken  to the glass pan and turn so it is all covered in marinade.

Cover and refrigerate 4 to 24 hours.

Heat a skillet on med/high with a tablespoon of olive oil.

Add the chicken and cook until one side is browned, then flip and cook until the other side is browned.  You can drizzle some of your reserved marinade at this time.

I served my teriyaki chicken on a bed of organic baby greens, which were mixed with a standard dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and salt.  You could also serve it with noodles or brown rice.

Menu Planning

We didn't used to plan menus . We used to walk back and forth from the fridge to the pantry, asking each other "What do you want?"  "That doesn't sound good".  "How about this?" over and over.  After adding a child to the mix, I knew evenings would be hectic and that is when I started planning menus.

Here are some reasons to plan your menu in advance:

1) We KNOW what is for dinner!  No more wasting time thinking or talking about it.  It is what it is.

2)  It lowers your grocery bill.  You write it all down, then make a shopping list, and follow the list!

3)  You can plan according to your schedule.  If I know I am working a long shift, I plan something simple or plan a crockpot meal.  If I know I have the day off, I plan a more labor intensive or time consuming meal.  If I know the weather is going to be 70 in December, dinner will be simple that week so we can enjoy those days outside instead of cooking.

4)  It lowers your eating out bill.  Instead of panicking over what to eat and automatically going out or ordering in, you've got a plan in place.  We still schedule meals out, but it is planned and budgeted for in advance (most of the time).

5) It prevents frequent repeat meals.  "Didn't we have this three days ago?  And two days before that?"

Tips on planning a menu
1)  First, write down all your favorite meals and side dishes.

2) When planning your first menu, start small.  Plan 3-7 days in advance.

3)  Write down the days of the week.  Start filling in some of your favorites.  Be aware of scheduling conflicts.  If hubby is working late, I don't want to make his favorite dish that night.  If you have to be somewhere shortly after dinner you don't want to pick something that takes longer to prepare.

4)  Use choosemyplate.gov to help you calculate how many servings of each food group you are getting.  You can personalize your free profile so you know how many calories you need to maintain or lose weight.  You want to shoot for 100% in the grains, veggies, fruit, and protein categories. 

5)  Brainstorm.  Share ideas with friends and neighbors.  In the beginning, I really struggled with coming up with a variety of meals.  I started asking people what they were having for dinner to get ideas.  Flip through a cookbook or two for ideas.  Try new things!  I also often browse www.wholefoodsmarket.com for ideas.

6) Once you have a menu planned, make a shopping list. 

There are tons of menu planning websites and blogs with cute ideas using notecards and color coded devices.  I just jot it down on scrap paper and stick it on the fridge.  Be as fancy or as simple as you like!

Some people base their menu planning off what's on sale in the weekly store ads.  I have tried this, but found that most of the food items on sale were processed, so it wasn't worth my time to flip through all the ads. 

Do you have any more tips on menu planning?  If so, let me know!  I love new ideas!

Sugar Snap peas, toasted pecans, and couscous

You know how it is when you are low on groceries?  When you stand at the fridge and stare, hoping something that sounds good will magically appear?  Tonight, I knew I wanted to try making couscous, but I hadn't really prepared a menu plan for tonight.  The menu said:  couscous.  Hmmmm.  I must have gotten distracted.

So, this is what I threw together.  It took less than ten minutes to prepare, start to finish.

First, bring 1.5 cups water to a boil.
Add in one cup whole wheat couscous, stir, cover, and turn off the heat.

Toast some pecans at 350 for about five minutes.  I used my toaster oven which heats up quicker than the oven.

Throw some steamable sugar snap peas into the microwave.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add a teaspoon or so of curry seasoning to the couscous.

Plate it up:

She loves sugar snap peas!

I read all sorts of fancy tips for cooking couscous and maybe one day I'll try them.  Tonight was about getting something together quick!

Not mashed potatoes

From Clean Food

A tricky way to add another root veggie into your mashed potatoes!

Wash and peel two baking potatoes and 4-5 parsnips.

Cube into 1/2 pieces

Can you see the parnsips?

Add cold water

Boil until chunks are able to be easily pierced with a fork

Drain the water

Add a little rice milk (more=more creamy, less =chunkier)

Add a little butter or olive oil.

Mix with a blender to desired consistency.

Serve, season to taste.