Creamy Pasta with Swiss Chard and Blue Cheese

This is low-fat meal is simple and quick and something you can throw together in 15 minutes, particularly if your pasta is already cooked as mine was from last nights Carbonara ( I LOVE bacon).  The measurements are not strict in order to have success.

You will need:

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

2T grapeseed oil (or ghee, or oil alternative)

1 bunch of swiss chard or spinach washed, drained and chopped

1/2 cup of blue cheese or any strong cheese such as asiago or parmesan

1/2-1 cup of sour cream (you can add some cream, milk or alternative too if you want but not necessary)

sea salt and cracked pepper

parmesan cheese for garnish

Wash and drain your greens. Chop into pieces.

Saute onion and garlic in 2 T of grapeseed oil.  Cook till onions soften slightly.

Add swiss chard and continue to saute until they soften.  

Add hot or cold pasta to the mix and stir around flipping hot ingredients on top of pasta. Warm about 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream (and milk if using 1/4 c) then add blue cheese chunks and stir another few minutes.

Plate immediately and garnish with parmesan and salt and pepper.

Tahini Protein Power Bowl

Angela over at Oh She Glows (http://ohsheglows.com/)  is an amazing inspiration to me and I often cruise her site to get new ideas for meals to make. I often tend to us a recipe as a base and then throw in whatever ingredients I have on hand. My fridge is usually stocked with a number of things and I don't like going out often to get one or two things that are missing so I just substitute if I can and turn it into something like the recipe. Of course there are some ingredients, such as the tahini in this recipe, that you would not want to substitute.  Please note if you haven't already that I am not aiming to take glorious photos like Angela or most other bloggers for that matter. I take the photos as I go very quickly and I am happy if I have the time to post at all. Maybe some day I will have the time to take better photos :)

The spring mix from Whole Foods on Cambie, in Vancouver is totally worth it. It stays fresh for a while unlike the spring mix from Costco which goes bad in a matter of days.

  

I have an INCREDIBLE rice cooker and if you cook a lot of grains I would highly encourage you to look into the Japanese rice cookers with the fuzzy logic technology. Sounds strange but it has to do with having an intuitive nature to it that cooks whatever you throw into it with perfection. I throw in red rice, lentils, brown rice all together sometimes as I did with this recipe (on the brown rice setting) or I add quinoa and it ALWAYS cooks it to perfection. Measure, add water to the line, press button- cue starting song. Stays warm for over 12 hours! I have a Zojurushi and it is the most used appliance in my kitchen, hands down.

  

I wish I'd had the red pepper but I used swiss chard, snap peas and cherry tomatoes instead.

   Ta da!!!

Reposted from: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/05/12/lightened-up-protein-power-goddess-bowl/

Lightened Up Protein Power Goddess Bowl

Angela adapted this recipe from Protein Power Goddess Bowl, which was adapted from The Coup Cookbook.

Yield: 6 cups
Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked green lentils (yield 2 & 3/4 cups cooked)
• 1 cup uncooked speltberries (yield 2 cups cooked) OR grain of choice, like brown rice
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil, for sautéing
• 1/2 red onion (~1 & 1/3 cups), chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 3 cups spinach or kale, roughly chopped (I used Lacinato kale)
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1 batch of Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing (recipe below)
• Kosher salt & black pepper, to taste
• Lemon Wedges & lemon zest, to garnish

Directions:

1. Cook lentils and speltberries (or grain of choice) according to package directions. I did this the night before to save time. Drain and set aside.

2. Prepare the Lightened Up tahini-Lemon dressing in food processor (see below for recipe).

3. In a large skillet over low-medium heat, add your olive oil and sauté the chopped onion and minced garlic for a few minutes, being careful not to burn. Now add in the chopped red pepper and tomato and sauté for another 7-8 minutes.

4. Stir in the chopped kale or spinach and sauté for another few minutes, just until tender. Stir in the full batch of tahini-Lemon dressing, the cooked & drained grains and lentils, and simmer on low for another few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the minced parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with lemon wedges and zest. Makes 6 cups.

Once you cook your desired grains and make the dressing, you simply sauté some vegetables of your choice until tender.

Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Adapted from Tahini-Lemon Dressing.

Yield: Just under 1 cup of dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast or a bit more, to taste
• 2-4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• 1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 tbsp water, or as needed

Directions:

1. In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. Makes just under 1 cup.

I only had a half a lemon so I squeezed in a few tablespoons of lemon juice concentrate and water because I thought the lemon amount was too much any way for me and because I didn't have the lemons :). I happened to have the nutritional yeast and I think it gives it a nice nutty flavor. If you don't have it you could through in some chickpeas maybe to round out the flavour.  You can find the yeast in the bulk section. Good to give added nutritional value to meals.

Angela's lovely photos.

Yesterday, I added Lacinato Kale instead of spinach and I loved it! It’s less bitter than regular kale.

 

Mix in your grains and dressing.

 

When it’s all cooked, remove from heat and stir in the minced Parsley for another kick of fresh flavour.

Taste test… Uncontrollably!

Serve with a lemon wedge and zest and you have yourself a protein and fibre packed dinner! It’s creamy & comforting, with a tangy kick that is just irresistible.

This will definitely be my go-to version of this salad from now on. We didn’t miss the 6 tablespoons of oil at all.

Eggplant and Zucchini Oat Bran Parmesan

Yikes no finished product photo but I can assure you it was excellent! I am a huge proponent of using whatever you have in your fridge and I had only 1 eggplant and some zucchini and to keep it wheat free I used oat bran instead of bread crumbs and it was surprisingly good. I thought it might almost taste too healthy but for us it tasted just great and we got lots of fibre :) smart eh?

Preheat oven to 400 degrees 

You'll need:

1 eggplant cut into discs

1 zucchini sliced lengthwise 

bowl of oat bran (found in baking sections- We used Roger's brand)

2 eggs (with a dash of milk or soy or water)

sprinkle of herbs, salt and pepper if you like

1 package of spinach defrosted and all the water squeezed out

sliced mushrooms or whatever veg you want to add- cooked

1-2 bottles of spagetti sauce ( I used Classico)

Bag of shredded cheese

Place the veggies in scrambled herby eggs, then dredge in oat bran and place on foil on a tray. You can load up the tray and flip veggies after about 15 minutes for another 10 or so. Keep an eye on it and turn when the veggies start to feel soft with a fork.  Remove from oven.

Use a deep dish pan and start to layer your sauce, veggies and cheese and finish off with a layer of cheese.  Put sauce and a bit of water on the bottom of the pan and in a single layer place eggplant and zucchini, then sauce, repeat with all ingredients.  Add as much cheese as you like, there are no rules.

Warm Thai Tofu Puff Salad

I saw some puffed tofu at the grocery store and picked some up not knowing what I would do with it.  I wanted to make a salad and looked online for some inspiration and here is what I found. The dressing is very versatile and can be used with many different ingredients. I love the lime and soy combination.

From -  http://veganforeveryone.com/recipes/tofu-puff-salad/

Salad

• 1 packet of tofu puffs
• 1 tablespoon of uncooked rice
• 1 cup of chopped coriander leaf (cilantro)
• 1 spring onion finely chopped  (optional)
• Salad stuff like coarsly grated carrot, cucumber, paw paw, finely chopped lettuce, baby spinach and bean sprouts.

Dressing

• 2 cloves of garlic ( 1 clove is enough)
• 2 teaspoons of sugar  (I reduced this to less than 1 tsp)
• 1/2 a small spanish onion very finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 1 teaspoon of peanut oil

Method.

Slice the tofu puffs into bite size pieces and dry fry in the wok until warmed through.

Add all the dressing ingredients and toasted rice together in a jar and shake well.

Toss all the ingredients and dressing in a bowl and serve.

The second time I made this recipe I added bean sprouts, cabbage and omitted the rice.  It 's nice if you can have it warm with the rice but if it's served cold I would add other veggies because the rice tends to harden when cold.

Grilled Vegetable Balsamic Pasta w/ Basil

There is something so easy about grilling a selection of veggies on the grill and then putting them in everything from lasagna to pasta to sandwiches.  They are so tasty and easy to please most palates.  When grilling peppers you don't always have to go the road that means you have to peel them.  You can cook them till softened and then slice.  Blackening the skin is more time consuming and the flavor is richer but if you don't have the time the other method will work well.  These left over veggies were put in with left over spagetti drizzled with olive oil and balsamic making a nice room temperature pasta salad for lunch.

Cooked pasta/ spagetti

a few handfuls of spinach

grilled peppers (or any kind of veggie you like)

a few T. of feta cheese

a few T. of chopped basil

fresh cracked salt and pepper

balsamic reduction and olive oil to taste

Grilled Vegetable Lasagna

I love lasagna and I was inspired to get away from my regular ground beef lasagna when I came across kamut lasagna at Donald's Market at the New West Quay.  On it's own kamut pasta is not my favorite but it's healthy and it's not gluey wheat and it not the star of this dish so it went very well with the nutritious theme.  I choose vegetables I particularly love and grilled them on the BBQ.  In the past I've roasted a bunch of veggie in the oven (carrots, sweet potato, eggplant) and put them in the lasagna.  As it is lasagna can be time consuming so if you can grill or roast it's a bit faster. 

16 pieces of kamut or regular lasagna strips (number depends on how many layers and how big your pan is)

1 jar of spagetti/ tomato sauce

1 tub of ricotta mixed with 1/4 c. milk

1 pk of mozzarella cheese shredded

1 bulb of roasted garlic

1 lg. japanese eggplant (halved and sliced horizontally)-grilled

4 peppers (yellow and red)- blackened, peeled and sliced

2 zucchini (sliced horizontally)-grilled

20 brown button mushrooms skewered- grilled

1 pk frozen spinach

Spread a few tablespoons of tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan with a few tablespoons of water so the lasagna does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Layer your lasagna in whatever way you wish. This is how mine was layered

Lasagna, Sauce, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Ricotta mix, Mozzarella

Lasagna, Sauce, Grilled peppers and roasted garlic, spinach, Ricotto mix, Mozzarella

Lasagna, Sauce, Eggplant, Ricotta mix, Mozzarella

Lasagna, Tomato Sauce (thinned with water/milk) to top the lasagna.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 mins. Cover with foil and removed during the last 15 mins.

Toss your vegetables to be grilled in a tablespoon of oil so they don't stick to the grill and remain moist.

Place hot peppers in a clear plastic bag to let them steam.  This softens the skin and makes it easier to peel off.  Wash the peppers if the charred remnants are difficult to remove.


Your lasagna may look like this.

Kamut lasagna can be bought at Donald's market for cheap $3 something.

Spinach and Rapini Curry w/ Paneer

Mmmmm this was a very nice curry.  Mild flavored and the paneer was a great addition to a curry that I had never tried before. I put in a block of paneer but could have easily put in more... sooo good!

1/3 c. vegetable oil

3 cloves  garlic minced

1 t. cumin seeds

1 1/2 t. paprika

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. tumeric

1/2 t. cayenne pepper

1 can (680ml) strained tomatoes 

2 c. water

1pk. Paneer

3/4 c. cream

16 c. lightly packed spinach leaves chopped

1 bunch rapini chopped (leaves only)

Heat 2 T. of the oil.  Fry garlic, cumin till it pops and the garlic is golden ~ 2mins.

Stir in paprika, salt, tumeric, cayenne. Stir for 1 min.

Stir in the tomatoes and 2 c. water and bring to a boil.  Reduce and simmer, covered, for 30 mins.

Meanwhile fry paneer in cubes till golden.  Return sauce to boil, stir in cream.  Add spinach and rapini, reduce heat and simmer till wilted~ 5mins.  Stir in paneer~ 2mins.  Serve with basmati rice.