High Protein Berry Goodness Parfaits

What makes these parfaits such an amazing breakfast is that they are very low in fat, high in protein, full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, delicious, and kept us full for over five hours!

What you need per parfait:

1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (23 grams protein!)

1/3 cup blueberries

1/3 cup chopped strawberries

1/3 cup lowfat granola of choice

honey to sweeten to taste (I didn't use it)

What you do:

Layer to your preference!

Thank you Chef Chloe!

Chef Chloe Coscarelli is my new idol since winning an episode of The Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.  All of her recipes are vegan and remarkable.  Here is the link to these marvelous, wondrous, light, fluffy cupcakes & frosting:
http://chefchloe.com/sweets/chocolate-beer-cupcakes-with-irish-whiskey-buttercream.html

My modifications: In the batter, I used 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of 1 cup.  I halved the buttercream recipe and instead of whiskey, used 1 tsp of instant decaf coffee diluted in 2 tbsp of hot water.

Confetti Black Beans

This black bean combo was fantastic in soft corn tortilla tacos. Delicious served simply with rice as well.

Ingredients:
2 cans organic black beans
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalepeno, seeded & finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 slim carrot, finely chopped
1 clove minced or crushed garlic
1/2 tbp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1.  Heat oil in a medium pot/saucepan on medium heat.  Add all the veggies and saute for 3-4 minutes.
2.  Add the vegetable broth, stir, and let simmer 2-3 minutes.
3.  Add in all the spices and stir well.
4.  Add in the black beans, stir, and heat covered for 10-15 minutes.

Multi-legume Soup

(rinse before soaking/cooking)

(Reynolds slow cooker liners)

Ingredients
1 bag Trader Joe's 17 bean and barley mix, cooked in crockpot until tender (or prepare however you normally do dry lentils/beans)
1 tbsp olive oil or canola oil
1/2 tbsp butter (salted or unsalted)
1 organic vine ripened tomato
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 red/orange/yellow bell pepper, diced
1 large clove garlic, grated
5-7 sprigs fresh thyme
1 dried bay leaf
1 tsp curry powder
2-3 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 32oz container low sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup any marinara/spaghetti sauce

Steps:
1.  Heat oil in stock pot.  Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Stir. Add butter and cook 2-3 min. on medium low heat.  Season with some of the salt and pepper.
2.  Strain beans from soaking/cooking water.  Add to pot.  Stir.  Season again.
3.  Add broth, bay leaf, marinara sauce, tomatoes, and peppers.  When simmering, add thyme and remainder of salt & pepper.
4.  Simmer 15 min. uncovered and then on very low heat, covered, for 15 min. You can really cook it as long or short as you'd like.
5.  Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs.  Serve with couscous or your rice of choice &/or alongside crusty bread.

Antipasto: Fried Ravioli

This is a treat and one that your guests will think you got from carry-out.  It is so easy to make and the outcome is gourmet!

Buy 1 package any type of ravioli.  I like Buitoni. Line up 3 bowls on your kitchen counter.  Fill the 1st halfway with all purpose flour, the 2nd halfway any kind of milk (including buttermilk or soy milk), and the 3rd almost full with seasoned bread crumbs or season plain ones yourself with salt, pepper, and dried oregano.  Dip each ravioli pillow in flour, then milk, then breadcrumbs.  Refill bowls with ingredients as needed.  Fill a frying pan about 1 inch deep with canola oil.  Heat.  You will know when your oil is ready if you dip the end of a wooden spoon handle in and it bubbles around it.  Fry each batch on both sides till golden brown. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce or even salsa.

Antipasto: Roasted Vegetables w/Fresh Mozarella

Wash and slice up the vegetables of your choice.  Toss in olive or canola oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Spread evenly on a cookie sheet in a single layer as much as possible.  Bake in a preheated 425 degrees oven for 20-25 minutes, flip, and repeat or until caramelized to taste.  Once cooled, top with fresh mozarella.  Serve as is or with a side of balsalmic dressing or reduction.

Soothing Stuffed Shells

 This is the epitome of comfort food for my family.  And I can feel better about it nutrition-wise than I can about mac-n-cheese.  It is full of flavor, protein, & greens.  This baked pasta dish will melt in your mouth and make your tastebuds dance while the rest of you feels relaxed and euphoric.  You can mostly use or vary the ingredients but I urge you to only use the Trader Joe's fresh ricotta - this sets the dish aside from all other stuffed shells recipes!

Ingredients:

casserole dish

about 1/2-3/4 of a box large pasta shells (or manocoti), boiled

1 jar or homemade tomato sauce

1 container Trader Joe's fresh ricotta cheese (this is the absolute best I've ever had)

1/4 cup part skim shredded mozarella

1 cup part skim shredded mozarella

2 tbsp olive oil

 1/4 cup finely sliced fresh basil

1 regular size bag of baby spinach, roughly or finely chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees or 350 if convection.

2.  Mix ricotta, 1/4 cup mozarella, dried herbs, fresh basil, baby spinach, salt, & pepper in a mixing bowl until well incorporated.

3.  Spread a thin layer of sauce inside the bottom of the casserole dish.

4.  Stuff each shell with about 1-2 tbsp of filling and arrange in a single layer into casserole dish.

5.  Sprinkle evenly the 1 cup of shredded mozarella.

6.  Drizzle with the 2 tsbp olive oil.

7.  Bake for 20-25 min.

8.  Broil on high for 5 minutes til top is brown and bubbly.  This will give it the appearance of an Italian restaurant entree.

Get Thyme for this Savory French Potato Pea Puff Pastry Pie

 This meal was inspired by the Food Network's Melissa D'Arabian's Potato-Bacon Torte.  I will post my recipe soon!

Roasted Cauliflower

Given all the veggies I have roasted over the years, I don't know why I never used cauliflower until today.  In all honesty, I thought chopping it up looked daunting.  But it is so much easer to cut up and clean than broccoli.  The stems are much easier to chew too.  This is a delicious side dish so make plenty because everyone will want to eat it in entree quanity!

Simple steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400-425 degrees. 
2. Chop up one head of cauliflower. 
3. Rinse florets in a colander. 
4. Lay evenly on a cookie sheet. 
5. Toss in 2 tbsp extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, 1 tsp fine sea salt, and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. 
6. Bake 20-25 minutes until desired crisp. 
7. Dust with parmesan cheese.

My new favorite leafy green: Bok Choy

I used bok choy (Trader Joe's baby bok choy) for the first time ever today in a tofu vegetable stir fry.  It was so good and added the deluxe to the dish.  It is much more simple to deal with than its cousin, cabbage.  The internet has oodles of uses and recipes for bok choy.  The following is a quick, easy, and zesty side dish I made.

Ingredients:
1 tsp sesame, canola, or olive oil
3-4 baby bok choy
3 garlic cloves smashed or sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 twist of freshly ground pepper
optional: 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions:
1.  Do the following for each bunch of bok choy - cut off about a half inch at the base of each head so that you get rid of the tough notch.
2.  Then lay the bok choy horizontally across your cutting board.  Chop from stem end to leaf end.
3.  Separate stems from leafy parts and rinse each group in a colander or place in a bowl of cold water and agitate.  (The dirt will sink to the bottom like it does with leaks.)
4. Smash/halve garlic cloves.
5.  Heat sesame oil in a pan at medium low for 2-3 minutes.
6.  Add bok choy stems.  Saute 2-3 minutes.
7.  Add leaves then salt, pepper, & ground ginger if you have it but it's perfectly tasty without.  Preferably while tossing with tongs, cook for 3-5 minutes to retain some crisp.

Serve as your favorite side dish, add into a stir fry, serve on rice, or toss into whole wheat noodles that have been marinated in soy sauce.

(photo from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lC-4IrBVFkMcI8TvMyGCLiZ1iIkbSOBA0yQa4vNDMcc56EY3I57PX-CRzqiQY3gK385aQ3Nnd8Z1h5fBbRFvtdaMbCROG_J4fOoCsJl9yPlpxKybFK7NBfN3a6Er1MBvcQFdMVmCzOc/s320/bokchoy1.jpg)

Lentil Soup makeover

I like lentil soup but I love good lentil soup.  The kind that not only warms you up and fills you with tons of vitamins, fiber, & protein but that which is so savory that it keeps you ladling for more.  I found a recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food which really is a great magazine full of lots of suprisingly simple, quite light, wholesome & delicious recipes. But I found wanting more from their Caramelized Onion and Lentil Soup so below is my makeover and as Goldilocks would say:  It was jusssst right!  But feel free to give my makeover a makeover :)

Inspired by: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/caramelized-onion-and-lentil-soup - my opinion is that it didn't have enough veggies to make it more of a meal, not enough flavor, & not enough stock.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 15 oz. cans of lentils rinsed & drained OR 2 cups of lentils cooked/soaked (dry lentils soften much quicker when cooked than dry beans so you can soak them a few hours or overnight)
1 medium-large yellow onion - thinly sliced or chopped
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1/2 a carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, cut lengthwise then diced
3-4 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp curry powder ($1.99 a bottle at Trader Joe's or about as cheap at an Indian store - other grocery stores tend to overcharge for this)
Salt & pepper at hand


Directions:
1.  Heat olive oil in your soup pot.
2.  Add onions.  Cook on low to medium-low for 10-15 min. until they are as soft or caramelized as you like them.  Do NOT season yet.
3.  Add butter and garlic.  I found that this little bit of butter kept the garlic from burning.
4.  Turn up heat to medium and add celery and carrots.
5.  Now season with 1/2 tsp sea salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper or 2-3 turns freshly ground black pepper.
6.  Saute it all together 2-3 minutes.
7.  Add lentils and vegetable stock. Turn heat to medium-high.
8.  Add 1 tsp sea salt and black pepper to taste.
9.  Bring to a boil, add curry powder, reduce to a simmer, add thyme, and simmer 10 more minutes.


For extra decadence, ladle some into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, & top with parmesan or your favorite cheese.

It's Greek to us :)

Top with fat free feta cheese from Trader Joe's (not shown).  

Very impressive - I usually don't go for fat free cheeses.