Cucumber, Pickled Onion and Green Salad with “Buttermilk” Dijon Dressing

There were so many colors on the plate this evening I wanted a more monotone salad to accompany dinner. Don’t let the color of this salad make you think it is bland. The pickled onions add a lot of flavor as does the Dijon mustard and rosemary.

Cucumber, Pickled Onion and Green Salad with “Buttermilk” Dijon Dressing
Serves 4

Pickled Onion Ingredients:

½ red onion, thinly sliced
white vinegar to cover

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of reduced fat almond milk mayo
½ cup of almond milk
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, finely minced
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Salad Ingredients:

8 cups of mesclun greens, torn into bite size pieces
1 seedless cucumber, finely sliced

Directions:

Cover the red onion with white vinegar and refrigerate. This needs to sit a minimum of 15 minutes, but a day is not too long. When you are ready to make the salad drain the vinegar from the onions.

Combine all the salad dressing ingredients in your food processor and puree to combine. Refrigerate until you need it. This will keep days in the refrigerator.

Combine the greens, cucumber, drained onions and salad dressing in a big bowl. Toss to combine. Taste the dressed salad for seasoning and adjust the salt and pepper as desired. Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 57.11
Calories From Fat (43%) - 24.81

Total Fat - 2.85g
Saturated Fat - 0.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 205.85mg
Potassium - 314.47mg
Total Carbohydrates - 6.56g
Fiber - 2.69g
Sugar - 1.28g
Protein - 2.16g

Comments:

This is a simple salad that has big flavor punch for the onions and the dressing. It is a nice change from our usual salad with vinaigrette.

Succotash

When there are organic fresh lima beans at the farmers’ market there is probably going to be succotash at our house. I love fresh lima beans but I really dislike shelling the beans. Two quarts of lima beans in their pods yielded a whopping two cups of beans and took almost 90 minutes to peel. Like I said, I love fresh limas but they are a bit of work.

The rosemary and cayenne were last minute additions. Since the succotash was a little sweet I added the cayenne to balance the flavors. Rosemary was included for no reason other than I love it and it is easy to grab from the garden. This is the first time I added rosemary to succotash, but it won’t be the last. We really liked the corn and rosemary combination.

Succotash
Serves 6

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
½ red onion, finely minced
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
¾ cup of almond milk
2 cups of fresh lima beans
5 ears of corn, kernels removed (I used silver queen)
1 roasted red pepper, finely minced
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, finely minced
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Sauté the red onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 219.63
Calories From Fat (14%) - 30.24

Total Fat - 3.45g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 579.93mg
Potassium - 644.57mg
Total Carbohydrates - 41.8g
Fiber - 9.16g
Sugar - 5.93g
Protein - 9.08g

Comments:

Succotash is something that I like to make when I have fresh lima beans and corn. By sautéing the onion, adding the roasted red pepper, increasing the corn and using almond milk this succotash is sweeter than most. I added the cayenne and rosemary to add a little depth of flavor. This is a nice combination that everyone enjoyed this evening (including the carnivores).

Mediterranean Stir Fry

Today I couldn’t get inspired to make something new or different so I cooked from what I had on hand. This Mediterranean inspired stir-fry was what came out of my head tonight.

The dish started with smoked paprika because it is one of my favorites. I will use smoked paprika in almost everything (my husband can attest to this). Since smoked paprika is Spanish I decided to stay with a Mediterranean theme. Chickpeas and the seitan sausage were added for protein. The vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, and onion) were used because they were here. I included the rosemary and parsley for their cancer fighting properties. Rosemary’s woody fragrance comes from the fatty acids of terpene in the plant, which encourages the cancer cells in tumors to stop reproducing. Parsley contains apigenine, a natural oil that has been shown to prevent angiogenesis (the growth of blood vessels to the tumor). The apigenine from parsley acts similarly to the prescription drugs Avastin and Sutent.

This dinner is quick and tasty, my favorite type of dinner to make.

Mediterranean Stir Fry
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon of canola oil
1 red onion, minced
1 globe eggplant, cut into bite size pieces
1 large red tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
1 large green tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
1 Mexican spiced seitan sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
½ cup of chickpeas, cooked
1 cup of short grain brown rice, cooked (I used yellow rice)
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, chopped
¼ cup of fresh parsley, chopped
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat a large skillet with the canola oil and add the onion, eggplant, tomatoes, and sausage and cook for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except the parsley and cook until everything is heated through (about 5 minutes on low heat). If the pan gets dry add a little water or dry white wine.

When you are ready to serve add the fresh parsley and stir to evenly distribute throughout the pan. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust before serving. Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 475.64
Calories From Fat (13%) - 63.66

Total Fat - 7.41g
Saturated Fat - 0.62g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 331.61mg
Potassium - 1108.16mg
Total Carbohydrates - 85.89g
Fiber - 17.78g
Sugar - 11.25g
Protein - 26.05g

Comments:

This was a nice quick dinner. I had it on the table 15 or 20 minutes after I started and that included time to chop the vegetables. This meal was very filling probably due to the fiber and protein. Even though this wasn't a "planned meal" I was quite happy with how it turned out.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach, Chickpea and Walnut Pesto

Today I was in a funky mood. I didn’t feel like cooking or doing much of anything. Needless to say I still had to make dinner. This is one of those dinners that comes out of what I have on hand. I discovered that chickpeas in pesto work surprisingly well. I will use that trick from now on. I also like the thickness the tofu sour cream added to the sauce.

Dinner tonight was pasta because it is fast, and easy to eat. I added the chickpeas to increase the fiber, protein and calories. The raw spinach was added for nutrition. Leafy greens are something I don’t think any of us eat enough of. The garlic and rosemary were both added for their ability to fight cancer. Lemon was included because I love lemon and like to add it to pesto even though it isn’t traditional. Tofu sour cream was added because I only had a few tablespoons left from this weekend and I though it would add creaminess to the sauce, and it worked. If we had more tofu sour cream on hand I may have added as much as ½ cup to the sauce.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach, Chickpea and Walnut Pesto
Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 quarts of water
½ tablespoon of kosher salt
19 ounces of whole wheat rotini
6 cups of raw spinach
1/3 cup of walnuts, toasted
½ cup of cooked chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary leaves (stripped from its stem)
juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup of tofu sour cream
kosher salt and pepper to taste
walnuts, roughly chopped for garnish – optional
extra virgin olive oil, for serving - optional

Directions:

Bring water to a boil and add kosher salt. Add pasta to the boiling water and stir vigorously for 30 seconds to keep pasta from sticking together. Cook according to package directions and then drain.

While pasta is cooking add remaining ingredients to you food processor and process until everything is smooth and combined. This will take about a minute.

Toss hot pasta with sauce in a large bowl. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Serve immediately. You can garnish with chopped walnuts and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if desired. Both of these garnishes will increase the fat percentage, but will be quite yummy.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 444.36
Calories From Fat (15%) - 66.22

Total Fat - 7.77g
Saturated Fat - 0.52g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 113.65mg
Potassium - 257.98mg
Total Carbohydrates - 81.8g
Fiber - 13.06g
Sugar - 4.19g
Protein - 16.06g

Comments:

I was quite pleased with the overall fat percentage of this recipe. This pasta dish was filling and tasty. If you aren’t watching you fat as closely as we are I would suggest you add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the sauce. Olive oil would add a great flavor and nice mouth feel to this dish. This dish can be eaten tomorrow for lunch either hot or cold.

Whole Wheat Penne with Tomato Zucchini Sauce and White Beans

We haven’t had a bean dish in our house in a few days so today I decided to cook a pound of great northern beans. I cook a lot of beans at my house. I never cook less than a full pound of beans. Cooked beans freeze well. Even if you have a small family, I highly recommend cooking a full pound of beans. Beans are a wonderful source of low fat protein that is packed with fiber.

This recipe is hearty and very filling. When I make this sauce I always make an entire box of whole wheat pasta so that we have lunch leftovers for the week. This recipe is packed with a variety of healthy ingredients that you can feel good about feeding your family.

The cooked tomatoes contain lycopene that are reported to protect our men from prostate cancer. Garlic is a nutritional powerhouse that the National Cancer Institute has deemed to have anticarcinogenic properties. When you are cooking with garlic be certain to slice or mince it and allow it sit for 10 minutes before you heat it to allow sufficient time for the allicin to develop. Onions are a good source of quercitin and are also reported to have anticancer properties. Many herbs (rosemary included) are packed with antioxidants and are great to include for both flavor and health reasons. The whole wheat pasta and white beans are packed with fiber and protein. The combination of rosemary and white beans is very Tuscan.


Whole Wheat Penne with Tomato Zucchini Sauce and White Beans
Makes 6 large entrée sized servings

Ingredients:

1 red onion, minced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
28 ounces of fire roasted diced tomatoes
14 ounces of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1 - 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, minced
3 cups of cooked white beans
2 zucchini, halved and cut thinly into half moons
13.25 ounces of whole wheat penne pasta
6 quarts of water
1 tablespoon of kosher salt

Directions:

In a large pot sauté the minced onion and garlic in olive oil until it is tender and starting to caramelize. Add the tomatoes, kosher salt, black pepper and rosemary and cook for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

Meanwhile bring the 6 quarts of water to a boil in another pot. When the water boils add the tablespoon of kosher salt and drop in the whole wheat penne. Stir the pasta for the first 30 seconds to make certain it doesn’t clump together as the starch releases from the surface of the pasta. Set a timer for 2 minutes less than the cooking time on the box. Al dente pasta has a lower glycemic index than pasta that is cooked completely. When you remove the pasta it should be mostly cooked, but still have a little resistance when you bite into it.

While the pasta is cooking add the cooked white beans and zucchini to the tomato sauce. You don’t want the white beans to fall apart in the sauce, or for the zucchini to get mushy in the sauce.

Drain the pasta (reserving a cup of two of the pasta cooking liquid) and add the drained pasta directly to the sauce. Stir the pasta into the sauce to evenly coat it with the sauce. If your pasta is too dry slowly add a little of the reserved cooking liquid until the dish is saucy enough for you. By cooking the pasta for a minute in the sauce you are encouraging the pasta to absorb the flavor of the sauce.

Serve this dish while still hot with a green salad as the side dish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 483.42
Calories From Fat (9%) - 44.54

Total Fat - 5.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.52g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 681.4mg
Potassium - 1327.69mg
Total Carbohydrates - 93.07g
Fiber - 17.7g
Sugar - 10.4g
Protein - 21.6g

Comments:

This dish reminds me of the things I love about Tuscany. The combination of rosemary, white beans and tomatoes is so familiar and comforting. This pasta dish is full of the intoxicating aroma from the fresh rosemary. The nutritional information on this dish is fantastic. The fat content is low, and the fiber and protein are high given the serving size.