Mushroom Sage Lentils

Bowl of yum!

Before adding the lentils

Played around with some ingredients I had and it came out delicious!!  This dish is packed with many of the "power foods" you "should" be eating for health and preventing chronic disease such as cancer.  I'm posting quickly so I don't forget the "recipe" but I really should elaborate on that later.....
Since I don't measure when I cook, here's the general idea.

Ingredients
1 small yellow/sweet onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint crimini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
~2 cups chopped kale (or spinach)
1/2-1 cup tomato sauce (recommend Trader Joes or Muir Glen Organic for BPA free cans or jarred)
1/2-1 tsp turmeric
2 leaves sage, chopped (I wanted to say chiffonaded but that doesn't sound right...)
fresh ground sea salt to taste
~2 cups lentils, cooked (any kind, I used brown)

Saute onion and garlic in some extra virgin olive oil until golden and soft.  Add sliced mushrooms and kale and cook until vegetables are tender.  Add tomato sauce, turmeric, sage, salt and allow to simmer for a few minutes for the flavors to mix.  Add lentils and again simmer/heat to allow flavors to meld.

Lightened Up Crustless Quiche

My friend makes this delicious Green Chile Spinach Quiche.  The original recipe is definitely tasty if you're wanting a full fat quiche.  We typically add sauteed mushrooms because we both love them.  It makes 2 full pie-sized quiches so be sure to half it if you don't need that much!  I'd been craving this quiche but wanted to make it without the pie crust to save on the calories/fat.  I ended up using Egg Beaters too which really cut down the calories too!  It made it a touch wetter though so  next time I'll cook it a touch longer.  

Lightened Up Crustless Quiche

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp salt

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 - 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 - 7 ounce cans chopped green chilies, drained
3 cups Egg Beaters (or 12 eggs, beaten)
1 - 8 ounce package of 2% shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Saute onion in the olive oil until it is starting to soften.  Add mushrooms and sprinkle with sea salt.  Saute until onions are translucent and mushrooms are soft.

Mix the flour and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.

Place eggs in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the flour mixture until no lumps remain. Stir in the Colby-Monterey Jack cheese, cottage cheese, spinach, green chiles, and sauteed onion/mushrooms until evenly blended. Place in a 9x13 baking dish

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking until the quiche is lightly browned and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

So guess what....this entire 9x13 dish was a total of 1850 calories! Which means that you can eat a pretty large slice for not a lot of calories!

Vegetable Tian

I tried another recipe I got from Pinterest that I've been meaning to try...Vegetable Tian.  The original recipe (and much prettier pictures) can be found here.  I chose to replace the russett potatoes with sweet potato and just used zucchini because that's the squash I had at home.  I really liked the flavor of the dish but I think I could have just sauteed/baked the ingredients and the taste would have been the same.  So I probably won't repeat this exact recipe in the future but it was worth the try.

Vegetable Tian

• 2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium sweet potato, unpeeled, sliced (I microwaved my potato slices for a couple minutes to soften them to be sure they cooked all the way through)
• 2 squash (zucchini and/or yellow squash)
• 3 large Roma tomatoes (I only had large vine riped tomatoes so you can see I had to adjust in my pic above)
• Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• Dried thyme, to taste
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375.  Saute onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil until translucent, then add garlic and cook for an additional minute.    Spread the onion/garlic on the bottom of a greased round baking dish.
 

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, squash and tomatoes in 1/4 inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. Season with sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme, to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Cover the dish with a oven safe lid or tin foil  and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned. 

Roasted Vegetable Stack

I can't promise that I'm bringing my blog back....BUT, this recipe fits my blog perfectly and was delicious so I had to be sure to share!  I pinned this recipe 42 weeks ago on Pinterest and just barely got around to trying it!  I'm glad I finally did!  Bright, flavorful, and full of veggie goodness!

The recipe I pinned can be originally found here at Perry's Plate.  I followed it pretty much as it stated (shocker I know) except for just a a couple small changes because of what I had in my fridge.  Really the only change I would make next time is I would add mushrooms to the roasted veggies - just because I love  them.  I might try it again with beans to add some protein, then I could use less cheese as well.  Really you can use whatever veggies you have/want!

Roasted Vegetable Stack  
(Originally called an enchilada, but no enchilada sauce was used so I'm just calling it a stack)

1 poblano chile, cut into matchsticks
2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 large onion, slivered
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 T canola oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups homemade or store bought salsa/pico de gallo (I used my favorite premade salsa, Herdez, bc I didn't feel like making any)
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 2 big handfuls)
9-10 corn tortillas, halved (I actually used flour because that's what I had in my fridge. I try very hard to like corn but I just can't break my love of a good flour tortilla)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (any blend you like!)
sour cream and thinly sliced scallions for garnish, if desired (I didn't use)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 

Place poblanos, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels onto cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then use your hands to mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly in the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown in spots. Stir or shake the pan every 10 minutes for even roasting. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

(veggies pre-roasted)

Prepare an 8x8x2 or 9x9x2-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, stir the cilantro into the salsa. Spread 1/4 cup of salsa into the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the salsa. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, 1/3 of the cheese, and a handful of spinach. Make a second layer of tortilla, vegetables, cheese, salsa, and spinach. Top with with a layer of tortillas, vegetables, salsa, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.

(look at those gorgeous layers!!)

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced scallions.

Serves 4-5

True Love

‎"Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to-letting a person be what he really is."

- Jim Morrison

I tried

I tried really, really hard this weekend to like butternut squash.  I really did try.  But I just don't  :(

Spaghetti Squash with Chili

Spaghetti Squash with Chili
Slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 spaghetti squash
8 ounces lean ground turkey  (93/7 % or 99/1%)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
14 ounce can Rotel (or equivalent), drained
15 ounce can corn, drained
8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste (if you don't have that's okay)
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed

If you have never cooke spaghetti squash before, it's really not bad I promise.  You can either bake or microwave it.  I choose to bake mine because it could bake as I was making the chili.
To bake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds and middle (as you would a pumpkin).  Place the squash halves with the cut sides down and the rind side up on a baking sheet or in a baking dish.  Cook for ~30-45 minutes.  I set my timer for 30min and they were done.  Just poke with a fork to check.  Be careful when you turn them over because the trapped steam is what helps them cook.  Use a fork to softly scrap out the flesh, which comes out in string like strands.
To microwave: cut and clean in the same manner.  Place one half in a baking dish with ~1/4 cup water.  Cover and microwave for ~8-10 minutes.  Do the same for the second half.

For the chili:  In a medium saucepan cook ground turkey, onion, and garlic until meat is fully cooked and onion is tender.  Season with a little salt and pepper while cooking.  Drain off any fat.
Stir in Rotel, corn, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, and oregeno.  Simmer, unconvered, for 10 minutes or desired consistency.

Top spaghetti squash with chili.  Yum!  I liked it!  And I love being able to use spaghetti squash more in the fall and skip the pasta!