Chili!

Most everyone has their own favorite chili recipe, so here is mine. This was excellent, can't wait to have more for lunch tomorrow.

We cooked 1 cup of dried kidney beans, 1 cup pinto beans, and 1 cup black beans in the crockpot all day.
Saute 1 onion and 1 red bell pepper until lightly browned, add garlic, 2 chipotle chilis, frozen corn for another minute. Add rinsed beans, 2 Tb tomato paste, chili powder, cumin and water. Cook until all well combined. Serve with cheddar cheese!

West African inspired kale

This is one of my favorite dishes. It sounds strange but the flavors are amazing together:

Saute a little onion (1/4), garlic, and 1 tsp red curry paste. Add in a whole can of pineapple chunks with the juice. Bring to a simmer and add a bunch of kale chopped. Cook for a few minutes on medium until kale is wilted. Add 3 Tb of peanut butter and combine. Serve over brown basmati rice. Yum!

Sushi!

Sushi - California Rolls:
It doesn't seem like a lot of food but it is filling.

We buy our seafood wrappers at Whole Foods which generally makes 2 meals for 2 people ($6.99).
Sushi rice from Sevanada cooked like you would any rice. Add in a 1/8 cup rice vinegar and 1 Tb sugar to the rice when it is done. Place rice in a thin layer on the seaweed wrapper, top with carrot, cucumber and avocado and roll up. Slice into bite size pieces.

Most of the wasabi you buy has added coloring and other added ingredients, we bought plain dried horseradish and just spoon some in a bowl and add water to make instant wasabi!

Low-sodium tamari sauce for dipping and you are all set.

Easy spinach quiche

This is a recipe from my Mom for spinach quiche, sans the crust.

Saute onion and garlic, add frozen spinach and stir until thawed. Throw in the blender with 3 eggs, 1 Tb paprika, 2 large spoons of cornstarch, a handful of cheese (parmesan, cheddar, whatever you have) and ~ 2cups of skim milk. Blend until combined, pour into a greased baking dish and bake for 35-45 min on 425 degrees. Yum!

I also made a side of spicy chipotle sweet potatoes.
Chop 2 sweet potatoes, steam until soft. Blend with 1 Tb chopped chipolte chilis in adobo sauce and 1 cup of skim milk until creamy!

Curied Pumpkin Risotto!

Brent may be in charge of the Indian dishes , but my main domain is risotto. Risotto is so homey and comforting. The creaminess makes you think you are indulging in fatty cheesy meal, but in fact it is pretty healthy. The arborio rice doesn't have much fiber, but I add in pumpkin and red bell pepper to make up for it. This is an unusual pairing of flavors but works perfectly. I make a big batch so we can have it for 2 days:

8 cups of low sodium veggie broth and 1+ cup of canned pumpkin simmering

 

Saute onion, red bell pepper

Add curry, cumin and rice for 30 seconds

Slowly add broth 1/2 a cup at a time until it is all absorbed, stirring constantly (30-40min)

Enjoy!

Indian

This is another version of a indian lentil dish. The Indian meals are Brent's specialty. This one is onion, garlic, red lentils, lots of muchi curry, cumin, pineapple chunks in juice and coconut milk served over rice, Yum - spicy and creamy!

Sweet potatoes!

Whole wheat pasta for me and quinoa for Brent (I ran out) with 8 cloves of garlic, steamed peas and a little parmesan. Sweet potatoes are my favorite food of all time. I love them roasted just as they are, it was hard to share these:

Palacsinta (crepes)

Tomorrow is our office holiday party so I decided to make a favorite family recipe of palacsinta. These are the Hungarian (thinner) versions of the traditional french crepe. I love any chance I get to make these. I used cornstarch instead of flour to make them gluten-free. So few ingredients can make such a wonderful dessert.

Typically the filling is cream cheese (low-fat) and just a little sugar, but I decided to add some pureed pumpkin to make it more festive and a little healthier. Turned out delicious!

New twist on a favorite homey soup

I am in soup mode for winter although it was in the high 60's today!

Here is my potato and corn chowder:
7 potatoes (golden yukon), 1/2 onion, 6 cloves garlic, 1 low-salt - gluten-free - vegan bouillon, 1 cup skim milk, some water, and lots of black pepper. You cook it until the potatoes are done, throw 1/3 in the blender until smooth and put back in the soup.

I happen to have some beautiful purple kale so I sauteed that and threw it in - this was sooo good!

Mexican fiesta!

Do you ever crave a big plate of nachos or mexican but feel guilty because you think it's not very healthy?
Here is my solution: This is a big plate of food, but all super healthy:

Low salt blue corn tortilla chips, black beans from the crock-pot, sauteed red bell pepper, onion, corn and garlic, chili powder, fresh avocado, salsa and a little reduced fat sharp cheddar.

One of my favorites...

Well I was so excited to eat my meal last night that I forgot to take a picture - I'm sure it will come up again. This is something I can eat for days when Brent is out of town.

Whole wheat pasta (egg noodles or penne), lots of sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, corn, oil and red wine vinegar and a little parmesan on top (not the shake from a can stuff). Yum!

Juicing in the morning

Sunday morning juicing:
This mix is especially delicious: 20 carrots, 3 apples and a hunk of ginger thrown in the juicer.

Indian again!

Last week I went out dinner and noticed that I couldn't taste the ingredients in my food. I had a black bean burger and sweet potato fries. I love sweet potatoes but these fries did not give the same delicious taste that you get from a fresh sweet potato. It was good, but not memorable. Last night we made an Indian dish where we could taste all of the distinct flavors of the meal. They all meld together in your mouth which makes for a great food experience.

This is Indian red lentils with cinnamon, bombay curry, cardamom, cumin, cloves, pepper, garlic, onion, and raisins. Served over rice again.

Friday Fish Fry!

Taking a cue from our southern location and from Brent's New York heritage we held our own Friday night fish fry. With a couple of differences to make it a little healthier. We use fat free mayo instead of eggs and cornmeal for the breading. This is wild caught cod and we pan fried it in our cast iron pan so we didn't need to use much oil (canola). We served this basmati rice and peas served with lots of onion and garlic. Add lots of malt vinegar to the fish and yum!

Cold weather foods

Well it is finally starting to get somewhat cold in Atlanta - time for some nice homey, comforting foods.
Last night was Polenta (corn grits) with frozen spinach and tons of garlic! It was good and only took 30 min to make. This meal only cost about $2 for both of us.

The reason for this blog:

I was inspired by a potential employer who asked me to describe a 'healthy moment' that I was proud of and that I could display. One of my first thoughts was meals I cooked while on camping trips. My husband and I made healthy, beautiful meals during several camping trips. I was so proud of our meals I took pictures. I thought it would be fun to continue this with my regular meals at home. 

One thing that was important for camping was keeping our load light. We made baggies with ingredients measured out for each meal and then added water and fresh ingredients. This meal was particularly good:

Indian curry lentils with fresh mango over brown basmati rice - Yum!: