20 Minute Meal!

I have a new work schedule. Two nights a week, I work 5 p.m.- 9 p.m. It's been an interesting adjustment. On said days, I try and eat before work..but I'm not hungry for dinner at 4. I usually have just eaten lunch at 1 or 2. If I don't eat, I'm famished when I get home at 9:30 and proceed to snack my way through the girl scout cookies, chips and salsa, pickles, etc. Pretty much anything in site and that's not really a meal. Is it? So anyway, now I'm trying to eat a light meal before work and then have a small snack in the evening.

I was getting ready for work the other day and trying to decide what to eat. The clock said 3:40 and I had about a half hour to make dinner, eat, and head to work. I decided to use a spaghetti squash that had been collecting a little dust in my pantry and throw together a fast, healthy, filling meal that also makes plenty of leftovers for later!

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato and chickpea sauce:

Twenty minutes and 6 easy steps. The clock says 3:45...Ready..Set..Go!Step 1:

Pierce spaghetti squash with knife about 6 times all over the squash. Put in the microwave for about 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of the squash). Rotate about 3 times during the microwave process. I usually just lay the squash on a few paper towels, but we were out, hence the plate.

Step 2:

Chop one red onion and saute with olive oil on medium-high heat until soft. Add chopped garlic after about 3 minutes.

Step 3:

Chop and add any ingredients you want. This is the fun part!! You can get real creative and use common items in your pantry. I always use canned tomatoes (usually two cans) and a can of beans. I've used garbanzo, black, and cannellini beans. Tonight, I had one zucchini and some canned mushrooms so I threw those in! In the past I've also added green pepper and carrots.

Step 4:

Let all the ingredients cook and get to know each other in the pan. I also start adding some seasoning at this point. This is another way to be creative! I LOVE cumin. I can't get enough of it. And it seems to work really well with my base of ingredients. So I always add cumin and some hot paprika. Salt and pepper are always a must. For a little color and some fresh flavor I usually go with parsley. Fresh is always best, but dried will work.Step 5:

When the spaghetti squash is done, remove from the microwave, let it cool for about 5-10 minutes. Because I was on a time crunch, I let it cool just enough so I could handle it and I sliced it in half. I scooped out the seeds and then proceeded to spaghetti the squash. :) The great thing about spaghetti squash is once you slice it in half, all you have to do is comb the fork along the squash half and it comes out in spaghetti-like strands..Hence the name.Step 6:

Plate! See how many leftovers this makes? Ryan had some of the leftovers for dinner later and we finished it off the next night and served it with grilled steaks.

And what time is it!?

I mean, how quick and easy is that? It's healthy and filling too. I even had time to clean up and I made it to work with time to spare!

Move over Rachael Ray! This is a 20 minute meal...beat that! Actually...Rachael..you can just go away. (She bugs the crap out of me)

Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I was going through some boxes in the basement and came across a few cookbooks that never got unpacked. I mentioned in the Valentine's Day post that we have a lot of cookbooks. When we moved to Columbus, I decided to leave an entire box of cookbooks packed and in the basement and just display the few we use the most. Anyway, I started looking through an old Self Magazine full of recipes. It is titled "Self Dishes" and it came out in the summer of 2007. I've made many yummy recipes from this magazine and they are usually pretty easy recipes and healthy too! I'm always trying to eat healthy. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I'm not. Right now, I'm on a healthy-eating kick. I had the day off on Tuesday and I had just gone grocery shopping, so I decided to make Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms from my Self Dishes magazine.

This was super easy to make. It's basically just mixing all the ingredients in a bowl, spooning them on to the mushrooms caps and baking it for 25 minutes. I had this for a late lunch and it was filling and really tasty. I definitely plan on making this again because most of the ingredients are already kitchen staples.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove mushroom stems and chop the stems. Place the mushrooms smooth side down in a baking dish.

2. Next, mix thawed spinach, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, dill, and scallions. The recipe called for cheddar, but I used mozzarella. I also did not have any sour cream on hand, so I just added an additional spoonful of cottage cheese and shredded mozzarella. It still turned out great.

3. Spoon mixture on the mushrooms creating a mound. Cover with foil. (I just re-read the recipe and realized I totally forgot to cover my dish with foil! oops. But, now we know it's not mandatory. ) Bake for 25 minutes.

Here's my uncovered mushrooms cooking away. See, they look fine without the foil. No worries.
The cottage cheese binds everything together and the spinach and cheese flavors complement the meatiness of the portobellos. This dish can also be doctored up a bit! Next time, I plan on adding garlic and lemon zest. I also think adding a spoonful of breadcrumbs would add a nice texture. I love recipes that act like blank canvasses. They have a few staple ingredients and then you can be creative and add other ingredients to make it your own.

This is really a great dish. Not only is it easy, it's really satisfying and very tasty. It can be a nice vegetarian main course, served with a salad and some crusty bread. It also could be a nice side dish to accompany fish or chicken.



Two stuffed mushrooms is only 200 calories. Bonus!

Smashed chickpea salad

In my quest for healthy recipes, I came across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (one of my favorite food blogs) for smashed chickpea salad. She adapted her recipe from a sandwich she had at Tom Colicchio's restaurant Wichcraft. I took her recipe and adapted it to what I had in my fridge and also my new healthy lifestyle.

This recipe is sooo easy and you can really just throw whatever you want in there, whatever you think would taste good! I'm kind of obsessed with it and find myself craving it for meals. It's kind of like a deconstructed hummus (that's how Smitten Kitchen described it and I agree) in that you mash the chick peas with a potato masher or fork to get a thicker consistency but not the thickness of hummus.

Here is my adaptation of the smashed chickpea salad, inspired by Smitten Kitchen, which was inspired by Wichcraft:
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
zest of one lemon and juice of one lemon
diced carrot (add as much as you like, I diced about 4 carrot sticks)
about 1 or 2 tbsp. diced red onion (add as much as you desire for this as well)
1 tsp. of capers1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (the first time I made it I only had dried parsley and used about 1 tsp.)
salt and pepper (to taste)
a few glugs of olive oil
a dash of White Balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. combine all ingredients
2. mash together with potato masher or fork for desired consistency
This is a really relaxed recipe, based on your personal tastes. If you want it more tangy, add more lemon juice or the white balsamic vinegar. If it seems a bit dry, add a little more olive oil. I just kept tasting until I felt it was right.

I've eaten this a few different ways- on toasted bread with spicy mustard, as a dip with crackers, and straight out of the container. :)

Spicy, Tasty and Healthy!

Ok- so like everyone else in the world, I have a New Year's resolution to get healthy and eat right.  Very unoriginal and un-foodie-like I know, but, what can ya do..  So lately I've been scouring the Internet and cookbooks for healthy and tasty recipes to make and this past week I requested a healthy meal when we were dinner guests at my parents house.   My mom came across a recipe for vegetable and pork stir fry that was featured on The Biggest Loser and made by Rocco DiSpirito. 

My mom and I made it on Thursday evening and it was really good.  My parents didn't particularly like it, but Ryan and I loved it so we made it last night for Ryan's family and it was a huge hit! The combination of the ginger, orange, red pepper flakes and peanut butter make a surprisingly complex sauce.  You could add any vegetables to this and in fact we added carrots. I would love to try it with an Asian medley with broccoli and baby corn and all of that good stuff, but Ryan is not a fan of broccoli so maybe I'll have to make this just for me someday.   This is also a fairly quick and easy recipe, which is nice for busy weekday nights.   We served this over brown rice.  

Vegetable and Pork Stir Fry

Rocco DiSpirito

serves 4

Ingredients:

cooking spray

1 lb. lean pork loin cut into bit size strips

Salt

4 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 pound snow peas*

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter

2/3 cup chopped fresh basil

heat a large nonstick skillet, spray cooking spray, season pork with salt and add to pan.  Stir fry until golden brown and cooked almost through, about 3 minutes.  Remove pork and set aside. 

Spray cooking spray and add ginger, cook for one minute.  Add onion and season with salt and cook for about 4 minutes. **We added one clove of garlic, finely chopped,  for some extra flavor**.  Add snow peas and continue to cook until tender. Remove vegetables from the pan.  Add orange juice concentrate and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil.  Whisk in peanut butter and return to a simmer. Toss in pork, vegetables, and basil to combine.  Adjust seasoning if needed and serve!

****To make this dish even quicker, we used frozen carrots and snow peas and partially cooked them, and then added when instructed. 

**Not to drill home the whole diet/new years resolution thing, but this dish is only about 300 calories per serving.

Pomegranates = Mesmerizing

Last week I bought two pomegranates and now I have a favorite fruit!! I've always loved pomegranate juice (when I can afford it) but had never bought a pomegranate and ate the seeds and used them in recipes.   I think pomegranates are the most beautiful fruit ever.  They are like bright, beautiful little jewels.  I'd almost rather wear them as jewelry then eat them!! 

I was a little nervous to get the seeds out without creating a huge mess or staining myself with the juice.  But I watched a few videos on You Tube and then felt comfortable.  And actually, it's really very easy.  I think they are just intimidating because they are very different than other fruits.  First you cut off the top little stem and then cut a little off the bottom (so it will sit up and not roll over).  Then, score the pomegranate as if your were going to cut it into quarters.  The pomegranates skin is very thin and the inside is just the pith so you easily rip open the pomegranate after it's been scored without breaking a lot of the seeds. 

 To prevent a big mess, fill a large bowl with water and submerge the pomegranate  while separating the seeds from the pith.  The white parts you can't eat will float to the top and the seeds will float to the bottom!! 

We mostly just ate them by the handful, but once, we added them to a salad with sliced fennel, green onion with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  

 

Oh yea, and they are sooo good for you. Filled with vitamins and antioxidants. 

dinner thrown together-success!

Tonight I played in a softball game with my coworker Sheila so I didn't have a lot of time for dinner. I was starving because I had a light lunch so I wanted to have a filling, but healthy dinner, so I threw this meal together. I guess I would call it my version of an on the run seafood scampi? Who knows, but here's what I did:

I bought a bag of frozen shrimp, scallops and calamari from Trader Joe's and the bag was almost gone, just enough for a single serving, so I put the frozen seafood in a colander and let cold water slowly run on it to defrost. While that was defrosting I diced half a shallot and added that to a saute pan with a little olive oil. Once the seafood was defrosted I added them to the saute pan to cook. When the shrimp, scallops and calamari were about halfway cooked I added a spoonful of diced garlic. I also seasoned the seafood with salt and pepper, dill, and fresh basil and when the seafood was completely cooked I added a couple splashes of white wine and a squeeze of lemon wedge and turned the heat down to let it simmer.

While all of this was going on I decided to make a different kind of starch to accompany my seafood dish. I didn't really have time to make pasta and I didn't feel like rice, so I decided to try something new, quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") it is a similar texture to couscous and has a light, nutty flavor. It's also really good for you. I bought a box at Trader Joe's a while back and after I saw that it can cook in the microwave for 6 minutes (there is also an option for stove top preparation) I knew it was meant to be!

When the quinoa was done, I poured it in to a bowl and then mixed in the seafood and sauce and I was ready to eat! I also squeezed a little more lemon juice before I started to eat.

For a meal I prepared in about 10 minutes, I was pretty impressed. The seafood was really good and the mixture of the white wine and lemon worked really well with the seafood. And of course garlic makes EVERYTHING better. :) I also really liked the quinoa, I'm excited to make some more recipes with it, because it is a nice alternative to pasta.

Sorry no photo..no time!