For the past couple of weeks I have been reading Eat For Health by Dr. Fuhrman (more on that later) and trying some of his recipes. The first couple were not really what I would call successes - for instance 'Tomato Tornado Soup' looked like it would be really good, but we could barely eat one serving, giving it an overall rating of 2 stars...It has potential and could be really good...I think...but currently I'm not sure how. If I figure it out, I will post a modified recipe. This week, however, has had several successes and I thought I would post some recipes in case you are looking for some good healthy dinner (or desert) ideas yourself! Sorry, I haven't taken pictures of anything, hopefully I will remember next time! So this post isn't too long, I will start with the vegetarian dishes, then do the meat and desert dishes in the next post.
Baked Potato Fries
2lbs Yukon Gold or Sweet Potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)
4 cloves fresh garlic or 2 tsp garlic powder (I used garlic powder, but next time I'd like to try fresh or minced)
1 TBS Olive Oil
2tsp onion powder
no salt herb seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash table seasoning)
Peel potatoes if not organic and cut into strips (mine weren't organic, but I just washed them)
Mix remaining ingredients and toss with potatoes
bake for 30-45min at 350 until lightly golden and tender (I think I did 45)
***these were quite tasty and sodium-free....at least until I dipped mine in a little bit of ketchup =) I'd like to try it with sweet potatoes and see how different they would taste. When you are making them they smell like they will be really strongly-flavored, but they were actually very mild.
Black Bean Lettuce Bundles
2cups canned black beans (no salt)
1/2 large avocado, mashed (or 1 small avocado)
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 scallions, chopped (grocery store didn't have scallions, so I just left them out)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (also missing from the grocery store and my bundles, but I'll bet it would
have added nice flavor)
2 TBS lime juice (could be b/c I was missing a few ingredients, but I thought 2 TBS was a little much)
1tsp cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3cup mild salsa (low sodium)
8 large romaine lettuce leaves
Mash beans and avocado together
mix in all other ingredients except lettuce (I threw everything in a food processor, worked great)
place approx. 1/4 cup of filling in center of lettuce and roll like a tortilla
***I think it would be even better, although more calories, to get a whole wheat tortilla, spread a couple leaves of lettuce over it, cover lettuce with filling and roll the whole thing together. It would make it a little more filling too.
Quinoa Bean Salad
*this is better made the day before so all the flavors have time to blend*
2cups cooked quinoa (I used red, but I don't think it matters)
1 15oz can white beans, drained
1cup carrots
1 cup currants (I used raisins)
1/2cup walnuts, chopped
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (I don't like raw onion too much, so I used 1/3-1/2 an onion and chopped it up with everything else. It gave just a hint of onion flavor...and made me need gum afterwards!)
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 orange or yellow pepper, chopped (I used both b/c they came in a package)
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2, but in retrospect I don't think 3 would be overpowering)
1TBS chili powder
2tsp low sodium soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/2 cup goji berries (optional) (What is a goji berry anyway?)
Cook quinoa according to package directions
place other ingredients in large bowl and mix
add quinoa and toss
***.5 - I put all the veggies in a food processor, which worked great, but if you like bigger, chunkier veggies, that may not be your best option. I really liked this recipe - It makes enough for 6 people easily, so be prepared, but the leftovers taste just as good !
California Creamed Kale - I fully expected to not like this recipe, but it was shockingly tasty!
2 bunches Kale, leaves removed from stems and chopped or shredded
1 cup raw cashews (all we could find were salted, so I soaked them for about an hour and rinsed them before use - it seemed to work pretty well)
1 cup soy milk
4 TBS onion flakes (good, but I might try 3TBS next time)
1TBS Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest (optional) (I left it out since it's not something you can get at walmart)
Place Kale in large steamer pot - steam 10-20 min until soft (I think I did 30...oops!)
Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients in high powered blender and blend until smooth
(Note: sauce can be used with broccoli, spinach, or other steamed veggies)
Place Kale in colander and press with a clean dish towel to remove excess water
Coarsely chop and mix kale with cream sauce.
***.5 - This was very tasty, although it got cold quickly and it's definitely better warm! I was a little short of 2 bunches of kale and may go buy some more tomorrow to add it to my leftovers since there seems to be a lot of cream sauce. I love the lightly cashew flavor! Also, it looks like you will be steaming a TON of kale, but it actually shrinks a lot...and turns kind of a gross greenish-brown color, but don't worry, it tastes good!
So there you have it - my early forays into the world of healthier eating! (...and in case you were curious, over the past several weeks between working out (sporadically) and increasing my veggie intake I have finally broken through the barrier and lost my first 5lbs!!! YAY!!!!)
Yay for 5lbs!! I love me some veggies for weight loss. :) I'm glad you found some good recipes that you liked! The black bean bundles and potato fries sound really good! I'll have to try them. We liked the creamed kale a lot too. If you like lots of tangy flavor I have another great creamy kale recipe you might like. If you are more mild flavor people, then maybe not so much.
ReplyDeleteAnd yea, isn't that amazing how much kale you think you have and then don't? I steam up an 8qt pot PACKED with kale, and by the time it's done, it's just enough for William and I over some brown rice with our dressing. :-P The kale in my fridge probably takes up like 80% of the space on a weekly basis and yet can't be more than 20% of the actual food in there!
BTW, I think the VegiZest is essentially a vegetable broth powder that is salt free and can double as a salt free seasoning in other foods (like Mrs. Dash). So if you have a Whole Foods around, I get Vogue Veggie Base powder in place of veggiezest - or in terms of just seasoning a Mrs. Dash type thing is probably what you'd use to substitute.
Sadly, no whole foods...just Wal-mart, Kroger, and Save-A-Lot =) oh, and an Edith's Health Food store (which is pretty fun and where I get things like sesame seeds, but it's pretty small) Still, when we move we might end up near a whole foods! Or the commissary may have a good selection of stuff like that (I hope)!
ReplyDeletePS, I don't know if I'd like a tangy flavor, but I'd love to try it!
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