Revamped Veggie Sandwich

I had posted an original vegetable sandwich recipe when I first started this blog and various versions have come about since.  This one is my favorite so far!

Ingredients for 2 sandwiches:

• Ciabatta rolls or a 4inch piece of a loaf, sliced in half
• 2 red peppers, roasted with skins peeled off (roast in oven at 400 degrees, cooked for 15 minutes until the skin bubbles)
• 1 large zucchini, sliced into about half inch rounds
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• olive oil for drizzling
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped red onion
• a small bunch of basil leaves, chopped

Directions:

1. Start by adding the feta cheese, lemon juice, onion, and basil to a bowl.  Add about a tsp of olive oil to the mixture and stir to mix.  It will almost form a paste.
2. Next, heat a large skillet to medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil.  Add as many zucchini rounds as you can and flip them after a minute or two.  You want them to be browned but not translucent and mushy (overcooked).  Do this until they are all cooked.  After they are cooked, sprinkle some crushed black pepper over them.  The feta cheese mixture should be salty enough to season the sandwich.
3. To assemble the sandwich, spread the feta cheese mixture on one half of the bread and add the zucchini and red pepper, top the sandwich with the other half and press down for a few seconds so it all stays together. 

Quick Turkey Bolognese Stuffed Peppers

I made these for an easy and healthy packed lunch.

Ingredients for 6 halved peppers:

• 1 lb ground turkey (to make these vegetarian, beans would be a great sub)
• 6 big bell peppers, cleaned and halved longways (I used green but any color would be great)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 large can of whole tomatoes
• About a 1/2 cup of red wine, I didn't measure I just circled the pot a couple times with the bottle
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 6 slices of provolone cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a soup pot, drizzle with a little olive oil and heat to medium.  Add the turkey and break it up as it cooks with a spatula.  Make sure to leave it alone a bit without stirring to allow it to brown.  Once browned add the onion and garlic and cook for a couple minutes.  
3. Add the basil, oregano, salt and pepper and stir in.
4. Add the red wine and stir the bottom of the pan to bring up anything stuck to the bottom.
5. Now add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to low.  Break up the tomatoes to make a chunky sauce, and simmer for a half hour to 45 minutes.  You want it to be thick and reduced.  If it is watery, it will run out of the peppers.
6. Now assemble in a 9x13 baking dish.  Place the peppers cut side up, spoon in the sauce to fill and top with one slice of provolone cheese.  Bake in the over for 25 minutes, until the cheese is browned. I served them with some garlic cous cous.

Crispy Ham and Shallot Frittata

We obviously like eggs considering this is the third egg post in a row!  They are so versatile and easy for any meal.  In this recipe I used a mixture of cheese that I had on hand, Monterey Jack and Pecorino Romano.  Use whatever cheese you prefer.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 4 eggs, 2 yolks removed
• 1/4 lb of ham, cubed (I used Whole Food's deli black forest ham but bacon with the fat rendered and discarded would be great too)
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup of shredded cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a pan to medium with butter and olive oil.  Add the shallot and cook for 5-10 minutes, until they are just browning. Remove and sets aside.
2. Add the ham and cook for 10 minutes, it will be done when the ham appears browned and slightly crispy.
3. In a bowl add the eggs, ham, cheese and shallot, reserve enough cheese to sprinkle on top.  Stir to combine.
4. Add the egg mixture to the pan, slowly swirl until it is cooked on the bottom side and slightly runny on top.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is browned.
5. I served this with roasted garlic broccoli.

Spanish Inspired Breakfast

We cannot seem to get enough of spanish/mexican style eggs.  Whether is it is huevos rancheros or egg burritos, we seem to consume them multiple times a week.  This recipe is my own version of something similar we had during our trip to Aruba.  

This recipe is for 2 breakfasts

Ingredients:

• 2 corn tortillas
• Red sauce (recipe below)
• 4 eggs
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Avocado
• Cilantro

Red Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 large link of chorizo sausage (I used what I found at Whole Food's)
• 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
• About a half cup of chopped onion
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the corn tortillas on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until they are golden brown.
2. Drizzle a little olive oil in a pan and heat it to medium.  Add the chorizo and as it cooks, break it up with a spatula.  
3. After about 5 minutes, add the onion and garlic.  Cook for a couple minutes and add the tomatoes, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  It should lightly bubble while cooking and be thick after 15 minutes.
5. In another pan, cook the 4 eggs how you desire.  I chose to do over easy, but scrambled would be great too.
6. To assemble, spoon half the red sauce on each tortilla, top with 2 eggs and cheddar cheese, place under the broiler for minute of you want to cheese to melt and brown.  Top with cilantro and enjoy!

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

• Multigrain pizza dough
• 4 eggs
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 4 slices of organic black forest ham, crisped in a pan
• a couple hands full of fresh spinach, wilted
• 4 slices of muenster cheese

Directions:

1. Flatten the pizza dough into the shape and thickness you desire, and put in a oven heated to 400.
2. Once the dough is cooked but not browned, layer on the ingredients except for the eggs and scallions.
3. Cook the pizza for 5 minutes, so the cheese melts the ham gets even crispier.
4. Take the pizza out, crack 4 eggs on top and sprinkle the chopped scallions on the eggs.
5. Place back in the over for 5-8 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but the eggs still have a little jiggle to them (so the yolk will be runny).

Lunch Solutions

These recipes are meant to be simple.  Just throw together ingredients, no exact measurements.  It will turn out great!

Quinoa with kale, feta, sausage and mushrooms

 Ingredients:

1. Quinoa, cooked in vegetable stock and some chopped onion.
2. A bunch of sauteed kale
3. A couple hand fulls of feta.
4. 4 links, skins removed, of sauteed italian chicken/turkey sausage.
5. Sliced cremini mushrooms.

Cous Cous with feta, garbanzo beans, zucchini and roasted red pepper.

Ingredients:

1. Middle east garlic cous cous.
2. Chopped zucchini, seared with salt and pepper.
3. Sliced roasted red pepper.
4. Rinsed, canned garbanzo beans.
5. A couple hand fulls of feta cheese.

Mexican quinoa

(no photo)

Ingredients:

1. Shredded chicken
2. Quinoa cooked in vegetable stock
3. Sliced green/red peppers and onion, sauteed
4. Canned black beans, rinsed
5. Salsa

Top with avocado and shredded cheese.

Not a lunch but great energy snack...

Date and fig nut balls

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup roasted cashews
2. 1 cup roasted whole almonds with skins on
3. 1 cup roasted walnuts
4. 15 dates
5. 6 figs
6. water

First, in a food processor, blends the figs and dates with a tbsp of water.  Once it is pureed add the nuts and blend until the mixture forms a clump, you may need to add a couple tbsp of water to get it sticky enough to clump together.  Roll into balls.

Additional comment:

I made these again and substituted roasted pumpkin seeds for walnuts, added dried apricots and chia seeds to the mixture and they turned out great.  Experiment with different ingredients!

Healthy. Brownies.

Just when I thought I was giving up on baking (because I have a difficult time adding all the butter/oil/sugar/white flour and nothing turns out decadent when you substitute the flour/oil/butter/sugar for other things) I found this recipe!  They are fudgy and decadent with no oil or flour!!  I will post the recipe below, I halved the sugar (1/2 cup of turbinado sugar) and used smucker's natural chunky PB then followed the rest of the recipe.  Enjoy!

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/06/10/skinny-peanut-butter-swirl-brownies/

No-bake Granola Balls

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1/4 cup of wheat germ
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup natural chunky peanut butter (I use Smucker's brand)
• 1 4oz cup of no sugar added apple sauce
• 1-2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water
• Oven dried apples, chopped (recipe below)

Oven dried apples:

Slice 2, cored, granny smith apples into 1/2 inch slices.  Toss them in a bowl with 1 cup water mixed with the juice of half a lemon.  Pat dry and place on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Bake in a 250 degree oven for about a half hour.  Check after 15 minutes to make sure they aren't browning or drying too much, you want them to be chewy at the end.

Directions:

1. In a food processor grind cashews, oats, flax, wheat germ, salt and cinnamon until mixed and fine but so that you can see some chunks of cashews still.

2. Add PB, apple sauce, vanilla and agave and blend.

3. Add a little water at a time until the mixture almost forms a dough and the mixture sticks together.

4.  Add this mixture to bowl and mix in chopped apples.

5.  Roll the desired amount into balls and store in the refrigerator. 

Baked spinach and artichoke lasagna rolls

Ingredients:

• 8 lasagna sheets
• 1 can of artichokes in water, strained, patted dry and chopped in half
• 4 cups spinach, chopped 
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 1/4ish cup of grated parm/asiago cheese
• 1 cup red sauce of choice
• olive oil to drizzle
• salt and pepper
• mozzarella cheese- about a half cup shredded

1.  Heat sauce pan to medium with a drizzle of olive oil

2. Add spinach and garlic to the pan and toss until the spinach is wilted

3. In a bowl add artichoke, cooked spinach/garlic, ricotta, sour cream, asiago/parm cheese and salt and pepper.  Stir together.

4. For the pasta, fill a large bowl with hot tap water.  Add the pasta sheets and let sit for 15 minutes until pliable.  

5.  Spread 1/8 of the mixture on each sheet and roll it up.

6. Spread red sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and add the rolls on top.  Top each roll with a little red sauce and mozzarella cheese.

7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, until the pasta edges and cheese brown.