Tag Archives: BALi friendly

Roasted Veggies

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How can you make almost any vegetable sweeter and more delicious?  Through the magic of oven roasting!!  There is nothing easier.  I put these quartered sweet potatoes and broccoli on time bake and had hot, fresh sides walking in the door last night.  Broil some salmon and in 10 minutes, you have a fabulous meal.  All you do is wash and cut your vegetables into desired sizes.  I line the baking pan with aluminum foil to make cleanup a snap.   Drizzle on olive oil (butter or coconut oil work great, too), sprinkle with sea salt and Voila!  You can do this process with almost any vegetable, varying the cooking times.  For potatoes and starchy or very firm veggies, roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.  For squash and zucchini shorten the cooking time to 30 minutes or so.  The broccoli gets a little dark in places but we ♥ it that way.   Try Brussels sprouts!  We love ’em!

 

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Green Eggs and Ham Fritatta

Move over, Dr. Suess!  This is what I’m talking about:  fritslice

What you have here is a protein-packed powerhouse of nutrition using a ton of kale, farm-fresh eggs, ham and cheddar cheese.   A fritatta is an Italian baked omelet.  It is easy and delicious.  Let’s make one!!

Start by packing  your blender full of kale greens,

about 8 oz.  kale

You will need to add liquid (water or milk) to liquify the kale.  Start with 1/4 cup of liquid and add more as needed.  frit2frit3

Now, add in the eggs.  For this big ole fritatta, you need a full dozen farm fresh eggs.  Look at the color of those yokes!  You don’t find that at the grocery store!!   Add the eggs to your blender along with 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tps. black pepper and pulse a few times to incorporate.

Meanwhile, finely chop 1.5 cup of ham and a red onion.  frit4 Cook this over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet with a tsp. of butter to brown the ham and soften the onions.  This will take about 7 minutes.  Now would be a good time to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Once the meat is browned to your liking turn the heat to low, add the green eggs to the pan.  frit5

As the eggs begin to set, gently stir and let the all the ingredients become friends.  Because you have added more liquid (from the kale and water/milk) it will be a little looser than “just eggs” so let it go til you think it’s about half-way set.  frit6

Top this with 1 cup (or more, I won’t tell!) of grated cheddar cheese and slide the whole thing into your preheated oven.  frit7

Bake for 10-15 minutes until the center is mostly set and the cheese is melty.  Now, switch your oven to broiler and brown the top.  frit8 Don’t let it burn!  Just let it take on some broiler action loving!   Remove from heat and let it sit out for 10 minutes.  This allows any moisture to draw back into the fritatta and makes for beautiful slices.   frit9

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Cucumber Avocado Salad

Want fresh?  And delicious?  We got it!  cukepre I don’t know why it took me til this year to make this.  It’s crunchy and citrus-y goodness.  And simple.  Did I mention SIMPLE? 

Ingredients:

4 small English cucumbers (about 4 -5 inches in length)  if the little gourmet ones aren’t available, substitute 1 large English cucumber. 

1/4 red onion, sliced thin then chopped

1 large, ripe avocado

1 lemon or lime

salt

extra virgin olive oil

Cut the cukes in half, and then quarters, lengthwise.  Then chop the long quarters into small quartermoon shapes.  cuke1cuke2Dice up the onion slices.  Then, halve your avocado.  Keeping it in the shell, use a small paring knife to dice the avocado, scoring all the way to the skin. cuke4 cuke3 Then, use a spoon to scoop out the diced up avocado.  Everything goes into your bowl.  Add salt to taste (for us, about 1 tsp. Himalayan pink salt).  Squeeze the lemon or lime juice into your bowl.  Drizzle a circle of extra virgin olive oil into and gently fold it all together (to keep from destroying the avocado).  cukepreAnd, there you have it!  You can thank me later!

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Daily Soup?

Soup?  Why soup?soup4  Well, it’s completely delicious.  And comforting.  Not to mention the ginormous bonus that you can sneak in a really big portion of vegetables.  You can get fiber, phyto-nutrients (fancy talk for plant nutrients) and flexibility with unlimited versions depending on what you have in your fridge, and what’s in season.  We eat soup every day at our house.  I think it’s one of the best ways to begin a meal.  My friends ask the question “You eat soup in the summer?  It’s so hot, already.”  Uh huh.  But we just don’t heat it up to scorching.  If it’s a hot day, just take the chill off it and you get a different flavor experience than when it’s steaming.  There are so many different ways to go but the start is the same.

Start by choosing your fat.  So many choices!!  My preference is chicken fat.  Don’t freak out.  Fat is good as long as it’s a natural fat (=unadulterated).  So, butter or a mix of butter and olive oil will work, too.

Into a large soup pot, add 2 Tbsp of fat.  Heat to medium and add in 1/4- 1/2 medium chopped onion, 2-3 chopped carrots and 3-4 sticks of celery, chopped.  Add salt 1tsp., 1/2 tsp. black pepper and 1/4 tsp. turmeric (you’ll never know it’s there and it will add beautiful golden color to your soup)

Put the lid on and cook the veggies til tender, about 15 mins.  To this I add an entire head of cauliflower, cut into chunks.  Not huge pieces, just cut the core out and slice into about 10-12 approximately equal sized chunks.  This way it will all be tender about the same time.

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Now, you need to add a liquid.  I use chicken broth.  Homemade or store bought, either will work.  I try to use at least some homemade because you cannot beat the flavor.  You can use vegetable broth if you want to keep this vegetarian friendly.  Add liquid to almost the top of the cauliflower, (approx. 4-6 cups, depending on the size of your cauliflower) leaving maybe an inch or so protruding out the top.  This is because we like a thicker soup.  Hey, if you like yours thin and runny, go on and add more liquid.  Bring the whole thing to a boil and reduce to simmer with the lid on.  Let it go for at least 30 minutes.  Stir and see if the cauliflower is tender.  Not reduced to mush, but tender.

When it’s nice and tender (yields to spoon without disintegrating), turn off heat and put the lid back on.  Let it sit for at least 30 minutes until it’s not going to burn you because here comes the fun part.   Whip out your immersion blender and blend until there are no chunks or bits.  Start slow and then turn it on high and let your soup become creamy and smooth.   No immersion blender?  No problem.  Use your grandma’s hand-me-down blender or food processor, working in batches so you don’t overload it. soup2soup3

Got the basics?  Great!  This is where it gets interesting.  Do you love garlic?  Have some extra shallots on hand?  Has your neighbor left a bag of squash on your porch?  Awesome!  Now you can make local and sustainable soup!!  Need to use up some broccoli or cabbage?  Perfect.  We can use it.  Got a cold?  How about increasing the carrots (or use butternut squash) and add 1 Tbps. grated ginger make a lovely carrot ginger soup?  Basically, the sky is the limit.  This summer I have been rich in zucchini and yellow squash.  I haven’t bought cauliflower for my soup in months because I have been using the summer squash, thanks to my generous friends. soup4

Try this soup.  It will fill you up and it is ridiculously rich in nutrients yet costs very little to create.  As an extra bonus, you might find you can skip the fiber pills once you incorporate this into your regular diet!

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