Simple Beet Salad

I absolutely love beets! They are so good for you, and I just love that bright colour that turns all your food pink. Here's a little salad plate I put together today, especially good if your watching your carbs and weight in general. This is a great example on how to use your ingredients/produce in the most simple and purest form.

Ingredients:
1 grated or thinly shaved beet
1 avocado
1/4 of a cucumber thinly sliced
1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese
1 slice no-flour high grain bread
Extra virgin olive oil-as needed
sesame seeds- as needed
Balsamic-as needed
Salt & pepper-as needed
To make,
Toss grated beets in olive oil and balsamic with salt & pepper, toss cucumbers in olive oil with sesame seeds salt & pepper. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic if you wish over avocado with salt & pepper. Serve with cottage cheese and bread. Enjoy.

Clam & Tuna Primavera Pasta

I made this on a whim today, basically I looked in my fridge and pantry and didn't have too much to work with. It came out really good, and canned tuna is something most people have on hand.

1 bag of penne pasta

1 large can of tuna
1 can of clams in clam juice
1 small carrot
1 shallot
1 celery stalk
4 garlic cloves
1/2 poblano
1/2 red bell pepper
1 zucchini
handful of frozen edamame
handful of frozen corn
1/2 white wine
1 cup of heavy cream
handful of chopped fresh herbs (I used oregano, parsley and dill)
small handful of queso fresco
olive oil as needed
salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed
chili flakes to your taste
To make:
Saute diced shallots, carrot, celery, bell pepper, poblano - then add diced zucchini and garlic. Next add tuna, corn, edamame and clam juice - deglaze with red wine and reduce au sec. Add in heavy cream and let thicken, add herbs and chopped clams, season and tasted. Serve with cooked penne pasta and sprinkle some queso fresco over the top. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes - Eggless with Whipped Ricotta Honey & Banana

I love whole wheat pancakes they have such a great taste and texture! My mom used to make them quite a bit - everything had to be whole wheat when we were kids... she was quite health conscious. I think it's very important to start your kids off right away eating very healthy, that way they don't develop a taste for junk food.

Ingredients:
Pancake batter
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup of buttermilk
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 Tablespoon of wheatgerm
Butter as needed
Ricotta topping
1/4 cup of ricotta or mascarpone
1 banana
honey - as needed (to your taste)

To make:
In a bowl mix all dry ingredients, make a well and add buttermilk - incorporate throughly. Let sit for ten mins or so before using. Ricotta topping: Using a stick blender blend ricotta, banana and honey briefly (don't over blend- or it will get too runny) refrigerate until needed. Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat add a few drops of butter & ladle in pancake batter. Turn over when you see bubbles turn to little holes. These pancakes should have a slight crispiness to the top of them. Serve with ricotta honey topping and enjoy.
Makes about 4 medium sized pancakes. There are quite filling fyi.

Pan Asparagus & Balsamic

One of my favorite ways to make asparagus for sure. Use as a side veggie dish or just a healthy snack. I try not to blanch or boil vegetables as a lot of nutrients are lost in the cooking water that you throw out.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Asparagus
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil - as needed
salt & freshly ground black pepper as needed
Parmesan or some other sharp cheese (optional)
To make:
Wash asparagus & trim the woody ends. Put whole slightly crushed garlic into saute pan with olive oil on low heat and slowly soften up garlic while flavoring the oil. Now add asparagus salt & pepper, stir every now and then (adjust heat accordingly). Once asparagus in basically cooked add in balsamic to pan and let reduce down a bit coating the asparagus. Asparagus should still have a 'bite' to it when cooked...otherwise known as 'al dente'. Now asparagus is done, serve and add some shaved parmesan to it if you wish. Enjoy!

White Bean & Kale Soup

This is a nice simple healthy soup to make, especially when it's cold. This type of soup can be easily done with many other bean types & vegetables. You can cook your beans the day before or the day of making the soup, and once the beans are cooked it takes basically no time at all to make this soup. Happy cooking!

Ingredients:

1 cup of white beans (I used great northern beans, but most varieties will work)

water - as needed for cooking beans

1/2 head of kale

2 celery stalks

1 yellow onion

1 large carrot

2 garlic cloves

1 tomato

1/4 cup of pasta stars

1/2 white wine

chili flakes - as needed

extra virgin olive oil - as needed

salt & freshly ground black pepper- as needed

1/2 lemon juiced

handful of chopped parsley

1 chicken bullion 

To make:

Start by cooking your beans which have been soaked the night before or for 5 hours or so - drain and rinse soaking water, add new cold water and cover beans completely. You can add a sprinkle of baking soda to beans (This is supposed to reduce cooking time and soften skin - some claim it helps remove some of the gassiness beans are so famous for), I never add salt to cooking beans because it actually toughens up the skin and takes longer to cook. Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed pot start sauteing up diced onion, carrots and celery in olive oil - then add garlic. Next you can add the chopped up kale (make sure to remove the large rib out the middle of the kale - it's not so pleasant to eat), then add diced tomato saute for a bit then add in white wine and completely reduce all. Once beans are cooked add beans and all the cooking liquid to the sauteed vegetables (add some more liquid if you need to). Add chicken bullion (optional) and pasta stars, chili flakes, salt & pepper.... once stars are done (should be al dente) garnish with parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice, but make sure not to add lemon juice till you are done cooking - as this would make the lemon bitter. 

Kale & Mushroom Burger with English Cheddar

A slightly more healthy version of a burger. The kale goes really nicely with everything & is quite appealing texture wise to the palate compared to the typical iceberg - not to mention kale is so good for you. If your on a diet and want to really make it low-fat and super healthy, you could do a whole wheat extra grain bun, leave out the cheese, do ground turkey instead of beef, and instead of a chipotle mayo you could easily sub the mayo for yogurt. But this version is still quite healthy compared to your average burger. 

Ingredients:
1 burger patty (lean ground beef)
1 sesame bun
2 slices of aged sharp cheddar
2 large kale leaves
2 yellow onion rings
3-4 button mushrooms
a few slices of poblano (or jalapeno)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
chipotle mayo - as needed. For recipe see previous blog*
To make:
Season burger patty & sear in pan. Meanwhile saute mushrooms, onions, & poblano in a little olive oil... once browned add kale a wilt. Once burger is basically done melt cheese. Toast bun, spread chipotle mayo on bun, layer mushrooms, onions, poblano, kale on bottom - patty on top. Enjoy!
*chipotle mayo: 1/2 mayo, 1 canned chipotle, 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar. Blend all together.

Blackened Tilapia with Avocado Salsa

This whole dish is very quick and easy to make, mainly because the salsa is all raw and requires no cooking time - but also because fish cooks extremely fast.


I made this with a sweet potato hash, which is basically just cubed up sweet potatoes lightly fried (not deep fried). And the Avocado salsa has a number of different vegetables, which is nice because it's not only a "sauce" for the fish it's also the vegetable side. 

Ingredients:
2 filets of boneless skinless tilapia 
blackening spice* - as needed
1 avocado
1 red bell pepper
1 zucchini 
2 radishes
1/4 red onion
1/2 orange juiced
a few sprigs of cilantro
salt and pepper as needed
canola oil as needed
1 large sweet potato
To make: 
Sweet potato hash - cut sweet potato into little cubes and fry in non-stick pan with salt and pepper. Avocado - in a mixing bowl put diced bell pepper, diced zucchini, shaved radish, shaved onion, diced avocado, chopped cilantro and orange juice (you could add a little extra virgin olive oil too), salt and pepper and toss. Tilapia - Sprinkle blackening spice evenly over both sides of filet, put in preheated pan with oil and cook on both sides. Assemble dish together and enjoy! 


*Blackening seasoning usually consists of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, basil, black pepper, cayenne pepper and oregano. It is usually used as a blend for fish, chicken, or seafood.