Quick Lunch Idea: Bruschetta Tortilla

I've been trying to stick to the week long menu in the last issue of Clean Eating Magazine.  This is one of the lunch suggestions.  Nothing fancy here - but it is a yummy lunch that is quick and easy to make.  This would also make a great quesadilla made stove top rather than broiled in the oven.  I wound up folding this in half and cutting it into two slices so it was almost like a quesadilla. 

Ingredients:
1/2 c. chopped tomato
1/2 tsp minced garlic
4 fresh basil leaves,torn
drizzle of EVOO
1/2 c. shredded part skim mozzarella
whole wheat tortilla



Directions:

1. Place one whole wheat tortilla on a baking sheet or stone
2. Mix diced tomato and minced garlic
3. Spread mixture on the whole wheat tortilla
4. Spread basil 
5. Drizzle with EVOO
6. Top with shredded mozzarella
7. Broil 2-3 mins until cheese is melted.

Baked Oatmeal Casserole

I had a bunch of steel cut oats from a veggie casserole I made a while back and I didn't know what I might use them for.  Coincidentally my Nourished Kitchen recipe cards for this month arrived yesterday and voila! A really yummy looking/sounding recipe for baked oatmeal was amongst the recipes.  I might add I had two small squares of this this morning drizzled with grade B maple syrup.  SO yummy!  I only put raisins in mine since other people in my family don't like certain nuts and dried fruit, but I bet any nuts or dried fruits you might wish to add to this would be just delicious.  I also ran out of regular milk, so I subbed 1 cup coconut milk for one of the 2 cups of milk this calls for.  I'd make it this way again for sure! This makes about 12 servings. 

Ingredients

1 pound steel cut oats
1  cup walnuts, or other nuts
2 tablespoons yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt) for soaking
dash unrefined sea salt
6  egg s(organic cage free)
2 cups milk (I used 1 cup 2% and 1 cup coconut)
up to ¼ cup grade b maple syrup
½ cup raisins or dried cranberries
½ cup dried unsulfured apricots, diced
2 tablespoons cinnamon
¼ cup coconut oil, plus extra for greasing baking dish

Directions:

1. Pour the steel cut oats and nuts into a ceramic container or mixing bowl.
2. Add enough filtered water to completely submerge your oats and nuts. Add a dash of salt and a two tablespoons of  fresh yogurt, whey, kefir or buttermilk.
3. Allow the oats and nuts to soak, covered, overnight in a warm place in your kitchen – about eight to twelve hours.
4. After the mixture of oats and nuts has soaked overnight, dump them into a colander to drain and place the mixture back into the ceramic container or mixing bowl.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 13 x 9-inch rectangular baking pan with coconut oil or another wholesome fat of your choosing.
6. Meanwhile beat together eggs, milk, maple syrup (if you’re using it), until well-combined and frothy.
7. Pour the mixture of eggs, milk and maple syrup over the soaked oats and nuts, stirring well to combine into a porridge-like mixture.
8. Gently fold dried fruit, cinnamon and coconut oil into the porridge-like mixture.
9. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan and smooth it out with a rubber spatula to ensure even baking and a good appearance.
10. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for forty to forty-five minutes or until the oatmeal achieves a pleasing golden-brown color on top, a knife inserted into its center comes out clean and free from liquid and the fragrance of baked oats, dried fruit and cinnamon perfumes your kitchen.
11. If you can bear the wait, allow the baked oatmeal to cool for five to ten minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

Clean Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I have had this recipe bookmarked for a long time - my neighbor's treats are always so yummy, I knew this recipe would not disappoint!  I did make a few changes to make the recipe healthier and cleaner.  The addition of the chocolate chips makes this a great dessert! The kids love it too!  I liked this recipe much better than the previous one I posted.  Maybe because the bananas were more ripe, it was very moist and tasty!

1 c sucanat
1/2 c natural applesauce
2 eggs
2 c whole wheat flour
3 medium bananas mashed (very ripe!)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream sugar and applesaucel. 
2. Beat in eggs. 
3. Add bananas and beat until well mixed. 
4. Blend in vanilla. 
5. Add all dry ingredients and blend until well mixed.
6. Fold in  chocolate chips.
7. Bake in a loaf pan lightly greased. 
8. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until middle is cooked. Check with tooth pick.
9. Let sit 1 minute on cooling rack before taking out of pan.
10. After the bread is out of the pan let cool on rack until completely cooled. 
11. I sliced and wrapped each slice in a piece of plastic wrap for grab and go snacking/desserts!

Leftover Ham and White Bean Soup

We always buy WAY too much meat at the holidays and I struggle to find recipes to reinvent my leftover ingredients so we don't waste food.  I found this recipe on my neighbor's blog and modified it just a bit.  We had this at Christmas (I made it and simmered without the spinach in the crock pot all day) but the GREAT part about this recipe is it literally takes 30 mins to make!  I got home from the store with the kids at 5 pm today, put all my groceries away and then made this soup and was eating a bowl by 6 pm!  I added extra stewed tomatoes, doubled the chicken broth, and added an extra can of beans - so we would have a big batch of soup.  I'm planning to freeze the remainder in individual portions.  This is absolutely delicious.  My neigbor omitted the tomato and used carrots instead. The link above will take you to her version.

Ingredients:

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 large onion, diced
2.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 14.5oz. can stewed tomatoes, coarsely cut

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth ( I added until the soup was the desired consistency)
3 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2-lb piece baked ham (sliced 3/4 inch thick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used quite a bit of leftover ham from Easter dinner)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
10 oz spinach (roughly torn)

 

Directions:

1. In a large pot, sauté the chopped garlic and onion in 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil over moderately high heat until the onions turn golden (approx. 3-5 minutes).
2. Add the  cut stewed tomatoes and juice to pot and stir.
3. When the juice starts to simmer, add the beans, ham and black pepper.
4. Add the chicken broth, stir and bring to a boil.
5. When the broth starts to boil, reduce the heat until it settles at a simmer.
6. When the soup is simmering, pile the spinach on top of the pot to steam the spinach. As the spinach starts to wilt, stir it into the soup and turn off the heat.
7. Serve immediately.

Bird's Nest Easter Treats

So these aren't really healthy....but they were totally adorable for Easter and so easy to make! Similar to a rice krispy treat, but made with chow-mein noodles for the "nest" like effect.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Chow Mein Noodles
• 2 1/2 cups Marshmallows
• ¼ cups Margarine Or Butter
• Candy Eggs (I used M&M's )

Directions:

1. Melt marshmallows and butter in the microwave
2. Stir in noodles quickly until coated. They may seem too dry, but it's really not, and they'll set up fine.
3. Butter your hands and place some of the mixture in muffin tin and indent with fingers into a nest-like shape. (if your hands aren't buttery - it will stick like crazy!)  
4. Transfer them to parchment paper to harden.  
5. Once cooled, place 2 or 3 candy eggs into the center.

Chocolate Macadamia Crispy Squares

Well, it's been a rough 10 days with the stomach flu around here! I literally couldn't even **think** about cooking or eating anything - but, everyone is back on track now just in time for family to arrive for Easter!

This recipe came from the newest edition of Clean Eating Magazine.  I've modified it a bit to suit our tastes.  These are a great healthy, clean, chocolate rice crispy treat! The original recipe called for hazelnuts, I don't like them, so I subbed chopped raw macadamia nuts instead. Next time I might try raw almonds and almond butter in the recipe!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, coarsley chopped
1 1/2 cup unsweetened brown rice cereal
3/4 cups rolled oats
2 1/2 oz. dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater) chopped into chunks
1 cup unsweetened dried pitted dates (Medjool or honey) I used raisins insted, pureed until smooth
1/2 cup unsalted hazelnut butter or your favorite unsalted natural nut butter.  I used natural peanut butter because I wanted a chocolate peanutbutter treat - but I think almond butter would be an awesome healthy alternative!
2 T raw honey

Directions:
1.  In a mixing bowl combine chopped nuts, rice cereal, and rolled oats.  Mix thoroughly.
2.  In a double boiler melt chocolate.
3.  Add pureed raisins, nut butter, and honey to chocolate and mix until fully combined.
4.  Using a wooden spoon, fold the chocolate mixture into the cereal mixture. Make sure this is thoroughly combined.
5.  Press into a glass baking pan. Mine is 8x8. Press the mixture down firmly with clean hands to compact mixture. 
6.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until the mixture is set.
7.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares.  Squares can be stored in refrigerator 3-5 days.

Nutrition Information:
 Calories 110, Fat 6 g, Carbs 13g, Fiber 2 g, Sugars 7 g, Protein 2 g, Cholesterol 0mg

Sourdough Pizza Crust

Still looking for good ways to use my sourdough starter that don't require a lot of rise.  We typically have pizza once a week so it seemed like a good time to try this and see how it turned out.  I am pairing it with an all organic salad (and maybe some wine!).  This is another recipe from Kitchen Stewardship.  Once you have par-baked the crusts, they freeze well for future last minute dinners!

Ingredients:

1.5 C “discarded” sourdough starter
1 T olive oil
1 t salt
1 – 1.5 C whole wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Mix the ingredients together, working in flour until you have a soft dough.  If it gets too dry add more starter or water.
2. Once kneaded, cover and let rest for half an hour.
3. After resting, roll out the dough on your silicone baking sheet or baking stone.
4. Transfer the silicone baking sheet with the dough onto the baking pan. 
5. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out and leave at room temperature for at least seven hours.  The crust will rise some as it soaks.
6. Seven or more hours later, heat the oven to 450 degrees F.
7. Bake the crust for 5 minutes. 
8.  Then add sauce and desired toppings to pizza.  Put pizza back in oven for about 10 minutes                 until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.