Food porn!

Mini citrus cupcakes... they diameter is about the size of a quarter! Super cute!

Honey cornbread muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick butter, melted
• 1.25c flour
• 0.75c cornmeal
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1c soy milk
• 0.33c honey

(1 serving = 1 muffin)

1.) Heat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-muffin muffin tin with baking cups. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

2.) In another bowl, combine eggs, soy milk, honey and melted butter. Slowly add in the flour mixture, a little at a time until well mixed.

3.) Pour batter into baking cups.

4.) Bake in oven until golden brown and when a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. About 30 - 35 minutes.

Mini-Review
These were delicious and wish I had made them for Thanksgiving! A little over-baked, but that has nothing to do with the recipe and everything to do with the baker!

Warm lentil and leek soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 3 big leeks (white and light green parts only), cut into 1/2 inch half-moons
• 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, drained
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 bunch Swiss chard or kale, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup brown lentils, dry
• 1 tbs. fresh thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• cayenne pepper to taste
• Feta cheese (optional, but OH SO GOOD!)

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot set over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes or until tomatoes break apart.

3. Add six cups of water and bring to a boil. Stir in sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, lentils, thyme, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Lower heat, cover pot and let simmer about 20 - 30 minutes, or until sweet potato and lentils cooked through.



5. ENJOY with a sprinkle of feta and a little more cayenne on top!

Mini-Review
At first I didn't like this soup... a little too sweet for me. But once I added more black pepper, salt, red chili flakes and cayenne pepper I totally loved this soup! Despite not having any meat in the dish, this is a very hearty and filling soup because of all the fibery (is that a word?) veggies. The original recipe called for Parmesan cheese but since I didn't have any I substituted feta and it was delish!!

Things I'd do the next time:

• add a can of whole kernel corn
• use only one sweet potato and one regular potato
• more swiss chard
• add a cup or two of chicken broth in place of one or two cups of water
• add barley
• more lentils
• cook it with a mild, white fish

Food porn!

Green monster

Primal egg "cupcakes"

Super easy and super quick!

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• half an onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 or 5 cups of spinach
• half a pound of ground meat, cooked
• tbs. of fresh herbs (I used oregano)
• butter/oil for greasing

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat pan on medium heat and add oil to pan.  Saute onions and garlic until almost well done.  Add in cooked meat and spinach.  Cook till spinach is wilted.

2. Let spinach mixture cool a bit.  In a mixing bowl, add all eggs and lightly scramble.  Add a spoonful of the spinach mixture into the eggs and stir.  Add another spoonful and mix.  When eggs are tempered, add rest of spinach mixture to the eggs and mix completely.  Pour into muffin pan.

3.)  Bake 20 - 30 minutes or until eggs are set.  Let the eggs cool in the pan for a good 15 - 20 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.  Store in an airtight container and enjoy as a snack or meal.

Food porn!

Soy beans with sea salt

Barley chicken stew

I absolutely L-O-V-E barley so using it was a no-brainer! Whole grain barley (hulled barley, not pearl - and yes I know I used pearl) is packed with fiber, protein, and a whole slew of nutrition. Read about barley here, here, and here. This recipe uses a slow cooker.

Ingredients

• 32oz low-sodium chicken broth
• 8oz water
• 2 garlic gloves, minced
• 0.5 tbsp thyme
• 0.5 tbsp basil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.5 lbs uncooked chicken breast, cubed
• 0.5c uncooked black-eyed peas, rinsed
• 0.5c uncooked barley, rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large russet potatoes, cubed
• 2 carrots, cubed
• 8 tbsp plain greek yogurt (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

1.) Combine chicken broth, water, garlic, herbs, and pepper in slow cooker. Add chicken, black-eyed peas, and barley.

2.) Then layer onions, potatoes, and carrots on top. Veggies should be covered with liquid in slow cooker, but if not, add more broth. Do not stir!

3.) Allow to simmer overnight (or any time you're home) for about 4 - 6 hours. Remove bay leaves and stir stew so ingredients are well mixed.
Optional: Add a tbsp of greek yogurt to each bowl before serving. ENJOY!

Food porn!

Attack of the GREEN MONSTER!

It's the attack of the Green Monster... and it is delicious!

Don't let the green slime-color fool you!

In the blog/health world, a Green Monster is a shake made with spinach. Yup, spinach! The recipes and ingredients differ from person to person, but one of the main components has to be spinach.

I made it for the first time the other day and LOVED IT! So what's in mine:

1 cup soy milk
1 frozen banana
1.5 cups of spinach
0.5 cups blueberries
1 tbs. flaxseeds

You can't even taste the spinach and the shake tasted like some frosty banana dessert!

Curried rice w/ shrimp and scallop

This recipe was adapted from Real Simple, and although the original recipe sounded great, I added/subtracted ingredients to what Anthony and I would like. The original recipe used white rice which made the cooking time MUCH faster but we're brown rice eaters so I used what we had. Overall this dish was so YUMMY!!! We threw in some red pepper flakes for an added kick and more spiciness.

The next time I make this recipe, I will leave out one carrot because it made the curry too sweet, and throw in some other veggies instead: mushrooms, peppers, celery... basically anything that would normally go in curry. Also, next time I would add the carrots, onions, water and rice all at the same time if I'm using brown rice because the onions pretty much disintegrated and the carrots were really mushy. If you're making this with white rice (cooking time is only about 15 minutes for the rice) then sauteing the carrots and onions first would be perfect.

Ingredients:
(makes 4 servings)

• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• garlic, minced
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1c uncooked brown rice
• 3/4 lb. uncooked shrimp
• 3/4 lb. uncooked scallops
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Chop carrots and onions and cook until soft (about 5 minutes).
2. Mince garlic while carrots and onions are cooking and add to skillet, along with curry powder. Cook garlic and powder until fragrant (about 2 minutes).

3. Add uncooked rice, 2.5c of water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, stir once, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

4. While rice is cooking sear scallops.(Yes, I bought the tiny ones!)

5. Add uncooked shrimp and seared scallops to curried rice, nestling shrimp close to the bottom of the skillet. Cook until shrimp are cooked through (about 5 minutes).

6. ENJOY!

Lentil and Veggie "stir fry"

This is a recipe from one of my favorite sites, Fat Buster, that looked tasty and more importantly, EASY! I'm not vegetarian, which this dish is, but it was still really good... even my boyfriend Anthony liked it! Next time around think I'll add more 'stuff' to it but it was good as is... having some for lunch and dinner tonight!

(makes about 10 cups; 1 serving = 1 cup)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. asparagus
• 1 box of mushrooms
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 onion
• several gloves of garlic or to taste
• 1 pepper - green or red
• 1 16oz bag of dried lentils
• 1 14oz can of low-sodium chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste

1.) Wash and chop all veggies and mince garlic.

2.) Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to pan already set on medium heat.

3.) Add veggies and saute for a minute or two, letting the flavors come together. Veggies should still be crisp. (My saute pan was too small... veggies were spilling over!)

(Veggies moved to a bigger pot.)

4.) Throw in the bag of washed uncooked lentils, the can of chicken broth, and a can of water. Add salt and pepper if you want to and stir together.

5.) Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Let lentils and veggies cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not vegetarian so I think this would be even better with some ground chicken or pork. But all things aside, this was good and I'll probably make it again. I LOVE split pea soup, so this reminded me of a 'hearty-less-soupy' version of it but I think next time some carrots and celery are in order to really make this yum!

Shrimp fra Diavolo pasta

10 oz. cleaned shrimp, tail removed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups jarred tomato sauce
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cups cooked whole-wheat pasta

• Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes.
• Saute the garlic until it begins to brown, then add tomato sauce and shrimp and simmer.
• Turn down after it simmers, and cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through (about 10 mins).
• Serve over pasta with a side of steamed veggies. Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition info (shrimp pasta only, not steamed veggies): 372 calories, 13.8g fat, 1.6g saturated fat, 55mg cholesterol, 392mg sodium, 53.4g carbs, 7.3g fiber, 12.1g sugar, 16.3g protein, 17% vit A, 19% vit C, 13% calcium, 28% iron.

Baked Salmon

This was an experimental recipe I tried with ingredients I already had at home. Fats a little high (come on, it's salmon!) but it's all good fats with lots of Omega 3's! This came out really good and I'll totally make it again. Especially because it was EASY (once again)!

(makes about 8 servings; 1 serving = 3.5oz)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. wild salmon
• 1/2c crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3c 0% Fage Greek yogurt
• 1 tbs. dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• couple cloves of garlic, miced
• 2 slices whole wheat bread
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and toast bread (keep an eye out so it doesn't burn).

2. While bread is toasting, mix all ingredients (except salmon) together in a bowl until everything is evenly combined.

3. When bread is really toasty, take out of the oven and cool off. Smash cooled toast in a ziploc bag until you have breadcrumbs and set aside.

4. Cover a baking sheet w/ foil and lay salmon in the middle of sheet. Cover salmon with most of the mixture but leave about two spoonfuls leftover in the bowl. Mix the remaining mixture with the breadcrumbs and top off the salmon.5. Bake uncovered for about 30 - 40 minutes or until flesh of salmon flakes. ENJOY with a serving of complex carbs and veggies and you have a well rounded meal.