It's On

Well, I've finally returned from my holiday hiatus from blogging.  A major roadtrip, some quality family time, and a snowstorm later, I am refreshed and ready for 2011, armed with my holiday loot for the kitchen.

It's ON!

Yes, that's a serious food processor, a muffin pan, bread pan, and cookbooks.  The blog will inevitably benefit.

In other news, I came back from my trip to find, of course, fairly slim pickin's in the fridge.  I did, however, remember that I had this little fellow in the cupboard.

I googled this "satay" business and found that this sauce is traditionally used on cubed, grilled meat, but it sounded good for a stir-fry to me.

Here's what I used:

Satay peanut sauce
Extra firm tofu, cubed
Frozen stir-fry vegetables (mine had carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts, and sugar snap peas)
Vegetable oil
Brown rice

Heat the vegetables in the microwave until thawed.  Cook the tofu in the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat until golden.  Add the vegetables.  Stir in desired amount of satay sauce and cook for a few minutes longer so the tofu absorbs the sauce.  (Another option is to marinate the tofu in the sauce beforehand... I just didn't plan ahead enough for that step).  Serve over rice.

Souped Up and Souped Out

If you can't read it, the woman's saying, "Joe, this time if you sell the cow, don't settle for less than 17 beans." Cute, Trader Joe's.

I've recently been on a soup kick for lunches at work.  Since I've been feeling bored with the same old canned varieties from the grocery store, I figured I'd give this 17 Bean & Barley mix a try when I saw it at Trader Joe's the other week.  It really has 17 different types of beans in it, which I thought was enticing.  Here's the list of ingredients for the soup (you can also get a peek at the mix here too):

 

Here's what you do:

Soak the bean mix in a pot of water overnight.

Drain and rinse the beans, then put them back in the pot with 4 cups of the broth. 

In another pot, cook the celery, carrots, onion, basil, pepper, and garlic with the olive oil.  When tender, add them into the pot with the beans and stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Add more broth if desired.  Let the soup simmer for approximately 1 hour. 

Serve with some grated parmesan cheese.

 

I know this isn't the most photogenic meal (also, I later realized the settings for my camera weren't right) but it's a nice, hearty, satisfying soup with tons a of fiber and protein.  And it was easy!

For those bean fanatics out there, just in case you'd like to know, I typed up the list of beans in the soup:  baby lima beans, black turtle beans, blackeye peas, dark red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, great northern beans, green lentils, green split peas, large lima beans, light red kidney beans, navy beans, pink beans, pinto beans, red lentils, small red beans, small white beans, and yellow split peas.

I'm hoping it freezes well, because I have enough of this soup to last for a long while.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Since I'm just cooking for one, I have the luxury of indulging in all of my own food cravings and favorite ingredients.  There's a long list of foods/spices that I'm moderately obsessed with (salsa, ginger, black beans, and water chestnuts, to name a few), some of which you can probably figure out from reading my blog.  Two of my favorite foods - sweet potatoes and garlicky, sauteed, dark, leafy greens - I'd never thought to combine.  Well, I used Whole Living's Sweet Potato with Kale and Ricotta recipe to bring them together, and it was an unexpected treat.

This recipe serves 4, so I only made approximately 1/4 of it.

4 sweet potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 bunch kale, rinsed and cut from the stems
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup low fat ricotta cheese

Cook the potatoes in the microwave.  Meanwhile, saute the garlic with the olive oil in a skillet for about a minute.  Set garlic aside.

Begin cooking the kale in the skillet, adding more as it cooks down.  Add salt and pepper if desired.  After all the kale has cooked down, add the balsamic vinegar and the pepper flakes.  Stir.

Cut open the sweet potatoes, and stuff them with the kale and ricotta cheese. Sprinkle the garlic on top.

I've never used balsamic vinegar before, but it was absolutely delicious with the kale.  I highly recommend trying the kale and balsamic vinegar portion of the recipe, even without the rest of the meal.  Also: yes, the kale and potato were great, but the ricotta lacked flavor, so perhaps a different type of cheese would be better.

A Semi-Sweet Short Stack: In Search of a Healthy Pancake

As I may have mentioned before, I've always been a huge fan of breakfast food.  However, I tend to lean towards the saltier eggs 'n' toast options instead of the sweeter waffles and pancakes.  I do love a good pancake every once in a while, so this morning I wanted to find a whole wheat recipe and steer clear of the refined carb trap.  Grouprecipes.com came to my rescue with their flaxseed pancakes (and yes, this is a thinly-veiled attempt to use up my ground flaxseed - I've been keeping it in the fridge but fear rancidness every time I open the bag).

The original recipe calls for water or rice milk but no one's trying to be vegan over here, so I used skim milk.

Grease and preheat a griddle on the stove at medium heat.

Mix the following together in a large bowl:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Mix the following wet ingredients in another bowl:

1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tbsp canola oil

Combine the wet and dry mixtures. 

Optional: Stir in semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the hot griddle.  Flip after the edges get dry and bubbles pop on the tops of the pancakes.

Overall,  I thought these pancakes were pretty satisfactory.  They were by no means "fluffy," but the texture wasn't as dense as I was afraid it might be.  The chocolate chips also added some excitement to the experience (not to mention the butter that kept sliding off the pancakes as I was trying to take pictures).  Bonus: there's leftover batter for tomorrow's breakfast!

Sold On Salad

Remember when I made those quinoa-stuffed peppers a while ago?  Well, I still had some uncooked quinoa sitting around in the cupboard and I finally used it up tonight.  Apparently, it's popular to enjoy quinoa in "salad" form, so  I made quinoa and apple salad from marthastewart.com (it was much less labor-intensive than the stuffed peppers). 

1/4 cup almonds
1 cup quinoa
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp shallot, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp salt
Pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp currants
1 McIntosh apple, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.  Toast almonds on a baking sheet for about 7 minutes, then chop them.

Boil 2 cups water.  Stir in quinoa, cover, and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. 

Mix the lemon juice, honey, shallot, curry powder, salt, and a sprinkling of pepper in a bowl.  Whisk in olive oil until dispersed, then stir in the currants, nuts, apple, mint, and quinoa.

I couldn't find currants at my grocery store, so I used raisins instead. 

Let Them Eat Pie

Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate family, good friends, and other blessings that many of us take for granted every day.  Thanksgiving is also an opportunity to indulge, guilt-free, in a feast to celebrate our bounty.  This year, I was commissioned to make pecan pie, a critical member of the dessert family. 

1 pie crust

2 cups pecans, chopped in the food processor

4 eggs

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400.

Unroll the crust dough (I used Pillsbury 9" pie crust) and press it into a pie dish.  Spread the chopped pecans evenly over the crust.  Beat eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt in a mixing bowl, then pour the mixture over the pecans in the dish.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400, then decrease the temperature to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes. 

I arranged some whole pecans on top of the pie after baking.

Don't forget to top it with whipped cream! 

The Pompous Pomegranate

Last week, I was casually browsing the produce section at Harris Teeter when the pomegranates caught my eye.  How was it that I had never so much as seen the inside of this superfruit, this powerhouse of antioxidants?  Yes, I'd had pomegranate-flavored smoothies, but never the raw fruit itself.  I made the plunge and bought one without any real plan of what I was going to do with it.  After a few futile sessions of searching for pomegranate recipes online, I came across a blog called urban vegan, which describes the process of making chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds.  Apparently, the seeds, not the flesh, are the main attraction of the fruit. 

All you need is a pomegranate and some dark chocolate chips.

Cut the pomegranate into quarters.  Next, as countless sites on the internet agreed, the best method is to submerge the fruit in a large bowl of water, and carefully pry the seeds away from the flesh.  It's not unlike pulling kernels of corn from the cob, except these seeds are delicate because they're filled with juice and covered with a very thin membrane.

Drain the seeds and remove any remaining bits of flesh.

Lay the seeds on a paper towel and allow them to dry completely. 

Next, melt dark chocolate (I used Hershey's Special Dark chips) over a double boiler. Drop the seeds into the chocolate, coat with chocolate, then remove with a fork and place them on a piece of parchment paper.  Allow the morsels to sit until the chocolate has hardened. 

This process became rather labor-intensive, so my individually-coated seeds evolved into chocolate-pomegranate "clusters" to save some time (there are a lot of seeds in just one fruit!). 

The morsels are a satisfying combination of the bitter chocolate and the juicy, tart seeds of the once-intimidating pomegranate.

The Straggler

I started my patio "garden" pretty late this past summer, but I had high hopes for it.  Well, the spinach withered away after a few weeks, the basil thrived for a while but recently fell victim to frost, and I had all but given up hope that the little green fruit on the tomato plant would ever ripen.  This week, I checked on the garden (after neglecting it for a few weeks :\ ) and saw that the tomato plant finally produced!

Yes, it was tiny - about the size of a ping-pong ball - but it was incredibly satisfying to have grown some of my own food.  You can't get more local than your backyard, right?  Since I've recently developed a taste for tomatoes,  I sliced it up and enjoyed it raw with some vinegar, salt, and pepper (as per IDW's recommendation).

One small victory.  Next year I'll get an earlier start on gardening!

Eggplant Ecstasy

Last night, CBH came over for a girls' night at my place so I had the chance to cook with someone else for a change.  We decided to make eggplant parmesan, which I've only had once or twice before.  In general, I think anything parmesan is fairly high in fat, but I found a reasonable, "healthy" recipe that avoids frying and uses low-fat cheese (see the original recipe at eatingwell.com). 

1 eggplant
2 egg whites
1.5 tbsp water
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup reduced-fat mozzarella cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut eggplant into discs, about 1/4 inch thick.

Mix parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and breadcrumbs in a bowl.

Beat egg whites and water together in a separate bowl.

Coat the eggplant discs with the egg white liquid.  Then, dip them into the cheese and breadcrumb bowl until coated.

Place the discs on a greased baking sheet.  Bake them for 30 minutes, turning them over after the first 15 minutes. 

Mix the basil with the tomato sauce, and use some of the sauce to cover the bottom of a casserole dish.  Place half of the eggplant discs in a layer on top of the sauce.  Add another layer of sauce, then put the rest of the eggplant on top.  Add the rest of the tomato sauce, and top with the grated parmesan and mozzarella cheese.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is light brown. 

We served the eggplant parmesan over whole wheat pasta and had sauteed zucchini and squash as a side. 

We found this recipe to be a bit time-consuming, but it was nothing that a few glasses of wine and the Lady Gaga station on Pandora couldn't get us through.  Plus, the dish was absolutely delicious.  I highly recommend it and can't wait to try making chicken parmesan sometime!

An Apple a Day

Since apples are so plentiful this time of year, I continued my last post's theme and made apple crisp.  I followed the Betty Crocker recipe found at bettycrocker.com.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Grease an 8x8 inch pan.

Peel and slice 4 Granny Smith apples and lay the slices in the bottom of the pan.

Mix the following together in a bowl:
1/2 cup brown sugar*
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 tsp nutmeg**
3/4 tsp cinnamon

Spread the mixture on top of the apples.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

*The original recipe called for 3/4 cup brown sugar, but it tasted sweet enough with just 1/2 cup. 
**The nutmeg overpowered the cinnamon, so I'd recommend using perhaps only 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

Go Green

It feels like we'll never hear the end of all the health benefits of green tea.  Supposedly, it can ward off cancer, prevent cavities, and even burn fat.  While these claims may need more proof, green tea is certainly loaded with antioxidants which help prevent disease by fighting free radicals in the body.  I found a recipe for a green tea apple spice drink (see wholeliving.com) which dresses up the drink with some seasonal fruit and spices.

Combine and boil the following in a saucepan:
2 cups water
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 Granny Smith apple, sliced

Remove from heat and allow it to sit, covered, for 10-15 minutes.  Filter the liquid into a mug and add a green tea bag.  Remove the tea bag after about 1 minute.

Snack-o'-Lantern

 

Well, it's that time of year again - time for pumpkin carving.  Rather ambitiously, my roommate and I bought two each to carve (mine are the two on the left).  After we finished, we spent a considerable amount of time salvaging the seeds from the mess of pumpkin pulp for roasting (recipe for spiced pumpkin seeds from the October issue of Whole Living magazine ).    

Bake the seeds on a baking sheet at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Pour the seeds into a mixing bowl and stir in the following (this mixture will coat about 1 cup of pumpkin seeds):

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 pinch cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Once all the seeds are coated, return them to the baking sheet and bake for another 15 minutes or so. 


These seeds will make a tasty, fibrous snack for the coming week before the predictable deluge of candy and sweets on Halloween.

Keen on Quinoa

I'm still not sure exactly how to pronounce "quinoa."  However, I had a small bag of the trendy, mysterious seed lurking in my cabinet and finally decided to try it out tonight.  I found this delicious recipe for quinoa-stuffed peppers at Vegetarian Times:

1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tbsp cumin
2 cloves of garlic, minced
10 oz. spinach, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
3/4 cup quinoa
3 carrots, grated
1 1/2 cups pepper jack cheese, grated
4 red bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise


Preheat oven to 350.

Heat olive oil in a pan.  Add in celery and onion, and cook about 5 minutes.  Stir in cumin and garlic and cook for one more minute.  Mix in spinach and drained tomatoes (save the juice), and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water.  After it boils, let simmer, covered, about 20 minutes.  Mix in 1 cup of the cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Fill pepper halves with the mixture.  Pour tomato juice into a baking pan.  Place stuffed peppers in pan, cover with foil, and bake 1 hour.  Divide the rest of the the cheese among the peppers.  Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes.

I made a half recipe so I wouldn't have too much extra.  The original recipe claims that freezing works well for this dish as well.

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it revs up the metabolism for the day's activities.  A protein-packed breakfast of eggs is a good way to fuel up, but it's important to limit the grease factor.  Recently, I've also been trying to (tastefully) sneak a serving of vegetables into my breakfast. 

Enter the spinach-feta omelette:

Saute some spinach with a little olive oil and minced garlic in a pan.  Transfer to a plate and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together two large eggs and a splash of milk.  Stir in some basil, oregano, pepper or whatever seasoning you like. 

Pour the mixture into the pre-greased, preheated spinach pan over medium heat. As the bottom cooks, pull the edges of the egg layer inward and allow the liquid portion to flow to the sides of the pan.  Once the top of the omelette is nearly set, spread the spinach over half of it.  Sprinkle some feta cheese over the spinach, and fold the other half of the omelette over it.  Allow the omelette to heat for another minute or two over low heat.

The spinach marks off your first vegetable serving for the day, and the feta adds an interesting element, with about a third less fat and significantly fewer calories than cheddar cheese.
 

Nutty for Peanut Sauce

Peanut sauce is tricky.  I've been trying to perfect my own recipe for a while now but the flavors are always a bit off.  After looking through countless recipes and recipe reviews online, I put together a rough list of ingredients:

1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
Juice of 1/2 of a lime
A little Tabasco sauce, to taste

The sauce is easy to make - just whisk the ingredients together in a bowl (or mix them in a pan over low heat).  You can add a couple tablespoons of water, if needed, to adjust the consistency.  I ended up adjusting almost all of the ingredients to taste. 

Peanut sauce tastes great over Thai rice noodles and veggies with some chopped cilantro.  You can add tofu or chicken for a more filling dish, but today I just mixed in some sugar snap peas (recipe inspiration from Fitness Magazine).

Just My Cup of Tea

This time of year, drinking tea can be the most appealing way to hydrate, and what better way to enjoy a cup of tea than with a tasty chocolate morsel?  Tonight, I attempted to make double dark-chocolate and ginger biscotti, a variation of the classic Italian twice-baked cookie.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

See complete preparation instructions at WholeLiving.com.

 

 Don't be afraid of over-baking them.  The crunchier, the better!  

Note: Biscotti are also traditionally eaten with coffee (for dunking) and wine.

Snack Attack

I believe in snacking.  I've found that enjoying a small snack or two between meals maintains my energy, focus, and mood.  Furthermore,  it cuts down on that "desperately hungry" feeling that causes overeating and poor decision-making at lunch and dinner.  Whole Living magazine has some great ideas for snacks under 200 calories.  The list has wholesome snack recipes (with a wide range of difficulty) for any craving you might have - sweet, savory, salty, etc.  Tonight, I tried the high-fiber Coconut-Date Bars.  The bars are simple to make.  However, make sure the dates are VERY soft before you buy them, as I had some trouble getting mine to stick together.

3 tbsp shredded coconut
1 lb very soft dates, pitted
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Spread 2 tbsp coconut over the bottom of a small baking dish.  Press the dates into a layer over the coconut.  Next, add a layer of walnuts and the rest of the coconut over the dates.  Cut and enjoy.

Must Love Lentils

WARNING: This stew is extremely hearty!

I've had my eye on this lentil and sweet potato recipe for some time, and the weather is now cool enough for stew to seem appealing.  Lentils are particularly good for vegetarians - the might little legumes are rich in protein and fiber.  Or, skip the yogurt for a vegan dish.

2 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium celery stalks, chopped
Bay leaf 
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2 cups dried lentils
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice
1 package (9 ounces) frozen cut green beans
1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Plain low-fat yogurt

 You can find complete instructions at WholeLiving.com

If you don't have a big family to share it with, I'd recommend making a half recipe.

Good Things Come In Threes

Maintaining a healthy diet doesn't have to be expensive or difficult.  Oftentimes, the last thing I want to do after a long day is spend an hour in the kitchen laboring over a meal, especially if I'm already ravenous to begin with.  In order to resist the glowing lights of the drive-thru on my way home,  I use a simple formula to make a quick, healthy dinner any night.  There are three parts to this meal: a protein/meat, a complex carbohydrate, and a vegetable.  

THE PROTEIN:  When you're at the grocery store, check out which meat or fish is on sale.  My favorites are boneless skinless chicken breasts and the individually-packaged, frozen salmon fillets (each is only 99 cents at my store).  Buy a package, use one piece for dinner, and freeze the rest. 

THE COMPLEX CARB:  Easy.  Keep a couple boxes of 100% whole wheat pasta and/or some brown rice around. 

THE VEGETABLE:  Again, buy your favorite/on sale/in season vegetables from the produce aisle or farmer's market.  I also like to keep a bag of frozen spinach on hand as well.   That way, if everything else spoils while sitting in the depths of the fridge or languishing on the counter, there is still no excuse for scrapping your healthy ideals.

I also make sure to keep olive oil, garlic, onion, and parmesan cheese at all times.  

I haven't gone grocery shopping in ages but was able to scrape a tasty, healthy meal together using half a zucchini, a random squash, tomato, onion, the last of some whole wheat rotini rattling around the bottom of the box, and a frozen salmon fillet.

Put the (thawed) salmon on a lightly greased baking sheet and rub some olive oil on it.  Top with chopped onion, tomato, and pepper (or whatever seasoning you like).  Bake about 15 min at 425.
 
Boil a pot of water, then add the pasta.  Cook until tender.  Serve with a little parmesan cheese on top.

Heat some olive oil and garlic in a frying pan.  Chop up the vegetables, then saute them until soft.  Season with salt and pepper.

I always find this meal to be quite satisfying.  Plus, it's good for using up odds and ends of produce. 

Into the Wild

Nature tends to have a calming and yet invigorating effect on the spirit.  While spending the weekend camping in the mountains with my closest friends, I felt as though the rhythms of nature helped renew my own vitality.  Falling asleep to the sounds of the night and then waking up with the sun (or, more accurately, to the sound of a neighboring cub scout group's powertools) restores the natural balance and flow that we so easily lose in our air conditioned, alarm clock-regulated lives.  There is something undeniably peaceful about staring into the flames of a campfire or taking in the beauty of fog nestled around a mountain range.

While you're out there, don't forget to indulge a little with The Classic 'Smore:

1 marshmallow
1 graham cracker
3 sections Hershey's milk chocolate

Roast marshmallow.  Sandwich chocolate and marshmallow between graham cracker.  Enjoy.

The Watched Banana Never Ripens

It always seems as though bananas ripen and then turn brown at a breakneck speed whenever I have been planning to eat them raw.  Of course, it feels the opposite way when I have been waiting expectantly (since last Saturday!) for a pair of slightly green bananas to reach the "very ripe" stage specified in the recipe for today's baking adventure: banana bread muffins.  This recipe (from wholeliving.com) was designed for banana bread but works just fine for muffins as well.




Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the following dry ingredients together:
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

In a separate bowl, mix the following (adding one ingredient at a time):
1 egg, plus 1 egg white
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 mashed bananas

Slowly mix in dry ingredients.

Stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Pour batter into muffin cups or greased muffin pan.
Bake for 25-30 min. or until golden-brown.

For the best taste, serve warm with a sliver or two of butter.

In the Spirit of the Harvest Moon

Although it was still 80 degrees outside this evening, my anticipation of the change of seasons and the first day of Fall tomorrow (and Harvest Moon tonight! First Day of Fall 2010) put me in the mood for a warming, spicy treat after dinner.  I had been meaning to try this grapefruit tea recipe which I found at wholeliving.com.

Combine and boil the following in a small pot:
Juice of 1 grapefruit
1/4-1/2 cup water (depending on desired volume)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp whole allspice berries
1 tsp honey (or to taste)









Strain into mug to remove grapefruit fibers. 
I transferred the allspice to a tea ball and let it sit in the tea to maximize flavor.

(Calories: 35)

Brown Baggin' It

If you're like I am and you pack a lunch for work (or school),  you probably get sick of the same old PB&J every day.  For me, even the classic turkey sandwich starts to seem a bit tired after a while.  Try this new twist on turkey:

2 slices whole wheat bread
2 oz. sliced deli turkey
1 oz. brie cheese
1/2 apple, thinly sliced
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp honey (spread onto bread along with mustard)
 (Calories: 360)

The combination of the brie and crisp apple adds an interesting dynamic to the sandwich. 

Also, I recently discovered Inglehoffer stone ground mustard and highly recommend it.











I originally tasted a variation of the sandwich at a cafe in Dilworth and was further inspired by a recipe here.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog.  For some years now I've been interested in learning about different ways that people can improve and promote health and well-being in their lives.  I try to maintain a healthy, balanced diet because I've learned (the obvious) that if you nourish your body with proper nutrients in reasonable portions, you reap benefits in terms of energy level, mood, health, weight, and overall wellness.  Now that I have access to a full kitchen, I've decided to chronicle my own adventures in cooking and baking.  I'm constantly reading health websites and magazines - especially Body & Soul (now called Whole Living) -  and hope to share my favorite tips as well as some of my other inspirations that relate to a balanced, "whole" lifestyle, both physical and spiritual. 

My first dish is a very simple, classic breakfast staple: peaches 'n' cream oatmeal.  I usually use my favorite powerfood, blueberries, but they are unfortunately going out of season. 

Directions:  Boil 1 cup water.  Add 1/2 cup (dry) old fashioned oats and cook about 4 minutes.  When it is almost to the desired consistency, stir in 1/2 peach, sliced, and a couple drops of vanilla extract.  Cook for one more minute.  Top with 1 tsp brown sugar and 1 tbsp half and half.  (Calories: 205)