Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Vegetable Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 2-3 tsp dried)
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cans white kidney beans
6-8 cups chicken stock or broth
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1-2 tsp dried)
1 bay leaf
1/2-1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 small bunch kale, roughly chopped
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Additional olive oil, basil, parsley
Preparation
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in very large pot over medium heat. Add onion, thyme, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add carrots; sauté 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and next 8 ingredients (through oregano). Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 hour. Add kale. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 5-10 minutes longer. Uncover. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons additional olive oil as well as any additional herbs.
Divide soup among bowls. Top each serving with shredded parmesean cheese.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Menu 10/11
Beef Taquitos / Green Salad
Black Bean Soup / Cornbread
Artichoke Chicken / Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Pilaf
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
Topping:
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins (didn't add these--raisins in breads=gross in my opinion!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin (used fresh)
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare topping, combine first 4 ingredients until crumbly. Set the mixture aside.
To prepare bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 7 ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.
Combine the pumpkin and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through eggs) in a bowl; add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with topping.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 209 (30% from fat)
Fat: 6.9g (sat 1.7g,mono 2.4g,poly 2.2g)
Protein: 3.4g
Carbohydrate: 34.6g
Fiber: 1.4g
Cholesterol: 31mg
Iron: 1.3mg
Sodium: 252mg
Calcium: 29mg
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2000
Grilled Pannini Sandwiches
Here's what you need:
Bread (I like to use the artisan bread from the grocery store, but any kind will work)
Sauce (Pesto, any kind of salad dressing--here's my favorite, some olive oil, etc)
Meat (Salami--my favorite, turkey, ham, chicken, etc)
Cheese (I almost always use FRESH mozarella, but provolone, cheddar, feta, etc are all good options as well)
Veggies (Roasted bell peppers, arugula, spinach, etc.)
Throw all the ingredients on the bread (don't need to butter or spray the outside of the bread unless you want to) and put it in your pannini maker. If you don't have one and don't want to buy one, you can also broil them open faced.
My favorite combination: Salami, Pesto, Fresh Mozarella, Roasted Red Peppers, Arugula.
Sweet Potato Fries
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t parsley
fresh ground pepper (about 10 turns of a pepper mill)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Slice the potatoes into even, 1/4 inch peices. It's important to not make them too big (they get mushy) and to make them pretty even.
Put the sweet potatoes in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them. Use your hands to make sure each one is well coated. They should all be glistening. Then sprinkle on all of the herbs and spices and continue to toss until well coated.
Place the fries on the baking sheet. It's very important that they are not touching, but can place them pretty close together. If you end up needing more than one cookie sheet make sure they are spaced more than one rack apart in your oven to prevent steaming. Also, rotate the pans when you take them out to flip. Place cookie sheet in pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Don't open the oven door, not even for a peak! Let them do their thing. After 15 minutes take the pan out of the oven and flip the fries. If you try to do it one at a time it will take forever, I take a long spatula and get a bunch at at time. It's super quick. Just flip, and then make sure they're spaced out again. Be careful because at this point they're quite soft. Put the pan in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. They should be nice and golden brown. Crispy crunchy on the outside, and sweet and soft in the middle.Take them out of the oven and serve immediately. They cool off very quickly so they're best eaten right away. Serves about 4.