Recipe for Spinach Gnocchi

I was intrigued when I saw a recipe for Spinach Gnocchi in the New York Times Health section.  It sounded like one of those too good to be true recipes...good intention but bad result.  Not True!

Recipe for Green Goddess Asparagus

This is a versatile, easy recipe my brother and I put together for a picnic this summer.  I've done something similar with green beans too, but I think I slightly prefer the asparagus.  The secret to keeping the veggies nice and green is to sprinkle about a TBSP of baking soda in the water while cooking.  Cook just a few minutes until still slightly crispy and then quickly shock in an iced water bath to stop the cooking.  Marinate in dressing, add some seasonings (if needed) and chopped tomatoes and enjoy!

Recipe for Asian Salmon Patties over Sauteed Veggies

One of Mr. ELEB's favorite meals lately is my Sesame Salmon and Spinach which I usually serve over whole wheat pasta.  I wanted to do something similar but wasn't in the mood for pasta.  Hmmm.  I had book marked a recipe for salmon sliders a while back and used that as additional inspiration for this meal.

More Egg White Ideas or how to use up those left over veggies

Consistently, some of my top read posts are those related to breakfast.  This tells me that like me, many of you are looking for quick, easy, and healthy ways to start your day.  As I've mentioned, I have an egg white breakfast treat 4-5 times a week so I'm always looking for new variations.

Recipe for Microwaved Acorn Squash

How would you like to have a healthy and tasty vegetable dish on the table in under 20 minutes of almost no hands-on time and with only 4 ingredients (plus salt and pepper)?  Oh, and no need to heat up the kitchen because it's cooked in the microwave.

Recipe for Indian Flavored Squash Fritters-Daring Cooks

This recipe resulted from the monthly challenge from the Daring Kitchen.  The Daring Cooks' February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax and Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients, and deliciousness!  We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties.


Sometimes the challenges are very specific.  This one was great because we had a lot of latitude in our recipe. I thought about different kinds of patties all month-I think I had patty paralysis.  But, as is often the case, I just needed to open the fridge to get inspiration. When I saw the acorn squash sitting there, I was over my paralysis and knew what I'd put together-a fritter! 

Recipe for Roasted Squash with Mint and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

We sure enjoyed this roasted squash dish when I served it on Boxing Day for ourselves and some of our friends. The recipe is an interesting combination with mint and balsamic vinegar flavoring the lovely roasted flavor of the squash.

Recipe for Quick and Tasty Broccoli Soup-Meatless Monday

What do you do when you have some sad looking veggies in the fridge?  Make soup of course!  I based this soup on the success I had with asparagus soup made from the discarded stems.  Super quick and easy, and with a chunk of crusty homemade bread, a perfect meatless Monday light supper.

Recipe for Portobello and Spinach Frittata

Here is another easy meatless Monday recipe for you!  This recipe is easily adaptable to whatever veggies you have on hand.  I used fresh thyme for the seasoning but basil or even rosemary would also work.  The secret to the frittata not sticking in the pan is to use a good pan (one that is oven proof since this is going under the broiler) and let it cooked undisturbed...I know you want to go in there and loosen the edges or stir it around while it is cooking...don't!
BTW, check out the new tab at the top of the page: "Photography".

Recipe for Butternut Squash "Fries"

I put fries in quotation marks for this recipe because these are not crispy like potato fries.  They are even less crispy than sweet potato fries.  However, they are good and easy to make; another way to get some good veggies on the plate.   We ate them with buffalo burgers-yummy!

Recipe for Pan-Cooked Vegetables with Crunchy Fish

Once you get the veggies grated for this dish, it is a snap to pull together.  Super flavorful and very satisfying!  This recipe is based on Mark Bittman's recipe by the same name-I love his recipes and enjoy The Food Matters Cookbook immensely.  If you are fortunate enough to have the cookbook, the recipe is on page 440, but if not I also found it on line and the link is below. 

Recipe for Red Wine and Garlic Portabellas Over Whole Wheat English Muffins

When we had friends visiting recently, I pulled a bunch of stuff out of the fridge for a pot luck lunch.  I had some portabellas that needed to be used and came up with this recipe.  Everyone loved it and insisted I write it up for the blog, so here you go!  This is a rich and filling veggie dish that works for lunch or dinner.  I’m also going to try the mushies on top of whole wheat pizza sometime.

Corn on the Grill

Old and new worlds come together in the best ways sometimes.  This past week we have been fortunate to have some “old” friends visit from San Francisco.  Everyone has now gone home except our one friend Olivia who leaves today.  The first night when everyone started arriving, we did a sunset picnic down on the beach.  It was a rare cloudy evening, so not much in the way of sunset but the clouds provided a beautiful sky once the sun had set and was reflecting its rays from beyond the horizon.  For Olivia’s last night, our “new” friends here on Maui, Jennifer and Ryan (and their dog Chimi), hosted us at a pool side sunset barbecue.  The sunset was amazing, as was the food. 

Recipe for Pureed Roasted Red Peppers

A large bag of red peppers have been sitting in my fridge for a few days now.  When I saw Kalyn's Roasted Red Pepper Dip with Feta and Mint, I was inspired to roast a few (and threw the rest in the freezer-I'll let ya' know how that turns out).  On the menu is breakfast for dinner, poached eggs over spinach and salmon (I'll write it up and post it) and I don't want to do a Hollandaise sauce.  I'm going to use pureed roasted red peppers, instead.

Quick and Easy BBQ Rubbed Skirt Steak

It's funny sometimes how we end up where we do.  Like this skirt steak.  I stumbled across an online discussion about cooking skirt steak.  The original poster (OP) was frustrated because the skirt steak had turned out very tough.  She/he got alot of feedback about marinating methods, cooking time, cutting across the grain, and the general consensus was that it is an amazing cut of meat and the OP must have overcooked it, apparently THE cardinal sin when it comes to skirt steak.

So I'm at Whole Foods later in the day and see a couple of beautiful pieces of skirt steak just calling my name.  Had I not read the discussion, I probably would have walked right by but the conviction of those touting how amazing this cut is prompted me to say "what the heck, I'll give it a try".   I'm very happy I did.

Recipe for White Bean and Veggie Salad

Looking for easy ways to get more veggies in your diet?  Try this salad made with assorted crunchy veggies and creamy white beans.  Full of fiber and flavor!

Makes 4 generous servings, each approximately 191 calories, 1.2 grams fat, 36 grams carbs, 8 grams fiber, 11 grams protein; 5 WW Points+

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and cooled white beans (canned would also work, rinsed and drained)

¾ cup finely chopped red pepper

¾ cup finely chopped cucumber (seeds removed)

¾ cup finely chopped carrot

1 cup finely chopped tomatoes (seeds removed)

2 TBSP pesto yogurt sauce

1 TBSP each chopped fresh dill and basil (or whatever herbs you have)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Combine all ingredients and serve chilled.

How are you getting your daily veggie servings in?



Printable Recipe

Method for Grilled Asparagus

It’s great to support local farmers and how easy is it when they provide us with produce like this beautiful asparagus?  This was grown here on Maui and was so fresh tasting.  I hope you are starting to see some great spring veggies showing up in your markets.

Recipe for Cumin Cauliflower Casserole with Cheesy Tostitos Topping

Wow, that title is quite the mouthful!  Just trying to be descriptive. 

Last week we got to try the new Tostitos Fire Roasted Chipotle Tortilla Chips as a base for my Ahi Edamame Nachos.   They got an A for taste on their own with some dip and were a great complement to the nachos.

This week we opened the Roasted Garlic Black Bean Tortilla Chips. 

They are nice and thin like the Chipotle ones and held up well to being dipped in some hummus. 

I’ll have to say, the flavor was a bit underwhelming for me.  I’m not sure that if I hadn’t known what the flavor was whether I’d have been able to identify it.  They aren’t bad but I don’t get much garlic and no black bean flavor.  Disappointing.  Ah, well. 

I wanted to give them a try in a recipe so I whipped up this cauliflower dish.

Recipe for Quick Breakfast Quiche

Continuing on the theme of “prepping ahead”, here is a great veggie and ham quiche that I made over the weekend.  I was able to have 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches from it.    It is very versatile-just use what you have on hand.

Happy St. Patty's Day by the way!

Recipe for Newman's Own Caesar Veggie Wraps-my first video recipe

As a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher, I received a Care Package from the Newman's Own Company that included a Flip HD video camera.  In return, I was to prepare a video of a quick meal (about 30 minutes) using some of the products.  I really wanted to make portabella fajitas with some of their lime marinade, but alas, none in my package, and I couldn't find any here on Maui either.

However, I did put together a super easy recipe for Caesar Veggie Wraps and they are really good.  While the video is sponsored by Newman's, the recipe and opinions are mine.

They wanted us to be "edgy" and "funny" in the video.  Ok, I'm not really either but I was able to have a good laugh at myself while making the video.  Take a peek!  (Oh, don't you just hate how you look and sound on video?)

Caesar Veggie Wraps

Hopefully you're chuckling with me (as opposed to at me!).