Kale & White Bean Quesadilla

Who doesn't LOVE cheese? I know, I know, I am a dietitian and I know what cheese is and what it can do to your body. That being said- it's still amazing and delicious. If used correctly, you don't need a lot to make a flavor impact on your dish and still eat something super yummy.

I have been feeling a little uninspired as of late for some new recipes so I turned to old faithful, Pinterest. As always, I was diving through hoards of unhealthy recipes and looking for something special. Then I found the inspiration for these quesadillas from the blog Running to the Kitchen.
The original recipe looks so delicious but packs a whopping 2 cups of cheese! Now,for the purposes of my blog I knew I had to trim that don but boost up some other flavors so I didn't feel like I was missing out. After 2 attempts, I found what I was looking for! Here is my take on Kale & White Bean Quesadillas that are a high fiber, low fat, excellent source of plant protein and PACKED with yum!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well

4-5 leaves tuscan kale, stems removed and ripped into small leaves

8 tbsp. low shredded cheddar cheese (or cheese alternative)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

3 whole wheat Flat Out Wraps or whole wheat wrap of your choice

 

1. In a medium skillet, brown onions, green peppers and garlic in olive oil for about 10 minutes on low. The onions should become somewhat clear in the middle and slightly browned on the edges.

2. Add cannellini beans, black pepper, onion & garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Cook beans in onion mixture until beans are tender, on medium for about 10 minutes.

3.Take a potato smasher or a large fork/knife and mash mixture thoroughly.

4. Place 1 wrap on a griddle pan set to medium. To one half of the wrap: add 2 tbsp. of cheddar cheese and 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of bean mixture. Then add kale leaves to cover top of bean mixture. Again top with 2 tbsp. cheddar cheese.

5. Carefully fold the empty half of the wrap over the top of the filling.

6. Using a spatula, carefully flip the quesadilla over to melt the cheese you added in the final step of #4.

7. Cook until cheese is melted and enjoy!!

 

This recipe makes 3 hearty, delicious quesadillas! Enjoy!!!

 

1 Pan Vegetable Stew

Hi Everyone!
I just began the final leg of my nutrition internships yesterday! I am still going to try to post as much as a I can but make sure you keep an eye on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for  items as I make them. This stew was inspired by my friend Marielle. We share a lot of similar food interests; she is a more strict vegetarian than I am and has made her own version of this twice recently. She always sends me pictures and I decided that I was going to tackle it today! In total, this really only took about 30 minutes from start to finish. I happened to have all of these items on hand but this would make for a beautiful post-farmer's market meal! Not pictured, I enjoyed this with a nice triangle of ciabatta! Mmmm!

Ingredients
1 can crushed tomatoes (28oz)
1 can chick peas, drained (15oz)
4 stems kale, chopped & including stems
3 large portobello mushroon caps
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
~ 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
4-5 stems scallions, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

1) On medium heat add olive oil, onion and garlic. Allow to brown slightly.
2) Add kale and tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes until becomes wilted.
3) Add chick peas, mushrooms, scallions and garlic. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Sauce will reduce slightly.
4) Zest the 1/2 lemon and squeeze juice into mixture. Add parsley.
5) Cook on medium low for 4-5 minutes more.
6) Rest for 2-3 minutes.
Enjoy!

It is really the easiest meal to make! The most time is spent chopping everything up!

Options:
1) If you are not a vegetarian simple add meat. Chicken or ground turkey would be fabulous.
2) If you don't have parsley, basil would be a great substitute. I would imagine dried herbs would also work well but not provide the fresh flavor.
3) If you don't have scallions they can be omitted entirely. They are a member of the onion family and mine were going to go bad if I didn't use them.

Brown Rice, Zucchini & Kale Bites

Kale is the way to my heart! <3 

Hey everyone!
I put a picture of this on my Instagram and Facebook (follow me!!!) and I got so many requests for the recipe, so here goes!!!

The recipes has several steps but overall is pretty simple. It happened to come together for me rather quickly because I already had brown rice made.

Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked brown rice
5 bushy stalks of kale
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup low-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
olive oil
parmesan cheese

A) In a large pot, steam kale with about 1 inch of water. Kale will be done when leaves are bright green and slightly soft.
B) Allow kale to cool on paper towels. On a cutting board, remove leaves from stem.
C) Chop leaves into fine pieces and place in a bowl.
D) In a separate bowl whisk eggs together with spices, flours and cheese.
E) Slowly add brown rice, kale and zucchini. Keep mixing gently to incorporate all ingredients.
*Be careful not to beat the mixture too much. If your kale is still very hot it could cook your eggs!
**If your mixture still looks very wet, add a tbsp of whole grain flour to thicken it up.
F) Heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan on medium until oil begins to bubble slightly.
G) Using a spoon or spatula, scoop a golf ball sized amount of the mixture and lay it into the pan. Using the backside of your spoon or spatula, press it down to make a patty.
H) Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes before flipping. The cooked side should be a golden brown color. Repeat for other side and remove from heat.
I) Optional- Sprinkle a small amount of parmeasan cheese on top & enjoy!!!

Tips:
- Depending on your pan you can cook several patties at one time. I cooked three at a time in my 9 inch pan.
- This is a great leftover meal. If you don't have precooked brown rice, make sure your rice is fully cooled before mixing with eggs. Both hot rice and kale will definitely give you scrambled eggs before you cook!
- Quinoa, white rice and barley would also work in this recipe!
- I initially tried this with egg beaters but there was not enough binding by the eggs. You can try 1/4 egg beaters with 1 whole egg.

Veggie & Bean Soup

Veggie & Bean Soup!

Hey Everyone! I hope you are all doing well and being safe after the Hurricane Sandy craziness we have all experienced over the last 48 hours! As most of you probably know by now, cooking relaxes me, so I decided to make a hearty soup to ease the nerves from the recent events. I was also away for 3 days before the hurricane so when I returned home, I had some veggies that needed to be cooked or they'd go bad. I also had a slight case of cabin fever where I was eating pretty much everything in sight! :) Most of it was pretty healthy but this soup will fix me up! I loved using the Spaghetti Squash as noodles in this dish! Delicious and low in carbs!

Ingredients:
32oz low-sodium vegetable broth
2.5 cups chopped kale
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 box frozen lima beans (10oz)
4 carrots
1 spaghetti squash
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 medium onion
olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
Italian Seasoning
Black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 425F. Slice spaghetti squash in 2 and place face-down on a roasting sheet. Place in oven for 30 minutes.
2) In a large pot, pour in 4Tbsp olive oil and heat on medium high.
3) Chop onion and add to pot.
4) Mince garlic and add to pot.
5) Allow onion and garlic to sweat (about 4-5 minutes). Stirring every minute or so.
6) Add vegetable stock, bouillon and 2 cups of warm water. Allow to boil.
7) Slice carrots.
8) When liquid is boiling, add kale, carrots, spinach, frozen lima beans, rinsed kidney beans, 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning and 3 bay leaves.
9) Cook soup on high for 15 minutes, then turn down to medium-low.
10) When spaghetti squash is finished roasting, remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before handling.
11) Using a fork or pasta spoon (or my pastasaurus :), scrape inside of spaghetti squash. The insides will pull like spaghetti noodles. Add the noodles from 1 half of a squash to the soup.
12) Allow to cook for 10 more minutes on medium-low.

When "noodles" are al dente, turn off heat and enjoy!!!

Rawr!!!!!
My Pastasaurus! My brother's lovely girlfriend, Allie gave it to me for Christmas last year!!! Love it! 

Tips:
a) Remove the seeds from the squash before roasting, makes for easier removal of "noodles".
b) You can make this simple soup with anything you have around your kitchen. Feel free to add potatoes, celery or broccoli.
c) If you are not a "salty" person, you can also sub the stock for low-sodium stock or remove the bouillon cube.
d) If you want a Pastasaurus, here is the Amazon link.

Sesame Peanut Tofu over a Simple Kale Salad

Mmm mmm good!

So, last night I was perusing Facebook and stumbled across a delicious looking photo of some kind of sesame tofu that my FB friend Jeffery had posted. The tofu was skewered and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The picture look fabulous and got me in the mood to try something different.
This recipe was a spontaneous try in my kitchen to see how it turned out. I was hoping it wouldn't be horrible and it wasn't! It was very tasty and I will absolutely be making this again! The instructions are long but in total it took me about 20 minutes to put this lovely lunch together! It served as one big lunch for me, so if you are making this for more people just double the recipe.

By the way, Jeffery has a really fabulous food/healthy blog, too! Check it out "The Matters of Mitter".

Ingredients
For the sauce:
1 Tbsp organic peanut butter (regular peanut butter would also be fine)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Paprika
Chili Powder
Black pepper
Salt
Vegetable Seasoning (I used a locally made one but you can make your own in a flash. See the tips below).

For the Salad:
5-6 stems of kale, washed and dried
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, water removed
1 tomato
1-2 slices of vidalia onion
1/2 lemon
sesame seeds

1) In a saucepan, combine oil, peanut butter and soy sauce. Mix.
2)Heat mixture on medium-low until peanut butter begins to melt. Stirring continuously.
3) I used very limited amount of paprika and chili powder. I'd say about 1/4 teaspoon of both. If you prefer more heat, add extra. Add in the vegetable seasoning and stir. Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste.
4) Reduce heat to low and let simmer.
5) While sauce is simmering, cut your 1/2 block of tofu into 3 slices. Then cut slices into triangles or whatever shape you like.
6) Using a misto sprayer, spray a frying pan with olive oil and place slices into the pan.
7) Saute on medium heat until the edges of the tofu begin to brown slightly. Flip. This may take 3-5 minutes for each side.
8) While tofu and sauce are cooking, cut the kale. I included the stems for a little extra crunch.
9) Cube the tomato.
10) Mix the kale, tomato and sliced onion in a bowl or add to a plate.
11) When both sides of tofu are browned add the peanut sauce mixture. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes flipping and turning the tofu continuously.
12)  Squeeze the lemon juice onto the salad to brighten up the flavors.
13) Gently add tofu to the top of the salad.
14) Sprinkle with sesame seeds and some of the remaining sauce if you like.

Enjoy!

Tips:
a) If you don't have a vegetable seasoning that you like, you can simple make your own by mixing your favorite seasonings together and keeping a bottle in your spice cabinet. The seasoning I used is a mixture of flax, mustard seeds, onion, parsley, oregano, garlic, dill, fennel, turmeric, sesame, and paprika. Big flavor!

b) If you have time, I'd try to marinate the tofu in the sauce. It would give a nice flavor boost!

Thanks & Have a Delicious Day!

Kale Chips!

I didn't have time to take a picture of my finished product because I was Skyping with a friend and munching away. This is what they look like when done!
Photo Credit:  Kalyn's Kitchen

So I posted a photo of kale chips on my Facebook page a while back and I have gotten a lot of requests for the recipe. Kale is one of the world's superfoods and is very high in Vitamins K, C & A! It is high in fiber and pretty darn delicious, too!

I am a potato chip kind of person. I love the crunchy, salty, greasy aspect of it. But guess what? Crunchy, salty, greasy isn't great for your outsides or insides. Kale chips are a perfect way to get the craving for the crunchy, salty, greasy without all the negative side effects.

Ingredients
1 bunch kale
Olive oil in a misto (or olive oil spray)
Sea Salt Grinder
Black Peppercorn Grinder
Baking sheet pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
1) Thoroughly wash and dry kale.
2) Using a knife, slice the leafy portion off of the center stem of all of the kale.
3) Cut the kale leaves into "chip sized" portions. I like tortilla sized kale chips, about 1 inch x 2 inch.
4) Spray olive oil on the sheet pan.
5) Spread kale out on the sheet pan. Try not to let leaves overlap. You may need to make two batch or use 2 sheet pans.
6) Lightly spray the kale with the olive oil. The idea is to provide a light coating and not soak the kale. Soaking it will cause the kale to get soggy and not achieve the crispy, chippy effect.
7) Using the sea salt and peppercorn grinders season to taste.
** Kale doesn't need much seasoning so I wouldn't advise going overboard with the salt. The natural flavor is delightful. Enjoy it!
8) Bake for 7-10 minutes. Keep an eye on your kale. If the edges begin to darken, it's done.

Tips
a) Save the stems of the kale in a freezer bag to make your own vegetable stock! Mmmm!
b) Kale smells absolutely putrid as it bakes. PUTRID! Don't let it discourage you from trying this tasty, healthy snack!

Kale me, baby!

Have a delicious day!!!! xoxox