Stupid Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

Why is it stupid soup?  Because it's stupidly easy to make and I feel stupid for a) not thinking of it before and b) for thinking it wouldn't turn out to be great.  Because it turned out to be great!

Years ago, I used to make an easy black bean soup by boiling canned beans, tomatoes, sauteed garlic and onions, and beef broth on the stove.  It was sooo good.  I don't know why I stopped making it.  I also don't know why I never thought to use salsa instead of canned tomatoes!  Way more flavor, much less work.  Such a duh moment.  This version might actually be better, and with only four ingredients and no prep work at all, I'd call it a winner.

Recipe
1- 15 oz bag dry black beans
2 cups prepared salsa
6 cups beef broth
1 T Old Bay seasoning (may substitute chili powder)

Place all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on high for 4 hours.

Irish-ish Breakfast Bake

It's cool and rainy today, weather that always reminds me of my trip to Ireland last summer and inspires me to make Irish food.  This recipe is a result of a lot of ideas coming together to create probably my best ever breakfast dish.  I first made this almost a year ago and have been working on perfecting it ever since.  The most interesting feature of this dish is the sauce it utilizes a delicious "Magic Sauce" from 101cookbooks.com, authored by the esteemed Heidi Swanson.  The sauce contains a heavy dose of rosemary, which is the primary (and sometimes only) spice in Irish stew and is what takes this dish from common American comfort food to an Irish-inspired treat.  I ate mine with Irish bacon (also called back bacon) and Irish coffee- it is Sunday, after all.

As an aside, you could cook some Irish bacon and add it to the casserole, but that seemed like a waste of the glory that is Irish bacon, so I had mine separately.

Irish-ish Breakfast Bake
3 cups potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
2 cups kale leaves, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Irish cheddar cheese
1 recipe Magic Sauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place potato cubes in an oiled 9x9 inch casserole dish.  Bake for 30 minutes.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs and milk until well combined.  Add cheddar cheese to egg mixture and stir to combine.  Remove casserole dish from oven.  Put kale leaves on top of potatoes and pour egg mixture over the kale leaves.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until eggs are cooked.  Remove from oven and pour Magic Sauce evenly over the casserole.  Allow sauce to be absorbed into the eggs for 5 minutes, then serve.  Serves 4-6.








 

Curried Chicken Salad

I went out for lunch recently to catch up with Stacey, a student I trained last year.  We decided to go to Leaf Kitchen , which is one of my favorite restaurants in Iowa City.  Simple, local gourmet food and a very fun, kitschy decor consisting of mostly reclaimed items.  It's always hard to choose just one thing from their menu.  Stacey ordered the curry chicken salad.  It looked amazing and I wanted to order it too but I ordered something else and vowed for my sake and Stacey's that I would try my best to replicate their salad.  This is my interpretation with some substitutions to make it lower in calories.  I'm guessing the restaurant uses full-fat mayo, no yogurt and possibly adds a little heavy cream.  I put mine on top of a bed of kale and took it to work for lunch.  With a side of fruit it was fantastic.  I've also seen this served as a sandwich on a toasted croissant, which I'm sure would be divine!

Curried Chicken Salad

2 T mayonnaise made with olive oil
2 T fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 t  dijon mustard
1 T curry powder
1 chicken breast half, cooked (I baked mine whole at 350 for 30 minutes) and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 stalk celery, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 T dried cranberries
1/2 apple, chopped into bite-sized pieces

In a small bowl, mix mayo, Greek yogurt, mustard, and curry powder.  Place chicken, celery, cranberries and apple in a medium bowl.  Add mayo mixture and mix until all ingredients are well combined. Serves 2-3.

Power Banana Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

Every day I want chocolate and ice cream, neither of which is a power food.  This recipe is a creative response to both of those cravings.  For years I have used frozen bananas in the food processor to make a sorbet, and one night thought "why not add yogurt and make it frozen yogurt?"  Duh.  Why not?  So simple, but I seriously feel like a genius for this one, and it totally satisfied my cravings.  Any frozen fruit could be used and the cocoa could be left out (or not) to create all sorts of flavors.  Next time I'll be making it with strawberries and vanilla.

To freeze the bananas, peel over-ripe bananas (like what you'd use for banana bread) and place them in a plastic ziploc bag in the freezer overnight.  To make the original banana sorbet, place frozen bananas in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Power Banana Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
2 frozen bananas
3/4 cup plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
1 T cocoa powder
1 t vanilla

Place all ingredients in food processor and process until completely smooth.

Power Indian-Style Pesto, Chickpeas and Rice

Palak Paneer: despite the intimidating name, it's really just spinach and cheese cooked with spices.  It's delicious and it's definitely my favorite Indian dish.  I have a habit of buying too much spinach when it goes on sale, so learning to make this dish myself has definitely saved me from tossing many a bag of soon-to-expire spinach.  When I caught a 77-cent spinach sale at Fareway last week, I came up with this recipe to replace my real palak paneer recipe, since paneer is definitely not a power food.  It reminded me more of a pesto only with Indian spices replacing the Italian ones.  At first I wasn't sure if it would really be that appealing without the big chunks of cheese, but it really is the spices that make this dish.  The chickpeas add a nice texture contrast that distracted me from the absence of the cheese.  I highly recommend using re-hydrated dried chickpeas, as the canned ones add a lot of salt and are more mushy.  This is quite possibly the healthiest dish I'll ever make!

Power Indian-Style Pesto, Chickpeas and Rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 8-oz bag fresh, washed spinach
2 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground turmeric
3/4 cup unflavored Greek yogurt
3/4 cup dried chickpeas, boiled 45 minutes

Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and place over medium high heat.  When pan is hot, place chopped onions in pan and cook and stir until translucent, about 1-2 minutes.  Add spinach, cumin, coriander, and turmeric.  Stir-fry until spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes.  Add yogurt and stir until well combined.  Serve over brown rice and top with chickpeas.

Power Banana Ricotta-Stuffed French Toast

Another weekend, another craving for a decadent brunch.  This recipe is unbelievably good considering it is almost all power foods and a very lightened version of your typical stuffed french toast recipe.  I did fry the bananas in a little butter because I just couldn't live without the flavor at that particular moment, but the butter could easily be replaced.  If you don't want to use butter, use cooking spray to grease your frying pan and maybe add a a teaspoon of applesauce just to help create a more sauce-like texture for the bananas.

The egg/milk mixture makes enough to coat two English muffins, so consider this if making more than one.

Power Banana Ricotta-Stuffed French Toast

2 t vanilla, divided

1/3 cup fat free ricotta cheese, room temperature

1 egg
1/4 cup skim milk
1 light English muffin, split
1/2 T butter
1 banana, sliced
1/4 t cinnamon


In a small bowl, combine ricotta and 1 t vanilla. Set aside.

Beat egg and milk together in a small bowl until thoroughly combined.  Spray a medium frying pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat on stove.  Dip each half of English muffin in the egg mixture and turn to evenly coat all surfaces of the muffin.  Place coated English muffin halves in frying pan.  Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 3-5 minutes per side.

Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat.  Add bananas and cinnamon.  Stir-fry until bananas are hot and mushy, about 4 minutes.  Add 1 t vanilla and stir until vanilla is incorporated into banana mixture. Remove from heat.

On a plate, place bottom half of English muffin.  Top with the ricotta.  Top ricotta with top half of English muffin, then with banana mixture.

Power Breakfast Egg Bake

I start work at 7 am and I'm not a morning person. Since I spend my 12-hour shift running from one patient to the next, skipping breakfast or eating something that isn't nutritious and filling is absolutely not an option. I usually take breakfast to work with me and eat it during report, meaning my workday breakfasts have to be convenient, portable, and provide me with enough energy to sustain me throughout my long morning. Currently, this egg bake is the breakfast that is meeting my needs. I make one every week, cut it into single serving pieces and put them in small containers that I can toss in my bag and microwave at work. It also freezes well so you can make more than one weeks' worth at a time if you want. It takes about 5 minutes to mix up the ingredients and pop them in the oven, and then you've got a whole week's worth of healthy breakfasts.

This recipe is adapted from a Weight Watchers quiche recipe from their New Complete Cookbook. I got rid of the crust completely, as it's a lot of work and calories I don't need. I change up the cheese, herbs and vegetables based on what I have in the house. Today's recipe has broccoli, cheddar cheese and paprika (would have liked to add chives but didn't have any), but I also frequently use feta and spinach with oregano or parmesan and cauliflower with tarragon.

Power Breakfast Egg Bake

5 large eggs

1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese

1/2 cup skim milk

1 cup cheese

1/2 T dried herbs

salt and pepper to taste

1.5 cups vegetables

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray. Break eggs into a bowl and lightly beat. Stir in cottage cheese and milk until well incorporated. Add cheese, herbs, salt and pepper to egg mixture and blend well. Spread vegetables in a single layer in pie dish and pour egg mixture over the top of the vegetables. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until center is solid and edges are golden brown. Makes 5 servings.