Sunday, December 29, 2013

Zuccini Pasta with Avocado cream sauce!

Recently I decided to invest in a vegetable "spiralizer," this is a fun little tool that can turn any veggie into a stringy noodle like shape. My first experiment with the spiralizer was a zucchini noodle dish that in my opinion looks like fettuccine Alfredo and tastes just as good.

Ingredients:

1. Zuccini
2. Avacado
3. Lime
4. Greek Yogurt
5. Chicken/Turkey Sausage




Directions:

1. Spiral as many Zucchini's you like for this meal I did 3 medium size Zucchinis

2. Saute garlic to taste in olive oil, add zucchini and cook to desired texture, since this is meant to imitate a pasta dish I made my noodles on the well done side.

3. In a food processor ( you can use a blender as well but it is a little bit more work) add 1 to 2 ripe avocados, a cup of Greek Yogurt per each avocado, squeeze lemon and salt and pepper to taste.

4. You can keep this a vegetarian meal or I chose to add in 2 Chicken and Feta sausages from Trader Joes. Since these are pre-cooked I added them at them in once the Zucchini was almost done just to warm them up.

5. Combine all the ingredients and you have a delicious and healthy meal! 


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Thai Fiesta

Everyone I know loves Thai food but it is always our go to for take out or a BYOB; I have always wanted to know how to cook Thai food but even after buying a recipe book I was intimidated. I thought to myself there has to be an easier way to make and so I decided to investigate and to my surprise my version of a coconut curry dish was extremely easy and DELICIOUS.

Ingredients:

1. Light Coconut Milk
2. Coconut oil
3. Veggies: Onion, peppers ( I used yellow and orange for color but you can use any), tomatoes and spinach
4. One can of water chestnuts
5. Talapia
6. Qinuoa  ( optional)


Recipe:

1. Add the onion and peppers to a pan with a teaspoon of coconut oil let them cook for about 5 minutes then add the can of coconut mile and the rest of the veggies.

2. Season with curry powder, salt and pepper

3. How long you let them cook really depends on how you like your veggies, I like mine a little crunchy so I usually cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes

4. In a separate pan add another teaspoon of coconut oil and add the Talapia, sometimes I like to pour some of the flavored coconut milk from the veggie dish into the fish dish for some extra flavor. The Talapia cooks fairly quickly ( 10 min MAX) so just check it once it starts to turn a solid white color.

5. Once the fish and veggies are done combine them as you like, I typically like to serve mine over some Qinuoa with the fish on top. Usually i prefer to serve this type of dish in a bowl so you can slurp up as much of the sauce as possible!






The Fancy Red Pepper

One of my favorite recipes and a great way to wow at dinner is a stuffed red pepper. This is super easy and you can use a lot of different ingredients you may have around the house.

Ingredients: 

 1. Onion
 2. Zucchini/Squash/Eggplant3. Qinuoa ( red or white)
 4. Ground turkey or chicken
 5. Black Beans
 6. Diced Tomatoes
 7. Salt, Pepper and Cayenne Pepper
 8. Greek Yogurt
 9. Low Fat cheese.
 10. Avocado

Cooking Instructions:

 1. Brown some onions in olive oil - *TRICK - if you hate having your eyes water when you cut up an onion stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes before you cut it and it will curb the effect! ( at the same time pre-heat your oven to 350)

 2 . In a separate pain boil red or white qinuoa - both work great

 3. Tonight I added a squash, zucchini and mushrooms but you could also add eggplant, tomatoes, celery or anything else you want to experiment with and let them sauté for about 10 min on medium heat ( until they get a little soft). I like to season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.

4.  Add the turkey and break it up into small chunks

5. Mix in black beans (from a can), a can of diced tomatoes and qinuoa ( however much you want) and let it all simmer on a low heat

5. Cut the top of your pepper and wash out the seeds

6. Stuff it with the mix you made and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pepper is soft (cut it with a knife to check )

 7. For toppings you can eat it plain but I like to fancy it up with
 a spoon of Greek yogurt, low fat cheese and avocado
I usually make way too much and have plenty of stuffing left over one idea is to add it to an omelette in the morning for a protein packed breakfast.