Tag Archives: Healthy food

Tomato, Potatoe,Zucchini, Summer Squash “Casserole”

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Tomato-Potato-Zuchinni-Summer Squash “Casserole”

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon of olive oil

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 medium zucchini

1 medium Summer(yellow) Squash

1 large potato

1 large tomato

1 teaspoon dried tyme

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (chopped)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Italian cheese

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STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté onions in a skillet with olive oil until softened (roughy 5 minutes) then add the garlic until fragrant (about 1-2 minutes).

STEP 2: While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables. Slice them into the same shape. I used a mandolin but you could also use a food processor or by hand as well(just try to get them to be as close to the same thickness as possible)

STEP 3: Spray the inside of an 8×8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper,thyme, and rosemary.

STEP 4: Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

before

Before baking

after

After baking & with cheese!

I thought this was one of the best things I’ve ever made! I could have eaten the whole pan myself. And it’s relativly healthy. I mean sure white poatoes are super starchy for you and cheese is well, cheese- but I could think of a lot worse things to eat than this! 🙂 Super easy and super delicious- those make for the best meals!

Enjoy!

xoxo

-G

Vegan Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili

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Vegan Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili

makes 6 hearty bowls of chili

IMG_2047

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Ingredients:

one 29 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
one 6 oz can tomato paste
32 oz vegetable stock
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
1 cup dry quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
avocado, cilantro for garnish  (optional)

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Then What To Do:

Heat oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until soft and they start to turn brown (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic, and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Then add the following: tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the beans, stock, and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper . Cook for about 5 minutes and add the quinoa. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes – 30 minutes(Mine took closer to the 3o minute mark that the 15), stirring frequently, until quinoa and potatoes are cooked. The chili will have also thickened- if it has become too thick for your tastes you can add a bit of water. Your’e done! Now, top with avocado and/or chopped cilantro & try not to eat it all! 🙂

*I really like hot foods! (hot as is spicy) so I added a dried chili pepper to this as well. I just kind of crushed/chopped it up and added it the same time as the beans, stock etc…Hope you enjoy!

xoxo

-G

Mediterranean Cauliflower ‘Stew’ with Cous Cous

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Mediterranean Cauliflower Stew

(pretty much Vegan)

IMG_2327

Ingredients 
1 32 oz carton vegetable stock
1 cup couscous
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 sprigs each mint and parsley
1 shallot, chopped
2 to 4 large garlic cloves (to taste)
1 cup canned chickpeas
1 cup frozen peas
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and cut in half (I used cured back olives)
1 6 oz container plain Greek yogurt

Directions
1. Boil the entire carton of vegetable stock in a pot. Measure 1 cup couscous in a bowl and add 1 1/2 cups of stock. Cover for ten minutes. Reserve remaining stock  in the pot to use later in recipe.(Personally I just microwaved the stock in a big Pyrex cup so I didn’t have to wash a whole other pan 🙂 )

2. Meanwhile while couscous is ‘cooking’, do your prep work: chop the mint and parsley, dice the onion and mince the garlic, separate the cauliflower into little flowerettes, and rinse and drain the chickpeas.

3. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the onion, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic. Cook together for about 30 seconds then add the can of tomatoes(with juice). Continue to cook, still stirring frequently, until the tomatoes are beginning to fall apart a little, about 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Add the tomato paste, leftover stock, and cauliflower to the saucepan, and bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and cover and simmer 10 minutes until the cauliflower is tender. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add the peas and chickpeas to the stew and cook for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and add the olives.

6. Fluff the couscous and serve it in wide bowls or mound onto plates and top with the stew. Garnish with mint, parsley and yogurt.(Meal would be totally vegan if you don’t use the yogurt!)

Enjoy!

xoxo

-G

See the post that inspired me here on Sharon’s blog.

Black Bean & Corn Salsa

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BLACK BEAN & CORN SALSA

Honestly never met a person who didn’t like this(sometimes people prefer no cilantro, but never didn’t like it)

So delicious, so healthy and so easy. honestly throw all the crap in a bowl and stuff your face 🙂

I have one of these veggie chopper things:

and it works PERFECT for this(but obviously you could do it by hand too)

sort of guessing with this recipe( long ago I’m sure there was a recipe I followed but now it’s just sort of whatever I feel like) You can experiment with to make your own perfect recipe too!

SALSA INGREDIENTS:

2 cans of BlackBeans(rinsed)

1 can of corn(they sell salt free, preservative free corn in a can now, so buy that, it’s so much better for you)

couple tomaotes

1 avacado

2 jalapêno pepper, seeded

1 bell pepper of your choice(red,green,orange,yellow)

1 small or 1/2 cup red onion

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro

chop all those to a size of your liking and mix all those items in a bowl(not tooooo much so as to not mush the avocado) then mix the dressing in a separate bowl:

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup vinegar(red wine, or white wine or white)

Tbs of Olive Oil

juice of 2 limes

and a dash of salt

Pour over the mixture and try not to eat it all in one sitting 🙂

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

-G

Salad Caprese

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SALAD CAPRESE

Soooo, one of my favorite things of ALL time would have to definitely be Salad Caprese, in any form imaginable.

It is possibly the most simple amazing thing to make. you need literally 3 ingredients(however I use like 6) haha…but still that is so simple.

1) TOMATOES

2) FRESH MOZZARELLA CHEESE

3) FRESH BASIL

4) GOOD OLIVE OIL

5) BALSAMIC VINEGAR

6) SALT

okkkk now for the tricky part:

Slice your tomato,mozzarella, and basil. Alternate slices of tomato and cheese and sprinkle with basil. Drizzle with olive oil and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar and if you so like(I do) a bit of Kosher salt.  And beeeeeeeeehold:

HEAVEN

Try not to drool.

I have also made another version of this amazing invention! It is an party appetizer version of the same thing. So fun and cute and soooo easy to make and eat! You use all the same ingredients except in different forms. This time you will need GRAPE TOMATOES and small MOZZARELLA BALLS oh and toothpicks! I just slice the tomatoes in half and start poking away with the toothpick. I usually do Mozzaralla, basil, tomato. I find they don’t easily slip off that way and they stand up straight on a platter, but you can do what you like 🙂

How fun is that right?!? Fresh, Refreshing, Summer loving….ahhh. good food.

If you have recipes that are similar or another version, please share as I’m obsessed 🙂

Thanks for reading,

xoxoxo

-G