Quick Baked Beans with Apples

This recipe has been adapted from a recent Best Recipes show. (The show's picture is featured here)

Ingredients

1 cup apple cider
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of  crushed garlic
2 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper

Cook ingredients on medium in saucepan to combine the flavours and cook down the onions and garlic

Add:
2 cans Navy Beans that have been rinsed (until there are no more bubbles coming off of the beans) and drained
2 large apples cut into 1" chunks (they'll cook down)
Place in a casserole baking dish.
Place the slices of 2 large apples over the top of the beans mixture, overlap slightly.
Bake for 2 hours at 300 degrees

This recipe is called "Quick" because it uses canned beans. You can replace the canned beans with beans that have been soaked overnight.

Optional:
Some people prefer to have ham, bacon, or another type of pork in their beans. You can add chopped up meat in this dish, but there is also lots of protein in the beans.

Tomato Soup

Here's a tomato soup recipe that I found this week and made...in 20 minutes!

1 large diced onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

3 c chicken broth

freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp oregano

Sauté the onion and garlic in a tiny bit of vegetable oil. When the onion is translucent add the tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken broth.

Stir together and cook at medium heat for 15 minutes. Add freshly ground pepper and oregano.

Purée the soup and serve. I used my immersion mixer. (way easier than a blender!)

For some variety: sprinkle on croutons, add some barley (increase the chicken broth accordingly - just follow package directions), add rice and extra broth.You can also add some diced red peppers, put them in with the onions to sauté .

I love tomato soup but haven't eaten it for years because the canned stuff has milk. I found this recipe and tried it with some reluctance, I had no idea that the soup would be so easy to make. It was rich and creamy. One day I'm going to try it with fresh tomatoes.

Roasted Garlic and Wild Rice Mushroom Soup

Roasted Garlic and Wild Rice Mushroom Soup

I really like mushroom soup, but most recipes have cream or milk added, which I can't have. Rather than substituting the milk with Soy, Rice, or Oat milk, I've been experimenting to make my own recipe. I start by roasting garlic.

I like using roasted garlic in recipes because it tastes buttery and smooth. When I roasted the garlic for my soup, I followed the directions that I saw on a recent Rachel Ray show.

• Peel off most of the outer layers on the garlic bulb (not all)
• Cut the top off of a bulb of garlic and put it on a piece of foil.
• Drizzle olive oil over the garlic
• Sprinkle on salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Wrap the garlic in the foil
• Place in the oven at 425 degrees for 1 hour

For my soup recipe I actually used two bulbs of garlic. The garlic will be browned and softened when cooked enough. Wait for the garlic to cool and then squeeze out the cloves. Mash the garlic into a paste and add to recipes as needed.

Roasted garlic is not as strong as raw garlic, so you tend to use more in a recipe. It still tastes delicious.

The SOUP

• Put 1 - 2 tsp of olive oil in a large skillet
• Throw in one large diced onion and
• 2c diced celery.
• Add about 6c chopped mushrooms
• Cook the vegetables on a medium high heat.
• Let them sweat and release their juices and begin to brown. Once they have reduced and cooked through,
• Add the roasted cloves of garlic,
• Add 2 cups of red wine,
• Stir to pick up the bits of vegetables that may have browned on to the pan.
• Simmer to reduce the red wine.
• Once the wine has reduced, place the mixture into a large stock pot on high heat.
• Add 12 cups of chicken, beef or vegetable stock.
• Add 2 cups of wild rice
• Allow the soup to reach a boil, then cover and simmer for 1/2 to 3/4 hour.
• Stir in fresh chopped basil and parsley to taste.

This soup freezes and reheats well. It is really hearty and nutritious, with lots of yummy goodness.

Enjoy.

Chicken Stuffed with Pesto Mushrooms

This recipe is one that I pulled together after watching a couple of cooking shows...

 

1 large diced onion

2 cloves garlic diced

2 cups of chopped celery

4 cups sliced mushrooms

2 chicken breasts

3 slices bacon (optional)

2 tbsp pesto

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium high. Spray with cooking spray, or put add a tsp of cooking oil.

Toss in all of the vegetables (first four ingredients) and let them begin to cook. Vegetables will sweat, so just let them cook in their own juices. You want them to get nice and brown. Resist the urge to stir them for at least a few minutes!

Once they are starting to really sizzle, you can stir them and get them nice and brown on the other side. Once browned, add pesto sauce and continue to cook until the juices they have released have evaporated.

In the meantime take each chicken breast, place it between saran wrap and pound with a mallet until a quarter of an inch thick or less. Take the top layer of saran off of the chicken. Spoon a thin layer of the mushroom mixture on to the chicken. Roll the chicken around the mushroom stuffing. Take a half slice of bacon and wrap around the top of each roll. I made a special roll for me, withoug bacon. In the end they were all moist, so the bacon isn't that necessary.  If you do use bacon, you will need to drain this, after it is cooked, before serving.

Spoon the rest of the mushroom mixture over the chicken and place into the oven at 350 degrees for 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

Another time I might chop up the filling, so it is easier to put in the chicken. This worked, though, and it allowed for some left over filling to place on top of the chicken while it baked.

Serve up sliced and hot. It was yummy.You'll notice that this recipe doesn't have any sauce, that's one more thing I'm trying to stay away from.

This is my husband's plate. You might notice the avocado, cucumber and tomato salad from last post. Baked sweet potatoes with a bit of garlic on them rounded out our meal. The sweet potatoes were cooked in the same way I posted about asparagus a couple of posts ago, except that I used oven roasted garlic.

Asparagus

Here's a healthy way to cook asparagus.

1 bunch asparagus
1/2  - 1 tsp olive oil
2 pinches coarse sea salt (sometimes referred to as rock salt)
1 - 3 cloves garlic finely sliced

Take a nice firm bunch of asparagus.
Break or cut off the woody bottoms.
Wash and pat dry.
Toss in 1/2 - 1 tsp of olive oil.
Spread on a cookie sheet, or if it is barbeque season, put it on a sheet you can put on the grill
Spread the sliced garlic over the asparagus
Sprinkle on the coarse salt (don't overdo it)

Bake in oven at 350 F for about 10 - 15 minutes until tender, but not overcooked.

This particular recipe is great for someone looking for a great high alkaline recipe. It is also great if you're counting weight watcher points! And it is YUMMY. We've also cooked our sweet potatoes this way, sliced very thinly, which by the way, are also low alkaline and yummy.

Tomatoes

We ate a light supper at a tiny Italian restaurant last night. It was in the basement of a building along W. 49th St. just off of Times Square in New York. Our supper was light, because we were off to see Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury in "A Little Night Music." (Which I will write about on the Life is a Highway page)

What I want to talk about is the food, as this is a post about tomatoes. I had a tomato salad. It was so yummy. The tomatoes were fresh and perfectly ripe, none were over ripe. I think they used nice round tomatoes about the size of a baseball, or smaller, they didn't have much pulp. In fact, I believe these tomatoes had been skinned, and then the seeds had been removed, as well as any white parts. They were then cut into big chunks (1") and tossed in a bit of olive oil, raw garlic slices, some salt and pepper, and maybe a tiny bit of oregano. They were served in a big dish, with a sprig of mint on top. Normally, I would think you would share such a dish amongst two to four people. However, I ate the whole thing. It was so good. It wasn't too acidic, instead it was just right. I couldn't get over how yummy it was. The garlic was raw, so I didn't end up eating it, but otherwise, it was terrific. It would be a good dish to make at home, and I think you could add cucumer, or diced onion, (cooked or raw) and the onion could be green, red or yellow...lots of ways to do this dish. Simple but yummy. Very light for a meal before going to the theater, and I think it probably had a low caloric content, too!

Wish I had a picture of the actual salad! 

A New Look at Hummus

I'd never been interested in, nor enjoyed, dips whether for fruits, vegetables, chips, or anything else people dip, until I tried hummus. 

Hummus originates from the middle east and is traditionally a mix of cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. 
The main ingredients, chickpeas, are also known as garbanzo beans. Chickpeas are low fat, high protein and fiber. They also have lots of zinc and other good nutrients.
Usually we purchase hummus ready made at the grocery store, and usually I end up dipping low fat tortilla chips, pita chips, or pita slices in the hummus. 
In my quest to lose some weight and be healthier I've been changing my eating habits. Hummus is still good for me in terms of content, and as long as I remember everything in moderation. 
I've also decided to have less carbs and have switched the chips for carrots, snap peas, cucumber slices, etc. A pretty obvious move for most, but since I've never been a 'big dipper' it wasn't a logical leap for me. 
Recently, I had an avocado that needed to be used, but a strong urge for hummus. I made a compromise. Soon the avocado was smashed into the hummus. I set aside some for my husband and then I pulled out some veggies to dip. Avocados are also a high source of protein, and their fats are the healthy mono-unsaturated type. 
This weekend, while doing some work at home I got hungry and decided to actually make the hummus.
The following recipe is adapted from one I found online. It didn't call for tahini (sesame seed paste), which I really wanted to include. I also smashed in an avocado. I put a quarter of it into a small bowl, dipped some veggies, and put the rest in the fridge.  It is supposed to stay good in the fridge for up to 3 days, or can be frozen. We'll use it up sooner, because I'm not sure how long the avocado will last.
Ingredients:

• 1 can (15oz/540ml) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained 
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1½ Tbsp of Tahini
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 ripe avocado (optional)
• 1 - 2 Tbsp of water
• salt, pepper, and cumin to taste

Preparation:

Place all of the ingredients into a food processor. Mix it until it is creamy and smooth.

* I reserved some of the lemon juice and water, then added it according to taste and to thin out the paste.

* I also prefer cooked garlic, to raw, so I crushed the garlic and put it in a small dish with the olive oil. I microwaved it for about 30 seconds, to sweeten it up. Then I added it to the processor ingredients. 

You can also make hummus without the tahini. You use more olive oil. The recipe I found suggested 1/4 of a cup. That seems like a lot, to me, so I think I would probably add only a bit at a time until I get the texture I want.

Some recipes I've found also suggest that when serving humus you can dish it into a bowl and then make a small well in the middle of the hummus. In the well you put a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Then you can garnish it with parsley. I think I would just use the garnish and not add more oil, even if it is a healthy one.

As I mentioned above, most people dip pita chips or slices in their hummus. If you want to do that, you can warm your pita slices, first. 

Other options:

• Add a bit of cayenne pepper, finely chopped roasted or raw red pepper, or other spicy tasting roasted vegetables.

I recognize that hummus isn't the first thing people might choose when they are trying to lose weight, but it is healthy and a little bit goes a long way to filling you up. Hummus with avocado has double the protein and filling fiber.