Kale & Basil Pesto.

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I found this recipe in my Vitamix cookbook.  I was a bit suspect because I was worried that my girls would not like the flavor combination but I was totally wrong.  Vitamin-packed and rich in beta carotene, vitamin K and C, lutein and rich in calcium.  Still paired up with the traditional basil and I used walnuts instead of pine nuts.  The taste is unbelievably good and low in fat thanks to the broth.  Pair this up with whole wheat pasta or top chicken or fish and you are all set!

I prepared this in my Vitamix but a food processor works just as well.  I adapted this recipe from the original Vitamix recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of chicken broth
1/2 cup of light and fluffy grated parmesan (not packed)
5 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups of basil leaves
2 cups of kale, spine removed
3 tablespoons of walnuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper
Lemon juice

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients in the order as listed into your blender, Vitamix or food processor.  Blend until creamy and smooth.   Toss with fresh pasta or store in a tupperware container in the fridge.

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Honey White Whole Wheat Rolls.

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Adapted from A Pastry Affair.

I made some homemade soup today because everyone in my family has sore throats from allergies.  I thought the warm would be welcoming.  I needed to make a roll to go along with the soup and I stumbled up on these and knew I had to make them.  The dough is rising right now… dinner is shaping up!

Ingredients:

Yields 12 rolls.

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 cup of warm water
1/4 cup of raw honey
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
3 cups of King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour
1 tablespoon of butter

Directions:

In your stand mixer, with dough hook attached, add the water and sprinkle the yeast over top.  Let sit for 8 minutes.  If the yeast doesn’t get frothy, discard.  Once the sitting time is over, add the honey, salt and egg.  Combine until well blended.  Then add 1 cup of flour at a time until all 3 cups have been added.  Knead for 8-10 minutes.  Remove and add to a lightly oiled bowl and cover.  Store in a warm, draft-free location.  Let rise for 2 hours.

Punch dough down and divide into 12 equal portions.  Shape into balls and place on your baking sheet lined with a baking sheet or parchment.  Cover with a towel and let rise 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, melt your butter.  Brush over the rolls. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Almost Minestrone Soup.

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This soup started out with the best of intentions of being a Minestrone soup.  Well with my latest purchase of my Vitamix that has this awesome soup setting & fabulous cookbook… I thought I would try this.  Well it evolved into a crazy vegetable packed Minestrone soup.  Ha ha.  My goal was empty out my veggie bin before my trip to the farmer’s market tomorrow.  Pureed vegetables can’t be picked out by my youngest too… so a great OTHER benefit to this soup.  Adapted from a Vitamix recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
6 fresh tomatoes or roasted tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
3 carrots
1 onion
Ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/3 cup of fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 14 ounce can of chick peas
1 small zucchini
1 can of kidney beans, dark or light red
1/2 can (7-8 ounces) of yellow corn
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
2 cups of baby spinach leaves

Directions:

If you have a Vitamix add the broth, tomatoes, garlic, carrot, onion, pepper, oregano, basil, salt and tomato paste to the vessel and place the lid on.  Select variable speed 1 and proceed through 10.  If you have a unit that has the soup setting, I pureed for a few seconds and then turned that on and let it run through. If you have a blender, add all of the ingredients and puree.  Then add chickpeas, beans, zucchini, corn and cheese.  Pulse 2-4 times quickly.  Then add to a Dutch oven, add your spinach leaves and put on your stove set over a low flame and let it simmer for 1-6 hours.

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Chobani Spinach Kiwi Apple Smoothie.

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There is a sea of healthy green smoothies out there.  I do quite a few and love them all so much.  This one I just whipped up, attempting to clean out my vegetable bin before my weekly trip to the farmer’s market tomorrow.  This smoothie is so good and so necessary.  I’m fighting a losing battle against my allergies and needed a good vitamin c punch.  This was perfect for lunch.  Plus protein-packed, thanks to Chobani, so my muscles are thankful post workout.

Ingredients:

1 cup of vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup of vanilla Chobani
2 kiwis, peeled
10 green grapes
1 giant handful of baby spinach leaves
1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)
1 banana
10 ice cubes

Directions:

Place everything in your blender or Vitamix and blend until creamy.  Pour into glasses (makes 3-4 glasses) and top with a slice of fresh kiwi.

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Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies.

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I had to make my pumpkin oatmeal cookies with these Hershey Kiss Pumpkin Spice kisses.  One of those things just know in your heart.  Ha ha.  These cookies have more of a cake-like light texture.  This recipes makes a ton of cookies.  So delish and perfect with some hot apple cider on a chilly fall day.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (King Arthur’s)
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (King Arthur’s)
1 1/2 cups of oats
 1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter, room temperature
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flax seed meal
1 cup of pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of chocolate chips (optional)
1 bag of Hershey Pumpkin Pie Spice Kisses


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment or a baking mat.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, oats, soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a bowl.  In your stand mixer, paddle attached, blend butter and sugars.  Once fluffy, add the flax, pumpkin, egg and vanilla.  Beat well.  Then add the flour mixture to the stand mixer and blend.  By hand add the chocolate chips, if using.  Drop with a scoop onto your cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes.

While baking, remove the wrappers from the Kisses.  Once you remove the cookies from the oven, gently put the Kiss on top and push (lightly) down.  Let cool.  Serve.


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Candy Corn Marshmallow People.

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Aren’t these the cutest!  I whipped these up last fall in no time.  A must try :)

Ingredients:

1 bag of marshmallows
8 ounces of white chocolate
Yellow food coloring
Orange food coloring
Black gel icing tube

Directions:

In a double boiler, melt your chocolate.  Once completely melted, pour half into one bowl and half into another.  Add food coloring to one bowl and then the other color to the other bowl. Give a good stir so the dye is throughout.  Dip your marshmallow in the orange first about 1/3 of the way up and then set on some parchment paper.  Proceed throughout the marshmallows doing the orange.  Then repeat, only lower, with the yellow.  Set on parchment. Then do the eyes with the gel tube. Avoid putting too much of a dot for the eyes or they will drip.  Enjoy!

 

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Pumpkin Pie Roasted Almonds.

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If you follow my blog, you know I’m a pumpkin addict.  I start cooking with it the minute the kids go back to school and fall creeps into my psyche.  I love the warmth of the aroma and the taste is out of this world!  Funny enough, I don’t like pumpkin pie.  I can’t explain it but I whip up so many other great substitutions that I’m cool with it.

Super easy recipe…

Ingredients:

2 cups of raw almonds
3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice seasoning
4 tablespoons of organic agave or honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment or foil.

Into a bowl place your almonds.  Then add cinnamon, spice, agave or honey and vanilla.  Toss to coat each nut.  Spread the nuts evenly on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Let cool and serve.

 

 

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Chicken Jambalaya.

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Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of seafood but I love jambalaya.  I always have fun with this recipe, adding chicken, sausage or whatever I have on hand veggie-wise.  Tonight I made it with fresh chicken from the Amish farmer.  This is one of those great one pot dishes you make and let simmer on the stove until everyone is home for dinner.  Super easy, so tasty and the leftovers are perfect for lunch the next day.  Great fall weather meal.

 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1.5 lbs of chicken thighs (skin and bone removed)
1/2 cup of yellow onions, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 bell pepper (I used red), chopped
1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of chicken broth
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce
2 bay leaves
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and ground pepper
1 cup of brown rice

Directions:

To your hot skillet add the butter and olive oil.  Cook the chicken until juices run clean then add the onion, celery and pepper.  Sauté for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.  Add the tomatoes, broth, garlic, spices, Sriracha (hot pepper sauce), bay leaves and rice.  Bring it to a boil and then add the rice.  Cover and reduce the flame to low/simmer.  Cook for about 25 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Taste, adjust spices, remove the bay leaf and enjoy!

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Sweet Pumpkin Hummus.

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Hummus doesn’t always have to be savory.  I whipped this little dish up last fall, of course, pumpkin inspired, and I had to make it again.  I just love it!  My kids love it too with sliced apples.  In fact, I have it all ready for them when they get home from school.  Great snack and so healthy!  You have to give this one a whirl.

Ingredients:

1 -15oz can of chickpeas, drained and washed
1 heaping cup of pumpkin puree
1/4c nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew)
2 tbl canola oil
2 tbl maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Blend it all in your food processor until hummus consistency. Serve with apples, crackers, graham crackers, gingersnaps etc.

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Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese. {healthy}

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Let me preface this blog entry, I am NOT a fan of mac and cheese.  Never have been.  Plus my kids aren’t in love with it either.  So we harvested 3 butternut squashes today and I had to come up with something to do with them.  My girls aren’t in love with butternut squash soup so I wanted to do something different.  I began by roasting them.

First step:

Slice the squash in half and place on a cookie sheet (lined or unlined).  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh Rosemary.  Place in a preheated 425 degree oven for 60-70 minutes or until fork tender.  Remove and let cool completely.

Second step… well what to do with these lovely roasted squashes now?  I thought I would puree them into a sauce.  For what?  I still had no idea.  So I removed the skin and tossed the flesh into my blender.  I added 1/2 cup of non fat, plain Chobani.  Too thick for my blender!  Ha!  I needed liquid.  I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth (veggie broth would work as well).  Still, too thick!  I added 1 cup of white wine.  Yes… I did!  Then I added some additional Rosemary.  4 garlic cloves.  Shaved some asiago cheese (1/2 cup).  Salt and pepper.  It still seemed really thick.  I poured it into a stock pot and heated it up.  I added additional broth and kept stirring.  It was so creamy and delicious.

Okay so now what???  Ha ha.  Sorry but this is my thought process.
Step three!  Pasta!  I cooked up some tri-colored pasta.  Took a ladle full of the pasta water and added it to the sauce.  Drained the pasta and then combined the two.  Seemed to be reminiscent of a mac n cheese but so much better for you and totally fabulous!  I spooned the mixture into a pretty new baking dish and decided it needed a topping!

Step 4:  To a mixing bowl I added 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of melted butter.  Give it a good toss to coat and sprinkle on to of the pasta mixture.  Broil, on low, for about 1 minute.  Keep an eye on this because it will burn fast!  Then serve!

This dish was very well-received.  Everyone gobbled it down, having NO idea what it was :)  Ha ha.

Sorry for the babbling and the non-typical writing style for a recipe but that’s how I rolled through this one.  You can certainly add, delete by preference.  Enjoy!

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