Healthy Fall Salad and Delicious Souffle

Wilted Spinach with Fall Fruit Compote and Chicken

This is a great recipe for just 2 people.  It is best made with leftovers.  It just makes preparation so much faster!

Here are my leftovers:

1 chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic cut into chunks 
(I usually cook several chicken breasts at once and have them on hand for quick meals) I cook my chicken breasts in a grill pan but you could do them in a regular pan, on an actual grill or on a George Foreman...whatever floats your boat!

Compote (this was leftover from a stuffed porkloin I made earlier in the week...these measurements are my assumption of what was used in this salad...triple this recipe to stuff a porkloin- it will be one of the best things you've eaten)

1/8 c. raisins

1/8 c. dried cranberries

1/8 c. chopped walnuts/walnut pieces

1/2 apple diced

1/2 small yellow onion diced

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

chicken broth

I start with the onions and apples and saute them in a scant amount of olive oil (or butter) until they are softened I then add about 3 tablespoons of chicken broth and let it reduce.  I add raisins, cranberries and nuts last.  Once browned I add another splash of chicken broth and let it reduce again.  Add chicken in at the end just to warm it up.

Fresh additions:

6-8c. fresh spinach

In the same pan, throw in spinach tossing to coat in compote mixture.  Let sit 3 minutes then remove from heat, tossing again and let it sit as it wilts

Butternut Squash Souffle!!

This recipe is a great alternative to sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. WAY fewer calories in this one!

Ingredients and Directions:

1 butternut cooked squash- there are many ways to go about cooking this. I put mine in a 400 degree oven for 30 45 minutes.  It was very easy to cut it, remove the seeds and goo and then scoop it away from the skin.

3T butter (or butter substitute)

1/3c. higher fat milk (easily made dairy free with almond milk)

1/3c. sugar (this was 2/3 less than the recommended amount in the recipe.  I think you could even omit sugar altogether)

1 1/2t. salt

1/2-1t cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 1/2t. fresh ground black pepper

4 eggs at room temp

Put all ingredients except eggs in the blender and puree to an even consistency, add eggs altogether but just pulse the blender to blend eggs into mixture.  DO NOT OVER BLEND!

Pour mixture into a souffle dish or casserole and bake for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 325.

SO DELICIOUS

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Fall Pureed Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 large butternut squash
1 medium yellow onion
2 large carrots
1 medium sweet potato
salt and pepper to taste
3T butter (or butter substitute)
3T minced garlic
1/4tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 bay leaf
2-3 cans chicken broth
1-2 c. fresh spinach
chopped walnuts for garnish

Instructions:
1. prepare veggies by peeling the butternut squash (with a vegetable peeler- I just learned how much easier this is than removing the skin with a knife) then roughly dicing the other vegetables so that they will cook evenly.  Don't worry about cubing perfectly, you're going to puree it later!  Leave the skin on the carrots and sweet potato.  It's easier and I think it adds nutrients.

2. spread the veggies on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

3. sautee garlic and butter until bubbling then add the spices and herbs

4. transfer veggies from pan to soup pot with the garlic, butter and spices and coat veggies.

5. add 1 can chicken broth and allow to reduce

6. add spinach then another can of chicken broth, cover and bring to a boil.

7. puree soup with an immersion blender and add additional chicken broth until the soup comes to your desired consistency.

(I have no picture here because I burned myself trying to take it. My left limb is beginning to look horrible- burn + bandaged finger)

8. serve with chopped walnuts and cracked black pepper as garnish.  I also added some garlic bread (gluten free of course)

Here's my garlic bread recipe:

This is a great alternative to your typical garlic bread.  It has much fewer calories and it takes no effort.

sandwich bread (or you can use something fancy if you have it)
olive oil
garlic powder
salt and pepper

1. set oven to broiler setting
2. place bread on pan and lightly drizzle with olive oil- I make a zig-zag on each piece of bread
3. sprinkle salt (I use sea salt) and crack pepper over the top then dust with garlic powder (if you use garlic salt omit the added salt from the recipe)
4. put in the oven until browned each broiler varies in intensity, but it won't take long so watch it carefully.

Your toast will be crispy on the top and soft on the bottom- it is SO good (and ridiculously easy)!

Disclaimer: I used Instagram to alter my photos a bit.  The soup is not a pretty color like in the photos...the spinach gives it a pea green color...It still tastes really good, but if the color is too much for you, just omit the spinach from the recipe!

Crazy-Good Cookies ( You could maybe call them healthy)!

I don't have a picture of these because we gobbled them up too quickly.  I'll have to say this is a supreme creation (I am patting myself on the back right now). You can try to tell yourself that these cookies are healthy (and they're healthier than your average cookie) but let's get real- they're just good, not healthy.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. softened butter or butter substitute (I use Earth Balance for dairy free)
2/3c. white sugar
2/3c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour (use brown rice flour for gluten free)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. granola (I usually use Bare Naked but now I use Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus- unlike the name implies, it does not taste like pumpkin, it just has pumpkin seeds.  I do not recommend this if you have a strong gluten allergy because it has a disclaimer that it has been made in the same factory as products containing wheat.  If you just have an intolerance for gluten, you should be fine.)
1/2 c. raisins (or 1 c. if you choose not to use craisins)
1/2 c. craisins
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions
1. preheat oven to 375
2. cream butter and sugars until well combined (maybe up to 10 minutes if you're feeling patient).
3. add in eggs and vanilla
4. in a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder
5. add flour mixture to wet ingredients until well combined
6. turn mixer to low setting to add oats, granola, raisins, craisins, chocolate chips and nuts

drop tablespoon (ish) sized cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

You're going to love these things!

Late Summer/Early Fall Dinner

So, we've been working on this special diet for about 3 weeks and it seems to be doing the trick for Russell We're going to keep at it and hopefully decrease the need for meds!  I'm going to try to get better at posting my recipes that get the thumbs up from both Russell and me.

As always, I'm terrible at measuring so my measurements are usually approximate.

More recipes to come but I'll start you off with these two!

Curried Butternut Squash and Chickpeas with Jasmine Rice and Asparagus

Why this rocks: packed with vitamins and protein and low in calories, this meal is filling and well-rounded.  It's Indian-inspired flavor is exciting and is an easy step away from your nightly "no-brainer"

Ingredients:
1/2 lg. butternut squash
1/2 yellow onion
1 pkg Tasty Bite seasoned Chickpeas (these are already seasoned they are so yummy)
1-2 lg carrots
1T garlic
pinch of salt
1tsp yellow curry spice blend
1/2 can chicken broth
1 c. Jasmine rice
asparagus (however much you think you can eat...this replaces the salad part of your meal)

Instructions:
1. follow instructions to prepare the jasmine rice (I love this rice because it's very light and fluffy and takes half the time to cook as regular rice)
2. chop carrots, butternut squash and onion into bite sized pieces and saute with garlic, when it begins to soften add salt and curry spice blend
3. add chickpeas and stir together with chicken broth.  add chicken broth in small batches so that it doesn't make the food soggy
4. while butternut squash mixture is cooking, prepare asparagus by trimming the ends LIGHTLY coating with olive oil, salt and pepper and putting into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes
5. serve dish as pictured, yields 4 servings.

Note: We discovered half-way into dinner that the curry has red pepper in it.  Russell's diet says no pepper flesh.  Keep this in mind if you're supposed to steer clear of peppers.

Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon and Honey

So simple and so delish!!

Why this rocks: This dessert is super easy to prepare and you can put in on to cook right before you sit down for dinner.  It's warm and satisfying- like cobbler without the added sugar and calories!  Not to mention the vitamins you get from the peaches and when you use local honey you're going green and possibly building up your immunity to seasonal allergies!

Ingredients:

1 peach per person halved, peeled and pitted

cinnamon
honey

Instructions:
1. Heat your grill or grill pan to a medium- medium high heat
2. sprinkle the flat side of each peach half with cinnamon
3. place peaches flat side down onto the grill pan.  Do not move them around or flip them or they won't have pretty grill marks.
4. Cook for approximately 10 minutes.
5. Remove peaches from the heat and lightly drizzle with honey.
This dessert can be eaten alone or with ice cream or sorbet.  I thought raspberry sorbet would be a great accent!

Yum!  Eat up :)

...and that's all!

Gluten Free Dairy Free "Ice Cream" Cake

Russell turned 29 this week, or as our friends Peter and Katelyn call it "30 minus 1".  I always make Russell an ice cream cake for his birthday but this year I had to be  a little more creative.  Russell is on a new diet that we are trying in lieu of meds that were prescribed to him that came along with some pretty undesirable side effects. The point is to try to keep his digestive tract working efficiently and limit the number of foreign bacteria in his body.

So here's the diet: no gluten, no dairy, no shellfish, limit red meat and pork, no tomatoes, no peppers, no eggplant, no potatoes, limit eggs, limit chocolate.

"Yipes" you say.  "Yipes" is right, but we're making it work and I plan to blog about my recipe creations throughout this diet trial.

Off I went to Target to get inspiration for this birthday cake experiment...

At target I found a decent selection of gluten free, dairy free products which I was really excited about!  I brought home Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix, Haagen Daaz Peach Orchard Sorbet, and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter butter substitute (which I'll have to say, I'm really sad about using fake butter...so not healthy).

I created a vanilla cake with peach sorbet filling frosted with caramel butter cream.

Here's the cake story in pictures:

All of the alternative ingredient options- I'll say one thing: this diet is expensive!

The cake mix gives three options: basic, light and fluffy, and dense.  I went with light and fluffy which I recommend, I can't imagine the texture of the other two options but the light and fluffy seemed like a normal cake.  I baked the cake in 2 greased 8" rounds with parchment paper lining the bottom.

Time for the frosting!  In a medium saucepan melt 1 stick of butter with 1/2c. (ish) of brown sugar, 1tsp cinnamon, 1tsp vanilla and 2 cranks of sea salt.  Stir throughout while cooking over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved.  In your mixer, add room temperature butter (or fake butter) with 1-2tsp vanilla and 1 c. powdered sugar start mixer on low setting and increase to med-high setting.  Be patient, it looks like the butter and sugar will never come together but it will. Once it begins to form butter cream substance, continue adding powdered sugar in 1/3c. intervals until it forms a stiff paste kind of like fresh playdoh.  You want this mixture to be stiff because you're going to add in the caramel sauce next.  Make sure you cool your caramel mixture to room temperature before adding it into the butter cream.  If you pour it in warm, it will melt the butter in the frosting and pretty much ruin it.  Slowly add in caramel mixture.  If frosting becomes too thin, add more powdered sugar.  Sorry for my lack of a perfect formula.

Once cakes are done, remove them from their pans and let them cool on a baking rack.  Once they have cooled, layer them into a spring form pan.  The smallest spring form pan I have is a 9" but I didn't want to make a cake that size so I made 8" cakes, cut them down to 6" cakes by using a bowl for a stencil and used the leftovers to make my spring form pan smaller.  Once I put in the leftovers, I put plastic wrap in to form a barrier then began layering my cakes.  I used about 1 1/2 pints of sorbet for the filling and then topped it with the remaining cake round.  After all of that, I covered it with parchment paper to prevent sticking in the following step.

Now it's time for the cake to set.  I placed a dinner plate over the top of the cake to weight it down and then put frozen fruit bags on top of that (mostly because I didn't have another place to put it).  You should probably let it set for about 2 hours but I didn't have that long so I let it set for 40 minutes. 

To remove the cake from the pan, I just lifted mine out with the plastic wrap that I placed in before.  If your cake is actually the size of the spring form pan, just release the spring and slide the cake out of the pan.  I placed the cake on a cold glass serving plate to prevent melting.

Since I didn't have time for my cake to set as long as it should've in the freezer, there was a little bit of sliding while I frosted it as you can see from this picture...oops!

Here's the finished product! It's actually pretty and trendy with it's neutral color combination :)

I'll have to say for a non-dairy, non-gluten, non-chocolate cake, this was pretty darn good!