Peanut Butter and Sautéed Banana Oatmeal

Oh, my. I’d love to say I made this to get my Omega 3s, protein, fiber and potassium in. Nope, I did it just because these flavors are so great together!

Ingredients:

4 cups water

1 cup steel cut oats

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

2 teaspoons toasted wheat germ

½ cup fat free half and half (or low fat milk)

2 Tablespoons maple syrup, divided

2 Tablespoons peanut butter (or almond butter, whatever you prefer)

¼ cup skim milk

2 teaspoons light margarine

2 seriously ripe bananas

1 Tablespoon packed brown sugar

Directions: Heat the water to a rolling boil. Add in the oats, flax seed and wheat germ and stir. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the half and half along with 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup. Continue cooking and stirring for 15 minutes.

While the oats are cooking, add the margarine to a small skillet and bring to medium heat. Add in the sliced bananas and brown sugar. Cook until the bananas are slightly caramelized and brown. Reduce to a warm setting on your stove.

When the oats have simmered for a total of 30 minutes, add in the peanut butter and skim milk and stir well. Scoop into bowls and top with a spoonful of bananas. Drizzle with the remaining Tablespoon of maple syrup.

Beef and Fresh Vegetable Burgers

I needed some good old fashioned comfort food today. However, I do love to throw lots of veggies into food, and that makes for very juicy burgers!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup Swiss chard, leaves and stems, chopped

1 cup chopped mushrooms (I used button and shitake because they were both on sale)

½ cup yellow onion

½ cup yellow squash

1 cup bell peppers (green and yellow and orange)

1 pound lean ground beef

Salt and pepper to taste

5 slices cheddar cheese

5 Tablespoons tomato relish

Directions: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add all the vegetables and sauté over medium heat for 12 minutes or until the liquid from the veggies is absorbed back in and the onions start to brown. Remove the veggies to a medium mixing bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Add in the ground beef, salt and pepper to taste and form into 5 patties. Really, using your hands is the best thing to mix the beef and veggies together. Cook (2-3 burgers at a time so as not to crowd the pan) in the same skillet used for the veggies for 4-6 minutes per side on medium heat.  Top with one slice of cheese per burger and one Tablespoon of relish.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Relish Sandwiches

I love a sandwich! I especially love this one with extra sharp cheddar and a tangy, slightly sweet relish.

Ingredients for two sandwiches:

4 slices whole grain bread

4 teaspoons light butter or margarine, divided

4 (1/4 inch thick) slices extra sharp cheddar cheese

2 Tablespoons tomato relish

Directions: Spread one side of each of the bread slices with one teaspoon of light butter. Lay the cheddar on the unbuttered sides of two bread slices. To the other two unbuttered sides, spread one Tablespoon relish each. Sandwich one cheese and one relish slice together and cook over medium heat in a skillet about 5-6 minutes until brown on the first side. Flip and cook for another 5-6 minutes until the cheese is melting and the bread is browned. Cut each sandwich in half and devour with glory.

Tomato Relish

I made this to put on grilled cheese sandwiches, but it would be wonderful on any sandwich or even to top a meatloaf. It could also make some mighty fine sloppy joes! Don't even get me started on dunking tortilla chips in it.

Ingredients:

1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1 Roma tomato, chopped

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon mustard seed

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of allspice

Pinch of ground ginger

Pinch of ground chipotle pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients and bring to a full, rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer (low or medium-low heat) and simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours or until very thick. Stir the mixture often.  Let cool and store in covered containers in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Get creative on me: Adjust the spices to whatever you like. Or maybe add in a chopped jalapeno for more heat. You could also change out half of the green pepper for red, yellow or orange bell peppers.

16 Vegetable Soup with Parmesan Toasts

The players

The result

My idea here was to take as many vegetables as I can cram into a soup pot, but do three layers of flavor with the vegetables. I love that this soup goes from the richness of roasted vegetables to the goodness of slow cooked veggies to the pop of fresh veggies at the end. This is a totally free-form soup, so use whatever vegetables you want in the amounts that you choose.

Ingredients:

Soup:

3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 cloves of garlic

2 small yellow onions, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

1 turnip, peeled and diced

2 parsnips, peeled and diced

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 cups (2 medium) zucchini, sliced

2 cups (1 large) yellow squash, peeled and sliced

2 cups of peeled, diced eggplant

½ bunch (about 2 cups) Swiss chard (stems and leaves kept separate), chopped

1 bell pepper (any color), deseeded and diced

4 roma tomatoes, diced

1 radish, diced

¼ cup watercress, leaves only, chopped

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped, with stems and leaves separated

3 cups vegetable broth

1 (15 ounce) can white beans, rinsed and drained

Salt and pepper to taste

Herbs to taste (I’m using a few teaspoons of Penzey’s Fox Point Seasoning)

1 teaspoon browning sauce ((aka Kitchen Bouquet)

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

For the Parmesan Toasts:

4 (1/2 inch thick) slices of Italian bread

1 Tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

The roasted vegetables:  The easiest way to do this is to lay out squares of wax paper and chop all your veggies onto the squares (one square for each veg) and have two bowls ready-one for the slow roasted veggies and one for garnish ingredients.

Between two baking sheets, add 3 cloves unpeeled garlic, 1/2 of the diced onions, ½ of the celery, ½ of the carrots, all of the turnip, all of the parsnips, ½ of the mushrooms, ½ of the zucchini, ½ of the yellow squash, ½ of the eggplant, the stems of the Swiss chard, ½ of the bell pepper, and ¾ of the tomatoes. Coat with 2 Tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from the oven, squeeze the garlic from the skins and put all the roasted vegetables and the resulting liquid in a Dutch oven.

The slow cooked vegetables: To the Dutch oven, add the remaining garlic clove, peeled and minced. Reserve a bit of onion, zucchini, bell pepper and tomato for the garnish and add all the rest to the Dutch oven. Add in the broth, beans, salt, pepper, browning sauce and herbs. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Let cook for 1 ½ hours.

The fresh vegetable garnish: Meanwhile, prepare the garnish by combining the leftover onion, zucchini, bell pepper, tomato, watercress, parsley, 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and set aside.

For the parmesan toasts: Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil Sprinkle each slice with parmesan and bake for 10 minutes.

To serve: Ladle the soup into bowls, top with a parmesan toast and a spoon of the garnish.

                                                      

Cheddar-Ale Soufflé

I’m not taking anything very seriously today, so if you are a hard core soufflé maker, this may not be your best bet. However, if you have a cup of leftover Cheddar-Ale Fondue, this might just be the ticket.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil cooking spray

2 Tablespoons plain dry breadcrumbs

1 cup leftover Cheddar-Ale Fondue

3 egg whites

Pinch of cream of tartar

Pinch of Salt

1 Tablespoon imitation bacon bits if you are in the mood

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two or three (10 ounce) ramekins with cooking spray and dump the breadcrumbs in the first one. Swirl the breadcrumbs around until the ramekin is coated, then dump the leftover breadcrumbs into the second ramekin, swirl to coat and then dump the remaining crumbs into the third ramekin. Shake out and discard any excess breadcrumbs. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet. I used three ramekins and realized after cooking I could’ve gotten by with two.

Heat the Cheddar-Ale Fondue in the microwave until just warm. Add to a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer (stand or hand held) beat the egg whites slowly until broken and then whip on low. Add the cream of tartar and salt and beat on high until you have stiff peaks. Using 1/3 of the egg whites at a time, fold the egg whites into the fondue. Add the bacon bits and fill each ramekin about one-half to two-thirds full. Bake for 25 minutes and voila! Soufflé!

Tempura Tuna Bites

This may look like a lot of work, but it really isn’t—it’s just a matter of combining ingredients and getting them ready to go. I did the whole recipe from start to finish in about 35 minutes and I dawdle.

Ingredients:

For the marinade/dipping sauce:

¾ cup low sodium soy sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

2 drops sesame oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

2 green onions, finely sliced

Pinch of sugar

¼ cup water (optional)

Tempura:

1 pound fresh, good quality tuna, cut into ½ to 1 inch cubes (this will not yield rare tuna but bigger pieces mean you might have more pink in the middle. Plan on medium well-done tuna here)

½ cup cornstarch

2 cups canola oil

1 cup very cold seltzer water

1 cup flour (rice if you have it, all-purpose if you don’t)

Pinch of baking soda

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions: Make the marinade/dipping sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl or glass measuring cup. Place the tuna cubes in a wide, shallow bowl and pour half the marinade over it and set it aside for about 10 minutes. Reserve the other half of the marinade for the dipping sauce. (Note: you can make the marinade/dipping sauce well in advance)

Place the cornstarch in another wide, shallow bowl and set aside. Set out a baking sheet lined with paper towels and place a cooling rack on top of it. This is your tempura landing pad. Place it next to the stove, careful not to get too near the hot oil.

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow skillet and heat on medium to medium high heat. While the oil is heating, drain the tuna and dry on paper towels. Toss into the cornstarch and shake off excess.

Make the tempura batter at the last minute by combining the seltzer water, flour, baking soda and sesame seeds together. Stir until it just combines (a few lumps are ok). The oil is hot enough when it shimmers, but does not smoke. You can test the heat of the oil by putting in a ‘sample tuna cube’  and seeing if it browns nicely over a few minutes—you can also check for doneness by doing this and adjust the next cubes to be more rare or well done, as you like. You can also check the oil by sticking a chopstick/skewer in it—if bubbles rise around the wooden stake, the oil is good to go.

Working in batches so you don’t overcrowd the skillet, dip the tuna cubes into the batter and shake off excess. Place in the hot oil and cook until golden on one side, then flip using tongs or chopsticks, about 2-3 minutes per side. Once the other side turns golden, remove to the rack. Repeat until all the tuna is cooked. Serve with dipping sauce.

Get creative on me: Why stop at tuna? I had some extra batter, so I threw in some green onions. I’m also going to do another batch here with all vegetables soon.