Veggie Flatbread

I made this veggie flatbread appetizer for a super bowl party. It was the hit of the party and the first thing gone. Someone asked me for the recipe and there isn't a recipe per se, but here's what I did.

Three Wheat Pitas
-Glaze
Olive Oil
Garlic, minced
Dried Rosemary
-Toppings
Pinenut Hummus (or any hummus)
Klamata Oilves
Feta Cheese, crumbled
Fresh Basil, chopped
Marinated Artichoke hearts, chopped
Sundried Tomatoes, chopped
-Finishing Toppings
Parmessan cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper to taste
Balsamic Vinegar

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary and garlic. Heat in the microwave for thrity seconds, stir and set aside. Brush pita bread on both sides with oil mixture. Bake in a preheated oven for 6 to 7 minutes (I placed mine directly on the racks). Remove from oven, spread a thin layer of hummus on top side of pita. Spinkle with the remaining ingredients. Top with cheese and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Put back in oven and bake an additional 7 to 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to melt. Remove from oven, cut into wedges and serve.

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Turkey and Wild Rice

I love these stuffed pepper! It's a great and tasty way to use a package of lean ground turkey. Anything stuffed into a bell pepper is just good. My favorite bell peppers are the orange ones. I like the subtle sweet flavor they have once they're baked. If you want to make this recipe super healthy, just leave out the cheese. Either way, this a great meal for any night of the week.

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Turkey and Wild Rice

1 box brown and wild rice mix, cooked with herb packet

6 large bell peppers

   Tomato sauce - enough to cover the bottom of a casserole dish

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cup chopped onion 

1/2 bell pepper, diced

1 lb 93% lean ground turkey

3 garlic cloves

7 mushrooms, finely diced

   Pinch crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon oregano 

1 teaspoon basil

1 can diced tomatoes 

   Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 cup Parmesan

   Shredded mozzarella for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Blanch for 3 minutes. Pat dry and place in a casserole dish - the bottom of the dish should be covered with a thin layer of tomato sauce.

In a pan, add olive oil and saute the onions and 1/2 chopped bell pepper until soft (5-7 minutes). Add minced garlic and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add the ground turkey and spices and cook until the turkey is no longer pink.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked ground turkey, cooked wild rice, diced tomatoes and Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Scoop mixture into each bell pepper half. Top with a scoop of tomato sauce and grated mozzarella cheese.

Bake, loosely covered, for 30 minutes. 

Valentine's Breakfast

My family and I enjoyed a relaxing day in for valentine's. We started the morning off by cooking a healthy breakfast together. We put on classical music and whisked up some whole wheat, honey and oat pancakes and scrambled some eggs.

My husband happened upon this Kodiak Cakes Flapjack and Waffle Mix at the grocery store. My favorite part about the healthy mix is the simple ingredient list and the fact that you only have to add water to make them.

We thought some ground cinnamon, applesauce and a splash of vanilla would be a tasty addition to the mix and it was! This Santa Cruz applesauce is really good. 

These turned out amazing! Very fluffy, moist and a really great hearty flavor. The applesauce on top was an experiment, since we weren't using butter or syrup and it was really good, honest. 

These pancakes were healthy, tasty and better than any sugar laden ones fried in butter you would get at a restaurant. The topping of applesauce and fruit was a delicious substitute for butter and syrup. We bought two boxes of pancake mix and a package of applesauce and we will be making these again very soon.

Whole Wheat, Oat and Honey Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Kodiak Cakes flapjack and waffle mix

1 cup water

1 container applesauce

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk ingredients until just incorporated. Follow directions for cooking on back of flapjack mix package. Top with a dollop of warm applesauce and fresh fruit. Enjoy

Couscous Salad

I haven't cooked with couscous before, so I thought I would give it a try tonight. This couscous salad was delicious! Garlic, scallions, and red peppers are lightly sauteed then mixed with cooked couscous, tomatoes and fresh basil. The salad gets a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and then a quick bake in the oven. Once it's removed, you top it with fresh parmesan cheese and then dig in. All my family loved this and we polished off the entire dish.

Picture: Gourmantine

Couscous Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup couscous
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 dash balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Stir couscous into boiling water and return water to a boil. Cover and remove pot from heat. Let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
3. While the couscous is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic, green onions and peppers; saute briefly. Stir in tomatoes, basil, cooked couscous, salt and pepper. Mix together and transfer to a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Splash some balsamic vinegar on top.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese while still warm.

Recipe Source: Allrecipes.com

Weeknight Dinner

My husband and I have been cooking dinner together at home every night for the last couple of weeks and it has been great! We try and use all the fresh fruits and vegetables we have on hand to create healthy and tasty meals that we can enjoy with our little girls. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here's what we cooked up tonight:

Sweet Potato Fries

Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry

Baked Chicken over Root Vegetables

Here's how we did it...

We sliced up one white onion, one orange bell pepper, one jalapeno and added in some fresh cloves of garlic. We tossed all the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, Italian seasoning, and thyme. Then the vegetables were laid in a rimmed baking sheet.

We topped the vegetables with uncooked, seasoned chicken breast and baked it in the oven at 415 degrees for about 40 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through and stirring around the vegetables. Make sure the vegetables are tucked under the chicken so the edges don't burn.

We also made sweet potato fries (well, actually yams, but yam fries sounds funny). Anyway, we peeled the yams...

cut them into fry-size pieces and...

tossed them with olive oil, garlic powder, a pinch of salt, cinnamon and a small sprinkling of brown sugar. I also like to add a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat if the kids aren't eating them. All the seasonings work really well together and you get a nice balance of sweet and savory. We bake the fries in the oven along with the chicken.

We also had some eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms on hand, so we chopped them up, seasoned them and gave them a quick toss in the wok.

** Here are all the dishes out of the oven **

Veggie Stir-Fry

Baked Chicken with Root Vegetables

And Yam Sweet Potato Fries.

Everything was fresh, healthy and delicious. We usually have the above ingredients on hand, so we do different variations each evening. I love using up all of our fresh fruits and vegetables and it's a tasty and easy way to eat healthy!

Veggie Flatbread with Pine nut Hummus

This is the appetizer I created for the super bowl party we attended. I wanted to make something healthy, but also tasty enough to hold it's own amongst the wings and party dips. I think this finger-friendly and figure-friendly appetizer did just that.

I made a concoction of olive oil, rosemary, minced garlic, salt and pepper. I briefly heated this in a small bowl in the microwave (I know that sounds strange, but a friend of ours from SD and her family never use butter when they eat bread. They always heat olive oil, garlic and salt in the microwave and then spread that on the bread. Sounded good to me). So, I brushed both sides of the pita with the garlic oil and baked it at 400 degrees directly on the racks for about 5 or 6 minutes. 

Out of the oven, I spread a thin layer of pine nut hummus on one side and topped it with caramelized red onions. I started the onions first, so they would be ready when the pita came out of the oven.

Next, I layered on all the yummy ingredients that sounded good to me. Marinated artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, feta and parmesan cheese. Then I drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled a pinch of flaked sea salt on top. 

This went back into the oven for a few more minutes until the cheeses started to melt and all the veggies and herbs warmed up and were nice and fragrant.

My 10 month old was just finishing a nap, so I sent the appetizer with my husband while I got her up and ready. I made three veggie flatbreads and when I got to the party, they were gone. Everyone loved them and asked for the recipe. Play around with the toppings and add anything you want. On one of the flatbreads I left off the cheese, but with all the flavors it wasn't missed!