leanKitchen » herbs

Pesto Pizza Party Bites

leanKitchen — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:28:48 +0000

So, remember the other day when I had too much time and too much zucchini, and I ended up making muffins? Well, I had another one of those “episodes” tonight, and ended up making these:

Yum, right!?

So first, I pre-heated the oven to 375, and made the Rosemary Chive Flourless Pizza Dough.

Rosemary Chive Flourless Pizza Dough: 2-1/2 cups of shredded summer squash and zucchini (mixed, I shredded them together-you can use both, or just one or the other), put it in a mesh strainer, and pushed each drop of water out. I’m not kidding- I pushed with my fist like this:
..and when there wasn’t a DROP of water coming out anymore, I took paper towels, and wrapped the zuke shreds in them, then squeezed like Ben does in this video.
Let me reiterate: no moisture allowed!
Next, add a cup of shredded cheese (I used shredded cheddar), 2 eggs, and about 1-1/2 tbsp of fresh snipped chives and rosemary from my garden, plus some fresh cracked black pepper. When that’s done, spray a pan (with sides) very well with non-stick spray, and put a thin layer of the squash mixture down, bake till crisp with browned edges, take out of the oven and top with desired toppings, put it back in the oven till cheese and toppings are to your desired “doneness” (for me, bubbly browned cheese), and enjoy a yummy, flourless pizza crust

Now, what I did was take my mini muffin pan, sprayed it very well with non-stick spray, and put a thin layer of the mixture into each cup, pressing it to the bottom of the cups.

Next, I baked in the oven till the sides were crisp and browned, like this:

I then topped with 1 slice of black olive, 1 dollop of prepared pesto, and cheese. I re-baked in the oven till they were bubbly, took them out, let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes (they are going to be HOT so be CAREFUL!), then they easily pop right out. I topped after with a diced red pepper, and WOW are these things DELICOUS!

Perfect party bites, cute, and delicious!

Top with shredded chicken, or shrimp for a completely supportive treat!

Peach Mint Salad

leanKitchen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:21:58 +0000

Part of why I love summertime so much, is the CONSTANT variety. Right now, in my garden, arugula is running rampant! I harvested some of that, some fresh dill, chives, sage, rosemary, and another green and red leafy head of lettuce. Once I’d brought them inside, I rinsed well (to get the dirt and bugs out), and let that sit on a paper towel with another on top, weighed down with a bowl, to really get all the water out).

Then, I peeled and diced a cucumber and, seeing a leftover peach from the kids snack, cubed that up as well. When I was rinsing off the peach in the sink, though, I saw what really put this salad together- my spearmint plant I’d just watered. I pulled off several leaves, and threw that in the salad as well. I put it all together, took out some cooked (and seasoned with Old Bay) haddock, draped atop, and VOILA! Take a look:

And again:

The kids LOVED the peaches inside. They thought it was so delicious!

Kid approved, supportive, delicious, healthful. I scored a perfect 4 out of 4! Yay!

(Kid number 1 preferred peanuts)

(While number 2 prefered ham…..to be one, that is)

Jazzed up fruit salad

leanKitchen — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:30:23 +0000

The other day I had zero time to get ready for a meeting that I’d promised refreshments at. Given that I am “Miss leanKitchen” herself, people come expecting a treat! Alas, Miss leanKitchen stretches herself too thin sometimes, too, so I had to cut a few corners.

So I called my local supermarket, and ordered a fresh fruit salad. TIP: Ask for specific fruit. That way, you know they’re cutting it up just for you! Fresh watermelon and pineapple are always a hit, plus a mix of berries, as well as kiwi’s, grapes, honeydew, and peeled orange segments were in the order that I placed. Cheap, less than $5 a pound, and if you think about the cost of just a clamshell container of blueberries, getting a couple of pounds of fruit salad (and having someone else wash, peel, chop, cut up, etc. the fruit) to me, is a bargain!

How to jazz it up: I CONSTANTLY get people asking me how I got my fruit salad to taste “like that.” It’s tangy, fresh, cleaner, more flavorful than other fruit salads. I’ll give you my little secret- it tastes “like that” due to squeezing the juice of one fresh lime, and sprinkling with chopped mint (I use spearmint from my window herb garden).

VOILA! Jazzed up fruit salad!!

Fruit Salad with mint and lime

Yellow Garlic Smashed Fauxtatoes

leanKitchen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:00:12 +0000

These are a SUPER simple, super speedy compliment to any meat dish; particularly steak (like my Peppered Steak with Portobello’s, or this Garlic Butter Steak and Shrimp).

First, rinse a head of cauliflower (I used this nice yellow head that I found at my Supermarket), and cut it up into large chunks, with three whole peeled cloves of garlic (here’s a tip on how to peel them easily).

Cauliflower

Put into a microwave safe dish with a little water for 8 minutes or so (till soft), or steam them in a small amount of water on the stove. Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, and puree them with an immersion blender till smooth. Cut some fresh Italian Parsley atop for color, and enjoy!!!

: Yellow Garlic Mashed Fauxtatoes

These would also be awesome served atop my Shepard’s Pie!

Quick Caprese

leanKitchen — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:45:14 +0000

Traditional Caprese is slices of tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella, served with basil and olive oil. Some twist it by putting balsamic on as well. The other night, I saw some fresh basil that looked great on sale, so I picked some up. The tomatoes, however, were looking sub-par, so I twisted it up a bit.

Here’s what I did.

First, I took the basil, and did my favorite herb-trick; I refer to it as, “put herbs in a cup, insert scissors, and go to town!” : )

Scissors, getting ready to "go to town

Herbs, after "going to town"

I took a nice ball of fresh mozzarella, cut it up into bite sized chunks, and a medium container of well-rinsed, small cherry tomatoes (as I said, the tomatoes at the grocery store were treacherous), and put it all in a bowl. I drizzled with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper to taste, and enjoyed! Here’s the final product:

Quick Caprese

Super delicious, super speedy, super amazing!!!

(If you have little ones, remember to cut the cherry tomatoes! I’m a little bit [ok a lot!] of a “fraidy cat” when it comes to “choking hazards,” like grapes and cherry tomatoes, so I feel it’s my duty to say that ;- )

Sunny Sundried Tomato Pesto

leanKitchen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:54:39 +0000

In celebration of our sunny weather, I made some sunshine tomato pesto!!

……Alright, that was a lie.

Really, this recipe was a fluke, but a wonderful one! See what happened was, last night when making dinner, I thought I had a MUCH bigger container of basil than I really did. I realized when I was cleaning my basil that I didn’t, in fact, have anywhere near enough. So, I pulled out my thinking cap, and here’s what I did:

I took my 2 oz clamshell container of basil (rinsed, then stripped the leaves from the stems), ¼ c. of pine nuts, 1 clove of garlic, ¼ cup of cheese (it’s usually parmesan, I used shredded sharp cheddar cause it’s what I had). Next up came the replacement for the Basil…what in the world was I going to use?? I looked in my fridge and saw I had a 8.5 oz. container of sun-dried tomatoes in oil (Bella Sun Luci, my favorite if I have to buy them in jars), so I dumped half of them, plus the olive oil (which had infused with that awesome sun-dried tomato flavor) into my food processor.

Pesto!

Then, I pulsed for literally 4 seconds. It was super fast.

SUNNY SUNDRIED TOMATO PESTO

I enjoyed this on a nice hot bowl of spaghetti squash (that I prepared the same way as I always do), topped with more cheese and some shrimp I’d thawed (and of course, topped with Old Bay, my favorite!!). Supportive, nutritious, and incredibly delicious!!!!! (Yes, I’m aware that rhymed : )

Sundried Tomato Pesto with Shrimp over Spagetti Squash

…and yeah, the kids were fooled again ;- )

This would be fabulous with chicken, or with maybe marinated tempeh or veggie meatballs as a complete vegetarian option.

H20 2.0

leanKitchen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:11:41 +0000

I don’t know about you, but previous to my supportive nutrition crusade, I was a minimal-to-none water drinker. My thoughts were I got plenty in my coffee. Yeah, yeah, I know. Could be worse, I suppose-it could be soda (I have never liked that)

But I just don’t LIKE water. It doesn’t taste good, and it’s so BORING! But when Ben suggested I drink 1/2 my body weight in ounces of water per day, I thought, hmm how can I make this palatable?!

So I took out my ice cube trays, took a lemon, and cut it into little wedge-shaped slices. I squeezed 1 slice into each ice cube receptacle, then dropped the rest of the lemon in. I added 1 leaf of mint per ice cube, carefully poured water over each ice cube hole, and froze it.

Cool Citrusy h20

It came out with beautifully clean and fresh looking ice cubes- with a lemon slice and mint eventually melting to float in your glass !

This method can be done with lime, cucumbers (hear me out, it’s EXCELLENT!), fruit like berries or melon, and kids love it, too!

P.S. To people who feel the need to send hate mail or post comments because I have the audacity to sometimes use pictures taken with my cell phone rather than my camera: I figure a fuzzy picture is better than no picture. If I’m at a place where my camera isn’t readily available, or my camera batteries die, I’m going to use my cell phone. And, if you don’t like it, don’t look : )

Pineapple Cucumber Salsa

leanKitchen — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:45:03 +0000

This recipe so simple, but so unbelievable!

I just diced 1/2 a burpless cucumber (a good-sized one), 1/4 red onion, diced small, just over 1/2 of a fresh pineapple, diced small, juice from half a lime, some fresh parsley snipped, and fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste. Mix together and enjoy!

Pineapple Cucumber Salsa

This is so incredibly delicious!!! Looks beautiful, doesn’t it? Serving this salsa atop some white fish like tilapia, or on my FAVORITE Seared Scallops or Ginger Lime Salmon, makes for a perfect, supportive meal.

Apple Stuffed Butternut Squash

leanKitchen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:32:33 +0000

I had a wonderful garden this summer, and it harvested some fantastic Butternut Squashes that I’m still blessed to have for my winter enjoyment.

I like to simply cut mine in half, remove the seeds (Did you know you can also roast these like you do with pumpkin seeds?) rub with olive oil, top with some herbs (this was Mrs. Dash, an all-purpose and salt-free seasoning blend), and bake (cut side up on a cookie sheet) in a 400 degree oven for 40-ish minutes. I can usually tell they’re ready just by looking, but to know for sure, stick a fork in it. When the fork goes in and out again with no problems, you’re good!

I stuffed mine with apple halves (a pretty presentation, for sure!), and once done, topped with cheese. This goes alongside roasted chicken and turkey beautifully!

Apple Stuffed Butternut Squash

Supportive Superbowl Snacks

leanKitchen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:05:45 +0000

According to Gallup and his polls, a majority of us will be watching the big game tomorrow-Superbowl XLIV. And, I’m one of ‘em! The party that I’m going to is the “bring an appetizer to share” type, so here’s what I’m bringing:

Herbed Supportive Cheese balls

I LOVE cheese balls. My Mom used to always serve Port wine cheese balls in nuts (the store bought kind), and I thought, I wonder if I could make one of these with cottage cheese? I know in dips you can substitute cottage cheese, but it’s finding the right consistency so that it’s comparable. First up, I shredded a ten oz. block of cheddar cheese (I used the orange inadvertently; I thought I’d purchased the white, but it was orange, and I actually like the color that it turned out better by using the orange) and put it in my food processor with 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, 1/4 of a red onion (white or whatever you have will work). Once it was a consistency like this:

Cheese, garlic, and red onion being processed

I added one cup of low-fat cottage cheese, pulsed it in my food processor till smooth, and scooped it into a bowl to chill. Here’s what it looked like before going in the fridge:

Cheese balls going into the fridge to set

After four hours (or overnight would be great if you have time), I chopped up some greens on a cutting board. I used parsley, rosemary, and a little fresh sage, chopped very small, and proceeded to cut the cheese in half, so that each of these made 2 large balls, about 4-5 inches in diameter. I rolled them into the ball shape, and then through the herbs like this:

Chopped parsley and rosemary

Rolling the cheese through the herbs

Cover, put back in fridge, and take out right before serving with veggies, apple slices if you’re the daring type, or crackers if you’re cheat mealing it. Delicious, supportive, but not low in fat. Yum!

This also would be excellent rolled in pecans. Mmm!