Lemon Pepper Rice

I don't know why I never thought to do anything like this. My friend Terra gave me the idea and it's genious!

Ingredients:
1/2 c brown rice, uncooked
Juice of 2 small/medium lemons
1/2 T lemon pepper

Directions:
Cook rice according to package directions, adding lemon juice and lemon pepper to the water.
Makes 2 servings.

Kristen's Rating: 4

Stuffed Acorn Squash

This recipe came from a Meatout Mondays email. (www.meatoutmondays.org) It was perfect timing because we just got 2 acorn squashes in our Bountiful Basket on Saturday morning! I'll leave the recipe as posted because I am going to use their nutritional information. The only change I really made is that their "medium acorn squash" must have been bigger than mine because we had a lot of leftover filling. (Not a bad thing!!) I also recommend saving the seeds to roast with a little olive oil and salt at 275 for 15 minutes! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 medium acorn squash
1 cup vegan chick'n broth or vegetable broth
½ cup uncooked quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
½ large bell pepper (preferably red), chopped
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1 cup fresh spinach
¼ cup raisins
2 ¼ teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegan butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Cut squash in half, remove pulp, place squash face down on a large baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until done. Squash should be tender all the way through.

3. In the meantime, in a medium saucepan, add the broth and quinoa, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes.

4. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onions, carrot and bell peppers. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the carrots are tender, stirring occasionally.

5. Add garbanzo beans, raisins, spinach, cumin and salt to the mix and continue cooking for a few minutes.

6. Add the quinoa to the skillet, stir well and remove from heat.

7. Once the squash is done cooking, remove from oven. Evenly spread the butter over the entire inner squash and sprinkle with the brown sugar. You can break the squash up a bit with a fork so that the butter and sugar are spread more evenly throughout.

8. Stuff each half of the squash with half of the quinoa stuffing mixture and serve.

Ratings:

Kristen: 4

    Dave: 4

Nutritional Information:

Serving = 1/4 squash stuffed. Makes 4 servings.
Amount Per Serving
Calories 367	From fat 102
	% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11.3g	17%
Saturated Fat 2.1g	10.5%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 590mg	24%
Total Carbohydrate 64g	21%
Dietary Fiber 7.7g	31%
Sugars 19.7g
Protein 8.1g
Vitamin A 98.7%	Vitamin C 68.8%
Calcium 9.2%	Iron 23.9%
* % Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Rigatoni with Roasted Asparagus, Toasted Walnuts and Balsamic Butter

I changed the original recipe ever so slightly.

Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus
1 T olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 c plus 2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp brown sugar (or white sugar + molasses)
1 lb pasta, whatever shape you like. I used rigatoni
1/4 lb butter/margarine (I used Blue Bonnet)
1/3 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 c walnuts, toasted in microwave

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Snap the ends off the asparagus and cut the remaining spears into 1" pieces. Put the asparagus on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Roast until tender, 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put the vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer until 3 T remain. Stir in the brown sugar and 1/4 tsp pepper. Remove from heat.
3. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain; toss with butter, vinegar, asparagus, cheese, and walnuts. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 477
Fat: 19.5g
Saturated: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 3.5mg
Carbs: 63g
Fiber: 4.5g
Sugar: 6.5g
Protein: 13.5g

Ratings:
Kristen: 4
Dave: 4

Panko-Crusted Chicken with Mustard-Maple Pan Sauce

Original recipe

Ingredients:
8 oz chicken tenderloins
1 egg (only need about half)
1/2 T parsley
1 tsp plus 1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 c panko breadcrumbs
1 T grapeseed oil
1/2 c fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 T maple syrup
1 T plus 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 T butter

Directions:
In a bowl, mix together the egg, 1 tsp dijon mustard, and parsley. In another bowl, pour the breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a saucepan or skillet to medium high heat. Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, then coat in breadcrumbs and place in skillet; cook about four minutes per side until browned and cooked through.

Meanwhile, whisk together the chicken broth, syrup, remaining T of dijon mustard, and 1T plus 1 tsp spicy brown mustard. Remove cooked chicken from pan to a plate. Heat the broth mixture to a boil over medium heat until reduced, 3-4 minutes. Stir in butter until melted. Serve over chicken.

Nutritional Information:
(Note: From Website,(which calls this 2 servings)- mine would be lower since I used chicken tenderloins, margarine, fat free chicken broth, half the amount of breadcrumbs, and not real syrup)
Calories: 390
Fat: 15.5g
Saturated: 4.5g
Carbs: 21g
Fiber: 0.5g
Protein: 39.5g

Ratings:
Dave: 4

Didn't take a picture... imagine chicken with a brown sauce... GO!

Vegetable Sesame Noodles

I made a variation of this tonight. It is really good! You can use whatever vegetables you have... it's a great way to use them up!!

Ingredients:
6 oz. whole wheat pasta
1 c. frozen shelled edamame
1/4 c lite (low sodium) soy sauce
1 T oil (I used grapeseed)
1 T sesame seed oil
1 T seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
4 c chopped veggies, such as
------2 c radishes
------1/2 c each celery, green beans, red bell peppers and broccoli

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. (Chop your veggies in the meantime.) Put frozen edamame in a colander and drain the pasta over the edamame. (I was skeptical of this un-freezing the edamame but it totally worked!)
Whisk together the liquids. Add pasta, edamame and other veggies. Mix with your hands.
You can sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want but I was hungry and forgot!!
Makes 8 cups.

Nutritional Information: (2 cups)
Calories: 300
Fat: 9g
Saturated fat: 0.8g
Carbs: 42g
Fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 12g

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus

Here is the original recipe for the asparagus I made tonight. Oh. Em. GEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Defreakinglicious.

Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus
1 egg
1/8c grated parmesan
1/8c flour
1/2c panko bread crumbs

Directions:
Snap the ends off the asparagus. I also cut mine into thirds after that. Dredge first in the egg and then in a mixture of parmesan, flour and bread crumbs. Place on a greased wire wrack placed atop a baking sheet.
Bake at 425 for 10-15 min until golden and crispy.
Enjoy!

Nutritional Information: (2 servings)
I would say I used only 2/3 of the dredging materials (both wet and dry):
Calories: 135
Fat: 3.5g
Saturated: 1.5g
Carbs: 19g
Fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 9g

Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup

Original recipe is here

Ingredients:
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (basil, garlic & oregano), with juice
3/4 c diced celery
1/2 c diced carrots
onion powder to taste
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 T basil
2 c vegetable broth
1/4 c flour
1/4 c butter (Blue Bonnet light)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
1 c milk, warmed in microwave
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
Place tomatoes, celery, carrots, onion powder, oregano, basil and broth in crock pot. Cook on low 5-7 hours on low. (Or you know, on high for shorter, or whatever.)
About a half hour before serving, melt butter on low and stir in flour. I actually pureed my soup in a food processor at this point because I don't enjoy the tomato chunks. Mix 1/2 c soup into the flour/butter mixture. Then mix in another 1-1/2c. Transfer back to the crock pot. Stir in milk and cheese and season to taste (I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder.)
Cook for another 30 min on low and enjoy!

Nutritional Information: (Let's call it 4 servings for nutritional purposes, but I didn't measure how much it made LOL)

Calories: 182
Fat: 9g
Saturated: 3.5g
Carbs: 15g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 8g

Ratings:
Kristen: 4.5
Dave: Not home from work yet :-P