Creamy Kale and Bean Soup

Creamy Kale and Bean Soup.

Jackfruit BBQ Sandwiches

Meatless Monday.

Shrimp Tacos!

Taco Tuesday.

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

1 pkg. rotini pasta

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

1 cup 2% milk 

1/4 cup cheese

seasonings to taste

Method

1. Peel and cube butternut squash.

2. Steam the cubed squash until tender and soft (about 25-30 minutes)

3. remove squash cubes from the steamer and place in a bowl. Mash with a fork until a creamy consistency is reached. Set aside. ( * for any of you who need to see a video demonstration of this part, please scroll down to the end of this post! *)

4. melt butter in a saucepan then add flour and whisk with a wire whisk until the butter is completely coated. 

5. Pour in the milk and continue stirring with a whisk.

6. Add the pureed butternut squash to the roux (white sauce that you prepared in the steps above) and then season to taste.

7. Add 1/4 cup cheese. Only add at 1 tbs at a time and taste after each addition. You might find that you dont need the whole 1/4 cup! 

6. pour over boiled rotini noodles and serve. I garnish mine with whatever fresh herbs I have in the kitchen in order to brighten the flavors.

Print Recipe Here

Nutrient Analysis 

Comparison

Pictured above are two nutrient labels for two different Mac n Cheese recipes. The first is a standard recipe that includes equal parts flour and butter, Milk (full fat), cheese, and noodles. For eight servings, the standard recipe comes to a whopping 430 calories, with over 19% of that coming from fat! yikes! The variation analysis is my butternut squash recipe. As you can tell from the recipe above,  all I did was cut down the cheese to a 1/4 cup and instead of using whole milk, I used 2%.  I then replaced the other cup and a half of cheese with steamed butternut squash. These two changes brought the total calories down from 430 to 270 calories.  But the most amazing part is the Fat which was brought down from 22g to 4g, with trans fat being ZERO! Cholesterol and sodium also improved, and we even added a little fiber to the dish!! (major score). Protein and calcium did go down in the butternut squash recipe but are still at sufficient levels. Overall this was a huge success in our household.  My family LOVED this recipe and you might find that your family does too! If you dont, well that's totally fine as well :) I really wanted to do this though to show that one simple swap can have a HUGE impact on overall nutrition quality. So next time you are in the kitchen, think about these things and try to incorporate more vegetables into whatever dish you are making. It can make all the difference in the world. Good luck! :)

 butternut squash demonstration

Video demonstration for anyone who needs a visual on the preparation steps of butternut squash. I'm still new to this whole video thing, so bear with me! :) But hopefully, this could be of some help to those who have never worked with butternut squash. Just take your time and go through the steps below.

Golden Mac n' Cheese

Golden Mac n' Cheese

Serving: 2-3 | Time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS: Elbow noodles (12 oz) 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour 2 tbsp Butter 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese ( I use sartori brand from kroger!) Pepper 1 tbsp dijon mustard turmeric for coloring!  cayenne pepper METHOD: (1) Cook Macaroni according to package (2) Drain and transfer to large bowl; set aside (3) Start your Roux:         - Melt 2 tbsp butter in saucepan         -  Whisk in flour         -  Pour in heavy whipping cream and continue to whisk; smooth out any lumps! (4) Once Roux is done, it is time to start flavoring! Add in parmesan cheese and whisk. (feel free to add more than 1/2 cup if you don't feel the flavor is strong enough!) (5) Add dijon mustard and other spices except cayenne! The turmeric is more for giving it that golden color rather than taste so be careful not to do too much! sprinkle a little at time and stir! (6) Once sauce is done, pour over noodles and serve! For those with a spicy palette (like myself!) sprinkle cayenne pepper on top For printable version click Here

Summer Minestrone Soup

Summer Minestrone Soup

Beet Hummus!

Beet Hummus

Bean Fajita Quinoa Salad

We have been ordering take out a little more than i would like to admit. My sweet boy has been pretty sick with a tooth infection that went south over nap time last Sunday and i had to rush him to the ER. All is well, but cooking was quite far from my mind this past week. I was so worried about little man that I left hubby in charge of dinner, which meant fast food and anything take out became our staple around here. Not because he's a bad cook, but we were both so spent. Im glad to say rob is doing much better and I am back in charge of meal time! woohoo! I told cal to pick a theme and I was gonna cook. Mexican food was the winner. I bought the typical ingredients to make some fajitas for Cal but then I remembered this awesome recipe I found a while back that included a black bean fajita quinoa salad. It looked yummy and served as my inspiration for the dish I'm sharing on here. I must say, it turned out mighty delicious! Rob and cal even used the quinoa in their taco! score:) 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag of quinoa
• 1 jar broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 1tbs butter
• Corn- either canned or frozen. 
• 1 can beans. The original recipe called for black beans but i used some kidney beans i had left over
• 1 package of greens salad mix
• fresh cilantro
• lime
• sour cream (i use simple truth cultured sour cream)
• spices and herbs of your choice
• dressing of your choice. i used cilantro avocado by bolthouse farms

METHOD:

rinse 1 cup quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Place in saucepan and cover with 2 cups broth and fresh herbs of your choice; chopped garlic, basil, etc. boil on high then reduce heat and simmer until broth is fully absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. fluff with fork. I like to add a little bit of butter at this point too, just to give it a smooth texture and enhance the flavor. Season with salt, pepper.// Rinse corn and beans in a strainer then stir both into the quinoa. Voila! the hardest part is done. Plate salad mix greens onto bowl similar to the one you see here. scoop quinoa mixture onto the top and add lime juice, cilantro, sour cream, and dressing of your choice.  i added red pepper flakes and picante sauce to it as well. Just have fun with it! :) 

This really is an amazing dish. You can serve it on a bed of greens like I did here or you could stuff it inside a soft taco. Its a great substitute if your not a huge meat eater due to its high protein content. It contains all nine essential acids making it a complete protein. Quinoa is also famous for its fiber content which can help prevent heart disease by lowering unhealthy cholesterol levels, and promote weight loss. Its also high in minerals such as iron, magnesium, and manganese. Its a true nutrition rockstar! 

Tzatziki

What is Tzatziki? 

If you had to ask this question, don't feel bad! I had to look it up as well.  If you didn't, then kudos to you. I knew I had seen it before but never gave it much attention. If you do a quick research you will find that this is a greek sauce that can typically be served with meats such as lamb or used as a dipping sauce. Today I am using it as a dip! Traditionally, the recipe calls for strained yogurt cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and some other herbs.

What I Eat..According to my iPhone!

Its no secret that iPhone photography ( I feel so fancy calling it that! lol) is something that i have become quite obsessed with. Im gonna be honest and say that this obsession mainly has to do with the fact that its so easy! ha. Don't get me wrong..

Vegan Pesto!

Most of the time when playing around in the kitchen it's a colossal fail. Then there are those other times when something actually quite decent turns out. This is one of those rare times! I needed to get lunch for my little, but groceries are a little scarce in our house right now. I've made basil pesto before, but I was missing some of the key ingredients- Olive oil and Parmesan cheese. However, I did have some nice frozen broccoli and kale in the freezer and some fresh basil in the garden. There had to be someway I could make some yummy pesto. I remembered a lady adding cashews to hers one time. So I grabbed my fresh raw cashews that I just bought at krogers and then also grabbed some coconut milk. These 4 simple ingredients made the most delicous, creamiest pesto I've ever had. I'm not a vegan by any means, but I would prefer this pesto over what I use to make any day. Using coconut milk instead of oil gave it, in my opinion, a smoother more flavorful taste. So if your interested in trying then here's the recipe!

1 bag of frozen organic broccoli 

1 bag of frozen organic kale

1 can of coconut milk (Goya brand from the kosher aisle in Kroger)

Himalayan salt 

Pepper

Red pepper flakes 

Fresh basil 

Handful of raw organic cashews (Kroger or whole foods) 

Put first 5 ingredients in pot. Boil on medium high until veggies are nice and tender. Let cool, then throw mixture into a blender. Add basil and handful of cashews. Blend until desired consistency.  You can always add more coconut milk if it's too thick. 

I then just boiled some organic rotini noodles and tossed it all together. It was the most awesome feeling watching my little one devour his noodles. Little does he know, he's getting a hearty serving of veggies and heart healthy fats with each bite! I love being a sneaky mom:)