Tag Archives: healthy dinner recipes

Zucchini Squash Caserole

I was a little skeptical that this would be good. I’m glad I was wrong. This is an awesome side dish and it is also awesome on a sandwich with some bacon and avocado!

What You Need:

2 medium crooked neck squashes (or whatever you have in your garden/kitchen)

1 zucchini ( or a quarter of a giant one)

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice if one lemon

3 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley

6 oz feta cheese ( I used one mixed with Mediterranean herbs)

2 cups tomato sauce

What You Do:

Slice zucchini and squash lengthwise.

Marinate zucchini and squash with oil, lemon, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl or ziplock bag in fridge for one hour or so.

Place a layer of squash, then zucchini, then cheese. Continue until all your ingredients are gone. (I had enough for 2 layers of each)

Top with tomato sauce.

Cook at 350F for 30 minutes covered until veggies are tender.

Enjoy! 20140811-135322-50002854.jpg

Ginger Garlic Bok Choy Stir Fry

bok

This year we are growing a mystery garden of sorts which has made it even more fun. A friend dropped off left over seedlings and the markers had all washed away. I love this time of year when I can plan meals based on what’s growing just outside our back door. This recipe was delicious with home grown garlic and bok choy and pretty quick and easy to make.

choy

What you need:

2 bunches bok choy

1 inch of ginger,

grated 5 cloves of garlic, pressed

soy sauce

2 T grapeseed oil

1 pound of chicken breast

1 1/2 cups of rice salt

dinner

What you do:

Boil 3 cups of water for rice and let rice cook while stir frying.

Cube chicken and season with salt, pressed garlic and cook in wok or pan with grapeseed oil. Once cooked through set aside.

In same pan stir fry bok choy with remaining garlic and ginger just until greens become slightly wilted.

Splash soy sauce to taste just before removing from heat and add cooked chicken back.

Place rice in bowls and top with stir fry. Enjoy!

Spring/Summer Zucchini Lasagna

I came across this recipe for spring greens zucchini lasagna in Experience L!fe magazine. I finally had a chance to try it last night. It came out pretty good and I was particularly excited about the roasted carrot sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. Let me know what you think, here are my adaptations.

carrots

What you need:

  • 4 large, whole carrots, washed and trimmed
  • 1 red pepper
  • 5 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
  • Salt and black pepper (I used pink salt and peppercorns)
  • 1 bag power greens (baby spinach, baby red chard, baby kale)
  • 11/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 4 cloves garlic, (1 pressed 3 roasted)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tbs. chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup shredded quattro formaggio cheese (or any shredded cheese you like)
  • 8 lasagna noodles (optional)

zucchini lasagna

What you do for sauce:

Preheat oven to 375.

Roast carrots, red pepper and 3 cloves of garlic for 25 minutes or until tender.

Mix carrots, pepper, garlic and fresh dill in blender with 2 cups of vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: I would have preferred more sauce, next time I will do 6-8 carrots and 3 cups of stock

cooked zucchini

What to do:

While carrots are roasting slice zucchinis lengthwise.

Mix ricotta cheese with egg, garlic, lemon zest and salt and pepper

Pour a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9×12 pan and put down a layer of zucchini

Pour half of ricotta over first layer. Add half of your greens.

Put a second layer of zucchini, a layer of noodles (optional) and a layer of sauce

Pour half of ricotta and rest of greens.

Layer of zucchini and noodles. Pour rest of sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 35-45 minutes and uncovered for 10-15 or until cheese is melted.

 

***The original recipe roasted all the veggies first before making the lasagna. If it was early spring I would probably roast everything because the weather is still cooler or more back and forth and the roasting adds a warming element to the recipe. Because it was in the 80s yesterday and we are closer to summer than spring now I did not roast the veggies except for the sauce so that it is not quite as warming in nature. Also it was less time with an oven on! 🙂

 

 

Green Lentil Curry

This is another great recipe with a foundation of spleen foods with a balance of winter and spring goodies to keep your body nourished, full and healthy. The inspiration comes from the shrinking kitchen, here is what I came up with.

what you need:

3 small yellow potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup green lentils, rinsed well

4 cups water

2 cups of cauliflower

1 yellow squash

1 small eggplant, cubed

1 medium carrot, slices

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon tumeric (eyeballed)

4 large cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon dried chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 c chopped cilantro

One small piece of ginger root

What you do:

Rinse lentils and then put into large stockpot with water and bring to boil over medium high heat.

Add potatoes and carrot to lentils, simmer uncovered for 5 minutes

Add cauliflower, squash, eggplant, salt and tumeric.

Return to a boil, cover and then turn to low to simmer for 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir a few times.

Meanwhile add chopped garlic, ginger, cumin and chili paste to coconut oil until carmelized.

 

Add cornstarch into veggie lentil mix to thicken juices and turn eat up high for 1-2 minutes.

Add in carmelized garlic ginger paste and cilantro and stir to combine.

 

Hardy enough to eat alone or add to quinoa, rice or cauliflower “rice”.

Sneaky Cheesy Taco Macaroni

I recently came across The Shrinking Kitchen. If you are sick of cooking the same old things every week this site has some great meal plans and a printable grocery list. This was the first recipe I tried from the site and I already have plans to alter it a little more but I think this would be an awesome introduction meal for a child who is a picky eater or who won’t eat veggies. I thought it would be a perfect meal for my niece who says we only have “garbage” to eat at our house 🙂

The black beans are nourishing to the kidneys and the butternut squash and spices aid the spleen making it a good meal for these cold days as well as a meal to transition from winter to spring.

Here it the original recipe. Below are my adaptations and I share a few hints at the end too.

What you need:

1 pound of organic ground beef

1 can of black beans, drained (I would have added 2 if I had an extra)

1 can of diced tomatoes with chiles with juice (same as beans)

4 cups of water

4 cups brown rice penne pasta

DIY taco seasoning, thanks Mavis this is basically me throwing sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, and Chile coban and paprika onto everything 🙂

1.5 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoon flour

2 cups cubed butternut squash

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese

seasoning salt, pepper to taste

What you do:

In a stock pot brown meat over medium high heat. Add beans, tomatoes, spices, and water and bring to a boil. Add pasta, cover, and reduce heat to low. Let cook until most of juices are cooked down. In the mean time melt butter in a space sauce pan. Whisk in flour until lumps are gone. Add milk and bring to rolling boil stirring constantly. Add squash and cook until tender. Add cheese and stir until well blended and melted. Transfer to a blender to smooth. When pasta is cooked stir cheese sauce into pasta and serve. We topped with some avocado.

* As I was cooking I thought ditching the milk and adding a mix of cauliflower puree and chicken stock instead would be nice as we don’t normally have milk in the house. I also think you could ditch pasta altogether and use spaghetti squash instead and it would be just as lovely and even better for the spleen. If you get to it before me let me know how it turns out!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe

As we move into the fall season its time to focus on the lung/large intestine system. The color of the season is white and the taste is pungent so now is the time to incorporate white foods as well as pungent tastes into your diet to strengthen the lung/large intestine system.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe with roasted garlic yellow tomato sauce

If your garden is overflowing with tomatoes like mine is here is a simple sauce. Grab some garlic and tomatoes (I used yellow pear) and roast in the oven or grill. Then cook on a low heat until tomatoes become soft. You can puree if garlic cloves are still hard. Garlic is both white and pungent: a perfect fall food!

 yellow tomatoes

Cauliflower Pizza crust:

head of cauliflower

1 egg

1 cup of shredded cheese

fresh Basil

  rice cauliflower

 

Rice cauliflower in blender. Mix ingredients together until well blended. Lay parchment paper down on pizza pan. (parchment paper is key to success of your crust!) Gently pat cauliflower mixture into pan.

crust

Bake at 425 for 10- 15 minutes until edges brown

Take pizza out of oven and put toppings of your choice. We like yellow tomato sauce, black olives, artichokes, spinach, mushrooms and a little sprinkle of cheese.  pizzatoppings 

Put back in oven until cheese is melted another 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

 yum

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