Healthy Recipes 360 » Healthy Meals

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

admin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:40:41 +0000

Lentil soup is a hearty, thick soup and is very popular with family and friends. Many lentil soup recipes call for adding a ham bone or pork or other meat. This is a vegetarian version that has no animal products or animal fat. It uses a little bit of olive oil but that is a good, healthy fat.

This is a hearty, delicious and healthy soup recipe that is sure to be a favortie with friends and family. It is low in fat and high in satisfying flavor.

Vegetarian Lentil Soup Ingredients:

1 lb dry green lentils (about 2 1/4 cups)
9 cups water
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 med carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

You want to cook the different ingredients in stages and gradually add them to the soup. First you cook the lentils by themselves in water, only. Cook the onions and tomatoes separately over sautéed garlic before adding to the soup. After the lentils have cooked by themselves, add the celery and carrots, and then the cooked onions and tomatoes. It is important to do it this way. If you add all the ingredients to the soup all at once, the lentils won’t have the proper texture and it will have a completely different flavor. Add the seasonings except for the salt into the water while cooking the lentils. Add the salt to taste towards the end when adding the final ingredients.

Add lentils to a large cooking pot and sort through them to remove any stones or damaged seeds. Soak lentils in water for 1 hour. Afterwards, rinse the lentils and then strain them. Next, add water, bay leaves, basil, oregano and pepper. Use 1 quart of water per cup of dry lentils. Place a lid on the pot and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Cook the lentils over a low flame for a couple of hours before adding vegetables. The low flame is needed to slow-cook the lentils and will prevent the soup from burning.

After a couple of hours, check the lentils. They should be soft – not crunchy or chewy. Add chopped celery and carrots to the pot and continue cooking.

Next, add olive oil to a deep frying pan and sauté the chopped garlic for a couple of minutes over a medium flame. Keep the flame low enough to prevent olive oil from smoking. Add the chopped onions before the garlic becomes browned. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes until they are soft and translucent. You don’t want the onions to be browned, either. Next, add the chopped tomatoes in the frying pan with the onions. Cook about 15 to 20 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down.

Add the cooked onions and tomatoes to the pot and cook for another 1 1/2 hours to complete the cooking and to marry up all the flavors. The carrots and celery should be cooked but not so much that they become mushy. Serve hot. Total cooking time: about 4 hours.

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients. Starting in the back and going left to right: pepper, salt, olive oil, basil, oregano, celery, onion, tomatoes, carrots, bay leaves, garlic and dry green lentils.

First, sort through the lentils and pull out any damaged seeds. Sprinkle a few into a large cooking pot. This makes it easy to spot them and pick them out – a little at a time.

I’ve tried other ways of doing this, emptying all of them on a flat surface and sorting through them that way and waiting until after soaking them and pulling them out that way, but this way is the fastest way to sort through them that I have figured out.

Simply pick out the bad ones. They are easy to remove this way. After sorting this small amount, dump them into a clean bowl and repeat step 1 and 2 until you have sorted through all the lentils.

Rinse the lentils a few times to clean them. Use a strainer.

Add enough water to cover the lentils a few inches and set aside and allow to soak for one hour.

After one hour, pour out the soaking water over a strainer like the earler step and then carefully measure 9 cups of water and add to the cooking pot with the lentils.

Stir in the basil, oregano and pepper and then add the bay leaves.

Cover the pot and then bring to a boil. Turn down the flame to low and simmer over a low flame for two hours, covered, stirring occasionally.

Now start cutting all the vegetables. Start by peeling and slicing the carrots.

Next, cut the celery. They go in with the carrots so I’ll keep these in a bowl and set aside for now.

Next, chop the tomatoes. Place them in a bowl and set aside until later.

Tip: We made this soup with home grown, vine ripened tomatoes. Use fresh, ripe, natually sweet tomatoes for the best tasting soup you will ever eat. If you buy tomatoes from the store, it won’t hurt if they are a little soft just before they go bad. That’s when they are the best for the soup.

Now chop the onion.

Finally, chop the garlic and set it aside for now. Please see note above. Set the timer to know when to start cooking the garlic in olive oil.

After two hours check the lentils to make sure they are cooked. At this time add the carrots and celery to the soup.

Stir in the vegetables.

After adding the carrots and celery it will be time to cook the onions and tomatoes. Start by adding some olive oil to a large pan.

Next add the chopped garlic. Cook the garlic in olive oil for a few minutes until just before it starts to brown. Keep the flame low enough to keep the olive oil from smoking.

Add the chopped onions and continue cooking.

Lower the flame to keep the olive oil from smoking. Cook until soft and translucent.

After about 8 to 10 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes.

Cook the onions and tomatoes for about 20 minutes over a medium-low flame until the tomatoes change color to a reddish-orange. The tomatoes should be completely broken down.

Next add the cooked onions and tomatoes to the soup.

Stir everything and then add salt. Cover the pot and allow to cook for another hour and a half.

Taste the soup after about an hour and a half. This last bit of cooking is to marry up all the flavors and for tenderizing the carrots and celery.

Serve hot. This is a healthy, delicious soup that will be a big hit with family and friends.

Share and Enjoy:

Hot & Spicy Chili Pepper and Steak Burrito

admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 08:12:08 +0000

If you have a craving for something hot and spicy, then this is the perfect recipe! It’s a hot and spicy burrito with grilled steak and 5 different chili peppers – and not just any chili peppers! It uses serranos, habaneros and jalapeños to supply the hotness plus it has Anaheim peppers and mini peppers for added flavor. It’s pretty hot, but its good!

This recipe is similar to the steak fajitas recipe elsewhere in this website. The main difference is that this recipe calls for skirt steak instead of flat iron steak. Try to get a good cut of lean meat — preferably grass-fed beef. If it isn’t so lean, then spend the time and trim away all the fat you can manage. You want the steak to be really lean for two reasons. First, it makes for better flavor and second, it is healthier with less fat.

The hot & spicy burrito is also prepared with guacamole. The recipe for guacamole can be found in the sauces and dressings section of this website.

Hot & Spicy Burrito Ingredients:

2 lb lean skirt steak, sliced into thin strips
12 serrano peppers, cut lengthwise thin strips
12 mini peppers, cut lengthwise thin strips
6 habanero peppers, cut lengthwise thin strips
4 jalapeño peppers, cut lengthwise thin strips
2 Anaheim peppers, cut lengthwise thin strips

Marinade:

Juice from 2 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 Jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (include the stems)

Misc:

flour tortillas
guacamole
salsa

1. Marinate the skirt steak:

Trim all the fat off the skirt steak and cut into thin strips about 2-3 inches in length. Add marinade ingredients to a bowl, stir and add sliced skirt steak pieces. Allow to marinate for about 4 hours or even overnight. Meanwhile, slice peppers and onions lengthwise into thin strips (about 1/8 – 1/4 inch slices). Add to a large bowl and toss the sliced peppers to mix them up.

2. Cooking the steak:

Grill the steak on a gas grill. Arrange the grill grates by laying them one on top of the other in a staggered fashion so the spaces between the grates are narrow to keep the meat from falling through. Use grilling tongs to turn the meat. Place cooked meat into a bowl when cooked.

3. Cooking the peppers and adding the cooked steak:

Add a few drops of cooking oil to a large skillet and add about half of the sliced peppers to the skillet and heat over a medium-high flame. Toss the sliced peppers with the grilling tongs until about three-quarters cooked. Add in some of the grilled meat and continue tossing the meat and peppers until the peppers are just a bit crunchy (not quite soft and translucent).

4. Serving:

Add some of the cooked mixture to a hot flour tortilla and garnish with guacamole and salsa. Roll the tortilla around the ingredients and enjoy! Serve immediately. Optional: serve with brown rice and refried beans. Thrilling!

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients. Starting in the back and going left to right: ground cumin, skirt steak, olive oil, habanero peppers, limes, Anaheim peppers, cilantro, jalapeño peppers, mini peppers, garlic and serrano peppers.

First, prepare the marinade so you can get the meat marinating. You want to marinate it for at least 4 hours. You can marinate it until the next day if you want. Start by selecting a small bunch of fresh cilantro. Chop it up and include some of the stems.

The preparation of the meat is similar to the steak fajitas recipe elsewhere in this website. It uses the same marinade and you grill the steak on an outdoor gas grill. The only difference here is that we’re using skirt steak here instead of flat iron steak.

Next, chop the jalapeño pepper and 4 cloves of garlic.

You can use a chopper or a chef’s knife for the job.

Add the cilantro, olive oil, jalapeño pepper and garlic to a bowl.

Next, add fresh squeezed lime juice. I use a lime juicer because it’s fast, but you can use a regular glass citrus juicer if you want.

Add the ground cumin …

Now stir everything to mix it all together. We are ready to add the meat to the marinade.

Cut the meat into thin strips about 2-3 inches in length. Skirt steak is perfect for this because you just follow the grain. You want small, bite-sized pieces.

Add the skirt steak to the marinade and mix everything together so that the marinade covers all the meat. Cover and place in the refrigerator. Marinate the meat for at least 4 hours or even overnight.

Next, slice all the chili peppers. Start with the Anaheim peppers if you want. First cut off the ends.

Next, split each pepper in half lengthwise like the photo below. Remove the ribs and seeds for these peppers. Just scrape them out with your fingers. It’s really easy.

Now, slice each pepper lengthwise in thin strips – about 1/4 inch.

You’ll do this with all the peppers, basically. Slice them all lengthwise like this. Slice the smaller peppers in thinner slices than the big ones.

Slice the jalapeños next. Start by cutting off the ends just like the Anaheim peppers.

Split each one in half lengthwise.

Split them all first.

Now cut them all up lengthwise into thin slices.

All the jalapeños are sliced up.

Next, do the same thing with the habaneros. These are small peppers, so you’ll make the slices thinner than the others.

Slice up all the habaneros.

Next, slice the serrano peppers.

Just like the other peppers, start by cutting off the ends and slice them lengthwise in thin strips.

Now all the serranos are sliced up.

Finally, slice up the mini peppers.

Either cut off or pinch off the stems and slice each one in half lengthwise, first, and then into thin slices just like all the other chili peppers.

Now all the mini peppers are sliced up. It doesn’t take too long. It goes fast with a chef’s knife or a Santoku knife like the one shown. You’ll get the hang of it.

Now, put all the sliced chili peppers into a bowl and toss them real good to mix them up.

When the steak has finished marinating, cook it on a gas grill using tongs to turn the meat. Stack the grills one on top of the other with the top one turned upside down over the other. Arrange the grill bars in a staggered fashion this way to close the gaps so the meat doesn’t fall through the grates.

Place the cooked meat in a bowl and set aside for now.

Place about half of the sliced chili peppers into a large skillet with a few drops of cooking oil to keep them from burning and sticking. Heat over a medium-high flame for about 3 to 5 minutes, tossing frequently with the tongs. It’s like stir-frying. You want it to cook fast over high heat, but you have to keep tossing it.

When the chili peppers are about 3/4ths cooked, add some of the cooked steak.

Keep tossing until the vegetables are done. You don’t want to overcook the peppers. They should be just slightly crunchy and definitely not soft and translucent.

Now everything is cooked. We’re ready to make the burritos.

Place some cooked steak and peppers onto a large flour tortilla.

Add salsa and guacamole. Believe it or not, I use mild salsa because it has a better flavor. You can also add salt to taste if you like.

Note: Prepare the guacamole ahead of time with the guacamole recipe found in the sauces and dressings section of this website.

Fold the tortilla over on one end like the photo below.

Now fold each side over to make a wrap with one end open. That’s a burrito.

Serve immediately. Optionally, serve with brown rice and refried beans. It’s healthy and it’s good!

Man, this is hot stuff! Whoa!!!

Share and Enjoy:

Quickest Vegetable Soup Recipe

admin — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 03:58:24 +0000

This is the quickest vegetable soup recipe that I know. It is delicious and low in fat, yet very fast and easy to make. Most soups take a lot of time to make and usually you wind up making enough to feed a small army. You can make a half-batch of this recipe if you like (all the photos I shot were a half-batch).

So with this recipe you can make it fast plus you can make it in small batches. Those are two big plus points … and another plus is that it is healthy! We try to use all organic ingredients – organic broth, organic basil and oregano, organic carrots, green beans and cabbage.

The secret to this recipe is that you start with vegetable broth and beef broth. They come in handy 32-oz containers. That’s what saves the time. We only use organic broths because we want to make sure they are healthy to begin with. You simply add in fresh vegetables. It only takes a few minutes to chop them. Using fresh vegetables always ensures you’re getting good food. That’s important.

Ingredients:

4 carrots, sliced
2 large stalks celery, sliced
2 cups sliced cabbage
4 garlic cloves, minced or 3/4 tsp crushed garlic
4 cups beef broth
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
2 tbsp tomato paste or 4 tbsp tomato puree
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
*1 teaspoon salt
1 cup diced zucchini

* Amount of salt depends on whether or not the broth is a low sodium variety.

Add broth to a medium sized saucepan and heat over a medium flame. Add tomato paste (or tomato sauce) and stir until dissolved. Next, add cabbage, carrots, celery and green beans. Stir in minced garlic (or crushed garlic) and then add seasonings – basil, oregano, salt and pepper.

Stir thoroughly and then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, add diced zucchini and cook for another 15 minutes or so until all the vegetables are cooked. Serve hot.

Shown below is a photo of the ingredients. Starting in the back row and moving left to right: pepper, salt, crushed garlic, organic beef broth, organic vegetable broth, oregano, basil, sliced celery, sliced cabbage, diced zucchini, tomato paste, frozen green beans, carrots.

Note: In these photos I’m making a half-batch.

Start by adding the broth to a pan.

Next, add the tomato paste and stir it in real good to dissolve it. Make sure it is completely dissolved before proceeding.

Add the sliced cabbage …

Add the celery and sliced carrots …

Add the green beans …

Add in the crushed garlic …

Add the seasonings …

Note: Be careful when adding the salt. The amount will depend on whether or not the broth you are using is a a low-sodium variety.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for about 15 minutes …

Now add the zucchini … we cook for awhile before adding the zucchini because we don’t want to overcook it.

Cook for another 15 minutes or so and you’re done!

Serve hot. This is really good soup. It’s quick and easy and you can make it in small batches, plus it’s healthy.

Share and Enjoy:

Low Fat Chili Con Carne (Killer Chili)

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:12:06 +0000

There’s nothing like homemade chili! It seems like everyone has his or her own special recipe so this is my version. You can cook it up on the stove in a couple of hours. You first need to have some cooked pinto beans. You can cook them the day before and keep them in the refrigerator or soak them the night before and cook the beans and the chili all in one day. They take about 3 hours to cook after soaking all night.

Everything in this recipe is healthy. I use grass-fed ground beef. It’s the best quality beef you can obtain. Some chili recipes call for kidney beans, but this one uses pinto beans.

This recipe uses 3 different kinds of chili peppers – Anaheim, serrano and sweet mini-peppers. The Anaheim peppers are very mild and the serrano peppers provide all the hotness. You can substitute jalapeño peppers for the serrano peppers if you want. Jalapeño peppers are not quite as hot, but will work. The nice thing about cooking with peppers is that it seems no matter how you combine them, you can taste all the individual flavors.

This is actually low fat chili. When you cook the ground beef you separate all the fat and then blot the cooked meat with a paper towel to remove as much fat as possible. You will use a little bit of vegetable oil to sauté the garlic, but you can use high quality oil which should be good fat. Be sure to buy non-hydrogenated cooking oil and one that is preferably organic and not made from GMO foods.

You can also vary the flavor by varying the brand of chili powder. I tried a “chili lime” chili powder recently. It was good. The tart lime flavor really added a nice touch.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 cups cooked pinto beans
1 lg onion, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 large Anaheim peppers, chopped
2 serrano chili peppers, finely chopped (or jalapeño peppers)
1 1/4 cups asst sweet peppers, chopped (mild chili peppers or mini-peppers)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Cook the ground meat in a skillet, and then tip the pan to drain off the fat. Blot the ground meat with a paper towel to remove the remaining fat and then add the can of diced tomatoes. Stir them together and then cook over a low flame.

Meanwhile, add the vegetable oil to a large cooking pot and then lightly sauté the garlic over a medium flame (do not brown). Next, add the onions and cook until they are soft and translucent (also do not brown). Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook the vegetables for about 15 or 20 minutes over a medium low flame until the tomatoes are broken down.

When the vegetables are done, add the cooked ground meat and diced tomatoes to the pot along with the assorted chopped peppers. Stir everything together and then add the seasonings – chili powder, ground cumin and salt. Finally, add the cooked pinto beans, cover and simmer over a low flame for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cook until the chili is of uniform consistency and all the peppers are cooked.

Vary the hotness by varying the peppers. Two serrano peppers are good for a start for most people’s taste. Cooking will reduce the hotness a bit. Serrano peppers (or jalapeño peppers) are the hot ones, the Anaheim peppers are mild and the sweet peppers have no hotness.

Shown below are all the ingredients to make chili. Going from left to right and starting in the back row: chili powder, cooked pinto beans, salt, ground cumin, organic canola oil, onion, tomatoes, can of diced tomatoes, one pound of grass-fed ground beef, fresh garlic cloves, Anaheim peppers, serrano peppers and sweet mini peppers.

Start by splitting each garlic clove to make it easy to peel them.

Finely chop the garlic cloves and add them to a large cooking pot …

Next, chop the onion. Start by cutting it in half.

Peel the onion halves and then make about 4 or 5 vertical cuts on one of the halves. Keep one end attached without cutting through.

Next, make 2 or 3 horizontal slices and keep the same end attached as in the vertical cuts.

Finally, make vertical cross-cuts spaced about 1/4 inch apart. Start at the cut end and work your way to the attached end. When you get to the last piece, lay it on its side and chop the remainder.

That’s the fastest way to chop an onion. You can swap the order of the cuts if you want – horizontal slices first, followed by the vertical cuts.

Now add a little oil to the cooking pot with the chopped garlic and sauté over a medium flame. Don’t brown it, just lightly cook it …

Note: Normally I would sauté garlic and onions in a skillet, but we need to cook the ground beef in the skillet at the same time the vegetables are cooking. There’s no point in cooking with 2 skillets plus a pot, so we will use the pot to cook the vegetables. It will cook the same as a large skillet.

While the garlic is cooking, add the ground beef to a skillet and start cooking it.

Add the onions to the sauteéd garlic just before it starts to brown and stir it quickly to cool it off a bit. Cook the onions until they are soft and translucent (also not brown).

While the onions are cooking, chop the tomatoes – they go in next. Start by halving them and removing the hard stem ends.

Cut them the same way you did the onion, vertical cuts, horizontal cuts and then chop …

By the time the tomatoes are chopped the onions should be cooked …

Cook the onions until they are soft and translucent …

Now add the chopped tomatoes.

You should cook them for about 15 to 20 minutes until the tomatoes are completly broken down.

In the meantime, keep cooking the beef.

Next, chop all the peppers. I start with the Anaheim peppers. Start by cutting the ends …

Next, make a horzontal cut all the way down the pepper to cut it in half. Do this for each pepper.

Now we want to get rid of the ribs and seeds. Just pull them off by hand. They come off really easy.

Break off the good parts around the stems by hand.

Now slice each half lengthwise into about 4 or 5 slices each.

Then chop them into medium sized chunks.

Chop all the Anaheim peppers this way.

Next, we will chop up all the mini peppers.

Pull the stems off and cut each pepper into thin slices.

Then make cross cuts on the pile to finish chopping them.

Finally we will chop the seranno peppers.

Start by cutting off the stems.

Slice each pepper into thin slices.

Now finely chop all the slices.

Note: Always finely chop the hot peppers. You can coarse chop the Anaheim peppers and medium-fine chop the sweet peppers, but you will get the best texture if you finely chop the hot peppers. There won’t be any hot chewy surprises in the finished chili this way!

The tomatoes are almost done … wait until they are light yellowish orange in color.

Keep checking the meat. Use a metal spatula and keep chopping it up as you cook it.

When the ground meat is cooked, tip the pan up to drain all the fat off and spoon it out of the pan.

Use a paper towel to blot away as much fat as you can.

Place the skillet back on the burner and add the can of diced tomatoes. Heat over a medium flame while the tomatoes and onions are cooking in the pot.

Stir the diced tomatoes into the meat while cooking.

You’ve been bouncing back and forth between the meat in the skillet and the vegetables in the pot. Now the tomatoes are done and if you’ve timed it all right, the meat and diced tomatoes should have been cooking for about 10 to 12 minutes or so.

Add the cooked meat and diced tomatoes to the pot …

Followed by all the chopped peppers …

Next add the seasonings – chili powder, ground cumin and salt.

Stir everything up real good.

Keep stirring to mix everything together.

Finally, add the cooked pinto beans.

We will add about 3 cups of pinto beans to the pot.

Stir the beans in real good and then cover and cook over a LOW flame. Cover the pot and simmer over a low flame for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Keep checking the pot every 20 minutes or so and stir the chili with a wooden spoon. Adjust the flame as necessary to keep from burning. Just cook it over a low flame.

After a couple of hours the chili will thin out and all the flavors will be married up.

Serve hot. Delicious!

Share and Enjoy:

Wakame Salad

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:51:01 +0000

This is a quick and easy recipe for wakame salad that is very healthy. You will need some dried wakame flakes, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar with the “Mother” and raw honey – all available from a health food store. Two brands of apple cider vinegar I have tried are Braggs and Solana Gold. Raw honey is available in many brands. I was able to buy all the ingredients from Whole Foods Market here in Southern California.

It takes about 30 minutes to make wakame salad. Start by placing the contents of a 30-gram packet of dried wakame flakes in a bowl. Add water to rehydrate the wakame and then set aside. Next, slice a cucumber and spread the slices on a cutting board and salt them. Allow the salted cucumber slices to set for 20 minutes. Mix the honey and the apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Stir to completely dissolve the honey.

After the cucumber slices have set for 20 minutes, squeeze them out and add them to the honey and vinegar mixture. Finally, add these to the rehydrated wakame and mix everything together. Keep refrigerated.

Ingredients:

30 g dried wakame flakes (1.06 oz bag)
1 small cucumber
1/4 cup raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar with the “Mother”
3/4 tbsp raw honey
1/2 tsp salt

Empty one bag of dried wakame flakes to a medium bowl, then add water to almost cover them. Set aside while re-hydrating. Next, slice the cucumber into thin slices, then spread out over cutting board. Sprinkle salt over the cucumber slices and set aside for 20 minutes. In a small bowl, add apple cider vinegar and honey and stir to completely dissolve the honey. After the salted cucumbers have set for 20 minutes, squeeze out all the water then add them to the apple cider vinegar and honey. Mix well, and then add the mixed ingredients to the re-hydrated wakame flakes. Mix all the ingredients with a spoon and serve.

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients: apple cider vinegar, raw honey, cucumber and wakame flakes..

Open the packet of wakame flakes and add them to a bowl.

Add enough water to cover the dried wakame flakes.

Slice the cucumber into thin slices…

Arrange the cucumber slices on a cutting board and salt them. Allow them to set for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, measure out the apple cider vinegar and add it to a small bowl.

Add the raw honey to the apple cider vinegar and stir it up to mix thoroughly.

When the salted cucumber slices have set for 20 minutes, squeeze out the extra water and add them to the bowl with the apple cider vinegar and honey mixture and mix them together.

Add the cucumber slices and apple cider vinegar and honey mixture to the rehydrated wakame flakes.

Wakame salad ready to serve. Store the remainder in the refrigerator.

Share and Enjoy:

Vegetable Curry With Chicken

admin — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:27:28 +0000

This is a basic vegetable curry recipe with chicken. The basic curry requires a little bit of vegetable oil for cooking, some chopped garlic, whole cumin seeds, red onions, tomatoes, mild green peppers, chopped ginger plus some turmeric root powder and some coriander powder. This is the basis for most any vegetable curry and takes about 6 to 8 minutes to cook thus far. Into this mixture you will add some vegetables. In this case I chose to add cauliflower, broccoli and yams. The vegetables require softening so they need to be cooked for about 25 to 30 minutes. Then I add some chicken cut into small pieces. Cook for another 5 minutes (don’t cook the chicken too much … you don’t want dry, hard chicken).

The basic idea for making curry is to have the ingredients all chopped up and prepared ahead of time. Start by sautéing chopped garlic in oil and gradually add each ingredient one after the other in a certain order, cooking each ingredient a little at a time. After sautéing the chopped garlic for a couple of minutes then you will add the whole cumin seeds. Cook them until the seeds are dark and the garlic is a very light tan color. Next, add the onions and cook them … you don’t want them brown., Next, add the tomatoes … this will slow it down because tomatoes will contain some water. The last ingredient before adding the vegetables is the chopped ginger. You don’t want to cook it too long and cook away the flavor … then you add the vegetables. You will probably need to add a little water for the vegetables.

I like to serve the curry in a bowl over a little cooked brown rice and then garnish it with fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) and chopped raw cashews. The curry is made with mild peppers (Anaheim peppers) and they are cooked which tends to make them even milder. You can add hotness with garnish. You can vary the hotness from hot (Jalapeño peppers or Serrano peppers) to very hot (Habanero peppers).

Ingredients:

1 lb skinless chicken breast meat, chopped into small pieces
1 cup fresh cauliflower florets
1 cup fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces with florets
2 cups fresh yams, cut into small pieces
1 cup chopped red onions
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup Anaheim peppers, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger root, shredded / chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp turmeric root powder
1 tbsp whole cumin seeds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt

Garnishes

Fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
Serrano chili, sliced thin
Habanero chili, finely chopped
Raw cashews, finely chopped

Directions:

Chop all the vegetables and meat to have everything ready. Place a small amount of cooking oil (vegetable oil) – about 2 -3 tbsp into a skillet. Heat up the oil and add the cut garlic. Cook the garlic until just beginning to brown very slightly, and then add the whole cumin seeds. Continue to cook until the cumin seeds start to turn dark and the garlic has slightly browned. Do not overheat or over cook.

Turn down the heat to medium, and then add the chopped onions.

Continue cooking for a couple of minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes. Keep stirring.

Cook for another minute or so and then add the spices – the coriander powder and the turmeric powder. Add a little water to achieve the consistency of loose paste.

Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the chopped green chilies. Note: depending on how hot you prefer the curry, thinly sliced Serrano chili peppers can be used for garnish or cooked with the vegetables and meat. You can add them a little later for less cooking time and more hotness.

Stir it around a bit and then add the fresh ginger root. Don’t overcook it and cook away the flavor.

Now add all the remaining vegetables – the cauliflower, broccoli and sliced yams. Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Cook for about 25 minutes to soften the vegetables. Add the salt while the vegetables are cooking. Stir often.

Finally, add the chicken pieces and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Don’t overcook the chicken. You want it to be moist and tender.

Serve hot. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and sliced Serrano chilies for hotness.

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients: starting in back and going left to right row by row – cauliflower, broccoli, yams, red onions (always use red onions for curry recipes), tomatoes, Anaheim peppers, ginger root, Serrano peppers, Habanero peppers, sliced garlic cloves and fresh coriander leaves (cliantro).

Start by heating up a little oil in a large pan and then sauté the sliced garlic cloves. Use a medium-high flame.

Cook the garlic for a minute or so and then add the whole cumin seeds.

Continue to cook until the seeds turn dark … You want the garlic to be a light tan and just starting to brown a little. You don’t want the garlic too well done.

Next, add the onions.

Turn the flame down and cook the onions for a couple of minutes. You don’t want the onions to be brown.

Next, add the chopped tomatoes. The tomatoes will contain some water and will slow down the cooking a bit.

Cook the tomatoes for a minute or so and then add the spices. Start by adding the coriander powder.

Next, add the turmeric powder.

Stir it up real good to mix all the ingredients. Next, add the Anaheim peppers.

Cook everything for a couple more minutes.

Next add the chopped ginger and cook for a very short time. You don’t want to cook the flavor away.

Now add all the vegetables. This is the cauliflower …

Then comes the broccoli …

And then add the yams …

Cook for about 25 minutes to soften all the vegetables. Add a little water if necessary to cover all the vegetables.

While the vegetables are cooking, cut the chicken breast meat into small pieces….

Keep checking the curry. Stir it up once in awhile. Add a little salt at this point. I will usually add about two teaspoons.

When the vegetables are all cooked, add the chicken meat …

After adding the chicken, cook for about 5 minutes only or until the chicken is not pink anywhere.

Serve immediately when done. The hot curry will continue to cook the chicken. You don’t want the chicken to become dry. Transfer any extra to a bowl and then cover and put in the refrigerator.

The serving of curry is on the right in the photo below … next to all the garnishes – fresh coriander leaves, Habanero peppers and Serrano peppers.

Shown below is the garnished curry ready to serve.

Share and Enjoy:

Herb Roasted Chicken

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:38:14 +0000

Ahhh, tasty herb roasted chicken with crisp skin! You can cook this yourself with some basic ingredients in about an hour and a half. Buy a whole chicken – preferably pasture raised (as organic as possible … not corn fed and not fattened up with hormones and antibiotics). I try to buy chicken that doesn’t contain any hormones or antibiotics, but it can be tricky getting the correct information.

Currently, there are some chickens being peddled as “Free Range” which are pretty much meaningless. The term, “Free Range”, does not mean it was not fed with corn laced with chemicals, and the terms “no added hormones or antibiotics” doesn’t mean that the growers didn’t add the chemicals into the food, so caveat emptor, “Let the buyer beware.”

Hormones and antibiotics make chickens grow much larger than they do naturally. Good, healthy chickens that weigh around 3 lbs. or just over that is about as big as they should be. I am suspicious of gigantic chicken breasts being sold as “Free Range.” If the chicken looks too big, it was probably given hormones and antibiotics. I like the chickens from Mary’s Pasture Raised Chickens. They are available locally at Whole Foods Markets.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, about 3 lbs or so
thyme
basil
oregano
rosemary
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 425°. Leave the skin on the chicken and place it in a baking pan breast side up. Liberally season the outside and inside with thyme and basil and sparingly with oregano. Liberally season the inside only with rosemary. Then sprinkle outside with salt and pepper. Place in preheated oven on the top rack and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

This will make a tender and juicy bird with a crispy skin.

Note: Adjust cooking time depending on the weight of the chicken – for example 1 hour and 10 minutes for a 3 lb chicken.

Shown below is a shot of the whole chicken in a baking pan with all the seasonings – thyme, basil and oregano, rosemary along with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 425°. Liberally season the outside and inside with thyme and basil and a little bit with oregano. Season the inside only with rosemary, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to your preference.

Place in the oven and bake for about an hour and 10 minutes. Adjust cooking time according to the weight of the chicken.

Share and Enjoy:

Baked Chicken Breast

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:29:41 +0000

This is a relatively quick and easy recipe that you can make in about 20 minutes. Chicken breast is a staple food for people who wish to lose weight, but it can get really boring. If cooked carelessly, it can turn out very dry and tasteless. This recipe will make a very tender and juicy baked chicken breast that is seasoned well and is very tasty.

I prefer range-free chicken that doesn’t contain any hormones or antibiotics. These additives make chickens grow large, and, unfortunately, I believe that they can make people grow large as well. We are able to get range-free chicken at a reasonable price from Trader Joe’s here in Southern California.

Baked chicken breast can be served as a main dish or you can cut it into pieces that you can toss into a green salad.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 breasts)
Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425°. Place chicken breasts in a baking pan and season liberally with thyme and basil and sparingly with oregano. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in preheated oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. Adjust cooking time according to the weight of the chicken, more or less time for more or less weight. Serve hot, tender and juicy.

Shown below is a shot of the chicken breast in a baking pan with all the seasonings – thyme, basil and oregano, along with salt and pepper. We prefer range-free chicken because it is healthier than chicken raised conventionally. Preheat oven to 425°.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Adjust cooking time according to the weight of the chicken.

Serve hot with sliced vegetables. Below it is shown with sliced radish, cucumber and tomato.

Share and Enjoy:

Quick and Easy Broiled Salmon

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:41:46 +0000

This is a quick and easy recipe that you can make in about 10-15 minutes. I like Alaskan Wild Salmon because it isn’t farm-raised. We are able to get ours from Trader Joe’s here in Southern California.

Typically, a 1 to 1 1/2 lb package will make about 3-4 servings. We like to serve it with brown rice and sliced vegetables or with a green salad. This meal is made from good, whole, natural foods.

Ingredients:

1 – 1 1/2 lbs Wild Alaskan Salmon
Paprika
Garlic powder
Lemon slice

Cut salmon into small slices and place in a shallow foil-lined pan. Cutting salmon into small slices will make slightly crispy edges and good texture. Sprinkle with parika and garlic powder. Broil on high for about 10 minutes. When salmon is cooked, remove from broiler and fold the foil over to enclose the cooked salmon and allow it to steam for about 5 minutes to make it tender and juicy. Cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the salmon. Garnish with lemon slice.

Shown below is a photo of the package of salmon on a cutting board. This is just over 1 lb. We like Wild Alaskan Salmon.

Cut the salmon into small slices for slightly crispy edges and a nice texture.

Place in a foil-lined pan and sprinkle with paprika and garlic powder.

Broil on high for about 10 minutes … cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the salmon. Folding the foil over to completely enclose the salmon and allowing to steam for about 5 minutes will help make it more tender and juicy.

Serve with green salad or sliced vegetables or brown rice. Shown below with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with a little brown rice.

Share and Enjoy:

Fat Free Palak Moong Dal

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:31:32 +0000

This is a fat free recipe for Palak Moong Dal. Dal is a thick soup or other Indian dish made with legumes. Palak Moong Dal is normally made with clarified butter or ghee, but this fat free version uses water in place of ghee or cooking oil. Palak Moong Dal is a very healthy thick soup made with fresh vegetables and dried mung beans. It takes a couple hours to cook and you have to chop a lot of vegetables, but it is worth the trouble.

Start by obtaining all the ingredients from your grocery store. Some of the items you’ll probably have to buy from a health food store – like dried mung beans and fresh ginger root. We make it using organic vegetables we buy at our local Whole Foods Market.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole mung beans, rinsed clean
5 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
3 cups fresh spinach, cleaned, stemmed & sliced (or a 10-oz pack frozen spinach)
2 cups finely sliced onions (approx. 1 large onion)
4 cups red ripe tomatoes, sliced and chopped into chunks (approx. 3 large tomatoes)
3 cups chopped Anaheim chili peppers (approx. 3 large peppers)
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger (minced with a chef’s knife)
1 tbsp crushed or minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp whole cumin seeds

1. Cook the Dal

Measure out 1 cup of whole mung beans into a large cooking pot with lid. Rinse the beans then strain through a mesh colander 5 or 6 times until beans are clean. Add 5 cups water to the pot and then add 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp salt. Place lid on pot and heat over high flame just until the water starts to boil, then turn the flame way down and cook slowly over a low flame for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Cook very slowly over a low flame to make a nice, creamy soup. After the mung beans have cooked for 1 1/2 hours, add the sliced spinach, then cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Prepare the “Spicy Tomato Butter”

While the dal is cooking, chop all the vegetables and prepare the spicy tomato butter. It is called “spicy tomato butter” because normally, you would use light ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil, but this is a fat free version and we are using water instead of oil or ghee, so it shouldn’t really be called “spicy tomato butter.” Rather, it is more like spicy cooked vegetables. The vegetables are cooked in a large skillet, adding ingredients gradually taking care to time everything very exactly.

Start by adding about 1/2 cup of water to the skillet, then bring to a boil and then add the whole cumin seeds. Cook the cumin seeds for about a minute or two until they begin to darken and the cooking water starts to turn brownish yellow. This is the fat-free way to make this recipe so we are cooking in water, only. In the regular way to make palak moong dal, you would use about 4 or 5 tbsp of ghee or light vegetable oil at this stage instead of water. Then, when the oil is heated, you would add the cumin seeds and cook for just 12 seconds (until the seeds begin to turn dark).

Next, turn down the heat to a medium flame and add the sliced onions. Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until the onions are soft and translucent and the flavor of the cumin seeds is infused into the onions. There should also be a very nice aroma of cumin seed at this stage.

Next, add the chopped chili peppers, chopped coriander, ginger and garlic. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon and cook at this stage for 2 minutes only. Just cook long enough at this step to infuse the flavors a little bit.

Next, add the chopped tomatoes, then stir with a wooden spoon and cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally during this time, taking care not to burn the vegetables. Adjust the flame as needed.

3. Add the Cooked Vegetables to the Dal

After the vegetables are cooked and the mung beans and spinach have simmered for 15 minutes, add them to the dal. At this time, add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and perhaps another 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of salt (to taste). Stir with a wooden spoon, then cover the pot and simmer for an additional 15 minutes to marry up all the flavors. Serve hot.

Shown below is a photo of most of the ingredients. Starting from the back row and going left to right: turmeric, chopped garlic, whole cumin seeds, garam masala, 3 large tomatoes, onion, dried mung beans, ginger root, coriander (cilantro) and Anaheim chili peppers.

Shown below is the rest of the ingredients – fresh spinach.

Start by rinsing the mung beans. Rinse them about 5 or 6 times, straining through a mesh colander after each rinsing.

Add 5 cups of water to the rinsed mung beans plus 1/4 tsp. of turmeric and 1 tsp. of salt. We are using sea salt. Place the pot over a high flame then cover and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, turn the flame way way down and cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours. Cook it over a low flame to get a creamy texture. Cover it with a lid while cooking.

While the dal is cooking, chop up all the vegetables. Start with the Anaheim chili peppers.

Cut the end off the pepper, then cut the pepper in half.

Remove all the seeds and ribs.

Slice the pepper halves lengthwise into about 4 or 5 slices each.

Now chop into medium sized chunks. Repeat for all three peppers.

Gather up al the chopped peppers into a bowl and set aside for now.

Slice the onion into thin slices. Start by quartering the onion. If you are using two small onions instead of one large onion, you can cut them into halves instead of quarters.

Peel the skin off and slice each part into thin slices.

When the onions are all sliced up, set them aside.

Chop the fresh coriander (cilantro).

Peel the fresh ginger root and slice up into chunks.

Either use a chopper or chop the ginger root with a chef’s knife. Chop it up real fine – nearly minced.

I like to prepare all the chopped ingredients in bowls so they are ready to add when the time comes. Shown below left to right, back to front: ginger root, chopped garlic, coriander and whole cumin seeds. Lately I’ve been doing this a little differently. I place all the chopped peppers in a bowl, then add the coriander, ginger and garlic over the top of the peppers because they are all added to the skillet at the same time.

Finally, chop all the tomatoes and set them aside in a bowl.

Check the dal and stir it with a wooden spoon once in awhile. Keep it covered while cooking.

In a large skilet, add about 1/2 cup of water and bring it to a boil over a high flame. Then add the whole cumin seeds.

Cook the cumin seeds over a high flame for about 1 to 2 minutes. The seeds will start turning dark and the cooking water will become yellowish in color.

Add the sliced onions, then cook over a medium flame for about 10-12 minutes. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon.

After the onions have cooked for about 10-12 minutes, add the chili peppers, coriander, chopped garlic and ginger root. Cook for 2 minutes and stir with a wooden spoon.

After the chili peppers, coriander, chopped garlic and ginger root have cooked for 2 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes.

Stir all the vegetables together with a wooden spoon.

Cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the dal has cooked for 1 1/2 hours, add the fresh spinach. I like to cut the spinach into smaller pieces so they aren’t too stringy in the finished soup.

Stir the fresh spinach into the dal until it is completely covered.

Cover the pot with a lid and continue cooking over a very low flame for another 15 minutes.

When the vegetables have finished cooking 20 minutes after the tomatoes have been added, they are ready to be added to the dal.

Add the cooked vegetables to the dal.

Stir the cooked vegetables into the dal and add 1/2 tsp. of garam masala. At this time I like to add about another 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. of salt.

Simmer for about 15 minutes to marry up all the flavors, then serve hot. Serve with brown rice and some naan bread. Naan bread is really good but it can make you hungry so go easy on it.

Share and Enjoy: