Farmers' Market Inspiration Black Bean Dip

It has been over a year since I have posted on this blog, but my duality as a decadent dessert lover and a health food nut has forced me back into this blog. As far as healthy eating goes, there is no better place than a local farmers' market for inspiration. I look upon the annual arrival of spring as incomplete and summer is lacking without weekly visits to the farm market in town. The vendors, the atmosphere, and the cooking inspiration are truly amazing. At our local farmers' market there are a few unique vendors with specialty treats like freshly made mozzarella, popsicles, granola bars, and more. I mostly browse through those places or grab a snack and head toward the produce stands for vegetables and fruits. A few weeks ago we stopped by a stand that sells dips, hummus, and other kinds of spreads and upon tasting a few samples we were hooked. We ended up coming home with a black bean dip that was so delicious I bought it again when we finished it. Even though I love supporting local businesses, there is a little part of me that hates paying the cash to support them. Yesterday I finished off the last of my black bean dip from the market with some baby carrots as an appetizer. Today I wanted some more to put on my salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, avacado, peppers, and chopped turkey breast (this dip worked great in place of a salad dressing!). I looked in the pantry and I came up with this black bean dip. Try it and play with the proportions!

Farmer's Market Black Bean Dip

Ingredients:
1 can (15.5 oz) black beans (I prefer Goya Frijoles Negros - other varieties have not cut it for my taste)
1 clove peeled garlic
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t cumin
dash chili powder
2 T fresh cilantro
1/4 c roasted red peppers
juice of 1 lime
juice of 1 lemon
5 slices jar jalapenos
1/4 ripe avocado
dash hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste if desired
(The inspiration for this recipe was made with vegetable oil, but here I've eliminated it and the only fat comes from the avocado - which is good for you!!)

Directions: blend in food processor until uniform texture forms and all components are integrated.
Suggestions: serve with chips, veggies, on salad, on sandwiches, or any other way it might be enjoyed!

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

I love grilling vegetables. Here is an adaptation of a veggie-tarian burger that we love!

2 portobello mushroom caps
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
4 leafs spinach
4 sprigs arugula
1/2 avacado
2 T mayonaise
Tomato slices
2 whole wheat kaiser rolls
olive oil
italian seasoning
(mozz. cheese optional)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat grill.
2. Cut zucchini and squash in half through the skinny side. Create 1/4 inch slices out of the two halves.
3. Lightly spray/brush olive oil on mushrooms and zucchini/squash. Dust with italian seasoning.
4. Grill mushrooms and zucchini/squash for a few minutes per side until grill lines form on them and mushrooms get soft. Toast rolls.
5. Chop avocado and mix with mayo. Spread on bottom and top of each roll.
6. Layer spinach and arugula next, followed by veggies.

Grilled Radishes. RADISHES?

We recently had the awesome opportunity to join a farm co-op through our friend Michelle's job at the Center For Discovery. The Center is a mostly residential school for highly special needs students. They have a working organic farm that people are allowed to pay into to receive produce and we decided to split it with Michelle and Mike this year. This will lead us into having some very strange new things to eat - exciting!

Tonight we needed to figure out what to do with the radishes we got. Nikki and I don't really like radishes cold in salad or stand-alone. I found this website for a great grilled radish recipe. Check out the link above: I made some of my alterations listed here below...

* 20 ounces radishes, sliced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
* 1 cube ice
* salt and pepper to taste, dash paprika, dash onion powder
* 1 whole shallot, sliced thin.

Directions

1. Preheat the grill for high heat.
2. Place everything on a double layer of aluminum foil large enough to wrap contents. Season with salt and pepper. Tightly seal foil around contents.
3. Place foil packet on the grill, and cook 20 minutes, or until radishes are tender.

They taste kind of like cooked cabbage, but much sweeter. Spice/season to taste!

Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce!

Awesome dinner! Served 2 of us

Ingredients:
8 oz dried soba noodles
24 medium shrimp deveined and peeled
4 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons peanut butter (I used Skippy 25% reduced fat chunky)
2 teaspoons honey
dash of preferred spice (I like red pepper flakes to taste)
1/4 c chopped scallion (optional)
1/4 c chopped peanuts (optional)

1 head broccoli
2 onions
handful of baby carrots
Veggies you like in stir fry

1. Cook soba noodles as directed on package. Set aside.
2. Pan-fry shrimp in wok or frying pan with 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 T soy, 1T garlic. Set aside.
2. Cut broccoli into medium sized florets, set in glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for about 2 minutes. (or pre-cook any way you like) Set aside.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in wok or large frying pan. Chop onions in half then in thick strips. Slice baby carrots in half. Add to wok and cook until onions brown.
4. Add broccoli and continue to cook stir fry.
5. Add soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, honey, and spice. Stir and cook down until sauce is evenly coating all ingredients. Add noodles and shrimp. Continue to cook until shrimp and noodles are heated through and evenly coated.
6. Toss with freshly chopped nuts, scallions, or added seasoning if you like!

Oatmeal Raisin Yogurt Muffins

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

Adapted from Dannon's Website

These muffins taste like oatmeal raisin cookies but are part of a delicious breakfast!

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, plumped (soak in hot tap water for a few minutes, drain)
1 cup Dannon® Light 'n Fit® Vanilla nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup egg substitute
3 Tablespoons no sugar added applesauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Lightly coat 1/2 cup mufffin tins with cooking spray. (Paper liners tend to stick with to the finished product - not recommended here)
3. In bowl stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and the raisins; in another bowl whisk together yogurt, egg and applesauce.
4. Stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir the batter until it is just combined.
5. Divide the batter among 10 cavities and bake the muffins on the middle oven rack for 22-25 minutes.
Yields: 10 Servings

Finished muffins freeze well. Thaw and heat in microwave for approx 30 seconds.

Dips, Steaks, and Sandwich inspiration

The other night we had friends over for dinner and I wanted to put out something for an appetizer. I put out a bag of multi-grain corn chips and some salsa, but when one of our guests asked for dip, "you know, like white dip?" I had to improvise.

I always keep a packet of Lipton Onion Soup dry mix in the cupboard (it is great in mashed potatoes!) and we happened to have Fat Free sour cream in the fridge.
Instead of following the recipe for traditional Onion Dip I just took a few tablespoons of the Fat Free sour cream and a sprinkle of onion soup powder from the pouch! (Check out the sour cream info here: it is totally unnecessary to use full-fat for this dip!)Mix to taste and you have a light delicious dip for veggies or chips.

The next day, our nutrition guide called for a grilled flank steak. I could only buy a large flank steak that was good for 2 meals for 2 people so I had plenty of leftovers. I originally cooked the steak marinated with some good balsamic vinegar, garlic, and some herbs. For lunch the following day we had grilled vegetable foccacia and we had leftover foccacia as well. (Found a low-fat recipe online)

For dinner last night I found a delicious combination:
Steak-Dip Sandwich
1/4 loaf low-fat foccacia bread, sliced in half lengthwise
6-8 oz leftover flank steak, sliced thin
1.5 oz non-fat cheddar cheese
2 tbs non-fat onion dip
(Added grilled onion or veggies would be sweet too!)
I ate it open faced and heated in the toaster oven, but could be panini-fied too! (just lay off the extra oil)

With a large side salad (about 2 cups of greens, sliced tomato, cucumber, balsamic) it made for an awesome, healthy dinner!

Waffles for breakfast?

Today the P90X guide called for us to eat whole wheat waffles with peanut butter and banana for breakfast with a nice glass of skim milk. I love it! It is a great new breakfast idea.

We've had this breakfast for 4 weeks now (every Sunday) and have developed a great strategy for making this healthy.

For waffles we have now had 3 options:
Eggo Low Fat Whole Wheat Waffles and Van's Premium Waffles - 97% Fat Free were both pretty tasty and convenient out of the freezer. (We found Van's brand in the health food freezer... but the whole wheat was higher in fat than these)

However, when I forgot to buy more waffles for this week's breakfast, we needed to improvise. We found this awesome low fat, whole wheat, oatmeal waffle recipes!

"Fat Free" Whole Wheat Oatmeal Waffles
(recipe has a small amount of fat based on the small portion from the whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 Tbsp wheat germ
2 tsp no sodium baking powder
1-1/2 tsp sugar substitute

Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl or large glass measuring cup (for convenience). Mix in dry ingredients. For a 9 inch round waffle iron, use about 1/2 cup measure for each waffle. Allow to cook until somewhat dark brown in order to cook all the way through. Makes about 4 waffles - good to share with 2 people. (I would like to try ground walnuts or a dash of cinnamon in the batter!)

Eating with a sliced banana and 2 tbs. of Skippy Super Chunk 25% Fat Free Peanut Butter topped off with skim milk = delicious morning start!

(Check out THIS LINK for a great whole wheat pancake recipe!)