Cooking With Friends: Recipes to Feed and Inspire

Four times a year, I get together with friends in my church kitchen and we cook, sharing healthy recipes. We laugh a little, do a lot of chopping and just enjoy being foodies. I always include several simple proteins and lots of veggies. Try something new. It's a lifestyle--it's gotta taste good!

Prepping the Artichokes for Mini Lasagna Cups

Here are the most recent recipes.

Turkey Meatballs                                 

2 lbs ground turkey

½ red onion finely chopped

5 green onions, finely chopped

1 egg

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp powdered ginger or 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

Black pepper

Red pepper flakes

2 tbs dried or fresh chopped cilantro

2 tbs soy sauce

Mix ingredients in a bowl. Shape into patties or use an ice cream scoop to form meatballs. Place in baking dish coated with cooking spray.

 Bake 350 until brown, about 30 minutes. Carefully remove meatballs from pan, leaving drippings behind.

Egg Casserole with Sweet Potatoes

Cooking spray

Olive oil

1 large sweet potato or yam, diced

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ pound lean turkey sausage

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cups chopped spinach,

or thawed and squeezed frozen spinach

10 eggs, whisked

½ teaspoon salt, pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×12 baking dish. Or spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

Toss diced sweet potatoes in 1 tsp olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Place sweet potatoes on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until soft. Or bake in microwave, 5 minutes each.

While sweet potatoes are cooking, place a large sauté pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Add breakfast sausage and yellow onion. Cook until no pink remains in meat. (drain off fat)

Place meat mixture in baking dish or muffin tins or a 9 x 11 inch pan,  add sweet potatoes and spinach then add eggs along with salt and garlic powder and mix until well combined.

Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until eggs are set in the middle.

Egg Casserole Cups

Roasted Veggies:

Brush sliced cauliflower (or any veggie sliced in a uniform size) with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake 400 degrees until tender crisp.

--Sprinkle with parmesan cheese or toss with balsamic vinegar and real bacon bits

 

Roasted Veggies

Spinach Artichoke Mini Lasagnas

16 oz Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained

1 can water packed artichoke hearts

1 16 oz container fat free ricotta cheese

3 cups shredded mozzarella

½ cup parmesan

1 large egg

3 tbs herb paste

1 jar low sugar pasta sauce 72 refrigerated wontons

Stir together spinach, artichoke hearts, ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella, parmesan, egg, herb paste. Set aside. 

Preheat oven to 375. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Press one wonton wrapper into each cup. Spoon 2 tbs cheese mix into each. Top with sauce, wrapper, cheese, wrapper, sauce—etc.

 Crimp top wrapper like a pie. Spread 1 tbs sauce over each and top with 1 cup mozzarella.  Wrap pan with foil.

Bake 10-12 min.  Adapted from Vegetarian Times Magazine /Nov 2014 

Veggie Lasagna Cups

Asian Salad

4 cups shredded napa cabbage or any greens

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup grated carrots

1 red bell pepper sliced thin

½ cup chopped mint

½ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup chopped peanuts

¼ cup lime juice

2 tsp Sriracha sauce

3 cloves minced garlic

2 tbs Stevia

3 tbs fish sauce or low sodium soy sauce

1 tbs olive oil.

Combine all veggies in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in another bowl and whisk.  Just before serving, toss dressing into salad and top with peanuts. Serve with cooked shredded chicken for a complete meal. 

Citrus Salmon

Salmon, divided into 4 oz portions

½ cup orange juice

Juice of one lemon

One lemon, sliced thin

Spice rub or chili powder, cumin, salt , pepper and red pepper

Olive oil

Allow salmon to soak in orange juice for 20 mins

Remove from juice and place in oven safe dish. Brush with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle with spices. Put  a single layer of lemons on top of fish.

Bake 400 degrees for 15-20 min. 

 

Salmon Tostadas

Spaghetti Squash Boats

2 spaghetti squash

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb chicken breasts

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp oregano

2 cups marinara sauce

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Poke squash with a fork and microwave it for 5 min. Remove. Repeat with the other squash. Allow them to sit for 10 minutes. Cut them open and scoop out seeds. Loosen strands with fork.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Heat pan with a little olive oil. Put chicken in pan, add garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook chicken until pink color is gone.

Place chicken on squash halves.

Top with sauce, mozzarella  and parmesan. Bake at 350 for about 12-20 minutes. 

Prepping the Squash Boats

Help! I'm Hungry All the Time!

Some of my fitness buddies are walking around a little bit cranky lately because frankly-- they're hungry.

The best way to truly find out what's going on is to log your food. And I don't mean making a mental checklist of everything you ate for the last three days and forgetting to mention "a bite of this" and a "bag of that." I mean taking time to look up the nutrients of the foods you eat in the proper portion sizes, before that food lands on your plate.

Write down what you ate, when you ate it, and the numbers that go with it. www.nutritiondata.com is a great place to look up numbers. You can even make notes about how you physically felt a few hours later--whether you had decent energy, or if you were running low. Keep track of the water you drink too, because that comes into play in your overall wellness. We suggest 90 ounces of water a day. Drink up!! Water keeps you full, hydrated and energized.

I find when people log their food, it provides a culinary road map that tells me why they're hungry because of what they're eating, or not eating.

                                                            SAMPLE FOOD LOG

To stay full and energized, you need a combination of complex carbs and lean protein to give you the energy and fullness you're looking for, with the fewest calories. Think of good carbs as quality fuel, versus simple carbs which give you a short burst of energy and then you crash.

When you eat small portions of complex carbs along with lean protein throughout the day, your blood sugar doesn't spike and then dive. It stays even all day long so you don't find yourself digging in the pantry at 8 p.m. looking for that cookie fix that you know you can get from sugar. We often crave sugar when we've been depriving ourselves of decent carb fuels all day long.

Start the Day with Complex Carbs

So, start your day with the highest quality of carbs available. Lately, I'm on a hot oat bran kick. Find a bag of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran in the health food cereal aisle for $2.69, or any brand you like. Measure 1/3 of a cup of dry oat bran, put it in a deep glass dish and add 1 cup of water. Microwave it for 2 minutes and you get a great hot cereal packed with carbs that keep me full and happy all morning.

Oat bran is different than oat meal. It actually has 50-percent more fiber than oatmeal, with a lot more protein and very few calories. The bran is the outer husk of the whole oat grain. I'm not sure whose job it is to pick off that husk...but I'm happy they do. :)  The soluble fiber in oat bran can help lower your bad cholesterol levels.

I top mine with a little brown sugar, Stevia, and cinnamon. One serving is 150 calories (minus the brown sugar), 27 carbs and 7 grams of protein.  I eat an egg on the side for a little added protein.

I spray a microwave safe dish with Pam, crack an egg in it, pierce the yolk with a fork and cover it with plastic wrap. Microwave for 35 seconds and swirl it around. Add another 20 seconds or so of cooking time.

Other Complex Carbs 

Remember too that vegetables and fruits are some of the best complex carbs around. They're packed with nutrients and fiber, which make us feel full. The general rule around my gym is that half your plate should be vegetables.  That's a visual cue that'll help you know if you're hitting your mark. If you like bread, choose whole grain, seedy varieties--in the right portion size. There are some delicious new pastas that are packed with fiber and protein too. These are carbs that you can enjoy in the proper portion size. A cup of pasta is the real portion size--not the plate you're served at Olive Garden.

 Measure it. Eat it. Have a colorful salad on the side.

Other Fantastic Carbs

The lowly sweet potato is often forgotten, but it's an excellent source of carb fuel. Poke it five times with a fork and microwave it for 5 minutes, or toss it in the oven if you're baking chicken or fish.


Beans

Black beans are loaded with fiber and they're a decent source of carbs and protein. Put some in your low carb tortilla with a little shredded cheddar and make quesadillas.


Eating small amounts of carbs throughout the day will keep your hunger in check and keep you from straying off your nutrition plan in search of energy. Ask yourself--"Am I hungry?" or are you really just tired or thirsty. Feed real hunger with real food--and lose the cranky!!