I've had a few moments of inspiration this week so I thought I'd share. And let me remind you - my inspiration comes from looking in the fridge and seeing what needs to be eaten. It doesn't take much more than that to come up with something yummy.
First, a dish I'm going to call Cauliflower Creamed Spinach.
For starters, I have no idea what creamed spinach is. But I figure if you can sub cauliflower in for potatoes AND bread, why not cream?
I bought a head of cauliflower a week or so ago, planning to make some cauliflower sweet potato soup, which as been a hit in the past. But then I went to the farmers market store and found super cheap butternut, so I bought that, also for soup. When I got home I dug out the recipe book from the bag of sweet potatoes I bought in November (yes, they last that long, don't worry) and found a recipe for sweet potato butternut soup. Ok seriously? Needless to say the cauliflower got forgotten about. And that brings me to Monday, and trying to use up cauliflower for lunch.
I recently found a pin on Pinterest for cauliflower cheese sticks, which are basically bread sticks but with cauliflower instead of bread. Interesting. I decided to try it out, and it kind of failed. I was unable to keep the concoction from sticking to the pan, probably because of the copious amounts of spinach I decided needed to be in there. BUT it was super yummy! I decided to modify the recipe a little to my own tastes.
So here's what I did:
1. Rice (grate) some cauliflower. I did about 1/4 a head. Heat it in the microwave for about 5 minutes.
2. Chop some spinach. I used 3 big handfuls, whatever that equals in cups. Saute it in just a tiny bit of oil until it's all wilty and lovely.
3. Grate some cheese. I used about 1/2 c mozzarella. Love me some mozza!
4. Combine everything, and spread in a GENEROUSLY greased baking dish, about 9 x 5.
5. Broil for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and it starts to brown on top.
So easy! And so yummy :)
Sorry no pics! Next time I make it I'll add some.
My second dish I shall call Salsa Tacos
Again, I looked in the fridge. I had a pepper from the farmers market store that cost me a quarter and a bag of sliced onions from the roast Richard made on Sunday. Also the plethora of tortillas that I always have.
Light bulb.
The last time I made avocado chicken enchiladas we ate them every day for a week and never tired of them. And one of the reasons was the delicious mixture of peppers and onions whose smell I can still remember if I close my eyes. So this invention started with that lovely aroma - diced and grilling red peppers and onion.
So here's what I did:
1. Dice and grill 1 red pepper with about half an onion in olive oil. Grill it as long as you want. It smells better and better as it goes.
2. Heat 1 can of DRAINED AND RINSED black beans in a pot.
3. Once the peppers are grilled and the beans are warm, mix them together and add some frozen corn. Heat until it's all nice and warm.
4. In a skillet, toast both sides of a tortilla.
5. Grate some cheese.
6. Construct your food. I left it open because I knew my kids would want burritos, I would want mini tacos, and who knows what Richard would want. He ended up rolling his tortillas and scooping the mixture onto the end for each bite. My mini tacos were constructed by tearing the tortilla into 4 triangles and scooping the salsa in and topping it with cheese. It was fabulous.
This is a super easy way to turn a meaty meal into a vegetarian one, btw. I ate WAY more than I should have for lunch today, as you can see...but all I had for dinner was a bowl of green beans, so it evened out :)
Ok for those of you wanting to try fish...This is my FAVORITE.
Tilapia is the best food on the planet. I found some on sale at Winco for $3/lb and couldn't help myself. So here's what I did. Are you ready for the intense simplicity?
1. Grill the tilapia.
2. Heat some frozen broccoli in the microwave.
It. Was. Heavenly. As you can see in the picture I topped it off with a nice cool glass of veggie juice. I love veggie juice.
So there you go, three easy ideas. Buy tilapia if it's less than $4/lb, and keep a variety of fresh veggies on hand, and you should be able to come up with easy, healthy meals at any time :)
And for desert...Homemade Larabars!
These are incredible. I eat at least 4 a day. I'm 2 weeks into my no-sugar diet, and it's going well, mostly due to these delectable morsels. It started out as an experiment for marathon snacks, and I fully intended to freeze them and save them for my long runs in the summer, but everyone here likes them too much for that. Hey, if it gets my kids eating fruit I'm down. Let me just emphasize the best part of these snack bars: there is NO sugar in them! Just dates, nuts, and some flavoring. I love dates as sweeteners. The problem with processed/artificial sweeteners is that the body doesn't treat it in an incredibly digestion-friendly way. Pure sugar is turned into carbs and then into fat by the body, and your liver is really bad at processing it correctly, so you're not only gaining weight but damaging your liver. But the sugar found in fruits, WHEN EATEN WITH THE FRUIT (i.e. making smoothies rather than juicing), are digested properly and turned into energy that your body can use, rather than fat that, let's face it, goes straight to your hips.
First, a dish I'm going to call Cauliflower Creamed Spinach.
For starters, I have no idea what creamed spinach is. But I figure if you can sub cauliflower in for potatoes AND bread, why not cream?
I bought a head of cauliflower a week or so ago, planning to make some cauliflower sweet potato soup, which as been a hit in the past. But then I went to the farmers market store and found super cheap butternut, so I bought that, also for soup. When I got home I dug out the recipe book from the bag of sweet potatoes I bought in November (yes, they last that long, don't worry) and found a recipe for sweet potato butternut soup. Ok seriously? Needless to say the cauliflower got forgotten about. And that brings me to Monday, and trying to use up cauliflower for lunch.
I recently found a pin on Pinterest for cauliflower cheese sticks, which are basically bread sticks but with cauliflower instead of bread. Interesting. I decided to try it out, and it kind of failed. I was unable to keep the concoction from sticking to the pan, probably because of the copious amounts of spinach I decided needed to be in there. BUT it was super yummy! I decided to modify the recipe a little to my own tastes.
So here's what I did:
1. Rice (grate) some cauliflower. I did about 1/4 a head. Heat it in the microwave for about 5 minutes.
2. Chop some spinach. I used 3 big handfuls, whatever that equals in cups. Saute it in just a tiny bit of oil until it's all wilty and lovely.
3. Grate some cheese. I used about 1/2 c mozzarella. Love me some mozza!
4. Combine everything, and spread in a GENEROUSLY greased baking dish, about 9 x 5.
5. Broil for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and it starts to brown on top.
So easy! And so yummy :)
Sorry no pics! Next time I make it I'll add some.
My second dish I shall call Salsa Tacos
Again, I looked in the fridge. I had a pepper from the farmers market store that cost me a quarter and a bag of sliced onions from the roast Richard made on Sunday. Also the plethora of tortillas that I always have.
Light bulb.
The last time I made avocado chicken enchiladas we ate them every day for a week and never tired of them. And one of the reasons was the delicious mixture of peppers and onions whose smell I can still remember if I close my eyes. So this invention started with that lovely aroma - diced and grilling red peppers and onion.
So here's what I did:
1. Dice and grill 1 red pepper with about half an onion in olive oil. Grill it as long as you want. It smells better and better as it goes.
2. Heat 1 can of DRAINED AND RINSED black beans in a pot.
3. Once the peppers are grilled and the beans are warm, mix them together and add some frozen corn. Heat until it's all nice and warm.
4. In a skillet, toast both sides of a tortilla.
5. Grate some cheese.
6. Construct your food. I left it open because I knew my kids would want burritos, I would want mini tacos, and who knows what Richard would want. He ended up rolling his tortillas and scooping the mixture onto the end for each bite. My mini tacos were constructed by tearing the tortilla into 4 triangles and scooping the salsa in and topping it with cheese. It was fabulous.
This is a super easy way to turn a meaty meal into a vegetarian one, btw. I ate WAY more than I should have for lunch today, as you can see...but all I had for dinner was a bowl of green beans, so it evened out :)
Ok for those of you wanting to try fish...This is my FAVORITE.
1. Grill the tilapia.
2. Heat some frozen broccoli in the microwave.
It. Was. Heavenly. As you can see in the picture I topped it off with a nice cool glass of veggie juice. I love veggie juice.
So there you go, three easy ideas. Buy tilapia if it's less than $4/lb, and keep a variety of fresh veggies on hand, and you should be able to come up with easy, healthy meals at any time :)
And for desert...Homemade Larabars!
These are incredible. I eat at least 4 a day. I'm 2 weeks into my no-sugar diet, and it's going well, mostly due to these delectable morsels. It started out as an experiment for marathon snacks, and I fully intended to freeze them and save them for my long runs in the summer, but everyone here likes them too much for that. Hey, if it gets my kids eating fruit I'm down. Let me just emphasize the best part of these snack bars: there is NO sugar in them! Just dates, nuts, and some flavoring. I love dates as sweeteners. The problem with processed/artificial sweeteners is that the body doesn't treat it in an incredibly digestion-friendly way. Pure sugar is turned into carbs and then into fat by the body, and your liver is really bad at processing it correctly, so you're not only gaining weight but damaging your liver. But the sugar found in fruits, WHEN EATEN WITH THE FRUIT (i.e. making smoothies rather than juicing), are digested properly and turned into energy that your body can use, rather than fat that, let's face it, goes straight to your hips.
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