Beans & Greens

One of my favorite meals is Beans and Greens.  It's healthy, tasty, and super quick to make.  This recipe makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 can cannelini or other beans
• 1 bunch greens (swiss chard, kale, collards, dandelion - anything works well), torn or chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• lemon
• 2 Tablespoons pine nuts
• parmesan cheese

Directions

Toast pine nuts in a dry, warm pan and set aside. Rinse beans. Heat olive oil in a pan and cook onion until translucent. Add garlic and then greens and beans. If the greens are dry, you may want to add a little water to the pan to help them steam.  After a couple of minutes, turn off heat, squeeze lemon over everything.  Serve over 1/2 cup rice and add pine nuts and parmesan.

Tips: To absorb iron, your body needs citrus (vitamin C) but this breaks down if it is heated!  If I'm really counting every calorie (or running short on time) I might skip the pine nuts and cheese but they add a lot of flavor.

Asian Quinoa Salad

My go-to potluck dish this summer has been the Asian Quinoa Salad from Two Peas and their Pod.  It is always a hit and I've seen a few professed quinoa-haters go back for seconds.  It is a balanced meal all on its own so even a summer barbeque can be part of a healthy-eating day.

I don't like cabbage and tend to use whatever vegetables are on sale so it varies a bit from day to day but this is today's version.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Super Grains (blend of quinoas and other grains from Whole Foods) cooked
• 1 cucumber
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 bunch of grilled asparagus 
• 4 carrots, shredded
• 3 cups shelled edamame (I use frozen and then microwave them)

Dressing

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 tablespoon champagne vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• dash red pepper flakes

Directions:

Cook Super Grains (I use a rice cooker) and measure 3 cups into a large bowl.  Put this in freezer to chill while preparing the vegetables.  Grill the asparagus and cut into pieces, shred the carrots, and dice the remaining vegetables.  Microwave the edamame until no longer frozen.  Toss these ingredients in the bowl with the grains and put back in the freezer.

Chop the green onion, grate the ginger and put them with other dressing ingredients in a large cup and blend with a stick blender.  Pour over salad and mix thoroughly.  Let sit in the refrigerator for flavors to develop.

Vegan Eggplant Meatballs

The vegan eggplant meatballs we made for the challenge were a hit.  They were too moist when we first made them and I think the flavor developed over time.  Cooking them twice made them a little drier so while I'm including the original recipe we followed here, my advice is to cook them for significantly longer (maybe at a lower temperature).

The only change we made from the original recipe found on Gina's Skinny Recipe blog (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/05/vegan-eggplant-meatballs.html#more) was that we made it into 24 balls instead of 12.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb unpeeled eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 can cannelini beans
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup breadcrumbs 

Heat the oven to 375°. Place 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. When hot add the eggplant and 1/4 cup water. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor.

Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the skillet with the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add to the food processor along with the drained beans and parsley and pulse until well combined and chopped, but not pureed.  (We used a stick blender which pureed them).

Combine the mixture with the breadcrumbs. Roll into 24 meatballs. Place on a baking sheet and bake until firm and browned, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Team Blue's Eggplant Parm Recipe

I don't know if it counts as eggplant parm if it doesn't include any parmesan cheese but this award-winning recipe was delicious!

• 2 1/4 lb sm eggplant (3-4), cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 tsp salt
• Monica's Sauce – recipe below
• fresh basil leaves
• parsley
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 12 oz fat free ricotta

Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices. Lightly salt the slices and put in a colander to release excess moisture for about 10 minutes. Lay on paper towels to soak up any extra moisture.

Preheat oven to 450°. Brush eggplant lightly with olive oil on both sides and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes,  turning half way through until eggplant is golden brown.

In a medium bowl combine ricotta, basil, and parsley. In a 9x12 baking dish, put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish and put a layer of eggplant to cover the bottom of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and sauce. Add another layer of eggplant and repeat the ricotta cheese and sauce. Finish with a layer of eggplant a layer of sauce. Bake until cheese is melted and everything is bubbling, about 30 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and let it sit about 10 minutes then add fresh basil to the top.

The nutrition information is for 1/8 of the recipe but we decided that 2 of these servings with a little wheat pasta would be a balanced plate.

Monica's Sauce

For the Y weight challenge, we had to make over an eggplant parmesan recipe.  Team Blue's recipe started with a delicious sauce full of yummy veggies.  This recipe made a giant pot of sauce (in the future I'll probably cut the recipe in half).

Fresh Tomato Sauce: a serving of this sauce contains 2 to 3 servings of vegetables!

• 3 red bell peppers

• 3 finely grated zucchinis

• 3 finely grated carrots

• 1 pound plum tomatoes

• 2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

• 6 cloves garlic, smashed

• 1 package or jar sundried tomatoes

• 1 large onion finely chopped

• 1 cup veggie stock

• fresh basil

• oregano

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add all your chopped and grated veggies except the sun dried tomatoes (plum tomatoes, onion, red bell pepper, zuchinni, carrots). Add a large pinch of dried oregano, then cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes with the lid on, or until the vegetables are soft but not starting to brown.

Add the 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, ½ cup stock, a pinch of salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Add in the basil and the sun dried tomatoes in the last 15 minutes. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little bit more stock.

The nutrition information is for an entire pot which would easily feed 15 people.

Lentil Chili

Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili from the book Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1.5 cups red or brown lentils
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup apple juice (I use a juice box)
• 2 cups water
• salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

Sautee onion and garlic in oil until onion is translucent.  Add spices and bell pepper and cook for 1 more minute.  Add other ingredients (I sometimes add carrots and other veggies) and cook in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.

Yummy Marinara

This challenge has me eating weird combinations of food.  Instead of eating this with pasta, I put it over quinoa and added edamame to balance my plate.  Jen gushed over the nutritional content and it was pretty tasty.

The "usual" recipe would have had more oil and I would have sauteed the spices with carmelized shallots and dumped them in after pureeing but this was easier and used less oil.

Marinara:

• 1 TBS oil
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (drain, but reserve the juice)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• pepper flakes to taste
• 1 tsp freshly crushed anise seed

In a large pot, sautee garlic and onion in oil until onion is translucent.  Add carrots and sautee 5 minutes longer.  Add drained tomatoes and chopped basil, pepper and anise.  Cover and cook 30 minutes until carrots are soft.  Puree, adding reserved tomato juice if necessary.

Nutritional information is per cup and this recipe made 3.75 cups.