Strawberry, basil and poppyseed salad dressing

Strawberry, basil and poppyseed salad dressing

8 oz strawberries
3 basil leaves
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 T each olive & smart balance canola oil
1 tsp poppyseeds
.5-1 tsp ground black pepper
dash salt, if desired

Combine all ingredients in food processor.

Pulse until ingredients are well blended (less than a minute.)

Add additional seasonings to taste, if desired.

Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Ingredients
pastry for double-crust pie (9")
1/3 C egg substitute
1 C light sour cream
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 T cider vinegar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
dash salt
1 C raisins

(I forgot the sugar in this pic, but I did use what the recipe called for.)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a 9" pie plate with the bottom layer of crust. Trim the edges to you liking.

Combine the egg, sour cream, sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl.

Beat for about 1 minute on low speed just to blend the ingredients. The mixture will be very liquidy.

Stir in raisins and pour filling into pie pan.

Place the 2nd layer of crust over the filling and trim edges. Cover the edges with foil to avoid burning.

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and remove foil. Continue to bake for about 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutrition Information

226  cal
16.1g fat
 3 g saturated fat
 2 grams poly unsaturated fat
 5 grams mono unsaturated fat
30 mg cholesterol
451 mg sodium
69.5g carbs
 .7g fiber
 39.9g sugar
5.6g protein

If you want to reduce the calories of this recipe, I'd suggest starting by reducing the amount of sugar you use. In addition, you could try to make in a 1-crust slice, although you'd have to be careful that the filling not burn/solodifies enough.

Smokey Hot 'n' Sour Slaw

Here's the original recipe:

http://mobile.eatingwell.com/recipes/hot_sour_slaw.html

Here's my version:

1 T rice vinegar
dash of smokey flavor
1 T EVOO
1 tsp grated ginger (if using dry, use about .5 tsp)
dash ground black pepper
dash crushed red pepper flakes (if you like heat, measure .25 tsp)
sesame seeds, to taste
3 C (roughly) cabbage, chopped/shredded
.3 C onion
1 8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained

1. Combine vinegar, smokey flavor, oil, ginger, sesame seeds and both pepper varities.
2. Chop onion and cabbage. Add each to the mixture.
3. Add bamboo shoots and mix well.
4. Chill or serve.

Nutritional Information
64 cal
4g fat (1g saturated, 1g monounsaturated)
112 mg sodium
189mg potassium
7g carbs (3g fiber)
2g protein

Fresh and Light Carrot salad

Let me first properly credit the original recipe:
http://mobile.eatingwell.com/recipes/lemony_carrot_salad.html

And now here's my version (I doubled the recipe to make a total of 4 servings):

1 T lemon juice
1 T lime juice
1 T EVOO
1 clove garlic
1/4 C onion (to taste, really)
salt & pepper, to taste
about 8 oz carrots, shredded
dill, to taste (I added quite a bit!)

 

1. Whisk the juices, oil, garlic, onion, dill, salt and pepper. Let sit for the flavors to mix.

2. Shred the carrots and add to the dressing.

3. Mix thoroughly.

4. Chill or serve (the orig. recipe recommends storing in the 'fridge for up to 2 days.)

Nutritional Information:

51.5 cal

3.5 g f (.5g saturated, .5g polyunsaturated, 2.1g monounsaturated)

39mg sodium

182 mg potassium

5g carbs (2g fiber, 2.5g sugar)

.5g protein

Vegetarian Eggplant Bolognese

Yield: 4 servings

Oil for saute

1 eggplant, diced

Sweet onion, diced (use as much/little as you like)

1 zucchini cut in strips

1 leek, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

coarse salt and ground pepper to taste

 1 C Boca Meatless Crumbles

1 tomato

1 can tomato paste

 Italian seasoning, to taste (about 1 T)

2 C whole wheat pasta

1. Bring water to near boil with eggplant; cover When it begins to get translucent, turn off heat and keep covered.

2. In a skillet, warm oil and add onions, garlic, leek and zucchini. Cook several minutes until the veggies begin to soften. Add salt and pepper to taste, if you like.

3. Add tomato, tomato paste Boca crumbles and Italian seasonings, to taste.

4. Drain the eggplant and save the liquid as a veggie stock.

5. Boil some of the eggplant water as well as plain water; add pasta. (You can add salt to the water but I didn't.) Cook for about 7-8 minutes for al dente.

6. Meanwhile, add eggplant to the skillet. Stir and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.

7. When the pasta has cooked, add it to the veggies and serve. Enjoy with shredded hard cheese (i.e. Romano/Parmasean), if you like.

Nutritional information:
220 calories
363 mg sodium
285.5 mg potassium
46g carbs
  9g fiber
  10g sugar
11g protein

Adaptation: Vegetarian 'brownies'

http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/vegan-blackbean-brownies/

The link is to the original vegan recipe. This is from the Happy Herbivore cookbook. Follow her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/HappyHerbivoreBlog or Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/happyherbivore

I will be making another batch of these soon and will add pictures.
Yield: 12 brownies

I used the ingredients in the link, except I used honey instead of agave nectar.

I would also recommend allowing them to cool before cutting. I didn't and the first one was quite mushy.

Nutritional Information:

85 calories
.8 g fat
126.25 mg Na
64.5 mg K
19.8 g carbs
  3.45 g fiber
  9.78 g sugar
2.8 g protein

Brown Rice Paella

I modified a book recipe to make it work with what I like/have/prefer. Use your own imagination to make this recipe fit for you and yours!

1.25 C brown rice
onion, to taste (I used about 1/4 Vadelia)
4 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
10 oz peas
8 oz white button mushrooms
1 can artichoke hearts
14 oz asparagus (I used canned out of convenience; fresh will bring a different flavor/texture)
liquid from artichokes/asparagus
2 tsp turmeric
pinch saffron

In one pan, bring water to a boil and begin to cook the rice.

In another pan, using the oil of your choice (I prefer canola), saute the mushrooms. Cook until tender and then set aside.

In the same pan, saute the onions and 2 cloves of garlic. Add the peas shorly after the onion and garlic have cooked. Cook together for several minutes, until peas are thawed and soft throughout.

 At this point, add the rice, its water, some of the veggie liquids, turmeric and saffron to the onion/garlic/pea pan. (You'll want enough liquid for the rice to finish cooking, so add water if you feel there's a need.)

Let this all cook with reduced heat. I added a lid after a while and turned the heat off to allow the flavors to mix.

In a separate pan, begin to cook the zucchini and squash.

After they have softened, add the asparagus (and a little of its juice, if necessary). After about a minute, add the artichokes. Cook together until desired softness is obtained.

Combine the ingredients and top with cracked black pepper, to taste. Enjoy!! A healthy serving of protein and fiber, complete with vitamins and nutrients. (I was able to get 6 portions, each at about 300 calories. If you want a more specific breakdown of the nutritional information, please email me.)