Mac N Cheese (Taking it too far?)

I love mac n cheese, my husband loves mac n cheese and so does our toddler. We get those store brand boxes of elbows or spirals with the powder cheese packet.

First- I stopped using butter and started using olive oil.

Then, I decided to use only the powder packet and not the white noodles- replacing them instead with whole wheat noodles.

Finally- I added pureed broccoli to the finished product (I serve broccoli every night and lately I am the only one really eating it, so I have to get my guys to eat it somehow right?).

The responses-
*I loved it.
*Our toddler danced around and said "I like it. I like it a lot." and then he said "What is it?". I said, "mac n cheese" and he responded with a perplexed "ohhhhh" but proceeded to eat an adult sized portion.
*My husband saw me puree the broccoli and when he saw that I had added it to the already unrecognizable mac n cheese, he groaned "Oh I wish you hadn't done that!". He proceeded to look rather miserable for the remainder of the meal (which also included an unappetizing looking, but delicious tasting maple/soy sauce/garlic marinated salmon).

So do I repeat this or not? (remember- our toddler danced!!!).

P.S. I add pureed broccoli to our spagetti sauce sometimes too.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

This muffin recipe is WONDERFUL! I was really concerned b/c our son loves "breakfast bars" and I realized that they are actually fairly unhealthy, despite being vitamin fortified. I got this recipe from FoodieFarmGirl (Blueberry Bran Muffin Recipe), so I won't put the recipe here. My only change was to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts. This recipe uses wheat bran, oat bran and whole wheat flour- all much better for you than white flour. These muffins also contain milk and yogurt and use honey and molasses as sweeteners (no refined sugar). The advantage of "Blackstrap Molasses" is that it contains a rather large amount of iron and calcium. The blueberries added allow me to get a fruit serving into my son's breakfast as well. I thawed 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries and also added the juices that were left in the bowl after thawing. A brilliant and incredibly delicious ((to die for hot out of the oven) recipe and I can't wait until our little guy tries it

Meggan's Honey Lime Salmon with Summer Veggies

Meggan made this dish for us as we were all recovering from the arrival of our new addition. It was absolutely delicious and seemed to have special healing properties as well!

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Honey
5 Tabs Lime Juice
3 Cloves Garlic minced
1-2 lbs Salmon
Pepper to taste
Lime Slices

3 Peppers (red, orange, & yellow)
1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini

Mozzarella & Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Cooking Instructions:
Marinate the Salmon in the honey, lime juice and garlic in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish.
Place the veggies in the baking dish, toss with olive oil and pepper and bake for 10 minutes.
Add the marinated salmon on top of the veggies and cover with slices of lime.
Bake for 25 minuTes or until fish flakes when poked with a fork.
Garnish with cheese.

Interesting Tidbits in Your Food???

(Image from http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050616/050616_mexicoBugFood_hmed_4p.hmedium.jpg)

My husband found the following info posted on the following website:
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/bugfood2.htm

Are Bugs A Part of Your Diet?
Apple butter=5 insects per 100g
Berries= 4 larvae per 500g OR 10 whole insects per 500g
Ground paprika= 75 insect fragments per 25g
Chocolate= 80 microscopic insect fragments per 100g
Canned sweet corn= 2 3mm-length larvae, cast skins or fragments
Cornmeal= 1 insect per 50g
Canned mushrooms= 20 maggots per 100g
Peanut butter= 60 fragments per 100g (136 per lb)
Tomato paste, pizza, and other sauces= 30 eggs per 100g OR 2 maggots per 100g
Wheat flour= 75 insect fragmnets per 50g

Source: The Food Defect Action Levels: Current Levels for Natural or Unavoidable Defects for Human Use that Present No Health Hazard. Department of Health & Human Services 1989.

Does this bother you?

Zucchini Bread (updated 8/24/07)

We have been making this Zucchini bread a lot. The original recipe comes from "The Silver Palate Cookbook" and is very good. But I wanted to make it healthier since we eat so much of it. Here is the recipe with my modifications-really doesn't taste or look much different from the original recipe. I will continue to experiment with replacing more of the white flour with wheat, replacing more of the vegetable oil with applesauce and reducing the salt. If cholesterol is an issue, try substituting the eggs with cholesterol free egg product. Another idea that I might try in the future is sustituting some of the sugar with honey.

Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter for greasing the pan
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce (all natural)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated unpeeled raw zucchini or yellow squash (I use 2 medium sized zucchini/squash)
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
2. Beat the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla until light and thick. Fold the grated zucchini into the egg mixture.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir into the zucchini mixture until just blended. Fold in the walnuts.
4. Pour the batter into the buttered loaf pan. Bake on the center rack of the oven until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and cool completely on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

P.S. Since I substituted some of the oil with applesauce I reduced the sugar from the original recipe by 1/2 a cup (from 1 and 1/2 cups to just 1 cup)

Whole Wheat Honey Bread

Adapted from an “Allrecipes.com” recipe submitted by Melinda Halvorson.

I have been very frustrated with the bread available at our local grocery stores. Most breads that we had been getting (usually the “Arnold” brand) are high in sodium- something I never thought to check. Additionally, when I looked at all of the breads available, they had “high fructose corn syrup” and a number of preservatives. I finally found one bread that was lower in sodium, “Pepperidge Farm” “Farmhouse 100% Whole Wheat”, but still contains high fructose corn syrup, mono and diglycerides, calcium propionate and soy lecithin. Those sound an awful lot like things I can find on our chemical shelf in the lab. So I want to make our own bread. The first attempt was an utter failure (the flour was stone ground (too heavy) and had been in our pantry a number of years. The second recipe worked very well (with new flour), tastes good, slices well etc. I will experiment with gradually lowering the salt, but at least there are no strange chemicals!!!!

1 and 1/8 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
1 ½ tabs olive oil
3 cups whole wheat flour (gold medal)
1 ½ tsps salt (this is a lot for such a small loaf)
1 ½ tsps quick rising active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the bread machine and use the “White bread” setting for a 1 ½ lb loaf. When it is done, remove promptly and allow to cool before slicing. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge so it will not grow mold for a few days.

Vegetable Risotto

This was one of those nights when my husband asks “What’s for dinner” and I say one thing ("chicken and dumplings") and end up with something totally different. A case of creating on the spot, which is fun when there is a good result, as there was tonight.

In a heavy pot or Dutch oven
Sautee in olive oil for a few minutes:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped

Add and sautee for few minutes:
½ of one chicken breast, diced
2 tsps poultry seasoning (no salt)

Add and sautee 5 minutes or until tender:
½ lb pureed carrots
3 celery stalks chopped

Add:
several cups of water
2 pureed fresh tomatoes
2 tsps low sodium chicken broth powder
1 cup Arborro rice
2 tabs dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

Let this simmer until much of the liquid is absorbed into rice and add more as necessary until rice is tender, approx 30 min. Stir often.

Add and simmer for approx 5 minutes :
¼ cup Red cooking wine
2 tabs Red wine vinegar
1 zucchini, unpeeled & chopped
½ lb mushrooms, chopped
½ lb spinach, chopped

Serve garnished with parmesan or other Italian cheeses.

Result: I enjoyed it and thought it was tasty with a nice texture. Husband ate everything on his plate but without comment. 2 year old son ate nearly an adult sized portion and danced in his chair the whole time. I was thrilled I’d managed to get both husband and son to consume 8 different veggies.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

I have been making a TON of this sauce and have stocked our freezer with it for some delicious post-having a baby Italian meals. Sorry that I don't have a real picture of the beautiful sauce, just a picture of the canned tomatos I used. I have used this sauce to make lasagna, chicken parmesan (tonight), baked stuffed shells, baked ravioli, and spagetti (with or without added lean ground beef). It is bursting with flavor and nutrients yet low sodium. We used to always use the pre-made sauces, but this suits our health and taste-buds much better. As another variation to try you could add more different veggies at the end, or serve the sauce over some prepared veggies such as eggplant and zucchini.

Modified from "The Silver Palate" Cookbook "Quick Tomato Sauce" Recipe

Heat oil and add onion, carrots and celery. Cook over low heat covered for about 25 min or until tender:
3/4 cup olive oil
1 lb carrots, peeled and finely chopped
7 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
6 large stalks celary

Add the following and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 30 min:
4 cans (28 oz each) Italian plum tomatos in tomato puree (no salt or other additives)
2 tabs dried basil
2 tsps dried thyme
Dash Cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves

Remove bay leaves and purree the mixture. Then add :
1 lb mushrooms

Cook for 10 min, then add:
2 cups fresh Italian flat leaf parsley finely chopped
1 bulb garlic
1 Tab balsamic vinegar
1 Tab red wine vinegar

Cook for 5 min and serve immediately, refrigerate or freeze.

Amelia's Sesame Ginger Stir Fry Sauce

I got this recipe from my friend Amy. She is a bonafide pastry chef and everything she makes is delicious, so it was no surprise to me that this sauce was so good! I have tripled the recipe and have added less sugar than she does (she has more of a sweet tooth than I do). I like this recipe b/c it is fairly quick, but give us more control over the sodium than if we were to purchase an already prepared stir-fry sauce. Also, with the fresh ginger and dark sesame oil- it couldn't be better.

Wisk together:
1 cup cold water
1 Tab cornstarch
2 Tabs low sodium soy sauce
1 Tab grated fresh ginger
1 Tab dark sesame oil
1 tsp low or no sodium veggie stock poweder
pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cloves of finely chopped garlic (my addition)

Using a little bit of olive oil, stir fry one of the following: chicken, shrimp, salmon, tofu (or other)- perhaps with some garlic. Add some of your favorite veggies (mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, spinach etc) and the above sauce and continue cooking over medium heat until veggies are cooked tender/crisp (approx 5 minutes).

Serve over brown rice or other whole grain. Sometimes I serve this over Japanese sobe or udon noodles.

Last night (pictured), I used salmon, mushrooms and broccoli with the sauce and served it over brown rice. We have this every couple of weeks, always with a different combo of protein and veggie(s).

Shrimp with Old Bay

Didn't take a picture until we were almost finished dinner, but you'll get the idea. This is an easy tasty meal and our two year old loved it. A note of caution: our pediatrician doesn’t recommend feeding shellfish to kids under 3, but I have given our son some of these allergenic foods since we have no history of food allergies in our family. Of note, shrimp are high in protein and calcium, low in calorie, high in cholesterol. Old bay is high in sodium, so be sure to use somewhat sparingly.

A) Shrimp sauteed in a bit of olive oil, sprinkled with a dash old bay.

B) Red potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes. Diced, tossed with a bit of olive oil and a salt free herb mix. Baked at 400 deg F for 45 minutes in a pyrex dish coated with cooking spray.

C) Broccoli. We have this pretty much every night and our son eats some (or a lot) most of the time. I just rinse it well while breaking up the flower-lets into very small toddler-sized chunks, and place in the microwave, covered, for around 4 minutes. This steams it, but the broccoli is still tender-crisp.

D) Canteloupe. I am going to start putting a fruit on the table each night. Preferably one of the fruits that don't travel well and therefore don't make it into our lunches. This will be a good way to introduce our son to new fruit flavors and serves as our dessert (unless we are having fruit smoothies).

Italian Lentil Stew

Decided to make a vat of something healthy for the week since I could go into labor at any moment. That way there is at least something ready to go in the fridge. Used some frozen ham left-over from Easter dinner- vegatarians, I would recommend perhaps substituting with some chickpeas.

First sautee (until tender):
1 Tab Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lb ham, diced

Then add (for 5 min):
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 lb carrots, chopped

Toss in until mixed:
1 lb brown lentils rinsed and drained

Then add:
9 cups of water (adjust as necessary)
2 red potatos diced
1 tsp of chicken broth
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage

Bring to boiling and simmer for 1 hour. Then add:
3 fresh tomatoes off the vine, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
5 oz white mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves additional garlic, finely chopped
2 cups Ditalini pasta (whole wheat if you can find it, I couldn't though)
1/2 lb chopped frozen spinach
More water if necessary
1 tab oregano
1/4 cup red wine
Red wine vinegar to taste (around 1 Tab)

Continue cooking until pasta is the desired tenderness.
Serve garnished with parmesan cheese.

Talapia with Stewed Tomatoes

My mom gave me this idea for a way to prepare talapia- a mild white fish that is affordable and to my knowledge, not a health hazard. We have it about twice per month.

Spray a pyrex baking dish with cooking spray
Place one or more talapia filets in the dish
Pour a can of (no salt added) diced stewed tomatoes with juices, over fish
Cover with foil and bake at 350 deg. for approx 30 minutes

Serve over your favorite whole grain (Quinoa, brown rice etc).

Variations: I have added oregano, garlic and red onion to the stewed tomatoes, but be careful with the red onion b/c sometimes it takes longer to cook than the fish.

Also- this may be a strange pregnancy thing, but I put hot sauce on mine and sometimes sprinkle on a little Italian cheese for garnish (particularly to get my 2 year old interested). I have heard that cheese on a fish dish is a culinary no-no (but I love cheese, so I'll forget I ever heard that).

Anyone have any good fish recipes to share? I tend to have trouble in this department. The above is one of my only fool-proof recipes. Also seems that choosing the most pollutant free, environmentally friendly fish can be a difficult task.

Smoothies

During this pregnancy I have craved these smoothies and we have them almost every night after dinner. Perhaps high calorie, but very quick/easy plus a good way to top off the day with a huge dose of nutrients. All three of us like them (and even the unborn baby seems to do a little dance when I've had one).

Combine in blender (roughly/there is infinite room for variabliity):

1 banana
4 slices frozen peaches
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cups milk (more or less to adjust desired thickness)

Blend until smooth and enjoy with a straw.

Today I am experimenting with making pop-sickles from this smoothy blend.

First Health Blog and a Veggie stew recipe

For starters. Tonight my goal was to make a healthy and hopefully delicious dinner that my husband and 2 year old son would enjoy. Other goals were to keep the meal low in sodium, very high in veggies and to treat meat as a garnish. My recipe has no name, but here's what I did:

Cut up 5 medium potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes (with skin on). Tossed in approx 1 Tab of organic olive oil and 1/2 Tab of Yoder's Country Market "All Herb Seasoning Blend" (which contains sesame seeds, onion, sweet basil, soybean oil oregano, rosemary, thyme garlic). Baked for approx 1 hour at 375 deg F.

Over these potatoes I served the following dish made simultaneously in my grandmother's old dutch oven (my favorite piece of kitchen ware by a mile!!!!!):

Sauteed until tender:
1/2 Tab Organic Olive Oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celary, chopped

Then Added:
1/2 chicken breast, diced

After chicken was cooked added:
2 Zucchini, chopped

After 1 min added:
5 white button mushrooms, chopped

After 1 min added:
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 Tab of dried oregano
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed well (dry would have been lower in sodium, but I didn't think that far ahead)
2 Tabs of red cooking wine (red drinking wine would have had less sodium, cooking wine actually has a lot, but we are a pretty dry household these days!)
Simmered, bubbling for 5-10 minutes

Served with just a sprinkling of mozerella cheese on ours (and more on Ethan's).

Result: This didn't look beautiful but smelled and tasted delicious. In fact, Ethan actually lifted his plate off the table and threw it on the floor (something that he's never done before). But when he calmed down some, we tried again and he ate an almost adult sized portion. Steve ate two rather large portions and requested the left-overs for lunch tomorrow. I enjoyed it a lot too and was thrilled that my guys liked it (and were willing to eat it despite rather limp looking appearances).

Other revalations today:
-Realized that our Arnold 12 grain bread has about 9% of the rdv of sodium PER SLICE!!!! And also that it has mostly white flour. Am considering using our bread maker to make some low sodium 100% whole wheat bread and could add things like ground flax seed and other seeds (sunflower might be nice). I'm sure it would be incredibly dense though, so might take some getting used to.
-Some cereals also have a lot of sodium. Our favorite is Kashi Heart to Heart (the one with hearts and O's), which seems pretty healthy compared to many (and is also pretty affordable at 2.79 per box).

Any comments/suggestions much appreciated!