Greek Greens and Sweet Onion Pie

 A couple of weeks ago, my 10 year old son could not stop saying "I like Pie!".  He said it after almost every sentence. He sang it.  He yelled it.  He repeated it over and over.    He said a couple of friends at school had decided that was their new catch phrase.   The only problem was, he didn't really like pie.  Or at least he thought he didn't like pie.    


After hearing "I like Pie!" a million times at least, I decided that he was going to learn to love pie.  I declared that we would be having Pie Week, where we would eat all sorts of different pies.  Pie for breakfast.  Pie for lunch.  Pie for dinner.  Sweet pie, savory pie.  Any and every kind of pie we could come up with.  I started researching pie recipes and set the menu for the week.  He wasn't too excited to begin with.

This was the first pie we had for dinner.  It has a phyllo dough crust and a filling of swiss chard, spinach, and onion.  It was reminiscent of spanakopita, but mostly greens with a little bit of crust.  We eat swiss chard and spinach all the time, so I didn't have a hard time convincing anyone to eat this for dinner.  It was good and a fun way to start out our pie adventure. 




Greek Greens and Sweet Onion Pie from Cooking Light

• 2 quarts water
• 12 cups torn Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound)
• 8 cups torn spinach (about 1/2 pound)
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add the chard and spinach; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Place chard mixture on several layers of paper towels; squeeze until barely moist.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add chard mixture, dill, and parsley, stirring well to combine. Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat. Combine chard mixture, cheese, eggs, and egg whites, tossing well to combine. Stir in pepper and salt.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat phyllo sheet with cooking spray. Place phyllo sheet in a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray, allowing edges to overlap plate rim. Repeat the procedure with 6 additional phyllo sheets, placing sheets in a crisscross design. Spoon the spinach mixture over phyllo. Lightly coat each of remaining 3 phyllo sheets with cooking spray, and place sheets over spinach mixture in a crisscross design. Roll excess phyllo into the dish to create a decorative edge; press lightly to hold. Cut 4 (2-inch) slits in top of pie; cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden.

Cut pie into 8 wedges.

Peach Almond Green Smoothie (with Swiss Chard) & other Green Smoothie recipes

Back in October my sister came to visit. She was reading a book about Beauty Detox when she came and although we didn't agree with everything in the book, we both decided that we would incorporate green smoothies into our diet. I had had them before, but not consistently, because I always felt that I was getting enough greens in my normal diet. Swiss Chard is my all-time favorite food. We eat tons of kale, spinach, swiss chard, beet greens, turnip greens, collards, etc., and even had a very successful first summer/fall of growing swiss chard in the garden. (I still have some sprouting up out there!)

Taking all of this into account, my sister and I started having a green smoothie almost daily. She went back to Utah and we would email or text our different recipes and ideas. I experimented with some of my own concoctions, some were delicious, some not so good-(which I still got drank, somehow). I also tried a bunch of different recipes that used different greens besides spinach, which I am going to share. I haven't taken a picture of every single one of these recipes, but I have enjoyed each of them 5+ times in the past few months. My go-to, on hand, I-don't-want-to-think green smoothie is banana, frozen mixed berries, spinach and cold water. I don't like using yogurt/milk or juice because it adds unnecessary calories, in my opinion.

Now I have some sort of green smoothie 3-4 days a week. I find they are very refreshing as an after workout snack/meal, but also are great as a breakfast or snack anytime of day. I don't add any honey/agave/sweetener because I think the fruit makes them sweet enough. My kids drink them with me and really like them. I know many people try to eat healthier as the New Year rolls around and green smoothies are a great and easy way to up the number of veggies/fruits you consume.

I have made and enjoyed each of the following Green Smoothie recipes at least 5 or more times. My kids love them too.

Peach Almond Green Smoothie (pictured above)

1 cup frozen peaches

1 sliced banana

2 cups chopped (torn) swiss chard

1 T raw almond butter

2 cups water+ a few ice cubes

Optional: 1 T ground flax seed

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth

Blueberry Kale Smoothie

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 1/2 sliced bananas

2 handfuls (1 1/2 cups) chopped kale (I like to use red russian kale, it has a better raw taste)

2 cups water

handful of ice

Optional: 1 T ground flax seed

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth

Grape Fig Cleanser

3 cups grapes (purple or green)

3-4 black mission figs

2 cups chopped spinach

2 cups water

1 cup ice

Optional: 1 T ground flax seed

Oat Berry Green Smoothie

1/4 cup oats (ground up in blender before other ingredients are added)
1 sliced banana
1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen mango
1 cup frozen blackberries or blueberries (or mixed frozen berries)
2 cups spinach
2 cups ice cold water

Glowing Green Smoothie by Kimberly Snyder

1 1/2 cups water

1 head organic romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 of large bunch of organic spinach (or 3/4 of small bunch)

3-4 stalks organic celery

1 organic apple, cored and chopped

1 organic pear, cored and chopped

1 organic banana

Juice of 1/2 organic lemon

Optional: 1/3 bunch organic cilantro (stems okay), 1/3 bunch organic parsley (stems okay)

Directions:

1. Add the water and chopped head of romaine and spinach to the blender.

2. Starting the blender on a low speed, mix until smooth.

3. Gradually moving to higher speeds, add the celery, apple, and pear.

4. Add the cilantro and parsley if you choose. Fresh herbs, like cilantro and parsley, have cleansing properties that help extract heavy metals and other toxins from the body.

5. Add the banana and lemon juice last.

Here is a link for Green Smoothie Cups that I plan to try really soon since I located coconut water at Trader Joe's last week

Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club- Warm White Beans with Roasted Fennel

For this month's Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club, Roz chose the theme of Late Autumn Harvest. Check out Val's post here to see the rest of the menu.

I decided to make Warm White Beans with Roasted Fennel, a reader recipe that came from the
October issue of Cooking Light. I have really grown to love fennel and it is delicious when roasted in the oven. This recipe mixes roasted fennel with warm beans and wilted spinach. It is a very quick recipe to make and it is absolutely delicious. My kids loved it, especially the beans.
Check out the rest of the menu and enjoy the Autumn Harvest!

Here is the recipe for Warm White Beans with Roasted Fennel
* I added the ground red pepper to the adult portion after I had served my kids

Cauliflower and Spinach Curry over Red Lentils & Brown Rice

More and more frequently it seems that when the end of the week comes, I look at what is left in my fridge and end up throwing something together for dinner. Most of the time it turns out really great. I don't usually share these dishes because I am not really measuring anything, but I cook enough to know that what I am doing will turn out deliciously.

The other night I had a huge bag of spinach, a cup of chickpeas, a head of Fiesta Flower (orange cauliflower), and most of a can of lite coconut milk. First, I was thinking that I would make a quick stir-fry, but then I decided to make a curry instead. I had some leftover cooked brown rice, so the red lentil/brown rice accompaniment was perfect.

I just used the 2 recipes below as sort of a guide, I didn't really follow them, but this dish turned out so yummy. No complaints from the kids. I love it when that happens. They all gobbled it down. And when my husband came home from work and took a bite, he was inspired to find a new station on Pandora called "Bollywood Beatdown". I guess it was all those spices. Anyway, the kids and I started dancing around the table while he was trying to eat.

I can't promise the same results, but this was a really fun dinner for us.


I served the curry over the red lentil mixture
Here is the recipe for Cauliflower and Spinach Curry
* I loosely followed this recipe-
* I added chickpeas
* I omitted the tomato paste
*I didn't make the thick paste at the beginning- I just cooked my onion and added garlic, ginger, and spices

Here is a recipe for Red Lentil Soup from 101 Cookbooks
* I added less liquid so this would be less like soup and thick
*I added cooked brown rice when the red lentils were done cooking
* I added cumin and curry powder
*I omitted the red pepper flakes

Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club- Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette with homemade Blueberry Vinegar

Jerry picked our theme- 100 Miles of Flavor-for this month's Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club.
We were each to choose a recipe that showcased a local ingredient, something that could be found within 100 miles of where we live.
Here is how the menu turned out- the local ingredients are in parentheses.

Jerry - Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom-Red Wine Sauce- (local beef and wine)

Sandi - Peas and Orzo with Pesto - (peas, basil and Southern pecans )

Mary Ann - Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette (Blueberry Vinegar) (local blueberries and honey)

Jamie - Grilled Ginger-Lime Shrimp (Gulf of Mexico Seafood)

Roz - Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Marscapone Cheese-(local rice)

Val - Fallen Chocolate Cake with Cherry Red Wine Sauce - (local cherries and wine)

For my local ingredients I decided to use blueberries and honey. I found this great recipe for blueberry vinegar that is used in a fabulous vinaigrette and it was the perfect fit.

I decided to use blueberries that I picked from my husband's grandmother bush last summer, that I had frozen to make the blueberry vinegar. (She lives about 7 minutes from us, so that is pretty local). I read the reviews on the recipe and someone else had mentioned that they used frozen blueberries to make the vinegar and it worked out fine.

Making the blueberry vinegar was really easy. I just combined a couple of ingredients on the stovetop and let the mixture sit, and then strained the vinegar. I let the vinegar sit overnight and then made the salad and vinaigrette the next day.

The salad is very simple. Baby arugula-I also threw in some spinach, red onion, blueberries and then a quick vinaigrette, which contains the blueberry vinegar, a little honey, dijon mustard, and olive oil. So simple and so delicious.
I had leftover blueberry vinegar and we have been drizzling it on all sorts of things. The other night we had salmon, quinoa, broccoli and cauliflower and I thought we could drizzle the vinegar over the salmon. My daughter liked it so much that she drizzled blueberry vinegar over everything on her plate. The rest of the family followed suit.

This was a great salad and it was really fun to learn how easy it is to make flavored vinegar.
Check out the rest of this great local menu above.


Here is the recipe for Blueberry Vinegar

Here is the recipe for Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette
* I added baby spinach to the salad
*I omitted the frisee because I couldn't find it anywhere

Barley and Greens Gumbo

Here is a quick recipe before the weekend starts.

I saw this in a recent issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. It was in the Dinners for less than 10 dollars section and had lots of dark greens, including swiss chard and spinach, so I knew it would be a quick weeknight meal for us. It has a little bit of flour cooked into the sauteed veggies, which thickens the whole dish and gives it a risotto-like texture.

I changed the recipe quite a bit, because I couldn't find escarole anywhere and had quick cooking barley on hand. It was fast and easy and very filling. Mine turned kinda reddish/pink because I used red chard, but it was still delicious.

My younger brother is here visiting with us for a couple of days and I am grateful it is going to be such a beautiful weekend.

Have a great one everybody!

Barley and Greens Gumbo adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons flour
1 bunch swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped and separated
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup quick cooking barley
10 oz baby spinach
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1. In a dutch oven or large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and green pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add the swiss chard stems and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the barley, vegetable stock and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until the barley is just tender, about 10-12 minutes.

3. Working in batches, add the swiss chard, spinach and parsley, stirring the greens until wilted between each addition. Season with salt and pepper.

Green Cranberry Smoothie

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't really want to look at sugar for awhile. I have been posting so many sweet recipes lately, but the holidays are over- so that means no more sugar or baked goods for a couple of weeks.

I am not a person that drinks a green smoothie everyday. We eat enough dark greens here- kale, spinach, swiss chard, turnip greens- almost daily, that I don't feel the need to sneak them into a morning drink. It is a nice healthy way to start the day every so often, though.

I was curious about using fresh cranberries in a smoothie, so one morning, I whipped this up.
It was pretty good. The pear added some interesting texture, which didn't bother me, but I could imagine it might bother someone else. You could sub in berries or some other fruit. I have to say I love the color of this smoothie, as well as the taste.



Green Cranberry Smoothie by Mary Ann
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 pear, chopped (you could use berries or citrus or apple here instead)
1/3 cup fresh cranberries
2 Tbls flaxseed meal
1 1/2 cups skim, almond or soy milk
1 cup spinach leaves, packed
1-2 tsp honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Enjoy immediately

Chickpea, Spinach, and Squash Gnocchi

I was looking at a recipe on Eating Well and I saw a picture of this recipe- Chickpea, Spinach and Squash Gnocchi. It looked really good, so I decided to give it a shot.

I've only made gnocchi once before and that was with sweet potatoes. I didn't feel like making the gnocchi from scratch this time, even though last time I felt it was fairly simple. Slightly time consuming, but not too difficult.

I kinda just did my own thing as far as making it goes. I feel so comfortable in the kitchen that sometimes I see the ingredients and read the recipe and don't feel like doing what the recipe says exactly.

I prefer to roast my butternut squash in the oven and so I decided to get that part of the recipe ready first. I cubed my squash into small pieces, drizzled it with olive oil and a little salt and pepper and put it in the 425 F degree oven. It was ready in 25 minutes.

While the squash was in the oven, I prepared the others parts of this dish. I used an onion instead of shallots because I didn't have shallots. I sauteed my onion, added garlic, then the gnocchi and vegetable broth. I also added asparagus spears. I wilted my spinach and then stirred in the balsamic vinegar. Right before serving, I added the butternut squash.
It turned out fantastic.
My kids enjoyed it and all those veggies in there added great color.
I sprinkled some chopped Italian parsley on top, just for fun.
Yum!

Recipe for Chickpea, Spinach and Squash Gnocchi
* I omitted the currants
* I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but used the same ingredients and basic idea

FFwD- Curried Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

This week's selection for French Fridays with Dorie, chosen by Dorie herself, was Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup.
One thing that I love about Dorie's cookbooks, is that she always includes different options and ideas to add a little flair to the basic recipe. This recipe had the option of making a version with curry powder. I love curry powder and I thought it would give great flavor to this soup.

So, I made the curry version. I couldn't help but add some veggies- mushrooms and spinach. I used rice sticks because that is all I could find. Topped with chopped cucumber, chopped peanuts, basil & mint leaves and lime wedges. I omitted the sugar.

This soup was delicious. The flavors all melded together into something wonderful. The fresh mint and basil leaves were the perfect little compliment.
I was really happy with the results. Dorie does it again! You should really get a copy of this book and try the soup for yourself.

Go check out the other versions of this soup by heading over to French Fridays with Dorie!

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I like muffins. I don't like to eat muffins that taste like cupcakes. I prefer healthy muffins and it is fine with me if they aren't super sweet or full of fat, as long as they still taste good and aren't dry.
I wanted to make pumpkin muffins and found a recipe that I tweaked quite a bit. Luckily pumpkin puree keeps baked goods nice and moist, so this recipe didn't need a lot of oil or butter. Low-fat buttermilk also added to the nice texture of these muffins. I like the texture that the oats add to this muffins as well.
I made these before school one morning and added mini chocolate chips because my son thinks that mini chocolate chips make anything better.
I was really happy with the results of these muffins. Moist, flavorful and pretty healthy!

I also just wanted to share this idea I saw in a recent issue of EveryDay Food for a healthy breakfast- Savory Oatmeal with a Egg. I didn't follow the recipe, but I did use their idea (partially). They used quick-cooking oats, a soft cooked egg, and no spinach.
I made my steel cut oats on the stovetop, then fried an egg in a small amount of olive oil. Then I sauteed a couple handfuls of spinach, in the same pan. I sprinkled a little bit of shredded cheese over my oatmeal, then topped it with the egg, spinach and chopped green onions. It was really good. My 3 year old liked it too.


Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins adapted from FitSugar
Inspired by Carrots-n-Cake and About: Lowfat Cooking

Ingredients

3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cups old fashioned oats
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg or 1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk + a couple more Tbls if the batter looks too thick

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. Whisk dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl.
3. Add pumpkin, oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla to a medium size bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient and gently fold together, just, until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
   
4. Fill muffin cups evenly and bake for 18 to 25 minutes. Mine were done in 22 minutes.
   

Makes 9 muffins.

Greek Night- 2 dips, soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, drink and dessert

A couple of weeks ago my son studied Ancient Greece at school. He had multiple options for his final project and we decided to have a "Greek Cafe" as part of the experience.

When I was a kid, I used to love to do restaurants to surprise my dad when he would come home from work, so I knew this would be really fun for all of us.
The kids dressed up and placed all the appropriate signs annoucing our cafe. The cutest part was how they thought that someone driving down our street might just be hungry and stop in to join us.
My son made the signs and came up with the name for our cafe. I asked for his input on the menu and spent the afternoon getting all the dishes ready for our Greek Night.

We started with a drink called "The Greek Lantern". I have absolutely no idea if it is really a Greek drink, but it sounded really interesting, combining a large amount of fresh parsley leaves, lime juice, lime zest, club soda, water and ice. It actually was quite refreshing and surprisingly yummy.
Next we had a Roasted Red Pepper with Feta dip and Lemony-Garlic Hummus with homemade pita chips. Both of these were really good, although the red pepper one was deemed "spicy" by my youngest child.

Then we had mini spanakopita, which were really delicious and not as time consuming as I thought they would be.
The soup was everybody's favorite. I have had it at Greek restaurants before and it was very simple to recreate at home. It is called Avgolemono Soup- which just means Egg, Lemon and Rice soup. You have to temper eggs to make it, but boy was it delicious. My kids loved it.
I made a light version of Baklava that I found from Cooking Light. It was also much easier than I thought it was going to be to make. It turned out good, but was quite sweet, so could only be enjoyed in small portions. I actually had some leftover baklava mixed into this lemon ice cream a few days later and that was an amazing dessert.

What Greek menu would be complete without some sort of Greek salad? I actually made 2 versions of this salad since we have two people in our house who don't like tomatoes. The second version I made with chopped red pepper to replace the tomato. These leftovers were delicious on a green salad and also in a pita sandwich.
We had Chicken Souvlaki skewers, which my son loved. The Tzatziki sauce that went along with this was my youngest child's favorite thing. She was eating it plain and dipping all sorts of veggies in it.

Here's a closer look at the Baklava. We had lots of fun on Greek Night!

The Greek Lantern

Ingredients

• 1 cup (packed) Parsley Sprigs
• ½ tsp Lime Zest, grated
• 1 cup Cold Water
• ½ cup Fresh Lime Juice
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 (10 ounce) bottle Club Soda

Instructions

• Blend all the ingredients, except club soda, in a blender, for about one minute.
• Take a large glass measure and strain the preparation through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Put ice into tall glasses and pour the prepared drink.
• Top with club soda and serve

Lemony-Garlic Hummus

Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas (Bush’s is my canned bean of choice!)
1/2 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
juice and zest from 3 lemons
3 TB tahini
4 cloves garlic, crushed
big pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
5 TB olive oil

Combine first 6 ingredients into bowl of food processor. Blend for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Slowly stream in olive oil until combined and smooth. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Serve with fresh cut veggies, crackers, chips, pita chips or crostini for a nice appetizer platter.

Note: this recipe makes a large batch. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe for Roasted Red Pepper with Feta Dip


Recipe for Greek Salad
* I drastically reduced the amount of olive oil and feta cheese that this recipe called for. I just drizzled the mixture with a little olive oil and then used more lemon juice. I only added a couple of oz of feta cheese.


Recipe for Mini-Spanakopitas
* the egg white/olive oil mixture they said to brush the phyllo dough with, didn't work for me.
I used cooking spray instead.

Recipe for Avgolemono Soupo (Egg, Lemon, and Rice Soup)

Recipe for Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce
* I used greek yogurt

Recipe for Baklava with Wildflower Honey
* I used orange blossom honey

Lentil Minestrone

I actually made this a couple of months ago, at the beginning of summer because I love minestrone and lentils anytime of year. I knew some people might have a bad reaction about a fall soup being posted in the summer, so I saved it until Sept. came along. My husband once told me- when I served him soup for dinner during summer a couple years ago- that no one wants to eat hot soup after being in the hot sun. (Well, it doesn't really bother me!)

This was just one of the recipes I tried from the newer version of Deborah Madison's wonderful cookbook- Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

We absolutely loved it. I actually doubled it and froze some, so we could have a quick dinner. I end up doing that a lot when I make soups.
I will definitely make it again!

Recipe for Lentil Minestrone
* I used canned vegetable stock
* I used bowtie pasta
* I used spinach for my greens

Purple-eyed Peas and Spinach

I don't know what to call this, so if you can think of a better name for it, go ahead and call it whatever you want. All I know is that it was really delicious.

I did something I have never done before in order to make this dish. I bought real bacon. I was at the Farmer's Market and a man talked me into buying these beautiful, fresh purple-eyed peas. But, since I am not a Southerner, I wasn't really sure what to do with them. I had never had fresh any color-eyed peas.
The man told me to cook them with a piece of fatback and I said "What?", because I don't know what fatback is and I really don't want to know. I knew that wasn't happening. Someone else mentioned a ham hock, but once again, not familiar with that.
I decided I would make my family happy and buy bacon. I know it can give great flavor to things, even though I prefer not to cook it or use it. I guess this was a special occasion.

We enjoyed this dish with Roasted Shrimp
and fresh corn on the cob.

Purple-eyed Peas and Spinach by Mary Ann
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 red onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, minced
1 green bell pepper, minced
1 6-oz bag baby spinach
1/2 cup chicken broth- give or take
4 cups purple-eyed peas (you could use 2 15-oz cans drained, rinsed black-eyed peas)
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper

If you have fresh purple-eyed peas, put them in a large pot with double the amount of water as peas. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes, mostly covered.
Drain and set aside.

In a large saute pan, cook 4 pieces of bacon over medium-high heat until nice and crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate covered with a paper towel and drain the bacon grease, but do not wipe out the pan.

Add the red onion to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the red and green peppers and cook for about 3 minutes.
Add baby spinach and cook until wilted.
Add chicken broth and season with salt and pepper.
Let cook for a few minutes.
Stir in purple-eyed peas and remove from the heat.
Stir in chopped parsley.
Crumble bacon and sprinkle on top.

Wheat Berry Salad with Lemon-Cumin Tuna

I bought some wheat berries a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to try this recipe that was in Ellie Krieger's So Easy.

I took this salad to a family dinner and was really hoping that there would be leftovers for me to eat the rest of the week for lunch.
Everyone tried it and most people liked it.
Wheat berries are really chewy, so you definitely get a chewing workout. They also require quite a bit of cooking time, but I read the recipe thoroughly in advance so I knew how much time they would need.

Once again, I wasn't sure how the dried cherries would work with everything else, but they added just the right amount of sweetness and tartness with each bite.
I used canned tuna instead of chicken to top the salad and modified the lemon-cumin dressing to work with the tuna.

I really love having this type of salad for lunch during the week. Filling, nutritious and so good.


Recipe for Wheat Berry Salad
Ellie changed this up in her new book and served it on a bed of spinach leaves
* I added a can of drained, rinsed chickpeas
* I used pecans instead of walnuts
* I mixed 2 cans of tuna with lemon juice, a little olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps cumin, salt & pepper and then mixed that into the wheat berry mixture

Recipes from Gale Gand's Brunch

Have you seen this book, Brunch by Gale Gand? Well, it is a really good one, full of delicious pictures and great recipes.

It has been sitting on my book shelf for quite a while and I decided it was time to give some of the recipes a try.

The other day we had Backwards Day at our house. We ate brownies for breakfast, read our bedtime story after that, went to the library in our pajamas, etc. and we finished off the day by eating brunch instead of dinner.
I chose 4 recipes from this book for our menu- Pineapple-Blueberry Smoothie, Roasted Pears & Rhubarb w/ orange, Bacon Waffles, and a variation of the cover recipe- Egg Cups.
I don't like cooking with bacon and usually don't, but my kids love it when they get the chance to have some and I figured this was a fun way to use it.
We spent the afternoon swimming, so when I started making all these recipes, everyone was starving. I was almost out of eggs, so I used egg substitute in the waffles. (not by choice, I couldn't run to the store at that point)
The batter was light and airy, which made delicious waffles.

The smoothie was one of the best I have ever had. I don't know if it was simply because we had been out in the hot sun for hours and I was overly thirsty or just the wonderful combination (I am leaning towards this explanation) but it was great. The frozen pineapple and mint just added a delicious zing to the smoothie. My girls always like having their smoothies in "fancy" cups.

The egg cups were delicious. I didn't really use her recipe, but it was the same idea. I added some spinach to get some sort of vegetable in there.

The roasted fruit was really good. I liked the rhubarb part better because the sweet roasting liquid really went well with the tartness of it. The pears were a little too sweet. I would reduce the sugar in that one next time. The roasted fruit would be a great topping for vanilla ice cream or filling for a crumble/cobbler.

Overall, this was a really fun brunch, even if it was for dinner and we loved it.

Bacon Waffles (* I used 1/2 cup egg white substitute and low fat buttermilk)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup whole milk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
maple syrup, for serving

Heat a waffle iron.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour and next 3 ingredients.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and next 3 ingredients.
Stir crumbled bacon into the wet ingredients.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients all at once, just until combined.
Don't overmix- it should be lumpy.
Make waffles according to manufacturer's directions; serve with maple syrup.


Egg Cups
I kinda did my own thing here.
I combined 3 eggs, 4 egg whites and 1/3 -1/2 cup skim milk in a bowl, then seasoned it with salt and pepper.
I sprayed a jumbo muffin tin with cooking spray and press a ham slice in each of the muffin cups.
I steamed some spinach and placed that at the bottom of the ham cup.
I poured the egg mixture into the ham cups and then added cubes of mozzarella and halved cherry tomatoes to the egg mixture.
I baked them at 375 degrees F, until the egg was completely cooked, about 17-20 minutes.

Pineapple-Blueberry Smoothie * I used Apple Passion-Mango juice concentrate and Stonyfield Blueberry Low-fat Yogurt
2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 fresh mint leaves

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Roasted Pears & Rhubarb with Orange (I halved this recipe)
4 medium pears, ripe but firm
4 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and washed
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbls honey
2 Tbls red wine ( I used cranberry juice)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split open
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Quarter and core the pears (do not peel them). Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces.
In a large bowl, combine orange juice and remaining 6 ingredients. Add the pears and rhubarb, and toss to coat.
Pour into a casserole or gratin dish and bake until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.