Posted on 05/23/2006 3:30:57 PM PDT by alnick
A Freeper asked me for some healthy recipes by freepmail, and it occurred to me that it would be nice to have a thread where Freepers could post their healthy recipes. Could be a great resource.
This muffin recipe is really versatile.
Buttermilk Bran Muffins 2 cups wheat bran (I use 1 cup oat bran and 1 cup flax meal, but 2 cups of oat or wheat bran would do) 1 cup Splenda (use the kind that measures the same as sugar as opposed to the type that is concentrated) 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten (Wal-Mart carries this in the aisle with the flour) 1/2 cup canola oil 2 cups buttermilk 2 eggs, beaten 2 tablespoons molasses or honey
1. Mix first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl. 2. Stir in remaining ingredients. 3. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. 4. Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes. 5. Check for doneness with a toothpick.
I added frozen blueberries to the recipe yesterday and it came out great. Next time I'm going to try adding a ripe banana and some walnuts. If using flax, it can turn rancid if left out. I put all the muffins, after they've cooled, into a gallon-size zipper bag and freeze. Then either the night before or first thing in the morning I take one out of the freezer for breakfast.
Carrot cookies
These are delicately sweet and have kind of a cakey, chewey texture. If you want a decadent cookie, you'll be disappointed, but I really do enjoy these.
1/4 cup canola oil 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/2 cup honey 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or a little bit of lemon juice 1 cup sifted whole-wheat flour 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups grated carrots cooking spray
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Cream together butter, applesauce and honey. Add eggs, and beat well. Blend in vanilla and lemon extracts. 3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture, and mix well. 4. Stir in carrots. 5. Prepare baking sheets with a quick shot of cooking spray. Drop by teaspoon on baking sheets. Bake 15-18 minutes and cool on racks.
Caesar Salad Sandwiches This is a healthy alternative to sandwiches made with processed meats.
Number of Servings: 6 Serving Size: 1 3-oz roll with 3 oz chicken and 1/2 cup salad greens Ingredients medium hard rolls (whole grain) Makes 6 sandwiches
3 cups torn romaine lettuce 1/2 cup fat-free Caesar salad dressing 1/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese 1.5 lbs chicken breasts, cut into strips about 3 inches long 2 tsp olive oil
Preparation Instructions 1 Set the oven on broil. Cut each roll in half and scoop out the dough to form a pocket in one side of the bread. Combine the lettuce, dressing, and cheese in a bowl. 2 Place the chicken strips on a broiler pan and brush with the olive oil. Broil the strips of chicken for a total of about 7 minutes, turning once. Add the chicken to the salad and pile the mixture into the bread pocket. Top with the other half of bread and serve.
I've been experimenting with veggie burgers, but I haven't found a recipe that's worth sharing yet. LOL.
Stir fried veggies over pasta.
diced tomatoe, zuchinni, brocolli and a clove or two of garlic, minced. You could use whatever veggies you want -- the more the better. Put some olive oil in a hot skillet and put the diced tomatoes in. I like to cook the tomatoes down pretty good because that intesitifes the flavor. As that's cooking, bring your water to a boil for your pasta. Use only enough pasta for one serving. Once your tomato is cooked down pretty good, add the rest of your diced veggies and stir fry until they're at the consistency you like. I like them not too soft, but still with some bite to them.
Then just put your pasta on the plate and top with the veggie mixture. Ideally, you want to be very generous with the veggies and conservative with the amount of pasta.
I eat a lot of salads, using a nice variety of veggies. Sometimes I take a slice of Ezekial bread and toast it, rub a cut open clove of garlic on it, and then cut it into squares for croutons. A nice vinegeratte dressing finishes it off. Here's a good salad dressing recipe:
Lemon Garlic Dijon Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon sea salt (or regular salt) 1 clove garlic, finely minced 3 tablespoons olive oil
1. Whisk together the lemon juice,mustard,pepper, salt& Garlic. 2. Slowly whisk in the oil, whisk until you can see it has fused and is slightly thicker.
Healthy Chicken Fried Rice
1 cup brown rice olive oil 1 tsp. flax oil (optional) 1 medium onion, chopped 1 or 2 green onions, sliced 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 carrots, diced 1 cup fozen peas 2 eggs, beaten 1 diced zuchinni or squash 2 or 3 brocolli florets, diced ½ chicken breast, diced 1 clove garlice, diced soy sauce salt and pepper
Use whatever veggies you love -- the more, the better! O
Cook your rice ahead of time. I cook brown rice this way: 1 cup rice, 2 ¼ cup stock (chicken or veggie), extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp salt. Put a tablespoon olive oil in hot skillet. Put dry rice in skillet and toast, just for a minute or two. Add stock (water is okay too). Add salt. Bring to boil. Simmer for approximately 45 minutes, till liquid is absorbed. Let sit covered till cool. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it in your fried rice recipe.
For fried rice.
Dice your chicken and all your veggies.
Note: Veggie varieties are optional. I sometimes omit peas or zuchinni, depending on what I have on hand.
Put 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in hot skillet, or spray skillet generously with cooking spray then heat skillet. Cook up your diced chicken in skillet. Remove chicken from skillet and put aside.
If oil is no longer coating skillet, spray with more cooking spray or add a teaspoon of olive oil. Scramble the beaten eggs. Remove eggs from skillet and put aside with chicken.
Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in hot skillet. Add all veggies except green onion and garlic. Stir fry till desired consistency. I like my stir fried veggies crisp/tender. Add cooked chicken and eggs. Add green onions and garlic. Add cooked rice and flax oil. Stir fry and mix ingredients till evenly hot throughout. Add soy sauce to taste. Add pepper to taste.
-------------------------------- Red beans and rice
1 bag of red kidney beans 1 onion salt pepper Tony Chachere's seasoning (New Orleans style seasoning)
Cover beans with water in pot. Bring to boil.
Drain beans. This step will remove some of the gas.
Put beans back in pot and cover with water. Add diced onion and seasonings.
Bring to boil. Simmer for a few hours, until the beans are soft and you have a nice gravy.
Serve over rice.
BARLEY & SHREDDED CHICKEN WITH PARMESAN CHEESE 2/3 c. barley 1 1/2 tsp. chopped onions 3/4 c. diced carrots 3/4 c. celery 3/4 c. leeks 1/4 c. chicken stock 1/2 lb. boneless chicken (skinless, defatted breasts best) 6 tbsp. Parmesan cheese 1/2 c. chopped parsley Spray cooking oil Place barley in pot with enough water to cover, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until barley is tender, approximately 45 minutes. Drain and set aside, but keep warm. While barley is cooking, preheat broiler. In pot, saute onions, carrots, celery and leeks using small amount of spray cooking oil. Saute until tender. Reserve half vegetable mixture. Add chicken stock to remaining half and cook until stock is reduced by half. Set aside. Broil chicken cooking 3 to 5 minutes each side. When cool, shred chicken, combine all ingredients (including Parmesan cheese and parsley).
Chicken taboulleh (Barefoot Contessa's recipe)
1 1/2 cups boiling water 1 cup bulgur wheat 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons) 1 Tbsp. Olive oil Kosher salt 1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on Freshly ground black pepper 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch) 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (2 bunches) 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch) 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and medium-diced 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grape Honey. I got this idea from the book, "What Would Jesus Eat." This was what they did back in Jesus' day.
4 cups grapes 1/2 cup water
Wash grapes. Run through food processor till broken up. Put grapes and water in pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add water if necessary. Strain seeds if necessary.
Zucchini Pasta 4 small zucchini 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 clove garlic, pressed 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 teaspoon oregano diced chicken, cooked, or maybe some cooked shrimp 1 bunch fresh basil, torn 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 2 servings 35 minutes 20 mins prep
1. Slice clean, unpeeled zucchini into ribbons, using a vegetable peeler, and turning the zucchini as you go. 2. Warm 1 TBSP olive oil in a saucepan, on medium heat. 3. Saute the garlic briefly, and add tomatoes and oregano. 4. Simmer uncovered for a few minutes. 5. Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. 6. Add the zucchini. 7. Stir for several minutes, until zucchini is soft. 8. Add salt and pepper to taste, then mix in the sauce. 9. Add the chicken or shrimp, stir well. 10. Stir in basil, and transfer to a serving dish. 11. Top with parmesan cheese.
Simple salad:
1) Bed of baby spinach leaves
2) One whole sliced avacado
3) Baby shrimp placed on top
4) Top with extra virgin olive oil
Healthy and good..I get fresh french bread to dip in the oil when the salad is gone..
Oh, I almost forgot. This is sooo easy.
Grilled Talapia or Orange Roughy.
Frozen fish fillets
lemon juice
salt, pepper
Put frozen fish fillet on George Foreman grill, sprayed with cooking spray.
Salt and pepper fillet.
Cook for a few minutes till done.
Drizzle lemon juice on grilled fillet.
Your recipes sound easy and tasty. Thanks!
1. Get some bread, put it in the toaster.
2. Push the button down and wait.
3. When it pops up, put it on a plate.
4. Get some butter and put it on the toast.
5. Your toast is ready to eat.
Easy is the only kind of cooking I can do. :-)
It makes the best toast with just butter or butter and strawberry jam. Good for a late night snack.
Is there a need for any kind of special tool or device in order to apply the butter mixture to the toasted bread?
Water : Drink
LOL! Right on!
Here's another all time favorite:
1. Make lettuce salad sprinkled with lemon juice.
2. Look at it all during the news.
3. Go to Wendy's.
I'd say we need HELP! Thank goodness for this thread!
Me too-- I love salads/veggies.
I'm not as big a fan on fruits, but I love cantaloupe and watermelon. Yummy stuff.
And LOTS of it. Best thing for the body.
Can I use a napkin or a paper towel instead?
In brown paper lunch sack, dump in about half a cup of flower, about a tsp of salt, about 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, and about 1/2 tsp of paprika, about 1/2 tsp of pepper, close top of bag, and then shake it so everything inside is all well blended.
SECRET TO THAWING THE CHICKEN: Select however much chicken you're going to need for that night's meal from the giganto-bag of frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins you've got in the freezer. Put the pieces of chicken in a regular cheapie food storage bag -- NOT a ziplock!!! They leak! -- and tie a knot in the top. Put that bag into another food storage bag and tie a knot in that one, too, so now you have the frozen chicken double-bagged. Fill your kitchen sink about a third up with water from the cold tap, and plop the bagged chicken in the water. It will be thawed in 45 minutes to an hour, works better if you turn the bag over about halfway through. Just like an ice cube melting in water. IGNORE the dumbo health warnings that tell you not to thaw meat this way. I've been doing it with frozen chicken, beef, lamb, pork, for at least a decade and we've never once had a problem. The double-bagging is important because sure as shootin', a single bag will leak and you'll have water in your chicken. I learned the hard way.
Put the thawed chicken pieces in the paper bag of flower/paprika/garlic powder blend and shake like hell until chicken is evenly coated.
Meantime, have a nice big frying pan with enough OLIVE OIL in it to cover the bottom about 1/8th of an inch deep. Have the oil heated nice and hot, at medium high heat. Put the floured chicken pieces in the hot oil, and fry hot and fast on one side until ready to turn over (when you see the juices starting to come out the top of the chicken), then turn the chicken over and cook on the other side until done. It will be crunchy and crispy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside, and way delicious. My husband LOVES this stuff. It's a little like fried chicken, but a lot less work and a heck of a lot healthier because you're not getting the chicken fat and you're frying in healthy olive oil. Not that I have anything against chicken fat ... really, I'm just a lazy cook.
It works best to swipe the stick of butter with the toast.
Thats good stuff. They have a 5 grain bread at the store by me which is decent.
Actually the pate is for uptown folks. I recommend eating it over the sink.
One pound of hamburger. (Or any ground meat)
One small onion (chopped)
two to four cups cooked rice (depends on how far you have to stretch it. Left over Chinese takeout rice works great)
One can corn (drained)
One can chopped tomatos
Garlic if you like
worcestershire sauce
Brown meat, onion and garlic in very large pan. Stir in rice, corn and tomatos. Heat throughly.
Add worcestershire sauce to taste.
Eat.
If you want to get fancy then stick it in a casserole dish and sprinkle with cheese and bake until the cheese is toasty.
LOL!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.