Yummy Healthy Food

Ingredients:
-4 shallots or 1 onion, chopped
-1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
-1 red pepper, chopped
-3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 lb lean ground turkey, chicken or lamb
-2 cooked brown rice (1 cup raw); you can use rice in a bag & cook in microwave
-2 cups canned tomatoes; pureed in mini food processor
-1/2 - 1 tsp red chili flakes (depends on how spicy you like food)
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 TBS dried mint
-1 TBS ground cumin
-1 tsp salt, pepper to taste
-3 large eggplants
-1/4c flat leaf parsley, minced
-1/3 c parmesan cheese (optional)

Steps:

Roast Eggplant
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Wash eggplants & cut in half lengthwise
3) Score surface in crisscross pattern no more than 1/2 inch deep
4) Lightly oil roasting pan, place eggplant in side & lightly brush with olive oil
5) Bake for 45 minutes until flesh is soft when you press into it

While eggplant is roasting prepare stuffing
1) Prep all remaining ingredients
2) Saute shallots or onion over medium low heat in 2 TBS olive oil until it starts to soften (about 5 minutes)
3) Add red pepper & cook for another 10-15 minutes until soft but not brown
4) Add garlic & stir for a few minutes
5) Remove vegatables from skillet
6) Raise heat to medium high & add meat
7) Cook until browned 
8) Return veggies to pot & add 
8) Remove excess oil from skillet
9)Return onion/pepper/garlic to skillet
10) Add pureed tomatoes and all the seasonings
11) Mix well until sauce has thickened
12) Remove skillet from heat & mix in rice & parsley

Make stuffed eggplants
1) Remove eggplants from oven & with a fork push down flesh
2) Pile stuffing on top of flesh
3) Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees
4) Add 1/2 inch of boiling water to roasting pan
5) If using cheese, sprinkle a little over each eggplant
6) Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops are brown

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
-2TBS extra virgin olive oil
-2 ½ bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-1lb carrots, either baby carrots or sliced
-1 medium yellow onion (1 ½ cups) diced
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-2 ½ tsp ground ginger
-2 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground coriander
-1 cup green olives (River Valley Coop has green olives with garlic & lemon is their refrigerator section)
-1 can artichokes (cut in half)
-1 lemon sliced if not using RVC product
-2 TBS lemon juice
-2 cups low sodium chicken broth
-1 c whole wheat couscous
 
Steps:
1) Heat oil in Dutch Oven or large, deep skillet with tight fitting lid
2) Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper on both sides & cook in a single layer until browned on both sides
3) This may take a few batches.
4) Removed browned chicken from pan & place on plate.
5) Add onions & carrots to pan, stir occasionally until veggies have started to soften, about 4 minutes.
6) Reduce heat to medium & add garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon & coriander. Stir for about 1 minute, making sure the spices don't brown
7) Return chicken to pan.
8) Add olives & artichokes.
9) Add chicken broth & lemon juice, stirring to scrape up any brown bits from bottom of pan.
10) Increase heat to high & bring to a boil.
11) Reduce heat to medium low & simmer for 20-30 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
12) Add couscous making sure that it’s stirred into the broth.
13) Cover pot, turn heat off & let sit for 5-10 minutes.
14) Enjoy!

Chicken Soup -- It's homemade
​
Ingredients:
-3 to 4 lbs. chicken pieces and/or bones
-1 cup roughly chopped onions
-1 cup roughly chopped carrots
-2 parsnips, chopped
-2-3 TBSP roughly chopped parsley
-2-3 TBSP chopped fresh dill
-1-2 pinches ground turmeric
-1 tsp salt
-ground black pepper
-16 cups water or high-quality chicken stock or a combination
 
Steps:
1) Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot
2) Bring almost to a boil, then lower to simmer with the pot partially covered
3) Cook 2-3 hours until meat falls off the bone
4) Remove chicken and bones from the soup, squeezing out as much liquid as possible
5) Cool and then refrigerate
6) Remove top layer of fat from soup
7) Reheat, serve and enjoy.

This recipe comes from Simply Ming: One Pot Meals, one of my favorite cookbooks.  If can also be made with chopped turkey.  For a complete meal, I serve this with steamed broccoli.

This serves 4 and takes about 45 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:
-1 lb penne
-Extra virgin olive oil
-2 shallots
-2-3 cloves garlic
-1/2 c panko
-1 lb ground chicken
-2 eggs
-1 bunch scallions
-32 oz jar tomato sauce
-20 basil leaves

Steps:
1) Prepare pasta
-Boil water in large pot with salt added
-Add penne
-Cook about 10 minutes or as directed on package
-Drain in cold water
-Drizzle with olive oil

2) Steam Broccoli
-Cut broccoli into spears
-Add to medium saucepan with steamer
-Bring water to boil and steam for about 15 minutes

2) Make meatballs
-While penne is cooking, mince shallots and mince or grate garlic
-Thinly slice scallions
-Heat 2 TBS olive oil in large skillet
-Saute onions & garlic until softened and lightly browned
-Mix together panko, chicken and eggs
-Add onion & garlic mixture
-Season with salt and pepper
-Heat 2 TBS olive oil in skillet over medium high heat
-Wet hand and form meat mixture into meatballs -- size of golf balls
-Add meatballs, working in batches
-Saute meatballs until all sides are brown, 4-5 minutes
-Add scallions, tomato sauce and basil to pot
​-Add all meatballs to pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes

3) Serve
-Mix pasta and meatball with sauce together in large bowl
-Serve pasta and steamed broccoli

​Enjoy!

​This is an easy and quick meal to prepare. You can have dinner ready in under ½ hour.  It’s light and tasty. The meatballs can be frozen and reheated.
 
This takes about 30 minutes to prepare start to finish and serves 4 people.

Ingredients:
-1 TBS sunflower oil
-1lb ground chicken or turkey
-1/3 c minced scallions
-3 TBS peeled, minced fresh ginger
-1 egg
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tsp toasted sesame oil
-2 tsp soy sauce
-1/4 tsp salt
-1c or 1 bag of instant brown rice
-1 bunch of broccoli
-few large leaves of bibb lettuce

Steps:
1) Prep
-preheat oven to 450 degrees and brush baking sheet with sunflower oil
-wash several leaves of bibb lettuce
-mince scallions, ginger, garlic and mix together with chicken, egg, salt, sesame oil and soy sauce
-make 1 ½ inch meatballs from mixture
-put meatballs on baking sheet and brush with sunflower oil
 
2) Cook meatballs, rice and broccoli
-bake meatballs for about 13 minutes or until browned and fully cooked
-bring large saucepan of water to a boil
-add bag of rice or follow directions on package
-put a few inches of water into saucepan with steamer
-bring to a boil
-cut broccoli into individual pieces with stems
-add broccoli to steamer, cover, and steam for 10-15 minutes
 
2) Serve
-serve meatballs on bibb lettuce with Asian chili sauce along with brown rice and broccoli
 
Enjoy!

​I got this recipe from the Boston Globe Magazine in an article written by Christopher Kimball.  It's the first thing that I cooked on the grill this spring.

This takes 10 minutes to prepare the spice rub.  After the chicken is covered in the spice mixture, it needs to rest for 45 minutes.  Then it's grilled for about 1/2 hour.   This recipe serves 4 people.

Ingredients:
-Extra virgin olive oil
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 TBS ground sumac (or 1/2 TBS lemon zest;  1/2 TBS black pepper; 1/2 tsp salt)
-2 tsp ground coriander
-2 tsp curry powder
-1 tsp garam masala
-1 tsp paprika
-3/4 tsp ground cumin
-1/2 tsp ground cardamon
-1/2 TBS salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-package of 4 bone-in chicken thighs
-package of 5-6 drumsticks

Steps:
1) Prepare spice rub
-Mince or grate garlic
-Combine 1 1/2 TBS olive and garlic in small skillet over low heat
-Stir until fragrant, but not brown, about 2 minutes
-Transfer to a small bowl
-Stir in all the spices to make a paste

2) Rub spice paste onto chicken
-Rub the paste between the skin and flesh of the chicken evenly
-Rub remainder of paste over the skin
-Let stand at room temperature for 45 minutes

​3) Grill
-Prepare grill for indirect cooking
-Turn all burners of gas grill to high and heat covered for 15 minutes
-Clean and oil the cooking grate
-Keep 1 of the burners on high and the other on low heat
-Place chicken thighs skin side up and drumsticks on low heat side
-Cook for 15 minutes
-Rearrange chicken so that the pieces away close to the high heat side are moved to the cooler side and vice versa
-Cook another 10 minutes
-Flip each piece of chicken over and move to high heat side of grill
-Cook another few minutes until skin is lightly brown and crisp
-Transfer to a platter

Enjoy!

A  good roast chicken makes almost anything possible.  It's great for company or a comfort food meal at home.  This is one of my favorite recipes. It's a whole meal in one roasting pan.

This takes about 20 minutes of prep time, requires 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the oven and serves 4 people.

Ingredients:
-whole chicken
- 2/3 c extra virgin olive oil
-1 lemon
-few sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme or oregano
-8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
-1 lb small, new potatoes
-1 eggplant
-1 red pepper

Steps:
1) Prepare chicken
-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
-Rub chicken all over with olive oil
-Place 1/2 of the lemon & 1-2 sprig of herbs inside the cavity of the chicken
-Please bird breast side down in large roasting pan
-Roast for about 30 minutes

2) Prepare vegetables
-Chop eggplant into 1 inch pieces
-Remove seeds from red pepper & cut into 1 inch pieces
-If potatoes are on the larger side, cut into quarters
 
3) Add potatoes to chicken
-Remove chicken from the oven & season with salt
-Turn chicken over
-Paste with juices from pan
-Add potatoes to roasting pan, pour enough olive oil to coat
-Roast for an additional 30 minutes

4) Add vegetables
-Add eggplant, red pepper, garlic cloves, remaining sprigs of herbs to pan
-Slice remaining 1/2 lemon and add to pan
-Drizzle vegetables with remaining olive oil
-Season with salt and pepper
-Return to oven for additional 30-50 minutes
-Baste and turn vegetables every 15 minutes
-Chicken is finished when meat thermometer is at 165 degrees or when juices run clear
 
5) Serve and enjoy!!

This is a quick and easy recipe. It takes about 1/2 hour to prepare and serves 4 people.

This is adapted from 20 Minute Menus which has other healthy recipes that can be prepared in a short amount of time.

Ingredients:
Chicken and Veggies
-1 lb boneless chicken thighs
-1 bunch of broccoli
-12 baby carrots or 2 whole carrots or 1 c grated carrots
 
Sauce
-1 1/2 in piece of fresh ginger, minced
-3 TBS tahini
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 TBS Oriental Chili Sauce
-3 TBS water
-3 TBS rice vinegar
-2 TBS low sodium soy sauce
 
-10 inch whole wheat tortilla wrappers
-hoisin Sauce
 
Steps:
1) Cook chicken and veggies
-Place chicken thighs in large skillet and add just enough water to cover
-Wash broccoli and chop into small pea size pieces
-Grate carrots by hand or in food processor
-Add broccoli and carrots to skillet covering the chicken
-Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 7-8 minutes
 
2) Cook brown rice or heat tortillas
-Submerge package of rice in 1 quart of water in microwave-safe bowl
-Microwave for 10 minutes
Note: you can also place bag of rice in 1 quart boiling water for 10 minutes
-preheat toaster oven to 400 degrees
-Wrap tortillas in foil; place in oven for 10 minutes

3) Make sauce
-Mix together ginger, garlic, sesame paste, chili sauce, rice vinegar and sauce
(I use a mini food processor for this.)
-Put in large bowl
 
4) Combine ingredients
-Remove chicken, cool, cut into strips and place in large bowl
-Strain the veggies, saving the liquid
-Add veggies to bowl
-Add 3 TBS of liquid (chicken broth) and sauce to bowl
-Mix together well
Note: the remaining liquid is a delicious chicken broth.  I often have it as a bowl of soup. Or, you can save it for the next time you need chicken broth in a recipe.
 
5) Serve
-Spoon hoisin sauce on tortillas or serve with brown rice
-Add chicken and veggie mixture
-Enjoy!