Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

This recipe is from Diane Dyer, MS, RD and Cancer survivor. Diane Dyer has battled cancer since childhood, surviving neuroblastoma and then 2 breast cancers in her adult life. As a cancer survivor and dietition, she is dedicated to eating a cancer prevention diet, which she states is based on the latest scientific information (see her website at http://www.cancerrd.com/).

Always looking for healthy disease fighting foods I was inspired by her website and decided to try one of her recipes. Her red pepper pesto sauce sounded like a light fresh vegetarian meal, which contains lycopene, phytochemicals and antioxidants.

I thought it would be excellent over spaghetti squash or angel hair pasta, but I could not find either of these, so I went with whole wheat penne.

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce
(Printable Version)

1 roasted red sweet pepper, peeled and seeded or 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, about 40g
10 black olives
2 large cloves garlic
1 T parmesan cheese
1 T pine nuts
4 roma tomatoes
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste

If roasting your own pepper, place under broiler and rotate every 3-4 mins until charred with skin blistered.

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Heat over med high heat and serve over pasta (angel hair or penne), spaghetti squash.

Caramel Popcorn for Halloween

Happy Halloween!! For my annual Halloween bake sale at work I decided to make something that did not contain pumpkin. As much as I love pumpkin this sweet and salty candy popcorn was a nice change. However, it is very addictive and should not be left out on the counter, as it will quickly disappear. I placed about 1 1/2 cups in individual halloween bags and sold them for the United Way/Halloween Bake Sale. Next time I think I would double the recipe for a bake sale, but 1 batch is plenty if you are making it for friends or family.  

Caramel Popcorn

16 cups popped popcorn

1 cup peanuts

2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the overn to 250 degrees F. Place popcorn and peanuts in a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Boil without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.

Pour over popcorn and mix to coat.

Place popcorn on a baking sheet and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to move the caramel around and coat the popcorn.

Remove from oven and let cool. Break into pieces and store in air tight container.

Thai Salmon with Lemon Couscous

Sesame Ginger Salmon

1 T garlic minced
2 T ginger minced
1 T sake
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil

Marinate salmon in fridge for 3 hours. Bake on baking sheet for 8 minutes at 450.

Lemon Couscous

5.4 oz couscous
2 cups chicken broth
1 T lemon rind
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 t butter
2 T parsley
1/3 cup peas

Combine the broth, lemon rind and juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the couscous, remove from heat and cover. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, butter and peas. Serve with salmon.

Healthy Baked Chicken Tenders

There always seems to be some sporting event occurring. Right now we are in the midst of the NHL playoffs. And with sporting events usually comes lots of food and drinks. I am not one to sit down and eat a plate of chicken wings, chips, pizza and other fatty game day snacks. But like everyone else I still like to nervously nibble on munchies while watching the game. So for the game I made healthy and much more flavorful baked chicken tenders. The batter is full of healthy ingredients, and offers a nice moist chicken, with a crunchy texture when baked. Serve these with peanut sauce or spicy Asian red chili sauce at your next playoff game.

Healthy Baked Chicken Tenders

1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 T Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
ground pepper
1 T olive oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Process the first 12 ingredients in a food processor. Slowly add oil to processor until mixture is formed. Place the mixture in a bowl.

Place a wire rack (cookie cooling sheet works well) on a baking sheet.

In a bowl beat the eggs. Then dip the chicken tenders in the eggs, allow the excess mixture to drip off and then dredge in the crumb mixture, pat to adhere to chicken.

Place each tender on the wire rack and back for 14 minutes. May wish to broil for a couple minutes to make a bit crunchier.