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.

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.

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya

My parents are off to New Orleans this week and are staying with me before they depart. I thought I would send them off with a taste of New Orleans so I made a simple spicy jambalaya. This one pot jambalaya is made with large shrimp and spicy turkey sausages, although you can use smoked andouille sausages (more smoky flavour) which most cajun/creole recipes call for.

2 T olive oil
4 spicy turkey sausages, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch slices
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 large red pepper chopped
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 cup long grain brown or white rice
1 can (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1 T garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups water or low sodium chicken broth (like to use half and half)
3 Bay leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lbs medium to large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 to 1/2 T cayenne red pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
salt and cayenne to taste (for shrimp)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook for 2 minutes. Add onions, red bell pepper, celery. Season with salt and 1/4 T to 1/2 T of cayenne (Note: 1/4 T is spicy, 1/2 T is very spicy so adjust to your liking). Saute for 6-8 minutes until veggies are wilted and soft.

Add the rice and stir to coat evenly. Add the tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, water, thyme, oregano and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 20 mins.

Season the shrimp with salt and cayenne (sprinkle) in large mixing bowl. Ass to mixture and cook for 10 more minutes. Cook until rice is tender, liquid is absorbed and shrimp is pink.

Remove from heat and let stand, covered for about 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Makes 6 servings.

Chicken Pot Pie with Sweet Potato & Buttermilk Crust

I always get excited after daylight savings time, although it is initially hard to wake up in the morning due to how dark it is, the nights are so much more enjoyable, as the sun does not set to almost 7 sometimes. It is the time of year when I remember, oh ya, I have neighbors, who start to eventually emerge from their homes with a friendly hello, like they had not been hybernating for the past 4 months. Today however, is a bit more gloomy and rainy - the perfect weather to finish up the last of the pot pie before it is all bbq and patio.

Pot pie is a classic comfort dish, that can be made a few different ways be it vegetarian, chicken, beef, lamb, venison etc.... You can add a number of different herbs or spices (sage, rosemary, thyme, savory, marjoram, curry), the broth can consist of anything from chicken, beef or vegetable broth, white wine, or with creams like coconut milk, or cream of mushroom soup. The topping itself can also be either mashed potatoes, an herbed crust or biscuit, potato biscuit or sweet potato biscuit. Regardless of the recipe it will certainly provide you with that warm cozy and homey feeling.

For this pot pie I used chicken, vegetable broth, thyme and rosemary with a sweet potatoe biscuit as the topping.

Filling

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

1 cup onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups peeled white potato or sweet potatoes, cubed

1 cup sliced carrots

1 1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp salt and coarse black pepper

1 cup sliced green beans

1/2 cup corn niblets and/or peas

3 T all purpose flour or cornstarch

Sweet Potato Biscuit Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T softened butter

3/4 cups cooked mashed sweet potato

3/4 cup 1% milk or buttermilk

If you would rather a normal biscuit topping you may use 1 cup four, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp ground sage, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 T butter and 1/3 cup milk.

Directions for Filling:

First cook chicken breasts either in the oven or stove top until tender.

In a saucepan spray non stick spray, add onions, pepper and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 4 mins. Add 2 cups broth, potatoes, carrots, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 12 mins. Stir in beans, corn and cooked chicken and cook for about 3 mins.

In a small bowl mix 3T flour with the remaining 1/2 cup broth. Add to the filling mixture and cook until bubbly and thick (optional: can add cornstarch to thicken mixture if desired).

Once thick transfer the mixture either to a 2 quart casserole dish or to 6 x 5-7oz ramekins.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Directions for Biscuit:

Boil water and cook 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes. Once cooked, mash 3/4 cup of sweet pototo and add whisk in mild.

In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the sweet potato and milk mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until a soft ball forms.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surgace and roll or pat out to fit top of casserole dish or ramekins.

Place dough over casserole dish or ramekins. Brush top of biscuit with milk or egg white.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool 5 mins before serving.

Mustard & Herb Crusted top Sirloin Roast

A few weeks ago I had my in-laws up to watch a GeeGees football game on what we thought would be a nice but crisp and cool fall day. Therefore we packed mitts, blankets, tuques, warm beverages and in the end it turned out to be the hottest fall day ever, and we had to strip down to T-shirts. The team did fantastic beating Guelph to head to the playoffs. They will be playing Western this Saturday and I plan on being in attendance for what should be a great game.

Post game we headed back to my house to enjoy some fall appetizers and barbeque. We barbeque all year round in my house and many times I think a BBQ in the fall or winter is more exciting than summer. As much as I love sitting on my deck in the summer, and enjoying the aroma of grilled streak, fall and winter grilling is really cozy and comforting. Although the day had been warm, by the time the sun went down it was cool and felt like a fall evening. To make it even more enjoyable I set the deck up with our outdoor couch, lit a fire in the outdoor fireplace, poured some red wine and put a 3 lbs sirloin roast on the rotisserie. We served the roast with fall root mash and balsamic roasted heirloom carrots.

Mustard & Herb Crust

2 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp thyme
2 T grainy mustard

ground pepper
1 tsp olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and rub on the roast. Let sit in the fridge for about 1-2 hours.

Preheat the grill to med-high heat (400F). Reduce heat to low to medium heat and roast it slowly for about 20-25 min per lbs. An internal temp of about 155F is good for medium done and 150 for medium rare.

Remove from grill and tent it with foil for 10 mins. Then carve up and serve with horseradish and sides.

In laws and husband watching the GeeGees game.

GeesGees on the side line

Apple chutney with cranberry and almond crackers.

Blue cheese, pears, apples, brie and walnuts with baguette.


Cozy Fire.

Leek & Potato Soup

This past Sunday was a perfect fall day, weather wise. The sun was bright and warm, so I opened all my windows to let in the fresh air. With weather like that I certainly did not want to be cooped up indoors for the whole day, so in the morning I ventured to the Gatineau Park for a trail run with my husband. I figured that it would be a popular thing to do in weather like that, so I was up early and out the door allowing me to have the trail all to myself (except for my husband a few white tailed deer).

After the run I was incredibly hungry for lunch, but also being so motivated by the fall weather to be productive I went through my fridge and gathered the ingredients to make a silky smooth leek and potato soup. This soup does not take long to make, so I decided it was worth the wait and had some other nibbles to tie me over until the soup was ready.

This recipe is from the Loonies Spoons cookbook and incorporates buttermilk at the end, rather than cream or milk. Not only does the addition of the buttermilk make the soup extremely silky and smooth, but it makes it an incredibly low fat and low calories lunch. After trying buttermilk in this soup, I have taken that idea and now use it to replace cream or milk in most of my soups and even in my baking.

As it was so gorgeous outside I could not resist but to sit out on the back deck to enjoy my soup while watching the squirrels comb the premise for buried nuts. Rather than sit at the patio table I threw down a cozy blanket, sat cross legged like a child and enjoyed a picnic style lunch with my warm soup, topped with my garden chives and served with a couple slices of warm whole wheat baguette.

Leek & Potato Soup

1 T butter
2 cups sliced leeks (white parts and part of green)
1 cup celery, chopped
4 cups low-fat vegetable broth
3 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup carrots, chopped
3/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup buttermilk (or more as desired)

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks and celery. Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until veggies soften. Add broth, potatoes, carrots, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return to pot. Stir in buttermilk.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Butternut Squash & Kale Lasagna

My favorite time of year is autumn, I love the smell of the crisp fresh air and the wood burning stoves. I love the color of the changing leaves. In fact I was really happy to get out for a long 20km hike in the Adirondacks last weekend to enjoy the changing of the leaves. But most of all I love the bounty autumn offers. I think my favorite of all the great produce of fall is the squash. There are so many types of squash and they are colorful and very versatile – you can use them in pies, soups, stews, pastas, and/or side dishes such as salads or risottos.

My father provided me with yet another large butternut squash from his garden. I made butternut squash and spinach lasagna last year and was excited to make another one but wanted to change it up a bit. This time I used provolone cheese instead of mozzarella and enjoyed its stronger taste and how it did not melt as much as mozzarella does and rather crisped up a bit.

In this dish the butternut squash is pureed rather than left in chucks. I have no preference over either method in terms of texture they are both good, but the pureed form made putting the lasagna together and serving it much easier as it kept its form better when cut. The recipe also has other changes such as kale vs. spinach and a few different spices. Overall both recipes are highly recommended and make a great week night vegetarian meal.

This recipe was adapted from two different lasagna recipes from cooking light.

Butternut Squash & Kale Lasagna

Cooking spray or olive oil
3 cups chopped onion
3 garlic cloves peeled (1 whole and 2 minced)
1 lbs fresh kale
6 round slices sharp provolone cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 (30-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
6 cups diced peeled butternut squash cut into ½” cubes

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large saucepan add the olive oil and heat over med-high heat. Add onion and whole garlic, cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, and 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer until thick and flavors are combined, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

While sauce is cooking, in a large baking pan, sprinkle squash with thyme, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add minced garlic cloves and toss squash mixture to unsure the squash is well coat with the oil. Bake until soft about 30 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Transfer squash and garlic to a food processor and purée until smooth.

Tear kale leaves from center ribs and discard ribs. Boil leaves until soft 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and let cool. Squeeze out as much water as possible and chop finely.

In a bowl, mix ricotta, nutmeg, eggs, parsley and salt and pepper.
In a 10x10 baking dish put the lasagna together.

First Layer:
Spread 1/2 cup Marinara sauce in the bottom of one prepared dish.
Arrange 3-4 noodles over sauce.
Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over noodles.
Arrange 1/2 squash over cheese mixture.
Spread 1/2 kale mixture
Spread 1 cup tomato sauce over squash and kale.

Second Layer:
Arrange 4 more noodles over sauce.
Spread the other 1/2 of cheese mixture over the noodles.
Spread remaining squash.
Arrange the rest of the kale mixture over squash.
Spread 1 cup sauce over kale.

Third Layer:
Arrange 4 noodles over sauce.
Spread rest of the sauce over noodles.
Lay down provolone sliced on top of sauce
Cover pan with foil and bake at 375° for 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Novel Food - Butternut & Bean Soup

I belong to a book club with a good group of intelligent women, who also appreciate that art of gastronomy. Each month we rotate who hosts and picks the novel. When we meet to discuss the novel we always have a dinner party themed around the book, particularly any ‘culinary inspiration’ offered by the book. We have enjoyed African food after reading What is the What by Dave Eggers, Sri Lankan food – Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, 50s Chicago style dinner after reading Revoluationary Road and most recently Jewish Food after enjoying A.J. Jacobs humor book called A Year of Living Biblically. I have blogged about this before and had vowed to blog about each book club dinner, but have not followed through.

Therefore when I stumbled upon the new edition of Novel Food, a culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and Simona briciole co-launched a few seasons ago I was excited to blog about Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. For this meal we all contributed to the dinner potluck style. This novel made it easy for us to decide on the menu considering the whole novel is literally about food and provides recipes in the text. In this post I have provided a brief summary of the novel and posted a couple of the recipes I enjoyed the most. In keeping with Kingsolver’s theme about eating local we attempted to buy all the ingredients and products in season from local vendors.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a narrative & part memoire of Kingsolver’s family journey from an urban life in Arizona to a rural lifestyle in West Virginia, where they vow to eat only locally grown food for one year (Exceptions: spices, coffee, olive oil and flour whereby fair trade alternatives were purchased). The chapters flow from month to month and season to season recounting how the family learns about farming, gardening, cooking and ultimately become an integral part of their community.In Kingsolver’s words: “This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals & vegetables whose provenance we really knew and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbours, drank the water, and breathed the air."

THE MENU

The first course was this wonderful butternut bean soup, which a bookclub member decorated so elegantly with local organic thyme.


BUTTERNUT BEAN SOUP

1½ cups dried white beans, soaked overnight and drained

3 medium portabella mushroom caps, sliced (optional)

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbs. thyme

1 tbs. sage

4 tsp. rosemary

2 butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded

Olive oil

Combine beans and spices in a large sauce pan, add water to cover amply, simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until beans are tender and most water has cooked off.

Add mushrooms toward the end.

While beans are cooking, drizzle a large roasting pan with olive oil and arrange squash skin-side-down.

Cook at 400 for about 40 minutes, until fully tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and serve each half squash filled with a generous scoop of bean soup.

The soup was hearty and delicious. Locally speaking, my dad was able to grow over 30 butternut squashes with nothing but sun and water.

~

SWEET POTATO QUESADILLAS

*Original recipe adapted to use green house spinach rather than Swiss chard and jalapeno cheddar & monterey jack instead of brie. The sweet potatoes, onion, garlic and spinach came from a local organic greenhouse. The flavor and texture of these quesadillas were likely the best I have ever had.

2 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 onion1 clove garlic

1 T oregano

1 T basil

1 tsp cumin

chile powder and cayenne powder to taste

Olive oil for saute

Cut sweet potatoes into chunks, cook until soft, then mash. Chop and sauté garlic. Add onion in a large skillet. Add spices and sweet potato, mix well, adding a little water if it’s too sticky.

Turn burner very low to keep warm without burning.

4 flour tortillas

4 oz. jalapeno

cheddar (St. Albert Cheese Factory)

5 leaves spinach

Preheat oven to 400. Oil a large baking sheet, spread tortillas on it to lightly oil one side, then spread filling over entire toritillas. Top with slices cheese and spinach. Place another tortilla on top of filling and press down. Bake until browned and crisp (15 min.). Cut into wedges & serve.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin in a Spice Marinade

This weekend I woke up to go for my long run and could not believe that it was already 2 weeks away from the half marathon race day. I completed a half marathon back in May 2010 and after a month or so of rest I started to train for the Army Half Run held on September 19, 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

However, with the summer being so busy I did not realize the race day was creeping up on me. I have been able to get in all my runs, hills, speed, long distances, so I should be prepared, but I do not feel I am as energetic as I was back in May. I think I have run myself down, as I usually do each summer. I always try to balance my training, with friends, family, work and all those things life throws at you (good and bad). I think I will have a good race, but by no means going to reach a personal best and am looking forward to resting afterwards and getting into some cross training over the fall months. Regardless it should be an inspirational race with so many healthy and injured troops and their families participating in the race and therefore I will just be happy to be a part of it.

You can check out my training log at my Uberfit website under Half Marathon Army Run 2010 along with my official training schedule Half Marathon Training Program.This site also offers some other fun posts on nutrition and my travels/hikes/runs.

After my long 20km run, which took a bit over 1 hour and 40min I was famished. I had lots of water and some trail mix to hold me over until dinner. Then I prepared this grilled pork tenderloin in a spice marinade with grilled mustard and rosemary baby potatoes. The pork marinade has wonderful flavours that remind me that fall is coming – allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger.

Marinade

1/2 cup coarsely chopped white onion
2 T white vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T olive oil
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped and seeded
1 pork tenderloin (1 to 1 1/2 lbs)

Mix all the ingredients together. Place the pork tenderloin in a ziplock bag or in a deep dish. Pour the marinade over the tenderloin and place in the fridge for 1-4hours.

Grease the grill and preheat the grill to med high heat. Grill the tenderloin for 15-18min until it reaches an internal temp of 155F to 160F for a nice pink middle. Turn the pork often while grilled. Remove from grill and tent for about 5-10min.

Grilled Grainy Mustard Baby Potatoes

1 lbs of baby potatoes, quartered
1 T grainy Dijon mustard
Freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary

Boil the potatoes first for about 5min. This will allow them to cook slightly and reduce having a dry inner potato. Drain and add the ingredients, toss to mix. On a grill pan cook the potatoes using indirect heat for 45 min or until tender to the fork on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside. These can also be cooked in the oven.

Summer Squash & Goat Cheese Tart

A couple weeks ago I was invited to a potluck dinner with some girls. It was a last minute get together during the week so none of us really expected too much in the sense of food and really didn’t know if we’d have 4 desserts and no main, or all salads etc.... Well we should not have under estimated ourselves as the dinner was complete with a large beautiful cheese platter, an assortment of crackers and baguette, Asian rice wraps with peanut dipping sauce, green leaf salad with summer fruit, a summer squash tart, and lots of dessert and plenty of red wine. Although making an entire dinner for friends is nice, the potluck, although old school as it might sound, is still a great theme. In keeping with its origin the potluck dinner provides a since of community where everyone has contributed and everyone gets praise for it.

All summer I have wanted to make a summer squash tart and considering it is almost fall I figured it was about time I stop thinking about it and just do it. I really wanted to grill the squash and make my own crust. With the last minute invite I was happy to sautee the veggies and buy a pre-made pie crust. The dish was simple to make and delicious. It would be great as a side or main meal with a side of salad.

Summer Squash Tart

1-2 yellow summer squash (zucchini), sliced
2 shallots, minced
½ T chopped fresh rosemary or thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
Fresh cracked pepper
Pie crust (bought or homemade)
1 egg white, beaten
Goat cheese or blue Roquefort

Roll out the pie crust to 13” round.

In a skillet cook the squash, garlic and shallot for about 7min, until slightly soft, but not fully cooked.

Remove from heat and stir in the rosemary and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Spread the cheese over the bottom of the pie crust, leaving a 2” boarder around the edges.
Arrange the squash mixture in the centre of the pie crust over the cheese. Then fold the edges up over the squash. Brush with egg white.

Bake on a baking sheet for 35-40 minutes.