Brown rice pasta with pesto

I'm trying to change the way we eat... it's been pretty good so far. Today, I made brown rice pasta for the first time. It's really delicious and much healthier to eat that wheat pasta. I included some of Trader Joe's "Chickenless chicken strips", mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and broccoli.

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup pine nuts

3 cups of fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

salt to taste

1 cup heavy cream or half & half

1 cup of chopped broccoli

1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes

1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 lb package of brown rice pasta of your choice

-boil pasta according to package instructions and reserve about 2 cups of pasta water.

-In your food processor, combine garlic and pine nuts, pulse a few times. Add basil and pulse, then slowly start to drizzle in the olive oil while the food processor is on, add the cheese and a bit of salt, pulse to combine.

-In the pot you intent to combine everything in, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add mushrooms and saute for a few minutes, then add broccoli and sundried tomatoes. Add pesto mixture, and then add a cup of heavy cream. Add about a cup of the pasta water.

-Bring mixture to boil, then add pasta and chickenless chicken. Heat through and serve!

Enjoy with some freshly ground black pepper and an extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Chocolate covered dates

8 Large Majdool dates

6 cubes of 72% dark chocolate (I use the one pound chocolate bar from Trader Joe's)

16 roasted almonds

shredded coconut for decoration

-Melt the chocolate in a double boiler

-Meanwhile, slice dates open, remove pits, and place two almonds inside. Squeeze date closed.

-When chocolate has melted, let stand for 5 minutes then start rolling dates in it... coat dates with chocolate and sprinkle with some coconut.

-Place dates on parchment paper and freeze for about an hour before serving

enjoy

Oven Baked Haddock

1.5 pounds of haddock fillets (I get the wild kind from Costco)

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp salt

for the coating combine:

1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup melted butter

-preheat oven to 500 degrees

-wash the fish in cool water, dry with paper towels

-combine milk and salt, dip fillet into milk mixture, then into bread crumbs mixture

-lay onto greased cookie sheet or any baking pan of your choice

-drizzle melted butter onto coated fish fillets

-place in oven and bake on top rack for 15 minutes or until desired "doneness" is reached

I usually make mashed potatoes next to this and some sautéed baby spinach, steamed broccoli, or grilled asparagus

enjoy! :)

Oven baked chicken

We're trying to limit our meat consumption these days, but this is a great recipe for chicken night ;) very easy as well

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. Mix the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. Place bread crumbs in a separate bowl. Dip chicken into the mayonnaise mixture, then into the bread crumbs to coat. Arrange coated chicken on a baking sheet.
3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken juices run clear and coating is golden brown.

Vegetarian Asian Stir Fry

The most time consuming part about making this dish is chopping all the veggies. Once you start cooking it'll take about 15 minutes for everything to be ready :)

Ingredients:

1 Onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

salt & pepper (to taste)

soy sauce

oyster sauce

water

2 or 3 stems of Broccoli, chopped

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 large zucchini, sliced

1/2 a small cabbage, sliced

1/2 cup of roasted cashew nuts

-Coat your wok or saute pan with olive oil, add onion and saute until wilted. Add garlic and ginger, and saute for a few seconds then start adding your veggies.

(I like to add one veggie at a time, starting with the hardest. I usually add the broccoli at the very end because we like it crispy.)

-Start by adding the carrots, when they start to cook add the cabbage and zucchini. After a couple of minutes add the broccoli and start adding the sauces and sal& pepper (to your desired taste), add some water (about half a cup).

-You can add some precooked whole grain spaghetti at this point and stir it in for a minute or two. Or you can serve this with some brown or white rice.

Enjoy :)

Butternut Squash Soup

Nothing better to warm us up in the winter than a delicious soup!

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed

1 large onion, diced

1 cup red lentils, washed

1 small potato, shredded

3 carrots, shredded

3 sticks of celery, minced

olive oil

water

salt

pepper

Directions:

-Coat the bottom of your soup pot with olive oil. Heat it and then saute the onions, once onions start to brown, add the lentils, potatoes, carrots, and celery. Saute for a few minutes then add the butternut squash and saute for another 1-2 minutes.

-add water enough to cover all ingredients, bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

-Once veggies are cooked (after about 20 minutes or less), pour soup into your blender and blend until smooth. Return to pot and let simmer for a few minutes until the soup is heated through again. Give it a taste and see if you need to add any salt or water.

Enjoy :)

Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients:

1/2 Package of Pre-cooked Spinach lasagna

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 liter of milk

1/2 cup of oil or 1 stick of butter (melted)

a small bunch of fresh spinach, washed and coarsely chopped. (I only use the leaves)

1/4 kilo of ground beef

1 can of tomato sauce

salt & pepper

small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

olive oil

shredded mozzarella or any cheese of your choice

-start off by preparing the tomato sauce:

in saucepan saute the onion and garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil, when onions are start to get golden add the meat, add salt and pepper. When meat has cooked through add the tomato sauce and a quarter cup of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes. Add italian seasoning if you like. Your sauce is now ready.

-Next you'll have to make the béchamel sauce:

Melt the butter in a saucepan (or heat the oil), add the flour and whisk together well. Add milk gradually, stirring after each addition. The milk should thicken as it gets heated through before you add more. Keep adding until the sauce reaches a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Your béchamel sauce is now ready :)

-Next, in a small pyrex (half the size of the 13x9 standard)... place a layer of lasagna (my tray only takes two sheets of lasagna per layer), then put a layer of the red sauce, drizzle some white sauce on top, a bit of cheese, some chopped spinach and then top with another layer of lasagna sheets. Keep doing this until you run out of ingredients or space in your tray! :)

Bake in a 180 degree oven (celsius) for 45 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

P.S: top layer of lasagna should not be covered with additional lasagna sheets. Just pour the remaining sauces and cheese on top.