Sauteed Cabbage

So this is the easiest recipe ever, like so easy its not really a recipe. But its delicious and we've been obsessed with it for months so its getting posted. Now, I know that sauteed cabbage doesn't sound super divine or anything, but we have it about twice a week and it always leave me wanting more.

Before I post the recipe I have to come clean.... This isn't my recipe at all. Like not even a little bit. It's 100% Mark's creation through and through, and boy it sure is a good one.

Cheap, easy, and tasty, what more do you want in a side dish? Not to mention it counts as a serving of veggies ;).

Sauteed Cabbage

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

1/3 onion, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons oil (I LOVE it with coconut oil)

Salt to taste (at least 1 teaspoon)

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once oil is hot lower temperature of burner to medium-low setting.

Add onion and cabbage, stir to coat, the IMMEDIATELY add salt. ( <------ Mark says this is a vital step). DON'T SKIP.

Stir everything again and let cook until cabbage is soft and semi-translucent, about 15-20 minutes.

Put on plates and serve.

Enjoy :)

See, I told ya this wasn't even really a recipe.

Non-translucent cabbage

Semi-translucent cabbage

Baked Egg Rolls

Mark was never a huge fan of egg rolls, that is until I introduced him to those freezer section ones and deep fried them. They are delicious, don't judge.

A couple months ago Larry, the security guard at my place of employment brought some homemade beef ones to work. They were amazing, but also deep fried.

Needless to say we needed to find a healthier way to indulge in the Chinese restaurant staple. So here I give you my version of vegetarian baked egg rolls.

Although the wrapper is missing that "deep fried" crunch, the fillings flavor is spot on.

Make these with your next stir fry.

(Pictures follow recipe)

Baked Egg Rolls
Adapted from here

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon oil

1/4 of a head of cabbage

1-2 carrots

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. While the pan is warming, attached the shredding blade to your food processor and run carrots through. Place shredded carrots on a large plate and set aside. Now attached the large blade to your food processor and pulse cabbage until chopped semi-finely. Place cabbage on plate next to carrots, set aside.

Next, slice onion thinly and mince garlic clove. Add onions to warm pan and saute for 1-2 minutes, then add carrots. Stir a couple times before adding cabbage. Once cabbage is in the pan allow everything to cook for about 2 minutes, add garlic and stir to combine.

Pour in soy sauce, sprinkle in ginger, and crack in some pepper, stir everything and cook for about another 2 minutes. Place mixture into a bowl to cool.

Preheat over to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with a Silpat or aluminum foil.

Once filling mixture is cool its time to start assembling the egg rolls. To do so, place an egg roll wrapper in front of you making sure a corner is facing you and brush the sides of wrapper with water. Put no more than 4 tablespoons of filling just below the center of the wrapper. Fold corner facing you over the filling, then fold the side corners in to hold the filling. Place seam side down onto baking sheet; repeat with remaining filling.

Spray tops with some cooking spray and place in oven. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Enjoy :)

Oatmeal Two Ways: One Savory, One Sweet (Travel Friendly)

This past weekend Mark and I had the pleasure of having a little getaway. While we had looked forward to this getaway, I was a little worried about finding something filling and nutritious with the continental breakfast provided at the hotel. Sure, we could have gone out for breakfast, but it made financial sense to take advantage of the meal provided. Besides, having one healthy meal a day negates all the other unhealthy (but delectable) food I ate for the rest of the trip, right? Challenge: Accepted.

Anywho, getting back to my quest of finding a hidden gem in the enriched white flour, HFCS laden breakfast options available....

The first morning we awoke 30 minutes before breakfast ended so we hurried down to find a very limited quantity of items left. Mark chose a bowl of Fruit Loops and a waffle, which I nibbled on as well (oh, nostalgia). As for me, I immediately noticed the fruit bowl filled with oranges and apples. Given I eat approximately 1,468 apples a week, I switched it up and went with an orange. But the important part of this fruit bowl story is that it gave me notice to my saving breakfast grace for the next three days: instant oatmeal.

Now normally, I am strictly a thick cut oats kind of girl but sometimes compromises are needed. I grabbed two of the original flavored packets and simultaneously had a stroke of genius. Remembering that I just so happened to pack a couple gingerbread flavored tea bags (obsession of the moment) and some stevia packets I raced up to my room and grabbed a tea bag and a stevia packet. The stevia packet isn't necessary since they usually have sugar packets readily available.

This trifeca of ingredients created the sweet version of the two oatmeal recipes I am excited to share with you today.

Hotel Breakfast Style Gingerbread Oatmeal

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 packets of unflavored instant oatmeal

1 1/4 cups hot water

1 gingerbread flavored tea bag

1/2-1 packet sweetener of choice

Directions:

Steep tea bag in hot water for 5-10 minutes (peel and eat orange during this time).

Remove tea bag and add packets of oatmeal. Stir to dampen oats and place in microwave for 1-1:30 minutes.

Remove from microwave and stir in sweetener packet.

Enjoy :)

Muffin Frittatas (3 Kinds!)

Now that I work outside the home having quick, healthy breakfasts readily available has become essential. I no longer have 30 minutes to make something every morning, so I have started prepping meals on Sundays while watching football. This recipe is a take off the english muffin breakfast sandwiches I posted awhile ago, except these include all the vegetables and meat right in one package. This makes is really convenient because all I have to do is toast an english muffin, slice some cheese, throw one of these muffin frittatas in between and I'm good to go.

I made 3 different kinds of frittatas here: 1 only sausage (for Mark), 2 just vegetables and black beans, and 4 with everything. Having these different varieties will help from getting bored throughout the week. As for the range in the servings section, it all depends on how you are planning to enjoy these bad boys. Obviously having one with an english muffin or a bowl of cereal is plenty, but if you don't have time I would recommend eating 2 or 3 with a piece of fruit for a full meal.

Muffin Frittatas

Serves 3-7

Ingredients:

1/2 cup kale, chopped

1/4 cup broccoli florets, chopped

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup onion, diced

1/4 pound sausage

1/3 cup black beans

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop up all the vegetables and onion, set aside. Heat a little bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add vegetables and onion and cook until vegetables are soft.

In a different pan cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink. Spray 7 slots of a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Scramble eggs and milk in a bowl. Place sausage into the bottom of 5 slots of the muffin pan. Spoon vegetable mixture equally into 5 or 6 slots and distribute black beans into all 7 slots. Pour egg and milk mixture into each slot to fill 3/4 way.

Place pan in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully fork out muffin frittatas. Allow to cool and then store either in the fridge or freezer for on-the-go meals.

Enjoy :)

Tempeh Spring Rolls with Pseudo Peanut Sauce

A couple weeks ago we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant which had spring rolls on their appetizers menu, we didn't order any but I had been thinking about/craving ever since. Fast forward to last weekend when strolling through the aisles of the grocery store I came across spring roll wrappers. Having never used them on top of my unusual yearning for spring rolls meant only one thing: I was buying the wrappers and would attempt to make my own, with a fail-safe meal in mind of course.

I looked at a couple recipes online but decided to just use what I had on hand and hope for the best. I sliced up some raw vegetables and tempeh (which I marinated) and then came the fun part: figuring out the magical powers a little warm water has on a rice paper wrapper! Seriously, I pulled out the dry wrappers and thought for sure I was going to crack them and the rolls would just fall apart, but after dipping them in water for 10 seconds they were instantly rip-proof and semi-flexible. So one by one I dipped, filled, and folded until all my rolls were done. It was THAT easy.

Ingredients

Basic Lentil Soup

Now that fall has arrived full force here in the midwest my body is in soup-desire overdrive. There hasn't been a day in the last week that I haven't had an aching for some kind of soup. A couple days ago I wanted a light lentil soup and came up with this not-so-imaginitive recipe, but hey its exactly what I was looking for. Served with some drop biscuits, butter, and honey my rather boring soup became infinitely more swoon-worthy.

I would highly suggest serving this soup with a more calorie dense add-on as it is, albeit healthy, extremely low in the calorie department. So get everything simmering, make yummy Panera-like sandwiches, and in 30 minutes time you will have a body-warming meal on the table.

Served with aforementioned biscuits

Basic Lentil Soup

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

4 cups broth of choice

1 cup water

1 cup dry green lentils, picked over and rinsed

1 small onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrot, chopped

1/8-1/4 cup salsa (or a can of diced tomatoes)

4 teaspoons of your favorite herbs (I used basil, oregano, and thyme)

2 bay leaves

salt & pepper

Directions:

Bring broth and water to a boil in a large stock pot over medium heat.

While liquid is heating chop carrots & onion and mince garlic cloves. Once broth is boiling stir all remaining ingredients into pot.

Bring everything back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to simmer.

Allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes, or until carrots are soft.

Serve with a side salad and bread.

Enjoy :)

Spicy Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Last week ended up being crazy busy for us, as I had to be downtown 3 days in a row unexpectedly. I barely had a second to breathe let alone plan dinner, so the slow cooker was dusted off about a week earlier than expected. Not that I minded spending 15 minutes in the morning to coming home to a wonderfully smelling kitchen.

One of the things I made in the crock pot, besides this delicious chili, was "baked" sweet potatoes. All I had to do was wrap them in foil, throw them in the crock pot, turn on low, and come home with a ravenous stomach and a plan for a quick meal! Have I given thanks to the slow cooker Gods yet?

On the bus ride home I had come up with an idea for the sweet potatoes that involves semi-gutting then re-stuffing them with a tex-mex mixture (a lot like stuffed zucchini or squash). Given my love for the sweet potato/black bean combination and my craving for spice I jotted down a hodgepodge of ingredients I thought would go well with the bean and potato base.

Its basically a "dry" chili with tons of flavor. Now I know this recipe isn't revolutionary in any sense, but it was new to us and ready in about 20 minutes. Mission accomplished.

You could use the mixture as a side dish, filling for a vegetarian burrito, or maybe a sweet potato hash! Oh the ideas that went through my mind as I devoured mine.

Beet & Tofu Burgers

This dish just kind of worked. It was completely experimental to the point where I had a backup plan of scrambled eggs if a disaster ensued. You see, Mark's sister had given us some produce from her garden and one of those items happened to be beets. Up to this point I had never had a beet in my refrigerator and had only recently introduced them to my palate. The beets longingly stared at me for four days from the second shelf of the refrigerator before I decided it was time to have a go at creating something with them.

I almost immediately knew what I wanted to do with the beets, make a plant burger. This might have been because my most recent encounter with them had been in this form and was an enjoyable experience. After scoping out the kitchen I noticed some tofu that was in desperate need of being used before getting forgotten. I started doing a little research and went off that to help brainstorm my own version of a plant burger. Since veggie burgers tend to be mushy enough as it is I pressed the tofu and cooked up some rice (I don't know what the rice does but many of the recipes I looked at used some). Throughout the rest of the afternoon I wrote down my incoherent thoughts until I came up with something that looked like it had a chance of being edible and maybe even slightly pleasant.

I got to work chopping, sautéing, and food processing my burger patty mixture. After the patties were formed I threw them in the freezer in hopes of firming them up a bit. This didn't work but it was worth a shot. Then I fried them up, threw them on buns topped with cheese, greens, and condiments and dug in.

My Favorite Breakfast Sandwich (For Now)

My Monday-Friday breakfast is usually one of two things: cold oatmeal or an egg sandwich. Both are extremely easy to make, delicious, and fill me up after my workout.

One day I will get around to posting the cold oatmeal recipe (maybe when I don't prep it at 11:00 pm I will remember to take pictures!), but for today it will be an egg sandwich that I seriously can not get enough of. It has cheese, vegetables, avocado, and garlic smushed between two slices of bread.

There are endless possibilities for twists you could make on this sandwich to turn it into your own. It's also one of those recipes you could make a couple servings of ahead of time for on-the-go meals.

It's delightful! I hope you agree.

Celery Haters Ants On A Log

Ants on a log is a quick and healthy snack that has a little bit of everything: fruit, veggies, and protein. However for some (Mark), celery isn't an appealing vegetable. So I took out the celery leaving Mark satisfied because it still involves raisins (one of his favorite snacks) and also continues to provide him with a serving of vegetables.

So if you have someone close who doesn't like celery, deeming ants on a log a non-option, try replacing it with carrots for an easy afternoon snack.

Celery Haters Ants On A Log

Ingredients:

1-2 carrots

1-2 tablespoons peanut butter (or nut butter of choice)

raisins

Directions:

Slice carrot(s) into mini sticks.

Spread peanut butter onto carrot sticks.

Top with raisins.

Enjoy :)

Pretty Damn Healthy Vegetable Pesto Pizza

Pizza is our Kryptonite, as if you didn't already gather that. Strangely, I rarely ever make it for dinner; mixing and rolling out the dough, assembling the toppings.... It can get to be a lot of work, and I like to leave that work to the local pizzerias (I get all of the reward for doing none of the work). However the other day I just so happened to have some pre-made pizza dough and pesto in the freezer (don't you just love when that happens?).

If all that I needed to do was chop and sauté some veggies, grate a little cheese, put it on pizza dough, and throw it in the oven there was no excuse in my mind.

Chop chop

Sauteed fresh summer vegetables, doesn't get much better

Fiesta Rice with Avocado and Tomato with a Chili Lime Vinaigrette

*Please ignore the horrible picture. It tastes so much better than it looks.

Awesome dinner time lighting

The other night when I made my tofu dino dunkers I needed a side to go along with them. I looked in the refrigerator and found some leftover tomato and jalapeño, half an onion, and had an avocado on the counter calling out to me. These few ingredients screamed tex-mex, duh.

A few hours later I was still milling over what to make and decided to check out my favorite blogs for inspiration (I do this almost everyday). Lo and behold over at Iowa Girl Eats I stumbled upon a grilled corn orzo salad recipe that actually used most of the ingredients I was working with! It came with a recipe for a delicious sounding chili lime dressing to boot!

That girl and her recipes know the way to my heart, I swear.

Needless to say I worked off her recipe and created something that both Mark and I loved. Avocado, tomato, chili lime vinaigrette.... What's not to love.

I'm pretty sure the only thing that would have made it better was a margarita. Next time.

Fiesta Rice with Avocado and Tomato with a Chili Lime Vinaigrette
Adapted slightly from here

Serves 2-3 as a side

Ingredients:

For fiesta rice:

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1/2 ripe beefsteak tomato

1/2 avocado

1/8 cup onion, minced

1/4-1/2 jalapeño, minced

For the vinaigrette:

2 teaspoons quality olive oil

1/4 tablespoon honey

1/2 lime juiced

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of pepper

salt to taste, if desired

Directions:

Cook rice accordingly to directions on package.

Mix together olive oil, honey, lime juice, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt & pepper in a small dish.

Chop avocado and tomato.

Mix avocado, tomato, jalapeño, and onion in with rice.

Toss vinaigrette on top of rice mixture.

Stir to combine.

Enjoy hot or cold :)

Tips For Getting Loved Ones To Eat Vegetables

Photo Source: Raw Food Life

Not everyone was born loving veggies, something I definitely had to learn. I was just born with a taste for vegetables. And for most of my life I was oblivious to why some people proclaimed that they "don't like veggies" or worst that they "hate veggies" and I was too ignorant to try and understand.

That all changed when Mark and I moved in together. Mark was most definitely on the anti-veggies side, which created a huge problem and lots of frustration come meal time. After I got angry with him countless times for not even trying to eat his vegetables I realized I had to take a different approach. One day I asked him "why don't you like vegetables?".

This question and his answer helped us tenfold. This is my first tip: ask them what turned them off to vegetables. For Mark raw vegetables didn't sit too well with stomach, he loathed frozen steam-able vegetables, and he didn't eat salads because he thought lettuce didn't taste like much.

Ok, I could work with that. Then I asked him another important question: "Are there any vegetables that you do like?". There are so many different vegetables out there, why group them all together and proclaim hatred for all?

He responded that he liked broccoli, green beans, potatoes (especially red), carrots, asparagus and loved spinach.

Salt & Vinegar "Smashed" Potatoes

"Smashed" potatoes with tofu scramble & brussel sprouts

In my opinion, if there are any two ingredients that are meant to go together, those two ingredients are salt & vinegar. I love salt & vinegar chips, popcorn, and anything pickled (with extra salt on top of course). Around 80% of the time I would choose something salt & vinegar over something sweet; it's just the way I roll.

A few months ago I was surfing the net for some new ideas for how to cook red potatoes when I came across some recipes for salt & vinegar potatoes. I was in love. However, most recipes I found called for boiling the potatoes in vinegar and then mashing them. This seemed like a waste of tasty vinegar to me. Instead I decided to boil the potatoes until soft, then roast them until the skins were crispy, and add the vinegar at the end for a burst of vinegary flavor.

It turned out to be a best-of-both-worlds side dish: Mark got his potato fix, and I got my salt & vinegar fix (for a second anyway). Although it takes a little bit of time its a pretty simple dish and a nice diversion from your typical mashed or baked potato routine. And they go great with a jalapeño aioli tuna melt and a side of broccoli. Just sayin'.

"Enchilada" Pasta

Mmmmm cheesy, meaty, pasta-y goodness

Most nights when I ask Mark what he thinks of the dinner I made he says "it's good, I like it". To me that is a success, especially because most of our dinners are really healthy and full of vegetables (which Mark isn't the most fond of). But every once in awhile my question is met with an enthusiastic "this is delicious, what's in it!", such is the case with this recipe for "enchilada" pasta as Mark lovingly named it.

It's the perfect dish for us because it combines meat, pasta, veggies, and cheese while staying relatively healthy until we decide to eat all 4 servings in one sitting.... It was an accident, I promise. But I don't even feel the need to justify, sometimes you just need a big bowl of pasta, sauce, and cheese.

No need to feel ashamed.

Easy Individual Vegetable Frittatas (a.k.a. Mega Frittata Muffins)

On the weekends we try to come up with something besides cold cuts and salads for lunch because as much as we love sandwiches and salads, having a couple days break is nice. We like to try and use the same basic ingredients (usually the leftover meat and veggies from the week), just in more creative ways. This past Sunday I was in a pinch for time and was going to resort to sandwiches but was cravings eggs so I threw together individual vegetable frittatas using frozen veggies (to save time). Both Mark and I liked them well enough so here is my very basic recipe for the dish that Mark named "mega frittata muffins". I can't wait to play around with it! I will be posting updates and variations as I try these with different meats, vegetables, cheeses, and spices.

Easy Individual Vegetable Frittatas

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 eggs

4 egg whites

1/4 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup frozen chopped broccoli

1/2 cup frozen peas, carrots, lima beans mix

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon cooking oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

salt & pepper

Directions:


Place two 1 cup ramekins in a larger baking dish and set in oven. Turn oven on to 450 degrees.

In a small skillet heat oil over medium heat, add onion, and cook until translucent; set aside.

In a bowl whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, garlic powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper.

In a separate bowl place frozen veggies and microwave until thawed, then add to egg mix.

Once onions cool, add them to egg mix.

After the oven has preheated, remove ramekins  and spray with cooking spray.

Carefully pour 1/2 mixture into each ramekin and place back in oven.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until pouffy, golden brown, and knife comes out clean.

Serve with buttered toast and enjoy :)

Restaurant Review Grand Marais Edition: Cascade Restaurant & Pub (Dinner Experience)

After our day of touristy joy we headed back to the lodge to unpack and relax. Lunch must have filled us up quite a bit because before we knew it, the clock informed us it was 8 pm and we still hadn't had any dinner. Knowing that you should never skip a meal and that we had a big hike planned for the next day we headed over to the lodge restaurant.

The setup is like a typical restaurant/pub except with more emphasis on the restaurant, as the bar had maybe 5 stools. There were stuffed animals (not teddy bears, see above) attached to the walls and awesome chandeliers made out of wagon wheels with lamps as lights hanging from the ceiling. It made Mark and I feel like we were in Dark Shadows again hanging out at the Blue Whale.

Loved the chandeliers

Black Bean and Vegetable Tex-Mex Filling

Us at the Twins game. Final score 19-7... Yeah it was that kind of game.

Over the weekend I cooked up some black beans to use for Monday's dinner. When Monday morning rolled around I was craving some Mexican inspired dish. Finally deciding on black bean tostadas, I went out for my run. It was during my run that I realized that Mark has taco salad for lunch every Tuesday so he probably wouldn't want tostadas the night before. As crushed as I was, I settled on black bean sloppy joes made with salsa.

Restaurant Review: Benihana (Golden Valley Location)

Us celebrating Daren's 25 birthday at Benihana

I don't know this for sure but I have a hunch that when you reach the age of 25 you start to feel really old. Something about realizing you are out on your own, paying your own bills, and 5 years from 30... Woah, I'm breaking a sweat over here just thinking about it. Luckily I still have about a year and a half to prepare myself. And thankfully when Daren turned 25 in June he set an excellent example for how to take it by eating good food (make mental note of this).

One of the places we accompanied Daren to for a birthday celebration is Benihana. I love Benihana and all the restaurants out there like it. It's always a good time watching the chefs prepare your meal right in front of you.

Chef Aaron pouring the yum yum sauce

Making a heart out of the chicken fried rice

Cooking the entrees

If you weren't aware, Benihana has this program called the Chef's Table; it's basically them sending you a monthly "here are our specials" email. But the real reason you should subscribe to this is for the $30 voucher they send out at the beginning of your birthday month. It's good Monday-Thursday anytime during the month of your birthday. Quite the sweet deal as it practically pays for your entire meal (excluding tax and alcohol purchases). So it goes without saying that when mine, Mark's, or Daren's birthday month rolls around we take full advantage of this offer.

Restaurant Review: Vincent A Restaurant

Vincent Burger

Back during the winter session of Restaurant Week in Minneapolis Mark and I picked out a French place on Nicollet Mall called Vincent A Restaurant. I have always been drawn to all things French because I took four years of French in high school, and we liked that it was close enough to Mark's building that the walk over wouldn't be too bad. Long story short, we loved it and vowed to be back. We stayed true to that vow and on a gorgeous day in May (5.15.12) we had a lunch date. Luckily we had a seasonally warm winter here and by May the patio was open and we were able to eat outside.

Once we were seated our waiter came over and gave us a basket with a loaf of bread. Unlike the bread at Buca, the bread here is delicious, and we instantly scarfed it down. We also recognized that this was the same waiter we had on our first visit. We were thrilled about this because he was part of the reason we enjoyed our last trip so much.