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The Balanced Kitchen

Time for food. Time for Life.

Recipe Roundup: May and Early June Edition

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This morning I heard a story on NPR about this guy who realized that he was living a very comfortable, happy life but that one day he realized that his whole life was being lived in a bubble, so he decided that he was going to break out of the bubble by attending randomly selected, open to the public events in his city. It was an inspiring story about breaking out of your comfort zone and trying new things. He talked about how uncomfortable it could be at moments and how there were times when he was tempted to turn around and walk away, but he didn’t, and the outcomes were wonderful. As I listened to his story, I couldn’t help but challenge myself to think carefully about ways in which I do and do not venture outside of my own bubble. In some ways I am an adventurous person, but in others I’m not, and I hope that hearing this story will push me to start exploring some other worlds, even ones that are close by.

If taking a step outside of your comfort zone sometimes involves cooking, then I’ve got some great recipes for you in this Recipe Roundup! The first two recipes in the Roundup came about because one of my clients gave me some homemade goat milk paneer (Indian cheese) and since Saag Paneer is one of my all-time favorite dishes, I jumped at the chance to make it for the first time, so an Indian dinner was in the cards. The waffle recipe is a game changer if you are a fan of waffles that are crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. And the Southwestern Spinach and Black Bean Dip is likely to become a go-to in our house. Are you ready to step out of your bubble and try a new recipe?

Image courtesy of Food Network

Saag Paneer: Spinach with Indian Cheese after poking around online for a while I settled on this recipe because it seemed to be the most manageable. Instead of using frozen spinach I used spinach from my farm share, I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and I skipped the chili pepper in the hopes that my boys would be more open to eating it. Other than those modifications, I followed the recipe closely and the outcome was AMAZING. I could have eaten it for a week straight. My boys still weren’t convinced, but did eat the little bit that they each had on their plate, and my husband loved it almost as much as I did.

Make again? Absolutely and soon!!

Image courtesy of Food.com

Potato Curry with Peas and Carrots I made this to accompany the Saag Paneer because I was confident that my boys would enjoy it, and I was right. I found the directions on this recipe to be a little vague for my taste, but I have made enough curries that I could figure it out. It did take longer than I had anticipated, but the flavors were fantastic and it was relatively simple to make.

Make again? Yes. But I’ll probably type up my own directions to follow. Maybe I’ll post that recipe sometime soon…

 

 

Image courtesy of Inspired Taste

Best Homemade Waffle Recipe I stumbled upon this recipe last weekend as I was trying to find a waffle recipe that only required one egg. The secret ingredient in this recipe is cornstarch and I have to say that I am a convert! I made this recipe using spelt flour instead of all purpose flour, to add some whole grain heft, and they were still light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. All four of us LOVED these waffles. Two quick notes: 1) the batter is much runnier than any other waffle batter I have ever made and seemed to require more batter per waffle, so be prepared and 2) I will never make a single batch of this recipe again. Even for my family of four, this recipe was barely enough for breakfast and I guarantee you will want leftovers for the freezer.

Make again? Yes! This is going to be my new go-to waffle recipe!

Southwestern Spinach Black Bean Dip I made this to take as a side dish to a taco night at a friend’s house. Instead of canned corn I used frozen and I added a bunch more spice, but other than that I followed the recipe. It was delicious, filling, and packed with spinach. It also makes a TON! We gorged on it and there was still a lot leftover, which I then mixed with some leftover chicken to make a variation on my baked chimichangas, which were the biggest hit of the week in my house.

Make again? Definitely and definitely will turn the leftovers into baked chimichangas again, too!

Arugula and Radish Mini-Frittatas

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A while back I shared about my realization that one of my sons really, really needs protein in the morning in order to make it through until lunchtime and I shared some of my protein-packed breakfast items that were fitting the bill. That list has served us well, plus a good deal of eggs/egg sandwiches, breakfast sausages, and bacon. But I wanted to throw something new into the mix as we launch into the summer when the protein will be important for those active camp days… these arugula and radish mini frittatas are perfect!

I want to be honest with you, a year ago these frittatas would likely not have been a success in my house because both of my boys were very skeptical of radishes, but this year they have discovered the joys of a crunchy, fresh radish, which has made salad-making a lot more fun recently and has made these frittatas an easier sell. So, if you’ve got a kiddo who is giving you a rough time about the seasonal produce that you are so excited about, all I can say is stick with it, keep introducing it in different ways, without pressure, and one day you may turn around to discover a little person crunching on a radish they plucked from the dinner salad as they were setting the table. Miracles do happen!

The main reason I am really loving these mini-frittatas, though, is that they are the perfect make-life-easier cooking project. They are quick and easy to make, freeze well, include another dose of vegetables, and can be used for any meal—serve with toast and you’ve got a quick breakfast, add some breakfast potatoes and you’ve got brunch, serve with a side salad or grain salad and you’ve got lunch or dinner. So, please, while arugula and radishes are at their peak (now!), make a batch or three of these to stash in your freezer for your next crazy morning or what-am-I-going-to-make-for-dinner-tonight?! evening. You will be so glad you did.


Arugula and Radish Mini-Frittatas
 
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Recipe type: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 3 radishes, diced
  • ¼ yellow onion, diced
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups arugula, roughly chopped
  • 8 large eggs
  • ⅓ cup feta, crumbled
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼-½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 and grease or spray a muffin tin.
  2. Dice your onion and radishes.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over a medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, but not smoking, add the onion and radishes and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions and radishes are starting to brown, around 5 minutes.
  4. While the onions and radishes are sautéing, wash and roughly chop your arugula.
  5. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Stir in the feta, milk, basil, salt, and pepper.
  6. When the onions and radishes are ready, add them to the egg mixture, along with the arugula, and mix well.
  7. Divide the mixture up evenly in the muffin tin, a little less than ¼ cup per cup.
  8. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until they are slightly firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Run a small knife around the outside of each frittata and remove gently to cool on a plate or cooling rack or serve right away.

 

Mediterranean Spinach Dip

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“I received free samples of Sabra Hummus mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Sabra and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”

Sometimes the best things are simple. Super simple. That was a lesson I was reminded of as I worked to develop a recipe for this Sabra hummus recipe contest organized by The Recipe Redux. You see, I kept trying to come up with some innovative, creative, blow-your-mind-surprising use of hummus. Hummus croquettes and sweet potato toast towers were two of the almost-blogworthy recipes I worked on. Both of them were good, both of them were kind of fun, but as I sat down to write about them I just couldn’t get inspired. And then yesterday it kind of hit me: I was just trying too hard. I was making things more complicated than they really needed to be. So I pushed those two recipes aside, perhaps I’ll come back to them at another time, and decided to keep things simple.

Honestly, when I stop to think about it, making things too complicated has been kind of a theme in my life recently, as well as the hope that I can instead simplify (please tell me I’m not alone in this struggle). This recipe was a wonderful reminder for me that simple is often better. That sometimes we have to let go of our over-inflated expectations for a more balanced reality that will actually make us happier, as is the case with this rockstar, super simple dip.

So in honor of National Hummus Day on May 13th, I give you my Mediterranean Spinach Dip. A super simple, vegetarian, plant-based protein powerhouse of a snack that takes all of 5 minutes to make. Everyone in my family went nuts for this one and an added bonus is that it is another opportunity to get vegetables into everyone’s diet without cajoling or reminding. It works really well with crackers or chips, but also with crudité. My husband also recommends using it as a spread in a sandwich. Haven’t tried this yet myself, but it sounds amazing! Enjoy!


4.0 from 1 reviews
Mediterranean Spinach Dip
 
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Recipe type: Appetizer, Snack
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 3 cups frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 cup Sabra Classic Hummus
  • ½ cup crumbled feta
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, blender, or with an immersion blender, blend all the ingredients until smooth. Serve with vegetables, tortillas chips, or pita chips.

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Honey Greens: A Taste of Spring!

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Early spring is by far my favorite time of year. I love it when the colors start to creep back in—the grass becomes more vibrant, the evergreen leafs get brighter, and the buds on the trees start to come to life. And then there is always that one day when it all suddenly POPS! As I was driving my kids to school yesterday I suddenly noticed how GREEN everything was looking and I realize that it was that POP day!

That green showing up everywhere always gets me thinking about and craving green vegetables. Sadly, though, salad greens are kind of tough and lame at this time of year, but the sautéing greens, such as kale, mustard, and chard, are all great, so I figured now is the perfect time to share my tried and true honey greens recipe with you!

Honey Greens

This is a spin off on a recipe my brother introduced me to years and years ago that used brown sugar instead of honey. Before having his version I had never really enjoyed chard or mustard greens, but once he put these sweet and sour greens down on my plate I was hooked! This is a recipe I often share with clients who are skeptical of greens and is also a side vegetable that I can (usually) count on my boys to enjoy with gusto. If you have lots of mouths to feed and will be doubling or tripling the recipe, I am a big fan of a mix of chard and mustard greens, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them!


Honey Greens
 
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Recipe type: Vegetable, Side
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Dash of cayenne (optional)
  • ½ cup onion, chopped
  • 1 bunch of kale, mustard, or chard greens. Stemmed, rinsed, and torn into bite-sized pieces.
  • 1 tablespoon rice or apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tablespoon honey (or more, to taste)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil on medium-high head in a large frying pan and add a dash of cayenne (if using).
  2. When the oil is hot and shimmering, but not smoking, add the onion and cook until it is translucent.
  3. Turn the heat down to medium and add greens, stirring constantly. When the greens have turned bright “army” green, turn off the heat.
  4. Add the vinegar and some salt and pepper. Stir to mix and then drizzle the honey over and give it one last stir. Serve immediately.

 

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos with Avocado Crema

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This month’s challenge from The Recipe Redux is near and dear to my heart: tacos!!

Show us your healthy, creative take on the taco.

For as long as I can remember, tacos have been a favorite food of mine. When I was a kid, my mom had (still has) special bowls that she used to put out the taco toppings and whenever I saw those bowls coming down from the cupboard I knew that an awesome dinner was in store! I think because I was a picky eater I enjoyed the control I had over my own plate—I got to choose which toppings I used and which I avoided and, if I was feeling brave, I could try something new in a small and safe way. As a kid, the taco options were the same every time: ground beef, kidney beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cheese, and salsa. And still, with the exception of raw onions which I am not a huge fan of, I love all of those components and would happily have one of my childhood tacos any night!

For this Taco Tuesday, though, I’m sharing a different version. While the ground beef is great and we definitely eat it from time to time in our house, it isn’t usually something I include with taco night because there are other, healthier sources of fat in the meal. In fact, many times our taco nights are vegetarian, using beans as the protein source. The tacos I’m sharing today involve one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations, black beans and sweet potatoes, along with a creamy avocado-based sauce that makes the whole meal feel special! In fact, the last time I made the avocado crema my 8-year-old said, “wow! This is such a fancy meal!” when the only difference was replacing our standard cut up avocado with the crema.

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6 Winter Salads to Help You Survive ‘Til Spring

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It’s Ground Hog Day! The day when we hear whether we are going to have an early spring or a late one. This is a day when I always roll my eyes, chuckle about how it isn’t really true, and then desperately want to know what the outcome was. Did the groundhog see his shadow?! Is spring on its way?!

I am sad to report, in case you didn’t hear, that, according to Punxsutawney Phil, we’ve got 6 more weeks of winter ahead of us. (womp, womp). So what does that mean for those of us who are sick of our sweaters, desperate for the sun, and eager to eat fresh produce? We’ve got to get creative!

Last week I shared my Wild Blueberry Flavor Burst Smoothie, which has been helping on the fruit front (even my 8-year-old smoothie-hating son liked it!), but what about the vegetables? I mean, I love soups and stews probably more than most people but even this veggie-fiend can get a little desperate…

So this week I reached out to some of my food blogger friends to ask them to share their favorite ways to get more vegetables in during the winter months and they all shared salad recipes!…

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Wild Blueberry Flavor Burst Smoothie

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By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America and I am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

The other night I stopped by a friend’s house and we got to lamenting the fruit selection at this time of year. The citrus is ok and sometimes you can find a good pineapple, but the apples are past their prime and berries are way out of season. In short, it is a bummer. So that is when I shared my secret to surviving the mid-winter fruit doldrums: frozen fruit! This is the time of year when I stock up on frozen berries each week and use them to mix into yogurt and oatmeal, bake them in desserts, and make smoothies. So when I was invited to participate in the Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest I was psyched because it meant I could share one of my absolute favorite smoothies made with my hands-down favorite frozen fruit: wild blueberries.

If you have never tried wild blueberries, you are missing out! They are what blueberries are supposed to taste like—a sweet and tart flavor explosion in your mouth! They have a much stronger blueberry flavor because the plants are wild and genetically-diverse with thousands of interlocking plants spreading naturally across fields called barrens. As I kid I loved picking wild blueberries, but they can be hard to find, so now I depend on the frozen version, which miraculously keep their flavor and nutrition since they are individual quick-frozen at harvest. The other perk of wild blueberries is that they have twice (!) the antioxidant capacity of the larger, cultivated blueberries and can help with gut health, diabetes, cancer, and brain health. Pretty amazing, right?! And here’s the best part: frozen wild blueberries are super easy to find since almost every grocery store has them!…

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The Best Nut Free Snack Mix and A Dietitian’s Tips to Help You Navigate Food Allergies

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I am so excited, you guys! Today I am bringing you something new on my blog: my first ever guest post! And it is a great one! Today I am introducing you to my friend, Chelsey Amer at C it Nutritionally. She is here sharing important and super-manageable information on navigating food allergies. This is essential information for all of us, even if we don’t have food allergies ourselves, as we are guaranteed to have friends or family members who do….

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Cheesy Broccoli Tots

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“By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Kikkoman and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”

I have a confession to make: I hate tater tots. Maybe it is because I never tasted one until I was in my late 20s and so I don’t have any sentimental attachment, but to me they just taste like clumps of sad, soggy, kind of greasy, overly salted French fries. I just don’t get the appeal. And yet, when I started seeing recipes for vegetable tots floating around I was curiously intrigued. I loved the idea of small nuggets of vegetables that could be made to go along with a meal, could be a new spin on vegetables in the lunch box, or could be a fun new snack option, so I started experimenting to see what would work well, because more than anything I didn’t want to end up with a tater tot equivalent that would leave me feeling bummed out and disappointed.

And I have to say, I think that the idea resonated with some of you as well! As I have started posting my weekly meal plans (new in 2017! If you don’t follow me on Facebook yet, I’d love to have you join in the fun!) people have noticed the veggie tots listed and have asked about them more than any other dish. I guess it is a sign!…

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