Chicken Cauliflower Gratin

I've always really liked the idea of using cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes. I found this recipe today and thought I would try it out. It was originally made as a side dish. But I added chicken to make it into a main dish, you could also add pasta.

This is a really creamy sauce, but without the butter! I really liked substituting the cauliflower for potatoes and will do that more in the future. If you're not a vegetable person, or are cooking for someone who doesn't like vegetables, you can hardly tell the difference! Cauliflower, when cooked, has a consistency that is really similar to mashed potatoes, so its the perfect healthy replacement.

This recipe is delicious how it is originally, but would be great with these additions:

• Adding peas and carrots
• Pasta- another take on the main dish (if you make it without the chicken, it's a great vegetarian dish)
• Taking out the chicken- to make it a side (great with steak)
• Adding minced garlic
• Add broccoli

Chicken Cauliflower Gratin

Ingredients:

• 4 cups 1-inch cauliflower florets (about 1/2 large head) (I used frozen)
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk, divided into 1 1/4 and 1/4 cups
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs, I used crumbed crackers
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 tsp evoo
• 2 Tbl all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbl chopped fresh chives
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp black pepper (you can use white too, but I like the extra kick)
• Chicken, cooked and shredded (I had some left over from a rotisserie chicken)

Directions:

Position rack in upper rack of the oven and preheat your broiler.

In a large ovenproof skillet, over medium-high heat, bring cauliflower, 1 1/4 cups milk and salt to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup cheese and oil in a small bowl.

Whisk flour and the remaining 1/4 cup milk in another small bowl until smooth.

Stir the mixture into the pan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Add chicken.

Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup cheese, chives, mustard and pepper.

(I didn't have an oven proof skillet, so I transferred the gratin to a casserole dish to put in the oven)
Sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Broil until the top is crispy and beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
Serves 4

We served the chicken gratin with fruit, tomato basil salad, and rolls. Everyone loved the meal, and went back for seconds and thirds! It's really creamy and cheesy, but still good for you!

Vegetable Crepes

Tonight I made my parents these healthy vegetarian summer
crepes. This has to be one of my favorite recipes ever! Everything is so fresh.

For these crepes you can pretty much just add or take out whatever vegetable you want to the crepe. If you want it with a little kick I would recommend adding a diced jalapeno or red peppers. Mushrooms would be good as well as summer squash. If you are really against vegetarian plates, then add chicken! I got this recipe off of my new favorite website http://www.eatingwell.com/.

Vegetable Crepes

Ingredients:

•  1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives, divided, plus more for garnish
• 3 Tbl low-fat milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 1/4 cups chopped green beans (or asparagus)
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels, (about 1 large ear)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2-1 garlic clove
• 1 red or green pepper
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 4 9-inch “ready-to-use” crepes

Directions:

Stir sour cream, 1/4 cup chives, milk, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini, green beans, onion, garlic, corn and any other vegetable you decide to use and cook, stirring, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low; stir in ricotta, Monterey Jack, the remaining 1/4 cup chives, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook, stirring gently, until the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

To remove the kernels from the corn, stand a cob in a bowl and slice them off with a sharp knife. All the kernels fall into the bowl!

Rolling crepes is a little more difficult then it seems. They are really thin and break easily, so hadle with care. To roll crepes, place one on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Spoon 1/4 of the vegetable-cheese mixture (about 3/4 cup) down the center of the crepe. Use the paper to help you gently roll the crepe around the filling. Place the crepe seam-side down on a dinner plate. Repeat with the remaining crepes and filling. Serve each crepe topped with 2 tablespoons of the reserved sauce and more chives. ENJOY!

Butternut Squash and Apple-Almond Salad

Since I don't have a job this summer, I have become a personal chef for my family. And since I've been home, I am going to focus,  a majority, of my meals on being healthy.

Tonight's meal is vegetarian as well as extremely healthy for you.

For the salad, I used the same herb dressing I made on May 19th in the "Spaghetti and meatball" post.

Apple-Almond Salad

Toss the salad dressing with romaine lettuce, toasted almonds, crumbled blue cheese, and sliced Granny Smith apples.

Butternut Squash Soup with Onions and Apples

Soup Base:

• 1 rib of celery, chopped ("rib" is one piece/stick, and "stalk" for the entire thing/bunch)
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 cups butternut squash, peeled and seeded
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 quart vegetable stock or water, more may be needed
• salt and pepper to taste

 Garnish:

• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, large dice
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons non-fat yogurt (or Greek yogurt)
• 6 sprigs fresh dill, washed

In a soup pot, sauté the onion, celery and carrot in the oil over medium heat until the onion is golden, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the squash and garlic cooking 5 minutes, stirring. Add the oregano and stock and simmer about 15 minutes or until the veggies are soft.

The easiest way to cut squash is to peel the skin off with a vegetable peeler. Then cut the squash in half. The bottom half is filled with seeds. Cut the two halves again and scoop out the seeds and discard (the seeds are similar to pumpkin seed and can be toasted). The chop into pieces.

While the soup base is cooking, sauté at medium-high heat 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and diced onions. Cut the apple into a large dice and when the onions are golden, add to the pan, sautéing 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry powder and cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the dill and set aside.

Place all of the soup base -- cooked veggies (except the curried onions and apple mix) and liquid -- from your pot in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and silky. More chicken stock may be needed to adjust consistency to your liking. You may also use an immersion blender so that no transfer between pots is necessary. Be patient with the immersion blender, it takes a bit longer to blend together. (I used my new immersion blender that Josh gave me for graduation!)

Return the pureed soup base to the soup pot and add the curried onion and apple. Simmer for 2 minutes. Season to taste and adjust consistency. Serve hot or, on warm days, chilled. Garnish with a dollop of yogurt and a sprig of fresh dill, chives, or herbs of your choice.

This meal was extremely filling and healthy. The soup is only 95 calories! Serves 6!

Tasty Tomato Soup

I was in Dallas this weekend for Jen's wedding shower, it was so fun. Jen got the most incredible kitchen appliances, utensils, serving bowls, platters, measuring cups, spoons, cookbooks, etc... Needless to say, I was jealous!

Cameron and I went to Williams Sonoma (one of my favorite stores EVER) and it took a while for us to pick out what to get Jen and Craig... We ended up getting this 10-piece set of glass bowls, salt and pepper shakers, and Cameron picked out this hard boil egg timer (you put it in the water with the egg and after a certain amount of time in the water the device, shaped like an egg, tells you when your egg is boiled!).

For lunch on Sunday I made Ford and Cameron some roasted tomato-bread soup, and Mr. and Mrs. Ongena came over just in time to eat with us! But as a side note, this soup is delicious and perfect for a cold drizzly day like Sunday was, but to feed hungry boys, like Cameron and Ford, I would recommend making a salad, or grilled cheese to pair with this yummy soup. I love to dip grilled cheese in tomato soup!

Another great thing about this soup is it doesn't take a lot of ingredients! You might have some of these ingredients lying around, but if you don't its not expensive or time consuming to pick them up at the store.

Roasted Tomato-Bread Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered and seeded (about 3 tomatoes)
• 3 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for garnish (the recipe calls for garlic-infused extra-virgin olive oil, but I just had regular EVOO and used garlic salt instead)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (And garlic salt!)
• 1/2 cup finely sliced fresh basil leaves, plus more leaves for garnish
• 1(28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 loaf sourdough baguette (day-old, its a little bit stall and soaks up all the flavor better) or 1/4 loaf country/ french bread, torn into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, toss with 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast until the tomatoes are softened and the edges are beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the basil and stir for about 30 seconds. 

Add the canned tomatoes with their juice and the water; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the bread and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir the oven-roasted tomatoes and any cooking juices into the saucepan and simmer for another 3 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adjusting if necessary, and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with a drizzle of garlic olive oil and basil leaves.

ENJOY!!!

A Healthy Vegetarian Sandwich

I'm back in Oklahoma, Cameron surprised me and came up for the weekend!

For lunch my mom made this delicious vegetarian sandwich (which is really healthy too). It's super easy and doesn't require anytime at all to prepare. So I thought I would share it.

Ingredients:

• 1 English Muffin (Toasted)
  
• 2 Slices of Tomatoes
• 3 Slices of Red Onion
• Handful of Lettuce
• 1 Packet of Laughing Cow Cheese

Directions:

Toast the bread and assemble the ingredients together. Put the cheese on first and then the lettuce, I found this was the easiest way to keep lettuce to stay on the sandwich and then add the rest of the ingredients. ENJOY!