what's for dinner tonight: vegetable lo mein

Ingredients:

8 oz. of linguine

1 cup of green onion, cut in 1 inch slices

1/2 cup of zucchini, sliced

1/4 cup of mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup of mung bean sprouts

1/4 cup of sliced carrots

1/4 snow peas

1 cup of broccoli florets 

1 small can of water chestnuts 

1 small can of bamboo shoots

1/4 cup of Hoisin sauce

1/4 tsp. of rice vinegar

2 tbsp. of sesame oil

2 tbsp. of soy sauce

2 tbsp. fish sauce

3 tbsp. oyster sauce

3 cloves of garlic, minced finely

Olive oil

Pepper

In a large pot, cook the linguine until al dente. Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil and 2 tbsp. of salt to season the pasta, and to avoid sticking.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, chop up and slice your vegetables!

Combine the rice vinegar, Hoisin sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Set aside.

Chop up your green onion in one inch pieces. And mince the garlic.

In a wok or large skillet, stir fry the garlic and green onion. Season with black pepper.

Add in the vegetables and cook for approximately 2 minutes (or until the veggies begin to soften) before adding the sauce. Cover the wok for 5 minutes to let the vegetables steam and simmer.

Drain the linguine and add this to the wok.

Mix well with tongs!

Serve on a plate.

So yummy! Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: blackened salmon on brown rice, with oven roasted asparagus and beets

Cajun food is some of my favorites, so I've been craving some blackened fish for some time. Beets sounded delicious too. They're naturally sweet, so they don't require much seasoning. Not to mention, beeturia, which affects 10-14% of the population, is always fun afterwards. It causes a red pigment in urine or poop! 

Prepare your rice first, according to the directions.

Oven Roasted Beets and Asparagus 

1 fresh beet

A handful of fresh asparagus

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp. of olive oil

Take a fresh beet and wipe off any dirt from the body or stem. Do not wash the beet, it causes the beet to steam in the oven and we do not want that.

Cut off the stems and set it on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cut up your asparagus and set aside until the beets are ready.

Once the beet has finished baking, peel the skin off and chop them up into bite size pieces.

Set them back on a baking sheet, along with the asparagus. In a small prep bowl, combine the minced garlic, olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. Drizzle this on top.

Set it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350. 

Blackened Salmon

3 tbsp. of olive oil

A pinch of: cumin, coriander, chili powder, crushed red pepper, basil, and black pepper

1 tbsp. of Cajun seasoning

Combine all spices and olive oil in a small prep bowl.

Marinate the fish on both sides.

On medium-high heat, warm up a skillet. Drop the salmon into the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the fish is black.

Serve on some warm brown rice.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: Mediterranean squash pasta with baby arugula and spinach salad with a balsamic and vinaigrette dressing

I'm finally starting my New Year's resolutions-- continue to eat healthy, eat with portion control, and run a 5k by the end of the year. We just recently returned from Washington D.C. Healthy food.. heck, reasonably priced and moderately healthy food was so hard to find... But, now that we're back, I can't wait to get back to eating great, and feeling great.

Mediterranean Squash Pasta

1 pasta squash

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of artichoke hearts

1/2 a can of olives, sliced

2 handfuls of spinach

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbsp. of olive oil

1 tbsp. of dried basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Poke a few holes in the pasta squash and bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Finely chop and mince the 3 cloves of garlic. Hallelujah to my food processor!!

And then dice up a small onion.

On medium heat, heat the olive oil and add the garlic and onion. Season with salt and pepper and basil.

Slice up 1/2 a can worth of whole olives (or if you're smarter, buy the kind that are already sliced. I love to snack on olives, so I always keep a can of whole olives) and slice the artichoke hearts in half.

Wash the spinach and take off the stems.

Add the tomato and artichoke heart to the skillet. Add the spinach after a couple of minutes.

Once the pasta squash is finished, slice it in half and take the seeds out.

Using a fork, detach the squash, and it becomes stringy!

Pretty cool, huh?

Add the squash into the skillet once the spinach begins to sweat. Mix together thoroughly until all ingredients are combined.

Baby Arugula and Spinach Salad

1/4 tsp. of olive oil

1/4 tsp. of rice vinegar

1/4 tsp. of balsamic vinegar

Baby arugula

Spinach

Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Mushrooms, sliced

Olives

Pepper

Pinch of dried basil

Combine the oil, rice vinegar and balsamic vinegar, along with the pepper and dried basil. Mix with the arugula, spinach, olives, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: Chinese tomato and egg stir fry

The Chinese tomato and egg stir fry can be found just about anywhere you go in China. It's really great on a bed of rice. This recipe is one that my family has used for years. I had a ton of tomatoes and a ton of eggs, so this was a perfect night to cook it!

Ingredients:

9 eggs, scrambled

5 small tomatoes (I used roma)

2 cups of rice

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of sugar

2 big squeezes of ketchup

1/4 cup of chopped green onion

3 tbsp. of olive oil

Prepare the rice according to directions.

Cut up the tomato into 1 inch cubes. If you're using something bigger than roma tomatoes, I'd suggest just using 2-3. The egg to tomato ratio should be about one to one.

Scramble your eggs.

In a wok or skillet, add 3 tbsp. of olive oil to medium-high heat. Add the egg and green onion once the oil heats. 

Scramble until they are thick, but still runny!

Add in the tomato, ketchup, salt and sugar and stir until all ingredients are mixed together. Be very careful to not stir too frequently, we don't want mushy scrambled eggs! Set the lid on top, to let the tomatoes steam and cook, for about 3-5 minutes.

Serve on some white rice. Even Corbin, who is extremely picky ate his entire plate. That must mean something!

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom.

what's for dinner tonight: veggie fajitas with cilantro-lime rice, corn salsa and guac

Fajita night is always a wonderful night. It's a mixture of all things healthy and makes for a fresh meal!

Corn salsa: 

1 1/2 cup of cooked corn, drained

1/2 jalapeno, diced

1/2 roma tomato, diced

1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and chill before serving.

Guac:

1 large Hass avocado

1/2 jalapeno, diced

1/2 roma tomato, diced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. of lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Secret ingredient: Use a dash of onion salt instead of regular salt.

Mash the avocado and then add in all ingredients. 

Cilantro-lime rice:

1 cup of white rice

1 tsp. of lime juice

1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

Prepare the rice according to direction. After the rice has finished cooking, add in the cilantro and lime juice. Mix together.

Veggie fajitas:

A variety of vegetables, I used 1/2 zucchini, 1/2 small onion, 1/2 green bell pepper, all sliced. Other vegetables you can use can include mushrooms, broccoli, etc.

1/16 cup of olive oil

1 tbsp. of lime juice

1 tsp. of ground basil

A pinch of ground Corriander

A pinch of chili powder

A pinch of Cumin

2 garlic cloves, minced 

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the olive oil, ground basil, cumin, corriander, minced garlic, chili powder, and lime juice in a small bowl.

Slice up any desired vegetables...

In a skillet, on medium-high heat, add the oil mixture. Once the oil heats, add the vegetables and then salt and pepper to taste.

Continue cooking for a few minutes, until the vegetables become tender.

This recipe is really great for either rice bowls, or tacos! Set all ingredients out and add however much of each to one another. You can top these with sour cream and cheese too!

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...