Recipes

Frittata

This is a Frittata recipe from my friend Lisa. Lisa has some great suggestions for foods/recipes to try in a healthy diet. Lisa is a vegetarian and very conscientious about the food she consumes. 

Here's my veggie frittata, which I sort of got from Dr. Oz and then modified

Ingredients:
Two eggs and four egg whites/egg replacer (I buy liquid egg whites)
Baby Spinach
Green Peas
Goat cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cooking spray

I don't really measure anything... I just make it so it looks like it is balanced, which is probably ridiculous sounding.

Mix eggs and egg whites in a medium sized bowl. Add salt and pepper. Add spinach and peas. Mix it up until everything looks balanced.

I use a 9x9 cake pan but you can use something smaller. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray, then pour in the egg mixture. When it's even, dot the top of it with goat cheese. I probably use about 2 TBSPs. I just make it look balanced...

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Eat half, save half!

Lentils & Shrimp

So, I have recently become a big fan of lentils. When cooking them, I have tried to be very good and keep the calorie content low but, the lentils have been good and not outstanding. That is until I made a slight recipe adjustment. 

It has long been the tradition in my family to cook beans with ham hocks as part of the base stock or smoked turkey. I have completely eliminated pork from my diet so, ham hocks are out, and smoked turkey contains a bit more sodium than I'd like to have in my lentils. One day when playing around with things I had in the fridge/freezer, I decided to throw in a few shrimp into my lentils and it was great. Here's my recipe.

3 cups of water
1 cup of lentils (any type)
Season to take with Mrs. Dash original seasoning
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
Pinch of red pepper
1 to 1.5 cups of frozen shrimp

Bring the water to a boil with seasonings. Add in your cup of lentils and let simmer for 20 to 25minutes. After this time, stir in your cup of shrimp into the cooked lentils and continue cooking for an additional 5 to 8 minutes. Add additional seasoning to taste.

Simple Smoothie

1 banana
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen strawberries

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend 
until smooth

Spaghetti Squash

The first time I saw this recipe was on Living Big with Ali Vincent and I thought is sounded great. I was right! I've made a few modifications to the recipe and I am always amazed at how it really taste like I'm eating a big bowl of pasta with this recipe. I sometimes put ground turkey in the recipe and sometimes, I don't...it's optional and I know my friend Lisa wouldn't touch it with the turkey (or onions).

1 zuchinni
1 yellow squash
1/2 small onion
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1chopped basil leaf
1/2 lb. ground turkey
2 cups of  pureed tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
Mrs. Dash all purpose seasoning
Black Pepper (season to taste)
Italian Seasoning
1 medium Spaghetti squash

Place the ground turkey into a non-stick pan and lightly season with Mrs. Dash seasoning and ground pepper. Cut the zuchinni, yellow squash, onions and mushrooms up into bite size pieces. Before the ground turkey has completely browned combine the zuchinni, yellow squash, onion and mushrooms in the pan and sautee until the turkey is completely cooked.

I like to use pureed tomatoes without salt in this recipe and then season the sauce to taste using Mrs. Dash and pepper. You should use the seasonings which appeal most to you. try staying away from salt.

Once the turkey is cooked and the veggies have been cooked, pour the tomato puree into the pan and add additional seasoning. Let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes. 

While the sauce is simmering, cut the spaghetti squash in half and clean out the seeds and strings (throw these away). Place plastic wrap over each half of the squash and place in the microwave for 8 minutes (this may vary a little bit depending on the size of the  squash you purchased). Once the squash is done, use a fork to scrape out the squash into a bowl. 

Once the sauce is done, cover the cooked squash with the sauce. 

You shoud have enough squash for several servings.