Individual Lemon Pudding Cakes

I cut out this recipefrom an old Food & Wine magazine years ago and finally had an occasion to make it. I love individual-sized desserts especially those which can be made in advance. These individual pudding cakes are very light and not overly lemony. The top half of the cake is very cake-like while the bottom half is mostly a pudding consistency. It makes for an interesting dichotomy of textures. I served these with blackberries and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. You could swap out the lemon for orange or lime to suit your taste.

Easy Spinach Basil Pesto

Pesto is so versatile. There are many different varieties and you can use it as a sauce with all different types of food. Here I’ve gone with a simple penne and tomato pasta but this would also work with chicken, many different types of fish or a hearty veggie salad. I find an all basil pesto to be a bit overwhelming so whenever I make pesto, I go with a healthier combo of spinach and basil. I also think walnuts go particularly well with spinach so I substitute walnuts for the traditional pine nuts. The food processor does all the work so it’s really quite easy. You can increase or decrease the ingredients to suit your own taste. Here is the basic recipe:

4 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 medium garlic gloves, minced
1/4 cup high quality parmigiano reggiano, grated
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional but adds some depth and keeps it green)
2-3 tablespoons high quality olive oil

Combine everything except the olive oil in the food processor fitted with a metal blade and run the machine for 1-2 minutes until everything is finely chopped. Then while the machine is running again, slowly drizzle the olive oil through the top feeder until the you achieve the consistency you desire for your pesto (I like mine on the thicker side so it’s not too oily).

The great thing about pesto dishes is they taste great hot, room temperature or cold. For this reason, a nice pesto pasta is great for parties or taking to a potluck.

Quinoa Almond Butter Cookies

These cookies are low sugar, high protein and gluten free. I’ve never been a huge fan of quinoa but I was intrigued by the idea of using it in baked goods. I reviewed a lot of recipes online and came up with this hybrid:

2 cups cooked quinoa
3/4 cup almond butter (I used Justin’s Honey Almond Butter but any natural nut butter would work)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup oats (gluten free if desired)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Mix everything together in one bowl. If the dough doesn’t come together readily, you may need to add more almond butter. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour. Roll dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press with the bottom of a glass to flatten.

These cookies are not very sweet and a little crumbly, as gluten free cookies tend to be but they are really healthy and packed with whole grains.

Whole Wheat Banana Flax Muffins

These muffins are loaded with good-for-you ingredients. I followed this recipe and reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup and added walnuts. Bananas contain quite a bit of natural sugar so I didn’t feel the need to add much additional. This recipe called for an entire cup of ground flaxseed for 12 muffins which is much more than other recipes I have seen. Some people can be intimidated by cooking or baking with ground flaxseed; it doesn’t exactly look like something you’d want to eat. I use it quite frequently and liberally in baked goods and always stir a couple tablespoons into steel cut oatmeal. It adds a lot of fiber and Omega 3′s but lacks any discernible taste, so why not?

I love to bake muffins but have always had issues with muffins getting too wet or moist on top after a day or two in an air-tight container. I recently learned the best way to keep muffins tasting as near-fresh as the day they are baked is to wrap them in plastic and freeze them right away (after they are cooled). Simply bring the frozen muffins to room temperature or defrost in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and they are nearly as good as the day they were baked.

Halibut with French Lentil Salad

This recipe was inspired by this month’s Martha Stewart Living where there’s an article with recipes featuring the health benefits of lentils – lots of fiber. I’m a fan of French (green) lentils because they hold their shape and get less mushy than other varieties. Martha’s recipe called for pork but I thought halibut would be a bit more elegant and citrus and white fish go well together. Tim’s Seafood has fresh halibut right now and it is simply delicious.

The lentil recipe is pretty simple. Well-rinsed lentils should cook for about 20 minutes and then drained. Drizzle about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over the drained lentils and allow them to cool to room temperature. Add two tablespoons of finely chopped shallots. Then, add a segmented navel orange and a diced avocado. Add the juice of the navel orange and combine. Garnish with fresh basil. I seared the halibut in a pan and then finished cooking it in a hot oven. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of fish.

Heart Healthy Cookies

I don’t make cookies very often because they are too tempting to have in the house when one is trying to eat healthier. Over Christmas, my parents made these peanut butter, oat bran cookies that were really good and quite healthy so I tried to recreate something similar. These cookies have peanut butter, oat bran, ground flax seed and whole wheat flour. I added some chocolate chips as well. I usually link to recipes but this one I developed myself so I will attempt to provide the details:

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened, unsalted butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
3/4 cup oat bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat the first 6 ingredients until smooth with an electric mixer. Add the oat bran and mix with a wooden spoon. Then add the the remainder of the dry ingredients. After well-combined, fold in the chocolate chips. Drop the dough onto a baking sheet by rounded tablespoons. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9 minutes. This yields about 36 cookies and the oat bran, ground flax seed and whole wheat flour makes one cookie very satisfying. Really!

Scallop & Asparagus Risotto

Risotto is one of my “go to” meals. I think I do it well and there’s an endless variety of proteins, veggies, etc. that one can add to risotto that keeps it interesting. Last night I made a simple scallop and asparagus risotto that my husband declared his “favorite” of all of the meals that I make, although it must be said he is easily won over by sea scallops in any form. We buy nearly all of our seafood from Tim’s and they always have fresh, dry packed scallops, which is the only way to go for the highest quality sea scallops.

Risotto takes some time and patience to make but it only has simple ingredients: butter, olive oil, onion and garlic (or shallots), arborio rice (do not substitute any other variety of rice), white wine, chicken or vegetable stock and parmigiano regiano cheese. The chicken/vegetable stock must be added slowly, 1/2 cup at a time, and stirred constantly. I seared the scallops separately in a very hot (not non-stick, which is important) pan with a thin coating of canola oil. In order to achieve the proper sear on the scallops, you must use a very hot pan and only flip the scallops once they are browned on one side. It’s incredibly important not to overcook the scallops as they will turn tough and chewy if cooked too long. The sea scallops from Tim’s are quite large and I find 3 minutes on one side and about a minute on the other side to be perfect. Remember, the scallops will continue to cook a bit once removed from the pan.

Some people are of the opinion that you should not add cheese to any risotto dish with shellfish. I do not agree with this rule and I think the parmigiano regiano adds a needed depth to this particular risotto. We also drank a red wine with this dish which I’m sure broke the food rules as well!

Roti de porc au lait

I finally got around to using one of my new cookbooks and prepared Roti de porc au lait from Bourdain’s Les Halles cookbook last night. Truth be told, it’s one of the simpler recipes in the book. The pork loin roast is an inexpensive cut of meat and the rest of the ingredients are essentially staples in most kitchens. The recipe can be found here. The recipe doesn’t call for fresh chopped parsley at the end but the picture in the book definitely shows it as being included. I think this dish turned out really well. Bourdain is quite opinionated in his cookbook about the way you should prepare his dishes. I was trying to think how he would critique my preparation of this dish. I think he would be impressed with my organizational skills and mise en place but he probably would have died a thousand deaths because I shopped at Safeway for the pork!

I served this with glazed baby carrots which made for a warm, comforting winter meal.

Low Fat Blueberry Scones

Scones are typically loaded with butter. Nothing against butter but I always feel guilty if I order a butter- and sugar-laden scone with my coffee at Starbucks. However I was able to find this pretty healthy recipe after a search of whole wheat blueberry scones online. I had intended to use all whole wheat flour but after reading many recipes, most cooks are using white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour and I just had plain old whole wheat flour on hand. I didn’t want the scones to be overly heavy and dense so I used half whole wheat and half white. I’ve been using King Arthur Flour and I really do think the high quality of their flours make a noticeable difference. I also added the zest of one lemon as I think blueberry and lemon make a good combo.

These turned out really well and I’m anxious to try different versions of scones using this as a base recipe.

Barley & Wild Rice Pilaf with Pomegranate Seeds

On Christmas Day, my mom made sauteed Brussels sprouts with lemon, pistachios and pomegranate seeds and it was delicious. I wanted to try and replicate those same flavor profiles and make a side dish that my husband would enjoy more – he wasn’t a huge fan of the Brussels sprouts.

I found this recipe on Eating Well and it sounded healthy and seasonal. I added some sauteed mushrooms and swapped the pine nuts for unsalted pistachios. It turned out really well.

I think many different types of veggies could be added to this recipe based upon what’s available and what you like. For example, I think any type of oven-roasted winter squash would be yummy. A big plate of this would also make a substantial vegetarian dinner vs. a side dish.