Holey Moley Whole Bowl

This is my take on Oregon’s famous Whole Bowl recipe (my version is lower in fat, sodium & carbs) – Make the Tali Sauce & rice, shred the cheese, chop the cilantro & olives ahead and you can put it together in 2 minutes.

This recipe serves 4 people

For MY “Tali” Sauce: Blend all the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

3/8 cup water

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

juice & zest of one lemon: the juice goes into the processor, retain the zest as garnish)

3 cloves of garlic

1/3 can of garbanzo beans (about 5 ounces), drained and rinsed or cook your own from dried beans

Spices:

1/4 tsp: cumin, curry, tumeric, dried garlic, dried onion.

1/8 tsp cayenne.

1/2 tsp dried mustard

For the Bowl:

3 cups cooked brown rice

15-25 oz cooked beans (you can use remaining garbanzos plus any other beans you’d like including dal)

1/2 cup salsa (choose your preferred heat)

1/4 cup mixed olives, chopped

1/2 avocado, sliced (slice just before serving to retain the color of the avocado)

1/4 cup  shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Arrange bowls  (each bowl gets 1/4 of each ingredient) starting with rice, then beans, salsa, 1/2 the sauce, the cheddar, & olives. Top with avocado and cilantro and drizzle with extra sauce if you’d like.  Garnish with lemon zest. You can also serve this family style in one large bowl.

Notes:

If you use one of the mini avocados, use the entire fruit.

I use brown basmati rice but experiment with your favorites- in fact you can easily use leftover rice from take out.

The original recipe calls for salt – I omitted it due to personal preference. The olives, cheese, salsa all contribute enough salt to the recipe for me.

If you feel the sauce is too thin, you can increase the olive oil a bit and then decrease the amount of water.

Finally any leftover Tali Sauce can be used in many other dishes – be on the lookout for my stuffed eggplant dish coming to CUTTP soon.

 

Chef up to the Summer Plate/Corn Fritters

Corn Fritters can be high in fat or loaded with fillers. These fritters are flavorful, easy to make and without a lot of unnecessary ingredients. They take only about 15 minutes to prepare from farm to fork.

3 ears of corn, kernels removed (or use frozen, about 1.5 cups) divided

1/8 cup all purpose flour

1/2 T cornstarch

pinch cayenne pepper

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/8 cup minced chives or green part of scallions

1 T Parmigiano Reggiano

1 large egg

cooking spray

1. Finely chop 1/2 the corn kernels, preferably in a food processor till they resemble mush. Set aside
2. Spray a small skillet with cooking spray. Saute the remaining whole kernels over medium heat until they appear roasted, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside in a medium-large bowl.
3. Spray skillet again, add processed kernels and saute over medium heat until the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add to whole kernels.
4. Add remaining ingredients (except cooking spray) and combine well .
5. Clean any remaining bits from saute pan and spray again with cooking spray.
6. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto medium-hot pan and “fry” for about 3 minutes on one side, flip and fry for another 2 minutes. Fritters should be golden brown on both sides.

This recipe makes about 9 fritters, each about 2″ in diameter. Season lightly with salt if desired.  3 fritters are 1 point on Weight Watchers Freestyle.

Recipe can easily be multiplied.

Enjoy!

Vacation Tuna

via Vacation Tuna

Vacation Tuna

via Vacation Tuna

Mater may I?

Tomato Sandwiches

It’s tomato time and nothing tastes better than a Tomato Sandwich or a Mater Sandwich which is what it’s called at the Barracuda Tavern near Ft McHenry in Baltimore.  (I confess I had to ask the waitress what she was talking about).

Per sandwich:

2 slices toasted rye bread (0r whatever bread you prefer, toasted or not)

mayonnaise to taste, seasoned with black pepper and basil (or any herb you like)

1 large whole firm tomato, sliced 1/3″ thick (as you can see I used heirloom tomatoes but any fresh tomato will do).

Make your sandwich and enjoy! – Add a slice of avocado if you’d like YUM

I found my thrill

Berries this year have been the most delicious that I can remember. I eat them plain most of time but couldn’t resist this easy and special

Blueberry Tart

Tart Shell:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 t salt

2 T sugar

8 T unsalted butter, frozen or very cold, but into small bits

2 eggs yolks

2 T ice water

Combine everything in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until dough just pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover with wax paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove dough from refrigerator and press into 10″ tart shell or quiche pan along the bottom and about 1/4″ up the sides of the pan.

Bake 12-15 minutes until shell starts to brown. Leave oven on.

Filling:

2 pints fresh blueberries

1/3 cup jam (apricot and currant work very well), heated in microwave or pan until almost liquified. You can add 1-2 T lemon juice to jam if needed.

Fill tart shell with berries. Pour or brush prepared jam over berries. Bake 10 minutes more.

Let cool and enjoy!

 

Spuds Turkish

Potato Salad with  Middle Eastern Zest

Kudos to WeightWatchers for this delicious twist on Potato Salad that I’ve tweaked just a bit

4-5 potatoes (my preference is Yukon Gold), cut into 1/2-1″ dice

1/2 T salt

1/2 cup low fat or non-fat plain yogurt

1/2- 1 t lemon zest

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 T white vinegar

1 T dijon mustard

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1/8 t red pepper flakes

1 T finely chopped fresh mint

1 T finely chopped fresh dill weed

1/4 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)

Boil or steam the potatoes for 10-15 minutes until fork tender but not mushy. Drain.

Whisk everything else except the mint, dill and scallions together in a large bowl. Add the drained potatoes. Let cool and add the herbs/scallions.

Recipe can easily be doubled.

Serves 8-12

 

Can you top this?

Cooked Topping for Salad, or fish, or chicken

Olive oil cooking spray

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 onion sliced into thin slices

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup corn kernels

Spray large skillet with cooking spray and heat on med-high heat. Saute tomatoes and onions until they soften, add garlic and corn kernels and continue to cook until corn kernels have a slightly roasted look. The entire cooking time is less than 5 minutes.

Serve warm or cold on top of mixed greens, kale, fish, chicken

Enjoy! Makes about 3 cups.