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I CHOOSE to eat Tostadas!
I subscribe to a bunch of nutrition newsletters and this week, I got some information that stopped me in my tracks. Are you ready? I discovered that….
“A basket of tortilla chips at your favorite Mexican Restaurant has 640 calories and 34 grams of fat.”
Gulp.
In the past, this information would make me resolve to never eat a basket of tortilla chips again. When I was living in my food is good/food is bad era (and it was an era!) knowing these statistics would put tortilla chips in the bad column for good! And I would deny myself for a couple of weeks, crave them…do you know how this story ends? That’s right, with me coated in tortilla crumbs!
Instead, tortilla chips are in my “Eat Them Whenever I Choose To” column. Knowing this information may help me choose not to eat them as often or choose to actually share the basket with my husband! I may also choose to create a healthy tostada recipe and get all the yummy corn crunchiness at home in a healthier package! This is in fact what I did and I am including that recipe for you.
Are you ready to take something out of your “bad” column and move it over to your “Eat Whenever I Choose To” column? If so, please comment and let us all know what you will be choosing to eat this week!
Kidney Bean Tostadas
Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Yea for healthy Mexican food! Tostadas are like open-faced crunchy tacos. These are made with homemade “chips” and tasty kidney beans.
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped (scrape out seeds with your knife, don’t touch them with your hands if you can help it)
1 15-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chilies, not drained
1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained well
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and peppers and sauté for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, beans and spices and cook for 10 minutes longer or until heated though. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Tostada:
Sprouted grain corn tortillas
Olive oil or spray
Preheat oven to 375F. Brush or spray whole tortillas with oil. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until crispy.
Healthy Toppings:
Lettuce or cabbage
Avocado slices
Tomatoes or Salsa
Assemble tostadas by placing a tortilla on a plate, topping with beans and lettuce, avocado and salsa. Enjoy!
This healthy recipe and food for though are excerpted from my Weekly Meal Plan. Try it free for a whole month by clicking here.
Vegetable LOVE!
Vegetable Love! Smoky Stuffed Chard with Sweet Pepper Coulis
This recipe is a bit more involved than most of my recipes, but hey, it’s Valentine’s Day! Show someone how much you love them with this tasty, healthy dish!
This is my first entry (I am so excited!) into the Vegetable Love 2009 contest hosted by Susan over at the way yummy food blog, FatFreeVegan. She sounded the call to her fellow food bloggers to create some hot, sexy, vegetable-filled Valentine’s recipes, the kind of dishes that will put some zing into an intimate dinner for two. Well, I LOVE contests, so I got thinking…..
First, the main vegetable….Choosing Swiss Chard for the occasion was actually the easy part. Not only do I love chard (all leafy greens actually), but it is really good for your heart! Chard is high in the minerals potassium and magnesium, which both regulate blood pressure, helping protect your ticker. How appropriate!
Now, what would I do with the chard to truly honor the day of love? I wanted to create a recipe that tasted great (of course) and worked well for the occasion. So, I chose Smoky Stuffed Chard with Sweet Pepper Coulis for several reasons:
~You can prepare these ahead of time and bake right before you are ready to eat, leaving you time to do other things! Hello!
~I think sauces make dishes special, especially when they have fancy names like coulis (even though it is really easy to make). This dinner is sure to make your sweetie feel extra loved!
~You can eat these with your hands–which can be very sexy!
~It is fun to say smoky and stuffed!!
Smoky Stuffed Chard
Serves 4-6
Note: this recipe calls for 2 cups cooked red quinoa so get that cooking ahead of time.
16 green chard leaves (choose small-medium leaves), washed and stems cut off just where it meets the bottom of the leaf
Water and Salt
Fill a large saucepan (big enough to submerge entire chard leaf without folding) with water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Blanch leaves, one at a time for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just to soften. You want them to remain bright green. Drain in a single layer on towels. Set aside.
1 teaspoon olive oil (or you could use cooking spray instead)
1 small red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
pinch cayenne pepper
1 package (6 oz) smoky tempeh strips, diced
2 cups cooked red quinoa
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon tamari
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Gather all ingredients. Cut onion, garlic, and celery. Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onion, garlic, celery and spices for 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut tempeh and add it to the pan, sautéing until tempeh starts to brown, about 5 minutes (at this point, it should be smelling SO good!) Add cooked quinoa and break up grains with the back of a wooden spoon.
In a small bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, water, tamari and vinegar and add it to the pan, stirring to incorporate. Cook just 5 minutes more to make sure it is all heated through.
Preheat oven to 375F. Lay reserved chard leaves out flat. Spoon quinoa filling into the center of each leaf leaving at least 1/2 inch at the edges (so it doesn’t fall out the sides). Roll leaf around filling and into a long roll (like an enchilada). Carefully place in a baking dish. (You can make it up until this point and put it in the fridge to cook later).
Cover and bake in a lightly greased baking dish for about 20 minutes, until heated through. While rolls are baking, prepare this easy coulis:
Sweet Pepper Coulis
Coulis sounds fancy but this yummy sauce is really easy to make.
1 8-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained well, 1 tablespoon of juices reserved
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 small shallot, chopped
1 teaspoon agave nectar (more or less to taste)
Purée all ingredients together until smooth, adding reserved pepper juice if needed for smooth consistency. Transfer to small saucepan and stir over medium heat until warmed through; season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over Smoky Stuffed Chard.
So, be sure to head over to FatFree Vegan and cast your vote! Until Next Week, Eat Well, Be Well and LOVE Every Bite!
~Jennifer
Black Eyed Pea Burgers
This recipe and food for thought are from my Weekly Meal Plan. You can now try it FREE FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH! Click here to subscribe.
Food For Thought: Make mine BPA free please!
I am sure most of you have heard about Bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical found in many hard-plastic reusable water bottles and canned food. Research on this chemical is conflicting, but some has linked it to breast cancer, prostate cancer and early puberty in girls. If you would like to read more about BPA, click here: http://www.cspinet.org/new/200804021.html
I remember when I first read about BPA my very first thought was: “ Not my cans of beans!”. I use a lot of beans in my cooking and for time sake will generally use canned beans during the week. I have had this question come up a lot so I though I would answer for those of you who don’t already know: EDEN canned beans are BPA free. I’ve always loved this brand of beans because they have NO sodium. Also, Eden cooks the beans with kombu adding valuable minerals and helping to make beans more digestible. They are a little more expensive than the other brands, but SO worth it!
Speaking of beans, they are the base of this DELISH burger. Sorry I don’t have pics…my hubby ate them all!
Black Eyed Pea Burgers
Serves 6 (Makes 12 burgers)
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
These low fat, high fiber burgers are SO tasty! Enjoy them on a spouted whole grain bun with green salad. They are also wonderful with a side of cooked leafy greens.
FREEZE RIGHT THERE! You can easily freeze these burgers: wrap in wax paper, plastic or foil and freeze individually. Then you can grab one for an easy lunch.
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, chopped
1 15-oz can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed (rinsing makes them taste less beany) OR 2 cups cooked black eyed peas
1 chipotle pepper canned in adobo
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 Tablespoon ketchup
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon tamari
2 Tablespoons flaxseed, ground mixed with 2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup cornmeal mixed with a sprinkle of salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil, for brushing
Blend sunflower seeds in a food processor until ground. Remove half of them and set aside. Add garlic and scallions and pulse until ground. Add rinsed peas, chipotle, thyme, tomato paste, worcestershire, and tamari and blend well, stopping to scrape the sides as needed. Remove mixture to a bowl. Stir in flaxseed mixture and reserved sunflower seeds. Chill mixture for 30 minutes (or longer).
Preheat oven to 400F. Take out mixture and form into small balls and roll in cornmeal mixture, flatten into burger shapes and place on baking sheet lightly greased with olive oil. Brush burgers with olive oil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookie sheet, turn burgers over, brush again with olive oil, return to oven and bake another 10 minutes until firm and brown. Burgers will firm up more as they cool. Enjoy!
This recipe and food for thought are from my Weekly Meal Plan. You can now try it FREE FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH! Click here to subscribe.
Until next time, Eat Well, Be Well and LOVE Every Bite!
~Jennifer
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