Smokey Provolone Tofu with Leeks & Red Bell Pepper May 14, 2013

Jamie says: My prize for the Cigna recipe contest came in the mail last week! I used the Williams Sonoma rub for the first time on this recipe. It was absolutely fabulous! If you’ve never tried tofu before, now’s the time…

Smokey Provolone Tofu with Leeks & Red Bell Pepper

I loved the smokey flavor!

Tofu with big, bold smokey flavor

There’s nothing girly about this recipe either.

Tofu with a twist

Smokey Provolone Tofu with Leeks & Red Bell Pepper

Ingredients:

• 1 package (12 oz drained wt) super firm sprouted tofu (Nasoya tofu plus)
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 3 leeks
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 3 slices provolone (Applegate Farms)
• 1/2 tsp smoke house rub (William Sonoma)

Directions:

1. Drain tofu. Wrap it in paper towels and place on a plate. Set heavy pots and pans on top to further drain tofu. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove paper towels and slice tofu into thirds (sandwich-style). Stack pieces back together and slice into thirds to create 9 pieces of tofu.
2. Heat a large pan on medium heat. Pour canola oil in pan. Add tofu slices. Cook for about 4 minutes or until light golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, wash leeks well to remove dirt and slice the whites into rings (discarding the dark green thick leafy part). Chop bell pepper.
4. Flip tofu with a heat-resistant spatula and add leeks and bell pepper. Place a lid on top of the pan and cook for about 4 more minutes or until leeks and bell pepper are soft and lightly brown. Remove lid and add slices of cheese on top. Sprinkle with rub and serve.

Yield: 9 pieces of tofu with veggies

Serves: 3

Serving suggestion: Serve with little pieces of bread to make a few mini sandwiches.

• Nutrition note: Tofu is a non-meat source of protein and comes from soybeans.

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon-Sugar Clementine Rings May 6, 2013

Jamie says: I hit the nail on the head with this one. The recipe is a combo between 1) a madeover throw-back to the Poppyseed Pancakes with Spiced Clementines (from the cookbook we gave my Mom years ago for Christmas) that my mom used to make us as kids and 2) the hearty pumpkin pancakes I made K when she spent the weekend here.

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon-Sugar Clementine Rings

Sweet clementine, oh, oh, oh… I couldn’t help but think of the song.

Sweet clementine, oh, oh, oh…

I love the golden color and hearty flavor of whole wheat pancakes.

Brown beauty

The awesome sweet and hearty flavors will surely brighten your day.

Brighten your day, the awesome breakfast way

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon-Sugar Clementine Rings

Ingredients:

• 6 clementines
• 3 tsp  brown sugar
• 1 tsp plus 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 cup just-add-water whole grain pancake mix (Kodiak Cakes 100% Whole Grains Frontier Flapjack and Waffle Mix)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin (Publix)
• 2 Tbsp milled chia seeds (Dole)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla powder, Madagascar Bourbon (Nielsen Massey)
• no stick cooking spray (PAM)
• 3 Tbsp trans fat free buttery spread, original (Smart Balance)

Directions:

1. Peel clementines. Slice. Gently toss with brown sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Refrigerate.
2. In a medium bowl, use a fork to combine pancake mix, water, pumpkin, 1 tsp cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla powder.
3. Pre-heat a large saute pan on medium heat.
4. Coat pan with no stick cooking spray and pour 1/2 of pancake batter onto pan to make three pancakes. Cook until bubbles stop forming and bottom of pancake is golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip to cook other side and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute. Place on a serving plate. Repeat once more using remaining batter.
5. Plate pancakes. Spread buttery spread on each pancake. Top with cinnamon-sugar clementine rings. Enjoy!

Serving suggestion: Serve with glasses of fat free milk.

Serves: 3

Nutrition note: Chia seeds pack in fiber (so does the pumpkin and pancake mix), and add omega-3s, vitamins, and minerals like calcium. Pumpkin also adds vitamin A. And the clementines are a vitamin C knock-out.

Orange Raspberry Burst Mini Ice Pops May 4, 2013

Jamie says: My goal: to find something to do with the last of the orange juice. The result? Awesome homemade ice pops that I want to make again ASAP!

Orange Raspberry Burst Mini Ice Pops

Bursting with color and flavor!

Beautiful bursts of berries!

Pop in your mouth for a naturally-sweet treat. I loved how they were easy to bite into- like a soft ice pop (not like a hard ice cube).

Perfect to pop in your mouth for a burst of natural sweetness

It’s getting hot out, take a pop out. (I tried.)

Perfect hot-weather treat!

Orange Raspberry Burst Mini Ice Pops

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries (Publix)
• 1 cup orange juice, pulp free (Simply Orange)

Directions:

1. Divide frozen raspberries among sections in ice cube tray. Pour orange juice on top. Freeze until solid, about least 1 1/2 hours. Enjoy now or later!

Servings: 2-4

• Nutrition note: Fruit is a perfect dessert. These pops are naturally sweet (no added sugar) and have vitamin C and fiber.

Creamy Curry Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp May 2, 2013

Jamie says: My inspiration for this dish started with a recipe (Pumpkin Shrimp Curry- you can see I didn’t go the pumpkin route) and my desire to try foods from different cultures. I’ve been curious to experiment cooking with coconut milk- and here is my creation: Creamy Curry Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp. The curry and squash made it quite colorful and very flavorful. The dish provides a fresh take on squash.

Creamy Curry Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp

The butternut squash combined with the lite coconut milk gave the soup just the right amount of creaminess. Let’s just say I was looking forward to the leftovers the next day…

Creamy coconut curry

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 cup light brown rice, pearl couscous, brown flaxseed, and black lentils (Rice Select Royal Blend with Flaxseed)
• 2 cups water (plus water to fill squash pan with)
• 1/2 onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tomato
• 1 lemon (zest and juice)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 16 oz (1/2 carton) fat free, 33% less sodium chicken broth (Swanson)
• 13.66 oz can lite coconut milk (Thai Kitchen, organic)
• 1 Tbsp ground curry
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 12 oz sliced white mushrooms (Publix)
• 24 cooked frozen medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (Publix GreenWise Market)
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil (my little herb garden)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut butternut squash in half. Place cut-side down in a pan filled with about 1/2 inch of water. Roast until tender about 40 minutes. Allow to slightly cool. Use a spoon to scoop squash from skin. Mash in a bowl with a fork. (You can do this step ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze and defrost the squash.)
2. In a small/medium pot, add rice blend and 2 cups water. Bring water to a boil, stir, reduce heat to medium-low, and cover with a lid and cook for 18 minutes. Remove from heat. (Rice can also be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen and defrosted).
3. Chop onion. Mince garlic. Chop bell pepper. Chop tomato. Zest and juice lemon.
4. In a large pot on medium heat, add extra virgin olive oil and onions. Saute until lightly brown, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add minced garlic, and heat for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper, then add butternut squash followed by broth, coconut milk, curry, ginger, tomato, mushrooms, and lemon juice. Add lid to pot.
5. Remove tails from shrimp and add shrimp to pot.
6. Chop basil. Divide rice among individual bowls. Pour soup on top. Sprinkle lemon zest on top and on the rims of the soup bowls along with fresh basil. Enjoy!

Servings: 4

• Nutrition note: Butternut squash makes the soup thick and creamy without adding extra fat. Choose a reduced fat coconut milk to cut back on the saturated fat.

Edamame & Raspberry Oatmeal April 30, 2013

Jamie says: I couldn’t help but think of Christmas when I sat down to eat this one morning. Only a few months ’till Christmas (in July), right?

Edamame & Raspberry Oatmeal

Red and green aren’t only for Christmas!

Red and green- complementary colors (and Christmas colors)

Think outside the [box] and try edamame with breakfast- on oatmeal!

Edamame for breakfast? Think outside the []

P.S. The frozen raspberries and milk are perfect for cooling down the hot oats.

Edamame & Raspberry Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (Quaker)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup raspberries, frozen (Publix)
• 1/4 cup freeze dried salted edamame
• 1/3 cup fat free milk and omega 3s (Smart Balance)

Directions:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine oats and water. Stir. Microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.
2. Stir in raspberries. Top with edamame and milk. Enjoy!

Servings: 1

Nutrition note: This fiber-filled and protein-rich breakfast will help keep you full. The oats, raspberries, and edamame are the ingredients packed with fiber; and the edamame and milk are the source of protein.

Sweet Onion Soup April 27, 2013

Jamie says: To be quite honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make after I got done eating my shrimp cocktail the other night. All I knew was that it was going to involve kale and I had half a carton of chicken soup sitting in my fridge waiting ever-so-patiently to be enjoyed. I started with my kale and soup (the requirements) and saw an unfinished bottle of wine- that was going in, too I decided. There was some leftover cooked rice in the fridge because I love batch-cooking now-a-days… in the pot you go, rice! I chose onion because I didn’t feel like peeling garlic (I’m being brutally honest). My Mom taught me to put white beans with greens- so I grabbed a can from the pantry. And the extra virgin olive oil was for some good fat. Oh, and the cheese on top? Yes, that’s because cheese is awesome and there was an almost finished bag of that in the fridge, too. See how I cook sometimes? It’s not usually all planned out… but that’s the fun of it… to whip together something and say, ah, that’s delicious and I made it myself!

Sweet Onion Soup

It’s like a lighter (but equally tasty) version of French onion soup!

It’s like a lighter French onion soup!

The moscato (sweet white wine) is the secret ingredient here. It makes the soup sweet.

What’s the secret ingredient that makes this soup so special? Moscato!

Sweet Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup light brown rice, pearl couscous, brown flaxseed, and black lentils (Rice Select Royal Blend with Flaxseed)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 large sweet onion
• one 15.8 oz can Great Northern beans (Bush’s Best)
• 16 oz (half a 32 oz carton) 100% fat free 33% less sodium chicken broth (Swanson)
• 8 0z (1/2 bag) kale (Glory Foods)
• 1 cup moscato (wine)
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Filippo Berio)
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (Sargento Off the Block)

Directions:

1. In a medium pot, add rice blend and water. Bring water to a boil, stir, reduce heat to medium-low, and cover with a lid and cook for 18 minutes. Remove from heat. (Rice can also be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen and defrosted). 
2. Slice onion into thin slices and cut slices in half. Rinse and drain beans.
3. In a medium-large pot on medium high heat, add chicken broth, kale, and white wine. Cook for 5 minutes. Add onion, beans, and rice. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until onions are soft.
4. Pour into bowls and top with shredded cheese. Enjoy!

Servings: 4

Serving suggestion: Serve with whole grain cracker/chips (like Rice Works Wild chips)

• Nutrition note: Healthy substitutions and cooking techniques add up such as using whole grain rice, rinsing beans to reduce sodium, choosing a reduced sodium chicken broth, and using a part-skim cheese.

Peanut Sesame Ginger Slaw April 22, 2013

Jamie says: Yesterday was the day- I hosted my Pool Party Benefit Dinner for the March of Dimes! It was awesome!

Seventeen friends came out for some food, fun, and music. It was a nice group with friends from work, running club, high school, college, my apartment complex, and beyond.

Together, we raised $310 for the March of Dimes. With family donations, I am now at a total of $380!

If anyone feels the call to donate, I’m happily accepting donations at my site is: http://www.marchforbabies.org/msjamiecs

Thank you for your support.

Peanut Sesame Ginger Slaw

Friends graciously brought dishes to share. I made slow-cooked BBQ pork, whole grain brown rice, cumin cilantro black beans, and- my favorite- a new Peanut Sesame Ginger Slaw! I also bought Publix Bakery onion dinner rolls and Publix Bakery 100% whole wheat mountain bread.

Perfect for a picnic- or a party!

The community came together to contribute items, too.

Sweet, salty, and crunchy…mmmm

The ginger slaw was wicked good. It was so flavorful with that sweet and salty combo and had lots of crunch!

Refreshing and colorful

Peanut Sesame Ginger Slaw

Ingredients:

• 5 scallions (green onions)
• 6 coconut date rolls (Bard Valley Natural Delights- Publix produce section)
• 16 oz (1 bag) coleslaw- green cabbage, carrots, and red cabbage (Publix)
• 12 fl oz (1 bottle) ginger dressing (Naturally Fresh- Publix refrigerated produce section)
• 2 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds (Advanced Fresh Concepts- by sushi)
• 1/3 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts (Planters)

Directions:

1. Use kitchen shears to chop scallions. Cut dates into small pieces.
2. Pour coleslaw in a large bowl along with chopped scallions and dates, ginger dressing, sesame seeds, and peanuts. Toss to mix. Enjoy!

Servings: 12

• Nutrition note: Do you know why this dish is an excellent source of vitamin A? It’s because the ginger dressing and coleslaw are both made with carrots, an excellent source of vitamin A in form of beta carotene!