Arugula Salad with Beets and Citrus Cherry Yogurt Dressing October 10, 2011

Arugula Salad with Beets

Arugula Salad with Beets and Citrus Cherry Yogurt Dressing

Jamie says:  I made my first yogurt dressing tonight.  I love the Bolthouse Farms yogurt dressings and decided it was time to try making my own.  It was so easy that I’m looking forward to experimenting more.

The dressing was creamy and lightly sweetened, and the salad was tasty, light, and refreshing.

Arugula Salad with Beets and Citrus Cherry Yogurt Dressing

Ingredients:

• 3 cups arugula
• 1 cup sliced Spiced Orange Beets (see blog post below)
• 1 stick celery
• 1 carrot (or 1/2 cup carrot chips)
• 1 slice sweet onion
• 6 oz plain Greek yogurt (Chobani)
• 2 Tbsp orange juice (Tropicana, some pulp)
• 2 Tbsp dried tart cherries (Sun-Maid)

Directions:

1. In a medium salad bowl, add arugula and Spiced Orange Beets.  Thinly slice celery.  Cut carrots into 1/4″ slices using a ribbed slicer (or use carrot chips).  Chop onion.  Add to salad and toss.
2. In a mini blender, add yogurt, orange juice, and tart cherries.  Pulse until blended.
3. Serve salad in salad bowls.  Spoon yogurt dressing on top (don’t forget to get some dried cherries if they settled to the bottom).  Enjoy!

Serves: 3.

• Nutrition note:  Gotta love leftovers (like those Spiced Orange Beets).  They save time and sometimes they’re even better the next day.  Just remember to refrigerate them immediately and to use them within 4 days according to the Mayo Clinic and NSF.

Stuffed Peppers December 21, 2009

Jamie says:  My Mom and Grandma are both wonderful cooks.  They make delicious stuffed peppers, too.  I would like to dedicate this pepper to my Grandmother.  Her style?  “Whatever falls out of the freezer.”  So, the other day I was leaving to come home for Christmas break, and there’s usually not too much left to cook by this time.  But, I had a green pepper and a couple of things that I wanted to use up.  So, I cooked like my Grandmother does.  I sliced the green pepper in half and stuffed it with two pieces of whole wheat bread (toasted, from the freezer), leftover anchovies from pizza night, the last of the low-fat mozzarella cheese, the half of tomato that was in the fridge, some minced garlic, basil, and salt and pepper.  I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil in the pepper and covered the outside with it, too.  I poured a small can of tomato sauce on top and baked it in the oven for about 50 minutes at 375 degrees next to my chopped sweet potatoes.  I made the sweet potatoes with extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, and salt and pepper.  It was the perfect lunch.  Kathryn was so appreciative.  I think it was an “eye-closer” for Kathryn, which means the meal received her golden seal of approval.  K and I drove home with happy stomachs.   

Nutrition note:  Garlic is good for the immune system, has anti-tumor effects, and is an antioxidant.

A Slow Cooker Soup July 28, 2009

Lentil-Veggie Soup

Jamie says:  I experimented cooking with our Crock-Pot (The Original Slow Cooker) because sometimes it’s more convenient to cook dinners earlier in the day.  In my Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Cookbook, I found a recipe for Lentil-Veggie Soup.  It was interesting making dinner at 11:00 am.  I doubled the recipe, because leftovers make good lunches.  I also had a learning experience- I learned that the heat should be on high and not on low (Mom helped me on that one).  The recipe was pretty good the first night, but nothing like the lentil soup made by my Mom, Grandma, or Carrabba’s Italian Grill.  To increase the flavor, I added my Mom’s homemade croutons (which were outstanding).  I have 4 jars of leftover soup now.  To the leftovers, I added mushrooms, spinach, scallions, Parmesan cheese, and crackers- and the soup became much more flavorful.  I think I’ll stick with my Mom’s lentil soup recipe…but I am not done experimenting with the Crock-Pot.

Lovely Leftovers July 12, 2009

Chicken Soup

Jamie says:  This is a testament to the power of leftovers.  In the fridge there were leftover steamed carrots (a side from dinner), beans and escarole (a previous day’s lunch), chicken stock (an ingredient for a recipe), and chicken (from a restaurant dinner).  I put them all together in a lovely soup- and there I had it- a great lunch.  This type of cooking reminds me of my grandmother’s style of cooking- she uses “whatever falls out of the fridge”- and it’s always delicious.