OhYaGood

Whole Food Lover + Recipe Hacker

Cucumber Mint Smoothie

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pineapple_smoothieWell hey, we are over halfway thru January. Are you all tired of your smoothie recipes you adapted at the beginning of the year? I definitely get bored with mine and this recipe was my attempt at trying something new. I generally use the formula, two vegetables for every fruit but the ratio might be off a bit with this one due to the amount of fruit. Of course, that means it tastes perfectly sweet. Refreshing in fact.

Cucumber Mint Smoothie
 
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Recipe type: Smoothie
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple chunks
  • 1 handful of greens
  • 6-7 mint leaves
  • 7 frozen cherries or about a half cup
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk
  • ½ water
  • ½ teaspoon chia seeds
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients but the chia seeds into blender and blend.
  2. Top with chia seeds.

 

Green Salad with Chicken and Mustard Vinaigrette

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Chicken Field Green Salad with Mustard VinaigretteIt’s been too long since I’ve posted anything green. The holidays kind of got the best of me and to be honest, I’ve been in a bit of a funk ever since. I was certain all this uber clean eating and less alcohol would take care of it but I think this deep freeze is to blame. The next few days are supposed to be better (like 15 degrees instead of -15 degrees for all you non-northerners). Hopefully a little child’s play like sledding or skating will take care of these blahs. That and finishing up the maddening documentary, Making a Murder. I go to bed pissed off almost every night we watch it. When does New Girl start? Ok, I’ll stop my whining now.

I’ve been hesitant to post salad recipes because they are a no brainer in my world. I make them often so I’ve had a lot of practice however, I’ve been told to keep giving ideas. If you want to substitute things like pears for the beets or pecans for the pistachios, that would also make a lovely combination. Remember the formula, something sweet or tangy, something salty, something crunchy and of course, the greens.

Chicken Field Green Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • SALAD
  • 3½ cups field greens or green mix of any variety
  • 1 cooked chicken thigh or small breast, sliced
  • 1 large already cooked beet, diced (jarred or steamed work too)
  • ¼ cup shelled pistachios, salted
  • VINAIGRETTE
  • 1 Tablespoon oil of choice, I used Pistachio
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, I used stone ground
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
  1. Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients together
  2. Toss salad ingredients together with vinaigrette

 

Pizza Soup

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Pizza_SoupThis recipe might break the internet. Pizza Soup seems so wrong but I can attest, it is sooooo right. Oddly enough, it is derived from a recipe my Grandma used to make. However, don’t picture the kind of Grandma that spent hours in the kitchen perfecting beautiful, delicious dinners. No, my Grandpa was that person, but after he passed away, my Grandma was forced to get creative in the kitchen. I’m not sure where the recipe came from. She may have developed it on her own but she gave it to me typed on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of computer paper. Again, not the old tatter recipe card you might imagine.

The soup is a great alternative to chili and tastes just like pizza for all of your dairy-free, gluten-free’ers like me who are deprived. The girls had a sprinkle of mozzarella on theirs for good measure and devoured it. It’s also Whole30 compliant if you use meat and canned items without sugar or additives. So without further or do, make this tonight, with some stinky garlic bread if you can. 😉

Pizza Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups italian sausage, I used a mild pork
  • 2½ cups water
  • 1 15 oz can pizza sauce, (Muir Glen is sugar-free)
  • 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, (Muir Glen fire roasted is also sugar-free)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 cup button mushrooms, diced
  • 1 bell pepper, diced (I used half green, half red)
  • 1 medium zucchini, diced
  • 2 oz or about 12 slices, cut up pepperoni (Applegate is sugar-free)
  • ½ tsp oregano
Instructions
  1. Brown the sausage over medium heat in a dutch oven or soup kettle for about 10 minutes.
  2. While that is cooking, prepare the veggies
  3. Remove the sausage and let the oil drain on a paper towel lined plate
  4. If the sausage had high fat content, remove some of the oil from the pan so there is only a coating to sauté the vegetables
  5. Add onion, mushrooms, peppers and zuchinni to the oil and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or onions are transluscent
  6. Add the water, pizza sauce, tomatoes, sausage, pepperoni and oregano and bring to a boil.
  7. Turn heat down to a simmer for 20 minutes and serve

 

Fish Tacos

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fish tacosHello internet! After a long break, I’m back posting some healthy recipes. I’ll admit, I wasn’t on my best Jodi this holiday mainly because the husband and I were enjoying lots of drinks while he was home. It was a lot of fun but it’s definitely time to get back on the healthy train.

This recipe takes a little bit of prep but cook time is quick. It’s in heavy rotation at our house and sometimes I’ll add more fancy stuff like coconut avocado cream (recipe to come) but in a pinch, this fills all my taco desires, any time of the year.

Fish Tacos
 
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Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 lb of tilapia or another flaky white fish of your preference
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 cup sliced cabbage
  • 1 lime, juiced and 2 teaspoon zest
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 4 corn tortillas
  • 2 avocados, diced
  • 2 radishes, thinly sliced
  • 1 small bunch of cilantro, about 1 cup chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400ªF
  2. Rub coconut oil on a foil-lined baking sheet.
  3. Sprinkle the fish with ½ the salt and ½ the lime zest
  4. Cover the fish with another large piece of foil and pinch it shut making sure it's sealed
  5. Place in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until fish flakes
  6. Toss the cabbage with vinegar, lime juice, remaining zest and salt.
  7. Warm tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds
  8. Top with cabbage, fish, avocado, radishes and cilantro.

 

Wilted Spinach Salad

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Wilted_Spinach_SaladAnyone else wishing for snow to cover all the grayness? I’m fighting the lack of sunlight and brown, dead ground with some green-action in the kitchen. Seriously, I bought poundssss of spinach this week. It’s a miracle cure.

I had never eaten a wilted spinach salad till working at an italian restaurant in my early 20s. I was instantly in love. While back in Iowa over Thanksgiving, my Mom served almost the exact same salad I remember from the restaurant so I asked her to share her recipe so I could dissect it and of course, make it my own. It’s really the perfect salad during these cold-ish December days.

Wilted Spinach Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: American
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • 4 slices of thick bacon
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • ⅓ cup champagne or white wine vineagar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons mayo
  • 6-7 cups spinach
  • ½ pine nuts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Render bacon until cooked to your liking (I prefer the oven for 10 minutes at 400ªF on a foil lined baking sheet)
  2. Use one tablespoon of the bacon grease to oil a frying pan and set to medium heat
  3. Sauté onions until softened, about 10 minutes
  4. Add vinegar and honey and bring to a simmer
  5. Add bacon, cut into small strips
  6. Add mustard and stir until dissolved
  7. Remove from heat and add mayo, stir until dissolved
  8. Drizzle the mixture over 2 cups of spinach for each serving and garnish with pine nuts

 

Sausage & Kale Soup

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sausage kale soupOh how funny the creative process can be. As you may have noticed, I took a little break from posting after Thanksgiving. I just wasn’t feeling it in the kitchen like I normally do. Most of my recipes were turing out mediocre and frankly, I was feeling lazy. Yesterday was a complete shift from that. I wasn’t really in the mood to cook what I had planned but I knew the rest of my family could use some good homemade soup to combat their colds. So, I opted for a quick soup recipe and ended up spending most of the night in the kitchen having fun with a few new creations. I have fond memories during my art school days staying up to the crack of dawn, working tirelessly on projects because you just. can’t. stop.

I made this soup for a new momma not too long ago and thought something was missing. Lo and behold, the addition of the egg. Just like in a hot bowl of ramen. There’s probably a more technical way to doing it but I found the microwave easy enough. Soup for breakfast anyone?

Sausage & Kale Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • ¾ lb sausage of your liking (I used italian pork links and removed the casing)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 large russet potatoes, diced (peeled if preferred)
  • 1 bunch kale, dino or lacinato, stems removed and coarsely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon dried rosemary or oregano
  • salt and pepper
  • chili fake (optional)
  • 4-6 large eggs
Instructions
  1. Add oil to a soup kettle or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook till softened.
  2. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add sausage and bay leaves (Remove from casing if using links).
  3. Cook until brown, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add stock, water and potatoes and bring to a boil.
  5. Lower heat to a simmer and add kale, rosemary, salt and pepper, and chili flake, if using. Add more warm water if kale isn't mostly submerged.
  6. Cook for another 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft and kale is tender.
  7. Scoop each serving into a microwave-safe bowl and carefully place an egg on top of the soup.
  8. Microwave each bowl on high for 1½-2 minutes or until the egg whites turn white and the egg is to your liking.

 

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

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Vegan_GravyI had pretty much given up on gravy. My first attempt at making it was unappealing and after becoming lactose intolerant, potatoes were never the same so I gave it up. It was until recently I started to miss it. My husband and I had made a pre-Thanksgiving meal a few Sundays ago just for fun and I did all the fixings gluten and dairy free with ease, including the potatoes (I’ll post the recipe someday). I longed for a gravy to go with these heaping mashers so I did some digging for vegan gravy recipes. The few I found called for the fake butter that contain soy and lots of other things I can’t pronounce. So, I challenged myself to come up with my own creation. Five simple ingredients is all it took. The gravy goes great on any cut of meat, potatoes, squash, root mash, you name it. A perfect Thanksgiving addition.

Note the mashed sweet potatoes need to be made ahead or purchase the frozen variety from Trader Joes.

Vegan Mushroom Gravy
 
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Recipe type: Sauce
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • ½ T coconut oil
  • 3 cups sliced button mushrooms
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a large skillet
  2. Sauté the lightly salted mushrooms until softened on medium heat, about 8 minutes
  3. Add the broth, sweet potatoes and herbs
  4. Let simmer for about 10 minutes
  5. Transfer to a deep bowl and use an immersion blender to blend mushrooms and thicken the gravy
  6. Salt and pepper liberally

 

Meatloaf Vegged

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meatloaf_vegged_2Some flavors are instant reminders of my childhood, sugar cereal, cottage cheese, bologna. All things I no longer eat, or would even attempt to eat. Something like meatloaf, minus the breadcrumbs, is totally tolerable. It brings me back to those annoying dinners you didn’t want to eat and would sneak half of the food in my mouth and half into my napkin. Obviously I had much more distain for the all-mighty-loaf than I do now. I’ve embraced it by adding loads of vegetables, two kinds of meat, yet still drowning it in ketchup.

Meatloaf Vegged
 
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Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • 1 T coconut oil
  • 1 onion, halved
  • 1 celery stalk, quartered
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled & quartered
  • 2½ cups fresh spinach
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1¼ lb ground beef
  • 1¼ lb ground turkey
  • 3 T balsamic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ ketchup (sugar free or homemade for whole30)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a small baking sheet or bread pan with parchment paper
  2. Heat oil in skillet
  3. Place onion in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to the large, oiled skillet. Add carrot and celery to the food processor, and pulse until chopped. Add spinach and pulse a few times more. Add to the skillet.
  4. Place the skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring. Continue cooking until liquid evaporates and vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
  5. Add egg, ground meat, balsamic, salt and black pepper to the bowl, and mix gently with your hands. Scrape mixture into the bread pan or onto the baking sheet and form into a loaf approximately 4 inches wide and 10 inches long. Spread top of loaf with ketchup. Bake until cooked through, about 40 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

 

Broiled Grapefruit

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Broiled_GrapefruitI’m feeling uber-inspired these last few days. Last night I listened to J. Kenzi Lopez-Alt on the Freaknomics podcast about the science of food and Jo Robinson talk about the nutrition of food. Both really great conversations that inspired me to immediately buy their books, The Food Lab and Eating on the Wild Side. Lopez-Alt’s site Serious Eats has been a great resource for me when trying to find the best way to prepare something. Check it out if you feeling like geeking out on food.

Since sickness has been spreading slowly through my family these last few weeks, I’ve been pushing citrus down their throats. Grapefruit being one. I had heard of broiled grapefruit some time ago but had never tried making it. One try was all it took for me to fall in love.

Broiled Grapefruit
 
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Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • ½ of a grapefruit, cut crosswise
  • 1 teaspoon honey (optional, omit for whole30)
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut milk
  • 1 sprig of mint
Instructions
  1. Preheat broiler.
  2. Cut a thin slice of the bottom rind so the grapefruit stands upright. Cut around the meat of the grapefruit to loosen the segments from the rind.
  3. Drizzle with the honey and place upright on a cookie sheet.
  4. Place in oven about 5 inches from the heat source.
  5. Broil for about 4 minutes.
  6. Drizzle with coconut cream and garnish with mint.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

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Thai Coconut Chicken SoupCold and rainy weather means soup in this house. It makes it smell so good, cooking all afternoon. Plus, being able to just walk away while the magic happens makes evenings so much easier.

I used to cook Asian food quite often until I had to avoid soy. I miss it so much but have found satisfaction through other dishes like curries, coconut flavors and fish sauce. This recipe was a quick creation when I specifically wanted a soup with some heat. It turned out perfectly.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 lb chicken breast, cubed
  • 4 cups chicken, veggie or bone broth
  • 1 med onion, diced
  • 2 med carrots, diced
  • 1 med celery stick, diced
  • 2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 T fresh ginger, grated
  • ½ canned coconut cream
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • juice of one lime
  • ½ teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • (optional) chipotle pepper or red chili flake
  • a bunch of cilantro
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat
  2. Add onion, carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes
  3. Add mushrooms and ginger and sauté for another 5 minutes
  4. Add broth and bring to a boil
  5. Add chicken and lower heat to a simmer
  6. Cook for 10 minutes
  7. Add coconut cream, coriander, lime, fish sauce and salt
  8. Serve with cilantro and a dash of chipotle or chili flake