Blog Archives

Grilled Pineapple Fried Rice

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This rice dish was something I was able to throw together one night, using items I had on hand.  Love it when that happens.

The tofu I used was a packaged, Thai marinated flavor.  Feel free to use any flavor you like, or bake your own.  I was on a mission to make this dish as quick as possible so I used the pre-baked kind.  Nice and easy.

Also, in the spirit of ease and convenience, I used the frozen brown rice you can find at almost any grocery store these days, including Costco.  I separately microwaved 2 bags, and spread the warmed rice out on a large plate in a thin layer to cool.  This is important as the rice can get gooey and clumpy when added to the pan with the other ingredients if not cooled, and the grains somewhat separated.

Make sure to have, as they say in cooking school, your ‘mise en place’ ready (i.e. everything prepared and measured, ready to throw in the pan) as this dish is completed rather quickly.  I served steamed Chinese broccoli alongside this dish.  🙂

Lemon-Tahini Dressing

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It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe! Not that I haven’t been creating in the kitchen – I’m always doing that.  Just life.  You know how it is.  Anyway, I love tahini dressings but they are usually so high in fat.  Tahini, or sesame seed paste, is high in fat of course because seeds are high in fat.  Tahini, and other seeds and seed pates are very healthy but can easily be overeaten.  However, there is a way to use tahini in dressing, still get that flavor, and cut the fat.  The secret is in the BEANS.  Yes, beans.  They not only help cut the fat, they add creaminess, body, nutrients, fiber and protein.

I made this dressing with a salad in mind, but I ended up pouring some over my steamed kale and sweet potato, and it was tasty!  You can use any kind of soft, white bean.  I had made my own flageolet beans the day before because I like to have a batch on hand, but you can use cannellini, great northern, etc.  If you use canned be sure to rinse and drain them.  NOTE: I get a lot of my dried beans from Rancho Gordo. They sell the BEST heirloom beans!  You can purchase from their website at ranchogordo.com.

Maple-Dijon Green Bean and Sweet Potato Salad (vegan, low-fat, gluten-free)

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It was lunch time.  I opened the fridge and saw fresh green beans I’d gotten from the farmer’s market, and a Japanese sweet potato.  Those are the kind with purple/burgundy skin but are white inside.  Delicious.  Anyway, I thought to myself “what can I do with both those items to make an entree?”  This salad, which I ate warm, is what I came up with.  Very tasty.

I used my amazing pressure cooker for the sweet potato (cooked 2 mins), and the green beans (cooked 1 minute), but however you want to cook them is fine.   This dish is really quick and easy.

Red Lentil Curry || vegan + oil-free + low-fat + gluten-free

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I needed something to eat for lunch and the red lentils in the pantry got my attention.  I literally threw these ingredients together without a plan, and was SO happy with the result. It’s hard to believe something this easy could be so flavorful.  It was so good in fact that I included the dish in an Indian themed feast I cooked this past weekend.   It was a big hit along with the Indian Spiced Cabbage, Roasted Aloo (potatoes), brown basmati rice and whole wheat flat bread. 

Red lentils are great because in addition to being extremely healthy and low-fat, they are quick-cooking.  They can be used in sauces to add fiber and protein, or as the main ingredient along with a few others such as the recipe here.  Unlike brown/green lentils they break down easily, blending in with whatever else is in the dish.  They also end up being more yellow in color, even though they are called red and start out more of an orange color.  At 140 calories per cup (dry), 0 grams of fat, 7 grams of fiber and 11 grams of protein, red lentils are a great addition to the diet.

In this dish I used two different types of curry powder, but you don’t have to.  Regular curry is the yellow/orange version you see in most stores.  Different brands can taste different from each other, with some more mild than others.  Madras curry is another type that is similar to regular but with more spice.  Berbere curry is an Ethiopian version, that has a smokier scent/flavor and is much spicier than the others.  Feel free to use whatever variety you have on hand, or a combination like I’ve done here.  The measurements I used result in a mild dish.  As I’ve said before, I’m a spice wimp.

Umami Sauce Recipe (vegan, low-fat, gluten-free, oil-free)

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If any of you are familiar with the restaurant True Food Kitchen, you may know they make a sauce for their Brussels sprouts called umami sauce.  Umami is one of the 5 flavors identified by our tastebuds; salty, bitter, sweet, sour, and savory or umami.  Their sauce is AMAZING!  Unfortunately, as is the case with most restaurant food, it’s loaded with fattening oil.  I found the recipe online but tweaked it to significantly reduce the fat and cut the oil.  If you can find oil-free hummus, this would be considered an oil-free dish.  The hummus I had on hand did contain a small amount of oil.

I roasted a mixture of Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, onions and white beans (pictured) to serve with the sauce, but you could use this sauce with any vegetable, bean, grain or even as a salad dressing.  Enjoy!

Lentil Patties (vegan, low-fat, gluten-free, oil-free)

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Nothin’ fancy about these veggie patties, but they are easy, tasty and satisfying.  I ate mine plain, with catsup, but I would love to try one on a whole grain bun with caramelized onions and all the fixins.  Yum.  Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats and soy sauce (tamari) if you need these to be bona fide gluten-free.