Sage Polenta, Braised Turnips and Poached Eggs

I had sooo much leftover corn from the CSA that I had no idea what to do with! That and I was lucky enough to have today off for a Jewish holiday at work so I decided to whip up a fancy brunch. This was easy to make but a little time consuming because it took a bit of time to bake the polenta. But this meal is very filling and healthy. It is inspired by the following recipe on Epicurious. I never knew how easy it is to make fresh polenta at home! I will be going back to this dish again. It is the perfect thing to make when you are entertaining for brunch. You can change up the spices based on what is in season and add meat even if you wanted to please a crowd of pork lovers!

Rustic Breakfast Pizza

 This pizza that I made for breakfast ended up being created somewhat by accident. I was in a rush to throw something together and left the pita in the toaster oven for too long so it got crunchy. But it ended up being the perfect vessel. It is fast and delicious and while it may not be the most inventive dish, the combination of the sage with the cheese and eggs went together beautifully.

Serves 2.
WW = 5 points

Sesame Radishes and Eggs

I have been cooking a lot of radishes for breakfast. I never would have bought them from the store in the past, let alone eaten them for breakfast! But we get such beautiful radishes from the CSA! How could you resist veggies like this?:

Bacon Eggplant Grilled Cheese

Healthy Chicken Salad

 This chicken salad is a healthier version of the classic. It is inspired from a Barefoot Contessa recipe my mother-in-law gave  me (she makes the BEST chicken salad). But I also was influenced by a chicken salad sandwich I used to get at Dos Gringos back in DC. I lightened the recipe up and it is so great without any mayo! You can just serve it as is, with some greens on the side (arugula is a nice contrast), or put it in a roll-up. Eat it guilt free.

Makes 10 - 1/2 cup servings
WW = 3 points

Corn, Cucumber, Feta, Mint Salad

This is a Mediterranean style salad. I served it for dinner with grilled chicken on the side. It was a super light but filling dinner.

Serves 6 (1 cup servings)
ww = 3 points per serving.

Inappropriate Breakfast: Anchovy, Caper and Egg Toast

I woke up craving something salty. It was bad news bears. I debated on having anchovies on my toast because they were staring me in the face when i opened my refrigerator. I decided against it and then on second thought, just went for it. This is great if you are open to having an adventurous breakfast. It could also be served cut into fours for an appetizer. It is a super simple toast consisting of a soft boiled egg, anchovies, capers, and thinly sliced onion. If you have it on hand some fresh parsley would be a nice addition as well.

Serves 1.
ww = 4 points

Basil, Tomato, Mozzarella Salad

I bought some beautiful tomatoes and purple basil from the farmer's market today.

I was really craving cheese so when I stumbled upon some grass fed mozzarella I bought that too. Keeping up with ww has made my relationship with cheese go through a rough patch...so it was time. But I decided to make a healthy salad for dinner. To make it more hearty I served it over some cooked spelt. This salad was delicious. The only thing I will change next time is that I will not mix all ingredients together at once, instead I will gently toss in the beans and cheese at the end. Because the beans were canned and the cheese was so fresh they started to fall apart with the mixing. I had wanted all the ingredients to marinate together while the spelt took its lovely time cooking (1 hour+!!). But I learned my lesson about this.

This spelt was leftover from my winter csa. Let me tell you, letting it do its' thing is worth it. This was a lesson I learned back in December. You don't want to eat crunchy spelt-- you will end up with a headache.

Serves 6 (1 cup servings)
ww points = salad alone (5 points); salad with arugula and 1/2 cup cooked spelt (7 points)

Cold Cucumber Avocado Soup

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made this soup as an appetizer on a hot summer night. It is refreshing and super fast to make! I know that I have blogged about a few other cucumber soups. What can I say it's hot and nasty out there! This one is by far the creamiest. I adapted it from a Cook's Illustrated Recipe (you may need a membership to view original). Their recipe called for much bigger portions. I also tried to make the process easier and lighten it up a bit for the good ol ww.

Serves 5 (1 cup servings)
ww = 3 points per serving (since this was an appetizer I actually served less of the soup than 1 cup)

Healthy Sloppy Joes and Smokey Collard Greens

These collards are sooo good. You would think there is bacon, or some form of piggy pig in them, as they taste so damn good. It is the fennel, chipotle in adobo, and the smoked paprika which really give them their kick. Marc and I have made these two times and I will continue to go back to this recipe. The sloppy joes paired very well with these collards and are so low in points, that you can even indulge in a carby hamburger bun for dinner. These recipes call for Worcestershire and chicken broth but if you wanted to make this vegetarian you could substitute vegetarian Worcestershire and veggie broth.

The collard recipe serves 5 and was adapted from this site. ww = 1 point per serving
The sloppy joe recipe serves 5 and was adapted from this site. ww = 2 points per serving (no roll)
(The whole dinner with a hamburger bun is 7 points!!!)

Smoked Salmon Spread

This smoked salmon spread was served as part of a four course "mini" dinner. Marc and I had our friends Guez and Azul over. It sounds elaborate but really, I whipped up this meal in a snap. I served smoked salmon spread with cucumbers, cucumber avocado gazpacho soup (next post), swiss chard burgers with sweet potato fries, and then marc's new low-fat chocolate ice cream-- made with skim milk and xanthan gum! This recipe was inspired by the following site.

Salmon Caper Salad

I made this salad for dinner last night to change things up. We have been eating a lot of fish these days so I needed an easy summer dish to feel refreshed. The recipe is inspired by Martha Stewart and I changed it ever so slightly to make it a filling dinner. It could definitely be made for a light dinner or a lunch. I just ate the salad but some millet on the side was necessary to fill my husband up.

Serves 2.
WW = 8 points per serving.

Swiss Chard Pancakes

This morning I woke up with a REAL craving for pancakes. I would have settled for buckwheat pancakes, but those aren't even all that healthy either because of the carbs. Plus we have another fridge full of greens from our CSA.  This week we got: chioggia beets, lacinato kale, rainbow chard, baby fennel, green basil, red torpedo spring onions, garlic, parsley, tart cherries and blueberries.

What better thing to do with swiss chard and red torpedo spring onions than make pancakes!? This is adapted from an Epicurious recipe.

Serves 3.
ww points = 3 per serving

Low-Fat Pesto

 This is a low-fat version of pesto. It is pretty tasty considering there is no where even close to the normal amount of cheese, oil and pine nuts in it. I used Organic Better than Boullion vegetable base because it has no msg. Since this is not a low-sodium bouillion, I did not add any additional salt to the recipe. I used xanthan gum to thicken it up to produce the same consistency as regular pesto. Xanthan gum is a plant-based bacteria used as a thickener. My husband bought it from our favorite store Brooklyn Kitchen to see if he could make homemade ice cream lower in fat. So I am going to start experimenting with it as I continue on my cooking escapade. I will be serving this pesto tonight over halibut and broiled treviso.

Makes about 3/4 cup sauce.
ww points = 2 pts per 3 T

Stir-Fried Ginger-Sesame Bok Choy and Seitan

Tonight I decided to use the bok choy from my CSA and attempted to cook seitan for the first time. I have had this "wheat meat" before,  I just never cooked it. Anyway, I used the ginger-sesame dressing that Heidi Swanson uses in her Otsu recipe. This recipe is in Super Natural Cooking, a beautiful cookbook full of healthy recipes and a staple in my kitchen. The only thing I changed was the addition of garlic. This dish is filling and healthy.

Serves 4.
WW = 10 points per serving (with rice)

Skinny Salmon Sandwich

This sandwich is delicious and so light! Let me show you another pic so you can see how simple it is:

Part of the trick is these new light wraps I found called Roll-ups.

Anchovy-Caper Chicory Catalogna Puntarelle Salad

Well that is a long name! I got this Chicory Catalogna Puntarelle from our CSA this week. This veggie is a bitter, leafy green. You can see it in the picture below. Its' end starts right above the cherries. It is sandwiched between the sage (left) and swiss chard (right).

Needless to say, I had never heard of this veggie. Apparently it is pretty hard to come by in the US. Many people in Rome cook with this. Well, people in Rome and Mario Battali on occasion when he can get his hands on some. I had no idea what to do with this veggie but I was intrigued. There are not many recipes online for it either. But of the few that I could find, I saw a trend: caper, anchovy, garlic...you see where I am going here? So I decided to make up my own recipe.

Miso Chili-garlic Summer Choi and Chicken

This stir-fry can be whipped up fast. I recommend cooking the couscous (or other grain) before beginning to cook the meat and veggies. Also, do all the chopping and make the sauce before you begin to stir-fry so everything can just be thrown together. It is an easy week night meal.

 
Serves 4.
WW = 9 points per serving (with couscous)
5 points per serving (without couscous)

Lettuce and White Bean Soup

So I know this might not sound like the most appetizing soup in the world. I definitely had my doubts! Who would think to cook lettuce let alone put it in a soup? Well this soup is very tasty, healthy and a easy way to use up CSA greens. It is inspired by Epicurious. I was stuffed after eating it!

Makes about 4 cups.
Serves 4-8 (1 cup servings for main meal or 1/2 cup servings for appetizer)
WW = 4 points per cup

Ingredients:
1 cup white onion, chopped
2 T extra virgin olive oil
5 cups green leaf lettuce (or romaine), broken into pieces
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup veggie broth (use all veggie if you prefer)
1 cup cooked cannellini beans
1/2 t agave nectar
fresh black pepper
1/4 c fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 sprigs summer savory, rough stems removed and chopped
1/2 T (per serving) non-fat greek yogurt (optional)

Instructions:
1. In a large pot saute onion in the olive oil until just starting to brown.
2. Add the lettuce and stir constantly until wilted.
3. Add broth, beans, agave, black pepper (to taste) basil, and savory.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
5. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Then puree in a blender in batches. (Be careful of the steam build-up! I learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago= soup all over the kitchen).
6. Serve warm or cold. Add a 1/2 T greek yogurt if you desire but it is already pretty creamy.

Update: 7/1/12
I didn't have anymore basil left for the recipe as I used it all in my pesto recipe. Instead for the fresh herbs I used 2 sprigs of savory, 2 sprigs lemon-thyme, and 2 sprigs of oregano. If you would like the soup thinner just add a little more water. I added a 1/2 cup the second time around in addition to the broth.

WOW it has been months since I have posted anything to my site! I have a ton of old posts that were started that I have been meaning to upload. My body has been out of commission like this blog. Recovering from surgery is allowing me some quality time with my couch, computer and most importantly my husband. So here are some old posts...

I made this very flavorful, straightforward dish. It consists of chicken breast, dipped in egg and panko, sauteed until brown and then baked. It is served with orzo (stirred with parmesan and olive oil) and arugula salad (with salt, pepper, lemon, and parmesan). Usually I change recipes to fit my liking but I didn't change this one much. What I did change about this was that I added less capers, used thinly pounded chicken breasts, and left out the olive oil from the salad.

Check out the original recipe here from The Tasteful Life.