Green Smoothie, continued

A smoothie packed full of greens has become part of our normal morning routine around here and I am loving this new tradition.  My Vitamix is one of my most prized kitchen appliances and also one of the most heavily used.  The Vitamix can take all the roughage and frozen berries and pulverize them into a silky smooth drink.  My green of choice is still spinach but baby bok choy and swiss chard can also make appearances.  While I first blended spinach with peanut butter and banana I've now gotten in the habit of sticking to a combination of greens and fruit.  I've also gotten into the habit of adding wheat grass juice which comes in frozen cubes packed in trays.  And the latest addition is.....chia seeds.  CHIA SEEDS!!  I had no idea what a powerful little seeds these guys were - packed full of fiber, antioxidants and omega-3s and they still have a laundry list of more health benefits.  You can soak these in water before adding them or just add a spoon and blend away.  Chia seeds are my new best friend.  I've included a recipe for one of our morning smoothies that serves 2, but here are also a few tips:  I like to use fresh bananas but other fruit frozen, like mangos, blueberries and strawberries.  Blueberries are the key to masking the "green" taste.  Bananas and greek yogurt give the smoothie a creaminess that I find key to the texture.  If you add too much soy or almond milk the smoothie will have a very nutty aftertaste so I've started adding water if a 1/2 cup of milk isn't enough to get it to the right thinness.  


Green (well, more like dark purple) Monster Smoothie


2 cups baby spinach
1/2 almond milk (or soy, or whatever you prefer)
1 banana
~ 1 cup total frozen fruit (berries and mango)
2 T Greek yogurt   
4 ice cubes
t agave
1 cube wheat grass juice
2 t chia seeds
water, if needed


Blend away.  

Tandoori Chicken Quesadillas

One night my husband and I were joking about what I could call some of my dishes at a restaurant. My husband was at a restaurant recently that had some pricey grilled fish on a "lentil reduction".  It was dal. Oh, you restaurants and your high end descriptions.  In our house tandoori chicken is really considered "chicken" and there are endless possibilities.  I toss tandoori chicken with pasta, slide it onto salads, make wraps, sandwiches or paninis, pizza, and today, make a quesadilla with some. I had a batch of freshly made guacamole (I don't know why but lately I can't stop buying avocados) and the cool green dollop was perfect with the spicy quesadilla.  So there you have it, my "spiced, masala-infused chicken served between toasted, rustic mexican flatbread and melted, imported queso....paired with Chef's signature avocado mousse".  Here is an easy recipe for some tandoori chicken.     

4 chicken breasts (or thighs), cubed

4 t (or a bit more) Rajah Tandoori Masala

1 T garlic paste

1 T ginger paste

2 T yogurt

juice from 1/2 lemon

olive oil, salt, pepper

Marinate chicken overnight (or for a few hours) in all ingredients. Skewer and grill, or broil.    

For the quesadilla I simply heated a little butter on a cast iron (if you don't have a cast iron skillet yet, go get one, I don't know what I would do without mine.  I have two, one veg one non-veg) and threw on a flour tortilla, sprinkled finely chopped tandoori chicken, and then some shredded Mexican cheese blend and pressed another tortilla on top.  Flip this over after the bottom is toasted and add a pinch more butter.  Slide off the hot pan and slice up.  Serve with some sour cream or guacamole.  As though I needed to suggest this.    

Shrimp Scampi

I've posted shrimp scampi before but I'm always evolving recipes and this is where I have ended up.  I've adjusted a traditional scampi recipe and made it light green with the addition of basil pesto.  I also often add some fresh green chili and cilantro chutney that I get from a Peruvian chicken place.  I'm obsessed with their chutney almost as much as I am with pesto, both often make appearances in omelets, pasta dishes, sandwiches and Indian dishes.  Shrimp scampi is a perfect weeknight meal as it comes together so incredibly fast.  I love that I can pull a bag of shrimp from the freezer, run it under water and have it defrosted in minutes.  


~ 1lb raw shrimp (31-40 count)
3/4 lb thin spaghetti
8-10 cloves garlic, pressed
4-6 T butter, depending on how you're feeling
1/4 c olive oil
1 t lemon zest
juice from 1-2 lemons
salt, pepper 
red chili pepper flakes, to taste
2 T fresh pesto
1 T green chutney (optional, can use jarred if desired)


Boil water, salt and toss in pasta.  Heat butter and olive oil in a pan and add lemon zest, garlic, lemon juice, chili pepper flakes, salt, pepper.  Toss in shrimp and then pesto and chutney and let this cook until almost pink.  Meanwhile drain pasta (very aldente) and toss in and let finish cooking in sauce while shrimp finish cooking.  Serve with some romano cheese dusted on top.        

Double Chocolate Loaf

The schedule this week called for a loaf: playdates and nanny interviews.  This time, I wanted it to be chocolate.  The original recipe for this comes from O Magazine and I found several food blogs that successfully made it.  This is one heck of a chocolate loaf - it's incredibly chocolately and extremely moist.  I didn't even use fancy Dutch processed cocoa and instead finished up some stale cocoa in the back of my pantry, and it still turned out great.  I also made my own buttermilk, thanks to a tip from a friend of mine.  I simply added a teaspoon of vinegar to whole milk and in a few minutes I had curdled milk.   I usually find these kinds of recipes too sweet, but I used dark chocolate chips and feel it resulted in the right amount of sweetness.  I added a spoon of espresso powder, which is optional but I feel always brings out the chocolate flavors.  



3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup Dutch cocoa powder, sifted (or regular, old, cocoa, unsifted, like I used)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 t vanilla
1 t espresso powder
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks


Preheat oven to 350°. Place brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add cocoa, flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and espresso powder, if using.  In a separate bowl, whisk egg and egg yolks until blended, then add buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla; whisk until combined. Turn mixer to low and pour in egg-buttermilk mixture in a thin steady stream, mixing just until combined. Remove the bowl; stir in chocolate chunks by hand with a wooden spoon.  Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake in the center of oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of loaf comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 15 minutes; remove and place on rack to cool completely.

Moroccan Chicken Noodle Soup

Well, I made chicken stock again.  Once I realized I don't need to go about it the typical way, and instead my "lazy" approach works, I got in the habit of it.  When the kitchen is closed my husband and I tend to do one of two things: get a New Haven style pizza from Pete's Pizza in Arlington, or, we get a Peruvian chicken from Edy's and we carve it up and I make some yellow rice and a salad to go along with it.  Both are fabulous dinners for when I don't feel like cooking.  So lately I've been throwing the chicken bones in a stock pot, filling it with water and letting it simmer for several hours.  I don't add anything, no salt, no onions or carrots or celery or seasonings, and the stock is perfect.  After a recent whirlwind of a trip my husband and I came home with tired, sore throats and were both craving chicken noodle soup.  I felt like creating something a bit more exotic and I think this soup may be my permanent version of chicken noodle soup.  The noodles are traditional cous-cous which makes the soup hearty without being overpowered with your typical pasta.  Of course I had to add swiss chard, my best friend of late - her and I do everything together now.


Moroccan Chicken Noodle Soup


~ 1 rotisserie chicken (I kept aside some for a sandwich for the next day) 
~ 6 c chicken stock (add more for the right soupyness)
3 carrots, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
3 ribs celery, finely diced
1 yukon gold potato, finely diced
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
2 bay leafs
1 T tomato paste
1/2 c cous-cous
spices: 1 t each of cumin, coriander, garam masala, paprika  


In a stock pot, saute onion in some oil over medium heat.  Add carrots, celery and potato.  Salt, pepper.  Add spices and tomato paste.  Next add in swiss chard and let wilt.  Add cous-cous and pour in chicken stock (you may need more, but you can also add water) and chicken and let come to a simmer.  Let simmer for 20 minutes, until flavors have matured and vegetables are cooked and cous-cous is plumped up.  

Chicken and Spinach Curry

Indian food can be so easy.  Really.  Just dump a bunch of spices in a pot and you've got a dish infused with so many flavors.  When an Indian recipe calls for grinding your own spices I roll my eyes.  I don't have time for that on a weeknight.  True, one element of many Indian dishes is to marinate your meat, but it achieves so much flavor it's worth the extra step.  Once you get used to doing it, it becomes like second nature.  I have a rough idea of what I'll make for dinner across a week, so I'll just marinate the meat the night before or the morning of.  This chicken dish is a perfect one pot dish.  It's incredibly comforting eaten with naan or rice.  I used chicken thighs because I think this dish really needs it (don't be scared of dark meat, it's actually better for you in many ways). 


For the chicken marinade you will need:


~1 lb chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
2 T Greek yogurt 
1 T ginger/garlic paste or mix of both
1 T tumeric
salt, pepper


Cube chicken and marinate in above ingredients for several hours or overnight


1 small onion, diced
2 packs frozen, chopped spinach (20 oz)
1 c coconut milk
2 t each of ground coriander, cumin, garam masala, red chili powder and paprika


Let chicken come to room temperature and spinach to defrost.  In a medium pot saute onion in some oil until soft.  Add spices and let roast in pot.  Adjust amounts based on your preference (less chili powder if you don't want it too spicy).  Add chicken and cook.  Add spinach (no need to drain).  Let this cook and allow flavors to combine as water evaporates.  If you like things really spicy you can add a green chili.  Salt and pepper.  Pour in coconut milk and let this cook and thicken and simmer for at least 10 minutes.  Easy!      

Orange Blueberry Bread

I've posted about this bread before but have updated the recipe so I wanted to repost it with a new picture.  The original recipe comes from the Vitamix cookbook, but you can easily blend the first set of ingredients in a blender or food processor.  This a really healthy bread with not a lot of fat.  In fact so little fat that I really recommend slathering some sweet honey butter on a slice before eating it.  It's got a lovely flavor profile that is unusual and refreshing.  You can make the bread even healthier by substituting 1 cup of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.


2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 T butter
1/4 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 T orange zest
1 orange, peeled
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries (thawed)
1 t corn starch


Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a loaf pan.  Combine first four ingredients in a medium bowl.  Place butter, water, sugar, egg, orange and zest along with vanilla and cinnamon into a blender and blend for at least 30 seconds.  Pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir until combined.  In a small bowl stir blueberries with corn starch and add to bread mixture.  Fold.  Pour batter (will be sticky) into loaf pan and bake for one hour.  

Caramel Sauce

Hey!  Do you know how easy it is to make caramel sauce at home?  Oh.  Well I didn't.  I mean, I vaguely knew, I just never figured I'd actually get around to seeing for myself how easy it really is.  I thought you needed candy thermometers and a special sauce pan and goggles and a fire extinguisher but you don't, and it was fool proof. I followed this recipe, and cut it in half.  It will make about a half cup of caramel sauce.      
      
1/2 c sugar
3 T butter
1/4 heavy whipping cream 
1/2 t vanilla extract


Heat sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat. If you do not have a heavy bottom sauce pan add a spoon of water.  Whisk until sugar melts and turns brown and then add butter and whisk.  Once this has melted, take the pan off the heat and quickly add the cream and vanilla.  It will bubble up, whisk quickly until smooth.  Allow to cool and there you have it.  Pour on ice cream, apples, in coffee, whatever you like.  It keeps in the fridge for a few weeks.

Minestrone Soup

I don't know why, but minestrone soup has always been my least favorite soup.  I suppose I've always favored a soup I can add cream to.  Of course it hasn't helped that my first introduction was probably out of a can, which makes me shudder.  I made some chicken stock the other day which had me thinking "why don't I make this more often?" because it truly can't even compare to store bought.  It was so good I wanted to just drink it like that, as a broth.  I felt a minestrone soup would highlight the homemade stock and also give the opportunity to be healthy by packing it with veggies.  I made a massive pot of this and shared it with my parents, and we still had several helpings.  The pasta can really take over the soup after sitting it in for a day so you want to be conservative with its addition.  I used ditalini pasta which I thought was a perfect shape for the soup.  I'm not a big fan of canned beans so I left them out and added tomatoes, zucchini, corn and swiss chard.  You can add whatever vegetables you like to this, of course, though I highly recommend the swiss chard because I thought the taste and texture worked well.  For added protein I added some chicken sausage.  


1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
~ 3/4 - 1lb sausage
2 large zucchini, chopped
diced tomatoes, 28 oz can
1 large bunch swiss chard, chopped
corn, 16 oz bag (frozen)  
1 to 1 1/2 c ditalini pasta
seasonings: salt, pepper, red chili flakes, any dried herbs you like (I used Herbs de Provence)
~ 8 cups chicken stock


In a large stock pot saute onions and garlic in some olive oil over medium heat.  Push sausage out of casing and brown.  Add zucchini and let cook for a few minutes, then add swiss chard.  Salt.  Add tomatoes and corn.  Then pour in chicken stock.  Once this has come to a simmer add the pasta and let cook in the stock.  The pasta will of course absorb some of the stock so adjust amount of stock as you go depending on how much broth you want.  Sprinkle some cheese when serving (Pecorino Romano is nice with it).