Vegetable Recipes – Key to Healthy Living

Everyone wants to stay fit and fine but because of their busy lifestyles it becomes hard for them to cook something healthy. Vegetable recipes provide us an easy way to stay healthy even diabetic people are often advised to eat them. Vegetables are considered quite an easy thing to cook and are also enriched with nutrients if prepared properly.

As per WHO, in a day humans are advised to consume at least 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables. If they do not include vegetables in their diet they are prone to vitamin deficiencies and illnesses.  Vegetables can be taken in the form of normal meals for lunch or dinner, soups or juices. It is easy to make vegetable juices or soups as you can take all necessary vitamins and minerals just in a single drink. Rather than taking other dietary food supplements they provide us a good alternative.

Let me discuss here one such vegetable recipe called Mediterranean potato salad which I came across the internet while looking for something different.

If you don’t want this dish to be a low calorie one then you can simply swap the mayonnaise base for cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives and fresh Italian herbs.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, thinly sliced

• 25g black olives, sliced

• 1 garlic clove, crushed

• 1 tsp oregano, fresh or dried & olive oil

• ½ x 400g can cherry tomatoes

• handful basil leaves, torn

• 100g roasted red peppers, from a jar, sliced

• 300g new potatoes, halved if large

Method

• Take a saucepan then heat oil in it, add the onion and fry them for 5-10 mins until they turn soft. Add the garlic and oregano and cook them for about 1 min. Now add the tomatoes and peppers, season them well and simmer gently for about 10 mins.

• Meanwhile, in a pan of boiling salted water for 10-15 mins cook potatoes until they turn tender. Drain it well, then mix with the sauce and serve warm and sprinkle it with olives and basil.

Source:bbcgoodfood.com

My kids are picky eaters and they do make faces when vegetable dishes are shared with them. I came across this article which explains how green leafy vegetables takes care of your kids good health .

Soup Recipes – Another Healthy & Easy Alternative

Soups can actually make a healthy dish and are great in many aspects. Just by mixing the ingredients together you can actually make a delicious and nutritious dish with perfect combination of ordinary ingredients. The soups have many health benefits which can help us to treat various cold and flu ailments. It is always best to make them at home and do not go for canned soups which are often sold in grocery stores. The canned soups do not have any real benefits as these are treated with a lot of colorants, preservatives and fillers which are not good for your health.

Tortilla Soup Recipe

However, there is a lot more which we can actually think about making soups starting from scratch. I am going to share here one such a soup recipe called Tortilla Soup. This is a spicy and hearty soup dipped over by cheddar cheese and crispy tortilla strips.  Actually soup can be made chunky with chicken and avocado, but the tortillas give it a slight thickness.

Servings: 4

• 6 tablespoons cooking oil
• 8 6-inch corn tortillas, halved and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 large cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder, paprika & ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 1/2 quarts canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
• 3 cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (one 28-ounce can)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup lightly-packed cilantro leaves plus 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro (optional)
• 1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 avocado, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/4 pound cheddar, grated
• Lime wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Take a large heavy pot, then heat oil over moderately high heat. Add half the tortilla strips and cook them for about 1 minute while stirring continuously. Remove it over a slotted spoon and then drain it on paper towels. You can repeat it with the remaining tortilla strips.
2. You can reduce the heat to moderately low. Now add the onion, garlic, and spices; cook them while, stirring, for 5 minutes. You can now the broth, bay leaves, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, cilantro leaves to one-third of the tortilla strips. Bring it to a simmer and cook them, uncovered, for 30 minutes; remove the bay leaves.
3. Take a blender, puree the soup in batches; now pour it back into the pot. Add chicken, bring the soup back to a simmer for about 1 minute until it’s done. Stir in the avocado.
4. To serve, keep the remaining tortilla strips in bowls, then top with the cheese, and pour in the soup. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve with the lime wedges.

Source: foodandwine.com

Earlier also I had shared Soup Recipes – The goodness for 12 Months which contains recipe information about many different types of delicious and aromatic soups such as classic pumpkin soup, pureed sweet potato soup, French soup recipe etc. Try any one of them they are quite appetizing! 

Appetizer Recipe – Appeals to Everyone

There is a wide range of appetizer party recipes available from where you can get ideas to choose from with appealing flavors. At times you can make your own alterations to make it an excellent choice of your guests. You can make appearance of your appetizers as per your elegant themes such as caviar or brie cheese.

Recently while looking for recipes for appetizers I came across this article which explains How Fruits can be used to make dip recipes served as appetizers. It explained to me fruits such as apple, cherries, bananas, blueberries can also be used to make good party dip appetizers

So I have come up with an appetizer recipe using Apple as a main ingredient.

Apple-Blue Cheese Chutney Recipe

Yield: Serves 10 (serving size: about 3 1/2 tablespoons)

Total: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons canola oil & brown sugar
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots & golden raisins
• 2 1/2 cups finely chopped peeled Braeburn apple (2 large)
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper & kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Preparation

1. Take a small saucepan then heat oil over medium-high flame. In this pan add shallots; sauté them for 1 minute then add apple and next 4 ingredients (through vinegar); bring it to a boil.

2. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes or until most of liquid evaporates till the time apples turn tender.

3. Remove pan from heat; stir in 3/4 teaspoon salt, thyme and pepper. Cool it to room temperature. Gently stir in blue cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 teaspoon thyme.

Note:

Make-ahead tip: Prepare and refrigerate the chutney up to three days ahead; bring it to room temperature before serving. For a prettier presentation, you can top crostini with chutney, and sprinkle the cheese on top instead of stirring it into the chutney.

Source: www.myrecipes.com

Appetizers are favorites of everyone as they really do increase your appetite before jumping on to your main course dish. During weeknights I hardly find time to make them but with some easy recipes which I have found over the web now I can easily make them every alternate day.

Till then Happy Cooking! Enjoy Eating! 

Simple And Grounded Beef Recipes

Ground beef has high nutritional value and is enriched with diverse nutrients, vitamins, minerals, proteins. It is good for growing children as it is supposed to be tremendously beneficial in building body tissues. So all moms should actually try some scrumptious but nourishing beef recipes for kids.

Beef is also a substantial meat and hence can be cooked for the entire family anytime. Earlier also I had posted some recipes which can be prepared with ground beef such  Simple Ground Beef Recipes Under 30 Minutes  and Slow-Cooker: American Chop Suey with Ground Beef wherein I had discussed Frying Pan Goulash and  Basil, Beef, and Barley Soup which was appreciated by many moms who tried these for their kids.

Now I came across another new ground beef recipe from Allrecipes.