Dessert Please

I got the original recipe for this out of this months Rachael Ray Magazine. You can find it here I only made a couple of modifications. Also When I made it my intention was to use honey instead of the brown sugar in the batter, but I completely left it out. The result was a NOT sweet batter, but it still worked. I'll list the recipe as though I'd added the honey, and you can decide from there. :)

Pineapple Upside Down Corn Cake
16 servings
105 calories 21 from fat

• 2 tbsps butter
• 1/2 pineapple, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 3 Tbs. packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• 3/4 cup stone ground whole grain cornmeal
• 3/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a 9-inch cast-iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter and 3 tablespoons brown sugar over medium heat, stirring, until melted. Add the pineapple and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Arrange the pineapple decoratively in the pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, combine the applesauce, remaining tablespoon of butter, and the honey. Beat in the eggs. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the applesauce mixture and stir just until incorporated. Spread the batter gently and evenly on top of the pineapple in the skillet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly, loosen the cake from the pan and invert onto a platter.

Strange Bedfellows

I would never in a million years have thought to combine lentils with simmered fruit, onions and garlic. Even typing it here it doesn't sound good. Trust me, it's delicious. I have a whole room full of co-workers who will say the same thing.
I got the recipe idea from my great big book of everything vegetarian (again) and then switched out some ingredients to make it my own. (again)

Fruity Lentils

4 servings 256 calories 38 from fat.

these are about 1.5 cup servings, so if you wanted to downsize the portions to 1 cup, and get 6 servings, you'd have 171 calorie servings.

• 2/3 cup lentils
• 4 cups water
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium apple, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 pineapple, coarsely chopped
• 3 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium (almost ripe) banana, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Place the lentils (you can use green lentils, or pinto beans too) and water in a pan, bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer about 40 minutes, don't let the lentils get mushy. Drain lentils, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil (recipe called for double the amount of vegetable oil, but I didn't see the need, and coconut oil tastes so much better) add the onion and garlic and cook until just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the apple and cook until golden.  add the pineapple and cook until warmed through, Stir in the lentils, add some of the cooking liquid if it seems too thick. Add the tomatoes and banana, stirring to combine the flavors. Season to taste with the cayenne and salt. The measurements I used were approximate. Garnish it with some fresh cilantro, and serve warm.

Go ahead, try it...

Alisha xoxoxo

PASTA!

I found myself CRAVING bread and cheese today. I almost broke down and bought a pizza. I made this instead. I found it in my great big book of everything vegetarian, and then tweaked it my way of course. The basil makes it really fragrant, and utterly irresistible!

Green Pesto with Whole Wheat Penne
4 servings
174 calories 16 calories from fat

• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 3 1/2 cups pieces or slices mushrooms
• 1 bunch asparagus cut in 2 inch strips
• 10 oz green beans cut in 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup whole wheat penne
• 1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbs shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 2 Tbs. water
• salt and pepper

Place the chicken stock and mushrooms in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes, drain off the liquid and set aside. You can keep the liquid for a soup or something later if you wanted.

In a separate pot, bring the green beans and asparagus to a boil and cook for 3-4 minutes, until crisp tender, drain and set aside.

To make the pesto combine the basil, garlic, yogurt and parmesan in a blender or food processor and pulse to desired consistency. Add the water a little at a time to get the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the penne to desired consistency, drain and combine all ingredients tossing with the pesto. Garnish with more basil and parmesan.

I also cooked a chicken breast to go with this, because I have to have my protein. Some other good additions would be fresh chopped tomatoes, or some shrimp would be nice too!

Enjoy

Alisha xoxoxo

Napa Cabbage and Beef Stir Fry

It's not a plethora of color, but it tastes good.

Cabbage and Beef Stir Fry

4 servings
283 calories per serving 100 calories from fat

• 1Tbs less sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tsps ginger
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 lb lean beef steak
• 1 lb cabbage

Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, and cornstarch.

Cut steaks in half lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Heat wok or heavy skillet (I used a cast iron pan) over high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately. Add sesame oil and stir-fry garlic and ginger until golden and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef, quickly spreading pieces in 1 layer on bottom and sides of wok. Cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes, then stir-fry until meat is just browned but still pink in center, about 1 minute. Add cabbage to beef beef  and stir fry for about 2 - 3 minutes. Stir soy mixture and add. Stir-fry until sauce is simmering and slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Orange Ginger Glazed Asparagus

Finding myself with a few oranges left from a case that I purchased a couple of weeks back, I decided I needed to find a way to use some of them up, and this was born. I think it's really yummy. I hope you do too.


Orange Ginger Glazed Asparagus

2 Servings

134 calories, 4 calories from fat



1 Bunch asparagus, trimmed
Juice of 4 or 5 oranges
1 T. Honey
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 t. freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic grated.

Mix all ingredients except asparagus in a small sauce pan. bring to a boil and simmer until it's reduced around 10 to 15 minutes.
Place the asparagus in a warmed saute pan and heat through (spray the pan with some non stick spray if you'd like. I had a friend give me a Misto and now I can use my own olive oil instead of an aerosol propelled canola oil. I love it!)
pour the sauce over the asparagus and boil for a couple of minutes longer.

I topped this with some pre-cooked shrimp that I just warmed up, but it could just as easily be served alone or with chicken. The shrimp added 72 calories.

Much love,
Alisha xoxoxo

Dessert Anyone?

Several years ago I ran across this recipe from Emeril Lagasse for Spring Fruit Pudding. It's layered in a bowl kind of like a trifle, so I named my version accordingly. One note: While small amounts of Stevia have no aftertaste, I noticed in this recipe that there was a bit of an artificial sweetener aftertaste. If any of you have suggestions on how to limit this, please comment. I considered using liquid Stevia, as it's more concentrated and would use less product, but I'm not sure how the volume of Coulis would turn out.
After getting an abundance of mangos and strawberries in recent bountiful baskets I decided to make this for the family in celebration of my daugher, AND my brother's birthdays. They enjoyed it, promise!
Strawberry Mango Trifle

12 generous servings
153 calories per serving 25 calories from fat

Strawberry Coulis:

• 2 cups strawberries, quartered
• 1/2 cup Stevia In The Raw
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for 12 minutes. Puree until smooth.

Mango Coulis:

• 2 cups cubed mango
• 1/2 cup Stevia In The Raw
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth

Spring Pudding:

• 6 cups cubed angel food cake, torn into 2-inch chunks (one regular sized angel food cake)
• 2 cups each cubed mango and quartered strawberries
• 2 cups Stevia sweetened whipped cream

Directions

In a small (2 quart) trifle dish or pretty glass bowl layer 11/2 cups of cake pieces. Top with 1 cup of mango pieces and 1 cup of mango coulis. Layer 11/2 cups of cake pieces and top with 1 cup of strawberries and 1 cup of strawberry coulis. Layer 11/2 cups of cake pieces and top with remaining mango and mango coulis. Layer remaining cake pieces and top with remaining strawberries and strawberry coulis. Spread whipped cream over entire surface and chill until ready to serve.

A note on Whipping cream, whip it until it's the consistency, or near the consistency you want before adding the Stevia.

Also, if you compare, you'll see I basically copied the recipe, with the exception of switching out Stevia for the Sugar. If you're curious, Sugar would have added an additional appx 900 calories to the overall dessert, making each serving around 230 calories.