Baked Corn Chips

These are so much healthier than the store-bought fried corn chips.  Also, you can custom flavor them!  They are quick and easy.

Take corn tortillas, brush with water, lemon or lime juice.  Sprinkle with salt or other desired seasoning. 

 

Cut tortillas into 6ths or 8ths.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Cool and enjoy.

Black Bean Dip

This is one of my favorite recipes from The Feast of Santa Fe.

Black Bean Dip

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional - we omit this)
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Put all ingredients into food processor and process until smooth, leaving a little texture if desired.  Top with salsa and chopped cilantro.  Serve in quesadillas, burritos, tacos, or with chips. 

Black beans are an excellent source of many nutrients including protein, fiber, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, and more.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Hummus is a great snack or part of a meal.  With veggie sticks or healthy crackers, it's a guilt free snack.  Since it's made with chick peas, it's a great source of protein, fiber, folate, iron, and other nutrients.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (no oil added)

3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 cans, drained)
1 roasted red pepper, peeled
3/4 tsp salt (or to taste, especially with commercially canned chickpeas)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp smoky paprika
1/2 cup cooking liquid, low/no sodium veggie broth, or water

Place in food processor and process until smooth.  Serve as a cracker/veggie dip or sandwich bread.

Roasted Red Peppers

Cut stems off red peppers and clean out seeds.  Place on grill and cooked until blackened on each side, rotating as necessary.  Peel off blackened skins and eat or use in recipes.

Roasted Corn Salsa

The first time we visited Syracuse, it was to see if it was somewhere we would like to live.  For us, that meant visiting the Central New York Regional Market.  We had to see what was available from the local farms.  One of the trucks at the market was there primarily to promote the market and share a recipe made from what could be found at the market that day.  On the day of our first visit, it was Corn Salsa.  Wow!  It was delicious.  We picked up a copy of the recipe and somehow managed to keep track of it as we traveled home, packed, and moved.  I want to share it here because I think you'll enjoy it as much as we do and I figure it's only a matter of time before I lose the piece of paper with the recipe :-).

Corn Salsa

10 large ears corn, husked
Salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
8 vine-ripened tomatoes, about 1 pound total
1 cup diced red onion, 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup julienne fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Grill corn until light gold all over and cooked, about 12 minutes.  Let cool and cut off the kernels.  Discard the cobs.

Core the tomatoes and cut a small X on the bottom of each.  Place on the grill, X side down, away from direct heat.  Cover the grill and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften, but are not cooked all the way through, about 15 minutes.  Set aside until cool enough to handle, then peel.  Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and squeeze out the juice.  Reserve the juices and chop the flesh.

Add the chopped tomatoes, reserved tomato juice, onions, basil and red wine vinegar to the corn.  Toss well.  Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt, pepper, and vinegar.

The recipe does call for some extra-virgin olive oil, but we leave it out and don't miss it.  We also thickly slice the red onion and grill it before chopping it and adding it to the salsa.

Serve on tacos/burritos, chips, cucumber chips, bell pepper scoops, etc.  We usually make a double batch and freeze the extra for later use.

Enjoy!

Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa

2 mangos, peeled and cut off seed
1/2 red onion
1 anaheim pepper
1 lime, juiced

Place ingredients in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped.  Serve with crackers, chips, rice and beans, or on Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki from Happy Herbivore.

This freezes well for future use.  Enjoy!

Kale Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite foods.  It's great on crackers, sandwiches, pasta, etc.  However, traditional pesto is loaded with oil, butter, and cheese.  So, time to find/create a new adaptation.  This recipe pretty much comes straight from the Engine 2 Diet.  They call it Kale Butter.  I've added a clove of garlic and some salt and prefer to call it closer to what I'm used to - pesto.  I hope you enjoy it!

Kale Pesto

One bunch of Kale
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup steaming liquid or vegetable broth

Strip kale leaves from ribs and steam (see videos by Lindsey at Happy Herbivore).  Put garlic, walnuts, and cooked kale in food processor.  Process to desired consistency, adding steaming liquid or vegetable broth as needed.  Season with kosher salt to taste.  Enjoy!

Later note:  Bought some purple kale yesterday.  I'm looking forward to trying it and seeing how it goes over as pesto.  We love pesto on pasta too.  Can you say Purple Pesto Pasta 3 times fast?  I wonder how well it will go over with the younger set...  Colorful is good!

Kale Chips

Kale chips are my new, favorite snack.  Our meals and snacks are mostly whole food, plant-based, but every now and then I still want to snack on something thin and crispy- like potato chips.  However, I don't like the way I feel afterwards.  Enter kale chips.  These are light, quick and easy to prepare and they satisfy that need to crunch.  Also, kale is a nutritional powerhouse.  Check out these stats:

One cup of raw kale =
33 calories
5% RDA fiber
2g of protein
9% RDA calcium
6% RDA iron
206% RDA vitamin A
134% RDA vitamin C

source:  Self Nutrition Data

Plus, there's an added bonus. The British Journal of Nutrition published a study titled Association of dietary fat, vegetables and antioxidant micronutrients with skin ageing in Japanese women in May of 2010. This study showed that "A higher intake of green and yellow vegetables was significantly associated with a decreased Daniell wrinkling score". Wow! Eating more green and yellow vegetables will decrease those crows feet! I'm sold!

Kale chips are so easy to make that there's no need to buy the pricier pre-made ones.

1.  Take a bunch of kale, cut the leafy part off the ribs, and cut the leaves into relatively uniform shapes (throw the ribs in your garden or compost pile!).

2.  Wash and dry kale leaves (a salad spinner is an excellent tool for this).

3.  Lay leaves out on a cookie sheet (you may want to use parchment paper to prevent sticking) or microwave chip maker.  Season to taste (I like a light sprinkling of sea salt).

4.  Bake in a 350 degree oven or microwave (2-3 minutes) until crisp, but not burnt.

5.  Serve!

This is also an excellent way to preserve an abundance of fresh kale. I've stored kale chips in glass jars or Tupperware containers and then added the kale chips to soups and stews. Yum!

Speaking of not liking how I feel after eating a bunch of potato chips, I came across this quote recently:  "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels."  As someone who has been following a mostly (we did just go through the holidays) whole foods, plant-based diet since mid-summer, I can say that this is true for me.  I feel better and I have effortlessly reached a healthy weight.  I mentioned the holidays.  I admit that over the holidays I indulged in some of the traditional foods.  Did my taste buds enjoy the rich fare?  Sure.  But it wasn't worth the heaviness that I felt (for days) after.  This year we plan to keep our holidays whole food, plant-based.  However, we will not be sacrificing taste!  There are many delicious plant-based recipes out there.  We're even creating some of our own.  I'll share as I am able, so keep checking back to see what our latest culinary adventures have been!

White Bean Dip with Pita Chips

A couple of years ago, my mom bought me Giada de Laurentis's book Everyday Italian.  I have leafed through it and used a recipe or two, but had not explored it in depth.  Then, I recently watched The Food Network's Chef0graphy about Giada de Laurentis.  Even though it was late, I was inspired to grab her book off the shelf and go exploring.  The next morning I made two recipes to eat at a picnic we were going to that day.  One of those recipes was the White Bean Dip with Pita Chips.  It essentially is the Italian version of hummus.  It is so incredibly good!  Last night my husband asked if there was any left to dip some vegetable sticks in.  There wasn't, but there is now.  I actually made a double batch.  I hope there's still some left by the time he gets home from work!  Just kidding.  It's tempting though.  It's also wonderful in tuna salad instead of using mayo.  It adds more flavor, not to mention nutritional value.
White Bean Dip with Pita Chips
1 (15 oz) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (or 2 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1/2 lemon)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
In the bowl of a food processor, combine all ingredients except the olive oil.  Pulse on and off until the mixture is coarsely chopped.  With the machine running, gradually mix in the olive oil until the mixture is creamy.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired.  Serve with pita wedges, toasted baguette slices, vegetable slices, etc.
Personal Note:  I substitute half the olive oil with plain, low-fat yogurt.  I also usually make a double batch since it goes so quickly