White Bean Gravy (From Everyday Happy Herbivore)

This is a healthy alternative to regular gravy. I tried it on mashed potatoes and we really liked it. You can also use it for biscuits and gravy. The author likes it so well she says she often eats it as a soup. If you don't have all the seasoning ingredients, just jazz it up the way you like.

1 15-oz can navy beans, (or any other kind of white bean) drained and rinsed
1/4 c vegetable broth
2 T nutritional yeast
1/2  t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t Cajun Seasoning
1/8 t. black pepper

Combine everything in blender and puree until silky smooth, adding more broth as necessary to achieve the desired consistency. You don't want to thin it out too much: it should be creamy and gravy-thick. Warm over low heat. (I always cook up a big batch of white beans from scratch, then freeze them in portions. Much better than canned beans, and much cheaper too!)

Here's a similar recipe from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bitman

CHICKPEA FONDU

3 cups cooked chickpeas with 3-4 cups of their liquid
2 cloves garlic
3 T extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 T lemon juice

Puree all ingredients in blender until very smooth. Add more cooking liquid, broth, or water until the consistency is like a smooth dip or thick soup. Heat mixture over medium heat. Use for dipping such foods as cherry tomatoes, broccoli or cauliflower florets, slices of cucumber, bell pepper, cubes of cooked potato, etc. This fondu won't harden like cheese fondu. Hummus is also a nutritious dip for veggies.

Pie Crust

Makes top and bottom.

2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or Crisco
1/2 cup ice water (You probably won't use it all.  Maybe half.)
1 egg yoke

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl.  Add butter or crisco and blend with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the texture of coarse meal.  Add water, a tablespoon at a time until dough is moistened.  Stir until mixture firms a loose ball.

Here's the whole wheat version of the King Arthur  flatbread recipe I linked to awhile back on our fitness group. If you don't have the seeds it calls for, leaving them out wouldn't affect the outcome of the basic recipe. They're supposed to add an extra nutritional punch to the bread. It's great for wraps, and I have several all-veggie wrap recipes, but of course you can make up your own easily enough.

Chia Seed Flatbread

2 cups white whole wheat flour                 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast                              2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds or whole flax seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds                              2 tablespoons soft butter
3/4 cup warm water

Whisk together the flour, salt, yeast, and seeds. Work in the soft butter and water, then mix and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and pliable. Form the dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour or more, until puffy. Turn the dough out onto a greased surface and fold it over several times. Divide the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Cover the balls with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Starting with the first ball you made, roll each ball of dough into a rough 8" to 9" circle; circles should be a scant 1/8" thick. Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle on  medium heat for a minute or two, and brush the pan with oil just before cooking the first bread. Place a dough round in the pan. Cook the first side for 1 to 2 minutes, until it starts to bubble and has some darkish brown spots; flip over and bake the second side until firm. Stack the breads as they come off the griddle to keep them warm and soft. Yield: 6 flatbreads.

SHOYU CHICKEN

1 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar mixed
with 2T cornstarch
1/2 t. ground ginger (or fresh)
2 cloves garlic (or
1/2 t. garlic powder)
Boneless, skinless chicken breast

Mix all but chicken together. Pour over chicken pieces in a baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees. Recipe says for 2 hours, covered, but just test for doneness after an hour, which is about how long I bake chicken tenders. Probably depends on how thick the chicken pieces are.

The winning burger

So as it is, we basically have no rights to this recipe anymore. They are using it as a selling point for the cookbook. So they don't want us just giving it away, but I thought we could share it with our family anyway. I don't have the recipe in front of me, but this is very close to what the actual recipe is.

This makes 4 "cameron size" burgers

Bruschetta Turkey Burgers with Avocado Mayo

meat:

1.25 lbs of turkey burger

2 large cloves of garlic

1 bag (8oz) Italian 5 cheese blend shreds- Cache Valley Cheese of course

Salt and pepper

-mix it all together well and form into patties

(one note here, the cheese blend is strictly for the competition's sake, it does help to keep the turkey from drying out, but mixing some ricotta cheese in with the meat is actually my preference. It COULD be omitted all together, just be very carful not to let it overcook and dry out.)

bruschetta:

you can buy prepared bruschetta in the cooler of most grocery stores, but it's simple to make fresh.

4-6 roma tomatoes

1/4 cup packed basil leaves

1 large clove garlic

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

-chop everything and mix it together. Italian "salsa"

Avocado Mayo

2 large avocados

1 cup mayo

salt

cayenne pepper (1/8 tsp, very little)

-mash avocados and stir everything together

and we make it on a Ciabatta roll brushed with butter and grilled

cook your turkey, assemble and eat.

Oh and we put sliced and melted mozzarella cheese on top to round out the Italian theme going on.

I think that's it. Menu item for next family get-together???

Cream of Broccoli Soup (Sparkpeople Recipe)

I served this soup in whole wheat bread bowls. (Heidi's bread recipe makes fantastic bread bowls.)

Makes 4-1 cup servings

2 tsp unsalted butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 large head of broccoli, florets separated from the stalks (about 4 cups)
1 large or 2 small russet potatoes, peeled and diced (1 cup)

2 cups homemade, low-sodium, or no-salt-added chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup fat-free evaporated milk
½ tsp white pepper
¼ cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1.Place a large saucepan over moderate heat. Add butter and cook until melted. Add the onions, reduce heat to low, and cook until onions are tender, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the broccoli, potato, and stock; stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.

3. Uncover the soup and remove from heat. Puree with an immersion blender, or carefully transfer the soup to a blender or food processor to puree, then return the soup to the saucepan.

4. Stir in the evaporated milk, season with pepper, and add 2 tablespoons of the cheese to the soup. Simmer for 1 minute. Serve hot, garnished with the remaining cheese.

Per Serving: 178.1 calories, 4.6 g total fat, 13.9 mg cholesterol, 156.3 mg sodium, 23.5 g total carbs, 4.6 g dietary fiber, 10.2 g protein

Galvin, Meg (2011-10-04). The Sparkpeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight (p. 159). Hay House. Kindle Edition.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

This is the cheesecake recipe that my mother-in-law brought to Brielle's baby blessing :) YUM!

Sauce

10 oz fresh strawberries hulled and quartered (or frozen rasberries)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry perserves (or rasberry)
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Process berries, sugar, perserves, and lemon juice for the sauce in a 
food processor until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan, bring to a boil 
over medium high heat. Combine water and cornstarch in a small bow; 
until smooth, whisk into berry mixture. Simmer to ticken slightly, 
about 1 minute cover and chill until cold

Crust

7 chocolate wafer cookies, crumbled
3 whole graham crackers crumbled
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons butter melted

process cookies salt and sugar in food processor unitl fine
add melted butter as machine is running pat crumbs on the bottom of a 
sping form pan and up the sides if you have enough

Bake 300 with rack in the center of oven


Filling
8 oz white chocolate chopped
Melt chocolate over double boiler and set aside

3 packages 8 oz cream cheese softened at room temp
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup cold strawberry saucce

blend cream cheese and sugar together until smooth this takes about 5 
minutes don't add sugar all at once slowly add keep beating and 
scraping the sides of the bowl periodically
add eggs one at a time until it mixes well . blend in choclolate 
vanilla and lemon juice. Pour batter inot prepared pan then drizzle 
with 1/4 cup sauce
Swirl sauce into batter to create a marbled pattern place pan on a 
baking sheet and bake until edges are set and puffed but center is 
still jiggly 60 to 80 minutes. DONT OVER BAKE IT WILL CRACK turn off 
oven crack open door with a wooden spoon cool inside oven for 1 hour 
remove from oven and cool completely. cover cake with a towel and chill 
overnight. this cheesecake is best if made a few days before the flavor 
is so much better