Food In Many Forms

There is nothing that says Memorial Day more than a good old American  barbecue. But chances are that barbecue will have plenty of chips, dip, and desserts, and very few vegetables. Pasta salad is the answer to this problem, it is a socially acceptable, well-liked side that you can pile on with vegetables and people will just think it's got great color! The trick is to make sure your pasta salad is healthy ;) 12 oz Pasta 1 Yellow Bell pepper, chopped 1/2 cup carrots, shredded 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved 1 medium cucumber, peeled and quartered 1/4 cup Brianna's New American Balsamic Vinaigrette 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning Cook the pasta and rinse it in a collander with cold water. Pour the prepared vegetables and pasta in a large bowl and mix to combine. Add the salad dressing and Italian seasoning and mix well until the pasta is coated with dressing. Allow to "marinate" for at least an hour before serving.

After a late night watching Food Network, I was inspired to try one of Ellie Krieger's Meal Makeovers! Check out this Video, and Get Inspired! First on the list was her "Macaroni and 4 Cheeses" - made with more than a pound of pureed butternut squash and low-fat milk. I stepped it up a notch by using whole wheat pasta, and using half the amount of bread crumb topping.  After reading the reviews, I was concerned that the squash would overpower it, but after trying it, I thought there was a really great balance between subtle squash flavor and cheesy goodness.  I served it with a sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning for an extra kick, instead of the Cayenne Pepper that Ellie recommends. On the side, I had some fresh asparagus from the University Farmer's Market yesterday. It was absolutely delicious after I brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled on some parmesan cheese and roasted it under the broiler until soft. Ingredients Cooking spray 1 pound whole wheat elbow m...

The last of the Tortilla Pizzas are baking in my oven, and they look spectacular! I think scallions and tomatoes are the perfect toppings for these little gems, and they toasted up very nicely. I am even considering eating one for breakfast tomorrow morning so I don't have to wait til dinnertime to enjoy them!  Of course, I always end up tweaking the recipe a little bit when I'm making it, mostly if I'm missing ingredients. This time, I left out the chopped onion that was meant to be mixed into the refried beans. Since I only used about half of the refried beans in the can, I'm glad I skipped that step.  Also, since the recipe makes so many servings, I'm testing the stability of the pizzas in the freezer and in the fridge. I'm always looking for new delicious leftover foods! Honey What's Cooking? Mexican Tortilla Pizza Number of Servings: 4  Serving Size: 1 pizza Ingredients Non-stick cooking spray 8 small yellow corn tortillas 1/2 can ref...

I'm totally on a Mexican Food Kick these past couple months... Mexican Noodles, Mexican Pizza, Mexican Dip... but hey, I will always take advantage of an opportunity to use taco seasoning and tons of fresh vegetables! So when my work today brought me to the CDC recipe database -  http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnparecipe/recipesearch.aspx  - I obviously chose the tortilla pizza to go in the cookbooks we are sending home with students next week after they visit the University Farmer's Market.  And isn't it only fair that I try out some of these recipes first?   And just to make this a little more interesting, I'm going to have a little nutrition face-off with a fellow blogger's Tortilla Pizza recipe - someone who "watches her weight" and tells us how her recipe is full of protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. We will see about that!  Skip below for recipes - I'm warning you, I might ramble a bit! Honey What's Cooking Mexican ...

So, I know I've talked about Ellie Krieger in the past, but I'm not sure I've ever actually made one of her recipes. She is the only Chef on the Food Network that is also a Registered Dietitian, and you know I am in support of that! This past Cinco de Mayo, I finally decided to make one of her recipes - a five-layer Mexican dip. It disappeared in the first twenty minutes of the party, and it was pretty easy to make. The only time-consuming part of the recipe was chopping up the veggies, but it was worth it! And the best part about Ellie's recipes? She does the nutritional analysis for me :) Ingredients 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed 1 tablespoon minced chipotle pepper in adobo 4 tablespoons lime juice 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon water 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups corn kernels (10-ounce box frozen corn) 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves...