Category — Recipes

There’s lots of citrus in the market now – why not use some of those tasty navel oranges you see in a new way?  This super-fast and creative take on the usually ho-hum boneless, skinless chicken breast takes it from drab to fab in 30 minutes!

Chicken With Oranges & Feta (adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook)

4 scallions, green parts only, sliced thin

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat (don’t use your cast-iron for this one, ’cause you’re going to do the oranges in here too and the acid will react with the iron).  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts.  When the oil is just smoking, add the chicken and cook until it’s well browned on the first side, approximately 6-8 minutes.  Turn the chicken and continue to cook until it’s no longer pink in the middle, approximately 6-8 more minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil.

Return the skillet to medium heat and add the garlic and fennel seed. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the oranges and the water and cook, stirring up any browned bits, until the oranges are just softened, 1-2 minutes.  Stir in any accumulated chicken juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the relish over the chicken breasts, sprinkle with the feta and scallions, and serve.

Serves 4.

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Don’t you just want to put your face in it?  THIS is what healthy food looks like, and it’s EZ.  Baby spinach + blueberries + raspberries + this DELICIOUS and relatively LOW-CAL creamy balsamic dressing.  Get crazy and scatter a few sliced almonds on top.  Pair it up with a couple of Wasa crackers slathered with Laughing Cow Lite/goat cheese/little nut butter and you have a lunch (or dinner) you can be proud of.  Eat up!

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Did you eat Spaghetti-O’s as a kid? I did, once in a while. My parents weren’t keen on “junk food” like that, but every now and then my mother would indulge my needling and get a can or two. And I particularly liked the one with “meatballs.” Now I look at them and think they’re kinda gross – I mean, just look at the ingredients list for regular Spaghetti Os:

Water, Tomato purée (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains Less than 2 % of: Salt, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese (Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Water, Disodium phosphate), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola and/or Soybean), Enzyme Modified Butter, Oleoresin Paprika, Spice Extract, Citric Acid and Nonfat Dry Milk.

Not to mention that the cans are lined w/BPA.  Wouldn’t it be nice to recreate the fun of the Spaghetti-O sans BPA, “enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese” “Oleoresin paprika” and high-fructose corn syrup?

[Read more →]

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Cabbage is humble food, no? It stands in stark contrast to all the fancy, fussy food we just finished eating for the holidays.  It’s cheap, it’s filling, but it’s also remarkably healthy.  I had two giant heads in the fridge, courtesy of my Shared Harvest CSA share – one green, one purple. [Read more →]

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I write today with some potentially distressing news.  I have heard a rumor that the ceramic liner of your slow cooker might contain unacceptable amounts of lead . . . and that it could potentially be leaching into whatever you’re slow-cooking.  Now let me stress that this is, as yet, unsubstantiated.  At the end of last week, another mother at pickup approached me and asked me if I knew anything about this – I was shocked (maybe I shouldn’t be?)!

[Read more →]

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Let’s preface today’s recipe by saying that I love beans.  I love their subtle flavor, their versatility, their healthfulness (ooooh, all that fiber and protein in a little vegetarian package) and I love that they’re cheap.  My love affair is long:  Beans kept me well-nourished and on a budget through 2 graduate programs.  And today, they allow us to eat meatless meals while still feeling satisfied.  But in the interests of full-disclosure, let’s also say that D. is not so much of a fan of the bean, and so he was not a huge fan of this recipe.  He is in the “beans are OK if they’re an accompaniment to other stuff” camp.  He turns up his nose at a side of black beans, or at refried beans in Mexican food.  You get the idea.

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I dunno about you, but I’ve got a plethora of root veggies here . . . my winter CSA share dropped a boat-load of squash on us and I’ve been clamoring for a way to use it all up, without getting sick of it.  To boot, D.’s not a huge squash fan – and 6 butternuts is a little much for even this veg-tastic mama.

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Hey Sweeties . . . how’re you feeling after the New Year weekend?  And perhaps you took some time off last week off to be merry? Indulge a bit, yes? I know we did . . . and I am SO ready to ratchet it all back and load up on healthful foods again.  My body was aching for greens at the end of the week. And fiber, and less bread, and a lot less sugar.  Oh, the sugar!

So here we are, start of the new year, end of the holidays – ready to cook up some good-for-you vittles again? [Read more →]

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