Green Smoothie

I know what you're thinking, "a green smoothie" how is that tasty. But stick with me for a while. Earlier today I wanted to eat a nice, juicy burger with fresh french fries but didn't want the calories. I also by passed Popeye's and Burger King to name a few fast food choices. The funny thing is I came home from my walk and decided to just grab some fruit and water. Over the weekend I bought a big bag of turnip greens which i had been craving for a while. A long time ago, a fellow Facebooker posted a healthy smoothie that had Kale in it but I was like 'nah" that's not gonna work. Anyway, flashforward to today.

I saw that I still had a lot of greens left and wondered what would I do with it. I knew I could make another bath of turnip greens or I could put it with some beans or in a veggie soup. I was curious about how it would taste in a smoothie. So I took a few ingredients which I whipped up in mere seconds with my blender. Mind you my blender is not an over priced one, it is one I got on sale at Kmart a few months ago.

Pam's Green Smoothie:

1 cup of turnip greens

1/2 banana

1 tablespoon of blue berry flaxseeds

1 tablespoon of plain non fat greek yogurt

Water

1 teaspoon of raw honey

1 small apple

Instructions:

Wash all ingredients, then cut the apple and place in the blender, add the greek yogurt, blue berry flaxseeds, water, banana, raw honey with the turnip greens on the top. Blend on high for 5 minutes. When finished serve in your favorite container.

Calories: 267

Fat Grams: 3 grams of fat

Happy eating! I will put this one in my rotation for the new year. It was delightfully nice. No bitterness. I think the apple and banana balances out the bitterness of the greens.

Pam

Tofu w/Spinach Fettucine

I created this lil dish last week. It was pretty easy and fulfilling. The inspiration was my fridge and cupboard. I realized I had some tofu that I needed to cook and needed some protein since I'm no longer eating a lot of red meat these days. I had a box of spinach fettucine but you could use other pasta I am sure. I had a lot of vegetables in my fridge but wanted more of an Asian feel to the dish so I used some asian ingredients. Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

1/5 of Firm Tofu

1 onion

1 or 2 garlic cloves

1 tsp of dried cilantro

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of low sodium soy sauce

1 tbls of rice wine vinegar

1 tsp of curry powder

1 tsp of sesame seeds

a handfull of spinach fettucine or other pasta

1 plum tomato

1-2 carrots

1 dash of crushed red pepper

other vegetables (optional)

Method:

Saute cloves, garlic, and vegetables in pan with one tbl of olive oil under all of them carmalize. Add tofu and cook til tender. Add seasonings (garlic, dried cilantro, curry) and rice vinegar, low sodium soy sauce. Cook the pasta til you recieve desired consistency. Add fettucine/pasta to pan and arrange sesame seeds over the entire mixture.

Serves 1-3 depending on how much pasta/tofu you use.

Enjoy!

Mocha Sistah

Tomato and Cheese Veggie Wrap & Broccoli Salad

Hi guys,

Just wanted to drop in a quick lunch idea which I actually made today because I work in a very expensive area of Manhattan and I didn't want to spend money! So the following idea is very doable and you can adapt it.

Tomato and Cheese Veggie Wrap

Ingredients:

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

One tomato

1 tsp finely chopped sweet onion

Dried Cilantro

Whole Wheat Wrap

Inside of the whole wheat wrap, put chopped tomato, shredded cheese and chopped sweet onions, sprinkle dried cilantro and close the wrap. When you get to work microwave one minute and lunch is served.

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Ingredients:

1/3 bag of broccoli slaw

1 to 2 tbls of orange flavored cranberries

1 tbls of miracle whip

Mix broccoli slaw, cranberries and miracle whip. Place in container and let cool. Eat with the veggie wrap above. Lunch is now served.

Bon appetite!

Til next time, keep it healthy!

Vegetable Pizza w/Ricotta Cheese

If you are stretched for time, this pizza is one of the best and easiest is to make. So don't even worry about the time, it will go by fast and eating something without the traditional red sauce will make your taste buds sing!

Ingredients:

Can of Pillsbury Pizza Dough

Onions

Cilantro

Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

Zucchini

Garlic

Veggie Provolone Cheese

Method:

Line a pan with the pizza dough, making sure to spray pam olive oil on the sides. Sautee onions, cilantro, garlic, zucchini. When ingredients are done, spread ricotta cheese on the pizza dough (on the base of the pizza) and arrange the ingredients on the pizza, layering the veggie cheese on top and bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Then you have a nice veggie pizza.

Mocha

Pad Thai (Rice Noodle Recipe)

I was very inspired by my colleague Irene eating some Pad Thai that I wanted to fix my own version of Pad Thai.

Ingredients:

Red Wine Vinegar
Rice Noodles
Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Peanut Oil
Spicy Peanuts
Shrimp
Green Scallions
Garlic (1 clove)
Onions

Method:

Sautee onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, green scallions and regular onions, in a pan with the peanut oil. Boil rice noodle until they are modestly ready. Transfer boiled rice noodle to bowl. Add fresh shrimp to the pan and cook with other ingredients. When ingredients are finished, add the ingredients to rice noodles with peanuts and toss a light amount of soy sauce.

Next time I may add fresh ginger to the recipe to enhance flavor.

Enjoy.

Mocha

Mix it up!

Hey foodies:

This week I decided to keep things simple yet not. I continue to eat some previously mentioned things -- Sweet potato and Black bean burritos (crock pot recipe since I didn't have much time to cook during the week), Quinoa and Kale burrito (sauteed kale, garlic and quinoa) adapted from VeganCoach.com and sauteed tofu with baked zucchini chips. I'll post the Tofu and Zucchini recipe below in a minute.

Tonight I'm trying something new: pad thai w/tofu or shrimp havent decided yet. Since I have to watch my sodium intake, I will be using a lot of substitutes, not using fish sauce which might have a lot of sodium, gonna use low sodium soy sauce instead. Also will be using just red pepper flakes instead of the chili-garlic sauce, and canola instead of the peanut oil. Everything else will be all good. Gotta head to the store in a minute.

Tofu and Zucchini Recipe

(ingredients)
Firm Tofu (I used 1 oz of the tofu)
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Salt Substitute
1/2 of Zucchini
Parmesan
Bread crumbs
Fat Free Olive Spray (pam)

Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and cut the tofu up. Begin cooking the tofu and toss garlic powder and salt substitute on the tofu. While the tofu is cooking, wash the zucchini and cut it up, turn your oven dial to 420degrees and get a snack baggie and place breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and other seasonings in it. Take the cut up zucchini and dip in the snack baggie making sure to cover the zucchini slices. Place breaded zucchini slices into a baking pan covered in foil and spray a little of the fat free olive oil spray on it.

Check the tofu which should be cooking nicely and finish in 10-12 minutes. The breaded zucchini slices will be finished in the same time frame depending on how quick you were able to prepare it . Serve with a light salad for dinner.

More on Tofu (it's a protein) ; zucchini is a veggie, and I would add a salad or eat the tofu with rice, orzo or other whole wheat pasta. You could even ramp it up by roasting peppers or tomatoes to go with the rice, orzo or pasta. There are many possibilities.

Bon appetite!

Mocha

Especially So... easy breezy recipes

Pam's lunch specials include:

1) Kale Salad w/Orange Cranberries and Raw Sunflower Seeds

Assemble one up of kale with trader joe's orange flavored cranberries and toss sunflower seeds. use no more than 1/4 cup of seeds. Add a small amount of balsamic dressing. To make this more tasty, I add albacore tuna with chopped organic carrots, small pickles, and thyme. You can add a moderate amount of low fat dressing or non fat dressing.

2) Roasted Squash with Rice

At home I've baked a squash at 450 degrees for about 45 minutes, then a little butter. Cook your rice and eat this with a protein (baked chicken or salmon).

3) Veggie Burgers

At home I've prepared veggie burgers in two ways: added cooked couscous as a base with carrots, onions, breadcrumbs or other veggies. Cook in a pan with olive oil. Season with garlic powder, cilantro and other seasonings (make sure they are salt free) especially if you are working on lowering your blood pressure. These can be frozen then cooked later. Goes great with small salads or inside of wraps.

4) Caramalized Onions & Cheese Pizza

At home I've prepared this by purchasing prepared whole wheat dough (at Trader Joe's costs about 99 cents). Put in a pan, spray pan with Pam's olive Oil, then lay the dough in. In pan, saute onions by olive oil and a pinch of sugar. Cook until browned. Add any other veggies. Spinach goes well with this. In pan, spread low fat ricotta and then add the carmalized onions, spinach, and other veggies. Add any seasonings and vegan or low fat cheese options. Mozzarella goes well with this. Cook for 40 minutes. Cut and serve.

5) Quinoa w/Kale

In a crockpot (you can do this in a pot as well), take a cup of quinoa and cook it. Put some water, fresh garlic and kale or spinach. Cook for 45 minutes to one hour. Add any seasonings of your choice. I added some cilantro and thyme. When you finish it will be nice and fluffy. You can add this to a whole wheat tortilla wrap. Adding avocado and fresh tomato is so good. Don't forget the black beans. This works well for lunch or dinner.

6) Quinoa (breakfast)

Microwave quinoa with some milk or water. Add raisins and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add walnuts. there you have a healthy and fulfilling breakfast.

I will update this with other options and of course some pics.

7) Roasted Tomatoes with Orzo

Cut tomatoes and cover with olive oil and seasonings. Bake at 420 degrees for 30 minutes, watch carefully. You can add a little sugar so they can carmalize. Cook orzo until finished. Set aside. When tomatoes are done they will be nice and carmalized. Add tomatoes to orzo with sautee onions, cilantro or other seasonings.

Enjoy!

Pam

Breakfast Delight

This Friday i decided to do something different for breakfast. No smoothie or oatmeal with fruit. This is simple so get your pen out~

Sweet Potato Pancakes

One yam

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of rolled oats

nutmeg

milk (i used reduced)

OR greek yogurt

splenda

ground flaxseeds

Mix all liquid and dry ingredients in a bowl. Microwave the yam for 8-10 minutes. Fold the yam into the bowl with the rest of your ingredients. Cook pancakes in hot pan using Pam Olive Oil Spray or Canola Oil.

Makes 5-7 pancakes

Chicken Delight and Flat Out Bread

As you can see I am not the best photographer sometimes of my dishes however it's important to note, they are very simple. Most are...

This is a creation because I didn't want to cook (it's summer and hot in New York City) and around 7: 30PM I didn't want to go into the kitchen to pull out no pans.

I had a few options available -- go out or eat in.

I opted for in.

I took a can of chicken breast (3oz), one carrot, one small can of refried beans, onions, italian peppers and lettuce to make this dish.

On one whole wheat w/flax seeds of Flat Out Bread, which is available at your local grocers, I spread the refried beans, then added lettuce, onions, and the rest of the ingredients. After putting it all on the flat out bread, I rolled it up, and ate it.

Calories:

Flat Out Bread = 100

Chicken Breast = 70

Onions / veggies, varies but vary low

Refried Beans == 75

Total meal: 270

Sodium: 13 mg

Fat grams: 5 grams of fat

I think this would pair great with a light home made soup as well. Lately been thinking of summer soups. I'll try to take a picture if I do something later this week. I also think this meal would be great with lunch == and steamed zucchini on the side.

Happy eating!

Wrapping it UP!

As you know I have a busy busy schedule, that means throwing things together with simple ingredients that are easy but low fat. So this week as usual, my time was short but I was able to manage to create this Chicken Pocket ...

I used the following:

whole wheat pockets

prepackaged chicken breast

red peppers

1 cup of spring mix (from bag)

2 tablespoon of Paul Newman's Light Honey Dressing

Pretty much that's the end of this tale. I made 2 of them and ate them for dinner, drank water, and one piece of fruit.

What i love about the pockets is that you can stuff anything in there, other veggies, low fat cheese, refried beans or black beans and eat. So if you are like me and stretched for time, then try it.

Also it pairs well with Pineapple Aloe Vera Drink: 95 calories per serving, sugar is about 17 grams of sugar.

Til we meet, try to keep it healthy!

Salad for One

Running late on an evening, not sure what to do? Well I would say, try a little salad. A salad for one. My basic chicken salad was thrown together just for my convenience due to time scheduling but you don't have to use chicken, you can use some other form of protein (tofu, black beans, boiled egg) and add your favorite veggies. My recent chicken salad with cashews included:




2 oz of chicken breast
1/2 cup of chik peas (drained from can)
1 cup of romaine salad
1 oz of unsalted cashews
onions,
red and green peppers,
light honey dressing
cayenne pepper
garlic pepper

I prepared this meal as a cold salad and it worked well. I"m sure you can heat up the chicken breast then add to the meal. Prepared this took about ten to fifteen minutes. Basically cutting up items and arranging on the lettuce. Also I wish I had some cranberries which could have been a great addition. The calories on this can range but since I didn't use any crotons I believe I did well with it and less sodium since I have to watch my salt intake.

That's it. Yes, these days I am in raw mode and like to keep it as healthy as possible though I do balance meals out with my favorites. Stay tuned for other ideas like stuffed pocket sandwiches with chicken breast and black beans.

If you have ideas on meals, please suggest them below... and thanks for reading. Happy healthy eating to you!