Grilled eggplant slices with Vegan Rice 

One eggplant 

Brown Rice (1 cup) 

1/2 of an Onion 

1/3 cup of white corn 

1-3 ounces of TVP Beef Slices 

1/3 cup of Almond Milk 

Assorted seasonings (curry powder, Mrs. Dash Blend, garlic powder, cajun powder)

Wash and cut the eggplant, dip into a small amount of coconut oil and grill on your George Foreman grill. Prepare rice then set aside in a bowl (takes 20+ minutes). Reconstitute the tvp by placing in a bowl of water for at least ten minutes. Once it is ready you will add to the pot with the other ingredients. Chop up onion, zucchini, and toss frozen corn in a small amount of coconut oil. Cook down until it starts to carmalize, then add the rice to the pot along with almond milk and seasonings. Let simmer for a while when ready, serve along side the eggplant. 

Enjoy! 

Fresh Kale Salad with cranberries 

and homemade croutons 

Ingredients 

2-4 bunches of fresh kale 

1 teaspoon of unsalted sunflower seeds

one fresh navel orange 

fresh cranberries (craisins can be substituted) 

shredded carrots 

whole wheat bread 

1 teaspoon walnuts 

balsamic vinegar 

1 teaspoon olive oil 

Wash the kale and assemble on a plate or in a bowl. Cut navel into sections and arrange on the plate. Toss the rest of the ingredients and mix the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Pour the mixture over the salad. Add the shredded carrots. While arranging your salad, bake a few slices of whole wheat bread and bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes. Cut the slices and toss on salad. Serve along or with homemade soup or as an addition to your dinner. 

(c) 2013 Pam Osbey

Healthy Appetites 

Sweet Potato Fish Fritters 

After my long trip to the South, I didn't plan on cooking much but after reading a post in the LOVE MY TEMPLE food accountability group, I decided to try author Linda Grovesnor-Holland's version with my own twist to it. Basically this is an easy dish that requires you to use salted (cod fish), with flour, green peppers or other seasonings with eggs, and milk. 

However in my shopping for ingredients, I didn't want to use the cod since it had a lot of salt. I try to keep my blood pressure down so I chose fresh tilapia instead. Although you can use the cod, I would suggest you soak it first before using so the salt can be less after that process. I didn't use whole milk, used what I had on hand which was Almond Milk. I cut green peppers and use them but you can also use fresh parsley or basil with other seasonings. 

Very easy, but for me this was time consuming.


Ingredients: 

1 large sweet potato
2 tilapia fish segments
1/3 of fresh green bell pepper
cajun seasoning (optional)
Black pepper (to taste)
Garlic Pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon of Oil (Vegetable, Corn or Olive Oil), add more if you like
1 egg
1/2 cup of corn meal
1 cup of whole wheat flour


Gather all your ingredients, and do the following.

1) Boil the sweet potatoes and add to a large bowl with the other ingredients.
2) Tear pieces of the tilapia in a bowl, add your seasonings, one egg, corn meal, milk and flour. Cut up your green pepper and add them to the mix as well.

Your bowl should look like something like this.

Add the sweet potato to your bowl and pull out your frying pan with the oil.

3) Place in the frying pan, by droplets a few 'sweet potato fritters' I would suggest spacing them so they do not cook so close together.

4) As the fritters begin to cook you want to pull them out and drain on a paper towel so the access oil will be less.

5) Arrange the corn fritters on a plate, add a salad or other veggies on the side. I chose brown rice and a fresh salad with red peppers and cucumbers to complement my meal.

6) EAT AND ENJOY!

Vegetable Hero Sandwich with 
Sauteed & Grilled Veggies 

Today I was sitting at work and saw two of my colleagues chowing down on a eggplant parmiagna sandwiches on long moist white bread and I longed for one of those. My first intention was to make a healthy eggplant sandwich but serve on whole wheat french bread but once I came home I realized I had fresh zucchini, spinach, eggplant and tomatoes in the fridge. A new idea was born. I also thought the chipotle mayo I had sitting around (it's a Target brand mayo that only has 3 grams of fat opposed to the regular 11 grams of fat that regular mayo has) thought that would be GREAT on the top of the sandwich. 

This is not a quick meal and may take some time. I used my stove, grill and microwave for components of this. Grilling the veggies is the easy part. Sauteing is not bad either. I only microwaved the bread for 25 seconds, so that was good at getting the bread somewhat together for the rest of the meal. 

Ingredients 

1/2 of an eggplant (fresh)

1/2 of a zucchini (fresh)

A handful of fresh spinach leaves 

1 medium tomato (fresh) 

Garlic Powder (to taste)

Sugar (to carmalize onions)

1 onion (fresh) 

1 tablespoon of chipotle mayo 

1 teaspoon of shredded chesse (any flavor), vegan brand is best 

Steps

1. Wash all vegetables, set aside. 

2. Cut zucchini length sided and cut eggplant. 

3. Place eggplant slices on grill and use fat free spray to cook til tender. When done set aside. 

4. Grill zucchini, then set aside. 

5. Saute onions and carmalize on medium heat (1 teaspoon of sugar). Cook the spinach leaves til tender.  Grill or roast the tomato, set aside for arranging on the sandwich. Set the onions, tomatoes and spinach leaves aside for arranging on sandwich bread. 

6. Microwave whole wheat bread bun, cut, then lather with chipotle mayo on top. On bottom of the bun, arrange sauteed onions and spinach leaves on the sandwich. 

7. Place zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant on sandwich bread. 

8. Top with shredded cheese. 

9. Serve with a salad or like me, sweet potato fries. 

Chicken Salad Recipe 
(Coming Soon)

Sweet Potato Burger w/Chickpeas 

Imagine  yummy sweet potatoes laced with hearty chickpeas on a soft potato sandwich bun and avocado as your main dish on a Fourth of July meal! Not only was it good, it was healthy. It's not because the sweet potatoes have B6 and can  help prevent heart attacks, or that it has Vitamin C and Vitamin D in it, but I love the taste of them. I love the fact that they are easy to use in so many ways. From using as a side dish or as the main dish, sweet potatoes are so versatile and they also contain Iron. I need a lot of iron in my diet so this attracts me as well. 

Due to the heat, I did not want to go out, wasn't invited to a bbq for today, nor did I want to be out in the heat too  much. After my run/walk/jump session at the Park, I decided at the last minute to mix this up. Not only was it easy, it was good. 

Recipe/Ingredients: 

1 large sweet potato

1 can of chickpeas (rinsed and mashed)

1 tsp of turmeric

1 tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of cajun seasoning or other favorite seasoning

1 tablespoon or sunflower seed oil or canola

1 cup of whole wheat flour

panko crumbs (optional) 

Steps: 

1. Bake or broil your sweet potato; when done, set aside to mash with the chickpeas. Broiling may take about 30-45 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. 
2. Take chickpeas out of the can, rinse them, and mix with the sweet potatoes. 
3. Add the turmeric, black pepper, cajun seasoning. 
4. Add whole wheat flour with the sweet potato/chickpea mix, form into veggie burgers and cook on low to medium heat for 8-10 minutes. 
5. Top with Avocado or other condiment 

Bonus dish: 

Healthy Coleslaw - Use fresh cabbage and carrot mix with 1 tblspoon of light mayo, add cayenne pepper, turmeric, black pepper and garlic power. Set aside in fridge for 20  minutes and serve with the burgers. 

 Happy Fourth of July to you!!!! 

Many paved the way so we can be free. Let us honor them on this day. To my family and friends 

who have served, i say thank you. 

Spicy Kale Salad w/Raisins

I really didn't have any intention of eating much tonight after a long day out in the field. I happy passed up the McDonald's on the corner from my home and had a light snack today. I began looking for some recipes online but didn't see anything catching. I noticed my kale was getting to the point of no return so I decided to pull out a few things and tossed around an idea in my head. This was quick, easy, and can be adapted anyway you like. 

3 handfuls of raw kale

1 tablespoon or teaspoon of raisins

1 ear of corn (fresh), corn cut off of the ear 

1 tsp of turmeric, black pepper & garlic powder 

1 tablespoon of olive oil (you can also use fat free spray)

1/2 of a fresh orange bell pepper 

1/2 of a fresh green zucchini 

1. Wash and cut all veggies, set aside. 
2. Cut the ear of corn, taking all kernels off. 
3. Saute veggies in oil oil. 
4. Massage raw kale with olive oil and use 1/2 of a fresh lemon to moisten it up (also gives great flavor) 
5. Set aside kale in bowl. 
6. Toss any seasonings in sauteed veggies (in the pan) 
7. Arrange finished veggies over the kale salad. 
8. Toss raisins. 

You can adapt this by grilling the veggies on a grill with fat free spray or you can bake the veggies to cut some fat, and leaving the olive oil off. 

Time: less than 20 minutes. 

Enjoy!