Okra Stew

This fall weather has got me craving stick to your ribs comfort food. Now add to that the challenge of keeping things healthy and vegetarian! My mother makes this wonderful okra stew (also known as Bamia) that is a Middle Eastern dish that I grew up with. However, it has beef in it and is quite oily. I made some adaptations and it was delightful! I served this over whole wheat couscous.

Okra Stew

1 bag frozen okra (or fresh if you can get your hands on it)
1 zucchini
15 ounce can chickpeas
4 TSBP tomato paste
1/2 can pureed tomato
1 vegetable bouillion
handful olives
1 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 onion
garlic
1 TSBP olive oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
lemon juice

1. Saute the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat. Add tomato paste and cook for a minute or two.
2. Then add tomatoes and zucchini. Saute for a minute.
3. Add okra, tomato sauce, vegetable bouillion and spices. Mix together. Let simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. At the very end, add chopped olives, and the juice of half a lemon.

NI: 4 hearty servings, 4 points each

Pumpkin Pie

It's definitely fall!! I find myself making lots of soup (posts to come). One of my favorite vegetables (or is it a fruit?) is pumpkin. I made this pumpkin pie and its quite tasty. It is definitely lighter than pumpkin pie but has the great same taste. This is based on a recipe by Hungry Girl but I made up the crust concoction (hers was sans crust...just can't do it).

Pumpkin Pie
15 oz. canned pumpkin
12 oz. fat free evaporated milk
pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup granulated splenda
4 oz. egg whites
2 graham crackers
1 cup fiberone
1 tsp oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In your cuisanart, blend together fiber one, graham crackers, and oil. Pat into bottom of pie plate (spray first with pam). Bake for about 10 minutes.
3. Mix all other ingredients together. Pour into pie plate. Bake for 45 minutes.

NI: 6 servings, 2 Points each.

Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard

Mmmm. It is fall out!! I made a yummy lentil soup with swiss chard that was warm, comforting, and filling.

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils

4 cups vegetable broth

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp tumeric

1 vegetable bouillion

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch chard

1 TSP olive oil

1 pita

Prep

1. Cook vegetable broth and lentils by bringing to a boil, covering, and simmering for 30 minutes.

2. In a separate pot, add 1 TSP of olive oil, 1/2 an onion sliced thin and garlic. Saute on medium high heat, then add ribbons of swiss chard (without the ribs). Dump mixture into the soup. Let simmer another 15 minutes till thick.

3. Cut pita into pieces, spray with Pam and salt and bake at 450 for 5-10 minutes or until brown.

NI: 3 servings of soup at 5 Points each. 3 servings of pita at 1 Point each.

White bean pesto casserole

I kind of love white beans. I never really ate them before I stopped eating meat. We eat them at least once a week these days. Usually I saute them with chard, tomato paste, and garlic but I tried something different today. At Darling's bachelorette party, we ate at Butter in NYC. One of the dishes was a white bean casserole which tasted like pesto butter, and I decided to recreate it healthy style. Only thing is, the beans were pretty a la dente which makes me think they used dried white beans. I only had canned, so the texture was a little different. At any rate, it was great, and Mr. Baseball couldn't believe that there was no added butter in it. It was creamy, rich, and high in protein.

Ingredients
1 15 ounce can of white beans
2-3 cloves of garlic
bunch of basil
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan
1/4 cup panko Italian breadcrumbs

Prep
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Chop garlic, basil, olive oil, and parmesan in a blender or Cuisanart. When chopped to small pieces, mix together with white beans. Add salt and pepper. Cover with panko breadcrumbs.
3. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered. Then broil for a few minutes to get a brown top.

NI: 4 servings; 3 Points per serving

Prettiness

So I've never been a coffee drinker. However, when in Greece...I picked up the habit of drinking capuccino. I still don't like coffee by itself, but this reminds me of the vacay. Also...its the only thing getting me through this really tough push of my dissertation.

And...it's pretty! If you use nonfat milk and stevia; its just 1 Point for a small capuccino.

Scallops

Our CSA had lots of yummy veggies in it this week and I decided to put together a tasty dinner. I have to work tomorrow, so its going to be an early Friday night for me. I ended up making scallops (frozen from Wegmans), CSA kabocha, CSA bok choy, and soba noodles. The soba noodles were just cooked in water, the kabocha was cut open (seeds taken out) and microwaved, and the baby bok choy were sauteed in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and 1 TSP olive oil. It was so easy. The whole thing took 15 minutes -- and I sauteed the scallops in the same pan I made the bok choy in, so cut down on pot washing.

Scallops

Ingredients

1 TSBP flour

salt

pepper

1 TSP olive oil

1 TSBP tamari

1 TSBP mirin

1. Dredge the scallops in flour and S and P.

2. Heat the pan on high, add the oil. Put the scallops down, but don't move them around so you get a nice crust.

3. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes. At the end, add soy sauce and mirin (careful it will smoke up a little bit).

NI: 4 servings, 2 Points each

Asian Broccoli Slaw

This makes a quick and tasty Asian Salad. Just dump 9 ounces (about 3/4 of a package of broccoli slaw) with the following ingredients: 1 TSBP Smuckers orange marmelade (splenda -- no sugar added), 1 TSP sesame oil, 1 TSBP rice wine vinegar, 1 TSBP tamari, and some ginger root. It's 1 Point per serving, and this makes 2 servings. It's a great side dish. Mr. Baseball kindly offered to eat my leftovers, but there weren't any!