Friday, September 24, 2010

Healthy Fall Harvast Granola!

Recipe for Healthy Fall Harvast Granola

6 C Old Fashioned Oats - not quick cooking
1 C sliced or chopped unsalted almonds(walnuts or pecans)
1/2 C roasted Pepitos (green pumpkin seed)
1/2-2/3 C Honey
3Tbsp Olive oil
1 Heaping tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 Chopped dried Apricots
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/4 C dried blueberries


Mix Oats, Pepitos, nuts, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl and set aside. Mix Honey, Olive oil, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Combine the honey mixture with the oat mixture. Pour on a sprayed cookie sheet and bake in a 35o degree oven for about ten minutes- till the granola is lightly browned. Remove sheet from oven and stir and let sit until granola is golden.If granola is not cooked enough, return to oven for a few minute but it will brown and burn quickly so watch it. If the granola needs to be sweeter you can drizzle honey across granola on cookie sheet. Allow to cool.
Pour into a tupperware container when cool. Add chopped fruit and mix well. Cover with airtight lid.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Recipe for Healthy Stuffed Acorn Squash

Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 Large Acorn Squash-Trader Joe's or 2 small
1 C cooked Brown Rice- Medium or short grain
1 lb Ground Turkey
1 C Frozen chopped spinach
1/2-3/4 Trader Joe's Peach Salsa
1/2 C Trader Joe's Ricotta Cheese
2-3 Tbsp Raisins
Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Wash and cut Acorn squash in half and scoop out seeds. Discard or wash and roast the seeds for snacking.
In a skillet, brown and drain ground turkey seasoned with 21 Seasoning Salute. Add frozen spinach and cook a few minutes until heated. Add chili powder and cinnamon. Add Peach Salsa, Raisins and Ricotta Cheese and mix. Stuff Acorn squash halves with filling and place in baking dish with a small amount of water. Bake at 350 until squash is able to be pierced with fork easily.
Faster method- Microwave empty squash halves in glass baking dish until fork tender. Stuff with filling and broil in conventional oven set on broil until the top is slightly brown.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Mixed review on 50/50 but worth giving them a try!

Just off of Santa Ana Canyon Rd. and Fairmont in the Big Lots center stands
Slater's 50/50 Hamburgers by Design . 50/50 is a small busy sports bar that serves an array of predetermined burgers and allows you to design your own if you prefer. They have an extensive variety of buns, cheese, sauce, toppings and meats. Their specialty is the 50/50 patty- 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon (very tasty). You can also select a 100% beef patty, a fire patty (ground beef with chopped chiles), a ground turkey patty, chicken breast or veggie patty. Toppings include 11 different cheeses, 16 sauces and many designer toppings such as peanut butter and jelly, fried egg, holiday stuffing, pastrami and many more. You also pick the size burger patty 1/3, 2/3, or 1 lb.
We ordered the pick 4 appetizer and chose sweet potato fries, fried artichoke hearts, fried pickle chips and onion strings. They were all very good and came with many sauces for dipping. We all took at least half our hamburgers home because we were stuffed! The food was very good for that type of thing but the experience was not, unfortunately.
It took over an hour to get our food and when it did arrive 4 out of 5 of our orders were incorrect. The waitress was very sweet but I'm not sure what was happening in the kitchen! But 50/50 regained my faith by taking my daughters order off the check and including coupons for 2 free hamburgers next time. I didn't even have to ask for compensation. I think 50/50 will do quite well and I'm sure the kitchen staff will figure things out. I recommend trying this place for a good burger, just don't be in a hurry.

Don't Forget The Figs!

Trader Joe's has figs and they are sooooo good!

My husband and I recently had breakfast at Mustard's Deli in Irvine. I ordered whole grain bread grilled and topped with goat cheese, sliced fresh black figs and a drizzle of honey, YUM!

Some recipes to try-

Slice them on baby greens with pecans and balsamic vinaigrette.
Wrap figs in a thin piece of prosciutto and broil.
Add figs to cut up cantaloupe and chopped pistachios. Add chopped mint for color.
Stuff a acorn squash or pumpkin with cooked ground sausage, cooked brown rice and chopped fresh figs. Bake at 350 degrees until squash is soft enough to pierce with a fork.
Figs are high in potassium, calcium and fiber. Unfortunately, they are also high in sugar so go easy. A little goes a long way.
A great source of energy before working out.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Avocado- Eat them for good health!

I just read that eating a whole small avocado a day will lower your cholesterol by up to 17% in as little as 3 weeks. Also, it lowers that bad cholesterol and raises the good.The fat in avocado does not make you fat so eat your guacamole but hold the chips! Good on whole grain corn tortillas. I bake them in the oven for a little crunch. I haven't tested the recipes yet but I have seen many that use avocado in place of fat even in chocolate cake and salad dressing.