Farmer's Market Finds--Pasta Primavera with 2 types of squash

I love summer vegetables, and going to the Farmer’s Market always gives me the opportunity to buy beautiful produce and turn them into a delicious dinner. I adapted this recipe from a Cooking Light Pasta Primavera dish that I came across a few years back. I don’t make it that often, but when I do I am always amazed by how rich and creamy the cream and the parmesan make it.

Pasta Primavera with yellow and green squash
4 servings
9 points per serving
400 calories, 10 grams fat, 5 grams of fiber

Ingredients

6 baby carrots, cut into spears
8 ounces of uncooked penne
1 green squash, cut into ½ inch thick half-moons
1 yellow squash, cut into 1/3 inch thick half-moons
1 small carton of Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup canned green peas
1 teasppon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup light cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions
-Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.
-Add carrots; cook 3 minutes.
-Remove with a slotted spoon.
-Add pasta to boiling water; cook according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.**
-Spray large nonstick skillet with PAM and heat over medium-high heat. Add both types of squash and the mushrooms; sauté 3 minutes.
-Add carrots, peas, salt, pepper, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes.
-Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Allow to reduce for 5 minutes.**
-Stir in cream and juice; cook 1 minute.
-Add pasta and cheese; stir well to coat. Remove from heat; stir in basil and parsley.

** Note: You can make this sauce ahead of time, but I would recommend the following two modifications:
1) Do not cook the pasta until right before you are serving the dish. Otherwise the pasta will suck up all of the sauce and you will have a very dry pasta dish.
2) Prepare the recipe and STOP once you have added the wine and reduced the sauce. Store the sautéed veggies and the wine sauce in a sealed container in the fridge. On the night you are serving, heat the veggies and wine sauce up in a large pan, and then add the cream, parmesan, lemon juice, basil and parsley. You will end up with a much more creamy meal.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

Mushroom Maddness--Marsala Wine Sauce

After grilling this weekend we had a bunch of left-over mushrooms that I knew were going to go bad if I didn’t use them up. I decided to throw together some Marsala sauce so I could freeze it and use it at a later date. I usually serve it over chicken breast, but veal would work as well. Just pound the chicken or veal thin, dredge it in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and paprika and brown it in a tablespoon of oil (you can use PAM too, but you will get a better brown on the protein with oil).

Marsala Sauce
8 PointsPlus values in whole recipe
400 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber
Serves 2-4, depending on how saucy you like things

Ingredients
-1.5 cups Marsala cooking wine
-1 cup beef broth
-1 cup sliced mushrooms
-1/2 onion, finely diced
-1 clove garlic, crushed
-1 tbs balsamic vinegar
-1 tsp soy sauce
-1 tsp dried oregano
-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
-2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp cold water (do this right at the end)

Directions
-Spray a large pan with PAM. Over medium-high heat, saute mushrooms and onions until they are soft and all liquid has evaporated.
-Add crushed garlic and saute 30 seconds.
-Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch.
-Simmer for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
-Reduce heat to low, add cornstarch/water mixture and stir until it looks well incorporated. This will thicken your sauce.
-Simmer for 10 more minutes over low heat.
-Serve over chicken or veal. You can also cool and freeze.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

Falling for Falafel Take Two

I have been craving falafel, but since I am a new girl in a new city I have no idea where to get it. I have not been able to find my favorite frozen variety, featured in my November 5th blog so I have had to come up with my own recipe. I created this tonight so that I could have falafel tomorrow for lunch. It smells delicious, and the final verdict will be in tomorrow, but I think it is safe to say that it is going to be yummy!

Baked Falafel
Makes 9 falafel balls
2 points per ball
75 calories, 1 gram of fat, 1 gram of fiber

Ingredients
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, divided
1 egg
1 tsp dried parsley or 1 tbs fresh
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ red onion, chopped

Directions
-Preheat oven 350 degrees
-In a large bowl, mix garlic, parsley, ¼ cup breadcrumbs, and egg. Let sit 5 minutes until thick.
-Mix in red onion.
-Add chickpeas.
-Mash entire mixture with a potato masher or a large fork until you get a smooth consistency.
-Form into golf-ball sized balls.
-Roll each ball lightly in breadcrumbs.
-Spray with each ball with PAM and bake 10 minutes. Turn each ball over, spray again with PAM, and cook 5 more minutes.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

A berry yummy breakfast--low-fat blueberry mini-muffins

Since we have moved I am amazed by all of the wonderful berries we have available to us! We went a little overboard at The Fresh Market with blueberries, and I wanted to use some of them up before they went bad. I also wanted to make a healthy option to give my 17 month old for breakfast. I came across many blueberry muffin recipes on line, and I mixed a few of them together to come up with these yummy treats. I added 1 tbs of Benefiber to the flour mixture to increase the fiber content, but you can omit and the points will stay the same.

Low-Fat Blueberry Mini-Muffins
Makes 32 mini-muffins
1 point per muffin
60 calories, 3 grams fat, 1 gram fiber


Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs Benefiber
2 tablespoons baking powder
½ cup sugar
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, slightly beaten
¾ cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 24-cup mini-muffin tin with PAM.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar.
In another bowl, combine melted butter, unsweetened applesauce, egg, and milk and mix well.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and with a spatula, stir until just combined.
Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tray, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before removing the muffins from the tin.
Bake remaining 8 muffins, for a total of 32 mini-muffins.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

Midsummer Memories--Swedish potato salad with cucumber and red onion

As many of you know, we recently relocated to the South. Our move happened to fall on Midsummer, which is better known as the summer solstice. While not a huge deal here in the USA, in Sweden (which is where my mom is from) people go all out celebrating. While massive amounts of liquor are usually consumed, standard summer fare is served consisting of boiled potatoes and pickled herring. The potato salad below offers a nice twist on traditional Midsummer dishes. I make this potato salad year round, and it is especially great for those of you who do not like the typical mayo-based potato salad.


Swedish potato salad with cucumber and red onion
Serves 10
141 calories/6 grams of fat/3 grams of fiber per serving
3 Weight Watchers Points per serving

Ingredients
6 medium sized red potatoes, skins on, well-scrubbed, cubed into large chunks
1 cup English cucumber, skin on, diced
¼ cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp salt,
1 tsp pepper
1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped

Directions
-Boil cubed potatoes until fork tender (about 10 minutes once they start to boil).
-Drain and return to pot.
-In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients.
-Pour mixture over hot potatoes. Lightly toss until well mixed.
-Allow salad to cool, and then refrigerate overnight.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.