Slow Cooker Series!

Given that autumn is here, slow cooking seems to be on everyone's mind! Just as I experimented with two new recipes recently, the topic recently came up on the DC Urban Moms listserv. A wealth of recipes were shared, and I've compiled them all here for easy searching. None of them are of my creation, but as they were posted anonymously, I can't give credit where credit is due. So, if one of them is your recipe, let me know and I'm happy to credit you for it!

Here's what I have so far:

• Turkey & Black Bean Chili
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Chicken & Vegetables
• Chicken-Bean Burritos
• Beef Stew

And my own two recipes:

• Pot Roast with Turnips and Carrots
• Chickpeas with Spinach

More recipes to come!

Slow Cooker Series: Turkey & Black Bean Chili

Turkey & Black Bean Chili
1 jar salsa
2 cans black beans, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 packet chili seasoning
1 cup corn
1 lb ground turkey

1 large onion, diced
1 cup cheese, shredded (any kind)

Brown ground turkey in a skillet until cooked, 5-7 minutes. Add turkey and other ingredients to slow cooker. Cook on high for 1-2 hours or low for 4 hours and serve topped with onions and cheese.

Slow Cooker Series: Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese
2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups ricotta or cottage cheese (or one cup of each)
2 cups boiling water
Salt, pepper and nutmeg (the secret ingredient) to taste

Layer ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed. Cook for 3 hours on high without stirring. Open, stir quickly, and recover and cook for another hour or it reaches the right consistency.

Slow Cooker Series: Chicken & Vegetables

Chicken & Vegetables
1-2 pounds chicken
1 large onion, sliced
2 large potatoes, chopped into one-inch cubes (or, 4 small potatoes)*
1 sweet potato, peeled & chopped into one-inch cubes*
2 turnips, peeled & chopped into one-inch cubes*
4-6 carrots, sliced*
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp rosemary
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper.

Cook on low for 7-10 hours.

*You can use any combination of root vegetables for this recipe--stick with vegetables that will hold up well to slow cooking though, otherwise they will fall apart and become vegetable mush!

Slow Cooker Series: Chicken-Bean Burritos

Chicken-Bean Burritos
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can pinto beans (rinsed)
1 16 oz jar salsa - any flavor
10" flour tortillas

Optional toppings for burritos - corn, other beans (such as black beans), shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

Put chicken & beans in bottom of slow cooker, pour salsa overtop. If you like it a little spicy, add chipolte peppers in adobe sauce. Cook on low for 5 hours or high for 2 - 2 1/2 hrs. Remove chicken, shred with fork, add back to slow cooker after mashing the beans with the salsa. Roll filling in tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Slow Cooker Series: Beef Stew

Beef Stew
1-2 lbs stew beef (cubed)*
1 onion, diced
1-2 potatoes chopped into one-inch cubes
4-6 large carrots, sliced
1 package of mushrooms, well-washed and quartered (optional)
1 cup of beef broth
1 envelope onion soup mix
1-2 cloves garlic chopped

Add all ingredients to slow-cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

*Can also brown beef in hot oil in a skillet, for 2-3 minutes, before adding to slow-cooker. Searing the beef helps seal in juices and flavor, but isn't necessary.

Slow Cooker Series: Chicken Tacos

Chicken Tacos
1.5 pounds chicken pieces
1 15-oz can tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning

Put all ingredients in 3 or 4-quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with tortillas or hard shells, and other taco fixings.

Slow-Cookin' Magic!!

I don't know about you all, but I am in love with my slow-cooker. I experimented with two new dishes this weekend, and both turned out great. I did a pot roast with turnips and carrots, as a healthier riff on pot roast with potatoes, which is something I've made in the oven before. it turned out far better in the slow-cooker. That is the slow-cooker claim to fame, when cooking with "cheaper" cuts of meat, such as chuck roast, the long, low-temperature cooking allows the meat to become tender while staying moist and flavorful. Root vegetables (like turnips, potatoes, carrots) hold up well to slow-cooking, too. Dish #2 was chickpeas and spinach. I used dried chickpeas, very economical but more time is required for soaking, and french spinach, and even my toddlers ate it up. There are hundreds of great slow-cooker recipes, but here are the two that I used:

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast with Turnips and Carrots

Ingredients-

• 4 pounds chuck roast
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup water
• 4 carrots, cut into 3 inch pieces
  
• 2 onions, quartered
  
• 4 turnips, diced into 1 inch cubes

Directions-

1. Take the chuck roast and season with salt and pepper to taste.*
   
2. Place in the slow cooker and add water, carrots, onion, and turnips.
3. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours.

*Many recipes will direct you to first brown the meat on all sides in a large skillet over high heat. While this creates a nice crust and appealing look to the meat, it's not necessary.

Slow-Cooker Chickpeas with Spinach

Ingredients-

• 2 cups dried chickpeas (or 2 cans chickpeas)
• water
• 1 onions, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  
• 1 large bunch fresh spinach
• 2 bouillon cubes (chicken or vegetable)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
  

Directions-

1. If using dried chickpeas, rinse and pick out any bad-looking peas. Put into a pot and cover with water; let sit overnight.*
2. Drain chickpeas, put into slow cooker. Add water to about 1 inch above peas, and add bouillon. Cook on high for 2-3 hours.
3. Dice onions, cook on medium high in olive oil. As they turn translucent, add tomato paste and mix together well. Cook another 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat.
4. Add onion/oil/tomato paste mix to slow cooker, cook another 1-3 hours on high (until peas are easy to smush with a spoon; it took my batch the full 3 hours).
   
5. De-stem and wash VERY WELL the spinach to remove all grit. Add to slow cooker and cook on high 1 hour.
6. Mix softened spinach into peas and turn cooker to low. Cook another 1-3 hours, depending on how mushy you like your chick peas and spinach.
   

My kids loved this, and even ate the turnips and carrots from the previous recipe when I mashed everything together to a mashed potato consistency. Anything that gets them to eat veggies other than the potato I count as a huge success!

Cranberry-Orange-Apricot Coffee Cake

I am a big fan of baking from mixes. They fast, they're easy, you can buy a bunch when they go on sale and then you're prepared for every last-minute dinner invite, school function, or work social event.

I also love starting from a box mix and adding in some ingredients to make it unique--and often a little more healthy!

Here's what I did, starting with Krusteaz's Fat-Free Cranberry Orange Muffin mix.

Prepare mix as directed, but before adding the cranberries, add:

1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal ("quick oats")
1/2 cup apricot preserves

Then add the cranberries (if desired; you could leave them out if you just wanted orange-apricot flavors).

Spray a bundt pan (or loaf pan or 8"x8" baking dish) and fill with batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

It's still a "dump-and-bake" cake, but adding oatmeal and wheat germ really cuts the sweetness, making it more palatable for a coffee cake, and makes it overall a healthier treat. Baking in a bundt pan gives it a nice brown, almost crisp, crust, which contrasts nicely with the moistness of the apricot preserves.

New Mexico Baked Corn

I was given the original recipe from an old friend of my mother's who lived in New Mexico for many, many years (as did my parents). With a little experimentation, I lightened up the recipe a bit. It's just under 200 calories per serving, so not exactly "diet" fare, but it's a great vehicle for sneaking in some extra veggies. I used a can of green beans, but you could use pretty much anything, as the baking time is sufficient to cook even broccoli or carrots. Plus, the creamy cheese and heat of the green chilis help disguise the veggies for those small ones who might be a bit hesitant to chow down otherwise!

This recipe can also be made vegan by using soy cheese and egg replacer instead of the eggs; the creamed corn is sufficient by itself to bind the ingredients for baking.

New Mexico Baked Corn

Yield: 8 servings
Temperature 375 and 325

2 beaten eggs
4 cups cream style corn
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup chopped green chili*
1/2 pound graded sharp cheddar cheese, low-fat
2 cups canned green beans

*green chili is optional, this amount makes the recipe just slightly spicy, could use more or less to suit your family's taste!

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole dish.

2. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for an addition 30-45 minutes.

Nutrition Facts
Recipe Serves 8 people

Amount per Serving--
Calories 198
Calories from Fat 83

Total Fat 10.63g
Saturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5g

Cholesterol 63.75mg

Sodium 619.69mg

Total Carbohydrate 10.66g
Dietary Fiber 1.47g
Sugars 2.97g

Protein 11.53g

Vitamin A 12.5
Vitamin C 2.13
Calcium 1.38
Iron 3.19

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 48.3%
Carbs 21.5%
Protein 23.3%

Eggplant Lasagna

I experimented with some yummy vegetables this weekend, and came up with this low-fat, low-calorie lasagna. While most lasagnas end up somewhere between 350-600 calories per serving, this no-meat version is only 163 calories per serving! The eggplant, once baked in the lasagna, does an admirable job of replacing the creamy texture of ricotta cheese, and the fresh basil helps give this dish a garden-fresh taste. You could probably find some delicious eggplant and basil in a farmer's market, but to test how simple I could make this recipe I just used what was at my local supermarket. If you try this recipe out, I'd love to hear how it turns out! Happy Cooking, Breana

Ingredients: 1.5 cups crushed canned Tomatoes 1 medium Eggplant 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, part-skim, shredded 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese .5 cups Basil, Fresh (about 1 bunch, or 10 leaves) 1 serving Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles (about 3 noodles)

Instructions:
Instructions:
Cook the noodles (3 noodles) in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 8 minutes, or until al dente. Drain from water and set aside to cool.

While noddles are cooking, slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick strips. Saute in cooking spray (Pam) until just softened and slightly brown.

Rinse basil leaves, remove stems, shred leaves gently by hand.

Light spray inside of a loaf pan baking dish with cooking spray.

Cut (with kitchen shears) 1 noodle into 3 sections, place on the bottom of the loaf pan. (NOTE: cutting the noodles is necessary to make them fit into a standard loaf pan. If you are using a square baking dish, cut only if needed to fit the dish you are using.)

Layer noodle with 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 layer of the cooked eggplant, 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 of the basil. Add another layer of noodles, 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 layer of the cooked eggplant, 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, and the other 1/2 of the basil. Finish with a final layer of noodles, last 1/3 cup of mozzarella, and sprinkle the Parmesan (or grated fresh Peccorino Romano) over the top.

Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

I made this recipe in a loaf pan, planning on only 4 servings, but you could easily scale this up for more servings and use a larger baking dish. Cooking time would remain the same.

Nutrition Facts
Recipe Serves 4 people

Amount per Serving
Calories 163 Calories from Fat 64
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6.91g	11%
Saturated Fat 4.25g	21%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.06g
Cholesterol 1.25mg	0%
Sodium 293.75mg	12%
Potassium 181.13mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 12.61g	4%
Dietary Fiber 3.11g	12%
Sugars 0.48g
Protein 11.95g	24%

Vitamin A	11.25
Vitamin C	8.38
Calcium	16
Iron	7.63
Vitamin E	0.21
Thiamin (B1)	5.03
Riboflavin (B2)	1.03
Niacin (B3)	3.14
Vitamin B6	3.94
Phosphorus	17.25
Magnesium	14.25
Panthothenic Acid	0.17
Zinc	1.22
Manganese	0.19

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 38.2%
Carbs 30.9%
Protein 29.3%

Light Lemonade Pie

I was searching for a recipe for zucchini "spaghetti" and stumbled upon this recipe for Frozen Lemonade Pie. It sounded delicious, so I decided to put the ingredients in to my handy Weight Watchers points calculator to see how much damage I'd be doing...

Original Ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (20 points)
1/4 cup sugar (4 points)
7 tablespoons butter, melted (21 points)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled (33 points)
1 (12 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed (23.5 points)
1 (6 fluid ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, keep frozen (6 points)

Having 1 slice equal to about 1/8 of the pie gives you a whopping 13 points per serving! Way, way, way too many points for me. With a little re-working, I came up with this recipe:

1 (14 ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk, chilled (22 points)
1 (12 ounce) container fat-free whipped topping, thawed (12 points)
1 (6 fluid ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, keep frozen (6 points)

Without the crust, and using fat-free versions of the condensed milk and whipped topping, brings the points total down to 5 per slice. Still a little high, but well within safe limits for a special treat.

Directions for how to make Breana's Light Lemonade Pie:
Gently fold together the fat-free sweetened condensed milk and fat-free whipped topping. Slowly add frozen lemonade concentrate. Pour into 8 ramekins (individual serving dishes) and freeze overnight. Enjoy!

Menemen: Tomato and Egg Scramble, Turkish-Style

This is a delicious twist on scrambled eggs. While it may seem odd to have a breakfast centered around tomatoes, it's really quite good, easy to prepare, and a wonderful way to use slightly mushy tomatoes ("seconds") you can get for quite cheap at a Farmer's Market this time of year.

1 large tomato per person, chopped (for 4 people, 4 large tomatoes, 6 medium, etc.)
1 egg for every 2 tomatoes (so, for 4 people, 2 eggs)
1 pepper*, chopped (optional)
1/2 medium onion, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 pats butter
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
Salt
Pepper

*cubanelle (or banana, or green, or pretty much any variety)

Place the olive oil, butter, onion and pepper in a large, deep frying pan. Cook for about 2 minutes on medium-high heat, or until onion is translucent and peppers are soft. Then add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix the eggs in a bowl, and pour into the pan (or, crack eggs directly into pan, then fish out bits of shell that fell in). Keep stirring periodically until the eggs are done: should only be 2 minutes or so, or it will overcook and get dry and rubbery, which is never a good thing.

Serve with toast to soak up the juicy tomato goodness. Add a small dish of black olives, a hunk of feta cheese, a few slices of lightly browned Turkish sausage (Sucuk), and you have a lovely, traditional Turkish breakfast!

Edited: Picture courtesy of Binnur's Turkish Cookbook.

Spicy Chicken Tian

A Tian is both the type of earthenware dish used in these recipes and the genre of mostly vegetable and rice-based dishes, similar to gratins or casseroles. I'm a fan of precision in language, so this is a tian.

This is also a super-easy, 20 minute dish. You can improvise on the ingredients, but here are the basics:

2 chicken breasts
1 (small) can of plain tomato sauce
1 small onion, diced (optional, if you're really in a hurry)
1 can of corn, NOT drained
1 cup of rice
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can stewed tomatoes, NOT drained)
1 tablespoon ground red pepper (or a few shakes red pepper flakes)
salt and pepper
paprika and parsley (optional)

If you have the time, you can brown the chicken breast on both sides in a pan. If not, just rinse and pat dry. Toss all ingredients except chicken into a deep frying pan or sauce pan, heat until bubbling. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Stir in a few shakes of dried parsley, if you have it. Lay the chicken breast on top of the rice and veggie mixture. Sprinkle salt, pepper ( I use red pepper for color), and paprika (if you have it) over the chicken. Cover with tin foil (aluminum foil) and bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes--until chicken is no longer pink inside.

For serving, I slice the chicken breast into strips and serve with a heaping ladleful of rice. This dish can easily serve 4 adults. My two year old and 10 month old gobbled it up last night!

You can add different spices for different flavors, just be judicious and add them at the end so they don't overpower the dish. You can also up the vegetable content by adding chopped squash, zucchini, eggplant, celery, carrots...any vegetable that bakes well.

Bon Appetit!

The Wonderful World of Tea

I love tea. I love almost every kind of tea. From a morning cup of English Breakfast with liberal amounts of milk and sugar to a light, crisp green tea so perfect with spicy foods, to a lemon-infusion (more properly called a tisane) as an after-dinner digestif, I love tea. Sadly, 99% of the tea widely available out there does nothing to inspire loyalty in tea-drinkers. Bagged tea is generally the crushed bits and leftover dust from tea leaves, and pales in comparison to tea made from actual tea leaves. Don't get me wrong, I like even bagged tea. But there's a whole world of tea out there to explore! It might take a while to get used to the subtler tastes and delicate blendings of tea if your palate is used to the full-on, super-bold, caffeine-enriched coffee from your ubiquitous corner coffee shop. I think we all know who I'm talking about here. As much as I may yearn for a Toffee-Nut Latte or a Mocha Frappacino, and I do yearn, believe me, I have come to the conclusion that the splurge is just not worth it--for my waistline or my bottom line.

Tea, on the other hand, is the ultimate do-it-at-home beverage. Home-brewed coffee may require an expensive espresso machine (or may taste like the acidic, burnt crud that builds up in the bottom of your Mr. Coffee) but tea, ah, tea! You can hardly screw up tea. You don't even need a teapot, if you're that much of a minimalist. (Although with these cute-yet-inexpensive teapots, why not have one around?)

Start with some loose leaf tea. You can go for the simple Twinings English Breakfast, if you like a medium-body black tea. This is a good one for beginners/former coffee addicts. You can buy a little tin of this in most grocery stores (in the tea section, in a nifty little red tin you can save and use to put other things in later, and think yourself quite cool).

Boil water in a teapot or in a regular old saucepan. Once water is boiling, either add tea leaves directly to pot, or put tea leaves into a one-cup strainer (see picture) that hangs on the side of your mug. Let tea steep for 3-8 minutes, depending on the type of tea and how strong you like your tea.

Add milk and sugar, if it's a black tea, honey if it's an herbal tea (a tisane, remember), nothing at all if it's a green or white tea, and lemon only if you're seriously misguided. Okay, kidding about the last one. Plenty of people enjoy lemon in their tea. Probably the same oddballs who salt their cream of wheat rather than adding brown sugar, but hey, to each their own!

Now sit back, preferably with a good book or the paper, turn on the telly for the wee ones, and enjoy!

Bake Your Own Bread

My dad baked bread on a semi-regular basis throughout my childhood. The whole process--from the mixing to the kneading (punching!) to eating fresh, hot bread--remains some of my best memories from childhood. I would love to share those memories with my children.

Ingredients

• 4 cups warm tap water (not hot)
• 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 packets or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon salt
  
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or oil
  
• 12 cups (approximately) white or whole wheat flour or a combination

My dad always used a huge metal bowl for his bread-making. Whisk together the water, dry milk powder and honey in the bowl. Add the yeast, sort of sprinkled on top. Slowly stir the yeast in, allowing it to dissolve into the water mixture. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to allow the yeast to foam up.

Add the salt, margarine or oil, and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until it gets too stiff and then start mixing with your hands. You want to get the flour throughly mixed in. When all the flour is mixed in, this is when the kneading begins. You can transfer the dough to a floured kitchen table or counter, but my dad always just left the dough in the big bowl for the kneading.

Kneading is really just working the dough to get it an even consistency and to make sure that there's enough flour so the dough isn't wet. If using a counter, sprinkle a cup or two of flour on a clean kneading surface, and turn out dough onto the flour. Traditionally, bakers used marble slabs for their baking, but modern granite countertops work just as well! If kneading in the bowl, just sprinkle flour on top of dough.

Lightly bring in edges of the dough with your fingertips, folding over on top. Every time you see a wet spot, add a little flour, and keep folding over the dough and turning it in on itself. Continue until there are no more major wet spots, adding small amounts of flour to prevent sticking either to the bowl/counter or to your hands. Do not add so much flour that the dough gets tough or hard.

Notice that the actual amount of flour added depends on the nature, grind, amount of glutin, etc. of your flour. Figuring out how much flour to add is the art of bread making: you kneed in flour until it is the correct consistency.

Coat the dough with oil on all sides, about 2 tablespoons of it, and put it back into the bowl. Cover it with a slightly damp towel and let it set in a warm place to rise for about an hour or so, or until it doubles in size. It may take longer to rise on cool days, or in the air conditioning.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down the dough by literally pressing your fist into the center of it. My dad used to make smiley faces by poking little indentations for eyes, a nose, and the mouth, and then my sister and I would gleefully punch the face. (No, we didn't grow up to be twisted, sick adults!)

Once you've punched the dough down for another 5-10 minutes, divide it into 4 equal lumps. Coax them into loaf shapes and place them into large (9 by 5-inch) well oiled loaf pans. If you don't have enough loaf pans, use casserole pans or cake pans, or whatever. Cover the dough with a cloth or more plastic wrap and let it rise again. It should take less time for the second rising. When the dough is risen up enough, bake the loaves at 350° for 40 minutes.

You can tell the dough is done if you turn it out of the pan and thump the bottom with your finger. It should make a dull hollow sound. If it doesn't sound hollow, put it back into the pan and cook it some more.

Now, some bread "experts" will tell you that bread has its best flavor when it is NOT freshly out of the oven. Perhaps this is true for some fancy breads, or baguettes. But one of my favorite tastes from childhood is eating the heel of a still-hot loaf of bread, slathered with butter and sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon and sugar. Enjoy!

At Work and Have 5 Minutes to Find Something Good for Dinner Tonight?

If you're like me, it's often in that hour or so before lunch that your thoughts turn to food. Since what I have for lunch is never very exciting, I usually find myself heading for the web to find something new and fun--and healthy and cheap--and preferably with ingredients I already have--to make for dinner. Here are some of my favorite places to go, and some other great recommendations I've gathered along the way.

Online Recipe Sources:

• Many rave reviews for the Six o'Clock Scramble, a weekly email newsletter that "provides five family-tested dinner recipes and a corresponding grocery list to its subscribers. Most take 30 minutes or less to prepare and have fewer than ten ingredients." Six months of menus and grocery list for $26.50.
• Along the same idea, menu-mailers from Leanne Ely at Saving Dinner. This one includes 6 recipes each week, and you can select a "theme" (vegetarian, frugal, crock pot, heart-healthy, etc.) for your recipes. Her site has lots of freebies as well. She doesn't provide the grocery list, and a 6 month subscription costs $17.95. A 3 month trial subscription is $9.95.
• For a free weekly newsletter, try Eating Well, which also has searchable recipe archives. Here's a sampler of their Seasonal Desserts. Okay, desserts aren't exactly the point here, but what's a good dinner without a good dessert to follow?
  
• Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook and online recipe archive is a good source for low-fat, often vegetarian recipes.
• My fave TV channel (or one of them!), The Food Network. If you're a fan of The Next Food Network Star, here's where to find the recipes they made this season.
  
• www.allrecipes.com is also a great site with good search capabilities--you can even list the ingredients you want to use, and the ones you don't want, and see what pops up. So, if you want a great quiche recipe but hate mushrooms, just list eggs as an ingredient you want and mushrooms as one you don't, and voila!
  
• Try the advanced search at www.cookinglight.com. They have zillons (okay, thousands at least) of delicious, healthy recipes.
• If you're looking for fancier fare, try Epicurious, the online home of Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. Or head over to the Epicurean recipe exchange--search by main ingredients here as well, always helpful.
  

Eat Your Greens! Some Recipes...

Along with the general advice to just throw whatever veggies you have in the fridge into on on top of whatever it is that you are cooking, here are a few easy recipes that work well with most any vegs you have on hand.

"HOMEMADE" PASTA SAUCE

You may think that making pasta sauce takes too long and is too much "cooking" for you. I beg to differ! The best thing about making your own sauce is that you really can't go wrong, no matter what you end up throwing in there.

• First, the meat. Optional. Cook a pound or two of ground beef or turkey in a large skillet until brown on the outside. Or, chop up some chicken breast into small squares and cook until done (when you press on the chicken with the back of a spoon, the juices should run clear, not pink or cloudy).
  
• Second, dice a whole bunch of veggies, whatever you have, and throw them in a pan with some olive oil to saute them just a bit. Or, toss in some frozen veggies (frozen spinach works great) or canned veggies. I usually do at least one onion
  
• Last, the sauce part--you can use plain tomato sauce or one of the jarred sauces (just watch to avoid the ones high in sodium). Heat and serve, that's all there is to it! If you want to get fancy, you can add fresh basil and parsley right before serving.

STIR FRY

Basically the same principal as above, only don't add tomato sauce. Instead, add some spice! I usually just throw some ground red pepper and salt on mine, or soy sauce, but there is a plethora of Asian-inspired sauces out there to experiment with and find what your family likes.

I also hear rave reviews for Trader Joe's frozen stir fry veggies, although I haven't tried them yet. I'm usually shorter on money than time, so I go for the cheaper but more labor-intensive option of just buying veggies separate. If you're more concerned about getting in and out of the kitchen quickly, or with having something on hand that just needs to be heated up, then these ready-to-eat bags are probably great.

QUESADILLAS

What could be easier than a tortilla, some cheese, and some veggies/meat? Grill up some chicken breasts, (or, to save more time, get a rotisserie chicken from the market). Layer a flour tortilla, cheddar cheese, chicken, peppers/onions (optional), another tortilla - and heat in a frying pan or George Forman grill like a grilled cheese sandwich. Easy, fast, neat enough to take in the car...it's the perfect food!

(Leave off the tortilla, add eggs, and you have a Veggie Frittata!)

PIZZA

Another very easy at-home fix that sneaks veggies into a kid-appealing package. Rumor has it that Trader Joe's sells the dough (plain or wheat) for $0.99, although I can't vouch for it personally. I can highly recommend Wegman's pizza dough, especially the whole wheat variety. It's in their prepared foods section (by the bakery) and it's only $2.50 (approx.) for a package, which for us makes 2 pizzas that serve 4 each. Toppings, like all the other recipes on this page, can be anything. Chicken and onion is a favorite in my family, but thinly sliced tomato, bell peppers, leftover slices of eggplant parmesan, olives, canned artichoke hearts, broccoli crowns, thinly sliced zucchini and other squash all work well.

Bon Appetit!

Veggie Frittata

Here's a sneaky way to get more veggies in your diet. Or, more likely, in your kid's diet. It's also wonderful for using up veggies that are teetering on the verge of going bad--because the vegetables are sauteed, it doesn't matter if they are slightly soft or cut in uneven chucks.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Put a little olive oil in a large skillet* and then put in whatever kind of cut-up veggies you'd like. I like tomatoes in slices, onions, pre-boiled potatoes, eggplant, corgettes, any kind of squash...pretty much anything works! You can also toss in some crumbled or sliced pre-cooked sausage. Brown everything for about 5 minutes.

*Cast iron, if you have it, works really well, as the skillet will go directly in the oven. Cast iron skillets in general are great for even cooking, and will even add minute amounts of iron to whatever is cooked in them, ensuring that eaters in your house get enough iron—which the body needs to produce red blood cells—as it seeps off the cookware into food in small amounts. See here and here.

In a large bowl, stir 6-8 eggs with ~1/2 cup of cheese (any kind, but I like mozzarella and swiss). The amount of eggs & cheese can be adjusted for how much food you want to make.

Pour the egg/cheese mixture into the frying pan and shake it a little to get the eggs distributed evenly over the veggies. Immediately place the frying pan directly into the oven for about 15 minutes.

Then transfer the frittata to a plate and cut it like a pizza. Ta-da!

Eggplant Parmesan

My Fave Eggplant Parm Recipe

I love this recipe, but I recognize that fried eggplant isn't the heathiest way to go...so I'll be trying a baked-only version sometime soon, and I'll let you know how it turns out!

Ingredients

Serves 8

• Olive oil, for baking sheets
• 3/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs (or the pre-spiced "Italian Breadcrumbs," and skip the next two ingredients)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• Salt and ground pepper
• 2 large eggplants, (2 1/2 pounds total), peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
• 3 cups (more or less) Tomato Sauce (can make your own or use store-bought)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (or mixed "Mexican" cheese--I've used it all)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a wide, shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs, spices if using, and season with salt and pepper.

Peel eggplants in stripes (this is to get rid of some of the chewy skin but not all of it, as the skin helps hold the eggplant together as it is fried. If you don't mind the chewiness, just wash the eggplant). Slice into 1/2 inch think rounds. I usually slice on the diagonal to get larger pieces of eggplant; you can still fry the small "leftover" pieces to eat while waiting for the rest to cook!

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat. (On the oil, use olive, vegetable, what have you. If you must, use spray oil, but recognize that the lovely golden crunchy exterior come from being well-fried!)

Dip an eggplant slice in breadcrumb mixture, coating well; slide into hot oil and fry for approximately 5 mins on each side, or until breadcrumb mixture browns. As you remove each slice, place on a baking sheet.

Once you've fried all the eggplant, top each round with a dollop (or more, to your taste) of tomato sauce and some cheese. Put into the 375 degree oven. Bake until golden brown on bottom, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn slices; continue baking until browned on other side, 20 to 25 minutes more.

Serve with pasta; add extra tomato sauce if desired or just sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the top.