delicioustown

i LOVE stuffed mushrooms.  i am a grazer. by that i mean that i really love to open the fridge and eat little bites all day.  i have to stock good food in my fridge so i don't end up with a mack truck on my belly.  and cut up veggies does not do it for me most of the time. 'oh yeah just snack on carrots and celery and peppers' BORING.  so i decided to start making healthy appetizers that i could just reach in the fridge and mow on without cooking.

here is my healthier spin on stuffed mushrooms, in lieu of traditional  bread crumbs they are stuffed with zucchini, almond meal and ezekiel bread crumbs.  with this recipe as a base you can do anything from here.  add crab, top with mozzerella if you don't care about calories.......

{ezekiel bread is a flourless bread made from sprouted grains}

one package of white button mushrooms or baby bellas
olive oil
2-3 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
2-3 tbsp of chopped onion
1 small or half of a large zucchini
1/2 - 3/4 cup of almond meal
1 broken up slice of ezekiel bread you can omit this for a total grain free version
salt or optional parmesan cheese
{i prefer locatelli over everything!} - the cheese is salty, use one or the other

set oven for bake at 350.  clean mushrooms out to accommodate stuffing, spray a little olive oil in a casserole dish and on the outsides of the mushrooms {get a misto it's the best} set aside.  on a med/low heat pour 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a saute pan, add chopped zucchini & onions, cook until soft, add the almond meal, bread and garlic.  at this point you can add more almond meal if you'd like it to be more crummy of a stuffing.  cook until the almond meal and breadcrumbs start getting toasty.  turn off heat and add parm cheese to taste {or salt}.  stuff the mushrooms with the delicious mixture, any leftover just sprinkle in the dish around the mushrooms - it won't go to waste trust me!  bake until mushrooms are cooked.  i can't remember how long but they will be brown and mushy and juicy.

delicioustown

it's recipe time!  i am half italian, half polish and trying to eat healthier.  so here is a recipe for a healthy, hearty tomato sauce, i added cannellini beans to make it a little more "meaty" without the meat.  i am trying to have more meals without meat and white starches right now so i also put the sauce on top of baby spinach.  you can leave out the beans, and zucchini for my traditional tomato sauce and serve over pasta too.

you may have run into some italians who claim their mom or they make the best tomato sauce or gravy (if there is meat in it) ever and everyone else's sucks.  i learned early on that this is not a battle worth fighting, i am not one of those italians.  i enjoy all types of sauces for what they are and i love my sauce in quiet contentment.  maybe you will too.

you need:
1 lg can whole peeled tomatoes (has to be whole peeled to be my sauce, it's my fav way to make sauce)
olive oil
1 small yellow onion or 1/2 big one
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic
salt
pepper
dried oregano
1 zucchini
1 can of cannellini beans
baby spinach

put about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sautee pan over a med low heat.  while it gets warm, chop up your onions and zucchini and add to the pan, if it sizzles too much lower heat you don't want the onions to brown you want them to sweat.  chop up garlic wait for the onions get transparent, add salt, pepper and dried oregano to taste - i like about a tablespoon of oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  toss in the garlic, now take the tomatoes and you can toss the whole can into
a bowl and crush the tomatoes with your hands keep all the juice in the bowl to or you can pull out each tomato from the can and cut them up, again, keep the juice.
toss all of that in - fill the can halfway with water and put that in too.  put the flame on low cook down for about 20 min.  see how thick it is, depends on how you like it you can cook it down more.  taste for seasonings and add more salt, pepper or oregano if you like, add about two cups of beans depending on how "beany" you want it.  turn off the heat after you warm the beans for a couple minutes.  spoon over baby spinach and some whole grain toast.

it's so filling and fresh tasting!!!

delicious town

in my ever lasting crusade to stay healthy and lose a few lb's i try to come up with belly filling low-cal dishes. salads are a fun but mostly an unbearably unsatisfying meal for a true food addict such as myself. (i usually fill them with hearty additions.) with the days getting colder i have a need to bury my face in something substantial. i have no picture of this dish - sorry i know i am a super visual person so i'm sure this is truly annoying.

step in my recipe for vegetable stew:

butternut squash (i bought the pre-cut version from trader joe's)
onion - 1 whole small or half a large
carrots - 3 or 4
celery - 3 or 4 use the heart of celery with the leaves this has the flavor!
zucchini - 1
olive oil - enough to coat bottom of pot
salt - 1/2 tsp
pepper - 1/2 tsp
oregano - 1 tsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
adobo (non msg version) - 1/2 tsp
paprika - couple pinches

very simple:
heat the olive oil on medium in a large pot - toss in butternut squash get a quick braise - chop up and add onions, carrots, celery and zucchini - sautee together until everything softens a little and add the spices - cook a little more and cover the veggies with water with until a little bit of the veggies are still peeking out - cover and simmer the pot for a half hour or until the stew thickens up and the veggies are all soft - serve and be happy.