Dinner for One: Baked Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salsa

My husband travels a lot for business so I've had to learn to adjust not only my dinner preparation but also my shopping to plan my meals for one.  Lucky for me, he is a much pickier eater than I am so his business trips are a great excuse for me to try out some new recipes and to eat a bit healthier (my diet consists of mostly vegetables when he's on the road).  Today I tired a quick and tasty new recipe inspired by Eatingwell.com but with a few modifications to make it for just one and to incorporate the ingredients that I already had at home.  Here's the basic recipe.

Baked Sweet Potato with Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato
1 can black beans rinsed
As much prepared salsa as you would like (you can also substitute canned or fresh tomatoes)
1 tsp cumin

Directions:

1.  Wash the sweet potato and puncture several times with a fork
2.  Microwave on high for about 10 minutes or until the sweet potato is cooked all the way through
3.  Drain and rinse the black beans
4.  Mix black beans in a bowl with salsa, cumin and any other spices or vegetables that you would like
5.  Remove the sweet potato from the microwave and allow to cool 
6.  Microwave the bean mixture for 3 minutes
7.  Cut open the potato and peel if desired.  Top with salsa and serve.  

This was a great, tasty and easy to prepare dinner that I will definitely try again.  It was even better followed up by some soy ice cream :).  Enjoy and happy eating!

Food Safety: Reusable Grocery Bags

Many of us have recently changed our grocery routine to include using reusable canvas or cloth grocery bags.  While this is great for the environment, it can be hazardous to our health if we don't follow some basic food safety principles.  Here are two tips to follow to not only help save the environment but to keep your food safe as well. 

 

1.  Wash the reusable bags in the washing machine with soap and water after each use.  All kinds of food goes in and out of these bags and cross contamination is a definite risk.  It may seem excessive but it's a simple step to take to ensure your families health. 


2.  If you purchase meat ask the clerk to place it in separate plastic bags.  Raw meat can carry bacteria and other contaminates that will be removed in the cooking process but can easily cross contaminate other foods.  Many stores actually have a policy not to place the meats in the canvas bags or at the very least insist on wrapping them in a plastic bag before putting them in the canvas bag. 

Finally one addition food safety tip for grocery shopping:

3.  Start your shopping trip with ready to cook, packaged shelf stable foods and finish with the perishable foods like meat, dairy and fresh fruit and vegetables.  Many of these products are safest at refrigerated temperatures and starting with them items can raise the temperatures above the safe zone. 

Personalized Recipe Books

I love trying new recipes whether it's borrowing one from a friend, trying out one that I saw on Food Network or just stumbling across one online I'm constantly trying something.  The problem is that months later, when I want to recreate that meal, I can't ever seem to find the recipe.  So, I purchased a personalized recipe book (I found mine in the journal section of Barnes and Noble) and I have gotten into the habit of handwriting all of my favorite, use again recipes on the index cards. 

In order for this to work you have to do it right away or you will forget and that recipe will just get lost.  Today I made my favorite pancake recipe and wanted to make sure that I didn't have to spend another 15 minutes some day down the road searching for the recipe.  So, while my pancakes were cooling, I jotted down the recipe on an index card and filled it away in my own personal book. 

These books are great tools to declutter your kitchen and make great gift ideas. 

Add some fruit to your water!

With all the heat that we've had this summer I'm constantly thirsty.  I've always been a big water drinker but lately I've been wanting a little bit of something "extra" flavor-wise in my beverages.  So, I took a cue from my gym and started filling a pitcher with water and adding some sliced up citrus (limes are my favorite but oranges, lemons or even cucumbers work too) before putting it in my refrigerator. 

This way I always have a refreshing, no calorie beverage that is easily accessible.  I love it!  You can also freeze the fruit cubes in either an ice cub try or just place the pieces of fruit in a freezer bag and use the frozen pieces as your ice cubes.  Yummy, and it's way lower in calories than juice or soda. 

Another Sneaky Way to Get your Veggies...Stir Fry!

I love stir fries.  They are a great way to work some extra veggies into your diet and can be quite healthy if made from scratch at home.  This recipe from the Food Network is one of my favorites.  Personally, I like to reduce the amount of chicken and increase the veggies.  This allows me to stretch a pound of chicken over two meals throughout the week which saves money and cuts down on the amount of leftovers.  Serve over brown rice and with any additional veggies that you would like to add.  I personally love to add some shelled edamame.  My husband suggested mushrooms.  Any stir fry friendly vegetable like snowpeas, water chestnuts, carrots, broccoli or baby corn would also be good.  Today I was out of chicken stock so I substituted chicken broth.  Enjoy!


Asian Barbeque Chicken
Serves 4

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or tenders, diced or thinly sliced
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 chile pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, grated or minced
• 2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced or grated
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced or diced
• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons tamari sauce or low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts
• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
• Chopped cilantro, for garnish, optional

For the chicken: Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. When the oil smokes, add the chicken and season with black pepper. Brown evenly, and then remove to a plate. To the skillet, add chile, ginger, garlic, and red bell pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan. Stir together the hoisin, marmalade, tamari and remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock. Add to the pan and reduce over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the peanuts and scallions. Turn off the heat.
Serve the chicken over rice in shallow bowls and garnish with cilantro, if desired

Tip: Use Recipes as Inspiration, Texas Caviar

One of my favorite cooking "adventures" involves selecting a recipe as inspiration and tweaking it based on what ingredients I have in my pantry.


For instance, I made Texas Caviar for our annual fourth of July recipe.  My experience with Texas Caviar began with a recipe I found online that I wanted to make as an appetizer for a pot luck.  It is now my signature dish and is never the same each time I make it.  For those of you who don't know, Texas Caviar is a vegetable based appetizer made with peppers, onions, spices and some kind of acid.  The recipe I started with called for green bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, black beans and black eyed peas with a ton of italian dressing.

My rendition involves whatever vegetables and spices are readily available, I still use the italian dressing but just a few squirts to help bind the vegetables.  You can also used citrus juices.  This week I used green, red and orange bell peppers (we love bell peppers in my house and they are always on hand), jalapenos, tomatoes, green onions, black beans and black eyed peas. I also added garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and cayenne pepper.  In the past, I've been known to throw  in some white onions, corn or even shelled edamame.  Avocado would be great as well.  The recipe does involve a lot of chopping because the vegetables need to be in bite size pieces so they can be served with pita chips, crackers or even celery sticks.


But, there are a few "shortcuts" that you can.  I use canned tomatoes and black beans and frozen corn and black eyed peas to speed up my preparation time.




Here's the finished product and it was a big hit!

What form is your fruit?

I'm a bit picky when it comes to fruit.  I love fresh watermelon, pineapple and granny smith apples but the hard part about whole, fresh fruit is that it usually requires some preparation, you have to be good at what your picking (choosing a good watermelon is an art!) and some of it goes bad pretty quickly.  That's why I've learned to explore some other creative options when it comes to incorporating fruit in my daily diet. 

For instance, I've never been a big banana fan.  For me it's more of a texture thing and not so much a taste issue.  So, I've learned to alter the way I eat my bananas.  I blend them up in a fruit smoothie, with some almond milk or mash some up in my homemade muffins or pancakes.  This way, I sneak in that extra fruit serving.  The same goes for cranberries....I would never eat a handful but I recently discovered that I LOVE craisins (like a raisin but made from cranberries).  The great thing about dried fruit is it tends to taste a bit sweeter than the whole option, does not require any preparation and doesn't go bad as quickly.  Many markets like Sunflower, Sprouts and the farmers markets sell all kinds of dried fruit options like pineapple, kiwi, mango, etc.  Kids also often really like dried fruit because it's like a fruit snack.  So, if you are looking for ways to get some more fruit into your diet, try adding some to your favorite recipes or give dried fruit a try.