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| One of these is NOT a keeper! |
The last installment of “That’s A Keeper” was from December
2016. How did so much time go by again in between posts? Two things
– I post a lot of ideas on my social media and thus forget to do a round-up of
sorts of the recipes and two, I’ve been a little cookbook obsessed. Just
a little. I used to vow that I wouldn’t
buy cookbooks – there are too many recipes online these days and I’m used to
moving so much I tend to not want to accumulate so much stuff (that you’d have
to pack up). Well, I’ve caved. I follow all these food bloggers
online and their recipes look and sound SO amazing, I started buying their
books. I started with HowSweetEats. She’s my girl crush if you
will. Her food combinations are out of this world. Never doubt when
she puts flavors together. They taste AH-MAZ-ING! And since
then, it’s just kind of snowballed. I follow too many people to tell ya - but the truth is it’s where I find my inspiration and aim to find the recipes
that are “keepers” – because again, they are not all ones you’d want to
repeat. Remember, I do the work so you don’t have to. Here are the
latest recipes that are keepers:
This recipe is good for brunch, breakfast, or brinner (breakfast
for dinner – we all do it sometimes and eggs are my go to for a quick and easy
dinner). I love Real Simple’s recipes because they are just that, Real
Simple (pun intended). The hardest part of this recipe is getting the
stems off of the kale – if you have kids you can always make them do
that. Sauté the onion and the kale for a few minutes. Whisk
together the egg mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Couldn’t be
simpler. Now if only it didn’t require turning on the oven in this summer
heat.
Make this, thank me later. Yeah, it’s that good. And
not only is it that good but it’s quite versatile. Whip up a batch
and use it as a drizzle on almost anything. Turkey burger, caprese salad,
grilled corn – I mean I always joke that it’s all about the sauce, but this is
the truth. I adjusted and didn’t use as much of the red pepper
flakes. Call me a wimp when it comes to spicy, but I used just ¼ teaspoon
and it had just the right amount of kick – remember you’re also drizzling it
over other food items, you’re not just straight drinking it from the
spoon. I mean you might want to and I won’t judge, but its best when
paired with all the food items you can think of! Perfect summer sauce!
Many
might find this hard to believe, but I have never liked bacon. Yes, I am a vegetarian and I know that might
make sense, but I mean I have never liked
bacon. Never. Take that in for a minute.
More recently I have started including seafood, which would technically
makes me a pescatarian, but I’m not into the whole classifying me as to what I
eat thing. When it comes to meats – red
meat, chicken, turkey, pork – I have a distinct memory of not liking the
texture of the meats. I would chew the
meat as a child over and over and over and then eventually spit it out. I just didn’t like it. Period.
And bacon? Forget it, unless it
was crispy I wouldn’t even touch the stuff.
These days there’s always a way to mimic an animal based food as a
vegetarian/vegan option. Enter coconut
bacon. I didn’t try the coconut bacon to
include because I liked bacon, I was trying it to see if I simply liked the
crunch added in recipes where bacon was called for – because let’s be real,
there are a TON of people out there that are bacon aficionados. The coconut bacon did provide crunch to many
recipes. I even found
myself just munching on the coconut when I needed something salty – it’s hot
and humid as all get out here in Miami these past few days and I think I need
to make some coconut bacon, STAT! There
are many recipes out there for coconut “bacon” so find the mix of flavors you
like and have available. This is my
go-to recipe (and I actually leave the liquid smoke out to keep it even
simpler). My only recommendation is to
keep an eye on it – it can go from crisp to burnt REAL quick.
While
I don’t love bacon, I do love cheese. I
mean, I can overdo the cheese. It just
tastes so good. However, I do have heart disease in my family
and am always looking for ways to transform any nut into a “cheese”. I won’t go so far to say as that they taste
as good as cheese does, it does at least serve as a substitute and as a way
that I can include to help me reduce the frequency of my cheese intake. You can take virtually any nut and transform
it into “cheese”. I typically will use
cashews or almonds, but I upped my game and used macadamia nuts this time. (Yes, I know macadamia nuts are expensive, so
try a cashew or almond the first go-around).
The flavor is delish. I
definitely need to try the macadamia nuts as a version of a ricotta cheese next
time. So many possibilities.
I
get a magazine in the mail as a health care professional called Diabetes
Self-Management. I always peruse the
magazine to read some of the articles and keep up on the latest information in
regards to diabetes. I admittedly have
never tried a recipe…until now. This
recipe simply sounded amazing. A mix of
bulgur, mushrooms, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, & cheese? Okay, maybe I’m geeking out as a vegetarian,
but the combination sounded like a perfect mix for a vegetarian “meatball” and
well, I’ve been trying to find one that’s a keeper. There have been some recipes that claim to
stick together and taste good, but this one lives up to the hype. I roasted a spaghetti squash to go along with
this recipe (as the “meatballs” already contained my carbohydrates) and use as
the spaghetti noodles and believe me when I say so darn good! I gave a sampling to a few people as my
quality assurance and they too loved the flavor. Keeper status for sure.
I have never made homemade sushi nor do I ever intend to take the time to make
homemade sushi…but this! Just call it
deconstructed sushi if you will. All the
components of what would be sushi, the flavor of sushi, and without having to
roll it into what would look like sushi.
Score! I broiled my salmon ahead
of time to have ready for the week. The
best part about this recipe is you don’t have to warm it up (sushi is cold,
right?) so that means I won’t make enemies with my co-workers – no-one will
like you if you heat up smelly food in the microwave. Don’t do that to your co-workers. This bowl will save you and you can have your
fix of sushi all while saving time.
This
recipe comes from Williams Sonoma. I use
their balsamic vinaigrette recipe to this day and should’ve thought to reference
their website for other recipes before now.
Why I haven’t before today I’m not sure why. But no need to question this, but rather know
to keep going back and using some of their recipes. Phenomenal.
Their description of this recipe is advertising their versatile pan:
The versatile fry pan does triple duty here
in this springtime weeknight meal. First it’s used for sautéing the asparagus,
then for steaming the fish, and finally for simmering the sauce. Serve with
steamed fingerling potatoes tossed with butter and parsley, and pour a light,
crisp white wine to serve alongside.
And I didn’t even
realize it when I was making it, it was a one-pan dinner. Love that!
Less dishes, sign me up! And
since they were giving instructions I decided to use just one more pan and
roast up some potatoes. I might have
even paired it with a glass of white wine.
I follow directions and I’m glad I did.
Perfect combination and balanced dinner. (If you’re thinking halibut is
too pricey, simply use an alternative fish like cod, haddock, and/or sea bass).
There’s
a lot of talk recently on social media using the terminology “naturally
sweetened” when referring to the use of maple syrup, agave, molasses, and
honey. I hate to break this to you, but
even if they want to reference it as “naturally sweetened” as opposed to using
sugar, it is still added sugar. So,
while it might be a tad healthier (because of different nutrients it might
provide) you still have to be careful of the quantity used when added into a
recipe. There is definite interest in
lessening the amount of sugar (in whatever form) in our diets. And while desserts are meant to be enjoyed, I
think in general people are eating desserts way too frequently and that is
where the actual problem lies. We need
to be conscience of the added sugar and where it sneaks in – this could be a
whole blog post on just added sugar by the way – so I’ll stop my soapbox for
now to simply say, that this recipe is actually
naturally sweetened with dates and has NO ADDED SUGAR. I repeat NO ADDED SUGAR. And that’s the honest truth (yes dates are
quite dense in their sugar content, however it is just this dried fruit as a sweetener throughout the recipe). I have gotten used to using no added sugar throughout
my day, through my coffee, through my yogurt, and in my nut butter toast in the
morning. So when it comes to desserts I
do tend to splurge occasionally. I did
start the hashtag #thisdietitianeatsdesserts #inmoderation. And I do.
But I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this little gem that
literally only used dates to sweeten each portion of the bar. The almond butter caramel is so freaking
delicious I wanted to eat it from the spoon.
If you’re used to super sweet desserts, this one is not. I found it to be delectable and fit the bill
as dessert. You might think it could
pass as breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack, and it could. It’s just that nutrient dense good.
So
there you have it. My latest round-up of recipes that have made
it to “keeper” status. I’ve found the
more and more that I trial recipes the pickier I become. I think that’s a good thing – for all my
readers out there, you’re only getting the best of the best! If you try some of these recipes, let me
know. I hope they make it to “keeper”
status for you too!
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