The week
before Thanksgiving never ceases to amaze me. The days are shorter while the To
Do list grows more lengthy by the minute. The last thing we need is our waist lines expanding due to
the stress of it all. To help combat the holiday bloat eating light in between grub fests is essential. Cooking with an assortment
of vegetables and grains is fun, healthy and can be scrumptious.
Two delightfully
healthy dishes have found their way in to my belly this week, and they have a
lot in common. They are comforting, warm and hearty without being laden with
calories. Think about making them in between gorge sessions. Or enjoy them post-Thanksgiving
when we are all joyfully unbuttoning our pants while secretly pleading to the scale gods
to keep the damage to a minimum.
Vegetable Tian
Contains Dairy and Gluten
Contains Dairy and Gluten
Ingredients:
1 tbsp.
extra-virgin olive oil
1 zucchini,
thinly sliced
1 yellow
squash, thinly sliced
1 tomato,
thinly sliced
1 bunch of
asparagus, trimmed
1 small red
onion, sliced in half moons
1 tsp. sea
salt
Freshly
ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp.
Herbes de Provence
1 tbsp.
fresh rosemary
¼ cup grated
parmesan
6 Carr’s whole
wheat crackers, crushed (or your favorite cracker will do. I like the sweetness
this brings to the dish)
Directions:
Preheat oven
to 376 degrees. Use extra virgin olive oil to coat a small tian dish. At the
bottom of the dish, spread out a layer of asparagus stems (use the tender part
of the stems for this and keep the tips to create the design later). Season
this layer with salt, pepper, olive oil and Herbes de Provence. Arrange the
vegetables on top of this layer in overlapping circles, alternating zucchini,
squash, tomatoes, onion and asparagus. Once the vegetables are arranged,
sprinkle this layer with salt, pepper, olive oil and Herbes de Provence. In a
food processor, quickly pulsate crackers, parmesan and fresh rosemary until
coarsely ground. Generously cover the vegetables with the crumb mixture. Bake 30
minutes covered, then uncover and bake for another 20 minutes until vegetables
are tender and the top is brown.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp.
olive oil
1 cup quinoa
16 oz extra
lean ground chicken breast
6 mini sweet
red peppers, thinly sliced
2 tsp.
cilantro
1 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp.
white wine vinegar
4 cloves of
garlic, minced
1 15 oz can
dark kidney beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup
pickled jalapenos, finely diced
½ cup salsa
4 scallions,
thinly sliced
Juice and
zest of one lime
Salt and
pepper, to taste
Cook quinoa
based on package directions. In a large bowl, marinate the kidney beans in the
white wine vinegar while you prepare the rest of the dish.
In a large
skillet on medium heat, brown the ground chicken breaking it in to small pieces
with a wooden spoon. Add the sweet red pepper, garlic, cilantro, cumin, salt, and
pepper stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked through and the
vegetables are tender. Take off the heat; add the zest and juice of one lime.
Combine the
quinoa, beans, chicken mixture, pickled jalapenos, scallions and salsa
together. Allow the salad to sit for at least 15 minutes so the flavors combine.
Mexican quinoa salad is great hot or cold. Top with scallions, salsa or sour
cream for garnish.
Since I am going to be the Thanksgiving visitor instead of the host this year, it will be much easier not to stuff myself. Both of these dishes are great light meals, but of course since I am in Texas the second one is the more intriguing. The best thing about these is that they are vastly different from the Thanksgiving meal..which is a good thing for people that are dreading all the leftovers. They can freeze that and prepare these two tasty meals instead. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to do the same thing and go easy on my carbs as I fully plan to stuff myself full of potatoes. I am really attracted to that tian!
ReplyDeleteTwo perfect dishes before the holiday pig out next week! The tian looks especially tempting~
ReplyDeleteBoth these dishes look like winners to me. I know what you mean about the days getting shorter. I hate when the time falls back and it gets dark by 5pm. :(
ReplyDeleteLove, love, LOVE these dishes! So beautiful and what a creative quinoa salad!
ReplyDeleteGirl, you don't know how timely these are. I bet you $10 we have both of these this weekend. We're in need of some yummy, HEALTHY dishes :) Looks great
ReplyDeleteAnything with veg is those that we simply love at home and both of the recipes will be the types we enjoy, very nice and tempting.
ReplyDeleteTian is new to me - I can't wait to try it out. It is such a versatile concept!
ReplyDeleteYou described my week to a "t"! Your vegetables have me really excited! I might just try to make that for dinner tonight. I eat light most days and limit indulgences to very very small portions or very rare...I do pretty good with an occasional slip-up but hey, we only live once! :)
ReplyDeleteI discovered quinoa last summer and I was quite pleasantly surprised! I love the taste and the texture. This would be great for a side or even lunch!
Thank you for sharing and for stopping by to say hi! I am now following you on Twitter too!
I like the idea of subbing crushed cracker for bread crumbs in the tian!
ReplyDeleteNow this is one heck of a beatuful dish! WOW!
ReplyDeleteThey both look deliciously interesting! Would love to try the Vegetable Tian!
ReplyDeleteI must make that Mexican quinoa salad!
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing. These both look incredible. I love them both but am partial to the tian. You are a rock star!
ReplyDeleteI wish we could have a pot luck and you could bring these....
ReplyDeleteProper Mediterranean veg! Love it. Warming and wintry.
ReplyDeletePappaRazzi here: News Flash! Grubarazzi is coming home for Bird Day. We're very excited and you should be too. She better be eating nothing but vegetables and quinoa because I just came back from Thanksgiving shopping and I think I bought one vegetable, haricots verts. We're taking some risks, going out on the Recipe Limb if you will, with two turkeys. One with an original untested Apple Cider injection Applewood smoked recipe ...hope it turns out, it's tasting good in my brain. In the Grubarazzi culinary spirit we will be taking some of those quick-out-of-a-can recipes and making them from scratch (crispy onions in a can, BaH!), so watch your Twitter over the holidays!
ReplyDelete