Tag: healthy

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Green and Black Noodles with a “Cheese” Sauce

This was my first real foray into making a nut-based cheese sauce but I thought I’d give it a shot. Nutritional yeast is kinda weird but REALLY works, it’s crazy. Also I wanted to use up the rest of my squid ink pasta and also use zucchini noodles so I just went ahead and combined them here. You can definitely use one or the other but you gotta admit, it does look pretty cool with two colors of noodles.

{serves 2}

  • 2 cup leftover squid ink noodles (optional)
  • 2* cups zucchini noodles (zoodles, if you will) *[FOUR cups of zoodles if not using leftover squid ink pasta]
  • 1 generous dash of everything but the bagel spice (trader joe’s)
  • 8 oz crimini mushrooms sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1/2 cup each; cashews and almonds
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tbsp sauerkraut juice (literally the juice in the sauerkraut jar)
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 dash himalayan salt
  1. soak cashews and almonds in hot water for an hour
  2. in a food processor blend nuts, and following 5 ingredients until smooth, add water if too dry
  3. in a big skillet or wok heat the olive oil and add the everything bagel seasoning over medium heat, add mushrooms, cook for about 3 minutes with lid on
  4. add zucchini noodles and coconut aminos and cook for an additional 5 minutes, you can do this in batches if it’s too much for your pan, stir occasionally
  5. then add other noodles (already cooked), if using
  6. spoon the sauce over the noodles and mushrooms and stir until combined
  7. garnish with basil or chili flakes or both, done!

© 2018, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Matcha Spinach Protein Bowl

I love making smoothie bowls for breakfast because they’re so versatile and tasty! They also pack a ton of nutrients and don’t make me feel heavy or gross throughout the first half of my day. I always use Vega Vegan Protein Powder as a base. I’ve tried whey based ones and my stomach does not agree with them and they are usually way too sweet.  Vega also has antioxidants and greens and no artificial additives or sweeteners, so basically it’s the best! I get the vanilla one at Costco and it’s super high quality and not too expensive. I usually use matcha and frozen bananas as well but from there the recipe varies day to day! It’s always nice to add a seed or nut on top to make them crunchy and the ginger is a nice touch.

{serves one}

      • 1 scoop Vega Vanilla Protein Powder (I usually don’t fill it up all the way because the scoops are HUUUGE)
      • 1/4 tsp matcha powder (heaping)
      • 1/4 tsp ground dried ginger
      • 1/2 frozen banana
      • 1 handful frozen spinach

to top:

  • drizzle almond butter
  • 1/4 tsp crushed hemp seeds (or chia or flax)
  •  fresh fruit (whatever you have, I used raspberries, blueberries, passionfruit and melon)
  1. blend first 5 ingredients, you may need to add a little water if it’s too dry, you can add ice or more frozen banana to thicken it up if it gets too runny
  2. pour into a bowl, top with last three ingredients

© 2018, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Healthy Summer Grain Bowl

It’s been sooo hot (or at least soo hot for us coastal San Diegans) so I’ve been trying to come up with sneaky ways to avoid turning on the oven at all and still having protein/veggie rich meals. I love love love smoked fish but it can sometimes be pricy. This peppered rainbow trout from Trader Joe’s is the bomb and is also only $4 for a pack that has 4 servings. Thanks Trader Joe’s! Another shoutout to my dad’s friend, Tom, for supplying us with a steady source of avocados from his tree!

{serves 2}

  • 2 servings of peppered rainbow trout or your favorite kind of smoked/cured fish
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 handfuls lettuce
  • 1 cup bulgur (uncooked)
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 small/medium avocado
  • 5 slices cucumber
  • 1 can garbanzo beans
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 splash red wine vin
  • salt/pepper
  • olive oil
  1. soft boil eggs
  2. cook bulgur according to package instructions
  3. drain garbanzos and rinse, then move to a medium sized bowl and stir in dijon, red wine vin and salt and pepper to taste
  4. halve and slice tomato and avocado, slice cucumbers
  5. assemble bowls: a handful lettuce each, a spoonful of bulgur and garbanzos in each, distribute avo, tomato and cucumber evenly
  6. peel eggs and place in each bowl and lastly don’t forget the fish!
  7. dress with olive oil and more red wine vinegar

© 2018, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Banana Ice Cream with Date Coconut Caramel

I’d been wary of banana “nice cream” for a while but I decided to give it a try the other night when I had an ice cream hankering but no ice cream. It turned out pretty good! It’s all about the toppings though.

{serves 1}

  • 1 banana, sliced and frozen
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp date coconut caramel
  • dark chocolate chunks
  1. take bananas out of the freezer and give them a quick minute to soften slightly
  2. in a small food processor blend bananas and vanilla extract
  3. blend until they reach a smooth soft serve kind of consistency but not too much, you don’t want it to turn into a smoothie!
  4. then scoop out and top with your favorite toppings! mine are date caramel and chocolate chunks ATM

© 2018, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Spring Orzo w/ Pesto, Favas and Asparagus

 

We planted fava beans in the beginning of the year and with our all of the rain we got they’ve taken off and grown over my head! They are super beautiful plants and these favas are so incredibly green, I just keep marveling at them. They are also available in lots of grocery stores and farmers markets now if you don’t happen to have a forrest of them in your front yard. This is a light pasta dish that we created to focus on the spring flavors.

{serves 4}

  • 1 pack (1 lb) whole grain orzo (or reg. orzo)
  • 8 cups chicken broth (or a mix of water and broth)
  • 1 1/2 cups fava beans (pods removed, with outer bean layer still on)
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream (optional)
  • 2 tbsp julienned mint
  • asparagus tips (remaining from pesto)
  • more asiago for serving

for the pesto:

  • 1/4 cup mint
  • juice of 1 1/2 lemons and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 lg garlic clove
  • 1/2 cup pistachios
  • 5 fat asparagus spears (cut off tips)
  • 2 tbsp grated asiago
  • tbsp olive oil
  1.  cook the orzo according to package instructions
  2. meanwhile remove fava beans from pods and boil for 30 seconds then move to an ice bath, let sit for 2 minutes then remove with a strainer and use your fingernails or a knife to peel outer layer off, use the same water to blanch asparagus for 1 minute, transfer them to an ice bath as well
  3. blend all pesto ingredients together in a food processor
  4. when the orzo is pretty cooled off stir the cream (if using) and pesto in
  5. serve and garnish with asparagus tips, fava beans, mint and more cheese!

 

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Niçoise Inspired Salad

 

My mom got me these sardines as a little treat. Because those are the kinds of gifts we give each other 🙂 . So I made this niçoise inspired salad. It’s not really a niçoise because it doesn’t have olives, green beans or tuna but I replaced those with capers, cornichons, beets and sardines.

{serves 1}

  • 2 handfuls of greens
  • 1 soft boiled egg
  • 4 cornichons
  • spoonful of capers
  • 3 sardines packed in olive oil (we love matiz)
  • 4 small tomatoes
  • a couple of slices of leftover beet terrine (or just roasted beets and goat cheese)
  1. soft boil the egg (or a couple to have on hand); my theory is to boil a small pot of water then turn it down to a simmer, add the eggs gently and cook for 7 minutes then remove w/ a slotted spoon and put in an ice bath for a few minutes
  2. in a bowl put washed greens, sardines, sliced beet terrine (or simply slices of beets and crumbles of goat cheese)
  3. top with capers, cornichons and tomatoes and dig in!

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Beet and Herbed Goat’s Cheese Terrine

My cousin brought a Hemsley & Hemsley cookbook over to my grandparents for me to look at and I was very excited by a lot of the recipes and gorgeous photos but this one really jumped out. It’s so striking and also all ingredients that I love. We mixed up the herbs and quantities a bit.

{makes 8 servings, as a side dish}

  • 2 red beets
  • 2 golden beets
  • 1 log of goat’s cheese
  • 3 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 tbsp chives
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • parsley (for garnish)
  1. pre-heat oven to 350° F
  2. roast beets in foil on a baking sheet for about an hour (unless they are super big you might need more time)
  3. remove from oven and let cool
  4. soften goat cheese and chop herbs finely and mix herbs into the goat cheese in a large bowl
  5. when beets are cooled, peel them and slice them in varied thicknesses (on the thinner side)
  6. line a 9″ by 4″ loaf pan with parchment then start layering beets and goat cheese mixture starting w/ a layer of beets, we did all red first then gold then red and so on; use less goat cheese than you think you need, I rolled it into small balls placed each one on top of a beet round then smoothed it out to cover w/ my fingers
  7. when finished layering all the ingredients, place a weight on top (we used a rubber banded down beer can and a small brick) but whatever works you know
  8. then leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours

~original recipe from Hemsley & Hemsley~

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Decadence of the Halibut

My uncle went on a fishing trip last summer and now he’s trying to get rid of all his fish. I guess he’s had enough. But we’re not complaining, my mom saw him a couple of days ago and he gave us some halibut, black cod AND salmon. Very exciting. We decided to go with halibut tonight but wanted to do something special with it so we gave it the fancy treatment that we usually do with scallops.

{serves 3}

  • 1 lb halibut
  • 1/4 capers
  • 1 pat butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • juice of 1 meyer lemon
  • parsley (as garnish)
  • splash of white wine
  1. pre-heat oven to 400º F
  2. in an oven-safe skillet, over medium heat, heat the butter and olive oil, then add capers to fry up a bit
  3. push the capers to the side of the pan and place the halibut in the pan over medium low heat, cook for 3 minutes before flipping
  4. pour a splash of white wine in the pan and cover with lid
  5. remove lid and squeeze juice of 1/2 of meyer lemon into the pan
  6. then move to the oven and bake for 7 minutes (w/ lid on)
  7. then squeeze the rest of the lemon juice in, plate w/ butter and capers on top and garnish with parsley and enjoy with a nice white wine

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Creamy Goat Cheese Mushroom Sauce over Spaghetti Squash

I was always kind of wary of the whole spaghetti squash as a replacement for pasta thing but once you get over the fact that it’s not going to taste like pasta you start to appreciate how much lighter a vehicle it is. Another little trick that I’ve grown to love is using a tad bit of goat cheese to make a creamy sauce without the heaviness of cream or sour cream. Goat cheese also goes great with mushrooms and spinach and these things all cook quickly so this sauce comes together very easily. The only thing that is time consuming is baking the squash but if you throw it in the oven while you’re doing other things, it’ll just heat up the house and make it smell good to boot. Another cool thing about this recipe is everything is very cheap; mushrooms, onions, squash and spinach (especially when you buy it at costco).

  • 1 spaghetti squash
  • 1/2 cup broth (turkey, chicken or veggie)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pat butter
  • 2 or 3 oz goat cheese
  • 16 cremini mushrooms
  • 1/2 onion white
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 handfuls spinach
  • zest of one meyer lemon
  • juice of 1/2 of a meyer lemon
  • a dot of truffle oil (optional)
  • red pepper flakes (optional)
  • parmesan cheese (optional)

{serves 5}

  1. pre-heat oven to 350º F
  2. bake spaghetti squash whole on a lined baking sheet for 1 hour and 15 minutes
  3. dice onion and mince garlic
  4. heat oil and butter in a wok or large skillet
  5. clean mushrooms and quarter them
  6. add the garlic and onions to the skillet over medium low heat and let cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally
  7. then add mushrooms and continue sautéing until they are cooked through (4 or 5 minutes), zest the lemon into the pan then squeeze the juice of half of it in
  8. cut or crumble the goat cheese into a couple of pieces and add to the pan and stir in until melted
  9. when the squash is finished, let cool and cut in half lengthwise, then discard seeds and scoop out the flesh with a fork
  10. move the spaghetti squash “spaghetti” into a heat safe container and pour the broth over and keep covered in the oven
  11. slice spinach roughly, move the mushroom-goat cheese mixture to one side of the pan and add the spinach on the other side to steam
  12. then incorporate the spinach into the rest of the stuff and serve over the spaghetti squash, top with grated parmesan and red pepper flakes and enjoy!

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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Ginger, Hazelnut, Cherry Granola

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My mom’s been making iterations of this granola for as long as I can remember. The oats-oil-honey ratio is the same but she likes to mix up the dried fruits and nut combinations. Crystalized ginger is one of my favorite add ins. Hazelnuts and dried cherries are also super yummy and go well together but you can play with your own combos.

  • 5 tbsp coconut oil
  • 6 cups oats
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 crystalized ginger
  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes
  • dried cherries
  • 1 cup slivered almonds (raw)
  • 1 cup hazelnuts
  1. pre-heat oven to 350º F
  2. in a big bowl mix oats, melted coconut oil, honey, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
  3. spread on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes
  4. meanwhile, slice crystalized ginger and halve or quarter cherries
  5. after 15 minutes, pull the granola out of the oven and stir a bit then return to oven to bake for another 15 minutes
  6. remove from oven, stir again then spread slivered almonds and whole hazelnuts on top and continue baking for 8 minutes to toast up the nuts
  7. remove from oven again and add coconut on top and bake again for 1 minute or until the coconut starts to brown
  8. remove from oven and cool, add fruit in when it’s cool enough

© 2016, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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