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Healthy Eating

ENTERTAINING, RECIPES

Easy Entertaining: Cucumber Water

Cucumber Water

Life’s about simple pleasures, right? Whether you entertain a lot, or are looking for a new way to ‘spice’ up your daily H2O, I’ve got an idea for you: cucumber water. Inspired by my former roommate Gabi, adding a few thin cucumber slices to a pitcher or glass of water generates wonderful results. The water is not overwhelmingly cucumber flavored, the taste is more like an essence. Somewhat luxurious and spa-like, yet incredible simple, there’s a wow factor associated with cucumber water. Just ask my mom’s book club (hi mom!).

Have you ever tried cucumber water? If so, what did you think?

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Caribbean Succotash

Caribbean Succotash

The first hints of fall may be in the air, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for the changing of the seasons. Inspired by a Jamaican recipe in Bon Appétit’s January 2011 issue, I recently whipped up a scrumptious vegan-friendly Caribbean Succotash. Made with a mix of fresh and frozen vegetables, including lima beans, carrots, zucchini, corn and cucumber, this dish is incredibly quick and easy to prepare.

Though the ingredients are fairly simple, what makes this dish extra special is the wonderful combination of fresh thyme, unsweetened coconut milk, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Not sure about you, but I’m clearly not clever enough in the kitchen to dream up that recipe combination! I am, however, clever enough to test and share this recipe with my dear blog readers!

While I don’t want to post the recipe on my blog for copyright reasons, please view it here on Epicurious. I can, however, share a few tips that helped me prepare this recipe. I omitted the onion and red bell pepper due to heartburn issues (boo hoo). I also found it helpful to use frozen lima beans and corn, in addition to pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store to save time. I also opted for light, unsweetened coconut milk to lighten up the dish a bit. My last tip is to chop the cucumber and keep it in a separate tupperware container if you’re planning to enjoy warm leftovers of this dish, as I don’t like the idea of microwaving cucumber.

Tips and swaps aside, the end result was fantastic and I’m sure the original recipe is equally incredible. Creamy with a subtle sweetness from the light coconut milk, the hints of cayenne, nutmeg and fresh thyme really round this dish out. I also love dishes with a good amount of crunch to them and the coconut milk sauce does a nice job of dressing the veggies without rendering them mushy after a few days in the refrigerator. I’ll be making this recipe again the next time I need a tropical boost. Hear that old man winter?

Buon Appetito!

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad by Jessica Gioglio

Fun fact: I’m a whiz at stir-frys and noodle salads. I love taking a few simple ingredients and turning them into a decadent, flavorful dish. This noodle salad recipe takes healthy whole wheat soba noodles and dresses them up with a mix of fresh, aromatic flavors including toasted sesame oil, white miso, mint and orange. The result – not your average noodle salad.

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Easy Roasted Butternut Squash

Roasted Butternut Squash by Jessica Gioglio

Simple, yet delicious, roasted butternut squash is a side dish that I’ve been introducing to friends and family members for some time now.  If you enjoy potatoes, or sweet potatoes, you should definitely consider swapping to butternut squash on occasion.  Not only is it flavorful, but it’s also a lot lower in calories than the average potato.  FitSugar.com notes that one cup of butternut squash is 63 calories, while one cup of sweet potatoes is 130 calories.

Nutritional stats aside, butternut squash is a versatile veggie.  From pureeing into a soup, to lightening up breakfast potatoes, perking up a stir-fry, or tossing into a salad, I keep coming up with new ways to leverage my favorite squash.  While I’ll eventually get to sharing all of my incredible squash recipes, I recommend starting simple by roasting the squash with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh rosemary.

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Fresh Raspberry, Cucumber, Feta, Green Bean and Chickpea Spinach Salad

Looking for a healthy lunch or dinner that can be whipped up in ten minutes? A fantastic dinner party salad that’s sure to wow your friends?  Look no further.

Incredibly simple, this fresh salad does not require actual cooking!  If you can select good ingredients and chop bite sized pieces, then you can prepare this meal.

I’ve listed the ingredients below as a serving for a six to eight person dinner party.  For one person, it should result in several lunch or dinner sized portions.  If you’re cooking for one, I would put all of the ingredients into separate tupperware containers and combine them specially for each meal so that the lettuce does not wilt.  By making the salad that way, it’s easy to customize the meal to your preferences, and you can mix and match serving it as an entree salad, versus adding a piece of chicken or salmon on the side.

Salad Ingredients:
– 1 bag of baby spinach
– 1 large cucumber
– 1 bag of green beans in a microwaveable bag
– 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
– 1 container of crumbled feta cheese (or less, depending on your preferences)
– 1 pint of raspberries
– Olive oil
– Crushed black pepper
– Whole Foods fat free balsamic vinaigrette

Puncture holes into the bag of green beans and steam in the microwave according to the package directions. Remove green beans in the microwave and place in an empty bowl to cool.

While the green beans are cooling, chop the cucumber into bite sized pieces and set aside. Once the green beans are cool, chop them into bite sized pieces and toss with one tsp of olive oil and season with crushed black pepper. Rinse the canned garbanzo beans with water in a strainer and allow to dry.

Pour the entire bag of spinach into a large bowl. Add in the chopped green beans and cucumber. Toss. Add in garbanzo beans and crumbled feta cheese. Toss again. Add in raspberries and carefully toss.

Serve with a tangy, fat free balsamic dressing, like Whole Foods Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette, Trader Joe’s Fat Free Balsamic, or Newman’s Own Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. Buon Appetito!

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