Roasted Chicken Sausage and Veggies

Cooler weather.
Fall in the air.
Pumpkins and apples.
Leaves changing color.
Comfort food.
We all love it, right?

Comfort food however doesn't really have a reputation for being healthy.
Something healthy to the rescue please! (and I'm in a hurry)
Enter last nights dinner.......

All the familiar vegetables.

Diced up quickly and placed in a 9 X 13 pan.

Drizzled with a little olive oil and stirred to coat the veggies.

Replacement for the fatty roast...chicken sausage!

I used all 5 of them and diced them up like this.

Seasoning. I picked this garlic and herb but you could choose whatever you like best. I have even done this with a little balsamic vinegar which is very tasty.

And since it is salt free I also added a bit of these good old standbys.

Of course I didn't measure again. Just sprinkle your main seasoning generously all over the top and add a bit of salt and pepper. Then give it a good stir and place in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to roast or until potatoes reach desired tenderness.

Also, give it a stir half way through.

Mmmmm.......Goodness! I love the way the sausage gets a crispy outside when you cook it this way. Comfort food tooth satisfied! I also love how quickly you can prepare this and walk away to finish whatever else you are working on (perhaps painting the trim and door frames all the way down the hall, ugh!) while it cooks.

We had some delicious green beans and sliced apples, oranges, and pears on the side. Which by the way, also took me about 5 minutes to prepare.

Two things I also love besides the quick preparation:

1. My kitchen was very clean since I dumped it all in one pan.

2. Leftovers. I can't wait for lunch today!

The other super great thing is that this is a low calorie meal. If you divide it up into 10 servings you come in around 125 calories per serving. Not bad at all. I happily helped myself to a large serving! So on the next cool evening forget the fatty roast and give this comfort food a try. I promise you will love it!



Roasted Chicken Sausage with Veggies

4 carrots, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

1 large onion, chopped in large chunks

8 small red potatoes, diced with skin left on

5 chicken sausages, sliced into rounds

Garlic and herb seasoning (or seasoning of choice)

salt and pepper

olive oil

Directions: Place all veggies in a 9 X 13 pan and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Toss to coat veggies. Add chicken sausage. Sprinkle seasoning over the top generously. Add a dash of salt and pepper and stir to cover. Place in a 400 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes or until potatoes reach desired tenderness. (Stir at halfway point.)

Note: Potatoes are on the Dirty Dozen list so make sure to scrub them very well since you will be leaving the skin on. Otherwise, buy organic.

A Week of Salad - Thursday

I am writing this post at 5:30 in the morning because I couldn't sleep which is quite odd since I am completely exhausted! One more night of VBS to go and one more salad to make this afternoon. Actually I am kind of having fun with my week of salad and it might continue for a couple more days!

Yesterday I had to work at one of my cleaning jobs so when I got home I only had about 15 minutes to get lunch fixed before Miles came home. I should have had more time, but I locked myself out of the house where I was cleaning, and I had to go to the neighbor's house to use the phone to call poor Traci. She had to have her morning interrupted to come back and let me in. She told me not to go out or I would lock myself out before she left. I told her I usually never do, which really isn't true after I think about it, because I clean the windows on her front door every week and step out to do so. It didn't even dawn on me until I had cleaned all four windows and went to turn the knob. Someone make me a dunce cap or wait patiently for my VBS brain to go away and my real brain to return!

Back to salad..... When I am in a hurry we have a favorite salad that usually consists of cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, chicken sausage, and my homemade mustard vinaigrette or a light Ceasar that we like. But yesterday I was in the mood for something a bit more summery.

The lettuce was the rest of the red leaf and a 50/50 mix of organic baby spinach and a spring mix. The spinach was the perfect choice for this salad. I added strawberries this time and left out the tomatoes. I also added walnuts for some crunch and decided that I would rather have more of a balsamic dressing then the mustard dressing. It goes better with the strawberry thing. I had already sliced up the chicken sausage and cooked it in a small pan quick in case you are wondering.

I really have a thing for fruit on my salad. It looks pretty and it also adds a unique flavor to just about any salad combination.

When I sat down to eat this Faith said, "Strawberries on a salad? Where's the cucumbers?" Ooops! I forgot the cucumbers. I am blaming that on VBS brain as well. I got up and chopped a few slices quick otherwise my salad wouldn't have had much vegetable content. I love cucumbers!

If you want to make it easy on yourself there are several balsamic dressings you can buy ready made that have very little calories. I like Newman's Own in particular but it is pretty easy to whip one up as well. I like to make a homemade Greek dressing that has the same ingredient list but uses white wine vinegar so I just subbed in this balsamic from Whole Foods which is quite good by the way! I left it out of the picture but you do need olive oil for this dressing as well. I used my handy dressing mixer again (that is what we had leftover in the container) and of course I didn't measure. I know I drive some of you crazy. Sorry.

I also used these four ingredients- onion powder, garlic powder, basil, and oregano. It is better to use fresh garlic, but I was in a hurry. If I had fresh oregano or basil I would use that too but this works fine also. I should probably just learn to measure for all of you who need me to be precise but here is my best guess on the measurements.

2-3oz. of olive oil

2 oz. aged balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder or 1-2 garlic cloves minced

Give it a stir or whisk and taste. Add what you feel is lacking. If the mustard or vinegar taste is too strong then add more olive oil. I suppose the reason I never measure much when making dressing is that I am just looking for a good flavor. You can't mess it up too much so give yourself a little freedom to just dump!

It was a very refreshing salad and I am already thinking about my salad for today!

Now for the fun part..........last night's photos!

                                                                                    

We have the MOST AWESOME crew leaders! The kids really get to know their leader and get attached to them and these leaders make the week so fun for them!

      

     Learning about what Jesus did on the cross for us.

       

   Laying our "sins" on the cross and asking Jesus to forgive us for them.

        

           This was a beautiful picture and a great visual for the kids.

         

This is my daughter and her fun personality caught on camera. She absolutely adores going to VBS every night. She will be sad when it ends tonight.

         

And some running and screaming just because that is what kids do best. I bet these children have been sleeping very well every night.

I think I might go back to sleep for a bit now. I will be up late tonight getting everything put away at the church. I am hoping I can leave there before 11pm.

Want to come help me anyone?

            





Mediterranean Vegetables with Polenta Cakes

I saw this recipe in the Parade magazine in yesterday's paper and promptly headed to the store.

Perhaps you saw it too? Of course you know they had me at the word Mediterranean. I'm pathetic. I know.

Making polenta has been on my to do list of recipes. Do you have a list like that? Also on the list is homemade granola and the Meyer Lemon Bars in the new Clean Eating Issue just to mention a few.

Polenta is just another word for corn grits. In fact the only ingredient listed on this package of Bob's Red Mill Polenta........CORN!

 I knew my Texas raised husband would approve of this dinner. Now you have all heard me say before that corn isn't really a health food. I wouldn't say it is bad for you, but the nutritional value doesn't really rank up there that high! It does contain some fiber, thiamin, and folate but most of the calories in corn come from carbohydrates. There are much better vegetables to eat of course that won't raise your blood sugar. So corn is an occasional food for us.

Polenta is very simple to cook but you can also buy it precooked and save this step. I followed the recipe and added one cup of polenta to 1 1/2 cups of boiling milk. It cooks very quickly. I think it only took 3 minutes.

  

Then I stirred in a bit of Earth Balance and some fresh Parmesan cheese along with a bit of salt and pepper to give the cakes some flavor.

It will cook to almost the consistency of thick, gritty, mashed potatoes.

Spread the mixture onto a greased cookie sheet. This off set spatula worked great for getting it fairly smooth and consistent.

You want to keep it fairly thick for the cakes. Put this in the fridge to set up.

Don't be fooled by how small it looks. I actually got 15 cakes out of that. I used a small round Tupperware container to cut them. I did re-flatten the scraps to cut more and probably should have put them back into the fridge to firm some more but I didn't and they held together okay.

Just before placing them in a pan of olive oil to fry I coated them in a little more polenta. The recipe said to sprinkle them with a little more polenta.

I added a little Greek seasoning to the olive oil and fried them on each side for a few minutes. It only took two batches to cook them all so it went very quickly.

While the polenta cakes were firming in the fridge I got to work on my favorite part, the Mediterranean vegetables. I chopped up red, yellow, and orange pepper, (I was out of green) zucchini, red onion, and sun dried tomatoes that I had soaked in water a bit, and some garlic. I skipped the eggplant because I just haven't grown to love it that much. At the last minute I decided to add my last sun-dried tomato chicken sausage from Trader Joe's. Go get yourself some of that ASAP if you are blessed to live close enough to do so. The best chicken sausage I have ever had and not greasy at all!

I cooked them a bit of olive oil for about 7-8 minutes on medium high and then turned the heat down to low just to keep them warm until I was ready to serve them. I stirred in what was left of our new favorite find...

The recipe said to add 1/4 cup of your favorite dressing. I had just enough of this left to do so but the vegetables would have been awesome with just the olive oil and Greek seasoning I had put in too.

I also soaked some kale in my mustard vinaigrette and cooked that quick when the polenta was done cooking. By far our favorite way to eat kale so far.

Dinner was served along with some Whole Foods grapes and the last of our apple pear from Trader Joe's. I must say rush NOW to get yourself one of those. INCREDIBLE FLAVOR. Faith was in love from first bite. I am so sorry I only bought two of them. I can't even really describe them.

Oh vegetables, you are so pretty. Thank you for all the colors you add to my life!

I was feeling a bit gluttoness when I sat down to this huge plate of food. I needed to remind myself though that the majority of it was vegetables. That is the thing about eating healthy. I would much rather have this huge plate of food for probably about 500 calories than one large soft pretzel that has about 470 or a bagel with a tiny bit of cream cheese that would put you over the 500 calorie mark!

Mediterranean Vegetables with Polenta Cakes - Parade Magazine Sunday March 25th

I did make some changes to the original recipe so if you woul like it check online. I used half of each pepper instead of one small of each, added red onion,  left out the eggplant, and canned tomatoes, and substituted earth balance for the butter in the polenta . I also left the butter out completely for the vegetables.

FOR THE POLENTA

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup polenta plus more for coating

2-3 tbsp. earth balance or butter

2-3 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE VEGETABLES

2 tbsp. olive oil

half each red, green, and yellow or orange peppers, diced

1 small zucchini, cubed

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced (reconstitue in water if dried instead of jarred)

1/4 cup bottled dressing (your choice)

DIRECTIONS

Bring milk to boil over medium heat. Whisk in polenta, lower heat, and cook, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes or until smooth. Add extra milk if too thick. Stir in butter and Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn out onto greased pan and spread to 5/8-inch thickness. Refrigerate until set. Cut polenta into small rounds. Coat in dry polenta. Place in skillet with olive oil and fry each side until golden.

Heat 1-2 tbsp. olive oil in skillet and add all vegetables. Cook for approximately 7-8 minutes over medium heat. Stir in dressing and reduce heat to low to keep warm until serving time.



                                          

Millet and a Skillet

Several weeks ago I went to the health food store in town and picked up this fun box of goodies. I went to the store for some more buckwheat flour at hopefully a better price then the grocery store had it and came out with a few extra things.

Amaranth graham crackers, millet, soy nuts, wheat berries, mango green tea, pilaf mixture, dried green and red peppers, red quinoa, the buckwheat flour and that boom choco boom dairy free rice milk bar that was very delicious! I got all of that for $35 which I think was pretty good especially considering that the red quinoa was $14.95.

Back to the meaning of this post. The millet. I have had the millet in the cupboard for all these weeks but I haven't found a recipe that just grabbed me and made me want to try it so I did what any good food blogger does and made my own recipe last night.

This is what millet looks like before you cook it. It is almost like a bigger version of quinoa or couscous. It cooks very simply like quinoa or rice but the ratio is more like 1/2 cup millet to 1 1/2 cups water. I actually used 1 cup millet and the same amount of water and it turned out fine. There are various opinions of course but I did not want mushy millet so I went with less water. It may have been a bit undercooked but I was adding some moisture with the tomatoes and peppers.

And this is what it looks like when it is cooked. The trick with millet is to keep it from being mushy. So the cooking process is a bit different than rice or quinoa in that you need to leave the lid off, cook it for no longer than 15-20 minutes, and stir it a few times while it is cooking. Millet has a little hint of a corn kind of taste to it or I have heard others say it is like polenta but I wouldn't know. It has a better taste straight from the spoon not mixed with anything than quinoa does but I don't think it is quite as versatile as quinoa. I made 2 cups which equals more like 4-5 cups cooked.

So last nights recipe started with some green, yellow, and red peppers sauteed with red onion, and garlic in some olive oil. I cooked them just a bit not wanting them to loose any of their color and then added a can of fire roasted tomatoes and a can of diced chilies (no picture, sorry) and let that warm up and cook a bit longer.

I then moved this to a large bowl.

I diced up 2 chicken sausages and cooked them in the same pan but later added a third. Just a personal preference and I was taking it to small group to feed hungry men. Add that to the bowl of peppers.

I then added the sausage and millet to the bowl and stirred in a bit of reduced fat pepper jack cheese and dried cilantro because I had no fresh. Topped it off with a bit more cheese and kept it warm in the oven until it was time to leave.

So Yummy! Miles says it has a bit of a Spanish rice flavor only better and the ladies at small group requested the recipe, which is why I am posting this right now while I still remember what I did, and my best friend who is the pickiest eater I know even liked it. She doesn't touch anything resembling rice with a ten foot pole so it was a great compliment. Even her 11 year old daughter came and told me she liked the dish I had made. Compliments from kids mean the most! Winner, winner, millet dinner!

In case you were wondering millet is a very healthy ancient grain. It might not stack up quite as well to quinoa but it provides the following nutrients your body needs.

• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Maganese
• Tryptophan
• Phoshorus
• Fiber
• B vitamins
• Antioxidants

Studies have shown that magnesium can help reduce the severity of asthma and frequency of migraine attacks. So if you suffer from either you should definitely add millet to your diet. In addition it also provides serotonin which helps to calm and soothe your moods, is alkaline, is a heart healthy choice, and digests easily.

I ate some millet for breakfast with some warm coconut milk and blueberries and I think I will be stuffing some peppers with it later in the week. More experimenting will be necessary for sure!

Spanish Millet with Peppers and Onions

3 cups cooked millet (approximately 1 1/2 cups uncooked)
Half a red onion, sliced thinly
Half of each of a red, green, & yellow pepper
2-3 garlic cloves minced
1 can fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
1 can diced chilies
2-3 chicken sausages sliced and cooked
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro or 1 tsp. dried
1/2 cup reduced fat pepper jack, shredded
2 tbsp. olive oil

Rinse millet. Add 1 1/2 cups millet and approximately 3-4 cups water to a pot. Cook on medium, uncovered on stove for 15-20 minutes stirring a few times. Set aside and fluff a few times with a fork while it cools. Saute onions, peppers, and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and chilies. Cook for 5-8 minutes until warmed through. Remove mixture to a large bowl and add chicken sausage to skillet. Cook until browned and add to the pepper mixture. Stir in cooked millet, most of the cilantro, and half of the cheese. Top with a bit more cheese and the rest of the cilantro for presentation. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Simply Simple

I have really forgotten how much I love simple cooking. Being very restrictive these last few days has caused me to remember how much easier it is to eat simply. I have used no recipes, eaten no carbs, sugar, or even fruit, and have spent very little time in the kitchen, yet we have eaten some delicious meals!

I guess that will equate to a very simple post!

Dinner last night.....

I sliced up some chicken sausage and peppers and onions and cooked them with a bit of garlic in some olive oil. I steamed some broccoli and corn, which was mainly for the sake of the kids. Corn doesn't really have that much nutritional value and I don't serve it often. I also needed to use up the last of my brown tomatoes so I sliced them and tossed some balsamic vinegar over them and topped with a bit of mozzarella. Lots of veggies and a very quick and healthy dinner!

Lunch today........NEW FANTASTIC DISCOVERY!

I had some leftover 8 layer Mediterranean Dip from Sunday's Super Bowl Feast. Instead of dressing I used this to top my simple salad of lettuce, spinach, tomato, and cucumber. We ate this salad yesterday for lunch as well. It is DEFINITELY my new favorite salad. I also added some soy nuts for crunch.

Dinner tonight.........

I baked some chicken I rubbed in one of my favorite spice blends and topped it with Parmesan cheese. I also cooked some black eyed peas and added tomato, green and red pepper, cucumber, and green onion to make it a salad. I made a simple dressing with olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and garlic. It was delicious!

I wish I had some red onion instead of green for color and a bit stronger flavor.

I think I have posted before about Pepper Creek Farms bread dipping blends. They do make excellent dipping flavors but I love to use them in all kinds of foods from salads to meat like I did tonight. The Greek one is my favorite of course but this was super tonight especially with the Parmesan cheese on top of our chicken. You can order these online but oddly enough I usually find them at TJ Maxx or Home Good Stores. Check there if you are fortunate enough to live close before ordering.

Simple post indeed! It took me only 15 minutes, which just might be a record! Now it is possible I might be able to watch the Biggest Loser on the actual night it is on.

I will continue to eat this way for a few more days. It really isn't bothering me. I am not really feeling deprived. In fact I have been reminded like I said at the beginning that this is how I prefer to eat. I just forgot for a while. My body is thanking me! Although you all probably are not. Sorry to be so boring!

Now on to my snack for the evening. Sugar Free Jello.