Spicy Mushrooms in Coconut Sauce

A nice side dish that is easy to make and is an alternative to potatoes and rice. Recipe from here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil
1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 lb (~200 g) mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon red pepper (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large saucepan heat the oil and sautee onion and bell pepper.
Add mushrooms and sautee.
Add coconut milk and red pepper.
Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until coconut milk is reduced to half.
Take off heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with cilantro leaves.

A few recipes for you.

As I stated before I've switched to the Weight-Watchers Core Plan, which has made life both easier and more difficult. Last night we had Ivayla's Curried Chicken (except with veggies for me) and it was delicious. I served it with Apple and Potato Curry Soup (which mind you is a bit of an acquired taste!) and a Spinach Salad with this dressing:

Susan's Lite Goddess Dressing

Make this dressing more like the original by increasing the tahini a tablespoon at a time, until it tastes the way you like. Remember that the fat and calories go up as the tahini increases!

6 ounces lite firm silken tofu (1/2 pkg. of Mori-Nu)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon tahini
2 green onions, white parts removed, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, packed
1 large clove garlic

A few things to keep in mind: I know a lot of you guys don't eat tofu. We don't do it on a regular basis ourselves, but we had some that needed to be used. You could use a base of canola oil if you wanted to...but realize that it's going to skyrocket the calories. You do not taste the tofu in this. Tofu - unless kept solid - merely works as a base for recipes. I make a mean Tofu Chocolate Mousse and get rave reviews on it. Also, we did not have Apple Cider Vinegar, so we used Red Wine Vinegar. You could probably use regular vinegar. We used olive oil mixed with sesame seeds to replace the sesame oil. While it was good we wanted it tangier, so we plan on increasing the vinegar and lemon juice. Overall, however, it was very, very good. The best part? All but the tahini is core and the overall points for the sauce (serving size 2tbs) is 1 weight-watchers point. So...YUM.

Twice-baked Potatoes

I put the vegetarian (vegan?) and low-fat labels on it, because you can take out the bacon, add a little salt, and have no negative effects. But, since I'm a carnivore, there's bacon. :-P

Twice-baked Potatoes
Yield: 2 servings

1 Big honkin' baking potato
2 Strips bacon
2 1/2 Tablespoons pesto
2 Handfuls of fresh spinach, rinsed

Bake the potato on a 1 hr. at 425 F (220 C) on a baking sheet. Fry bacon and drain on a paper towel in a small bowl. Crumble them. When the potato is done, take it out and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the meat into a medium-sized bowl and add the pesto and bacon. Stir until it is just brought together. Roughly chop spinach into smallish pieces and mix with the potato. Put the mixture evenly in the two potato skins. It won't look like it will fit, but it will (spinach shrinks). Put it back on the tray and bake in the oven for 30 min.

You can throw a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese in it if you so desire.

Quick bread recipe

This is the ultimate quick bread recipe, in my opinion. It's called "Zucchini Bread", but today I didn't have zucchini, so I decided to use applesauce instead. Figures I wouldn't have applesauce either, so I dug out some frozen mashed pears, peeled and chopped up a granny smith apple into it, and called it good enough. And it was good enough!

Oh, and your mouth will thank you to let the bread sit for a few minutes before devouring. Apple chunks get pretty hot... :-/

3 Eggs
1 c Vegetable Oil
2/3 c Sugar
2 c Grated zucchini (or whatever)
2 t Vanilla extract
1 t Salt
1/4 t Baking powder
3 c All-purpose flour
1 t Baking soda
3 t Ground cinnamon (optional, but strongly suggested)
Fresh-ground nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8X4 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, and sugar together. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into egg mixture. Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few little crumbs left. Let cool as long as possible before you or a family member devour it.

You can ruin it with 1/2 c chopped walnuts if you absolutely must.

Mary's Hot Cocoa Mix

A friend of mine gave me this recipe. It's very easy and tastes really good, although it's not quite as sweet as store-bought mixes.

1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon hot milk*
Hot milk

Mix cocoa and sugar in a mug, then pour the tablespoon of milk into it. Mix it all into a thick syrup/paste. Fill the mug with the rest of the hot milk. Add more sugar if needed. It's great with a half-pinch of ceyenne pepper, too.

*You can use cow milk, goat milk, soy milk, rice milk, or even water.