Author: marygroover

Monday Funday
Nibbles

Monday Funday

marygrooverLeave a comment

succulent

I am so excited to have found this website: http://www.upcyclethat.com/cork-planters/3086/.  I have so many wine corks due to a desire to make wine cork crafts a couple of years ago and my dad getting donations from a local restaurant.  I have been wanting to get some succulent plants, as well.  First of all, they are super cute and secondly, they are easy to maintain… I am working on a green thumb, but it still is a little brown… Hopefully, they will be a little easier to maintain!

Here is a picture timeline of how I created these cute plant holders:

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DSCN2190 DSCN2189 DSCN2188

succulent

This is such a cute gift idea, too!  I can’t wait to send them out 🙂

Nibbles

Apple Walnut Flax Muffins

marygrooverLeave a comment

Happy Sunday!  I have been in the kitchen all morning making delicious snacks for this week, and a yummy Greek yogurt veggie dip for the Super Bowl tonight!  Here are the apple, walnut and flax muffins:

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I have been craving some muffins lately, and I found a great recipe on EatSeed.  I didn’t have all of the ingredients, so I improvised a little bit.  She used pumpkin seeds, which I did not have.  I subbed ground walnuts instead.  I also used a little more apple than what was called for because I love apples!  And, I substituted plain Greek yogurt for the oil to up the protein and decrease the fat content.  Typically I use applesauce in place of the oil to lower the fat (and increase the moisture), but I did not have applesauce and I need to work on getting more protein in my diet.

Here is the EatSeed recipe with my substitutions in parentheses:

Ingredients:

Makes 12 small muffins or 8 large muffins

  • 1/4 cup ground flax seed (I have the ground flax with berries in it)
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon lite salt (I use Morton’s lite salt)
  • 1/4 cup sugar (If you are watching your sugar intake, cut this in half or use a sugar substitute)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I upped it to 3/4)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 egg whites
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil or sunflower oil (I substituted 1 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt)
  • 1/2 cup soymilk (I used light vanilla) or 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup chopped pumpkin seeds (or any nut/seed you want, I used walnuts)
  • 3/4 large apple

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Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.2. In a bowl, sift together both flours, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and baking powder. Stir in flax seed powder. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg whites with the oil and milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir. Then stir apples and walnuts into the batter.

IMG4814. Fill oiled muffin tin 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes.

afterfocus_1359906861008Thank you EatSeed for the delicious recipe!!  I will be enjoying these muffins all week!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 muffin (78.1g)

Calories: 154

Calories from fat: 44

Total Fat: 4.9g

Saturated Fat: 0.6g

Trans Fat: 0g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 22mg

Fiber: 1.8g

Sugar: 9.4g

Protein: 4.1g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 2%
Calcium 5% • Iron 7%

Read more: http://caloriecount.about.com/apple-walnut-flax-muffins-recipe-r1274592#ixzz2Jr3MeebO

 

Nibbles

Mardi Gras 2013 – Festive Recipe

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Purple Cauliflower!


 mardisgras

Looking for a nutritious Mardi Gras side dish this year?  Check out this recipe for roasted brussels sprouts with purple cauliflower. It is not only delicious, but it is a gorgeous dish!

DSCN2147I was looking for regular white cauliflower at the grocery store the other day, and I found purple cauliflower sitting next to it.  Needless to say, I had to buy the fun purple cauliflower!

 

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I was so excited to use the purple cauliflower!  I initially bought the cauliflower and brussels sprouts to add to a vegetable soup that I was making.  The soup turned out delicious (recipe coming soon)!  However, the beautiful purple color disappeared as it simmered in the soup.  The purple color comes from it being rich in anthocyanin, which is a type of antioxidant.  Antioxidants help protect our body’s cells against destructive free radicals.  Free radicals damage the body’s cells and are caused from either environmental sources, such as by inhaling smoke, or naturally, like when the body breaks down food…  The free radicals can cause oxidative stress on your body, which may contribute to such diseases as cardiovascular, diabetes, macular degeneration, cancer, and more.  Eating a diet rich in antioxidants can help to destroy these free radicals before they can do harm.  The deep purple in the cauliflower and the rich green in the brussels sprouts indicate a high antioxidant content in this dish!

 

Recipe:

Makes 2 servings

12-15 Brussels sprouts

1 cup purple cauliflower

2 tsp olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 garlic clove, pressed

pepper to taste

Set oven to broil.  Wash brussels sprouts and cauliflower and place in roasting pan or aluminum foil/pan.  Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper on top of brussels sprouts and cauliflower.  Mix well.  Broil on lower shelf for about 20 minutes making sure to flip veggies.  Broil until veggies are tender and the deep purple and green color have come out.

 

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DSCN2163Look at that deep purple-pink color!!

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Sooo tasty 🙂  It is also a good source of fiber and vitamin C!

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 182 g (App. 1 cup cooked)
Amount Per Serving
Calories                               105

Calories from Fat                48
% Daily Value*   
Total Fat   5.3g                                                                                                       8%
Saturated Fat                     0.8g                                                                            4%
Cholesterol                           0mg                                                                          0%
Sodium                                38mg                                                                          2%
Total Carbohydrates         13.1g                                                                           4%
Dietary Fiber                       5.9g                                                                          24%
Sugars                                   3.8g
Protein                                 5.0g
Vitamin A 17% • Vitamin C 207%
Calcium 6% • Iron 11%
Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

 

Nibbles

Basil Pesto Gnocchi

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Gnocchi

Wow!  This recipe is delicious!!! I went to the store to get pine nuts for a pesto stuffed tomato recipe, and ended up grabbing some whole wheat potato gnocchi as well.  I decided to experiment with the two ingredients and the end result tasted incredible and was high in fiber, too!

Recipe creates 1 serving:

1/2 cup whole wheat potato gnocchi

1 Tbsp butter

4 oz white mushrooms

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1-2 garlic cloves

2 tsp basil puree

1/2 cup kale

1/2 cup spinach

5 cherry tomatoes

1 Tbsp pine nuts

Pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese (if desired)

Boil gnocchi in app. 1 quart of water until the gnocchi rises to the top (app. 4 minutes).

Saute mushrooms in pan with butter.  Add lemon juice, garlic and basil puree and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add kale, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and pine nuts.  Saute until tomatoes almost burst and kale is wilted.

Mix gnocchi and sauce together.  Add a sprinkle of pepper and/or parmesan cheese if desired.

YUMMY!!!

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 813 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories                     278                                                         Calories from Fat        125
% Daily Value*
Total Fat                                                                                                 13.9g                21%
Saturated Fat                                                                                           2.1g                10%
Trans Fat                                                                                                 0.0g
Cholesterol                                                                                              0mg                 0%
Sodium                                                                                                 214mg                 9%
Total Carbohydrates                                                                            34.5g                11%
Dietary Fiber                                                                                          9.8g                39%
Sugars                                                                                                     18.4g
Protein                                                                                                    11.6g
Vitamin A 248% • Vitamin C 211%
Calcium 14% • Iron 20%
Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet
Nibbles

Asian Black Rice

marygrooverLeave a comment


 

I picked up a bag of Indonesian black rice from Kroger the other day and had absolutely no clue as to what to do with it.  It just looked interesting 🙂

So, I took it home and decided to experiment.  It was so easy to make.  I just boiled 3/4 cup water and put 1/2 cup black rice in it and simmered for about 20 minutes.  The water turned black (which was a little unappealing) but as the water turned darker, it revealed a beautiful burgundy color in the rice!  I hope that you can see it from the pictures.

Raw (Left) vs. Cooked (Right) Black Rice

I had some leftover marinated mushrooms, so I threw those in with the rice at the end.  The mushrooms were white mushrooms marinated with olive oil, thyme and fresh garlic.  That was all it took!  I couldn’t wait to actually taste it, and I was so happy once I did!  The rice has such a wonderful texture and beautiful burgundy color!  The mushrooms added a great flavor, too.  I had cooked some salmon to go along with the rice, which was a perfect color contrast and taste combination with the rice.

According to http://www.wholefoods.com, the Asian sticky black rice is also known as the “forbidden black rice.”  Legend says this rice was originally grown only for the emperors of China. It’s prized for its fragrant aroma, nutty taste and nutritional value.  I can attest to all of these!

This rice contains 2 grams of fiber per serving, 4 grams of protein, iron, niacin, magnesium, thiamin and antioxidants.

The forbidden black rice is a delicious, nutty, and colorful alternative to my normal brown rice!

What types of exotic rices have you tried?