Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Grapefruit-Orange Breakfast Shake

It's National Grapefruit Month!  Hurry and make this yummy breakfast smoothie, before the month is over.
This shake is not too sweet and filled with fiber, as it uses the fruit itself and not just the juice.  Recipe comes from a book I am really enjoying, called A Good Food Day:  Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great by Marco Canora, with Tammy Walker.
Canora is a chef who found himself overweight, pre-diabetic, suffering from gout, etc. due to his poor eating habits.  Kind of like the shoemaker's kids who don't have shoes, it seems that many professional chefs spend their waking hours making good food for others yet neglecting their own diets.  This was true for Canora.  Lucky for us, he made some healthy changes and shares his real-life wisdom in this book.
I am still reading the breakfast chapter, but he's already got me buying steel-cut oats and chia seeds and putting stuff like cilantro in my smoothies.  Someone take my temperature, quick.

A GOOD FOOD DAY'S
ODE TO ORANGE JULIUS SHAKE
1/2 grapefruit, peeled
1/2 orange, peeled
1/2 t. vanilla
1 T. honey
1 c. ice
1/2 c. plain yogurt (Canora recommends full-fat plain Greek yogurt; I use fat-free regular plain yogurt)

Put everything in your super duper blender and whirl away.  (Note:  I blend the grapefruit, orange, vanilla, and honey first, in one batch, then add the ice and yogurt and blend again.  I find when I put honey in the blender at the same time as anything frozen, the honey just congeals into a sad little ball at the bottom and refuses to mix well.  Poor little honey.)

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Roasted Carrots with Maple Syrup

This is one of those recipes that tastes way better than it should.  You look at the list of ingredients -- carrots, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper, maple syrup --  and think, yeah, so?  But something about this combination is irresistible.  I think it's the sweet of the maple syrup matched against the saltiness of the salt.  Kind of like chocolate-covered pretzels, if you can let your brain go there.  
Plus it's super easy to put together.  You start with a bag of pre-peeled baby carrots, toss with olive oil and garlic and salt and pepper, and boom!  Into the oven it goes.  Perfect for a busy school night, or an afternoon snack, or company dinner.  Just about any time, I say.
In fact, I would like to announce this humble carrot dish as my favorite 2015 recipe discovery.  Tied with sunshine apricot preserves.
Good stuff.
Eat your carrots.

ROASTED CARROTS WITH MAPLE SYRUP

2 lb. bag peeled baby carrots
3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed, plus 8 cloves, not peeled
3 T. olive oil
salt and pepper (I like to use sea salt)
1/4 c. maple syrup

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Put parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.  Dump carrots onto pan.  Then add the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper and mix it all together.  (If you have little ones, you can let them mix everything up with their [very clean] hands.)  Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.  Carrots are done when they're fork-tender and a bit browned.  Remove from oven, put in a serving bowl, and pour the maple syrup over.  Taste and see if you want to add more salt or pepper.  Serves six. One hundred fifty calories each serving, according to the Sept./Oct. 2006 Hallmark magazine, where I got this recipe.

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