Creamed Spinach

Most creamed spinach recipes use cream and a roux to make the sauce creamy. I like to use fat free sour cream, light would work too! I still get the creaminess without the guilt.

Ingredients

1 bunch spinach

2 cloves garlic; crushed

1/2 yellow onion; diced

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

dash of nutmeg
1 Tbls Parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil over medium heat and saute onion and garlic until tender

Add spinach and cover to let steam for about 5-10 minutes.

Once the spinach has cooked down some you can add all the yumminess! Add the sour cream, the cayenne and nutmeg and then the Parmesan cheese. Taste to make sure seasoning is good and enjoy!

BBQ Tri Tip

We don't eat red meat very often so it's a good night when I get to work with it!

Stars of the dish

Tri Tip

Green onion chopped

Garlic cloves chopped

Ginger grated

Rice wine vinegar

Soy sauce

Sesame oil

Yoshida's marinade

Yoshida's marinade is the best stuff ever

Cut up the onion, garlic and grate some ginger. No measurements here, just do what feels right.
Combine the onion, garlic and ginger in a bowl with about 2 cups Yoshida's, a couple glugs of soy sauce, a tablespoon or so of Rice wine vinegar, and a teaspoon of sesame oil .

Put the tri tip in a Freezer size ziplock bag, add the marinade and let hangout in the fridge over night. I know it's hard to wait but trust me it's worth it!
The next day, let the meat sit at room temperature until Grill is heated to medium high heat. I can't tell you the exact degrees because my grill has control knobs ;-)

The meat is going to cook about 10-15 minutes per side. Oh don't forget to SAVE the marinade,

While the meat cooks, simmer the reserved marinade over medium heat.
After the meat cooks on both sides the internal temp for medium rare is about 135 degrees.
It should look like this.

mmm that looks good doesn't it? Let sit for 10-12 minutes so all the juicy goodness can settle back into the meat. Once your man can't stand the wait any longer, cut slices against the grain and serve with the reserved marinade!

BON APPETIT NOW YOU MAY EAT

Coconut fish

Ingredients

1 cup light coconut milk
2 tbsp peanut butter ( reduced fat works fine too)
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
4 white fish fillets cut in half
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups cooked whole grain rice

Directions

Whisk coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, fish sauce, ginger and red pepper together in a

small bowl until thoroughly combined.

Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray.

Over medium heat cook fish a couple minutes on each side or until they are no longer opaque.

Scatter chopped spinach and cilantro on top of fish.

Then pour coconut milk mixture over everything.

Continue to cook for a couple minutes more until thick and bubbly.

Serve immediately with hot whole grain rice.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies right? I always use whole wheat pastry flour in my cookies and you can't tell the difference in this recipe, I don't care who you are! These are quick to whip up and you can always throw the dough into a container and freeze until a later date. Or just eat the dough with a spoon! These bake into yummy chewy yet crispy cookies!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
Good pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¾ cup quick cooking oats
¾ cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

If making right away, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugars in mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until well combined.

Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Now you can put into another container and save until future use, eat as is or roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Baked pita with sundried tomato, feta and spinach

My mom was telling me about a recipe she saw and I thought it sounded so good! I thought about that dish for days and finally came up with a wonderful combination of ingredients. The combination of sweetness from the tomatoes and the saltiness from the feta is just sublime! I used dried sun dried tomatoes because I try to avoid anything packaged in oil, but if that's all you have it will be fine. These measurements made 3 pitas.

Baked Pita with Sundried Tomato, Feta and Spinach

Ingredients

whole wheat pitas
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
dash of nutmeg

Sauce/paste
Sun dried tomatoes ( I used half of a 3 oz. bag )
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
dash crushed red pepper
2 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions

If using dried tomatoes, soften by pouring boiling water over tomatoes and let sit 5 -10 minutes then drain.

Preheat oven to 400 and prebake pitas until barely light brown

Combine the sundried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, red pepper and balsamic vinegar in a blender or food processor. Blend until a paste, add salt and pepper to taste. set aside

Saute onion in some olive oil over medium heat until tender, add spinach and turn off heat. Season with salt,pepper and nutmeg.

To assemble is easy. Spread some of the tomato mixture on top of pitas, add the spinach and onion mixture, top with some feta cheese and place in oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes sprinkle some Parmesan on top of pitas and return to oven for a few minutes more.
Cut into wedges and enjoy!