French Onion Beef Barley Soup

Hard to believe that bowl of deliciousness is actually healthified. 

 Only 2 teaspoons of oil and then just lots of onion, mushrooms, barley, and steak. 

According to Myfitnesspal, per serving (1/5th of recipe OR generous 1 1/2 cups):

437 calories, 52 carbs, 10 fat, and 31 protein.

You could even leave off the bread and cheese on top and the nutritional info is:

342 calories, 35 carbs, 9 fat, and 27 protein.

340 to 440 calories for dinner is pretty darn good. Especially when you get to indulge in a huge bowl of crazy tastiness. 

I kept the bread and cheese on mine though... I mean... why not? I used whole grain bread and partly skim cheese so and it is sooooooooooooooo good.

*drool*

I love that it has the flavor of French onion soup with the heartiness and bulk of a beef and barley stew. 

I found the recipe over at Cooking Light and changed it up a little. Click HERE if you would like to see the original recipe. 

French Onion Beef Barley Soup

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

2 tsp sesame oil

2 large onions, sliced (large slices)

1/2 cup shallots, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

15 medium button mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp brown sugar

1 - 11oz sirloin steak, diced in tiny cubes

4 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup white wine

2/3 cups pearl barley, uncooked

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 1/2 cups beef broth, low sodium

5 slices Dempster's 12 Grain Bread

1 1/4 cup partly skim mozzarella, shredded

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, shallots, and garlic. 

Saute about 10 minutes, until lightly brown. 

Add in the mushrooms, brown sugar, and steak cubes.

Saute another 10 minutes, scraping bottom of pan to loosen browned bits. 

Add in water, white wine, barley, soy sauce, and beef broth. 

Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 50 minutes. Until barley is tender.

While this is cooking you can toast your Dempster's bread and cut it into little cubes. Set aside.

When barley is cooked, preheat broiler.

Ladle soup into bowls placed on a cookie sheet.  

Place bread cubes on top of soup. (1 piece of bread per bowl)

Top each with 1/4 cup of the shredded mozza.

Place about 3 - 4 inches from broiler in oven and cook until cheese is melty - about 1 - 2 minutes. (Keep an eye on it!)

Try to control the urge to dive right in there. It's uber hot! 

The first time I made this I discovered - too late to buy more - that my cheese was moldy. I ended up shredding some aged cheddar to top the soup.

Also delicious by the way.

This does not feel healthy at all. It feels like you are indulging in a very sinful meal. Of course, as I mentioned above, you can healthify it even more by leaving the bread and cheese off BUT, seriously, whyyyyyyyy?

New favorite meal for those chilly winter days. 

Be sure to visit these great blogs for tons of tasty & crafty links - Adorned From Above, Dizzy Busy & Hungry, Easy Life, My Turn (for us), and Hungry Happenings and Carole's Chatter.

Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal (single serving)

I never thought this day would come. 

The day I have to stop my oatmeal bashing ways and admit that I like oatmeal. 

Let me quantify my admission by saying I still don't like other oatmeal. I just like this oatmeal. 

I will even go so far to say that I LOVE this oatmeal. 

I can hardly believe it either. 

I did not have high expectations for this recipe as... well... it's oatmeal and oatmeal is yucky. BUT after I had one bite I was hooked. My insides were like "Jo what has taken you so long to eat this deliciousness?"

Seriously.

If you've never made this variation of oatmeal - DO IT! 

DO IT NOW!

I'm pretty sure this is what my breakfasts are going to consist of for the next millennium.

Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal (single serving)

Ingredients

1 banana, diced

1/2 Tbsp peanut butter, light

1/3 cup Quaker Quick Oats

1 tsp flax

2/3 cup water

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Toppings

1/2 Tbsp peanut butter, light

1 Tbsp maple syrup

2 small slices of banana

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the diced banana until banana is fragrant and softened - about 2 - 3 minutes. Reserve a couple of slices of banana to place on top, if desired. 

Add in peanut butter, oats, flax, water, cinnamon, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Let mixture come to a boil, lower heat and simmer until oats are tender and liquid is absorbed. (Depending on which kinds of oats you use, this could take between 3 mins for quick oats - 8 mins for regular oats.)

Scoop into serving bowl and top with the other 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter and reserved banana slices. 

Then drizzle with the maple syrup.

According to Myfitnesspal the nutritional count for this recipe (it's one serving):

370 calories, 67 carbs, 9 fat, and 8 protein. 

I'm tempted to ramble on and on about how good this is but I don't want to over do it and then have someone be disappointed when they try it.

 That being said...OH. MY. GOODNESS. 

Would it be wrong for me to say I just want to crawl into the bowl with this amazingness and never come out?

**UPDATE** - I ran out of bananas but still wanted to eat this so I made it with an apple!

I made it exactly the same way except I put a 2 Tbsp of water in with the apples while they cooked.

They took a minute or two longer than the banana did. Cook them to your own personal preference for squishiness. 

Then you continue making it exactly the same way as the banana version.

It is also amazing!!

For tons of fun food & craft links be sure to visit these great blogs - Memories By The Mile, Anyonita Nibbles, Chef In Training, Table For Seven.

Asian Inspired Pulled Pork Salad

I always used to think putting meat in a salad was weird. Well, except for chicken in a Chicken Caesar Salad, that was okay.

But any other meat...Nooooo...no...no..no.

And then I discovered the Cheeseburger Salad . 

I was then convinced that putting meat into a salad was a brilliant idea. 

Thus I came up with this Pulled Pork Salad. I love the Asian spin on the pulled pork. It is fabulous over rice as well as on this salad. If you have any leftovers OR if you have family members that aren't fans of salad, then serve the pork over some rice. 

Asian Inspired Pulled Pork salad

Ingredients

Pork

4 to 5 lb pork shoulder roast

4 cloves garlic, cut in half

1 pkg Lipton dry onion soup mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup white wine (or sherry)

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Salad

4 cups spinach, torn

4 cups lettuce, shredded

1 yellow pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 cup carrot, shredded

1 cup sugar snap peas, cut in thirds

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Directions

Pulled pork - Take pork roast and make several small slits into the meat. Push the pieces of garlic into the slits as far as you can. Place pork roast into crock pot and sprinkle with the dry onion soup mix. Pour the 1 cup of water on top.

Cook until meat is done. (In my slow cooker, on HIGH, it took a little over 4 hours. My slow cooker cooks fairly fast so it is helpful to know your slow cooker and how fast it cooks.)

When meat is done, remove from slow cooker and, using 2 forks, shred the meat into fine strands. Place back into slow cooker. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, wine, broth, oil, sugar, chili sauce, and cornstarch until smooth. 

Pour over the meat in the slow cooker and stir. Turn heat to high and cook until sauce has thickened - about 15 - 20 minutes. (Again, this will depend on your slow cooker.)

You only need 1/2 cup for each salad you are making so you can eat the rest over rice OR you can also place it in an airtight container and freeze the rest and simply bring it out and reheat it as you need it. 

Make salad - place 2 cups of spinach and 2 cups of lettuce onto your serving plates.

Top with peppers, carrot, peas, and alfalfa sprouts. 

Top each with 1/2 cup of the pulled pork and sauce.

Sprinkle each with 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds.

I made one for dinner and the other I put into a container for lunch the next day. I just put the meat in a separate container so I could heat it up when I was ready.

You can, of course, put more meat and/or veggie into your salad as per your preferences. I just used these measurements to figure out the nutritional count (using Myfitnesspal):

Per serving (recipe makes 2) - 285 calories, 34 carbs, 5 fat, and 28 protein.

I found that the sauce from the meat was enough of a "dressing" that I didn't add any extra. If you find you need a salad dressing I recommend Kraft's Light Asian Toasted Sesame or something similar. 

Adding meat to a salad definitely help me to feel like I've had a complete meal instead of "just having a salad" for dinner. 

For tons of great links be sure to visit Carole's Chatter!

Gluten Free Dark "Rye" Bread

It's gluten free time again!

I'm still on the lookout for some really fabulous gluten free baking recipes. (FYI - If' you would like to tell us your favorite just leave a comment on this post. Thank you thank you!)

I was really surprised the first time I tasted this bread. It has the mouth-feel of a yeast bread instead of a quick bread - kind of. You could totally make a sandwich with this. 

Of course, it is a little different in texture so please don't expect it to be completely like "normal" bread.

Aaaaand...I have only ever made this in a small (7 X 4) loaf pan so I don't know how it would bake in a bigger pan.  We would love to hear from you if you have tried this recipe in a bigger pan. 

We are just beginning to try our hand at gluten free baking so any tips and tricks you would like to share would be greatly appreciated. 

This recipe was slightly adapted from a recipe that one of our mom's friends gave to her. 

Gluten Free Dark "Rye" Bread

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup ground flax

pinch salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

3 eggs

2 Tbsp oil

1/4 cup water

2 tsp maple syrup (or honey)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a small loaf pan (7 X 4) with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together almond flour, flax, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, water, and maple syrup.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined. Let sit 2 - 3 minutes to thicken.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. (You can see in the following photo I also made 2 teeny loaves in even smaller pans. This will also work.)

Bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes. (Less time if you use small pans, of course.) Toothpick inserted near center should come out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes in pan. Then run a knife around the outside and invert loaf onto wire rack. Let cool completely. 

I enjoyed this with a little bit of butter and it was also good with a little slice of meat and cheese on top. 

You can throw in a spoonful of sesame seeds or caraway seeds or pumpkin seeds or even finely chopped nuts if you wanted to. 

Don't forget to visit - My Turn (for us) and Horrific Knits for some great links!

Apple Crumble Salted Caramel Cheesecake Pie Dip

I know we promised only healthy recipes for the month of January but I HAD to share this recipe.

Had to.

See, I feel like if I didn't share this recipe ASAP then you guys would missing out and that would make me very sad. And this delicious dip shouldn't make anyone sad. 

So...basically...for my own mental well being I am going to share. 

Call me selfish.

Anyway...you need this in your face. 

I mean, just look a the name of this recipe, there's apple crumble, salted caramel, cheesecake, pie, and dip all in ONE thing. 

*jazz hands*

Apple Crumble Salted Caramel Cheesecake Pie Dip

Ingredients

Bottom Layer

1 8 oz pkg Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temp

1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

(store bought or our easy peasy recipe is HERE)

Middle Layer

4 apples, peeled and diced small

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup water + 1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Top Layer

3/4 cup pitted dates

3/4 cup pecans

3/4 cup almonds

1/2 cup coconut

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

1/3 cup quinoa flakes (or oats)

Directions

Bottom Layer - In a mixing bowl, beat Philadelphia cream cheese until smooth, scraping sides of bowl often. Beat in the salted caramel sauce until completely combined.

Spread into serving dish. 

Middle Layer - In a medium saucepan, place chopped apples, cinnamon and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until apples are tender - about 10 - 15 minutes. Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water in a small dish. Stir the mixture into the simmering apples. Continue to simmer until mixture is thickened and apples are very tender - about 3 - 5 more minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool. (Can place in fridge to speed process)

Spread cooled apples on top of cream cheese layer.

Top Layer - In a blender (or food processor), pulse dates until chopped into small pieces. 

Add in pecans, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, and salt. Continue to process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in the quinoa flakes (or oats) to combine.

Spread the crumble mixture evenly over the apple mixture. 

Chill until ready to serve.

You can serve it with pretzels, graham crackers, animal cookies, or pie crust dippers!

I brought this to the office for a coworker that was having a birthday. It went over very well. I think the favorite dipping items were definitely the pie crust cutouts. To make those - simply use your favorite pie dough recipe, or even store bought, roll them out, use a cookie cutter to cut shapes, bake them until brown and let cool. 

This is great to bring to an office party or for a get together at your home. 

It's different, it's easy, it's tasty, plus it makes quite a bit...you know...in case you get a little carried away with the "quality control" sampling. 

 

 

Carole's Chatter has tons of fantastic links - be sure to click over and pay her a visit!

Black Bean Brownies

Does that photo above look like a lower calorie, lower fat, lower carb, gluten free, "healthy" treat?

Nope.

It does not.

It looks like a delicious, chocolatey brownie. 

Which it is.

It is ALSO all of those healthified things. Weeeeeeeird, right?

It's true. 

The secret is black beans, in case you didn't guess that from the title. This is one of those recipes you have to try to believe. The taste is really good, very chocolatey. The texture is good but it is a little more cake-brownie than it is brownie-brownie. So, as long as you are not expecting a really dense, fudgey brownie you won't be disappointed. 

Black Bean Brownies

(Adapted from a recipe by Frances Budney, Saskatoon, Sk.)

Ingredients

19 oz can black beans, rinsed & drained

4 eggs

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 9 pan with parchment paper, spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.

Place all ingredients, except for pecans, into a blender (or food processor). 

Process until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Sprinkle with the finely chopped pecans.

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 20 - 25 minutes. 

Let cool in pan before running a knife around the edge to loosen and using the parchment paper "handles" to lift out of pan and cut. 

I made mine in a 9 X 9 pan because I wanted it a bit thinner. If you are looking for a thicker brownie then bake it in an 8 X 8 pan. You will probably have to increase your cooking time by about 10 minutes or so. 

In case you were curious about the nutritional counts (using Myfitnesspal):

1/16th of the recipe is - 94 calories, 9 carbs, 4 fat, and 4 protein.

For a "regular" brownie the same size, it is - 270 calories, 43 carbs, 11 fat, and 2.7 protein. 

I love that you just throw everything into the blender. It doesn't get much easier than that. 

You definitely want to make sure you process it until the black beans are smooth though. I don't imagine it would be to good to get a chunk of bean in your brownie. 

Don't miss out on tons of fantastic links. Visit Ms. enPlace, Jam Hands, Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons, and The Velvet Moon Baker and Feeding Big and Memories By The Mile.