Roasted Cauliflower with Saffron ♥ Recipe

Today's vegetable recipe: Cauliflower roasted with saffron and spices. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.

So. I'm learning a lot about vegetables these days, though -- get this -- by eating, no tasting, no, positively hating oxtails. (Note to Vegetarians)

It all started before Christmas when my friend Sharon had a recipe calling for oxtails and wanted to know what they were. My answer -- and I was wrong, to be sure -- was that oxtails were actually not the tails from beef cattle, even if the words made you think so, sort of like a rump roast is actually a shoulder roast. (Go figure.)

But then last week, oxtail stew was on the tasting menu at a local restaurant and -- being an adventurous eater -- I placed my order, looking forward to a delicacy. But OH MY. YUCK.YUCK.YUCK. Now to be fair, the thinking is that the oxtails were no good, past their due date, shall we say. But with one bite, I was ready to gag and now, even nearly a week later, anything remotely close to unusual is creating the same reaction.

And what does this have to do with vegetables?

Let's say you have a bad experience with frozen Brussels sprouts (or canned asparagus or creamed-all-vegetables or ...). I GET IT. I get that you might not want to try Brussels sprouts again. It's almost reflexive, a defense mechanism of some sort. I get that it could take both time and conditioning to become open-minded again.

Those of us who love vegetables, we understand that 99% of the time, our vegetables are just delicious. If something's not to our taste, we've got enough experience to know that something was off, that the next batch of whatever will be good. But if 100% of your experience is that oxtails Brussels sprouts are rotten stinky things? Well, I get it. It's hard to work up the gumption to return.

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You will, I think, return again and again to roasted cauliflower, especially the roasted cauliflower made on this site's very first day, almost four years ago now. This treatment uses both a saffron-warmed olive oil and a splash of good vinegar. It's YUM not yuck.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER with SAFFRON

Hands-on time: 10 minutes up-front plus occasional stirring
Time to table: 45 minutes
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of saffron

1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into small florets
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (or another flavorful, gentle vinegar)
1 teaspoon dried spices (curry, ras el hanout, I used thyme)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the oil and saffron in a small bowl, place on top of the oven near the heat source so that the saffron will warm and its flavor will be transferred into the oil.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss the remaining ingredients. Just before the oven is preheated, add the warm olive oil and toss well with a spatula. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and let roast for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, or until the cauliflower reaches the desired doneness. Transfer to a serving dish, serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 60Cal; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 34mg Sodium; 6g Carb; 3g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini's Saffron Roasted Cauliflower

KITCHEN NOTES
It's easier to use less oil for roasting vegetables when they're tossed for the first time in a large bowl, rather than drizzled and then tossed on the baking sheet itself.
That said, for roasted cauliflower to be really good, darn it, more than a tablespoon of oil is needed, much as I wish otherwise, two or three or even four tablespoons.

FAVORITE CAULIFLOWER RECIPES
~ Cauliflower Cream ~
~ Cauliflower Tomato Medley ~
~ Curried Cauliflower ~
~ Lighter Mashed 'Potatoes', from Kitchen Parade ~

~ more cauliflower recipes ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

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Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009

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Finn Crisp with Laughing Cow & Radishes ♥

Today's recipe: A quick snack or light lunch. Low carb. Weight Watchers one point.

I may love to cook but I also love little-assembly-required quick lunches and snacks. They're not recipes, per se, more concepts. But I'm picky. Fast. Cheap. Quick. Easy. No dishes. Crunch. Fresh. Transportable. (And I think other readers must be hungry for such snacks and quick lunches too, as often as you check out my idea for a Satisfying Lunch in One Point.)

Enter my latest obsession that combines two products that have been right there under my radar fuh-EVAH. I just love these little sandwich snacks! They're crispy and creamy and crunchy all at the same time.



Finn Crisp Unlike most crackers, the ingredient list for Finn Crisp is short, just whole grain rye flour, water, yeast, salt and caraway. Wow! Whole grain and high fiber! No fat, no cholesterol, low sodium, with a little protein, too. Finn Crisp are easy to find in North America, I think, but prices vary widely. At the regular grocery store, they're expensive. At a place like World Market, they're only $1.79 for a 7 ounce box, very affordable!

Trivia: When I lived in Finland, my favorite breakfast was a Finn Crisp with a thin slice of a buttery cheese like Fontina, topped with marmalade. Yum.



Laughing Cow For years, I've avoided the little wedges of "processed cheese". They look like Velveeta! But if I'd just checked the label: again, a short list of ingredients and nothing that looks scary. At All. And if I'd only listened to everyone raving about them. (Thank you, Roni's Weigh)! I heard you!!)

FINN CRISP with LAUGHING COW & RADISHES

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 5 minutes
Serves 1

3 Finn Crisp crackers
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light
Radishes, sliced

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 95Cal; 2g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 10mg Cholesterol; 389mg Sodium; 16g Carb; 5g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 4g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point (note: roughly the same nutrition for 2 slices Finn Crisp and 1 wedge Laughing Cow regular wedge)

MORE VEGETABLE RECIPES
~ Easy Easy Radish Spread ~
~ Beet Pesto ~
~ Mann's Sugar Snap Peas ~

~ more radish recipes ~
~ more one-point recipes ~
~ more recipes for appetizers and snacks ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

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Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009

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Ugly But Delicious Tofu ♥ Slow Cooker Recipe

Today's recipe: Tofu braised in a slow cooker in soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and other Asian-style flavors. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point for a snack, 3 points for a meal.

Regular readers know that I'm prone to exclaiming, "Isn't it pretty?" (See?!) No chance of that happening here, with these mud-brown cubes of tofu. Ugh, how UNappealing. I couldn't bear for them to ugly-up a beautiful green salad. I wanted to leave them in the refrigerator to develop fridge-fur, justifying a fast trip to the rubbish bin. And then --

These ugly-ugly cubes called to me. Closing my eyes, I nabbed one cube, then another straight from the tupperware. They tasted great! And that's how Ugly But Delicious Tofu become my between-meal, protein-packed pick-me-up all this week -- now that's an eye opener.

For portion control, I put aside three cubes measuring an ounce, otherwise I might have eaten the whole dish, all at once.

Note the Escali kitchen scale which I pooh-poohed as an extravagant non-necessity for years, but now love-love-love and pull out at least once a day. And see the On/Off button on the left? It also sets the weight to zero, a very useful feature on food scales for two reasons.

To subtract the weight of the container -- Turn the scale on. Place an empty container on the scale. Press the On/Off button to zero the weight. Now add the food, which will be weighed all on its own.
To accumulate ingredients, especially for baking -- Turn the scale on. Place a mixing bowl (or something similar) on the scale. Press the On/Off button to zero the weight. Add the first ingredient, say 50 ounces (or grams, very useful for baking with European metric-measured ingredients) of sugar. Press the On/Off button again. Add the second ingredient, say 200 grams of flour. And so on -- very easy!

UGLY BUT DELICIOUS TOFU for the SLOW COOKER

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 4 - 7 hours
Makes 16 ounces (I doubled the recipe for a large slow cooker)

1 pound firm tofu
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (don't skip this)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

DRAIN THE TOFU Place a layer of paper towels on a large plate, then the tofu block on top. Cover with another layer of paper towels. Place a heavy weight on top. Let drain for an hour. Peel off the paper and cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes.

SLOW COOKER Stir together remaining ingredients in the slow cooker. Add the tofu and gently toss until coated on all sides. Cover and cook on Low for 5 hours or on High for 3 hours.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Ounce (about 3 pieces): 33Cal; 2g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 225mg Sodium; 2g Carb; 0g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 3g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point

Per 4 ounces (about 12 pieces): 134Cal; 7g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 903mg Sodium; 8g Carb; 1g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 11g Protein; Weight Watchers 3 points

TODAY'S RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson

KITCHEN NOTES
I notice just now that the recipe specifies mixing the tofu cubes with the soy mixture in a separate bowl first, then refrigerating for an hour. I accidentally skipped this step but do think that it would help the soy cubes to soak up the liquid more evenly. I would use a ziplock bag, however, to be able turn it to redistribute the liquid more evenly. What I did to encourage this was to stir the cubes every so often while they were in the slow cooker, so that's an option too.

MORE SLOW COOKER RECIPES
~ Slow Cooker Onion Soup ~
~ Creamy Slow Cooker Beans (no soaking) from Kitchen Parade ~

~ more slow cooker recipes from Kitchen Parade ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

PRINT JUST A RECIPE! Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how.

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009

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Homemade Minestrone Soup ♥ Recipe

Today's soup recipe: A light-tasting but hearty soup made with low-calorie, low-carb vegetables. Weight Watchers 1 or 2 points. A low-carb soup when pasta is omitted.

Today's recipe comes with a lesson in Italian, compliments of the food dictionary at Epicurious, a quick source of information about culinary and ingredient terms.

'Minestra' [mih-NAYS-truh] means 'soup' in Italian, most often a soup of medium thickness, frequently with both meat and vegetables.
'Minestrina' means 'little soup,' a thin broth.
'Minestrone' means 'big soup,' a thick vegetable soup containing pasta and sometimes peas or beans, usually topped with grated Parmesan cheese and hearty enough for a complete meal.

That makes my version of minestrone someplace in between. It's hearty but tastes light and has just a few calories. My notes on a recipe card dated 1999 read, 'Excellent! Light! Filling!' And so it is.

HOMEMADE MINESTRONE SOUP

Hands-on time: 35 minutes
Time to table: 1 hour
Makes 14 cups

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a rice wine but broth would work too)
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped onion
2 leeks, cleaned, cut in half moons (see this photo tutorial about how to clean leeks)
9 cups broth (I used this Homemade Chicken Stock)

4 cups chopped green cabbage
2 cups chopped zucchini
1 small piece of Parmesan rind, optional

3/4 cups tiny pasta

3 cups fresh spinach, stems removed, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil (for anyone with basil on hand, I recommend this, I used winter's less-expensive fresh cilantro)

Salt & pepper to taste
Fresh Parmesan, grated, optional

In a very large pot, heat the wine on MEDIUM HIGH heat while prepping the first vegetables. Add the celery, onion and leek as they're prepped, simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the cabbage, zucchini and Parmesan rind, return to a simmer and let cook about 10 minutes. Add the pasta and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the fresh basil. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer to bowls, top with freshly grated Parmesan.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup (not including optional Parmesan topping): 128Cal; 2g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 4mg Cholesterol; 254mg Sodium; 21g Carb; 3g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 7g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

Per Cup (made without pasta): 87Cal; 2g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 4mg Cholesterol; 252mg Sodium; 12g Carb; 2g Fiber; 5g Sugar; 5g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point (technically 1.5 points)

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION
Adapted from Bon Appetit, January 1999, a recipe I've made many times since its publication

KITCHEN NOTES
This recipes makes a LOT of soup. It doesn't freeze well so you might adjust the quantities for less.
I like to bring the broth to a boil in the microwave while prepping the vegetables, it helps keep everything moving.
By the second day, the pasta tends to suck up all the broth. So if you plan to make ahead and serve the next day, two suggestions. First, stop cooking after the cabbage and zucchini have cooked and refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring the soup to a boil, then proceed. Second, cook the pasta separately and stir into individual servings or what's being rewarmed that day.
If you use the ever-so-tender baby spinach that comes prewashed in bags, be sure to remove the stems before adding to the soup and cook for just a minute.

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MORE HEARTY BUT LOW-CALORIE SOUP RECIPES
~ 15 Bean Soup ~
~ Quick Corn & Coconut Soup ~
~ Greens 'n' All Beet Soup ~
~ Lentil Soup Vincent ~
from Kitchen Parade

~ more soup recipes from A Veggie Venture ~
~ more soup recipes from Kitchen Parade ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Low-Carb Fried 'Potatoes' (Turnips) ♥ Recipe

Today's vegetable recipe: A low-carb substitute for fried potatoes, turnips fried with onions and seasoned with cumin. Weight Watchers 1 point.

Okay, so of course turnips aren't potatoes.

But for those who either choose or must follow low-carb diets, call me surprised that to my taste anyway, fried turnips are a good substitute -- it just takes cooking them at high heat until they develop that golden-brown color and oniony flavor we so associate with fried potatoes, whether for breakfast (my downfall favorite) or for supper. These were great!

Full disclosure: better good luck than good management! I learned about fried turnips only because the phone rang while cooking supper and soon enough -- oops -- the turnips were looking more than a little done. I feared they were lost but took one bite and whoah -- just kept on cooking.

LOW-CARB FRIED TURNIPS

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 60 minutes
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound turnips, trimmed, peeled, cut in 3/4-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the oil on MEDIUM HIGH until shimmery. Add the onion and stir to coat with fat. Cook for 4 - 5 minutes until onion begins to turn gold. Add the turnips and stir to coat with fat. Let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often, reducing heat if needed to keep the turnips from burning. Add the cumin. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes or so (this long may not be needed but it worked for me) until the turnips are cooked through and beginning to caramelize. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 78Cal; 3g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 77mg Sodium; 11g Carb; 3g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point

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MORE TURNIP RECIPES
~ Creamed Turnips ~
~ "Wonderful" Glazed Turnips & Carrots ~
~ Turkey & Turnip Soup ~

~ more turnip recipes ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

PRINT JUST A RECIPE! Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how.

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009

reade more... Résuméabuiyad