Vegetable Night! Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, and Wild Rice

Many people think that sweet potatoes are potatoes when, in fact, they are root vegetables and only distantly related to potatoes. They're also considered low glycemic index, and are highly nutritious being rich in Vitamin A, B6, C, Magnesium, and dietary fiber. I also just recently discovered that they are pretty much the least allergenic food on the planet!

The good thing about sweet potatoes is that they taste like a dessert! Add a tad of cinnamon and a smidgen of brown sugar to them, and you've basically made this very healthy vegetable into something that can fool your sweet tooth.

Some people will peel sweet potatoes, but their skin is packed full of nutrients. So, keep the skin on!!

Baked Sweet Potato

• 4 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
• vegetable oil
• margarine to taste
  
• cinnamon/sugar substitute

Scrub sweet potatoes; brush each with vegetable oil. Arrange potatoes on oven rack and bake at 450° for 35 to 45 minutes, until tender. Remove at once and prick with a fork to let steam out.

Cut a 1 1/2-inch cross in the center of each potato. Hold each potato with pot holder and press upwards until filling "bursts" up through the cuts.

Top with butter and sprinkle with mixture of cinnamon and sugar substitute.
Serves 4.

Lemon Green Beans

• 8 ounces fresh green beans, ends cut
  
• 1 tspn olive oil
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Steam green beans until tender-crisp. Toss with olive oil and grated lemon rind.

Wild Rice with Apples

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
• 2 cups chopped pink lady apples (or honey crisp, if available)
• 1 cup chopped leek
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/8 tspn ground thyme
• 2 cups wild rice
• 1/2 tspn black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add apple: saute 7 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. Remove from pan.

Reduce heat to medium. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add leek; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.. add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in broth, 2 cups water, cider, and thyme; bring to boil.

Stir in rice; reduce heat and simmer 55 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.

Drain and discard excess liquid. Return rice mixture to pan over medium heat. Stir in apple, pecans, and pepper and cook 2 minutes until heated.

Makes 8 servings.

Chicken, Potato and Lemon Green Beans

Another meal as a family! I absolutely love sitting down to the dinner table as a family with the kids, and I love even more that we are eating more and more healthy foods and teaching the kids that not only is eating as a family important, but eating healthy is too.

We've also started a new "family" activity, and that is taking a walk (1 mile) directly after dinner down our country road. The kids love this, and during times when they may not be here it becomes a nice, quiet and undistracted time for D and I to catch up with one another. The walk is beautiful, and being taken at dusk only enhances the beauty.

However, this is about healthy meals and what we had for dinner tonight was healthy. I am on a new low glycemic index diet, I believe I have mentioned in previous posts. So our dinners here lately will reflect that.

Tonight we had:

Salad with Vegetables and oil/vinegar dressing
Grilled Chicken with herbs
Baked Potato
Lemon Green Beans
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Grilled/Broiled Chicken Ingredients
(servings: 1)

• 1/3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 oz boneless chicken breast

Pre-heat broiler or grill. Rinse and pat chicken dry. Whisk olive oil and spices together in a pie plate; add chicken and coat. If possible, cover and marinate in fridge for 30 minutes. Grill or broil chicken for 5-7 minutes, then turn and cook an additional 5-6 minutes or until inside is no longer pink. Serve.
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Baked Potato

• 1 small potato

Scrub potato and prick with fork. Bake in 375 degrees for 50 minutes.

Serve.


Lemon Green Beans

• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 1/3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Microwave or steam green beans according to package directions.

Drain thoroughly.

Toss with lemon juice and oil; sprinkle with oregano.

Serve.

Steak Dinner

Mmmmm.....last night we had steak. It was a small portion, and the loin cut and broiled so it was a nice treat. We don't cook steak all that often.

This was indeed a night where I cooked something different for the kids. Easy and likable kid food, like corn dogs. Steak, broccoli and rice just wasn't something they would eat.

So, on the menu last night was:

Broiled Steak
Brown Rice
Steamed Broccoli
Fresh Strawberries

All ingredient measurements are for 1 serving, so multiply that as you need for however many you are feeding.
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Steak Ingredients

4 oz beef steak, loin cut

Grill or broil steak for about 4-6 minutes on each side for medium or cook to desired doneness.

(Boy that was easy!)

Brown Rice

2/3 cup of brown rice
1 1/3 cup of water

Cook rice according to package directions. Usually, this means you place the rice and water in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Steamed Broccoli
(I used fresh broccoli and steamed it in my steamer)

1 cup of frozen broccoli
1 teaspoon Parmesan Cheese

Place broccoli in microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave for about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

Bon appetit!

Chicken, Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad

You got it! Another family dinner around the table for four of us here at my house. And Mom is following a Low Glycemic Index Diet, which means that for the most part, that affects everyone at dinner!

We were already trying to eat healthier, so that's not a big issue. It's just that with this diet, I have only select options for dinner, so trying to find one that we ALL will eat is a challenge.

Nonetheless, we're doing it. It is also introducing the kiddos to some foods that I don't normally cook, like tonight with the sweet potatoes. The kids didn't eat them although they were included on their plate. Both did try it. So, that's all I ask is that they attempt it. I don't push my kids to eat something if they don't want it. I won't, except in certain circumstances (usually planned), fix them something else, though. So - they eat what they have or don't. I do try to make sure, as I have said before, that I include something on the menu that they will eat and tonight I did a bit extra for them so they'd eat the chicken. While D and I had the recipe as I will share it, I brushed BBQ sauce on the kids' pieces to make it more appealing to them. Small compromise to get them to eat it.

Dinner Tonight was low fat and low sodium. The serving size that I will be listing in the recipe is for one, so if you are cooking for multiple people, multiply it by whatever you need to.

Baked Chicken Baked Sweet Potato Spinach-Strawberry Salad
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Chicken Ingredients

• 3 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and pat dry the chicken; rub with garlic and black pepper and any other spices of your choice. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Baked Sweet Potato Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Scrub potato and pierce with a fork. Put in oven before the Chicken and bake for 45-60 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes. Split, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

Spinach Strawberry Salad Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup fresh sliced strawberries
• 3 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Rinse and dry spinach. Toss spinach with strawberries and balsamic vinegar in a bowl. Top with walnuts and serve.



See. A Super Easy and Healthy dinner.

Healthy Tacos

D and I have started a low glycemic index diet. (How long will that last? Stay tuned!)

In this, I am following a certain diet that provides me with the recipes to follow this kind of diet for each meal. And last night's dinner just happened to be Beef Tacos with a cup of red grapes.

The serving size is 2 taco shells plus 3 oz of beef (1/1/2 oz for each shell) plus lettuce, a bit of cheese, salsa and avacado.

It's relatively simple, really. I have another blog - an actual diet blog - which I may actually post out the actual food I am eating during the day, breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner all - and I will include the link here at some point in the near future for anyone interested.

In any case, this was an easy dinner. The kids, as usual, had their bean and cheese burritos, so the theme of the food was not lost on them.

Tacos

3 oz of lean ground beef (I use the 96/4 lean)
1/4 cup of diced onion
dash of paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons of salsa
1 ounce of shredded low fat cheddar
lettuce
chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped avocado

2 corn taco shells

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion.

Add the paprika, chili powder and garlic powder while cooking.

Add the salsa.

Spoon into taco shells, top with cheddar, lettuce, tomato and avocado.

Our recipe called for a cup of grapes to be eaten with this dinner too. So, that's optional for you.