Ever Ready: Healthy Friday

Friday, November 6, 2015

Healthy Friday

Corn, Blueberry and Wild Rice Salad

Cook's notes: Wild rice is native to North America and has more nutritional value than oats and wheat. Did you know that even today, uncultivated Minnesota wild rice must by law be harvested in the traditional Native American way, and only by those licensed to do so?

The recipe serves 4 and was adapted from firstnations.org

Ingredients:

6 ears sweet corn, husked (or 1½ cups frozen corn)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 cup fresh blueberries

4 TB. lime juice

1-1/2 cups cooked wild rice

4 TB. olive oil

1 small cucumber, finely diced

2 TB. honey or maple syrup

¼ cup finely chopped red onion

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

optional adding 1/2 cup toasted almonds

Directions:

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add corn. Cook covered for 5 minutes, or until tender. When cool enough to handle, cut corn from cobs or use frozen corn kernels thawed and steamed. In a serving bowl combine corn, blueberries, diced cucumber, red onion, cilantro, wild rice, and jalapeno.
For dressing: in a screw-top jar combine lime juice, oil, honey, cumin, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover; shake well to combine. Add to salad and toss. Cover the salad and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

Creamy Tomato Orzo Soup

Cook's notes: Creamy tomato soup made with Greek yogurt instead of heavy cream. This healthy soup also has orzo pasta and fresh basil. It's the perfect autumn meal served with a your favorite grilled cheese or a slice of Garden Veggie Corn Bread. Recipe serves 4-6 and was adapted from twopeasandtheirpod

Ingredients:

1 TB. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

3-15 ounce cans diced tomatoes (garlic and onion)

1-15 ounce can vegetable broth or chicken broth (low sodium)

2 tsp. brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried basil

Dash of crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (tested with Chobani)

1 cup cooked Orzo pasta

Directions:

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bay leaves.
Add the tomatoes and vegetable or chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar and fresh basil or dried basil . Season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, to taste. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, uncovered.
Remove the bay leaves from the pot. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup (or blend the soup in a standing blender and return to the pot). Stir in the Greek yogurt until well combined. Stir in the orzo pasta. Return back to pan and simmer 10 minutes uncovered. Serve warm.

Garden Veggie Corn Bread

Cook's notes: This recipe is moist, flavorful made with healthy ingredients. The corn bread pairs well with soups, salads and stews. Recipe adapted from BHG
Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour

2 TB. snipped fresh chives or 1 TB dried chives

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

2-1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 cup low fat buttermilk

2 TB. honey

1/3 cup coarsely shredded carrots

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet mini peppers

1/2 cup creamed corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly coat a 2-quart square or 8 x 8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl stir together cornmeal, flour, chives, parsley flakes, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, and honey. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in carrots, sweet pepper and drained creamed corn. Pour batter into prepared baking dish.

Bake for 18- 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm with a drizzle of honey.