Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2015
Slow Cooker Spicy Brown Rice and Black Bean Cheesy Bowl Vegetarian Gluten Free
Use the CrockPot to cook this Spicy Brown Rice and Black Bean Cheesy Bowl and keep the kitchen cool.
When you live where it's hot in the summer, using the slow cooker to cook amazing food without heating up the house is one of the best tricks I know. In fact, on my slow cooker site I feature Slow Cooker Summer Dinners each year, and this Slow Cooker Spicy Brown Rice and Black Bean Bowl would make a perfect summer dinner cooked in the CrockPot. It took me a couple of tries to get this recipe just right, and for the final version I had the wild idea of cutting up some cubes of string cheese and stirring them into the rice and beans mixture for the last 30 minutes of cooking time, so this is a spicy brown rice and black bean cheesy bowl. Everyone likes cheesy don't they? I tested several versions of this out on my niece Kara and her family, and they gave the thumbs up to the version with cheese, but it's definitely optional if you prefer it without the cheese.
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Thursday, March 12, 2015
Recipe for Spicy Slow Cooker Soup with Ground Turkey Pinto Beans Red Bell Pepper and Green Chiles
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| A spicy slow cooker soup, with Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce adding some heat. |
(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Spicy Slow Cooker Soup with Ground Turkey, Pinto Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Green Chiles is a tummy-warming soup that includes green enchilada sauce to add lots of flavor. I love this sprinkled with grated cheese, enjoy!)
Ever since I made the Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Green Chiles I find myself grabbing a few cans of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce whenever I'm at the grocery store. There are other good brands of green chile enchilada sauce, but Hatch brand seems perfect to my tastebuds, and when I wanted to spice up this spicy ground turkey and pinto bean slow cooker soup the Hatch enchilada sauce plus a can of diced green chiles gave me just the right amount of heat. I loved the soup with a little grated cheese sprinkled on top, and for those who'd like even more heat, Green Tabasco Sauce is the perfect thing to add to your soup at the table.
Ever since I made the Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Green Chiles I find myself grabbing a few cans of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce whenever I'm at the grocery store. There are other good brands of green chile enchilada sauce, but Hatch brand seems perfect to my tastebuds, and when I wanted to spice up this spicy ground turkey and pinto bean slow cooker soup the Hatch enchilada sauce plus a can of diced green chiles gave me just the right amount of heat. I loved the soup with a little grated cheese sprinkled on top, and for those who'd like even more heat, Green Tabasco Sauce is the perfect thing to add to your soup at the table.
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Saturday, March 7, 2015
Can Fries Be Healthy You Bet! Try These Garlicky Baked Sweet Potato Fries Serve With Spicy Red Pepper Aioli
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| Garlicky sweet potato fries make a great Super Bowl snack. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. |
Game Day can be Healthy
Ive been working on a few healthy recipes this week for Super Bowl Sunday. I was inspired by the many TV commercials that are pushing their chicken wings, candy, chips, soda, and other crap that is usually associated with watching football. There are so many delicious recipes that you can serve at football parties, I wouldnt think of serving my guests the types of food (and I use the term loosely) Ive seen advertised.
Now Im not suggesting that you pass around kale smoothies or do a group liver cleanse on game day. Im just saying that there are plenty of fun dishes that you and your family can enjoy without regret. After all, you probably made New Years resolutions to get back in shape, shed the holiday weight, and take better care of yourself in 2014. Its still January and way too soon to break out the Velveeta Queso dip!
Healthy Fries - an Oxymoron?
Its game day, lets splurge a little with some fries dipped in that delicious, Spicy Red Pepper Aioli I shared with you on Tuesday. But can fries be healthy? Well, maybe not as healthy as a raw salad, but lets say these are much healthier than traditional ones.
By using sweet potatoes rather than russets, you get twice the fiber and tons of vitamin A. Each ounce of the orange spud provide 79% of the daily required vitamin A while russets provide none.
Baking versus deep frying produces fries with a lot less fat. A four ounce serving of my baked sweet potato fries contain one third the calories and only twenty percent of the fat of regular French fries. Each serving is only 130 calories with only 1/2 gram of saturated fat!
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Garlicky Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]
Requires a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil and a large metal cooling rack
1 teaspoon organic cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and set a metal cooling rack (that is smaller than the cookie sheet) on top of it. Cooking the potatoes on a rack allows you to cook the fries without turning them.
Mix the cornstarch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl and set aside. Adding a little cornstarch helps the baked fries crisp up.
Cut the sweet potatoes into 3/8 inch fries and place in the bowl. Using your hands, mix until they are completely and uniformly covered with the seasoning.
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| Mix potatoes with the cornstarch and spices. |
Drizzle the oil over the fries and mix them with your hands until they are completely and uniformly covered in oil. Place on the rack leaving enough space between the fries so that they cook evenly.
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| Place fries on the metal rack over the foil lined cookie sheet. |
Place the potatoes in the oven away from the broiling coils. Bake at 425 degrees until they start to brown and look a little caramelized, about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve with Spicy Red Pepper Aioli or with ketchup.
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| A little of this spicy dip goes a long way. |
Per serving: 130 calories, 3 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 27 mg omega-3 and 346 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 207 mg sodium.
For additional delicious and health recipe ideas, download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, available on Amazon and iTunes.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Low Carb High Fat Diet Spicy Cumin Cheddar Crackers
Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 45 mins | Total: 1 hr | Servings:4
| A while back, I created a hazelnut-parmesan cracker recipe. Not only did it completely blow my mind, in terms of how satisfying the taste and texture was, but it was also enormously popular out on the internets social super highway. It really felt like a big personal "win", in that it was something that didnt feel like a sub-par replacement. It was the real deal. It was everything I could ever want in a cracker, but with none of the downside! A near perfect food! However, it DID have its flaws. While it was amazing with things like artichoke-pesto dip, not pistou and other Italian spirited dips and sauces, it somehow fell flat within Latin realm. This left things like Salsa Mexicana sitting without a perfect companion; sin un amigo. Sure, Ive got things like the baked tortilla chips, but this starts with a processed ingredient, which turns some people off (even though equally as many enjoy the ease of such a thing). Additionally, its got wheat, which is a definitely no-no in many health related circles. In response to those issues, I would often suggest people fry up cheddar cheese and then break it into dip-friendly shards. This seemed to be a satisfactory answer, but ... its still not a chip. Some dips just need a chip. Knowing I needed to do something, I kept trying to use various corn products to come up with something like a corn tortilla chip. This all resulted in pure botched failure and frustration. The tastes were all solid, but the texture was wrong, or the carb count was too high. There was never a perfect moment. Finally, after a request from my own mother (she wanted something to dip into guacamole), I revisited the hazelnut-parmesan cracker. I used that same approach, but with a different nut and seasoning blend. The end result? A more Latin vibed cracker. To verify, I made some salsa and tried it. DELICIOUS! I can only imagine something like a hot gooey cheddar and jalapeño dip! (*** drools on shirt ***) In the end, my search for the perfect tortilla chip replacement continues. I dont want to downplay how wonderful these crackers are. The texture and flavor cannot be beat; alas they are crackers ... they are not a chip. Some dips just need a chip.
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