Tag Archives: low-fat

How To: Cut a Pepper

Posted in Chicken, Gluten Free, How-to, Paleo, Recipe by

This is a pretty typical Sunday night dinner in our house. We love fajitas. I make them by sautéing garlic, onions and peppers in olive oil then adding chicken flavored with and marinated in fajita seasoning from the Spice House. Simple and quick.

From left to right: chicken fajitas, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, sauteed mushrooms, pico de gallo, and grilled green onions.

From left to right: chicken fajitas, tortillas (for hubs), cheese, sour cream, guacamole, sautéed mushrooms (for me since I don’t eat the tortillas), pico de gallo, and grilled green onions.

I usually make a double batch of the chicken and peppers along with a boat load of guacamole and pico de gallo so I can have the leftovers the next few mornings with eggs. Fajita omelette? Yes, please!

I can’t convince my husband to try Paleo with me for even two weeks so that’s why the tortillas are pictured here. However, this is Paleo-friendly as long as you eat everything a la carte. You could also serve this as a salad over a bed of lettuce greens with a bit of olive oil and fresh lime juice. When you make fresh pico and guacamole, you don’t even miss things like sour cream, cheese, or tortillas. I have to admit that even though cheese isn’t technically Paleo, it is the one item that I cheat with at times.

I have found that people really struggle with slicing and dicing peppers for meals like this. I can’t even recall where I learned this technique, but it is the best way to cup up fresh peppers. It’s makes it super easy to slice them into strips or dice them into cubes and you never have any of the little seeds flying about.

How to Cut a Pepper

Step 1

How to cut a pepper

Step 1

Step 1.5

Slice down the side of the pepper as close to the stem as possible.

Side view of step 1

Step 2

Now that you can see the inside, slice the other sides off avoiding the seeds.

Step 2

Avoid the seeds as you slice

Side view of step 2

Step 3

Notice the seeds are intact around the stem

Step 3

Repeat around the entire pepper

Step 4

Step 7

Discard the seeds

Step 5

Step 6

Slice into strips or dice into cubes

Easy peasy!

Mason Jar Salads

Posted in Gluten Free, Paleo, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by

I do my grocery shopping and food prep for the week on Sunday afternoon. It the single best time saver and stress reliever that I have discovered to date. It takes a bit of planning in the beginning to get the hang of it, but it is so worth it once you figure out the odds and ends!

I typically spend anywhere between 5-6 hours shopping, prepping, and cleaning up on Sunday, but it totally eliminates any work I have to do for meals during the week. At any point during the week, I can whip up breakfast, lunch, or dinner with zero prep time and minimal clean up. Mid-week clean up is reduced to the pots/pans I use to cook and the dishes we eat on.

For the past few months, I have been eating salads everyday for lunch and storing them in mason jars. I make 6 at a time and the mason jars keep the ingredients fresh for the entire week. Any airtight container would probably work, but I like mason jars because they fit in the door of the fridge. If I were to make the salads only, shopping, prep, and clean up would probably take 2-3 hours.

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of my mason jar salads on Instagram and it sparked a ton of questions from people. I originally saw this idea floating around Pinterest so I thought everyone already knew about it, but it turns out they do not. I never actually “pinned” the idea onto one of my boards so, unfortunately, I can’t credit the original source.

I don’t add any dressing into the mason jars because I dress my salads with olive oil and vinegar only. If you want, you can add the dressing to the bottom of the jars. Just make sure that you always layer sturdy veggies at the bottom (like carrots or radishes) so they stay crisp throughout the week.

Mason Jar Salads
Time: 2-3 hours which includes shopping, prep, and clean up
Makes 6 salads

Items you will need

Example of the items you will need

Ingredients
You can use any ingredients that you want. For the above salads I used the following:

  • 3 green peppers – 1/2 pepper per salad
  • 12 radishes – 2 radishes per salad
  • 6 carrots – 1 per salad
  • 3 small apples – 1/2 apple per salad
  • 6 celery stalks – 1 per salad
  • 3 shallots – 1/2 shallot per salad
  • 3 heads of romaine lettuce – 1/2 head per salad
  • 3 small cucumbers  – 1/2 cucumber per salad. Note: Pictured above are 6 small cucumbers because I planned on using 1 per salad. As you can see in the picture below, it was way too much so I ended up using half of the original amount I bought.
  • Sport peppers

Directions

layer ingredients

Layer your ingredients

Start with your sturdy ingredients and layer each ingredient. Add the lettuce last. I layered in this order. Radish, carrot, cucumber, celery, green pepper, apple, shallot, sport peppers, and lettuce.

tons of room

Shake the jar to create more room

Don’t worry if your jar starts to look like it is getting full. You have tons of room left and you can push the items down when you add the lettuce. Before adding the lettuce, shake the jar to settle the ingredients and fill in the gaps between layers. The jar on the left has not been shaken, the jar on the right has. See the difference?

finished salads

Finished salads

Lastly, add the lettuce. Really pack it in there. You can fit a lot more than you think in these jars!

When you are ready to eat them, dump them out into a large bowl. At this point you can add a protein source like hard-boiled eggs, grilled chicken, or shrimp. Add nuts or seeds if you are keeping it vegetarian or vegan. You can also add homemade pickled banana peppers.

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag and use them to make homemade vegetable broth

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag and use them to make homemade vegetable broth

By the way, make sure you save any veggie shavings or trimmings. Just throw them into a plastic bag and store them in your freezer. When the bag gets full, dump the contents into a large pot of water and make homemade vegetable broth.

Guilt-Free Zucchini Pizza Boats

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe by

I have a quick low-carb, low-fat meal that you can make in a jiffy if you are craving pizza. It’s also a great way to sneak in some veggies if you live with a picky eater. It may even be kid-friendly, but I have not tested it on kids so I can’t say that with certainty.

I try to avoid pizza altogether because I have absolutely no portion control when it comes to pizza. A large pepperoni with mushrooms and olives can disappear in 20 minutes if placed in front of me. I could never consume an equal amount of pasta, burgers, burritos, or cakes, but you put a pizza near me and I just can’t stop! I LOVE pizza, and am happy I can now get my pizza fix guilt-free.

For this recipe, I used 1 pound of group beef added to store-bought Marinara sauce and served it over regular pasta for my husband. Since pasta is on the “No” list when it comes to Paleo eating, I had to change it up a bit for myself. Technically, cheese isn’t Paleo either, but I had to cheat a little bit. Don’t tell. :) If you do not have a pasta eater in the house, I would suggest making the same amount of sauce and serving the leftovers with spaghetti squash.

Guilt-Free Zucchini Pizza Boats
Makes 4 boats (with leftover sauce)

Try these the morning after you make them and enjoy cold "pizza" for breakfast!

Try these the morning after you make them
and enjoy cold “pizza” for breakfast!

Ingredients:

  • 2 zucchini
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • Your favorite brand of pasta sauce – I used about half of a 24 oz jar of Marinara
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Cut the zucchini in half and use a spoon to scoop out some of the flesh. You want to leave at least 1/4 inch thickness so that your zucchini boats hold up when you pick them up to eat them.
  2. In a pot, cook the onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes or until fragrant. Add the ground beef and brown. Add the pasta sauce and heat through.
  3. Fill the raw zucchini with meat sauce and bake in a 325˚ oven for 8 minutes.
    Note: Do not cook the zucchini beforehand. I did this the first time around and while it still tastes great, it can’t be eaten as a “boat.” Zucchini has a high water content so if you cook it too long it gets flimsy and will need to be eaten with a knife and fork.
  4. AFter 8 minutes, top with cheese and bake for an additional 3 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.
  5. I did not have any fresh basil on hand, but if you happen to have some lying around, garnish with fresh basil!

Chunky Chicken Soup

Posted in Chicken, Gluten Free, Recipe, Soup by

Good Morning!

I apologize for being off the radar for a while. I have been traveling, battling the flu, and getting back into the swing of school. I have a very tough quarter ahead of me preparing for student teaching, but I am so incredibly excited! For those of you that don’t know, I am a full-time Graduate student working towards my M.Ed in Elementary Education. When I graduate, I will also have endorsements in English Language Arts, Social Studies, and (hopefully) Art. Since my school does not have a film program, I have to work with the state of Illinois to see if they will count my film and photography undergraduate classes towards and art endorsement. When I graduate, I hope to be a middle school English/Social Studies teacher. I love middle school aged kids, I can’t wait to work with them.

For my student teaching, I have been placed in a Kindergarten classroom, which I am really excited about. When I am observing in upper grade classrooms, I tend to see the following pattern a lot. The teacher teaches a lesson, students to an activity, students are told if they finish early they can read silently at their desks or work on an unfinished assignment. Now there is nothing necessarily wrong with this pattern, but this type of structure wouldn’t work in a kindergarten classroom because not all kindergarteners can read. Many kindergarteners can’t work independently either. Many still need a ton of guided instruction. Therefore, I will have to design lessons and activities that take the entire lesson time. It is both intimidating and exciting. I honestly feel like I am going to learn so much about classroom management and lesson planning in this classroom!

Wait. Isn’t this post called Chunky Chicken Soup? You’re right. It is!

It seems like everyone I know came down with or is coming down with the flu. The most popular home remedy for the flu is chicken soup. I love soup! It’s quick to make, easy, inexpensive, and comforting.

I have to be honest with you. The recipe below is my best guess as to how I made this. I rarely tend to measure when I am making soup. I will be better about that in 2013!

Chunky Chicken Soup
Serves 4

This can be made with or without gluten-free pasta. Oyster crackers are not gluten-free so do not serve with them if you are avoiding gluten.

This can be made with or without gluten-free pasta. Oyster crackers are not gluten-free so do not serve with them if you are avoiding gluten.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups gluten-free, brown rice pasta (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
  • 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded*
  • 3-4 stalks of celery, sliced
  • 3-4 carrots, sliced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 scant tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 packet chicken bullion
  • Olive oil
  • 6-8 cups water (use and adjust according to how chunky you want your end product to be)

*You can cook and shred the chicken yourself or buy pre-cooked chicken and shred it yourself. You can also buy pre-cooked chicken and cube it. Either way, make sure your chicken is pre-cooked as this saves a ton of time.

Directions:

  1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook onions and carrots until onions are translucent.
  2. Add garlic and celery, stir, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add water (start with 6 cups and add more if you think you need it), bullion packet, and oregano and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat and add chicken and pasta. Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until pasta is cooked through.

You can serve with bread or oyster crackers if you are not gluten-free or enjoy as is!

I hope everyone is having a happy 2013 so far! We will return to our regularly scheduled blogging next week. :)

Easy Chunky Chicken Tortilla Soup

Posted in Chicken, Gluten Free, Recipe, Soup by

It’s soup season! I love soup for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I love it because you can make a ton of it for practically nothing. Second, I love it because it is quick and easy to throw together, very filling, and low in fat and calories. My favorite soup on the planet is tortilla soup. I make it with shredded chicken because my husband acts like I am trying to kill him every time I serve him something without meat, but you can make this vegetarian easily by omitting the chicken and substituting vegetable broth. This soup is so chunky and packed with flavor that you will not miss the absence of meat if you opt to omit the chicken. Sometimes I make the vegetarian version and lie to my husband; telling him there is meat in it. He is usually on his second bowl before he even realizes it!

If you are using chicken, I find it is best in this soup when it is shredded. If I have planned ahead, I cook the chicken breasts in a slow cooker overnight. Then, I let them cool in the fridge all day and shred right before making the soup. When you cook the breasts in a slow cooker, they practically fall apart in your hands. It takes almost no effort to shred them. I have a little slow cooker that I got at Target for $12 that fits 2 chicken breasts perfectly. It is similar to this one. If you do not have a slow cooker, you can boil the chicken breasts for about 25 minutes (or until cooked through), let them cool, and shred them. You can also buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, shred the breasts, and eat the legs and wings another night.

Easy Chunky Chicken Tortilla Soup

Cucina Kristina: Chunky Chicken Tortilla Soup

Note: I didn’t have black beans the night
I shot this photo, but I usually use them

Ingredients:

  • 2 chicken breasts, shredded
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 15-ounce can hominy, not drained
  • 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained & rinsed
  • 1/2 package of frozen corn
  • 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes
  • 2 chicken or vegetable bullion cubes
  • 2 tablespoons oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Handful of cilantro, minced
  • Juice of fresh lime – at least 1 or to taste. I usually use 2 because I like lime
  • 1 tablespoon chili paste (optional)
  • 6-8 cups of water
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings (optional): 

  • Sliced radish
  • Sour cream
  • Chopped lettuce
  • Shredded cheese
  • Avocado
  • Sliced green onion
  • Baked tortilla chips (recipe to follow)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, cook onions and garlic in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
  2. Add one 15-ounce can of hominy, liquid and all. Add black beans, corn, tomatoes, bullion cubes, chicken, oregano, and bay leaf. Add as much water as needed to get the desired soup thickness and consistency.
  3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes to let flavors meld together.
  4. Just before serving, stir in cilantro and squeeze the juice of one lime into the soup.
  5. If using, add 1 tablespoon of chili paste and season with salt and pepper.
  6. Serve as is or garnish with any or all of the toppings above. Don’t forget to remove the bay leaf!

Baked Tortilla Chips:

I use El Milagro corn tortillas exclusively. You can use whatever brand you like, but I would suggest only using tortillas that contain stone ground corn, water and lime. That’s it. Three ingredients. Nothing else. Trust me!

  1. Cut tortillas into wedges. I usually get six wedges out of each tortilla.
  2. Line tortillas on a baking sheet.
  3. Bake in a 350˚ oven for 12-15 minutes.

I do not flavor the chips at all because I like them in their natural state. If you’d like to add salt or seasoning to them, do so before baking them. Simply spray them with olive oil and sprinkle desired seasonings.

I have an oil mister. If you do not have one of these, you can put a little bit of olive oil into a dish and lightly spread onto the chips with your finger. You might be able to use cooking spray; however, I have not tried this. If you use cooking spray a lot, I highly recommend getting an oil mister! I picked mine up at TJ Max for $5. It’s a great way to control the amount of oil you are putting into things without all of the additives that are present in cooking spray.

Cucina Kristina: Baked Corn Tortilla Chips

Corn tortilla chips about to hit the oven!

These chips are gluten-free and there are only 50 calories for every six chips. These are so easy and better for you than any store-bought brand. I can’t remember the last time I bought chips at the store.

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe by

Internet, this is quite possibly the highlight of my culinary experiments in the kitchen!

I love spaghetti squash. I always have one on hand. I usually use it as an alternative to pasta, especially now that I am trying to eat as gluten-free as possible. However, lately I have grown a bit bored with the same old sauce recipe. I started to think of dishes containing noodles that spaghetti squash might be a good substitute for. Phó? No. Fettuccine Alfredo? Ehh. Casseroles? Possibly. Just as I was running out of ideas, I drove past a Thai restaurant and it hit me. Pad Thai!

I got home and immediately began Googling pad Thai recipes. Sheese! Pad Thai is a difficult dish to make. It takes precise timing, accurate measurement, and all kinds of fancy ingredients that one normally does not have on hand. Tamarind paste. Fish sauce. Palm sugar. Who knew?

Some day I’d love to make it from scratch, but on this particular evening, I used a store-bought sauce. No need to reinvent the wheel, folks. A quick note on store-bought pad Thai sauces. If you are cooking for someone with a gluten allergy, be sure to read the labels! This particular sauce did not have soy sauce in it. However, some do, even though soy sauce is not used in traditional pad Thai. I imagine this is a less expensive substitute for fish sauce, but who knows. Companies put all sorts of wacky things into food that shouldn’t be there nowadays. Anyway, the point is that soy sauce would void this from being a gluten-free dish. Kikkoman now makes a gluten-free soy sauce so if you are interested in making pad Thai from scratch, it is possible to make it gluten-free and vegetarian/vegan by using that as a substitute.

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
Serves 4

Cucina Kristina | Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

!!!

Ingredients:

  • 1 spaghetti squash, roasted
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 2 cups of bean sprouts
  • 3-4 stalks of green onion, sliced
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup of store-bought Pad Thai sauce
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • Cilantro, chopped
  • Peanuts
  • Limes
  • Coconut oil

Note: Traditional pad Thai also calls for egg. I happened to be out of eggs when I made this and it still tasted great! I will probably continue to omit the egg when I make this in the future because I don’t think the texture of egg and the texture of spaghetti squash together would be very good. 

Preparation:

Prepare all of your ingredients and have them handy. Once you start cooking, this dish comes together in a few minutes.

  1. Roast and shred spaghetti squash. This takes about an hour, but can be done ahead of time.
  2. Shred carrots using a box grater. You can also buy carrots pre-shredded at the grocery store.
  3. Slice green onions and mince garlic. Set aside most of the green onion for garnish. Reserve about a tablespoon for the first cooking step.

Directions:

  1. Melt about a tablespoon of coconut oil in a large fry pan. Cook garlic and green onion for about 3 minutes over medium heat.
  2. Add the carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes to heat them through.
  3. Add spaghetti squash and pad Thai sauce. Cook until heated through, about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the spaghetti squash/carrot mixture.

Plating:

  1. Place spaghetti squash and carrot mixture onto a plate.
  2. Top with bean sprouts.
  3. Garnish with green onion, cilantro, and chopped peanuts.
  4. Serve with lime wedges for those that like extra lime flavor.

Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian by

Are there any curry lovers out there? I am dying to share this recipe with someone because it is hearty, comforting, and oh so tasty. It’s the type of soup that warms you from the inside out. I threw it together on a whim last night and apparently nobody in my life likes curry!  More for me, right?

Before we get to the recipe, I want to share a couple of notes about this soup and some substitution ideas. First, I used an acorn squash because it is what I had on hand. If you are new to using squash and do not have good knife skills, substitute with a butternut squash. The butternut squash is infinitely easier to peel and has a similar taste. If squash is not your thing, substitute with sweet potatoes. If neither squash nor sweet potatoes are your thing, try my chicken tortilla soup.

Second, this soup has an intense curry flavor. If you like curry, but you do not love curry, cut back to 1 teaspoon and use vegetable broth and water as the base instead of just straight water. As the soup is cooking, taste and add more curry as desired. Remember that it is easier to add more of an ingredient than to try to balance it out after the fact.

Third, do not throw out the squash seeds! The seeds are edible just like pumpkin seeds. For some reason, people do not think about toasting the seeds of other squashes, but they make a wonderful soup garnish or can be used on salads or as an on-the-go snack. I flavored my seeds with salt and Chinese five spice, but you can use anything you like to season your seeds. Some spices that compliment curry are cinnamon, ginger, chili powder, cumin, or cloves.

Now, on to the soup! This is the type of soup that you will want to make on a chilly winter day. The mere smell of curry warms my body as it seeps throughout the house. I almost can’t wait for the first real snowfall so I can make it again. This soup would be a great starter to a Thanksgiving meal even though the flavors are not necessarily traditional. By the way, how is Thanksgiving THIS Thursday? Where does the time go?

Just before serving, I added a tablespoon of chili paste. I use Huey Fong, which is the same company that makes Sriracha (aka rooster sauce). I think the chili paste adds a nice layer of heat to this soup. For you spicy food haters, I would not describe the flavor chili paste adds to this soup as spicy at all. It is not going to burn your mouth and make your eyes water, it just adds a little kick and enhances the overall flavor of this soup. Give it a try! If you are nervous about adding chili paste to the entire pot of soup, you can always put it on the table and have guests add it to their individual bowls as desired.

Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Cucina Kristina | Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Warms you from the inside out!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed (see substitution ideas above)
  • 3 carrots
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder (see substitution ideas above)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chili paste (optional)
  • 1 1/2 quarts water

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, cook onions and garlic in melted coconut oil, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add ginger and cook for another 3 minutes.
  3. Add carrots and squash and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.
  4. Add the curry and cumin and cook for about a minute. This will toast the spices and open their flavor.
  5. Add water and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are cooked through and vegetables are tender.
  6. If using, add 1 tablespoon of chili paste just before serving.
  7. Serve warm and garnish with spiced acorn squash seeds.

Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Ingredients:

  • Coconut oil
  • Chinese five spice (see substitution ideas above)
  • Salt

Directions:

  1. Rinse and dry the seeds from 1 acorn squash.
  2. Melt coconut oil in a small bowl and toss the seeds to coat evenly. If you do not have coconut oil, you can use olive oil.
  3. Add 1 generous pinch of Chinese five spice and toss to evenly distribute.
  4. Spread seeds onto a baking sheet lined with foil and sprinkle with salt to taste.
  5. Roast in a 375˚ oven for about 12 minutes. All ovens vary so you will want to watch the seeds and check on them periodically. They are done when they look toasted and golden brown.

Easy Pickled Banana Peppers for Salads or Sandwiches

Posted in From the garden to my kitchen, Gluten Free, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by
Cucina Kristina: Garden Salad

A true garden salad!

I snapped this photo last week before diving into my salad at lunch. I grew everything you see in that photo except the banana peppers, the dried cranberries, and the pumpkin seeds. I will definitely get a plant or two of banana peppers next year because nothing makes me happier than grocery shopping in my own backyard!

If you are an inexperienced gardener and want to grow some greens, I would highly suggest arugula. If you came over to my house at all this summer, you would probably think to yourself, “Why on earth aren’t you eating all of this arugula? Who spends the time planting and cultivating a garden and then doesn’t use it?” I kid you not, I’ve eaten a giant arugula salad for lunch nearly every day for the past 4 months. I can’t eat this stuff as fast as it grows! I would bring in fistfuls of arugula like you see in the photo below at least every 2-3 days. I am going to try to grow some indoors over the winter. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Cucina Kristina: Garden Fresh Arugula

Armed with a fistful of bas… arugula!

One of my favorite additions to salad are pickled banana peppers. I don’t buy them very often because they are expensive, and I can go through an entire Costco-sized jar of them in about a week. While at my favorite grocery store in Chicago, A&G Fresh Market, I noticed fresh banana peppers were on sale for something ridiculous like .19¢ a pound. I thought to myself, “I wonder how easy it is to make those banana peppers I love so much.” Turns out it is absurdly easy, quick, and cheap (even when the peppers are not on sale) to make them on your own. The hardest part is waiting the 48-72 hours for them to pickle properly.

Pickled Banana Peppers
The recipe below is for a pound of banana peppers. A pound didn’t sound like that much, but it yielded about 3.5 quarts of pickled peppers! Keep that in mind when making these; a little goes a long way. Assuming you do not eat them the way I do, the good news is that they will last quite a while in your fridge due to the high vinegar content.

Also, you generally want a 3:2 ratio of vinegar to water, but you do not need exact measurements for a recipe like this. If you only have 2 cups of vinegar handy and you have to add more water, that is ok, but you should try to aim for no less than a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water when pickling since vinegar is what make things “pickle.”

Cucina Kristina: Homemade Pickled Banana Peppers

Perfect for salads or sandwiches

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. banana peppers
  • 3 cups vinegar
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 smashed garlic clove per jar – 1 lb. of peppers filled 3 and a half quart sized mason jars. Therefore, I used 4 cloves of garlic.

Directions:

  1. Slice banana peppers into rings. Remove seeds if desired. Note: I do not remove the seeds because I like the small amount of heat banana peppers have. Banana peppers are not spicy like jalapeños or serranos. They have a Scoville rating of 100-900 (more than a bell pepper, less than a poblano pepper), but some people are super sensitive to heat. If you are, remove the seeds.
  2. Put the banana peppers into a glass jar(s) with an airtight seal.
  3. In a small saucepan, heat the water, vinegar, salt, garlic, and sugar until it comes to a simmer.
  4. Simmer for 3-5 minutes to dissolve the sugar and salt, remove from heat, and cool to just above room temperature. If you pour hot liquid over your peppers it will cook them and they will get soggy. Let your pickling mixture cool. Be patient!
  5. When cooled, pour pickling liquid over peppers making sure each jar has a piece of smashed garlic in it.
  6. Store in the fridge. Let the peppers pickle for at least 48-72 hours before eating. The longer they sit, the better they are!

Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by

OMG! This recipe is amazing. I think I might love cauliflower now, which is good because cauliflower is low in calories and packed full of vitamin C. Ok, ok enough with the boring stuff. On to the chocolate!

I received an email from Vosges Haut Chocolate with this recipe for cocoa roasted cauliflower. I was intrigued, Googled it, and found this recipe on The Clothes Make the Girl, which sounded so much better. It was! I am a sucker for coconut oil so I was in as soon as I saw that.

OMG. So good.

Next time I make this I am going to omit the paprika because the coconut oil, salt, and cocoa powder together are such a wonderful sweet, salty, savory combination. I’m not sure the paprika adds enough umph for me to use it again, but experiment, you might love it! I am also going to use fresh garlic because freshly roasted garlic is one of the best things ever.

Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Cucina Kristina: Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Savory and sweet. So lovely!

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
  • 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Salt and garlic powder (or fresh garlic) to taste

Directions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
  2. Melt 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a bowl and toss cauliflower until it is evenly distributed. Note: We do not have a microwave so I melted the coconut oil by blasting it with a hairdryer. Worked like a charm! True story.
  3. Spread cauliflower on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, garlic, and cocoa powder.
  4. Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Wonton Pizza Pockets (Healthier than Fried Pizza Rolls)

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I am constantly trying to steer my husband away from processed food. I have this image of his heart exploding one day due to the awful food he puts into his body. How does he not weight 1,000 pounds? I’m so jealous. Anyway, his two favorite frozen foods are Jack’s pizzas and Totino’s Pizza Rolls. I usually keep a few of each in the house to shut him up for nights I don’t feel like cooking, but I have been trying to think of a healthier alternative to trick him into eating.

These little guys are a snap to make. In fact, once you get an assembly line going, you can whip 12 of these out in no time flat. They are a good swap to the traditional pizza roll because they are baked and would be a wonderful party appetizer. They are also kid-friendly for those of you with picky eaters. What kid doesn’t love a pizza roll?

You can make these vegetarian by swapping out the pepperoni slice and replacing it with a slice of zucchini, mushroom, red or green pepper, tomato, spinach, or kale. Swapping out the pepperoni with a veggie will make them even healthier than the ones posted below, but I can only pick one food battle at a time around here! :)

Wonton Pizza Pockets
Makes 12 rolls

Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

Wonton Pizza Pockets

Ingredients:

  • 12 wonton wrappers
  • 2 wedges Laughing Cow sun-dried tomato and basil cheese
  • 12 slices pepperoni
  • 2 basil leaves torn into 12 bite-sized pieces
  • Spaghetti sauce – any flavor. I used Marinara. You’ll use a small amount for this recipe and will use the rest for dipping.
  • Grated parmesan cheese for dusting

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375˚.
  2. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, mix Laughing Cow cheese with about a teaspoon of pasta sauce. You want the cheese to have a slightly thinner consistency than it has without the sauce, but you do not want it to be runny.
Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

The sauce helps thin the cheese.

  1. Place about a teaspoon of the cheese mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.
Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

About a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half

  1. Top with a pepperoni slice and a piece of torn basil.
Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

Try not to eat all of the pepperoni in the process :)

  1. Wet your finger and moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold over into a triangle shape. Press firmly to make sure it is sealed around the edges.
  2. Place pizza pockets a cookie sheet and spray tops lightly with cooking spray. Dust with grated Parmesan cheese.
Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

Cucina Kristina: Wonton Pizza Pockets

  1. Bake in a 375˚ oven for a total of 12 minutes or until golden brown. Turn pizza pockets halfway through so they crisp up on both sides.