ACarroll Wellness Blog

Carrot - Parsnip Soup

Ingredients: 

Peeled and chopped carrots

Peeled and chopped parsnips

Vegetable broth

Chopped onion (optional)

grated fresh ginger (to taste)

salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions:

Cook the veggies in just enough broth to cover until very tender.  Add ginger, salt, and pepper.  

Blend with an immersion blender until smooth adding more broth if needed.

This soup freezes very well! 

Borscht (Beet Soup)

Such a wonderful fall soup!

Ingredients:

2 medium beets

2 medium carrots

1 medium potato

1/2 a small head of cabbage

1/2 a large onion

1 garlic clove

oil (I used avocado oil)

salt and pepper

1 tsp thyme

4 cups of vegetable broth

Greek yogurt

• Chop all of the vegetables into chunks. 
• Mince the garlic and set it aside.
• Place the vegetables onto a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, salt, pepper and thyme.
• Roast them in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
• Add the minced garlic and roast 20 more minutes or until a fork will pierce the beet pieces. 
• Place all the vegetables into a pot with 4 cups of vegetable broth and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Blend the soup in a blender if desired and serve with a dollop of greek yogurt (or sour cream). 

Ginger Cabbage Stir Fry

 

Ingredients:

One small head of chopped cabbage (green or red)

One medium sliced onion

Garlic cloves minced (1 or 2 cloves)

Grated fresh ginger to taste 

Tamari sauce  (1-2 Tb)

Rice wine vinegar (1-2 Tb)

Oil ( I used avocado oil)

 

Place all ingredients into a pan, stirring often, until cabbage is tender.  Serve over rice.

Butternut Squash and Mushroom Risotto

 

Risotto is a wonderful dish to make on a cool, rainy day!  This recipe uses butternut squash for a great fall flavor.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 Tb butter
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 3 cups (approximate) broth
• 2/3 cup pureed butternut squash
• 1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence
• salt and pepper

 Directions:

• Sautee the onions and mushrooms in the butter until soft.  Set aside.
• In a large pot, begin cooking the rice with 1 cup of broth, stirring frequently.  Add broth in 1/2 cup increments as needed until rice is done (about 30 minutes). 
• Stir in butternut squash, herbs, salt and pepper, onions, and mushrooms.

Enjoy! 

Pineapple Banana Smoothie

A cold and dreary day deserves a little sunshine!  

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

2 tsp chia seed oil (optional)

Coconut water 

Blend all ingredients in a good blender, adding coconut water until desired consistency is reached.

Lentil & Roasted Veggie Shepherd's Pie

I made this for dinner and it is definitely something I'll be adding to my regular menu!

 

Ingredients:

Mashed Potato Topping:

3 or 4 medium potatoes, cut into chunks

2 T butter

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

milk

salt and/or other seasonings

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Other ingredients:

1 cup cooked lentils (I used green lentils, but brown would be fine.These take about 20 minutes to cook, but could be done earlier in the day or even the day before.)

Veggie bouillon powder 

1 cup diced sweet potato

1 cup diced carrots

1 medium onion (cut in chunks)

3 or 4 peeled and coarsely chopped garlic cloves

grape seed oil

salt

thyme

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic with enough grape seed oil to coat.  Spread on a pan and sprinkle with salt and thyme.  Roast them until tender (about 30 minutes).

While the veggies are roasting, start your mashed potato topping.  Boil the diced potatoes just until you can put a fork in them. Drain and add the butter and Greek yogurt.  Mash the potatoes with a hand masher or a mixer, adding enough milk to make them creamy.  I like to add a 1/2 tsp of Wildtree's Onion and Chive seasoning to my potatoes. Set this aside.

Add about 1/2 cup of water and a teaspoon or so of the veggie bouillon powder to the lentils. Transfer the lentils to an oiled casserole dish.  Layer the roasted vegetable mixture on the lentils, then add the mashed potato topping over the vegetables.  Sprinkle with sharp cheddar cheese (optional). 

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly (about 30 minutes).

Cauliflower Alfredo

I saw a recipe for cauliflower alfredo sauce on pinterest a while back.  I knew that there would soon be cauliflower in my CSA box, so I set the recipe aside until this week.  Yes, this week there was cauliflower in my box!  I didn't follow the printed recipe exactly, but here is what I did:

2 tsp minced garlic sauteed in a bit of grapeseed oil

2 small heads of cauliflower, chopped small and cooked in 3 cups of vegetable broth until very soft

Transfer the cauliflower and a bit of the broth with the sauteed garlic into a good blender (I have a Vitamix that I LOVE).  Blend well, adding more broth if needed.  While it is blending, add a bit of milk (just enough to 'whiten it') and a drizzle of olive oil.  Pour over pasta (gluten-free for some of us!).

I served it with some grilled one ball and eight ball squash and grilled chicken!

Enjoy.

 

 

A new way to enjoy Greek yogurt!

Sorry - no picture.  There was just not a way to make this look good for a picture!  I saw an idea on pinterest to take Greek yogurt and add peanut butter and chocolate chips........  Yum!  (just not pretty).

I took about 3-4 oz of plain Greek yogurt (my favorite is Fage 2%), mixed in about a table spoon of peanut butter, some semi-sweet chocolate chips and a little drizzle of honey.  Mix well.  It is VERY tasty, and I will make it again EXCEPT instead of the chocolate chips, I'd like to try a bit of raw cacao powder!

Try it!

Soup: Squash & Pumpkin

Last night was 'clean out the refrigerator' night.   I had some left over pureed butternut squash and pumpkin that I had used in different recipes last week and a piece of red onion.  I chopped up the onion super-fine (if you have gastroparesis and don't tolerate onion, just leave it out) and tossed it into a pot with some minced garlic and olive oil.  I sauteed that until the onion was translucent and then added my squash and pumpkin (there was more squash than pumpkin).  I added vegetable broth until it was the consistency that I like and added some salt. I served it with a dollop of greek yogurt and a slice of sourdough bread!  It was yummy!

Gluten Free Pizza

As some of you know, my youngest son follows a gluten free diet to help with his ADHD.  He really likes pizza and it has been difficult to find a good gf pizza.  I found this recipe and had to try it.  The original recipe:

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 Tb grapeseed or olive oil

I didn't have any almond flour, but I did have almond meal.  That is much more coarse and can make dough more crumbly.  So I used 1 cup of my almond meal and 1/2 cup of sorghum flour.  Whisk the wet ingredients together and mix into the dry ingredients.  Press onto a pan or stone (building up an edge) and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Add your sauce and toppings and bake for another 18-20 minutes.  

This was quite good and what's even better - it was good left over!  I think you could try all kinds of different flours with this recipe, but I think the almond flour adds a nice flavor!