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Category: Recipes

Dark Chocolate Bark With Raspberries And Pumpkin Seeds

Need an easy, beautiful, delicious, and healthy sweet treat for your Valentine? Check out this chocolate bark recipe from Lily Nichols aka “The Pilates Nutritionist”. In less than 20 minutes I whipped this together, sourcing all my ingredients from Trader Joe’s!

I love Lily’s food philosophy, and her newsletters are full of great info about healthy eating, fitness, and self care. Visit Lily’s site to find out about her new book Real food for Pregnancy.

Recipe below, reprinted with permission from the author…

 

 

Dark Chocolate Bark With Raspberries and Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

  • 8 oz dark chocolate (I use 2 bars of Theo 85% Baking Bar)
  • 1/3 cup raw, shelled pumpkin seeds
  • 1/4 cup freeze-dried raspberries (crumbled pieces are ok)

Directions

  1. Break or cut chocolate into small pieces, roughly ½ inch pieces or smaller. Place in a medium glass bowl.
  2. Melt the chocolate. You can either melt over the stovetop, by setting the bowl of chocolate over a small saucepan with simmering water and stirring with a spoon until melted (your bowl will need to be larger than the opening of the saucepan and the bowl should not directly touch the simmering water). Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, stopping to stir the chocolate every 20 seconds or so, until melted.
  3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Pour the melted chocolate onto the paper and spread into an even layer using an offset spatula or a rubber spatula.
  4. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, then freeze-dried raspberries. Let cool for several hours on the counter or in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Break into pieces and enjoy!

If you can’t find Theo’s 85% Baking Bar, you can do half 100% chocolate and half 70% dark chocolate and get pretty darn close. Or, simply use whatever dark chocolate you like.

Anne McCranie is a Portland, Oregon based personal trainer and licensed massage therapist. She offers this recipe to tickle your taste buds. Please see your medical professional for specific dietary advice.

A Hygge Recipe For Danish Meatballs In Curry

I recently read Meik Wiking’s The Little Book Of Hygge. Mr Wiking is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. He studies happiness in cultures around the world. Despite their long, dark winters the Danes are among the happiest people on the planet. Why is this? Could it be their culture of Hygge?

So what is hygge exactly? Hygge (pronounced Hooga) is as a feeling of home, safety, warmth, coziness, love. It can be as simple as savoring a cup of warm tea, or relaxing in front of a roaring fireplace snuggled in a blanket. Hygge is often combined with other words – “I can’t wait to get home and put on my Hyggesocks.” or “Want to take a hyggecoffee with me?”

Danes know how to hygge – they dress casually, layering bulky sweaters and scarves over skinny jeans. They fill their homes with vintage furniture, stacks of books, fuzzy blankets and cushions, and they often bring nature indoors via leaves, twigs, or animal skin rugs. They love coffee, sweets and bacon. Sounds like Portland has the Hygge thing down! Danes are obsessed with lighting, especially candles! They light them at work, at home, and in classrooms to create “emotional coziness”. As far as lamps go, the lower the temperature of the lighting, the more hygge a room feels. I believe the ONLY time you should turn on an overhead light is while vacuuming or mopping the floor, so I totally get it. This is dinner not a police interrogation! 🙂

Hot drinks (especially coffee, tea, and mulled wine) are high on the hygge list, as are fireplaces, board games, music and sweet treats. Danes like to spend time cooking and eating with loved ones, in fact the longer a dish takes to cook the more hygge it is! Here’s what it is not: bragging about your accomplishments, or trying to one up your neighbor with the fanciest car, watch, or house. Hygge is about simplicity and modesty. Think rustic over new, simple over posh, and ambience instead of excitement.

I recently made one of the recipes from this book, and in true hygge style I shared it with friends. Here is my buddy Jonah getting down on his meatballs. A minute before his mamma took this photo he leaned over and out of the blue said “I love you”. Was this because I made him meatballs? Who knows and who cares!

 

 

We all agreed this recipe was a hit so I wanted to share it with you. Here it is below (reprinted with the author’s permission). Try it and let me know what you think!

 

Boller I Karry (Danish Meatballs in Curry)

Cooking time – about an hour and thirty five minutes (including one hour for the meatball mix to rest).

Meatball Ingredients:

  • 1 cup breadcrumbs (or 2 Tbsp. flour)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 1/2 lbs. ground pork (I mixed beef and pork)
  • 4 cups beef stock (I ended up using two 32 oz containers of beef broth)

Curry Sauce:

  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. mild yellow curry powder
  • 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large leek, peeled and finely chopped
  • 5 Tbsp. flour
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • handful chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Place the breadcrumbs or flour with the egg, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper in a big bowl and mix it well. Add the pork, mix it again, and leave it in the fridge for one hour.

2. Take the mixture out of the fridge and use a spoon to form little balls. Add water to cooking pot  and bring it to a boil over high heat. Add the beef stock and the meatballs into the boiling water and let them simmer for five to ten minutes. Remove the meatballs from the water, but retain some of the liquid for later use.

3. Melt the butter in a pot, add the curry powder, and let it brown for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the chopped onion and leek and let them brown for a couple of minutes. Add flour and mix well. Then add some of the cooking liquid, little by little, stirring until the sauce thickens. add the cream and the meatballs and simmer for about twelve minutes.

5. Garnish with parsley and serve with rice.

 

Couple of notes – first, this recipe made about 50 meatballs, so I shared these with several friends and they all loved it! I’m betting you could easily cut this recipe in half. Second, I’m not sure if he meant to use half water and half stock to boil the meatballs, but I doubled the amount of broth he suggests in this recipe and ended up cooking my meatballs in two batches (using just broth, no water) so they had plenty of room to swim around. Save any leftover broth and use it to cook rice, or steam veggies.

Ok one more picture of this cute nugget:

 

 

Anne McCranie is a Portland, Oregon based personal trainer and licensed massage therapist. She offers this recipe to tickle your taste buds. Please see your medical professional for specific dietary advice.

Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Growing up, my Grannie Mattie’s cornbread dressing was my hands down favorite Thanksgiving dish! Actually, I like the trifecta of turkey, dressing, and the bright red cranberry sauce that slides right out of the can (hey, don’t judge!). The consistency of this dressing is closer to mashed potatoes that a crumbly stuffing. And no sage here, the secret ingredient is… curry powder!

I called my Grannie once to ask her for the recipe, and she started off with “oh honey, it’s so easy!” Then she proceeded to rattle off more of a list of suggestions than an actual recipe. I’ll paraphrase what she told me: you take some cornbread and some day old hot dog buns, then you cook down your celery, onion and green pepper (the holy trinity as it’s known), then you mix it all together with some milk and chicken stock, or better yet, pan drippings from your turkey, then you pour it into a pan and bake it. When I asked her how much milk she said “Oh, just enough to moisten it.” I found this very frustrating.

What I’ve learned from making this over and over is no skimping on the butter and stock (or whole milk). If you think I’m kidding about this, the next time you see me ask me how I feel about low fat dairy. BOOOO! It is not only unhealthy, but just does not taste good. It’s Thanksgiving people! Bring on the butter! I use Jiffy cornbread mix because it always comes out great and just fits into my small iron skillet.

Oh, and I’m talking about my Florida grannie Mattie; my Louisiana grannie Mary Del also made a version of this, but she put oysters in hers. When I was a little kid my reaction was “ew gross.” Now my reaction is “YUM!” The oysters cook down so you don’t really notice them (no slimy texture) and they give you a salty seafood flavor, so even if your family says they are not into oysters, they may actually like this. But please, no tricking people with stealth oysters.

Cornbread Dressing

*This recipe serves six, and can be doubled it if you are serving a crowd. Not sure if your people are into oysters? You can pour dressing into two smaller casserole dishes, then add the oysters to only one pan. If using a smaller pan, reduce cooking time to about 35 minutes total.

Cornbread Ingredients:

  • 1 8.5 oz box jiffy cornbread mix
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup of milk

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 8 tablespoons butter (reserve one tbsp. to grease the pan)
  • 4-5 ribs of celery, chopped
  • 1 small green pepper, chopped
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 5 slices white bread, dried in warm oven, and crumbled
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2-3 cups chicken stock
  • 3/4 cup whole milk

Optional: 1 pint fresh oysters, drained

Directions:

  1. Make cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble (you can do this a day or two ahead).
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the celery, green pepper, onion, salt, pepper and curry powder until the veggies are soft (5ish minutes).
  4. In a large bowl, place the veggie mixture. Add the cornbread, white bread, eggs, chicken stock and milk and mix well (add the oysters if you are using them). You want the dressing to be moist and pourable, but not so wet that there is liquid floating on top.
  5. Pour into prepared dish and bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. (to test for doneness, carefully and gently jiggle the pan, and if the center of the dressing moves cook it a little longer, til it is set).

Anne McCranie is a Portland based personal trainer and licensed massage therapist. She offers this recipe to bring Thanksgiving happiness to your belly. Please see your medical professional for specific dietary advice.

Smoky Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

One of my ladies sent me this recipe for baked sweet potatoes. It is one of her family’s favorite recipes (even the kids eat it!). As I LOVE sweet potatoes, I was eager to try it out. It is simple, and aside from the smoked paprika – which I found at QFC – the ingredients are fairly straightforward. You really do need to use smoked paprika, it imparts and smoky but not too spicy flavor. In fact I’ve been adding it to everything from rice, chicken, beans…

Check out this recipe and let me know what you think.

Smoky Roasted Sweet Potatoes And Chickpeas

Ingredients:

  • 3 Large sweet potatoes, sliced lengthwise into wedges (4-8 wedges each, depending on the size of your potatoes)
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 Tablespoon crushed red-pepper flakes, divided
  • 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and patted dry
  • 5 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened), full fat yogurt
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 2 green peppers, trimmed, and thinly sliced (white and green parts)

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil, and grease both pans with one tablespoon of olive oil.
  3. In a large bowl, mix honey, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon of pepper flakes. Toss yams in the honey mixture and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon olive oil, smoked paprika and salt, to taste. Toss chickpeas in olive oil and spices.
  5. On the first baking sheet, spread yams out on in one layer. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, until nicely toasted underneath. Flip wedges over and roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, until soft. Turn the oven to broil and cook for one final minute, to crisp and brown the edges.
  6. On second baking sheet, spread out chickpeas. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, rolling around once or twice so that they cook evenly, until lightly browned and crispy on the outside.
  7. While your veggies are roasting, mix yogurt, remaining tablespoon olive oil, and lime juice together in a small dish, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Arrange sweet potatoes and chickpeas on a platter. Drizzle with yogurt sauce, sprinkle with onions, and remaining pepper flakes, and serve!

 

Anne McCranie is a Portland, Oregon based personal trainer and licensed massage therapist. She offers this recipe to tickle your taste buds. Please see your medical professional for specific dietary advice.

Andalusian Gazpacho

Anybody else suffering from an abundance of tomatoes and cukes? Last weekend I was headed to a potluck so I whipped up this chilled summer soup. While there are lots of variations on this soup, this time I made the Andalusian version, and processed the veggies into a pureed “drink”, like a spicy smoothie.

While this recipe is simple, there is quite a bit of prep (if you are interested in making sure all the cucumber and tomato seeds have been removed). I chopped all my veggies in batches, mixed everything together and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

 

Andalusian Gazpacho

 

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded (about 5-6 medium tomatoes)
  • 2 cucumbers, peeled, de-seeded, and chopped
  • 3/4 cup red pepper, chopped
  • 3/4 cup red onion, chopped
  • 1 small jalapeno
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

1. Gather all of the above ingredients plus a food processor or vitamix, a large bowl, a cutting board, and a sharp knife.

2. Place garlic in the food processor. Slice and seed the jalapeno (wear gloves or wash your hands thoroughly after as these babies can burn!) and add to the food processor. Add a few spoonfuls of water (reserve the rest) and process this mixture until finely diced.

3. Now roughly chop the rest of your veggies so they will fit into the food processor, and working in batches process them so they are finely chopped but not liquefied, adding them to the bowl as you go.

4. One all the veggies have been added to the bowl add the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, Worcestershire, cumin and salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Adjust seasoning to taste. Add more water if you would like a more soupy consistency. Chill for at least two hours and serve with a garnish of lime, or a slice of crusty bread.

 

Anne McCranie is a Portland (Sellwood), Oregon based Personal Trainer and Licensed Massage Therapist. She offers this recipe to tickle your taste buds. Please see you medical professional for specific dietary advice.