May 25, 2012

It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that Memorial Day is just a couple of days away.  In celebration of  the upcoming holiday, this weekend will be filled with family get-togethers, cookouts, relaxing by the pool with friends, picnics, and trips to the lake or the beach.

Our weekend will also include lots of pre-Senior Prom picture taking. 🙂

No matter what you're doing this weekend, I'm sure there's some grillin' goin' on! What are you having? Brisket? Hot dogs? Burgers? A little bit of everything?  Instead of a traditional beef hamburger, how about trying a healthy Spinach Turkey Burger instead?

Before you poo-poo the idea as dry and boring (like most turkey burgers), hear me out!

I'm the first to admit that I love sinking my teeth into a fat, juicy, double bacon cheeseburger but, since I'm trying really hard to eat healthier, I've eliminated almost all beef. We may make a pot roast on a cold day or grill a nice tri-tip for a special occasion, but other than that, we aren't eating much beef. I'm substituting turkey for beef in almost all my recipes, including spaghetti sauce and chili.

The guys had their burgers on a bun but even if I wasn't watching my carbs, I'd still rather just eat mine on a plate with tomato and avocado on the top and on the side.

When shopping in Trader Joe's this week, I couldn't resist buying these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. I got 2 pounds of a nice variety for a great price and they were the perfect addition to my Spinach Turkey Burgers.

I've played around for a while with different variations of turkey burgers in an attempt to come up with a tasty and juicy burger. By combining the spinach and the mushrooms with the turkey breast, these burgers stay nice and moist.

Spinach Turkey Burgers

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey breast
8 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
4 oz chopped mushrooms (I used Crimini)
1 egg
1/4 c bread crumbs
1 shallot, grated
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Drizzle of olive oil
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Mix together in a large bowl the spinach, mushrooms, egg, bread crumbs, shallot, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce.  Add that mixture to the turkey breast and stir together with a fork just until combined.

Divide the mixture and form into patties. Before putting the patties on a plate, drizzle a little olive oil on the plate. This will keep the patties from sticking to the plate and the grill.

Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on size. Turn as soon as the burgers look white around the edges and release easily from the grill. Let rest for 5 minutes.

(Note: For 1 1/2 lbs of turkey breast, I made eight burgers, but you can make them smaller and they will cook even quicker. The most important part about grilling these is to not overcook them.)

Check back on Sunday for another healthy burger. Since this one is coming from BigSis, it'll be vegan, of course.

No matter where you are or what you're doing this weekend, be safe and have a Happy Memorial Day!

~LilSis

May 18, 2012

When BigSis was here in CA last month for my birthday week, we made our usual trip to Trader Joe's. We always try to pop in so BigSis can pick up a few favorite items since there's not a TJ's in Texas…yet!

Yes, Texans, get ready!  Trader Joe's is coming to Texas. There are five confirmed locations in Texas so far. The first stores will open in Fort Worth, Houston and Plano, then in Fall 2012, they'll open in Dallas and San Antonio. (I bet BigSis is first in line when their doors open at the one in Dallas, which just so happens to be pretty close to her house.) 🙂

When she was here, BigSis picked up some of these Wasabi Roasted Seaweed Snacks since she regularly buys the wasabi flavor in the Annie Chun's brand, and loves them. I've tried the plain ones without the Wasabi before and even though I did like them, they smelled a little fishy so I never bought them again.

Can you see how yummy and crispy these are? Not only are they a great snack, but this is my new favorite quick and easy, healthy lunch.

Two or three of these simply wrapped around a half a slice of  TJ's low sodium turkey breast makes a perfect lunch.

Here are a couple made with TJ's no salt Solid White Tuna.

I've been making these almost every day with either the tuna or the turkey, depending on what I have on hand. It's a great alternative if you're trying to cut back on the carbs. For vegetarians, I've made these wrapped around an avocado and tomato slice and they're super good!

I'm sure I could get even more creative with these; maybe crab and avocado like a California roll? Yummy!

If you're lucky enough to have a Trader's nearby and you like Wasabi, pick these up on your next trip and let me know what you think.

An added bonus is that they're only 99 cents!  And, maybe the best thing is that they satisfy our cravings for a salty crispy snack, but they are actually low in sodium at only 65 mg per serving.

(Just so you know, this is not an “paid” endorsement for Traders, I just love their products and they have great options for low sodium products!)

~LilSis

May 5, 2012

If you still haven't decided what you'll be making for your Cinco de Mayo dinner tonight, here's a super simple Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe that I make quite often for my hungry guys. And, if you happen to be hosting a party, I promise you that this one is always a crowd-pleaser.

Super Simple Chicken Enchilada Casserole

4 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
1 lb. grated cheese (I use a 3 cheese blend)
8 oz. sour cream
1 bottle enchilada sauce
1 pkg. corn tortillas, cut in half

Put a few spoonfuls of the sauce on the bottom of a casserole pan. Line the pan with tortillas. Mix together the sour cream, chicken, and almost all of the sauce. (Save a little sauce for later.)

Layer half of the chicken sauce mixture, then cheese, then tortillas. Finish with the last half of chicken sauce mixture, cheese, and tortillas. Drizzle the remaining enchilada sauce on the tortillas and top with more cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cheese melts.

This is one of those recipes that you can very easily adapt to your liking. I've added green chilies to the chicken mixture a few times and I usually put sliced black olives on the top with the cheese. You could also add chopped bell pepper, onion, or any favorite veggie to this casserole.

I got the original recipe for this casserole from Trader Joe's years ago and it called for their canned chunk white chicken instead of the boiled chicken. So, if you don't have the time to boil the chicken, you can use a good quality canned white chicken and it still turns out very good. I made it that way originally but my guys wanted more chicken so if I have the time, I prefer to boil and shred chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins.

Even if you don't make it for Cinco de Mayo, this is a great everyday “go-to” chicken casserole that you can put together and have on the table in no time at all!  Serve with some chips and salsa or guacamole and a salad and you've got dinner!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

~LilSis

May 4, 2012

Do you remember Mexican Wedding Cookies? When we were kids we also used to call them Snowballs or Almond Crescents. They were essentially the same recipe: flour, butter, powdered sugar and chopped pecans. We rolled them into small balls or crescent shapes, baked them, and then rolled them around in more powdered sugar.

I've always loved these cookies. They're tender, crumbly, gently nutty, and powdery sugary, but just barely sweet and perfectly bite-size!

When I was thinking about baking something sweet for Cinco de Mayo, I thought of Mexican Wedding Cookies. With a twist. How about a touch of chocolate? And cinnamon. And almonds. And vegan, of course. Done.

Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies (Vegan)

adapted from Williams-Sonoma

2 sticks Earth Balance, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (divided usage)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups less 1 tblsp all-purpose flour
2 tblsp cocoa (divided usage)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ground blanched almonds

~BigSis

May 2, 2012

We talk all the time about our love of Mexican food, and we don't need ANY excuse to indulge. This weekend is Cinco de Mayo though, and I'm inspired to get in the cocina and rattle some pots and pans instead of just heading to the nearest tacqueria and trying to find something without meat, lard or cheese.

One of my favorite everyday go-to quick meals is Super Speedy Mexican Stew. It's essentially just canned tomatoes, corn, kidney beans and green beans with any spices that strike me. It's not fancy and I can't really even call it cooking; it's just decent food on the table and in my tummy in literally 15 minutes on a weeknight.

My new go-to Mexican veggie stew when I have a touch more time is Terry Hope Romero's Quick Red Chile Posole from Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers.  This is the first recipe I've tried from Terry's book, but it won't be the last.

It takes my simple little dish and turbo-charges it with flavor. It has a tomato base and includes a can of pinto beans and a can of white hominy. I just learned that the hominy is what makes it “posole”.

There's magic though in the combination of onion, garlic, poblano pepper, chile powder, mexican oregano, cumin and lime. I followed the recipe precisely, and was really amazed at how tasty this little stew was after just 25 minutes of simmering.  It's warm, spicy, creamy, chunky and bright…all at the same time.

Traditionally, you would top the posole with a variety of garnishes: onion, cabbage, tomato, radishes, cilantro, or tortilla chips. I initially thought I would add a pinch of Daiya pepperjack shreds, a dollop of vegan sour cream and some avocado.

After just one bite of the posole I decided that it needed nothing…except to be devoured. Quickly. So I could refill my bowl, and repeat.

I'll definitely add this dish to my rotation and hope you'll give it a try for Cinco de Mayo or any old time!

~BigSis

April 30, 2012

I cannot believe that tomorrow is already May 1st. I knew this year would fly by since it's our baby's Senior year but the past four months are almost a blur. Before we know it Summer will be here, which happens to be my favorite season; but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Let's talk about Mexican food.

If we've said it once, we've said it a million times, we sisters LOVE our Mexican food! Whether I'm visiting in Dallas or BigSis is here in San Diego, we always treat ourselves to Mexican food at least once every day! (It's impossible for us to ever get enough chips, salsa, guacamole and nachos.)

As most of us know, this Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, the official Mexican food eating holiday.  We thought this would be a great time to share with you some of our favorite recipes that are perfect for a Cinco de Mayo party or if you're just cooking for family or friends.

Shrimp with Garlic and Chili Pepper

Roasted Garlic Dressing with Green Chili

Ceviche Salad with Avocado, Cilantro, and Green Chili

Hatch Green Chili and Garlic Goat Cheese

Classic Tortilla Soup

Super Speedy Mexican Vegetable Stew

Spinach Mushroom Enchilada

And we can't forget about a little something for dessert!

Mexican Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

We're both busy in our cocinas trying to whip up a couple of new dishes; so if all goes according to plan, we'll be back in a day or two with a few more ideas for your Cinco de Mayo menu. 🙂

~LilSis

February 19, 2012

I'd never even tasted kale until a couple of years ago, and when I finally did try it, I was convinced that avoiding it all those years had been a wise plan.

My first experience was a raw kale salad from a local natural food store's prepared food bar. It was bitter with very little flavor otherwise, but the worst part was the texture…kind of like shredded up brillo pad. It was nearly impossible to chew, and I certainly didn't want to swallow it.

I decided I didn't like kale. No worries; there are plenty of other nutritious things for a vegan girl to eat, right?

Fast forward to the first time I ever tried kale chips. What? They're delicious? How can that be? I don't like kale. Aha, that's where I was wrong.

Turns out I love kale, in fact, I can't get enough of it, and I seldom eat it in baked chip form. Right now I'm going through two bunches a week…red kale, curly kale, lacinato kale. Got kale? I'll eat it.

Since I finished the Clean Program 21-Day Cleanse about a month ago, I've stuck with the program pretty closely. Ok, ok, I did have that one major fall off the wagon with the vegan queso and blue corn chips episode a couple of weeks ago. But other than that…I'm eating pretty clean. It's what my body demands now. And I'm happy to comply.

I have two or three go-to kale recipes in regular rotation, and after today I have a new one to add. This Sunday Supper recipe for Hearty Dal Soup is from Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and was contributed by Mary McDougall of the McDougall program fame.

Please do yourself a favor and go to their web site and check out the McDougall recipes. I just found the Hearty Dal Soup recipe there, and can't believe I've never known about this treasure trove of wonderful sounding and easy recipes before.

Besides being easy, this recipe is endlessly customizable to what you have on hand. Since I have this little love affair with kale going on right now, I used a whole bunch of curly kale in place of the 2 cups of chard (I needed a little extra water because of that). I was out of cumin, so I substituted a bit of Penzeys Southwest Seasoning which contains some cumin.

I – of course – used 4 or 5 cloves of garlic instead of 2, and added kidney beans since all of my garbanzos made their way into hummus last week. I left out the potatoes altogether since my body screams out “CANDY!” in glee when it sees a potato coming my way, and you know that's going to mean excess poundage on my derriere. I was out of onion, so I added chopped chives at the end.

See what I mean? Use what you have. One last note. The instructions say to cook for 50 minutes or until the lentils are soft. When I checked on mine about halfway through, they were already falling apart. That actually turned out to be a good thing though, since most of the lentils turned into a wonderful creamy sauce for the kale, tomatoes and kidney beans to swim around in.

I highly recommend this recipe, for Sunday Supper or any time. The flavor was out of this world! I sprinkled on some Frank's Red Hot and a bit of Daiya PepperJack, and it was perfection. Just what I needed to wrap up a nice weekend and prepare for another week. And I have lunch for a few days too!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

~BigSis

February 4, 2012

BigSis and I have both mentioned more than once that neither of us are big football fans. Yes, we know that all Texans are supposed to be huge Dallas Cowboy fanatics and there was a time when we did cheer on our Cowboys, but not so much now.

We still can't let the Super Bowl come and go without mentioning what's most important; the food, the commercials and the half-time show.

I wasn't even planning on being near a television during Super Bowl but I'm a little curious to see Madonna's performance and, if my guys are around, you can be sure that I'll be cooking up some “football watchin” grub. Here are some of our favorites from past years!

I put together this Super Bowl Super Tostada for my hungry guys last year using their favorite Velveeta and Rotel dip.

This Super Bowl Snack Attack that BigSis posted in 2009 includes some of our all-time favorite appetizers and snack food and dozens of other recipes from some of our favorite sites.  The photo above is our pasta salad which is always a hit! BigSis veganizes her version now, and it's still just as delicious!

Here's a yummy vegan Shrimp toast from BigSis' 1 Quick Recipe: 4 Super Bowl Party Snacks from last year.

And here's BigSis' Vegan Queso with Seitan Crumbles, her version of a famous Bob Armstrong dip.

You can see all our favorite soups in this SOUPER Bowl for Super Bowl post from 2010.

Three years ago, I entered my chili recipe in the Ultimate Super Bowl Party Smackdown that was hosted by The Recipe Girl.

We hope this gives you a few ideas for your Super Bowl crowd. Have a great weekend and a safe and fun Super Bowl Sunday! 🙂  If you're like us, you don't care who wins the game as long as the football food is awesome!

~LilSis

January 29, 2012

My 21-day Clean Program cleanse is complete, and I'm happy to report that it went great!  I lost 6.5 pounds, and over 3 inches from my waist, hips and thighs. I continued to do cardio 5 or 6 days a week, but this wasn't the time to ramp up the exercise so the weight loss wasn't due to more workouts. Weight loss was not the main goal, although it's nice to be rid of that post-holiday puffy bloaty feeling that most of us end up with in January.

The main goal was to detox; to get rid of all the nasty free radicals roaming around, along with the mucus (sorry, gross) that is formed by the body to try to isolate the toxins. I feel great, as Dr. Junger promised. My achy knees are happier, I'm sleeping much better, I have better energy and mental clarity, and I feel calmer. I can't explain it all, but it's all documented in Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself, and everything that Dr. Junger said would happen, did happen.

The only problem is, I want to stay on this program forever! I love it. One of the things I love most about it is the Raw Green Soup I had for dinner almost every night, and am now totally addicted to. I'm still making it a couple of times a week even though the cleanse has been officially over for a week. SisMama said she would upchuck if she had to eat this, but I promise it's delicious. It does take a slightly adventurous palate to try it for the first time, but after the first taste I think you'll agree. It's yummy and addictive.

I based my soup on a recipe from Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendan Brazier, but I tweaked the flavors quite a bit since I like a little zippety-do-dah in my food. It's essentially spinach blended with water, avocado, lemon, protein powder and some seasonings. I know, I know, I know! It's sounds like it would be horrible. I can't explain it, just trust me. Here's my version.

Raw Green Soup

1/2 large avocado (or 1 whole small one)
2 cups baby spinach, very tightly packed
3 cups water
2 tblsp hemp protein powder
1 tblsp hemp oil
2 tblsp raw unsalted pumpkin seeds
1 raw garlic clove
1/8 to 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (or to taste; I use a lot)
2 tblsp fresh chives
Frank's Red Hot Sauce to taste
Dash sea salt
Dash black pepper

Pile all ingredients into a blender and whirl around until it looks creamy and you don't see any dark green spinach bits spinning by.

This recipe makes 2 servings. Store leftovers in a glass jar in the fridge and use the next day if possible. It doesn't darken, but the avocado will start to take on that old guacamole taste.

Note: I use my KitchenAid blender to make this and it works like a champ.You don't need an expensive Vitamix to pull this off. A good blender or food processor should be fine.

~BigSis

November 14, 2011

Who knew? To be honest, I didn't know there was such a thing until I found it browsing the Internet. Hay walked in from school as I was finishing up this post and I jokingly asked him if he knew that it was National Spicy Guacamole Day and he said “yeah, we were talking about it in Econ today.” 🙂

And, just in case you didn't already know it, both us sistas LOVE us some guacamole! That's no exaggeration, either; when we visit each other, we eat it every single day, without fail. One of these days, I'm gonna have a nice big avocado tree out in my backyard!

When you buy good ripe avocados, there's really no reason to have to doctor them up much.  To this day, the best guacamole either of us has ever had was when we were in Cancun and it was just perfect ripe mashed avocados with lemon juice and a little Anejo sprinkled on top.

Here's our version of Super Simple Guacamole.

Super Simple Guacamole

If you like your guacamole with a little more spice to it, try Tyler's Chunky Guacamole.

Tyler's Chunky Guacamole (photo credit: Food Network)

And, here's a Classic Guacamole recipe from the California Avocado Commission.

For a little snack, I love to just eat a sliced avocado with some lemon juice and a little salt and lemon pepper sprinkled on top. It doesn't get much better than that!

So, in honor of  National Spicy Guacamole Day, go out and get yourself some avocados so you can whip up some guacamole tonight!

~LilSis