My latest favorite healthy recipes

I’ve been cooking quite a bit lately, but life has been so busy that I haven’t fit in much picture-taking.  Hence, the foodlessness of this blog recently.

I have a few pics for you, but more importantly – several recipes that have made it into the regular rotation (and a few lessons they’ve taught me).

My latest obsession is flatbread pizza.  They’re quick, can be made with a variety of ingredients, and reduce the amount of unhealthy carbs you get from so many pizza doughs.

Fig and Goat Cheese Flatbread

This is so simple I’d hardly call it a recipe.

1 Low Fat Flatout Light Flatbread

4 Figs

1 oz Goat Cheese

Arugula

Honey and Balsamic for drizzling

Cut the figs into quarters and sprinkle on the flatbread.  Follow with the goat cheese.

Grill on a 350° grill over indirect heat for approx 10 minutes.  When the edges start to brown, turn on the burner under the flatbread but keep it low.  This is to crisp the center of the flatbread.  You need to watch it – the flatbread will go from pale to burnt really quickly.

Take it off the grill and immediately top with some arugula – you want the lettuce to wilt a bit with the heat.

Whisk together some honey and balsamic to make a quick glaze – I use 3 parts honey to 1 part balsamic.  You can cook down the balsamic to a glaze and skip the honey part, but this is much quicker and almost as good.

Cut into pieces – I cut the flat bread into 3 equal parts and then diagonally cut each part in half for 6 pieces.

You may notice some pancetta in the pic above.  I first tried to make these with pancetta but realized that I didn’t taste the pancetta and it was great without it.  So I’m not using the pancetta any more.

A few other recipes I’ve tried and loved

Chicken Pot Pie Soup – I learned how easy a hearty, chicken-based soup can be.  I cubed raw chicken and cooked it for about an hour in the soup.  I did have to skim some foam off the top but otherwise it was simple.  And the result was hearty and satisfying.

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits – I made these with the soup and they were incredible!  The first biscuits I’ve had in almost a year.  The recipe makes 14 biscuits so I froze the leftovers.  They reheat great in the toaster oven so now I can have biscuits whenever I want!  I almost subbed the butter but I’m glad I didn’t.  The butter-parsley drizzle really makes a difference.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins – These muffins are good for you and taste great – honest.  They don’t just give you a recipe – they explain why it works.  The important ingredient in these muffins is the whole wheat pastry flour.  It has less protein than standard whole wheat flour – making a more tender muffin – but still packs the whole grain punch.  They’re also high in potassium.  Did you know that potassium and managing sodium go hand-in-hand?

I did make 2 mods:

• Sprinkled the walnuts on top of the muffins instead of mixing them into the batter.  I appreciated the walnuts a lot more when they were on top.
• Instead of 18 muffins, I adjusted to make only 12.  I need a hearty breakfast and the original size just wasn’t enough.

What these recipes taught me

I can have cheese in moderation, and full-flavor cheese – goat, gorgonzola, sharp cheddar – can really pack a punch without as big of a fat or calorie hit.

Baked goods don’t have to be high in sugars and simple carbs in order to taste good.

Up Next – Adding to My Ethnic Cooking Repertoire

I used to love going out for Indian and Thai food, but haven’t had much since I started the healthy eating last year.  I miss Chicken Makhani and Thai Basil Curry.  So I’m giving it a whirl at home.

These are new cooking techniques for me so I’m still learning.  I also had to invest in a bunch of new spices for the Indian Tikkas I’m making today.

Fingers crossed they come out good because I really miss some of my favorite foods.  I’ll report back next time on what I learned, what recipes I used and how it all came out.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.