Blue Cheese and Roasted Vegetable Tart

RECIPES August 26, 2018

Blue Cheese and Roasted Vegetable Tart

Somewhere between a pie and a pizza, (although depending on what part of the country you’re from, those terms may be interchangeable) this blue cheese and roasted vegetable tart makes for a delicious vegetarian meal.

With an assortment of veggies, flavorful blue cheese, and subtle seasoning, this veggie tart packs warm, earthy flavors into a rustic, comfort-food style meal.

Veggie Lovers Only

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Going meatless, whether as a lifestyle or on a part-time basis, is a great way to stay on top of your clean eating goals. It can also be a fun way to mix things up in the kitchen. It’s much harder to fall into that chicken-every-night rut when you know a meat-free day is coming up.

As I’ve started experimenting more and more with incorporating meatless meals into my diet and meal plans, I’ve realized that there are right and wrong ways to go meatless. There are no rules of course, but there are definitely ways to make the most out of your meatless efforts. (Unfortunately for me, those ways do not happen to include eating popcorn and ice cream for dinner. Meatless? Yes. Healthy? Not so much.)

I’ve come to find that the best way to really make the most of my meatless meals is to use them as an excuse to pack in extra veggies. Cutting out meat is all well and good, but it’s what you replace it with that really matters. Swap out meat for extra veggies, and you have a win-win.

Literally stuffed full of delicious veggies, including: zucchini, eggplant, tomato, onions, and peppers, this blue cheese and roasted vegetable tart is the perfect meatless meal. Whether you’re a full-time vegetarian or a casual Meatless Monday observer, this veggie-packed tart is a great way to make the most of your meatless endeavors.

Healthy and Hearty

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Remember when you were a kid and your mom used to smother your vegetables in cheese or grind them up in your spaghetti sauce so you wouldn’t notice them? Yeah, this recipe is the opposite of that.

This rustic blue cheese and roasted vegetable tart is all about the natural, earthy flavors of your favorite veggies. With a subtle seasoning of olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme, this recipe really lets the natural flavors of the assorted vegetables shine.

This delicious recipe is a great way to mix things up in the kitchen AND pack in some extra veggies. Ready in under an hour, it’s easy to whip up on a weeknight or reheat leftovers. Make the most of Meatless Monday this week with this warm, hearty, veggie-packed meal.

Blue Cheese and Roasted Vegetable Tart

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 small zucchini, cut into half moons 1/4 inch thick
1 small eggplant, cut into medium cubes
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup red onion, cut into medium cubes
1 small red bell pepper, cut into medium cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme (not ground)
1/4 cup fat-free blue cheese crumbles
1 (9 inch) whole wheat pie crust

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick spray.
In a maxing bowl, combine the zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, red pepper, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Mix well to coat all the vegetables in the oil and seasoning. Lay in an even layer on the baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and browned. Remove from the oven and mix the blue cheese into the vegetables.
Roll the pie crust in to a circle about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place the crust on to a second baking sheet. Spoon the vegetable and blue cheese mixture into the center of the pie crust, leaving about 1/2 to 1 inch of exposed crust on the sides.
Fold the edge of the pie crust over the vegetables, leaving the center of the vegetables exposed. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is golden. Let cool slightly before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

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Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Salad | Healthy Chicken Recipes

RECIPES August 26, 2018

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Salad | Healthy Chicken Recipes

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It’s summer, and the best way to celebrate it is to eat the garden-fresh bounty provided by the season. With the high temperatures, it’s never a bad idea to eat light and healthy, either. Don’t worry – that doesn’t mean you can’t eat full-flavored, filling foods! Healthy chicken recipes like this grilled chicken and zucchini salad make it easy to accomplish just that while also looking great in those swimsuits.

I don’t know about you, but I’m well accustomed to planning my meals by whichever produce is freshest and most abundant. In Italy, the kitchen always follows the season. When the gardens are full of winter squashes, Italians eat hearty, roasted meals. In the spring, the dishes start to lighten up with radishes and peas. And then, summer arrives with more fresh produce than you can blink an eye at. That makes it easy to prepare tasty, healthy salad dishes that everyone will love! You might think that chicken is the star in this grilled chicken and zucchini salad, but it’s really all about the zucchini squash.

Why We Love Using the Grill

All you need is a stove-stop griddle (or, even better, a real grill) to cook the chicken and zucchinis. The grill is such a perfect way to keep your house from warming up while also infusing some great, healthy flavor into your food. You don’t need an excess of oil, so it’s easy to keep the calories low. My other favorite part about grilling is that the ingredients are ready in fewer than 20 minutes. Quick, easy, and delicious – you really can’t go wrong with that combination!

There’s another reason that cooking the grilled chicken and zucchini salad components on the grill really helps them taste full-flavored. Why is that? We have a secret ingredient, of course! The simple (and easy-to-make) vinaigrette for the salad has a dual purpose. After the chicken and zucchini come off the grill, we pour the salad dressing onto the hot food to really seal in all those great flavors! Then, you’ll dress the lettuce with the greens to make sure they’re all well-seasoned, too.

Finally, we finish off this incredible salad with slices of apricots to add a touch of sweetness. They’re in season this time of year, too, so they should taste like candy. We also love adding the optional fresh basil leaves and walnuts if you have them around. Not only are they rich in vitamins, but they also add balance and richness to this simple salad.

Pairing a fresh salad like this with a glass of wine can be tricky because of the acidity of the vinaigrette. But, in the wine world, you can always find something to pair perfectly with your meal! Start by experimenting with your tastes. With the prevalence of grilled chicken and vegetables, an oak-aged white wine, like Chardonnay, Verdicchio or Timorasso, could work very nicely here.

No matter what you choose, we know you’ll love this grilled chicken and zucchini salad. It’s quickly become one of our favorite healthy chicken recipes! Let us know in the comments what you thought.

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Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Salad

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 16 minutes

Ingredients

4 medium zucchinis, sliced thinly and vertically
1 pound chicken fillets
1 teaspoon mustard
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Lettuce
2 apricots, sliced
Basil leaves (optional)
Walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Spray the griddle with non-stick oil spray.
On medium fire, using the griddle, grill the zucchini and chicken on both sides, about 8 minutes each side (depending on the thickness of the slices).
While the chicken and zucchinis are cooking, prepare the vinaigrette by whisking the mustard, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
When cooked, slice the chicken to strips then transfer them to a bowl along with the zucchini.
Pour the vinaigrette in the bowl and mix, coating the zucchini and chicken well. Leave some to dress the lettuce too.
On the plates, place the chicken, zucchini, lettuce, apricots, basil and walnuts if using.

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How to Make Slow Roasted Tomatoes

RECIPES August 26, 2018

How to Make Slow Roasted Tomatoes

In the summertime, vine-ripened tomatoes are all around us. The grocery store is bursting with heirloom varieties and the farmer’s market stalls are flush with the reds, pinks, and oranges of these beautiful fruits. Any tomato you choose is bound to be juicy and full of sweet-and-savory flavors. It’s absolutely the best time of year to learn how to make slow roasted tomatoes (also called tomato confit). Our recipe is super simple with as few as 6 ingredients. But, you will need a little patience as you wait for the tomatoes to cook. We’ll get to why the long cooking time is important in a minute. Before we do, let’s talk about why you should make slow roasted tomatoes in the first place!

Slow roasted tomatoes are the perfect way to preserve summer’s bounty so you can have sweet and juicy tomatoes all year long. One of the best reasons to learn how to make slow roasted tomatoes is because you can use them in so many different kinds of dishes. One of our favorites is with pasta – and it works with whole-grain noodles or you can go carb-free with zucchini zoodles. Keep things simple by mixing these slow roasted tomatoes with pasta before topping the dish with fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Buonissima! Or, turn them into bruschetta by placing them on toast with fresh cheese, like mozzarella or ricotta.

Once you’ve made the slow roasted tomatoes, you’ll love using them in salads, appetizers, and entrees. But first, you have to find a few hours to make them. It’s totally worth it, though – and we’ll tell you why!

Perfect Roasted Tomatoes Take a Little Patience

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After you halve the tomatoes and toss them with the rest of the ingredients, you’ll have to roast them in the oven for three hours. That sounds like a long time! But, keep in mind that the oven is only set to 275 degrees F. What we’re doing is going low-and-slow. The process coaxes out extra liquid in the tomatoes to really concentrate its flavors.

You could try to roast them for only two hours, but the end result would be a tomato with a juicer residue. That extra hour in the oven is really crucial to drying up the tomato, removing as much moisture as possible. The result is a perfectly caramelized, sweet tomato that tastes like candy. You’ll totally understand the need for a long roast time as soon as you pop one of those tomatoes into your mouth!

One more piece of advice before we leave you to get roasting: grab the sweetest tomatoes that you can get your hands on. In Italy, that would be the small Datterini tomatoes. These are the smallest tomatoes available – even smaller than cherry tomatoes and much sweeter. You may not be able to find those tomatoes here, so taste the cherry tomatoes you can find and select the sweetest variety before roasting.

Now that you know how to make slow roasted tomatoes, the possibilities are endless. They’ll be in the fridge just waiting to create a fun, new dish. You can also pair these tomatoes with wine, too, depending on what kind of dish you add them too. In general, we recommend a full-bodied rosé or a white wine with a long finish and a good acidity, like Riesling.

How to Make Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon capers
1 pound cherry or Datterini tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
In a small bowl, mix the sugar, salt and oregano. Set aside.
In a baking pan, spread the tomatoes then coat them with the sugar and salt mixture. Mix in the capers then coat everything with the extra virgin olive oil.
Bake the tomatoes for 3 hours and leave them as is until cooked.
When cooked, the slow roasted tomatoes can be used for so many dishes. To keep well, store in a tightly-sealed container in the refrigerator for a maximum of 4 days.

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21 Easy, Heart-Healthy Dinner Recipes

RECIPES August 25, 2018

21 Easy, Heart-Healthy Dinner Recipes

It doesn’t matter which diet or wellness plan you’re following: eating heart-healthy foods is beneficial to your overall health. In addition to reducing your risk of heart disease, these foods help lower your blood pressure and keep your cholesterol in check. All you need to do is incorporate a few fiber-filled foods into your diet, eat fish at least once a week, and limit your unhealthy fats. Easy, right? Actually, it is, especially when you have a collection of easy dinner recipes that are heart-healthy. I’ll let you in on a little secret: these recipes all taste delicious, too!

The best way to incorporate more heart-healthy ingredients into your diet is to plan a few easy dinners. It’s a fool-proof way to eat more omega-3 fatty acid-rich foods, healthy fats, and antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. We love this list of easy dinner recipes that are heart-healthy because they’re filled with tasty ingredients that also happen to be great for your overall health. When planning a heart-healthy meal, look for the following foods:

Omega-3 rich proteins (like salmon, grass-fed beef, oysters, and anchovies)
Nuts (like walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and cashews)
Seeds (like quinoa, flaxseed, and chia seed)
Berries (like raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries)
Legumes (like chickpeas and lentils)
Whole grains (like oatmeal and barley)
Healthy fats found in avocados and olive oil
Fiber-filled fruits and vegetables (like broccoli and Brussels sprouts)

We also wanted to find recipes that had minimal prep and didn’t take too long to cook. We love slow-cooker recipes and using the Instant Pot for this very reason, but we also have some great one-pot meals on the list. So, without further ado, here are our favorite easy dinner recipes that are heart-healthy.

1. Baked Lemon Salmon and Asparagus Foil Pack

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Foil packs are my favorite way to turn a complicated recipe into an easy-to-execute dinner. You just pop everything inside the aluminum foil, seal it up, and dinner is ready 30 minutes later. Clean-up is a breeze, too!

2. Easy Vegetarian Quinoa Chili With Lentils Recipe

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Enjoy this tasty vegetarian chili filled with protein-rich quinoa and lentils. These heart-healthy ingredients come together to create a tasty, belly-warming chili that’s filled with fiber and nutrient-dense vegetables.

3. Zucchini Noodles with Pistachio Pesto

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This zoodles recipe is my favorite way to fill up on heart-healthy pistachios. It’s filling and packed full of protein, but feel free to add some omega-3 fatty acids by topping the dish with broiled salmon.

4. 5 Ingredient Spinach & Pasta Alfredo

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Any recipe that has less than 10-ingredients is a winner in my book! This simple but delicious dish features heart-healthy whole wheat spaghetti, so you won’t have to feel guilty about eating those carbs.

5. Cilantro Lime Chicken with Mexican Quinoa

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Skip the rice, which doesn’t do much for your heart, and swap in quinoa to create a zesty Mexican dish. It’s bursting with flavor from the fresh cilantro, tangy lime, and spicy chili powder. Your heart (and your belly) will thank you!

6. One Pan Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs, Tomatoes, and Chickpeas

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It doesn’t get easier than a one-pan meal! This dish is filled with protein-rich chickpeas, which happen to be one of my favorite legumes. It’s saucy, textured, and savory – perfect for any night of the week!

7. Perfect Avocado and Poached Egg Quinoa Bowl

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Eggs don’t have to be for breakfast! This poached egg quinoa bowl is the perfect way to celebrate protein-rich eggs for dinner. You’ll love the way the healthy-fat-filled avocado comes together with the crunchy quinoa and juicy tomatoes.

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