Black Bean and Corn Salad
As the weather is warming up, I LOVE making quick, easy, and healthy salads. And not just lettuce-based salads.
When I lived in France, I saw there were so many types of salads out there that the word “salad” took on a completely different meaning. There were fruit salads, vegetable salads, tabouli, bean salads….the list goes on and on.
And food took on a whole new meaning too. Especially during the Summertime when it was too hot to cook (AND there was no air-conditoning!) I saw the abundance of foods available — whole foods.
My favorite pastime (besides eating and drinking some wine) was going to the outdoor markets. Walking around, the air was filled with so many amazing smells: I’d catch a whiff of the ripeness of a tomato, the sweetness of a freshly cut melon, the aroma of a strawberry picked just hours before, an organic chicken roasting at a nearby stall. And the cheeses — ah, the cheeses! Now that was quite an aroma…and I loved it. Then I’d walk past rows of olives (I never knew there were so many types!) and I swear I could taste them with my eyes.
And the herbs….the fresh herbs filled the air.
(Okay, my taste buds are watering….now what was I talking about? Oh, salads….)
So I’d go to the farmer’s market and take a look (and some tastes!) of the foods that were in season. And I’d go home an try to create a salad. And sometimes just taking what was already in my pantry, and adding some of those fresh herbs, or a fresh vegetable or two, made all the difference.
So here’s a salad recipe I came up with made with canned black beans. No, it’s not a French recipe. But as in the summertime I didn’t want to cook too much, I was always looking for new ways to make salads. So I’d often use some of the items I’d get at the markets, and then add some of my pantry items to mix it up a bit.
Besides, beans are a great source of protein so they fill you up, have cholesterol-lowering fiber, and are loaded with antioxidants. Plus they’re low in calories (and that’s always a bonus).
So this recipe is super easy, quick, and even a non-cook can easily make it. Because that’s what I’m all about. Making food and cooking easy for anyone to do.
Because you don’t have to be a French-chef to prepare good and healthy foods.
Black Bean and Corn Salad
Ingredients:
2 (15 ounce) can of black beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can of corn, rinsed and drained
1 pint of grape tomatoes, cut each in half (or 3-4 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped)
1 green or red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped green onions or shallots
1 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
3 Tbsp of lime juice (about the amount of juice from two limes)
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, jalapeño and cilantro. Add the lime juice, olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and chill before serving.
Serves 6-8
So this holiday weekend when you’re firing up the grill, and tired of a boring lettuce salad and want to add to the mix something healthy, satisfying and easy — try it out.
What are some of your favorite salads?
© Dinneen Diette
Glazed Carrots Recipe
I’ve invited Drew Kime of How To Cook Like Your Grandmother to share another one of his famous recipes. This one is for Glazed Carrots. I must admit, as a kid I didn’t like vegetables too much but now I know that’s because of the way they were cooked — boring and bland. But this recipe makes them tasty and great!
I’m always looking for a ways to change things up a bit and make veggies taste GOOD. And that’s what Drew is great at.
This recipe is super easy and healthy. Your kids will love them too!
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Wait! Before you hit the “Back” button on your browser, these are
not the mushy, syrupy pieces of sad that you remember from your
high school cafeteria. They’re a little sweet, a little salty, and still
have a bit of texture to them.
For what it’s worth, I nearly got a fork in the back of my hand when I
reached for seconds without asking my wife if she wanted any more. I
guess that’s a good thing.
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Ingredients
3 cups carrots, diced bite size
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
salt
Directions
You can scale this recipe up or down really easy. You don’t even need to
deal with fractions on the ingredients. I love that. Just peel as many
carrots as your family would eat, dice them, and measure how much you’ve
got. Then get one tablespoon each of butter and brown sugar for each cup
of carrots.
Melt the butter on high heat, add the carrots, salt to taste and stir to
coat all the carrots with butter, and then often enough to keep the butter
from scorching. As soon as the carrots start to change color (they’ll get
a little darker) add the sugar and stir until it’s dissolved.
Add enough water to just barely cover the carrots and reduce the heat to a
simmer. Stir occasionally as the water reduces, until there is almost no
syrup left in the pan, and it’s all on the carrots. Pour out into your
serving dish and pour over any remaining syrup.
And that’s it.
You can see step-by-step photos, as well as plenty of other old-fashioned recipes, at
How To Cook Like Your Grandmother.
Mission Impossible: Turning a Kitchen Rookie Into a Chef in less than 30 Minutes
The Mission
Parents are always looking to serve healthy and tasty meals for their family, but they have busy lives and don’t want to spend a lot to time in the kitchen. In addition, they want something the kids will eat and enjoy without any fuss.
A few weeks ago I had a request: Could I take a kitchen rookie and turn him into a chef in less than 30 minutes?
In addition, the dish had to be easy, healthy and tasty that would please two unforgiving experts (his kids!) with something they never tasted before and not on their top 10 list.
The Rookie
The “rookie” Stephen, has – how do I say – an aversion to the kitchen and cooking.
He’s a smart guy, a Summa Cum Laude trained Chemist and a MHS Licensed Physical Therapist. He can build a house all by himself and will probably fix a jet engine with an old sponge and a Swiss knife while in flight, but he can’t cook to save his life. The phone numbers he has on speed dial are: #1 Pizza, #2 Pizza (again) and the car is on autopilot to the next burger joint.
Quoting Stephen (no joke): “Oooh, this is what a kitchen looks like?”
Tammy, Stephen’s wife, can confirm that.
The Judges
As the “experts” and “food critics” we asked the well-respected Mr. Sean and Mr. Joshua to be our judges. They are Stephen and Tammy’s sons ages 6 and 8.
Yes, they are “kids” and as kids, they will return straight, honest-to-goodness feedback to you: it’s either “Yum!” or “Yuck!” The third level is “tantrum” with enough tears to turn whatever is in the plate into a slightly salted lukewarm soup.
The Results
The “Rookie” not only prepared and cooked the meal within the time limit, but he also had a lot of fun, enjoyed it and wants to cook MORE. All of it without any time-outs, complains or emergency speed dial #1.
The Judges Review:
The Judges (ie, the kids) enjoyed this healthy and tasty meal. Joshua had 3 servings of fish (three!) and gave a grade of “two thousand eight hundred and thirty-three”. Sean had 2 servings and even said “yum yum, it’s yummy!”
Both gave us the “Thumbs Up”, large smiles and few side commentaries that we are still enjoying a week later. As seal of approval, they furnished us with 2 beautiful drawings and proof that you CAN take a kitchen rookie and turn him or her into well-respected kitchen Chef in less than 30 minutes.
Stephen you did it! Rookie no more.
Here’s the easy, quick and healthy recipe Stephen prepared in less than 30 minutes:
THE RECIPE
Cod Bordelaise Chef Le Steve
Serves 4
-Level: Easy
-Preparation time: 20 min -Baking time: 15 to 20 min
Ingredients (for 4 servings):
4 white fish filets (hake, cod, Haddock, etc.)
1/2 + 1/4 cup bread crumbs
4 shallots, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
3-4 Roma Tomatoes, diced small OR ¾ cup of crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoons of olive oil
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1 cup dry white wine (Not “cooking” wine, use a wine that you would drink)
2 Tbs butter + some for buttering the dish
Salt & pepper
NOTES:
Use a dry white wine, like a chardonnay, and don’t hesitate to ask someone in the shop if you are not sure: I have seen Cod Filets run back to the fridge when so-called “cooking wine” was used. Same for Haddock: they are very proud fish and will feel deeply insulted by any type of Zinfandel. So please use a wine that you would also drink. It doesn’t have to be expensive. We found a great one for under $10.
Instructions:
1) Prep everything first:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Open the wine, pour yourself a tiny glass (Quality Control).
Take the fish out of the fridge, rinse with water, pat dry and set aside.
Peel and chop the shallots, garlic and tomatoes, set aside.
2) On medium heat, melt the butter and add the olive oil to the butter. When the butter starts bubbling, add the shallots and stir to combine.
3) After a minute, add the tomatoes and stir to combine.
4) After 2 minutes, add the garlic.
5) Increase the heat to medium high (to slightly brown & caramelize the shallots) and stir to combine. Keep under surveillance and stir when needed. (Be sure not to let the garlic burn).
6) After 4 minutes, or when the shallots start to brown, add the wine to deglaze the pan. Then decrease the heat back to medium and let reduce for 5 minutes.
While doing so, butter a ceramic dish and place the fish in the dish to cover the bottom.
7) When the wine has reduced by 3/4, add the cream and turn off the heat. Stir to combine, add the breadcrumbs, and combine again to create a soft paste. Correct the consistency if needed by adding either cream or water.
8 ) Spread the paste over the fish, and sprinkle 1/4 cup breadcrumbs on the top.
9) Bake for 18min, then broil for 3 minutes to create a crust
OR bake for 15-20 minutes.
– Best served with rice. Boiled potatoes, sautéed mushrooms or veggies are always an option too.
© Dinneen Diette, All Rights Reserved
Easy Recipe – Homemade Crustless Apple Pie
In your quest to get healthy and lose weight — you need to learn how to appreciate food, to take pleasure in it, and start eating REAL foods (instead of the fake stuff we’re constantly told is ‘good for us’ when in reality it’s not).
Yet a challenge people often come across is finding recipes that are easy, healthy AND taste good.
I recently found a blog How to Cook Like Your Grandmother, by Drew Kime, which does just that (Drew is also author of a cookbook by the same name).
Drew is all about making food that tastes good and is healthy, by using real wholesome ingredients. As Drew makes cooking so easy, I invited him to share one of his recipes, which you’ll see below.
Be sure to also check out Drew’s 10-day online course in the basics of cooking, “Starting From Scratch” which is completely FREE!
So enjoy the recipe. Trust me, it’s quick, easy, and much healthier and better for you than anything you could buy at the store.
Bon appétit!
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Homemade Crustless Apple Pie
Though I’ll admit to a weakness for a nice crumb topping, I’m not actually that much a fan of pie crust. To me it’s just something to hold the filling together. Something you have to deal with if you’re going to have apple pie.
Except … you don’t. I’ve had versions of this dish that were obviously out of a jar. Probably full or corn syrup and preservatives. It would have made a great topping for a banana split when I was 8, but that’s about the best I can say about it.
And the “whipped cream” … don’t even get me started on that thin, watery, artificial mess. I don’t even want to think about it, much less describe it.
Which is why I knew I had to make this when Dinneen asked me to write this post for her blog. I could show how easy it is to make from scratch. And hopefully convince you how much better it tastes when you use real food.
Ingredients
4 large apples
2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat (or butter)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Topping
whipped cream
– or –
vanilla ice cream
Directions
If you’re making this for kids, you’ll probably want to peel the apples. I prefer the texture from the peel, and the color looks much better. Either way, cut them into eighths and cut out the stem and seeds.
Now you can ask the question you’ve been thinking since you read the ingredients: Bacon fat? Yes, bacon fat. Butter works, but it scorches easily. If you use butter, add about a half-teaspoon of salt with the sugar. Melt the fat over medium heat in a non-stick pan.
Once the fat is melted, carefully lay in enough apples to cover the bottom of the pan, then pour in the rest. (You want to do the a layer first so the fat doesn’t splatter when you dump it all in.) Then stir or toss the apples to coat them all evenly.
Add about a half teaspoon of cinnamon — just enough for a light dusting over all the apples — plus a tablespoon of sugar, and give it another stir.
Put a lid on, turn the heat down very low, and leave it covered for about 15 minutes. Stir once halfway through.
Check to see that they’re fork tender. (Make sure you let all the steam from the bottom of the lid run back into the pan. You’ll need that liquid later.) If they’re still crunchy in the middle, simmer for another five minutes at a time until they’re soft all the way through. Then taste. Add more cinnamon if it needs it.
Now add another tablespoon of sugar and stir. With the liquid that has come out of the apples, plus the sugar you just added, you’ve got the makings of a nice syrup. Leave the lid off, turn the heat up to medium, and stir constantly as the liquid thickens up. Don’t leave it alone, it can burn very easily.
Arrange a single layer of apples in a plate. Add a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Spoon a little bit of the syrup over the top.
And that’s it. Four ingredients — plus a topping — and better than any candy-sweet mush you’ll get in a jar.
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For over 200 more recipes that would have looked at home on your grandmother’s table — including directions for making your own whipped cream (it’s easier than you think) — check out How To Cook Like Your Grandmother.
