Comunidad Health Foods

I disappeared on you for a while in order to camp out (okay, not literally) at the beach, but I did whole heaps of cooking while I was there. I went with L, and our goal was to create a menu that was cheap, quick, somewhat portable (for some meals), and required as few ingredients as possible. I have to say, I think we did pretty well with a few tweaks to recipes and a little bit of creativity. Our first meal was this simple Vanilla-Almond French Toast, which we paired with some fresh, sliced strawberries.

Now, this was a gamble. You see, L is in love with his mom's French Toast, so my attempt to make it for him means that I was up against some pretty stiff competition. The pressure was on! It all came together quickly, but I'm a little bit disappointed in the flavor profile. That is to say, I didn't notice too much, and I actually found myself reaching for the syrup.

This never happens.

Okay, it happens more with French Toast than, say, waffles or pancakes, since I tend to find the former on the dryer side, but I still try to avoid it. All of that high fructose poison and sugar and whatnot. So anyway, I'll post the recipe along with the small changes I made, and then I'll let you know how I might do it differently next time. Granted, L said he liked it just the way it was, but he's a good sport and is very polite about food that is put in front of him.

Almond Vanilla French Toast, courtesy of $5 Dinners
Yield: 4 servings*
The Ingredients
4 eggs
2/3 C milk
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (omitted - forgotten, oops)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/3 C ground almonds (I had L place sliced almonds in a ziplock and smash them up)
12 slices of bread
(1/4 tsp. cinnamon) (1/4 tsp. orange peel)
Fresh fruit

The Method
1. In mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla and ground almonds.
2. Dip the bread into the mixture on each side, taking care to re-stir the mixture between dippings to prevent the almonds from settling on the bottom.
3. Place the dipped bread onto a pre-heated griddle or pan (300 degrees for the griddle or around medium for the pan - I used the pan and added some butter).
4. Cook to perfection! (I know, a little vague, but just cook until they're slightly browned on each side.)
5. Serve alongside fruit and sprinkle with a little extra almond slices.

*Note: I halved the bread but found that I needed the same amount of egg mixture.

I liked the recipe, but found it to be lacking. It could have been my use of whole wheat bread - I like my usual challah french toast, and would imagine that something like an oatmeal bread (also whole grain) would be lighter and better for this. I'd prefer more vanilla flavor and more citrus, as well as maybe some powdered sugar for dusting. It's a good, simple base, and I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried this recipe with different bread.

Also, does anyone else have a tried-and-true french toast recipe? I'd love to hear it. You know me, always on a quest to find The Perfect Recipe for everything.

You should be hearing from me again relatively soon; coming up, I have chicken chili verde, lime honey chicken tacos, a light apple and spinach salad, and even a batch of chocolate chip cookies that I'm hoping to bake for my friend, who just landed herself in a big 'ole cast. Chocolate chip cookies cure all ailments, right?

Of course right.

I warned you that I wouldn't have any enticing pictures of today's post, and it turns out that I wasn't lying. However, what I do have is a satisfyingly simple chicken . salad (as opposed to chickensalad, if you get my drift) that you don't have to feel guilty about eating. Yesterday, I told you about my Tzatziki/Yogurt Chicken Salad and hinted at my idea of a Thai-Inspired/Peanut Butter Chicken Salad, which I am here to tell you about tonight.

This chicken salad is much more savory than the yogurt one from yesterday, and although I used virtually the same base ingredients, simply changing the sauce made today's salad an entirely new meal. I think this one might be my favorite of the two. Also, even if you can't see it, believe me when I tell you that it's pretty darn attractive to boot - salad greens, orange carrots, red peppers, creamy tan peanut butter. The colors are perfect. It packs a double dose of protein - one a very lean source, and the other healthfully plant-based - some good, unsaturated fats, and lots of vegetables for all (okay, most) of your vitamin and mineral needs. The meal is low in saturated fat and sodium (depending on the peanut butter you use), as well as sugar. I can't swear on my life that this is an honest-to-goodness Thai flavor profile, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying that it should at least be loosely inspired by that cuisine. Whatever the cuisine, it's delicious, and way more exciting than any mayonnaise-based chicken salad you could ever dream up.

Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 Serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C (or roughly 1 segment of a medium-large) red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1/2 carrot, washed, peeled, sliced thinly & then halved
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter (beware of hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list)
Hot sauce (a few healthy splashes)
Cinnamon & Red Pepper Flakes, a pinch each
Cumin, a dash
Olive oil, to create a more liquidy consistency


The Method
1. Combine the first four ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last five ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper if necessary, and enjoy!

Feel free to add actual peanuts or your own mix of spices and/or veggies, or using homemade peanut butter (which I am impatiently waiting for a good time to try)! I've made pita sandwiches with this general "theme" before, with excellent results. So really, the possibilities are endless, you just have to use your imagination a little bit. I could imagine a Curry Chicken Salad, a Tropical Chicken Salad, and - a combination that disgusts my family but intrigues me - a savory chocolate chicken salad. Maybe. That last one could wind up being a total flop.

Or it could wind up being the most spectacular combination of flavors and tastes ever.


You never know if you don't give it a shot.

I was never a fan of those mayonnaise-based salads: chicken, potato, macaroni, you name it. I feel like it's this calorie-laden, not very interesting mess of ingredients parading as light and healthy. However, that does not mean that I dislike chicken salads. Au contraire! Here, I present to you one of two salads I made tonight using grilled chicken that the head of the household had grilled early on in the day.

This chicken salad is yogurt-based, adding those super probiotics, vitamins, and minerals without the fat (unless you like whole fat yogurt, that is). It tastes light, which is perfect for days as hot and muggy as it was today, yet it is one of the furthest things from bland I have ever tasted. The sauce actually reminds me a lot of the tzatziki I made a little while back, and as I suspected back then, it does pair excellently with chicken.

I think I've mentioned before how much I enjoy non-dinner meals, because I feel so free to experiment. It doesn't matter if I botch something, because it's just for me. I don't have to worry about feeding anyone else (usually, until L coerces me into making something for with him). This is proof of that, and you could easily do something similar. All I did was take chicken, some vegetables I had on hand, and a sauce full of flavors that sound like they would work together. For the sauces, all you need to do is add ingredients little by little, building on the flavors until you reach the taste you're going for. Trust me, I'm no Top Chef, so anyone can do this - especially with practice.

What's more, aside from cooking the chicken, this recipe goes from zero to in your belly in seconds (okay, minutes) flat, and would take little extra time to double or quadruple to suit your needs. I highly recommend trying it out, or at the very least using it as inspiration for an unconventional, healthier chicken salad of your own.

Tzatziki Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
2-3 Tbsp. plain or vanilla fat free yogurt*
1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill
The Method
1. Combine the first three ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last three ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, and enjoy!

*Note: I used regular 'ole Dannon vanilla low fat yogurt, but this produced a pretty thin, sweet sauce. Next time, I will definitely try either a vanilla or even plain greek yogurt (fat free) to change the consistency.

After this, I put together a Thai-inspired (in my brain, anyway) peanut chicken salad to bring with me to work tomorrow. I will absolutely post the "recipe" for that, as well, but I didn't take a picture before packaging it up, so I won't make any promises on the beautiful imagery front. In the meantime, give this a shot! Pull out some fridge or pantry items, and see where they take you. The absolute worst that can happen is that you botch a recipe, and know how to change it for the better next time around.

Now, where were we? You know, before that little Banana, Raspberry & Nutella Sandwich interrupted us. Right, I was making bold promises to tell you about the roasted tomato side dish for my Spicy Hake in a Lemon Butter "Sauce". From what I can tell, these roasted tomatoes are just a few minutes shy of being officially sun (re:oven) dried, which makes them a little chewier, a little more concentrated, and - in my opinion - a whole lot more interesting. Regular tomatoes tend to bore me, particularly raw ones, and while I enjoy eating them in smaller, more disguised amounts, this was the first time I really wanted to bite into one on its own. Plus, they could not be easier to make or much healthier, as far as roasting vegetables to death goes.

I'll keep this short and sweet (ish), especially because I don't have any pretty pictures to draw you in, hook, line and sinker. I could have reposted the one from the fish recipe, so if you'd like to see these tomatoes in action, head right on over (to the link above). They add a nice, vibrant color to the plate, so if my wordy blatherings don't convince you to make them, maybe that other picture will.

Roasted Tomatoes, courtesy of Marth Stewart herself!
Yield: 3-4, depending on how many ravenous tomato lovers you have in your midst
The Ingredients

I promised all of you a prompt post about those delicious roasted tomatoes that I paired with my Spicy Hake from a few nights ago. But I'm not here with no pesky roasted tomato recipe; no, I'm here with something much, much better. Apparently, my brain has adopted a new habit of inventing recipes while I am otherwise trying to fall asleep, and I can't say that I am much complaining. This time, I was drifting off when, all of a sudden!, I thought of a bunch of rapidly ripening bananas on my counter along with the plump-and-surprisingly-not-moldy raspberries in my fridge. Then, I got to thinking about breakfast for the next morning, and before I knew it my brain was adding ingredients like nutella and bread, and as a result I can present to you one of the most satisfying breakfast/lunch/light dinner/dessert recipes I have ever tried.

Banana, Raspberry & Nutella Anytime Sandwich
Serves: I'm still working on this one; currently, 1, but I'm really thinking that halving it would be better. But really, who wants an extra half a banana lying around? Exactly.
The Ingredients
1 banana, preferably close to baking-softness for prime mashing ability
1/4 C (ish - I wound up using about 8) raspberries, washed and patted dry
2 slices (whole wheat) bread
1 Tbsp. nutella, divided

The Method
1. Toast the bread (I like mine lightly done, but feel free to make it as dark or as light as you like)
2. While the bread is working in the toaster, coarsely mash the banana just to break it up. Add the raspberries, flattening them with the back of a fork and then mixing them up with the banana. Try to get the two fruits evenly incorporated, but really, don't fret about the exact ratio.
3. When the toast is done, spread about 1/2 Tbsp. nutella on each slice, and then spoon the fruit mixture onto one slice.
4. Top with the other piece of toast, slice (or not), and enjoy!

I say that this might be better off with half as much filling because, well, pureed fruit is gooey and gloppy and tends to escape the confines of the bread before it can fully make it to your (re: my) mouth. So, if you're making more than one sandwich I'd suggest using 1 banana for every 2 sandwiches. Otherwise, unless you know of a good use for half a banana, make the full filling and be sure to eat over a plate or napkin. Scooping up some unruly banana-raspberry puree with your finger at the end is never a bad thing.

This sandwich is quick, easy, and - in the grand scheme of things - pretty good for you, too. You get 1 1/2 servings of fruit plus the benefits of whole grain if you choose to use that type of bread. The only thing I have to warn you about is sodium levels - bread loves to sneak unnecessary sodium into its crevices. Each slice of the bread I had (much to my dismay upon reading the label after buying it) contained 200mg sodium, which makes my whole sandwich a whopping 550mg sodium bomb. Considering how I try to keep my entire day below 1500, that's pretty significant.

Still, that has not stopped me from having this sandwich two mornings in a row (what? The first time was a test run and the second was absolutely imperative to be able to give all of you proper measurements!), and I don't regret it one bit. Letting the bananas get soft releases all of that sugary goodness, while the raspberries offer a bold tartness that's very recognizable even with only 1/4 C of them. The nutella is just strong enough to blend into the other flavors, complementing them with a slight nuttiness and chocolaty burst that any morning could benefit from. Toasting the bread gives the sandwich a crunch, so that you're not biting into total mush, and allows the nutella to melt just slightly by the time you get it to your mouth.

Do you understand now why I had to interrupt my recipe line up for this? Do you forgive me? If you don't know, go and try this sandwich, and then I think you'll understand completely. It's worth it.

Oh, and while you're busy forgiving me for delaying the roasted tomato post, you'll have to also forgive me for that picture up there. It was 6:30 in the morning, I was hardly awake, the sun was hardly awake, and I'm amazed I didn't wind up with blurred, flash-on, terribly-angled pictures as is. The truth is that this sandwich is colorful and only minimally mushy-looking, as one might expect.

Last night was my first time - making fish, that is. It was actually a night full of fish firsts: my first cooking bout, my first rendez-vous with Hake at all, and - get this! - my first time getting dinner on the table in 30 minutes flat. Okay, maybe close to forty, but still! My days of slaving away in the kitchen, toiling and panicking for an entire afternoon just to get food on the table by 7:00, are over, thanks to this recipe for spiced white-fish-of-choice in a lemon butter sauce.

The original recipe called for Tilapia, but Tilapia is farm-raised and really not that to-die for anyway; so, the lovely gentleman at Whole Foods suggested the mild, wild-caught, super-food-fish, Hake. This baby has just 75 calories and .9g fat (without skimping on the protein, either - 18g!), so even if you multiply that by 2 to get a hefty hefty serving, you're looking at a pretty slim meal. I did my research and discovered that Hake is, not-so-coincidentally thanks to the knowledgeable employees of my new favorite grocery store, perfectly paired with a lemon-butter sauce, making it an excellent substitution for the tilapia in this recipe. However, any mild white fish would probably work - coming from me, the oh-so-expert recent-fish-convert.

My dish did not, surprise surprise, turn out as the recipe was intended, but it remained delectable in my book. The chili powder and cumin give a nice, almost demure kick in the butt to the almost blank canvas of Hake, whose flaky, smooth texture pairs perfectly with the complexity of the spice. As for the sauce, mine kind of backfired (more on that to come), so I'm not really sure how it would have worked, but whatever topping I wound up with was a perfect flavor enhancer. You get all of the spices lost to the bottom of the pan, picked up by white wine and lemon juice. It really is a nice meal - not too spicy, but certainly not bland, and in no way fishy (blech, trust me on this one - I will never give you a fishy fish recipe). I served mine with roasted tomatoes (which I will post the hardly-even-a-recipe recipe for soon) and bulgur, which probably could've used a little lemon flavoring itself, but let's not get carried away here. Or get ahead of ourselves. Back to the fish: what I posted here is the recipe as I made it. Follow the link below for the original, which calls for tilapia and results in a much, um, saucier sauce.

Spiced White Fish & Lemon Butter Topping, courtesy of Chocolate Broccoli
Yield: 4-5 servings
The Ingredients

There are a few things that, through reading this blog, you should have figured out by now: I'm stubbornly salt averse, it takes me a fortnight to get dinner on the table (down recently from half an eternity), and, most importantly, my family is one of those meat-and-potatoes, fire-up-the-grill but hold-the-foreign-ingredients kind of people, and in many ways, there is nothing wrong with that. I love my family, but when I'm interested in trying out new cuisines, experimenting with flavor combinations, and generally branching out from chicken-with-a-side-of-insert-starch-here, it can be difficult. And so, it was with trepidation that I tested out this recipe for greek meatball sandwiches, essentially, that I discovered over at Closet Cooking.

Imagine my surprise when everyone loved it! Of course, there were suggestions, including making it with a tomato sauce instead of tzatziki - a change that, despite producing an undoubtedly delicious meatball sandwich, would completely undermine my attempt at cooking something new, different, and, well, not something you would find at the local pizza joint.

I did adapt the recipe to make it more appealing to my hungry diners that evening, and the changes I made made it less of a traditional greek meatball. I used ground turkey, because the traditional lamb was too cute for my family to consume, and I felt guilty asking the head of the house to buy the more expensive grass-fed beef, now that I've given up all other types of bovine. So ground turkey it was, and I highly recommend trying it either how it was originally intended, or with the lighter meat.

Greek Meatballs (Keftedes) with Tzatziki Sauce, in Pitas, courtesy of Closet Cooking and Healthy Delicious (for the tzatziki)
Yield: roughly 4 servings
The Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped*
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used pre-minced)
1 lb. lean ground lamb or beef or pork etc. (I used turkey)
1 slice of bread, pulsed in a food processor
1/4 C milk
1 lemon, zest only (I used dried peel, about 1tsp.)
1 egg
1 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp. fresh dill or mint, finely chopped (I used dried dill, about 1/2 - 1 tsp.)
1/4 C feta cheese, crumbled (I used parmesan instead, since my family dislikes feta)
salt & pepper to taste
Greek style pitas (I used regular pitas, some of them being whole wheat and others being plain)
1 tomato, chopped (I sliced them)
1/2 red onion, chopped (omitted)

1 clove of garlic (or a small scoop of pre-minced)
6oz. plain, fat-free greek yogurt (the grocery store only had vanilla, which was a fine substitute - if anything it was a tad sweeter than it should have been)
1 cucumber
2 Tbsp. fresh dill (I used approx. 1 scant Tbsp. dried)
Salt, to taste (can you believe that I actually did this? A little.)
The Method
1. Saute the onions in the olive oil until just tender. I caramelized mine perhaps a little more than necessary, but wanted the extra depth of flavor that the extra cooking would give. Also, the recipe didn't specify a heat level, so I went with around medium.
2. Add the garlic to the pan and remove it from the heat.
3. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, adjusting for the consistency. In general, at least with the ground turkey, these were very moist and soft meatballs before cooking them up. I did add an extra slice of bread to try to firm the mixture up a little, but in the end the slightly-globby consistency turned out just fine.
4. Roll the mixture into balls, trying to keep them at roughly the same size for even cooking. Here, I put mine into a casserole dish and refrigerated them for a little bit since I wasn't quite ready to cook them. I layered them, alternating the meat with a sheet of wax paper, which resulted in more patty-like shapes than actual balls.
5. When you're ready, add the meat to a pan and brown for 8-10 minutes. I added a decent amount of olive oil to the pan, though I've been told that this was only necessary since I used a much leaner meat than the recipe called for. I've actually never worked with ground meat before, so go with your best judgment/knowledge if you're working with a meat other than turkey.

6. To make the tzatziki, which I did while my meatballs were spending some quality time in the fridge, start by peeling the cucumber and coarsely grating or shredding it with a vegetable peeler. Combine it with the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, seasoning it to taste with salt.
7. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

8. For serving, either assemble the pitas for everyone, or place all of the fillings on the table for each person to make their own.

*Note: I finally discovered it, the answer to my problems, the secret to conquering the chopping of those pesky onions! Just put it in the food processor, and power it up, and you have yourself almost-tear-free, non-time-consuming chopped onions. I also used a full onion here, lightly sauteed half of it and added some of that to the tzatziki (since I didn't have a red onion), and then continued to caramelize the rest.

These were the perfect antidote for the suffocating heat that blanketed the east coast this past week, even if they did require some use of indoor heating elements. They are light, not at all dry, and full of tangy, slightly sweet, refreshing flavor. I would love to try these "greek" inspired meatballs with traditional meat, but am also perfectly happy with the way the turkey complemented the dill, lemon, and yogurt here. The leftover patties were just as tasty the next day, thrown over a salad with a little bit of mozzarella cheese, salsa, and plain kashi cereal for "croutons."

Like I said, a little unconventional, but who ever said that something had to be traditional to be good?