Israeli Salad

One summer I had an Israeli camp counselor (hebrew=madricha) staying with us for a few days while she worked at our local Jewish Community Center camp.  She helped us make falafel for dinner (note: for fast falafel, she told me to use the Osem packaged mix...

which is a tasty one and I use this all the time) and showed me how to make an "Israeli salad" to go with it, which was very easy and good!  So, here you go (thank you, Lehi)...

Ingredients

Cucumber (regular or long, skinny English kind)

Tomato (I prefer Roma, but any will do)

Onion (Yellow or White probably best)

Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed best)

Salt (preferably Kosher)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
MMWM Note: The amounts above vary according to how much you want to make.  There are plenty of Israeli salad recipes online if you want to use an exact recipe.  Other recipes can include other ingredients such as parsley, pepper, etc.

Instructions

Dice cucumber into little square pieces.  If you are using a regular cucumber, make sure to get the seeds out first.  You can peel the cucumber before you chop if you'd like, or leave the peels on...whatever you prefer.  Dice tomatoes into little square pieces too...again, make sure you get any seeds out.  Dice onions into little square pieces (no seeds in onions so you're okay there).  Put all of these chopped pieces together into a bowl.  Add lemon juice, olive oil, and salt to the bowl...the amounts vary according to taste.

Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_salad (also some good information about Israeli salad here).

Reduced-Fat Moussaka

From: Eat Well Live Well with High Cholesterol (Karen Kingham, 2009, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.), pg. 125

Spotted this recipe and knew I needed to try it because I love Greek food!  Gave it a whirl after my first shopping trip to Whole Foods where I spotted some ground lamb.  This recipe is yummy but, fair warning, it is time/effort intensive.

REDUCED-FAT MOUSSAKA

THIS REDUCED-FAT VERSION OF A GREEK FAVORITE MAKES A NOURISHING LOW-GI MEAL


2 to 3 eggplants
olive oil spray
2 onions, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
about 1 lb lean ground lamb
2 tbsp no-added-salt tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
28 oz canned reduced-salt tomatoes
3 tbsp chopped parsley
4 oz low-fat cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tbsp olive or canola oil margarine
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2/3 cup low-fat ricotta
pinch ground nutmeg
MMWM Note: Freshly ground pepper is mentioned in the recipe instructions below.

PREP TIME: 30 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 1 1/2 HOURS
SERVINGS: 6

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices.  Spray the eggplant with the oil and grill or broil under a preheated grill or broiler for 4 minutes on each side, or until golden.

Heat a large, non-stick saucepan and lightly spray with oil.  Cook the onions 3-4 minutes, or until softened.  Add the garlic, allspice and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute.  Add the lamb and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until cooked.  Add the tomato paste, wine and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Stir in the parsley and season with freshly ground black pepper.

To make the white sauce, grate the cheese.  Melt the margarine in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk.  Return to the heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.  Stir through the ricotta and nutmeg until smooth and season with pepper.

Spoon half the meat sauce over the base of a 9 x 13 in ovenproof dish.  Cover with half of the eggplant.  Spoon over the remaining meat sauce and cover with the remaining eggplant.  Spread over the sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden.  Stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition per serving: Energy 347 Cal; Fat 12.2 g; Saturated fat 4.4 g; Protein 31.4 g; Carbohydrate 20.8 g; Fiber 7.1 g; Cholesterol 65 mg; Sodium 282 mg

MMWM Notes:
--When I made this for the first time, I did not make the white sauce (to keep it lactose and gluten free)--it was still delicious (and probably helped make it an even healthier meal).
--I was impressed to find gluten and lactose free cheddar cheese.  Because I did not make the white sauce, I simply grated the cheddar cheese and sprinkled it on top of the dish before cooking.
--Interestingly, the can of "no-added-salt" tomatoes I purchased did not have "no added salt" on the label, yet had the same sodium as the ones that did...hmmm.  Checking labels is a good thing.
--I don't use "freshly ground" black pepper...I use the stuff already ground.
--This recipe calls for 2 to 3 eggplants.  I started with two and it didn't seem like enough so I went to three...I had a few slices leftover at the end but three seemed better than two.  I guess it might depend on the size of your eggplants, but I would recommend three...especially if you like eggplant as much as I do.
--Personally, the taste of lamb wasn't all that pleasant for me personally...I wonder if the meat could be replaced with beef or turkey/chicken...?

Ceviche (Peru)

From: Family Circle (May 2013, pg. 146 familycircle.com)

Pulled this recipe out of a magazine--love salmon and avocado so couldn't go wrong with this one...pretty quick prep and yum!

Ceviche (Peru)

MAKES 4 servings
PREP 15 minutes REFRIGERATE 20 minutes

1 lb salmon, skin removed, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 avocado, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish (optional)
1/2 tsp salt

*Combine salmon and lime juice in a bowl, making sure fish is submerged.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

*Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the lime juice.  Gently mix in avocado, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and salt.  Garnish with more cilantro, if desired.

Buy best-quality seafood when it's to be eaten raw or undercooked.

MMWM Notes:
1.  Our family does not like cilantro, so we eliminated this from the recipe.
2.  Not sure if the salmon in this recipe is supposed to be raw or cooked--?--but I went with cooked.  Instead of fresh salmon (which I probably ought to try some time), I found a box of grilled salmon (2 pieces per box--as healthy as I could find) and cooked it (via oven and/or microwave).
3.  I tend to make a larger portion of this by increasing the amount of salmon a bit and increasing the avocados to three (we are huge avocado fans).  If you do this, might want to use some more lime juice to keep it moist.

PER SERVING 276 CAL; 16 g FAT (2 g SAT); 27 g PRO; 7 g CARB; 4 g FIBER; 353 mg SODIUM, 72 mg CHOL

Crab and Corn Bisque

From: WebMD.COM, October 2013...picked this recipe up from reading a magazine at a doctor's office.  Pretty simple to make and delicious!

Bisque It
This hearty bisque is perfect with a salad and crusty whole wheat roll for dinner.  Or serve smaller portions as a first course.

Crab and Corn Bisque
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Bisque
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup low-sodium tomato juice
2 cups fat-free seafood, chicken, or vegetable stock
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 cups corn kernels (if using frozen, thaw first)
2 cups low-fat milk
1 lb lump crabmeat, drained, with shell pieces removed
dash of salt
pinch of red or black pepper

Garnish
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 medium tomato, seeded and finely diced
1 avocado, chopped
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt

Directions
1.  Heat a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat.  Add oil, onion, pepper, celery, and garlic, and cook 5-7 minutes until vegetables are soft and translucent.  Add flour and cook until blended with vegetables, 2-3 minutes.
2.  Add tomato juice, stock, lemon juice, and corn to the pot, stirring to combine.  Heat 10-15 minutes until corn is tender.
3.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Add milk and crab, and stir carefully to combine.  Heat gently 4-5 minutes.  Season with salt and red or black pepper.
4.  In a small bowl, make the garnish: Combine basil, tomato, avocado, lime juice, olive oil, and salt.  Toss and set aside.
5.  Ladle the soup into bowls, top with tomato-avocado mixture, and serve.

MMWM Notes:
*  My family is not big corn eaters so I used only a cup of corn kernels and then added three cups of low-sodium white beans (like Great Northern or Cannellini beans), which was delicious and I think made the soup even heartier.
*  I ended up only having 1/2 of a red pepper (my husband, Mike, used half of it for a lunch salad...same salad he used my cucumber for which I needed for the Asian Cucumber Slaw recipe--ha ha) so I chopped up a few carrots and added that too...seemed to work just fine and added another vegetable into the mix.
*  I used imitation crab meat instead of real crab meat (crab meat seemed very expensive and I tend to like the imitation stuff anyway)...still came out very tasty.  The second time I made this, I used real crab meat and honestly, I think the imitation crab meat worked better.

Nutrition Per Serving
288 calories, 10g protein, 37 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 49 mg cholesterol, 6g fiber, 12 g sugar, 320 mg sodium.  Calories from fat: 27%.

Garlic and Lemon Chicken

Here is a recipe I first saw posted on Facebook...and then I found it via a Google search (if you google search "lemon chicken green beans" then lots of this recipe pop up).  Easy to put together and lots of variations possible.

From: http://www.food.com/recipe/garlic-lemon-chicken-with-green-beans-red-potatoes-505338
Similar recipe at: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pan-roasted-chicken-lemon-garlic-green-beans-10000000780291/

Garlic & Lemon Chicken With Green Beans & Red Potatoes

Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 50 mins 

Servings:
4-8 [MMWM Note: I think depending how big the chicken breasts are--can cut them in half if large]

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3/4 lb fresh green beans
8 small red potatoes, quartered
4 chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin) or 3 1/4 lbs chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin)
Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 400 or 450°F  [MMWM Note: Different recipes have different temperatures...it seems that cooking at 375-400 helps keep the chicken more moist].  Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

2 In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.

3 Roast for 50 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet. Place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally. Serve warm.

MMWM Notes:
*  I usually cook this using chicken breasts without bones and without skin.

*  Feel free to substitute other vegetables in place of, or with, the green beans and/or potatoes, like baby or cut up carrots, onions, mushrooms, snap peas, asparagus, etc.  One interesting variation I do is to put in spaghetti squash on top of the lemons (I do this instead of the potatoes).  The spaghetti squash becomes saturated with lemon and is quite tasty!  To prepare the spaghetti squash, cut it in half length-ways and scoop out all the seeds (it is similar inside like a pumpkin--by the way, feel free to save the seeds and roast them lik pumpkin seeds!).  Rub the inside of the spaghetti squash with some olive oil and if you wish, sprinkle with some salt and pepper.  Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about one hour.  Let rest and then use a fork to scrape out the squash strands from the shell.  Soak the strands in the lemon juice mix and drain well before placing on top of the lemons.  
*  Notable comments I saw posted by others...
--reduce the amount of oil and/or don't dip items into oil/lemon mix, rather drizzle mix on top of everything once in pan
--add a splash of white wine (to oil/lemon mix or halfway through cooking)
--sprinkle lemon pepper seasoning over chicken before cooking or into the oil/lemon mix
--can use other potatoes, ie. sweet, gold
--to make the chicken more moist, can add in chicken broth or stock and/or cover while cooking
--some people find that this is a lot of lemon for them...can reduce lemon to 1 lemon, take skins off the lemon before putting them at bottom, don't put the lemons at the bottom at all, or use lemon juice rather than lemons
--Try crushing your garlic to season the oil and as a last step, place one of the crushed cloves under the skin of each piece of chicken; also, suggested to add more garlic to recipe

Nutrition Information

From: http://www.food.com/recipe/garlic-lemon-chicken-with-green-beans-red-potatoes-505338
Serving Size: 1 (312 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving% Daily Value Calories 353.1 Calories from Fat 15443%Total Fat 17.2 g26%Saturated Fat 3.4 g17%Cholesterol 46.4 mg15%Sodium 370.2 mg15%Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g10%Dietary Fiber 4.5 g18%Sugars 3.9 g15%Protein 19.3 g38%

Nutritional Information

From http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pan-roasted-chicken-lemon-garlic-green-beans-10000000780291/

• Per Serving (8 servings total)
• Calories 687

• Calcium 86mg
• Carbohydrate 20g
• Cholesterol 181mg
• Fat 37g
• Fiber 4g
• Iron 4mg
• Protein 67mg
• Sat Fat 8g
• Sodium 735mg

Nutritional Info

From http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1056565

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 529.9

• Total Fat: 6.4 g
• Cholesterol: 136.9 mg
• Sodium: 888.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 58.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.8 g
• Protein: 61.5 g

Nutrition Facts From http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=1056565
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories		529.9
Total Fat		6.4 g
	Saturated Fat	1.3 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	3.2 g
Cholesterol		136.9 mg
Sodium		888.6 mg
Potassium		1,908.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		58.3 g
	Dietary Fiber	5.8 g
	Sugars	2.8 g
Protein		61.5 g

Vitamin A	3.5 %
Vitamin B-12	14.9 %
Vitamin B-6	68.5 %
Vitamin C	137.2 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	3.7 %
Calcium	9.8 %
Copper	9.2 %
Folate	2.7 %
Iron	24.1 %
Magnesium	17.9 %
Manganese	5.6 %
Niacin	132.6 %
Pantothenic Acid	20.2 %
Phosphorus	47.3 %
Riboflavin	13.6 %
Selenium	60.7 %
Thiamin	12.7 %
Zinc	13.1 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Calories per Ingredient Here are the foods from our food nutrition database that were used for the nutrition calculations of this recipe. Calories per serving of Lemon Chicken with Green Beans and New Potatoes 286 calories of Chicken Breast (cooked), no skin, roasted, (1 breast, bone and skin removed) 220 calories of Harris Teeter Baby Red Potatoes, (2 serving) 30 calories of Olive Oil, (0.25 tbsp) 8 calories of Green Giant Cut Green Beans, can, (0.19 cup) 5 calories of Lemons, (0.25 fruit without seeds) 4 calories of Garlic, (1 cloves) 2 calories of Lemon juice, (0.75 tbsp) 1 calories of Pepper, black, (0.13 tsp) 0 calories of Salt, (0.25 tsp)

Asian-Style Cucumber Slaw

This is a recipe that my husband, Mike, pulled out of a magazine and brought home to me.  It took me awhile to actually make it (I think I was thrown off a bit by some of the "unusual" ingredients but they actually were not that tough to find), but when I did--YUM!  My kids are not as fond of this as the article proclaimed (one son asked me to use Italian dressing instead next time I make it--might have to give that a try), but the adults in my family love it and it goes well with almost anything!

From: Good Housekeeping, August 2003, pg. 168 (yourGoodHouseguide)

home cooking
"My kids loved this salad!"
The Alleman family of Sierra Vista, Arizona, recently visited Quark's Bar & Restaurant at the Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience.  "We enjoyed everything," says mom Cindy, but the slaw was truly "out of this world."  Now her family is begging her to make it at home.  GH tracked down the recipe.

Asian Style Cucumber Slaw
Prep 10 minutes plus chilling
Makes 6 cups or 12 accompaniment servings

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
3 medium English (seedless) cucumbers (2 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, lightly toasted

1. In a medium bowl, stir rice vinegar, vinegar, sugar, Thai chili sauce, and 1/2 cup cold water.
2. Cut unpeeled cucumbers into 2-inch lengths.  With food processor or mandolin with large julienne blade attached, or with chef's knife, cut cucumbers into 1/4-inch-wide, matchstick-thin strips.
3. Add cucumber strips to dressing in bowl; toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight to blend flavors, stirring occasionally.
4. To serve, thoroughly drain cucumber strips; transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Each serving: About 20 calories, 1 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 0 g total fat, 1 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 15 mg sodium.

MMWM Notes:  
* One day my husband ate one of the cucumbers I purchased to make this salad so I had to improvise--used three large carrots and, after peeling the first layer, continued to shave the carrots down into slivers and threw it in with the cucumbers.  Made a tasty variation for this recipe!
* I used a regular knife to cut the cucumber strips...not exactly sure what qualifies as a "chef's knife" but the regular one worked fine...although it does take me longer to do all the cutting when it's by hand.
* I'm a little bugged when a recipe does not include sugar in the nutrition information.  However, it is clear there is sugar in this recipe.  I'm assuming that a sugar substitute could be used in place of the actual sugar, as desired.
* Look for the rice vinegar and Thai sweet chili sauce in the store where they have Asian items such as soy sauce.  Black sesame seeds might be there too or in the spices aisle.

Here is my photo of the Asisan-Style Cucumber Slaw...