Steamed Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard. That's it. The pretty looking leaf that everyone always wonders what it is and how you cook it. It's sooo damn colorful and really healthy.

According to WebMD, swiss chard is a "nutritional powerhouse" because it's a good source of:

• Vitamins A, K, and C
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Iron
• Dietary Fiber

And yes, you can eat the stalks, they are a super nutritious part of swiss chard!!! It's a pretty bitter tasting veggie but if you prepare it in the right way, it'll taste good.

So this is how my mom usually made swiss chard for me as a kid and now I make it for myself :)

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of swiss chard (multicolored or single color, doesn't matter)
• Balsamic vinegar (to taste)
• Walnuts (to taste)

Directions:

• Take your bunch of swiss chard and cut into about 1 inch pieces long
• Take a frying pan and add about 1/2 inch water
• Place cut up swiss chard into frying pan onto of the 1/2 inch water (as seen below)

• Heat on medium high until swiss chard is boiled and wilted 
• Take off the stove and pour out the excess water
• Serve swiss chard into a bowl
• Add balsamic vinegar, walnuts, and salt to taste

And your finished swiss chard should look like this!!..I didn't have any walnuts this time, but I usually add them for some extra crunch and flavor. 

If you don't like balsamic vinegar, try adding another vinegar or sauce that you do like to mask some of the bitterness of the swiss chard. 

So if you're sick of the usual kale or spinach, try out this beautiful and nutritious swiss chard for a change in your diet :)

Chia Seed Pudding

Chia Seeds...these little tiny things have sooo many benefits for your health. According to the Huffington Post article on Chia Seed Benefits, Chia Seeds:

• Prevents Diabetes via its ability to slow digestion
• Contains a lot of fiber- contains about 1/3 of the daily recommended fiber intake in just one ounce of chia seeds
• Full of Omega-3 Fatty Acids- about 5 g per one ounce serving
• Promotes strong teeth and bones- contains 18% of the recommended daily intake of calcium
• Contains a lot of manganese- 28 g per serving
• Has a good portion of phosphorus- helps body to synthesize protein for cell/tissue growth and repair
• Full of protein- great way for vegetarians to add some protein to their diet
• Fights belly fat- due to its ability to stabilize blood sugar and also fights insulin resistance
• Contains tryptophan- which helps regulate appetite and helps you get fuller faster
• Promotes heart health- improves blood pressure in diabetics and helps lower bad cholesterol, while increasing healthy cholesterol

So as you can see, Chia Seeds have plenty of nutritional benefits. A good way you can incorporate them in your diet is through this chia seed pudding. I found this recipe in the cookbook, "Giada's Feel Good Food" by Giada de Laurentiis. Since it's developed by this food network star, you can bet that it is very delicious. Here's the recipe:

Recipe:

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vanilla-flavored unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup plain low-fat (2%) Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (grade B), plus 4 teaspoons for serving
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 pint strawberries (I substituted raspberries instead)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds (I used whole almonds instead)

Directions:

• In a medium bowl, whisk the almond milk, yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, vanilla, and salt until just blended
• Whisk in chia seeds
• Let stand for 30 minutes
• Stir to distribute the seeds in they have settled
• Cover and refrigerate overnight 
• I did not wait overnight. It can settle within 30 minutes and is fine to eat then, if you prefer not to wait. 
• The next day, toss berries with the remaining 4 teaspoons maple syrup
• Mix in the almonds
• Spoon pudding into 4 bowls and mound the berry mixture on top and serve

This pudding can be a great healthy choice for breakfast or a healthy desert. Enjoy :)

Homemade Nigiri Sushi

I am a sushi addict! I love it so much, I would eat it anytime, anywhere. I am alwaaaaays craving it. Anytime someone suggests going out to eat, I immediately suggest alright...sushi? Yup, addicted.

However, the downside about being a sushi addict is the amount of money that is spent on going out to eat for sushi.

So my boyfriend, who is also a sushi addict, surprised me last night by bringing over supplies to make a sushi dinner. We decided to make nigiri because it is significantly easier and requires less work. We didn't have to use the mat to roll anything. All we did was prepare the rice, molded rice with our hands, cut the fish, and placed a piece of fish on top and voila it was done!

Also, salmon and tuna are heart healthy choices because of they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids!

This was our final finished product of our first ever experience of making homemade sushi. OMG it was so delicious, I'm craving it right now just by looking at it. And it was not hard at all. Here's how we did it:

Preparing the Sushi Rice:

Makes 3 cups of Sushi Rice- which makes almost 50+ pieces of sushi

Ingredients:

• 3 cup sushi rice (or shari)- can also find brown sushi rice to make it healthier
• 1/2 cup of rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Wash 3 cup of rice with running water for 1-2 minutes until there is no more starch coming out of it
2. After you are done, place rice in a pot and add a little bit more water than rice. Do not put too much water. It should be just a little bit more than the rice in a 1:15:1 ration in favor of the water
3. Cook rice on high heat at first, stirring every minute or two until the water boils
4. Lower the heat to minimum and cover the pot and leave it alone for 6-8 minutes
5. After 6-8 minutes, check water level and check out the rice. If there is no more water and the rice is soft, then the rice is ready. If there is too much water, it needs to cook a little more.
6. Only use a wooden spoon to stir out the rice
7. Place rice in a bowl to chill

To Season the Rice: (because it needs to taste like sushi rice, not just regular rice)

1. Mix the rice vinegar, the sugar, and salt in a small pot
2. Heat on medium heat until all solids are mixed in
3. Pour mixture on rice and stir well
4. Let rice cool down for a few minutes until room temperature 

For the Fish:

My boyfriend got the sushi fish from a fish market

It is specifically cut to make sushi so all you have to do is cut it as desired and put it on top of the rice. We got salmon and tuna filets. 

• We took each filet and cut it into small thin pieces about 1.5 inches long
• Then we took the sushi rice and packed it together in 1.5 inches long patties
• We took the piece of fish and packed it on top of the rice patty and voilaaaa you have your nigiri sushi
• For the avocado pieces, we took slices of avocado and packed it on top of the rice patty, delicious!

And of course, a glass of wine was needed to complete the meal. It was the most delicious meal we have ever made. For those of you who love nigiri, this is an easy meal that doesn't take long and is soooooo tasty! Now my sushi addiction can cost me less :)

Sushi Rice Recipe: http://makemysushi.com/index.php/Sushi-Preparations/how-to-make-perfect-sushi-rice.html

Grilled Herbed Tofu with Avocado Cream

This Christmas, I got a cookbook from a family friend. The cookbook is called "Giada's Feel Good Food" by Giada de Laurentiis. For those of you who do not know Giada de Laurentiis, she is a chef and stars in a show on the Food Network called "Giada at Home." She is absolutely gorgeous and has an amazing figure. Apparently, she wrote this cookbook because everyone kept asking her how she keeps looking so good while dealing with food all the time. So she compiled a collection of healthy eating recipes into this cookbook that she and her family eat on the regular. Needless to say, I was basically drooling when I flipped through all the recipes in the book. They all look so good. I look forward to posting a bunch of her recipes in the near future.

Anyways, I experimented with one of her recipes, the tofu with avocado cream. It's a great recipe for those who are vegetarian AND for those who are not because it tastes so delicious, the meatlover's won't miss the meat in this meal. Here is the recipe:

Recipe:

• Ingredients for Tofu
• 1 (12-ounce) container extra-firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
• 1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence (I substituted some other dried herbs I had at home, a concoction of sage, parsley, basil)
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• Directions for the Tofu
• Place a nonstick grilling pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill (I used a grilling pan)
• Cut tofu in half diagonally to make 2 triangles and then in half again to make 4 smaller triangles and cut again in half diagonally to make 8 triangles
• Brush on each side of each triangle with the olive oil
• Season with the herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper
• Grill the tofu until light golden, about 2 minutes per side
• Transfer to plates and get ready to eat them!

• Ingredients for Avocado Cream
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/3 cup evoo
• Grated zest of 1 large lime (I skipped this because I didn't have any)
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (I used dry parsley, which is why my sauce didn't come out as vibrant green but it still tasted delicious)
• 1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Directions for the Avocado Cream
• In a food processor, blend the avocado, olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, broth, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper until smooth
• Spoon over the tofu and eat!

Enjoy this healthy vegetarian dinner! :)

Green Smoothie

 Usually Green Smoothies are not that appetizing...right? They usually taste like celery and kale and spinach and well..the earth...and are sometimes unbearable to drink.

But, green smoothies are such a good way to get a good amount of raw veggies! In one smoothie, you can mix 4 handfuls of greens, stalks of celery, apple slices, avocado, etc. You can get a lot from it and make it taste good too.

I started trying to make one about 4 times a week for breakfast or lunch. Often times I would drink one within a few hours of working out. It wouldn't make me feel as sick during my workout as  eating eggs, dairy, or meat beforehand would. It seemed like a good solution for me and has worked out very well so far. I just had to figure out different ways to make it taste better and mask the taste of "green." So I finally came across a way to make it taste better! However, my smoothie recipe usually changes depending on what I have in my kitchen at the moment but here is roughly what I do majority of the time.

Recipe:

• 4 Handfuls of Baby Spinach or Baby Kale
• 1 cup almond milk- may need to add more depending on blender
• 2 tbsp of almond butter
• 1 Banana 
• 2 tbsp of Chia Seeds

Place all ingredients in blender and pulse until smooth and liquid enough to drink.

If you are finding there is not enough liquid in your blender to blend fully, add more almond milk or water.

If it is too liquidy, add more greens or add other ingredients if you want a more nutritious smoothie such as celery or avocado or apples or anything of your choice. 

In this recipe, you can add a lot of vegetables and fruits and use the almond butter as a way to mask the "green" flavor of the ingredients. You won't even taste the vegetables, just the almond butter.

I followed this recipe exactly above but added my own touches to the smoothie such as a tablespoon of bee pollen and a spoonful of coconut oil. These are optional to add. Or add your own preferred ingredients in addition to the ones above. 

I have made this for a few people who usually do not like the taste of green smoothies and it was mostlyyyy a hit. Though, my boyfriend still wasn't phased because "green smoothies aren't his thing"...maybe I'll be able to develop another recipe that will suit his appetite...but I guess for now he'll stick to the no-green-smoothie diet. 

I hope you all enjoy the taste of this one better than a typical green vegetable smoothie!