Quick Healthy Recipes For You

Many of us are so busy that we don’t have the time to prepare fresh and delicious meals anymore. The recipe I am sharing in this article is very simple and time saving. I got this from a friend of mine who served this broccoli salad in one of our work-related-potlucks. Everyone loved it that it was gone in minutes! I am not a very good cook but every time I attend a gathering that involves food, I always bring my broccoli salad. Amazingly, it is always one of the first dishes to disappear!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED:

2 bundles of fresh broccoli, 1 onion, 1/2 cup of raisins, 12 slices of (cooked) bacon.

For the dressing:

1 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, 1/2 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of vinegar

MAKING THE SALAD:

1. Wash the broccoli thoroughly and chop them into bite sizes, and place them on a clean dish/salad bowl.

2. Wash the onions thoroughly and slice or chop it into small pieces, then mix it with the broccoli.

3. Add the raisins and mix it with the rest.

4. Break the 12 slices of bacon into small pieces and them mix it with the rest.

5. Mix the dressing ingredients thoroughly in a separate bowl to make a dressing. Pour and mix the dressing evenly with the broccoli and the rest.

6. Cover your new broccoli salad with a plastic wrap and keep it refrigerated until ready to serve.

7. Enjoy your new delicious broccoli salad (by yourself or with friends and loved ones!)

Pasta is such and quick and easy meal and if you make it yourself then you can be sure of what you are getting and know there will not be a stack of preservatives and additives and you can add anything that takes your fancy or that you have on hand or in the garden at the time. Sage leaves are a tasty addition to pasta dishes and can transform even the plainest dish into a gourmet delight that takes only a few minutes to saute some sage leaves or oregano will add a different dimension to your pasta meal. Fresh is best always and the freshest herbs can be so simple to grow and have to hand.

Click here to visit The Pasta Shop

Try your hand at this quick and healthy recipe for Pasta by Alan Beggerow:

“If you’ve got some time and are willing to put forth some effort, you can make your own home made pasta. The basic ingredients are:

• 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

That’s it. Some folks use a little (1/2 teaspoon) extra virgin olive oil in their pasta, but it is optional. This recipe makes pasta enough for 2 regular servings, so if you want more increase the amounts in the same proportions.

The classic way to make pasta is by putting the flour on a board, make a well in it, and put the egg and salt into the well. With a fork, gently mix the egg with the flour until a rough dough forms, then knead the dough with your hands until it becomes soft. But it can also be made in a bowl, a food processor or a mixer with a bread hook.

A few tips: If the dough is still too sticky, dust with a little flour and knead it some more. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle a little water on it and knead it in. The humidity in the air determines if a dough will be too sticky or dry with the basic recipe, so you’ll need to act accordingly.

After the dough has been kneaded and is soft and elastic, wrap it in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 20 minutes. This will help ‘relax’ the gluten in the dough and make it easier to roll out.

Folks who make pasta regularly invest in a pasta machine. While this does make for more uniform noodles, you don’t need one. Take the dough after it has rested and separate it into small portions if you’ve made more than the basic recipe. Dust a board with flour, put the dough on the board and roll it out. Try to get the dough thin enough so that you can almost see through it. If the dough sticks, dust with a little flour.

When you have the dough as thin as you like, dust it with a little flour and roll it up like a jelly roll. With a very sharp knife, cut the roll into very thin slices. Unroll the pasta and let it dry for 20 minutes or so on the board, or drape it over a broom handle covered with plastic wrap that has been suspended between two chairs.

After drying, the pasta can be cooked or refrigerated for use within the next 2 or 3 days. Fresh pasta does not take as long to cook as fully dried pasta, only about 4 to 5 minutes, even less if the noodles are small and thin. You want to cook it al dente (to the tooth, a little firm in the middle, so watch fresh pasta closely as it cooks!

This basic recipe can be varied in many ways. Substitute whole wheat flour for the unbleached white flour for whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta dough will have a little different ‘feel’ to it. Or you can make spinach pasta. Cook 5 ounces of frozen spinach as directed, drain and let it cool. Squeeze as much water as you can out of the spinach. The spinach should be about the size of a large egg when you’re done. Mix it in with the egg before adding to the flour.

Pastas can be flavored with most anything. Add a little garlic, use a little tomato juice, let your imagination run free and experiment! Making home made pasta is easy!”

1 Kg pumpkin
4TBS olive oil
2 TBS pine nuts
1 Lge clove garlic (finely chopped)
2 tiny dried birds eye chillies (crushed)
1/4 tsp salt
75 ml white wine vinegar
75 ml water
2 TBS Sultanas
1/4 cup tiny mint leaves

• Chop pumpkin in wedges, cut out seeds and chop off skin
• Heat oil, add pumpkin pieces once it is hot
• Fry pumpkin, add pine nuts, add garlic, and chilli, sprinkle pumpkin
• with salt and cook 1 min or 2 more
• Pour in the vinegar and water - add sultanas and immediately cover with a lid
• Turn heat to low and cook very gently for 5 minutes or until tender
• Remove lid, transfer pumpkin to a dish with all the juices
• Scatter over the mint
• Serve piping hot in winter or at room temperature when weather heats up

Did you know that most of the food we eat is vegan? You probably never thought of it that way, but plant based foods are everywhere. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks, there are plenty of vegan choices out there. Here are a few very easy vegan recipes and snacks to help you choose smart, vegan-friendly food choices for your next meal.

1. Terrific Tofu Stir Fry
Tofu is a great source of soy protein, and you can use it in almost every recipe that calls for meat or eggs. My favorite lunch or dinner meal consists of cubing the firm tofu, fry with vegetable oil and raw soy sauce, and add all the organic veggies of your choice: carrots, eggplant, zucchini, cabbage, bean sprouts, pea pods, and onions. Serve over organically grown rice or brown rice and you have a super healthy, hearty meal to fill up even the hungriest appetite!

2. Cool Cold Cereals
Try a bowl of cheerios, 1 cup soy milk, and a handful of fresh strawberries or raspberries. Craving something sweet? Cocoa beans are organic so why not have a bowl of cocoa puffs or cocoa krispies with 1 cup vanilla soy milk? You can ultimately use any of your favorite cold cereals and fruit here, so use your imagination and go nuts!

3. Awesome Acai Smoothie
How about an awesome fruit smoothie for lunch or a snack? If you can find them, the Acai berry is native to Brazil but one of the super healthy foods we don’t find much of around here. You can also use blueberries if the Acai is not available. Blend together these, fresh or frozen, along with all the other fruit you want (pineapples, mangoes, bananas, strawberries, etc). Add some ice or soy sorbet and blend some more. Top it with some granola and fruit slices for a super cool energy boost! Yum, yum!

4. Cosmic Curried Kale
Everyone should eat more greens in their diet anyway, so this recipe is vegan-friendly and also all raw for those super health food fanatics like my good friend Jill from Minnesota! She calls it Cosmic Curried Kale. She de-stems and washes the curly kale, puts it in a bowl with a shredded carrot, then blends together 1 part Nama Shoyu (raw soy sauce), 1 part lemon juice, 1 part olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, and adds cumin and coriander for the dressing. Super simple and totally organic!

5. Cookoo for Cocoa Pudding
We all love chocolate, and the classic chocolate pudding is no exception. Even vegans can enjoy this well known dessert. Mix 2 cups soy milk with 3 tablespoons organic cocoa, 5 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth. Cook it over medium heat until it becomes thick. Pour it into serving dishes and chill in the fridge! Now that’s super easy and should satisfy any chocolate lover’s cravings!