Dayrecipe Food Community

I really try to avoid ground beef in my diet as much as possible. The only problem with that is that I really enjoy many things that use it. For me, the solution is T.V.P. (textured vegetable protein) or veggie crumbles. It’s much healthier than beef in that it has almost no fat (one ounce of it has 0.3g of total fat) and the ability to take on the flavors that you want. In this case it’s taco beef to make a very healthy and hearty Mexi salad without the meat.

SERVES: 1

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 1/2 cups torn or chopped baby spinach leaves
2. 1/2 cup vegetarian “ground beef”
3. 1/3 cup water
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning
5. 8 grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
6. a green onion, chopped
7. 3 tablespoons fat free sour cream
8. 1 slice fat free cheddar cheese, diced
9. Black olives (optional)
10. Salsa (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Place the veggie burger, water and taco seasoning in a skillet and bring to a simmer adding more water if needed. 

2. Simmer on med low heat until any onion bits soften and the dry seasoning has blended well with the veggie burger.

3. If  it’s too saucy simmer for for your liking continue to cook until it reduces some or if it’s too dry for you add more water by tablespoons until you like it.

4. Place the spinach on a plate, add the cooked and seasoned veggie burger and top with the tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, green onion (olives, salsa if desired)

5. Enjoy 

TIP:

These amounts are very easily adjusted to suite your appetite or number of people that you are feeding. It will double, triple or quadruple with no proble

For this clever riff on the “frozen” Margarita, try to use natural lime pops (sold at natural and specialty foods stores) rather than artificially colored and flavored varieties.

Makes 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2cup tequila
• 6tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4cup coarse kosher salt
• 6frozen lime-flavored ice pops or fruit bars, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS Mix tequila and lime juice in 1-cup measuring cup. Place coarse salt in small bowl. Place all ice pops, sticks up, in deep bowl, or place 1 pop in each of 6 glasses. Pour tequila mixture over ice pops. Lightly dip 1 edge of each ice pop into coarse salt and serve.

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS Wipe off rims of filled jars with a clean, damp kitchen towel, then firmly screw on lids with screw bands.

Put sealed jars on a rack in a boiling-water canner or an 8- to 10-quart deep pot and add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, covered. Boil jams, preserves, chutneys, and fruit butters 10 minutes (for 1/2 -pint jars), pickles 20 minutes (for pint jars), then transfer with tongs to a towel-lined surface to cool. Jars will seal (if you hear a ping, that signals that the vacuum formed at the top of the jar has made the lid concave) and preserves will thicken as they cool.

After jars have cooled 12 to 24 hours, press center of each lid to check that it’s concave, then remove screw band and try to lift off lid with your fingertips. If you can’t, the lid has a good seal.

Store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Use two 6-mold nonstick mini-Bundt-cake pans or giant-muffin tins for these.

Makes 9.

INGREDIENTS

• sauce
• 2/3cup dried apricots, thinly sliced
• 3tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger1cup sugar
• 3tablespoons water
• 1tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1tablespoon salted butter
• 2/3cup whipping cream
• 1teaspoon vanilla extractcakes
• nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 1/2cups all purpose flour
• 4teaspoons ground ginger
• 2teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2teaspoons ground allspice
• 1cup hot water
• 1tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3/4cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
• 1cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
• 2large eggs
• 2tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2teaspoons sugar

DIRECTIONS For sauce:Combine apricots and ginger in small bowl. Pour enough boiling water over just to cover; let soften 10 minutes. Drain; pat dry with paper towels.

Combine sugar, 3 tablespoons water, and corn syrup in heavy medium skillet. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in butter, apricots, and ginger. Add cream and vanilla. Stir over low heat until caramel bits dissolve and sauce is smooth. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over low heat before serving.)

For cakes:Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9 mini-Bundt molds with nonstick spray; generously butter same molds. Sift flour, ground ginger, baking soda, and allspice into medium bowl. Combine 1 cup hot water and espresso powder in small bowl and stir to dissolve. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in molasses, then eggs and fresh ginger. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with espresso mixture in 2 additions. Divide among 9 prepared molds. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar.
Bake cakes until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes; turn out onto baking sheet. (Can be made 6 hours ahead; let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven 8 minutes.) Serve ginger cakes warm with warm apricot sauce.

“I had three kids in three years when I was a ‘young married’ in my twenties,” writes Sheryl Hurd-House of Jupiter, Florida. “That’s when I started cooking and realized I liked it. But I’m having even more fun cooking now that our children are grown and it’s just me and my husband, Garry.”

Fresh greens and a variety of colorful veggies add up to a great salad you can throw together in minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 4cups (packed) mixed baby lettuces
• 1/214- to 15-ounce can hearts of palm, drained, each cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
• 1/2large red bell pepper, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8canned pickled beets, halved
• 3/4cup crumbled blue cheese (about 3 ounces)
• 2green onions, chopped
• 1/2cup (about) bottled balsamic dressing

DIRECTIONS Combine all ingredients except dressing in large bowl; toss to blend. Add 1/2 cup dressing (or more); toss again to coat.