Baked Butternut Squash, Lentils, and Potatoes

It's autumn and you know what that means. Squash. Gourds. Pumpkins. Apples. Cinnamon. I love the seasonal vegetables of fall, especially butternut squash. This next dish was just something that I put together on a whim. It turned out all right but a bit bland and needed a little more seasoning.

I love the bright orange color of butternut squash

Mix it all up and put it in the oven

I need to work on my plating

Baked Butternut Squash, Lentils, and Potatoes
Ingredients

• 1 lb 1.1 oz  butternut squash, cubed
• 6.6 oz dried and uncooked lentils, rinsed
• 13.6 oz red potato, cubed
• 1.9 oz diced onion
• 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 tsp onion salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Procedure

1. Place all ingredients in an appropriately sized baking dish. Mix well, making sure the lentils are mostly submerged in the liquid.
2. Cover baking dish with foil and bake at 424 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour.
3. Serve as is or over rice with a little bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Reduced Fat Beef Stroganoff

My original beef stroganoff recipe used sour cream and butter, but I didn't have any of that around. All I had was some non-fat plain Greek yogurt. I also didn't have any egg noodles so I decided to serve it over some brown rice. Next time I'll try it with some red quinoa.

Reduced Fat Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced (3.9 oz/ 111g)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, sliced (8 oz/ 224g)
• 1 lb sirloin tip steak thin cut, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• sliced green onion/scallions (1.1oz/ 30g)
• 1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt

Procedure

1. In a large wok/pot/pan, cook the onion in the vegetable oil until the slices become clear. Add the sliced mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they have let out most of their water.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the beef, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and pepper, then add the mixture to the wok/pot/pan. Cook until beef is only slightly pink, then mix in the yogurt and the scallions.
3. Serve over your grain of choice (i.e. brown rice, noodles, quinoa, etc.)

Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa Stir-fry

I have been getting lazy lately and making a lot of stir-fry I was getting tired of eating stir-fry over rice so I changed it up and made stir-fry with quinoa instead. The results were delicious. The red quinoa made the whole dish more pleasing to look at--the dark red just pops against the green of the broccoli.

Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa Stir-fry

Ingredients

• 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
• 1/2 cup uncooked red quinoa
• 1/4 onion sliced (2.2 oz/61g)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• frozen broccoli florets (10.1 oz/ 285 g)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
• ground black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. In a rice cooker, cook the quinoa according to the package directions.
2. In a wok cook the onion in with sesame oil until the onion begins to become clear. Add the garlic powder, ground ginger, soy sauce and pepper. Mix well.
3. Add the chicken to the wok. Stir frequently, cook until the chicken is no longer pink. 
4. Add the broccoli to the wok and cook until the broccoli has been defrosted. 
5. Stir in the cooked quinoa to the rest of the ingredients in the wok. Mix well.

 

Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa Stir-Fry Estimated Nutrition Facts per Recipe (approx. 3 servings)
Total calories	1069
Total fat  (g)	36
Saturated fat  (g)	9
Unsaturated fat (g)
Trans fat  (mg)	615
Cholesterol  (mg)	347
Sodium (mg)	3
Potassium (mg)
Total carbohydrates  (g)	54
Dietary fiber (g)	12
Sugar (g)	8
Protein (g)	133

 

 

Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa Stir-Fry Estimated Nutrition Facts per serving (approx. 300 g or 2 cups)
Total calories	356
Total fat  (g)	12
Saturated fat  (g)	3
Unsaturated fat (g)	0
Trans fat  (mg)	205
Cholesterol  (mg)	115
Sodium (g)	1
Potassium (mg)
Total carbohydrates  (g)	18
Dietary fiber (g)	4
Sugar (g)	2.67
Protein (g)	44.33