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.)

Experimental Kale and Lentil Dish

Kale, sweet potatoes, and lentils are really good for you. (Or so the internet tells me.)These foods contain large amounts of fiber and vitamins and are supposedly super filling. I had all these ingredients in my refrigerator and wasn't quite sure what I would do with it so I decided to wing it and make a tangy, sweet but a little salty dish. Vegetable broth can be used instead of chicken broth to make this dish vegetarian-friendly. Be forewarned that the amounts of spices are approximated since I decided to add more spices after taste testing and adjusted the amounts to my best guess of what actually went into the dish. My best advice is to just have the ingredients list and add the listed amount and then add more of whatever ingredient you feel is needed until the dish tastes right to you.

Experimental Kale and Lentil Dish

Ingredients

• 1/2 med red onion, minced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• approx. 4 oz baby bella mushrooms, quartered or eighthed depending on the size
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• about 8 oz. cooked lentils
• 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
• 6 cups chopped kale

Procedure

1. In a small pot, boil water and cook the lentils according to the instructions on the package.
2. In a large pot, cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Stir occasionally, then add the sweet potato and mushrooms.
3. Add in the salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and balsamic vinegar to the large pot.Stir occasionally. Cook until sweet potato pieces have begun to soften.
4. To the large pot, add the cooked lentils, chicken broth, and chopped kale. Mix well. Cook until kale has wilted. 

Spinach and Mushroom with Yogurt Alfredo

Last week I went to the store and bought a giant tub of Greek yogurt. I figured it's a healthy breakfast item and I am trying to eat more healthy. However, the tub advertised that it's "great for cooking" so I decided to try and make an Alfredo sauce with it. Note to self: next time make sure you buy plain Greek yogurt instead of vanilla flavored. It turned out sweeter than expected, but definitely edible. This is the result.

The smell of mushrooms, onions, and spinach cooking together  made me really hungry.

Looks like regular alfredo to me

Finished product in the pan.

Ingredients

• 1/8 medium onion thinly sliced
• 4 oz baby bella/cremini mushroom thinly sliced
• fresh spinach (as much or as little as you like)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp shredded parmesean cheese
• 3 tbsp fat free Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Cook the onion in a large non stick pan with the olive oil.
2. Add the mushrooms to the pan when the onion has begin to turn clear/see through. Cook until mushrooms have started to shrink and loose some water. Stir occasionally.
3. Wilt the spinach in the pan. Add the garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper to the pan. Mix /stir occasionally.
4. Add the cheese and yogurt when the spinach has completely wilted. Mix well
5. Serve mixed with pasta or over pasta.

Chicken, mushrooms, and green beans in cilantro pesto with a side of wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Soundtrack: 60s, 70s and 80s hits Pandora Station

I didn't intend for there to be a green theme, but it just so happened that I had left over cilantro and I had more avocado. I woke up pretty late this morning (or afternoon?) and I had this impulse to cook something. Maybe I dreamed about it or was thinking about it before I drifted off to sleep the night before, but I knew what I needed to cook: avocado mashed potatoes (wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes) and something with cilantro pesto. Mashed potatoes and guacamole are two of my favorite foods. Potatoes are my comfort food and if anything has avocado listed in the food description on a menu I will most likely order it. Why not combine the two? I shouldn't take all the credit for wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes because I recall finding a recipe online for something similar to what I made today (but mine is better, in my humble opinion.).

I don't usual plan out what I cook so it's usually an experiment. I was lucky that this time it didn't suck and that I remembered to write down  specifically all the ingredients that I used. I'm not entirely certain that what I made was actually a pesto, but I'm just going to call it that anyway. Also, I foresee in the future that I will unintentionally (perhaps now, intentionally) have several posts in the row involving the same ingredients because I need to use up the fresh fruits and vegetables before they go bad. I might as well write about it.

Some parting comments: I should have added a little more salt and pepper to the chicken entree and I should have had more than 1 clove of garlic in the pesto. Other than that, I feel like today's experiment was a success.

 Mashed avocado and finely chopped cilantro 

Mashed potatoes with one head of oven roasted garlic mashed in

Wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Cilantro Pesto: finely chopped cilantro, garlic clove, 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Main dish: chicken, mushroom, green beans with cilantro pesto
 

Lunch!

Wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 8ths

~1/3 cup cilantro finely chopped

1 head of garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp of salt

1 avocado

1/2 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp sour cream

Directions:

1. Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until you can easily poke a fork through the potato. Then drain and set aside.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 350 F and remove most of the skin off the head of garlic leaving only a 1 or 2 layers of skin. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place the head of garlic in the center and then cover it in the 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Bake garlic for 20 min or until you can easily poke a fork through a clove of garlic. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, add in the peeled and seeded avocado, lime juice, cumin, cilantro and sour cream. Mash and blend until well mixed and relatively smooth.
4. Using the same pot you boiled the potatoes in, mash the potatoes. Carefully remove the remaining skin on the oven roasted garlic and mash the garlic in a small bowl. Add the mashed garlic into the mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix until all ingredients are well-blended.
5. Spoon the mashed potato mixture into the large bowl with the avocado/guacamole mixture. Blend all ingredients until relatively smooth.

Cilantro Pesto

Ingredients:

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic mined

3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Finely chop the cilantro and finely mince the garlic. Then combine all ingredients.

Chicken, mushroom, and green bean entree

Ingredients:

cilantro pesto (see above)

~ 1 cup sliced mushrooms

~1/2-1 lb chicken cut into pieces

1/2 small onion diced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

~1/2 cup cooked green beans

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pour in the tables spoon of oil into a large pan and cook the diced onion on medium heat until slightly golden.
2. Add the sliced and washed mushrooms to the pan. Cook mushrooms for about 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Stir occasionally.
3. Add the chicken into the pan and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.
4. Stir in the cooked green beans and the pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Port wine mushroom sauce

Whenever I go to the store part of me keeps an eye on the wine section--specifically port wine. The first time I had it, I loved it because it was so sweet and I knew it would be great with dessert and for cooking in general. Unfortunately, the one time I buy port wine and taste it, I wasn't as delighted as I was the first time and I was rather disappointed. I probably chose a bad vineyard...label...um...whatever you call it. So I decided to look up recipes that use port wine instead of having to suffer through drinking the entire bottle on my own. I modified a recipe found at this website:  <http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1166/Bistro-Chicken-With-Port-Mushr121118.shtml>. I didn't have all the ingredients it called for so I made some of my own adjustments and substitutions:

Cooked the chicken separately and served over penne

Port Wine and Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup onion diced
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ~6 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup port wine
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Melt the butter in a large pan and add the olive oil. 
2. Add the onion and the mushrooms and cook until onions are clear.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan except for the flour.
4. Let about half of the port wine evaporate or let evaporate until you get the amount of sauce that you want.
5. Add flour and stir to make sure the flour doesn't clump together.

I need to try this recipe again because I used a sweet vidalia onion instead of a regular onion so the sauce became too sweet. I also want to try adding the chicken to the sauce while the sauce is cooking instead of cooking the chicken separately so that the flavors of the sauce can get cooked into the chicken.