Food Moment

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love how the day gets a little shorter, cooler and cozier. Plus, it is the apple season! It is time to pull out the Waldorf Salad recipe once again. Here is what you will need for a salad for about 6 servings:

• 6 medium apples ( diced – pick your kind)
• 2 lemons
• 1 bag of dry cranberries
• 2 stalks of celery (diced)
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup walnuts ( diced)
• sugar
• mayonnaise

Preparation:

1. Dice your apples, celery and walnuts and throw into a salad bowl. Dry cranberries are just the right size you don’t have to do anything with them but open the bag and throw them in!

*Should look something like this once you are done dicing:

 2. Squeeze some lemon juice out of fresh lemons ( do not use the store bought lemon juice, won’t taste as good!). Learn how to juice a lemon here. Click on the video and watch how to :) You might need a citrus juicer.

3. For the dressing, mix about 1/2 cup of mayo with 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

4. Here comes the tricky part! Add sugar as desired. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and mix it in. Taste the dressing and check if it it sweet enough for you, if not, add another 1/2 teaspoon. If you are like me, you will probabaly end up adding at least 1 tsp in there. Maybe even 1.5. It is up to you!

5. Mix really well to get rid of any lumps, add to your ingredients and mix once again. Try not to over mix to avoid making the apples fall apart. You do not want them mushy! The lemon juice will prevent the apples from turning brown :)

ENJOY!

Are you a soup lover? You’re in the right place. I recently made up my own lentil soup recipe that turned out delicious. Why is it great? Because not only is it easy to make but it is also healthy. I wanted my soup to fill me up, hence, the lentils and barley! Why? Because both lentils and barley are high in protein and fiber which means that they will make you feel full as protein hangs around in your stomach a little longer than carbohydrates do.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, minced
• 1 tbs garlic, minced
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch of a leafy green vegetables ( mustard greens or kale, whatever you feel like!)
• 6 small yellow potatoes
• 64 fl oz broth
• 1 avocado
• 3/4 – 1 cup of barley
• water as needed

*this will make you a big pot of soup that you can refrigerate and eat all week long! Note – use more of the ingredients if you wish as using more makes the soup more dense and using less makes the soup more runny. This is an individual preference, play with it! There are no rules here. Have everything chopped up ready to go when you start cooking.

Preparation:

1. Using a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat

2. Throw the onions into the pot and heat for about 5 mins

3. Add ginger and garlic next and heat until slightly brown

4. Next add the broth and bring it to boil

5. Add potatoes, barley and green lentils, rinse them first (the lentils that is). Some people soak lentils for a few hours but these are so tiny and they will cook quickly with the rest of the ingredients

6. Keep on boiling until the potatoes, lentils and barley are edible/soft. This will take about 15-20 mins, could be quicker! Try it as you go to see if ingredients are cooked

7. You want to add the green leafy veggie last so that you don’t overcook it. You only want to cook it for about 1 minute to preserve the nutrients!

8. Let the soup sit in the pot for a bit so that you don’t burn your tongue. Once you pour it in a bowl, scoop up a little bit of an avocado and place into the soup. Avocado tastes amazing in soups!

Enjoy!

You have probably noticed by now that I’m a huge fan of simple, quick and healthy meals. There is nothing like getting home from work and putting together a nutritious, satisfying meal in ten minutes! And that is exactly what I did the other day and here it is!

Ingredients ( for 2):

• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1.5-2 cups raw baby spinach
• 1/3 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 6-8 oz tofu
• 1/2 avocado ( sliced)
• 1 Trader Joe’s pouch of brown rice ( see below)

OK! Ready?

1. Heat extra virgin olive oil on your pan on high until it is nice and runny!

2. Throw the spinach on there and then sprinkle with oregano, lower the heat at this point…

3. Let this cook for about 3-4 minutes on low-med heat. In the mean time, slice up your tofu into small 1 oz cubes ( they don’t have to be even, look at mine!) and throw them onto the spinach….

4. Add soy sauce and mix it all around a bit! Your tofu will absorb the soy sauce flavor as well as the oregano flavor. You can also add the black pepper now.

5. Let this cook for a few minutes, no more than 8 and at the end, throw some sliced avocado on top! DONE!

What about starch?! Because sometimes we need a lazy meal, I recommend this rice from Trader Joe’s (you can use whatever type of rice you got on hand!):

And this is really all I did with it:

In the end, you put the two together and you get this:

• Protein
• Whole Grain
• Dark Leafy Green Veggie
• Heart Healthy Fats

Got a great recipe? Send over to maggie@foodmoment.com