White Bean Dip with Lemon and Rosemary

Here's another healthy and delicious dip that I whipped up for a party this past weekend. There is only one step when making it: Put everything in a food processor and hit purée!


White Bean Dip with Lemon and Rosemary
By Caroline Mac

Ingredients:
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 T olive oil
1 lemon, juice and zest
1/2- 3/4 t Penzey's Trinidad Lemon-Garlic Marinade (you can also use garlic powder)
Lemon pepper to taste
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until creamy. Serve with your favorite chips, crackers, or veggies.

Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Fennel and Clementine Salad With Lemon Garlic Dressing

Since it's getting warmer outside, I've been craving more and more raw, fresh food instead of hearty warm dishes. The result? Salads galore. I usually have pretty much the same salad during the week- a combo of dark greens, mixed veggies and cottage cheese for protein. Even though I love this salad, I decided it was time to switch it up and make something a little more gourmet. I decided that fennel was the way to go. 

I love the taste of fennel. It's similar to black licorice, with a sweet flavor that is great raw or cooked. I thought that it would go especially well with tangy and sweet clementines topped with an acidic splash of lemon combined with savory garlic. 

Fennel and Clementine Salad with Lemon Garlic Dressing

By Caroline Mac

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

1/2 bulb of fennel, outer layer peeled and thinly sliced, some greens reserved for garnish

Approx. 1 cup salad greens of choice (I used Trader Joe's Power Greens)

1 clementine, peeled and broken into sections

1 t olive oil

1/2 t lemon juice

1/2 t apple cider vinegar

1/4 t minced garlic

1/8 t ground black pepper

1/8 t Penzey's Trinidad Lemon Garlic seasoning (You can use a combination of lemon pepper and garlic powder as well)

Step 1: Spread greens across the bottom of your dish to create a bed of lettuce.

Step 2: Place clementine sections around the edge of the greens. Create a tower of fennel in the center.

Step 3: Whisk oil, lemon, vinegar, garlic, and seasoning together until thoroughly blended. Drizzle over  the fennel. Garnish with fennel greens.

Enjoy! 

~Caroline~

Spicy Roasted Garlic Brussel Sprouts

Give these garlicky brussel sprouts a try the next time you're craving a healthy, flavorful vegetable dish.

Spicy Roasted Garlic Brussel Sprouts
By Caroline Mac

Ingredients:
1 lb brussel sprouts, cleaned and cut into halves
9 cloves of garlic, whole and peeled
2 T olive oil
1/4 t Trinidad lemon garlic seasoning
1/4 t cayenne pepper


Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread brussel sprouts and garlic on  a baking dish.

Step 2: Mix olive oil and seasoning together and drizzle over brussel sprouts. Gently toss until evenly coated.

Step 3: Roast for 15- 20 minutes or until brussel sprouts are tender and the outsides are browned and slightly crispy. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Fig and Apricot Quinoa Salad

What happens when Caroline plans on making a recipe and then loses the link? She completely improvises and creates her own version! This turned out to be one of my favorite recipes yet. This dish is great both warm and cold and tastes so refreshing!

Fig and Apricot Quinoa
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped apricots
6 fresh figs, chopped in large pieces
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
1t minced ginger

Step 1: Combine quinoa and vegetable broth in a sauce pan and heat until boiling. Lower heat and let simmer until all broth is absorbed by quinoa (about 15 min.). Remove rom heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.

Step 2: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and ginger until thoroughly blended.  Set aside.

Step 3: In a large bowl, combine quinoa, apricots, figs and parsley. Stir until evenly mixed. Drizzle with dressing and stir until dressing is evenly mixed in.


Enjoy warm or cold!

Lemony Lentil Soup

This may be one of my favorite recipes I've ever made! I love soup and wanted to make something quick the night before the ballet program started. There ended up being enough left over to have for dinner another night and a half, which made life easier too. I started with a recipe from Anja's Food 4 Thought, but ended up altering a lot of proportions and ingredients to accomodate what I already had. However, I did follow her cooking directions, which were great as always. This soup would probably be good chilled as well, but I haven't tried that.

Lemony Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 c cooked lentils
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 c chopped spinach
1.5 celery stalks, sliced
Olive oil for sautee
2 cloves garlic, minced
1t curry powder
1t cumin
1t Singapore seasoning
1/2t cinnamon
2 1/2 T lemon juice


Step 1: In a large pan, saute onions, garlic, and spices in olive oil on medium-high heat until onions are tender. Stir in celery, lentils, lemon juice, and vegetable stock.

Step 2: Let simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Add spinach. Let cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Berry Lemon Water Infusion

This was my first time infusing water at my new apartment and I discovered a trick to seriously increasing the flavor: Frozen Fruit. I would suggest using the frozen fruit if you have a pitcher with an insert, as the fruit gets very soft when it melts. If you don't have an infusion pitcher, just know that you may be getting some berry chunks when you sip your H2O.

Berry Lemon Water Infusion
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
Water
1 cup frozen mixed berries
4-5 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2- 3/4 lemon, sliced

Step 1: Press Frozen berries into fruit insert. Put Lemon and strawberries into body of the pitcher. Fill with water, leaving room for the infusion insert.

Step 2: Add insert and lid, refrigerate, and let sit for a few hours. The longer the fruit is in the water, the stronger the flavor will be. I thought the flavor was best after leaving the water overnight.

Refill pitcher as many times as you please until the fruit begins to go bad. The flavor will be more diluted than the first time you filled it.

Enjoy!

Creative Hydration

Because of the ballet intensive I've been in for the  past two weeks I've been seriously slacking on my blogging duties. I honestly have not cooked at all, mainly because I didn't want to be on my feet any longer than necessary. As a result, I sat on the floor icing my feet while my mom whipped up dinner. Despite my lack of food experimentation, I was able to mess around with hydration.

I am definitely not an avid water drinker. I tend to stick with teas, Vitamin Water Zero, Zevia, Kombucha etc. I simply don't find water particularly interesting, which results in me not drinking it as much as I should. Lately, though, I've been trying to avoid the vitamin water and hit the regular water... but in an tasty way: Infusion! The basic idea of infusing water? Combining flavorful fruits and herbs in water to make it more interesting and enticing. I've read a lot of articles and have found many websites providing yummy recipes (One good one is fruitinfusedwater.com). I even purchased a special pitcher that has a place to put fruit, herbs, vegetables, and whatever else I may want to use to flavor my water. I haven't made any set recipes yet, because there really isn't a set recipe to use! Here are a few flavor combinations that have been good so far.

Cucumber and Watermelon Infusion
~ Combine lemon juice, about 1 cucumber, sliced, and chunks of watermelon in a pitcher of cold water.
~ You can mash up the watermelon a little to help the flavor spread
~ Let the water sit for a few hours, and enjoy!
~Water will last for a while an you can refill the pitcher a few times, leaving the same ingredients. Just keep an eye on the fruit, making sure you toss it before it starts to rot/ taste bad.

Cucumber, Lemon, and Rosemary Infusion
~ Combine slices of fresh lemon, cucumber, and a few sprigs of rosemary to create a refreshing summer drink!

Here are a few other ingredients that I plan to mix and match in the near future...
~Oranges
~Strawberries
~Lime
~Raspberries
~Basil
~Mint
~Ginger
~Grapefruit

Hope this helps make hydrating a bit more interesting!

Garlic Green Beans with Lemon

I have a feeling this recipe is going to become one of my all time favorites. Tonight was my second time making these delicious green beans and I'm positive it won't be my last. This recipe requires quite a bit of prep, but it may seem like that simply because I tripled it today for a potluck. Thus, I had to zest and juice three lemons, peel and slice nine cloves of garlic, and chop the ends off of more green beans than I can count. I think it was worth it, though. This dish works great as a side or as a salad. You could also make only the dressing and use it on a regular basis for roasting veggies or as a salad dressing. This dish can be served hot, cold, or any temperature in between.

Garlic Green Beans with Lemon
Adapted from Vegalicious Recipes
Ingredients:
3 cups fresh green beans
1 lemon, zest and juice (separate some zest for garnish)
2 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sliced almonds, or to taste

Step 1: Cut the tips off of the green beans and steam until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Step 2: Heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan. Once heated, add the garlic and saute until golden.

Step 3: Add the lemon juice to the pan, followed by the zest, salt, and pepper. Stir until thouroughly mixed and heated.

Step 4: Transfer the green beans to a large bowl. Pour the dressing over them and mix until evenly coated. Add the almonds and mix well. Garnish with extra lemon zest.

Enjoy!

Roasted Baby Eggplant

I'm definitely an eggplant fan. I'm also a fan of roasting veggies. This recipe combines the two. Enough said. I chose to pair this recipe with the Garlic Green Beans with Lemon. They complemented each other really nicely because of the lemon and garlic.

Roasted Baby Eggplant
From Real Simple
Ingredients:
6 baby eggplants
3 lemons, 1 thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
12 sprigs fresh oregano
1t salt
1/2t ground black pepper
3/4 cup olive oil
8 oz feta cheese, sliced

Step 1: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice each eggplant lengthwise, leaving the two halves attached at the top. Place them in a pan at least 2 inches deep.

Step 2: Squeeze juice from 2 lemons on eggplant, press the other slices into slits of each eggplant. Press the garlic and oregano into each slit.

Step 3: Sprinkle eggplants with salt and pepper and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil.

Step 4: Cove the pan with foil and roast for about 40 minutes until eggplants are soft. Keep brushing the juices in the pan over the eggplants throughout the entire cooking time.

Step 5: Remove foil, roast for five more minutes, and serve topped with feta.


Enjoy!

                      My mom got very into photographing this meal...

Garlic Green Beans with Lemon

This was one of my first legitimate cooking attempts and this recipe remains one of my favorites. I'm a fan of lemon and garlic. Combined, they are delectable. I will warn you: once you start eating these green beans, you cannot stop. This dish is great as a side, or you could even saute a wider variety of veggies, double the sauce, and make a warm salad!

Garlic Green Beans with Lemon
Adapted from Vegalicious
Ingredients:
1lb fresh green beans
1 lemon, juiced and zested
2T olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Steam the green beans until they are tender, but make sure not to overcook.

Step 2: Heat the oil in a sauce pan. Add the garlic and stir until it becomes golden (about 2-3 minutes).

Step 3: Mix the lemon juice in with the olive oil and garlic. Add salt, pepper, and zest (save a little lemon zest for garnish)

Step 4: Mix sauce with the green beans. Serve warm.

Enjoy!