Category: High Fiber

Crunchy Cucumber Salad for 2

Posted on by Lisa P

This cucumber salad is made with miniature English cucumbers. They’re not expensive and you don’t have to peel them. This makes a great little side salad, and it’s crunchy enough to hold up til tomorrow so you can have the leftovers lunch.

3 miniature cucumbers or similar amount of pickling cucumbers
1 small shallot or piece of sweet onion
1/2 medium tomato (or more to your liking)
oil and vinegar
Italian seasoning blend

  1. Prep your space:  Get out a medium cutting board, a knife, and a small bowl. If your garbage can is not nearby, have a little plastic bag open next to your work space for scraps.  Grab your steel and give your knife a quick sharpening.
  2. Wash the cucumbers since you’ll be leaving the skin on. Wash the tomato too if you haven’t already.
  3. Cut the ends of the cukes off, and then slice them at a diagonal, very thinly.  About an eighth of an inch or less.  Toss them into the bowl.
  4. Peel the shallot and cut off the hard end. If using onion obviously you can skip that part.  Slice as thinly as possible.  A very sharp knife makes all the difference here.  Scrape the pieces up with your knife and bang them in the bowl as well.
  5. Cut the tomato into smallish wedges.  Into the bowl they go.
  6. Shake some Italian seasoning onto the vegetables.  This is where you have to judge for yourself how much seasoning you like.  If you’re not sure, start with 1/4 tsp, mix it in, and look at it.  That’s about as much as I use, but you might like more or less.  It’s OK to guess, the world won’t end if you add a little too much.
  7. I use olive oil and white wine vinegar, but you could use regular oil and apple cider vinegar.  It’s a different flavor in the end, but we’re not talking gourmet here, we’re just trying to get dinner on the table.  About a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon or so of oil should do it.  Mix it up, taste one, and add more if you like.
  8. Put the bowl (with spoon) into the frig to sit while you make the rest of your meal.  Maybe you could stir it once or twice if you remember.

This is my favorite summer go-to salad.  Hope you enjoy it!

Step 2:
Miniature English Cucumbers

Step 6:
Crunchy Cucumber Salad

Yield: 2 Cups
Prep time: 10 minutes
Calories: Hardly any

Quick Kale & Cabbage Fry Recipe

Posted on by Lisa P

Toss this easy kale recipe together as a nutritious side, while your main protein dish bakes or braises.

1 T olive oil
1/2 small cabbage
1/2 red pepper
1 medium shallot or 1/4 C sliced sweet onion
1 1-inch piece of jalapeño (optional)
2-3 sun dried tomatoes (optional)
1 medium carrot
1 bunch kale
seasonings Continue reading “Quick Kale & Cabbage Fry Recipe” →

Low Gluten Multi-Grain Bread – version 1

Posted on by Lisa P
Low Gluten Bread
Fresh out of the bread maker

I made this bread for Easter dinner. I should not experiment on a holiday I know, but Trader Joe’s was closed and I wanted a nice bread that wasn’t white and processed, and ideally gluten-free. Gluten-free bread takes too long because it’s not bread machine friendly, so I concocted this mash-up of 1/2 regular whole wheat and 1/2 gluten-free bread recipe for the bread machine. It’s not perfect, but it was good enough for Easter dinner.

1-1/2 C water, warmed in microwave
2 T oil
2 T honey
1 egg
1 t salt
1/8 C ground flax
2/3 C almond flour
1 C brown rice flour
1 C masa de harina
2/3 C Whole wheat flour
2/3 C white bread flour
1/2 C potato starch
1/4 C fat free milk powder
1 t xanthan gum
1 T yeast

Put in bread machine in this order, or in the order recommended by your particular machine. It’s a 2lb loaf however it comes out small and dense so a smaller machine could probably do it. Just make sure to put it on Dark crust so it will get a longer cooking time than a 1-1/2 lb loaf.

Eating notes:
– Tasty but not very sweet.
– Dense but makes good thin slices that toast well
– It freezes also freezes well.

Things to try next time…
– try 3 T ea oil and honey
– more flax meal
– lighter starch?
– replace almond flour with something else… spelt?

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

Posted on by Lisa P

Whodathought you could make GF muffins that don’t taste GF?

I made these with freshly puréed roasted pumpkin that I made from a leftover Halloween pumpkin (uncarved!). I brought some to work and left them in the break room, and found this note stuck to the empty plate.

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P.S. I made these in a toaster oven with a convection option.

Lisa’s Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 C Butter
3/4 C Sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C fresh pureed pumpkin (drained)

Dry Ingredients:
2/3 C brown rice flour
2/3 C gluten-free oat flour
1/3 C almond flour
1/3 C tapioca starch
1-1/2 t xanthan gum
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1-1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, mixing after each one. Add vanilla and pumpkin and blend well.

2. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together well.

3. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet pumpkin mixture. Use mixer on low to mix until just blended. Do not over-mix.

4. Preheat oven to 350.

5. Wipe muffin tin cups with a light coat of oil. A non-stick 12-muffin pan is ideal.

6. The dough will be heavy and dense. Use a large table spoon to scoop dough into cups. It should mound slightly above the surface of the tin.

7. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Let cool slightly in the tin and then use a butter knife to gently pry each muffin out. Cool completely on wire rack.

How to Prepare and Cook Kale

Posted on by Lisa P

I’m sure a lot of people have never tried kale because they don’t know how to cook kale. I was one of those people too until just a few years ago. That was when I discovered that kale is a great tasting, highly nutritious leafy green vegetable, similar to spinach.

Kale is best when fresh, so cook it within a few days after you buy it at the grocery store. Make sure it’s a nice dark green with firm leaves and no brown spots or flimsy areas.

Kale is also very inexpensive, especially when you buy it in season. I can get a huge bunch of it in season (January-March) for about $1.29.

[Time saving tip: Make the whole bunch at once, even if you won’t eat it all that night. Store the rest in the frig for a few days. Then you can briefly microwave it and serve with another meal. That’ll save you a lot of time.] Continue reading “How to Prepare and Cook Kale” →