healthy

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Stuffed Jalapeños and Roasted Honeynut Squash

Today, I was feeling a little creative. I could not allow for my jalapeños to go bad. So I thought to myself, why not stuff the jalapeños with sweet potatoes and saute diced onions and apples, see how that goes? I figured it is also Monday, so let’s create a new recipe for Meatless Monday and the results, I can see I’m proud of. The spicy jalapeño stuffed with the sweet potato and topped with the saute onions and apples goes hand in hand. Now, if you cannot handle the heat, please feel free to use the small sweet peppers instead. I also bought from the grocery store this tiny squash that looks like a butternut squash but it is called honeynut squash. I decided to stuff it as well with the leftover onions and apples. So please enjoy. If you try out this recipe, let me know how you liked it.

Ingredients:

2 small sweet potatoes

6 jalapeños

1 med sweet onion

1 med apple of choice

1 honeynut squash

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp Coconut oil

Preparation:

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Once preheated, slice the honeynut squash in half and remove the seeds. Save the seeds if you want to toast it and eat it as a snack. Rub coconut oil on the cut side of the squash. Place in a baking sheet cut side down and bake for 30 minutes or until ready.

Slice the jalapeños in half length wise and remove the vein and seeds. Peel the sweet potatoes, dice and place in a pot with water. Once the water begins to boil, give it about 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked and tender. Once ready, remove from the heat and strain the potatoes and with a fork mash the potatoes. Dice the medium onions and place in a pan with coconut oil. Cook the onions until translucent, then add the diced medium apple. Continue to cook until the apples are tender. Stuff the jalapeños with the sweet potatoes, place on a baking pan and place it in the oven until the jalapeños are roasted.

Remove both the honeynut squash and the jalapeños, add the saute onions and apples. Serve and enjoy! The stuffed jalapeños or peppers are perfect for a quick snack, appetizer or take to a party and share with friends.

Never be afraid to try something new in the kitchen. This is how you find out what pairs well together. Bon appetite! Happy Monday! -Lily

Baked Chicken & Roasted Potatoes

Chicken, Food, Vegetables

Today, I did not wake up in a cooking mood. However, I have to cook in order to fuel my body, have lunch for tomorrow, as well as dinner. So I opted to go the easy and “lazy” route…let the oven do the cooking.

It’s a simple recipe, but the star of this dish is the baked chicken and how I let it marinate at least for an hour in order to get the flavor I was looking for. Garlic and sage goes hand in hand when it comes to poultry.

INGREDIENTS:

For the chicken:

1 to 2 lbs of Chicken drumsticks or thighs

Dried sage

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil

Dried Italian herbs or oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

For the roasted potatoes:

10 butter potatoes chopped about 2 inches in size

Sweet paprika

Oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 lg red onion chopped in quarters

Green onions

Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a mortar mash the garlic until it is into a paste. Pour about 3 tbsp of Olive oil. Add the salt, pepper, dried oregano or Italian herbs, and dried sage and mix together. In a bowl place the rinsed chicken drumsticks or thighs and pour the marinade. Make sure the marinate is mixed well with the chicken. Cover it for an hour.

Preheat the oven at 300 degrees. Place the chicken on a cookie sheet and let it cook. Once it looks ready, raise the heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook until the skin is crispy.

One a cast iron skillet, place it on medium heat on the stove. Once it is hot, add olive oil and the potatoes. Season it with salt and pepper, sweet paprika, and Italian herbs. Mix it and allow it to get somewhat pan roasted. Add the chopped onions and mix well. Place it in the oven while the chicken continues to cook in the oven until the potatoes are crispy and roasted on the outside but soft on the inside.

Once both the chicken and the potatoes are cook, serve it and add some sliced green onions to the potatoes to add the fresh onion flavor.

Thanks to my oven, I was able to bum around the house and still be able to cook a delicious easy recipe. Cooking doesn’t have to be stressful but it can still be easy, simple, healthy and flavorful.

Meatless Monday

Food

Once in a while, I have my day when I just don’t feel like eating any type of meat, and trust me, I can eat pork every day if you let me. I’m not sure why this happens, but I’ve learned to listen to my body. The other day, that’s just how I felt. I had no desire to eat the chicken that I had prepared in a healthy delicious way. So instead, I ate my side items for my chicken. At that moment I thought, why not share vegetarian/vegan recipes on Mondays.

I have a few friends that are either vegetarian or vegan. We could all sit and agree to disagree on why meats are good/bad for you. At the end of the day, we respect each others eating lifestyles and enjoy a meal at the table together.

Meatless Monday is not a new trend, in fact this goes as back as WWI. However, in 2003 it revived. Read the full story at Meatless Monday History

I hope you enjoy this healthy, quick, and vegan approved recipe.

Sweet potato hash and pigeon peas salad

Ingredients:

1 medium diced sweet potato per person

1.5 lg onion

2 lg bell pepper

Coconut oil

2 cans of pigeon peas (or bag of dried peas which you can overnight soak and then cook until tender)

10 Spanish olives

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

In a pan, add the coconut oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the sweet potatoes and cook until tender. Add the 1 lg diced onion and 1 lg pepper to the sweet potatoes. Continue to cook until done.

In a bowl, add diced the 1/2 onion and 1 lg pepper with olive olive, salt and pepper. Open both pigeon peas can, and rinse off. Add the pigeon peas to the bowl and mix together lightly. You can also add cherry tomatoes and crushed garlic for an additional taste. It’s all up to you and creativity.

I hope you have enjoyed this fun, quick, healthy and vegan approved recipe. You don’t have to have a Meatless Monday once a week. You can start slowly with replacing one meal on Monday with only veggies and fruits.

Cod Fish Salad and Pan Roasted Potatoes

fish, Food

As a kid living in Puerto Rico, root vegetables can be found if you live in the country side. Often at my grandparents home, either my grandfather and father, or uncles would go to the area where these root vegetables would often grow. Every time there were root vegetables, there would always be bacalao (cod fish) or carne frita (fried pork). Just reminiscing as I type, it just takes me back to those days.

Many times, my mom would make cod fish salad for dinner. I’d have to say that like her cod fish salad there is no other. Don’t get me wrong, I like my cod fish salad too, but it’s always different when mom cooks. So in memory of my childhood, I decided to make this ensalada de bacalao (cod fish salad) with pan roasted potatoes.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 lbs cod fish

6 medium white potatoes

3 sliced green onions

1/2 diced red onion

1 lg diced tomato or 3 Roma tomatoes

1/4 diced bell pepper

10 Spanish Olives

2 hard boiled eggs

Olive Oil

Water

White Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a pot bring water to boil, add salt, and the cod fish. Boil until cooked. Do not overcook as it will break into pieces and you want to have at least bite size. In a separate pot, add eggs, bring water to boil and add three diced potatoes. Do not over cook the potatoes or it will turn into mush. Remove both pots from the stove and drain the water.

Dice the red onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and Spanish olives. Add into a bowl, pour olive oil. Once the cod fish and the potatoes are at room temperature, add to the boil and carefully mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the other three potatoes to about a 1/4″. Place in a pan, add about a cup of water, 1/2 cup of white vinegar and drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Cover and cook in medium heat until the water and vinegar evaporates. Remove the lid, the oil will then cook the potatoes until crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Once fully cooked, serve with the cod fish salad.

“Food is fuel. Eat to live. Don’t eat to live.”