Straight from my Diabetes Comfort Food Diet Cookbook, I’m excited to share this recipe for refreshing pork chops and Apple salad. Perfect for the end of summer and upcoming apple season this fall!
In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar and mustard. Add apples, lettuce, spinach, celery and onion. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with blue cheese, set aside.
For Pork Chops:
Season each pork chop with salt, thyme and garlic. Heat a large skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Cook the pork chops for 8 minutes, turning once or until lightly browned and a thermometer inserted in the center of the chop reads 145F and the juices run clear. Serve with the apple salad.
By Brenna O’Malley and The Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services Team
In search of a meatless option for a crowd or just an alternative to packaged veggie burgers with lots of extra ingredients? This easy make-ahead recipe is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner, a salad or lunch topper, or a great way to get some protein and veggies into your day! These are crowd pleasing veggie burgers because your whether your friends are meatless, gluten free or particular about the veggies or ingredients they like, these burgers can be adapted to fit your guests’ palates!
Yields ~8 patties
Ingredients:
1 can black beans, mashed
½ medium onion, diced
1 large carrot or 1 cup baby carrots, grated or diced finely
1 (8oz) pkg of mushrooms, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 cup oat flour (can be made by blending 1 cup oats)
½ cup quinoa, rinsed and cooked
½ cup sweet potato, diced and cooked
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced and made into paste
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Optional Add-ins:
1 cup sautéed spinach or kale, 2 tbsp chopped almonds, 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F
If you do not have roasted sweet potato or rinsed and cooked quinoa ready, prepare those now. Sautee onions, garlic paste, mushrooms and red pepper with tbsp. olive oil until veggies are soft.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and any optional add-ins you choose. Season to taste and mix well.
Prepare a baking sheet, moisten hands with water and begin to tightly pack and shape patties for baking.
Bake patties in oven for ~25 minutes, if your patties are thicker, flipping halfway through may promote even baking.
Can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen to have on hand for the week. Enjoy!
By Nutrition Student, Deanna Ronne and Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services Team
These light, refreshing, and nutritious summer rolls are simple and fun to make, easily packed for lunch, or stored for leftovers, and even your kids will love them! Try keeping them in the refrigerator and eating them cold after a long hot summer day. Packed with protein and healthy fats from salmon and avocado, this roll will satisfy your hunger without making you feel too full.1
Rich in vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids, Salmon has many health benefits. One omega-3 in particular, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is the brain’s favorite fatty acid. A diet rich in DHA is associated with improved learning abilities and disease prevention.2,3
Ingredients:
rice paper wrapper (find them in the ethnic foods section of your health food store. I recommend brown rice)
carrots
avocado
cucumber
spinach/spring mix/ lettuce
salmon
Optional Sauce:
¼ cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
1 tbs honey
siracha sauce (to taste, 1 tbs for a mild sauce)
Recipe:
In a bowl mix the soy sauce, honey, and siracha sauce. On medium heat, add the sauce to a pan with the salmon. Once cooked, set the salmon aside to cool off.
Wet paper towels large enough to cover the bottom of your plate. Place a wrapper on the paper towel and dab it with another wet paper towel. (You don’t want to get the wrappers too wet, because they will break easily.)
Place a handful of spinach in the middle of the wrapper and the rest of the ingredients on top.
Wrap the roll: start by folding the shortest sides in. Fold the bottom up and roll up to the top.
Enjoy! The optional sauce can also be used as a delicious dipping sauce.
III, V. L. F., Dreher, M., & Davenport, A. J. (2013). Avocado consumption is associated with better diet quality and nutrient intake, and lower metabolic syndrome risk in US adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2008.
Kris-Etherton, P. M., Harris, W. S., & Appel, L. J. (2002). Fish consumption, fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids, and cardiovascular disease. circulation, 106(21), 2747-2757.
Horrocks, L. A., & Yeo, Y. K. (1999). Health benefits of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Pharmacological Research, 40(3), 211-225.
Ahh, Sunday brunch. Who doesn’t like the thought of a lazy Sunday morning spent in bed followed by mimosas, French toast, and eggs benedict?
BK (aka Before Kids), Sunday brunch was a favorite pastime of mine. These days my Sundays are a bit different. We wake up early and get ready for a busy day, often filled with birthday parties or some other activity that will tire out the kids before we head back home for their nap. Sunday brunch happens sometimes, but often it’s an easy bagel brunch at home or a chaotic meal at a restaurant. Luckily my girls love to eat, so we’ve actually been pretty lucky with being able to have some good brunch meals out. They’re not the way they used to be back in the day – calm and relaxing; but it is possible to have a nice family brunch with the children at home. How?
I’ve said it before: when children are involved in the cooking process, they are more likely to try new foods since they had a hand in cooking them. And cooking with kids increases their competency in various domains, including fine motor skills, math, science, and reading. If those reasons aren’t enough to convince you, here’s one that will: when the kids are cooking with you, they’re occupied and having fun, meaning you don’t have to worry what trouble they’re getting in elsewhere and you can get a nice meal on the table. And maybe you’ll be able to enjoy a mimosa too!
One Sunday brunch recipe the whole family will enjoy making and eating is this Mushroom Onion Quiche.
When I posted this picture on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram a couple of weeks ago, I received so many likes and comments asking for the recipe. Come back tomorrow for the recipe and tell the kids to get ready to cook this weekend! Not sure what they can do? Here’s a video of my two-year old girls helping me make this recipe.
*You may want to lower your volume for the first 6 seconds to avoid a whining child.
Our Mommy friend, Danielle, and her little girl, Lucca love these zucchini and corn cakes from the Whole Foods recipe and we’re sure you will too!
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk or low-fat milk
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Kernels from 1 ear sweet corn (~3/4 cup)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons expeller-pressed canola oil
Directions
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper until smooth. Add corn, zucchini, onion, and stir until combined. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, drop batter by scant 1/4 cup measures into skillet. Cook, turning once, until browned and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side; lower heat if pancakes begin to brown too deeply before middle is cooked through. Add more oil between batches if necessary. Serve the pancakes warm or room temperature with crême fraîche.
We’ve been talking a lot about watermelons this summer! And as one of the most hydrating and tasty fruits, we’re happy to have one more reason to incorporate it into our summer dishes, just in time for your Fourth of July cookout!
1. To prep salsa, combine the first 7 ingredients and set aside
2. To prep pork chops, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine oil and next 4 ingredients (through black pepper) in a small bowl. Rub oil mixture over both sides of pork chops. Coat pan with cookies spray. Add pork to pan, cook for 4 minutes on both sides or until desired degree of doneness.
3. Serve with salsa and enjoy!
The original post for this recipe can be found here.
Six years later, Billy finally eats. As many of you know, my two boys challenge my feeding and eating expertise on a daily basis. I think from all the Mommy RD stories here on Mom Dishes It Out, you now know that RDs have their fair share of food and nutrition conundrums. But like you, we need to separate our emotional-selves and work with our child. This is probably the hardest part. Being an objective feeder is quite the challenge. Don’t despair, your kids may surprise you..
I constantly have to remind myself to lighten up around the food and sometimes set more food boundaries. Just the other night, I bought chicken apple sausage and potato rolls for my oldest son. Bobby loves chicken apple sausage. However, it seems he only likes the sausage from Brooklyn. Anyway, we tried two new brands just yesterday. Bobby was trying it as a side to his dinner of rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and spinach. Billy excitedly comes into the kitchen declaring he will have a hot dog bun with peanut butter, two cheeses and a yogurt with a side of strawberries.
Here is conundrum number one. Do I allow him to dictate his meal? Conundrum two is whether he should try the chicken sausage. Because of my work with food phobias and eating disorders, I never want to force the boys to eat food and prefer exposure therapy. I let Billy know, he must first try chicken sausage on the hot dog roll. Of course, he verbally refuses. I have yet to understand if this is an animal thing, a chewing thing, a control thing or perhaps just a taste preference. I feel my blood begin to boil.
It is so hard to be objective. I proceed to make the sausage and set it on Billy’s plate. He is of course performing a song and dance. I also make Billy his requested dinner. I serve him both the sausage in a bun and his dinner preferences on the same plate.
Amazingly, he tries the sausage with one small bite. Not shockingly, he doesn’t like it. He eats his dinner. He doesn’t complain nor does he remove it from his plate. These are signs of his progress.
So, in the end we both faired well. I still feel defeated because he only took a small bite and he didn’t like it. But then I think back to March. The boys and I were eating dinner together. It was a simple dinner of tortellini. Bobby and I were eating it. I made Billy something else. All of the sudden, Billy says I want tortellini. I almost fell off my chair. Really??
Well, he did want it. He tried it and said it was dry. He wanted to try it with marinara sauce. He loved it. He basically had marinara soup with tortellini. Wow, that made my night and my month for that matter. The point is, after seeing us eat tortellini a million times, he tried it and liked it. Just like he has done with most fruit, breads and salsas. He typically tries food now without an issue. As long as it is not of animal origin. Well, the majority of the time.
In the end, Billy eats tortellini. We can go for Mexican and Italian food as a family and Billy can order off the adult menu. What a relief!! It has taken him six years to find a pasta he enjoys. I can’t wait to see what he likes over the next 6 years. Thank you Billy for teaching me patience is key while a little push is necessary, too.
Moms and dads, keep up your efforts to expose the kids to all foods and encourage trying foods. The act of trying is the most important thing. I know six years seems like a long time, and it is. But each child has his/her own process. Find what works for you and your child. Share with us your trials and tribulations. We can all learn and support each other. If you find yourself having a hard time keeping your feelings out of the kitchen, consult a registered dietitian or even a speech and language pathologist.
There’s nothing much better for breakfast than a hot fluffy muffin right out of the oven. The only thing that can make it better, is baking them with your children! With Mother’s Day coming this Sunday, we wanted to help you get the day off to a fun start with family time in the kitchen. For a twist, top each muffin with a dried banana chip for that extra special touch. We’re sure that everyone will love these Whole Wheat Banana Muffins.
Preheat oven to 375°F; mist a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper or foil liners. In a large bowl, combine both types of flour with baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix bananas with eggs, sugar, milk, butter and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Fold banana mixture into flour mixture just until combined and batter forms; do not overmix.
Spoon batter into muffin cups; place a banana chip on top of each one, if desired. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.
*The original post for this recipe can be found here.
We know how hard it can sometimes be to please the palates of your kids. Sometimes thinking of a new recipe to make for your kids can be put on the back burner because of other things that might come up. Luckily, we have asked our friends at Cooking Light for some inspiration. Their Chewy Coconut Granola Bars are a fantastic recipe. It’s a new and refreshing recipe and you can even get your little chefs baking with you in the kitchen!
Coat a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour.
Weigh or lightly spoon 3 ounces all-purpose flour and 1.6 ounces whole-wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine sugar, oil, milk, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in granola and fruit. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with coconut.
Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.
