Beet and Goat Cheese Risotto

Recently I was craving beet risotto. Don't ask. It's a very random thing to crave...I know.

But then again, risotto is awesome. As are beets...which took me a very long time to realize. My first experience with beets was at my grandma's house. She always made pickled beet eggs, a Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy. Those...those smelly little things...I don't think I will ever be able to get one passed my nose. The smell was rancid. I had to hold my breath each time one of the adults decided they wanted to scarf one down. aosidofiajws. I just had a shiver run through me.

Beets, however, are surprisingly really good...and do not smell nearly as awful. Plus...they are really pretty. And considering how bright they are, you know they are healthy.



I had beet risotto in some fancy French restaurant a while back and it was amazing, which probably explains my craving. This is not a replica of what I had, but good nonetheless. The creaminess of the goat cheese will make it hard for you to put this down. Despite that, I urge you to not mix your canned beets with hard-boiled eggs and try this instead...



Beet and Goat Cheese Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup diced white/yellow onion
1 cup arborio rice
2 teaspoons dried basil, fresh if you have some
1/2 cup red wine
1 can pickled beets
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup goat cheese
few handfuls of chopped walnuts


1. Before anything, chop up the canned beets so you're prepared.





2. Heat oil in on stove over medium-high heat. Add 1 garlic clove and onion; saute 3 minutes.

3. Add rice, other garlic clove, and basil; saute 1 minute.





4. Add wine; cook 3 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.

5. Add salt, beets and half of the juice from the can, stirring constantly until absorbed.





6. Add 1 1/2 cups hot broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is creamy and tender, about 35 minutes.

7. Add cheese, stirring until blended.

8. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon walnuts.

9. Serve warm.

10. Impress your guests with this sophisticated (yet fairly simple...shhh) meal!

Spicy Nuts

This is going to be short and sweet.

This is a really great and easy recipe that I happened upon recently reading through some healthy snack ideas in a magazine. If you like sweet and salty combinations, this will be right up your alley. Also a bonus from making this recipe, at least for me, it saves money by not having/wanting to buy those tiny, pricey little jars of deliciously flavored Blue Diamond almonds.

Just buy nuts in bulk and flavor them yourself and...YOU win!

Spicy Nuts

1 cup mixed nuts (I used almonds, walnuts and cashews)
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat the maple syrup or honey in a pot on the stove. Just a few minutes until warm.

3. Mix in nuts and spices and stir until completely coated.

4. Lay nuts on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes,until toasted. About half way through, take nuts out and stir them around. Watch them closely and make sure to not burn.

5. Keep them stored in a plastic bag.

6. I would say "go wild," but don't! Despite their healthy-ness, they do have a TON of calories. So snack easy.

Healthy-ish Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are a great comfort food...and usually something that health conscious folk steer clear from. Because, one, they are a white starch, which the media has scared a lot of people away from. And two, because they are usually mashed with tons of salt and butter making them a silky, soft, creamy delicious side dish.

So why not get your mashed potato fix with a healthier version? White potatoes are not a sin. Yes, they have a lot of carbohydrates. But they DO grow in the ground making them a raw, natural food. Obviously, don't eat like seven potatoes minus the salt and butter and feel good about yourself. It's called portion control...something most of our restaurants have yet to figure out.

Sarah, from Life with B's, told me the other night, at her bachelorette party, that one of my favorite phrases is, well not actually a phrase, but a word ending..."ish." Apparently, I use it way more often than I thought.

Therefore, you get...Healthy-ish Mashed Potatoes.

Healthy-ish Mashed Potatoes

3 small potatoes
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
handful of chopped parsley (or any other fresh herbs you have available)
salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika to taste

1. Clean potatoes. Cut each in half. Do not peel. The potato skin is the healthiest part.

2. Boil potatoes until soft.

3. While the potatoes boil, chop red pepper, scallions, and Parsley.

4. Drain potatoes and mash together with all ingredients.

5. Season to your liking.



Throw some cheddar cheese on top if the Greek Yogurt and cottage cheese aren't completely satisfying you.



And try not to eat them all in one sitting. Share.

Springtime Berry Smoothies

A few things about these Berry Smoothies:

1. I am very excited for berry season. Strawberries are by far my favorite fruit. I do not love strawberry flavored things that much and I really dislike the gooey strawberry stuff you sometimes get with desserts, but there is nothing much better than a fresh, ripe strawberry!

2. I added tofu to this smoothie. You may be thinking "Eww...thats gross!" So it turns out that I have read a lot about adding tofu to smoothies, and you can't even taste the tofu. Like my roommate, Catherine, said, "tofu really just takes on the taste of it's surroundings." So when you add it to berries and yogurt and honey, thats what you will taste. Also, by adding tofu, you're adding a lot of good nutrients like protein, which is a huge bonus.

3. Smoothies can be made in so many different ways, so while I really enjoyed this berry smoothie...feel free to play around. Even go wild and do bananas, chocolate and peanut butter. The choices are pretty endless as I'm fairly certain all fruit tastes good mixed together.

4. If you have frozen berries, those work best. They serve two purposes at once: fruit and ice. This is especially useful when your blender won't blend your ice cubes!!!




Berry Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen berries
1/4 cup Pineapple chunks with Pineapple juice
1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup tofu (extra firm, firm, soft...the choice is yours)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. One easy step: blend it all together!

the most amazing grilled cheese in the world

At one point, I made it my objective to make this blog about nutrition and healthy food. I did, however, tell you that that might not always happen. This post is in no way good for your health. Actually, I take that back...it will make you so happy...which in turn is good for your health.

I recently visited my friend Mandy in Cleveland. She is basically my other half. Our other friends find it comical to make us one, kind of like when Jennifer Lopez dated Ben Affleck and they were "Bennifer" or how Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are "Brangelina." We are Dandy Moogan. It's hard to explain, but look it up on facebook. We are there.

And...we definitely both love food. So of course, it was only natural that our weekend visit in Cleveland was somewhat planned around food. My number one priority: Melt Bar & Grill.



This picture is bad. Really bad. I'm sorry. I was so excited to eat it, I didn't really play around with the picture-taking much. But you definitely can not miss the amount of amazing fried food I had before me.

Why Melt? Have you ever seen Divers, Drive-ins and Dives? It is one of my favorite Food Network shows out there. Guy Fieri drives all over the country finding the best cheap eats available...which are usually greasy, deliciously fried little pieces of heaven. I have now been to three of the restaurants: Melt in Cleveland, Momocho which was also in Cleveland (it was on the show after my trip to Cleveland), and Blimpy Burger in the world's best college town ever...Ann Arbor, Michigan. Have I not told you that I'm a Wolverine?

Back to the grilled cheese. Mandy and I split...obviously. She ordered the Montecristo which is a must. Meats, Cheeses, beer battered! and you get to dip it in this sweet berry preserve which completes the entire grilled cheese.

I went with the The Parmageddon, which was featured on the show and also shown in the picture above. It is filled with pierogi, fresh napa vodka kraut, onions and a sharp cheddar. Who would have thought to put pierogi on a sandwich? It was awesome...really. (But....I'd go with the Montecristo if you happen to make it to Cleveland anytime soon!)

Also, side note, eat more sandwich than fries. Not that you'll really want to be counting any kind of calories at this place, but the fries are standard fries...nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks to Mandy for making my Melt experience happen and for being a fat kid with me.



Mandy and I at the top of the state of Ohio.

Please excuse the orange jacket. It's Mandy's jacket. For some strange reason, she loves the color orange which most people can not pull off for the life of them. I am clearly one of them.

FYI...She got me to snowboard that weekend. My first time! I look happy here in this picture, but do not be fooled. Snowboarding hurts. A lot. But I can only assume that I probably burned an entire Melt experience worth of calories that day.

Greek Pasta Salad

When I have leftovers, I love to recreate something different with them. I feel like I am just wasting a meal if I just eat the same thing I ate the night before. Does that make sense? Anyway, thats what I did with this Greek Pasta Salad. I decided I wanted pasta, but not just pasta like I had the night before . But maybe cold pasta salad because spring is in the air? And what goes well with Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke pesto? Feta does. So do green olives, and red onions, and tomatoes, and red pepper, and even more (un-pureed) artichokes. So I tossed together a Greek Pasta Salad...




I do not have a great camera, obviously, but sometimes I just like to play around. Food makes a spectacular muse.




Greek Pasta Salad

1 cup Pasta, preferably Fusilli
1/2 medium tomato, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
10 green olives, sliced
4 marinated artichokes, chopped
2 tablespoons feta cheese
1/2 cup Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke Pesto (Recipe here)
salt and pepper

1. Prepare pasta.

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a lid.

3. Shake.

4. Refrigerate.

5. Eat...

6. ...and enjoy the warmer temperatures and the sun shine!

Meatless (Meat) Loaf

Picture Courtesy Whole Foods Market

My first concert was Meatloaf. How appropriate, right? My parents took my older brother, Patrick, and I when we were still in elementary school. Mind you, if the concert had been a movie, it would have been rated R for language. That didn't really phase Patrick and I, though. We loved it!

Ironically, I don't really like meatloaf, the food...not the band. I actually love the band. How could you not love "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" or the just the entire Bat out of Hell album?

Back to the point. My mom used to make meatloaf every now and then for dinner and I remember always being really disappointed in her decision. The thought of meat in a loaf grossed me out. I do have to say, however, in recent years, I gave more thought to the idea of meatloaf. My conclusion...I like meatballs, and meatballs are basically the same thing. So I guess meatloaf is not so bad. It is definitely not my favorite, but not as gross as I once believed.

Then I saw this recipe on Whole Foods website and was intrigued. It's not your average loaf. The idea is meatloaf, but minus the meat. Instead it is filled with nutritious ingredients like quinoa and oats and chickpeas. I am a sucker for strange things. If a recipe is out of left field and something you would never think of on your own, I have to try it out. So I did just that (now that I have really built you up for the exciting world of meatloafs)...

Quinoa Loaf with Mushrooms and Peas adapted from Whole Foods Market

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 cups cooked quinoa ( Learn to Cook: Quinoa)
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley and/or 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup (about 1 onion) chopped red onion

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Lightly grease an 8-inch loaf pan with oil; set aside.

3. Prepare your quinoa (use directions on quinoa box).




4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.




FYI...this is my favorite cooking utensil. This little spatula and I are best friends.




5. Put beans, oats and 1/2 cup water into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. In a large bowl, combine mushrooms, bean mixture, quinoa, peas, parsley, tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper.





6. Transfer mixture to prepared loaf pan, gently pressing down and mounding it in the middle. Bake until firm and golden brown, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Set aside to let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.





A few notes:

1. Feel free to switch up ingredients. Originally, the recipe called for sundried tomatoes, but I didn't have any so I used a raw tomato. Also, you may hate peas and want to omit them all together. I actually didn't have fresh parsley, so I used dried parsley and dried thyme.

2. Bake a bit longer than recommended. Mine was still very moist in the middle after 1.25 hours.

3. Use as a veggie burger!

4. This was not my favorite recipe as of yet. There is a good chance I may not make it again. (This is the first time I have said that on my blog.) But really, I'd probably prefer meatloaf with meat! However, that said, if you are a vegetarian, you may really enjoy this recipe. I think it would be greatly improved if you played around with the spices.

Happy Monday!