The boyfriend had some cabbage and beets in the fridge, and when I googled these two words, a Cabbage and Beet Russian soup called Borsch came up. At first it didn’t look too appetizing, but after a day, this low calorie soup was actually very tasty.

Borsch – Cabbage and Beet Soup

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage – cored and chopped

3 beets – peeled and grated

1 onion – chopped

4 cloves garlic – minced

2 medium carrots – chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (traditionally, dill)

6 cups of water (or more)

1 Knorr chicken stock cube

1 cup pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap the beets in a large sheet of foil, place on a baking sheet, and cook until tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Let the beets sit until cool enough to handle. Grate them on the large-hole side of a box grater. Set aside. (Note: next time I’ll try grating raw beets, since they will cook in the soup later anyway.)

In a large pot over medium-high heat add oil and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the cabbage, stir to combine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage wilts, about 5 minutes (or more if you have a lot of cabbage like I did). Add the beets, carrots, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine and add chicken broth or water with the Knorr cube. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cook until vegetables are tender and flavors blend, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot, with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and a sprinkle of dill, if you like (which I didn’t).

Makes 8 servings of 100 calories each.

Borsch

A few weeks ago I made an eggplant parmesan the boyfriend loved, so when I got more eggplants in my organic basket last week, I knew what I had to make for my “How I met your mother” series finale dinner.

It is a delicious dish, but it takes a while to prep. At least I can make it over the weekend, and then just bake it the day of.

The first step of the whole process is to peel, slice, and salt the eggplants. Then you have to leave them in a colander to bleed for an hour. Apparently this will take the bitter taste away. Then you wash the slices so they are not so salty and pat them dry with paper towels. Since I don’t have much patience, I only bled them for 20 minutes and quickly dried them with a towel after washing off the salt. They turned out just fine! Next time I’ll also try to skip the eggs and breadcrumbs process since I’m baking and not frying them.

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

2 large eggplants – peeled, sliced, bled, dried

4 tomatoes – chopped

4 cups pasta sauce (1 1/2 jars)

3 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tbsp salt

3 eggs – beaten

3 cups breadcrumbs

3 cups mozzarella and parmesan cheese – mixed

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with breadcrumbs. Place eggplant slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake 15 minutes, flip and bake another 15 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. Mix pasta sauce, tomatoes, and rosemary. In an ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant, and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 30 minutes.

Makes 8 servings of 360 calories each

Eggplant Parmesan

Last week  I used some Groupons to try a few new places: Hussong’s Mexican Cantina and Crepe N’Roll. There was nothing special about the meal at Hussong’s (the original restaurant in Mexico is the birthplace of the maragarita), but it was a great place to go inside the Silver Legacy Casino before heading to the Lady Antebellum concert (which was awesome BTW).  However, the crepe place is something to rave about. It serves crepes Japanese style, which is even better than regular French ones. Who knew! For atmosphere, I’ll still go to La Crema, but if I’m craving a fast and filling crepe, I’ll definitely go back to Crepe N’Roll. Good thing I still have two more Groupons to use there.

Lady Antebellum Concert

Crepe N’ Roll

Last week I got avocados from my organic basket delivery and made guacamole for the first time. It didn’t last a day. So a couple of days later I had to make it again for the boyfriend to try. It almost didn’t last until his arrival.

Guac and Chips Date Night

Guac and Chips Date Night

The boys got mustaches!

The boys got mustaches!

Guacamole

3 avocados – peeled and pitted

½ cup diced onions

1 lime – juiced

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

2 diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon minced garlic

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together with an electric mixer.

Makes 4 serving of 185 calories each.

A couple of weeks ago I made some gluten-free, egg-free banana and candied walnut muffins that were absolutely divine, but for some reason I kept forgetting to buy walnuts last week and had to change the recipe to blueberry muffins. Another favorite muffin recipe was born!

Gluten-free Egg-free Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

Egg Substitute (2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed dissolved into 6 tablespoon of warm water)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup yogurt

1 cup mashed bananas (2)

1 1/2 cups of Jules Gluten Free Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 tablespoons flaxseed

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350ºF (static) or 325ºF (convection).
Oil or line muffin cups and set aside (makes approximately 16 muffins).
Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg substitute and vanilla and beat well. Mix in yogurt and banana until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients then add gradually into the wet mixture until thoroughly mixed. Lastly, gently stir in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling two-thirds full. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before removing from tins.

Makes approximately 16 muffins.

Recipe adapted from Jules Gluten Free.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Last week was a mix of healthy and not so healthy dishes (the not so healthy ones due to the Superbowl). First, the healthy one: Roasted Delicata Squash. I ordered some from my organic delivery service and loved how it was super easy to prep. You don’t have to peel delicata squashes! The end result has sort of a french fry texture, which is delicious, especially if you add some ketchup or your favorite dipping sauce (mine is a mix of ketchup and mayo).

Delicata Squash “fries”

The not so healthy dish of the week was, of course, the best tasting one: Stromboli, which is pretty much a rolled up pizza. The boyfriend made the pizza dough and I helped slice up the apples and the brie for one, and the mozzarella and the salami for the other one. After you put the ingredients inside, you just close it up and bake it. Score!