The Living Well Report

Spur of the moment breakfasts can be fun, but sometimes you never know what you’ll end up with. Not so for this breakfast we whipped up last weekend. Using a general recipe for sausage gravy (flour, milk, leftover sausage grease, a little butter, salt & pepper), and a biscuit recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook, this hearty breakfast treat was devoured before it had time to cool! It’s so easy to fall into a meal-time rut, eating basically the same meals over and over. Why not switch it up and try something new this morning?

April has been good to us here in Maine this year and the first barbecue of the spring/summer has not only already happened, but it was a great success! Hotdogs, rolls warmed on the grill, and potatoes baked on the coals was a tasty way to kick off the grilling season. Looking forward to trying some new grilling recipes this summer and completely indulging (or at least a little)…

The original recipe calls for spinach instead of broccoli, which I made the first time and I have to say that I prefer the spinach. But desperate times call for desperate substitutes and the broccoli came to the rescue with flying colors! With the cheeses and seasonings you may not even realize you’re eating broccoli (which is exactly what it wants you to think)! This chicken dish is quite good though, and pairs very well with whole wheat pasta, marinara sauce, garlic bread and fresh salad. Also keeps well for leftovers.

I have always wanted to make Eggplant Parmesan and am so glad I finally did! It is more work than a normal dinner around our place, more prep work really, but it’s totally worth it. I started out using this recipe from allrecipes.com, but ammended it as I went along using tips from other users on the site. I bought only one eggplant and it made plenty plus leftovers for four people. Starting with the washed/dried eggplant, I cut 1/4 inch slices then sprinkled all slices front and back with kosher salt, and let them sweat for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I rinsed the slices and dried them throroughly with a paper towel. I then had three dishes ready with flour, then beaten egg, and finally breadcrumbs with which I also mixed in garlic powder, italian seasonings and salt/pepper. Have a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray (or extra virgin olive oil) ready, and then dip each piece of eggplant into flour, then egg, then breadcrumb mix and place on the cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 7 minutes and then flip and bake another 5 to 7 minutes. Serve over pasta with pasta sauce, fresh mozzerella and a dusting of parmesan cheese – so good! (The original recipe calls for baking the eggplant in a sort of casserole style with sauce/cheese, but I chose my way to keep the crispness of the eggplant, which would have gotten a bit soggy otherwise. But if you prefer this other method, by all means, try it out and enjoy!)

The next day I made a sandwich with some leftover eggplant crispers, basically laying a couple of the eggplant slices over some sourdough bread with pasta sauce and fresh mozzerella – completely delicious.

I saw a recipe in Real Simple for Quick and Easy Samosas and had to make them. Samosas are an Indian food (read more about them here) with a recipe normally taking quite a long time to prepare; this recipe could not have been more easy to follow or turned out a tastier result. Saving time, you use a store-bought crust, pre-made mashed potatoes (I made my own to cut down on unnecessary additives), frozen peas, chopped onion and spices from your pantry. Our 1 year old daughter could not get enough of this delicious dish and neither could we!

Grilled cheese is one of our family’s top lunches. There are a few ways to shake up the old fave, and this one is simple and totally delicious: add apple slices! Apples and cheese are a great snack on their own and taste, dare I say, even better grilled on lightly buttered bread. Other yummy variations we like are grilled cheese with pesto, grilled cheese and tomato and grilled cheese and bacon. Honestly though, the possibilities are endless; cheese is great!

Sweets in the springtime go hand in hand. So do sweets in the summer, fall and winter, but let’s not linger on that for too long. Since our family loves to have a full cookie jar I began to look for lighter recipes or ways to modify current faves so our scale won’t reflect all the indulging our bellies enjoy. I made these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies using a recipe from Cooking Light magazine which originally called for white chocolate chips and strawberries. My son isn’t a mega-fan of strawberries, so I left those out and substituted semi-sweet chocolate chips for white chocolate ones; they tasted wonderful!

Looking for a new breakfast staple? Cornmeal pancakes are a great variation to traditional pancakes, trading half the amount of flour you normally use for cornmeal. They have a bit of a crunch to them and taste great with Maine maple syrup (or your favorite toppings). Jason had the brilliant idea to add slices of cooked breakfast sausage to these ones. My only response to that: “Pass the syrup!”

As signs of Spring arrive, less time in the kitchen and more time outdoors is desired by many of us. This chicken caesar salad is delicious, and there are a number of ways to save time. We usually bread and bake chicken breast at a convenient time during the day (or you can make it a day or two in advance) so it’s ready for quick salad arrangements. We also make it a practice to cut and bake bread-ends (seasoned with garlic powder and italian seasonings) for homemade croutons, so they are always on-hand as well. Using greens of your choice, load with chicken, croutons, fresh parmesan cheese and creamy caesar. This is one meal you can take out to the picnic table or eat in – either way it keeps you away from the oven on a beautiful day!

Coffee: if you take yours with cream and sugar, a morning pick-me-up can become a trap full of unnecessary fat and calories. That’s why alternative such as half and half are so popular. But many popular half and half products are filled with chemicals and additives.

Luckily, there’s a healthier option thanks to Organic Valley. This half and half tastes very fresh, has less fat and calories than nonorganic competitors, and is not much more expensive, which can sometimes be a deterrent for those who are not used to buying organic or all-natural food products.

As a side note, I am generally a soy milk drinker. The soy creamers on the market, however, are lacking the rich flavor that dairy half and half brings to the table. Try Organic Valley’s half and half with your morning coffee and a good book and you will have a wonderful start on the day!