Spaghetti Squash with Kale Pesto, Sausage, and Sundried Tomatoes, by Diane

This recipe is a play off this blog page: http://ohmyveggies.com/recipe-spaghetti-squash-garlicky-kale-pesto-sun-dried-tomatoes/. I added in the hot sausage (turkey to make it healthier, original flavor would work too), white wine, and pine nuts instead of walnuts and it was amazing. This is a great make ahead lunch or an impressive dinner, and a great way to eat more veggies! It came together (after the squash was roasted) in a quick 10 minutes. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 extra-large spaghetti squash, seeded and halved
EVOO
1 1/2 cups packed torn kale leaves
1/2 cup raw walnut pieces, divided
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 package hot turkey sausage
1/4 cup white wine


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Place the spaghetti squash halves cut-side-up on a baking sheet and spray the tops with oil. Bake until tender and just beginning to brown on the edges, about 40 minutes. Allow the squash to cool slightly; if liquid has collected in the centers, drain it off, then scrape out the insides with a fork and separate it into spaghetti strands.
3. While the squash is baking, combine the kale, 1/4 cup walnuts, cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic cloves in your food processor. Process until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Toast the remaining walnuts and set aside. 
5. Remove sausage from casings and cook through. Drain and add in tomatoes and white wine. Cook until  liquid is dissolved.
6. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and serve.

Spiced Breakfast Quinoa with Currants, by Diane

When it gets cold out, I crave breakfasts that are warmer than my typical morning smoothie. However, there are only so many bowls of oatmeal and plates of eggs I can eat in the winter for breakfast. So I found a great website, www.onemedical.com, that is run by a medical group and includes lots of fun healthy posts. I found this recipe here.

This breakfast changed my whole week. It is warm, filling, protein-packed, and really really good. I used special honey from Saudi Arabia that a friend brought back- it tastes like lavender flowers because it's cultivated in a certain desert region. If you can get your hands on flavored honey- definitely use it in this recipe! Regular honey or any other sweetener works well too.

Note- to make this last a whole week I tripled the original recipe (which makes 1 cup 2 servings) with the exception of the egg white which I left as 1. Also, it will come out with some liquid in it, which keeps it from drying out in the fridge and moist when it's reheated the next morning! Genius!


Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup low-fat milk
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons currants or raisins


Directions:

1. Place quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse well with cold water. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add quinoa and cook, stirring, until the grains are separated and smell fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in milk, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the quinoa is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in honey and vanilla.

2. Whisk egg white in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of the hot cereal. Repeat with 5 more tablespoons until the egg white is completely incorporated. Stir in currants (or raisins). Return the cereal to the saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, by Diane

It turns out that oatmeal, like soup, is a tough thing to photograph and still look appetizing. Cheryl and I use a lot of fall ingredients on this blog, and pumpkin is no exception! This weekend, I had a can of pureed pumpkin that I was planning on using for my Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie (look how fancy this blog is getting!) but it was only in the 30's that morning. In search of something pumpkin for breakfast that would still be healthy but hot instead of cold, this recipe was born. You can do this on the stovetop or by microwave using instant oats (I like Irish steel-cut oats recently), although stovetop always tastes best. You can also add in optional ingredients which I have listed below- I left them out to make it healthier for myself. Either way, this recipe is PERFECT for this time of year and I have a feeling it will be on heavy rotation for my fall mornings from now on!

Ingredients:

Oats (follow the amount on the package per serving)
Almond Milk, Vanilla flavored (follow the liquid amount on the package per serving)
1/4-1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (I like a lot of flavor so I used closer to 1/2 cup!)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Optional: brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, toasted walnuts/hazelnuts, vanilla or chai spice protein powder, mini marshmallows

Directions: Combine all ingredients and cook as directed via stovetop or microwave. Let stand to thicken. Enjoy!

Hot Apple Cider, by Cheryl

Forgot to take a picture and the cider is gone! Taken from here

Hmmm... this is so soothing and comforting. I had bought a gallon jug of apple cider for a recipe a few weeks ago and as it turned out I only needed 1/3 cup of it! So I've been looking for recipes online that use apple cider and I thought, what about just regular hot spiced apple cider? I combined a number of recipes that closely resembled the original recipe I found (but I can't find it again!). This was so good! Perfect for a cold fall night. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 gallon apple cider
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3 cinnamon sticks
1 inch peeled fresh ginger

Directions:

1) Combine all ingredients and simmer on the stove for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Quinoa Balls, by Cheryl

I first made a version of these balls when my friend Sera visited me in Italy for New Years Eve. We had all gone to my friends apartment and we had made an Italian feast for everybody. I was making my Eggplant Balls for everyone to enjoy, but since Sera is gluten free I modified them for her. They turned out just okay, but since then I've improved on my original recipe and they are awesome! These quinoa balls are delicious as a full dinner meal or as a side! You can throw in whatever you have on hand (I usually use carrots, red pepper, and an onion) and mush these up to be a healthy treat. I always serve it with my tzatziki sauce... even Jon loves them (and that's saying a lot since there's no meat in them). Yum!

Ingredients (makes about 16 balls):

2 cups quinoa
1 red pepper
2 carrots
1 onion
parsley
salt & pepper
2 eggs
bread crumbs (omit this if you want gluten free, but it really helps bind everything together)
touch of chili powder
canola oil
tzatziki sauce

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package directions.

2) In a food processor, process carrots, red pepper, onion, and parsley. The mixture will be watery so with your hand drain as much of the water as you can.

3) Combine the cooked quinoa, veggie mixture, salt, pepper, and eggs together in a bowl with a spoon. Once mixed together add bread crumbs until the balls are able to stick together.

4) Heat canola oil in a pan. When hot, cook the quinoa balls for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve with tzatziki sauce.