Healthy Home Cooking

So the last blog was pretty unhealthy with all the junk food. Fear not we still have a bunch of that still in our pantry - minus the crullers which were devoured within a couple of days. Definitely a dangerous item that was in the fight to stay healthy. But its gone now so no worries here.  Still we did manage to return to some home cooked healthier options as well.

Not sure when Spaghetti squash because the instant sensation. I kind of want to say we started using it a year ago or more. If I remember right I was on Instagram and saw a recipe for a lasagna spaghetti squash. It's a good alternative for pasta in my opinion. As previously noted I was not a big pasta fan growing up. All that being said was at the grocery store and picked up a giant one. Opted to go Mexican with it.

Cooking up that giant spaghetti squash

Pretty much went ad-lib but yet stereotypical in my choices- corn, black beans, red peppers, jalapeno, onions, refried bean, and Sazon. For the cheese I went multiple blend of cheddar cheese we had in the fridge. I'm sure there's recipes out there for you folks who need direction/more specifics.

Inside layers: Corn, Black Beans, red peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Onions

The layering before going back into the oven

 Following the standard cooking show format I have to say this came out great. Ended up adding salsa to the top of it. I think originally I wanted to put the salsa in the mixture and just forgot about it. I had the jar sitting on the counter. Didn't notice it until after I had put it in the oven to bake.  Pretty much was the cheese away from being a full vegan meal I believe. Being a giant spaghetti squash this made a whole lot. Decided to try and freeze the leftovers and see how that turns out. Fingers crossed.

Finished product with a generous amount of salsa

Pretty much was the cheese away from being a full vegan meal I believe. Being a giant spaghetti squash this made a whole lot. Decided to try and freeze the leftovers and see how that turns out. Fingers crossed.

Karen decided to go healthy burgers for "Meatless Monday" one week. We happened to be at the dentist that weekend and they had a Cooking Light magazine. A part of me wonders if the dentist has all these subscriptions or has all these hook ups. I would think a magazine distributor would make a killing that way. Anyway she found this recipe in the magazine: Lentil-Tahini Burger.

Beautiful plating

Funny enough we had everything except the Lentil. Pretty much like making my own hummus so have a giant jar of tahini at all times. I know some folks aren't big fans of hummus outside of say a spoonful of it on the side. I can eat that every day much like tacos. Based on the ingredients and a use of a blender, this was definitely a recipe I would have tried so kudos to her for finding it while I was busy being chastised for not flossing enough by the dental hygienist. But I digress and let's get back to the deliciousness that Karen created. 

I think Karen followed the recipe outside of a couple things. 1) She doesn't like cilantro so that was left out. 2) No black pepper as I converted her to use Adobo instead of salt & pepper. 3) Sweet onion instead of the yellow onion cause we're bigger fans of that. 4) Low calorie buns cause we try to limit the whole carbs/calories. Fairly certain I said to put some Sazon in it but that fell on deaf ears.

Inside the meatless burger (should be an album title)

 These came out really good. I will say the pickled cabbage is good but actually gets better the next day as it has more time to absorb the flavor/juice. So maybe my suggestion would be to make the pickled cabbage a day before or maybe a couple hours earlier so it has time to "pickle"...(insert SMH here).  Definitely will have to get Karen to make this again in the near future. Also pretty sure this fell on Meatless Monday.

#HealthyEating,
REEF