Recipe of the Week: Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup

Inspired by Monday’s arti­cle about yogurt’s stress-reducing ben­e­fits, here’s a recipe for cucum­ber and yogurt soup.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 med. cucum­bers (1 lb.), peeled, seeded & finely diced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cloves gar­lic, finely minced
• 1 tbsp. olive oil (opt.)
• 1 tsp. dried dill­weed or 1 tbsp. snipped fresh dill
• 4 c. plain low-fat yogurt
• Freshly ground pep­per to taste
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint (opt.)

PREPARATION

1. Place diced cucum­bers in colan­der; sprin­kle with salt, toss­ing to coat. Let stand for 15 to 30 min­utes; drain.
2. In large serv­ing bowl or tureen, com­bine drained cucum­bers, gar­lic, oil (if desired), dill and yogurt. Mix well.
3. Chill for at least 1 hour. Before serv­ing, check sea­son­ings and adjust to taste. Add mint, if desired. Dilute with ice water if soup is too thick.

Recipe of the Week: Avocado Berry Smoothie

From BeWell­Buzz

In keep­ing with the avo­cado theme this week, today’s recipe fea­tures this fab­u­lous fruit and is brought to us by Terresa.

As you read in Wednesday’s arti­cle, avo­ca­dos are loaded with nutri­ents such as dietary fiber, vit­a­min B6, vit­a­min C, vit­a­min E, potas­sium, mag­ne­sium, and folate. They’re also cho­les­terol and sodium free. Avo­ca­dos con­tain 60% more potas­sium per ounce than bananas and are an excel­lent source of monoun­sat­u­rated fat.

But did you know that you can also blend an avo­cado pit into your smoothie? It is packed with very good nutri­ents and its sol­u­ble fiber binds to fat and excess cho­les­terol. Sol­u­ble fiber is very dif­fi­cult to get in our diet and no other food can com­pare with the avo­cado seed when it comes to sol­u­ble fiber.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium avo­cado, peeled and pit­ted (or keep the pit!)
• 1 table­spoon cashews, raw
• 1/2 tea­spoon ste­via (or 1 table­spoon honey)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup blue­ber­ries, frozen
• 6 ice cubes

PREPARATION
Blend the avo­cado, cashews, ste­via, water, blue­ber­ries, and ice together until smooth. Serves 1–2

Recipe of the Week: Muffin-Tin Crab Cakes

In honor of the Bal­ti­more Ravens mak­ing it to this Sunday’s AFC Cham­pi­onship Game, this week’s recipe fea­tures a Bal­ti­more clas­sic — crab cakes! Here’s a health­ier ver­sion for you to enjoy while watch­ing the Ravens take the wind out of the Patriot’s sails.

From Eat­ing Well:

We’ve taken the fry­ing and fuss out of crab cakes by shap­ing and bak­ing them in muf­fin tins. For the best taste, look for pas­teur­ized crab­meat in the refrig­er­a­tor case at your market’s fish counter, a bet­ter choice than canned vari­eties. Make It a Meal: Try these cakes with some tangy tar­tar sauce and coleslaw.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound crab­meat
• 2 cups fresh whole-wheat bread­crumbs, (see Tip)
• 1/2 red bell pep­per, minced
• 3 scal­lions, sliced
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 10 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco (Editor’s note: actu­ally, Old Bay sea­son­ing would be a bet­ter option here)
• 1/2 tea­spoon cel­ery salt
• 1/4 tea­spoon freshly ground pepper
• 6 lemon wedges, for garnish

PREPARATION

1. Pre­heat oven to 450°F. Gen­er­ously coat a 12-cup non­stick muf­fin pan with cook­ing spray.
2. Mix crab, bread­crumbs, bell pep­per, scal­lions, may­on­naise, eggs, egg white, hot sauce, cel­ery salt and pep­per in a large bowl until well com­bined. Divide mix­ture evenly among muf­fin cups. Bake until crispy and cooked through, 20 to 25 min­utes. Serve with lemon wedges.

TIPS & NOTES
Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrig­er­ate for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave or serve cold.

Tip: To make fresh bread­crumbs: Trim crusts from firm sand­wich bread. Tear bread into pieces and process in a food proces­sor until a coarse crumb forms. One slice of bread makes about 1/3 cup crumbs.

NUTRITION INFO
Per serv­ing: 183 calo­ries; 5 g fat ( 1 g sat , 1 g mono ); 124 mg cho­les­terol; 18 g car­bo­hy­drates; 2 g added sug­ars; 21 g pro­tein; 6 g fiber; 574 mg sodium; 96 mg potassium.

Nutri­tion Bonus: Vit­a­min C (60% daily value), Zinc (20% dv), Cal­cium & Vit­a­min A (15% dv).

Recipe of the Week: Chunky Chicken Soup

For gen­er­a­tions, chicken soup has been a rem­edy of choice for moth­ers with sick chil­dren. The lean pro­tein and nutrient-rich veg­eta­bles help boost your strength to fight off a cold. But this power com­bi­na­tion of veg­eta­bles, whole grains and health-enhancing herbs can be enjoyed any time. Our recipe calls for buck­wheat, a whole grain that’s a good source of fiber and mag­ne­sium. It’s also gluten-free and is not a mem­ber of the wheat fam­ily so it is appro­pri­ate for those with celiac disease.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tsp. canola oil
• 1/3 cup whole buckwheat
• 1 cup water
• 1 large car­rot, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 large cel­ery rib, cut cross­wise into 1/2-inch slices
• 3/4 cup frozen pearl onions, or fresh chopped onion
• 4 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided*
• 2 cups roasted chicken breast, in bite-size pieces
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

*To reduce sodium con­tent to 80 mg per serv­ing, use low-sodium chicken broth.

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil to medium-high heat in medium-size saucepan. Add buck­wheat, stir­ring con­stantly, until grains are fra­grant, about 2 min­utes. Off heat, pour in water, tak­ing care, as liq­uid will spat­ter. Return pan to stove, reduce heat to sim­mer, and cook, cov­ered, until buck­wheat is al dente, about 15 min­utes. Set cov­ered pan aside.
2. Place car­rots, cel­ery and onions in large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup broth, cover and sim­mer over medium-high heat until veg­eta­bles are crisp-tender, 10 min­utes. Add remain­ing broth, chicken and cooked buck­wheat. Add salt and pep­per to taste.
3. When soup is hot, divide among four wide, shal­low bowls. Gar­nish each bowl with 1 table­spoon pars­ley, and serve.

Note: If desired, in place of roasted chicken, gen­tly sim­mer a 3/4-pound skin­less and bone­less chicken breast in broth in large saucepan. When it is white in the cen­ter, about l5 min­utes, set chicken breast aside. When chicken is cool enough to han­dle, shred into bite-size pieces. Clean out pot and pro­ceed, cook­ing veg­eta­bles and com­plet­ing soup as above.

NUTRITIONAL INFO
Makes 4 servings

Per serv­ing: 210 calo­ries, 5 g total fat (1 g sat­u­rated fat), 15 g car­bo­hy­drate, 25 g pro­tein, 3 g dietary fiber, 530 mg sodium.

Recipe of the Week: Kale with Sweet Corn

Adapted from The New Amer­i­can Plate Cookbook

Inspired by yesterday’s arti­cle about the ben­e­fits of kale, today’s recipe promi­nently fea­tures this superfood.

Tamara Duker Free­man, a dieti­cian and nutri­tion­ist, says kale scores a per­fect 1,000 on the Aggre­gate Nutri­ent Den­sity Index, a food-rating sys­tem that mea­sures nutri­ents per calo­rie. “While I view the term ‘super­food’ with more than a healthy dose of skep­ti­cism (it’s more of a mar­ket­ing term than a nutri­tion term), I would be hard-pressed to come up with a food more deserv­ing of the title,” Duker Freee­man says of kale.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large ear fresh corn, husked, or 3/4 cup defrosted frozen corn or canned drained corn
• 3/4 lb. curly green kale, tough stems removed
• 2 tsp. extra vir­gin olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely-chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 2 scal­lions, green and white parts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium veg­etable broth
• Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

PREPARATION

1. If using fresh corn, place it in boil­ing water and boil until the ker­nels are tender-crisp, about 4 minutes.
2. When cool enough to han­dle, stand the ear with its broad end down on a cut­ting board. Using a sharp knife, slice down the ear to cut off ker­nels. Rotate the ear and repeat until all the ker­nels are cut off. Gather up the cut ker­nels and set aside, or refrig­er­ate in a closed con­tainer for up to 24 hours.
3. In a large pot, bring 1 inch of water to a boil. Add the kale, cover tightly and reduce the heat to medium. Steam until the kale is ten­der, about 12 min­utes. Drain it in a colan­der. When the kale is cool enough to han­dle, squeeze hand­fuls of it to remove excess water. Cut the kale cross­wise into strips. Cut the strips cross­wise, chop­ping the kale. Set the kale aside, or refrig­er­ate in a closed con­tainer for up to 24 hours.
4. Heat the oil in a medium skil­let over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion and scal­lions until the onion is soft, about 3 min­utes. Add the kale, corn and broth. Reduce the heat to low, and cook until the corn and kale are heated through, stir­ring often (about 3 min­utes). Sea­son to taste with salt and pep­per and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO
Makes 4 servings

Per serv­ing: 104 calo­ries, 3 g. total fat (less than 1 g. sat­u­rated fat), 18 g. carbohydrate, 14 g. pro­tein, 3 g. dietary fiber, 80 mg. sodium.