Guest Recipes and Nutrition News From The California Dried Plums Board!

I was excited when the California Dried Plums Board contacted me offering the opportunity to share some of their nutrition info and recipes with my readers. Their spokesperson, Gold Medalist Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin has developed a bunch of great, healthy recipes with dried plums that you should take a look at!! The site also is a wealth of information about all the potential health benefits that come with eating dried plums such as digestive and heart health and improvement of bone density for postmenopausal women. So check out some of Natalie's recipes that I have featured below and head over to the California Dried Plums site if you would like some more great info about dried plums! I am looking forward to developing some recipes with them too!!

Natalie's Snack Bars

Natalie's Brownies

Natalie’s Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle Tomato Sauce and California Dried Plums

Natalie’s Pizzettas with California Dried Plums & Caramelized Onions

Natalie’s Risotto with California Dried Plums and Radicchio

Cauliflower “Faux”-sotto- Recipe ReDux # 9

Now that the holidays are over and the New Year has arrived it is common for most of to re-evaluate our eating and try to get “back on track”.  I strongly feel that one of the best things that can be done along these lines is to EAT MORE VEGETABLES, namely the non-starchy ones! You really cannot go wrong with veggies- they are low in calories, high in fiber (to fill you up) and chock full of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (plant chemicals that have shown to provide many favorable health effects, such as chronic disease prevention). 

The Recipe ReDux Challenge for January is “A Trend in Every Pot” and we were encouraged to “take a trend and use it in a soup, stew, one-pot meal or Crock Pot recipe to warm up readers”.  Well two hot trends that are all the rage right now are cauliflower and alternative grains and the recipe I have created combines the two. Last week I posted a tutorial on hot to make Cauliflower “rice”- a great substitute for rice and grain replacement that is very nutritious and easy to make.  So for this month’s challenge I am bringing you one of my favorite ways to use cauliflower rice- in a risotto type fashion.  This one pot dish is much easier and faster to make than most risottos and it is much higher in fiber, lower in calories, is gluten-free and is sky high in nutrients as well. So whip up a batch of my Cauliflower “Faux”-sotto to work in this wonderful veggie into your next meal, and while you are at it check out the rest of Food Trend healthy recipes from the talented group of bloggers in the Recipe ReDux Group!

Ingredients:

4 cups cauliflower rice(see how to make this HERE)

½ cup finely chopped onion

1 cup finely sliced asparagus

4 cups sliced mushrooms

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ cup vegetable or chicken broth

salt and pepper (optional)

parmesan cheese (optional for garnish)

Directions:

Coat a large pan or skillet with the 1 teaspoon olive oil, add the onions and garlic and sauté on medium-high heat until starting to brown (about 2-3 minutes). Add the mushrooms, asparagus and half of the broth (1/4 cup), cover and cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring often.  Pour in the second half of the broth (1/4 cup), throw in the cauliflower and continue to cook about 4-5 minutes, until everything is lightly browned and slightly soft.

Makes 4.5 cups, about 4 servings

Serving size: a little over 1 cup Calories 80 Protein 5 g Carb 12 g Fiber 4 g Sugars 5 g Fat 2 g Saturated fat 0 g Sodium 200  mg

 

Cauliflower “Rice”

Trying to cut carbs and calories?  Want to get more veggies into your family’s everyday diet?  Well here is one recipe that does the trick! Cauliflower can be a great substitute for rice or cous-cous when prepared in this special way. And 1 cup of cauliflower rice has 20 calories vs. 1 cup of regular white rice which has 240 calories! In addition, cauliflower has vitamin C (almost 100 percent of the daily value in a cup!), healthy plant compounds called phytochemicals and fiber which make this white veggie a winning choice! Below are the quick and easy steps to make what I call cauliflower "rice”.

Step one:  Rinse the head of cauliflower and cut into small-to medium florets. 1 cup of florets will make approximately 1 cup of cauliflower rice.

Step Two: Add the florets to your food processor or chopper and pulse a few times until you get small granules the size of rice/cous cous.  Don’t have a food processor?  You can do this by hand by keeping the cauliflower head whole, and start shaving off the top using a serrated knive or grater with a plate or cutting board underneath to catch the granules.  Then chop them a little more until desired consistency is reached. 

Step Three: Voila! You now have your cauliflower “rice”.  Sprinkle it raw on salads to add some crunch.  Cooking it takes little time. I just put mine in a microwave dish, sprinkle a few tiny drops of water on there and and heat for about a minute per cup cauliflower.  Pat any excess moisture off with a paper towel and then serve! Or you can add a teaspoon of olive oil to a small pan, add the cauliflower and sauté for 3-5 minutes, this gets them soft but a little toasty and lightly browned too, which is nice flavor. You can also throw the raw granules into any of your favorite dishes that use rice, adding them during the last 3-4 minutes of cooking, since they cook so fast.  Cauliflower rice has worked vey well in my Black Eyed Pea and Zucchini Jambalaya and Veggie Fried Rice recipes and I cannot wait to try it in some more!

Nutrition facts for one cup of cauliflower “rice”

Calories 25 Protein  2 g Carb 5 g Fiber  2 g Sugars 2 g Fat 0 g Saturated fat 0 g Sodium  30 mg

Winter Fruit Salad

This makes a nice healthy dessert, breakfast or snack to help start the New Year out right!!

Ingredients:

1 medium apple (gala, honey crisp, fuji work well)

1 medium pear

2 large or three small clementines

¼ cup pomegranate seeds

(optional toppings- slivered almonds, shaved coconut)

Directions

Wash all the fruit, then core and chop the pear and apple into ½ inch cubes. Peel the clementines, divide into sections and cut each in half.  Put all of the chopped fruit into a medium sized bowl and add the pomegranate seeds and mix well.  Chill if not serving immediately.  Top with slived almonds and coconut if desired.

 

Makes 4 heaping cups, 4 servings

Serving size: A little over 1 cup (not including almonds or coconut)Calories 80  Protein 1 g Carb 20  g Fiber 4 g Sugars 14 g Fat  0 g Saturated fat0  g Sodium 0  mg