Fast and Healthy Recipes

Recipe Carnival

Today Wow! You Are Really Lucky! is hosting the Recipe Carnival. I have posted many recipes on the carnivals hosted on different sites and this is the first time I have hosted on this site. If you are a regular visitor to WOW! take a few minutes to visit some of the other sites that are linked from this article. You will find a wide variety of fun, fast and healthy recipes to create quality mealtime solutions in your home.

Free Recipes, Recordings, Weight Loss Tips

For those of you who frequent the recipe carnival and have never visited this site before, take a few minutes to look around. You will discover a wide variety of resources that will assist you in your quest for a good life. From audio recordings to e-books and great living tips, WOW! is a way of life that will teach you how to live healthy and increase your metabolism so that you never have to go on a diet again.

Vegetable Healthy Recipes

Shawn at Everything And Nothing is the dedicated recipe carnival organizer. She submitted this fast and healthy recipe for Sauteed Zucchini.

Adventures In Daily Living sent over a easy Borscht Recipe. I haven’t had borscht in years and I think I will try it. (eliminate the soup bone for 100% vegetarian.)

At the Bean Sprouts site, Melanie (United Kingdom) has a nice article on getting fresh in the winter with salad and leafy greens.

Complement those leafy greens with this fun, fast-healthy crouton recipe which would be great to get the kids involved. Create family time in the kitchen and at the dinner table when preparing fresh homemade foods. (Use whole grain bread for the natural wholesome goodness your family deserves!) Laura Williams Musings sent the crouton recipe.

Bonnie of AZHTTP sent over this interesting rice pilaf. Be sure to use brown rice to make it a nutrient powerhouse. Azerbaijani Pilaf

Curried Chick Peas will add the punch of legumes to your family’s diet. Stop The Ride sent this fun, fast and healthy recipe.

Check out the article on Quinoa and then try this vegetarian recipe for the grain that will bring all the essential amino acids into a vegetarian diet. The Expatriate’s Kitchen

Healthy Weight Loss Blog For Women Tired Of Dieting sent over this fun, fast, healthy mashed potato recipe. I never understand why people buy pre-cooked or instant mashed potatoes. I mean how hard is it to mash potatoes and this recipe is even faster than normal.

Cooking for one or two? Here is another potato recipe for those who hate left-overs. This one came from Opinions On Almost Anything. Au Gratin Potatoes

Recipes For Kids Cooking

Wired For Noise sent a cool recipe that will be fun, fast and healthy as well as kid friendly. Try this peanut butter and banana smoothie recipe.

Bonnie at World Famous Recipes sends a really fast and finger licking good microwave chicken wings recipe that will have everyone wanting more.

Recipes Meals

A single Mom living in France and working at home sent us a fun, fast and healthy Chicken in Red Wine recipe. Give it a try!

St. Patrick’s Day is coming and I love a good Irish Stew. Check out Rickey’s Unabashedly Irish Stew for healthy dinner change.

Mom Is Teaching brings us a Winter Chowder designed to get you warmed up in no time. This sounds like a real comfort food to become a family favorite.

A quick fresh tuna dish can be found at Lookin’ At Cooking.

A Penny Closer has sent a heart-healthy Dijon Salmon Recipe to give you those good fats in your diet.

Sweet Escape

Lisa’s Cookbook brings us an Apple Crisp made with flax seed baking mix topping. A recipe I am sure to try. I am always looking for dessert recipes with whole grains!

Recipes For Free

Take the time to check out some of these other recipe blogs. I received far more recipe submissions than I can include here so I had to choose based on the WOW! theme. I looked at each recipe to determine if it is fun, fast and healthy as well as avoid too much duplication. I did not get very many submissions for dessert though. Dessert can be healthy too. Life is about choices, so I will post some healthy dessert ideas over the next couple of weeks. Join the fun and subscribe to the recipe carnival weekly.

The WOW! program of healthy living will give you the skills to maintain and ideal weight without dieting.  Use skill power instead of will power!  Learn More 

Popularity: 37% [?]

Disney Pixar’s Ratatouille

Ratatouille The Movie

I really enjoyed the movie Ratatouille. The Rat Remy has a rare gift of aromatic blending as well as a fine palate. A truly fine palate is a rare culinary genius. In my career, I have only been privileged to know one chef who I would say had the exquisite palate of Remy. With a wave of the spices, a sniff and a taste, Remy created dishes that returned the dinner guests to their childhood or nostalgic past. This is a gift that very few chefs have. In the real world I have worked with many fine chefs who consistently give the gift of culinary expertise. There are many chefs like myself, who through a combination of art, skill,creativity and intuition, create dishes that impress and are enjoyed by their friends and dinner guests. The exquisite palate of Remy The Rat is a rare gift.

Ratatouille The Healthy Recipe

The word Ratatouille comes from “touiller,” which means to toss food. The original Ratatouille Niçoise, did not contain eggplant. It was a poor French farmers’ dish, prepared in the summer with fresh summer vegetables. Eggplant would not have been available at the same time as the other vegetables. Instead, ratatouille used only zucchini, tomatoes, green and red peppers onion, and garlic. The dish known today as ratatouille adds eggplant. French ratatouille is usually served as a side dish or a lunch dish, but also may be served as a meal on its own.

Recipe for Ratatouille

Ratatouille Quality Ingredients

• 1 eggplant 1”cubed (peeling optional)
• 1 green pepper diced (1/2” diced)
• 1 red pepper diced (1/2” diced)
• 2 zucchini (1/4 inch” sliced)
• 1 cup white mushrooms-(1/2” diced)
• 1 large yellow onion (coarsely chopped)
• 1-3 red Chile peppers (coarsely chopped)
• 2 Tbs. fresh basil (chiffonade* sliced)
• 1 Tbs. fresh oregano-minced
• ½ Tbs. fresh rosemary- minced
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes-drained and save both juice and tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ salt
• ½ black pepper
• 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

Easy Assembly Ratatouille

1. Cut all of your vegetables and clean and chop your herbs before you start cooking.
2. In a large flat bottomed straight sided skillet, heat the oil until hot.
3. Add and sauté the eggplant and onion for about 3 minutes.
4. Add bay leaf and the juice only from the tomatoes. Add a splash of vinegar.
5. Bring to a boil. Add the oregano, rosemary and marjoram.
6. Combine gently, bring to a boil, then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 10 min.
7. Add peppers, garlic, and zucchini. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes.
8. Add reserved tomatoes, mushrooms, basil, salt and pepper. Gently stir and simmer 5 minutes.
9. Serve to your favorite food critic.

Ratatouille FoodSmart Quick Tips

What is Chiffonade?

*Chiffonade is a culinary term literally meaning shredded rags. To chiffonade a flat herb: remove leaves and stack neatly, then roll like a cigar. Slice as thin as possible.

Vegan / Vegetarian Recipe

This is a great vegan and vegetarian recipe as presented above. If you are not vegan, try my favorite addition and stir in or top with a fine quality freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Multi-Task Recipe

You can use Ratatouille as a filling for crepes, omelets, frittatas, or as a potato topping. Just cut vegetable pieces smaller.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Super Food-Roast Butternut Squash Recipe

Fall / Winter Vegetables Are Nutrient Rich

Fall and Winter is the season for the super foods, butternut, neck pumpkins, acorn and all dark orange squashes. These Fall veggies are a power house of flavor and nutrients. Underneath the tough skin is a deep orange flesh that goes well from soup pots, to skillet, to roasting pan with simple preparations. High heat brings out the best in these full flavored robust vegetables. The Caramelization of the sugars with high heat unlocks more flavor and brings out a sweet nutty dish. This simple roast butternut squash recipe will tantalize your taste buds. Eat it as is as a side dish or toss when still warm with some baby greens to make a low calorie-vitamin rich Fall salad.

1 butternut squash (apx. 3 cups after peeling and cubing)
1 small red onion
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary (or ½ tsp dry rosemary, crumbled)

1. Cut off ends of squash and stand on end.
2. Using sharp knife, remove skins, by slicing down one inch slices at a time; slicing top to bottom all the way around the squash.
3. Cut in half and remove seeds with a spoon.
4. Cut squash into 1 inch strips or wedges, then into one inch cubes. Place in bowl.
5. Cut onion into one inch wedges and add to squash.
6. Peel garlic and cut each clove into halves. Add to squash.
7. Combine all other ingredients and pour over squash; toss gently to coat all of the squash evenly.
8. Pour squash mixture out onto a large sheet pan or roasting roasting pan. A stoneware pan will give you the best results for caramel flavor and color.
9. Bake at 475 for 25 minutes on top shelf. Finished squash will have a brown color, and be tender when stabbed with a fork.

Fiber Burns Calories

This recipe is real food cooked right. When you eat good-for-you-foods that are high in fiber, you will increase your metabolism and burn more calories. Learn more about increasing your metabolism with the Wow! You Are Really Lucky…. program. Click here to learn more about this calorie burning program.

Popularity: 25% [?]