Healthy Stir-Fried Chicken with Napa Cabbage & Mushrooms

I learned to prepare healthy stir-fried dishes without using any oil from the website whfoods.org.  This website amazing for those who like to enjoy simple, healthy cooking. As a cook, I like to change a few things to adapt to my family’s taste. I like healthy cooking, but I do not quite go all the way to cooking without using any fat. I think a small amount of good oil is acceptable for a healthy lifestyle.  Here it is a recipe just that – easy and healthy.

Ingredients:
½ lb. chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1 tsp canola oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 cup onions
Vegetables:
2 cups Napa cabbage, sliced
1 cup oyster mushrooms or your choice, sliced
Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 chili flakes
1/8 tsp black pepper

 Garnish with chopped cilantro

Directions:
Heat wok and add oil until smoking.  Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes. 

Add ginger, garlic, and onions. 

Stir and cook until fragrant and the chicken starts to turn brown.  Add mushrooms and the sauce ingredients.

 Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add Napa Cabbage and stir well. 

 

Cook for 1 more minute.. Remove from heat and serve.

Healthy Granola Nut Bars

My family loves granola bars with oatmeal or nuts. This recipe is made with almond flour, blackstrap molasses, and nuts. I like to make these often because they are like candy bars without the sugar.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond flour
1 egg
1 cup of a combination of nuts, such as almonds. pecans, walnuts, chopped (your choice)
1 cup of cranberries and raisins
1/2 cup combination of seeds: sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 tbs honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin spice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover and hang over the sides of an 8” x 8” baking pan.  Line the baking pan with parchment paper and grease with 1 tbs coconut oil.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

 Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth out the surface and press down.

  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool before removing from the pan and cutting.

Healthy Cilantro & Lime Dressing

Some of my friends are now on diets. For this reason, I am now trying to help them as much as I can by creating healthy, low-fat recipes.  I adapted this dressing recipe from a Mexican version, but I changed a few ingredients to make this dressing leaner. This dressing can be served over salads or as a topping with grilled fish.

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbs lime juice
1 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp honey
1/8 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 fresh hot chili
2 cups cilantro leaves

Directions:

Place all the ingredients above, except the cilantro leaves, in a blender and blend until smooth. Add cilantro leaves and blend well. 

 Adjust the seasonings to your liking.  Place dressing in a glass jar with lid.  Refrigerate.

The Best Easy Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of my family choices for dessert. I make carrot cake quite often when we are together for a family reunion each year. Carrot cake is very easy to make and most of the time it turns out perfectly. The recipe that I will share today is a one layer of the cake. If for a larger group, this recipe’s ingredients can be doubled or tripled.  Make a sheet carrot cake form tripling the ingredients of this recipe. You will be loved when showing up with this cake.

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/ tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Wet ingredients:
2 carrots, finely shredded (about 1 ½ cups)
1/2 cup pineapple, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1  cup sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
Frosting ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease and flour a 9 in. diameter cake pan.

Combine the dry ingredients and sift 2 times to remove any lumps.
Combine the wet ingredients, except the pineapple and the carrots.

Beat with a handheld mixer until light and fluffy.  Stir in the pineapple and the carrots. Mix well.

 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Do not overmix the batter. The trick that I learned from other bakers is to count from 1 to 40 or 50 for best results.

 

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes.

To make the frosting:

Combine all the frosting ingredients and beat well.

When the cake is cool, spread the frosting over the cake,

Crock Pot Garlic Chicken with Blackstrap Molasses

I create some of my recipes using blackstrap molasses to replace brown sugar for baking or sugar for stir-frying. It works very well, and it helps to provide more nutrients that blackstrap molasses contains to improve our daily dosage of iron, potassium and other healthy benefits. I like to use a crock pot for some of my recipes now because it is simple and the clean up is faster. I especially thank all the bloggers who devote their time to show us how to use this wonderful kitchen gadget, such as the CrockPot Ladies or 365 days of slow cooking. I learned more about crock pot cooking this last month. For that, I like to contribute some of my own recipes and hope it will give a variety of crock-pot cooking to all of you.

Ingredients:
4 to 5 lbs. chicken pieces (drumsticks, legs, and thighs)
1/2 white onion
Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 tbs honey
1 tsp five spice
1/4 rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp salt
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 fresh hot chili, sliced
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:
Rinse and cut chicken into big chunks.
Grease crock pot interior with oil. Place onions on the bottom of the crock pot and follow with chicken.

Combine the sauce ingredients and mix well. Pour over chicken.

Cover and turn low for 6 to 8 hours or high from 4 to 5 hours. Uncover the lid in the last 2 hours for the sauce to thicken a bit.

Remove and discard any fat from the skin of chicken during cooking. Check seasoning at the end of the cooking time. Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro. Serve with rice or bread with some steamed vegetables on the side.

Easy Healthy Banana Oatmeal Bars

I posted a few granola bars recipes before, and today I will share this easy recipe.  I found this recipe on the Live Strong website. It seemed good to me, and I added a few more ingredients that I think have a better taste for me. These bars are good for breakfast or on the go. They are delicious and packed with protein needed each day.

Ingredients:
2 bananas
2 cups oatmeal
1/4 cup nuts (your choice)
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
Using a Vitamix blender, coarsely blend nuts but try to maintain their shapes.  Remove nuts from blender and place in a mixing bowl.
Add bananas to blender and blend until smooth.  Add blended bananas to the nuts in the mixing bowl together with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Cut a piece of parchment paper and use it to line an 8” x 8” baking dish.  Use 1 tbsp of coconut oil to grease the parchment paper.

  Pour the bananas/oatmeal mixture into the prepared pan.  Smooth out evenly.  Bake for 30 minutes. 

 Let pan cool completely before cutting into bars.  Place the bars in a jar with lid or in a Ziploc bag.

Crock Pot Low-Fat Creamy Mushroom Soup

This soup is very delightful and easy to make using a crock pot.  I like mushroom soup because it is more of a comfort soup on a cold day. Most creamy mushrooms soups are loaded with heavy cream or with half and half for a lighter version.  For people who still enjoy all this heavy taste from original mushroom soup recipes, then this recipe is not for them. I created this tasty and healthy mushroom soup for my family using almond milk and a potato to give the soup a creamy taste. The vegetable broth that I use for this soup instead of using condensed cream of chicken soup called for in most recipes is part of cooking light and healthy. If you are interested in healthy cooking, then this recipe is for you.

Soup ingredients:
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
4 cups roughly chopped mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup chopped leeks or white onions
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup roux (recipe posted on 11/04/15)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups almond milk, homemade or store-bought
Other ingredients:
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions:
Place all the soup ingredients in a crock pot. Cover and turn to low for 4 hours. Use a handheld mixer to purée the soup.

Turn crock pot to high and add mushroom slices (adjust the seasoning at this time).

 Cover and cook for another hour. Ladle soup into a serving bowl and sprinkle with cilantro. Enjoy!