String Bean Salad

Put the Kids to Bed and Enjoy!

I find it extremely difficult to taste, chew and enjoy food when eating with our girls.  One wants to sit on my lap, the other spills her drink, the one on my lap wants to be fed like she is 18 months…It can get crazy at meal time.  But because of the time crunch, it usually makes the most sense to all eat together.

This past Sunday I bought a bunch of fresh vegetables and chicken from a local farm.  I knew what I wanted dinner to taste like and I had been thinking about it all day. When 6:15 rolled around and we had not even put the BBQ on yet, I said to Terry, “I am going to give the girls leftovers and you start the grill.  Let’s eat alone tonight.” 

Our Sunday night dinner alone was awesome and so was my string bean salad!

 Ingredients:  4 big handfuls of fresh string beans, 3 beets, ½ pineapple, ½ of a small yellow onion, 5 table spoons of olive oil, 8 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

Tools:  Knife, peeler, pot, large deep pan, a few bowls and one large bowl to serve the salad in

Preparation:

 Beets

·     Cut ends off of beets, peel and place in a pot.  Add water to the pot until beets are covered and put stove on medium high.  Let beets boil until they are soft (you can check beets softness by testing with a knife – if the knife goes through easy, they are ready).  Place beets in a separate container with a few tablespoons of the beet juice from the pot.  Do not cover and let them cool.  Save the juice from the pot in another container and use it for making smoothies. 

String beans

·     Rinse string beans.  Cut the ends off and place them in a large deep pan.  Add water to the pan until the string beans are just covered.  Put stove on medium high and let string beans cook for about 3-4 minutes.  Take off the stove, drain string beans and then place them in a bowl of cold water with ice cubes (7-10 cubes).  Let sit for 2-3 minutes drain well and place in a large serving bowl.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil, a small pinch of salt and a sprinkle of pepper and toss together.

Pineapple

·     Cut pineapple into round slices average thickness and place on the grill.  The grilling time will depend on the heat.  I had the heat on low and grilled the pineapple for about 5 minutes on each side.  Check occasional so you do not over cook.  You want them slightly chard.

Onion:

·     Peel and cut onion into tiny square pieces (1/2” by ½” or smaller).  Place in pot with one tablespoon of olive oil and cook on medium low for about 6 minutes (or until onion is beginning to become translucent) stirring occasionally. Lower the heat of the stove to low and add 8 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and remaining 2 tablespoon of olive oil and cook for 1 minute on low heat stirring the whole time then transfers onions and sauce into the bowl of string beans.

Cut up the beets and pineapple and add them to the serving bowl with the string beans, add a tablespoon of beet juice and one more sprinkle of pepper.  Toss together and enjoy.

This salad sounds more labor intensive than it really is.  I just like to take everyone step by step because I know some of my readers are new cooks.  You can rinse, cut and cook the beets and string beans ahead of time and place in the refrigerator. I recommend doing the sauce right before you serve. But you can cut the onion ahead of time. I also enjoyed the pineapple right off the grill into the salad.

I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I did!

Love deeply and eat mindfully,

Kim Gilroy

Kim's Corn Chowder

Kim’s Corn Chowder

I sometimes think people have visions of me feeding my daughters kale off the stem as they graze willingly like two Greek goddesses.  I really wish this was the case and if at any point in time I have painted that picture for you I am sorry.  For the record, I doctor up food, I’m not too proud to bribe and there are plenty of foods the girls don’t eat!

Most of my food creations come from finding new ways to get vegetables into my family’s diet.  My girls are at the point now that they look at most of the vegetables I am preparing and say, “I don’t like that mom.”  It’s killing me.  So I just keep inventing new ways for them to like them. 

Kim’s Corn Chowder

Ingredients:  1 head of cauliflower, 1 head of broccoli, 1 onion, 1 bag of frozen peas, ½ bag frozen chopped spinach, 7 ears of corn, 2 cups of water, 2 cups of whole milk, 2 cups of Pacific low sodium chicken broth, 1 table spoon of butter, ranch dressing

Tools: 2 large pots, a blender, tongs, small bowl, knife, spoon, ladle, 2 large storage containers for prepared chowder

Time:  About 45 minutes

1.)   Prep the corn – Husk and boil the corn in a large pot

2.)   Rinse and chop broccoli and cauliflower

3.)   Peel and slice onion

4.)   Put broccoli, cauliflower, onion, bag of peas, ½ bag of frozen chopped spinach, 2 cups of water, 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth, 2 cups of whole milk in a very large pot (the biggest one you have)

5.)   Put stove on medium high, stir every few minutes and let the soup come to a boil

6.)   When soup comes to a boil shut off the stove and add 1 tablespoon of butter and continue to stir for the next few minutes

7.)   Take the corn out of the pot and cut the kernels off the cob – If the corn is hot use tongs to hold the cob while you cut the kernels off and place kernels into a separate bowl

8.)   Scoop out soup into the blender – fill the blender about half way trying to ration the liquid and the vegetables equally and blend until ingredients are a thick soup consistency and repeat until all the soup has been blended and placed in large storage containers

9.)   Add the corn in and stir

Serve with a teaspoon (or tablespoon depending on the size of your bowl) of Marie’s Ranch Dressing and add pepper to your liking.  For variety add shredded cheddar cheese in place of the ranch dressing.

This yields a lot!  Be prepared to freeze one container.  To freeze let soup cool down for at least a half hour.  Then, cover in an airtight container and place in the freezer.

You are not serving this at your next cocktail party (or maybe you are;).  However, It gets the job done for a weeknight side of veggies!  Get creative.  Make it a real chowder and add fish.  Make it a complete meal and add fish and quinoa! 

Happy chowder making!

Love deeply and eat mindfully,

Kim Gilroy – Insideout Wellness

Lighten Up Mom!!!

I found myself in many “Kim, lighten up!” situations last week.  It started last Saturday when my girls were housing chips and other treats while boating with friends.  That same evening ended with amazing homemade chipwiches (they were so good!!!) that my girls could not eat fast enough.  Cut to the Fourth of July, when my girls were offered another ice cream treat, but this time for lunch.  I accepted the ice cream with a slight curl of the toes, chuckled and thought, “It’s the Fourth of July, kids are supposed to be eating ice cream for lunch!” And the list goes on: ice cream cake with breakfast to celebrate Mommy’s birthday, juice boxes, more chips . . . and so on. 

                                          "Lighten up mom!"

Alas, after the crazy 4^th of July week, my girls woke up this morning and requested smoothies.  Either because they are creatures of habit and they have not had their morning smoothie the past few days, or maybe they really enjoy the good stuff, or maybe they are obsessed with the Fresh Beat Band (Marina and Kiki drink smoothies!) . . . either way, I was happy to make them and they were happy to drink them up!

Here are our two morning smoothies:

Smoothie 1

1 banana

1 apple

1/3 of a bag of frozen blue berries

2 heaping tablespoons of frozen chopped spinach or 4 heaping tablespoons of pureed kale

½ cup of milk of choice (we use coconut)

½ cup of coconut water

1.)    Peel and slice banana and place in blender

2.)    Rinse, peel and slice apple and place in blender

3.)    Add blue berries

4.)    Add spinach or kale (Rinse, break apart and puree kale ahead of time to make this go more efficiently)

5.)    Add milk of choice and coconut water (add more liquid if you want smoothie thinner and less if you want it thicker)

Note – if you are using fresh berries and not frozen I would add a few ice cubes

Smoothie 2

1 large banana or 2 small bananas

½ cup of chopped strawberries or blue berries

½ cup of milk of choice (we alternate between coconut and whole milk)

½ cup of coconut water

2 ½ tablespoons of Organic Raw Cacao Powder

5 ice cubes

1.)    Peel and slice bananas and place in blender

2.)    Rinse, chop and add strawberries to blender

3.)    Add milk of choice and coconut water to blender

4.)    Add Cacao to blender

5.)    Add ice to blender

These are just a couple of options.  Experiment!  For example this morning I was making smoothie 2 and I didn’t have any coconut water left or strawberries.  So, I added extra coconut milk, an apple and blue berries and it tasted great. 

If you have extra smoothie left over, make a smoothie pop by placing the extra in ice cube trays.  Cut up a straw and place the pieces in the middle of the smoothie and put the tray in the freezer.

Happy smoothie making!

Love deeply and eat mindfully,

Kim Gilroy – Insideout Wellness

ALWAYS LEAVE THE GYM ON A MAKE!

My high school basketball coach always told me, “Never leave the gym on a miss.  You always leave the gym on a make!” 

I have carried this saying in my heart and overall being since I was 15.  In some ways it has made me stronger and more effective in life and other ways just annoyingly competitive with myself.

The other day I was playing tennis with my husband and he called out, “Last rally.”  We proceeded to have an awesome rally that ended on my error and I looked at him and said, “I can’t leave the court on a miss.“ He was amused, bothered, and slightly re-fell in love with me all at the same time and agreed to one more.  I hit a shot I was perfectly content with and walked off the court.

I have to say, most days when it comes to cooking for myself and my family I am pretty aggressive and competitive with myself.  The whole theory of leaving on a make has transcended into preparing healthy meals for my family (I wish I had the same competitive edge about laundry, cleaning my bathrooms and getting birthday cards out on time).   As I have mentioned in the past, I do try to balance it all out.  Friday night’s mom Gilroy takes off her game face orders pizza and the girls and I usually have at it! There is so much right about not having dishes to clean, the simplicity of a great slice and living in Huntington and having such amazing pizza available to us. 

My relationship with pizza is love at first bite and guilty and tired after my second slice.  It never stops me though.  Even as I am eating the second slice talking to myself about how lethargic it’s going to make me feel, without fail I will dig in.  But this week was different. This week in place of having my two slices I only had one.  I put the girls to bed and finished the day on a total make.  I don’t want to give people the wrong idea, that having pizza with your kids is a miss.  But I just truly enjoyed my second homemade slice so much that I wanted to share it!

PIZZA ON A MAKE!

Ingredients: 1 Ezekiel – Food for Life wrap, 1/3 cup of Great Northern Beans (or small white bean of choice), 1 and 1/4 cups of cooked green vegetable of choice (broccoli rabe is recommended), 1 over flowing table spoon of grated pecorino cheese.

Preparing broccoli rabe

Ingredients:  I head of broccoli rabe (broccoli rabe should be rinsed well and about 1 inch of the bottoms should be cut off), 1 medium size onion, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 small pinch of salt, 1 and ¾ cup of chicken broth

1.)   Peel and slice onion and place into a large pot

2.)   Add olive oil to pot and 1 garlic clove peeled and cut in half and sauté onion and garlic on medium low for about 8-10 minutes (onion should start to look translucent)

3.)   Add broccoli rabe to pot (if the pot is not big enough to put it all in at the same time add them in smaller bundles and let the leaves cook down and then add another bundle and so on)

4.)   Stir well add other two garlic cloves, pinch of salt and chicken broth

5.)   Let cook to your liking.  If you leave it cooking longer the leaves will get softer and the broccoli rabe will loose some of the bitterness.  If you take it out after a few minutes it will be crunchier and a bit more bitter.  I like it both waysJ

Preparing PIZZA ON A MAKE!

1.)   Chop a little over 1 cup (about 1 and ¼ cups) of cooked broccoli rabe

2.)   In a medium bowl add broccoli rabe, beans (make sure they are rinsed well), ½ tablespoon of grated pecorino and mix

3.)   Thaw Ezekiel wrap in oven at 350 for 3-4 minutes

4.)   Place thawed wrap on tinfoil and add mixture of broccoli rabe, beans and cheese and place the other ½ tablespoon of pecorino on top

5.)   Place under the broiler until cheese is melted

6.)   Take out of the oven and enjoy!

Get creative and try different vegetables and let me know how it goes.  If you use frozen vegetables or pre-prepared vegetables from last nights dinner, this can be a really quick and easy meal!  I had it today and added a few pieces of left over sausage…yum!  I think I am eating it tomorrow too and adding some left over tomato sauce!

Love deeply, eat mindfully, and end the day on a makeJ

Kim Gilroy – Insideout Wellness