DASH Diet: Broccoli Cheddar Bake (slightly modified)

I like the DASH Diet because of its sensibility. Because my husband has hypertension, it’s very important for us to eat sensible meals. However, because we loooove food that tastes good, it’s also important for us to eat yummy foods in moderation. We don’t obsess over being healthy, but we like to integrate healthiness into our meals as often as we can.

The DASH Diet is an interesting dietary concept. When I first heard about it, it was presented to me as a hypertension-friendly diet. When I attended the Five Day Comprehensive Diabetes and Management Program (for medical professionals) at the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute (an *EXCELLENT* program about diabetes management for medical professionals from all levels of patient care—outpatient, inpatient, home health, you name it… well worth the time and money you invest into it, if you’re looking for a great and useful CEU program to take), it was also mentioned as a great well-rounded dietary practice.

The Mayo Clinic has a DASH Diet recipe collection online that we love to peruse every once in awhile. The recipes are not only delicious: they’re easy and affordable to make, which means they make a great addition to any busy family’s arsenal of homemade meals.

One favorite is the broccoli cheddar bake. My parents love it so much that sometimes they leave the ingredients out on the kitchen table for me to see whenever we visit—their not-so-subtle way of suggesting I make it while I’m at their house (then again, they were never known for being subtle… haha!).

We modify it from time to time by adding cauliflower to the mix (and substituting it for half of the broccoli). We also tend to make it with more broccoli than called for.

Broccoli Cheddar Bake

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped fresh broccoli (we often do 1/2 broccoli and 1/2 cauliflower if you want to mix it up)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 cups egg substitute (or substitute 6 eggs)
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray.

In a nonstick skillet, combine the broccoli, onion and water. Saute over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Keep adding water to prevent the vegetables from drying out, but use as little water as possible. Drain and set aside when the broccoli is done.

In a bowl, combine the egg substitute, milk and 3/4 cup cheese. Add in the broccoli mixture and pepper. Stir to mix well.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Set the baking dish into a large pan filled with about 1 inch of water. Bake uncovered until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

Mmmm... Brownies... and Breakfast Sausage... and then some... :D

It's difficult to pass up super cheap brownie mixes at the supermarket when they're on sale... they're like an insta-dessert you can easily make at home (and that it's practically impossible to bake wrong... even though I admit to fudging them up a couple of times in the past). Besides, brownie mix gives me more time to enjoy being around my family WHILE enjoying the brownies... and it's kinda fun making them without having to think too hard about it, too. :)



Mmmm... easy, tasty yumminess. :)

On another note, I used my three day weekend as an excuse to eat well while also eating easily.. which gave me an excuse to buy some Jimmy Dean maple-flavored breakfast sausages and make little breakfast sandwiches with English muffins, over-easy eggs, cheese, and tomato. The tomato was an excellent added touch that my husband came up with at the last minute:


And an added bonus: the valentines day rosebuds finally bloomed. Too bad they didn't last as long as we were hoping...

Springtime in (Sometimes) Sunny San Diego

We've been getting quite a bit of rain and dreariness this winter, so the little pockets of sunshine that come by have been quite a blessing. I guess that's just me being a sissy: winters here are nowhere close to how cold they were in Colorado Springs at 7,258 feet above sea level. After moving to San Diego, it's difficult to NOT get acclimated to San Diego's version of cold. The very thought of surfing in San Francisco, where I first learned how to surf, makes me want to cry.

Unfortunately, our baby boy had been battling a cold for a few days, so he spent a few of the sunny days indoors. Thank goodness for this Craigslist score, quite possibly one of the coolest Christmas gifts we could ever buy for a mere $25:



Cold, rainy winters in San Diego often make us long for warmer winters... like Hawaiian winters... and this longing led to us mustering the motivation to make a Hawaiian pizza that was more Hawaiian than, say, the Hawaiian pizzas offered at most pizzarias. Why limit yourself to Canadian Bacon when you can have Spam and Portuguese Sausage instead? We finally decided to make our own personalized version of a Hawaiian pizza using on pizza sauce and crust from Trader Joes... and tossed in some sweet maui onions, just for an additional topping.



Don't the Portuguese sausage and Spam look delicious? ;)



My husband decided to toss all the ingredients on top of the sauce...



...so we ended up with the cheesy goodness you see below:



Mmmmm.... talk about some sweet-and-savory goodness! Next time we make it, we hope we find some slightly spicier Linguica... just to add a little more pizazz to the mix. :)

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies =)

My husband and I admit to having (dessert-based) weaknesses to quite a number of common things, two of them being peanut butter and dark chocolate. One morning after work, I found a pleasant (spammish) surprise in my e-mail inbox: the Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day was a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. :D

I decided to try making these with (of course) dark chocolate chunks (instead of semisweet), and they were DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, our oven is super-quirky, so it took a couple of guesses of heat/time combinations to figure out what works best for our kitchen... Here's the (ever-so-slightly) modified recipe:

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients (for 36-ish)

1.5 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

4 tablespoons (0.5 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
0.5 cup packed dark-brown sugar
0.5 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounces dark (or semisweet, if you wish) chocolate, smashed into chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat peanut butter, butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until smooth. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined.
5. Stir in chocolate chunks.

6. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two large baking sheets.

7. Bake until golden, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
8. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Finished product:

Don't the big, random globs of chocolate chunks look nom-tastic?