healthy cooking

impromptu southwest quiche

offwhiteliving1 Comment
southwest quiche

Partly out of necessity to use up a spaghetti squash and a boat-load of blue corn tortillas, and partly out of a burst of Sunday evening creativity, I invented a little Southwest quiche.  In full Off-White fashion I avoided any white flour and I didn’t really measure too much, so I’ll try to be as detailed as possible in the recipe.

It is actually pretty good, although spaghetti squash is REALLY high in fiber, so watch out.  It was a nice simple dinner, eaten over a bed of greens with an apple.  Before you go thinking about how saintly my diet is, I also made so no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies (recipe maybe coming if  they turn out after being in the fridge).

SOUTHWEST QUICHE
The good stuff:  I used farm fresh eggs, so the yolks are beautiful orange (full of B vitamins and folate!).  Less cheese and no milk, so it’s not as heavy and has less dairy fat.  This dish has a lot of flavor from the salsa and spices, which helps make all the veggies tasty.

4-5 blue corn tortillas, cut in 1/2 and 1/4th (a mix)
4 eggs + 2gg whites
1/2 cup of cooked shredded spaghetti squash
1 cup of greens: I used a mix of Kale and Swiss chard
1/2 cup of roasted salsa
1/2 cup of shredded white chedder
1 tsp each: cumin, pepper, salt, paprika

In a 13×9 pan, lay down tortillas:

layered tortillas

In a bowl, beat the eggs and add spices:

mix the spices into the eggs

Add the veggies and cheese.  Mix. Add Salsa.

veggies, cheese and salsa mixed in

Finally, pour over the tortillas and cook at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.

ready to bake!

eating well in busy times

offwhiteliving

This was my table pretty much Friday – Sunday, and sometimes it was worse.  That is just the nature of being a student: balancing teaching, research endeavors, having a life, classes, oh, and then there is the studying……. for those who care I was knee deep in Vitamins this  weekend.  Good times.

So, if I’m going to take care of myself I’ve got to find ways to maximize cooking time.  We do really simple meals when life gets busy: quinoa/rice blends in the rice cooker, frozen turkey burger patties, hardboiled eggs, spinach salads, etc.

For those of you who think you don’t have time to cook healthy, I want to challenge that belief.  You may not have time right now, but somewhere in the week you have a few minutes to devote to your wellness, if you are willing to get creative and try something.

Batch cooking is your tool of insuring healthy food is around when you need it.  Basically I figure out what foods needed to be cooked soon to avoid spoilining and I whipped up enough foods to last a  few meals.  My approach is that if I’m turning on the oven, I’m going to make it worth my while, so on Saturday I baked sweet potatoes, roasted garlic and green peppers, and cooked some phyllo encrusted tilapia for dinner that night.  The whole process took me about 30 minutes (including making a big green salad to last that night and the next day), and I had meal components for 3 days.

Check it out: a view of the oven (you can’t see the fish)  I cooked it all @ 350 for various lengths of time.  I was willing to sacrifice precision for diversity in options:

The sweet potatoes lasted 3 meals, and one was used to make some tasty oatmeal for B-fast one day.  The fish served as the basis for dinner, and the roasted veggies were nice additions to a salad for 2 lunches.  Easy, peasy…..

Happy off white eating!