recipe

White Bean Chili

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This was an unexpectedly successful recipe – not perfect, but one that probably only needs a little tweaking to make it work.  It’s derived from a recipe from Taste of Home, a magazine that isn’t exactly focused on healthy cooking, but is focused on tasty home cooking – and many recipes can be modified to be vegetarian or healthier.

So what this is is a white chili – basically white beans in a spicy broth.  More on how it came out after the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, divided
  • 1 large, white onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp crushed garlic
  • 3 cans (14 oz ea) low-no sodium white beans, about 5 cups
  • 1 1//2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 2 oz chopped green chillies, drained (you can find 4oz cans easily, just divide it an freeze the rest)
  • 1 Tbsp Soy sauce
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/8 tsp ground red pepper
  • 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp dried Cilantro
  1. Sautee the onion in one Tbsp Olive oil until softened
  2. Add garlic to onion, stir regularly until onion and garlic begin to brown.
  3. Add all other ingredients except remaining olive oil and dried cilantro. Mix thoroughly.
  4. Bring to simmer, and simmer covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add remaining olive oil and cilantro, stir thoroughly. Bring to simmer.
  6. Remove from heat and serve.

And the results?

Read more

Recipe – Energy Bars

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Still experimenting with this one here, but if you want quick – if not always well-adhering – energy bars these are good – and tasty!

I decided to come up with an energy bar recipe in order to get a good, energizing snack or pre-meal snack to work into my day.  I tend to eat 400-500 or so calorie meals, just to keep from pigging out, so I tend to have about 2 snacks a day (and yes, I brush my teeth then as well).  This was an experiment in creating a good, solid one.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups oats
  • 1/2 cup rasins
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1 cups peanut butter.
  • Dash vanilla (1/8 tsp)

Directions:

  1. Mix Oats, rasins in a bowl.
  2. Heat maple syrup, blend in peanut butter and vanilla.
  3. Pour over mix, stir until everything is coated.
  4. Put in pan, cover with saran wrap, push down to pack, chill in refreigerator.
  5. When it’s firm, move to the freezer for about 30 minutes.
  6. Cut into 16 bars.

Each bar has 242 cal, 6 grams protein, 3g fiber, and is about 13% of your fat and 8% of your saturated fat needs.  So they’re good, but I wouldn’t eat more than 1 or 2 a day, or use them if you need a caloric blast while working out.

Now the hard part here is not making them fall apart, so I’m messing with the ingredients   First two times I did it they held together, then they fell apart last time.  I’m debating a bit more maple syrup or leaving out the rasins to get better binding.  Ideas are appreciated!

Taste-wise these are insanely delicious.  Plus when my last batch fell apart, it just became pseudo-granola – which is great, but harder to pace yourself when eating.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Spicy Lemon-Soy Dip

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This is one of my new “secret weapons.”  It’s a nice tasty dip that mixes savory, sour, sweet, salt, and spicy-hot all together, something like those dips you see in various Asian restaurants for spring rolls, etc.  However it also works on any vegetables – and that’s where it becomes my “secret weapon” for meals.  If I don’t want to get fancy, I just cook/steam a bunch of vegetables, whip this up, and dip away – instant tasty and healthy meal with a kick.

  • 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
    1 Tbsp lemon juice
    1 1/2  Tbsp brown sugar
    1/2 tsp red chili flakes.

Mix all of the ingreedients together.  It makes enough for about 2 people.  Fair warning – the whole mix has about 48% of your daily sodium requirements so don’t overuse it!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.