Recipe

I am not usually as healthy as I would like to be most days. Luckily I have a dependable healthy breakfast recipe I eat most mornings, which always has the same ingredients but can be prepared in many variations and has easy substitutions for key ingredients. Get into this breakfast habit and no matter how bad the rest of the day is, you had a lot of healthy variety in the morning to get you started right.

What makes this breakfast so healthy?

The first thing is that it is not so healthy that you will get sick of it. I eat this almost every day other than Saturdays, where I still eat a similar breakfast but add cheese and bread or tortillas to splurge.

Next, it is made up of a small amount of red, purple, yellow, green, black and pale colors. When you bring in the rainbow of vegetables, you are getting more nutrients. However, you will not even realize you are eating such a vegetable feast. We add eggs, and sometimes small amounts of all-natural sausage to boost the flavor.

The real advantage of this dish is you do not feel like you are eating a salad for breakfast but in many ways you are. The variety of vegetables and the side of black beans, along with the egg, provide a high protein and nutrient-rich breakfast that can’t be beaten. By changing it up and making an omelet one morning, a scramble the next morning and making the vegetables into a hash and putting a fried egg on top of it another morning, your breakfast will not get boring even though you are using similar ingredients repeatedly that start your morning off the right way.

This healthy breakfast recipe is important because will power lessens as the day goes on and it is much harder to eat perfectly in the afternoon and evening. However, it the morning most people are able to confidently start out the day with a healthy breakfast and avoid the temptation of something bad.

We used to make pancakes a couple of times per month as a treat. However, when my daughter started taking college classes she was in class from 8:30 to 2:00 without time to eat a meal. So instead of the normal oatmeal breakfast, I looked for something that would keep her feeling more full while still being more healthy than many of the options. That is when I invented this healthy banana oatmeal pancake recipe which has worked out very well.

To begin with, do not buy that pancake mix at the store. All it is is flour, baking powder and some dried ingredients like powdered milk. You are going to be surprised how easy it is to make your own pancake batter and it is also going to replace a lot of flour with oatmeal and banana, to make tastier, healthier and moister pancakes.

When I say healthy, I do feel the need to point out that it all depends on what you are comparing it to. I tried to use whole wheat flour and plain oatmeal, and it was a healthier pancake recipe but the people who were eating them did not like pancakes as much. I found this happy in-between where the pancakes are healthier and the pancake syrup is healthier. You could go more extreme but you have to find a good balance for your family.

As mentioned earlier, you can keep this dish much more healthy by avoiding things like store-bought syrup. Instead, make your own healthy berry syrup and top the pancakes with fresh sliced strawberries or mango chunks. A couple of sprays of whipped cream can make it seem, decedent, while only adding 15 calories per serving.

This Healthy Banana Oatmeal Pancake recipe can also be a nice night time snack if you are hungry for something sweet and carb-rich, without completely throwing your healthy diet to the wind. We often keep a few leftover pancakes in the fridge and call them our emergency pancakes, for when someone is hungry and wants to grab a quick bite.

I recently asked someone to write up a description of some different Indian meals that Indians like. Not just what is popular in Indian restaurants. I love Indian food, and I make some curries, some Tikki Masala Chicken in the Instapot and Naan is wonderful. But I do not pretend to know enough. Here are six recommended dishes, which you might be able to try at an Indian restaurant or you can look up a recipe and try to make it yourself if you feel adventurous.

INDIAN DISHES OF DELIGHT: SIX YOU WILL DEFINITELY WANT TO TRY!

Let’s face it, food is a gift. Not only are certain foods satisfying, but the nutritional value important to us being healthy. This includes many Indian dishes.

Moreover, Indian dishes can be downright delicious. Have you ever traveled a bit out of your way just to get to a restaurant that makes a superb meal? It is well worth it. Sometimes, word of mouth can have a diner venture out to try some new food items. If you have not tried Indian dishes, it is time to give it a go.

Indian food is not only succulent but is born out of an ancient civilization that dealt in spices and herbs. There are six savory meals which you should try! Indian cuisine is healthy, tasty, and exotic. You will certainly not be disappointed. Step out of your comfort zone, and try the dishes listed below. It will be like a virtual trip to the sub-continent of India! Food is tantamount to travel.

MURG MAKHANI-BUTTER CHICKEN

Butter Chicken or Murg Makhani is one of the most delicious dishes in the Indian world. It is sold around the world, and people find it one of the best curry dishes one can make. It can easily be made in the comfort of your own kitchen. The chicken comes out golden and is covered with a blanket of creamy sauce that creates a dish good enough for a rajah.

To make this chicken you need to let it sit in a yogurt marinade. This will make it juicy! The next thing to do is to create a buttery sauce with cream and add in the curry. Now some people like to start creating the sauce with half oil and half butter. When you add the cream you will see the delightful texture of the sauce come to life. This is a delicious old recipe from Northern India but is known throughout the globe, especially in London.

TANDOORI CHICKEN

Well, Tandoori Chicken is one of those dishes you will never forget. It is cooked in a clay pot called a Tandoor. It is made with a spicy marinate that can be smoky, too.

Just imagine your chicken cooked in a marinade of spiced lemon and Greek yogurt. The smoky flavor is derived from paprika and other spices, from ginger to garlic. When you create this dish at home, you understand why clay pots give food a distinctive flavor. Where would we be without pottery? It gives Indian dishes the smoky savory flavor which metal pots simply cannot do!

That said, there are many Instapot Tandoori Chicken recipes you can try that can get you into the ballpark, although not as traditional.

ROGAN JOSH (RED LAMB)

Red Lamb or Rogan Josh is a lamb that is prepared so exquisitely everyone will enjoy it. It is made with a sauce that is sautéed with onions in a caramelized broth or ghee. Another flavor in Red Lamb is Cardamom and clove. Now to cook lamb, take a lean piece and cook it at 450 degrees F. Then, turn down the temperature to 350F until the lamb is tender. The sauce is what creates the flavor. Remember to buy uppercuts of lamb, as they will be tenderer!

KAALI DAAL

Looking for a truly nourishing Indian dish? Try Kaali Daal. It is a lentil dish you will want to make over and over again. First, be sure to soak the lentils overnight so they soften up! Buy the black lentils if available. Cook them with spices, cream, and tomatoes. Black lentils are low in fat and very high in protein. If you’ve soaked them overnight, cook them in a skillet for at least 30- 40 minutes. You can add broth, too. This is definitely what is known as an Indian comfort food and a popular dish.

CHOLE (CHICKPEA CURRY)

Are you looking or a quick and healthy Indian dinner for tonight? Make Chickpea Curry! It can be made with different variants, but it is definitely a go-to meal. This dish can be made in 20 minutes and is a plant-based dish.

Sauté onion, garlic, fresh ginger and tomatoes in a skillet. Then, add chickpeas and coconut milk to create a creamy dish. Let the heat do the rest. The cooking should not be more than 20 minutes, but can even be done in as little as 10-15 minutes. The chopping of the veg takes about 10 minutes, and the whole dishes cook up in about ten. It is a plant-based dream!

PALAK PANEER

Palak Paneer is another amazing dish. It is made with a creamy spinach gravy and cottage cheese. Eat this with roti or rice. it will provide you with a flavor that is exotically delicious. You can blanch the spinach or fry it. The frying makes the spinach more savory, although blanching does save the nutrients. Happy eating!

By trying these six dishes you will appreciate the wonderful cuisine of India. It is an ancient civilization, and they have been creating wholesome delicious food for centuries. Bon appétit!

Also, you can learn a lot from Indian cooking. Check out my Leftover Turkey Curry recipe which is not traditional at all but is delish.

So on my advice, several family members have bought Instapots. However, I frequently see that they do not feel comfortable using them frequently and do not understand the benefits of the Instapot. Here are the biggest benefits I have found.

Speed of Cooking

The Instapot cooks some things that take a long time much faster. Examples are beans, rice, potatoes and larger pieces of meat. Making your own beans is the best example. If you soak them, then what used to take an hour will take 15 minutes more or less.

Tenderness of Meats

You can cook most meats in the Instapot and have it come out very tender in under a half-hour. Roasting in the oven would take much longer to achieve the same thing. And then you can shred the meat and pan-fry it later to make it more crispy and add it to dishes. We make Mexican Street Tacos this way all the time.

Soups and Broths

It is much easier to make soups and broths as well. Simply buy chicken thighs when they are on sale and make your own chicken broth with a couple of thighs, garlic, onion, and salt. You can then freeze containers of broth for later use in soups that are very simple to make in the Instapot.

Soaked lentils and vegetables will make a great soup with this stock in a very short period of time. Add rice if you want it thicker.

Easy Cleanup

As long as you use enough liquid in the pot of the Instapot, it is always an easy thing to clean. The lid is usually clean other than some steam or water and can be quickly washed and the pot rarely has anything stuck to it.

Rice

Making rice in the Instapot is easy and it comes out very nicely. You can use water or that chicken stock we made earlier and if you have the right measurement and the right time, it comes out perfectly. Faster and easier than the stovetop. I frequently get the rice going in the Instapot while I use the wok to saute the vegetables for a veggie fried rice. It is better to do it earlier to have the rice cold, but it works fine at the last minute as well.

Squash and Sweet Potatoes

Those hard vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash can be cooked much faster as well. Cube them up and add them with some liquid and they will be soft and ready to eat in much less time.

You do not have to do everything in the Instapot when you get one. Cakes, no. Hard-boiled eggs? Not our favorite in the Instapot. But the list above alone makes it a great purchase.

One of the keys to eating healthier is to have things that add flavor to your healthy food. Salsa is a staple for this. Whether you use hot salsa or more mild salsa, it is a great way to add flavor to beans or brown rice or steamed vegetables.

While salsa is super simple, there are at least seven different ways to prepare it. Each of these ways changes the taste and composition somewhat, and it is great to modify your preparation sometimes so that you do not get tired of always having the same thing.

What Goes Into Salsa?

But first, what goes into homemade salsa?

• Onion
• Peppers (Jalapeno is most common)
• Tomato (Red or Green Tomatillos)
• Cilantro (Unless you dislike it)
• Salt, Lime Juice and Garlic

Truly it is that simple, although you can experiment with different added seasonings, different peppers, etc.

Variations may also include corn, vinegar,

Some Salsa Pro Tips

• If you like the salsa less hot, remove seeds and use larger jalapenos
• More Tomato also will reduce spiciness as well.
• Some preparations (below) use water which will dilute the salsa more, making it milder.
• If you like a sweet and spicy variation, honey or agave added to some of the salsa options can make for a nice combination.

In addition to the seven cooking preparation styles below, you can also choose to blend the salsa, smash the salsa with a potato masher so it still has some chunks, or leave it chunky by dicing the ingredients before cooking and then not smashing or blending them after.

Boiled Salsa Preparation

A very common way to prepare salsa is to boil all the ingredients other than the cilantro and some added diced onion. Boiling goes until everything is soft. Usually 10+ minutes. Less water will make the salsa more strong.

Baked Salsa Preparation

When baking salsa in the oven, cover the ingredients and bake for 15+ minutes on medium heat, and then uncover and get a little chare on them for a bit longer at a higher heat. Typically this will have garlic, lime juice and cilantro added after baking.

Grilled or Fired Salsa Preparation

Especially in good weather, it is great to grill your salsa vegetables. Usually, I add a light coating of oil and then put everything on the grill until they are hissing and cracking open, but not overly charred. You can scrap some of the black off before blending.

Pickled Salsa Preparation

Pickled salsa is different in that you do not cook it. Instead, you cut all the ingredients up into small cubes and add a nice amount of fresh lime juice and salt on them. As they sit, this softens up and becomes the “pico de gallo” we all know and love.

Pan-Roasted Salsa Preparation

One easy way to roast the salsa vegetables is to pan roast them. With light oil, simply lay the onions, jalapenos, and tomatoes out and put a lid on the pan. With a medium heat brown them on all sides. Make sure to keep the juice in the pan and add it to the salsa as well.

Instapot Salsa Preparation

With an Instapot or another pressure cooker, you can put all the ingredients in and a small amount of water (the tomatoes will seep juice and add more liquid) and pressurize for a short while. Five to ten minutes will work. The longer you cook the more the chunks will be soft and broken down. Add the cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste at the end.

Rehydrate Salsa Preparation

This method of salsa preparation is similar to boiling, but you take dried peppers such as Chiles De Arbol and you clean them, and soften them back up by boiling them. This method usually includes adding vinegar as well and produces a richer, red salsa that is very spicy.

The beauty of salsa is there is nearly an endless opportunity to combine a few simple ingredients, cooking preparation and post-cooking preparation, which makes salsa with very similar ingredients turn out very differently. Enjoy experimenting and mixing things up. And leave a comment below on how you did some variety of these ideas to create your own delicious salsa.

There is a huge advantage to this Instapot fried brown rice recipe. You make the rice in the Instapot in advance, and then you can finish it in a wok or pan while you are using the Instapot again to cook your protein to go with it. Very handy and you can make a lot of great meals this way.

While I have listed meat bases, such as chicken broth and diced ham, both are optional. The chicken broth can be replaced with water and a pinch of salt, and the ham can just be left out. My kids don’t eat a lot of meat, but they will eat this with a small amount of ham as well as chicken broth, so I like to make it that way for them.

Another thing you can optionally do is make it with more oil, and it will fry up more crispy. I have a very nice wok with a non-stick surface and that allows me to use less oil and try to keep the dish more healthy.

While fried rice is often served with an Asian dish, this is very good with many other meals as well. Even just a nice sandwich and the fried rice on the side, for example. My only limitation is that I do not like to mix Asian rice with Mexican main dishes. There are plenty of good Mexican rice dishes as well, so mixing the different cultures in the same meal seems odd.

The time on this when frying is also something that could vary a lot. You want to crisp up the rice so having a high heat is good, but not so high that the onion and garlic burns. Keep a close eye on it as burnt garlic will have a bitter taste.

You might wonder if you can actually saute the fried brown rice in the Instapot after you finish cooking it. Probably, but a nice big wok can cook it faster and more evenly as it has more hot surface for the rice to touch. Also, I like to have some chicken going in the Instapot while I fry the rice and finish the dish.

If you want, you can even do the rice far in advance. Cold rice actually fries better, but I rarely plan that far in advance. But if you know you are going to make this recipe the next day, go ahead and prepare the rice and have it chilling in the fridge overnight. As you add it to the wok, break it up with your hands or a spatula.

Did you make this Instapot Brown Fried Rice Recipe? Let us know how it went below in the comments.

For many years I have occasionally breaded and fried things the “traditional” way with egg wash and bread crumbs. Lately, I have been experimenting with Tempura recipes to try to get that coating like you get from certain frozen foods. We do not buy that kind of thing usually, so making a batter from scratch that has a similar outcome makes for a nice treat sometimes.

I have learned a thing or two about Japanese tempura batter recipes though. The more complex they are the less well they turn out so far. The best outcome I have had to date has just two ingredients, not counting water and ice (frozen water.)

I have learned some variety of information for getting better results and here is that information first, with the basic recipe which follows.

Cold Tempura slows down the frying and allows the inside of the item to cook longer. If you have something like chicken, which required more time in the fryer, cut it thin and use very cold tempura batter to make sure the inside gets cooked.

Submerge the items in the fryer oil completely. I do not fry things often so do not have a fryer and when I do fry things, I try to do it in a shallow bed of oil. This results in a pancake around the thing you are frying and does not turn out well. Fully covering with hot oil is the only way to produce the desired outcome.

Items you are frying covered with Japanese tempura should be dry. Do not sauce them and then batter them. You can dry season things, but save the sauce for dipping after the dish is ready.

Absolutely do not let different tempura covered items touch in the fryer. They will stick together and then the breading comes off then you try to pull them apart.

Don’t get fancy with the batter. You can season the item before coating it with tempura batter or you can season it after frying, but if you put seasoning in the batter you run the risk of having the consistency be off or burning the spices and having a less pure taste.

Don’t make the Japenese Tempora recipe in advance or store extra for later use. It will not have the same desired consistency.

With all of those Tempora cooking tips in mind, here is the very simple Easy Japanese Tempora Recipe.

Use the comments below to let us know what dishes you made with this simple Tempura batter. Enjoy

One of the things that has been a big change for my cooking in the last couple of years has been making my own sauces.

There are some reasons that initially I always bought jars of sauce and salsa, such as the sauces seeming too difficult, or the taste not being quite the same, or simply ease of having a store-bought jar of sauce.

However, here are some things you might not be aware of about sauces and salsas.

1. Sauces and salsas do not always taste the same from brand to brand, even when they are called the same thing. Generally, the base sauce items, such as soy sauce or mustard will be similar in taste, but once you get to a more complex sauce such as teriyaki sauce then you will find different companies have different recipes and they can vary greatly in taste, salt level, and thickness.
2. Jars of sauce are not enough. When I was using jars of sauce, I would dab a little into the dish. In reality, if you are doing a larger helping of a saucy dish, you probably need more than one jar. Once you buy two or three jars, it becomes a log more expensive than making your own.
3. Sugar and salt control are another issue. Sweet and sour sauces are delicious, but you know why. Lots of sugar or honey. When you make your own you can make them just as good, or you can choose to make them a little bit more healthy by cutting back on the sugars and salts some.
4. Age and preservatives – while sauces in jars usually stay good for a long time, you also do not know how long they have been waiting to be sold and it could be anything but fresh. Making your own sauce right before you add it to a dish assures your sauce is fresh.
5. Adding fresh herbs like cilantro or fresh-cut ginger will also boost the taste.
6. You are also a much smarter cook if you know how to make your own sauces. Sometimes I have to whip something up and being able to make a tasty sauce on the fly with whatever I have in my kitchen is a great skill to have.

The primary two types of “sauces” I make are Mexican salsas and Asian sauces for lo mein, stir fry and chicken. I also sometimes make Indian sauces occasionally.

The real key to making any of these sauces or salsas is not time, but having the right spices and base sauces in your kitchen. For Asian sauces, you might need Fish sauce, Soy Sauce, Siracha, Hosen Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Oyster Sauce, and Sesame Oil. Keep an eye out on which stores have better prices on these kinds of items will help a lot. Some stores treat them like specialty items while others treat them as normal items and offer them at half the price.

Lastly, remember your sauce might not be as good as the restaurant. That is usually because it is healthier and not full of fat, oil, and salt. You can always make it more delicious but the key is to find your happy place between flavor and health benefits.

I love lasagna but we have a rule. Christmas day only. We call it Christmas Lasagna. However, I thought if I could replace some pasta with vegetables, we could eat it more frequently. Substituting layers of lasagna pasta are actually easier than you think. The trick I found, is to use the actual pasta on the top and bottom layer, but the middle layers can be lasagna noodle substitutes, and people will really not notice.

So the first thing I did before creating this vegetarian lasagna recipe with pasta substitutions was to look around at what was already out there. What I found when I searched for sweet potato lasagna recipes seemed more like a sweet potato casserole and less like lasagna. So I just read over a couple of options and then came up with my own pasta alternative, while still using some pasta for the top and bottom so that the lasagna really feels like it is real.

This was risky because it was for my daughter’s birthday, and I was winging a recipe I’d never made before. Her requirements are rather odd because she is 90% a vegetarian (prefers it, but sometimes eats meat for protein) and she tries to eat very healthily, which means low quantities of refined pasta.

What we ended up with is lasagna with top and bottom real pasta, and two layers in the middle where sweet potatoes are the pasta replacement. By lightly salting the sweet potatoes at each layer with a light amount of coarse salt, the layers ended up being sweet and salty, instead of just sweet.

If you do not want sweet potatoes, I am sure you can think of many other lasagna pasta substitutes. For example, zucchini would work, squash would work, eggplant, thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, corn tortillas, and even regular potatoes (although more healthy???) are all possibilities as a lasagna noodle substitute.

Whichever pasta alternative you choose for your lasagna, the key is making every layer tasty and stacking it well. It will all bake together beautifully. And since we use real lasagna pasta on the top and bottom, there is a chance no one will even notice that the center is actually layers of vegetables.

The good news is, this being my daughter’s birthday dinner turned out great. She said it was the best lasagna she has ever had. I would not go that far, but I am more partial to it billed with meat sauce and mushrooms. However, for a more healthy lasagna with vegetable substitutes for more than half the pasta, it was surprisingly good and having a second piece was guilt-free.

Just a warning on the pictures, I am using stock photos because I did not take any during the first round of making this dish. Trust me, the layers looked great and the only time you really noticed the sweet potatoes is when you would eat one layer and they would be exposed below it. When you actually look from the side at a cut slice, it looks identical to lasagna full of pasta, and not some special pasta alternatives.

There are many substitions you can make in this dish. Here are some ideas.

• Substitute green onions for leeks
• Substitute cheddar for mozzarella
• Substitute zucchini as a pasta alternative
• Use herbs and garlic in place of pesto
• Make your own sauce with tomatoes, olive oil, onions, and spices.
• Add carrot to leeks to add more variety of nutrient-rich vegetables.

Let us know how you liked the recipe and let us know how which lasagna pasta substitute you used, and how did it turn out?