Wheat Berry Salad

When you're as big a fan of chocolate and cookies as I am, you need to eat a healthy meal that reverses the effects of too many brownies. I can always count on recipes from Ellie Krieger to be delicious in a way that "healthy" becomes an afterthought. That's what I had in mind this week when I made this because this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by me!

I love wheat berries and yet I'd never prepared them at home. The preparation is easy - cover with water and boil for about an hour.

I changed up the recipe a bit, substituting toasted pine nuts for the walnuts, cilantro instead of parsley (which I hate), and I added some chopped red bell pepper for color. This one needed a lot of tinkering, which may be a result of using 1 3/4 cups of wheat berries because that's how much I bought.

Here are a few suggestions:

• When making this recipe, you can do as I did and cook the wheat berries one day and assemble the salad the next.
• I salted the water the wheat berries cooked in. One thing I've learned from making Ellie's recipes is that they always need salt -  and I'm not a food salter.
• My dried cherries weren't old but they weren't as soft as I wanted. You could substitute chopped dried apricots, quartered grapes or diced mango for a completely different twist.
• If you have walnut oil, it would be a great substitution for the olive oil if you're using walnuts.
• Speaking of the walnuts, toast them in the oven or in a skillet. It will intensify the flavor.
• The completed salad needed a lot of seasoning. And more lemon juice. An maybe a tiny clove of garlic smashed into a paste and combined with the oil and lemon juice before adding to the salad. Or 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder or smoked Spanish paprika. 

Can you tell I found this a little lacking in flavor? Sad but true, this one was a little boring for me. I'll probably play around with it before I serve it for dinner tonight, just because it needs something else to keep from being blah. If you'd like to see what my fellow Ellie cooks thought, you can find them here.

Wheat Berry Salad - serves 6
1 1/2 cups hard wheat berries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I used pine nuts)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup tart dried cherries, chopped
1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley leaves (I used cilantro)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice, more to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot combine the wheat berries and enough water to come 2 inches over the wheat berries. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 1 hour, or until tender. Drain and let cool. Toast the walnuts in a medium dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the wheat berries, walnuts, celery, dried cherries, scallions, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Per Serving:
Calories 360; Total Fat 17 g; (Sat Fat 2 g, Mono Fat 6 g, Poly Fat 8 g) ; Protein 9 g; Carb 46 g; Fiber 8 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 15 mg

Excellent source of: Fiber, Vitamin K, Manganese

Vanilla Spice Oatmeal

When I looked at this recipe this morning, I found myself thinking, "Hey, wait a minute! This is what I eat for breakfast almost every day, only better."

Ellie Krieger dreamed up a way to make my morning oatmeal even more yummy, with minimally more calories. I make mine a little differently than she does (I make a single serving in the microwave every morning). With the added flavors of vanilla, chopped toasted pecans and brown sugar, this was so fabulous it will be hard for me  to make it any other way from now on.

My blogging friend Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet thoughtfully selected this recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly. The recipe is available here, or on Mary's blog. If you don't know Mary and her adorable kiddos, make sure you pay her a visit. She's hilarious and sweet, the best combination in my book. Thanks, Mary, for picking a recipe that couldn't have been easier!

Walnut Chocolate Dried Cherry Bars

Breakfast on the go is a challenge for many of us. While I normally eat at my desk during the week, weekends are a blur with errands and other commitments. I'm always looking for a quick, healthy grab-and-go breakfast I can eat in the car as I run my errands. Less time spent on errands means more time to relax with my honey!

These bars integrate whole grains, nuts, dried cherries, with little chocolate thrown in for extra deliciousness. Chocolate for breakfast seems so decadent, but with these healthy bars, a little chocolate for breakfast is a doable treat to start the weekend off right.

Heide of Chez Zero picked these bars for Craving Ellie in My Belly this week. You can find the original recipe here, but here's my version.

Walnut Chocolate Dried Cherry Bars -  adapted from So Easy
Printer friendly version
1 cup quick-cooking oats (regular oats are OK, too)
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 egg white
3/4 cup chopped dried tart cherries
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cherries, walnuts and chocolate chips.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 by 1 1/2 inches each.

White Turkey Chili

This is one of those recipes that you look at the list of ingredients and think you know how it's going to taste, but you don't...it's so much better!

And for that I'm very happy because even though I've been remiss in regular posting, Marthe still let me pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly this week! For inspiration, I turned to the Food Network website, and this recipe was one of Ellie Krieger's 10 most highly rated recipes. When I saw hominy, I almost kept going. But then I read some of the reviews and to say they are overwhelmingly positive is an understatement. People LOVED this recipe. Like me, many had never cooked with hominy. I didn't even know what it was...I thought hominy was a can of solidified grits. Really. After consulting Wikipedia, I still wasn't sure what it was. Wikipedia says:

"Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization."


Well, OK.

The recipe calls for a mirepoix of celery, onion and poblano peppers, some spices, ground turkey, white beans, broth and the canned hominy. I opened the can like there was an alien underneath the lid, and regarded the hominy with suspicion before rinsing it and tossing it in the pot. I needn't have worried. The hominy gave the chili a subtle corn flavor.

This was an easy recipe that made tons of chili, and I thought it was delicious. In fact, I wish I still had some to have for lunch today! I hope my fellow CEiMB cooks liked it as much as I did. If you'd like to make it, you can find the recipe in So Easy, below or here. I plan to make it again, but adapt it for my slow cooker.

White Turkey Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 stalks celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
3 medium poblano peppers (about 4 ounces each), seeded and white ribs removed, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
1 pound ground white meat turkey
2 (15.5-ounce) cans white beans such as cannelini, drained and rinsed
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (15.5-ounce) can hominy, drained and rinsed
Salt
1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, celery, poblanos, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink about 2 minutes. Add the white beans, broth and oregano. Cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes.

Add the hominy and salt and more cayenne pepper, to taste, and continue cooking, partially covered, 10 minutes longer. Ladle into individual bowls and top each serving with 1 tablespoon of yogurt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cilantro. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Serves 6

Porcini Ravioli Spinach Soup

After the excesses of Thanksgiving, this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was a welcome return of sanity to the dinner table. Like many Americans, I had leftover turkey from the big dinner, and I had porcini cheese ravioli in the freezer. So like so many of Ellie's recipes, it had morphed greatly by the time it hit my dinner table.

Try this delicious soup, but do make it your own. I don't usually have a leftover turkey breast in the fridge, but I could just as easily have used rotisserie chicken, tofu or canned beans.

Many thanks to Bri of Yoshimi vs. Motherhood for picking this week's recipe. You can find the original recipe on her post.

Porcini Ravioli Spinach Soup (adapted from So Easy)
Printer friendly recipe

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced (1 1/2 cups)
2 ribs celery, sliced (1 cup)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 ounces baby spinach, sliced into ribbons (3 cups)
1 package fresh store-bought porcini ravioli (2 cups)

6 ounces cooked turkey breast, cubed or shredded

1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent and the garlic is softened, another 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes.

Add the tomatoes with their juices and the broth and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tortellini and cook until the tortellini are almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey breast (if using) and the spinach. Cook for another minute or two. Squeeze the lemon and stir the juice into the soup, season to taste and serve with the parmesan cheese.

Serves 4

Whole Wheat Pasta with Walnuts and Goat Cheese

In my mind, for a recipe to be great it has to be both adaptable and idiot proof. And this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was just such a recipe.

It was chosen by my friend Kayte at Grandma's Kitchen Table. Kayte has more energy than any three people I know. It's not unusual for her to decide she wants to make all the breads in, say a whole section of a cookbook, and have it done in three days. She amazes me!

It's been a while since I posted for CEiMB, though I have made some of the recipes, and it being Kayte's week to pick was just the incentive I needed to get back in the swing.

This was supposed to be a pasta salad, and use feta and walnut oil. I decided I wanted a hot pasta dinner, so I adapted this. I don't like feta so I used goat cheese. I thought I had walnut oil in the fridge but didn't, so I used hazelnut oil. I thought I had hazelnuts to complement the hazelnut oil, but I didn't so I went with walnuts. I was too lazy to dice the red onion so I left it out.

And you know, it was really great! The warm pasta is like a sponge for the dressing, so I did add a little more to the pasta. But all of the flavors combined very well and made it a delightful light dinner. I made this after a full day of making pie dough for the freezer (for National Pie Day, aka Thanksgiving) and it was a comforting and easy meal, successful in spite of my relentless tweaking of the recipe.

Thanks, Kayte, for a great pick! If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here.

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen. Melissa picked Ellie's whole wheat pancakes with strawberry sauce. I've never successfully made pancakes. I've made macarons, but pancakes? No way. Too difficult. Too finicky.

Given that pancakes are full of refined flours, have virtually no redeeming nutritional value and are basically a delivery vehicle for maple syrup, I've never sweated not having mastered them. But Ellie's are made with part whole wheat flour, and the strawberry sauce makes it easier to rationalize having them for breakfast. When my friend Kayte tweeted me a reminder that they were the pick for this week, I still hadn't had breakfast. They were quick to make. I used strawberries I froze earlier in the summer, which I defrosted in the microwave. The sauce gets made in the food processor, and the pancakes are a dry ingredients + wet ingredients = batter recipe. I used my crepe pan instead of a skillet or griddle, and it was a little tight fitting in three at a time. But little bubbles formed on the top, just as they're supposed to, and they flipped easily and intact, a first for me!

From beginning to end, it took 20 minutes to make this recipe, which is perfect for a spur of the moment weekend breakfast. Make sure you serve your strawberry sauce warm, or it will cool off your pancakes before you can eat them. Even better, prepare the strawberry sauce the day before and heat in the microwave.

Thanks, Melissa, for a wonderful pick! I learned how to make pancakes without trauma. You can conquer your pancake fears, too. You can find the recipe here.

CEiMB - Mango Lassi

Craving Ellie in My Belly has been rejuvenated by Marthe at Culinary Delights, and I was thrilled when, in spite of my spotty participation of late, Marthe invited me to host this week.

Hosting is a big deal. First of all, I try to pick a recipe that will be easy, use seasonal or inexpensive ingredients, be flexible (so you can leave out things you don't like) and be something kids and adults alike will love. I've had good success with my past picks for this group (Nutty Granola, here, and Sweet and Spicy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, here), and I didn't want to pick a dud and ruin my record.

It's hard to pick a dud with Ellie Krieger's recipes. For the most part, they are fast, flavorful and always better for you than most similar recipes. I picked the Mango Lassi because M. loves mangoes and we love lassis. I may not have ever posted this before but we love spicy food, me even more than the hubs, and dairy (the base of a lassi) is the best way to turn down the heat from capsicum, the active ingredient in hot peppers. My heat tolerance level is burn-my-face-off, and M. loves to tell the story about the time we were in Tokyo eating at an Indian restaurant and the Indian owner admitted he couldn't even eat the curries as spicy as I do. I really enjoy a good lassi not only for its ability to take the edge off of the burn but because of its full body and tangy sweetness.

So it was incredible that I've never made one of these at home until this recipe, indeed, this morning. See, things are crazy busy at work, I'm working 12 hour days and I'm kind of tired. Yesterday, I carried my cereal bowl around with me, trying to eat breakfast and didn't manage to eat lunch until almost 4 so a meal I can drink out of a glass sounds ideal!

The trickiest part of the recipe is getting the mango out of the mango, but Ellie has a great method for freeing the slippery mango from its skin. Once you have cubed mango, you're almost done! Put it in the blender with yogurt, honey, and ice. I added a scoop of protein powder and called it breakfast--a small glass to drink while writing this post and a big take-along cup. This was a yummy, creamy, delicious breakfast I had time to enjoy on the drive to work. Give this one a try, it's super easy and tasty. Next time, I think I'll branch out and try peaches or apricots for a twist.

You can find the rest of the CEiMB cooks here...check out how they did with this one. I can't wait to see what flavors they introduced to their lassis!

Mango Lassi

Ellie says: This is my take on the classic Indian drink which is traditionally made with lots of sugar. I use a bit of honey to bring out the natural sweetness of the mango and the result is nirvana--a silky-smooth delight that is sunny shade of yellow.

2 ripe mangoes
1 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups ice (1 tray of cubes)

To peel and cut the mango, cut 1/4" of the top and bottom of the fruit and sit it on its larger end on a cutting board. At the top end, find the pit with your knife and cut down alongside it (a mango's pit is flat). Do the same with the other side. Cut each half lengthwise into 4 slices. Cut the peel from each slice and slice the mango crosswise into chunks.

Place the mango chunks in the blender and process until smooth. Add the yogurt, honey and ice and process until the ice is crushed and the drink is frothy. Serve in tall glasses with additional ice if desired. Serves 4.

CEiMB - Panzanella with Field Roast Chorizo

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly selection was chosen by my buddy Peggy of Pantry Revisited. Peggy is hilarious and I always enjoy visiting her blog to read what she's been up to.

I have been insanely busy at work, working 11-12 hour days six days a week, so I considered skipping this one. But I didn't because a) it's Peggy and b) I'm afraid I'll be kicked out of the group if I don't make something soon. So one night after a short (11 hour) day at work, I came home and tossed together this salad. I made a single serving since I was on my own that night. I only had wheat sandwich bread on hand, so I cubed it and toasted it in the oven. I didn't want to have onion in my salad but I had a lonely head of red cabbage in the crisper so I used that in place of the red onion (radicchio would have been a better substitution). And although I'd be happy to have chicken sausage, I haven't found one yet that isn't made with pork casings, so I substituted a Field Roast chorizo. In case you haven't tried Field Roast yet, it's grain-based and texturally similar to sausage (and is also made to resemble other meats). Because it was chorizo, it was nice and spicy. I sliced it on the diagonal and sauteed it in a pan sprayed with cooking spray. I tossed the rest of the ingredients (cucumbers, cabbage, bread cubes, basil, olive oil, vinegar) in a bowl and garnished it with the Field Roast chorizo.

This was a deee-licious salad. I've never enjoyed panzanella, finding the bread too soggy (wet bread is so texturally offensive to me that I'd skip lunch rather than eating a sandwich with wet bread...and I don't normally skip meals). But toasting the bread so that it was crisp on the outside while still soft on the inside made all the difference. The crispy outside absorbed the oil and vinegar without getting at all soggy.

Thanks so much, Peggy, for choosing this recipe! I'm so happy to have found a panzanella recipe that I like!

CEiMB - Chicken Paella

This will be a short post. My Twitter buddy Margaret of Tea & Scones chose this recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly. I made this paella for dinner tonight. The recipe calls for sausage, which I omitted, and chicken thighs, which I substituted for with chicken breasts. Early feedback on this one indicated the flavor needed help, so I added smoked Spanish paprika in addition to doubling the garlic. I should have added more paprika as the flavor was still very muted. But it was quick and easy and that's always appreciated.

If you'd like the recipe, you'll find it in Ellie Krieger's book So Easy. And make sure you visit the other Craving Ellie in my Belly cooks. You'll find them here.

CEiMB - Pasta Puttanesca

Oh man, I completely forgot to post this last week! Since I'm working a ton of hours and there's no way I'll be able to make this week's pick (Chicken and Grape Skewers, hosted by Elina of Healthy and Sane), I'm posting it today instead.

Pasta puttanesca is one of those go-to dishes that come together in minutes and taste really good. I added a can of garbanzo beans for extra protein and doubled up on the garlic. We love garlic. While it was good, I think I'd use crushed tomatoes next time instead of the diced tomatoes the recipe calls for. I think it would make it a little saucier. I'd also add some minced sun dried tomatoes to amp up the tomato flavor.

This recipe was picked by Jen of What Jen's Cooking. Thanks for picking this one! I really needed a quick dinner and this was perfect! If you'd like the recipe, Jen has it or you can find it here.

Barefoot Bloggers - Individual Meat Loaves and CEiMB - Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo

My blogging/tweeting friend and all-around favorite Indianan Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table chose this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo. That Kayte chose this recipe didn't surprise me at all since I bet she's made it more than Ellie Krieger herself. She's tweeted many times that she's made it again, and her gang of guys has again demolished it in record time. Many of my Twitter friends have been turned on to this soup based on Kayte's recommendation. So when I saw this was her pick, I couldn't wait to make it.

Things have been rather busy of late, so I oven roasted the chicken breasts the day before I made the soup, and threw together the soup one morning before leaving for work. It's that easy to put this one together, and if you didn't have time to cook your own chicken, you'd get great results from using a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. I had everything I needed to make this one in my pantry (broadly defined to include the refrigerator and freezer), except for the orzo. Since it was Kayte (one of my favorite people), I made a special trip to the store for orzo. But this would be just as good if you used shells or orecchiette, or ditalini, or broken angel hair. I also used homemade chicken stock from the freezer, which would prove to be an aesthetic faux pas.

Ellie's recipe calls for four whole eggs in this soup, and I initially thought it would have chunks of cooked egg floating in the broth, which was a textural turn off for me, and why I never made this soup after Kayte raved about it. But no, you whisk the four beaten eggs with some heated chicken broth, and add this mixture to the soup. It made a creamy soup without the addition of cream. It's these little tricks that make me love Ellie's food.

Even though the recipe didn't call for it, I added the zest of the lemon before juicing it, because more lemon is always better. My only disappointment was my soup ended up looking like a bowl of mud since my homemade stock gave it a brownish tint. But it was the most delicious bowl of mud I've ever had and I'll definitely be making this one again. Thanks, Kayte, for turning me on to this soup!

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it in The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger, or Kayte has it here. And if you're not already visiting her regularly, you need to. She posts delicious recipes and updates on what's going on with her guys. Her son's swim team just won the Indiana State swimming and diving championship. 

*******

Now, this week's Barefoot Bloggers pick.

Meatloaf.

The name doesn't exactly scream "delicious" to me. I would have skipped it but I skipped the second recipe last month (Shrimp Scampi) because I'm allergic to shellfish. So I resolved to make the meatloaf, even if meatloaf is something I don't enjoy. Maybe it's that it's made with beef, and my love of beef ends with the cheeseburger.

So I made my individual meat loaves with ground turkey, and I halved the recipe, because a 10-11 ounce portion per person seemed a little excessive to me. I intended to make them in a muffin tin, but I found a mini loaf pan in my drawer that I'd never used. Perfect!

The most complicated part of this recipe was chopping the onions, which is to say it was super easy. I put it together and baked the little guys off before I went to work. Be careful to combine your ingredients very gently or your meatloaf will be dense. I didn't even pat them into shape, instead, I spooned the ingredients into the tins and smoothed the top a little before putting on the ketchup. Next time I'll try them with barbeque sauce or even May Ploy sauce (sweet chili sauce). I get mine at Safeway, but you can order online. Here's one link.

They reached 160 degrees in 25 minutes in my oven but yours may vary. After they cooled, I popped each in its own Ziploc bag and stuck them in the freezer. We're going to have some nice tasty dinners thanks to this easy, delicious recipe.

Many thanks to Tonya of What's On My Plate for hosting this week. She picked a real winner! If you'd like Ina's recipe, you can find it here. Here is my variation:

Individual Meat Loaves - adapted from Ina Garten

Printable Recipe

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
3/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 1/4 pounds lean (not extra lean!) ground turkey
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 - 1/2 cup ketchup, barbecue sauce or May Ploy, to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, thyme, salt and pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute until the onions are soft and lightly browned, about 8 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and add Worcestershire, chicken broth and tomato paste. Mix to combine and set aside to cool.

Place ground turkey in a medium bowl and break into chunks with a spoon. Add cooled onion mixture, bread crumbs and egg and mix gently. Don't try to completely mix in the ingredients, you want this to be very loose and soft. Transfer to jumbo muffin tins or mini loaf pans. Depending on the size of your pans, you should get 6-8 mini meat loaves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer inserted in the middle of a meatloaf registers 160 degrees. Serve immediately, or cool slightly before wrapping and refrigerating or freezing.

CEiMB - Dark Chocolate Mousse

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by Laura at Edible Ventures. It was a recipe for which you really have to suspend disbelief--tofu as a base for chocolate mousse? No eggs? No heavy cream? Has Ellie gone mad??

But this is your healthy dream dessert. I used 70% chocolate and unsweetened cocoa. I substituted brewed coffee for the brandy. The mousse took 5 minutes to make: it has to be the fastest low-fat, most impressive healthy dessert ever. I forgot to stir the sugar into the melted chocolate before combining it with the blended tofu, but it was just fine added to the blender. I added 1 tablespoon of 1% milk to help the blender do its job because my blender is wimpy.

I skipped the whipped cream topping only because we don't like whipped cream. It doesn't need the whipped cream...this is a truly decadent healthy dessert without it. Deeply chocolate, it will satisfy your craving without blowing your diet. Sweet!

If you'd like to check out how the other CEiMB members fared with this one, you'll find links to their blogs here. And you'll find the recipe here.

CEiMB - Curried Chicken Salad

What's that you say? It's Thursday? Already??

That means it's time for Craving Ellie in My Belly. And this week's pick, hosted by Sarah of the eponymous Sarah's Kitchen Adventures, is Curried Chicken Salad. I LLOOOOVVEE curried anything. In fact, my default tuna salad is curried. I am a huge fan of the curried chicken salad at Whole Foods, so I was eager to make this one.

Ellie's chicken salad begins with poaching the chicken, but I roasted mine instead. Once the chicken was cooked, the work was 3/4 done. After mixing fat free Greek yogurt with mayonnaise, adding curry powder, toasted sliced almonds, and a chopped apple, I gave it a stir. Since it's been a little chilly here, I couldn't get excited about serving this as a salad, so I served it on toast. It was so creamy and delicious. I finished it off last night, and was sorry indeed that it was gone.

If you'd like to see the recipe as Ellie intended it, you can find it here. Here is my take on the recipe:

Curried Chicken Salad - 4 servings

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cooled
1/4 sliced almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (more or less, to taste)
1 small apple, cored and chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup arugula, washed and dried
8 slices whole wheat bread

Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add the chopped apple and almonds and stir to combine. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the yogurt, mayonnaise and curry powder. Pour over the chicken mixture and fold together to combine.

Toast bread, if desired. Divide the chicken salad over 4 slices of bread, top with the arugula and the rest of the bread.

CEiMB - Emerald Stir Fry with Chicken

Just the other day, I was yearning for a cookbook with easy, healthy, tasty recipes. Something fast I could throw together for dinner and not feel guilty for having a cookie afterward. Then I remembered Ellie Krieger's new cookbook So Easy and this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly pick, Emerald Stir Fry with Beef. Allysa at Allysa's Two Bites chose this one for us, and it was a great pick. I subbed chicken since I'm not a big beef fan, and used sugar snap peas and green beans instead of asparagus even though we love asparagus, but it isn't in season yet. I also subbed orange juice for the wine.

Make sure you transfer any leftovers from the pan immediately so the carry over cooking doesn't over cook your stir fry.

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here. Thanks for hosting this week, Allysa!

CEiMB and Barefoot Bloggers - Chicken and Pizza, But Not Together (but it would totally work!)

These two recipes, chosen for Craving Ellie in My Belly and Barefoot Bloggers, had the misfortune of being chosen while I was a little under the weather. So neither looks as great or will have the write up it deserves.

First up is Ina's Indonesian Ginger Chicken, chosen by Todd of A Cooking Dad. I looked at this recipe and thought "teriyaki." But it is so not in the same zip code as teriyaki chicken. Using fresh grated ginger, garlic, soy sauce and honey, you marinate the chicken overnight and bake it in the same pan. It makes a fabulous pan sauce and moist, delicious chicken. I chose to use boneless skinless breasts as that was what I had in the freezer so it looks a little uninspiring in the photos, but this had tons of taste. Even though I had made half the recipe, it made a ton, and since I wasn't keen on solid food at the time, I used a lot of it in a pot of chicken vegetable soup--and what great flavor it gave to the soup. This was another Ina recipe that was easy and surprisingly delicious. Todd's chicken looks glorious so make sure you visit him to see how well his turned out.

Next up is this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly, chosen by Maria at Half Meatball Half Matzoh Ball Children, is Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizzas. I was half dead when I made this recipe, coughing, etc. It was gross to me and I was doing it. As I mentioned above, food wasn't appealing to me (truthfully, it still isn't, though I hope my appetite will come back now that I've taken my last antibiotic), but for some strange reason I wanted to make this recipe. Maybe it was because Kayte was Tweeting about it. I had no red onions, my arugula was one day away from dead, and my goat cheese was one day past dead, but I made this anyway and subbed mozzarella and a yellow onion. And it came out great, was delicious, and was basically the only cooked food, other than that pot of chicken soup, that passed my lips in the last two weeks. Now THAT'S a ringing endorsement!

So there you have it, two great recipes, even if I am a day late posting!

CEiMB - Sweet and Spicy Peanut Soup

You know how fantastic this soup is?

I have bronchitis. And a sinus infection. I'm running a fever. I had to go out to buy peanut butter.

And I still made this soup.

Not much wisdom to impart for this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly except this:  When pureeing hot soup in the blender, just like the recipe says only fill it 1/3 of the way, and hold down the top with a dish towel before you blend. Unless you need to clean your kitchen cabinets. With the way I'm feeling, that wasn't at the top of my to do list. Now it is.

Pamela at Cookies With Boys mentioned it was very spicy with the 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne the recipe called for, and I thought about going easy on it. But we love it spicy and I figured it would help me breathe easier. It did. Plus it's loaded with sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, carrots and more, good nutrients to help me get better.

Thanks go to Mary at Popsicles and Sandy Feet for picking this one for us. I love Mary and her blog. She has a great sense of humor.

You'll find the recipe here. Make it soon. You won't regret it.

CEiMB - Half Baked Lemon Bars

I'll admit, I've been a baaad Ellie-ista. It's been weeks since I've participated in Craving Ellie in My Belly, and judging by how my jeans are fitting, that's not a good thing.

So when Amy of Playing House selected Ellie's No-Bake Lemon Bars for this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly post, I resolved to make the recipe. I even intended to make it as written. Then something went terribly wrong. Trader Joe's didn't have plain graham crackers. And I was determined not to go to Safeway. So I bought a container of TJ's low-fat Ginger Cat Cookies. They're like crunchy gingersnaps. I thought they'd go well with the lemon.

I had the other supplies: Cream cheese (not light), sweetened condensed milk (ditto), eggs (not Egg Beaters) and (Meyer) lemons were all ready for the recipe. I had recently made this cheesecake in the food processor, and I liked how easy it was, so I used the FP for this recipe. I just wiped it out after crushing the cookies for the crust. Speaking of the crust, I baked it for 8 minutes and let it cool before pouring the filling in. I just think a pre-baked crust is so much tastier than one that isn't.

The resulting bars were more of a dessert you eat with a spoon than pick up with your hand (unless if you froze it for, say, 20 minutes before serving). But it was tart and creamy, and the ginger crust  was perfect with the tangy lemon cream. My only problem was with the crust. Since Ellie's recipe called for 7 sheets of graham crackers, it was hard for me to figure out how many cookies to use. I used WAY too many cookies, had to add extra butter, and ended up with a bit too much crust, some of which was a little crumbly. Not to worry. Those lovely crumbs pair well with the creamy lemon to make an easy dessert. Thanks, Amy, for a fabulous find from the new cookbook!

Here's my take on the original recipe:

Half Baked Lemon Bars - adapted from So Easy by Ellie Krieger
1 cup cookie crumbs (gingersnaps, Lorna Doones, etc.)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray. Combine the crust ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. Pat into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool on a rack while making the filling.

8 ounces of light cream cheese
14 ounce can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice (I used 2 Meyer lemons)
2 teaspoons gelatin
3 tablespoons cold water

Place gelatin and 3 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl; stir until combined and set aside.

Place cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and process for two minutes. Scrape down bowl and add condensed milk and egg. Process for another minute, then add the lemon zest, juice and gelatin. Process for 30 seconds. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Chill for 8 hours (or overnight) before serving.

NOTE: Ellie's recipe calls for using hot water to bloom the gelatin, but hot water always gives me lumps.

CEiMB - Confetti Chili

I'm enjoying yet another bowl of this wonderful chili as I write this post. This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly was chosen by Lauren of I'll Eat You. Lauren also selected this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick. What are the odds of that happening?

I love a good chili when the weather turns chilly. I live in California, so my idea of cold is much different than others who live in truly cold climates, but I was happy to see that Lauren had picked a chili. I'm not a fan of beef, unless we're talking burgers, so I used lean ground turkey. The recipe in the book is slightly different from the one on the Food Network website, calling for corn and only two kinds of beans. I didn't have frozen corn, so I used three beans (pinto, kidney and garbanzo). I added some chipotle chili powder for extra kick, and I used diced tomatoes instead of crushed. All of the above worked fine except the last one. I think using crushed tomatoes would give this a chili-er consistency.

We were very happy with this one and I'll definitely make it again. And again. And again. So thanks, Lauren!

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here.

CEiMB Rewind - Pulled Barbecue Chicken

Last week, the Craving Ellie in My Belly cooks each did their own thing. Our fearless leader is Sara of imafoodblog. Sara suggested we each make our own Ellie recipe and preferably serve it on Thanksgiving. I opted to do a rewind of a recipe I missed while on vacation earlier this year. Pamela of Cookies With Boys chose Ellie's pulled barbecue chicken. I made this the week of Thanksgiving, but served it in the busy days leading up to the holiday.

The barbecue sauce is what makes this dish. It was sooo good, and it gave us many healthy and delicious meals when things were pretty hairy around here. Thanks, Pamela, and I'm sorry it took me so long to make your pick!