keep your diet real

Good day! Today I present to you a recipe for a snow pea salad that I made for our Easter dinner at my Mom’s house. This recipe was inspired by another snow pea salad that I recently tried at a Whole Foods lunch buffet. I did not have their recipe so I came up with this one. This salad is super tasty, but I especially enjoy the fragrance of this salad…ginger, toasted sesame, soy sauce, red onions…mmm. This salad could work as a simple side dish or as a meal (if you have a big bowl). Check out below to see the nutrition facts.

Recipe: Snow Pea Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups snow peas (blanched)
• 1 raw yellow pepper, washed, seeded and cut into long strips
• 1 raw red pepper, washed, seeded, and cut into long strips
• 1/2 red onion, raw (about 3/4 cup) cut into long slices
• 1 cup edamame (beans)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (blanched)
• Organic toasted sesame oil – 2 tablespoons
• Kikkoman Light Soy Sauce (or Gluten Free Tamari) – 2 tablespoons
• Fresh ginger, grated (1 teaspoon)
• Sea salt (to taste) (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• Garnishes: sesame seeds, scallions

This recipe makes about 8 servings. Nutrition Facts below.

Directions:

1. Fill a large mixing bowl with ice and ice cold water.
2. Fill a large sauce pan full of water, cover and bring to a boil so that you can blanch the snow peas and carrots.  Once water is boiling, submerge snow peas and shredded carrots for 60-90 seconds (more if you do not like your veggies to be too crisp).
3. Using a pair of tongs, carefully remove the shredded carrots and snow peas from the boiling water and place into the bowl with ice and water to quickly stop the cooking process and to maintain the beautiful bright color of the vegetables.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sliced peppers, red onion, edamame beans, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and salt (optional). Stir to combine ingredients & flavors.
5. Now add the snow peas and shredded carrots. Stir.
6. Serve immediately or place in refrigerator until you are ready to serve. Enjoy!

After some personal debating I have decided to post nutrition facts for my recipes (moving forward…and if I have time, moving backward). I have often gotten comments and emails from readers asking about nutrition facts.  I did not always believe that  nutrition facts were that helpful for people (from what I have seen from counseling patients). It seems as though there is a large amount of misinterpretation that goes along with nutrition facts (i.e. sometimes people avoid a recipe with 10 grams of fat/serving when all 10 grams are unsaturated and heart healthy because they believe that all fat is bad). I see this often in counseling so I had made the decision that for the website I would create healthful recipes but leave out the analysis. BUT….alas there are many many people out there who could potentially benefit from having this information (i.e. people doing Weight Watchers) so I have decided to post it. I am going to do my best to ensure that this data is accurate, but I’m only a human and I can make mistakes.

Well, basil seemed to be the clear winner in the Friday Flavor Face-off, so today I present you with a spring pasta salad featuring that flavorful herb – basil! This is a very clean tasting salad. It’s loaded with lots of fresh spring vegetables and works really well as a side dish or as an entrée.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of orecchiette pasta
• 1 “bunch” (about 1 cup chopped) fresh asparagus spears, blanched
• 1 cup shredded carrots, blanched
• 1/2 cup edamame
• 1 can artichoke hearts in water, rinsed and drained (sliced in half if needed)
• 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
• fresh basil, rinsed and roughly chopped, about 1/4 cup
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• sea salt and fresh black pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, cook pasta until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water and place into a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate sauce pan, bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil, submerge asparagus spears and shredded carrots for 60-90 seconds. Remove with slotted spoons and place in bowl of ice cold water (to stop cooking process). Veggies should be very bright in color and slightly tender.
3. To the large mixing bowl with the cooked pasta, add edamame, artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans, and tomatoes then stir.
4. Now add basil, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and toss.
5. Serve at room temperature. Makes about 6 servings.

Coming soon…Zucchini Parmesan!