Green Swamp SoupKid, Earth and Time Friendly Recipes

Alright, I know what kale chips sound like. And these are baked kale chips, no less. But you’ve got to believe me when I say, they’re awesomely delicious! And much easier to make than baked potato chips or even sweet potato chips. Better yet, served with a healthy dipping sauce, they are indeed kid-friendly.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of curly-style kale (about 6 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 or 4 shakes of sea salt (or to taste)
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash and dry kale well.
3. Pull the large leaves off of the thick stems of the kale.
4. Tear kale into large, chip-sized pieces.
5. Toss with oil, vinegar and salt.
6. Optional: sprinkle with red pepper flakes.
7. Arrange on 1 or two baking sheets in a single layer. TIP: Use parchment paper for easy cleanup.
8. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until kale is crisp and slightly brown. Your chips should be very light and crispy — be sure to bake longer if they aren’t.
9. Serve with a dipping sauce of choice — ketchup, healthy ranch, BBQ — and your favorite sandwich!

Green Swamp Soup Italian Butter

My favorite Italian restaurant is Garozzo’s in Kansas City, Missouri. The original location is in Kansas City’s Little Italy near the river market. My dear friend, Frank Siraguso, who grew up in Little Italy during its golden age, turned me onto Garozzo’s many years ago. I was immediately smitten.

The first thing I remember tasting was a dish called Sicilian Garlic Dip that Frank affectionately called Italian Butter. Served with warm Italian bread, the dip was one of the most decadent and addictive dishes I’ve ever tasted. Like the infamous Turkish Delight in Chronicles of Narnia, I couldn’t get enough! The more I ate, the more I wanted.

At home, I tried to mimic the recipe. It’s impossible. But once I moved here to Iowa and far away from Garozzo’s, I became determined to come as close as I could.

What I came up with is a garlicky herbed dip that can’t beat Garozzo’s, but holds its own here at the Andrews’ dinner table.

Italian Butter

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. dried or fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. dried basil (1 tsp. fresh)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp. cracked black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 or 3 dashes of salt

Directions:

1. In the still warm melted butter, add minced garlic and stir. (This infused the fresh garlic flavor into the rest of the dip.)
2. Add all remaining ingredients, grating cheese in last. Serve at room temperature with Italian or crusty ciabatta bread.

When I was a kid, one of my absolute favorite dinners was this: Bohemian-style dumplings drenched in brown butter, sausage patties, sauer kraut and hominy fried in bacon grease! These menu items were all lovingly made by my German-Bohemian-Irish grandma, Bette, whom I adored. Whenever I eat hominy, I think of her. And my mom still makes those awesomely buttery dumplings. I eat hominy now sans bacon, of course. This recipe is a nutritious alternative to the hominy-in-bacon-grease dish, but still has that same old down-homey-ness.

Ingredients
28-oz. can hominy
2 tsp. olive oil
1 small onion
1 small red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots, sliced
14-oz. can garbanzo beans
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, diced
1/3 cup quinoa
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. chili powder (optional)
7 cups vegetable broth (or 7 cups of water and five tbsp. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute onion in olive oil for about five minutes on medium heat, till they are clear. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about two minutes.
2. Add red peppers and carrots and continue to saute until they soften. You may need to add broth or Bragg’s to keep the veggies from over-browning and sticking to your pan.
3. Add spices, hominy and garbanzo beans and saute for two more minutes.
4. Add broth or water.
5. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add quinoa.
6. Simmer for 10 minutes or until quinoa opens up.
7. Add spinach and cilantro to your pot and serve after spinach has wilted.
8. Serve with more cilantro and salt and pepper. Or, go crazy and add a big dollop of sour cream or guac and lots of tortilla chips.

Best Peanut Sauce In The World

One of my favorite restaurant’s in Kansas City, the Blue Koi, has a sauce simply called “awesome sauce.” I’m really not sure what’s in it, but it is indeed awesome. And you can drizzle it over everything on their menu — from spring rolls to lettuce wraps to one of their many awesome noodle dishes.

This peanut sauce recipe is like that. It goes well with any Asian cuisine you want to throw at it. But it’s equally delicious on raw veggies, steamed veggies, rice crackers, pita chips, etc. I modified the following recipe from the Moosewood’s Lowfat Favorites cookbook. (A must-have for vegetarians who are trying to cut back on fat and calories!)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. natural peanut butter, at room temperature
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/2 to 1 fresh chile, minced, seeds removed for a milder heat
2 tbsp.  cider or rice vinegar
1 tbsp. cilantro
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp.  soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh or prepared salsa
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root

Directions:

1. Throw all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy.
2. Try it with Soba Noodle Stir Fry or anything Asian.

We can all thank the “slider” concept for making burgers even more fun. But this recipe, adapted from the Vegetarian Times, makes them healthy, too.

I made part of this recipe way easier to make by simply opting to make less sliders and using Wildwood marinated and baked tofu instead of making the “tofu” part of the slider myself. Then, I paired this with an awesome kale stir-fry recipe from VT.

Full disclosure: Because the sliders look like burgers, your kids will probably try them. However, you might forgo the Asian slaw so they’re not overwhelmed by too many different textures. My kids didn’t care much for the sliders with the slaw, but they liked the kale stir fry just fine.

Ingredients For Sliders:

1 package Wildwood Baked Teriyaki, slice each tofu square to fit slider buns
8 slider buns

Ingredients For Asian Slaw
3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbs. vegan mayonnaise
2 Tbs. no-salt-added creamy natural peanut butter
5 tsp. natural cane sugar
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
2 medium zucchini, julienned (8 oz.)
4 medium carrots, julienned (8 oz.)
1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Directions for Sliders:

1. Stack tofu and then slaw between slider buns. (Feel free to toast the buns beforehand.)

Directions for Slaw:

1. Whisk together soy sauce, mayonnaise, peanut butter, cane sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, pepper, and cayenne pepper (if using), in large bowl.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Nearly everyone I know loves grilled cheese — it’s practically the perfect comfort food. But sometimes you want a little kick with your comfort. These “gourmet” grilled cheese sandwiches deliver and then some. They give you all of the crispy grilled-ness you love, just with more flavor and different cheeses.

I grew up hating cheese. It’s true. Someone made me eat a Kraft single when I was about four, and I was a cheese hater my entire childhood and well into adulthood, until I met my husband. He convinced me there was something inherently wrong with not liking cheese and made me try real cheese — sharp cheddar, gouda, swiss and goat to name a few — and then I was hooked! These cheeses were nothing like that oily, floppy old slice I flushed down the toilet when I was a kid!

Needless to say, when I make a grilled cheese sandwich, for my kids, myself or the hubby, I use real cheese. That’s an absolute must. But liking spicy foods, I’ve found over time that I need something more. That something more being flavor — veggies, spices, etc. So I’m sharing some of my favorite recipes with you now.

Besides real, good cheese, the other must of an awesome grilled cheese sandwich is good bread. If you don’t worry about “healthy” bread, one of the best breads to use is Pepperidge Farms sandwich white. For those wanting a healthier bread, I like Rudi’s Organic 7 Grain with Flax.

Now that you have your bread, you need to make sure you have either a grill press or a heavy pan, preferably a cast iron skillet, to press your sandwich. This is a must to achieve the all-over-golden-brown deliciousness demonstrated in the photo. However, if you don’t have a press of some sort, it will still taste good without it.

Ingredients:

Gouda cheese
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Goat cheese
Bread
Sun-dried tomato pesto
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 red pepper, diced
1/4 green pepper, diced
Butter or buttery spread

For vegans: You can use Daiya shreds, either Cheddar or Mozzarella, to make these sandwiches every bit as yummy as the real thing. This is really the only exception to my “real” cheese must.

Directions:

1. Heat skillet to medium heat, or griddle to 350.
2. Lightly toast your bread in your toaster — this is a must for a good, crispy sandwich and another trick I learned from my husband.
3. Butter opposite sides of bread, and then lay the buttered sides together, like you’re making a butter sandwich.
4. For the Gouda cheese sandwich: layer three thin slices of Gouda on the dry bread side. Sprinkle with red onion and peppers. Layer three more thin slices of Gouda on top of the veggies. Then turn the bottom buttered toast layer on top of the stack, so that now both buttered sides are exposed.
5. For the goat cheese and mozzarella sandwich: spread the sun-dried tomato pesto on the bread. Top with two thin slices of mozzarella and about five goat cheese crumbles. Then turn the bottom buttered toast over as directed above. If you want veggies, add them!
6. Grill for about a minute, then flip over.
7. Now lay your press on top of the sandwich and grill for one more minute.
8. Flip over again and grill for another 30 seconds so that both sides are uniformly golden.
9. Let cool for about a minute, then cut into sections and serve.

I made this dip up last weekend and it was such a hit with kids, coworkers and me that I had to make it again this week!

I’ve recently started the “Superhero” version of Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet. Basically, it’s a vegan way of eating that focuses on using whole grains, veggies and “clean” proteins — mostly beans and tofu — as your main foods. I’ve been mostly vegan since the end of February (I had a few slip ups involving cheese). I plan to eat this hummus as a snack with veggies — carrots, snap peas and turnips.

The reason I’m upping the ante on this style of eating is my upcoming guest blog posts on AlyssaBecthold.com. You can read more about what we’re up to there.

Alyssa is a good friend and coworker of mine who has lost more than 60 pounds recently! She’s really inspired me to look within and see what changes I can make to my own lifestyle to live a healthier, happier life. To that end, I’ll be posting some of my new Kind Diet-inspired recipes here on Green Swamp Soup. I’ll add a note that my family is not following this diet per se, but they enjoy many of the recipes it has inspired.

Ingredients:

1 can chick peas, drained and SAVE THE JUICE
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup chick pea juic
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. sea salt
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp. tahini

Directions:

1. Throw all of the above, except the chick pea juice, into food processor. Pulse for three to four pulses.
2. Add chick pea juice a little at a time and pulse until you reach a desired consistency (I like my hummus thick).
3. Chill for one hour and serve (I can’t always wait the whole hour, but an hour is best).

This recipe is proof that you can cook old-school favorites without meat — and they’re even better than the original!

I’ve never really cared much for chicken salad. Usually, there’s too much mayo and way too much meat flavor for my tastes, anyway. But when you sub chickpeas for chicken and vegan mayo for the regular stuff, something wonderful happens. And it’s not just the crazy new vegan here talking. I taste tested this dish with my coworkers yesterday and got an “off-the-hook” response. I think it makes an awesome appetizer or even a main dish, though slightly messy.

If you’re serving it to kids, they will love the apples and maple flavor in the salad, but you’ll have to make sure you’re ready for a little bit of a mess. Not cool with mess? Wrap it in a tortilla!

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and slightly mashed (use a potato masher)
1/2 cup slightly crushed pecans
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 apple, diced
1/2 cup water chestnuts (optional)
3/4 cup vegan mayo (or, use regular mayo … I like Vegenaise)
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. maple syrup (the real stuff, preferably)
A few shakes of garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon juice
Head of lettuce — either iceberg or romaine (I prefer the green leafy romaine)

Directions:

1. Combine chickpeas, celery, apple, water chestnuts and pecans. Sprinkle with lemon juice to keep the apples from browning.
2. Whisk together mayo, syrup, vinegar and garlic powder.
3. Combine mayo combo and all other ingredients.
4. Taste test to see if salt and pepper are needed.
5. Chill for at least an hour in a tightly-sealed container.

Variation: Add fresh grapes, raisins or craisins! I also like to serve mine with chow mein noodles.

I know what you’re thinking. Here she goes again, trying to sneak veggies into food where they don’t belong.

Wrong. Broccoli makes mashed potatoes taste even better than regular. Don’t believe me? Well, then take the mashed potato challenge, my friend, and find out! Bonus: this recipe is CHEAP and EASY.

I recently became vegan after reading The Kind Diet, so I’m offering two versions of this recipe (and probably any recipes that call for dairy here on out). For those die-hard mashed potato traditionalists, you get your old standby recipe with added broccoli. For those of you who are vegan or allergic to dairy, I offer an even MORE delicious version of the tried and true. My kids sampled both and hands down liked the vegan version better. So there.

Seriously, though, little kids love this recipe, because it’s, well, green and funny looking. We like to call it Ogre Food around here (it’s probably Shrek’s favorite food). In fact, this would be a great dish to serve at a Shrek-themed birthday party … hmmm ….

Give it a try and let me know how you like them!

Ingredients:

4 large russet mashed potatoes, peeled and cut into four pieces
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 clove garlic (optional, but if you like garlic, just go for it)

Dairy Version:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup half and half (less for stiffer potatoes, more for fluffy)
Salt and pepper to taste

Vegan Version:
1/4 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1/4 to 1/2 cup hazelnut milk (I do NOT like the taste of soy milk, so I prefer hazelnut … less for stiffer potatoes, more for fluffy)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Measure 1/4 cup butter and/or buttery spread and milk and/or hazelnut milk and put into a large glass serving or mixing bowl; set aside.
2. Put potatoes and garlic in pot and cover with cold water (about two inches above potatoes).
3. Bring water to a boil and boil potatoes for about 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Add broccoli florets and boil for two more minutes or until broccoli is bright green.
5. Drain.
6. Transfer potatoes/broccoli to bowl.
7. Mash with a potato masher. Add more milk a little at a time until you have your desired consistency for potatoes. NOTE: A potato masher ensures that your potatoes will be creamier and there’s less chance of over mixing and creating potato glue.
8. Serve alongside Panko Chicken Planks or any savory protein dish and enjoy — there’s no need for added butter or gravy!

ADDITIONAL SERVING IDEA: For those of you who like a little cheese with your potatoes, you can try adding 4 oz. of shredded sharp cheddar cheese or a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast (for the vegans).

When I first made this, I tweeted “Baba Ghanouj — where have you been my whole life?!” While I’ve always liked this creamy Mediterranean dip, for some odd reason I thought it was difficult to make. Wow, was I wrong! Not only is it easy to make, it’s much better than what I’d had in my favorite Middle Eastern restaurants!

Baba Ghanouj is quite similar to hummus, only instead of garbanzo beans, the primary ingredient is roasted eggplant. I guess this is why I thought “baba” was hard to make — dealing with the eggplant. But all you do is rub a little oil on the eggplant halves and roast them for 45 minutes (it would take much longer to soak garbanzo beans if you were so inclined). While the eggplant isn’t known for being vitamin rich, it still provides a good amount of fiber, folate, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic Acid, magnesium, phosphorus and copper — all while being low in fat and calories.

When making this recipe, I used a base recipe I found on Epicurious.com. Users had mixed reviews about the recipe, and what constitues a truly authentic baba ghanouj. To tell you the truth, I never found out. This recipe turned out so easy, creamy, garlicky and delicious, I decided to leave “yummy enough” alone. When serving it to my hummus-loving kids, I also left yummy enough alone and told them that it was hummus. They never knew the difference and gobbled it down.

Ingredients:

Two 1-pound eggplants, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup  fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
Pinch of ground cumin

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Generously oil rimmed baking sheet.

3. Place eggplant halves, cut side down, on sheet.

4. Roast until eggplant is very soft, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.

5. Using spoon, scoop out pulp from eggplant into strainer set over bowl.

6. Let stand 30 minutes, allowing excess liquid to drain from eggplant.

7. Transfer eggplant pulp to processor.

8. Add tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin and garlic; process until almost smooth.

9. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.

10. Serve with low-fat pita chips and/or fresh carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower. Or, serve as part of a Middle East Feast.