The Makings of an Incredibly Delicious Detox Salad Meal - Tools of the 'Veggie' Trade

Let me share with you a meal I recently made for my family, filled with healthy veggies, fruits and tons of nutrients. Turkey, ham and pineapple burger with Detox salad and homemade oven roasted fries- prepared with some great little kitchen tools.

Looks gorgeous right? You eat with your eyes, so here is a great way to make your meals exciting, ADD COLOUR and TEXTURE. In this meal, we have all the colours of the rainbow, crunchy, zingy, crispy, soft and juicy. And the flavours.... bright, tangy salad, crispy outside, tender inside oven roasted fries and smokey turkey burger with slightly salty ham and crunchy, sweet, roasted pineapple. Let me tell you, it was a huge hit with my family!

Here's how I did it.  Started with the washed veggies...

Brussel Sprouts and Potatoes.

Now here is a sweet little tool of the veggie trade that we just love. It's a little 'french fry' maker.

See what it does. You just need to apply a bit, no- a lot-  of pressure. Use those big muscles- and voila! Some gorgeous French Fries ready to be created.

This is how I prep them... Put oven to 430 degrees, spray a sheet pan with Pam, put your cut potatoes (yukon golds are good) on the pan, drizzle some olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika on them and then toss them with your hands until they are all coated. Make sure there is space between them, if the pan is too crowded, they will not crisp up.  Bake for about 20 minutes, then flip them and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Now here's another neat tool (by the way, thanks to my Mom for these two lovely gadgets). It's a shredder, but it stands up, and the bottom has a little receptacle basket that holds the food you just shredded.

It comes with different blade attachments that you snap into place.

I used it to shred these baby brussel sprouts and shred some carrots too.

Here's the awesome detox salad created using my nifty kitchen gadgets. It's incredibly refreshing, bright and real good for you. I absolutely love the lemon juice!!!

Detox Salad (adapted from http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/3540122-Fall-Detox-Salad)

Ingredients:

• 18-20  brussels sprouts, washed and stems removed
• 2 large carrots carrots, peeled
• 1 apple, diced (I used Honeycrisp)
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 4-6 tbsp raisins
• 2-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh parsley
• Pure liquid honey, to taste

Directions

1. Add the grate/shred blade to food processor. Turn machine on and drop in the brussels sprouts to shred. Now drop in the carrots to shred. Alternatively, you can finely chop brussels and shred carrots with a hand-held grater. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir in the diced apple, celery, sunflower seeds, and raisins into the carrot and brussels sprout mixture.

3. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and parsley to taste. Add a small amount of honey (about 1 Tbsp) to take the edge off the lemon juice. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. 

Little Pate Chinois Parties

You have probably seen my recipe for Pate Chinois. Our French Canadian version of Shepherd's Pie.
But this week, I decided to share with you a great way to prepare a recipe and have tons of leftovers for the week.

You will need a small bag of mini potatoes. Perfect portion for this recipe. Just boil them up-skin on and all (good nutrients), mash them up with a bit of milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Get yourself some ramekins- 5 or 6 would do. I got mine at my favourite store... Dollarama!

Then brown some ground beef, divide the ground beef into your ramekins, top with a can of cream corn (or 2 if you like it corny), divided into your 6 ramekins. Then place the mashed potatoes on top.
Bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

You can eat them right away... because I am not sure you will be able to resist the French Canadian suburban smells of my childhood.... or let them cool and wrap them up with some foil, place in a Ziploc bag and freeze them for your next need for a moment of nostalgia.

No-Fry Fries

I had heard about Gwyneth's fries and I saw this post through the SELF website. So I thought I would try them out. No-Fry Fries!

They were delicious! But I am afraid I used white potatoes so they didn't come out as crispy. I love the crispy ones, it's probably also a result of the fact that I can't cut all the fries small and evenly so they all cook properly. Nevertheless, the family LOVES them!

No-Fry Fries 
adapted from (http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2011/05/no-fry-fries)

Recipe courtesy of My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness by Gwyneth Paltrow

INGREDIENTS

2 large russet potatoes (2/3 lb each), peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt 

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 450°. Cut potatoes in half horizontally; cut each half into 1/3-inch-thick fries and place in a bowl of cold water.

 Remove from water and dry thoroughly. Toss with oil and sprinkle with salt. 

Place fries on a cookie sheet. Roast until browned and cooked through, turning occasionally, 25 minutes.

Nutrition Info (serves 4) 175 calories per serving, 7 g fat (1 g saturated), 27 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

Pressed Potatoes

Here's s something you can do impress your family and friends... oh, and your taste buds, Serve them 'Pressed Potatoes'.

Here's what they look like... golden, delicious and crunchy packages of squished goodness!

So here's what you do... Boil some smallish potatoes, drain them and place them on a baking sheet.

Place another baking sheet on top.

Now press hard, real hard on all the parts of your sheet pan.

Now see what you've done???? You have squished or pressed your potatoes so that they become flat.

Add some delicious oil, canola or olive oil, and sprinkle all over the potatoes.

Sprinkle the tops with some parmesan cheese.

Bake in a hot 425 degree oven until the tops become golden brown and the cheese is crispy on top. About 20 minutes or so. These are fantastic to serve to a hungry crowd, nice alternative to mashed potatoes or just boiled potatoes. Crispy is better!!!

Skinnied up Chicken Fingers and Fries

Well, since I showed you the skinnied up 'Banana Split' a few days ago, I thought I would show you another fun way to skinny up any kids favourite- Chicken and Fries.

Just cut some baking potatoes into small French Fry shapes and place into a bowl. For even crispier fries, cut them smaller than what you see above.

Toss them in canola oil, salt, pepper and any other spices your family will enjoy- I added paprika, that sweet and spicy Hungarian Spice.

Now lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and put them in a very hot oven- like 425 to 450 and cook them for about 30-40 minutes, flipping them once. I like them crispy, so I cook them at least 40 minutes.

Next, the chicken fingers. Cut your chicken breasts into strips and marinate in some BBQ sauce ( you could do this overnight or for 5 minutes). Then dredge them into some breadcrumbs.

Now here's the trick to make them feel 'fried'- spray the bottom of the pan with Pam (or a healthy oil sprayer) and then place your chicken fingers on top and then spray the top of the fingers with the oil spray and it helps to crisp them up. Bake at 425 for about 10-15 minutes on each side.  Here's a healthier dip for your fingers... one that I have loved since I was a kid... dip them in honey! So sweet and delish!

Best French Fries that aren't Fried

I know that sounds funny... but Brent made these a few days ago and they were truly tremendous. What a Chef!

Potatos and Pam. All the ingredients you need! 

I used to make these with olive oil and spices, but these were soooo much better. All he did was take some potatos, cut them and place them in water for a few hours. I don't know if placing them in water made them taste better, but he sprayed the pan with Pam and then the top of them with Pam and placed them in the oven at 400 F for about 10 minutes and then flipped them for another 10 minutes. All we did is sprinkle a little salt after and gobbled them up. Even my daughter who only likes fast food fries (not that we buy those anymore), loved these! They were crispy, oh so crispy!

We just served them with a little piece of steak and a green salad and made a nice dinner of it all!