Last week I prepared yet another fabulous recipe from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Cookbook.  These sesame-roasted broccoli and green beans are just divine. The roasting brings out the sweet nuttiness of the broccoli while the red bell pepper gives this dish just the right pop of color. It’s not only delicious but packed full of important phyto-nutrients that are found in dark green vegetables. Best of all, it’s a snap to put together and perfect as a side to  fish or poultry. I’d eat this dish any day of the week but I’d also serve it at dinner party because of its festive flair. Eating clean never tasted so good!

Cook’s note: The only downside to this dish is the expense of red bell peppers. I live in the Southeast where red bell peppers retail for $2.00 each. Yikes! I couldn’t bring myself to spend nearly $5 bucks on two red bell peppers so I made due with one and the recipe was still fantastic. You might try frozen bell peppers which are significantly cheaper but not as good tasting.

Ingredients:

2Tbsp/extra-virgin olive oil

1lb/green beans, trimmed

1lb/broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets

2 sweet red bell peppers, sliced in strips

2Tbsp/ oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp/ maple syrup

1 Tbsp/ roasted sesame oil

2Tbsp/ white sesame seeds

Preparation: Preheat over to 400 F. Prepare roasting pan by coating it lightly with oil. Place all vegetables in the roasting pan. Mix oyster or hoisin sauce, maple syrup and sesame oil in a small bowl. Pour over the vegetables. Toss gently to coat vegetables.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Don’t let the vegetables get burned. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and turn the vegetables over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and return to the oven for another five minutes.

Nutritional information: 111 Calories; 61 Calories from fat; 3g of Protein; 10g Carbs; 3g Dietary Fiber; 4g Sugars; 6g Fat; 87mg Sodium. Weight Watchers Note: Each serving is 3 Points Plus value

When I was in my early twenties and setting up my first apartment, my mother tried to give me a crock pot. I turned it down thinking it was outré to have one in my kitchen. I was an up and coming career girl! What use was a crock pot to fabulous me?  What a silly, silly girl I was. Last summer we moved into a wonderful new home. Someone (I swear it wasn’t me) had the brilliant idea that we upgrade our gas cook top to a professional slide in range. You know those stainless steel behemoths that you can prepare dinner for one hundred on? We imagined all of the gourmet meals we’d cook on our new gas range. Our friends would be so jealous *smirk*! Six weeks and three failed gas line and hood inspections later, we still couldn’t use our fancy stove.  I was cooking with our plug in skillet or we were eating out. We were still weeks away from approval of our new 1200 cfm hood (a hood, BTW, so powerful that it threatened to suck my poor child into the grill if he happened to toddle by – but that’s another blog). I had to do something. The next day I ran out and bought a crock pot. I remembered my mom used hers all the time when we were growing up. I love to cook and experiment with recipes so I rummaged around and pulled this spicy soup together. It’s a riff on a recipe my company’s dining room chef prepares and it’s one of my husband’s favorites:

Chicken Tortilla Soup (a la Boss Mom)

1 large Rotisserie Chicken
2-3 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil for sautéing and drizzle during simmering
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic (or more if you wish)
1 large bunch of cilantro washed and dried
1 packet of hot taco seasoning
2 tbsp of chili powder
1 tsp of cumin
3 15oz cans of fire-roasted tomatoes with liquid
3 cartons (about 9 cups) of chicken broth (low-sodium is okay)
2 cup of shredded carrots
2 cups of chopped celery
salt and pepper to taste
1 small jalapeno pepper (remove seeds to decrease the heat)
2 large cans of sweet corn
½ cup of fresh lime juice

Chop the onions and garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add in celery and sauté mixture until translucent. Transfer to crock pot. Add chicken broth and tomatoes along with taco seasoning, chili powder and cumin. Pull chicken off the bone, discarding skin, and add to soup mixture. Stir gently until all ingredients are well combined. Simmer on high for about 20 -30 minutes. Add corn and carrots and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently. Simmer on low for 1 hour stirring occasionally. To finish, stir in lime juice, chopped cilantro and drizzle with more olive oil. Serve topped with baked or fried tortilla strips. Makes about 10-12 servings. Serve with a cold beer or a hearty red wine and enjoy!

Now that winter’s here I use my crock pot all of the time for chili, stews, short ribs and vegetable soups. I throw everything in the crock pot the night before and the next morning I have a gorgeous one-pot meal ready for that night’s dinner. Sometimes mother does know best.