Frozen Vegetables Make Tasty Side Dishes

I always keep frozen vegetables on hand to make quick, healthy, and easy side dishes. Truthfully, I can enjoy a bowl of  low fat healthy veggies within 7 minutes from start to finish. 

So, no more excuses for not cooking veggies! 

Frozen vegetables are a great way to make sure you eat vegetables daily. 

I also freeze fresh ginger to grate in the skillet of vegetables. 

Keep fresh garlic frozen in the freezer ( don't peel it). To use it, simply grate it with the peel.

Freshly grated ginger tastes great with sautéed broccoli. 

I keep fresh organic ginger in the freezer in small baggies. It stays fresh for about 6 months. 

I wash and dry it whole (just the way it comes) before freezing it. 

Then I simply grate it frozen into the pan as needed and return the unused ginger to the baggy and back to the freezer.  The flavor is amazing. 

This simple, healthy, easy side dish was sooooo delicious that I felt I needed to share it. 

 I cooked up a bag of organic broccoli and some organic green beans (bought at a reasonable price at Costco). 

Recipe: Quick Frozen Broccoli and Green Beans With Ginger : 

I used a wide skillet. I poured in the bag of broccoli into the skillet and then added about a large handful of frozen green beans, 1/2 cup of water and grated freshly ginger on top, salt and garlic powder. Cook uncovered on a medium flame for about 5 minutes! (adding 1/4 cup of water while cooking if water evaporates)

Why I keep frozen vegetables in the freezer?

• Most frozen vegetables are frozen as soon as they are harvested, thus they retain the greatest amount of nutrients. 
• Fresh vegetables such as broccoli are shipped for a few days and then sit in the supermarket often for a few days or more. By the time we eat it, the nutritional value may have deteriorated. 
• My time schedule and lifestyle is unpredictable. I often buy fresh vegetables with great intentions, only to find out that we ate out or I just didn't cook them and they went bad!
• If I buy frozen, they can stay in the freezer for months. 
• I don't need to clean them and chop them, therefore I am more likely to actually make them.
• 
  

Not 

Recipe for sugar snap peas and ginger with sesame seeds 

Not Mushy 

If you cook frozen broccoli or frozen green beans in a skillet with just 1/2 cup of water to start for about 4 minutes uncovered,  they stay firm and bright green.

My favorite frozen vegetables: 

• Organic broccoli- Costco sells a large bag with 4 individual sized bags inside 
• Organic cauliflower rice- Costco for large bags with 4 individual bags or Trader Joe's for one 12 ounce bag.  
• Organic edamame - Whole Foods one bag
• Organic cauliflower-One bag at Whole Foods 
• Organic sweet peppers (red and green) one bag at Whole Foods which I use added to other vegetable dishes or for soup recipes.
• Organic peas - One bag at Whole Foods 
• Frozen organic artichoke quarters- One bag Trader Joe's
• Frozen Baby Brussels Sprouts (for Baby Brussels Sprout Soup)-I buy a bag from Hanover brand at most supermarkets and use them in stir-fry (with broth not oil) or soup.

Plain Cauliflower Rice (Heated in skillet with 1/2 cup of water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder).
Can beused it in place of rice! Try my cauliflower rice fiesta recipe that follows.


Cauliflower Rice Fiesta Recipe Link

 Frozen Baby Brussels Sprout Soup

Roasted Carrot Appetizer With Cumin Seeds and Tahini Maple Dip

I am truly excited about this roasted carrot appetizer recipe and you should be too! Why? Because it is not only absolutely easy to make, it is absolutely crazy delicious. 

If you are a reader of my blog, you will know that the last week I made a delicious dip (link)with tahini, maple syrup, and lemon juice. 

Yesterday I was shopping in Costco and I noticed an interesting bag of little bag of multi colored carrots. They were from Guatemala and were hand picked and shaped. They looked so cute, I decided to buy them and make them for an appetizer for the dinner party I was having. 

At first, I thought I would serve them as a vegetable side dish drizzled with the tahini sauce which would have been great ! 

But then I realized that they would also make an amazing appetizer as well, and I needed an appetizer for a party I was giving. (I forgot to take a good photo) 

All of my guests raved about the carrot appetizer. These beautiful looking roasted carrots with cumin seeds were the BIG hit!

I served the roasted carrots as an appetizer along with my maple tahini sauce for dipping which totally enhanced the flavors of the carrots! 

Ingredients: 

1 bag of cocktail carrots (as seen above)

1/2 cup of acquafaba (the liquid from cooking chickpeas or from canned chickpeas- I use it in place of olive oil) 

2 tablespoon of cumin seeds 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper 

Wash and dry the carrots 

Brush carrots with acquafaba ( If you use oil, spray with olive oil spray) 

Sprinkle on the cumin seeds and salt

Place in the oven and roast for  20 -25 minutes until carrots are soft.

Remove from oven. 

My Notes: 

• For a side dish, arrange carrots in a serving dish and drizzle with the tahini maple syrup sauce. 
• For an appetizer, arrange the carrots on a flat serving dish and put the tahini maple syrup dip in a small bowl for a dip.

Tahini Maple Party Dip- Easy and Delicious

The flavors of creamy tahini and sweet maple syrup are a match made in heaven!

Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands-Our Adventure

We visited Green Cay Wetlands in Boyton Beach, (Florida) with our dear friends Fay and Howie who rented a place in Boynton Beach. The incredible area overlooks 100 acres of wetlands and hosts a one and a half mile elevated boardwalk that takes you directly into the wetlands. 

Gorgeous Valentine Roses

Happy Valentines Day and what says " I Love You" better than red roses?

I live in a high rise condo building with over 600 units. The building is home to a diverse population of people including families with children, senior citizens, and singles with a variety of backgrounds and cultures. 

Mardi Gras and Recipes- Plant-Based and Gluten Free

Mardi Gras is a festive carnival celebration that takes place in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana prior to the start of lent.

Food is a big part of the celebration and is unique to the area. See my plant-based recipes below.

12 of My Favorite Chickpea Recipes

Chickpeas are a great source of plant-based protein and are filling and delicious. They happen to be my favorite legume, and I like to use them in many of my recipes.

 I started publishing my blog over 12 years ago, so many of my recipes may have been seen and forgotten or never seen by my current readers. 

I decided to rummage through some of my older chickpea recipes and re-share them in one post.

Chickpeas are used in recipes from countries all over the world. They are versatile, inexpensive, low in fat, high in protein and fiber and are satisfying. 

Do you like chickpeas? Do you use them? 

Are you concerned with eating less animal protein ? Do you try to make more plant-based meals? 

Nori Seaweed Wraps

Nori is the type of seaweed that comes in flat dry sheets in packages. It is perfect for making wraps, eating toasted, adding to soup or salads. It has been a staple in Asian cultures for hundreds of years, and it is the seaweed that is used to make sushi. 

Nori is one of the mildest and tastiest seaweeds. 

13 Healthy Plant-Based Super Bowl Snack Ideas

Super Bowl time is almost here, and you can be a super hero by eating and serving healthy plant based snacks and appetizers while watching the game this year. Take a look at some of my easy healthy recipes, and see if any of these appetizers/snacks appeal to you. 

Apple Nachos (link to recipe) with a chocolate date sauce.

In My Kitchen - February

Welcome to my February post for " In My Kitchen". I join Sherry at Sherry's Pickings Blog (link) where you can view mine and other blogger's posts to see what's happening in everyone's kitchen each month. 

This month I've discovered nori which is the seaweed used to make sushi. I actually did not make sushi, but I have enjoyed using the seaweed in various ways such as making low fat, low calorie wraps. I'll be sharing that post this soon.

I bought two new matching bowls for my kitchen last month. You can't tell from the photo but they are two different sizes. 

This is the smaller bowl. I have not decided what to use it for yet.

This bowl is the larger bowl and I keep fruit in it. I changed the look of my kitchen a little from modern white bowls to dressier glass bowls for fruit. 

My actual winter Florida kitchen is not spacious enough to be an eat in kitchen, so directly outside of the kitchen is a dinette area where 

we eat. 

On our visit to see family in Israel this past May, I picked up this cheerful key holder. It's been in the box for months, and I finally decided to hang it in my kitchen. Shalom means hello, good bye, or peace!

We had company one day and I put out stuffed grape leaves as an appetizer.

I also served stuffed baby portobello mushrooms with spinach and tofu filling. I have not posted the recipe yet. 

If you read my previous post for toasted croutons, you may have seen this meal I made for my husband of chopped tomatoes, yellow rice, and toasted tofu in the air-fryer! He seasoned it with lemon juice and a few drops of sesame oil. I seasoned my plate with lemon and za'atar (no oil)

This is a large melamine carrot plate that sits on my counter and holds fruit. I like to put oranges in it. I sometimes use it as a serving piece when I host a brunch.

 That's all that new for this month's post. 

 Thanks Sherry for hosting IMK.