Scallion Dip with Cucumbers

The past couple of bags from my farm share have been chock full of scallions, and I haven't been great about using them up. I happen to love scallions, and it occurred to me that they might be incredibly good as the primary ingredient in a dip. So think of this as the healthy version of full-fat-heart-attack-french-onion-dip. I also had several cucumbers on hand from last week's bag, hence this tasty, simple combo:

1 1/4c Fage fat free plain Greek Yogurt
1 large young green onion
1 cucumber
fresh ground sea salt and pepper

Slice the green onion thin. Combine the yogurt, green onion, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Peel the cucumber—I like to do it the way my mom alwas did, leaving slivers of the skin for color—then slice the cucumber into hearty slices to handle the dip. That's it! Enjoy your quick and easy 27g.

Warm Greens and Young Onions with Scallion Cottage Cheese

These two dishes don't have to be served together by any means, it just happens to be what I felt like eating. But both are surprisingly delicious. (Maybe one of these days I'll stop being so shocked at how tasty health food can be!)

Warm Greens and Young Onions
2 large young onions (just the bulb part of a scallion)
1 T. butter
1 large bunch/3 small bunches swiss chard
1 T. rice vinegar
sea salt & pepper

Slice the onions thin and set aside. Rinse the swiss chard very well (don't worry about drying) and chop roughly, using both the leafy greens and the stems. Toss the swiss chard into a heated pan with 1/2T. butter and a splash of rice vinegar and cover until cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.

Next, sautée the sliced onions in the same pan with the remaining butter and some fresh ground salt and pepper. Stir regularly until the onions are warmed through and becoming transparent.

Top the cooked swiss chard with the warm onions and serve.

Note: I don't usually cook with added fats, but here, the butter has a big impact. Plus, after eating a very low fat diet for a while, even just a little butter goes a long way for your taste buds.



Scallion Cottage Cheese
3/4c 1% cottage cheese
1 large young onion (just the green part of a scallion)
sea salt & pepper

This is really SO good (and a cinch). If you're one of those people who think you hate cottage cheese, or have never been able to get past the texture, this recipe might turn you around. It made me fall in love all over again. In fact, I just might eat this every day this week! 

Just slice the scallion very thin and mix into the cottage cheese. Top with a good bit of coarse ground salt and pepper and stir together. 

The greens with onions are packed with vitamins, and the cottage cheese is full of lean protein—27g of it. I hope you love both!

Beet, Green Onion and Goat Cheese Salad

This is one of the best recipes I've had lately, all thanks to two wonderful things: my CSA newsletter, where I got the delicious recipe. (Nope, can't claim to have come up with this one on my own!) And a new discovery at Wegmans, reduced fat goat cheese by Coach Farm. With less than half the fat of regular, this goat cheese is not quite as good as full fat when you taste it alone, but top it on a salad or anything else, and you won't even know the difference. This takes a bit of time to prepare because of the fresh beets.

Ingredients:
2–3 medium beets
1 T. olive oil (optional—I skipped it)
2 T. apple cider vinegar
2 green onions, sliced thin
3 oz. goat cheese

Remove any greens from the beets, scrub them clean and boil for about 20 minutes, until they are fork tender. Allow them to cool. Once cooled, peel off the skins and cut into wedges.

Toss together the beets, vinegar, green onions and olive oil (if you're using it), then crumble the goat cheese on top and serve. Enjoy!

Green Goddess Summer Salad

The start of the CSA season calls for meals like this! Really, nothing says summer like a plateful of bright, organic greens with fresh ground pepper and a light but creamy dressing.

Salad:
whatever greens you have on hand (I used watercress, romaine, and green leaf lettuce)
fresh dill
thinly sliced scallions
1 T. shredded pecorino romano cheese

Dressing:
3T. non fat plain Greek yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
green goddess spice blend
2T. water

Rinse and tear up your greens and toss together. Top with the fresh chopped dill, scallions and cheese.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a mason jar or cruet and shake vigorously to blend. Then just drizzle on your lovely salad—and don't be stingy, it's fat free and sugar free, remember?!

I had this with 1/2c of cottage cheese on the side (with a little of the dressing mixed in to that, too) to make up my 27g. Happy summer!

Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip

We love to entertain, but it's tough to please normal human beings with diet-friendly foods. So next time you want to make sure there's something on the table for everyone, consider adding this into the mix:

3 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved, deseeded and chopped
16oz. fat free cream cheese
garlic salt
cilantro
hungarian hot paprika
1 bunch organic celery

This is pretty darn easy. Stir together the cream cheese with garlic salt, fresh chopped cilantro and a little hungarian hot paprika to taste. Form into a ball (refrigerate for a while first if too soft), and roll the ball around in the chopped jalapeno.

Set the cheese ball on your serving plate and sprinke with a little extra paprika for color. Then slice off the top layer of the ball so that it reveals the cream cheese dip—that way your non-spice-loving guests can dig right in without encountering a ton of peppers. (But if you're like me, you'll pile on the jalapenos. Plus, rumor has it that spicy foods can boost your metabolism, a nice added bonus!)

Serve with plenty of fresh celery and/or bell peppers for a nice crunchy contrast.

You'd have to eat an awful lo of this dip to make 27g of protein; 3T = 6g. But, free of carbs and fat, it's a good start!

Zucchini Pizza Stacks

In the mood for pizza? Me, too. Like, every day.

The good news is that you can (sorta) get your pizza fix even on a healthy diet. This recipe is full of cheesy deliciousness that won't break the calorie bank.

You'll need:

1 small yellow zucchini
1 small green zucchini
1/2c fat free ricotta
1/2c fat free shredded mozzarella
1 small jar pizza sauce (you won't use all of it, so definitely get a jar— not a can—then you can close it up and use the rest another time)
fresh basil
fresh ground salt and pepper

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and preheat your oven to 400°.

Slice the zucchini thin (about 1/8" thickness) and lay out half of the slices—preferrably the bigger ones—onto the baking tray for the bases. Top each slice with an equal amount of ricotta till gone, then with a tiny dollop of sauce, then a little bit of mozzarella. Layer again, this time with the smaller zucchini slices, a little more sauce, and the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Be careful not to overdo it with the sauce, otherwise you'll end up with a sloppy mess, not to mention a boatload of added sodium and carbs that you don't want.

Put the pizza stacks in the oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve topped with fresh ground salt, pepper and a piece of fresh basil on each stack.

Provides 1 person a satisfying meal, with the usual 27g of protein, nada on the fat spectrum, and super low on the carb-o-meter.

Cold Broccoli Soup

Yes, that's what I said—Cold Broccoli Soup. It is actually good. And with warm weather just around the corner, I think you'll thank me:

Ingredients:
3c broccoli florets
2c Better Than Boullion no chicken broth
2 1/2c Fage fat free plain Greek yogurt

Cook broccoli florets in the broth until they are fork-tender. Blend the cooked broccoli and broth together using an immersion blender and let cool. Once at room temp, add the yogurt and blend again. (Important: do not add the yogurt when the broth/broccoli mixture is still hot. Greek yogurt doesn't react well with heat and tends to curdle. So stick it in the fridge for a bit if you're in a hurry, but definitely don't combine too soon.)

Chill, and eat whenever!

Pretty quick, super easy, and it makes 2 large servings of soup stacked with protein and veggie goodness. Enjoy!