BLT Sandwiches

A summer staple sandwich is the good ole BLT!  At the end of the season when tomatoes are at their prime is a perfect time to make BLTs for dinner.  This is a basic recipe, but quite delicious nonetheless.  Enjoy!

Servings:  2

Size:  1 BLT sandwich

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:

4 slices of bread, whole wheat or 12 grain

2 Tbsp. light butter

1 large tomato

6 large lettuce leaves

4 slices of bacon

Directions:

Cook the bacon according to the package directions.  Toast the bread and then lightly butter each slice.  Wash and tear the lettuce leaves into generous size leaves.  Wash and slice the tomato into hearty slices.  Once the bacon is done cooking, assemble each sandwich by layering lettuce, tomato and topping with bacon. 

Tip:

Although regular bacon is delicious, it isn’t as healthy as turkey bacon! Substitute turkey bacon to cut back on points, but without completely sacrificing taste and flavor!

XOXO Megan

Couscous Salad with Tomatoes, Green Onions & Feta

This is a really quick salad that I like to serve as a light meal.  Check it out - feel free to add different ingredients if you want to change up the flavor profile!  Starting with a base of a plain couscous mix, your options are unlimited.

Servings:  6

Size:  1/6 of the salad

Points Plus: 7pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

1 box couscous, plain
1 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1 cup feta, reduced-fat
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:

In a saucepan, cook the couscous according to the directions on the box.  I used 1 cup water and 1 cup chicken broth to add some extra flavor.  I also reduced the olive oil by half to cut down on pp.  While the couscous is cooking, you can wash and prep the cherry tomatoes and green onions.  After the couscous is done, transfer it into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the veggies, feta and any salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!
Tip:
You can subsitute in other types of couscous if you want.  They do make a whole wheat version.  My other favorites include parmesan and toasted pine nut varities!

XOXO Megan

Summer Vegetable & Garbanzo Bean Salad

This is a perfect light, refreshing summer salad to serve at a BBQ with friends and family.  It comes together quickly and is full of delicious veggies so it is relatively low in pp!  Leftovers would make for a perfect light lunch pair with a piece of fruit.

Servings: 8

Size: 1/8 of the salad

Points Plus: 5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

1 14 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 English cucumber, diced

3 green onions, diced

1 orange bell pepper, diced

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Dressing:

¼ cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the garbanzo beans, tomatoes, cucumber, onions and bell pepper in a large bowl.  In a small Pyrex measuring cup; whisk together the lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and salt & pepper until mixed well.  Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.  Just before serving, stir in the crumbled feta and fresh basil.

Tip:

Chopping up fresh herbs can be kind of a pain.  My favorite way to make sure the herbs are finely chopped is to use a good pair of kitchen scissors!  Crate & Barrel even makes a pair of scissors specically for use with herbs if you are interested - check them out here!

XOXO Megan

Greek Chopped Salad

A Greek salad is my go to salad – I never get sick of the combination of these ingredients!  Although chopped salads require extra prep since you have lots of veggies to wash and chop, I think they are well worth it and delicious.

Servings:  2

Size:  Main course salad

Points Plus: 6pp (does not include pp value for dressing)

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

Chopped romaine
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
1 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
½ cup crumbled feta, reduced-fat
12 Kalamata olives, halved

Directions:

Chop up hearts of romaine and plate out portions for two main course salads. Wash and chop up your other veggies (cucumber, bell pepper, celery and grape tomatoes), make sure they are chopped into smaller pieces since this is a chopped salad.  Open a can of chickpeas and rinse and drain.  Slice the olives in half.  Throw everything into a large bowl to mix thoroughly.  Add in the crumbled feta and serve with your favorite dressing – I would recommend some sort of vinaigrette.

 

XOXO Megan

Good Earth Turkey Sandwiches

This is a great lunch recipe and it happens to be my mom’s signature dish!  She loves to make these sandwiches.  A good hearty multi-grain bread works best with this recipe, especially since sandwich is open-faced so you are only eating one slice of bread. 

Servings:  2

Size:  1 open-faced sandwich

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time:  5 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

2 slices of multi-grain or harvest bread

2 Tbsp. stone-ground mustard

4 ounces turkey, deli meat

Cucumber, thinly sliced

2 slices provolone, reduced fat

Directions:

Toast the bread slices in the toaster.  Spread a layer of stone-ground mustard on one side of each slice.  Layer on 2 ounces of turkey, top with a layer of thinly sliced cucumber slices.  Finally, top each open faced sandwich with a slice of provolone cheese.  Broil the sandwiches for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Tip:

You can really amp up the veggies on these sandwiches if you want.  I normally make them with sprouts, but didn’t find any at the store when I was shopping last.  You can add sprouts, sliced tomatoes, or even green peppers –all without adding any additional points to your meal!

XOXO Megan

Scallion, Egg & Tomato Sandwiches

Looking for a quick lunch idea?  These sandwiches are easy to make and don’t take too many ingredients. I took a Skinnytaste recipe found here, and made some modifications.  I substituted reduced fat cream cheese in for the mayo and used English muffins instead of sandwich rolls.  We almost always have English muffins on hand so these were an easy change – I rarely buy sandwich rolls.  These would make a great light dinner on nights when it’s hot and you don’t want to turn the oven on!

Servings:  2

Size:  2 open-faced English muffin halves

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:

2 English muffins

2 Tbsp. cream cheese, 1/3 less fat

Tomato

Scallions, chopped

2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Hard boil the eggs, let them cool before slicing.  Toast the English muffins.  Spread about ½ Tbsp. of cream cheese on each English muffin half.  Wash and chop the scallions and slice the tomato.  Assemble each open faced sandwich by putting scallions first, then tomato and finally egg on top.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tip:

Of course you can assemble the sandwich any way you like, but after making these the first time I switched up the order to follow the directions above.  My ingredients were all over the plate instead of staying put on the sandwich.  By starting with the scallions, they will stick to the cream cheese instead of falling off.  The weight of the egg also helps hold the tomato slices in place too.

XOXO Megan

Southwest Chopped Salad

This salad is full of flavors and bright colors!  I love all the colors throughout; it definitely reminds me of summer.  I found the original recipe on Pinterest and I adapted it slightly by adding in some avocado.  The recipe calls for a homemade cilantro-lime dressing found here.  It sounded DELICIOUS, but I had to opt for a store-bought dressing for a few reasons. 

1. I’m moving soon and have already packed up my blender. 

2. Although the recipe says to make the dressing in either a blender or food processor, I really think it would work best in a food processor and unfortunately I don’t have one.  Hopefully sometime soon I will have this kitchen tool since it’s on my wedding registry :)

Servings: 6

Size:   1/6 of the salad

Points Plus: 5pp
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:

Large head of romaine lettuce

1 large orange bell pepper

5 green onions

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz. can of corn, drained

1 medium avocado, diced

Directions:

Wash and finely chop the romaine, bell pepper and green onions.  Wash and quarter the cherry tomatoes.  Open the cans of black beans and corn, drain and rinse. Dice the avocado.  Add all ingredients into a large bowl, stir to combine.  Toss salad with your desired dressing and enjoy!

Tip:

Don’t underestimate the size of the bowl you need to mix up this salad!  There are lots of veggies in this recipe and you will want a bowl big enough that you can really fully mix all the ingredients in.  Also, a little tip for really brining out the flavor or your avocado. Sprinkle some salt on top of your salad with fresh avocado - the salt will really heighten the taste of the avocado - yum!

XOXO Megan

Snobby Joes?

Have you ever heard of Snobby Joes? Sloppy Joes more snooty relative?  I saw a friend post this cooking concept on Facebook and had to try.  When making Snobby Joes you sub the meat for lentils.  Now, I don't think these taste like Sloppy Joes, but they do resemble the texture and look.  This recipe is ridiculously low in points plus (pp), and because of that, you could put it on any bread of your choosing to make a tasty meal.  The pp below only include the Snobby Joe part, so remember to add extra points for your choice of bread and toppings (in this case I topped with 2 T. reduced fat cheddar for an extra 1 pp, and light bread for 1pp per slice)

In case you don't know a lot about lentils, they are extremely filling which is why I made the serving size 1/2 cup (or enough for two open faced Snobby Joes).  Also, if you haven't seen this clip from Billy Madison, I suggest you watch it immediately.

Servings: 10

Size: 1/2 cup

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked lentils, rinsed

4 cups water

1 T. olive oil

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. chili powder

2 t. oregano

1 t. Kosher salt

2 cup tomato sauce*

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 T. maple syrup

1 T. yellow mustard

Directions:

Place uncooked lentils and water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer 20 minutes.  Drain and put back into pan.

Preheat oil in medium saucepan sautee onion and pepper about 8 minutes.  Add minced garlic during last minute of sautee. Add veggie mixture to lentils.

Add chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato sauce and tomato paste to lentils and veggies.  Cook on low for about 10 minutes. Add maple syrup and mustard and heat through. 

Turn off heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes.

Tip:

How many times have you opened a can of tomato paste just to toss the leftovers?  I mean, I don't think a recipe exists that calls for a whole can of tomato paste (ok maybe some chillis but you catch my drift). Have you ever seen THIS! It's tubed tomato paste, with a little cap that you can put on to SAVE the paste for it's next use.  I personally think the tubed paste is of higher quality than the can and tastes better. Check it out the next time you are grocery shopping.

*CONFESSION: After making this recipe, writing this post, cleaning up the kitchen and looking back I realized that I accidentally used marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce! Everything above is with tomato sauce, and I think they would taste more like Sloppy Joes if you did.  Try it out and let us know what you think!

Harvest Blend + Leeks

I love grains because they are soooooooo versatile.  You can add practically anything to them to create tons of flavorful combos to serve as a fun side or even a main meal over your favorite type of greens.

ie:
Quinoa + black beans + salsa + cilantro = Mexican burrito bowl
Brown rice + tomatoes + red onion + cucumbers + feta = Greek!
Bulgar wheat + apples + onion + roasted butternut squash = unique fall treat

So, clean out your fridge and get cooking with your grains!

Anyways,  the above are fun combos and everything, but have you ever had Harvest Grain Blend from TRADER JOES?? It is a perfect combo of couscous, orzo, red quinoa AND baby garbanzo beans (cute)!  It is creamy, filling and I swear it slightly resembles the flavor of macaroni and cheese, for real!  Anyways, I am also a huge fan of onions, and had some leeks to use up, so created the delicious dish below! It is a mix of sweet and savory and color and crunch!

Servings: 2

Size: Generous cup

Points Plus: 9pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10-12 mins

Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredient List:

1 1/4 cup Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend

2 1/2 cup water

1 leek
1 t. olive oil

2 T. sliced almonds

2 T. craisins

Salt

Pepper

1/4 cup reduced fat feta

Directions:

Cook Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend (mmmmmm) according to package directions on the stove*. Set aside. Dice leek into desired size pieces. Separate leek and rinse in a colander to remove any dirt and grime. Heat olive oil on stove and saute leeks until cooked through, about five minutes. Add leeks, sliced almonds, craisins, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix up and add feta, allow it to melt just a bit.  Serve warm!

Tip: 

You can cook a lot of grains in a rice cooker (it is the only way I cook quinoa). BUT, I tried this in the old rice cooker and it didn't turn out.  Cook the Harvest Grain Blend on the stove and add more water if unnecessary. 

XOXO Katie

Summer Fiesta Bean Salad

This recipe is delicious and packed with fiber and healthy fats.  It’s good to find ways to fit power foods into your daily eating because they tend to keep you feeling satisfied longer after eating.  This dish is packed with power foods! I served it as a main dish the first time I made it, but you could easily use it as a side and serve it with grilled chicken or fish.

Servings:  4 (recipe will make 4 1/3 cups)

Size:  A little more than 1 cup

Points Plus: 7 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

*Recipe from Skinnytaste.com

Ingredient List:

1 clove garlic, minced

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

½ tsp. salt

15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 c. canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved

¼ c. red onion, finely diced

¼ c. cilantro, chopped

1 medium avocado, diced

Directions:

Combine the garlic, lime juice, oil, cumin, crushed red pepper and salt in a small Pyrex measuring cup; whisk until mixed well.  In a large bowl, add the black beans, chickpeas, tomato, onion and cilantro; mix well.  Pour the cumin-lime vinaigrette over the salad and mix together.  Add the avocado and gently fold in; serve immediately.

Tip:

If you plan to eat the entire recipe in one sitting, feel free to add the avocado.  If not, I would recommend you only add avocado to what you plan to serve.  Although the lime will help keep the avocado from browning, you will want to use fresh avocado every time so you are eating fresh looking and tasting ingredients.

XOXO - Megan

Summer Orzo Salad

Hi! Hello! Shalom, Ciao, Salut!

Welcome to Fork & Knife & Spoon, a fun food blog designed to encourage YOU to eat your way to a healthier lifestyle. We are Katie and Megan, cousins and MN transplants and now cooking for two. We have a passion for cooking, baking, and most importantly EATing.

Our blog will:

• Feature healthy, mostly healthy, and on occasion not healthy (we believe in occasional indulgences) recipes - both our own originals and the best from around the web!!
• Tips and tricks
• Reviews, products we love, new ingredients, restaurants, you name it!
• A few fun surprises...stay tuned!

We hope you enjoy reading, and learn a little something along the way.  And with no further ado........

Who likes orzo!?
Who likes cucumber!?
Who likes feta!?
Who likes the non-spring like temps!?

This super easy orzo salad recipe will remind you of warmer temperatures no matter what time of year. It is versatile, filling, tasty and most importantly healthy.  It is loosely based off of Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp and Orzo, but modified to cut the cals, sodium and time.

Servings: 6
Size: 1 cup
Points Plus: 5pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
Kosher salt
Good olive oil
3/4 pound orzo pasta (rice-shaped pasta)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts
1 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 cucumbers, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped red pepper
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
3/4 pound good feta cheese, large diced


Directions:
Fill a large pot with water, add 1 pinch of salt and a splash of oil, and bring the water to a boil. Add the orzo and simmer for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked al dente. Drain and pour into a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, 1/8 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Pour over the hot pasta and stir well.

Add the scallions, dill, parsley, cucumber, onion to the orzo. Toss well. Add the feta and stir carefully. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend, or refrigerate overnight. If refrigerated, taste again for seasonings and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Tip: 
I prefer kosher salt to any other.  You only need a pinch to add an amazing amount of flavor. Make your husband buy you one of these cute little salt cellars from Crate and Barrel and you are in business!

XOXO Katie