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A friend asked me recently if we could come up with any recipes using leeks. So I looked online for some ideas, and came up with this recipe,

Ingredients

Wholegrain pasta
Chicken
Leeks
Mushrooms
Chicken stock
Soy milk (unsweetened)
Olives
Grated low-fat cheddar
Pine nuts (optional)
A little bit of low-fat margarine

Lightly saute some cut up chicken in low-fat margarine until cooked. Add in chopped leeks and continue sauteing. Add some chicken stock and cover. Let cook for a while. Add a bit of soy milk and let cook for a while. Pour into a baking pan with pasta and sliced mushrooms. Cover the top with grated cheddar cheese and add some pine nuts. Bake in the oven until pasta is cooked. Top with sliced olives and serve.

The picture shows the dish without pine nuts. I think pine nuts roasting with the cheese on top would be a nice touch to this dish. The olives give it a slightly salty taste to the otherwise sweet (due to the leeks). Our chicken stock was also homemade and remember to use wholegrain pasta!

Mmm mmmm. I never thought to try a leek recipe before this. But I was intrigued when it was suggested. I do like the taste of leek, which isn't as strong as a raw onion, but light and sweet. I also kind of like the look it gives the baked pasta :o).

Leeks are really quite the healthy vegetable. According to The World's Healthiest Foods, it's a good source of manganese, vitamin C, iron, folate and vitamin B6. Research has shown it to be very good at stabilising blood sugar, lowers the risk of ovarian cancer for women, reduces bad cholesterol and reduces the risk of prostate and colon cancer. The only safety precaution that needs to be taken when eating leeks is that it has a measurable amount of oxalates, which when becomes too concentrated in body fluids, can crystalise and this becomes a problem. Those with existing (and especially untreated) kidney and gallbladder problems are adviced to avoid the leek.

Fresh leeks can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Once cooked, they become highly perishable and can only keep for two days in the refrigerator. Happy cooking!

The first time we tried this recipe was about five months ago. The local grocery store where we were at back then sold this fresh, creamy french feta cheese. One day, we happened to mix it with some pasta and other things, and it simply melted into a cream sauce-type thing.

We wanted the same effect tonight, but the only feta available at the stores here is the crumbly type in oil. So we heated up some soy milk, threw in some herbs, and crushed the (5% fat) feta into the milk. Then we threw everything else into that, and basically got the above result.

What went in?

Mushrooms, chopped chilies, tomatoes, lightly sauteed garlic in olive oil (fresh garlic gives it too much bite and spice), green olives, shrimp, spinach, and wholegrain pasta.

I maintain that creamy pastas do not have to have a lot of fat in it :o).

Tip of the day: We like to keep and use the water that we cook our pasta in. Mr Green likes to drink it. I'm not opposed to that, but I prefer to use it as a sauce thickener, or sometimes, a sauce in itself. Tonight we used it to thicken the soy milk-cheese mix. When I'm using a tomato-based sauce, pasta water can be used for the same purpose. Or brown rice water. I've read that restaurant chefs also use pasta water in their cooking. The thicker, the better. So don't throw away your pasta water, help save the world's water, today!

After writing my previous post, I was a little disappointed for not doing more with the beets and brussel sprouts. I made up my mind to try something creative, so I took one of my already-cooked beets and made it into a sort of pasta sauce. After putting the cooked beet, uncooked brussel sprouts, and uncooked carrots through a garlic press (hey, I work with what I've got), I poured in some tomato sauce and seasoned with salt, oregano and basil. I was feeling hungry so I didn't cook it at all and skipped even my normal garlic and olive oil routine, which in hindsight probably would've worked well. The result was good, but I used a whole beet (the one's here are quite large) so the ratios were a little off, and a tiny bit of the beet taste remained. Maybe for some that's a good thing, but for me its back to the cutting board! Until next time...

I felt like something creamy and heavy today. But I didn't want the high fat content. So I searched around for a recipe for cream or cheese sauce that doesn't use any butter. The following is what I came up with, and it turned out pretty well!

Ingredients (estimated portions)

2 cups of finely grated low-fat cheese (I used cheddar)
4 tbs of whole grain flour
2 cups of soy milk (unsweetened. I'll never use soy milk with added sugar if I can help it)
1 tbs of oregano
Kale
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Sun-dried tomatoes

Notice that these portions are just approximate portions. That's what happens when you're playing around in the kitchen. So feel free to play around with your own portions according to taste. By the way, this might happen quite a lot, having to quote estimated portions :o).

Mix the cheese, flour and oregano together. Make sure the cheese is coated with the flour. Heat the milk, then mix in the cheese mixture slowly, constantly stirring it until it melts and thickens. You can add or reduce the milk to your preferred thickness.

Cut up the kale and steam them separately. Kale has a bitter taste to it and so I prefer to always steam them first.

Once the sauce is nice and thick, add in the broccoli and mushrooms. Cook it a little while with the sauce, then add in the kale and sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve over whole grain pasta.

Yummilicious, was creaaaamy and tasted heavy, but low in fat :o).