Crockpot (or Stovetop) Recipe for Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk

Lately I've been making soup like crazy, because when it snows for days on end nothing sounds as warming as a big bowl of soup.  I love to make soup as much as I love to eat soup, even if I don't especially care for the weather that inspires all this soup-making.  This soup was my version of a Thai Coconut Curry Soup I spotted on Jeanette's Healthy Living.  I changed the Thai curry paste to curry powder which I thought would hold up better in the slow cooker, and also changed the proportions of the recipe a bit for a slightly different riff on Jeannete's soup recipe.  I enjoyed this with a generous dollop of fat-free Greek yogurt, which didn't make it into the photo, and this is a soup I'll definitely be making again.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary and Balsamic Vinegar

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites November 2010.) Butternut squash is something I learned to love from my grandmother Denny, who'd roast big pieces of it on a cookie sheet and then mash it with lots of butter, salt, and pepper. Of course that tasted great, but when I make this roasted butternut squash tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and just a touch of rosemary, I don't miss the butter at all. I first tried this recipe back in 2006, and I've made it many times since so I decided it was time to finally update this post with better photos. This recipe is about as easy as they come, especially if you use those pre-cut squash cubes that start to show up at this time of year. If you're cutting your own squash (which is the way I like to do it) you might want to read How to Peel and Cut Up a Butternut Squash before you start.

Click to continue reading

A Shiny New Look for Kalyn's Kitchen (and Much Thanks to Jennette and Rand!)

Surprise, it's a brand new look!
For months now behind-the-scenes tinkering has been going on around here as I worked with Jennette from Make My Blog Pretty and my brother Rand to create a new look for Kalyn's Kitchen. Jennette did the website design and Rand did the graphics to create an updated blog I hope you're going to love as much as I do. Later tonight the switcheroo will take place, as I'm biting my fingernails and probably refreshing the page multiple times a minute.

Click to continue reading

Crockpot Recipe for Double Lentil, Sausage, Brown Rice, and Spinach Soup

A few weeks ago I made this soup on a day when my brother Rand happened to be in Utah visiting for my dad's 85th birthday party. Rand always likes to try out my leftover cooking experiments when he's visiting, and he loved this soup so much that when he went back home he asked if he could have the recipe *before* it was posted on the blog. I'm always in debt to Rand for the beautiful headers and graphics he creates for the blog, so of course I was only too happy to send off the recipe by e-mail. Rand made the soup for friends in L.A. who also want the recipe now, so I decided I better hurry and get it posted!

Click to continue reading

Friday Favorites: Five Favorite Recipes Using Leftover Turkey

I hope all my U.S. readers had a lovely Thanksgiving day spent relaxing with family and friends with plenty of tasty food. If you cooked a turkey for the big day, chances are you now have leftover turkey that you'd like to turn into something that's a slightly different take on the turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes you had today. A few years ago I picked my Top Ten List of Leftover Turkey Recipes. Since then I've posted more ideas for leftover turkey, and when I decided to narrow it down to five favorites, I was surprised at how hard it was! But after giving it some thought, here are my five picks, starting with this Leftover Turkey (or Chicken) Casserole with Brown Rice, Mushrooms, Sour Cream, Cheese, and Thyme.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Coconut-Lime Turkey (or Chicken) and Rice Soup

In the crazy world of food blogging, if you want to be able to offer readers a new idea for leftover Thanksgiving turkey, you have to cook a turkey, try the recipe, and add it to your Thanksgiving Recipes before Thanksgiving so it will be there after turkey day when people are searching for recipes. I'm not complaining; it's actually kind of fun to stretch out the Thanksgiving food a bit longer. This year I cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot to get leftover turkey and then I had turkey with gravy and Whole Wheat Stuffing Muffins with my dad for lunch one day.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Low-Sugar Spiced Pumpkin Mini Cheesecakes

Low-Sugar Spiced Pumpkin Mini-Cheesecakes for portion control!

I'm back sharing South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes, after an unexpected day off from the internet yesterday when a bad winter storm knocked out power to my house for about 18 hours. I stayed at my sister Sandee's house last night (thanks Sandee!) and luckily I had an iPhone so I didn't feel completely cut off from the world. I was sad that I had to wait a day to share this great recipe for Low-Sugar Spiced Pumpkin Mini-Cheesecakes, because I worked hard testing several different versions before I got one that I loved, and I'm guessing people who are at least aiming for portion control on Thanksgiving will like this idea of pumpkin cheesecake in a single-serving version.

Click to continue reading

Friday Favorites: Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Okay, it's now officially less than a week until Thanksgiving. I bet I'm not the only one who hasn't completely decided what they'll be cooking that day, right? I've been narrowing it down by sharing some of my favorite Thanksgiving Recipes, starting with Five Thanksgiving Favorites and Favorite Green Vegetables for Thanksgiving, and this week I'm picking five more favorite Thanksgiving side dishes, starting with the Whole Wheat and Mushroom Stuffing above that I've made many times since I first posted it.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Green Apple, Celery, and Walnut Salad with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette

We're still counting down to Thanksgiving, and here's another recommendation for our list of diet-friendly Thanksgiving Recipes for anyone who's trying to maintain some semblance of control on the big over-eating day. This recipe is kind of a kicked-up version of the traditional Waldorf Salad you often see on Thanksgiving menus, and after I was completely through making it, taking photos, and eating a big bowl of it for lunch, I had the thought that it would have been nice to toss in a few dried cranberries if you had some. Actually, I didn't have any, so maybe I'm glad I didn't think of it sooner, but I do recommend that variation if you're making this for Thanksgiving.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Baked Artichoke Hearts Au Gratin with Green Onion, Parmesan, and Romano

There's just a little over a week until you have to settle on the side dishes you're cooking for Thanksgiving dinner, and to make it even harder to decide, here's another option I'm adding to our list of South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes. I tested several versions of this Baked Artichoke Hearts Au Gratin on my favorite contractors who are working on the new shed, and they agreed that this version was the one that's a keeper. I used a combination of Parmesan and Pecorino-Romano cheese, but even if you only had Parmesan, I'm sure this would be delicious.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Lebanese Lentil Salad with Garlic, Cumin, Mint, and Parsley

I'm still experimenting with new ideas for South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes, but you can't eat nothing but Thanksgiving side dishes every day even if you're blogging about them, and this Lebanese Lentil Salad is something I'd happily eat all year round. I served this as a side dish with the Pan-Fried and Roasted Pork Chops with Apricot-Mustard Sauce, and I think it would also make a great take-to-work lunch salad. The recipe was adapted from Garlicky Lebanese Lentil Salad in Saveur October 2010, but after I made their version the first time, I changed the proportions a bit for a result with less oil and more lemon to fit my lemon-loving tastebuds.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for 100% Whole Wheat Stuffing "Muffins" with Sausage and Parmesan

We're still mainly focusing on South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes around here, and this recipe for whole wheat stuffing "muffins" took me three tries to get it right, so my house has been smelling like Thanksgiving for days. The final keeper version has a little Parmesan cheese added to the mixture for flavor and to help the "muffins" hold together. Of course, these aren't really muffins, but I love the idea of baking the stuffing in muffin cups so all the edges are nice and crispy. It also helps with portion control, which may or may not be something you care about for Thanksgiving! I did use 100% whole wheat bread and reduced-fat sausage to make the stuffing from scratch, something that makes these stuffing muffins a very flavorful and more healthful option.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Cups with Sour Cream, Chipotle, and Lime

Here's another low-glycemic option to add to our Thanksgiving Recipes, and these sweet potato cups with sour cream, Chipotle, and lime are another example of how I prefer sweet potatoes (sometimes called yams) with savory flavors rather than the traditional "candied" sweet potatoes that some people make for Thanksgiving. It's important to find straight-sided sweet potatoes for this twice-baked sweet potato recipe, where the cups are made of pieces of sweet potato standing on end. The recipe may seem a little labor intensive if you're preparing a big Thanksgiving dinner, but you can make this earlier in the day and do the final baking part right before you serve them. Using a ziploc bag (or a real pastry bag) to squeeze the filling into the sweet potato cups also makes it quick and easy, and makes the cups look pretty.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Pan-Fried and Roasted Pork Chops with Apricot-Dijon Sauce

I still have more South Beach Diet Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes to share before the big day gets here, but let's take a break from Thanksgiving and talk about my new favorite recipe for pork chops with a slightly sweet apricot-mustard sauce. This recipe uses those sugar-free apricot preserves I loved in the recipe for Apricot-Glazed Carrots with Ginger and Curry, so if you bought apricot preserves to make the carrots, you're set. You could even serve the carrots with these pork chops if you'd like a double dose of apricot deliciousness, but I ate this with a warm lentil salad on the side. I think this type of quick recipe is the perfect thing to cook after a busy day at work, and if you like pork chops this might become a favorite at your house as well.

Click to continue reading

Friday Favorites: Five Favorite Recipes for Roasted Winter Squash

Last month I realized I'd never be able to spotlight all my favorite recipes by featuring them one at a time, so I decided that once in a while I'd do Friday Favorites, where I spotlight five favorite recipes around a common theme. One of my most-loved fall foods is winter squash, and I think roasting is the perfect way to cook winter squash, so today I'm sharing five recipes for roasted butternut or buttercup squash. You can use other types of squash as well, but if you like winter squash do try one of recipes, starting with the Agave and Balsamic Glazed and Roasted Buttercup Squash above, which I loved when I tested the recipe.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Apricot-Glazed Carrots with Ginger and Curry (with or without cilantro)

Here's another great side dish option that I'm adding to our growing list of South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes. This recipe wowed me so much that I know I'll make it all during the year whenever I want a carrot dish that's a little fancier than usual. I took the leftovers from this when I went to make lunch for my dad, who's definitely not a fan of most vegetables, and he loved this flavorful recipe for carrots. The secret ingredient here that makes this work for South Beach Dieters is the sugar-free apricot preserves, but if you're not limiting your sugar, just make it with regular apricot jam. There's plenty of flavor here without the cilantro if you're not a cilantro fan, but cilantro lovers will enjoy the cilantro with the other flavors here.

Click to continue reading

Recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms with Thyme and Parsley

Let's start out this month of South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes with this easy and tasty recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms with Thyme and Parsley. The truth is I didn't even think I liked sweet potatoes until a few years ago when I realized they didn't have to be topped with marshmallows and brown sugar, so when this recipe appeared in Bon Appetit in October 2003 I doubt I even noticed it. Fast forward 7 years, and I ate more than half of it for a snack when I tested the recipe! I did change it up a bit after thinking about what ingredients most people have on hand and what's available in November, but the final version is a keeper.

Click to continue reading

Low-Glycemic Holiday Recipes for a South Beach Diet Thanksgiving 2010

It's a shock to realize this is the fifth year I've put together a list of South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving recipe ideas. I understand how holiday meals can be a challenge for dieters, and I'm here to help! I do feel like it's okay to indulge a bit during the holidays, but if you don't want to completely blow your diet, or have health issues where you need to follow a low glycemic eating plan, these recipes will insure that you still have tasty choices for holiday dinners.  All the new recipes from this month will get added to my master list of South Beach Diet friendly Thanksgiving Recipes.  Meanwhile, let's get started with recipes I've posted throughout 2010 that might make good options for your Thanksgiving table.

Click to continue reading