Memorial Day Menu – Tuscan Grilled Eggplant, Chard Chickpea Wraps & Beef Tenderloin Steaks

eggplant tomato steaks

I have lots of yummy ideas for your long three-day weekend. If you want to make Memorial Day a #meatlessmonday (or are just looking to get more creative with your side dishes), my recipe for Tuscan Grilled Eggplant with Charred Tomatoes brings home a hearty yet healthy touch of the Mediterranean.  I created this veggie recipe for Litehouse Food and it uses their delicious Tuscan Herb Vinaigrette, an updated take on traditional Italian dressing that gets a lift from lemon.

Tuscan Grilled Eggplant with Charred Tomatoes Recipe 

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt into a 9”x13” or slightly larger dish that has been filled halfway with water.Trim eggplant and then cut into ½-inch lengthwise slices. Place slices into water, weighing them down with smaller plates that fit inside the dish. Let eggplant soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain eggplant and pat it dry with clean towels. Place eggplant back in dried dish used for soaking and add tomatoes. Pour over dressing and gently stir until coated. Let planks sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat gas or charcoal grill to medium-high heat (approximately 400 degrees).Remove eggplant slices from marinade and place directly on grates of hot grill. Skewer tomatoes or place them in a grill basket. Grill eggplant for approximately 3 minutes on each side or until tender and deep brown grill marks appear. Grill tomatoes for approximately 3- 4 minutes, turning or tossing in basked until softened and popped. . Transfer eggplant to serving platter and top with tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil, chives and feta cheese crumbles. Serves 4.

 chickpea salad in chard wrap

I have another beautiful Mediterranean dish that will have guests green with envy – and eating their greens!  PopSugar.com recently posted my recipe for Chard Chickpea Wraps on their Fit Sugar site – please go visit, check out the healthy lunch or light dinner recipe and find out why the green, leafy vegetable known as Swiss chard is so good for you.

jennifer fisher - thefitfork.com - ribeye filet grilled corn

Have more carnivorous cravings? Meat-eaters everywhere will be firing up grills and tossing on burgers, brisket and chops in honor of Memorial Day. A sizzling steak and grilled corn would be a delicious choice for a healthy diet – especially if you choose a tenderloin steak or top sirloin, both favorites of mine that are considered lean.

What are you cooking up this weekend, please share! Are you running any races — if so, good luck and let me know how it goes!

 

Quick Beef Kofta Kebabs & Global Kitchen #Giveaway

beef meatball kebobs

Winner, winner, lean beef dinner! My super-fast, super tasty meal tonight, Quick Beef Kofta with Smokey Paprika Yogurt Sauce, was inspired from a recipe from a new cookbook I was sent to review, Cooking Light’s Global Kitchen (giveaway at bottom of post). A keeper on so many levels — my boys gobbled up this healthy recipe (skewered meat, grunt) without any suspicious looks of me serving up something new, the lean protein really took care of my  own personal “hangry” mood, and the dish was so fast to make, I had it done well before it was time to take off to soccer practice.

jennifer fisher pullup

Fueled by lean beef, are you?

If you’ve never heard of Kofta before, it’s probably because it’s not a dish from ‘round these parts. The dish originates in the Middle East and is basically what us here  in ‘merica would call a meatball on a stick. What’s not to like, right?! The traditional recipe for Kofta is typically made with ground lamb, but certainly any ground meat will substitute. So, y’all that know me probably know where I’m heading with this . . . . . GROUND BEEF!  I’ts no secret my body RUNS on beef and another way to use lean ground beef makes me happy, happy, haller-lu-ya!

I was excited to try out the GreatO brand and, for full disclosure, the company sent me a free coupon for some ground beef to try out.  I’ve seen this product at the store and wondered what it was all about.  This red meat is marketed as “abundant in Omega-3 fatty acids” with “TWICE the Omega-3s of grass feed beef” and “up to 200x more than ordinary ground beef.”  When I read the corporate information online, I found it very interesting. This company actually works at the very front end of the cattle industry to create a more nutritionally sound food product.

GreatO actually has an aligned supply chain where producers feed their animals GreatO-Shelf-02-540x410following a proprietary feed mix and protocol that is specifically designed to maximize Omega-3 fatty acids – the whole process is literally farm to fork (uh, well, except you have to cook the ground beef yourself).  The GreatO brand of ground beef says their 80%/20% ground beef offers 200mg Omega-3 fatty acids per 4-oz serving compared to virtually none for traditional ground beef and 70mg for grass finished beef (assuming adequate access to quality fresh green grass).

Now, some things to note because I want to give an honest review. There are other dietary sources significantly more robust in Omega-3s; for example, a 4-oz serving of wild salmon has 2 full grams. Other choices like shrimp and soybeans and even cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and winter squash all have way, way more Omega-3s than this “omegafied” beef.  If I’m doing the math right, 200mg of Omega3 in a serving of greatO beef equates to just 0.2 grams.  I’m not knocking the good intentions; only suggesting that there are more efficient ways. Anyhow, I think the GreatO brand is a great choice for the consumer who feels he or she might not be getting enough of this important nutrient in their diet.  Plus, GreatO ground beef tastes gooooooooood and taste and flavor go a long way in my book. Also, this product is not “grass finished,” meaning animals DO spend time in a feed lot, albeit eating a special Omega3 rich diet.  This issue doesn’t bother me at all; I’ve been to feedlots before and seen how the animals are treated, the conditions, and so on. It’s not at all what is portrayed in the media and these industry glimpses definitely reassured my choice to (usually) buy a feedlot finished product.  So, to conclude, I would definitely buy the GreatO brand for myself and family, as my budget permits, it’s definitely not as expensive as wild salmon (but I’ll have to work harder to get my 4 gram recommended daily allowance of Omega-3s for the day).

Ground Beef Kebob and Moroccan salad

So, I’m finally getting to the meat of the post – my own special recipe for Quick Beef Kofta with Smokey Paprika Yogurt Sauce.  At the end of the recipe you’ll see the giveaway link for the awesome Cooking Light’s Global Kitchen cookbook.  By the way, Kofta is usually served the traditional way over some sort of fancified rice or wrapped in warm flatbread. Instead I plated it with a side of Moroccan Spinach Salad with Pistachios & Apricots — I’ll share the details on that another day.

Quick Beef Kofta with Smokey Paprika Yogurt Sauce Recipe

  • 1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
  • 1/3 cup finely minced white onion
  • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
  • 2 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoon smoky paprika
  • 1 teaspoon salt

For sauce:

  • 6 oz cup of 0% fat plain Greek Yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Add ground beef, onion, parsley, cilantro, cumin, paprika and salt to bowl. With spatula or clean hands work onions and spices into beef. From into 12 oblong, foot-ball shaped patties, approximately 2 ounces each.

Heat large, non-stick grill pan over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan, cooking approximately 4 to 5 minutes on each side (only flip once to keep grill marks).  These may also be prepared on an outdoor grill using skewers.

While kofta is cooking, prepare yogurt sauce by combining yogurt, paprika, lemon juice Worcestershire, and cayenne pepper in a small dip dish.

To serve, skewer patties (if you haven’t already done so) for easy dipping into the sauce. Serve on a salad, over brown rice or in warmed flatbread.

Serves 6 (2 each).

Cold or rainy? Cook these ground beef kebabs indoors on a grill pan.

Cold or rainy? Cook these ground beef kebabs indoors on a grill pan.

globalDon’t miss out on entering to win a copy of Cooking Light’s Global Kitchen – The World’s Most Delicious Food Made Easy! As part of the Cooking Light Blogger’s Connection, I was sent a copy of this inspiring cookbook to review and another cookbook to giveaway. I seriously LOVE this cookbook, it has so many adventurous, flavorful ideas to get me out of my “what to make for dinner” rut. There are mouthwatering dishes from every continent and lots of drool-inducing photos.  Plus, each of the 120 recipes comes with complete nutritional info.

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Camping Kaboom | Buffalo Chicken & Blue Cheese Onion Bombs

Forget about roasting hotdogs and warming up beans from a can on your next outdoor adventure; that is just so  . . .  uh, terribly untasty. I created a simple recipe that creates a complex, crazy explosion of flavor that will appeal to even the most discriminating of culinary-centric campers.  Check out this recipe for Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Onion Bombs at Living Litehouse, the blog of a fabulously fresh food company that has been supporting my love for creating tasty, healthy dishes for a variety of occasions – today, camping!

jennifer fisher camp onion dinner single

These “bombs” are made from lean ground chicken breast that has been stuffed with blue cheese, kicked up with hot pepper sauce and then “wrapped” inside two cross-sectioned onion halves. You could call them stuffed meatballs in onions or even inside out mini-meatloaves – but they are totally the BOMB because they are dangerously delicious and wrapped up in foil like little grenades.  Toss these bad boys on the grill or nestle in an open campfire to cook up quick as a short-fused firework. For you that don’t like to leave the comforts of your kitchen, I’m not going to stop you from just baking them in the oven.  From mess kit to mouth, your every sense is going to be blowing up! Just as you would Buffalo Chicken Wings, balance these spicy bombs with the tangy coolness of blue cheese dressing. Oh, and don’t forget the celery!

jennifer fisher litehouse camp stuffing blue cheese

Check out the whole recipe and see lots of other yummy pictures at Living Litehouse.

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Grilled Fig, Blue Cheese & Prosciutto Pizza – Now That’s Umami!

jennifer fisher grilled fig blue cheese prosciutto pizza - title

My mouth is still salivating over this grilled pizza recipe I created for Litehouse Foods. Gourmet enough to serve guests as a prelude to dinner yet simple enough to make for a quick weeknight meal, theses pizzas are seriously scrumptious. The aged artisan blue cheese crumbles, salty proscuitto and sweet fig jam mingle together for a massive explosion of umami flavor. Head over to the Living Litehouse Blog to find out out how salty, sweet, tart and bitter aren’t the only categories of taste — there is also a fifth taste receptor called umami! Translated from Japanese, umami means “delicious essence” and I couldn’t agree more!

jennfer fisher fig blue cheese prosciutto pizza grill on board

Also, if you’re a fig fan like myself, check out my recipe for Fresh Figs with Balsamic Fig Jam — this is a beautiful and simple dish for dessert. Remember, to view the full recipe for the grilled pizzas along with lots of other drool-worthy ideas for healthy living, visit the Living Litehouse Blog. 

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