If you’ve read Pretty Simple Cooking (our new cookbook!), you’ll know that our food philosophy is against 15-minute this and 20-minute that. Why? If quick cook time is treated as the most important thing about cooking, it cheapens the process. It makes it seem like cooking is just about finding the magical 15 to 20 minute recipes, and not investing time in skills that deepen flavor. Also, 15-minute meals that really take 30 minutes are one of our biggest pet peeves.
However, sometimes life necessitates a quick dinner. Many requests come into our inbox like the following from reader Jean: “I struggle to put something healthy-ish on the table at lightening speed every night. It would be AWESOME to see a round up of some of your favorite crazy-fast meals. I know that healthy doesn’t have to mean hours in the kitchen, but chopping and prep sometimes take longer than I have time for. I wondered how you guys–also in the baby trenches–deal with this dilemma?”
So in the vein of “healthy-ish at lightening speed”, here is our 15-minute gnocchi with romesco sauce. I know what you’re thinking:
Does it really take 15 minutes to make? Well, it does depend on your cooking style. But, here are the facts:
I made this gnocchi by myself between 5:54 and 6:09 on a Thursday night. True story. It requires no chopping and no real “cooking”, just boiling gnocchi for 3 minutes. We used packaged gnocchi, which we still consider a “whole food” similar to packaged pasta. (You can also use any shape of pasta for this recipe; it would add a few minutes to the boiling time.) This recipe takes 15 minutes, but we’d suggest serving it with a salad, which would add a few minutes. This could also help to stretch the serving size: we found it fed me, Alex and Larson without leftovers, so we left the serving size at 3.Explain healthy-ish? To us, healthy-ish is whole food meals prepared in your own kitchen.
Gnocchi is Italian “pasta” that is made with potatoes and flour. Typically pasta isn’t considered health food, but good news: a new study found pasta can actually help you lose weight. The Italian researchers found that eaten in moderation, pasta can be part of a healthy diet. To the pasta, we’ve added some colorful veg: spinach and a romesco sauce made of tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and almonds. This recipe is a vegan dinner fully plant-based as the feta crumbles are optional. It’s also gluten-free if you can find gluten-free gnocchi or use gluten-free pasta. Per above, we’d suggest serving with a green salad.We hope you’ll enjoy this lightning fast, healthy-ish recipe. In our opinion, it’s also a great Valentine’s Day recipe, especially for a cooking date!
For a similar quick and healthy-ish recipe, see our Creamy Yogurt Mac & Cheese with Spinach.
Did you make this recipe?If you make our 15-minute gnocchi with romesco sauce, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks.
This recipe is…Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free (modification below), plant-based, and dairy-free.
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A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
Looking for a fantastic no bake cheesecake recipe? These raspberry beet mini cheesecakes are perfect for Valentine’s Day and are a healthy mini cheesecake recipe you’re gonna love!
Are you ready for Valentine’s Day?
I’m never quite sure how to feel about Valentine’s Day. It feels like a lot of people put so much pressure on it and forget about the real sentiment behind what (I think) it’s all about.
How do you feel about Valentine’s Day – are you one of those sappy romantics who goes all out to celebrate, or do you avoid it at all costs, brushing it off as an overly commercialized holiday?
I think I’d have to say I’m in the middle somewhere, leaning slightly more towards the sappy romantic side than the other. Slightly.
I like the idea of taking a special day to express your love and gratitude for someone, a romantic dinner for two (those are so rare for Dustin and me now that we have FOUR kiddos!), and, of course, a sweet treat.
I do have to admit, though, I am not a huge fan of all those super sweet, highly processed chocolates that are so popular on Valentine’s Day. While chocolate is great and all, I like to enjoy it with other flavors and textures – like with this raspberry beet mini cheesecake right here.
Now, I didn’t forget the chocolate, though! I made a yummy raw dark chocolate pecan crust by combining a few easy ingredients in the food processor and then pressing it into a muffin tin to make a crust.
Seriously: so simple and so delicious.
Then, I top off the dark chocolate pecan crust with a tart and creamy raspberry beet cheesecake filling. Yep: mini cheesecake. And it’s PINK!
How To Make A Mini CheesecakeMaking a mini cheesecake is surprisingly easy to do. All you really need is a muffin pan and a blender and you can make any type of no bake mini cheesecake you want. I make my crust using a food processor, but a heavy duty blender would work, too.
Here are the basic steps for how to make a mini cheesecake:
Blend together the ingredients for the bottom crust of the mini cheesecake – this can include nuts and dates to hold everything together Blend together the cheesecake filling – this can be plan (like these mini cheesecakes) or flavored, like we have here with raspberries and beet Add the crust to the bottom of the muffin pan and press down with your fingers – you can add a slip of parchment paper to make these easier to pick up later once frozen Pour the blended cheesecake filling into the rest of the muffin pan Freeze, baby, freeze – you’ll know when the mini cheesecake is done when the top is firm when you press down with your finger. Also, if the mini cheesecake starts to jiggle when you try to remove it from the muffin pan, it still needs more time.In just a few hours, you’ll have 12 delicious, creamy, and indulgent no bake mini cheesecakes ready to enjoy.
I was so excited with the color combination of the beet and raspberries which goes perfectly with Valentine’s Day.
Or, ya know, any day you want a mini cheesecake that’s super adorbs 😉
Not only do the beets and raspberries provide lots of color, they also provide a ton of nutrients, like fiber, vitamin c, copper, vitamin k, omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, and more.
If you’re wondering about the beet flavor – it doesn’t come through nearly as much as its beautiful color. Instead, you get the flavors of tart raspberries, freshly squeezed lemon, followed by sweet pure maple syrup to delicately round out the cheesecake flavors over the chocolate pecan crust.
I used greek yogurt to add a little extra creaminess, and still keep the whole cheesecake unrefined, but you could just use the cashews or even a non-dairy yogurt to keep it vegan and/or non-dairy, if you’d prefer.
Also, to make sure these were healthy mini cheesecakes, I made the crust entirely out of whole ingredients, like nuts and dates. No refined sugars or artificial ingredients, here!
All in all, this is a perfect sweet treat for someone who wants a special dessert, but doesn’t want overly rich (or highly processed) chocolate.
Plus: pink!
This recipe is actually a variation of my Vegan Mini Cheesecake recipe I shared a while back. Just like with the original, the prep is very easy, it’s no bake (woot!), which is awesome, and just requires a little time in the freezer.
And how is the creaminess with the cashews, you ask? Perfect! It’s creamy and delightfully cheesecake-y. Promise.
If you’ve never tried soaking raw cashews and then blending them to make a creamy, cream-cheese-like-consistency, I sure hope you try it out. The texture is smooth, thick, and very easily altered with whatever flavors you decide to add into your cheesecake filling.
Like beets and raspberries <3
So pretty!
No matter where you stand on Valentine’s Day and all the hype, I hope you take a moment to realize how special you are and enjoy the day.
Tip: Enjoying the day is made much easier with one of these mini cheesecakes in your hand 🙂
xoxo
Looking for a fantastic no bake cheesecake recipe? These raspberry beet mini cheesecakes are perfect for Valentine’s Day and a healthy cheesecake recipe you’re gonna love!
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
The post No-Bake Raspberry Beet Mini Cheesecakes appeared first on A Sweet Pea Chef.
Absolutely incredible paleo chocolate cake made with almond flour and coconut flour and topped with a whipped paleo chocolate frosting. Once you make this, you’ll never need another chocolate cake recipe again. This recipe is in partnership with Almond Breeze almondmilk. This is the best chocolate cake in the entire world. This isn’t a joke, it’s [...]
The post The Best Paleo Chocolate Cake with Paleo Chocolate Frosting appeared first on Ambitious Kitchen.
from Merah Hati Cintaku http://ift.tt/2G6KX0S
via merahhaticintaku.blogspot.my
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