Daniel Fast Recipes

Oven Roasted Salsa

September 10, 2014 by Holly Yzquierdo 10 Comments

Let me be up front about this. This is not one of my quick recipes, BUT it is incredibly easy AND delicious. This Roasted Salsa taste better than my favorite Mexican restaurant.

If you have an abundance of tomatoes from your garden or if you just can’t resist the low prices at the store and farmers markets then I have a recipe you really need to try. I’m addicted to it.

Roasted Salsa

Ingredients

8 Roma Tomatoes (more or less)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
1 head garlic
1/4 of an onion
salt to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash your produce. Put tomatoes and garlic in one oven safe pan and put your jalapenos in a separate pan. You do not need oil! I didn’t roast the onion because I didn’t have much left but you could. Watch it so that it doesn’t burn.
Roast veggies (1 hour for jalapenos, 2 hours for tomatoes and garlic).
Remove from oven and allow everything to cool so that it can be handled.
Once everything is cool put the tomatoes, jalapenos, half of the garlic and the onion in a high-powered blender. I used my Blendtec and pushed the “Dip” button. I also removed the skins from my tomatoes and the seeds from the jalapenos and tomatoes before blending them. You don’t have to do this, it’s just an extra step. (If you don’t have a Blendtec I recommend putting it on your Christmas List. You can even get a Reconditioned Blendtec for a great deal.)
Blend until there are no large chunks, add a little salt if needed.

Serve

This is heaven with tortilla chips but I’ve also eaten it on Black Bean Tostadas and Tacos. Today I’ll have it on my Baked Potato.

You can mix things up and use roasted onion, roasted corn, whatever you have in abundance. This made about 2 cups for me but it will depend on the size of your tomatoes.

Yield: 2 cups

Oven Roasted Salsa

Roasted tomato salsa with fresh tomatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Additional Time 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

8 Roma Tomatoes (more or less)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
1 head garlic
1/4 of an onion
salt to taste (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash your produce. Put tomatoes and garlic in one oven safe pan and put your jalapenos in a separate pan. You do not need oil! I didn’t roast the onion because I didn’t have much left but you could. Watch it so that it doesn’t burn.
Roast veggies (1 hour for jalapenos, 2 hours for tomatoes and garlic).
Remove from oven and allow everything to cool so that it can be handled.
Once everything is cool put the tomatoes, jalapenos, half of the garlic and the onion in a high-powered blender. I also removed the skins from my tomatoes and the seeds from the jalapenos and tomatoes before blending them. You don’t have to do this, it’s just an extra step.
Blend until there are no large chunks, add a little salt if needed.

Notes

You can mix things up and use roasted onion, roasted corn, whatever you have in abundance. This made about 2 cups for me but it will depend on the size of your tomatoes.

The Easiest Way to Cook Spaghetti Squash

July 17, 2014 by Holly Yzquierdo 30 Comments

If you like Spaghetti Squash I may be your new best friend! Why? Because I’m about to tell you the EASIEST way to cook Spaghetti Squash. Want more good news…you don’t need the oven.

I kid you not! The easiest way to cook spaghetti squash is in the Crock-Pot!

Before I discovered how easy it was to cook Spaghetti Squash in the Crock Pot I hated to cook it. For one thing, it is always really hard for me to cut the squash in half length-wise and every recipe I’d ever seen told me to do it that way. Second, I don’t like to use the oven unless it’s winter because it heats up my house. Third, every recipe told me to use oil and that is a no-no in my house.

The Spaghetti Squash doesn’t really NEED to be sautéed (it’s already cooked) but in an informal poll I did on Facebook everyone who LOVED Spaghetti Squash sautéed it after roasting.

I’ll admit I like it better that way too. My FAVORITE way to use Spaghetti Squash is in my Vegan BBQ Sandwiches!

I’ve got a few more easy Crock Pot Recipes! Try my Easy Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole or my Cheezy Crock Pot Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole. They are both family and reader favorites.

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

July 16, 2014 by Holly Yzquierdo 8 Comments

A special thanks to Sunkist for sponsoring today’s discussion.

Do you keep a salt shaker on your table? We used to keep salt on the table until I realized my family would add salt to their food before even tasting it. Salt is a dangerous habit in America. A few years ago we cut out oil and decreased our salt consumption. We still use small amounts of salt but not near as much as before.

A few things helped us reduce our salt intake…

We added other flavors and seasonings like Sunkist Lemons instead of salt.
We allowed time for our palate to adjust.
We bought low-sodium substitutes of some of our favorite products.

We missed salt the most in crunchy snacks. The following recipe uses Lemon instead of salt. The salt is not missed at all.

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
1 Sunkist Lemon (juice and zest, about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

Do

Drain and rinse chickpeas and gently towel dry them.
In a medium bowl mix remaining ingredients and stir well.
Add chickpeas and allow them to marinate while oven preheats to 400 degrees.
Stir regularly.
Pour chickpeas into a baking pan (with sides, not a cookie sheet) covered with parchment paper.
Bake for about 1 hour.

I recommend you bake for 25 minutes then stir well. Bake for an additional 25 minutes and stir again. Then bake for 10 minutes, stir chickpeas then bake for 5 minutes between stirs until chickpeas are golden brown and crisp. DO NOT BURN.

Serve

These Lemon-Pepper Chickpeas are a fun snack or a great addition on a salad. No one will guess it’s salt-free.

For more inspiration on using lemon instead of salt take a look at this Sunkist S’alternative info graphic.

Sunkist lemons are grown in California and Arizona and available all year round. In addition to helping boost flavor and reduce sodium intake, lemons can be used in a number of ways – from household cleaning to healthy living. I always keep a bowl of lemons on my counter. I use them for cleaning, in drinks and especially in food.

Please take a minute and visit Sunkist to discover recipes and more information about sodium and sodium alternatives.

Which tips are your favorite?

Mexican Rice

June 18, 2014 by Holly Yzquierdo 22 Comments

This Mexican Rice recipe has been a family favorite for years! In fact, it is one of the first recipes I posted here and one of the first recipes my husband taught me to make when we got together.

I’ve seen this recipe discussed in online communities and while everyone said it was delicious some insisted it should be called Spanish Rice instead of Mexican Rice. If you have time to kill, feel free to google the difference, everyone has an opinion and everyone insists they are right.

This recipe was adapted from the recipe my husband grew up eating. When I started making it I removed the oil and started measuring the ingredients. At the time we lived in the South where Tex-Mex reigns. You can add optional veggies like onion, peas and carrots. I usually leave them out due to forgetfulness and ease.

I love adding cilantro though! Some people hate cilantro and that’s OK, it doesn’t need it.

When we started eating plant-based, I started making this with brown rice. It takes about 40 minutes to cook brown rice. Lately I’ve been making it with white rice because it cooks in only 20 minutes!

This recipe can be made with basic pantry staples and can serve 4 generously as a side dish. I’ll warn you though, if there is a little left it is really hard to save the leftovers without eating it straight from the skillet.

I love using it to meal prep because it reheats so well! I eat it plain with beans, in Taco Salads, Burritos and just about anything else you can think of.