Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–I’m glad you’re here!
This week, I’ve been featuring recipes to help us all eat a little healthy(er). It’s also turned out to be an exercise in being frugal, as I’ve been getting creative with using up older bits and bobs that I have found in the fridge leftover from holiday entertaining and the like. On Tuesday, I featured a terrific frittata I made using spinach, leeks, potatoes, red bell pepper and broccoli, all leftover either from dinner a night or two prior or from remains of holiday veggie trays. It was delicious and very healthy–not to mention economical.
Last night, I used up the last of the leftover veggie tray veggies (some cauliflower and broccoli with a few brown spots), some bok choy that was still crisp but getting wilted on the leaf tips and a piece of leftover steak to make this great stir fry. I deleted the bacon I usually throw into a stir-fry and we had a healthy(er) version for dinner.
Now: Is anyone else out there ready for a little dessert? The holidays were so filled with sweets that I got used to having something sweet after meals and got sick of all the sweets all at the same time. I’ve been avoiding them for the last couple of weeks while trying to eat healthy(er), but last night, I was ready for a little dessert. Fruit, or desserts featuring fruits are a great way to lighten up and create a healthy(er) dessert option.
Now for the “challenge” part of my teaser headline!
Yesterday, I highlighted the impressive health benefits of pears, including that they pack more fiber in one serving than does a serving of kale. Mr. Stone Soup scoffed at this and challenged me. Challenge accepted! Turns out, a serving of pears boasts 5.5-6 grams of fiber per serving, where a serving of kale has slightly less than 5 grams. Take that, Mr. Smarty Pants!
But, Mr. Smarty Pants was the real winner because I found these Bosc pears leftover from a fruit basket gift. They’d been around the block a couple of times, but would be perfectly fine with a little trimming:
And they became the centerpiece for this pear cobbler for dessert:
We ate it warm right out of the pan–no ice cream necessary! Click here for the recipe.
That’s it from here for this week. Next week I will be traveling, but I’m going to try to continue to publish some healthy(er) recipes for lightening up in the new year! Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
