4 Recipes with Silly Names and Serious Health Benefits

Published July 31, 2018 04:25PM

Lowbrow names, highbrow taste. Confuse your friends while tickling their taste buds with these totally palatable, unfortunately branded, health-minded recipes.

Taco Tater

Yes it does exist: taco ingredients on a potato! This recipe features athlete favorite, the sweet potato, with a unique, colorful, and tasty mix of roasted chicken and veggies.

2 – 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 medium sweet potatoes or yams
2 cups butternut squash, diced 1⁄4 red onion, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash, diced 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved Olive oil, sea salt, pepper
1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/3 cup crumbled queso fresco or feta

Heat a grill pan or skillet over high heat. Rub the chicken breast with oil, salt, and pepper. Sear 60-90 seconds per side until browned, and then place pan in the oven. Cook 5-7 minutes, until cooked through. Remove from oven, and let rest.

On one sheet toss the butternut squash and red onion with half of the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast 20 minutes, tossing once or twice, until the veggies are golden and start to soften.

On the other sheet toss the zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, tossing once or twice, until the veggies are golden and start to soften, and the tomatoes burst.

While the veggies are roasting, cook the sweet potatoes, individually, in the microwave, and then cut in half.

Chop the chicken into very small pieces, and add to a large bowl. Toss all of the roasted veggies with the chicken.

Top each potato half with and equal mixture of chicken and veggies. Finish by sprinkling on the pepitas and cheese.

Beaver Nuggets

In a nutshell, this is popcorn covered in caramel. Take caramel corn to the healthiest level possible with our version that replaces butter with coconut oil and sugar with honey. Plus, peanut butter incorporates some protein into this little snack. Portion control still recommended.

1/3 cup unpopped popcorn cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1 T molasses 2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup all-natural creamy peanut butter

Preparation
Pop popcorn via your favorite method, and pour into a large bowl.

In a large saucepan, heat the coconut oil, honey, molasses, vanilla, and sea salt over medium-high heat. Let bubble for about 90 seconds.

Turn the heat to medium, add the peanut butter, and stir for about 30 seconds. Immediately turn off the heat. Do not burn the peanut butter.

Pour the mixture over the popcorn, and toss with a spoon until all of the popcorn is well- coated. Let cool in the fridge or at room temperature.

S*** on a Shingle

Depending on where you grew up, this kid-classic may have been made with beef or canned tuna. Get on board with this adult version—and light update—of ahi stacked on cucumber slices.

1 pound sashimi-grade ahi
Zest of one lime and one orange
1 large mango
2 small avocados
1⁄2 red bell pepper, finely diced
1⁄4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
1 T Serrano pepper (seeds removed), minced
2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 English cucumber

Preparation
Cut the ahi into small (1⁄4-inch) cubes, and toss with the orange and lemon zest in a bowl.

Cut the mango open, and score the inside into cubes the same size as the ahi. Use a spoon to scoop the cubes into the bowl.

Add the red pepper, cilantro, Serrano pepper, orange juice, and salt to the bowl, and toss gently to combine.

Cut the cucumber at a diagonal. You will need four to ve pieces per plate in a flat star pattern.

Using a ring mold*, make the stacks by placing 1⁄4 of the ahi into the mold, then top with 1⁄4 of the mango avocado mixture.

Repeat this process on the other three plates, and serve with extra cucumber slices, beet chips, sweet potato chips, or stone-ground corn chips.

*If you don’t have a ring mold, use a can opener to remove both ends of a 15-ounce can. Clean out the inside, and use in place of the ring mold.

Bubble and Squeak

A quick potato hash named after the noise the potatoes and veggies make while they cook. Customize it with the veggies you need to use up from your fridge.

Ingredients
Makes 2 servings
8 ounces fingerling potatoes
2 pre-cooked chicken sausages (any flavor, about 3 ounces each)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
6 mini peppers
2 cups, packed, fresh chard 4 large eggs
2 T sweet chili sauce
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
Olive oil, sea salt, pepper

Preparation
Heat oven to 375 degrees, and prepare an 8×8-inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

Slice the potatoes into small coins. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Sauté the potatoes with a sprinkle of salt and pepper for about 5 minutes, until they crispen. Transfer to the baking dish.

Slice the sausage into thin coins, slice the peppers, and sauté together with the shallots for 5 minutes so the sausage and peppers turn golden.

Add the chard and sweet chili sauce to the pan, and sauté one minute longer until the chard wilts. Remove this mixture, place in the baking dish with the potatoes, and toss to combine.

Make four holes in the mixture in the baking dish, and carefully crack one egg into each hole. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper.

Place on the lower oven rack—uncovered—and bake for 12 minutes for runny eggs or 15 minutes for soft eggs.