This Christmas, I received a copy of Ellie Krieger’s newest cookbook, Comfort Food Fix. I’ve long been a fan of her healthy, delicious approach to cooking. Using fresh ingredients, she creates nutritious dishes that don’t involve a lot of swaps – just good, natural food. Some of her recipes from previous cookbooks have become staples at our house: Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup (I leave out the celery), Egg Salad (I omit the chives.) and Maple Mustard Chicken Thighs.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Krieger, I first became “introduced” to her on the Food Network. Her show was great and a nice change from some of their more decadent programming (I like butter too, but no one should eat like that all the time.). Unfortunately, she is now on the Cooking Channel, a station I do not get.* Here’s a video clip I found of her on her Web site making something that looks lovely.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm_OnliJ5LA&context=C395b4bcADOEgsToPDskJDMnKpXNM9ien9U4MkZojc]

I’m happy to report the recipes in her new cookbook are wonderful. I made three after Christmas and loved them. These included her garden tuna melt, French bread pizza and blueberry muffins.

While the muffins were quite good, mine were heavy on the blueberries. I’m not sure what happened, but my blueberries were huge. I suspect I bought some sort of mutant frozen variety. So, I will either dial down the number of blueberries or find smaller ones next time.

French Bread Pizza

The French bread pizza was simple, but good. The recipe follows:

Ingredients:

One, 8 oz whole grain French baguette

1 c. marinara sauce (I used leftover sauce from here.)

2 c. lightly packed arugula coarsely chopped

1 c. grated part skim mozzarella cheese

1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Cut the bread in half lengthwise, then cut each half crosswise into four pieces. Scoop out the center of the bread and discard. Place the bread, scooped side up, onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread 2 tbsp. of sauce on each piece. Top with arugula, then mozzarella and parmesan. Bake until toasted and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 12 minutes.

Garden Tuna Melt

We had our tuna melts with segmented oranges stirred into plain yogurt – pretty tasty.

Ingredients:

2, 6 oz. cans of light tuna in water, drained

2 c. lightly packed fresh baby spinach leaves, finely chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 medium carrot shredded

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

3 tbsp. mayo

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

4 slices whole wheat bread

4 thin slices extra sharp cheddar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, combine tuna, vegetables, mayo, mustard and black pepper. Place the bread on a baking sheet, divide the tuna mixture among the four pieces of bread and top each with a slice of cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and the edges of the bread are toasted, six to eight minutes.

Other favorites from past cookbooks include:

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

Sloppy Joes

*Do not ask me about this or what I think of the Food Network’s current programming, unless you want to see a 5’3″ woman go on a rant.