Honey Roasted Root Vegetables

Copied almost verbatim from the Cooking Light recipes by the same name, this is quickly becoming "my" Thanksgiving dish. It is good all year though as long as the weather is cool enough for the oven.

Ingredients:
coarsely chopped peeled sweet potato (about 1 large) or winter squash or pumpkin
coarsely chopped peeled turnip (about 2 medium)
coarsely chopped parsnip (about 4 medium)
coarsely chopped carrot (about 6 medium)
1/4 cup honey (I like Orange Blossom but any full flavored honey will do)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 shallots, quartered

Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine all ingredients except the cooking spray in a large bowl; toss to coat. Place vegetable mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender and begin to brown, stirring every 10 minutes.

Edible Edemame

I'm always looking for ways to make edimame, which is the technical term for fresh soybeans, into something worth eating. They are super good for you, after all. Here's a simple side dish with Asian flair. Took 7 minutes to make!

Ingredients:
2 shallots, minced
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
2 cups frozen shelled edemame
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Saute the shallots in the oil for 1 minute at medium heat, then add the edamame and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the tamari. Cook and stir for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook and stir for 30 seconds more. Then serve. Yay!

Pizza sauce

You may be surprised to hear that the most important part of pizza is the sauce. Well, after the cheese, of course. The base, whatever the toppings are piled on, is usually crust but can be any number of other things, including slabs of seasoned tofu or slices of roasted eggplant. It's the sauce that turns it into pizza.

When making homemmade pizza, if you have ever wondered why it just isn't right, you are probably spending money on expensive ingredients. Don't! Pizzarias don't, so you shouldn't either, not if you want authentic. Use cheap mozzarella and cheap pizza sauce, ideally the store brand. Don't use spaghetti or marinara sauce; pizza sauce is different. And don't use too much! Spread a very thin layer with the back of a spoon.

Or, you could save money, avoid wasting sauce, and feel 1337 by using my recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 can tomato paste (about 2 tbsp)
Equal amount of water
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Mix together and allow to sit for a few minutes to hydrate the spices. You will notice this is very thick. That helps avoid the pizza being watery, a problem which afflicts homemade pizzas since we don't have a brick oven.

Mushroom Pastitsio

I have no idea what a pastitsio actually is, beyond delicious, but lately Cooking Light has had a couple of recipes for it that have been amazing. Here is my take on it... It's a cheesy wonderful casserole, with excellent leftovers.

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked rotini, whole wheat works well
16 ounces baby bellas, cremini mushrooms, or regular mushrooms, or a mix
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic or equivalent garlic powder
1 tsp Penzey's Bavarian Blend or 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/3 tsp kosher salt
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
1 brick lowfat or fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated mozzarella (reduced fat is okay but not fat free)

Mince the onion and chop the mushrooms finely. Saute together in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the mushrooms give up their liquid and it mostly evaporates. Add the garlic, salt, and herbs. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the tomato sauce.

Add the milk into the skillet and whisk the flour in while it's still cool (you can't whisk flour into a hot liquid). Cook and stir until bubbly and thick. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the cream cheese and parmesan, stirring until they melt and become smooth. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and stir.

Pour half of the pasta mixture into a medium sized casserole dish. Spread the mushroom mixture on top, then add the rest of the pasta mixture on top of that. Finally, sprinkle the mozzarella on top of the whole thing.

Bake at 400 until the cheese melts, then serve.

Italian Cauliflower Casserole

From Cooking Light but edited to make it a more filling meal for active folks like us. To make it lighter you can reduce the amount of beef and/or cheese. To make it non-dairy just use Veggie Shreds for the cheese. You can leave off the breadcrumbs if anyone is gluten intolerant or can't have carbs.

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized florets
1 large yellow onion, minced
4 garlic cloves or equivalent garlic powder
1 tsp sriracha or ground red pepper to taste
1/4 tsp salt
1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, ideally a garlicky or herby one
1/2 cup grated garlic and herb cheddar
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup bread crumbs

Steam the cauliflower 5 minutes or until it's crisp-tender. Drain and place in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheddar.

Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat for a couple minutes until it begins to soften. Then add the beef, stirring to crumble, and raise the heat to medium-high. Keep stirring and cooking the beef until it is all browned. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper while the beef cooks.

When the beef is done, stir in the tomato sauce and heat through. Pour the meat mixture over the cauliflower and stir to combine, gently so the cauliflower doesn't crumble.

Sprinkle the parmesan and bread crumbs over the top of the casserole. Broil for 4 minutes or until golden, and serve.

Strawberry and Spinach Salad with Candied Walnuts

My favorite salad and pretty much the only one I ever bother to make.

Ingredients (for 1 serving, multiply out for the number of servings you want):
1 cup Baby spinach
1/2 cup Sliced strawberries
1/4 cup Walnuts
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp organic sugar or light brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
Dash cinnamon
1/2 tbsp olive oil or walnut oil
1 tsp vinegar, either red wine or balsamic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sweetener, such as sugar or Ideal or Splenda
1/2 tbsp minced shallot

To prepare walnuts, melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Stir in the walnuts and sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the coating seems crispy/crumbly, or until it begins to smell a little like popcorn or generally "toasty." If it begins to brown, REMOVE FROM THE PAN at once or it will burn.

To prepare dressing, just whisk the oil, salt, sweetener, and vinegar together until smooth. Stir in the shallots.

Place the spinach on individual plates or in a salad bowl and top with the strawberries, then the walnuts. Allow people to pour the vinaigrette on themselves, since the liquid will make the walnuts not crisp anymore if it sits on them too long. Delish!

For extra fanciness, you can cook the walnuts with maple syrup, and/or use maple syrup as the sweetener in the vinaigrette. It's extremely delicious. Honey works, too, for the dressing but not for the walnuts.

Herbed Oven Roast with Gravy

Here's a super simple fall favorite: an herbed roast. The herbs are all "to taste" but I will put how much we use.

Ingredients:
1 eye round roast
Salt, I use 1/3 tsp
Ground rosemary, I use 1 tsp
Garlic powder, I use 1 tsp
Ancho chili pepper powder, or paprika, I use 1 tsp
Ground black pepper, I use 1/4 tsp
Ground coriander, I use 1/4 tsp

Preheat the oven to 400.

Trim the majority of the fat off the roast, then place fat-side-up in a skillet or baking pan. Sprinkle the roast with half of the herbs and spices. Turn the roast over, fat-side-down, and sprinkle with remaining spices.

Place pan in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 325 and turn the roast over, fat-side-up. Bake for an additional 1 1/2 hours, or until a meat thermometer indicates the correct internal temperature has been reached - this will depend on the roast size.

When it's done, remove it to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes. When it's rested, slice it, being careful to collect all the juice that runs out and pour into the pan.

Stir about 2 tbsp flour into the juice until it forms a paste, then place over medium heat on the stove and stir constantly until it begins to thicken. Slowly add milk, broth or water to the paste until it's the thickness you prefer. How much you need will depend on how thick you like your gravy and how much juice your roast yields. Season the gravy with more salt or bouillon, to taste, and if you have Penzey's Bavarian seasoning mix, add a few dashes.

Delicious Hamburgers

It still amazes me that there is room in this world for more kinds of hamburger. It amazes me even more that most people make BAD hamburgers. It's not hard! Here's my current recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef - ground sirloin is tastiest, but regular is good, too, and cheaper. I use low fat, like 93%. Don't listen to people who tell you that lean meat makes bad burgers cuz it just ain't so! Lean meat is very flavorful and can be juicy too.
1 tsp ground ancho chili pepper, or paprika if you don't have ancho
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp reduced-sodium tamari, which is like soy sauce but more flavorful - soy sauce is an acceptable substitute, or 1/2 tsp salt if you don't have either
Ground black pepper if you like that sort of thing - I don't, but Ariel does, so I let him put it on his burger after cooking

Gently stir the ingredients together. Be careful not to mash up the meat, since that will make it tough. A pastry cutter can work, but NEVER a food processor.

Form the meat gently but firmly into patties with your hands. You can wear gloves but don't use a press or anything, hamburgers need love.

I like to cook on a Foreman grill machine at 380 for 5 minutes, but you can do whatever you like. The important thing to remember is that you want to use a reasonably high temperature so that the meat sears a little, which enhances flavor.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE JUICE? I hear you ask! If you love your burgers dripping with juice, here is what you do: You mix in breadcrumbs, an egg, or both. You want to use about 1/4 cup breadcrumbs per pound of meat, and/or 1 egg per 2 pounds of meat. That's why I don't usually use an egg unless I'm making a large batch, since my recipe is for only 1 pound and a whole egg is too much for that.

The breadcrumbs soak up the juice to prevent it from leaking out during cooking. The egg works differently - it makes a sort of meat-juice custard inside the burger. It sounds gross but it's good. Eggs and breadcrumbs are the reason why meat loaf is always so juicy (good meatloaf, that is).

Burger Toppings

The most fun part of a burger is what you put on top! I like to pile mine with mushrooms and onions with cheese and ketchup. I hate American cheese so usually use mild cheddar or Colby-Jack, but that's a personal idiosyncrasy. Here's my mushroom-onion topping recipe, which makes enough to top 6 burgers:

1 large white onion
2 portobello mushroom caps
1/4 cup cooking sherry (optional - use broth if you don't want sherry)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp minced garlic
Butter or oil

Chop the mushrooms into pieces no bigger than about half an inch, since otherwise they are hard to eat. Slice the onion lengthwise, then cut the slices once widthwise to make them shorter.

Grease a skillet with a little butter or oil and heat over medium-high. Saute the onion and mushrooms until soft, then add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute. Then add the broth or sherry and scrape up any stuck browned bits, for flavor. Simmer until the liquid is almost gone.

Babydog's Food

This is just a draft of the dog food recipe I have devised. Baby loves it but it took 2 and a half hours to make, store, and clean up after. It should not be stored longer than 2 days, so must be packaged up and kept in the freezer.

Ingredients:

5 pounds ground pork
2.5 pounds organic potatoes, chopped
3 cups no added sodium V8 juice
4 cups cooked unflavored instant oatmeal
1 red bell pepper, chopped
7 cloves garlic, minced and exposed to air for 10 minutes to develop medicinal properties
1 1/2 tsp each ground ginger and cloves to aid digestion
1 tsp potassium chloride
2 containers Lactaid cottage cheese
6 raw eggs
~1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses

Boil the potatoes in the V8 juice (this retains the nutrition of the potatoes). Cook the bell pepper and spinach in this pot as well.

Brown the pork thoroughly with the spices, potassium, and garlic. Must cook WELL to kill trichinosis. Break eggs into the meat; cook and stir until opaque.

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot. Puree thoroughly with immersion blender. Pureeing is necessary, because Babydog's gut was so irritated that it moved food through so quickly that he could not break down any chunks larger than a grain of rice.

Supplement with vitamins D and E, and use giblet meats liberally as treats, such as liver or lung. I prefer freeze dried lamb lung as easy to digest and non-allergenic, and give a sweet potato treat that is supplemented with D and E. Those vitamins must be supplemented because they are absent in the food, due to the food not containing 100% of the animal - muscle meat is extremely unbalanced nutritionally, and I have not yet found a good, affordable, digestible ingredient that contains these vitamins in sufficient volume.

WHY AND WHEREFORE:

Why pork? Because it's a less-common protein that he is unlikely to be allergic to, and it contains enough zinc that I need not supplement with zinc. I cannot afford lamb, and I do not believe that poultry is natural for dogs. Wild canids cannot not capture poultry as prey reliably. Their diet consists of ungulate meat.

Why potatoes? Because I try to avoid grain where I can, and because it is non-allergenic and nutritious with a lot of potassium. Dogs need lots of potassium in their diets.

Okay, then why add oats? Because I can afford them :( But also for their nutritional profile. They help fill in the gaps left by feeding only muscle meat instead of a whole animal. Rolled (instant) oats are soft and easy to digest, too. Also, I have had oats highly recommended to me by breeders of my particular breed of dog. Your mileage may vary. I don't think rice is as good as people think it is, though, since it tends to irritate my dogs' guts as often as not. At the very least, the rice must be pureed. Many dogs can't easily break apart the rice starches to get into the grain.

Why ginger, cloves and garlic? The garlic repels pests and also has mild antifungal properties and other healthful properties. Note that it must be exposed to air or these do not develop! The ginger is to smooth out the muscle contractions in the gut, reducing both diarrhea and constipation. It also stimulates stomach muscle contraction, which he was having trouble with - food emptied too quickly. The cloves are soothing and a mild anthelmintic; though that won't kill giardia, it may help his body keep from developing a secondary infestation of roundworms while he is weakened.

Why potassium chloride? Purchasable under the brand name Nu-Salt, this has been recommended to me by vets for all homemade diets, especially for sick dogs. Dogs need lots of potassium, especially when they have the runs and might be losing electrolytes.

Lactaid cottage cheese? Because bone bits would irritate his gut, and yet he still needs calcium. The Lactaid brand is lactose-free and theoretically easy to digest.

Red bell pepper? A rich source of many vitamins he would otherwise obtain from organ meats.

Spinach? Ground-up and cooked, it hopefully comes close to the digestibility of green tripe. Also, he has been ravenously eating grass, and I theorize he has not been able to get some mineral or other that is in greens. Just a guess, though, we will see if it helps - I only just started adding this ingredient.

V8 juice? Same thing. No digestion required when the veggies are juiced.

Molasses? A common ingredient in dog foods that also contains an unusually bioavailable source of iron, which is not as high as I'd like in the pork meat. Blackstrap has more than regular.

Rumbledethumps (Potato Pie)

Every nation in Europe, in fact every tiny geographical region, has its own "leftovers" dish, usually involving potatoes to glue the leftovers together. This one is particularly hearty and makes both a satisfying dinner and a fantastic leftover lunch. You can hold the slices in your hand to eat them, and they don't go bad for quite a while at room temperature, so they are good for bringing places. This is a variant of a Scottish peasant recipe called Rumbledethumps (wikipedia link). What differentiates it from, for example, colcannon or bubble-and-squeak is the addition of a cheese topping followed by baking in a plate.

Ingredients:

4 Yukon gold potatoes, with skins
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 big box or bag of baby arugula, or baby spinach if you prefer
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp smart balance or butter
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded gouda (or additional 1/2 cup cheddar)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste (I use none, but the traditional recipe calls for lots, so it's up to you)

Chop and steam the potatoes, or bake them in tinfoil, until soft. Mash.

Saute the scallions and garlic in the butter until they begin to soften, then add the arugula and saute until wilted. Transer to a cutting board and chop (it's easier to chop them after cooking than before).

Heat oven to 350.

Sprinkle half the cheddar into the bottom of a well-greased pie plate. Combine remaining cheddar and all other ingredients (except parmesan) in a bowl and mix. Pour into pie plate and top with parmesan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set but not puffy.

You can eat this fresh but honestly I like the leftovers better!

NOTE: You can replace the cheese with fake cheese quite easily for the lactose-intolerant.

Butterfinger Ice Cream

A huge hit with the Ariel contingent, this recipe contains creamy peanut butter and a butterscotch jell-o for thickness, plus cocoa powder for... well, because chocolate is awesome. The resulting flavor combination is very similar to butterfinger candy bars, except it doesn't get stuck in your teeth.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetener
2 cups milk
1/2 packet sugar-free butterscotch instant jell-o pudding

Place the peanut butter, cocoa powder, and sweetener in a mixing bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of the milk and mix into a paste. Add more milk, a tiny bit at a time, as necessary to make a smooth paste, stirring with a whisk or a fork. Then keep adding little bits of milk until it's the thickness of syrup. At that point, you can add the rest of the milk all at once.

Add the jell-o powder and mix thoroughly.

The mix is complete! Now just put it into the ice cream maker and freeze according to the directions. This is a good candidate for Smucker's excellent sugar free caramel sundae syrup, or my homemade hot fudge sauce.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Why the heck can't anyone make a sugar free fudge sauce worth eating?? Everything on the market tastes like licking the floor in the Dow chemical factory. I have my own incredibly simple, no-cook recipe. This does not keep in the fridge, so make the amount you plan to eat right then.

Ingredients (for 2-4 servings depending how much sauce you want)
1 ounce baking chocolate (Ghirardhelli is the best, but regular Bakers brand is fine)
4 packets Truvia brand stevia sweetener or equivalent sweetness
2 tbsp milk (low fat or skim is fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Chop the chocolate and pour the small pieces into a microwave-safe cup or small bowl. Add the sweetener and 1 tbsp milk, and microwave for 15 seconds.

Attempt to stir the sauce. If the chocolate isn't melted enough, microwave longer, 5 seconds at a time, until it's all melted. This will depend on the power of your machine.

When it melts, stir very thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Gradually add the remaining milk and the vanilla and stir very thoroughly. If you want to thin it at this point, you can, using tiny amounts of milk at a time. If it gets too thin, let it cool in the fridge, and it will thicken.

If you want it to be hot, serve it promptly. But if you're going to put this on ice cream, you should cool it somewhat first. Put it in the fridge while the ice cream is making, or approximately 20 minutes. When it's cooled, it will be thicker, so you might want to add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Again, don't keep this in the fridge. The milk will dry out and form a crust. If you do want to store it, it would keep without spoiling for 2 days, as long as you get a piece of plastic wrap and press it down over the surface of the sauce, so there's no air on the sauce that might cause the milk to dry and form a crust.

I think you will agree that this sauce is incredible.

Note: If you're really intensely watching your calories, it is also possible to make it using cocoa powder, which reduces saturated fat content considerably. To do this, start with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and add the milk very very slowly to form a paste. The sauce will go from too thick to just right to too thin with the addition of just a few too many drops of milk, so go slowly. If you make it too thin, you can't fix it by cooling it, either - the cocoa won't thicken, unlike the chocolate. I find this harder to make and I like the fudginess of the chocolate, but it's a very nice option for dieters to have something sweet and decadent without breaking the calorie budget. It can also be quite high in fiber depending on the brand of cocoa used.

Cilantro: A Public Service Announcement

IT IS OKAY TO HATE CILANTRO.

I felt like I needed to make a statement after I realized I just posted an "authentic" Mexican recipe without any cilantro in it. Mexican recipes always call for cilantro, in magazines. Cilantro is touted as the awesomest herb since sliced parsley, and whole fistfuls of it are normally included in green sauces like my green chile enchilada sauce.

I hate cilantro and I will not allow it in my kitchen.

For a long time, I thought I was just weird, or somehow uncultured or uncouth, because I didn't like cilantro. But it turns out that I'm not alone. Many other people hate cilantro, too, and that is okay.

IT IS OKAY. It's okay not to enjoy an herb. It's okay to be you!!

That doesn't quite solve the herb problem. When making Mexican foods, I always substitute a combination of coriander and oregano for cilantro. Coriander is the seed from the cilantro plant, and doesn't have the same soapy taste (at least not to me). Oregano is actually an authentic Mexican ingredient than many American recipes forget about, so you're actually being true to the recipe's roots by using it. If you need to add a "fresh" flavor, try a squeeze of lime. It will be good!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Authentic-tasting and delicious. I don't know why I keep making enchiladas, they're about the most annoying food in the world to make. It must have something to do with how good they are. Budget at least 90 minutes to make these. They aren't challenging, just time-consuming.

Sauce:
6 anaheim chile peppers
6 tomatillos
2 yellow onions, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 cup chicken broth

Filling:
Breast meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, or 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat or fat free is fine)
4 scallions, white and firm green parts, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup shredded monterey jack cheese (low fat cheese works well)

Also:
About a dozen 6-inch corn tortillas
Corn oil
More cheese

Cut the anaheim chiles in half, lengthwise - WEAR GLOVES while handling the chiles! Scoop out the seeds and membranes. Place the chiles, skin-side-up, on a broiler-safe baking sheet or a sheet of tinfoil, then place under the broiler. Broil for 6 minutes or until the skins are blackened and blistered. DO NOT leave the broiler unattended. When chiles are done, remove to a heat-safe bowl and cover tightly.

While the chiles cool, prepare the tomatillos. Peel off the husks and rinse most of the stickiness off the skin underneath, then chop the fruit. Tomatillos taste like a cross between a cucumber and a pineapple... people say green tomatoes are a good substitute but I think it would be better to leave them out entirely if you can't find them.

Now prep the filling. Chop the chicken breast and combine it with the other filling ingredients in a bowl.

By now the chiles should be cool enough to handle. Put your gloves back on, if you had taken them off. Peel the skins from the chiles, saving the flesh and discarding the skins. They should come away easily; if they don't, then the chiles weren't cooked long enough. Don't worry about little bits that stick. You're going to be pureeing the sauce anyway.

Once peeled, chop the chiles and put them into a small pot with the onion and garlic and a teaspoon of corn oil. Saute over medium-high heat until the garlic is translucent or the onions are tender, whichever happens first. Then add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until the ingredients are all tender, remove from heat, and puree until smooth. A regular blender, food processor, or stick blender will all work just fine.

Turn the oven to 350. Heat a small amount of corn oil in a small frying pan, such as a crepe pan or omelet pan, over medium heat. Lay a corn tortilla in the oil and cook for about 30 seconds or until thoroughly heated and steaming, but not until it dries and curls - depending on your tortilla, they may need more or less cooking time.

Lift up the tortilla and place another tortilla underneath it, adding more oil if necessary. Keep adding more tortillas to the bottom until you have 8 or 9 tortillas on the stack. Then remove from the heat.

Pour about 1/2 cup sauce into the bottom of a rectangular baking pan, about 8x12 inches in size. Spread about 1/3 cup filling down the middle of each tortilla, roll the tortilla up and lay seam-side-down in the baking pan.

When all the tortillas are in, pour the remaining sauce over them, and top with more shredded cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes or until heated and the cheeses are all melted. Serve!

Butter Chicken (riff thereof)

I came across a recipe called Butter Chicken in a recent Penzey's Spices catalog. The titleimmediately caught my attention, but then I accidentally threw the magazine away. No!!

I went to the trusty Internet, but I could not find the exact recipe. I did find enough other versions of it to create a sort of composite of what butter chicken ought to be. Then I took that idea and threw it away, creating some new amalgam out of what I had in the kitchen. The result was one of only 2 successful curries I've ever made. I have no idea what aspect of this made it work, so I've listed everything, though the odds that I will ever make it exactly like this again are very slim indeed.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 medium yellow onions
1 red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
5 tomatillos
1 1/2 tsp garam masala (a spice blend available at most grocery stores)
3/4 tsp Balti curry powder, available from Penzey's
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
5 tbsp butter
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup greek yogurt

Saute the chicken over medium-high heat until browned. Remove to a cutting board and chop.

Chop the vegetables and saute over medium heat in that same pan, with the butter. This incorporates any tasty browned bits left in the pan. When the vegetables are tender, add the spices and cook for another minute.

Add the tomato sauce and water, and simmer until vegetables are soft and the tomatillos begin to break down. Then remove the vegetable mixture to a blender, add the yogurt, and puree.

Combine the chicken and the sauce, and there you go!

Strawberry-Lime Sherbert

Just another ice cream recipe! This one is especially low in fat and consists mostly of strawberries. You could easily replace the milk for the lactose-intolerant.

Ingredients:
2 cups sliced strawberries
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup milk (any kind would work, but I would recommend rice milk if you can't use dairy milk)
Sweetener to taste

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and puree until smooth. Press through a sieve to strain out the seeds - that is optional if you don't mind seeds (I hate them). Then just freeze according to your freezer's directions.

Try serving this with chocolate sauce!

Tabbouleh (or Fun With Wheat Berries, Part II)

I read that parsley is good for urinary tract health, a matter which is of grave concern to many women, myself included. So I immediately started thinking of ways to incorporate more parsley into my diet. Ariel is always saying we should have more salads, but I loathe salad. But my dumb ol' brain finally remembered that I like tabbouleh, which is essentially a parsley salad!

You might be familiar with tabbouleh being sort of like couscous - lots of cracked wheat and a little bit of parsley and tomatoes. This is more of a salad with some wheat berries included to make it more satisfying and give it some body. Ariel and I agreed that it was a recipe that needed writing down so I could make it again :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup parboiled wheat berries or bulger wheat if you can't find wheat berries (Irish oatmeal would probably also work)
1 bunch parsley, chopped, stems removed
1 cup chopped seeded tomato, about 3
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion, about half an onion
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cumin (sprinkle this in a bit at a time as you stir, or it won't distribute)

Cook the wheat berries (or whatever you're using) according to package directions. Drain and set aside to cool slightly. Then, just mix it all together!

Traditionally, tabbouleh is served chilled, but I enjoyed it warm and then I enjoyed at room temperature when I went back for seconds, heh heh. You can chill it if you like, though. The lemon juice vinaigrette keeps the salad fresh for a couple of days and the leftovers are often even better the next day.

Hearty Mexican Chard & Chickpea Soup

A recipe modified in enough ways that I consider it mine at this point, it's fast (15 minutes if you're good!) and easy, not to mention satisfying. A good way to get some greens and fiber, too.

Ingredients:
1 head Swiss chard, doesn't matter what kind - the stems lose their color when boiled, so if white is cheaper, then just buy white
1 small can chickpeas
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
2 cups broth, chicken or vegetable
1 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper, or 1-2 canned chipotle peppers, seeded and minced
1 brick pepper jack cheese (low-fat works well here)
1/2 brick regular monterey jack cheese (low-fat works well here)
(Note that the cheeses must be bricks, not shredded.)

Tear the chard leaves into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Slice the ribs like celery and set aside, separate from the leaves.

Chop the onion and the garlic and sauté in olive oil over medium heat until the garlic is translucent. Add the spices and the broth and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the chard ribs and boil for 4 minutes. Then add the leaves and boil for another 2 or 3 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender.

Remove from heat and add the chickpeas I do it this way so that the chickpeas cool the soup slightly, so it's ready to eat without needing an ice cube to cool it. If you don't intend to serve it immediately, or if you enjoy burning your tongue on your soup (weirdo) then add the chickpeas along with the leaves and boil an extra minute to warm them.

Cut the cheese into cubes about half an inch wide. Put 1/4 of the cheese cubes in the bottoms of 4 soup bowls and ladle the soup on top.

Frankly, you had me at "cheese cubes."

A note on chipotle peppers: Chipotle has recently come into vogue. Even McDonald's has chipotle-flavored stuff now. The chipotle pepper is a smoked red jalapeno. If you are familiar with jalapenos, then you can safely use them equivalently in terms of heat.

Until recently, I could only find these peppers in cans of adobo sauce, which was annoying because I never used the whole can before it went bad, and also I had to wear gloves to handle them or inevitably the pepper's heat would find its way into some tiny cut I didn't know I had and I'd be running around the kitchen yelling about how I should have worn gloves. Now, though, McCormick's Spices sells ground dried chipotle peppers and suddenly chipotle is SUPER easy to use. (Although I personally buy mine from Penzey's, I'm sure McCormick's is fine.) Try a sprinkle atop eggs, in anything mexican or beef-based, and on top of chef's salads!

"You followed a recipe, didn't you?" Part 1

Lemon-Ginger Pinwheel Cookies from Cooking Light. They looked pretty, don't they?

Don't be fooled. They're like dog biscuits. I think I broke a filling on one of them - no, seriously, I'm calling the dentist on Monday.

When the recipe didn't call for any baking powder, I was suspicious. But I'd never made pinwheel cookies before, so I thought maybe they wouldn't look good without the baking powder and maybe the surprisingly low oven temperature and surprisingly short baking time would make it work anyway.

Boy was I wrong.

The low oven temperature did not cook the cookies within the allotted time. Cooking them longer at least meant they weren't raw in the middle, but now they were tough. The recipe called for cooking until "lightly browned" so the second batch, I cooked even longer, until they were browned, with the result that even Ariel won't eat that batch.

To add insult to injury, the different colors of dough didn't "join" together, and so there are cracks between the colors, which look bad and also cause the cookie to fall apart when eating it. With baking powder, these cracks would have filled in and the cookie would have been a cohesive baked good, not a crumbly, tough waste of ingredients.

Trust your own judgment, ladies and gentlemen! When a cookie doesn't call for baking powder and you KNOW it should, ADD IT ANYWAY!

Basic Chicken Soup

Chicken soup at its most fundamental. Elana, this is for you :)

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup chopped onion, about 1 large
5 celery stalks, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced, or 2 tsp bottled minced garlic, or 1/2 tsp dried garlic
1 small package mushrooms, quartered (optional)
2 cups chicken broth, or to your preference - I use as little broth as possible in my soups, to get the best flavor and because I don't like to drink the broth after eating the soup
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tsp dried parsley
Optional: 1 bay leave, 1 tsp chopped rosemary
Ground pepper to taste

Heat a Dutch oven (that's a big pot with relatively short sides, as opposed to a stock pot) over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray, and lay the chicken breasts into the hot pan. Cook for 4 minutes undisturbed, then turn with a spatula and cook for 4 minutes more. Don't worry if some bits stick - those bits make the broth taste good. Remove to a cutting board when done.

Dump in the vegetables. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes, making sure to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Then add the broth and the herbs. There must be enough broth to cover the vegetables; any more beyond that is your choice. Turn the heat to high and leave it to boil.

Meanwhile, chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. (The reason I chop it now is because it's easier to chop cooked meat than raw meat.) When it's chopped, and the soup is boiling, add the chicken back in. Turn the heat to medium, and cook until the veggies are just tender, about 8 minutes.

If you want noodles: You must add the noodles at the same time as the chicken, and cook according to package directions (usually 8 minutes but it depends on the noodle). You will need to add more broth for the noodles to use. About 1/2 cup broth per handful of noodles. This is a great time to use whole wheat noodles, because their firmer structure and robust flavor works well in a soup.

Green Smoothies

My self-improvement project this winter has been to eat more vegetables. I've added one or two servings of veggies to my daily diet. So far, the main effect I've noticed is a drain on my wallet, BUT, I have also had the opportunity to play around with new recipe concepts.

One of those is ways to eat greens. I know greens are healthy but I hate salad and cooked greens are slimy (except for kale in soup). I love smoothies, though, so when my sister mentioned green smoothies, I was intrigued. Here are my results so far.

1. Chard: Produces a juicy, smooth smoothie and has a mild, nutty taste. Top choice.
2. Kale: Tastes good, but takes forever to grind. I'm going to try it in the food processor and see if that works better. Also has a little bit of an odd metallic taste.
3. Boston lettuce: Now, normally, this kind of lettuce is sweet and good, but in a smoothie it was disappointingly bitter and mineral-y. This is better as a salad.
4. Red leaf lettuce: I chose the specific lettuce head by tasting little bits of the leaves on every lettuce in the store (yeah, I'm that guy) in order to find one that wasn't bitter. Each shipment of lettuce can taste different! But I found a good one, and blended it up, and it came out surprisingly creamy, with a rich mouthfeel.

Recipe #1:
1 head Swiss chard leaves, no stems
1 cup prepared banana-strawberry juice
Juice of 1 lemon
Sweetener to taste

Recipe #2:
1 head non-bitter leaf lettuce
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 orange
Sweetener to taste

Good luck!

Cheesy Personal Meatloaves

A smash hit! Some relatively minor tweaks and alterations, but mainly this is a recipe out of Cooking Light January 2011. Cooks faster than full-sized meatloaf, and allows for portion control, too.

Meatloaf Ingredients:
1/3 cup Panko
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 tsp dried oregano
Ground pepper to taste, I used 1/8 tsp
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup ketchup
1 or 2 tbsp mustard with horseradish or regular Dijon mustard, to taste
5 ounces reduced fat Jalapeno cheddar cheese, such as Cabot, or regular cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes (this is important, don't substitute shredded)
2 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 egg

Gravy ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp vegetable bouillon
1/4 tsp beef bouillon
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425.

Saute the onion until tender, then add the garlic and saute 1 minute more.

Combine all meatloaf ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with your hands (wearing disposable gloves). Form into 5 or 6 oval-shaped meatloaves on a tinfoil-lined cookie sheet. Bend up the edges of the foil so the meatloaf juices don't drip and dirty your oven. Drizzle some more ketchup on top of the meatloaves, to taste. Bake for 25 minutes.

While it's baking, make your veggies and the gravy. I just boiled up some frozen mixed vegetables and put butter on them, since meatloaf has a homey, retro feel that makes me think of boiled mixed veggies.

The gravy is pretty standard; mix the flour with a little milk in the bottom of a small saucepan until combined, then gradually stir in the rest of the liquid and the other ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Gravy will form a skin if not served immediately, so rub it with butter to prevent that, or lay a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper down on top of it, pressing down so it touches the surface of the gravy.

I'm so excited to eat this as leftovers tomorrow, you have no idea.

Tzatziki (Greek cucumber yogurt sauce)

This excellent spread is also a great dip, and surprisingly versatile. It's mostly made of cucumber (at least it is when I make it) and thus a good way to get some extra veggies, too. It's low in fat, high in protein and calcium.

Tzatziki is traditionally served on gyro meat, but it's great on hamburgers, meatballs, chips (including pita chips of course) and vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 English seedless cucumber, peeled
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, finely minced, or 1/3 tsp garlic powder

The cucumber can be shredded if you want convenience, or it can be cut into very small dice (about the size of split peas) if you like the texture of the cubes. I do! So I usually take the extra effort. But most people dislike chopping and so shredding the cucumber is a good option for them.

Spread the cucumber on several layers of paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 15 minutes, then lay several more layers of paper towel on top and gently press down to soak up the excess veggie liquid.

Mix together the garlic and the yogurt, then carefully scrape the cucumber off the paper towels with a spatula or the back of a knife, and add the cucumber to the dip. Give it a stir.

Note: If you have time to let it sit, the garlic flavor will permeate better. But if you eat it all up right away, you can skip the paper-towels step because the cucumber will not release enough of its liquid to make the dip watery, especially if you dice it instead of shredding it. Dicing with a sharp knife preserves the internal structure of the cucumber, causing it to hold its water better.

You can personalize your tzatziki with the addition of cumin, ground black pepper, a pinch of dill weed or parsley, or adding extra garlic. Wikipedia cites regional variations that use shallots, minced walnuts, and mint, too.

Enjoy!

Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies - Gluten-Free, Low-Carb

Long time, no post! But I wanted to post this amazing recipe for cookies made of - get this - whey protein powder! They're tender in the middle, crispy on the outside, rich and delicious, and don't take up too much of the old carb allowance. They are NOT health food, though, don't fool yourself ;)

Ingredients:
2 scoops whey protein powder (vanilla, chocolate, almost anything works)
2/3 stick of butter, softened (toldja it's not health food!)
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetness of Truvia
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Oven to 400 degrees. Chop the chocolate chips and cranberries into pieces about half the original size.

Beat together the butter, sweetener, and egg until smooth. Don't melt the butter, if it melts it might curdle.

Combine the dry ingredients, then beat into the butter mixture. Form the resulting dough into balls the size of small walnuts and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes or until the edges are browned and crispy.

Pear and Cream Cheese Tart with Graham Crust

Created on-the-fly when we decided we needed a dessert!

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 brick of graham crackers
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg yolk

Filling:
1 1/2 brick cream cheese (neufchatel is good)
1/3 cup milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla, or to taste

Also:
2 pears
2 tbsp wine jelly

Oven 375
Grind up the graham crackers in a food processor. Add the butter and yolk and pulse to combine. Press the mixture into a pie plate or tart plate and bake for 7 minutes or until the edge is golden.

Combine the cream cheese with the milk, sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth. Pour into the baked crust.

Slice the pears thinly and arrange on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pears are tender.

Melt the jelly and brush onto the pears.

Yay!