Category: Cooking

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Cooking

Dessert: Easy and Light

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I am always scheming and searching for desserts (beyond eating just straight up fruit, or baked fruit) that are relatively low calorie… this is my latest effort. I ground up low fat graham crackers and chopped hazelnuts in the food processor and put the mixture on the bottom of my little plastic ramekins. Next, I layered a tropical yogurt, fresh pineapple pieces, and fat free whipped topping. I topped everything with some fresh toasted coconut. I had bought a coconut a few days before to eat the flesh and happened to have some extra. By the way, fresh coconut flakes toast really fast. I burned half of the first batch. Finally, I stuck my ramekins in the freezer. I would take one dessert out about a half hour before I wanted to eat it. It is best enjoyed when it is still slightly frozen but you can easily work a spoon or fork through it. The beauty of a dessert like this is that the possibilities are endless. You could use nilla wafers instead of graham crackers. You could use chocolate graham crackers and chocolate chips. You could use any kind of yogurt and fruit pieces… I’m getting hungry again writing this… I’m sure you get the point.

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Eggplant Parmesan

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This is the perfect healthy and simple eggplant parm recipe! I start by peeling sections of the whole eggplant lengthwise so that you end up with an eggplant that has vertical stripes of skin. I do this so that when you eat the finished eggplant the skin does not come off in one piece although this shouldn’t really happen if it is cooked properly. Anyways, I enjoy eating it this way… some skin… not too much skin.

Next, cut the eggplant into medallions. Dip them into an egg-wash and then coat with a breadcrumb mixture. For this dish, I like to mix equal parts Italian and Panko breadcrumbs. I also add garlic powder, salt, and an extra dash of Italian seasoning to the breadcrumb mixture. Once breaded, the eggplant goes on a rack on top of a cookie sheet and in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25min.

When baking eggplant parm, the single most important tip is to place it on a rack so that it browns easily, you don’t need to add any oil, and it does not become mushy. The rack is key. Finally, I add a slice of fresh mozzarella to the top during the last 5 minutes of baking. I ate this a few nights ago on top of spaghetti squash and sauce. SO good.

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Cooking

Red Cabbage Obsession

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I’m not sure why I get a specific vegetable obsessions from time to time, but lately I have been eating a lot of red cabbage. I’ve always not minded cabbage. I love cabbage rolls and corned beef with cabbage but lately I’ve really been appreciating red cabbage especially when it is cooked until just tender but still has a bit of a crunch. When cooked this way, it has a sweetness but also a veggie-ness that I’m really loving right now.

My red cabbage affair started a couple weeks ago when I had some left over from taco night and needed to use it. I was grilling chicken and other veggies and I cut cross-sections of the remaining red cabbage, put some olive oil, salt, and pepper on it and it was so good after being grilled. Since then, I’ve experimented with applying various rubs or glazes on cross-sections of the cabbage before grilling or roasting it (side note: cabbage will grill or roast fairly quickly, on a grill or in a 350 degree oven my cooking time has been anywhere between 5-15min). Besides the simple olive oil, salt, and pepper application my favorite thing has been applying mustard in various ways to the outside before cooking. Dijon by itself is great. Dijon and honey together is good but might be a little sweet combined with the cabbage to some. Spicy mustard is excellent. My next move is to either braise or marinate and grill the cabbage in beer, Worcestershire, a dash of mustard, and I’m thinking about adding a bit of red pepper flakes along with some salt of course (I’m thinking chopping and braising is what I’ll try since I’ve already grilled it quite a bit). Oh red cabbage!… how you intrigue me. You can bore me to death in salads sometimes yet excite the hell out of me in general.

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Cooking

Let’s talk about mashed potatoes…

Everyone has their own distinct way of making mashed potatoes whether it is simply adding milk, butter, and salt (which is always good) or adding a variety of different dairy and fat. When I make mashed potatoes for a potluck or dinner party and I’m not trying to be health conscious, I like to add a variety of things. First, I make toasted garlic and strain out the garlic pieces which can be used on or in something else or as a garnish unless I know I’m making the potatoes for a bunch of garlic lovers. I like to add the garlic butter, cream cheese, sour cream, half and half, and salt to taste. It is important of course to be somewhat conservative in the total amount of these ingredients you add so that your potatoes do not end up too runny. You can always add more of whichever ingredient you like. Lastly, my hands down favorite way to “mash” the potatoes (Russetts in particular) is to put them through a ricer. Ricers are relatively inexpensive and come in a variety of forms. Essentially, they push whatever you are working with through small holes to create rice-like pieces. Once you have put your boiled potatoes through a ricer, it is just a matter of stirring the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients. At times, when I am working with a red or gold potato and I want skin and/or chunks in the end product, I will just bust out a good old-fashioned masher. The only thing I am not super fond of is using a automated blender or mixer to make “mashed” potatoes. I feel like they end up gummy. Let me know your favorite way to make mashed potatoes, I’d love to hear about it.

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Cooking

Giada’s Picatta

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Almost every savory recipe I follow I think to myself, “I’m not going to include that” or “I’m going to add this” or “Next time, I would change this.” I’m sure a lot of you are the same and that’s part of the fun of cooking. However, I followed the chicken picatta recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis exactly and I would not have changed one thing. This recipe is awesome. It was perfectly acidic and pan-frying chicken in some olive oil and butter is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken breast quickly and flavorfully. I made mashed potatoes instead of pasta to go with the chicken for no particular reason other than I was feeling like eating mashed potatoes. It paired very well.

Click here to view Giada’s picatta recipe

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Cooking

Lentil Protein Pack

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I decided it’s time to stop eating frozen meals for lunches even if they are “low calorie,” a lot of them can have funky salt and fat contents. So I sautéed 1/2 of an onion and cooked up 20oz of extra lean ground turkey in the same pan. I boiled one cup of black lentils with rice and salt. I combined the lentils with the turkey, added a can of fire roasted tomato, and seasoned with garlic powder and salt to taste. Once the mixture is mostly cooled I divided it into ten parts in sandwich bags and put them all in the freezer. When you freeze your own food like this you just want to make sure there is as little air as possible and my little protein packs will be good for a month in the freezer. I call them that because each bag is 138 calories with 19g of protein. I’ve been eating them most days for lunch and switching up the vegetable I pair them with for some variety. Each bag only costs $1.50 and if you are eating 3-4 cups of steamed broccoli or something like it bought in the frozen section, you are eating a crazy healthy, around 250 calorie lunch for somewhere around $3.00 or less. Goodbye lean cuisines!

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Cooking

Cauliflower Obsession

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I used to be wary of cauliflower. I think the overall appearance seemed bland and boring so I avoided it. Also, I feel like it is more likely than not to come across cauliflower that is ill-prepared and that doesn’t help the case for cauliflower either. I feel like that could be said for a lot of veggies. However, give cauliflower a chance. I did and now I can’t stop eating it. I’ll roast it in the oven. I’ll blanch it. I’ll cut center cross sections, marinate, and grill it. It really does make a good pseudo mashed potato (especially blended with parmesan and some garlic roasted in olive oil). I’ve even blended it to thicken and enhance a vegetable soup.

One of the bigger local farms around here has had amazing cauliflower the past month. I’ve tried their regular, orange, and purple cauliflower along with their broccoflower. The purple cauliflower and broccoflower are definitley good but they do not have a very distinct flavor. They both taste somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower but they have beautiful color and are a feast for the eyes prepared properly. The orange cauliflower is my favorite. Not only is it interesting to look at, it has a very subtle sweetness that is somewhat similar to the sweetness of a carrot or bell pepper. My favorite way to eat any cauliflower is roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. When Gar ate the orange cauliflower prepared this way for the first time he said it reminded him of something grilled with a little bit of BBQ sauce. It was not something that had crossed my mind but I could see why he would say that.