Spring Break/Weight Loss Hiatus/Red Alert

     I'm in the middle of a weight loss red alert.  It's exactly four weeks to the day that I HAVE to lose enough lbs. to fit into my vintage dresses.  It's that time of year, Easter (Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender!!!) is just around the corner.  You might have noticed that recently my posts have gotten fewer and farther between.  That is due in part to my focus on eating light, as opposed to delicious, food.  I really haven't felt inspired because I spend too much time counting calories and fat grams.  Also, I've doubled my workout load and so the time I used to spend on my butt blogging is now spent working it out instead.

     Hopefully in a month I'll be svelte and rejuvenated(after vacay) and ready to make some super delicious food.  In the meantime, I'm going to take time off of blogging and spend it working out and depriving myself of tasty food and counting more calories and fat grams and reading instead of watching TV (burns more calories) and drinking copious amounts of water and taking my measurements and walking my baby in the park and crossing my fingers in hopes that four weeks is enough time to undo 10 months of eating whatever I want.  I'll leave you with a recipe for the only sweet treat (if all goes according to plan) I'll be ingesting these next few weeks. 

Banana and Coconut Protein Smoothie!

1 banana

1 cup coconut milk- Silk Pure Coconut Vanilla flavored

1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder

1 scoop Vanilla Frozen Dairy Dessert aka Ice Milk-very low fat(omit if on red alert)

1 graham cracker(reduced fat or omit if on red alert)

Place all ingredients in blender and blend.

Calories-436

Fat-11 grams

Sugar-42 grams

Protein-30 grams

Red Alert

Calories-216

Fat-7 grams

Sugar-25 grams

Protein-26 grams

Bon Appetit?

More from the Chickpea

     Last weekend I decided to try out a recipe that's been hanging around my recipe box for a while now.  I ripped it out of a magazine years ago because it calls for chickpeas-which I love-so I had to have it.  I had forgotten about it until Ellie decided to have a party with my recipe box on the kitchen floor.  It sounds delicious, Fried Chickpea Patties, and it tasted even better!
     The recipe is super easy and so versatile you could serve it as a main dish with some cooked veggies and rice, or as a side with other mediterranean dishes.  I don't have a pic because I didn't read the recipe through correctly and so they looked awful (but still tasted so good!).

Chickpea Patties

• 2 cans of cooked chickpeas, drained
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 c flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse just a few times until coarsely chopped-be extra careful not to over chop you just want the mixture to barely start to combine or you will end up with mush like I did!  Make into 1/2 inch thick patties and coat with flour.

Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil on medium high and cook until golden brown on both sides.  Makes 8-10

Dressing

• 1/2 c lowfat yogurt
• 3 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper

I didn't have yogurt so I just served them with sour cream.  They don't need a condiment though, they are so good plain!

-Natasha

The Lazy Woman's Pizza Pie

     I love a good slice of pizza.  Have you ever met someone who says that they don't like pizza?  Aren't you always a little suspect of these people?  Even my nephew who hates cheese and has lactose issues loves pizza.
     A few weeks ago I ordered a pizza delivery because I felt too lazy to cook.  Huge mistake.  It was not only bad for me, it tasted like it had been dipped in some weird pizza preservative chemical.  Gross.  I vowed then and there to stop being pizza pie lazy and make my own from now on.  Which is not so bad because I like my pizza way more than anything I can get delivered and my recipe is actually super easy.
     I lucked out and got the perfect, quick and delicious crust recipe from a co-worker at SLT-thanks Michael!  The only problem is you need a stand mixer to make it.  And really you need a stand mixer anyway, sorry!  So if you don't have one put it on your b-day, x-mas, v-day, tax refund day wish list and just make it happen already.

Pizza Crust Dough

• 3 cups All Purpose flour
• 1 pkg Red Star Quick Rise yeast
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 c water- 125 degrees

Add all ingredients minus water to the bowl and using the paddle attachment mix on low for 30 seconds.  Add water-make sure it is between 120 and 125 degrees no higher or lower-and mix for 60 seconds.  Change to dough hook and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes.  Place in an oiled bowl and let rise in warm area for 15 minutes.  You can also freeze the dough once it has risen, just put in fridge to defrost and pull out 30 minutes before you roll it out.

     When the dough is ready punch it down a little and cut in two.  Each half will make 2 10-14 inch (the larger you roll the thinner the crust) pizza crusts.  I roll mine out on a pastry cloth which I shake out and keep wrapped in the fridge.  Place crust on a perforated pizza pan.  I believe this pan makes the best crust, even better than a pizza stone and it's cheaper and easier to store!

     Spread pizza sauce-I just use pasta sauce from a jar-or brush crust with an olive oil, garlic salt and herb mixture.  Top with whatever you've got hanging out in the fridge.  Here's some ideas from my fridge: sliced red onion or carmelized sweet/yellow onion, roasted red pepper(I just buy them in a jar), olives, sundried tomatoes(costco sells huge jars), artichoke hearts, garlic(best if you roast it first), steamed broccoli, cooked potato(seriously it's good!) and peperoncinis (spicy!).  Then cover with cheese.  I buy a shredded pizza blend but often I will change it up and use fresh mozzarella, sliced provolone or goat cheese.  Try it vegan style too!  I really like it vegan style brushed with the garlic oil, crushed red pepper and lots of veggies.

     Bake at 415 degrees for 12-14 minutes depending on thickness of crust.  

Pizza easily slides onto a pizza screen, see above, which is great to cut on.  Serve with a salad and it's the perfect meal.  Bon Appetit!

-Natasha

Chicken Curry in a Hurry

      We are egg lovers in our house.  That might explain these guys (gals actually)

We have a small hen house on our property where we keep 4 hens.  We had five but one stopped producing eggs.  When this happens, just like in the old days when people had family farms instead of cramming thousands of chickens on a gross crazy factory farm, we eat it.  So this weekend we made a gigantic batch of super rich chicken broth.

      I honestly didn't know what to do with it other than make chicken soup since we don't have the freezer space for all of it.  But I wanted to do something more challenging being that last month, thanks to the flu, I had already made my fill of chicken soup.  So I decided to try an Asian inspired chicken curry soup and serve it over brown rice.  Being that I am a novice at this type of cuisine, the recipe needed to be fairly simple and thanks to my mom's donation of yellow curry paste and some quick study on the internet I came up with a version that is quick, easy and delish.   Warning: this recipe makes 8 quarts so you might want to scale it down, we took it to Grandma's for Sunday dinner and had plenty of leftovers.

Chicken Curry Soup

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 large onions or 2 small-chopped
• 8 medium size carrots-sliced about 1/4" thick
• 8 small potatoes-boiled until almost done and cut into largish pieces
• 3 large chicken breast-approx. 2 lbs.
• 1/3 cup yellow curry paste
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 62 oz. chicken broth
• 2 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk-one of the cans I used was a light coconut milk

 In a large stockpot cook chicken on medium heat in some olive oil until done.  Remove chicken but leave oil and juices from the meat then add 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp sea salt of salt.  Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.  Add onions and carrots to the pan and saute on medium heat until onions begin to soften.  Then add curry paste, brown sugar, chicken, potatoes and stir well, cook for 2 minutes.  Pour chicken broth and coconut milk in and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

This broth has an amazing amount of fat in it so your soup will probably look creamier on top than mine. We didn't bring the camera with us to Grandma's so there is no presentation picture but just serve it in a bowl over brown rice.  Yum!

-Natasha

Mac and Cheese Please!

     While working for SLT I won a 2 year subscription to Bon Appetit.  It's a blessing and a curse.  I love to sift through the gorgeous photos and yummy recipes, but then it just sits there on the coffee table or on the magazine rack for months tempting me and making me feel guilty for being too lazy and selfish to make any of the recipes.  There is a gigantic stack and I've only used one or two recipes.
     The March issue came and as soon as I saw it I knew I couldn't resist it anymore.  Baked pastas are featured this month and on the cover a dish of bubbling hot mac and cheese sits with a fork lifting up an ooey gooey bite.  I immediately started scheming.  Why scheming?  Because I'm officially on a diet to lose the baby weight, and mac and cheese is hardly diet food.
      I decided to combine a cream sauce recipe I have that calls for low fat cream cheese and 1% milk with a bag of a lowfat shredded Italian cheese blend and whole grain rigatoni.  I hoped that this combo would still be delicious enough to calm my craving for a "sumptuous baked pasta" while maintaining my diet integrity.
     Last Friday night we had friends over and I tested out my recipe on our guests.  I think it's safe to say they liked it...clean plates all around!  Some of us even had seconds, I had an extra spoonful ok?  It really was good and lowfat and packed full of veggies and I felt satisfied.

First you'll need to roast one large or two small bulbs of garlic for one hour, cool and pull out each clove of garlic with a fork then set aside.  Boil whole grain or semolina pasta (I used rigatoni but ziti will work well also) until al dente and set aside.

White Sauce
Use a roux whip to stir 1 Tbsp. flour into 2 Tbsp. melted butter over medium heat, then gradually add 2 cups of 1% or skim milk.  Stir constantly until it begins to thicken-about 4 minutes-and add 1 8 oz. package of lowfat cream cheese and 2 Tbsp of grated parmesan cheese.  While stirring add 1 Tbsp. Onion Powder and 2 tsp. of Garlic Salt.

Stir until all of the cheese is combined and sauce is hot.

Veggies- I used about 10 spears of asparagus and half of a large head of cauliflower cut into bite size pieces and steamed.  Then I sauteed half of a large onion and half of a red bell pepper in olive oil and sea salt.  Once onions and peppers were soft I added the other veggies to the skillet and seasoned with oregano, garlic salt, and basil to taste.

Combine all of the above plus one 8 oz. package of shredded mozzarella, or an Italian blend like I found at Smith's, in a covered casserole and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Serves 4-6
Bon Appetit!

-Natasha

     

Gonzo for Garbanzos

     I have a thing for the garbanzo bean.  Which is a good thing because garbanzos are packed with protein, folate, B6 and a bunch of other stuff.  A nutritious and versatile little bean.  Also known as chick peas, these guys are in a million Middle Eastern and Indian dishes including Hummus, one of the best things that happened to my lunch hour.  Another favorite garbanzo dish of mine is a simple salad that can be served on a bed of spinach or in a pita.  I make this a couple of times a month because it's so easy and nutritious-kids like it too!

     Canned garbanzos are far too convenient for me to think about it but if you're hardcore go ahead and cook your own.  Add sour cream (reduced fat works great) to a can of drained beans until they are covered.  Then mince one slice of red onion and add to beans along with lots of dill, sea salt, and pepper to taste.  If your kids freak out at the sight of onion, omit and add onion powder or onion salt (if so omit sea salt) instead.  Last step is to add the feta, also to taste.  I like to add a lot of feta so to watch the calorie content I use a fat free feta (available at Costco for cheap!).
     You can add fresh tomato-in season only don't bother with the crappy grocery store tomatoes-or some radish or green onion to switch it up.  It has a great fresh flavor and is super filling.  Love it!

-Natasha
       

The Incredible Edible Omelette

     I love to start off the day with a delicious, filling breakfast.  It just makes me feel pampered like a movie star or a Real Housewife.  For me every good breakfast starts by sauteing onions in olive oil.  Onions make everything taste better.  Especially eggs.  So I often make a mostly egg white omelette with fat free feta and random veggies from the fridge.
     Julia Child has an entire chapter in Mastering the Art of French Cooking dedicated to the egg.  While I would like to attempt the French Omelette sometime, I like my method for it's ease and flexibility.  After sauteing 1/4 cup onions until almost transparent on med-low heat, I add 2-3 beaten eggs (it's what Julia recommends also), but if I want to go lo-cal and low cholesterol I'll use 2 egg whites and 1 egg, beat eggs with a fork or a small roux whip works great.  You can also add some milk, just 2 Tbsp., and spices-I like paprika, onion salt, thyme, and pepper-but it really depends on the day and my mood, just add the milk and spices before beating the eggs.
     Once you add egg mixture to the onions in an 8" omelette pan, swirl it around to get maximum coverage.  You're still on med-low heat but keep checking the around edges of omelette for their release from the pan.  When the edges release just slowly finesse your spatula under the omelette until you get a full release from the bottom.  At this point your just waiting for the center to cook enough that you can successfully fold it in half.  Right before I fold it in half I add about 1/8 c of feta, but feel free to use more!
     Now that the omelette is folded in half just tip skillet toward open end and let excess egg run out a little to ensure it gets thoroughly cooked.  After a minute or two flip over (I use one of those huge pancake spatulas which also works well for grilled sammies too), top with feta, cover and let cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Voila, the perfect omelette!

     I like to add julienned red pepper to the onions at the beginning, it softens them while killing the bitterness.  Spinach can go in towards the end of the saute, right before adding egg.  Feel free to change up the cheese and spice combo accordingly.  

     The real secret is to use a good pan.  Teflon is bad news for many reasons but mainly because everyone but you is probably going to use metal utensils and ruin the coating.  Then you have issues with it flaking into your food (gross) and it starts to stick.  I use a Scanpan.  

This is a Danish product that is made from a ceramic and titanium composite.  It is non-toxic, durable and is totally amazing.  Just make sure you actually read the directions (yes I'm serious) to get optimal performance.  Oh and you can use metal in it so no more yelling at the people in your house who don't care about your dammit pan.

Bon Appetit!

-Natasha