Curried Mango and Chicken Salad
Posted: July 19, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: chicken, chicken salad, curry, mango Leave a comment
As a child, my sister Margaret would get stuck eating the same thing everyday. One whole year she had the same conversation with me everyday.
“Dana, what are we having for dinner?”
It did not matter what I replied, from burgers to spaghetti she would then say… “No thanks, I think I will just have cheese broccoli.” Which she made herself with a package of frozen broccoli and some sort of processed cheese, Velveeta being her favorite.
Sometime in her teenage years Margaret’s dish of choice became chicken salad, which lasted a very long time. I remember having a conversation with her sometime in her twenties about her idea for a chicken salad restaurant and if I thought it was viable.
Now I too have always loved chicken salad, but consider it a special occasion treat because I just don’t eat that much mayonnaise for thigh giggling reasons.
The sad part is that chicken salad is so easy to make these days if you use a grocery store rotisserie chicken. Since I am going to a ladies potluck tonight I decided it was a good day to make a healthy chicken salad. Too bad my sister is not here to eat it.
1 store bought rotisserie chicken
2 mangos – cubed
½ red onion- finely chopped
1 hot pepper minced
35 basil leaves- chiffonade – that means cut in tiny ribbons
Dressing
1 T. low fat mayonnaise
2/3 cup of fat free Greek yogurt
1 T. ketchup
1t. curry powder
1 t. lemon juice
2 packets of Splenda
1 t. salt
Pepper
Pull the meat off the chicken in shreds making sure you don’t get any of the skin. Put it in a large bowl and add the other ingredients down to the basil. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl and pour over the chicken mixture and gently stir it all together. It is better to get it refrigerate for at least an hour.
You-Just-Thought-You-Hated-Okra Okra
Posted: July 17, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: Okra 2 Comments
I grew up a Yankee child of southern parents. It was not until I went to boarding school did I learn that I actually had a Southern accent despite living in Connecticut from the age of 4. My father taught me how to cook the way his mother had taught him so I was good at making things liked stewed tomatoes and fried chicken.
One purely southern thing my parents loved to eat was Okra, which was completely foreign in the northern climate. The only place they could find it was in the freezer section of the Village Market. Now frozen vegetables were a staple of our 1970’s kitchen. I actually thought that all vegetables grew in little frozen squares. Many frozen vegetables were okay, but not Okra. It becomes slimy when cooked, a texture none of the kids in my family could abide.
It was not until I ate fresh Okra that I discovered the difference and learned to love it. This recipe is so simple and healthy and not at all slimy.
As much fresh Okra as you can get your hands on (It is at the Durham farmer’s Market now through September)
Salt
Ground Coriander
Pam
Cut the big end off the okra and through it away. Then cut each pod into ½ in disks.
Heat a skillet on Med. high heat on the stove and spray with Pam. Put the okra in the pan and let it heat up for about 2 minutes before stirring it. Stir it and continue cooking for about 7 minutes total. You want the okra to start to get a little brown. As it browns sprinkle coriander all over it. Salt before serving.
A regular serving would be about 5 pods per person, make double. If you live someplace you can’t get Okra come visit.
Pecan, Fennel and Squash Cake
Posted: July 15, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: cake, fennel seeds, pecans, squash, vegetarian Leave a comment
This is not a diet recipe, but I figure you need a little treat and I still have too much squash. I have made a ton of zucchini breads that are filling my freezer and being given away to everyone with a new baby or relative visiting. I can’t remember where I got this idea for a cake but I know I read a recipe somewhere that inspired this one. What is the difference between a zucchini bread and squash cake. I am not a baker by trade, but breads are usually made with oil and cakes with butter.
I baked this one as a loaf and had too much batter so I baked this little ramekin cake. I had one bite to make sure it was good. I gave the rest to Russ who asked me if it had a lot of sour cream in it because it was so moist. That was the squash. It really does make a good cake.
6 cups of grated squash- I used zucchini and yellow squash
1 cup of pecans – toasted and chopped
2 t. fennel seeds
1 ¼ cups of butter
1 ½ cups of sugar
5 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 t. vanilla
½ t. salt
2 t. baking powder
Preheat the oven to 350º.
Grate the squash in the cuisineart and put in a colander and let drain for a half an hour. Squish all the water you can out of it.
In a mixer put the butter and the sugar and beat together on med, high until if gets fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and just mix it enough to incorporate it.
Take the bowl out of the mixer and add the squash, pecans and fennel and just fold it all together.
Spray Pam in a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Pour the batter in the pan and bake for about 1 hour.
The Healthy is Hidden in it Chili
Posted: July 12, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: beef, chili, onions, peppers, tomatoes, Zucchini 2 Comments
Chili is a great way to make not just a low fat dish, but one that has a lot of veggies that you would not even know are in there that add fiber and bulk without adding many calories.
3 onions chopped
5 cloves of garlic minced
2 lbs of 96 % ground beef or ground turkey breast
1 Green pepper chopped
5 cups of shredded squash (I used 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash)
2 shredded Carrots
3 hot green peppers chopped
½ cup Chili powder
2 T. ground Cumin
1 T. smoked Paprika
2 15 oz. cans of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of liquid – wine, beer, chicken broth or water
1 can of red kidney beans
9 packets of Splenda
1 T. Red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Pam
In a large stockpot on a medium high heat, spray with Pam and add onions and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes stirring every once in a while. Add the meat and chop it up with a spoon as you cook it until it is browned. Add all the peppers, squash and carrots. Stir and cook for another 3 minutes. Add all the spices and the canned tomatoes. Add the liquid and bring boil and simmer for 20 minutes making sure
there is a little liquid in the pot. Add the beans, Splenda and vinegar and cook a few more minutes.
Vegetable Frittata
Posted: July 10, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: cheese, eggs, frittata, onions, vegetables Leave a comment
This is not an original idea for a recipe, but it is such a good things to know how to make I am writing my own version of this Spanish classic. It is also very healthy and good for any time of the day.
1 onion chopped (I like lots of onion so I use a big one)
1 ½ cups other chopped veggies – for this one I used Zucchini and green pepper. You can use leftover cooked veggies or raw. Asparagus, artichokes, red or green peppers, squash, cooked potatoes, green beans, spinach, broccoli or any creative combinations you can think of will work.
7 eggs beaten
½ cup of shredded cheese – I used a mixture of Parmesan, Jarlsberg and Gruyere
Pam
Salt and Pepper
Preheat the oven to 400º
You need a 12-inch skillet that can be put in the oven (that means it does not have plastic handles). Put skillet over a medium high heat and spray with Pam. Add onions to pan and cook for 3 minutes. If you are using raw peppers add them at the same time. Add any other raw veggies after the onions are partially cooked. Cook until veggies for another 3 minutes. Salt and Pepper the veggies. If you are using pre-cooked veggies add them now and get them warmed up.
Beat the eggs and add salt and pepper to them. Spray a little more Pam in the skillet with the vegetables, making sure the bottom gets lubricated and spreading out the vegetables evenly across the bottom of the pan. Turn heat on medium and pour the eggs into the skillet. Do not stir anything and let the eggs cook for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the still runny eggs and put whole skillet in the hot oven.
Continue cooking in the oven for another 5 minutes. The eggs may puff up a little.
Can be eaten hot or cold.
Not Just for Bridge Luncheon Tomato Aspic
Posted: July 8, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: tomato aspic 2 Comments
Cooking is not my mother’s favorite thing. But there are a couple of dishes she has mastered because they make excellent menu items for bridge day. One is her tomato aspic. As a child I refused to even try anything called aspic. It was not until I actually learned to play bridge that I tried my mother’s tomato treat that I learned how much I loved it.
2 packages sugar free lemon Jell-O
1 envelope knox unflavored gelatin
4 cups of V-8 (I use hot and spicy, but if you don’t like things too hot use regular) – divided. Half hot and half cold
2 T. Worchester sauce
1 T. lemon juice
1 cup chopped veggie of your choice- celery, green peppers, red onions
½ cup sliced olives
1 T. horseradish
Sauce
½ cup fat free sour cream
½ cup Greek Yogurt
2 T. horseradish
In a saucepan heat 2 cups of the v-8 to almost boiling. Put Jell-O powder and knox gelatin in a bowl and pour hot V-8 over it and stir until dissolved. Add the Worchester sauce, lemon juice and lemon juice. Add the cold 2 cups of V-8, the veggies, olives and horseradish. Mix together and pour into a 9 x 9 pan. Put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours.
Make sauce by mixing together the sour cream, yogurt and horseradish.
Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Grilled Figs and Balsamic Reduction
Posted: July 7, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: balsamic reduction, figs, grilled, lamb Leave a comment
This picture in no way conveys how yummy and easy this main course is.
1 leg of lamb – with the bone removed, which is called butterflied. It is often sold rolled back up with netting holding it together and wrapped in plastic. After removing it from the plastic just cut the netting off
Marinade
4 T. olive oil
8 cloves of garlic – minced
Enough chopped fresh herbs to make ½ a cup – I used oregano, rosemary and thyme
Salt and pepper
10 fresh figs – they are in season and so yummy
1 cup of good quality balsamic vinegar
Juice of a lemon
At least one hour, I did 6 hours before you need to start cooking mix up the olive oil, herbs and garlic. Spread the leg of lamb out and slather half the marinade on the meat and salt and pepper it. Flip it over on a platter or container large enough to hold it spread out and slather the other side with the remaining marinade. Salt and Pepper and cover it. If you are only going to marinate it for one hour you can leave it on the counter, otherwise put it in the refrigerator. You want to take it out of the fridge an hour before cooking so the meat can come up to room temperature.
Balsamic reduction
This can be made in advance.
Put vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to boil and reduce to simmer. You want to reduce the vinegar by ¾, which will take about half an hour.
Grilled figs
This too can be done in advance
Cut the figs in half the long ways. Spray Pam on a medium hot grill and place the figs cut side down. Grill for about 4 minutes with the lid down. Flip over to the skin side, close the lid and grill for another 4 minutes.
Grilling the lamb
Heat the grill on high and turn it down to medium high. Place the lamb fully spread out with the fat side up to start. Close the lid. The oil and fat will make the fire grow big so don’t go far from the grill. You want to grill one side for about 10 minutes. If the fire has gotten too high, move the lamb to one side of the grill and turn off the burner on that side. Don’t let it get too charred.
Once you have done one side, flip it over and cook the other side for 10 minutes. Watch for big flames again. Use a meat thermometer getting the lamb to 125º internal temp. With a butterflied leg of lab there is going to be some thicker and thinner parts so check multiple places. Don’t cook it until the fattest part is 125º unless you like really well done meat.
When the average thickest place is the right temp remove the lamb from the fire and place on a platter and cover it tightly with foil and let the meat rest for 15 minutes.
After resting slice the lamb and squeeze lemon juice over it, place figs on top and drizzle the balsamic reduction.
After you taste it you will want to kiss me.
Roast Corn with Deconstructed Pesto
Posted: July 5, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: corn, Parmesan Cheese, pesto Leave a comment
The last few years pine nuts have been way out of sight price wise. I don’t know if the whole Italian economy was propped up on pine nut futures, but I felt that $40 a pound was just too much to pay. So today when I noticed that my basil crop was in need of a good harvesting I decided to make half a pesto.
What is half a Pesto? I just wanted to chop the Basil with very little olive oil and lots of garlic. My thinking behind this is I can use that as a base and add what ever I want at the time of using it. Tonight I roasted corn on the grill and spread the partial pesto on each ear and then sprinkled Parmesan over each ear. The only part of traditional pesto that was left out were the pine nuts. We did not miss them a bit.
2 T. olive oil
150 basil leaves
7 cloves of Garlic
Put the oil and the garlic in the cuisineart and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the basil and run the machine until the basil is finely minced. This will make about a cup of Pesto Base. Keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze it in for up to a year.
1 T. of Parmesan Cheese for each ear of corn
Corn – You may want more than one ear per person
Heat the grill on high. Husk corn, and wet the ear. Place on grill and closed lid. Cook for 8 mins. Until grill marks start to blacken the kernels. Roll the corn ¼ turn and close the lid and cook another 3 minutes. Repeat until the whole ear has been rotated all the way around.
When you remove the corn from the grill, brush with the pesto base and sprinkle cheese all over and enjoy!
Tiki Island Shrimp
Posted: July 2, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: Shrimp, sriracha 1 CommentToday I am at my friend Jan McCallum’s house in Tiki Island Texas, on the gulf coast. We had a pound of beautiful shrimp to cook for dinner. So we made up this recipe which was yummy and good for you.
1 lb. shrimp – peeled
2 T. Fat free Greek Yogurt
2 T. Sriracha sauce – garlic chili sauce
2 cloves of garlic – minced
1T. Sherry
1t. Grated ginger
2 T. Cilantro – chopped
Juice of a lime
Mix all the ingredients adding the shrimp last. Marinate in refrigerator for one hour. Heat a non-stick skillet on high and add the shrimp and the marinade. Cook quickly on high just until the shrimp turn pink. For large shrimp it should only take about 3 minutes.
Thai Slaw with Chicken and Peanuts
Posted: June 27, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: cabbage, chicken, peanuts, slaw, thai 2 Comments
This is a really crunchy, satisfying summer salad. I like to add the dressing right before serving so it does not get soggy.
Slaw
6 cups of shredded Napa cabbage
2 cups of shredded red cabbage
10 green onions chopped – white and green parts
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 red pepper diced
½ cup red onion diced
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Dressing
1/3-cup fish sauce
1/3 rice wine vinegar
8 packets of Splenda
2 T. limejuice
1 T. Sesame oil
1 T. water
2 cloves of garlic – minced
2 T. fresh ginger – minced
2 dried red chilies – crushed or ½ t. red pepper flakes
3 half chicken breasts- grilled and shredded
6T. Chopped peanuts
Mix all the veggies together.
Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake up.
Add the chicken to the veggies and toss together with the dressing. Only pour about half the dressing on at once and see if you need more after tossing.
Put in individual bowls and sprinkle with a tablespoon of peanut on each bowl.
You can get at least 6 dinner size servings out of this.
You can use other vegetables, like diced cucumber, avocado, hot peppers, zucchini, green cabbage, Savoy cabbage, whatever you like.
Blackberry Mint Lime Cooler
Posted: June 26, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: blackberry, cooler, drink, lime, mint Leave a comment
All my life I have always equated blackberries with summer in North Carolina. Growing up in Connecticut we did not have indigenous blackberries. But when we went to visit my paternal Grandparents at Hom-a-gen Farm, in Providence NC we had an over abundance of the sweet berries that grew wild in a huge thicket down the hill from a cow barn.
My grandmother, Granettes, loved blackberries and my Granddad loved anything free so I was often conscripted into climbing between the prickly brambles to pick the juicy ripe berries.
Granettes was a very good cook from whom I learned many tricks in the kitchen. She was not great at giving me recipes, but would describe at length how biscuit dough should feel between your fingers or how to tell that caramel icing for the 1-2-3-5 cake had been cooked the right amount without ever using a thermometer.
Blackberry cobbler was a huge favorite, especially with the Yankee Grandchildren because first it was a dessert, something we did not get often and second the blackberries were so fresh, those few we brought back in the bucket and not in our stomachs.
I will never forget the earful Granettes gave Granddad when a farm worker accidentally wiped out the whole blackberry patch with a bush hog. It was a sad summer without blackberries.
Yesterday, when I was writing about Friendly’s, a drink I used to get there in the summer came back to mind. It was a watermelon cooler. I think that at Friendly’s it was merely watermelon sherbet and soda water run together in the milkshake machine.
Since cobbler is not on my approved list of helpful weight-loss foods and I was thinking about that watermelon cooler I made up a yummy black berry drink.
½ cup fresh blackberries
2 T. fresh limejuice
2 packets of Splenda
4 mint leaves
1 cup of ice
10 oz. club soda
Put everything in a container that you can put a stick blender in, or in a blender and add about 1/3 of the club soda. Whirl up until the ice is crushed and the black berries are gone. Pour in a big glass and add the rest of the club soda. Tastes like summer to me.
Blueberry Basil Greek Yogurt Dessert
Posted: June 25, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: basil, blueberries, yogurt 2 Comments
Growing up in Wilton, Connecticut we lived in what was considered the boonies. The closest grocery store was at least fifteen minutes away and there were no restaurants except for a Friendly’s ice cream shop. Actually, we lived equal distance between the Wilton Friendly’s and the Ridgefield Friendly’s, but we rarely got to visit them. My skinny mother did not believe in desserts. Except on Sunday nights after two of the three daughters had gone to bed. Well, actually she never believed in desserts, but my father had a way of breaking her down. After a weekend of hard 1970’s partying he would crave something sweet and she would succumb to his temptations.
So usually sometime around 9:30, while I was watching TV in the family room I would hear my father’s bright yellow VW Scirocco tear down our long gravel driveway like a rocket headed for Friendly’s. I would have to go to bed before he made the 45 minute round trip, arriving home with two half gallons of hand packed ice cream, one always Butter Pecan, my mother’s favorite and some chocolate concoction like Jamocha Almond Fudge for my father. My father, never one to live small, always gilded the lily with a pint of hot fudge sauce.
My sisters and I always found the evidence of the forbidden dessert on Monday morning when we opened the freezer to get a can of Minute Maid tangerine juice out of the freezer, but amazingly by the time we returned home from school the contraband dessert was AWOL. My mother’s guilt over having ice cream caused her to throw away the devil’s due.
Having spent the day at school hoping to get ice cream for our afternoon snack my sisters and I got good at making desserts from things people don’t usually consider dessert. Grapes, sour cream and brown sugar was a favorite, but cinnamon toast with a huge amount of butter soaked cinnamon sugar on top was practically on par with birthday cake.
Today’s recipe is something along the lines of a Carter girl dessert concoction. It’s simple, and actually quite good in the best of summer ways.
1 cup of fresh blueberries
4 Basil leaves –chiffonade
3 heaping tablespoons Greek Yogurt
½ t. honey
Sprinkle of crystallized Ginger
Mix it all together; eat pretending it is ice cream with hot fudge sauce.
Watermelon Salad
Posted: June 20, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: feta, mint, watermelon 2 Comments
It’s watermelon season so If you missed the June issue of Durham Magazine, here is my recipe from that issue.
6 cups of cubed watermelon
1/3 c. sliced Vidalia onion
3 oz. feta cheese cubed
25 mint leaves – sliced
1 T. olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar
¼ t. red chili flakes
salt
Mix together gently and enjoy!
Ratatouille – Not Like The Movie – but served in an omlette
Posted: June 19, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: eggplant, ratatouille, red peppers, tomato, yellow squash, Zucchini Leave a comment
When I was in college I lived off campus for two years with three roommates. We each had responsibility to cook dinner for the house Monday through Thursday whether you were going to be eating there or not. One of our roommates, Annie, was a vegetarian, so I was always searching for good ideas of what to make that we all would like as well as something that was inexpensive.
Ratatouille was a go to dish, but back then I made it with a ton of olive oil and served it covered in cheese. It was vegetarian, but certainly was not healthy. Since then I have discovered that both the oil and cheese were unnecessary to make a great dish.
Here is my much lighter version, which I used as the filling for an omelet.
1 large yellow onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
Pam
3 cups of diced eggplant
2 zucchini – diced
2 yellow squash – diced
1 red pepper – diced
1 15 oz. can chopped tomatoes (I have mentioned in previous recipes that fresh tomatoes are wasted on these cooked dishes, but if you are overwhelmed with fresh tomatoes go ahead and use them.)
30 fresh basil leaves chiffonade (That means finely cut)
Spray a big stockpot with Pam and place over Medium High heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook, stirring every 30 seconds, until softened, about 5 minutes. Spray more Pam and add the eggplant. Cook the same way for another 5 minutes. Add all the other vegetables except the basil and cook another 5 minutes. Add basil and salt and pepper. Cook another five minutes.
Chicken Cutlets with Artichoke Hearts, Capers and Lemon
Posted: June 18, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: artichoke hearts, capers, chicken, lemon 2 Comments
I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs because they just have more flavor than chicken breasts, but feel free to use either. I place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap on a cutting board and using a meat mallet I pounded the chicken to about half an inch thick.
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs – pounded
3 T. Wondra – or all purpose flour
Salt and pepper
Pam
1 15 oz. can artichoke hearts- cut in half
1 lemon’s worth of juice and zest
2 T. capers
After pounding the chicken, sprinkle both sides with Wondra, or flour and salt and pepper.
Heat a non-stick fry pan on high heat and spray with Pam; turn the heat down just a little. Place only as much chicken in at a time so that the cutlets don’t touch each other. Cook on one side until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip over and brown the next side.
Put the chicken in a shallow pan in a 300º oven to finish the cooking for about 15 minutes.
Once you have cooked all the chicken. Put the artichoke hearts, capers, lemons and lemon zest in the same fry pan without cleaning it out of any browned bits left from cooking the chicken.
Heat the artichoke hearts on medium high heat for about 5 minutes and pour over the chicken.
Variation to make a more brothy version:
Cook the chicken in a Dutch oven. After browning the chicken deglaze the pan with a cup of white wine. Add chicken back to the pan and add the artichoke hearts, lemon juice, zest capers and 1 cup of chicken broth. Bring pot to a boil and reduce to simmer cooking for 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
Tuna Tartare
Posted: June 17, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: avacado, siracha, tuna, wasabi Leave a comment
This is a great spicy appetizer; if you can afford the calories serve it with good seeded crackers. I just eat if straight for dinner.
¾ pound of sashimi grade tuna steaks or medallions – cut into ¼ inch cubes
1 avocado – cubed
1 minced shallot
2 green onions chopped
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. wasabi
2 T. Siracha sauce (red chili garlic sauce)
1 t. sesame oil
12 t. lime juice
Mix soy sauce, wasabi, Siracha, sesame oil and lime juice together. Add all the other ingredients gently folding, not to mash the avocados.
Chill for at least a half an hour.
Green Onion-Ginger Sauce on Chicken
Posted: June 14, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: chicken, garlic, green onions Leave a comment
My friend Dottie showed me her favorite recipe for a green onion and ginger sauce served with noodles. Since I have basically given up noodles I decided it might be good on chicken. I modified it by removing most of the oil since it was not needed for flavor.
10 green onions – both white and green parts chopped into ½ inch pieces
½ cup minced fresh ginger root
1 T. white wine vinegar
2 t. low sodium soy sauce
1 t. canola oil
Pinch of sea salt
Boneless, skinless Chicken cut up
Mix all the ingredients except the chicken and put them in a container in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Spray Pam in non-stick fry pan and cook the on medium high heat for a few minutes on each side. Spoon some sauce on chicken while still hot and eat!!
The sauce can be kept in refrigerator for a couple of days.
Peach Chutney
Posted: June 13, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: chutney, ginger, peach Leave a comment
Chutney tends to be very high in calories because it uses a ton of sugar to balance out the tangy vinegar and hot from peppers. I tried making peach chutney with Splenda and it worked perfectly. No one could even tell the difference.
I served it on grilled pork tenderloin, which was a great match.
1/3-cup cider vinegar
10 packets of Splenda
½ medium Vidalia onion – diced
½ sweet red pepper- diced
1 jalapeno- seeded and diced finely
2 cloves of garlic grated
2 T. grated fresh ginger
Handful of raisins
Pinch of salt
3 large peaches- peeled and cut into small wedges
Put the vinegar and Splenda in a pot and Bring to boil. Add everything except the peaches and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the peaches and continue cooking for ten minutes.
Can be served warm or cold.
Green Bean, Cherry Tomato and Fennel Salad
Posted: June 12, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: fennel, feta, green beans, salad, tomoato Leave a comment
1 lb green beans – stem end cut off and cut in thirds
1 pt. cherry tomatoes – halved
I large fennel bulb – shaved thinly
4 oz. feta cheese – crumbled
Dressing
1 shallot – minced
2 T. Dijon mustard
4 T. white balsamic vinegar
5 Splenda packets
1 t. olive oil
salt and pepper
Blanch the green beans for 3 mins. and then remove them quickly and put them in a bowl of ice water t stop the cooking. Add the tomatoes and fennel.
Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake up to mix. Pour over the vegetables right before serving. Sprinkle the feta on top.
Don’t put the dressing on too early because it will make the beans an ugly olive green rather than the bright green, but if you have leftovers it will keep fine, just not be as pretty.
Blackberry Lemon Frozen Chiffon
Posted: June 11, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: blackberry, chiffon, dessert, frozen, lemon Leave a comment
Chiffon’s are something Betty Draper might have made if she cooked. It is a little like a dairy-less ice cream. But when I served this dessert last night Carter thought it looked like something out of Dr. Seuss beacuse of its strong purple color. I have cut out sugar from my diet, but still imbibe in man-made sweetness. If you have a moral opposition to Splenda throw caution to the wind and use sugar. The Splenda version has only about 25 calories per serving.
Makes 8 servings
Four cups Blackberries – you can use other berries, but I am unsure how blueberries will do
¼ cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
6 T. water
1 Cup Splenda for cooking –measures the same way as sugar.
Put the Black Berries in the Cuisineart and pulse until obliterated. Put a wire mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the blackberries into the sieve. Using the back of a big spoon push as mush liquid through the sieve as you can. It will take a little work. Throw away the skin and seeds left in the sieve.
Add the lemon juice to the berry juice.
Put the egg whites and the salt in a stand mixer and beat them on high just until they are frothy.
In a small saucepan put the water and the Splenda. Bring to a boil and while hot turn the stand mixer on high and pour the hot liquid in a thin stream into the egg whites. Beat until they are stiff.
Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in the blackberry-lemon liquid.
Spoon into ramekins. Place them in the freezer for at least 6 hours.
Note: If you use sugar bring it to a boil with the water and boil it for 3 minutes without stirring
Lemon Zucchini Latkes
Posted: June 9, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: Latkes, lemon, smoked salmon, Zucchini Leave a comment
My garden is spitting out squash like the Duggers do children, but nothing else is producing yet, so I am sorry for yet another Zucchini recipe. But you won’t be sorry if you make this one.
I was making Russ a loaf of Zucchini bread, but I grated too much zucchini and had to think of something to do with it. While looking at the shreds in the Cuisineart I thought it looked a lot like grated potato for Latkes. So here is the out come.
These can be used as a side dish or tomorrow I am going to re-warm them and put a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sliver of smoked salmon on them and serve them as an appetizer to my Cousin and his wife who are coming for dinner.
Makes 24 – 2-inch latkes
4 medium zucchini – grated
1 t. salt
Juice of one lemon and zest of half the lemon
1 shallot minced
3 T. Parmesan cheese
3 T. flour
1 egg and one egg white, beaten
Black pepper
Pam
Grate the Zucchini in the food processor and put into a colander and sprinkle with all the salt. Mix it together. Place colander over a bowl to catch the liquid that is going to drain out of the zucchini and let it sit for half an hour.
After draining hold colander under the running water in the sink for just a moment to rinse off a little salt. Put a paper towel on top of zucchini in the colander and press it down pushing as much water out of it as possible, turning the squash a couple of time.
In a large mixing bowl beat the egg and egg white together and add all of the ingredients except the pam.
Heat a non-stick fry pan on medium high. When it gets hot spray Pam in the pan. Drop spoonfuls of the zucchini mixture into small rounds and press them down a little. Cook for about one minute on the first side and then flip them and press down again and cook the second side about a minute.
I only do about 5 at a time so they are not crowded in the pan. You can keep them warm on a cooling rack set on a cookie sheet in a 250º oven if you want to serve them right away.
Or you can wrap them up and refrigerate them and reheat them on a cooling rack set on a cookie sheet in a 325º oven until they are warm – probably about 10 mins.
I used the Latkes as the base of an hors d’oeuvre. I put a dollop of Grreek yogurt and a sliver of smoked salmon on top they were great. Russ then ate the leftovers for breakfast and added capers making them even better
Baked Stuffed Zucchini
Posted: June 7, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: onions, pesto, tomatoes, Zucchini 1 Comment
The Garden is in full squash production. Here is a great way to use the zucchini you should have picked two days ago, but you did not see them under that giant leaf until they got just so big.
4 large zucchini – or six smaller ones
2 15 Oz. cans stewed tomatoes
1 large sweet onion chopped
2 T. Pesto – or 20 basil leaves chopped, and 2 cloves of garlic minced
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
Pam (of course)
Preheat the oven to 425º
In a saucepan put the tomatoes and the onion and bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer and cook until the onion is translucent, about 20 minutes.
Cut the ends of the Zucchini and slice them down the center lengthwise. Scoop the seeded middle out of the squash digging it out as an American Indian would have dug out a wooded canoe.
When the tomatoes are done remove the pan from the heat and add the pesto and the Parmesan cheese and mix well.
Spray an oblong pan with Pam. Fill each zucchini canoe with the tomato mixture and place in oblong pan. After you have filled all the zucchini sprinkle salt and pepper on each one.
Add a cup of water to the pan without pouring on the zucchini canoes. Cover the pan with foil, sealing it as best you can.
Carefully place in the oven so as not to make the canoes float around and turn upside down.
Cook for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and continue cooking for another 15 minutes. The zucchini should be fork tender.
4 servings as a main dish or 8 as a side dish
Pan Sautéed Flounder
Posted: June 7, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: fish, flounder, Wondra Leave a comment
Today you get a whole dinner’s worth of recipes.
No one should be afraid to cook fish, there is hardly anything easier than pan sautéing and this is a very healthy version. You can substitute any flat white fish or you can leave the skin on the flounder.
Skinless flounder filet
Wondra
Pam
Salt and Pepper
Lemon juice
If you don’t know what Wondra is it is time to learn because it is the best flour to dredge protein in for pan sautéing. You find it in the flour section of the grocery store.
Lay your fish our on a flat surface sprinkle it with Wondra. You don’t need to coat it thickly, just evenly dust about a teaspoon for side of flounder. Salt and pepper that side and then flip the fish over and repeat.
Heat a non-stick fry pan on medium high heat and spray the pan with Pam. Lay the fish in the pan. Don’t crowd the fish, each side needs to cook for only about 2 minutes and then flip it over and cook the other side. Squeeze lemon juice on the fish while it is cooking on the second side.
Remove from the frying pan. If you still have more fish to cook before you enjoy it, put the cooked fish in a 250º oven for holding, not more than 10 minutes.
Summer Rolls
Posted: June 5, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: chicken, dipping sauce, summer rolls Leave a comment
These are one of Carter’s favorite things to eat. It is the best way to get veggies into a kid. The traditional summer rolls put noodles inside, but I replaced the noodles with romaine lettuce. The dipping sauce also makes a great dressing for a green salad.
Dipping Sauce
1/3-cup soy sauce
¼ cup water
10 Splenda packets
Juice of 1 lime
2 t. grated ginger
3 cloves garlic grated
1 t. Siracha (garlic chili sauce)
Handful of fresh cilantro leaves chopped
Rolls
Rice Paper rounds –
2 cups of shredded Chicken – can be poached or pulled from a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (You can use any kind of protein, grilled beef, cooked shrimp, or roast pork. Be Creative)
Head of romaine lettuce washed and torn into pieces
1 cucumber- peeled and seeded and cut into strips
3 carrots – peeled and cut into strips
24 fresh basil leaves
24 fresh mint leaves
¼ cup Hoisin sauce
Wet one rice paper round and lay it on a plate. Schmear a one-inch stripe of Hoisin sauce in the middle of the rice paper. If the round was a clock, schmear one inch in from 12 o’clock to one inch in from 6 o’clock. The Hoisin sauce is the only really calorie-laden thing in this recipe so go easy on it. Lay two basil leaves and two mints leaves on the Hoisin. Top with a couple of lettuce leaves, a few strips of cucumber and carrots and then a few pieces of chicken. This all should be done in a line in the middle of the rice paper. Fold the short edges at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock in and then pull the three o’clock flap over and roll the whole thing to 9 o’clock. It will look like a somewhat translucent big egg roll.
Repeat. This is a fun thing to let people make themselves.
Serve the dipping sauce in a little ramekin on the side.
Zucchini Chips
Posted: June 4, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: cumin, Zucchini Leave a comment
OK, these are nothing like chips except for the shape, but they are yummy, somewhat snack like, incredibly easy to make and a good use of garden abundance.
Zucchini evenly sliced into ¼ inch rounds
Ground Cumin
Sea salt
Pam
Preheat convection oven to 450º if you don’t have convection they will just take a little longer to cook.
Cover cookie sheet with foil and spray with Pam. (By now you know I love Pam.)
Lay out zucchini in single layer and spray the top of the zucchini with Pam. Sprinkle Cumin over the zucchini evenly. Then sprinkle just a bit of sea salt.
Place in oven and cook for 20-30 minutes. The actual time depends on how close to ¼ inch you made your slices. When they just start to get brown they are done. They will shrink up about 25%.
They are good hot or cold.
Nam Prik Ong- the non Prik Chicken way
Posted: June 2, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: chicken, nam prik ong, pork, thai Leave a comment
Prik means Pork, not your brother-in-law
This is a Thai dish that is normally made with fresh ground pork (Not sausage), but to make it much lighter I have made it with ground chicken breast. The calorie difference is 200 for pork and only 120 for chicken. If you don’t care about calories use the pork, it is better.
1 inch of ginger root –peeled
½ cup of cilantro stems
4 dried red chilies – they are small about 1 inch each
1 shallot
4 cloves garlic
1 lb. of ground chicken or pork
2t. Soy sauce
1 pint of cherry tomatoes -halved
4 green onions chopped- both green and white parts
Green cabbage leaves
Put the ginger, cilantro stems, chilies, shallot and garlic in a food processor and run it until everything is mashed up but not quite a pulp. Add the meat and mix well.
Heat a skillet on medium high and if you are using chicken, spray with Pam, pork has enough fat not to need Pam. Dump the meet mixture in the skillet and add soy sauce. Cook, for about 6 minutes, stirring often. Add the cherry tomatoes and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes, mashing them into the meat. Remove from heat.
Cut the head of cabbage in half and separate the leaves carefully into cups. Wash and dry. Sprinkle with sea salt and spoon meat mixture into cup. Top with a little green onion.
Yellow Squash and Onions
Posted: May 31, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: yellow squash Leave a comment
This spring I asked Russ to pick up some plants for our vegetable garden from the farmer’s market. I wanted 4 zucchini plants, 4 yellow squash and 4 cucumbers. When he brought them home I said the cucumber did not look like ones I had planted for the last 16 years. He said the lady who sold them to him told him they were bush cucumbers. HA, they were zucchini. So we are having an over abundance of squash already. Top it off the yellow squash are zephyr, those half green half yellow ones that technically is a yellow squash, just not what I thought it would be.
So I will try and not overwhelm you with squash recipes, but this one is a favorite from my Grandmother. It is very easy and once you have it you will want it again.
6 cups of yellow squashed sliced into ½ inch rounds
2 medium sweet onions chopped
2 t. butter
1 T. Cremora or Coffee mate (Coffee Creamer)
Salt and lots of black pepper
In a stockpot put the onions and the squash and just enough water to come half way up the side. Sprinkle a little salt in now. Bring the pot up to a boil and reduce to a slow boil, cover. Stir every five minutes. After 10 minutes of cooking remove the lid so the steam can release and cook until the onions and squash are tender, about another 15 mins. Make sure you still have liquid in the pot. The squash will start to fall apart, which is good. After it is done add the butter and the powdered creamer. I know powdered coffee creamer sound crazy, but you will be surprised how good it is and not that bad for you. Add Salt and lots of Black Pepper.
Roast Green Beans
Posted: May 28, 2012 Filed under: Recipes Leave a comment
If you have never roasted vegetable you are missing one yummy way to enjoy them. Even small non-green-eating children like these and they can’t be easier.
Green Beans
Pam
Salt
Preheat convection oven to 425º. If you don’t have convection set oven at 450º.
Cut the stem end off the green beans. Cover cookie sheet with foil spray with Pam. Spread the green beans out in a single layer if you can, but a little overlapping won’t ruin it. Put in the oven and check on them after 15 mins. The amount of time it takes to cook them depends on their thickness and water content. It could take up to 25 minutes for them to finish. You want them to start to brown. Sprinkle salt on them once they are out of the oven.
Always make at least double the amount you think you will need. First roasting shrinks them down and second you won’t be able to stop snacking on them. This recipe is great for even the most marginal of green beans, like really old ones or out of season.
Gazpacho
Posted: May 25, 2012 Filed under: Recipes Leave a comment
I made my good-for-you gazpacho for Mah Jongg today and everybody asked if it was on the blog. I said, “No, its just gazpacho.” But they all wanted the recipe so I’m putting it up for the Mah Jongg girls and anyone else who wants it. It is a great starter for lunch or dinner so you get full before you eat anything less healthy.
One trick about this Gazpacho I learned from my friend Roz Howell, was to use canned diced tomatoes. She convinced me that they were always better than fresh since they were perfectly ripe. In the weird juxtaposition of the world, Roz was the one who taught me how to play American Mah Jongg.
1 15 oz.can diced tomatoes
46 oz. bottle of Hot and Spice V-8 –low sodium
2 medium sweet onions chopped finely
1 English cucumber – seeded and diced
½ red bell pepper diced
½ green bell pepper diced
1 jalapeño pepper minced
1 cloves of garlic grated
5 T. red wine vinegar
10 basil leaves – cut in tiny strips
Mix everything together and chill. This one was garnished with a slice of avocado. Feta cheese is also a great garnish.
Roast Cauliflower
Posted: May 24, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: snack, vegetable Leave a comment
Sometimes you just want something to snack on and this recipe makes a great cold snack or hot as a side dish
Cauliflower
Cumin
Sea salt
Pam
Preheat oven to 450 – convection is you have it.
Cover cookie sheet with foil and spray with Pam.
Divide the cauliflower into florets and spread out evenly in one layer on cookie sheet. Sprinkle cumin over cauliflower. The amount depends on how much you like cumin. You don’t want to cover it in cumin, just a pinch per floret. Sprinkle sea salt lightly.
Place in oven and cook for a15-20 until the cauliflower starts to brown slightly.
Bacon and Egg Salad
Posted: May 22, 2012 Filed under: Recipes 2 Comments
Bunch of arugula
Roast green beans
Grilled Portobello mushrooms
Roasted plum tomato
Wedge of goat cheese
Slice of bacon – cooked and crumbled
Poached egg
Balsamic vinegar
For the last two weeks I have eaten a salad for lunch and sometimes dinner most everyday. You might wonder how I gain weight since I do really like salad.
I thought you might like to see some of the combinations of things I put together.
Not many people think of Bacon and eggs on salad, unless it is the mayo laden egg salad. I like to make a bed of greens with balsamic vinegar and no oil. The yolk of a poached egg is the perfect replacement for oil. It gives you the mouth feel of fat, but is still not too unhealthy.
To make roast tomato – cover cookie sheet with foil. Spray with Pam. Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side down on foil. Place in 300 degree oven for 2 hours. Salt afterwards.
Minted Pea Soup
Posted: May 21, 2012 Filed under: Recipes Leave a comment
Last night we served dinner at the Jones’ house to the winners of the Durham Academy auction. One of the items I cooked is this Minted Pea soup. It is pictured here with lardons and fried leeks as garnish. Those little items add the calories, but if you do without them you have an incredibly healthy soup.
1 large onion chopped
1 leak- chopped up to light green section
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 20 oz bag of Frozen peas
3 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable)
½ t. white pepper
35 mint leaves chopped
¼ cup plain yoghurt
In a stock pot put the onions, leaks and garlic and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until translucent. Add the stock and peas and bring to a boil. Off the heat add the white pepper, mint and salt and pepper. Transfer to a blender in batches and puree. Adjust seasoning.
Can be served hot or chilled. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt.
Quinoa Salad
Posted: May 19, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: quinoa grain, vegetarian Leave a comment
I love Quinoa! It is a great grain that makes a nice cold salad mixed with fresh vegetables.
1-cup pre-washed Quinoa grain (If yours does not say pre-washed on the bag, rinse it before cooking it)
2 cups chicken stock (Or vegetable stock to make this a vegan dish)
Put the stock and quinoa in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer for about 15 mins. You will know it cooked because each grain will have expanded and white threads are coming from the grain. Set the quinoa aside to cool.
2 seeded and chopped tomatoes
1 English cucumber – seeded and chopped
1 red pepper – seeded and chopped
¾ cup diced sweet onion (red or white)
Juice of one lemon
2 T. white wine vinegar
1 T. olive oil
25 mint leaves chopped
Handful of cilantro – chopped
Salt and pepper
Mix everything together and chill. Could not be easier!
You can add others vegetable such as green beans, sugar snap peas, zucchini, asparagus… the list goes one. You can also change the herbs and add basil or tarragon. Be creative, or just use up what you have in your fridge.
Chili Lime Glazed Salmon
Posted: May 18, 2012 Filed under: Recipes 1 Comment
This is a recipe I made up for a Garden Club Christmas Auction five years ago. I still get requests for it so I thought you might enjoy it too!
1big side of salmon (skinned)
1 c brown sugar
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. lime juice
3 T. chili powder
2 T. red pepper flakes
Mix everything together except the salmon. Pour 1/3 of the mixture in a sauce pan and set aside.
Lay plastic wrap out on baking sheet. Pour a little sauce on the middle of the plastic wrap and lay salmon on top of sauce. Pour the rest over the top of salmon and wrap it up and marinate for 1 hour. Grill on med heat for about 6 mins on first side and flip and grill 3 mins on the other side.
While grilling place sauce pan of remaining sauce on med. High heat and bring to a boil and reduce by 1/2. After salmon is cooked pour sauce over and serve.
Caramelized Onions – master recipe
Posted: May 16, 2012 Filed under: Recipes Leave a commentCaramelized onions are one of the truly great low calorie foods. I make big pans of them and then divide them up into smaller portions and freeze them.
They can be used to top a turkey burger that is just a little bland, or put in a sandwich to add some depth of flavor. Added to tomato soup, even canned, they will make your mouth so happy.
They are easy to make, but still take a little time. Always cut more onions than you think you will need they cook down to less than ¼ their original volume.
Sweet onions
Pam
Sugar
Salt
Slice onions. Spray Pam in a large frying pan and put onions in it. Place on medium low heat on stove. Cook low and slow, stirring every so often. After about 20 minutes the onions should start to get golden brown. Don’t try and get there faster by making the heat higher. The low and slow develops the onions natural sugar. When they get to the color in the picture sprinkle a tiny amount of sugar on top and stir. Continue cooking about 5 more minutes until they get brown. Putting the sugar on too soon will make them burn. Salt to taste when done.
Use them on everything. I love them in salads, mixed in eggs or in a grilled cheese, but that’s not very figure friendly.
Fava Beans and Sugar Snap Peas
Posted: May 13, 2012 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: Fava Beans, Sugar Snap Peas Leave a comment
1 pound fava beans in shell (They are big bean pods, that in the end don’t result in that many edible beans, but they are good)
1 pint sugar snap peas
1 shallot minced
1 clove of minced garlic
2 handfuls of pea shoots (could substitute arugula or baby spinach)
1 t. olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Shell the fava beans from the big pods. Blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water and run under cold water. You then need to slip off the outer skin of the fava bean.
In a skillet on medium high heat add olive oil and when it is warmed up add the shallot and garlic. Cook for one minute stirring. Add sugar snap peas and fava beans and 3 T. of water. cook for 3 minutes. Add the pea shoots cook another minute until wilted. salt and pepper to taste.
Less Dana, More Good 