Panzanella

I've got a few things to update, just been lazy for the most part. Or making the same things over and over (eggs, i'm lookin at you).
Anywho. Panzanella is a rustic bread sort of salad. Its almost a mix between like stuffing and pasta? I don't quite know how to describe it. But its delicious!

For one large serving or two small ones:
1 slice nearly stale, extra thick bread or rustic italian (so i used this cherry blossom bread from nijiya. probably would have worked better with a french or italian sort), cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium to large tomato (from my parents' garden!), peeled and roughly chopped
1/8 of a medium onion, roughly chopped
1 huge or 2 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
handful of basil (parents' garden!)

1. In a decent sized skillet, toss in the bread cubes, drizzle with olive oil, season lightly with S+P, and toss about until browned. Alternatively could probably be done in the broiler or oven. Its basically making croutons :D Set aside when browned.
2. Add the onion to the same skillet, with a bit more olive oil if necessary. Wait til half translucent and add the garlic. When its all translucent, throw in the tomato and any juices that accumulated. Season to taste with S+P and ACV.
3. Remove from heat, toss in bread cubes and tear basil over the top. Serve!

Pulled Pork & Posole

So! My dear sister got hominy instead of garbanzo beans by mistake a few weeks ago. I had never eating hominy, let alone know about anything to do with it. But searching yielded posole as an option! I decided to do my thing and make something with what was on hand that roughly followed the variety of recipes I found. But first, I wanted to get some pulled pork. For the posole.

Pulled pork
1 x quantity of pork shoulder. I had this in my freezer, half of a piece I picked up a while ago during a good meat sale.
1/4 onion, cut in half (keep the bottom intact, cut it in half, keeping both sides intact. makes it easier to fish out later)
~2/3 of a jalapeno (i'd cut the bottom of it off for gazpacho! so i just threw the rest in whole)
2 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
Water
Salt, pepper, cumin

Throw everything in to a crockpot. Water level should be about 2/3 of the way up the side of the meat. I threw it in frozen, because I am awesome. Turn it on low, go to work, and totally forget its cooking.
When you get home at 4am, turn off the crockpot, and put the meat in the fridge.

The next day, remove the layer of fat from the top. Discard the vegetables (except the jalapeno!), save the liquid. Shred, being careful to remove all of the fat around the meat. Realize that you have a WHOLE LOT. Split it in half (and save the rest for pulled pork sandwiches! from my half a pork shoulder, i yielded 20oz of shredded pork- 10oz for sammiches, 10oz for posole), throw the meat you're using into a pot, and strain the liquid into the pan with the meat. Add the jalapeno.

Now for the posole!

~10 oz pulled pork
liquid from the pulled pork (and the jalapeno)
1 x 28 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 x 28 oz can whole tomatoes
Cumin to taste
(optional, but it was in the fridge) ~1/4-1/2 cup salsa verde

Combine all in the pan, put it in the fridge. Go to work again, come home. Cook til the hominy's tender.

Some cotija would be amazing on top. Also, a lot of sites recommend things like radishes, cabbage, avocado, as toppings to have on hand. As well as tostada shells.

But I don't have any of that right now, its all good.



Ideas for next time:
In a bigger pan, could probably double the amount of tomatoes for the quantity of hominy and pork. Would have to tinker. Also would like to add some chipotle peppers in adobo. Sounds delish.

Might become a staple, as it's cheap, tasty and balanced.

Larabar knock off

Larabars have an umlat and are made with raw nuts, raw/dried fruit, and some spices.
They're excellent for snacks and whatnot, provided you keep yourself to a little bit. They're pretty filling AND help you eat more fruit and nuts! Anyway. Modified from someone else's recipe to tone down the date flavor. This makes about 9 1-oz mini bars, or about 4 full larabar sized bars.

1/2 cup (3.55 oz) almonds
2/3 cup (2.80 oz) dried cranberries
2 medjool dates, fresh & pitted (~1.50 oz)
3 mini boxes of raisins (1.50 oz)
Few dashes cinnamon

You will neeeeed a food processor for this. I suppose you could chop everything finely and grind it into a paste... but that's a whole lot of effort.
Anyway. Put the cranberries, dates, and raisins into the food processor. Pulse til everything's combined and finely minced. Just about when it starts forming a few dried fruit/glue-like balls. Put those into a mixing bowl. Add the nuts to the food processor, pulse to chop. You want almond pieces on the smaller side, but not ground completely like flour. Add to the dried fruits. Add some cinnamon, and mix! With your hands. Its messy. Form into 1 oz pieces

Servings 9
nutrition 124 cal, 6 g fat, 17 g carbs, 14 g sugar, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

Quick and Easy Gazpacho

I think I'm going to attempt to keep gazpacho around for the summer. This version is quick, easy, fairly inexpensive, etc etc. And healthy. It is tomato juice based, with two eggs and a dollop of olive oil included. No bread. I think I could eat this with every meal no problem. And its quite filling and definitely versatile. Oh! And a poached egg makes it all creamy and even better for a quick meal.

I portioned this out, and it lasts decently long. Anyway, here goes!

1 quart tomato juice (store brands would be fine, as would just about any combination of tomato sauce & water, tomato puree & water, and tomato paste & water)
1/4 - 1/2 red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small cucumber or 1/2 large one, ~1/4" dice
1 bell pepper, ~1/4' dice
handful of jalapeno stuffed olives, minced
2 hard boiled eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

1. Finely mince / grate / process in a food processor, the red onion and garlic. Combine with the tomato juice.
2. Separate the eggs. Combine the yolks and olive oil into a paste. Mix into the tomato juice.
3. Finely dice all of the vegetables and the egg white. Add to the juice.
4. Stir, season to taste, enjoy!

Makes about 6x ~8oz portion.

Nutrition: 89 calories, 4.2g fat, 10.9g carbs, 7.7g sugar, 1.5g fiber, 3.7g protein
Vitamins: A 30%, C 95%, Calcium 4%, Iron 7%

Chicken Cacciatore - bastardized

So I've gained about 5 lbs since my dear lovey sister moved down. That, on top of the 5 lbs through the holidays, means I'm really not happy with where I am right now. Granted, I'm still sub-135, but not quite fitting into clothes is not where I'd like to be.

So! I decided now is as good of a time as any to attempt a gluten-free, dairy-free trial run. The fact that I'll be eating more whole vegetables, no bread/pasta and no candy should help me get back to where I ought to be without going crazy about dieting. An all around healthier situation should probably make me feel better too. Possibly make my body feel alive sometime before 10am even?

Anyway. This recipe was adapted quite a bit from a old diet cookbook I picked up at the used bookstore downtown a while back. It has daily menus for about a year of 600 calorie days. Damn, right? Anyway, it says itself that no one should really go to those extremes unless on Dr's orders, and how the fat lil old lady it was originally designed for was sedentary and seeing her Dr once a week and all that. And that its easy to scale. Either with additions (particularly at breakfast where it has a list of items to add and the calories they'd add) or simple multiplication (you want 1200 per day? eat 2 servings!). That's all besides the point though. There are quite a few recipes in there that I'm probably going to modify. They tend to be heavy handed with vegetables, moderate on meat, and nearly nil on grains.
So! Here's the bastardized version of chicken cacciatore:

1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb chicken thighs (note, i removed fat first. they were boneless and skinless to begin with)
2 big cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 large red onion, diced
1 28 oz can tomatoes (diced here, cause its what i had)
4 oz tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken broth (using better than bouillon which has whey but has no gluten containing ingredients that i could discern confirmed gluten free)
1 tsp olive oil
7 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced (from an 8oz package that my sister ate about an ounce or so of)
s&p
'italian herbs'

1. Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a non-reactive heavy pan large enough to hold everything. I used a wok. Attempt to brown the thighs (please note that i'm terrible at this. however, all the bits that stuck to the bottom ended up helping the sauce a lot). S&P as you go. Set aside
2. Toss the onion into the pan, stir about until they start to lose the red color. Toss in the garlic. Cook a minute or two.
3. Add about half a cup of the chicken broth. Use a whisk to get the good browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the thighs, add the tomatoes, paste and herbs. Simmer for about an hour or so? Stirring occasionally.
5. In a small pan, heat the additional 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and a dash of salt. Cook through, then add to the sauce. Stir in. Simmer a bit longer.
6. Remove from heat.

Since I used 7 chicken thighs, I separated it into seven servings. Each got 1 thigh, then I added spoonfuls of sauce roughly evenly around until it was gone. I ate it on its own, but would be good over zucchini cut into long strips and blanched, spaghetti squash, rice, etc. Or pasta, if that suits you. :D

Nutrition facts per serving:
257 cal, 11g fat, 8g carbs, 4g sugar, 2g fiber, 29g protein


Today, I ate a serving with a over easy egg on top and it was pretty good. I shredded the thigh before putting the egg in. Its also a pretty cheap meal what with finding things on sale and chicken thighs being pretty cheap.

Revisited Garlic with Chicken

Second time around, still a great dish. I actually let my chicken pieces brown, which is a miracle in itself. I always play with food and flip it too soon and whatnot.
Anyway, some modifications this time around. Here's what went on:

- 1 5 lb chicken, cut into 6 pieces (leg+thigh, breast, wings. i got lazy before i separated the leg+thighs)
- 70ish cloves garlic (the rest of the container), little end sliced off and slightly smushed with the broadside of a knife
- ~1/4 cup olive oil
- dry white wine (i'd say about 1.5 cups or so)
- sprigs thyme

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Heat the olive oil in a good sized pan to medium-med high. I use the wok. Its lovely.
2. Salt and pepper the chicken decently well. Blot dry with papertowels. Brown pieces in olive oil, do not crowd pan. In the wok, 1 at a time is best. Put the browned pieces in a large casserole.
3. After the chicken's browned, turn heat slightly down and add in the garlic. Toss occasionally until golden. Drain off some oil, then put the rest and the garlic into the casserole.
4. Deglaze the wok with the white wine. I used a South African sauvignon blanc. It was rather flat for drinking, but worked alright. Add that to the casserole. If the chicken is less than half covered, pour in a bit more wine. Cover with foil. Bake until done, about an hour-hour and a half.
5. Let set for a bit, then enjoy! :D If you're feeling ambitious, you can return the liquid to the wok and reduce by half. But I was hungry. :D

Made this with the previous potatoes, and some frozen broccoli/cauliflower blend tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper that was baked. That got a bit overdone, but I liked it enough to finish it.

Modified Pommes de Terre Boulangere

Potatoes of the bakery! I had dinner planned tonight, and wanted to do a potato side dish beyond mashed potatoes. I thought about scalloped potatoes or a gratin, but realized I should be a bit healthier. This sounded easy and like it could work out amazingly! I wanted a bit of the creaminess of scalloped potatoes, so I subbed a cup of milk for some of the chicken broth. Also topped with a bit of parmesan cheese. For the hell of it.

Here goes:
4-5 small potatoes, peeled and diced THIN. I do not have a mandoline, so I just sliced very thinly and discarded the end, when I felt I might be in danger of losing fingertips
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tsp chicken base (better than bouillon. use however much bouillon/base it takes to make 2 cups!)
2 cloves, sliced (not minced or crushed. sliced means you can use more, subtly)
couple sprigs thyme (using them in chicken also) or whatever herbs you have on hand
couple grinds pepper

1. Preheat oven to somewhere between 325 and 400F (i started at 325 with the chicken and increased when that was done). Combine all in a saucepan Liquids should just cover potatoes. Cook until potatoes are just tender. Depends on your thickness and potato type.
2. Put potatoes into a oven safe casserole with a slotted spoon. Pour liquid in until just covered. Sprinkle with a bit of parmesan.
3. Pop in the oven uncovered for a while. Like 40 minutes? Til browned a bit and bubbly. Let rest for about 15 minutes and then slice and serve.

Should make about 6 servings.

Definitely can fill the void of scalloped potatoes.

Scallops with Pasta!

So I had some scallops I had to use (trader joe's frozen. i thawed the last 4oz yesterday, but didn't end up making dinner. so today). I knew I wanted something nice and simple flavors and whatnot. And the ingredients I had on hand.

Anyway, I decided to pan sear the scallops with a good dusting of salt and fresh ground pepper. Then I pan roasted some thick cut tomato slices in the same pan. Then I made a garlic spiked white sauce in the same pan.

Here's the ingredients and what I did!

- 4 oz scallops, thawed. about three large ones
- 1 roma tomato, sliced about 1/2 inch thick. i had cut two, but one was devoured before it hit the pan. and matthew stole one of the slices.
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 tsp or so finely chopped rosemary (from my nearly depleted freezer stash)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (does anyone ever measure that? it was probably closer to two)
- 2 oz angel hair pasta (penne would have been better. something sturdier to hold up to the sauce)
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour (heaping spoon)
- 1 cup milk (i have no idea how much i actually used)

1. Heat a pot of salted water for the pasta to boiling.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When nice and hot, toss in the salt and peppered scallops. Cook for a few minutes, to sear it nicely. Turn. Cook the other side. It should not be too firm. A little squishy is great. :D Remove from the pan.
3. Salt and pepper the tomato slices, toss on the rosemary. Put it in the same pan. Cook a couple minutes per side. Cook the pasta around now. Remove the tomatoes and set aside.
4. Reduce the heat to medium low. Add the butter. When its melted, add the garlic. Cook a couple minutes until translucent. Add the flour, stir.
5. Cook a minute or two. Add the milk. Whisk vigorously. Taste for seasoning. When its nice and thick, toss in the pasta to coat.
6. Place pasta in bowl. Top with tomatoes. Top with scallops. Enjoy. :D

Pros: easy good white sauce! garlic flavor was not overpowering! tomatoes disintegrated into sauce nicely! that combo would work well alone or with chicken.

Cons: scallops were a tad cold. skin on tomatoes had to be peeled off and eating first. but would not have cooked well with skin off. basil may have been better than rosemary.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is based on Alton Brown's recipe. And on what I had on hand. Note, his recipe only said it yielded a 'batch', so I doubled it. And made waaaay too much. Oh well. Easily halved.

Ingredients
3 cups frozen chopped spinach (i use the loose bags because I like the convenience. boxed would have to be thawed and squeezed dry)
1 box frozen artichoke hearts, diced small
3 jarred artichoke hearts, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced (would double next time)
12 oz reduced fat cream cheese (aka neufchatel)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup shredded parmesan
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt

Cook frozen artichoke hearts (before dicing) in a small amount of water until tender. Drain. Dice.
Microwave cream cheese with garlic, adding in a cup of spinach at a time and stirring between heatings.
Combine mayo, sour cream, parmesan, artichokes, red pepper flakes and salt. When cream cheese/garlic/spinach mixture is thoroughly warm and melty, combine with sour cream-mayo mixture.
Realize you made a whole lot, and put about half into a bowl. Microwave another 30 seconds or so, to meld everything together.

Can be topped with additional parmesan and baked, if desired. I didn't want to turn the oven on.

In addition to being a great dip, can be used as a pasta sauce, if thinned with milk. Or on baked potatoes. :D

Nutrition: I dont want to scare you! :D

Penne with Spinach Cream

Tried once a while ago, cannot remember details, but it still sounds delicious. Posting to remind myself.

Penne with Spinach Cream

2 tbsp unsalted butter
6 cloves garlic
14 oz fresh spinach (or frozen. i usually have frozen.)
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of fresh ground nutmeg (yeah i dont have that..)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 lb penne (cook according to package directions)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 cups parmesan, grated

Cook garlic and spinach in butter. Squeeze dry, and reduce the resulting liquid by half. Return spinach to the pan. Add cream. Reduce by half. Pulse in a food processor (or likely, for me, use chopped frozen spinach and mince garlic to begin with). Adjust seasonings with s&p, nutmeg, lemon juice. Toss with hot pasta, oil, and parmesan.

Banana bread

There will be a few updates today, as I found one of my note pads with a few recipes. I'd like to not lose them, so I'm going to put them in now! This recipe is from an older recipe book, with slight adaptations. It is a family favourite (and everyone else who's had it favourite too).

Banana bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 medium bananas, mushed
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sour milk (usually achieved by a bit of vinegar and then milk to make up a full cup. let sit at least 5 minutes)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan.
Blend dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, beat well. Add bananas, beat a little. Add dry ingredients alternately with the sour milk, roughly in thirds.
Pour into loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, until it tests done.

It is amazing.

Brownies

I love brownies. They're one of those desserts that can still taste alright if they're made low-fat, low-fun (a la No Pudge mix), but are only in their full glory if done right. I like my brownies on the fudge side, with a crackly top. Only achieved with plentiful butter.

Here's a recipe I haven't had issues with (scaled to a 8x8 pan):

1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour

Place rack in lower third of the oven, preheat to 350F.
Line pan with parchment paper.
In the top of a double boiler, combine butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt until heated to nearly 'untouchableness'.
Set aside until only warm.
Add eggs and vanilla, stir vigorously. Add flour and stir until combined. Beat for about 40 strokes.
Spread in pan. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Nutrition; Do you really want to know?

Garlic-Mustard-Rosemary Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Dinner tonight was great. Pork tenderloins were on sale at Ralphs, so I grabbed a 1lber.

Marinade ingredients:
1/2 shallot, minced fine
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
Handful rosemary, minced fine (dipped into my frozen herb supply)
3 tbsp white wine (used a 'california table white')
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey mustard (can easily do 3 tbsp of one kind, but i wanted a hint of the honey taste in there)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 dash worchestershire sauce

Combine all, taste, realize it would make a good salad dressing (if thinned with more olive oil). Set in a glass bowl or a large ziploc bag.
Meanwhile, in another part of the kitchen, clean up the tenderloin. Remove the silverskin and any excess fat. I dont really like this part. But, its a necessity!
Put the now-pretty tenderloin into the marinade. Refrigerate and smush around every couple hours. I marinaded it for over 8 hours.

Heat up the grill! I used about medium high heat. Throw it on there. Flip it over every so often, preferably on the four different sides for a few minutes each. I only managed three sides and when I sliced it up, it wasn't done. The temperature reading was probably from the wrong place. :/ Oh well, a few minutes per side on the stove top and it was great!

Will update with the rice pilaf stuff that went with it. Also, roasted broccoli. Would have been excellent if I'd had fresh broc instead of frozen, but whatever. Good flavors.

"Mediterranean" Rice Salad

This is the second time I've made this! It was great the first time, and kept well for nearly a week (probably would last a week, but it was gone by then!). The amount of veggies is pretty variable, I chop up about what looks right.

So here goes:

1 cup Texmati rice blend (with red rice, wild rice, and texmati rice)
112 g cucumber (half a large one), diced
24 g green onions (the good part of three), diced
17 g calamata olives, chopped
59 g red onion, small dice
160 g garbanzo beans (oh i use the canned. the rest will be combined with asaigio, lemon juice, olive oil, minced rosemary and salt)
277 g grape tomatoes, quartered (a pint less 1-2 for munching)
2 tbsp olive oil (right now i've got some cold pressed organic that is herbal and delish)
1 tbsp lemon juice
S&P to taste

1. Cook the rice! Spread out on a plate and throw into the fridge to let chill. Chop up veggies in the meantime.
2. Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper together. I'd start with about 1/4 tsp salt and a few grounds of pepper.
3. Throw veggies (besides tomatoes) and garbanzo beans into a bowl. Add in the rice. Toss (used my hands). Add the dressing, toss. Add the tomatoes, toss gently.
4. Package into single servings!

Yield: 6 servings

Per Serving: 175 calories, 7.8g fat, 24.5g carbs, 1g sugar, 3.7g fiber, 3.8g protein



I would like to have this with an additional protein, such as chicken breast or tuna fish, for lunch just about every day. Its filling and delicious, and like I said, keeps well. It is also good both cold and room temperature, and should not spoil between leaving for work and eating for lunch. Would also be great topped with a bit of feta, or with that mixed in.

Anyway. More experimentations / recipes to come. I bought some Dreamfields pasta today, and would like to give that a go. Its supposed to have a very low GI, and still taste/feel/etc like regular pasta. Will definitely report any adverse side effects.

Haven't been eating as well as I'd like to lately, what with pizza and whatnot. Dreamfields still has gluten, so even if its good, I'm going to be avoiding it soon. Will be planning another start date soon, but I'd like to be more prepared this time. Its difficult to do when all you've got on hand is pasta because you didn't go shopping and won't throw away perfectly good food to start a whim of a diet. The dairy part's been a little bit easier. The coffee part... I've been sticking to one or no cups a day. Oh and wine. Uhmmm I tried the Black Box Cab the other day. It should last me a little while. I dont know that I'll want to give up wine entirely, so I dont know that I need to try life with out it. Gluten's a little bit like that, but there are so many gluten free products now a days, and there will only be more as more people are coming down with Celiac and other gluten intolerant syndromes. My problem with them right now is the lack of pronouncable ingredients (ok my issues with saying quinoa is that i pronounced it wrong for like 6 mo before i learned better). Eventually, the health food sector will get in on stuff and utilize gluten free sources for replacements.

For the next two weeks (at least)

I'm going to go dairy-free, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free. And wine-free. :/ But I still have vodka!

I do have my reasons. I've been feeling like shit for a while, and I'd like to reclaim some of that amazing energy I felt while doing the elimination thing. I know I have problems with dairy (oh but cheese and butter!). I know I have craving issues with sugar. And many people are sensitive to gluten, even without realizing it. I'm kinda sad that I never got to fully realize my sensitivities with the elimination diet. I did find out that pineapple can make my lips get all miniblistery then though. Loads of fun.

I'm also going to try to give up caffeine. Wish me luck on that one. I'm going to limit myself to one cup of regular coffee per day, at most, if I need it.

SO!

What AM I going to eat?

BREAKFASTS:
+ 'long life cocktail' stolen from fat flush plan (cranwater or pomawater, and 1 tsp psyllium husks)
+ lemon juice in water
+ oatmeal sweetened with truvia, with cinnamon and raisins
-or-
+ 2 eggs scrambled with 1 tsp olive oil and about 1 cup of vegetables

LUNCH
+ grain salad made with gluten free grain (rice blend right now. i wanted quinoa though. damn you understocked grocery stores!), lots of veggies, additional protein (be it tuna, garbanzo beans, chicken), and a light dressing of olive oil and balsamic, cider vinegar or lemon juice) I'm going to post recipes later
+ salad or raw or grilled veggies

DINNER
+ 1 svg lean protein
+ 1 svg greens cooked with olive oil and garlic and a splash of lemon juice
+ 1 svg healthy vibrant starch (generally sweet potatoes or squash with occasional corn)

SNACKS (2-3 per day)
+ fruit!
+ nuts!
+ raw/grilled veggies!
+ hummus
+ airpopped popcorn
+ whatever else like leftovers I have around.

BEVERAGES
+ 4 oz cranberry + 28 oz water OR 2 oz pomegranate + 30 oz water throughout the day
+ water!
+ non caffeinated teas
+ max 1 glass oj per day
and last but definitely not least
+ vodka soda + lemon for when i'm feeling saucy.