Life Lesson #48

Today was a clarifying day.  My husband and I have decided it's appropriate for us to begin searching for our first home.  We have no idea where we want to buy, so we figure why not make the process leisurely, ruling out places as we go along.

But there's a problem with that no-big-rush approach.  The more we look at homes, the less of a vision we have.  There's *this* beautiful home with the awful backyard.  There's *that* home with the creepy basement but has a master bathroom.  All in all, five houses were toured, and five houses were "eh- this could work." 

And so after arriving home again, to our modest little rental, I said to myself:

The easiest thing to do in any given situation is to do nothing at all.

I should trademark that phrase.  Slackers and indifferents and indecisives may unite under it.

Who needs stainless steel appliances when you've got chic 70's Frigidaire?

Who needs warm beige when you have birds and blue strawberries?

Who needs hardwood floors when you have plaid laminate?

So for now, Roseville will be the home where I happily hang my apron.

Veggie Campaign

The march through various vegetarian entrees continues.  Come to think of it, this recipe is not just vegetarian, but also vegan (no animal products whatsoever).  Would my meat-eating husband give this lentil stew approval?  You betcha.

 

Winter Vegetable Stew (from CookingLight.com)

• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups dried lentils
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, chopped into chunks
• 1 1/2 cups chopped and peeled celeriac (celery root)
• 1 cup diced parsnip
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic-from-a-jar
• 2/3 cup dry red wine
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

 

Yep, I know what you're thinking- what the heck is celeriac?  I was wondering the same thing, standing in front of the produce wall at Cub, looking at 30 different leafy things.  Thanks Wikipedia-on-the-cell-phone for the pic. 

 

-Combine water, lentils, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
-Heat olive oil in a medium cast iron pot (love my le creuset) over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, celeriac, parsnip, carrot, and 1 1/2 teaspoons tarragon, and saute 10 minutes or until browned (it seemed to take my batch about 20 minutes).
-Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, tomato paste, and garlic; cook mixture 1 minute.  Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, or until veggies are tender.  Stir in mustard.  Add lentils and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat; discard bay leaf.  Stir in remaining tarragon and add pepper to taste.

 

 

You could really use a variety of veggies here- potatoes or rutabagas would be great as well.
Makes 6 servings.  Per serving: 415 calories, 65 g carbs, 6 g fat, 13 g fiber, 23 g protein.  Yeah baby. 

When life hands you lemons...

It is inevitable that over the course of time one will lose socks to holes, stains, general wear-and-tear, and...the dryer.  I must have an extraordinarily hungry dryer- one that has an appetite for my Pumas, rather than my husband's argyles.  A clean-out of my sock drawer uncovered exactly seven orphans.

  Bah. 

So I decided that when life hands you orphaned socks, shove 'em back in the drawer and go make some peanut butter & jelly muffins.

PB&J Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups skim milk
• 1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup egg substitute (I used two whole eggs instead)
• 2 Tablespoons tub spread (I used Brummel and Brown), melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup strawberry jam

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flours, sugars, bakin gpowder, and salt in a large bowl; whisk together.  Make a well in the center of the mixture.  Combine milk and next four ingredients (through vanilla); add to flour  mixture, stirring until moist.
-Line muffin pan with liners.  Fill each cup half full with batter.  Spoon 1 teaspoon of jam into each cup.  Spoon remaining batter on top to cover jam.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back at the touch.  Let cool in the pan for five minutes.  Remove from pan and cool. 

Makes 12 muffins.  Per muffin: 140 calories, 23 g carbs, 4 g fat, 4 g protein.  Tastes like a PB&J sandwich, only classier...although "classy" doesn't describe a girl with seven mismatched socks...

Drug of choice

I looooove me some carbs.  Fresh-baked bread is the best.  I don't have a bread machine, and I'm not sure I want one, because wouldn't that be like giving a crack-head a new pipe?

I've shared this recipe before, but I made it again the other night with some modifications.  You may want to go invest money in "Bob's Red Mill" company stock.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white all purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup oat bran
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 12-oz bottle of beer (I used Miller Light)
1/3 cup honey

1. Combine all dry ingredients.  Stir in beer and honey until a sticky dough forms.
2. Spray nonstick baking spray into a loaf pan.  Form dough into the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I sprinkled some oats on top for fun.  I'm wild like that.

This bread keeps for 2-3 days, so not long, but really you'll end up wanting to eat it all right away.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

Makes 12 slices.  Per slice, 144 calories, 1 g fat, 30 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Lunch today will be a sandwich with sliced rotisserie chicken and garlic herb Laughing Cow cheese spread, and of course this bread.  Mmm...carbs.

My pal TJ

Meet my good pal.  He provided me with inspiration for this week's lunches.  He's better known as Trader Joe, or TJ.  Yes, yes, his stores are a bit trendy and sometimes give you Hawaiian-print-shirt-overload, but you can find some great stuff.  Continuing with my goal of eating more vegetarian dishes, this week's lunch was Indian, courtesy of ol' TJ.  Here's what you need:

-1 package whole wheat Tandoori naan
-2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
-1 to 2 cups vegetable broth
-4-5 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (I had russets on hand)
-1 jar TJ's masala simmer sauce
-1 package frozen cut leaf spinach
-1 small bag frozen peas
-2 T curry powder
-2 tsp hot sauce
-3 cups uncooked brown instant rice (*optional)

1. Bring a large stockpot to boil, add potatoes.  Boil until tender.
2. Meanwhile, in another large pan, combine masala sauce with chickpeas.  Simmer on low.  Add drained cooked potatoes.  Cover and let simmer.
3. For naan dipping sauce, microwave spinach and peas in a large dish until thoroughly heated.  Drain any liquid.  Working in batches, add about 2 cups mixed spinach/peas to a blender with 1/4 cup vegetable broth.  Blend until smooth.  Dump into a smaller saucepan and re-heat.  This took me about 4 batches until I had done all the spinach and peas.  Add more or less broth as you see fit.  You want this to be a thick "sauce" kind of consistency.
4. Add curry powder and hot sauce to spinach/pea sauce, or other spice to taste.
5. While both sauces simmer, you could choose to make some instant brown rice, and spoon chickpea/potato mixture over rice.  Serve naan with spinach sauce.

If I were to name these two recipes, I'd call the potato/chickpea combo "Chole bhature aloo" (literally meaning chickpeas and potato), and the spinach/pea sauce "Palak matar."  I'll go ahead and assume these are correct, because Wikipedia never steers anybody wrong, right?

Forgive me for the Google-supplied pictures.  Guess next time I photograph a meal I should make sure the memory card is loaded in the camera.  Part of the meal will look something like this.  

I am *such* a professional with this whole blogging thing.

Makes about 8 servings (1 cup potato/chickpea sauce, 3/4 cup spinach sauce, 1/2 naan).  Per serving: 438 calories, 80 g carbs, 6 g fat, 17 g protein.

A food trip down memory lane

A friend hosted "game night" this past weekend.  We played the game of "Celebrity" where everyone writes down 5 celebs, and they all get pooled together for the teams to guess.  My entries read like the cover of an "Us Weekly," with Jennifer Aniston being one submission. 

The hostess's younger sister, who's 20, ended up drawing her from the bucket, and to my horror, she had no idea who Rachel Green from "Friends" is.  Gaaaaaah.  I'm old. 

This got me thinking back to my younger years and the foods I remember growing up with.  Now, I know my mother reads this, so disclaimer here- yes, despite the foods listed below, I did get a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables and skim milk.  Now for the list:

1. Chicken by George

 I remember getting to decide, along with my brothers, if we wanted "Lemon pepper," "Teriyaki," or "Mesquite BBQ" flavors.  Until this very day, I had no idea who "George" was.

2. Great White Shark fruit snacks

It's weird and unnatural for a fruit snack to be white as paper.  But these were awesome.  The best packs had a high shark-to-fish ratio, as in Oh man, I only got one great white in my pack!

3. Fruit Stripe Gum

Yipes!  Stripes!  Fruit stripe gum!  Loses it's flavor and then it's no fun!

4. Hidden Treasures cereal

10% of these little nuggets were filled with a strawberry-ish cross between jelly and a fruit-roll up.  The rest of the plain nuggets were...disappointing.  But as a kid, anticipation is part of the fun.

5. Kid Cuisine

Yesssss.  Many a Saturday night consisted of "SNICK" and a Kid Cuisine, and I couldn't have been happier.  My favorite ones had the brownie in the middle section. 

Of course now my food choices are much more mature.  Nevermind that I just dug a stray Lucky Charm from the crack of my couch cushion.  That gives me an idea- I think I need to go write a letter to Lean Cuisine and suggest "PMS Cuisine: Chicken broccoli alfredo and BROWNIE."  You know you'd buy at least one per month...

The dirty C-word

I hear ya, Edvard.

My dear husband had his annual physical exam on Monday.  Verdict?  High cholesterol and elevated fasting blood glucose.  Enter "The Scream." 

Now in his younger years, my husband was painfully thin.  My  mother-in-law has told me she used to throw away pictures of him because she was afraid he'd be embarrassed of how emaciated he looked.  It's a major switch for him now to suddenly have to work at losing weight, rather than gaining.

So what's a wife to do?  I am, for better or for worse, his personal dietitian.  Should any of you be in the same situation, here's a list of general suggestions for reducing cholesterol.

1. Lose weight. 

Studies indicate that weight loss of even just 5-10 pounds helps reduce cholesterol.  Fat cells are quite active, and they secrete "adipokines" which negatively affect several body processes, including messing around with your cholesterol and your blood sugar.

2. Eat heart-healthy foods.

This one seems a bit obvious, but it still warrants a closer look.  Foods that are high in saturated fat actually work to increase your cholesterol more than cholesterol itself.  Saturated fats increase your LDL (bad cholesterol).  Trans fats are the worst offenders because they not only raise your LDL, but they also lower your HDL (good cholesterol).  Cholesterol resides in your liver- LDL brings it to your arteries and gums things up.  HDL picks it up and shuttles it back to the liver.  You need them in balance.  Foods high in saturated fats are animal products- meats, dairy, butter.  Foods high in trans fats include commercially baked cookies, margarine, crackers, and other processed foods. 

3. Exercise most days of the week.

How long do you need to exercise for?  Really not that long.  I'm all for being efficient- don't have a lazy hourlong walk.  Bang it out on the treadmill by walking for 30 minutes at a 10% incline.  Don't jog- do sprint intervals.  Get that heart rate pounding (*disclaimer- ya know, do so with your doctor's blessing.  I don't want someone's exercise-induced heart attack on my hands.  Thanks.). 

4. Quit smoking.

Fun math here: if you smoke just one pack per week, by quitting you could save almost $300 per year.  For people who smoke one pack per day, that equates to $2000.  Oh yeah- there are a whole lot of health benefits too. 

5. Drink alcohol in moderation.

My husband is happy about this one.  As he uncorked a bottle of red wine last night: "I have to have my nightly glass of wine...you know, for my cholesterol."  Fair enough.  Studies show that the resveratrol and polyphenols in wine help ward off heart disease.  At the same time, I doubt he'll be doing shots of Merlot on his next guys' weekend trip. 

My husband's not an unhealthy guy by any means.  Still, we will make an effort to have more plant-based, rather than red meat-based meals.  We will have more whole grains (oats) for breakfast rather than eggs.  We will choose nonfat rather than lowfat dairy.  We/he will aim for a more even mix of cardio and strength training. 

Oh the fun things you can find on Google.  I'll be at Macy's while the hubs picks up some veggies. 

A Minnesota-kind of Mexican

I came across a great looking slow cooker recipe for "tamale pie"- basically spicy seasoned ground beef topped with cornbread, cooked for 5 hours.  Sounds wonderful.  Except I didn't have five hours to sit around and wait for dinner.  Goooood thing I have an oven.

I am not claiming that this is in any way an authentic Mexican dish.  In true Minnesotan form, if a recipe contains anything spicier than ketchup, we can call it "Mexican." 

Oven-baked Tamale Pie
1 pound lean ground beef
1 8 oz container salsa (I used black bean and corn)
1 can diced tomato with onion (or tomato with chiles)
1 Tbsp hot sauce
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar

-Saute lean ground beef and soak up grease with a paper towel and discard.  Add salsa, tomato, and hot sauce. 
-Spray an 8x8 or round casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Dump in meat mixture.  Top with cheese.
-In a medium bowl mix cornbread with milk.  Spread over the meat & cheese. 
-Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or until cornbread has fully baked.

Super easy to prepare- total prep + cooking time is about 30 minutes.  This makes about 5 servings.   It's a versatile recipe- dump in whatever veggies you like.  Swap out lean ground turkey for the beef.  If you are looking for a more authentic Mexican dining experience, wear a sombrero while eating. 

Per serving: 380 calories, 25 g carbs, 15 g fat, 30 g protein. 

The triple crown

 I pay my bills on-time.  I drive a rust-free car.  I have a career that suits me well.  I am skilled at accessorizing an oufit and mixing prints with solids.  But you know what would really give me a sense of accomplishment?  Managing to have my nails manicured, my brows neat and tidy, and a clean kitchen.  Never have I achieved all three at the same time.  On a good day I'm 2 for 3.  Perfect polish, stainless steel that gleams, and brows that rival Bert's from "Sesame Street" if he were blonde.  The triple crown eludes me, but 2012 could be the year I pull it off.   

At the very least I can say that tonight I accomplished risotto for the first time.  I'd always assumed it was too time-consuming, but this was manageable, and the result is worth sharing.  This recipe is pulled from the January issue of "Cooking Light" magazine.   

Sausage & Spinach Risotto
3 cups fat-free low sodium chicken broth (I had veggie broth on hand and used that instead- no biggie)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz package pre-sliced mushrooms
5 ounces sweet Italian sausage (I used the whole 16 oz package- what the heck would I do with the remaining 11 ounces?)
1/2 cup chopped shallots
3 garlic cloves, minced (I used refrigerated chopped garlic- about 1 tsp)
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine (I used red.  Wine is wine.)
1 6-oz package fresh spinach (I used the whole 9 oz bag, making Popeye proud)
1/4 cup shaved Romano cheese

1. Bring broth and 1 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan, but do not boil.  Keep warm over low heat.
2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add oil; swirl to coat.  Add mushrooms to pan and cook for 8 minutes or until nicely browned.  Side-note: at this step in the cooking process, my husband came into the kitchen and said "why does it smell like fish food in the house?"  Great start to this recipe.  Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside.
3. Add sausage to pan and cook until browned, crumbling as you cook.  Add shallots and garlic; cook 1 minute stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add rice; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Stir in wine and cook until liquid is nearly absorbed, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
4. Stir in 1 cup broth mixture; cook for 2 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.  Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth mixture is absorbed before adding the rest (about 30 min total).  Remove pan from heat.  Add mushrooms back, and add spinach, stirring until wilted.  Top evenly with cheese.

I think an appropriate sub-title to this recipe would be "Stirring constantly."  That's a bit misleading though.  I took breaks to Tivo upcoming shows for this week and it still turned out just fine.  Here is the finished recipe, which rest assured did not smell like fish food.

Makes 4 1-1/2 cup servings.  Per serving: 360 calories, 12 g fat, 46 g carbs, 20 g protein.

Now, where did I put those tweezers?

Always the adjectives

I love making new recipes.  The problem that I run into is that I hate naming new recipes.  Dietitians tend to be a bit too gung-ho about hyping up their recipes.  A google search yields the following:

Out-of-this-world turkey soup

Magical macaroni & cheese

Lovely lemon pudding

Blissful brownies

Zippy zingy three-bean chili

Given that I read recipes such as these each day, I'm tempted to label last night's lasagna "Very veggie lasagna!"  Cheeeeeeeeese-ball.  It's accurate though at least.  Comfort food packed with veggies.  One serving of this provides you with 300% of your vitamin K needs for the day and 3 servings of veggies.  I like to package up leftover lasagna in individual squares to freeze.  In case you've ever seen the inside of my freezer, that there answers the questions of "why are there bricks wrapped in Glad?"

Lasagna.  With vegetables. 
-6 oven-ready lasagna noodles (I used Creamette and they fit nicely in my 9x13 glass dish)
-1 jar of Ragu light alfredo sauce
-1 package frozen cut-leaf spinach, microwaved
-1 container part skim ricotta cheese
-2 large zucchini squash, thinly sliced the long way (into nice long thin strips)
-1 cup shredded carrots
-3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
-1-2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
-garlic
-2 cups part skim shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Spray your 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Lay down three noodles to cover the bottom of the pan.  Mine had a bit of a gap, but that's okay.  You're going to be cramming plenty of stuff in this dish.
2. Cut up your chicken into 1" chunks and saute in olive oil until thoroughly cooked.  Add a pinch of garlic.  Chop up cooked chicken into fine pieces and spread on top of the noodles.
3. Spoon half the sauce on top of the chicken.  Sprinkle on 1/4th of your cheese.  Next layer on your thin zucchini. 
4. Mix ricotta cheese with the warmed spinach.  Spoon on top of zucchini layer.  Add shredded carrots.
5. Add your second layer of noodles.  Layer tomatoes on top of noodles.  Spoon remaining sauce on top of tomatoes.  Finish by topping with remaining cheese. 
6. Spray a sheet of tin foil with your nonstick cooking spray and cover the dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly.  Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

*A note about all these ingredients-
-I used carrots simply because I had a bag of leftovers in the fridge.  I used chicken because I happened to have some.  I used spinach because it kept falling out of my freezer every time I opened it, thereby begging to be eaten.  Use whatever veggies sound good to you.  Use this lasagna as a chance to clean out your veggie drawer. 

Serves 6.  Per serving: 415 calories, 32 g carbs, 16 g fat, 31 g protein.

**New Year's resolution: stop taking food pictures with my Blackberry and carry a camera at all times. 

Hola Mexico!

Here I am, back from my honeymoon.  We left for Cancun the day after Christmas and returned the day after New Year's.  One full week of sun, sand, and Pepto. 

We stayed on Isla Mujeres, a small island off the coast of Cancun.  Our hotel was beautiful and the beaches were just like a postcard.  I have to admit that the first few days of vacation were a little shaky.  I am almost too type-A to just relax and chill, ha.

Our hotel was all-inclusive and the food selection was quite good.  We ate traditional Mayan food as well as dishes from other regions of Mexico, none of which I recall or have pictures of. 

Our big excursion during the week was chartering a small fishing boat to do some deep sea fishing.  TGF-drammamine.  We were on the water for 7 hours and caught a total of 5 fish.  Marcus reeled in this 70-pound sailfish.

  While he reeled it in, I hid behind the steering column.  I was afraid the fish would tweak out and in a last ditch effort for vengeance, leap into the boat and spear someone. 

Next it was my turn to reel in a big one, and I caught a mahi mahi (dolphin fish).  It had super pretty coloring- all yellow and blue- but pretty colors aside, I ain't gonna touch it!

Here's Marcus holding it up once we docked.

We kept one of the smaller mahi mahi and the beachside restaurant grilled it up for us. 

Ah I think this exceeds the standard deck-of-cards serving of meat.  Nonetheless it was delicious, and the fishing trip was time and money well-spent.

Of course the next day we got to do *my* chosen activity- shopping!  Marcus bought me a new ring as a reward for being a good sport.  Now that's good honeymooning.