Mee Goreng - Spicy Fried Noodles

Right now in the DFW suburbs we're at that balance between getting hot and OMG, who turned on the convection oven setting with our weather. In other words: Patio Weather. In the evening I like to sit outside with the dogs and browse through cook books and magazines and meal plan. By meal plan I mean something for my lunches, since The Aussie is not an adventurous eater.  This week I was inspired to make an Asian dish called Mee Goreng, which basically means to "fried noodles." There are probably as many recipe variations as there are street vendors in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia that sell it.  One trip to Super H Mart later, I submit my variation.

Mee Goreng

1 good drizzle of cooking oil (I used peanut)
1 onion, finely diced
1 block of firm tofu, cut in slices or cubes
1 cup of snow peas, trimmed of tough string, cut into diagonal slices
1 bunch of bok choy or choy sum, leaves and stems, cut in bite sized diagonal slices
1 pack fresh noodles (I used yakisoba noodles)
1 T garlic,  minced or use paste
1 t ground coriander
2 T sriracha
2 T kecap manis (sweet soy)
2 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
mung bean sprouts (a good handful)
lime wedges to serve (or sprinkle on TrueLime like I did)

Heat up large pan or wok over high heat, drizzle in your oil (peanut oil is good for high heat cooking). Add in diced onion and cook for a few minutes until soft. Move onion off to the side and place the tofu slices in the pan. Cook for at least 5 minutes to get a nice golden color on the pieces. Next, add in the snow peas, garlic and choy sum. Stir to mix together (it's fine that the tofu starts to break up, you want that). When the choy sum has wilted a bit, move it over to the side and put the noodles in the pan. At this point, I added a little more oil, but it's completely optional. Drizzle on the sriracha, kecap manis, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir to coat. Cook for several minutes until the noodles get hot and soften up. Just before serving, toss in a good handful of bean sprouts. They won't cook fully, and will add a nice crunch.

Some traditional garnishes are fried shallots or chopped peanuts, along with lime wedges. I sprinkled on some TrueLime, stirred it, and served it with a side of chopsticks.  Enjoy!

Chicken And Dumplings - Comfort Food At Its Finest

We have another addition to the Instant Pot family. My Mom mentioned to my sister that she might like one as a group present for Christmas. Not being able to wait, my sister and I got her one for her birthday, and it arrived this week. She was surprised! She asked if I'd ever made chicken and dumplings. I hadn't, but I was willing to try.Truth be told, I've only ever had them once, many years ago. Man, I am glad I did, it was so delicious. This recipe is a bit of a mashup, because I am not capable of following recipes, and I refuse to use canned soup in my chicken and dumplings.

Instant Pot Chicken And Dumplings 

1 T olive oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt/pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t poultry seasoning
4 cups chicken stock
---------------
2-3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
2 T flour
1/2 cup half and half
---------------
1 1/2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk

With your Instant Pot set on saute, drizzle in your olive oil. Season your chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pot and brown for about 5 minutes per side. Your chicken may break up a bit when turning over. That's fine. I used two forks to shred it a bit.  Next, add in your onion, celery, seasoning and chicken stock. Set your pot to high pressure for 12 minutes. (I like my chicken really, really done).

While the chicken is cooking mix together the Bisquick mix and milk, making sure you get all of the lumps out. The dumpling dough needs to be a little less stiff than if you were making biscuits, but not runny like pancake batter. You need a consistency where you can spoon it out and shape it in to an oval.

When your timer goes off, do a quick release of the pressure. It will take a minute or so, so take this time to mix the half and half and the flour together, making sure there are no flour lumps. This will thicken the chicken mixture, which will be really soupy when you take the lid off. Remove the lid, and stir in the half and half, and then the frozen vegetables. Next, carefully spoon the dumplings on top of the hot chicken mixture. I used one soup spoon to spoon mixture out of the bowl, and a second soup spoon to push the dough on to the chicken mixture. Space the dumplings out evenly. Put the lid back on your Instant Pot, leaving the vent open. Let the dumplings steam for about 10 minutes, then remove the lid.

Spoon out your delicious chicken and dumplings in to a bowl and enjoy!

Easy Vegetable and Seafood Paella

It's no secret that my husband is a picky eater. I cook a lot of dishes that he has no interest in eating. Luckily, I have the opportunity to cook dishes that I'm interested in eating during my lunch hour.  I have also been trying to cook from my pantry and freezer so that I use things up before shopping for more. Yesterday I spied a bag of mixed seafood in the freezer. Usually I make bouillabaisse, but I didn't want to make that for lunch. I rummaged through the pantry and decided that I would try to make paella. Since I'm trying to cut back on eating meat, I wanted to make it a vegetable and seafood paella. I also wanted to use up a bunch of veggies I had in the not-so-crisper drawer. I know that I totally did things out of order, but hey, it worked. :) Some will say it isn't a true paella if it isn't made with chicken, or with sausage. Oh well. I will go with my version of paella today and enjoy it.

Vegetable and Mixed Seafood "Paella"

2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (4 really large baby bellas)
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 c white wine
1 orange bell pepper cut in thin strips (use what ever color you have on hand)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can artichoke heart quarters, drained
2 cups frozen mixed seafood (shrimp, calamari, mussels, scallops)
2 cups broth
1 small pinch saffron
1 t smoked paprika
1 T garlic powder
1/2 t salt

Heat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. When pan is hot, drizzle in the olive oil. After a minute the oil should shimmer. Add your diced onion and stir around. Cook until softened, about 2 minutes, then add in the garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to make sure the garlic doesn't burn. At this point, I should probably have added the rice, but I didn't, I added the mushrooms. Feel free to do it in reverse order. I added the mushrooms and then the rice. Stir the rice to make sure it gets a light coating of the olive oil, and cook for about 5 minutes. Next, I de-glazed the pan with the white wine, stirring to scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir in the bell pepper, diced tomatoes, artichoke hearts and the seafood. Pour in the broth and the spices, mixing everything together so that the broth is distributed evenly.

Turn down the heat to low and cover. I set the timer for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, I stirred the mixture to make sure the seafood was cooking evenly, covered it up and set for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I removed the lid, stirred again, raised the heat to medium to cook off excess liquid for a few minutes.  Before serving, check your seasoning and remove any mussels that didn't open.

I have a confession to make. For lunch, hot, it was delicious. For leftovers cold, it was even more delicious. When I was packaging the leftovers later I was eating more. Then I spied the muffaletta olive salad in my fridge. This is a mixture of marinated olive pieces, carrot, small bits of cauliflower that I get at the antipasto bar at Kroger. I've made "Spanish" dishes that had olives in it, why not this. So I spooned some in to my bowl with the cold paella. It was absolutely delicious. It added just the right briny kick to the dish.  Perfect. My second confession. I just had cold paella for breakfast. I'm a happy girl.

Eat Your Greens Hearty Winter Soup

Greens, greens, they're good for your heart... well, that's not how the rhythm goes, but greens are very good for you. In fact, 1 cup of chopped kale contains nearly 3 grams of protein, and over 100% of your vitamins A and C. Not too shabby, right?  It isn't a budget buster, either. In fact, none of the ingredients in my kale and lentil soup are budget busters, especially if you make your own chicken stock. The bay leaf might be priciest thing, and it's pretty much optional. I have a bunch because my mom has a huge bay plant. Which reminds me, I need to beg for more bay leaves...

Kale and Lentil Soup

1 T olive oil

3 leeks, well rinsed, cut lengthwise and then thinly sliced

4 ribs of celery, sliced

4 carrots, sliced

1 lb of lentils

8 ounces of chopped kale, rinsed (that's 1/2 of one of these huge bags)

1 can diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken stock

2-3 cups water

1/4 cup red wine (I had it on hand, it's optional)

1 bay leaf (optional)

2 T Worcestershire sauce

Before serving:

2 T red wine vinegar - add at the end, before serving - it brightens up the flavors

dash of hot sauce

Set your pressure cooker to saute. Drizzle in your olive oil and let the pot heat up for a minute or two while you are chopping the vegetables. Add in your leeks and celery first, stirring them around to coat with the olive oil. Cook for a minute or two and then add the sliced carrots and cook for a minute. Next, add your lentils. Stir to combine with the vegetables, then add in the kale and diced tomatoes. The half bag seriously filled up my cooker

Lastly, add in the liquids: chicken stock, water, red wine, Worcestershire sauce. If you're using a bay leaf, throw it in now. Set your cooker to high pressure for 20 minutes.  When it's done, do a quick release of the pressure. Before serving, I like to add a bit of red wine vinegar and hot sauce.  Black pepper and red pepper flakes rock, too. Season as you wish. By switching out the stock and seasoning, you can make this vegetarian or vegan. It is a seriously flexible and flavorful soup. 

For stovetop cooking, simply follow the directions using a dutch oven and let the soup simmer for about 35 minutes, or until the kale is tender.

Quick(er) and Easy Bolognese Sauce - Oh, Yes, I Love My Kitchen Gadgets

The other evening, The Aussie and I were strolling down memory lane via Google Maps in satellite view. We used to work in NYC, which is light years away from the Texas suburbs. We love living in Texas, but we really miss all of the old places we used to go. Especially our favorite restaurants. It was good to see that some of them are still there, years later.

Our favorite Italian restaurant has changed, unfortunately. New name, new menu. I used to order the old restaurant's pappardelle with bolognese sauce. Oh, it was good.  In honor of the old restaurant and the many meals we enjoyed there, I wanted to make a bolognese sauce last night. Traditionally, bolognese takes at least an hour and a half to simmer on the stove. I have seen some recipes that call for 4 hours of cooking. I had (almost) enough time to make it on the stove, but I really wanted to see how it would come out in the pressure cooker. Brilliantly well, as it turns out.   

Bolognese Sauce

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork
3 oz pancetta (or bacon) chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped *
1 onion, finely chopped *
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato paste
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 cup red wine
1 cup stock (I used chicken)
1 T oregano
olive oil
salt to taste
1/2 cup milk

To Do:

* Being the gadget hound that I am, I put the carrots and onion in to my Ninja and blitzed them until they were very finely chopped. If you don't have any sort of food processor, finely chop the onions and carrots.

With the pressure cooker insert in place, heat up the cooker on saute. Add a small drizzle of olive oil and let it heat up. Put the pancetta in the pot and cook until fat starts to render off, about 5 minutes.

Next, add the onion and carrot mixture and the minced garlic, cook for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, to cook out some of the moisture.

The ground pork and ground beef go in next. Browning the meat should take about 10 minutes, and while it browns, use your spoon to break the meat in to small pieces. The tomato paste can be added halfway through the browning.

Finally, the red wine, stock, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, and a big pinch of salt go in. Mix thoroughly.  (Don't worry about the milk yet, it goes in after you pressure cook the sauce)

Double check that the gasket is in place, put the cover on your cooker, and move it into the locked position. Turn the cooker on to high pressure and set the timer for 30 minutes.  

Because I am impatient, I used the quick release method to let the pressure out of the cooker.  The beauty of electric pressure cookers is that you can't open the cover until the pressure is released.  They may not cook at as high a pressure as older style pressure cookers, but you won't have to worry about scaring yourself. *boom* They can make a very loud noise when you open them too soon. Not that I ever did that... nope... must have been someone else... *looks around whistling*

Once the pressure is released, open up the cooker. Select simmer, stir in the milk, and let the sauce cook down for 10 minutes or until it reaches a consistency that you prefer. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Please excuse the less than brilliant pictures. They just didn't design home kitchens with food bloggers in mind when they built our house.  If you aren't a fan of pasta, or if it isn't a fan of you, this sauce would be fantastic on spaghetti squash or zoodles.

If you are looking to prepare this on the stove top, use a heavy bottomed pan, such as a dutch oven, with a cover. Follow the same steps, but the milk can be added after about 30 minutes. Simmer on medium low for at least 90 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it isn't sticking on the bottom of the pan.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It's rich, hearty, and not too tomato-y. The perfect thing for a winter dinner.

Red Beans And Rice - But Not On Monday - Axis Of Ineptitude

Today's prompt for Axis Of Ineptitude is "Soup For The Soul." What better to feed the soul than something delicious, warming, and spicy, that could have been a family tradition, passed down from your grandparents.

From what I have read, traditionally, red beans and rice were cooked on a Monday, because Monday was laundry day, and the pot of red beans could cook on the stove without a lot of fuss. I don't know if that's how my grandmother's family did it, but they were from Louisiana, so I'd like to think they did. Now, I have to admit, while I did cook red beans and rice yesterday, I did not do any laundry. I also did not cook it on the stove. And it didn't take hours and hours to soak the beans and to cook. In fact, from start to finish, it took about two hours. In a pressure cooker. Yup. A pressure cooker. That means you don't need to soak beans overnight before you cook them. Hooray for gadgets.

My electric pressure cooker has different settings, including saute, so I started with the "trinity" of chopped celery, onion and bell pepper, about a cup of each, and cooked them down in a drizzle of olive oil (no, not bacon grease last night, although I could have used that), for about five minutes.
 

Next, I added a package of smoked ham hocks. That was a first for me, let me tell you. I stirred that around a little, then added a large link of andouille sausage, cut in to half in sliced rounds. Next in to the pot was a couple of bay leaves, a tablespoon of cajun seasoning mix, a tablespoon of dried oregano, and a tablespoon of garlic powder.

Finally, I added a pound of dried red kidney beans that I had rinsed off, a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes, and 6 cups of water. Here it is, ready to put the cover on. It looks like a lot of liquid, but the beans will soak up a lot of it.

 

It's the final countdown.... Just kidding. I have the lid on and locked, and have set the cooker on high pressure for 90 minutes. I've read anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes for timing, but since I didn't pre-soak the beans, I wanted to make sure they would be well cooked and soft.

 

After 90 minutes, presto. You have red beans and rice with amazing flavor. At this point, I removed the ham hocks. For extra yum factor, I sliced up some smoked ham and mixed that in.

Served over some hot rice, it's smoky, spicy, cream, meaty. Delicious. Truly, a soul warming dish. Not soup, but for the soul...

Bang Bang Sauce. What else would be so appropriate for the Fourth Of July.

I have to admit, I have never been to Bonefish Grill and had never heard of "Bang Bang Shrimp" until Martinus, who I met at Fitbloggin 12, posted a picture of it on Facebook the other day. It. Looked. Delicious. The more I researched it the more I understood that it practically has a cult following. Fried shrimp, crunchy greens, spicy sweet sauce. What's not to love. I do love fried shrimp, but I knew I had been making less than stellar wine um, food choices this week, so I wasn't looking to duplicate their recipe exactly. I had a big bag of defrosted shrimp in my fridge that I was planning on cooking up on The 4th, so I decided to make a leaner grilled version of Bang Bang Shrimp. Delicious, if I do say so myself. Thank you, Martinus, for the idea.





 

Bang Bang Grilled Shrimp

1 lb large shrimp/prawns, cleaned and shelled
1 T garlic powder
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t olive oil

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and let marinate until you're ready to put the prawns on skewers.

Bang Bang Sauce

1/4 cup low fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup fat free mayonnaise
~ 1/4 Mae Ploy (sweet chili sauce)
1-2 T Sriracha sauce (to taste - this stuff is hot!)
1 t rice wine vinegar

Mix all together until smooth. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

If you're grilling, thread the shrimp on skewers and grill over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side, or until they're opaque. You can definitely broil in the oven or cook the shrimp on the stove. I have leftover shrimp in the fridge that I'm planning on cooking up for lunch and having over salad greens with more sauce drizzled on top. The sauce was delicious on my grilled steak, too.

Enjoy!

Kyra

Barley and Spring Vegetable Risotto

Okay, I know that technically, this can't be called a risotto because it isn't made with arborio rice, but if Weight Watchers wants to call it a risotto, I will too.  My sister and I were talking recently about using barley, but I didn't have any recipes. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my WW Weekly on Saturday morning before my meeting. There it was. Barley and spring vegetable risotto. I sent her the recipe and she made it this Sunday. She said she added more vegetables, so it made 6 servings instead of 4. I am all for adding more vegetables than a recipe calls for. Zero points and I get to eat more. Yay! So I did the same, doubling the asparagus and the snap peas, plus I cooked up all of the mushrooms I had in my refrigerator and added them too. In my haste to shovel some of the finished risotto into my mouth, I completely forgot about adding butter, too. Oh well. Tasted awesome without it. The good thing about this recipe? Everything in it is on the Simply Filling Foods List. (I'm not counting the olive oil, since you're supposed to get a healthy oil that you don't count when you follow Simply Filling.)  I need to get back to following this plan. It worked so well for me in the past, and I've been in such a rut. I haven't officially started, since it's mid-week, but my new goal is to eat whole foods, nothing processed, for a week. Last night I had some of The Aussie's sandwich roll and a few Hershey's Kisses, so yesterday didn't count. Eating whole foods, not processed crap, is a good goal. So enough of my dithering on, here's the recipe!

Spring Vegetable "Risotto"

2 T Olive Oil (divided)
1 lb mushrooms (I used a mixture of baby bella, shitaki and portobella), sliced
2 cups finely sliced leeks (rinsed VERY WELL)
1 shallot, minced
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
3/4 cup pearled barley
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces (1 bunch)
1/2 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
1 t lemon zest (I sprinkled in TrueLemon)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t garlic powder
1 t dried dill (I totally forgot to put this in...)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (I just sprinkled a teaspoon on top of my serving)

First up: Heat up a large pan over medium high heat. When it's hot, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and cook them down. This should take about 10 minutes, and you'll need to stir them frequently. When cooked down, remove from the pan and set aside.

Next: Drizzle in your second tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the minced scallion to the pan and cook until they start to get translucent, about 2 minutes. Add in the leeks and cook for another 7 or so minutes, stirring so they don't scorch, until they start to cook down.  Now it's time to add the barley, stirring it around so that it gets coated with a little oil. (I have to tell you, I didn't think 3/4 of a cup of barley looked like much. Wrong.) When it's coated (I won't tell on you if you add a little more olive oil), pour in the stock. Bring it to a light boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer. The original recipe says 30 minutes, but mine took closer to 40 minutes.  When the barley is almost tender, but still has a bit of chewiness to it, add in your vegetables, stirring well, and add your seasonings.  Again, the recipe says 3-5 minutes, but I still had a lot of broth left to be absorbed by the barley, and a lot more vegetables to cook. Uncovered, I cooked the risotto an additional 15 minutes so that it was the proper consistency.

Remove from heat, stir in cheese and lemon zest, and your dill, if you're using it. As I said above, I simply sprinkled a little cheese on top of my serving.  Because of all of the vegetables I used, this made 6 huge servings.

Enjoy!

Roasted Mushroom and Butternut Squash Pilaf

Ever since I roasted mushrooms to make a mushroom bisque a month or so ago, I have been enamoured with them. Roasting can turn regular white mushrooms with little flavor, into a delicious meaty morsel. I've used them in the bisque, I've used them in my loaded veggie chili, and now I'm using them in a lovely pilaf along with roasted butternut squash, baby kale and brown rice and quinoa mixed grains.

I cut up a pound of mushrooms in to chunks, about 8 pieces per mushroom, and I peeled and cut up a butternut squash in to 1/2 " pieces. Each came to about 6 cups of vegetables. I heated the oven to 400 and sprayed two baking pans with non-stick cooking spray. If you have the olive oil flavor, that's great. I sprayed the tops of the veggies, too. Roast them for 20 minutes, rotating trays after ten minutes. You want to make sure the water that comes off the mushrooms has a chance to evaporate.

In the meantime, chop up half of a red onion in to a small dice. If you want to use fresh garlic, chop up or press a couple of large cloves. One thing that I do to make things come together quickly is chunky garlic from a tube. You can find it, along with ginger, garlic paste, and cilantro paste, in the refrigerated produce section of your grocery store.  Get a large sautee pan heating over medium high heat. Drizzle in a tablespoon of nice olive oil. When it's shimmering, add in the onions. I cooked them so that they got a bit of a crisp on them, to add texture. Add in the garlic and quickly sautee.  Deglaze with a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Now it's time to add in your mushrooms and stir the mixture together. Doesn't it look delicious?

I'll let you in on another secret of mine. If you don't have time to make your own quinoa and brown rice for this dish, or any other, for that matter, see if you can find this product: Seeds Of Change organic quinoa and brown rice. It's super easy to cook. Just 90 seconds in  your microwave.

 



Once the mushrooms are nicely coated with the balsamic vinegar and the onion garlic mixture, it's time to add in the kale. You can use a bunch of regular kale that you've taken the woody stems off of and chopped, or you can you baby kale. I'm fortunate in that my Kroger has started carrying baby kale in a large clamshell type container. It's probably meant for kale salad, but it hasn't made it that far with me. I keep sauteeing it with garlic and olive oil.

 See, it really cooks down. Keep turning the leaves so that they cook down evenly. Then add in the quinoa and rice mixture and the butternut squash. Toss everything gently, to combine. Adjust your seasonings, adding salt and pepper if you like, and more balsamic vinegar to taste. I finished mine off with a big splash of balsamic vinegar, some freshly ground pepper, and a dash of TrueLemon to give it a little extra zing. This made 6 very large servings. After having 2 last night and 1 for breakfast, I'm guessing I'll be done with the whole batch by tonight. ;)

 

 

Roasted Mushroom and Butternut Squash Pilaf

 

6 cups butternut squash, 1/2 " cubes

1 pound mushrooms, roughly diced (6 cups)

olive oil cooking spray

1 T olive oil

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 T garlic

2-4 T balsamic vinegar

1 package baby kale (3+ cups) or large bunch, stemmed and chopped

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked quinoa

squeeze of lemon (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Summertime... and the grilling is easy

It's been a busy weekend, with a lot of eating out (mostly healthy!), running around (literally - I did my 3rd half marathon on Sunday) and resting. Last night the weather held out and I grilled Mexican style chicken and corn on the cob. Delicious! (please note: my chicken is the one without the skin - The Aussie loves his with, but I was being healthy)

Mexican Style Chicken

4 chicken thighs (with or without skin) or pieces of your choice
1 t coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
1 t cumin seeds, toasted and crushed
1 T orange juice concentrate
1/4 c thinly sliced scallions
2 T agave syrup
1 T fresh thyme
3 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, minced
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t True Lime

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to combine. Place chicken pieces in a sealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Close bag and smoosh the marinade all over the chicken. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

I grilled this, using the indirect heat method. Cook for about an hour, or until chicken near bone is no longer pink and the temperature is at least 180 degrees. I am sure this would be fantastic baked, too!

Who doesn't love a challenge?

Kenlie at All The Weigh is having a "cook at home" challenge, along with Calphalon, that I'm excited for. So many people eat out these days, and we all know that restaurant food, while tasty, is not the healtiest thing for you. It isn't the chef's job to make sure you eat something healthy, it's his or her's job to make sure you eat something that tastes good. It is totally possible to eat something healthy that also tastes really good. Case in point, I'm eating Mediterranean seafood soup that I pulled out of the freezer. Make a huge batch, freeze leftovers for later. Cook once, eat twice. It's a win-win for healthy eating.

So step up to the stove, and join me, won't you? Take back your dinner.

Get Mikey to try it...

If you're of *ahem* a certain age, you might remember the Life cereal commercial with Mikey. "Let's get Mikey to eat it... He won't eat it, he hates everything... He likes it, hey Mikey..."  I'm not saying The Aussie is as fussy as Mikey, but there are certain things he likes and many things he would never have thought of eating.  Enter last night's dinner. I gave him the option of omlette for dinner, but I told him that I had an Asian inspired pork mixture to fix. I told him they were kind of like rissoles, but with Asian flavors. (Rissoles are basically meatloaf in patty form that are breaded and pan fried.) He said he'd try it, which made me very pleased.  I have to tell you, these were good! Mikey liked it!

Asian Pork Burgers (makes 4)

1 pound extra lean ground pork
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 scallions, finely sliced
3 large garlic cloves, crushed in press
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1 t fish sauce
1 T Mae Ploy sauce (sweet chili sauce)

Topping: (if you can, make this a couple of hours ahead so that flavors blend)

1 bag of "rainbow slaw" vegetables
4 T rice wine vinegar
1 T Maey Ploy sauce

Dressing:

1 T mayo
1 T Mae Ploy sauce
1/2 t Sriracha sauce (spicy chili sauce)

4 toasted burger rolls

Put topping ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Put burger ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for an hour so that flavors blend.

Form four patties with the meat mixture, about 1/2 an inch thick.  Spray pan lightly with cooking spray. Over medium high heat, cook until the juices are clear, about 5 minutes each side. Since this is pork, do not undercook.

To assemble: Mix together the mayo with the Mae Ploy and Sriracha. Spread on the top and bottom halfs of the toasted rolls. (Yay to Kroger for now carrying whole wheat burger rolls).  Place patty on roll and top with the rainbow slaw. Make your tastebuds happy and enjoy!

BTW, these are great without the roll, served with brown rice and the slaw as sides, with the dressing drizzled on top. As in, yes, that's what I'm having for breakfast. ;)

Weight Watchers - week 17 update

So, I didn't do too badly this week at weigh in. This is a good thing, considering I was up 1.6 last week after finally getting to my 10% mark. I was back down that 1.6 and a little more, for a total of 2 pounds down. It's really strange being this weight, because I haven't weighed this little in years. I'm actually going through my closet and finding things I can finally fit in to again. Not everything, mind you, but I'm getting there. Ideally, I'd like to fit in to a little black dress that I bought to wear to a New Year's Eve party in Australia many years ago. That's still 25 pounds off though, which is less than my official goal weight. I'd like to fit in to my wedding dress again, too! Anywho, slow progress is good progress.

Nothing new cooked this week, so far. I'm actually back to tracking this week. I need to reign myself back in. I was cooking with mostly power foods, so I wasn't eating badly, but I don't want to get too far removed from tracking and accountability. Speaking of tracking, I had to suck it up and write down that I ate pizza last night. We were getting our taxes done, and our accountant was running behind schedule, so we took advantage of the delay to go get some dinner at a nearby pub. The Aussie had his beloved fish and chips, and I splurged and had one of their naan bread pizzas. It was strange, but tasty in it's own non-pizza way. It was topped with garlic spread, apples (they weren't carmelized like the description said, though), bangers (a sausage sliced up) and brie. And I had a Harp lager. O.M.G. that was tasty. So a few points (about 7) came off of my weekly points allowance. That pizza and beer was worth it. All in all, it was a good night. :)

Bad pictures, fantastic chili

I apologize, in advance, for the pictures in this post. Tired of strangely shaped pictures taken by my phone camera, I went back to my digital camera. Because I don't like to use the flash, I have to be my own auto-focus and try to stand very still while taking pictures. Needless to say, I'm not very good at this. I am pretty good at cooking, though, so it all evens out in the end.

Speaking of cooking, I came up with the idea for this chili while I was half asleep yesterday morning. I'm glad I did, because it tastes amazing.

Turkey Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili (serves 8)

1 T canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground turkey
2 T chili powder
1 T ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
2 bell peppers, diced (I used red because it was on hand)
1 poblano pepper, diced (I remembered to use a glove while cutting this time!)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
2 cans black beans, rinsed

1. Heat a large pot over medium high heat. When it's hot, drizzle in your canola oil. Add in the chopped onion, and after a minute or so, add in the garlic, making sure it doesn't burn. After these have cooked for a few minutes and have softened, add in the ground turkey, breaking up the clumps. Cook until you don't see much pink in the turkey. Add in your ground spices, stir to coat the meat evenly with the chili powder, cumin and coriander.

2. Stir in the diced bell pepper and the diced poblano pepper.

3. Now it's time for the sweet potato, diced tomatoes and the chicken broth. Stir well, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes.

4. Uncover, stir in the black beans, and simmer until the potatoes are done and the black beans are heated through. Season to taste. I didn't add any salt, because there's enough sodium with the canned ingredients. If you're a salt lover or want more heat, please feel free to spike your chili with more salt and some cayenne.

Enjoy! FYI, the WW +points for a 1 cup serving is 7. Everything in here, except the garlic and spices, allowing for your healthy oil, counts as a power food.

Asian Lettuce Cups

After a couple of day off the Simply Filling wagon, I'm back on. Blame Valentine's Day, blame TOM, blame whatever... (the chocolate in the fridge that I got The Aussie...) Hopefully I have some of the bad choices out of my system. Last night I made Asian lettuce cups, and they were good. I actually just had more of the filling for my breakfast. Yum. :)

Asian Lettuce Cups

1 pound of extra lean ground turkey
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 t fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 T sriracha sauce
1 T hoisin sauce
1 can of sliced water chestnuts, chopped
lettuce leaves (bibb lettuce is recommended because the leaves are flexible, but if you only have iceburg, like me, that works fine)

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Meanwhile, combine the ground turkey with the soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a bowl and mix well. Cook the turkey mixture until there's no more pink, breaking apart any big clumps of meat with your spatula. Add in the sriracha, or any hot pepper sauce you have, the hoisin sauce and the chopped water chesnuts. Mix thoroughly and take off the heat. Serve with lettuce leaves to spoon the mixture into, and have fun playing with your food!

A Tale Of Two Sweet Potatoes

I don't recall ever eating sweet potatoes when I was younger. I was probably in my late 20s before I tried one (I'm not counting sweet potato casserole at a relatives house for Thanksgiving, either). Darned shame, if you think about it. Sweet, savory, healthy goodness rolled in to one convenient package. Usually I roast them in the pan, along with regular potatoes for The Aussie, when I roast meats. A trick I learned from one of my Donna Hay cookbooks is to place the meat on a rack above the pan. The potatoes cook in the meat drippings. Sweet potatoes get browned on the bottom but are still soft. The white potatoes turn golden brown and crispy all over. Totally drool-worthy. A while back, one of my foodie friends mentioned curried sweet potato hash. Curry+Sweet Potatoes=Awesome. I've tweaked my version a bit to use what spices I have on hand. Served with a fried or poached egg on top, it's nothing short of delicious.

Curried Sweet Potato and Two Pepper Hash (6 servings - 4 WW+pts/serving)

2 T of oil (use 1 T for sweet potatoes and the second T for the spices)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 " cubes
salt/pepper to taste
1 t cumin seeds (or fennel seeds, your choice)
1 t coriander seeds
1/2 t ground coriander
1 large onion, diced
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 t curry powder
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T grated ginger root
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced into 1/2 " pieces
2 poblano peppers, seeded and diced into 1/2 " pieces (and by the love of all that's good and decent, don't rub your face or eyes like I did - they were much hotter than I expected)
juice of half a lemon
fresh cilantro to garnish (optional)

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat for a minute. Add 1 T of oil and swirl around to coat the pan. Add the sweet potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook the potatoes, try not to stir too much since you want some brown on them, until they're just getting softened. This may take about 10 minutes or so. Remove the potatoes from the pan and set aside. Scrape any stuck bits off the pan with a spatula or paper towel.

Return the pan to the heat and add the remaining oil. Add in the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds to the pan and cook for a minute. Add in the diced onion, red pepper flakes, ground coriander and the curry powder, stirring well. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened.

Stir in the garlic, ginger, red bell pepper and poblano peppers and cook for a few minutes. Add back in the sweet potatoes, mixing them with the peppers. Squeeze in your lemon juice and stir. Turn the heat down and cover. Cook until the potatoes are fully cooked. This may take about 8 more minutes.

While the hash finishes cooking, heat up a skillet to fry some eggs to serve on top of the hash. When the hash is done, spoon out on to plates, top with the eggs and garnish with cilantro. This is delicious and filling and works for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Salud!

My take on a classic - bouillabaise

I have to admit, the first couple of days this week I ate really badly. Pizza, chicken fried steak, and lots of wine. I'm not sure the chicken fried steak with cream gravy was worth the 18 WW points, but man, it tasted great. I allowed my self a couple of days to indulge in comfort food because I'm really missing The Aussie. Last night, however, I took ahold of the reins and made an amazing (and amazingly large) batch of bouillabaise. If you aren't familiar with this soup (like friend who thought I said "boullion base"), it's a French fish and shellfish stew that tastes like healthy comfort in a bowl. This made 14 cups, and in WW's recipe builder, it totalled 3 points for 14 servings or 4 points for 12 servings.


Bouillabaise

1 T oil (can be olive, grapeseed, canola...)
4 cups of leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced (I used 1 bunch of 3)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced or chopped
1 bottle (8 oz) clam juice
3 cups of chicken stock (fish stock if you have would be great)
1 cup water
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 c dry white wine (I used Fish Eye pinot grigio)
1/2 t saffron threads (this really makes the flavor, so please don't omit)
1/4 t cayenne pepper
2 medium red potatoes, diced
3/4 pound cod or halibut (I used cod), cut in to large bite-sized chunks
1 1/4 pounds sea scallops (the large ones)
2-6.5 ounce cans of chopped clams with their juice
2.5 ounces of shrimp (it's what I had...)

Note: thinly slice the leeks and then wash them very, very well. They are notoriusly dirt, so you want to make sure you get all of the grit out.

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, heat over medium high heat for a minute. Add the oil, then the leeks, stiring for a minute, then add the garlic. Cook until the leeks are soft, at least 5 minutes. Stir in the fennel and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Add in the clam juice, stock, water, diced tomatoes, white wine, thyme, saffron and cayenne. (Some recipes call for orange zest, but I omitted). Bring to a light boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the diced potatoes and cook until they are a little soft. This may take 15 minutes, depending on the size of the dice. Add in the fish, scallops and shrimp, and simmer until the seafood is opaque and cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Traditionally, you can also use more shellfish, such as oysters and mussels in your bouillabaise. Serve with a nice slice of hearty bread and a glass of wine. Perfect for a chilly night.

Shrimp and Grits

When I was little and we were visiting my grandparents in Houston, we'd have grits as a side dish when we ate dinner at the neighbor's house. Kids in the kitchen, too. I thought grits were disgusting, and the only way I would eat them is to have a big blog of ketchup mixed in. I mean, they were plain. No cheese, no herbs. Slimy yuck. Since moving to the South, I've heard of this mythical dish called Shrimp and Grits. Given my past history with grits, this dish didn't really sound appealing. Then yesterday afternoon, Andrea mentioned that she couldn't wait to make shrimp and grits for dinner. For some reason, that sounded pretty good. Truth be told, everything sounded good because I didn't want to eat much before going to a makeup Weight Watchers weigh-in last night. So I started surfing through the interwebs for a recipe, tweaked it so that it was a bit more Weight Watchers friendly, and came up with this! Oh my gawd, it was good. I will definitely be making this again. I'm sorry I don't have a picture - I was too hungry to stop and take one!

Shrimp and Grits (serves 4 generously - 5 PP per serving)

1 slice bacon, cooked very crispy and crumbled
1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 t salt and 1 t black pepper
3 cups sliced mushrooms
2 t canola oil
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth
3 T fat free half and half
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 t sriracha chili sauce
Non-stick cooking spray

1. Cook bacon, crumble and set aside (it will top the shrimp and grits)
2. Peel, devein shrimp. Dredge in the flour, salt and pepper.
3. In large skillet, sprayed w/cooking spray, saute the mushrooms over medium high heat until tender. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the canola oil to hot pan. Saute the shrimp until halfway cooked and the shrimp are lightly browned. Add in the garlic and cook for a minute. Add back in the mushrooms and green onions and stir together. Stir in the broth, half and half, lemon and hot sauce. Cook for 2 minutes or until the shrimp are done.

Cheesy Grits (serves 6 - 3 PP a serving)

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1 cup of quick cooking grits
1 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese
1 t sriracha hot sauce
black pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan, heat up the chicken broth until just boiling. Add in the fat free half and half. Whisk in the grits and cook for about 5 minutes, or as instructed on the package. When almost done, stir in the shredded cheese and the hot sauce. Finish cooking until grits are soft. Add pepper to taste.

Spoon the grits on to your plate, top with the shrimp mixture. Sprinkle bacon bits on top. Enjoy!

Weight Watchers - week 6 update

This past week was the first week with the reduced points. While I still go over the points, it wasn't by as much. I've gone back to eating more soup too, which really has helped. The veggie soup fills me up and I know I'm getting several servings of vegetables in each bowl. I'll tell you what. It's worked too. After a few weeks of either gaining, having no loss and having a .2 loss, I was down 4.2 pounds yesterday at my weigh in and I hit my 5% goal. This is the lowest I've been in probably 6 or 7 years.

I'm not getting on the scale for a few days though, because we went out to dinner with a friend last night to a Thai restaurant. I was very careful with my points early in the day because I knew I'd be splurging for dinner, and boy, did I. My dinner alone came to 39 points. Add in a couple of big glasses of wine, and I topped the day out at 60 points. It was delicious. And now I'm back to soup...

Gee, is there anything else to add to the list?

Last night was not a good night for me. For the last couple of years I've been occassionally getting these strange "attacks" while eating. I basically become unable to swallow any food, and what I have eaten won't stay put. At first I thought it was just because I have a tendency to eat too quickly. Then I thought it was because I eat quickly and, if I'm eating at the coffee table, which is more likely than not, I'm hunched over a bit. Stopping eating doesn't help, sitting up straight and rubbing my upper chest to make it feel better doesn't help, my husband's offer of a drink of water is the last thing I want when it's happening. The results are not fun, to put it mildly. Now it looks like it's something a bit more than either of those things. I'm going to have to put on my big girl panties and go to the doctor to get tests done to confirm this, but all indications point to this possibly being eosinophilic esophagitis. (Strange coincidence, The Aussie's boss was tested for this earlier this year, which is how we found out about this condition. The Aussie described what was going on with me and the boss told him that he's been suffering the same thing.)

According to several websites, EE may be linked to food allergies. The list is not encouraging, for someone who really likes food: milk, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, peas, beef, chicken, fish, rye, corn, soy, potatoes, oats, tomatoes and wheat. The most common food triggers are milk, egg, wheat, rye and beef.

I'm not a vegetarian, for @#*%$'s sake. Granted I've joked that I'd give up meat before I'd give up my wine, but really??? Last night for dinner I made chicken paprika, which I LOVE. So, let's see what's on the trigger list, shall we? Chicken - check, milk - check, wheat and egg (noodles) - check, tomatoes - check. About the only things in the dish that aren't on this list is the paprika and the onion. I can joke that at least I didn't use up all of my WW points yesterday, but I actually would have liked to eat my dinner.

I'm not sure what to do about this. My primary protein sources are chicken, egg, dairy, fish, shellfish and beef. I like tofu as well, but soy is on this list too. Am I supposed to eat pork chops, barley and vegetables for the rest of time?