A Mom Thing

Empty Fridge YUM

YUM.  Sometimes it's good to challenge yourself with scraps.

After 4+ hours in awful car traffic, there was NO was I was getting back in a car to get supplies for dinner.  BUT, that said, I couldn't BEAR the idea of a fake dinner. I wanted something yummy and homemade.

I scavengered some tiger shrimp from the freezer and sauteed them in  some leftover shallot vinaigrette some friends brought over.   I boiled a box of penne and sauteed some mushrooms in olive oil.  Mixed in some horseradish/tiger sauce. VOILA . 

It totally worked!  The broiled sourdough garlic bruschetta topped it off.

All around.  All good.  YUM. 

Meatless Carbonara Bliss

 

HMOG (holy mother of God), this stuff is GOOD.

I just got back from a blissful girls weekend in FLA.  3 nights of total college girl time. Lots of laughter. Lots of vodka. Lots of fun.  And yes, one of the spouses even made us an 80s CD. Perfect.

We ate (and drank) great. We cooked.  We read magazines and compared tips on everything from make up to ... well, other stuff.  Ahh. BLISS.

Anyway -- K brought a Cooking Light Magazine.  While Cooking Light is my go-to-online source, I stopped the subscription awhile ago.  Notanymore.  I re-upped today.  K brought the Jan?/Feb issue to add to our mix (US, PEOPLE, In Style, Harvard Business Review, O Magazine, Smithsonian).  I was hooked. A bazillion recipes I would do. Maybe this would/could break me out of my food rut. Inspire me to do more/different/other.  Maybe?

Long story. Short. Tonite I made the "Walnut Breadcrumb Pasta With A Soft Egg" recipe from page 192.  Only challenge?  Daughter doesn't eat nuts...I didn't have parsley...or goat cheese. NO PROBLEM.  Yeah, yeah, they had me at "breadcrumbs."  And Egg (client).  Seriously. 

This recipe was a-mazing. And easy and CHEAP. I totally changed it bc of family likes/dislikes or because I didn't have ingredients on hand.  Here's what I did...

Ingredients

5 eggs
1 (2-ounce) piece bread diced (sourdough was great, jalapeno cheddar or bacon cheddar would be great, too)
2 T olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
salt/pepper
Spaghetti or Linguine
Chopped Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley (or arugula or spinach)
1/3 cup cheese (goat, or feta or parmesan)

Seasoning to taste: salt, pepper, garlic, chopped red pepper

Preparation

Bring 3 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan.   Add eggs to pan. Boil 5 1/2 minutes.  Drain. Plunge eggs into ice water, and let stand for 5 minutes .  Drain and peel.

Place bread in a food processor, process until fine.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan and swirl to coat.  Add garlic, saute for 30 seconds, stirring.  Add breadcrumb mixture, salt and pepper to pan, saute til toasted.

Cook pasta according to package, omitting salt and fat. Add pasta to breadcrumb mixture; toss to combine. Drizzle with olive oil as needed. Sprinkle with greens/herbs, toss to combine. Add in cheese mixture. Mix.  Plate and place soft boiled egg halves on top.   Tell people to chop and mix their egg in for the sauce.

Total deliciousness.

Tomato Bread Salad

 

Ingredients

Grilled day old bread (I used baguettes)
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped cucumber
Salt/Pepper
Good oil/vinegar
Basil

Preparation

I grilled the bread drizzled with a little olive oil and garlic salt.  Crumbled in with the rest of the ingredients.  DONE.  A-mazing.

We served with grilled Flank Steaks.  The meal was DE-licious.  I could see the salad with fish, chicken, shrimp...anything?  Even a can of good tuna.  Or black olives.  Maybe Feta...maybe not.  SO GOOD.

Will be a total repeat. We had it last night with some friends during an impromptu famil(ies) dinner and I literally can't stop thinking about it. Can you tell?

Mmmmm ... Salmon Cakes and Eggs

 

These are Deeee-licious!  Perfect for brunch or dinner.  Kids love 'em too.

Ingredients (for salmon cakes)

• 2 1/2 slices of whole wheat bread, diced and toasted (stale bread is best!)
• 14 ounces salmon filet, chopped into quarter inch cubes
• 4 green onions, diced
• 1/2 whipped egg
• 4 - 6 cloves chopped garlic (depends on size and taste buds!)
• 1 T soy sauce
• Milk

Preparation

Toast diced bread.  Press diced salmon into papertowel to soak up excess water.  Put salmon, garlic and green onions in bowl; add 1 Tablespoon soy sauce.  Set aside.  Re-hydrate (soak) toast pieces in milk until mushy. Beat one egg and mix half in to salmon mixture.  Strain soaked bread toasts and mix in with salmon mixture. Add cracked pepper (15 grinds?). Form patties.  (Ideally wrap in serran and refrigerate til solid, 2-3 hours?  Usually I'm too hungry and skip this step.) Cook on griddle or big skillet.  

Serving Suggestions

• Top with a poached or fried egg (or two).

• Serve on sauteed spinach...or thinly sliced cucumbers...or sauteed mushrooms with onions and rosemary...

• A

 dollop of fat free sour cream or plain yogurt and a caper or two on top is purty.

OMG marry me "noodles"...

Ok. So.  I'm already married to him. But ... wow. I proposed tonite (as Middle Guy says) "just for case."

We had these "noodles" in Minneapolis.  At 112 Eatery.  HOLY COW good.  I knew we were splurging a bit on the oil calories and could make even "better" at home. And add some more protein for a full entree vs. app.

H did it. Tonite. YUM BO FRICK A LI CIOUS.

Ingredients

2 medium zuchinni shredded with a mandolin
1/2 ounce spanish chorizo, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 T garlic, chopped
1 ounce sundried tomatoes (not the ones in oil)
splash white wine
8 jumbo shrimp
salt/pepper to taste

Preparation

Saute garlic, onions, chorizo, sundried tomatoes, add wine and shrimp, cover to steam a bit til shrimp are pinkish ... add in zucchini, crank the heat...about 2 minutes max (til done).  Serve in all it's deliciousness. 

Approx 225 calories a serving.  Enjoy a glass of wine or chocolate for dessert. SO WORTH IT.

'za bread!

 
Pizza Bread!  Sooo 1970's, right?  I remember having pizza bread as a kid sometimes.  Sometimes frozen ... sometimes homemade.  Mmmm.  Deee-lish.  It's like deep dish pizza without all the extra cheese. It's crunch-i-li-cious.

I think you all know I'm obsessed with pizza. Other than chocolate, it's my go-to comfort food. I SIMPLY LOVE IT.  It makes me so happy.  That said, we've never made the kids pizza bread.  Ever.  Surprising, right?  Well...My mom sent the kids home the other evening with an almost full loaf of french bread.  A true Baguette.

I called her to say how "devil-like" it was ... to not only send home crunchy french bread to a woman waqtching her calories ... but a loaf that had ALREADY BEEN STARTED??  I mean, really....once something is started, it's calorie-free, right? Notsomuch...

Anyway, even though it quickly hardened (as all good french bread will....), we decided we could use it for something for the kids. 

THEN IT HIT ME -- pizza bread!!  H made it while I took Daughter to piano.  Bread...tomato sauce...cheese...ground turkey...onions....red pepper.  Happy, healthy, yummy dinner.  The kids LOOOOOOOOOOOVED it.

It may just make the recipe rotation ... I mean, really, what's not to like? 

Crustless Pizza?

Really!  You may ask, "Why would anyone have pizza without crust??"  The answer is simple. Because you're counting calories, craving pizza and would rather use any extra calories on a glass of wine or ounce of chocolate!  Choices, my friends...choices.  This recipe H made up and it's a WINNER.

Ingredients (one serving)

3-5 oz ground turkey (Lean, Italian flavored Jennie-O brand is our fave)
1/2 small onion, sliced
Mushrooms (button and portobella)
Fresh spinach
Pizza sauce (we homemake but storebought is fine)
1 ounce fat free feta
1/2 ounce part-skim mozzarella cheese
sliced tomatoes on top (optional)

Preparation

Select a 5 inch ramekin or other oven-friendly baking dish
Form 3-5 ounce ground turkey patty across bottom surface of ramekin
Top with layer of sliced onion
Top with layer of microwaved mushrooms (squeeze out water)
Top with layer of cheese (1 ounce fat free feta, 1/2 ounce mozz)
Top with layer of spinach (squeeze out as much water as you can)
Top with sauce layer (3-4 TSP)
Top with sliced tomatoes (optional)

Cook at 400 for 30 min or until it looks done!

NOTES

• For the 3oz version, we calculated calories to be about 310.  Great deal - serve with a side salad and you're so satisfied and get a LOT of veggies in!
• If you want crust, just roll out a round and line the ramekin with it. We do that for the kids and it's like a deep dish pizza pie.  Use whole wheat dough if you'd prefer.
• For our sauce, we combine 1 can tomato paste, 1 can crushed tomatoes, garlic, oregano, basil and chopped red pepper.   It makes a lot but you can use it all week and doctor the flavor based on how you're using it.

Who says healthy is boring?

So we're on our "get healthy" kick...but happily I have to say that does NOT mean boring or deprivation!  Since we started (Jan 1)...we have made some of the BEST meals.  Low-fat, Low-cal and high-flavor/satisfaction.  I've been really bad about photos -- will try to get better. 

One night we entertained.  We wanted to prove that you could eat great on a limited calorie bank. 

For appetizers, we served little smoked salmon cucumber towers.  One slice cucumber, a small piece of smoked salmon, a drop of fat free plain yogurt and topped with a caper.  Served on a square white platter, with cracked salt and pepper dusting the top. De-li-cious!  We also set out a bowl of almonds (not sugared or salted but yummy all the same!).  NICE.  It really felt special and the calorie dent was miniscule.

For dinner that night, we served a Middle Eastern Chicken Kabob recipe (posted earlier) -- with brown rice and kabobed veggies (zucchini, peppers, onion) ... and an arugula salad with some shaved asiago cheese and cracked pepper.  For the salad, we put out lemon wedges and a bottle of fancy olive oil.  You could opt for a little mix or just the lemons.  BEAUTIFUL. 

Middle Eastern Chicken Kabobs

I forgot to take a photo -- but this recipe is a WINNER.  We served it at a dinner party on Saturday -- day two of new-healthy-living program.  It was PERFECT.

This dish is inexpensive, quick to make, great for parties.  It can be made ahead and just grilled at the last minute. And ... drumroll...can be eaten hot, at room temperature OR cold.  AND....healthy!

Ingredients

-          Boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into small chunks for kabobs)

-          ¼ cup lemon juice

-          ¼ cup white wine

-          4 cloves garlic (minced)

-          1 tsp salt

-          1 tblsp pepper

-          3 tblsp hot sauce

-          1 tblsp tahini sauce

-          2 tblsp olive oil

-          2 tblsp curry powder

Dipping Sauce

-          Fat free plain  yogurt

-          Curry powder, garlic salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Prep

Marinate chicken in Ziploc.  Place tightly on skewer.  Grill.  Serve with grilled vegetable kabobs (green and red peppers, onions, zucchini). Serve with brown rice and dipping sauce.

Egg Nog French Toast

 

H came up with this idea - and it's (of course) brilliant!

He made French Toast with egg nog!  The flavor was subtle but identifiable to the kids.  Just use the egg nog as you would the milk mixture ... we added an extra egg and a touch of cinnamon.

Dee-lish! (Sorry the photo kinda' sucks...need to upgrade there at some point...)