My Favorite Green Leafy Vegetable~

Select your rapini nice and green with tight florets, minimal yellow.

Everyone knows that green leafy vegetables are good for them. Many people won't eat them because they think they taste terrible. This is an awful crying shame.

There are a lot of greens out there to choose from such as kale, collars, spinach, beet, chard, mustard, dandelion and rapini to name a few. They all have different textures and tastes. They all have a unique way in which they stand up to cooking. There are a lot of websites out there such as Epicurious  and Food Network. There are also many food blogs and random websites with interesting cooking suggestions. I don't know how to cook this is no longer an excuse not to try something new!

The green I want to focus on today is my favorite green leafy vegetable of all time. Rapini is packed with vitamin A, C, Iron, Calcium, Vitamin K, Potassium, etc. Most people I talk with have no idea what it is. They have no idea how to cook it. They have no idea that the flavor will continue to grow on you until this delicious nutrient packed vegetable becomes an addiction. Rapini is bitter, flavorful and holds up to cooking pretty darn well.

Enough Babble, on to the Recipe!

Ingredients:
1 bunch rapini
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 pinch crushed red pepper optional
salt and pepper to taste (although I tend to omit the salt in favor of adding Parmesan at the table)

1. Clean your sink and fill it part way with nice cold water. Remove the packaging from the rapini and dump it in the sink. Then, take the leafy part and discard the hard stalks. Take the lid of the frying pan you are going to use and set it by the sink. As you clean the leaves add them to the lid letting a good amount of water go with them. You don't want the leaves dry.

2. Then chop up some garlic.

3. Add your oil to the pan. See me measuring?

4. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the garlic. When it starts to smell nice add the rapini and water to the pan keeping the lid on to get a nice steam effect going.

5. When the rapini starts to wilt and get green stir it so it cooks evenly. Add your red pepper flakes now.

6. You'll notice that I didn't add timing. There is no timing. Use your eyes. When the green is bright, and starting to wilt, you are done. Remove it from the heat and enjoy!

PSA and Mini Rant

My delicious corn that I will eat tomorrow at dinner.
Technically it's a fruit. 

I love corn. I love corn on the cob, creamed corn, corn tortillas, corn bread, etc. Corn is a grain. Corn is a starch. Corn goes on the plate where the potato goes. Corn goes on the plate where the rice goes. Corn goes on the plate where the pasta goes. CORN DOES NOT GO ON THE PLATE WHERE THE VEGETABLE GOES BECAUSE IT IS NOT A VEGETABLE.

Arrrrrgh! Many times I've heard corn listed as one of the vegetables that people like and it makes me whimper. I nod and stay silent, or a murmur a tiny protest. I try to say the truth politely. I try to smile so nobody feels bad. But after hearing it at least five times from five different people over the last week it's become a pet peeve. Then to make it worse, one of my handouts at work from the UDSA actually lists the corn as a vegetable and I WANT TO SCREAM. I want to put it in a blinking sign behind my desk at work.

So here is your official PSA:

CORN IS NOT A VEGETABLE. IT IS A GRAIN.

By the way our friends at the USDA have replaced the food guide pyramid with a plate. I am glad. That silly pyramid made less and less sense with each incarnation. At least the plate looks pretty reasonable. Half vegetables and fruits. There's a corner for protein. There's also a corner for your grain where if you choose you can put your corn.

A Healthier Breakfast Sandwich

This weekend I discovered that I could microwave eggs. The rest of you may not be shocked or amazed by this but I was pretty impressed. My husband and I wanted to make homemade egg sandwiches but we couldn't figure out how to make our eggs the right size for the English muffin. My husband being an engineer suggested the microwave, so we tried it. One egg + one egg white for 1 minute in the microwave = perfect for our breakfast sanwiches!!!!

This can be made with 1 egg + 1 egg white, or only 1 egg, or two egg whites. I however love egg yolks for both their flavor and nutritional benefits so I tend to make this using one egg + 1 egg white.

Enough talk, on to the recipe:

1 whole grain english muffin
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
2 basil leaves
1 tbsp chives (cut small)
1 slice applewood smoked bacon
1 slice reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 thick slice of a tomato

Assemble ingredients

Slice the english muffin and put it in the toaster, put bacon in the microwave for approximately 1 minute per slice (this will vary depending on your microwave). Then put your egg in a coffee mug. Whisk with a fork. Add chives.

When the bacon comes out of the microwave add the egg to the microwave. Cook for approximately 1 minute.

When the english muffin is done toasting, assemble and eat. It's just that easy and should take a total of 5 minutes to make from start to finish. You can substitute just about any kind of meat for the bacon like smoked salmon or turkey bacon or whatever you like. The sandwich should be about 315 calories and is surprisingly satisfying.

The herbs aren't really needed, but I do have an herb garden so I might as well take advantage of it! :)

Fast Shrimp Salad

When people tell me that they don't have time to cook I am incredulous. (See I'm a college graduate. I know big words.) I understand that everyone is tired after a long day but that isn't an excuse not to cook dinner. Dinner doesn't have to be a production. Here's an example of how fast a healthy and delicious dinner can be.

I'll post one of the fastest meals I've made in ages. It literally took from the moment we walked into my front door to the moment we sat down at the table 10 minutes.

A while back my friend and I were out super late. When we walked through my front door we were both starving. It was too late to cook anything big so I pulled some raw shrimp out of the refrigerator. I had planned to cook them earlier but things came up. Cleaned them quickly and then fried them up with a tiny bit of butter.

In the mean time my friend cut up some strawberry and avocado and a little red onion. We pulled some salad in the bag  out of it's bag and onto our plates. We smeared some leftover from the night before goat cheese onto some leftover bread. A little olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar and we had an elegant dinner. It took approximately 10 minutes from the time we walked into the kitchen to the time we ate.

I'm loathe to post this recipe but I will anyway. Somebody somewhere is going to think they need to run out and get all of these ingredients. They will have entirely missed the point. The point is to use what you have in the house to make something quickly. This is just to provide ideas. Every Friday I feel like I made "Don't let my leftovers go bad" for dinner.

Healthy Strawberry Shrimp Salad

Ingredients:
1 bag mixed greens
1 to 2 strawberries per person.
1 to 2 slices avocado per person
1 ring of red onion
6 or 7 shrimp per person

A slice of yummy crusty bread per person
enough goat cheese to spread on each slice of bread

oil and vinegar to taste, or salad dressing, or whatever you want to put on top of your salad. (Watch out for the extra unnecessary calories that it can add and use sparingly.)

While your friend, spouse, domestic partner or whoever is assembling salad, clean some shrimp. Add a little oil or butter to your nonstick pan. (I used a teaspoon of butter for 14 shrimp) Saute the shrimp for a few minutes over medium high heat. Keep your eyes on them!!!!! Overcooked shrimp taste pretty rotten. As soon as you feel they are done, toss them onto your freshly assembled salad. Pour some wine and enjoy.

See how easy that was?

Of Foodies and Expanding Patooties!

Last Wednesday was our actual anniversary. We decided to cook ourselves a very nice dinner on the barbecue of fillet mignon with roasted vegetables and twice baked potatoes. We got the meat, sides and dessert from Dunnings, our local butcher shop. 

Alex scored a bottle of "Dark Lord" beer from Three Floyds. It's only available one day a year. It was a very good beer. Dark, mellow, and full of flavor. 

We fired up the grill, cooked and enjoyed. We kept our meat simple, only adding a little blue cheese and boxwood basil at the end for a little kick. My fillet was about 6 ounces, Alex's was about 8 ounces.

Thursday we went out to dinner, Sunday we had the whole family over for Mother's day. Saturday was the Alinea adventure... By Tuesday I'd only gained 2 pounds. Not bad!

Why was that? Physical activity and portion sizes. My steak was 6 ounces on Wednesday, I didn't eat the entire thing and saved a little for breakfast on Thursday. My dinner out on Thursday I put half in a tupperware to have on Friday. Saturday's dinner was an exercise in overindulgence but I also indulged in exercise. I walk my dog about 45 minutes in the morning and for about 45 minutes in the evening. Some days it rains and some days we're lazy and some days we're overachievers. Today walking the puppy I burnt off about 200 calories.

The morals of the story?

• Enjoy your life without guilt, at least not over food.
• Pay attention to small changes. It's easier to lose 5 to 10 pounds than 50 to 100. Even if you have to lose 100, think of it as 10 and go from there.
• Get out and move it. Move your body! It doesn't have to be at the gym. Lots of things count :)

Alinea

For our anniversary this year my husband Alex decided to take me on a once in a lifetime culinary adventure. We went to Alinea. It is rated as the #6 best restaurant in the world for 2011 and the best restaurant in North America. I love food. I love food adventures. When my husband said he'd made reservations I was giddy!

Alineas are sometimes used to mark new thoughts or ideas.

We left at 4:20pm to get there by 5:30pm. We figured we'd get there a little early and have time for a drink. Instead we were stuck in the most horrific traffic that we've met in ages. We were a mile from the circle in nearly stopped traffic. The lighted sign that indicates how long it would take to get to the circle kept going up. Fifteen minutes. Sixteen minutes. At this point we only had about twenty minutes to get to the restaurant on time so my husband somehow manages to ninja zip off the expressway. Then in a harrowing scene that should be in a movie, or at least the next release of Grand Theft Auto,  proceeds to pull up to valet parking at exactly 5:30pm.

Our pillow for clean silvereware.

Alinea itself is beautiful. Simply decorated, fancy but comfortable. Everything is designed with the "ideal dining experience" in mind. There were only 5 tables in the room with us. Close enough to chat with the table next to you, quiet enough to retain privacy. It was the perfect setting. They even asked if we'd rather sit facing each other or side by side. We chose to sit side by side, facing the room.

I wish I'd brought our nice camera. The table next to us was taking pictures of dinner. I suppose it's socially acceptable to do that. I only had my cell phone camera and although I took pictures I don't think I did the place justice. I'll share them anyway because even from my crummy camera the food was super cool.

Steelhead roe. Dijon, rutabaga, grapefruit. Served with a cocktail
of Pierre Gimonnet Brut with crysanthemum liquer
and bitters.

It also had licorice. The dijon mustard was turned into dumplings. Alex doesn't care for rutabaga. I don't care for licorice. It was delicious. We both loved it.

I love that the staff used words that are simple and familiar when describing food. I began to get a sense that they were reinventing a lot of familiar things. It was delicious. We loved it.


It was time for a wine change. There were lots of wine changes. We had ten different kinds. One of the bottles were really pretty so I took a photo.

I didn't care for this dry riesling, until I tasted the food. It went really well with the next few dishes. I drank a lot of it.

I was going to try to narrate every single picture in detail but I realized that would probably get boring and that I was running out of synonyms for delicious and beautiful. So instead, here are some pictures with little captions.

This course has a photo, but shouldn't. This picture just didn't turn out. The stick standing up is the miso. Yuba: Shrimp, miso, togarashi Every bite of this meal was amazing.

From back to front: Oyster leaf (mignonette), Scallop (hitachino weizen, old bay), Razor Clam (carrot, soy, daikon) Although daikon radishes have a very special place in my heart the razor clam was my least favorite morsel of the entire evening. Perhaps because it was followed by the scallop which was one of my favorite bites of the evening. It was served with an Emmerich Knoll 'Kellerberg' Reisling Smaragd, Wachau, Austria 2004

Urchin: green garlic, vanilla, mint, with foam broth beneath.

Rabbit: Parfait with squask chip, spaghetti squash and pumpkin seeds. Layer 1

Rillette: Rabbit blood sausage with sauteed mushrooms and sage..Layer 2

Rabbit Consommé: Also called Stone Soup because there's a stone keeping it warm. Layer 3

Venison: Cherry, cocoa nib, and eucalyptus for aroma.

Wild Mushrooms: pine, sumac ramp. It was supposed to mimic early spring. It was served with a wine change to Domaine des Kambrays "clos de Lambrays" Morey-St.-Denis 2006

Hot Potato: cold potato, black truffle, butter. The dish was made of wax. The idea was to pull the pin through the wax and then take the entire contents of the bowl into your mouth like a food shot. Scrumptious!

An unusual center piece that was added to our table part way through the meal. Later we would use these to make our own raviolis. 

Short Rib: with olive, red wine, blackberry, pickled white asparagus 

Hitmachi: West Indies spices, banana, ginger

Agneau: Sauce choron, pomme de terre noisette served with Fisher Vineyards "Coach Insignia" Napa Valley 2005, (The meat is lamb and the vegetable on top is Asparagus. That Alex and I gladly ate asparagus tells you something.

Black Truffle: explosion, romaine, parmesan (To be taken in your mouth in one bite so it didn't explode on the table.)

Snow: Yuzu (You can't really see it, but they've made snow with the help of a little liquid nitrogen and some yuzu juice. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit with a clean complex flavor. It was a palate cleanser.)

Sweet Potato: Cedar, bouron, pecan served with Nittnaus 'Premium' Beerenauslese, Burgeland, Austria NV

Lemongrass: Dragonfruit, finger lime, cucumber  (You were supposed to pick up the tube and suck out the whole thing in one bite so it didn't get all over the table. It was clean, refreshing and excellent!)

This picture could be called bacon even makes Alinea better.  From left to right:
Bacon: butterscotch, apple, thyme
Nutella: bread, banana, chocolate
Lychee: jasmine tea
Served with: AE Dor 'Pineau Francois I, Pineau des Charentes

Here's a close up of the lychee. It was seriously delicious.

Best dessert ever also known as Chocolate: blueberry, honey, peanut/ It was chocolate mousse frozen with liquid nitrogen, organic cream, milk chocolate, honey and peanut nougat, and finally creme broulee made by Grant Achatz himself at your table with a blow torch. It was served with a Toro Albala 'Don PX' Gran Reserva, Montilla-Moriles, Spain 1982.

By the time we had dessert it was after 9pm. We'd had small tastings of many different wines but we still needed to digest a little before driving home. We asked for coffee and our excellent waiters asked us how we liked our coffee. Alex said cream and sugar. I said cream only. Because Alex wanted cream an sugar they brought him a small silver french press filled with an Ethiopian coffee. I had a Peruvian blend. It was the perfect way to end the best meal I've ever eaten in my entire life.

Taste Test! - American vs. English Cadbury Creme Egg

It's the time of year where Cadbury Creme Eggs are everywhere. We even saw them at the import store. At the import store they had a different label and were about $1 more expensive. Curious, my husband and I bought two. We wanted to see if they tasted different from the American version.  The next time we were at our local grocery store we bought two normal Cabury creme eggs. We were now ready to do our taste test!!


It seems like a silly experiment. However it isn't. Often underneath the wrapper European candy is very different than American candy. In European candy chocolate it better and  the filling is made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. In general the cheapest European candy tastes better than most American candy. I feel like such a candy snob but it's true!


The egg with the green wrapper is the American Cadbury Creme Egg. 

Cadbury is owned by Kraft, An American Company

And here you have the same chocolaty goodness inside the wrapper.

See the same star pattern?

And the  same creamy filling.

What else did I expect?

The result of our taste test is that the imported eggs are exactly the same as the American eggs with different wrapping and a higher price. However you are welcome to do your own taste test. When else will you have the excuse to eat two Cadbury creme eggs at the same time in the name of science?


Another name for this post could be not taking yourself too seriously. Most people love sweets. It's even okay to indulge once in a while. Having the occasional dessert shouldn't be a cause for guilt or a reason to derail the rest of your healthy life style. Actually I ate the rest of one egg and put the other in the refrigerator for the next day. It's true. I did. 

The last meatloaf of winter...

Meatloaf, red skinned mashed potatoes and roasted artichokes.

It has been an abysmal spring in the Chicagoland Area. The weather has been cold and rainy for most of April. Instead of having something light and spring-like I wanted something heavy and nourishing. It also needed to be healthy so I had to sneak some veggies into the dish.

Often people ask me how to sneak vegetables in to things. They say that they know vegetables are good for them but they just don't like them. I often suggest:

• Chose high quality vegetables. Often this means buying fresh vegetables, but quite often frozen vegetables are very nutritious and delicious. 
• Do not over cook them. It's the best way to ruin a vegetable. 
• Hide them among other ingredients.

I hide vegetables in everything. I also use vegetables to make portions seem larger than they are. For example my meatloaf is filling and huge. It's also half vegetables. It doesn't look like it's half vegetables. It doesn't taste like it's half vegetables either. Yet they are hiding in with the meat in all of their nutritious glory.

I think I might make a slightly different version of this meatloaf each time I make it. It isn't a fragile recipe, feel free to try different minced vegetables, different kinds of meat, and different spices. Just try not to make the loaf too wet or it will be icky.

Ingredients:

Vegetables in a bowl.

1.5 pounds lean ground sirloin
8oz can no sodium added petite diced tomatoes (juice reserved and seperated)
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 egg white
1 medium onion minced
1 green pepper minced
1 cup mushrooms minced
1 cup carrots minced
salt, pepper and rubbed sage to taste


(I mince all of my vegetables in the food processor. I also use it to turn whole wheat bread into whole wheat breadcrumbs).

If there's too much moisture on the green pepper drain it reserving the juice with the tomato juice.

In a non stick pan sprayed with a cooking spray saute your carrots, onion, green pepper and mushroom. They'll smell and look delicious, then add them into a big bowl with the meat, diced tomato, bread crumbs, egg white and spices. Smoosh it all together.

Vegetables in a  frying pan.

At this time shape it into two meatloafs. At this point take 1 meatloaf and wrap it up to freeze. All of the work you are doing this time saves you a lot work the next time!

Put the meat loaf you are not freezing into a baking dish, on a rack. Pour the juice from the diced tomato and green pepper into the bottom of the pan. Also add a little water so there will be enough juice leftover after cooking for gravy.



Now, it's time to make a sauce for on top of the meat loaf.

Meatloaf on it's way to the oven.

Ingredients for topping:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Put ingredients for topping into a bowl. Stir them all together. Pour them on top of the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour. Enjoy.


The artichokes I served along side the meatloaf were stellar. The recipe can be found here: http://unrivaledkitch.livejournal.com/429007.html

Tips for the grocery store.

I have been told, don't shop when you are hungry. I have also been told to stick to the outside of the store, and stay away from the aisles. That's where the processed food is.

I say: Never shop hungry and go with a plan. When I say a plan I mean to plan your meals for the week. Try to think of themes. That way when you have that other half of a pineapple or an unused green pepper you have a meal already in mind to use them up.

Also focus on produce first. So many people think about meat as their main course instead of as a side dish. I've found that I eat healthier when I think of meat as a side and my vegetable as the main. The veggies cover half my plate. I also don't deny myself my small pleasures. I love applewood smoked bacon. I also know a portion is 1 or 2 slices.

My biggest guilty secret is that I people watch. I don't watch people to judge, just to notice. When I was first getting my health under control many years ago I began to people watch. I had this gorgeous coworker. She was incredibly pretty, healthy and thin. She ate yogurt every afternoon for her snack, so I ate yogurt every afternoon for my snack. She got the lentil soup at the middle eastern restaurant so I did too, etc. I wasn't her creepy stalker, my entire office had made the commitment towards health together.

That habit has stuck with me. I've noticed that people who seem energetic, thin and healthy have an abundance of produce either fresh, frozen or both in their grocery basket at check out. Unhealthy people tend to have many boxes of processed food and soda. This isn't to say that there aren't times when my grocery cart contains nothing but ice cream, heavy whipping cream and chocolate sauce. It is to say that most of the time it contains healthy fresh ingredients for meals I can prepare quickly.

The moral of the story? Copy the habits of healthy people.

This is a picture of my grocery cart for my health food blog containing highly processed bread, bacon and marshmallow fluff. Please take me seriously.

Chicken Shish Kabobs~

I am always a little shocked when people tell me they don't know how to cook. I am also always a little shocked when people tell me they don't know how to cook vegetables. From my experience vegetables aren't fragile. They can be eaten raw, roasted, steamed, fried and grilled. This goes for asparagus, beets, mushrooms, onions, peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, etc. I have found the most success in picking up a vegetable, looking on the internet for what to do with it, and doing it. In fact, I often make dishes as a stir fry just using every vegetable in the refrigerator just because I don't want them to go to waste. And do you know what? I'm rarely disappointed.

For example I had a mad craving for pineapple this weekend. I had some raw skinless boneless chicken breasts I wanted to use up along with an onion and a green pepper. I had an orange sitting on the counter, winking at me.

I went to the grocery store and came back with a lemon and a pineapple. And this is what I made:


Pineapple Chicken Shish-Kabobs

marinade ingredients
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
tarragon to taste
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/4 sesame oil

To make the marinade, combine the above ingredients, add the cut up chicken and leave to marinate for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Shish-kabob ingredients
1/2 pound marinated chicken cut into pieces
1 green pepper cut into pieces
1/2 fresh pineapple cut into chunks
1/2 of a medium onion cut into pieces.

Then, cut the other vegetables while the chicken is marinating. Preheat the grill and put everything on the skewers. Put the kabobs on the grill. Check and turn them every 5 minutes until they are done. It took us about 15-20 minutes to grill the kabobs.

One of the things that the fruit and vegetables do for the meal is add bulk. Four ounces of chicken doesn't seem like a lot. But we got 2 kabobs each and  my husband and I were stuffed and happy. For a starch we each had a slice of fresh French bread. We used a teaspoon of real butter on each slice of bread. We could have eaten more bread, but we both know better.

We saved it for a little dessert instead! We had mini chocolate cupcakes. Yum!