Kiwi Ice Cream - a perfect pair

When the warm weather hit this week, all I wanted was some ice cream for dessert so I snagged some soy vanilla ice cream from Trader Joes. Ice cream can be part of a perfectly balanced diet – the key is balance. Many of my clients wince when they walk me through their typical daily diet. When it comes to their bedtime snack, they sometimes embarrassingly admit they scoop out a big bowl of ice cream and have their fingers crossed that I won’t nix it from their diet. Not me! I’m not the type of dietitian to tell you to completely omit a food from your diet (with a few exceptions…like whole milk. People – please stop drinking whole milk!!!).

Instead, I recommend that if you’re going to eat a not-so-good-for-you food, at least boost the benefits by pairing it with a good-for-you-food! So have your bowl of ice cream, but top it with some fresh berries. It’ll add more volume to the bowl so you still feel like you have a large serving, but it leaves less room for high fat ice cream, and more room for nutrients and antioxidants. If you’re going to take home pizza tonight, fine, but microwave a side of frozen veggies to enjoy on the side. Can’t give up your afternoon snack of a massive chocolate chip cookie? No prob – enjoy half of the cookie and pair it with a piece of fruit.

I followed my own recommendation by pairing some of my vanilla soy ice cream with a diced kiwi. It was sweet, tangy, and a little bit tropical. Just what I needed to satisfy my sweet tooth, and get a serving of fruit in to boot! Last night I had a bowl of mango and papaya topped with just a few tablespoons of the ice cream – there just wasn’t enough room in the bowl for more ice cream with all that fruit! See? Natural portion control. Satisfy your sweet tooth with this simple tip.

Savory Pancakes (skip the syrup!)

My sister’s friend inspired last week’s dinner of Savory Pancakes…thanks Heather! I never really thought of having pancakes for anything but breakfast but my mind and taste buds have been changed.
Pancake batter is mainly made up of flour. In my case, I used Trader Joe’s multigrain pancake mix. Real pancake batter tastes so much better than those mixes that have a long list of ingredients, added chemicals, dried butter and milk, or added sugar. It’s the sugary syrup on top that makes pancakes a sweet breakfast treat. But without the syrup, and with some flavorful ingredients, pancakes can go from sweet to savory.

Ingredients:
1 cup multigrain pancake mix
about ¾ cup water
about 1/8 cup olive oil
1T ground flax + 3T warm water (This is the egg replacement. Otherwise use 1 egg)
1.5 ounces of lox/smoked salmon (you could also try canned flaked salmon)
1T capers
1/3 cup chopped bell peppers

I mixed the pancake mix, water, olive oil and flax mix until the batter was well combined and a smooth consistency. At first it was a little watery so I did add some more pancake mix.
Then I cut up my lox and added that plus the capers and peppers into the mix.
Next I scooped four big scoops of pancake batter onto a hot pan (with cooking spray) and cooked on either side until they were cooked in the middle and looked like pancakes! It was actually a bit undercooked on the inside because my pancakes were so thick, so I finished off the cooking in the toaster oven for a few minutes.
I loved these pancakes for dinner. It was like making an omelet with pancake batter instead! Next time I’d omit the capers, since their salty flavor plus the salt of the lox was a bit much. I’d probably add in more veggies. Funk enjoyed these too, though he was more focused on the fact that he thinks “savory” means “awesome.” This, even after I spent a half hour explaining the definition of savory, and even looking up the definition online! Regardless, they were scrumptious savory pancakes and if Funk thinks that means they’re “awesome pancakes,” well that’s just fine by me!

Better For You Burrito

There has been a surge in burrito popularity lately. They’re filling, inexpensive fast food, and with ingredients like rice and beans, people think they’re healthy too. Places like Q’doba, Anna’s Taqueria, Bocca Grande, and Chipotle are popping up everywhere, touting fresh ingredients. But when massive amounts of those fresh ingredients plus cheese, sour cream, refried beans, oily veggies, and guacamole are rolled up into a 2+ serving size tortilla, you wind up with a burrito that is about the size of a small child, and could feed a small army.
A typical burrito with all the fillings could clock in at almost 1,000 calories – that’s more than ½ of most people’s daily calorie needs! Sure picking up a burrito on the way home from work makes for a fast meal, but you could make this pretty fast at home too, while saving your wallet and your waistline.

Here’s what my burrito looked like last night:
1 whole wheat tortilla (120 calories)
½ cup brown rice (about 100 calories)
¼ cup black beans, rinsed (about 60 calories)
¼ cup broccoli (maybe 10 calories)
1T salsa (maybe 10 calories)
about ¼ cup soy cheese (70 calories)
chili and chipotle powder to taste

Twenty minutes of prep time later, my total was: about 370 calories. That’s almost 1/3 of the fast food burrito’s calories!

I rolled up all of the ingredients and put my burrito in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes. The fun thing about making your own burritos is that you can fill them with anything! Have leftover tofu or meat? Toss it in. Have bagged salad that’s about to go wilty? Add it for some crunch. You really can’t go wrong with a DIY burrito. It’s a meal I recommend to my clients all the time as one that is portion controlled, fast to make, and fun to eat. Leave Chipotle, and it’s 600+ excess calories behind, and not on your behind.

Mighty treat from Mighty Leaf Tea

The other day I was grumpy after an exhausting day at work. My doc had just recommended I lay off the caffeine for some unspecified length of time and my wagon was draggin’. I needed a pick me up. I needed something to soothe my day.
It was as if the mighty powers from Mighty Leaf Tea heard my need. I had recently (excitedly) agreed to be a monthly tea taste tester and Blogger of the Mighty Leaf Teas. I love trying new teas, from green to black, red to white, bagged to loose leaf. Receiving a sample of Mighty Leaf’s caffeine free Coco Chai Rooibos Tea that afternoon in the mail was such a sweet treat. Chai and Rooibos are two of my favorite tea varieties. I love the sweet and spicy flavor of chai and think it makes a great after dinner or dessert tea. Rooibos tea is an herbal tea with a sweet flavor, and no bitter bite. I first tried it a few months ago assuming it was similar to black tea, and contained caffeine. Wrong! I like that rooibos has the weight of black tea, and not the watery fruity flavor of most herbal teas.
When I opened my tea package and saw Coco Chai, I was so happy to see that a tea maker combined the divine flavors of Chai and Chocolate. Silly me! The coco is referring to coconut (I suppose chocolate would be referred to as “cocoa!”). I noticed the coco scent as soon as I opened the bag. I usually don’t love coconut flavored things, but this tea changed me. The loose leaf tea is a combination of shredded coconut, red peppercorns and aromatic spices including ginger, cinnamon and cardamom.
It was spicy like a typical chai tea with a surprise sweet coconut flavor. I added a little agave sweetener and some soy creamer to make this drink into a dessert. Last night I was happy to enjoy this tea again as I was battling a sore throat. It is soothing and flavorful and I’m so glad I have one more tea serving left of the leaves! Thanks for the caffeine-less, calming, and soothing sample, Mighty Leaf. Can’t wait for the next one!

photo from mightyleaftea.com

Potatoes and Portabellas

Potatoes and portabellas were on the menu for dinner. I tend to under-use potatoes in my cooking, even though I love their variety and versatility. A baked sweet potato with some vegetarian chili can make a quick main meal, while seasoned diced potatoes can make a great side dish. I purchased some confetti potatoes at Trader Joes – this is a mixed bag of white, red, and purple potatoes. Yes – the purple ones are a deep purple hue through and through! Different varieties of potatoes will contain different nutrients and antioxidants, so stray from your standard Idaho potato the next time you cook a potato dish.

Right now I’m blanking on my specific hash brown recipe, which is unfortunate because they were so tasty! But cooking is more fun when you experiment anyway, so here goes:

Ingredients
3 large potatoes or a bunch of small potatoes – any variety, diced into 1” cubes
1t cumin
1t paprika
1/2t salt
a few pinches of pepper
olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and dice your potatoes. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add your cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and toss the potatoes so they are all well seasoned.
2. Place potatoes on a single layer baking sheet that is sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Cook potatoes from 30-40 minutes until you get your level of desired crispiness, turning potatoes once or twice during cooking.

I enjoyed my potatoes with a little hot sauce on top, but even on their own they had a lot of flavor. Try these homemade hash browns at your next brunch!

While these were cooking I prepped my portabellas. I purchased two large portabella mushrooms, washed them, scraped out the gills, and brushed the mushroom cap with some olive oil. Meanwhile in a bowl I mixed:

1 can of tuna (in water) – flake with a fork
1 small, chopped green pepper
¼ cup of matzo meal (use breadcrumbs if it’s not Passover)
About 1/3 cup of grated soy cheese
A pinch of salt

I stuffed the mushroom caps with the mixture, pressing it into the mushrooms so they were completely filled. I then baked my mushrooms for about 20 minutes with the potatoes in a 375 degree oven until they were slightly softened and the mixture was cooked through.

This meal was easy to make and delicious to eat. It was filling, satisfying, and afterwards I felt as stuffed as my portabella mushroom caps! You could also serve the stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer or even side dish using little mushrooms instead of big ‘bellas. Enjoy!

Horseradish Crusted Salmon & Quinoa with Collards

Passover just isn’t Passover without a whiff of nose-busting horseradish. I love horseradish year-round, especially Trader Joe's horseradish hummus! Grated horseradish root, which is is consumed at the passover Seder as the "bitter herb," is used to remind us of our ancestors suffering. If you've ever been hit hard in the sinuses by a sting of horseradish: you know suffering.

I've seen horseradish crusted salmon on restaurant menus before, so I decided to duplicate that dinner for Passover. I mixed a few tablespoons of (jarred) white horseradish with a few quirts of lemon juice and a dash of salt. I put this mixture on two salmon fillets and then sprinkled on about 1/4 cup of matzo meal for the crust. If you're making this any other time of year, or not for Passover, just use breadcrumbs in place of the matzo meal. I baked the fish at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I paired this dish with sauteed collard greens and quinoa. I had leftover quinoa in the fridge, and heated it in a pan on the stove with a bit of olive oil. It was a bit like making fried rice! Then I added a bunch of chopped collards and sauteed them together in the pan. Finally I added a dash of salt and a handful of raisins. I love combining sweet raisins to balance out the bitter flavor of the dark leafy greens. Once this dish was cooked through, Funk and I sat down to a "bitter" themed dinner that tasted pretty sweet to us!

Matzo Brie for Breakfast

Can't let Passover pass over without making matzo brie for breakfast. Matzo brie is like french toast where you use matzo (and we used whole wheat) in place of the bread. First I soaked a few broken sheets of matzo in warm water for about 10 minutes then drained them. Next I put the matzo in a pan with some egg whites (I know, I know - not usually an egg eater but they're hard to avoid when making Passover-friendly foods!) and a few dashes of cinnamon until the brie was cooked fully. We topped the matzo brie with some yummy date syrup straight from my parents trip to Israel. It was a nice change from maple syrup.

Funk made tropical smoothies to go with our breakfast, blending frozen papaya, strawberries, pineapple and mango with our hand-held immersion blender. What a sweet start to our morning!

Blueberry Quinoa for Passover Breakfast

Typically my weekday breakfasts are either a fruit, cereal & yogurt parfait, cereal with berries and soymilk, or oatmeal with a banana and some nuts. All three of those morning meals make the “no” list for Passover, which started this past Wednesday. What to do for the next week to jump start my metabolism and fuel my morning? Quinoa. Quinoa raises some eyebrows when Passover rolls around – some consider it a grain just like couscous, which is also not a kosher for Passover food. But quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) can happily and healthfully be included in a Passover diet, and should be included in all diets! It is a flavorful food that is chock full of fiber and protein, making it a nice protein-packed side dish, especially for vegetarians. Here is what “The Food Section” has to say about quinoa for Passover:

One would assume that quinoa would not pass muster for Passover. After all, wheat and other grains (categorized as chametz) are forbidden during the holiday. Moreover, medieval Ashkenazi rabbis also excluded the consumption of kitniyot -- rice, corn, soy beans, and other foods -- might be confused with the forbidden grains or grown near them and possibly comingled.
Though similar to chametz grains, it turns out that quinoa is not technically a grain (it's actually a member of the "goose foot" family, which includes beets and spinach). In addition, as a new world food, quinoa wasn't even on the radar screen of 15th century rabbis who made determinations about kitniyot and Passover.
So, as long as the quinoa is processed in a in a factory with Kosher for Passover certification, it is generally considered to be part of the Passover diet.

I decided to use my quinoa in place of oatmeal – it is a hot and sticky substitute that I knew would fill me up. I cooked the quinoa according to the package directions (making sure to rinse the quinoa thoroughly first!). Then I added some frozen wild blueberries into the steamy mix, and some agave nectar for added sweetness. The frozen blueberries instantly melted and their juice gave my quinoa a pretty purple hue.

I actually made this yesterday so I’d have breakfast ready to go in the AM (after heating in the microwave for 2 minutes). After tasting this creation last night, I was actually excited to wake up for breakfast this morning! Yes, I got out of bed with a little more pep in my step this morning knowing I had this delicious, sweet and satisfying breakfast waiting for me. I’ll definitely be adding this dish to my breakfast repertoire long after Passover has passed over.

Grilled Eggplant and Green Pepper Sandwich

I’ve posted about eggplant sandwich recipes I’ve made in the past, but since eggplant is such a versatile veggie, and sandwiches are so satisfying, I figured it can’t hurt to showcase another sandwich. When Funk came home from Trader Joes with some oversized focaccia sandwich rolls, I knew we’d have a sandwich to sink our teeth into.

I sliced some eggplant and a green bell pepper, and grilled them with a little canola oil spray on my handy grill pan. While they were grilling, I brushed each eggplant slice with BBQ sauce for a smoky flavored sandwich. Once the eggplants were cooked through on each side and soft, I layered them on the roll with a slice of soy cheese. The whole sandwiches went back on the grill pan for a few more minutes to get them slightly toasted.

Though I could barely fit my mouth around the sandwich stack, I managed to polish off my supremely satisfying sandwich and am already day dreaming about the repeat sandwich I can make tonight with my leftover grilled eggplant.

Spring Salad with Asparagus

You know spring has sprung when you see asparagus in the supermarket. Granted, the asparagus I got was from Mexico where it is constantly spring-like, but those green shoots just scream spring! to me. I wanted to make a cold salad with the asparagus and had some fresh beets in the fridge. I didn’t know if their flavors would mesh, but figured if nothing else, the vibrant colors would make for an attractive salad along with some artichoke hearts.

I started by defrosting in the microwave about 1 cup of frozen artichoke hearts. High in antioxidants and fiber, these ‘choke hearts are good for your heart. They can be a pain to cook whole, so I prefer to buy them frozen and ready to eat.

Meanwhile I cut 3 beets into bite-sized cubes. The beets started whole, and a few days previously I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours so I was able to easily peel them. By now they were cooled and ready to eat! (You could also used canned beets.)

I also took a bunch of asparagus, cut it into thirds, and blanched them to bring out the bright green color and crisp bite. Start by boiling a pot of water. Drop in your asparagus and cook for about a minute. Then remove the asparagus and dunk it in an ice water bath. This will stop the cooking process but leave the asparagus green and crisp.

Once all my veggies were prepped, I combined them in a large bowl. I couldn’t seem to come up with an appropriate dressing for this salad, so I settled on the most basic (and usually the most delicious): a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper to taste. I let the flavors mesh while I grilled some scallops to enjoy on the side.

The soft, earthy beets, sweet artichoke hearts, and crisp, fresh asparagus made for a flavorful dinner salad that was satisfying and scrumptious. How do you enjoy asparagus? Grilled? Mixed into a pasta salad? Stir fried? Now that asparagus has a permanent spot on supermarket shelves this season, I’ll need new recipes!

Italian Bread Soup

I’ve had this recipe for Italian Bread Soup tacked to my fridge ever since Toni served some to me months ago and I just loved it. The recipe for this soup is from an Italian cooking class Toni took when she was in Italy. When I first tasted it, I swore it was cheese-based and had a myriad of ingredients. Wrong! The soup is incredibly thick and creamy but contains no cheese, and the small list of ingredients (and ease of preparation) resulted in big flavor.

Ingredients:
7 ounces dried Italian bread (I used a whole wheat loaf)
4 cups vegetable broth
2 14.5 ounce cans stewed peeled tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil (I used a little less)
salt to taste
fresh sweet basil
3 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes

Break up the bread into small bite-sized pieces. Place all ingredients in a pot on the stove, including bread, garlic and tomatoes (chopped). Cook on low, covered, stirring often so the bread dissolves. Cook approximately 1 hour until it becomes a thick soup and the bread is a soft mush. May need to add more water.
I also used my hand-held immersion blender to get the soup to a smooth consistency, since some of the bread crusts and tomatoes were still whole.

This soup is like the dinner equivalent of oatmeal for breakfast. It is rib-sticking good and hearty. You can’t beat the flavor combo of tomatoes and basil. One small bowl of this makes a meal, paired with some salad or sautéed greens. Funk said it tasted just like pizza flavored soup and coined the term pizsoup…or something like that. If you like pizza, and you like soup, this is the simple and satisfying recipe for you!