Sugar free along zabaglione

My biggest fear about being diabetic (apart from losing a limb or going blind) was having to eat sugar substitutes. As someone who believes in healthy eating and not eating chemicals, that kind of bugged me to the core. It took about a week to get over that because I like sweets and I like my eyesight and my limbs. So Splenda it is!

I wouldn't recommend sugar substitutes for everything. Basically because a lot of desserts have so much flour in them that they end up being crazy high in carbs even with a sugar substitute. So that leaves things that don't require much flour. I've had massive success with pavlovas and now I've made a pretty kicking zabaglione.

For those of you know familiar with them, a zabaglione is the base for a tiramisu - egg yolks beaten with sugar until they are pale yellow and the consistency of cake batter. I think the traditional zabaglione is made with marsala wine but you can change up the liquor. The zabaglione is then given more structure with mascarpone and lightened with whipped cream. Splenda is a great substitute and the tang of the mascarpone really covers up the icky aftertaste. I will say though, with egg yolks and whipped cream, this is not diet food.

Sugar Free Almond Zabaglione

3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of almond liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup of baking Splenda (this is lightened to be a 1 to 1 substitute for sugar)

8 oz mascarpone (or cream cheese if you are in a pinch) at room temp
1 cup of heavy cream, whipped

With the paddle attachment on your stand mixer (or use your regular handheld), mix the first four ingredients until it's a pale yellow and looks like cake batter. Add the cheese and mix until perfectly blended. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cheese mixture to lighten and then fold in the rest. Serve with flaked almonds on top.

Now we're cooking - Mustard Roasted fish

Oh Ina Garten, while I hate your new show, your recipes continue to rock. This weekend I had a hankering for fish but my fish knowledge is somewhat limited. I was leafing through the Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics Cookbook and came across her Mustard Roasted Fish recipe and realized how easy it is to adapt to a low-salt/low-fat diet. The recipe requires no salt and you can easily replace the creme fraiche with low-fat sour cream. Easy.

Here's my version

1 8 oz white fish filet (like red snapper, mahi mahi, tilapia)
1/2 cup of lowfat sour cream
1 teaspoon drained capers
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard
pinch of pepper

Law the fish filet in a glass baking dish. Mix everything in a bowl. Spread on top of the fish so that hte fish is completely covered in the sour cream mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the fish and thickness. For a relatively thin, light fish like tilapia, it will be 10, for something thicker and "meatier" like mahi mahi, it will be 15.

Don't Cry for Me Stef...

I get to eat plenty of sweets. Ever since I've gotten over my fear of Splenda and learned about almond flour, the sweet are pretty plentiful in my household. Given the fact I am replacing flour for ground almonds, the fat content will be high, but that's why I run 18 miles a week.

But here's my list of sweet stuff:

Fruit cobblers
Pavlovas
Brownies
Peanut butter cookies
Dark chocolate
sugar free ice cream
almond flour pancakes
Hot chocolate with almond milk and splenda (and a shot of sugar free hazelnut syrup)

All of them are less than 15 grams of carbs and taste pretty awesome. In fact, the sugar free pancakes are 1 gram of carbs per pancake. I can only eat five before I'm full.

Here's a recipe for the pancakes
Ingredients:

* 1 cup almond flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup water (for puffier pancakes, you can use sparkling water)
* 1 tablespoons oil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon sweetener
* 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Preparation:
Mix ingredients together and cook as you would other pancakes. I like to use a nonstick pan with a little oil. The only real difference is that they won't "bubble" on top the same way as regular pancakes. Flip them when the underside is brown. Serve with sugar free maple syrup.

Since we're comfort cooking...

Friday night I really wanted a comfort meal. I already had a cauliflower mash on hand and J defrosted some turkey cutlets to sear but I needed another vegetable. With a bag of frozen spinach, I decided to make creamed spinach but low carb and low fat. It was SOOOOOO good. I mean warm and delicious and gooey. Perfect for a cold night. The key with creamy stuff is to use sharp cheeses instead of mild cheeses. That lowers the fat content but keeps the flavor. Also this recipe has no cream or even flour for a roux.

Here's my recipe.

1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of EVOO
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 12 oz package of frozen spinach
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons lowfat or nonfat sour cream
salt to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in the evoo with the nutmeg and pepper (it's good to add the spices early to bring out their flavor) for about five minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the frozen spinach and cook until the spinach is unfrozen. Obviously, you can defrost earlier but it's just as easy to just dump it in and then break it up as it cooks in the pan. When all of the spinach is unfrozen, ass the cheese and sour cream. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt and more pepper to taste.

Torta in a jar

One of the great things about co-blogging is that you get inspiration from your co-blogger. I've been long making Stef's muffin tin fritattas because they are easy and good. This past Saturday, J and I went to our local Italian deli for one of their overstuffed sandwiches and saw their artichoke torta. Given that the lowfat fritatta is a consistent hit, could I make a torta version? The answer is hells yeah! On the plus side, it's ridiculously easy. Like cake from a mix easy. Here's how I did it:

1 16oz can of artichoke hearts
1 16 oz jar of roasted peppers
1 8 oz jar of sliced olives
8 beaten eggs (or the egg beater equivalent thereof)
1 cup of lowfat shredded cheese (really it can be anything but cheddar or feta work great)
1/2 cup of milk or milk substitute (I used almond milk and it turned out excellent)
1/4 cup of flour
Pepper to taste (no need for salt)

Stick the artichokes, peppers and olives in a mixing bowl and use kitchen shears or scissors you don't care about to chop them up into bite sized pieces. Dump in the remaining ingredients and mix well. We made it like a crustless quiche and baked it in a pie plate at 350 degrees for an hour. If you want to do it in mini muffin tins it would probably take about 20 minutes.

Pavlova – Two Ways (or Damn you Barefoot Contessa!)

It’s been intimated that J and I have some eating restrictions, me with the diabetes and J with dairy allergies as well as an allergy to artificial sweeteners. That makes dessert a huge challenge. I’ve resolved this challenge by making the same desserts two ways – one with Splenda and dairy (for me) and the other with sugar and dairy substitutes (for him). A good example of this is my cobbler recipe. I make a cobbler with almond flour in ramekins. I do a ¼ cup of almond flour with ½ teaspoon of baking powder and 1 tablespoon of sugar and then mix in 1 tablespoon of melted butter, 1 tablespoon of almond milk and a dash of vanilla. Spoon on top of about ½ a cup of chopped fruit (stone fruit like cherries and nectarines work best) and bake for half an hour at 350 degrees. For myself, all I need to do is replace the sugar with the equivalent amount of Splenda and I’m set.

Sunday, J and I were going to Muffin and June’s for a BBQ with Bellisima and West Coast Rebecca. Being summertime in the bay area, I decided to try my hand at pavlova. For those of you who don’t know palvova, it’s a meringue shell that is mashmallowy in the middle. It’s cratered in the middle as well so people traditionally pile it high with fruit and whipped cream. Perfect dessert to highlight summer fruit. Like the cobbler, I decided to make a version for me (whipped cream and splenda) and a version for J (lemon curd and sugar). Because you can freeze the pavlova ahead of time, I tried my hand at pavlova on Friday night. For the first time Ina Garten did me WRONG. I made her Back to Basics it failed. What I got was a gloppy mess of a meringue that was more the consistency of a meringue topping for a lemon meringue pie. Never a waster, I decided to fold in the lemon curb to the failed meringue to lighten the lemon curd.

The next morning I did a little research (Nigella!) and saw that every OTHER cookbook was saying to bake the pavlova at 300 degrees as opposed to the 180 that Ina instructed. I did the whole shebang again using the Barefoot Contessa recipe but using the oven temperature of Nigella Lawson (preheat to 350 and when you put it in, immediately drop temp to 300). It was a huge success. I tried it again using baking Splenda, and another HUGE SUCCESS! So in one pavlova there were raspberries and blackberries over lemon curd and another pavlova there were the same berries over whipped cream sweetened with Splenda. In fact, Muffin, who ate both versions, liked the Splenda version. SCORE!

So here’s my sugar-free version of a pavlova. To make it low-fat, simply use low-fat (or even nonfat cool whip).

• 2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Draw a 5-inch circle on the paper, then turn the paper over so the circle is on the reverse side. (This way you won't get a pencil mark on the meringue.)
Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on high speed until firm, about 2 minutes. With the mixer still on high, slowly add the sugar and beat until it makes firm, shiny peaks, about 2-3 more minutes.
Remove the bowl from the mixer, sift the cornstarch onto the beaten egg whites, add the vinegar and vanilla, and fold in lightly with a rubber spatula. Pile the meringue into the middle of the circle on the parchment paper and smooth it within the circle, making a rough disk. Place in oven, immediately turn down to 300 dgrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven, keep the door closed, and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven, about 1 hour. It will be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
Invert the meringue disk onto a plate. There will be a cracked crater of delciciousness that is perfect for lemon curd, whipped cream or just fruit and a dash of some old balsamic.

Pretty As a Picture

I decided to use some of that asparagus from the farmers' market tonight for this interesting tilapia recipe I found... it's one of those recipes where you cook everything in a foil packet. Fun! Here is the recipe from HungryGirl.

And here it is on my plate - surviving an easy transfer from the oven foil packet to plate with a nice big spatula. This was really tasty, and even though it looks as fancy as a restaurant meal it was very easy to make. One note, though: this needs more than 15 minutes to cook. Give it 20 and check.

Yesterday I dug into some more of my farmers' market finds - here's a gorgeous big salad I had for lunch, topped with cucumbers and tomatoes and a bit of goat cheese. I made my own vinaigrette, with fresh dill, scallions, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, and black pepper. Delicious, and so fresh it all just made me happy.

Cool as a Cucumber

So I just attempted to make a cucumber soup. I started out by searching the series of tubes for a good recipe, and decided to use this one as a base.

I didn't have typical big English cucumbers though, I had mini-ones, and I think I miscalculate the cuke-to-chicken broth ratio cuz the soup came out much thinner and more broth-like than I wanted. It's more like a chicken soup with cucumber flavor than a good thick, pureed soup like I anticipated. So I either should've used more cucumber or significantly less broth. I did skip the butter, using about 1/4 tsp of olive oil instead, skipped both the tarragon and parsley in favor of fresh dill. (From the store, not from my balcony garden... yet.)

But, even with the thin consistency, it's still tasty. I do love dill, and cucumber is its perfect mate.
Here are the pretty scallions. I've never used scallions before this spring and they've quickly become one of my go-to ingredients.

Cucumbers, smelling all fresh. Since I'd never done it before, I found this handy set of tips on how to peel and seed a cuke.


Here's everything simmering in the pan. You can already see the broth-to-veggie ratio problem, no? Trust me, this was a crazy mess in my little 3-cup mini-chop. I might just have to invest in a full-size food processor soon. That's something I never would've guessed a year ago -- I've come a long way, baby!
And, the finished soup. This would go great with a salad, or a good turkey and havarti sandwich. Yum.

Blog Brainstorming

I actually was able to make it to the farmers' market today, even during the onset of an early summer storm. I got some goodies while trying not to get soaked, and while I have some ideas in mind, I'd love your help with any good recipes.

I got a bunch of asparagus, and I'll likely use some for a tilapia recipe I just saw. But what else? Any good fresh asparagus ideas?

And how about cucumbers? I can slice some up for fun dipping, but what about the rest? I'm thinking of something gazpacho like, which I've never made... have a good recipe, anyone?

There was a lot more stuff at the market that I'd love to sample soon, but it's amazing how just 4 items can cost $23!!!

BBQ Season

is upon us! Oh, temptation.... but it doesn't have to be all grill meat and mayonnaisey salads. If you're going to a pot-luck style summer party, *you* can be the one to bring something healthy. Then at least you know there can be one thing you can rely on to fill your plate (while still sneaking some grill meat on there... I mean, who can pass up brats and mustard?!?).

I made this HungryGirl broccoli slaw last weekend. While I made too much (aw, darn, more to take home and eat all week?!?) I got some great feedback on it and I think it's a keeper. Tasty, crunchy, spicy-and-sweet, and good stats. And it's super-easy to make, even a certain doctor I know in Richmond could handle this one. :-) Give it a try for your next party!

Plus, bonus pic... here's an example of a nice, well-balanced, nutritionist-approved dinner. A feel-good free-range/antibiotic-free chicken breast, baked with a little chipotle marinade, served with couscous and veggies. The couscous was made with low-sodium chicken broth, cumin, red pepper flakes, and a mix of frozen pepper strips and frozen corn and broccoli. Yum. Had another plate just like it for lunch the next day.

Moose-ka-ka

I finally got the chance to make the Weight Watchers "Easy Moussaka" recipe this week. It was tasty, and a really nice variation on the usual "spaghetti and meat sauce" idea.

I can't find the recipe up on their web site, and I got out it of a cookbook...not sure on what the etiquette of reposting is, so I'll just relay the basics. Ground lamb, browned in onions and garlic that were sauteed in a little cooking spray. Add 3 tbsp low-salt tomato paste, 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth, oregano, black pepper, and cinnamon. Serve it all over pasta with a bit of shredded parmesan cheese. Starting with 1 lb of ground lamb yields 6 servings (or 2, if you were super-hungry like me.)

YUM. Cinnamon and meat? Somehow, amazing.

On my Dad's advice, I have started using Dreamfields low-carb pasta as a way to change it up from my usual whole wheat pasta. I like wwp, don't get me wrong, but these Dreamfields stuff tastes good!

I really enjoyed this moussaka, and I think it would be equally as good served over roasted sweet potatoes and pumpkin as it is over pasta. Afghan Grill, one of my fave restaurants, serves a dish like that made with ground beef, and it is DIVINE.

Spicy!

I decided to try my hand at making one of my favorite dishes tonight -- jambalaya. I don't eat it very often, but my memories of the few I sampled in Charleston almost make me weep with the food-memory. So, I was excited to try making it myself even though it seemed a bit intimidating.

I used this recipe as a base, but I actually think the recipe has a few mistakes in it - like it doesn't tell you what to do with several of the ingredients?!? - so I changed it up a bit throughout. I didn't use the shrimp shells, I bought frozen raw, deveined, peeled, with the tail off. I also made sure to add in all the remaining onions, celery, and peppers at the same time as the tomatoes, since it didn't say what to do with them!


The shrimp, looking all pinky and resting. Note, when a recipe says you should reserve some cooked meat to the side AND you have a pet in the house, it's probably best to cover the meat with a towel lest you find a furry little nose in the bowl. Not saying that happened, but not denying it either...

The chicken cooked in that makeshift stock above, which was a new trick for me. It wasn't very appetizing looking - I'd never really boiled chicken before - but it's super tender.

Another variation for me - I used lowfat turkey kielbasa instead of andouille. That takes the fat and calorie count down quite a bit.

Here it is pre-and post-rice. The smell was fantastic. It made a huge amount, enough for 6 big bowls to cover tonight and lunches all week. In the future, I think I may add a lot more veggies (would carrots work? what else?) and cut back a bit on the rice. This recipe was probably the most complicated I've made since the chicken cacciatore, requiring lots of steps and many, many pots, dishes and utensils. But, the good news is it tastes pretty darn good. Not weepy-good, but definitely a successful homemade meal.


In other news... I ended up with a really big bag of sweet potatoes and wasn't sure what to do with them. So thanks go to Onyah for sending me this recipe for Curried Sweet Potato Wedges. Very easy to make, super-tasty (and very spicy), great as either a side dish or a small meal on their own. Just be sure to have a good glass of water nearby, cuz they pack the heat!

Noodle-Free Lasagna

I tried a new Weight Watchers recipe last night, called Beef and Vegetable Cheese Casserole. Basically, this worked out to be a noodle-less lasagna. Yummy overall, and a nice variation on the lasagna that I love but which I was getting a little bored with.

I did make the "Italian variation," so I used fat free ricotta instead of cottage cheese (which I just find repulsive anyway) and an Italian cheese blend instead of cheddar.

Here are the tomatoes and zucchini getting all roasty:

I think I used too big a pan, cuz there wasn't enough of the beef mixture to cover the bottom thoroughly. Here's the ricotta mixed with the egg beaters (instead of an egg yolk), as well.

Baked - that top layer wasn't quite a crust, cuz it was still pretty soft. It was just like a cheese layer in a lasagna.


Messy on the plate, but pretty hearty. Since I was using dried herbs and not fresh, I should have used a lot more. This was a bit bland, but I'm hoping the flavors marry over the next few days as I eat it for lunch all week.

Quick Little Quiches

I am in need of a change in my Egg Beater omelet breakfast routine, and a coworker of mine sent me this recipe that's both very easy and very versatile. You can change these up with a whole variety of mix-ins depending on what you like, and these go great from freezer to microwave.

South Beach Mini Quiches

Ingredients:
3/4 cup liquid egg substitute or 3 large eggs or 3 /4 cup egg whites
1 package frozen chopped spinach (10 oz.)
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheese
1/4 cup diced red or green peppers or mixture of both
1/4 cup diced onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Option: fajita spices
Option: garam masala

Preparation:
Makes 12 mini-quiches
Need: Foil baking cups, muffin tin, cooking spray, oven

1. Heat oven to 350F

2. Line 12 cup muffin pan with foil baking cups, spray the cups with the cooking spray. Be sure not to omit this step, or the quiches will stick badly to the baking cups.

3. Thaw and drain spinach

4. Mix the spinach, eggs or egg substitute, cheese, peppers, onions, hot pepper sauce, salt in a bowl.

5. Fill the foil cups with the mixture.

6. Bake at 350F or 20 minutes. You will know they are done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

7. Remove from cups to serve.

Fajita spice variation: Add fajita spice to taste at step 4 (a dash to 1/8 teaspoon). If you like it spicy, you may even want to add a bit of chopped jalapeno.

Indian variation: Add garam masala to taste at step 4 (a dash to 1/8 teaspoon).

Nutrition: Approximately 40 calories each.


I forgot about the green pepper while prepping, which I think ended up for the better for this variation. My version used spinach, a blend of reduced fat Italian cheese, the onions, black pepper, and about 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes for some heat. So easy to make, and very tasty!






Three of them made for a good small breakfast, maybe supplemented with a yogurt or some toast, and I've frozen the rest in bags of 3 for later this week. Hopefully this will save me some time in the morning, too, as it always takes about an extra 10-15 minutes for me to make my breakfast every day. Those minutes count!

Sausage hash

I do have this deep seated love for corned beef hash. But sadly with the potatoes and the salt in the corned beef, that's less of a possibility. Lucky for me I can substitute the heck out of the dish and come up with something just as awesome. Behold the turkey-sausage/carrot/parsnip hash. Just a good, if not better.

1/2 an onion finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 parsnip, grated
2 links of turkey bratwurst (the raw kind you have to get out of a casing)

Spray a skillet with pam and slowly cook the sausage which has been taken out of its casing. Let the fat render out and set aside. With the fat left in the pan, sautee the onion carrot and parsnip until tender and slightly mushy, about 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add back in the cooked sausage and cook the whole thing together for another 5 minutes.

This hash is great because it screams out for variation. For example:

Mexican style
Replace bratwurst with turkey chorizo and add a teaspoon of chili powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of cumin.

Italian style
Replace bratwurst with Italian sausage and add some chopped sundried tomatoes and red pepper flakes.

The vegetables are starchy enough to mimic the potato but give it a nice texture. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and this could be a nice sloppy joe filling.

Yummy Combination

I tried out another new recipe tonight -- this one again from the friend who gave me the Weight Watchers Cheeseburger Casserole a few weeks back. She said this one is always her biggest hit, and now I can see why!

Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta

5 large tomatoes, cut into eighths
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
¾ tsp kosher salt
¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup Feta, crumbled

Preheat oven to 450. Place tomatoes in a large backing dish. Spoon olive oil and garlic over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Place on top rack of oven and roast for 20 minutes. Remove baking dish and stir in shrimp, parsley and lemon juice. Sprinkle with feta. Back another 10 to 15 minutes until shrimp are cooked. Serve with warm crusty bread.

This was a fairly easy recipe to make - the hardest part was dealing with the shrimp, since this was my first time using raw (from frozen) shrimp rather than just cooked outright. Note: it's a good idea to remove all the tails from the shrimp before putting them in the pan. And it's an even better idea to remove those tails while the tomatoes are roasting, rather than after. Save yourself 20 minutes!



Hello my lovelies!!! I just love the look of tomatoes on the vine. That's the reason I chose them, and they sure were tasty. Here they are with lots of EVOO and garlic:

How can you go wrong with a recipe that starts off with my three favorite things???

Here 'tis in the pan. Note: A lot of liquid shows up in the cooking process - a combo of that EVOO, the lemon juice, and just the juices from all the ingredients. I didn't have any crusty bread but I wish I did. This recipe is perfect for sopping. Instead I just licked my lips a lot. :-) Being me, of course, I also thought this would go really well over an orzo pasta or something. It tasted a lot like a scampi but without any butter, so it was lighter overall. Be aware there's a teensy bit of a fishy taste to the shrimp - if you like shrimp, you won't mind it, but if you're not a fish person just keep that in mind.


YUM!!!!! This made a lot, so I'll be eating it again tomorrow night, I do believe. :-)

Another Sunday In the Kitchen

I had three, count 'em, THREE kitchen projects today...

First up, I'd been meaning to make my own little snack mix for a while and today I finally dumped everything into a bowl and did it. This is one package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 big jar of Planters unsalted roasted peanuts and 1 big box of SunMaid raisins. I didn't add any seasoning or anything, just stirred it all up in a bowl. (I added more raisins after this pic so it was a little better balanced.)

This stuff was like CRACK! I made the mistake of mixing it up while I was cooking my lunch (see below), but didn't have time to divvy it into little snack bags so I left the bowl sitting on the counter all afternoon. And that meant every time I went into the kitchen I grabbed a handful. Delicious! I now have 22 little Ziploc snack bags to take into work over the next 3 weeks. I don't think my nutritionist (who I'm seeing again tomorrow) will like the chocolate chips... but, I do!

For lunch, I made what has become a go-to easy recipe for me over the last few months - the spicy tomato soup from HungryGirl that I first made on a cold day in January. It's so easy, now that I've gotten used to cooking my soups rather than using a can opener. Start by rough-chopping 5 plum tomatoes and cooking them down over low heat with about 1 onion diced and garlic (today I used 4 cloves - kapow!). Then transfer it all to the mini-chop and puree. Then put it back in the pan with 1 cup of low-sodium V8 juice and 1 tbsp of hot sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a while. I serve it with some low-fat garlic mini bagel chips, which get all soft and puffy in the soup. Yum.


Then, today's big project... I made lasagna for the very first time. My Dad had given me the suggestion last week with his ideas for how to make a good veggie version. I did a little scoping of recipes on line this week, but for the first time ever I actually went to the grocery store without a specific recipe as reference. So, that meant I had NO IDEA what quantity of things to buy -- and I bought way too much. So there may be a 2nd lasagna in my future later this week!

This was also the first time I tried cooking a new dish without having a recipe as instructions, so I called Dad several times during the process. The basic process was: put one layer of sauce (I used Classico tomato basil) down in a lasagna/roasting pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Then one layer of no-boil lasagna noodles (the moisture of the dish is enough that you don't have to boil them first). Then I did a layer of sliced yellow squash and sauce and another layer of noodles. I've never used ricotta before and I as surprised at how SOLID it was, so Dad had me mix the ricotta (fat free) with my baby spinach leaves as a next layer, covered with sauce again. I had plans to do another layer of zucchini and mushrooms, but the pan was more shallow than I thought. (Hence the need for a 2nd pan later this week, methinks. I've got lots of ricotta left, too.) So I did the final layer of noodles and sauce and covered it with a package of fat free shredded mozzarella and some dried oregano and basil.

Here it is after 60 minutes at 350 degrees. It smelled great! The only things that I need to fix is that the top layer of mozzarella was pretty dry and crusty, and the outside edges of the noodles were also still dry. When I asked Dad about that he said "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you to cover with with foil for the first 30 minutes, that'll keep the moisture in to cook those noodles and keep the top layer soft." There you have it.


This was very tasty -- and I'll be eating it all this week for lunches. I feel a real sense of accomplishment here, cuz lasagna has always seemed kind of daunting... but it turned out to be really easy to make!

Surprisingly Good

Tonight I tried out another recipe that was shared by a friend. It's a WW recipe called "Cheeseburger Casserole." I wasn't sure what to expect, and even as I was making it I wasn't sure how it would all come together. But, in the end, it was pretty good!

Here's the recipe with my friend's notes:

This is one of my favorites - I will be honest, I always use more than 2 oz of cheese and I don't mess around with the baked tortilla chips - you're using so few that I don't think it matters. I also use very lean hamburger because I don't love ground turkey...

sprays cooking spray
2 large Yukon Gold potato(es), boiled or steamed whole, drained and cooled
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 small onion(s), chopped
1 small green pepper(s), chopped
1 cup mushroom(s), sliced
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 oz Kraft Velveeta Light Reduced-Fat Pasteurized Processed Cheese Product, or similar product, cubed
1/4 cup low-fat evaporated milk
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
8 items baked low-fat tortilla chips, crushed

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

Peel and thinly slice potatoes; layer in prepared baking dish. Bake potatoes until slightly crisp, about 10 minutes; remove baking dish from oven and set aside.

While potatoes are baking, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and warm over medium-high heat; add garlic, onion, green pepper and mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, about 7 to 10 minutes; remove to a plate, cover to keep warm and set aside. Add turkey to skillet; cook until browned, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add cooked vegetables, cumin, salt and pepper to turkey and stir to combine; spread mixture over potatoes in baking dish.

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine cheese product, evaporated milk and crushed red pepper flakes; cover and microwave on high power until cheese melts, about 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon melted cheese over turkey and sprinkle with tortilla chips.

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove and let stand 5 minutes.

I also skipped the tortilla chips, and made a few variations myself -- skipped the salt, and overall made a bigger recipe since I need it for lunches this week. So, 3 russet potatoes (that's what I had) instead of 2 Yukon Gold, doubling up the veggies and the amounts in the cheese sauce, and doubling up the spices. I'm learning that I am definitely a "more spice" person, so I could've even used more.

Here are the veggies hanging out. They had to hang out a long time cuz I screwed up the timing of this - didn't read the recipe ahead of time to know that the potatoes had to be boiled first, so that took time and then I was playing catchup during the rest of the prep.

I did use ground turkey, here it is hanging out with the veggies. Once I combined this stuff and poured it over the potatoes, I really didn't see how the small amount of the cheese sauce would work out. It wasn't enough to cover the top completely, but now I think that wasn't the point. It's not a "smothering" cheese sauce, and it doesn't combine everything together like a usual noodle casserole. But it did add flavor and moisture, and ended up making a nice little "au gratin" in the potato layer.

So, this really did seem like an Au gratin potato dish with meat and veggies on top. It's not pretty on the plate, but it was tasty. If I make it again, like I said I'll add more spices. But this will still be good for lunches this week. yum!

Spicy Goodness!

Another winner from the HungryGirl cookbook -- with a few modifications on my own. Tonight, I made a nice small pot (small, I tell myself, cuz I'm eating it ALL) of spicy tomato soup.

The recipe is super-easy, and where the cookbook called for powdered spices I used the real stuff. 5 plum tomatoes chopped, cooked down on medium with about 1/4 cup of chopped onions and three cloves of fresh garlic chopped. I cooked it down for about 7 minutes on medium heat. Then, transfer everything to a food processor or blender (it took two batches in my mini-chop-chop), and put it back in the pan. Add 2 cups of low sodium V8 and 2 tbsp of RedHot sauce and black pepper to taste. Cook until it boils, then let it cool down and serve. I'm serving it with some garlic bagel crisps and a nice big glass of shiraz. :-)

(The recipe called for onion powder and garlic powder, fyi.)

This is super tasty, and VERY low in calories. There's no fat in it that I can tell, and the only sodium comes from the V8 and the RedHot. Sure, the bagel crisps have their own issues, but you can choose whatever side/starch you want.

Yum!

Post nutritionist meeting

So my meeting with my nutritionist yielded a few insights.

A) No need to freak out over a freak number. Those things don’t really affect your A1C which essentially looks at how much glucose is in your blood over time. As long as that number is fine, I’m fine. In fact, my nutritionist and I talked about possibly lowering my dosage for the glucose medication.

B) My blood pressure is slightly elevated. Rather than prescribe medication, she recommended making my diet more DASH-like. It would entail some minor but profound tweaking. Eating less cheese, which is sad, and upping my vegetable intake even more. I get about six servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Two for breakfast when I have an apple, pear of other piece of fruit along with the berries in my yogurt. Three for lunch when I always have a large salad and whatever vegetables I have with dinner. It could be carrots and cabbage in a stew or kale in a spaghetti sauce. It will definitely be a challenge to get two more servings of fruit. It’s not that I don’t like fruit but having fruit for my carb content means I have to eat even less grains than I already do.

If I do insert more veggies in my diet, here’s a great way how:

Pasta Al Forno
This is a baked pasta with the rich tomato sauce of a regular rigatoni al forno but with less pasta and tons of veggies. This is really just a guideline. Throw in any veggies you want (within reason).

1 large onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups of vegetables
- For me this included a shredded carrot, two shredded zuchinni, about a cup of finely chopped kale, and a cup of chopped shitake mushrooms
½ pound of ground turkey
1/2 jar of marinara sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of red wine
4 cups of cooked short pasta like rigatoni, penne, or cavatappi
½ cup of mozzarella
¼ cup of parmesan

Saute the vegetables in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a little salt and pepper until soft, about 15 minutes. Add the ground turkey and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the marinara, canned tomatoes and red wine. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes uncovered. Add the pasta and throw into an 12 inch by 8 inch baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and then top with the cheese.