New Year - New Us

Hi my friends,

I'm going to try something a little different for the new year.  I, like many of us, have got to lose some weight this year.  The problem is, like many of us, I LOVE my food.  I spend a lot of time reading recipes in magazines, cookbooks, and online.  I am appalled that so many trusted sources do not at least try to follow nutrition guidelines.  I am also appalled that unless we do our homework, we may not know how unhealthy a lot of these recipes are.  I am going to try to do the homework for all of us.  This is a huge undertaking and, as I found today, a very daunting task.  So, I will probably only post once or twice per week because I will not post a "realistic" version unless I have tried it and find it worthwhile.

I will be trying to post a summary of the original recipe I find that sounds good and offer a "realistic" version according to nutrition guidelines and some tips on making it even better for you as a third option.  Where I can, I will list nutrition values - I am particularly interested in calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and protein.

I will be posting my first recipe comparison later tonight.  If you find it confusing or not helpful - let me know.  Also let me know if you like what I'm doing.  I'm flying by the seat of my pants here and appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, input.

Happy eating
K

Potato Leek Soup

Hi my friends,

We had a cold spell here in Florida and I found myself craving homemade soup.  I remembered that I loved potato leek soup in my younger days and found that I had most of the ingredients already in the house.  I made a huge pot and it was so delicious that the soup that I had thought would last a couple of days was all gone on the day I made it.  It is extremely inexpensive to make and you can change a couple of the ingredients to make it as healthy as you want (or as decadent as you want). I vote for the decadent version - consider it a once in a while splurge.  I am posting the recipe for the decadent version.  This batch of soup (8-10 servings) cost me around $5 to make.  It may cost you a bit more if you don't have most of the ingredients on hand.

For a healthier version, use something like Smart Balance butter and 2% milk (I do not suggest using skim).

Your ingredient list:

• 3 tbsp butter or Smart Balance
• 3-4 leeks - washed well and thinly sliced (use only the white and light green parts - save the dark greens for your stock pot)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 6-8 potatoes scrubbed and thinly sliced
• 3-4 cups chicken or veggy broth
• 1 cup heavy cream (or 1/2 and 1/2, or whole milk, or 2% milk)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 bay leaves
• chopped fresh chives (to taste - I used approx 2 tbsp) or jarred chives
• chopped parsley (to taste - I used approx 1 tbsp) or jarred parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot on medium-high heat, add the butter, then add the onions and leeks.  Cook until they are soft.  Add the sliced potatoes and the broth.  You only want the broth to cover the potatoes by about an inch.  Add the chili powder and bay leaves.  Cook until the potatoes are tender.  Remove the bay leaves and, at this point you have a few options.  I used a potato masher to mash the potatoes a bit and then put 1/3 of the soup into my blender and pulsed it a few times.  You can choose to not mash anything, or do what I did, or pulse all of your soup (in batches) in the blender. It all depends on the consistency you are looking for.  DO NOT USE A FOOD PROCESSOR - it will turn it into a glutenous mass.  Return everything to the pot, add the cream (or milk), chives, and parlsey and cook on medium heat for an additional 15 minutes.

If you find the soup is too thick, you can thin it out with more broth.

Happy eating,
K

Let's talk greens

Hi my friends,

We all know that dark leafy greens are oh so good for us, yet most of us don't eat enough of them.  I find that I really don't know what to do with them - except for spinach.  I found a wonderful recipe for collard greens that I'd like to share.  The great thing about collards right now is that they are cheap, cheap, cheap.  You can get them for $1 a bag at Publix this week.  The recipe as stated serves many as a side dish (8 or so) and costs about $2 to make.  This recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen.

Ingredient list

• 1/2 lb smoked meat (I used ham hocks)  You can leave the meat out if you are vegetarian
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (adjust to taste)
• 1 bag collard greens - or one large bunch
• 1 tbsp butter (I don't use this)

Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add the smoked meat, all seasonings, and hot sauce.  Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.  If you are not using the meat - you can probably just simmer for 10 minutes or so.
If using bagged greens, you don't need to do anything to them but remove the larger stem pieces.  If using fresh unpackaged greens you will have to strip the leaves off the stems (expect for the tender leaves in the middle of the bunch - those don't need to be stripped).  Stack the greens, roll them together, and slice them.
Add the greens to your pot and add the butter.  Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Taste before serving and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Happy eatting
K

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hi my friends,

I hope you are enjoying your holiday.  My friend, Cindy, gave this recipe to me today and I made it for lunch.  It is so good and inexpensive to make.  As the recipe is stated below - it cost about $12.  It serves 8 as a full meal and can stretch to 10-12 if you serve a salad and bread on the side.  I used low fat or fat free soups (where available) and 50% reduced sodium chicken stock.  I don't normally cook with canned soups but this sounded so delish, I had to try it.

Your ingredient list:

• 10.5 oz cans of each of the following; cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of celery, and cheddar cheese soups.
• 15 oz reduced sodium or homemade chicken broth (I actually used about one cup more than that).
• 7 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes (low sodium if you can).
• 1/2 cup chunky salsa
• 4 1/2 oz can diced green chilies
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste (since you are using canned soup - you really won't need any additional salt)
• 2 chicken breast halves cooked and chopped (I bought a ready made rotisserie chicken and used 1/2 of it).

Place all of your ingredients (except for the chicken) in a large pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  Add the chopped chicken and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  I cut flour tortillas into strips and briefly fried them for garnish.  I served the soup this way; spoon soup into bowls, top with a tsp of sour cream, lay some fried tortilla strips on top of the sour cream, and then sprinkle the top with shredded cheddar.

It looks good and tastes great.

Happy eating.
K

Portion control

Hi my fellow foodies,

Sorry for my long absence, as many of you know I was sick for a while.  Today I want to share a little bit of information regarding serving sizes.  We live in a country where obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are on the rise.  A good part of the reason for that is lack of portion control.  I'm not scolding - I'm guilty of it.  I am overweight and have heart disease.

Today, I began looking up some "special" holiday recipes. In particular, I was looking up steak and eggs for brunch on Christmas and Rib Roast for New Year's.  Here are just 2 examples of what I found.  They are both from extremely trusted (by everyone) recipe sources.

One of the steak and egg recipes I look at included (2) 10-14 oz T-bone steaks - this was meant to serve 2.  Really???  A serving of beef is 3 oz.  So this recipe should really serve 7-9 people (at least the steak portion).

Right this moment I am looking at a recipe in a magazine.  It is a recipe for garlic and herb crusted prime rib with brown butter sauce.  It sounds really yummy - but their serving size with eventually kill you.  It calls for an 8 lb bone-in prime rib roast (serves 8).  Okay - even when taking away the weight of the bones - according to the 3 oz rule - this should really serve something like 25.

I don't know about you, but I think that when we go to internationally trusted sources for recipes - we should not have to do a bunch of homework in order to make it "real". 

Happy holidays and happy eating.
K

Amazing pork chops

Hi my fellow foodies.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Sorry to have been gone for so long but I never want to post a recipe that I have not cooked myself.  I had already posted all of my Thanksgiving recipes - thus my absence.

I got this recipe from foodnetwork.com and tweeked it a bit.  I am listing MY recipe.  If you use it and tweek it yourself, I would love to hear from you about it.  I have not made pork chops in a very long time because mine where always dry - these are so moist and delicious - you will love them.

As listed, this recipe will feed 6-8.  I like to cook extra so there are leftovers to pack for lunch.  If you need to cook for fewer people, cut back on the amount of chops and seasoned flour.  The gravy is delish so you may not want to cut back on that, particularly if you want to save some for another meal.

Here's the ingredient list:

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 3 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons cayenne
• 1 teaspoon salt (use more if you like - we don't use a lot of salt when cooking - dietary reasons)
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 6 pork chops - 1/2 inch thick - bone in
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 cups chicken broth (homemade is best)
• 1 cup buttermilk (I use lite)
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional - I did not use it)

Start heating a large skillet on medium heat and drizzle the oil into the skillet.  While the oil is heating, prepare your chops.

In a shallow pan, mix the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper.  Dredge the pork chops in the flour mixture and shake off the excess flour.

When the oil is hot, place your chops into the pan (in a single layer, depending on the size of your chop and pan - you may have to cook up to 3 batches).  Fry the chops for 3 minutes per side and remove them to a plate.  Continue until all of the chops are browned.  Pink liquid will weep out of the chops on the plate - don't worry - you will be cooking them further.

Once all the chops are browned, sprinkle some of the seasoned flour into the skillet (2-3 tablespoons).  Stir the mixture until the flour has dissolved and cook for one minute.  Add your chicken broth and stir up all the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Let this mixture reduce and thicken a little (it will not get very thick - just slightly thick).  Take a little bit of the broth mixture and temper your buttermilk with it while constantly stirring.  If you don't temper the milk, you will wind up with a separated mess that will take a lot of time to fix.  Once the milk is tempered, add it to the skillet.  Place the pork chops back into the skillet - cover it, and simmer them for 10 minutes total.  If you are cooking 6 chops, you will need to move the ones from the bottom of the skillet to the top after 5 minutes.  If your chops fit into your skillet in a single layer, just simmer for 5 minutes.

Place your chops on a serving plate and sprinkle with the parsley.  Or, you can just serve your chops right from the skillet.

I served this with green beans and wild rice.  Everyone loved it - even my pickiest eaters.

Happy eating
K

Fabulous use for leftover turkey or ham!!

Hello my friends,

This is a delicious recipe that is so, so easy to make.  I made it for dinner tonight and everyone loved it.  I am going to use it and add my leftover turkey to make it extra special.  It will also work with leftover ham. 

It is a carbonara recipe with some lemon added.  You will love it.  As listed it is supposed to serve 4 but in my house it served 6.

Here is your ingredient list:

• 1 lb pasta
• 1/2 lb finely chopped pancetta (I used 1/4 lb and it was fine)
• 1 bunch of green onions finely chopped - keep the green parts and the white parts separate as you will add them at different times.
• 1 small chili pepper - I used an Anaheim - you can use whatever type you like or omit it all together.
• 6 gloves of garlic chopped finely
• 1 large lemon (zest it in one bowl and juice it in another)
• Thyme - you can use either fresh or jarred dehydrated.  I used 2 tsp of jarred.
• 3/4 cup of dry white wine
• 3 egg yolks
• Finely chopped parsley (about 2 tblsp)
• 2 cups grated cheese - I used a combo of parm reggiano and pecorino romano.
• shredded basil and diced yellow tomatoes for garnish (I'm not that fancy and don't spend money on garnish - so I did not use these).

 You will cook your pasta until al dente - drain it but reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water.
While cooking your pasta, do the following:

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat and pour in about 3 tablespoons olive oil (or whatever oil you have).
• Add the pancetta and cook until lightly browned.
• Stir in the whites of the green onions, chile pepper, and garlic.  Cook for a minute or two.
• Add the lemon zest and thyme and cook for 3 minutes or so
• Add the wine and cook until it has reduced about 4 minutes.  
• Then turn your heat to low

Beat the egg yolks and slowly add the reserved pasta water to them to temper them.  DON'T add the hot water all at once - it will scramble the eggs.  Add it slowly while beating.

You will now add the lemon juice, parsley, and green parts of the green onions to your skillet.  Give it a stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Now, add your pasta to the skillet, turn off the heat underneath the skillet and add the eggs and cheese.  Mix well and serve.

When I make this with my leftovers, I will add the turkey meat while the wine is reducing in the skillet.

Happy eating
K