These spicy little meatballs turned out very tasty! I used ground white meat turkey, but of course you can use anything you want. I loved the ginger, mint and curry seasoning, and they were perfect with Trader Joe's Mango-Ginger Chutney as a dipping sauce. The meatballs can be prebaked, and reheated in oven or microwave before serving.

Ginger and Mint Mini Meatballs

Makes around 40 mini meatballs. Can be frozen.

1 pound ground turkey
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon or to taste Salt
1 Tablespoon minced Ginger
1 seeded, finely chopped jalapeno chili, seeds removed
2 finely chopped Scallions with green tops
1/2 cup finely chopped (save 1 tbsp. for garnish) Mint leaves (fresh)
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Lemon juice (fresh)
1 egg, beaten
Cooking oil spray

• In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except spray oil. Mix very well.
• Wet your hands so the meat won’t stick. The mixture will be quite soft. Form into very small meatballs.
• Spray a baking sheet with oil. Place the meatballs on the sheet so they don’t touch each other.
• Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, or until browned. Turn meatballs over, and bake another 5 minutes so the other side browns.
• Serve on a plate with toothpicks, with Trader Joe's Mango-Ginger chutney for dipping, if you wish.

(approx. 20 calories per meatball if using ground white meat turkey)

A bit of a walk down memory lane--I picked up my grandmother's copy of Jewish Holiday Cooking, and her handwritten recipe for cabbage soup fell out. It was a shock to see her loopy, slanting handwriting after so long. Nana was obviously telling me "you're sick! You need soup!" So of course I had to make the soup. I cut down on the meat, used broth instead of water to compensate, and added some balsamic vinegar for the sweet-sour taste so I could cut down on the sugar. Nana wouldn't mind. If you're freezing some of this, leave out the potatoes--just cook some in boiling salted water, and add to the portion you won't be freezing.

Now all I need is the wide, chipped mismatched china bowl.
And I'm still looking for her date ball recipe.

Nana’s Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

1 pound brisket or boneless short rib, most fat removed, cut into small pieces
2 onions, chopped
5 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 boxes low sodium beef broth
1 large can ground tomatoes
2 cups water
1/2 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1-3Tbs.lemon juice
1 tsp.sugar
2 Tbs.balsamic vinegar
3 Tbs. chopped dill
salt and pepper

In a large soup pot, brown the meat. Sprinkle with some salt. Add the onions, carrots celery and parsnips.Stir around. Add the tomatoes and broth. Simmer for 1 hour.

Add another 2 cups water and the cabbage. Simmer for another 1 1/2 hours.

Add the potatoes, simmer another 1/2 hour. Everything should be very "tendah." Add the rest of the ingredients, and taste. It should have a pleasantly sweet and sour taste. Add more balsamic or sugar and lemon to taste.

Let sit in fridge a day before serving for best flavor. Eat with bread, and a dollop of sour cream if you wish. Send everyone home with leftovers.

This week's SSB ingredient was mushrooms. I use a lot of mushrooms in my cooking these days, so I was looking around for something new to do with them for an appetizer besides stuffed, grilled or sauteed. I'd had vegetarian dumplings in Chinese and Japanese restaurants and dim sum parlors that were mostly mushroom, so started looking for recipes. I wanted the emphasis to be on mushroom, and also wanted to use shiitakes, since they're my favorite and they're used in dried form in the Chinese recipes I found. Here's what I came up with, adding a bit of shredded carrot and chopped cilantro to brighten up the earthiness of the mushroom filling. You'll need something to steam the dumplings in, either a steaming insert or just a skillet with tight lid and an inch of water. Serve with a dipping sauce of soy, chili, sesame oil, ginger, etc.

These were delicious! The goyza wrappers I used were 120 calories for 8, and the mushroom filling is extremely low cal.This recipe made upwards of 60 dumplings, but the recipe is easy to cut in half.

Another Gratitude Friday, with gratitude to Diana. http://creativestructures.blogspot.com/

A few items I have been very grateful for during the past six months I've been getting healthier:

Exercise resistance bands. These are nifty little things. A set of handles connected by stretchy rubber tubing. They come in three different levels of resistance, to be used in various ways. As you stretch them your muscles are working, and as you release while still holding, the muscles are still working against the lessening resistance. They've done amazing things for my upper arms. They are light and portable, so you can throw them into a suitcase. It takes a bit of practice to learn how to use them, but there are plenty of DVDs, websites and books with clear instructions.

Trader Joe's 0% plain Greek Yogurt. Tastes great, non-chalky, and much cheaper than the Fage. I eat it every morning with fruit, a bit of Stevia, and cereal. I mix it with salsa for a dip. I marinate chicken breasts in it with spices and lime juice. And while we're talking about TJ's, I've also been grateful for their low sodium organic chicken broth, salsas, Kosher chicken, ground white meat turkey, Joe's O's cereal, and 21-Salute salt-free herb mix.

Stevia. This is a natural plant-based sweetener with very few calories. I've found that using more than just a bit gives a slightly bitter aftertaste; but its great to use in sweetening hot drinks and yogurt without chemicals.

Costco. Yes, its a big box store. (But at least from what I've read, does well by its employees and sources locally from small producers as much as possible). What I think it excels in is produce. My weekly shopping list from them includes tiny green beans, spinach, lettuce, raspberries and strawberries in season, mini cucumbers, mushrooms, hydroponic tomatoes; and seasonal treats like chantrelle mushrooms, Tuscan melons, figs, persimmons. They also carry organic chicken, big tubs of Sabra hummus, their Kirkland brand of egg substitute is much cheaper than Eggbeaters, do a very decent store-made lime and chipotle marinated shrimp, and a huge roasted chicken for $5.00. It's interesting to compare our grocery cart to the others in line.

Kalyn's Kitchen. http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/ This website, while focused on recipes for the South Beach Diet, has a lot of fantastic recipes, and links to many others. I've gotten so many great ideas and delicious meals from her site. Very strong on vegetable recipes.

Kirkland egg substitute. The Costco brand of eggbeaters. One cup is equal to 3-4 eggs, has 120 calories, and 24 grams of protein. Makes for a huge frittata with sauteed spinach and tomato, and is often my lunch.

FitDay. http://www.fitday.com.I use this website to track my diet and exercise, it has a pretty good calorie counter, and you can graph your weight loss.

The treadmill and DVD player, and my NetFlix account. I've caught up on years of movies as I've sweated.

Russo's Market, Watertown. This is a wonderful produce store, carrying all manner of the usuals plus lots of Asian, Latin, Middle Eastern, and Italian items. Where I go from everything from cauliflower and swiss chard to long lavendar Chinese eggplants, jicama, and Armenian lavash bread.

Spray cooking oil. I use this instead of pouring on the oil for sauteeing, for roasting vegetables, for making sure food doesn't stick to the grill.

Fiber Gourmet pasta. http://www.fibergourmet.com/default.aspx This is great stuff. A pasta that's loaded with extra fiber, which brings the calories count down. It certainly isn't as marvelous as an imported pasta, but it's really very decent. One cup is only 130 calories, with loads of fiber. It isn't carried in many stores, so I order directly from the website.

Humn. I'm sure there are more, but I'll do another post with them at some point. Hope this is useful to someone!

This has become a staple in my house.

Sweet and Spicy Grilled Eggplant

Eggplant, sliced (I prefer the long lavender Chinese eggplants, which I slice on the diagonal)

Mix the marinade:
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp (or more) chile powder
salt and pepper to taste (no salt if you've salted the eggplant)

Brush the marinade on both sides of each eggplant slice. Let rest for 15 minutes. Grill until lightly charred and soft. If the eggplant begins to burn on the outside but isn't soft enough yet, put those slices into a metal or foil pan on the grill so they can finish cooking. Sprinkle with basil or parsley and serve hot or at room temperature.

I love olives. I eat them as is, and in all sorts of dishes. They're high in fat, but it's the good kind; the sodium isn't too horrible if you don't go overboard; and a little goes a long way in adding flavor.

I made two olive mixtures using mostly green olives, a traditional Moroccan salad using black olives, and took advantage of the season to buy a few pounds of green olives to try curing.

Cracked Green Olive, Walnut, and Pomegranate Salad

This recipe comes from Paula Wolfert's the Cooking of The Eastern Mediterranean. She calls it an olive salad that in Turkey is used to accompany grilled meat or slices of ripe melon. I fiddled just a bit to make it slightly lower fat. I tried it with melon, on an arugula-orange salad, and on its own with pita. I think I liked it best just with pita for scooping, so it doesn't compete with any more things. I'm looking forward to trying it with simple grilled chicken or beef. This is another mixture that needs to sit so the flavors can develop, and she recommends it be made the day before serving. I thought this was a very neat combination, with salty, sweet, and tart flavors hitting the tongue at once. This is one for adventuresome eaters.

1/2 pound cracked green olives, drained
1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup shelled walnuts, finely chopped
2 scallions, minced
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/4 tsp. Aleppo pepper or other mild chile powder
2 tsp. pomegranate molasses (available in Middle Eastern stores)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
cracked black pepper

1. Make the salad at least one day before serving. Pit the olives, and roughly chop.

2. Mix the olives with the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 hours, more is better.

3. Bring to room temperature and serve.

With gratitude to Diana, for beginning Gratitude Fridays. http://creativestructures.blogspot.com/

Yeah, the day slipped past me again. Here's something simple.

I am grateful for the loss of my double chin.

Let me tell you my sad, sad story.

I immediately knew what I wanted to try making for this week's ingredient, pumpkin. Many years ago there was a Lebanese restaurant nearby that made a pumpkin kibbeh that I loved. Kibbeh (or kibbe, kibbee, you see it spelled different ways) is a Middle-Eastern appetizer made from bulgar wheat that is pressed around a filling, formed into an oval, and fried. There are also versions where the bulgar is pressed into a pan, the filling spread on top, the rest of the bulgar forms the top crust, and the dish is baked then cut into small triangles or squares.

I found a recipe in Paula Wolfert's "The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean" for a pumpkin kibbeh filled with spinach, chick peas and walnuts, but it was the fried variety. I adapted the recipe for a baked version, added some seasonings I found in an online version, but did not use the huge amounts of oil called for in the baked kibbeh recipes in Wolfert's book.

The results were disappointingly dry, to say the least. Sawdust around a tasty spinach and chickpea filling. (the recipe for the filling is in my previous entry) But isn't it pretty? Even my husband, notoriously cheerful about all my cooking, even the low-fat efforts, pushed it around his plate before asking "is it supposed to be like this?"

Let's face it, there are reasons why so many recipes call for frying; why oil, butter, all those lovely things were used by the gallon in the days when people physically toiled 18 hour days to put a dish on the table every night. It makes the food taste better, especially the humblest foods. They needed the calories. I do not. This, children, was not one of the dishes where the fat calories could be taken out and the eater wouldn't notice.

OK, on to pumpkin number two. Simpler, and this one was a keeper. The roasted pumpkin was a really nice addition to peppery greens. Great Fall salad!

Pumpkin, Pomegranate, and Pine Nut Salad
serves four, increase as needed

1/2 small sugar pumpkin (or butternut squash)
spray cooking oil
salt and pepper

fresh spinach and arugula (I used a mixture) or mesclun
1 pomegranate, seeds removed--use 1/4 to 1/2 cup seeds (TJ's often has containers of the seeds)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (or use pepitas, toasted hulled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese

Dressing:
3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. dark nut oil--pumpkin seed, toasted hazelnut, or pistachio
2 Tbs. vegetable or chicken broth

1. Get out your machete. Or your sharpest knife. Cut, peel, and dice the pumpkin. Spray a cookie sheet with oil, toss the pumpkin cubes on, spray with more oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in a 450 oven for 20-25 minutes, until browned and soft.

2. Combine dressing ingredients, mix well.

3. Put salad greens in a bowl, and toss with most of the dressing, reserving some. Put some of the dressed greens onto serving plates.

4. Top each pile of greens with some of the roasted pumpkin, pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and chevre. Drizzle on just a bit more dressing, and serve.

Another head of rainbow swiss chard was turned into a Tegliata di biete (Swiss Chard Tart). The recipe was in one of Marcella Hazann's books, was posted on Slowtrav by Matt several years ago, and I adapted it to be slightly lower in fat. This was delicious!

Tegliata di biete (Swiss Chard Tart)
serves 8

Large head of swiss chard
Salt
Spray oil (or olive oil)
2/3 cup onion chopped fine
2/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese (Buy the real thing!)
2/3 cup eggbeaters (what I used) or 2-3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup seedless raisins
Freshly ground black pepper
9" or 10" springform baking pan
1/4 cup of unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted

1. Cut the stems off of the chard, and chop stems. Cut the leaves into 1/4 inch shreds. Soak and wash the chard.
2. Boil water in a pot, using enough water and pot volume to accommodate the chard. Cook until tender, approx. 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
3. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the moisture from the chard.
4. Chop the chard very fine.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Choose a sautee pan that can accomodate the chard. Spray with the oil and add the chopped onion. Cook at medium until the onion turns a light nut-brown.
7. Add the chopped chard, turning heat to high. Cook, turning the chard over frequently, until it becomes difficult to keep the chard from sticking to the pan When done, transfer entire contents to a bowl and let cool.

8. When chard has cooled to room temperature, add the grated Parmesan, the beaten eggs or eggbeaters, and the pine nuts. Drain the raisins, squeeze them dry in your hand, and add them to the bowl. Add a few grindings of pepper. Mix thoroughly, taste and correct for pepper and salt (the Parmesan is salty, so a small pinch of salt is probably all that's necessary).
9. Smear the bottom and sides of the springform pan with olive oil or use spray oil. Use a little more than half the bread crumbs, sprinkling a thin layer evenly over the pan. Add the chard mixture, leveling it off, but not pressing it hard. Top with the remaining bread crumbs, and spray with a bit of oil.
10. Put pan in preheated oven, bake for 40 minutes.
11. Remove pan, running knife edge along side of pan to release the torte. After 5 minutes rest, use a spatula to loose the torte from the pan bottom and slide it, without turning it over, onto a serving plate. Slice into eight portions. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is a variation of an old favorite recipe of my mothers. She got it from Gourmet magazine in 1995. I used pecans instead of the original walnuts, added pear to the mixture to stretch out the cheese calories, eliminated the olive oil, and cut down on the cheese. It turned out very well, with the sweetness of the pear adding a lot of nice contrast to the nuttiness of pecans and cheese and the slightly bitter endive. I calculated these to be about 30 calories per leaf.

-Parmesean, Pecan and Pear Salad in Endive

2-3 Belgian endives, trimmed, and leaves separated

1 small garlic clove, minced and mashed
1 Tbs. low fat mayonnaise
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded or coarsely chopped Parmesan cheese (not finely grated--you want texture)
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup finely diced ripe pear
1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped fine, plus 2 Tbs. for garnish
2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh parsley
a few grinds black pepper

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients but endive. Dip the wide end of each endive leaf into the salad, scooping 1 Tbs. or so of salad onto the leaf. Lightly press onto the leaf, and arrange on a platter or plates. Sprinkle with the reserved chopped pecans to garnish. The mixture can be made the day before, and the leaves filled an hour before being served. Makes 20-25 or so, and is easily doubled.

another Gratitude Friday, for which I am grateful to Diana in Piemonte. http://creativestructures.blogspot.com/

Today I am grateful that:

There are still old stone walls running all through the New England landscape. Where there once were farms, the woodlands have re-emerged. And towns are preserving their open and wild spaces instead of letting them fall to the bulldozer.

The people in my little corner of the universe are all holding their own.

It's Friday! OK, a rainy and cold Friday, and I need to spend all weekend writing developmental assessments, but hey.

My nose was bruised, not broken.(an occupational hazard of working with young children--when they jump up suddenly)

My Benny Goodman-wannabee is practicing music I like.

I can zip a pair of size 10 jeans. Breathing is overrated, right? I'll be wearing them in another two-three weeks, I think.

The oven isn't working, but at least I have the stovetop, some spicy chicken sausage, red peppers, mushrooms and onions, and whole-wheat spaghetti for dinner. And salad, leftover roasted veggies, and Costco raspberries.

Larry brought home half the farmstand on Sunday.

First up--Swiss Chard. I was a chard virgin, although I've liked it in restaurants. Here's what I did, and we really enjoyed it. Chard, how have I avoided you all these years?

Chard with Onions, Orange and Chili

1 large bunch swiss chard, thoroughly washed
Cooking spray
1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small seedless tangerine or 1/2 orange, peeled and segmented
3 Tbs. orange juice
a few shakes chili flakes
salt and pepper

Using a sharp scissors, cut the green leafy part of the leaf away from the thick chard stems. Chop the stems, and shred the leaves. Keep them separate. In a large skillet, spray some oil, then heat the 1 tsp. olive oil. Add the onion, and cook until just starting to brown. Add the garlic, oranges, and chili flakes. Put the chard stems into the pan, and 1 Tbs. of the orange juice. Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until softened. Add more juice if needed. Add the leaves in batches, and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper, mix well, and serve.

Came home from work on Friday with a sore throat, and by the next morning had a definite case of the snots. I decided to not inflict my germs on my parents, and stayed home instead of going to New York. Oh well. Sent Larry off to the Catskills to do his mother's bidding, and Evan also elected to stay home with me.

It was nice to have time to catch up with things, with nothing being particularly pressing.

Harvested some grapes from the garden yesterday.

And Yukon Gold potatoes.

Decided that chai tea smells better than it tastes.

Dropped a glass plate on the floor. Spent far too much time hunting down glass shards before I remembered the Roomba.

Went on an online shopping spree. Ordered heavier weights and resistance bands. We may go to Sanibel in February, and I want to do longer kayaking trips this time. Need to get my arms and back stronger! Also ordered an electric spice grinder and a jeans jacket (Size 8!) that was on sale.

Started the new thick wool cardigan with lacy bit at the waist. Another advantage of losing weight--smaller size sweater, less yarn, faster finishing.

I made a Yemenite Vegetable-Beef soup, loosely based on a recipe and more on one I ate in a hole-in-the-wall in Tel Aviv with Baruch the bus driver (who drove with a pistol in his lap, this was back in 2003 during the Intifada)
.

Gratitude Friday, for which I am grateful to Diana at http://www.creativestructures.blogspot.com/

Today I am grateful for:

Heading down to New York on my own, as Larry and Evan are doing the "Schlepathon" to bring my Mother in Law and assorted mysterious boxes from her house in the Catskills to her apartment in Manhattan. I'll get some solo museum time, and meet up with them Sunday night.

I am grateful for my free "hotel" in the city, my parent's lumpy sofabed on the Upper East Side. There may be dinner and puppy play time. If I am really lucky, puppy will sleep in my parent's room, and not whine at me all night.

The Chinatown Bus (Oh come on, it's not that bad--there haven't been any accidents this year, LOL) is stilll $15, and dumps me on Canal Street and the number 6 train uptown.

I started a new sweater, so I will have some bus knitting. A cardigan with a lace inset at the waist, in a heavy dark rose wool. pattern here (although mine will not be quite as tightly fitted) http://www.woollymammothknits.com/chunkyfudgelace.html

I can cheer on Kim on her Avon Breast Cancer Walk. East 77th Street and York, 3 pm.

There are exhibits I want to see at the Met on Sunday morrning. And a short walk will take me to the awesome cookbook store on Lexington. I may go downtown to find cheap jewelry from street vendors in Soho. Or I may just walk through Central Park.

Oh oh oh--My mother just e-mailed me that this weekend is the Manhattan Yarn Crawl! I think I know how my birthday money is going to be spent...

I have a Metro card in my bag that still has money on it.

Larry and I will go out to dinner Sunday night. Sushi!

I have Monday off.

Whee!

Here's my dirty little secret. In spite of my cultural heritage, I am indifferent to most smoked salmon. From hand-sliced nova to hot-smoked flaky Alaska salmon, I just much prefer the fresh to the smoked. And since I've been avoiding as much sodium as possible for the past few months, my tastes have changed so that even a tiny piece just screams "SALT!" to my taste buds. I looked around for a recipe where the salmon would be used for the salty counterpoint to the rest of the ingredients, and by chance, stumbled across this recipe for little appetizer cups of a cucumber-apple-radish salad topped with smoked salmon, here: http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2009/08/19/verrine-cucumber-yogurt-smoked-salmon/

As I followed the recipe, I thought the radishes would overpower the delicacy of the cucumber and apple so ended up leaving them out. I also made the slaw more about apple than cucumber. What resulted was a light little slaw-type thing, topped with tangy yogurt and lime and the salty salmon. I loved the contrast between the apple and the salmon, and think that's the strength of the dish.

Apple, Cucumber and Smoked Salmon Salad

Makes four appetizer portions

* 2 small cucumbers, peeled and seeded
* Salt
* 1 lime
* 1 sweet red apple, not peeled
* 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
* 1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint
* 1 tablespoon chopped dill
* 4 slices of smoked salmon, diced

Steps:

* Grate the cucumber (I used a food processor) and place it in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and let rest for 30 minutes.Use your hands to squeeze out the excess water.
* Grate apple, and drizzle with lime juice from half the lime to prevent oxidation. Transfer to a bowl. Combine with the squeezed cucumber.
* Add the fresh herbs (reserve a bit of dill for garnish) , and 3-4 tablespoons yogurt. No need to add more salt as the cucumber is already seasoned. Taste and adjust for balance as needed--a bit more apple for sweetness, some pepper, maybe more lime juice?
* Divide between four glasses.
* Top with another spoon of yogurt in each glass and finish with the diced smoked salmon.
* Sprinkle with a bit more dill. Serve with more lime juice to taste.