What I Really Think

My friend, Rain, is having a baby. It's getting difficult getting to the supermarket, when she's very pregnant and already has a toddler in tow. So she decided to try one of those home delivery/pick-up services. Basically, she goes on line, orders her food and then for two different prices, she has the option of either picking up the order, or having it delivered. The problem with these services, is, as a shopper, you must be completely aware of products and sizes. Rain, not so much - as she ordered a five pound bag of baby carrots last week. Five pounds is a lot of carrots and I'd imagine most people would be hard-pressed to use them up, let alone someone who doesn't cook or bake regularly. Lucky for me though, I became the recipient of about four pounds of that bag, so I went to work finding recipes to make.

Yesterday, I did a bit of baking after finding these recipes on Cooking Light. First up, Quick Carrot Bread.

Carrot-Raisin Quick Bread
From

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup coarsely shredded carrot
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons stick margarine or butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl (flour through nutmeg). Combine carrot and next 5 ingredients (carrot through egg) in a small bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring just until flour mixture is moist.

Pour batter into an 8-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 174 (19% from fat); FAT 3.6g (sat 0.8g,mono 1.5g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 3.1g; CHOLESTEROL 19mg; CALCIUM 42mg; SODIUM 215mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.9g

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 1998

I think I mentioned somewhere that my CSA is experimenting with a winter share this year. They've never done one before but for $400 we get 16 weeks worth of crops from November through March (or so). It sounded like a good experiment, so I bought in. Though the quantity of crops has not been as rich as the summer, the quality is still good.

That said, last week, I received a cabbage head, that's, well, bigger than Becky's head.

(she's not happy up there because it's right after swim practice). Anyway...

At first, I thought I'd make Roasted Cabbage Rolls but then I saw this recipe in the March Bon Appetit, Cabbage and White Bean Soup with Sausage and it stuck in my head plus the Roasted Cabbage seemed too labor intensive and I didn't feel like it. So Wednesday, when I was at the farm market, and they had chicken apple sausage I decided to make the soup instead. Only problem, when I got home I realized I didn't have everything I needed. So this is what I came up with.

Many of you know that I belong to a CSA, which means every week from June through November, I get a box off localy, organically grown goodies. Each week you don't know what you get until you arrive, but after you've been doing this a while, you get a feel for what will come and when.

Lately though, it seems we're getting Swiss chard out the wazoo. I mean really - how many times can you eat sauteed Swiss chard? And while I like it in my lentil soup, I hate that when I freeze my soup, the chard gets kind of a nasty green as opposed to the vibrant green it has if I cook it just right.

So last week I went searching for a new Swiss Chard recipe and found:

Swiss Chard Spanakopita Casserole

Cooking spray
2 1/4 cups minced white onion
3/4 cup minced green onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
9 cups chopped trimmed Swiss chard (about 1 1/2 pounds)
6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 large egg whites
10 (18 x 14-inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Preheat oven to 350°.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add white onion; sauté 7 minutes or until golden. Add green onions and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in chard; cook 2 minutes or until chard wilts. Stir in parsley and mint, and cook 1 minute. Place in a large bowl; cool slightly. Stir in cheeses, salt, pepper, and egg whites.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board (cover remaining phyllo to prevent drying), and coat with cooking spray. Top with 1 phyllo sheet, and coat with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with 3 additional sheets.

Cut phyllo stack into a 14-inch square. Place square in center of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray, allowing phyllo to extend up long sides of dish. Cut 14 x 4-inch piece into 2 (7 x 4-inch) rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half lengthwise. Place a rectangle against each short side of dish. Spread the chard mixture evenly over phyllo.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board (cover remaining phyllo to prevent drying), and coat with cooking spray. Top with 1 phyllo sheet, and coat with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo sheets. Place 18 x 14-inch phyllo stack over chard mixture. Fold phyllo edges into center. Coat with cooking spray. Score phyllo by making 2 lengthwise cuts and 3 crosswise cuts to form 12 rectangles. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until golden.

Note: Cut the phyllo stacks so they fit in and up the long side of the baking dish. Arrange folded section against short edges of dish to encase filling.

Yield: 12 servings

CALORIES 121 (35% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.3g); IRON 1.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 14mg; CALCIUM 134mg; CARBOHYDRATE 13.6g; SODIUM 449mg; PROTEIN 6.1g; FIBER 1.6g

Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2003

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Now Phylo is one of those ingredients that scare me - it's brittle, it sticks together, you know the drill but this wasn't bad. Because you're making it into a casserole, you can easily hide your mistakes (sort of like lasagna). The instructions weren't so clear, and I meant to take more pictures (will do next time), but here's one from my camera phone of the casserole before I placed the top layer on.

Basically, you're cutting up the bottom layer of phyllo into three pieces so you have enough to line the edges of the casserole dish, all the way around. Then you cover it with the top layer, tucking the edges in towards the center.

Again, sorry for the lack of pictures, but I made this after riding 100K that morning, and while we were expecting company that night but trust me, it looked and tasted delicious. Oh, and can you believe I actually didn't have enough Swiss Chard, so supplemented with a little baby spinach too.

Definitely a make again and for you WW fans out there, it has 3 points per decent-size serving.

It's that time of year again, the time of year when zucchini comes out of everyone's ears! We are no exceptions. Well, at least this year we didn't even bother growing our own. I've tried several zucchini bread recipes including an orange zucchini bread that I think I forgot to blog about (I'll go see if I can find pictures). So in addition to Becky's favorite, the lemony zucchini muffins I made last summer, this morning I tried a new recipe from Cooking Light.

Zucchini Bread

I have two disconnected memories of Peach Ice Cream from my childhood. One, I'm not sure is real but I remember visiting cousins of my mom, at their house on a lake, and having peach ice cream. Another time, I remember our neighbors, across the street, making it in this big wooden thing you had to crank. Not much came out in the end (at least I thought for what you put into it) but what came out (considering I wasn't a peach ice cream fan - I mean c'mon peach when you can have chocolate?), was pretty darn good.

So other than those two memories, since childhood, I hadn't really given much thought to eating and/or making peach ice cream.

Of course, that was until the Sunday Slow Scoopers stepped in.

Now let me start off by stating, if you don't get good peaches, don't bother with this. Your peaches taste bland, your ice cream tastes bland - there's no way around that axiom.

So while I'm on the subject of good peaches. Let's take a moment to educate the masses on how to choose a peach. Never, ever, ever squeeze a peach. I hate to tell people, but odds are most of the peaches in the bins (especially at the supermarkets) aren't ripe. Squeezing a hard peach, only leaves bruises that won't appear until the peach actually does ripen - so that perfect peach you bought at the market, a day or two later, will be completely bruised from where you poked and prodded it (or worse yet, my perfect peach will be because some shmo before me squeezed the crap out of it - can you tell I'm passionate about my peaches?). To choose a peach, simply pick it up, gently cupping it in the palm of your hand, and sniff it around the stem. If it smells like peach, even if it's hard, it will taste like peach. When you get home, stick it in a paper bag on your counter for a day or too and voila, good peach.

So now, once you have your perfect peaches, and they've ripened, you can make the ice cream (you need four good size peaches for this recipe, 600 grams or 1 1/3 pounds).

First you peel them. Does anyone have a good method for peeling peaches? Because I gotta tell you, those suckers get slippery as your working your way around them and almost lost a couple to the sink. Once peeled, slice all the way around the peach, dividing it in half and basically pry it apart to get the pit out. Now chunk it and throw it into a non-reactive medium-sized pot, with a half a cup of water and 3/4 cup of sugar. Cook that on the stove for 10 minutes, covered, on a medium flame stirring once or twice during the process. Let it cool to room temp.

Peach Mixture After Blending
Now take your peach mixture and in a blender or food processor (I used a blender), puree that with 1/2 cup of sour cream (I used full fat but may try light or no fat next time to see how it changes the consistency), 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and a couple of drops of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. You want some chunks in this sucker, so don't puree too long. I think I did mine for a few seconds at most.

Chill the mixture in the fridge - I've taken to chilling mine overnight. Stick it in your ice cream machine and let it do it's thing. That's it - easy peasy. Oh and Dave says you can do this with nectarines too (follow guidelines above for choosing peaches), but you don't need to peel them because they soften enough during the cooking process.

Peach Ice Cream w/ Blackberries from the CSA

So here's my question though: can I make that sugar-syrup peach step and can or freeze it during the summer, then use those all winter long to make fresh peach ice cream? We didn't go peach picking this summer, but if we do next summer, it may be a good way to use all those peaches!

Update: A 1/3 cup serving is 3 weight watchers points. A 1/2 cup serving is 5 WW points.

I got this recipe many years ago from an old friend. She made this Challah for Rosh Hashanah because it's especially sweet but you can use it whenever. Suse taught me how to bake and how cooking for your friends and loved ones is a way to show them you love them. Every time I bake this bread, I think of her.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Suse's Challah (3 points)
1 cup hot water
2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup honey
5 cups flour
1/4 cup oil (I use canola)
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs

1. Add oil to water
2. Add honey, stir until dissolved
3. Sprinkle yeast over mixture
4. Stir once to moisten
5. Let rise (5 to 10 minutes)
6. Add 2 cups flour to mixture
7. Add egg, raisins and rest of flour
8. Knead until smooth and elastic
9. Let rise 1 hour
10. Make challah (2 small round ones can also be made haven't tried braided yet - see pictures below)
11. Put on cookie sheet
12. Let rise until double in size (about 1 hour)
13. Brush w/ beaten egg yolk
14. Bake until golden brown (about 30 - 40 minutes at 350)

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 153 Calories; 3g Fat (17.4% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 28g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 18mg Cholesterol; 8mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Deborah, of Old Shoes New Trip provided this week's recipe. It sounded like a great side salad to our barbecue dinner last night (gaucho steak sandwiches) so I made it yesterday evening, not realizing the flavors were supposed to blend overnight. Oh well! It was still darn good, and am looking forward to having it again this evening with our Greek-Style Burgers.

Roasted Corn & Wild Rice Salad

Roasted Corn & Wild Rice Salad

The recipe is very easy. It keeps well and freezes well. You can serve it both chilled or at room temperature. Great for picnics where you don't want to worry about spoilage.

1 package - uncooked wild rice. (the original recipe called for wild rice blend, but I prefer the stronger flavors of only wild rice.)
2 cups - frozen roasted corn nibblets (Deborah uses Trader Joes. I don't know if our local shop rite carries such a thing, so I bought frozen corn kernels and then sauteed them in a non-stick pan until they were caramelized a bit).
1 cup - finely chopped celery
3/4 cup - shredded carrot
3/4 cup - Craisins
2/3 cup - toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup - finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup - raspberry vinegar
1 tbs - olive oil
1 tbs - low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp - grated orange peel
1/2 tsp - pepper

Cook rice according to package directions: omit salt and fat. Cool.
Combine rice, corn and all other ingredients in a bowl; stir well; chill overnight to blend flavors.
Serve cold from fridge or bring to room temp if you prefer. (I like room temp., Dan likes cold)

This makes a pretty big batch, so you might want to halve it.

I have to say I was a bit leery on the orange zest addition but it really gives the salad a nice, refreshing flavor.

Oh, and for Weight Watchers out there figure 12 servings, serving size 2/3 cup and 3 points per serving.

A couple of weeks ago I received a bunch of delicata squash from our CSA. I didn't know what to do with them until I did some research and found that they're similar to a butternut squash. Still, not having any meals with which I'd consider cooking them, and a chill in the air today, I decided to bake with them, converting a chocolate chip pumpkin bread recipe to use the delicata squash instead.

"Delicata" Bread

Found this recipe on Cooking Light this morning, Pumpkin Muffins, when searching for something I could make for some friends coming over for coffee (I knew I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry). After reading reviews for the recipe and based upon what I had on hand, I made a few adjustments and came up with this instead.

Pumpkin Muffins (with chocolate chips)

Sammi has been asking me for years to make Monkey Bread. Y'all know what Monkey Bread is right? Well, for those who don't it's this pull-apart bread coated in a cinnamon-sugary caramelized syrup and it's downright decadent. Well, for obvious reasons (i.e., as obvious as my stomach hanging over my pants), I never made it (seriously, it's like heroin to an addict).

Anyway, now that Sammi is baking, I finally decided to let her have a go at it and purchased a "Monkey Bread kit" for her for Hanukkah (with the intent that she could bake us all Monkey Bread for Christmas morning). Unfortunately, that morning, we realized the kit needed some major effort (i.e, allowing time for dough to rise and such), and we were hungry. So instead we opted for this recipe, Grands Monkey Bread since I had a couple of cans of biscuits in the house (Sandy, please, I hope you're not reading this and discovering that I don't make biscuits from scratch). Within 45 minutes, yummy, Monkey Bread.

But now I'm back on program and so I decided to check out Cooking Light to see if they have any Monkey Bread recipes, and surprisingly they do, here but I didn't want to deal with the frozen bread do. So I combined the best of both worlds to come up with my version.

Mmm...Monkey Bread

We celebrated our Valentine's dinner an evening early as Chris works tomorrow (though the girls are off from school). We were quite lazy, watching the Olympics (interspersed with House on Bravo) so it was a good thing this meal came together so quickly.

First we started with some caviar that we purchased at Whole Foods earlier in the day. Chris went with the usual blini but in an effort to keep the points down, I opted to use some endive leaves as my "scoop." Yum.

Next up, we moved onto Roasted Lobster Tail with a Ginger Dipping Sauce and some simply roasted brussel sprouts.

Roasted Lobster Tail

A few weeks ago we started doing a Sunday Slow Sides cooking group, focusing on ingredients from the summer's bounty. I've actually been making most of the recipes, just not posting. So I'll be catching up over the next few days. Unfortunately, I missed the first week which was a pea dish provided by Amy of Destination Anywhere called Petits Pois a la Francaise but someday I will get back to it.

Next up came Avocados from Shannon. She provided two recipes and gave us a choice:

Grandma's Recipe

Avocado
Hard Boiled Egg
A Little Mayo
Onion Salt (or regular salt.)

Basically, smash these four things up until it is good and mashed. You can use more egg, more avocado, whatever. I think it is probably one avocado to 2 eggs. She says you don't need to add mayo even, unless you want to.

She used to put it on HomePride Buttertop bread for me which I adored because lets face it that is not really bread, it is junk food. Use whatever kind of bread you want. A hearty wheat would be good... or sourdough. And garnish with whatever you think would be good. My childhood memories has them unadorned, of course.

Because that is so simple here is another sandwich recipe to try, along with Grandma's (or instead of.)

Open-Face Avocado and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feninger
(from Saveur Magazine)

1) Mix 1 T. lemons juice with salt and pepper to taste in a bowl - stir well.

2) While whisking constantly, drizzle in 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil to form a dressing, set aside.

3) Put 4 oz. soft goat cheese, 2 T. lemon juice, 1/8 tsp. pepper, the flesh from 4 ripe avocados, and a few dashes of Tabasco in a bowl. Lightly mash with a fork, season to taste with salt.

4) Divide avocado mixture between 12 lightly toasted small baguette halves and spread to cover each.

5) Transfer baguettes to baking sheet and broil until just warmed through, 1 - 2 minutes.

6) Top with tomato and cucumber slices, and drizzle with dressing.

I opted for the first recipe and because I'm me, and because I'm on Weight Watchers, I made some adjustments.

Grandma's Avocado Mash

First I hard boiled 3 eggs, and used all three whites but only one yolk (for you WW people that's 2.5 points). Then I only used half of the avocado (another 2 points - but I probably should have used more), a little salt and a little smart beat mayo. Then I had 1/2 of the mixture on one of the new Thomas's Bagel Thins things (1 point) for a total of 3.25 (i rounded down) - 3 point sandwich. Oh, and I didn't have tomato in the house but wanted some, so I chopped a few grape tomatoes into the mash.

Shannon's Grandma's Avocado Mash

This week's recipe came from Annie of Churches in Venice She provided two recipes, Summer Green Bean Salad and Vibrant Tasty Green Beans, both from 101 Cookbooks.

I opted for the salad recipe (and actually had it with my previous Sunday side, the Avocado Mash).

Summer Green Bean Salad