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 have a few dozen recipes I've bookmarked in Dolce Italiano but unfortunately got a bit side-tracked during the holidays. But I'm back now. Last night I went to a friend's house for dinner and I thought I'd bring a little something from the book for dessert. Angela from A Spoonful of Sugar had baked the Venetian Apple Cake back in November and had given it high marks so I thought I'd give it a go.

It comes together pretty easily once you grate the apple. Which I must say, I've never done before and I didn't get much out of it, even after scraping the grater down, but I didn't worry. I knew from reading Angela's blog that the cake had the essence of apple, not big chunks, like most of the apple cakes I've made in the past. The only other thing I noted was that after grating the apple, while assembling the other ingredients, the apple turned, not unexpected but I wondered if it would affect the coloring of the cake. It doesn't. The cake is golden and the apple fits right in - you don't really see it. Lastly, the spices used (a combination of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg) give it a real autumnal flavor - yum!

Something about winter Sundays makes me want to eat stew. Well, at least something that's cooked slowly all afternoon while I slovenly sit on the couch, in this case, watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. So for yesterday's meal, I returned to the photocopies a friend made me from the Weight Watchers In One Pot cookbook.

But let me digress one moment. I have to say, there are two things that irk me about the Weight Watcher cookbooks. 1) They only offer them for a limited time and then they're gone. Unless you want to way overpay on E-bay, you snooze, you lose. 2) They repeat recipes. Well, yes, maybe they're not exactly the same but I don't call changing macaroni from regular to whole wheat and low fat cheese to fat free cheese in order to make something core, a new recipe. I guess because of these two bugaboos, I have no compunction about reprinting their recipes.

Anyway, so back to my lazy Sunday - for yesterday, I decided to make a Beef Burgundy, which while it wasn't entirely in one pot, came close enough. I assembled all the ingredients about 10:00am because the recipe said it needed 8 to 10 hours on low. It was easy peasy, and then it sat and cooked away all day, making the house smell pretty good.

There are no pictures though because I have this thing with slow cooker foods - I don't know if it's me, or if it's because the recipe cooked too long (as I said, the recipe said 8 - 10 hours, but my crockpot cooks hot and it probably was done in more like 5.5 to 6 hours) or if it's just a function of crock pot cookery, but other than the parsley sprinkled on at the end, all the colors just melt, into a sort of brown. It tasted good though and Becky and Chris both said I could make it again. There's a lot of extra gravy, so make sure you have an nice crusty loaf for mopping.

Another Weight Watcher recipe, this time from Turnaround Program Cookbook. I love Chinese food so anything that resembles that, and satisfies a craving, I'm in. This one did that and came together quick. I'm usually concerned that there's not enough sauce in these recipes but this one had enough to coat all the chicken and broccoli nicely. Becky doesn't like broccoli but picked out the chicken and gave it a thumbs up. I will make it again.

So this week I got to choose what our Sunday Slow Bakers made. I wanted something slightly challenging, different, and with produce I knew I could easily find this time of year. I would have chosen the zucchini cake but I was hoping to do it this summer (with the glut of zucchini I get from the farm - though now I think it's what we're making next week, but I need to check). Gelato was another definite possibility, but we're supposed to be baking, so I ignored those too. There was also an apple tart - but again, to me, a fall dish, which is how I ended up with grapes (nine weeks out of ten I can find decent grapes at the market).

First off, I got these big, sweet black grapes from Whole Foods, so that part was easy. I had some left over hazelnuts from when I made the chocolate hazelnut cookies, no grappa (for soaking the grapes), so I substituted some Frangelico and the rest of the ingredients were pretty straightforward (e.g., butter, flour, cream, eggs, sugar).

I had already made two tarts using the Sweet Pastry Crust, a Fresh Fig Tart and the cover recipe, Pine Nut Tart, so I didn't have any nerves about assembling it this third time. I still love this crust recipe. It comes together easily, isn't delicate, so if it breaks while I'm rolling, or moving to the tart shell, it's easily repairable, and this time, if someone doesn't forget to close the freezer drawer and defrost my freezer, I should hopefully have some crust left for another tart real soon.

Likewise, the filling was pretty easy too - though it did require three different bowls, one on the food processor for chopping the nuts, one for the egg yolks and one for the egg whites. The recipe suggests using the same bowl for the yolks and whites, and just cleaning between, but since I needed a bowl to mix the hazelnuts and egg yolks together in, I didn't do that. I just used my hand mixer for the egg yolks, added the hazelnuts, and my stand mixer to beat the egg whites.

Leave plenty of time for this recipe though, both active and inactive. Inactive because the tart dough requires an hour or two of chilling before rolling, and then another hour once it's rolled out and in the shell. Active because slicing and then placing those grapes could be a bit time consuming.

It baked up fine in the specified time and looked pretty puffy when it first came out of the oven but then settled nicely. The grapes did spread some, so don't be afraid to place them close together.

I made this for dessert for Rosh Hashanah this year and it was really good. I left out the nuts in my version, only because I forgot but still no issues. I'd definitely make this lightened version of my normal recipe in the future.

Sorry, no pictures. And for you Weight Watchers, this comes in at 6 points.

As life returns to "normal" I've started to cook again. Though, with the expectation that I'll be tired by the end of the day, I'm selecting recipes that are labeled either quick and easy or under 30 minutes. Last night, I snagged Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Garlic, and Parmesan from Cooking Light as it was tagged Quick and Easy, and it was.

Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Garlic, and Parmesan.

We totally enjoyed this dish, and the only thing I may do differently next time is up the crushed red pepper a tad (or perhaps buy some fresh crushed red pepper). I may also bulk up the boccoli rabe because I love it, and that will increase my vegies and portion size while also increasing the number of vegie servigs I get in a day.

I've had a fascination with crock pot (aka slow cooking) for as long as I can remember. The idea of prepping a meal in the morning and coming home to the wonderful smells of dinner ready is just too appealing to me (an admitted fridge raider when I first walk in the door), to not own one (and now two) crock pots. I have two problems with them though.

1. So many recipes end up being just mushy, bland or muted
2. I steer away from recipes that require browning in one pan, then transferring ingredients to another (why should I have to clean two pots?). Not to mention, you lose all that wonderful brown stuff on the bottom of the pan when you transfer it to another.

I'm still in search of the perfect crock pot recipes (I'm finding though, often it's the pot and not the recipe, as some pots cook notoriously faster than others and the cook must learn to adjust). But as far as the second issue, well I think I have found the solution.

You see a few short weeks ago (just before Christmas to be precise), my friends told me of this miraculous crock pot that has an insert and lets you brown on the stove, and then just transfer the insert to the heating mechanism for cooking.

So you can imagine my surprise (not) when this pot showed up under my father in-law's Christmas tree for me, Versaware Crock-Pot.

It allows you to take the stoneware out of the insert and brown on the stove (though no higher than a medium flame, and on electric stoves, you must use a heat diffuser, included). It also has a timer you can set for cooking, which automatically turns to warm once the cooking time is completed (so once I get times down for each recipe, hopefully, no more overcooked food too). Oh, and it can go in the dishwasher!

I'm gave it a test on Sunday, converting the recipe below from oven to crock-pot. Hopefully, it works because I'm a big fan of beef stew.

Weight Watchers Classic Beef Stew

Weight Watchers Classic Beef Stew

12 oz lean sirloin beef, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/8 tsp table salt, to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion(s), chopped
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1/2 cup(s) canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup(s) fat-free beef broth
1 leaf/leaves bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
3 large carrot(s), sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 cup(s) frozen green peas, thawed
4 oz light beer
2 Tbsp parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 200ºF (100ºC). Season beef and dredge in 1 1/2 teaspoons of the flour seasoned with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Heat oil in oven-proof skillet and brown beef over high heat, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove meat from pan.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to pan and sauté until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until golden. Stir in remaining flour and cook until it just begins to color, about 1 minute.

Pour in beer, tomatoes and 1 cup beef broth; add bay leaf , thyme and carrots. Return beef to pot. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in oven. Cook until meat is tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Check on stew occasionally. Add remaining 1/2 cup beef broth if liquid is running low.

Ten minutes before serving, add peas to stew. Cover and let stand. Season to taste and sprinkle in parsley, then serve in 1-cup servings. Each serving is 6 points. It makes four servings.

Read on to say the adjustments I made for the crock pot.

While Chris is away during the week, Becky was in Israel and Sammi down at the shore, I was cooking for only me. Doing that, I would just poke around the freezer each afternoon to see what left over meat was in there, then I'd do a search for a recipe, and come up with something for me. I actually ended up grilling a lot, and one day, after finding a few chicken breasts in the freezer, stumbled upon this recipe, which was easy and flavorful.

Quick Barbecue Chicken

This is my own creation. Although, really it's based on the broccoli raab and sausage dish you see in lots of places. I make that too but we've had an abundance of Swiss Chard from our CSA this year, so I've used that to make this too.

Pasta with Sausage and Swiss Chard

First, I take anywhere from 1/2 pound to 1lb hot turkey Italian sausage, removed from its casing, and brown that in a big pan. Then I remove it.

Then, I take two or three cloves of sliced garlic and put them in the pan with olive oil (If I'm watching my weight go down, I use maybe 2t to 1T oil; if I'm watching it go up, I just pour it in), I cook the garlic and some crushed red pepper (depending upon how much heat you want) until the garlic is just shy of toast (you should be able to smell it). Then I toss in a whole bunch of sliced, washed chard (don't worry it cooks way down and really, it's hard to get too much). I don't worry about draining the chard well either b/c the water helps it cook. I sprinkle it with a bit of salt.

Meanwhile, I've boiled water for pasta (I may even take some of this water - like a 1/2C and add it to the chard to help it cook). I add pasta to the water (any short type - orrecchiete, shells, rigatoni, penne - just not spaghetti or linguine or something like that).

Once the chard has wilted, I add the sausage and if my timing is right, my pasta is ready about a minute later. I set aside about 1C of the pasta water before I drain the pasta, and add the drained pasta to the sausage and chard. I add some of the reserved water to "loosen" it a bit, scraping up the browned bits and basically giving the pasta a nice coating of flavor.

Serve with some grated cheese on top.

By the way, using 1/2 pound of whole wheat pasta, 1T olive oil, 1/2 pound turkey Italian sausage, and up to 1/2lb chard gets you 6 weight watcher points for a serving of 4 (no cheese).

Batting 1000 this week. Last night I made this Cooking Light recipe and we all (sans Sammi, who is away and doesn't eat anything anyway), loved it. I sprinkled my shrimp with Chipotle Chili Pepper instead of ground black pepper and I didn't use a grill pan (they're a pain to clean) but a large frying pan (because I couldn't get our outdoor grill to light). Other than that, I kept it pretty much the same and it was good! Oh, and I left the tail shell on the shrimp, next time, I'll remove it.

Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Salad

• 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I used chipotle chili pepper)
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 8 Boston lettuce leaves (I didn't bother with these)

1. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and black pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add half of shrimp to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove shrimp from pan; repeat procedure with remaining shrimp. Cool shrimp for 5 minutes.

2. Place shrimp in a medium bowl; stir in celery and next 6 ingredients (through cumin). Arrange 2 lettuce leaves on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 3/4 cup shrimp mixture.

This came in at 6PPV on Weight Watchers (four servings). I still need to convert my other recipes.

Photo by: Photo: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr. I stole it because I was too lazy to take my own.

I like apples. I like chicken, so as I perused Weight Watchers recipes, looking for a simple but good weeknight dish, this seemed like a no brainer. I decided to make it last night because my Mom was staying with me so at least I knew I wouldn't just be making it for me (my daughter, Sammi, is the quickest to exclaim, "I don't like chicken!").

It's a bit of prep with the slicing of the onion and peeling and slicing of the apple, but made a little simpler because I used Perdue perfect portions (which actually are more like 4.75 oz per serving) so as not to have to worry about my chicken breast size. Weight Watchers says 20 minutes prep, and I think that's about right. The nice thing though, once the chicken and onions are cooked, you set it to simmer for 30 minutes which is plenty of time to make a nice side dish of rice or couscous and a salad to go with, set the table, and clean up your workspace.

I worry when making these dishes that there will be enough sauce to enjoy with the meat, but this had plenty, with enough apples to correspond with the chicken. So much so that Sammi even agreed to try it and liked it!

It's a great fall dish, one that I'm contemplating making again for the holidays!

Apple Braised Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 pound uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast, four 4-oz pieces (again, I used Perdue Perfect Portions so came in at almost 5 ozs a piece)
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 large onion, sliced (I used two small ones, didn't have a large one)
• 2 medium apples, firm, cored and sliced - they're not kidding - use firm like granny smith otherwise 30 minutes will make them too soft. I also peeled mine.
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 cup fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp table salt (I used kosher, I always use kosher salt)
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger (I used scant ginger and a bit of curry because my Mom has an aversion to ginger)
• 2 tsp cornstarch

Directions

Reduce stove temperature to low and add onion to skillet. Sauté, stirring often, until onion is tender and lightly browned. Stir in apples, cider, chicken broth, salt, ginger and chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken, onions and apples to a serving dish (I covered the dish with foil) to keep it warm).

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 2 to 3 tablespoons of pan juices. Combine cornstarch mixture with remaining pan juices, whisking constantly. Simmer for one minute. Pour sauce over chicken and serve. Yields 1 chicken breast and about 3/4 cup of apple-onion mixture per serving.

And it's 6 Weight Watchers PPV. Enjoy!