Are You Nuts?

I look at a ton of food every week.  I look in magazines, cookbooks and  websites.  I might be a little obsessed but I do love to eat and therefore am very entertained by picking out recipes.  I may go through the same magazine 10 times before I decide something looks good to me or worth giving a try.  Such is the case with the Angel Hair Pasta with Walnut-Carrot Sauce.  Maybe you agree that at a glance, the name isn't overly appealing.  Personally I've never been a big fan of the walnut.  But being aware of just how healthy Walnuts are, I decided to give them more of a chance lately.

This pasta dish was surprisingly delicious and honestly, I've been having a bit of a craving for it (I make it a couple of weeks ago).  This recipe is pretty simple and only takes 30 min to make, perfect for a busy weeknight.

Gather your tools and let's get to it.  I actually roasted up some shrimp to go with this and I'll show you that after the sauce.  First you cook some whole-grain angel hair pasta saving 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water when its done.

The recipe calls for 10 ounces of pasta but I probably used closer to 12 for the 4 of us.  12 ounces is plenty for 4 and there are almost always leftovers, enough for a little lunch the next day. 

While the pasta water is heating up, put a couple of carrots, walnuts, some garlic, oregano, lemon zest and some salt and pepper in the food processor.  Almost forgot, a pinch of red pepper flakes as well. 

Process until finely chopped.

Next you heat some olive oil in a large skillet and add the carrots.  At this point the recipe says to add golden raisins, I say no thank you.  You do what you like.  So is it just me or does this picture make my stove look like it isn't flat?  I keep thinking my skillet is going to slide onto the floor.  What's up with that?

While those carrots are cooking through,  juice a lemon.  Once the carrot mixture has cooked about 5 minutes, add the cooking water from the pasta, and bring to a simmer.  Then you add the pasta, lemon juice, some fresh parsley and pecorino cheese.  Salt to taste and serve.

I know it doesn't sound like much but man, this was tasty.  I find that I don't like the whole-grain pasta with everything but it really works well with this sauce.

Angel Hair Pasta with Walnut-Carrot Sauce (Food Network Magazine)

Kosher salt
12 oz whole-grain angel hair pasta
2 med carrots, rough chopped
1/3 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp grated lemon zest
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup golden raisins (I opted out)
1/2 cup grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook as label directs.  Reserve 1 1/2 cup of pasta water, then drain.

Put the carrots, nuts, garlic, oregano, lemon zest, 1/2 tsp salt and red pepper flakes in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the carrot-walnut mixture and the raisins and cook, stirring until carrots soften and begin to brown, about 5 min.  Add reserved cooking water and bring to a simmer.  Next add the pasta, pecorino, lemon juice, parsley and salt to taste.  Toss and serve.

So about the shrimp,  I find this so easy and delicious anytime you need to add a little somethin' somethin' to a meal.

I put a tablespoon or so (just eyeball it) of olive oil, a squeeze of a lemon, a minced clove of garlic a dash of salt and a couple of turns of the pepper mill in a little bowl.  I also chop about a teaspoon or two of whatever fresh herb I have, usually oregano but parsley or thyme would be great too.

Pre-heat the oven to about 375 and toss the shrimp with the bowl of oily goodness and roast, turning once until they are opaque and pink.  If it has stopped snowing where you are you could also put the shrimp on a skewer and grill them instead.  Grilled shrimp is my fave.

There you have it.  A few simple ingredients, no specific measurements required.  Enjoy!

Pork Sweet Pork

I think we all have at least one thing that we're not comfortable cooking.  Some people are afraid to cook fish because they're unfamiliar with it, some shy away from roasts for fear of drying them out.  I hate to cook pork chops because they almost always come out either totally dried out or too tough.  It's too bad too because its nice to throw a little meat variety in the mix.  Since we joined a CSA for our beef and pork products, we often will have some pork chops on hand.  I found a recipe in Food Network Magazine for Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with sweet mashed potatoes.  These turned out really good.  The total cooking time is 40 min and the dinner comes in at 492 calories (likely less because they base this on 4 servings and you probably wouldn't eat 1/4 of the potatoes.  That would be a very hearty serving.

So you will need the juice of 1 orange, some olive oil, Cajun seasoning, fresh thyme and Worcestershire sauce to make the marinade.

Whisk it all together...

and cover your chops in it.  Place them in a 375 oven for 25 min turning once.  While those are cooking, put your sweet potatoes in the microwave and cook until soft, about 20 min.  Once cooled you'll scoop them into a bowl and mash with a fork along with some Cajun seasoning and butter.  These were a major hit!

After the chops have cooked for the 25 min, add some honey to the marinade and brush it on the chops and broil a few min on each side.  I may have mentioned this before, but I think it's worth mentioning again, if you measure your oil before you measure honey it will slip right off the spoon.  I was pretty excited when I made that discovery!

So there you have some nice, tasty chops.  Not tough or dry.  Just yummy.

How's that for a nice weeknight dinner? 

Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes
(Food Network Magazine)

Juice of 1 large orange (about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 tsps Cajun seasoning
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt
4 bone in center-cut pork chops (about 1 3/4 lb total)
2 Tbs honey
4 sweet potatoes (about 8 oz each)
2 Tbs unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Whisk together OJ, olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning, thyme, W-sauce and 3/4 tsp salt in a large bowl.  Pierce chops in several places with a fork and add to the bowl, turning to coat.  Transfer the pork chops to a rack on a rimmed baking sheet.  Reserve remaining marinade.  Bake the chops for 15 min, turn and continue baking until slightly golden, about 10 min more. 

Whisk honey into reserved marinade and brush onto chops.  Broil until golden and a thermometer reads 145 degrees, about 4 min on each side. Let rest about 5 min.

Meanwhile, pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork and microwave until soft, about 20 min.  Cut in half and scoop flesh into a bowl.  Add butter and remaining Cajun seasoning and mash.  Season with salt. Serve with pork chops and drizzle with pan juices if desired.

Good Things Come To Those That Move

I've been a little slow with the recipe sharing lately but I've been busy studying for my Health Coach Certification exam.  I'm happy to report that I passed with flying colors and I'm glad to take a break from studying for a while.  Although I do have a bunch of recipes on deck to pass along, today I want to share the most recent gathering of the brunch girls.  A couple of weeks ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon we gathered at my sister's house for a lovely pot luck brunch.

We were shy a couple of brunchers but we had a lovely time and a lovely meal which was not totally exaggerated for a change.  I think we're finally getting the hang of figuring out an appropriate amount of food. 

We started with a beverage and this White Bean and Prosciutto bruschetta that I found on the Food &Wine website.  I did doctor the recipe to my liking and decided after the fact that it is perfectly delicious without the meat.  I'll share my version sometime soon but if you can't wait, check out Food & Wine's website.

I should show you how nice and inviting the table was.  We're not always this fancy at brunch but that sister of mine, well, she can be pretty fancy.

Jenny made us a really nice spinach salad....

Ouije made this Egg Strata that trust me, we could all use the recipe for but she has to dig through her magazines or just put it on paper for us because it is delish!  I love the asparagus in it, yum.

Melanie made a really tasty Carrot Ginger Coconut soup.  She played with this recipe a bit too but if you click on the link, it's pretty close to what she made in her Vitamix blender.

Heather is always good for some sweets, she brought these Irish Cream cupcakes which were just perfect for March. 

So we ate and chatted and discussed our up coming events (wish I could remember what was just said, look at their faces!).  The next big one being The Paige's Butterfly Run which is a 5k in early June.  Missy will be running her first race and we are all bringing our families to either run or walk.  While on the topic of running and exercise we learned that one of our girls had a significant reduction in her cholesterol since she started running a few months ago!  Her total cholesterol went down and her HDL (the good one) went up quite a bit!  I love to hear things like this because it really proves that you can take control of your health.  And talk about your benefits of exercise, listen to this!  One of our girls was diagnosed a few years ago (at age 38) with osteoporosis.  Since that time she has been running and taking a R.I.P.P.E.D. class (interval training boot camp type class) and has since REVERSED her diagnosis.  How awesome is that?  I think sometimes people get too focused on exercise being about "getting skinny" (I'm not a fan of skinny by the way, I prefer healthy over skinny any day) rather than living a nice, long, healthy, comfortable life.  So here's to being able to keep up with our kids and even our grand kids, staying away from preventable diseases and spending our free time doing enjoyable activities and not being laid up,  and not spending our hard earned money on medical bills!  Cheers!

Hamming It Up

Spring is supposedly here.  I don't believe it but that's what they say.  With Easter on the horizon my food brain gravitates to ham and eggs.  Why is that anyway?  I get the egg thing but what is the deal with ham and Easter?  I don't have a problem with it since it's about one of two or three times a year that we have ham, but I am a little curious as to how that became the official meat of the Resurrection.  I recently made a hammy recipe that I thought I would share because you might find it a nice way to use up some of that leftover ham.  The recipe is Ham and Vegetable Gratin from Food Network Magazine (go figure).

First I should explain that the veggies in this recipe were onion, potatoes, and frozen peas and carrots.  I have a life long aversion to peas (unless they remain tucked in their pods) so I used a fresh carrot and a cup or so of chopped fresh broccoli.  Pre-heat your oven to 375 and chop your veggies.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large oven proof skillet.

Add the peas and carrots or in this case broccoli and carrots, onions and potatoes and cook until veggies start to soften, about 6 min.

Next add your ham and a few tablespoons of whole wheat flour and some dried thyme.

Next comes some chicken broth.  Bring that to a boil and then add milk and simmer a few minutes until slightly thickened.  Now put the skillet in the oven and cook until the potatoes are tender.

While that's in the oven, melt some butter in a medium pan and add 3/4 cup of panko bread crumbs and chopped fresh parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir until lightly toasted, 3-4 min.

Scatter the crumbs over the ham and veggies when they come out of the oven and let rest about 5 min before serving.

We decided to top ours with an over easy egg and unanimously decided that it was a great addition.

The next day I reheated it in a skillet and scrambled an egg into it and topped with a sprinkle of melted cheddar.  Oh man, that was good! I'm a huge fan of leftovers.

Ham and Vegetable Gratin (Food Network Magazine)

4 Tbs unsalted butter
1 small onion chopped
2 large Yukon gold potatoes (about 1lb), diced
1 10oz pkg frozen mixed peas and carrots (or 1 cup diced carrot and 1 cup chopped broccoli)
1/4 lb low sodium ham, chopped (I'm sure I used twice that)
3 Tbs whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Melt 1 Tbs butter in a large oven proof skillet over med-high heat.  Add onion, potatoes, chopped veg and cook, stirring occasionally until soft about 5-6 min.  Add the ham, thyme, and flour and mix well.  Stir in broth and bring to a boil.  Stir in milk and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 min.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake about 20 min or until potatoes are soft.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 3 Tbs butter in a medium skillet over med-high heat.  Add panko, parsley and an 1/8 tsp of salt and pepper each. Cook stirring until lightly toasted, about 4 min.

Remove ham skillet from the oven, top with crumbs and let rest 5 min before serving.

I highly recommend the addition of a poached or lightly fried egg.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

While doing a little Internet perusing the other day I came across one of those motivational posters that you often see on social media that I thought was perfect- "You will never find the time to exercise, you will need to make the time." Or something to that effect.  No kidding, how many people just find themselves with absolutely nothing to do?  There's always something you could or should be doing but unless you make it a point to exercise that will probably be one of the things that gets left out.  I try to make a plan for each week, write on my planner which days I'll run, which days I'll do some strength and which days I'll do neither.  Sometimes they get shuffled around depending on what comes up during the week.  If I miss something I try to make up for it with an exercise DVD or Pilate's on demand (Verizon Fios has one that I really like) or even go out for a 2-3 mile walk with one or both kids.  The same is true for making good, healthy non-processed food.  If you make the time to pick a recipe and make it,  you will be amazed at how easily and quickly you can bang out a healthy homemade meal for your family.  With the exception of a couple of crazy recipes that I've posted, I've selected every one based on the fact that there is little to no skill required and they are relatively quick.  If you're eating out most nights, you're probably spending at least an hour in the restaurant.  You can be done way faster at home making a meal that doesn't have 2300 calories or 3200mg of sodium.  Then you won't need to find the time to spend in the hospital with ailments ultimately brought on by a terrible diet and sedentary lifestyle.  OK, done with my rant for today.

I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens called Lemon-Braised Chicken Tenders and Cauliflower.  I made a couple of adjustments, took out a couple of things and added a couple of things.  I'm going to share my adaptation along with some substitutions you may want to make to suit your tastes or your pantry.

First you put a little olive oil in a Dutch oven and heat over medium high heat.  Add 1 and 1/2 to 2 lbs of chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken cut into tenders and brown on both sides.  This amount fed my family of four so don't feel like you need to have 4 or 5 breasts, not necessary.

Remove the chicken to a plate when both sides are brown, it will not be cooked through but it's going in the oven so worry not about that.

While your chicken is browning cut up a half head (about 2 cups) of cauliflower.

You will also need to chop one large shallot (use a small onion if you prefer, I just happen to love shallots), 5 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp fresh thyme and 1 tsp of lemon zest.

Now you add the shallots, cauliflower, lemon zest and I added a half can of artichoke hearts cut into quarters, this too is optional but I think it's a very tasty addition not mention they are good for cardiovascular health, immunity, digestion and weight control to name a few of the benefits to adding them to your dish.  At this point I also added a 1/4 cup of dry white wine, again optional but I think wine, lemon and shallots are a dream team!

Once the cauliflower has begun to brown slightly, add the garlic, thyme and lemon juice.  Season with 1/4 tsp of salt and some fresh cracked pepper.

 After a minute or so, add 1 cup chicken broth and the chicken back into the pot, bring it to a boil and then cover and add to a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for about 10 min or until chicken is cooked through.  Once you remove the pot from the oven add two cups of fresh baby spinach to the pot (all my pictures of that step were blurry).

Spoon into bowls over cooked brown rice

top with chopped pistachios (pine nuts would work too)

and maybe the tiniest pinch of shredded Parmesan cheese.  Delish, healthy, easy.

Lemon-Braised Chicken and Cauliflower (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)

2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into strips
1 large shallot
1/2 head of cauliflower cut into florets (about 2 cups)
5-6 artichoke hearts drained and quartered
5 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup chopped pistachios
cooked brown rice

Preheat the oven to 375.  Heat 2 Tbs of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and brown on both sides, about 3 min on each side.  Remove chicken to a plate using a slotted spoon.  Add shallot, artichoke hearts and cauliflower to the pot and cook until lightly browned about 3 min.  Add garlic, thyme, white wine (optional), lemon zest and a 1/4 tsp of salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.  Cook for about 2 min.  Add lemon juice and stir scraping up any bits that stuck to the bottom of the pot.  Add the chicken broth and browned chicken to the pot and bring to a boil.  Cover and transfer to the oven and bake for 10 min or until the chicken is cooked through.  Add spinach and cover allowing the spinach to wilt, about 2 min.  Spoon over brown rice and top with a sprinkle of chopped nuts and a pinch of shredded parm.

There's A Storm A Brewin'

There's a big o'll snow storm brewing on the east coast and I for one am so ready for one!  I'd like to get snowed in for a couple of days (with my family, electricity and plenty of food of course).  Chances are we'll get less than predicted snow and there will be no such snowing in here but for those of you closer to the coast...look out.  When you head to the store for milk and bread, throw some ginger, stew beef and some Ro-Tel in your cart, you can let this cozy crock-pot meal cook away while you play Monopoly and watch movies.  Slow-Cooker Caribbean Beef Stew from Food Network Magazine is a new twist on your usual beef stew.  I typically make mine with stout beer or red wine but this one has ginger in it (that's new to me anyway).

There are not a ton of ingredients here.  The usual carrots, potatoes and beef along with fresh ginger, thyme, white pepper, allspice and Ro-Tel.

First you'll mix together some flour, chopped thyme leaves, allspice, salt and white pepper.

The recipe calls for 2 lbs of stew meat.  You can buy it chopped up but you can save a few bucks by cutting it up yourself if you've got an extra 2 minutes.

Add the beef to the bowl of flour and spices.

Toss the beef to fully coat in flour.

Next you chop up some carrots (I always go heavy on the carrots) and potatoes, ginger and garlic and toss it in the crock-pot with a couple of sprigs of thyme.

Next you put the meat right on top of the veggies.

Then you whisk a 1/2 cup of water and some Worcestershire sauce into the flour left in the bowl from coating the beef. Add it to the crock-pot

and open up a can of Ro-Tel (I really like this stuff).  This is the original flavor which is the tiniest bit spicy (my kids had plenty to say about that!) but it also comes in mild.

Plop it right on top and you are done for the next several hours.

Just like that, check dinner off the to do list.  Just walk away and let my retro-cooker do all the work.  Such a lovely concept, I do need to find more really good slow cooker recipes.

There you have it.  We had ours with a little rice and a nice hit of Siracha for good measure.  So if you're looking for something easy to warm your bones over the next couple of days, click the link for the full recipe and enjoy!
Caribbean Beef Stew