Eating Healthy for Two

I've always been a pretty healthy eater but now that I'm eating for two, I've been extra mindful of eating more veggies and fruits on a daily basis. It hasn't been too hard of a task, since I actually like eating vegetables. It's the keeping things interesting part I find challenging.

I usually buy pre-cooked beets from Trader Joe's but this weekend I decided to cook my own. It's really not that much of a big deal as long as you don't mind getting your hands a little pink. I boil them for about 35-40 minutes (until you can pierce a fork or bbq stick through the middle). Let it cool, peel and slice (or cube).

Beans and legumes, however, are not usually part of my diet. "Legumes are typically low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are high in folate, potassium, iron and magnesium. They also contain beneficial fats and soluble and insoluble fiber... more". AND believe me I can use all the fiber I can get these days!! So I picked up a large bag of lentils from Whole Woods and decided to make a simple Beet and Lentil Salad - an all time fave that I haven't had in a very long time. I completely spazzed out and forgot a main ingredient - thin shavings of parmigiano reggiano. It really completes the dish - so if you're gonna give this one a shot, please don't leave it out.


Simple Beet and Lentil Salad

Boil 1/2 cup of lentils in 1 1/2 cups of water, for about 35-40 minutes (test for tenderness at the 35 minute mark and boil until you're happy with the texture). I prefer mine al dente rather than mushy. Drain and set aside.
Lay out some fresh baby greens and/or baby arugula on a plate, add around 2-3 tbs of cooked lentils and as many slices of beets as you'd like. Season well with sea salt. Drizzle some good quality extra virgin olive oil, then some balsamic vinegar. Add freshly cracked black pepper and top with thin shavings of parmigiano reggiano and enjoy!

PS. Don't be alarmed, you are not pissing/crapping out blood - it's just the beets messing with your system :)

Orzo Salad

My friend Karen suggested I give this recipe Orzo Salad a try. I ended up making it for a little picnic with friends last week. I marinated the chopped onions in the vinaigrette while I prepared the rest of the dish - my attempt to pickle them. I added feta cheese (cubed), it was so freakin good. My only complaint is that the mint didn't do a good enough job at masking the onion breath (next time I might chop up the onions a little smaller as instructed AND soak them in some water prior to the pickling step). I find that soaking helps with the raw-harsh factor.

Served with roasted veggies...

Last Night's Dinner #133: Caesar Salad

A different schedule and a different budget calls for a whole new way of eating/cooking! It's funny how one month you can be whipping up fresh seafood stews and the next you're having tuna sandwiches for dinner - but hey I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It will be interesting to see what sort of dinner menus I can come up with to work with our new food budget. I've budgeted $100 max for our weekly groceries, which is probably significantly less than what we were spending back in nyc. Going to the farmers market every two days was definitely burning a whole in my pocket. We have a Whole Foods near by, but we noticed that we were spending way over our budget so we've decided to shop at our local groceries instead. I've been struggling to come up with dinner ideas lately, it's a whole new world for me but I'm up for the challenge.

Soup and salad dinners have become one of our faves around here. It takes no time to make and it's pretty cost effective and sometimes not that bad for the hips.

Trader Joe's makes my favorite ready-made soups - I love their tomato roasted peppers one and the butternut squash one is yumm.

You'll need:
2 to 3 medium sized Chicken Breast (skinless/boneless)
Romaine lettuce (2-3 mini heads or 1 huge one)
Parmesan Cheese (it's best to get a block and shave it yourself)
4 slices of white bread or any bread you have laying around
oregano, parsley flakes, salt, pepper
olive oil
Your favorite Caesar dressing
butter is optional

Wash and season chicken with salt, pepper, oregano, parsley flakes (you can put whatever spices you want on the chicken) and drizzle in about 2tbs some olive oil. I find it easier to put the washed chicken in a big ziplock bag then I season, add oil then sort of mix it all in the bag.

Heat up your grill pan or if you're lucky enough to have a grill outside - go for it. Grill both sides of the chicken. Didn't take me too long to cook mine, they were fairly thin. If you get ones on the thicker side, just "butterfly" the breasts.


In the meantime, cut the bread into nice chunks for croutons. I didn't, but if you want you could spread some butter on them before cutting. You could also sprinkle some herbs if you'd like. Spread them out on a tray and bake until golden brown. I just put them in my convection oven 400F, turned them and just kept a close eye on them. Once done, allow them to cool and crisp up.


Cut the lettuce into small pieces and put it back in the fridge. The key to all salads is cold lettuce! Shave (cut thin slivers with a knife or peeler) parmesan, you can set these aside or just plop them on top of the lettuce.

Once your chicken is done, let it sit on top of a plate or a cutting board for 5 to 10 minutes. This will allow the chicken to cool down + all the juices can redistribute themselves in the chicken and not in your salad (notice the liquid on the plate or board? you don't want that in your salad).


Cut up the chicken and toss everything together - lettuce, cheese, croutons, chicken.

Top with your favorite dressing and a dash of pepper! Serve with a nice cup of your favorite soup.

Last Night's Dinner #126: Farm Fresh Salad

Two things that I haven't been able to resist at the farmers market these days...


Scrumptiously sweet tomatoes and handmade cheese (in this case Mozzarella, but I usually buy Ricotta). I guess the nice thing about "cooking" with great ingredients is that there's really no need to do too much. Just slice, cut, season with salt & pepper and drizzle some oil/lemon or vinegar and that's it.

Last Night's Dinner #116: Pork Chops with Saté Sauce and Mom's Pickled Cucumber

Alright, I got my cooking mojo back... thanks to the arrival of Gourmet, I was inspired to make Pork Saté (or Satay) with my Mom's Pickled Cucumber Salad!



You'll need:
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1/2 cup well stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
2 tbs of roasted red chile paste (preferebly Thai Kitchen)
2 tbs fish sauce
1 small shallot chopped
1 tbs cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
4 thin bone-in pork chops
lime wedges for garnish

Mom's Pickled Cucumber Salad:
Cucumbers cut into 1/4" slices
three pinches of salt and two pinches of black pepper
equal parts of white vinegar and water
3 tbs sugar


step 1. Take peanuts, coconut milk, chile paste, fish sauce, shallot, vinegar, and sugar and purée in a blender or food processor.


step 2. Transfer to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. The sauce will be quite thick, so you can add about 3 tbs of water to it. More if you want it thinner - but you might have to add more fish sauce + sugar to adjust the flavoring. At this point, you might want to squeeze a tiny bit of lime juice to give in an extra zing. I made the sauce a couple of hours before dinner so that the flavors introduce themselves to each other and have time to mingle. I reheated it right before serving.
*it will be a little grainy because of the peanuts. If you want it a little less grainy/chunky, maybe you can substitute half of the peanuts with peanut butter? I haven't tried but I'm sure it would work. Or you could mortar and pestle the peanuts before adding into the processor. I personally didn't mind the texture.


step 3. In the meantime, marinate the cucumbers (I used Kirby) in vinegar/water, salt, pepper and sugar mixture. Make enough of the mixture so it covers the cucumbers. Allow to sit for minimum of 20 minutes. OH and cook the rice!

My mom used to make this all the time, I love it. It's very similar to the pickled carrots and cabbage you sometimes get at Vietnamese restaurants. Sweet and tangy. The crunchy texture is a perfect accompaniment to the pork and rice. Yummy.


step 4. Wash and pat dry the chops then season well with salt and pepper. If you're lucky enough to have a BBQ grill then go ahead and grill as you would normally. If not, use a ridged pan like mine and cook until cooked through or however you like your pork done. It took me about 11 minutes to cook the chops. Depending on how thick your meat is, cooking time will vary. If you don't have a ridged pan, no worries, I'm sure it will taste the same if you cook it on a regular pan!

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Gourmet

Last Night's Dinner #109: Asparagus Bacon and Parmigiano-Reggiano Frittata

A new Italian cafe opened up in my neighborhood so I gave it a go last week. I ended up spending $12 for lunch - a tiny (really tiny) piece of frittata with a simple salad with crunchy proscuitto. The frittata was tough, underseasoned and the proscuitto was definitely not crunchy! I wanted to try making a better version of the meal (tooting horn warning)... I think I may have :)



You'll need:
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk (better if you have 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup milk)
4 strips of bacon cut into 1/4 inch pieces
3 asparagus strips cut into bite size pieces
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 shallot finely sliced
1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 thyme sprigs, leaves finely chopped
1 rosemary sprig, leaves finely chopped
salt & pepper

for Salad:
mixed greens
6 slices of proscuitto, crisped up
goat cheese
balsamic & olive oil


Step 1. Roast the veggies. Toss trimmed asparagus, shallots, garlic with some olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Bake for about 8 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven.


You'll notice the skins start to blister up


Cut diagonally into bite size pieces


Step 2. Heat up a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and cook bacon. Cook until almost crispy. Then add roasted veggies, including shallots and garlic. Add thyme and rosemary. Add a pinch of salt.

** By the way, you can finish the frittata in the oven or cook the whole thing stove top (which I did). If you opt for the traditional way of making a frittata just make sure you use a skillet that's oven friendly and once the asparagus is done, increase the temp to 425 so it'll be ready when it's time.


Step 3. In the meantime, scramble the eggs with the milk and 3/4 of the cheese (save some cheese for the topping). Add salt.


Step 4. Pour in egg mixture into the pan. Control your heat so it's doesn't end up burning the outside layer. Stir the veggies into the egg so everything is well distributed.


Step 5: Once it looks set (above pic is not set) and you think you'll be able to flip it or flip it using the plate method (see Spanish Tortilla recipe) - go ahead and top it with remaining cheese then flip. It'll it be done in about 3 to 4 minutes on low heat. Transfer to a serving plate and allow to cool and settle.

** If you're going to use the oven, just wait for the egg to set (maybe 8 minutes or so) then top with remaining cheese and insert the whole pan in the oven and cook for 2 additional minutes.


Perfect with a goat cheese and crispy proscuitto salad!

Last Night's Dinner #105: Poached Salmon with Herb Tomato Salad

I've never poached fish before so when I saw this recipe, I jumped at the chance to give a try.



Unfortunately, I didn't like it very much. Although, I suspect that the quality of the salmon had a lot to do with it. It tasted really fishy! The herb sauce topping was good but nothing to go nuts over. So I won't bother sharing the recipe for the salmon but I'll post the recipe for the tomatoes - they turned out really good!


Poaching bed: lemon slices, tarragon stems, shallots (add wine/water)


Herb sauce: tarragon, parsley, capers, shallots, honey, olive oil

Good thing I decided to cook an herb tomato salad or I would've went to bed hungry. I love grape tomatoes and can eat them like candy (slight exaggeration). This is a great side dish for the Spring/Summer, it's light, full of flavor and low maintenance.



You'll need:
2 pints of grape tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh parsley and basil
salt & pepper

Heat up oil, add garlic and cook for a couple of seconds then add parsley and tomatoes. Season well with salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes start to pop open. Add basil. You can serve this hot or room temperature. You can drizzle extra olive oil prior to serving.

* for extra flavor I added a pinch of dried parsley and basil to the garlic

Last Night's Dinner #101: Orange and Fennel Salad

I once saw Lidia make this on her show and I happen to have some Fennel in the fridge (I was planning to make another dish with it but wasn't in the mood for it) so I decided to try and make it.


I used a mix of regular and blood oranges

Quite simple - just cut up some orange segments (remove membranes and pith), thinly sliced fennel (bulb only), squeeze some fresh lemon and drizzle some good olive oil and you're done. Oh and don't forget to season with some good sea salt and freshly ground pepper. You can also add some of the juice from the oranges.

If you haven't seen it, I posted a how-to on cutting oranges earlier this morning.

Last Night's Dinner #90: Salmon with Arugula Beet Salad

I'm still on my fish kick, so I bought a couple of salmon fillets for dinner. It's amazing how much money you save by cooking - I only paid $7 for both fillets!


I made a simple salad, made out of arugula, sliced beets, black lentils - all drizzled with some fresh lemon juice and olive oil (+salt/pepper).

I cooked the salmon the same way as last time (without the sauce), but left the fish covered in the pan (heat off) for about 10 minutes and it was perfectly cooked.

Last Night's Dinner #83: No time to cook salad

We got back from the gym pretty late last night and we were both starving, so we decided to negate all the hard work we did and stopped by a new Pizza shop that just opened by us. We picked up a couple of slices, but I decided to make a filler side dish so that we both didn't end up eating a whole pie.

I love arugula and love it best when served with bresaola, freshly shaved parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Unfortunately, I didn't have any bresaola so I used prosciutto instead.

Last Night's Dinner #31: Tilapia en Papillote & Ode to Summer Salad

Fish is so easy to cook, I really should make it a staple. If you can't be bothered to go to the fish market the day of, Trader Joe's carries a wide variety of vacuum packed fish that I've cooked with several times. I've never had a bad catch from there!



Last night I decided to cook "en papillote" in parchment bag. It's the easiest thing in the world. Preheat the oven, stuff the parchment pouch with fish fillets and herbs and you'll have a deliciously healthy and simple meal in less than 10 minutes.

I decided to serve this with a refreshing ode to summer salad - a mixture of avocado, mango, apple pear (Asian pear), red onions and cilantro. I love salads with fruit. You can also serve this with cous cous or a mashed/baked potato if you're looking for something heartier.

Tilapia en Papillote
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 2

You'll need:
2 Tilapia fillets
2 sprigs each of thyme, parsley, oregano
2 slices of lemon (wheels)
2 Tbs of butter
1 shallot cut into slices
coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste



Preheat oven to 400F. Wash fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper. Place fillets on top of cut parchment paper (ehow.com and latimes.com have excellent "en papillote" step by step instructions) and top with shallots, butter, lemon wheel and herbs. Seal the pouch and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Other good combos to try:
:: cherry tomatoes, olives, garlic, lemon, oregano, thyme
:: thyme, lemon and cinnamon sticks

Ode to Summer Salad
1/2 mango sliced in 1/4" strips
1/2 apple pear (Asian pear) sliced in 1/4" strips
1/2 avocado cut into thin slices
handful of mixed greens

Combine ingredients and chill until ready to serve.

Red Wine Vinaigrette
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients minus the oil. Drizzle in the oil little by little while mixing.

Last night's dinner #2: Garlic Chicken Wings, Corn salad and Espresso Granita

• Pickled Mango & Red Onions with Grilled Corn Mixed Green Salad
• Black Pepper and Garlic Chicken Wings
  
• Espresso Granita
  

ATTENTION: I have to say that last night's dinner was not a complete success. I would categorize it as a semi-disaster, but even disasters need to be shared. So I'm outlining the issues and my suggestions on how to fix each one.


SALAD (Pickled Mango & Red Onions with Grilled Corn Mixed Green Salad):
Ing: 1 Mango cut into thin strips, 1 C of corn (I used frozen) grilled in the oven, 1C grape tomatoes, 1/2 red onion cut into thin slices and mixed greens.

Preheat oven to 450.
I decided to pickle (1/2 C of white vinegar and cider vinegar, 1/2C of brown sugar, 1/2 tsp black pepper, pinch of salt) both the mango slices and onions for an hour or so. Mistake #1. The mangos ended up being way too acidic. Next time, I would add another 1/2 C or more of sugar to cut down the acidity of the vinegar. I would even consider using a different type of vinegar, something milder (maybe Sherry or Rice?). I would also just pickle the onions and decrease the time to 20 mins. The mangos don't need to be pickled unless you're lucky enough to have the hard green sour kind. In the meantime, bake thawed corn for about 15-20 mins. I left 1/4 of the corn in the oven longer to brown a bit more for presentation-purposes (I think it looks better when you get bits of caramelized kernels).

Dressing: I used 1/2 C of the pickling mixture and added 1/4C olive oil, tsp of sugar and a pinch of fleur de sel (sea salt). Mistake #2. The dressing was way too acidic. Again, the white/cider vinegar was too harsh. I would suggest Rice wine vinegar or White wine vinegar. But more importantly, I didn't add enough oil. Rule of thumb for vinaigrettes - 3 to 4 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Adding Dijon mustard is also common.

Toss greens and dressing then add tomatoes, mangos, onions and corn. Make sure the salad is nice and cold before serving. It just tastes better! I chill my plates/bowls in the freezer before I plate the salad to help keep the salad nice and cold.


CHICKEN (Black Pepper and Garlic Chicken Wings):
Recipe courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess

The flavor was good but as you can see, my version looks very different from the original. I'm not sure if it's my oven, but the wings just didn't brown as much as I'd have liked. It's hard to believe that you could get the wings to crisp up like that in the oven. I even ended up brushing them with some oil midway through because I wasn't getting the color that I wanted. The only thing I can think of was that my wings didn't have enough space to cook and brown properly. Mistake #3. Make sure you space the wings out. I would also increase the amount of sugar and honey.


DESSERT (Espresso Granita):

I remember making "granita" with Coke when I was a kid but I just referred to it as frozen coke not Coke Granita. Make 2 Cups of espresso and add 1/2 C of sugar. Taste it and make sure that it's almost too sweet. Mistake #4. I made my espresso too strong. Cool it in the fridge before putting it into the freezer. Pour mixture in a pyrex glass bakepan and freeze. Give it about 20 mins or so and scrape the ice crystals as they form with a fork. Keep checking every 20 mins and scrape newly formed crystals. It should take a total of 2 hours or so. Whip up some whipping cream (1C heavy cream and sugar to taste). Spoon slush into cups and add a dollop of cream on top. Sprinkle a bit of espresso powder on top for good measure!

With mistakes come new lessons =)

Last night's dinner #1: Arugula salad & Creamy Farfalle

Since I've been cooking a lot lately, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the recipes that I've been trying out in a series called "Last night's dinner". Enjoy!

• Balsamic Roasted Figs and Brown Sugar Caramelized Walnuts with Goat Cheese Arugula Salad
• Creamy Farfalle with Cremini, Asparagus and Walnuts
• Pimm's Citrus Mint Lemonade
• Simple Strawberry parfait
  

SALAD: Preheat oven to 325°. Heat up 1/2 C of brown sugar and 2tbs of balsamic vinegar in a small pot. Add about 1C of walnuts and transfer mixture to a baking pan and bake for about 10 mins. Carefully watch to make sure you don't burn them or else you'll have to start over again. Once nuts are done, turn up the heat to 400° and heat it up for a bit (15 mins.)



Cut 8 figs in half (lengthwise) and spread out onto a bakepan. Heat up 1/2 C balsamic, 1/4 honey and 4 tbs of brown sugar in the same pot you used before. Spoon mixture over figs and bake for about 15mins. (until the mixture thickens). Once both nuts and figs are cooled, arrange on top of arugula and add a nice hunk of goat cheese or blue cheese if you prefer. Dress with aged balsamic.



PASTA (recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis): I cut the recipe in half.
1/2 pound farfalle pasta
1 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
1/2 pound thin asparagus, trimmed, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the farfalle and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender and most of the juices have evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus and saute until the asparagus is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt. Add the pasta. Stir in the mascarpone and nutmeg and toss until the cheese coats the pasta, adding the reserved cooking liquid 1/4 cup at a time to moisten. Stir in 3/4 of the walnuts. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Mound the pasta in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and remaining walnuts.



COCKTAIL: (for 2)
Zest of an orange and a lemon (about 1 tsp of each)
fresh orange and lemon Juice (2 tbs each)
4 slices of cucumber (1/4" slices)
lemon and orange slices (2 of each)
8 mint leaves cut into ribbons
1 can of French Lemonade. You can substitute Sprite or Ginger ale (I prefer Sprite)
Pimm's (you can find it in the Cordial section in your wine shop)

Fill 2 tall glasses with ice (I prefer crushed or at least stabbed into smaller than standard ice cube size). Throw in the lemon and orange zest, juices, fruits/cucumber/mint and a shot of Pimm's. Stir. Top with French lemonade and stir again. Garnish with a mint sprig.



DESSERT:
I baked yellow cake cupcakes the other day and had some left over. So I whipped up some heavy cream and cut up some strawberries (let berries sit in some sugar for 10-15 mins) and layered the ingredients into a makeshift parfait!