Breakfast Vittles

If you're anything like me, you wake up with a raging sense of hunger...or you're at least fairly hungry. If you're never hungry in the morning, your metabolism may be to blame. Make changes if you're eating too late, consuming too many refined carbs at night, aren't sleeping well due to food choice, or you're not eating more than 3.5 hours before bed. All of these can contribute to a whacked out system that can cause you to skip breakfast. Here's an example of how I start my day. It's an egg-white sandwich with a turkey sausage patty on a thin bun (the bun is called a "slimwich" and I happen to find that little name PRECIOUS...so i buy them. Everybody's having a good time). Anyhow, if time is your issue in the morning, you have no excuse to not whip this up. Here's how I do it to fit into my harried pre-work routine. -spray small pan with pam and crack two eggs in to fry (I only eat egg whites but I'm weird like that) -since the heat will be on low/medium-low, hop in the shower to wash your parts! -get out and flip eggs and turn heat on super-low. Also, add your turkey sausage patty (or whatever meat you choose) to the underside of the eggs to warm it up...they're precooked so it just needs a little heat. -Add cheese (i use shredded or sliced swiss) to the top of the eggs and let it get all nice and melty (mmmmmm....cheese) -Next layer your slimwich (te he!) however you like. I use all sorts of things and sometimes combine several of them: hummus, light mayo, spicy mustard, arugula, lettuce, pickles, tomato, avocado, ANYTHING! Just get some greens on there and your favorite condiment to top it off. -Next, eat it while walking 12 blocks into work...or at your kitchen table like a normal person.

The people have spoken and I am BACK! So much has happened in the last year since I've posted. I am no longer cooking from my itty bitty kitchen overlooking downtown. I've traded my view for a bigger kitchen in my own...wait for it...house! Eeeek! I own a precious little brick house 10 minutes from downtown and I adore it. I especially adore my kitchen and I sill spend 80% of my waking hours in there prepping for meal after meal. ALSO, another big change...I'm soon to be no longer cooking for one. I'm getting married to the kindest, most hilarious man on earth in just 3 months so I've gotta polish up my culinary skills before then to make a good wife. SOOOOO, let's start off with a simple meal that I think is fun to make and even more fun to eat. Zucchini boats! I only made one zucchini (two boats) so here's a small recipe but you can adjust it for as many boats as your family can down. First things first, preheat oven to 350. Next, slice zucchini in half and boil the halves for about 5 mins to soften their little bodies up. This makes it bake faster PLUS it becomes so much easier to scoop their innards after they're boiled. In the meantime, saute some sweet onion, 1/2 cup of crumbled turkey sausage (or chicken sausage) and eventually (once scooped) the innards of the zucchini with some chopped garlic, oregano, and black pepper in heated olive oil. This is your stuffing: Once you've scooped the inside of your boats (some use a melon baller, I use a tablespoon) stuff the boats with the sauteed concoction and place in a baking dish. Cover the boats and the sides with any tomato sauce you like. I use a simple Filetto di Pomodoro I actually made and froze from last season's tomatoes but any good sauce will do. Now sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded cheese over the boats and bake for 10-12 minutes. During the last minute or so, pop your broiler on and let that cheese get a little brown. You won't be sorry. Aaaaaaaannnnndd VOILA!

Tostada Takes the Cake!

I have SO many blog entries to catch up on (you can look forward to mac and cheese, lasagna roll-ups, french toast, etc...) but my dinner last night MUST be revealed NOW! I want you to understand that when I say these flavors were perfect together, I mean absolute heaven. I was so into the taste, consistancy, and texture of these that I literally turned off the tv because it was distracting my enjoyment. True story, it was kinda wild.

I've gotten many requests for calorie counts for my recipes so I'm succumbing to the pressure. It's a great deal of work, but my readers are most definitely worth it.

Shrimp and Avacado Tostadas
Preheat oven to 300. While waiting, sautee 1/4 onion in 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Once onion is clear, add shrimp (I used 8 medium sized ones for 1 tostada) and sauteee for about 5 minutes until the curl and are pretty pink. Toss a whole wheat tortilla into the oven and let toast for about 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up 1/3 of an avocado, tomato, and measure out 1/3 cup of black beans. (use any toppings you like, these are just HIGHLY reccommended, as they play very well together).
Meanwhile, pull your tortilla out of the over to let cool for a few minutes while you prep the base spred.
Base spread- mash 1/3 cup of black beans with a fork and add 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce or salsa, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon cumin. Mix it all together until it becomes like a paste. If you have a lime on hand, squeeze the juice from 1/2 lime into the mixture to add more flavors.
Cover the tortilla with the black bean spread and add the toppings. At this point, your tostada should look something like this...


Finally, cover with a thin layer of cheese (I used 1/4 cup of monterey jack) and toss back in the oven. Bake just until cheese melts and promptly remove. Now find somewhere comfy to sit, eliminate all distractions, and ENJOY!
Calories for 1 tostada (includes all ingredients listed here)=560 (does not include side dish of kale shown in picture).


Here it is again after I took a few bites. I've never done that (photographed while eating) but it was so damn good, I was compelled to document it!

Chili-Cheese Fries Challenge

I've been feeling like a one-trick pony with my posts lately, so I've asked my readers to challenge my vittle-producing skills. I wanted to know (and still want to know, so keep the requests coming) what traditionally unhealthy food people were having a hard time avoiding. My friend Matt immediately piped up with, "Chili-Cheese Fries!" and nearly everyone agreed that this was a devil of a hang-up.
I fancy myself a healthifier...meaning that I have a heck of a knack for making innard-damaging meals nutritious and de-lish! However, I must admit, that I've never really had chili-cheese fries...challenge, indeed!
I was under the impression that I'd have to make the chili from scratch because that junk couldn't POSSIBLY come in a pre-made and healthy form. Ohhhh, I was wrong. In the picture you'll see a can of chili sauce. I was floored to see that all the ingredients were clean and no chemicals/preservatives. In fact, this off-brand (that I've never heard of) was healthier and had FAR less calories than the Amy's Organic Vegan chili. True story. The entire can only had 160 calories and it was $.99 (compared to Amy's $3.89). So, when making these, I strongly suggest you read the label of each can to be sure of what you're eating. Other brands were AWFUL! Tons of fat, chemicals, and preservatives. A general rule of thumb is to choose the product with the least ingredients, fyi.
Anyhow, let's get on with the recipe. Once I started cooking this, I was really excited about how creative I could get. This is the picture of all the ingredients I used for this recipe (minus a few seasonings, namely sea salt, cracked pepper, and chili power).
The first thing I did was cut the potatoes into french fry-sized strips. I loaded the fries into a gallon-sized ziploc, added two tablespoons of olive oil, zipped up and shook the bag until all fries had a thin coating of oil. Next, I baked them (single-layer) on a baking sheet at 375 for approximately 45 minutes, turning over once.
Finally, the fixings! I turned the oven down to 325 and used 1/4 cup of the shredded mozzarella to cover the fries sparsely. On top of that, i spread the chili sauce evenly over the fries. Then I added the tomato, red pepper, and onions (which were lightly sauteed with just cooking spray for a bit until they were clear). Over the veggies, I added the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and baked for another 12 or so minutes.
While they were baking, my home smelled SOOOO good. I couldn't wait to try the final product. Just to be sure I wasn't being biased, I had my friend, Myranda, come over to partake in the chili-fry-madness. They turned out amazing. The perfect combo of flavors without feeling disgusting afterwards. And the best part is that 80% of the entire recipe is made from fresh produce. The rest was beans (from the chili-sauce) and a bit of low-fat dairy. This challenge was a SUCCESS and I'm so thankful for the suggestion. Now I can't wait to see all my chili-cheese fry-fiending friends try this recipe for themselves. They're gonna be thrilled.


Now....who's next? What can I healthify for you?

Bar Food BONANZA!

Let's face it, bar food tastes good...no, great....no, it's amazing! But once that grease, oil, and preservatives hit your insides, it's too late. The damage is done. For example, the liver can only digest so much saturated fat. Once it's reached its limit, the build-up remains in your liver and gallbladder, creating painful gallstones. Plus, greasy foods cause you to gain weight. Weight gain can lead to deadly conditions including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and high risk for stroke.

In my mind, you can have the best of both worlds. I've created a heart-healthy bar food mini-menu that gives you the flavor of your favorite guilty pleasure minus the health risks. In addition, these foods are made from whole and nutritious ingredients. You will be receiving all the vitamins and nutrients needed for your body to recognize its needs have been satisfied and you will FINALLY not feel hungry. So often, people continue eating and eating because they feel they're missing something, even when they've eaten far too much. It's almost always the nutrients and vitamins that can be found in unprocessed and non-fried foods which are the missing link.

Anyhow, let's look at the pics and get the how-to for these tasty vittles! You could have guilt-free bar food on your table in no time!

Southwestern Style Black-Bean Burger

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1/2 onion, chopped into segments

1 egg

1/3 cup of cilantro

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

In a food processor combine chopped onion, 3/4 of beans, garlic, the egg, and cilantro. Pour mixture into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add bread crumbs, remaining whole beans, and stir to combine. Season with sea salt and pepper. This should create four large patties or six medium sized ones. Add patties to heated, oiled pan (1 tbsp olive oil) and cook for about 6 minutes on each side at medium-medium high heat.

Use whole wheat hamburger buns and add whatever toppings you like. I stuck with the southwestern theme and added sliced avacado, havarti cheese, tomato, and salsa. Ole!

Now, onto the extra bad stuff. Chicken strips and fries! Here's my version. It's a bbq marinated breaded chicken tender meal with thyme/garlic flavored yam and parsnip fries. And believe you me, it was SO much better than the real thing. True story.



For the chicken strips, I marinated 1 pound of tenders in bbq sauce mixed with a tablespoon of honey for 30 mins in the fridge. Next, I set up my assembly line. First, the strips took a dip in whole wheat flour. Then, they were submerged into 2 whisked eggs, and finally, covered with seasoned bread crumbs. Once prepped, I layed the chicken in a shallow baking pan and tossed in a preheated 450 oven for ten minutes on each side.
While your chicken is marinating, prep the fries. Cut one large yam and three large parsnips into French fry strips. Place the fries in a gallon ziploc bag and pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the them. Zip up the bag and shake, shake, shake it! Once all the fries are lightly covered with oil, place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle whatever seasonings you like (I usually go with thyme, garlic and sea salt as seen here)and bake for 30 minutes at 450, turning over with a large spatula once to ensure even baking.



The finished product. Ta da!

Renaissance Festival-less Turkey Legs

The glory of the Renaissance-inspired turkey leg minus the misfortune of bubonic plague or scurvy. That's right, you too can eat the beloved turkey leg and still be able to "comfortably" fasten your corset...This recipe is simple, super clean, and nutritious. And as an added bonus, you can use the remaining bones for jousting practice...see? Using my noggin'.

So when I say easy, I mean...
-Drop three olive-oil-rubbed turkey legs in a slow cooker set at medium heat
-Season with thyme, rosemary, sea salt, and garlic
-Go to bed
-Wake up and devour a turkey leg in your jammies

...absurdly easy. Now, fare thee well; I must away!

Kitchen Lust

I'm not one to envy what others have (it's simply a waste of energy and creates un-needed negativity) but I sure would like to get my paws on this kitchen. Holy smokes, can you imagine the vittles I could bust out of there? I'm drooling.

But for now, I will stick with my teeny-tiny little nook of a kitchen...that, coincidently, resembles this: