A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Eat Clean Diet: Minestrone

 
At the beginning of the year, I talked about this year being the year (that sounds familiar to EVERY year, doesn't it?) that I really do concentrate on eating healthier and cutting junk food out of my diet.  With half the year almost gone, I realize that to a great extent I have been successful. I am eating many more fresh vegetables and much much less junk food. Am I perfect? Nah, but I'm learning to enjoy better foods more often instead of just as the guilt tucks in.  I also talked about four books at the first of the year that have been helping me on that journey  http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/happy-new-year-ring-in-the-new-year-with-renewed-commitment-to-health.html#tp

One of those books is The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. There's also a companion cookbook and a web site:  www.eatcleandiet.com.  Most of Tosca's principles line up perfectly with The Mediterranean Diet in that she focuses on real, as fresh as possible, wholesome foods, getting rid of the junk food, good fats, deleting sugar, and concentrating on complex carbs.  Another principe of Eat Clean that I'm experimenting with is she suggests eating every 2-3 hours and to combine protein/complex carbs, both to keep blood sugar stabilized.  I had an epiphany on that one. Because I work long night shifts I find myself often craving soda to the point of getting a headache and sick to my stomach while at work. I suddenly realized that while I was thinking I was craving the caffeine, I'm now wondering if it's not a blood sugar drop instead. I'm experimenting this week by following Eat-Clean to the letter.

A great way to get lots of vegetables in without any chemicals or trans-fats is soup, specifically veggie soups.  This Minestrone recipe is very good and a pleasure to eat. I don't even feel like I"m deprived.  I'm eager to sit down to a bowl of it.  I will make one caveat.  The recipe as written is a HUGE batch.  I cut it in half and still have a huge crockpot full but it's perfect for a family of more than just two people, or for dinner plus nice lunch leftovers, or for me, like this weekend when I'm working a three day stretch.  It gives me quick grab and run meals at home and at work that keep me out of the hospital crapeteria and not even glancing at the vending machines.

Memorial Day Give-away: All Clad Pan

 

Want to win an All Clad pan with lid?

Go see Melly at her blog Cooking Schmooking this weekend to see the details!
 

Homemade Refried Anasazi Beans

The menu theme for niece Jordan and nephew Isaac's birthday party last week was Tex-Mex, with build-your-own taco bar, refried beans, white queso & chips, 7 Layer Dip, and then the snack food cake for dessert.  One of my adventures for the party was making refried beans from scratch.

I learned some interesting things in my research. Although most people do "fry" or recook the cooked beans in a skillet in lard, shortening, or oil, smashing them down as they go, the term "refried" is actually a mistranslation of Spanish "refritos" meaning "well fried", the "re" in Spanish meaning "well", not "again, like in English.  Also, with more research, I found out that the point of frying isn't to make anything crispy, it's not about being fried at all.  The point is to mix some fat into the beans to create a creamier texture and mouth feel.

Keeping all of that in mind, I created a healthier refried bean recipe that got rave reviews at the party and, even better, from Gene who (isn't a huge legume fan) asked me to prepare them this way more often because he liked them so much. 

On a delicate note, I chose the anasazi beans not only for the slightly sweeter taste than pintos but also because they have less of what generally produces, ahem, odorousness in folks after consuming.  Listen, I knew I'd be hanging out with these people all afternoon.  I may be many things but I am not a stupid woman. 

For more information on the Anasazi beans, please click here: Anasazi Beans

Life on the Pop Culture Edge: Snack Cake Birthday Cake

For as long as we can all remember Gene and I have hosted a couple of summer family parties as birthday parties for the nieces and nephews.  At the end of May we celebrate Jordan and Isaac's May birthdays. In August we celebrate Sydney's July and Kaylee's September birthdays. 

I try to do something different and fun for cakes each time. One year it was a sculpted cake big rig, one year rice krispie treats molded into a car cake pan, one time a Twilight themed cake, and this year it was their favorite snack cakes built into a tower.



Even though Isaac will turn 11 this week and Jordan is 18 today, they (we all) still l love indulging our inner kid at birthday parties so the theme of decorations this year was both G.I. Joe Camo and Sponge Bob.  Hey, you're never too old for a little Sponge Bob.  As I often say: why did my siblings have children? To give me someone my own age to play with.

Wilted Lettuce: A Healthy Update to a Classic Salad

I think of this salad as "The Nannie" salad. Not Fran Drescher, but MY Nannie, my grandmother. I don't remember my mom making it very often but I remember my grandmother making it all the time.  As a kid I thought it was pretty good, you know, for something that was supposed to be good for me. I loved the bite of the vinegar, the sweet of the sugar, and trying to hog (I know, bad pun) all the crunchy, salty bacon pieces out of it. Now I love it for all those reasons plus the emotion that it is one of the defining salads of spring, not to mention that by the time you wilt a bucketful of lettuce I feel so good about myself for eating that huge vegetable serving without even realizing it had I not been the one to wilt it.

However, for all the healthy goodness of the fresh lettuces, the big no-no to this salad is the half pound of bacon my grandmother fried to use the grease to make it.  Last night at dinner, after watching me prepare this with olive oil as a base, Gene commented "My grandmother used bacon grease for this."  I said "So did mine but our grandmothers didn't have your heart disease and they didn't know better."  He laughed and said "It was just an observation" and he left nary a leaf in his bowl when he was done so I guess olive oil works just fine.

I admit I love the bacon too but there has to be a better, healthier way.  There is. It's easy if you substitute olive oil for the bacon grease and use Hormel or Oscar Meyer real bacon pieces for the crunch and flavor.  The packaged cooked bacon pieces are real, just the lean parts of the bacon and they only have 25 calories and 1 gram of fat per tablespoon.  It's a substitute I can definitely live better with.

Strawberry Shortcake from Lovely Local Berries

 

Last week at our CSA I brought home strawberries that we ate au naturale but this week when we also got a bagful of berries I remembered Gene wanting strawberry shortcake.  That's something I rarely make because the grocery store strawberries are awful. I never even buy them anymore.  But these local berries are smaller, sweeter, softer, and heavenly--perfect for old fashioned short cake made from scratch with the individual cakes baked in mini bumdt pans and topped with real whipped cream. Nothing shouts summer quite as well as this treat.

Weight Watchers Easy Turkey Lasagna

Photo from http://weightwatchers.com   

 While we were in St. Louis two weekends ago, my friend Dianne cooked for us a couple of times which is such a treat to me.  Like most of us, I love to cook and I especially love to cook for people as a way to show my love for them but I also like the reciprocal.  I appreciate that Dianne spent some her time cooking for us and taking such care to make sure everything was diet-friendly and wholesome.  Sunday morning she made an egg and sausage casserole that was yummy and on Friday night she made this Easy Turkey Lasagna from a Weight Watchers Five Ingredient cookbook that was very tasty and welcoming, without killing our diets. Thanks Dianne!

Lemon Cream Dressing

 

A friend who is on a low oxalate diet for kidney stones gave me this salad dressing recipe to try out and it's a winner. I like that it has the richness of a creamy dressing without being heavy and the brightness of a vinaigrette, which makes it perfect over the wonderful assorted greens I brought home from the CSA Tuesday.

Click for the Honey-Mustard Curry Chicken recipe, one of Gene's all-time favorites.

Millsap Farms CSA: Sauteed Japanese Turnips

 

I was never a turnip lover until Gene surprised me with a birthday getaway at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis.  We love historic hotels and The Peabody is one of our favorites.  For my birthday dinner, Gene made reservations at the hotel's Chez Philippe, the only Forbes Four-Star restaurant in Memphis and a winner of AAA's Four-Diamond Award.

I'm almost embarrassed to say that out of something like five courses, the one that I remember the most was the vegetables served with the lamb entree:  sauteed turnips.  I think I remember them because, although they were sweet/savory and vaguely familiar, I nearly fell out of my chair when the waiter told me they were turnips.  Turnips?  As of that dinner I am proudly on the turnip truck...as long as they're sauteed in this manner.

At our first CSA (community sponsored agriculture) pick up Tuesday, I was delighted to find Japanese turnips in our share.  The small tender bulbs begged me to prepare them in their most splendiferousness. The idea was gleaned from Chez Philippe but the recipe is my rendition:

Summer CSA: Community Sponsored Agriculture

 

Usually spring means me going nuts building a container garden all over the back porch but this year I'm trying something different. Although I love my container garden, it does get expensive and I've found my efforts to have minimal payout when it comes to more than herbs, peppers, and tomatoes.  I hooked up with Millsap Farms and joined their summer CSA to see how we like it. This first week's harvest included radishes, Japanese turnips, and a multitude of greens: Asian braising mix, Russian red kale, arugula, and the sweetest, most mouth watering strawberries I've ever eaten. There will be no strawberry shortcake. They were so good we've already gobbled them down au naturale.

The photo above is our Half Share. Since there are only two of us and only two at Auntie Miranda's house, we split a share, and so far the half share seems plenty for Gene and I.  There was also a head of leaf lettuce included but since I'd just bought a head of butter lettuce at the grocery the other day, I sent the full head home with Miranda.

I'll be blogging lots of new wholesome recipes in the coming months using the produce and fruit from our share.

In back porch news, the sweet pepper plant that I moved into the sunroom last fall that went dormant at the first of the year and I thought was dead, has risen.  I was shocked to see tons of little blooms a week or so ago and it's now getting ready to birth a couple of peppers.  I'm a little too excited about it for Gene's comfort but, come on, it's so cool!  So gardener biotches, I already have sweet peppers just waiting to be picked and sliced!