A healthy approach

They should just call me the breakfast and soup lady, since I really like cooking both. Here is another healthy breakfast for 2 that is quick and tasty. I found some  yellow corn tortillas that I really love. They taste like the fresh baked tortillas I had in New Mexico. The brand it La Tortilla Factory.  http://www.latortillafactory.com/products-8.aspx  It is a blend of wheat and corn. If you are in South Florida, I bought them at Fresh Market.  They are soft and pliable and don’t dry out quickly. Very tasty.  They are part of my motivation for making this recipe.

Southern California Tortillas

2 egg (I used high Omega eggs, buy egg whites would work just as well)

½ jalapeno chopped (more to taste)

2 slices low-fat sharp cheddar or co-jack cheese,  broken into pieces

A sprinkling of chili powder (Gebhradt https://www.mildbills.com/p-105-gebhardt-chili-powder.aspx  is my favorite)

2 Really good corn tortillas

6 thin slices avocado

4 grape tomatoes sliced or cut into 4ths

Cilantro sprigs if you have them

Cooking spray

Spray 2 custard size bowls with cooking spray. Put an egg in each bowl and beat them. Mix ½ the jalapeno and cheddar pieces with a sprinkling of chili powder in each bowl. Microwave egg mixture individually on medium power, checking at a minute and a half then every half minute until done. If you only have high power you can check the eggs at a minute and go from there until cooked but the eggs will be a little tougher. Alternatively you can scramble the eggs over medium heat on the stove.

Meanwhile warm the tortillas in a skillet or toaster oven.  When the eggs are done top each tortilla with the mini egg omelets sliced . Divide and top the eggs with the avocado, tomato and cilantro sprigs if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wrap and eat with some fresh fruit and a cup of green tea.

Breakfast for One

I get bored with breakfast. I am not a big fan of cereal. I don’t think it is the best choice to start your day. I wish I could eat oats, but they don’t agree with me.  My favorite easy breakfast is to scramble an egg in the microwave and put it on a multigrain English muffin then melt some lowfat cheddar on top (a la McBreakfast).

The other day I had some asparagus in the fridge that I needed to use. Somewhere I had seen a picture of cooked asparagus with a fried egg on top and I had vowed to try it one day. I was unsure if it sounded like a good idea or not, but I thought I would give it a try.

I used to cook asparagus in a pan with water. Then the asparagus cookers came out and everyone was cooking them upright in a pot of water. I never had one of those.  I have since changed my asparagus cooking technique to roasting it in the toaster oven.

What I do is, once the asparagus is cleaned and the tough ends removed, I preheat the toaster oven to 400 degrees.  I then place the asparagus on the toaster oven pan and pour some olive oil over them (not a lot) along with some lemon pepper.  I mix it all up, leaving the asparagus in a single layer and bake them in the toaster oven for 12 minutes.

To make my breakfast, while the asparagus was roasting I fried up an egg (using olive oil rather than butter).  When the asparagus was done, I lay some (3) on a plate, lightly toasted a slice of sourdough (or multigrain) bread, then topped the asparagus with the egg and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

When you break the egg over the asparagus, it mixes with the lemon juice and lemon pepper and provides a creamy lemony, hollandaise like topping for the fresh asparagus spears, without the fat of a traditional hollandaise. I use the sourdough to soak up the yolk. 

Oh and I made myself a nice cup of Cuban coffee too.

That’s all there was to it. It made a delicious breakfast and a healthy one too.  I hope you get a chance to try this breakfast. I think you will enjoy it.

The soup lady returns

Well for a lot of you fall weather has set in. You might not imagine this, but we have fall here in South Florida, it just doesn’t look like that to most people North of us.

With the Tropical Storm bypassing us and the rains it kicked off, our temperatures cooled but the humidity was still high. This weekend, that changed and we have had beautiful S. Florida fall weather.  What that means is that it has been in the mid to low 80’s during the day and 70’s at night. I love it!

I know in Dallas it is quite a bit cooler and I do miss that crisp fall weather and with it, eating a nice bowl of soup. So in the interest of fall, I have restarted my soup making with a fresh vegetable packed Minestrone.

Back in my housewife days (wow, how many moons ago was that?) I used to watch the PBS cooking shows. One of my favorite shows was The Frugal Gourmet.

The Frugal Gourmet, was Jeff Smith, a former Methodist Minister turned caterer/ deli owner and cookbook author. He was not without some drama in his career as he was accused of sexual abuse of young boys in the late 90’s.

Still, in spite of his personal history, I liked his shows and his cookbooks. His recipes were easy, tasty and no nonsense.  I credit him with my learning to like Tomato Soup.

I always hated the stuff. Canned tomato soup was salty and unpalatable to me. I found a recipe in a Frugal Gourmet cookbook for a fresh tomato soup. I happened to have a glut of homegrown tomatoes at the time, so I tried it. Voila….I am now a tomato soup advocate. The best part is the simplicity of the recipe! Mr. Smith was also concerned about heart health, so the soup gives the option to use less fat laden milk rather than cream.

I had gone to my favorite farm store last week and as I often do, overbought vegetables. This weekend I decided to use the Tomato Soup recipe as a base for a minestrone using the fresh veggies.   My mother sent over some freshly baked cornbread and it made a nice meal, lunch or dinner.

Here is the recipe for the minestrone, using his base recipe.

The soup lady’s minestrone

 The base recipe:

6 ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 tbl butter or oil (I didn’t use that much and I used ½ butter, ½ olive oil)

3 cups Chicken Soup Stock ( I use chicken like broth. You can also use low sodium if you need to)

1 cup milk or cream (I used neither for the minestrone. For the Tomato soup you could probably substitute soy milk for a vegan variation)

Salt and pepper to taste

I added a pinch of thyme to my soup

Celery leaves for garnish

Sauté the tomatoes in the butter or oil until they are tender. Mix the tomatoes with the soup stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Run the mixture through a food blender (I used a hand blender…wow was that easy) Put back into the saucepan and add the milk or cream and a pat of butter if you are making the tomato soup (Omit this step for the minestrone but throw in the thyme).

Heat and serve with celery leaf garnish.

Now wasn’t that incredibly easy for a fresh tomato soup?

What I added for the minestrone

1/2 onion chopped

1 garlic clove minced

I sautéed the garlic and onion in a minimum of oil, then added it to the soup after the tomato soup was blended.

I then added:

1 zucchini chopped in small chunks

¾  Idaho potato cut in small chunks

1 carrot chopped

1 stick of celery chopped

I cooked everything until the veggies were tender then threw in a handful of cooked macaroni and some basil pesto. You can use any cooked pasta you like, even alphabets for that matter (an adult alphabet soup…I like it!) and fresh chopped basil would work rather than the pesto.

Salt and Pepper again to taste.

I grated some fresh parmesan over and it was good that way, but today I tried adding some goat cheese and I liked that a lot too.

One thing I didn’t add but I should have, was some cooked navy or white beans (or any that you like for that matter).

The point is, use the veggies you have and it makes a great vegetable soup.

I hope you will try the tomato soup and later make your own variation. It’s real good. You will like it!

Have a great week….and don’t forget to exercise.

LIVESTRONG Day 2010

LIVESTRONG Day 2010

Fall in Florida and some great pancakes

I had a wonderful trip to Dallas last week and enjoyed visiting with my friends. It has been hard to meet new people here in Florida since I have been working virtually and have also been without work since I moved here.  Although the trip was not just for fun, I got my friend/dating fix for awhile!

It has been a hot and humid summer here in S. Florida but this week things have changed. It is absolutely beautiful. I guess those pesky hurricanes have provided us with some cooler weather and a wonderful breeze. It is so nice having the windows open and sitting on the patio. I guess we can call this fall weather in Florida!

Yesterday my mother and sister said they were headed to one of their favorite breakfast spots, Denny’s.  Yes, it isn’t gourmet food but you get a great home style breakfast at a very reasonable price! A little later they called and the place was so crowded that they left and were trying to find somewhere else to eat. I invited them over, not having a clue what I would feed them.  They agreed.

I had 40 minutes to come up with a Mom pleasing menu but also didn’t want a high fat, high cholesterol meal for them.  Well, if you don’t know already, breakfast is my favorite company meal. I have been collecting recipes for company breakfasts for years.

I pulled out my file and tried to decide, based on the few ingredients I had in the fridge, what Mom pleasing breakfast I could come up with.  My mother loves ginger cookies and there in my files was a recipe for Gingerbread Pancakes with a Winter Fruit Compote!! Not only that, it was provided to the December 1993 (yes, I have been collecting for a long time!) issue of Shape magazine by Gayle Shockey Hoxter MPH, RD. A healthy recipe! Hooray, breakfast was on!

As for ingredients, well I had to adapt a little to make it work without going to the store. Who has buttermilk sitting around in the refrigerator anyway? That said, the recipe was a cinch to put together and I was able to ready everything and clean up the kitchen some before my family arrived.

I would like to say it was all healthy, but my family arrived, bacon in hand, so they did add a little protein and fat to the menu. The meal was a hit. We loved the spicy pancakes and the fresh fruit compote. It was nice to have breakfast with and to enjoy some time with my family.

Since I made some real adaption’s to the original recipe, I have provided both the original and my changes.  I would recommend going with the original buttermilk ingredient and also tasting a pancake, then adding some sugar to taste to the rest of the batch. The compote sweetens things but without any sweetener in the pancakes, they are too breadlike. I was happy with my addition of baking powder too. It made the pancakes rise very nicely.

I hope you are able to enjoy these with your loved ones some morning.

Gingerbread Pancakes

4 Servings

1 ½ cups flour

1 tbs ground ginger    

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground clove

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbs canola oil

1 ¼ cups nonfat buttermilk

2 egg whites

Nonstick cooking spray

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, combine oil, buttermilk and egg whites and whisk until blended.

Stir liquids into dry ingredients until slightly blended. The mixture should be fairly thick and lumpy. Do not overmix.

Preheat the griddle and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon 4 tbl of batter per pancake onto the griddle and fry until the edges are set. Flip and repeat.

Remove pancakes from griddle and keep warm until all pancakes are cooked. Serve with compote of winter fruits.

Compote of Winter Fruits

4 Servings

½ cup honey

½ cup rum

1/3 cup raisins

½ cup mixture of dried apricots, pears and apples

½ cup diced apples

½ cup diced pears

½ cup orange segments or peeled slices

1 tbs lemon zest

Combine honey, rum, raisins and dried fruit in a large stainless steel saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until dried fruits are soft

Remove from heat and add diced apples, pears, orange segment and lemon zest, blending until well combined. Spoon over pancakes and serve

Nutritional information

305 calories, less than 1 percent from fat (0.3g), 98% carbohydrate, 1 percent protein

My versions:

Pancakes: I had no buttermilk so I substituted what I had, 1 container okyo pineapple yogurt and enough milk to make the mix wet enough to ladle.  The buttermilk by itself should give the right consistency.

I added about ¼ tsp baking powder and they were nice and puffy.

The first batch with no sugar was only slightly sweet from the yogurt. I added enough sugar to make it sweeter but not really sweet. The compote adds the sweetness. If you use buttermilk you will probably need more sugar than I used.

The compote:

I had no dried fruit so I cut up some golden crisp apple and a Bartlett pear (cored of course). To that I added the maple syrup I had and since I only had a little, I added honey, some orange marmalade, a teaspoon of rum and a stick of cinnamon. I heated on medium until the fruit was just soft, and then served it with the pancakes.

Staying Cool with Fresh Summer Rolls

I went to a Shrimp cooking class several years ago at Central Market, given by John Ash. John Ash is not only a renowned chef and owner of the restaurant John Ash and Co. in Santa Rosa, California but he is an author and teacher.

John has written several terrific books, From the Earth to the Table: John Ash's Wine Country Cuisine, American Game Cooking and his newest book “John Ash Cooking One-on-One: Private Lessons in Simple Contemporary Food from a Master Teacher” for which he received a James Beard award in 2005.

John is a great teacher and I would love to take other classes with him if I ever get out to N. California http://www.chefjohnash.com/classes.html.

I learned a lot about shrimp from him and a little about brining. I learned the Gulf White Shrimp were vegetarians (I knew they were my favorite) while Gulf Browns were omnivores feeding on both algae and zooplankton. They are a bit stronger in flavor than the sweet white shrimp.

We often see Tiger Shrimp at great prices in the stores. I shy away from them today. Farm –raised mostly in Asia and India they have a distinctive black or gray strip. John has visited the farms and had a bit of not so exciting information to share. Although some are properly raised, others are raised by farmers that basically dig a hole, seed the shrimp, once grown, harvest them and then start over again. They continue this until the ponds become so polluted they can no longer support life. YUK! I will stick with my favorite Key West Whites!

If you do decide to buy the cheaper Tiger Shrimp make sure they are properly and sustainably raised by talking with the store seafood buyer.

Rock Shrimp are something we in Florida know about but many others have not heard of. They come from Florida or the Gulf and have “rock” hard shells. You buy them shelled and they taste somewhat like lobster. I love to sauté them with garlic, butter and/or olive oil, then squeeze a little lemon juice over and serve them over pasta! That is not exactly low fat but I only get them once a year so I can rationalize it

John taught us how to make Rice Paper Spring Rolls and they have become a lunch or dinnertime staple for me. I have varied the basics a bit but that is the fun about them. You can make them so many different ways and with many different sauces.

I admit, sometimes I am even too lazy to make them so I have bought them at WholeFoods and Publix pre-made. They used to be pretty good, but with the economic times the filling ingredients have gotten pretty sparse and the price has increased to boot. Now I enjoy making my own. They are fresh, have my favorite filling and save me a penny or two.

Once you get over the fear of working with the wrappers, the rest is a piece of cake. If you ever put together a burrito, you have the technique. You can make these in short order and they are pretty and great little treats for friends coming over for cocktails too.

The two ingredients that you will have to find are 9 in round Rice Paper wrappers and Rice Noodles. I have found the Rice Paper at Whole Foods, World Market, online http://www.amazon.com/Spring-roll-wrappers-rice-paper/dp/B000F3NQKS/ref=pd_sim_gro_3 and at Asian stores (much cheaper) and sometimes even at the grocery store. The noodles I use you can get at most groceries in the Asian section. I buy either Rice Noodles or Bean Threads by KAME. Thai Kitchen and Annie Chun’s are two other brands of Rice noodles.

I will share the basics but I never make this many. Mostly I use one or two rice papers and enough ingredients to fill them. Once you have the idea you can wing it (really, you can!).

Here are the basics. Feel free to substitute with fillings of your choice

6oz fine rice noodles
12-9in round rice papers
½ cup mint leaves
½ cup cilantro leaves
½ cup basil leaves (I grow and use Holy or Thai Basil)
1 cup finely shredded lettuce
1 cup bean or other sprouts, rinsed
1 cup peeled cucumber seeded and cut in appx. 2 inch long julienne
1 cup carrot peeled and grated or julienned
8 oz cooked medium shrimp cut in half lengthwise (so they lie flat)
Optional- 3 cups fresh shitake mushrooms, stems removed, thickly sliced and sautéed in olive oil (John Ash gourmet touch. Not something I have used)

Sauce:
Peanut sauce (store bought or homemade. I make the peanut sauce from this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/aromatic-noodles-with-lime-peanut-sauce-recipe/index.html) or purchased Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce. You can find other Asian Dipping sauces with lime and fish sauce online.

1. Place noodles in a bowl of hot water and soak for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain and cut into 4” lengths and reserve
2. Place a rice paper sheet in a large bowl of warm water (I find pie plates are the right size for this) and gently turn them for 20 seconds until they just begin to soften. They will be stiff in spots. Remove and lay on a dry tea towel to further soften until pliable. Note: dip them too long and they will be so pliable they will be hard to work with.
3. Place shrimp in a line across the lower third of the wrapper, leaving about an inch on both sides. Top with noodles,carrot, cucumber, sprouts and herb leaves, keeping everything in a compact log shape.
4. Fold the bottom of the paper up over the filling snugly and roll half way up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfI1wMeDXhg&feature=fvw

5. Fold each side in on top of the cylinder and “crease” all the way to the top of the wrapper. Continue to roll up gently and firmly. The paper will seal by sticking to itself.

6. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. Serve the rolls cut in thirds on the diagonal with dipping sauce on the side.

Some other filling choices: Lobster, Mango, Avocado, Salmon, Crabmeat, Tofu, Cabbage…even Peaches and Strawberries. If you look online you can find lots of ideas.

Have a bit of Plum wine and a nice up of Green Tea and enjoy.

Gardening Challenged

I moved to Florida 2 years ago and into an apartment, sight unseen. I have always loved growing things. When Kevin and I had a house, we planted all types of herbs, grew grapes and pomegranates, attempted blueberries but the soil wasn’t acidic enough , and grew all types of vegetables.

Since I have been single, I have always chosen apartments with great patios for growing “things”. They had told me my patio here would have a lot of light. What they failed to mention was that it was indirect and the screens make it even harder for plants to get light.

So for the last two years I have supported Home Depot and Lowe's, replacing plants that got too lanky and died. I am a never give up kind of “farm girl” though. I planted tomatoes at my mother’s house. The first season, my mother called me to say “we have a baby”. It was one tiny, lonely cherry tomato. Ok, not a meal but I was newly inspired.

This spring I planted tomatoes and basil. Lo and behold, this summer we had “children”. We ate small cherry tomatoes and basil. The plants didn’t make it too long though since I wasn’t there to water them.

I had another idea. I decided to start growing things outside of my patio but close to the screen. I hoped they wouldn’t be stolen, but felt it was worth a try.
Wow, what a great idea! I started with a Thai basil plant. It is still nice and healthy and growing. Next in a big pot, I planted an eggplant. It was time I really tried my hand at being a Florida vegetable farmer .

I never liked eggplant too much in the past until I grew some at home. What I realized is that the eggplant you get at the store is bitter because it is old. Fresh eggplant is wonderful! I was looking forward to my success.

All was going well. The first flowers appeared and next thing you know…there was a little “WHITE” eggplant growing. White? I had no idea it was going to be white. How did I manage to buy a white eggplant bush?

Still, it was growing and I was happily looking up recipes for white eggplant, optimist that I was since it was only the size of a golf ball. Then another eggplant started growing. I was really excited. Two eggplants on my little bush. A bumper crop. Oh, and I forgot to mention my watering technique. It was pretty ingenious. Since the plant was so close to my patio screen. I filled a glass of water and threw it against the screen. Enough times and the eggplant was no longer thirsty!

About the time my trusty white eggplant were the size of a softball, they stopped growing and the leaves on the plant started to die. I was crushed. How could this have happened?

At this point, two very important questions came to mind. Should I have bought stock in Home Depot and more important could I eat them at that size? Not sure about buying the stock but,darn sure I was going to try eating them.

I picked those little white softballs, cut them up, dipped them in some egg and Italian bread crumbs and cooked them in olive oil. I was thrilled until I tasted them. BITTER is all I can say and that is putting it nicely. They ended up in the trash and I was one disappointed farm girl..or was I now a city girl?

Later in thinking back, I remember one of the workers coming around spraying for weeds. I think the overspray killed my beautiful eggplant. Surely it had nothing to do with my ability to grow eggplant in a pot in front of a screened in patio in Wellington Florida. I will try again next year. Hopefully I will be living in a place more conducive to gardening.

I had eggplant on the mind, having gotten no satisfaction from the little white globes so I went to a farm store and bought a nice little eggplant to put in a vegetable sandwich. I also bought some fresh baked Kalamata olive bread, a beautiful ripe Florida tomato and a red bell pepper.

Not wanting to fry the eggplant, I sliced it fairly thin, salted it to take out any bitterness http://www.ehow.com/how_5801351_salt-press-eggplant.html
then spread a thin layer of light mayonnaise on the slices. I coated them with Italian breadcrumbs mixed with some freshly grated parmesan and some garlic powder them baked them on an oiled cookie sheet at 350 degrees until they were cooked. It took about 25 minutes total in a toaster oven, turning halfway.Thicker slices can take a lot longer especially if you use a traditional oven. Alongside the eggplant , I roasted some of the red pepper, then removed it, took the skin off and cut it in strips.

I toasted the olive bread and spread it with a little more of the mayo. I put the sandwich together by using sliced tomato, the eggplant, roasted red pepper slices and some basil leaves. I topped it all with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and freshly grated Parmesan. A juicy peach made a wonderful ending to my lunch.

I really enjoyed my farm fresh meal. I hope you will take the time to enjoy the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables available right now. They taste great and just as your mother always told you, “ Eat, eat, vegetables are good for you”!