Category — Recipes

I don’t think this is going to get me any fan press out on the ‘net, but I have been completely digging cantaloupes this year – so much so that I have been eating about 1 entire melon per day, on average.  Cantaloupes are a nutritional powerhouse, with very few calories.  A cup of cubed fruit has more than a day’s worth of vitamin A, nearly a day’s allowance of vitamin C, 12% of your daily potassium needs, and 9% of a day’s folate.  And all this for the low-low price of 50 calories, folks!  Even bestsellers like apples, pears, and bananas have at least 100 calories.

I have been just cubing these super-sweeties up and eating them for dessert or a juicy snack, maybe combining them with some fat-free Fage, but there are some creative ideas in the latest issue of CSPI’s Nutrition Action Health Letter:

• Spritz the chunks with lemon or lime juice, and eat as-is.  Lime sounds particularly good to me.
• I never would’ve thought of this - top the ‘loupe with shaved Parmesan and drizzle it with balsamic vinegar.  That sounds really interesting – I’m going to try that one today. 
• Another one with cheese – fill half a melon with low-fat cottage cheese and a sprinkle of toasted sunflower seeds – yum! 
• Cube it and serve it over a bed of mixed greens and some goat cheese, tossed with a red wine vinaigrette.  Another fruity salad – you know I’ve been lovin’ up on those this summer.

Are you loving cantaloupe?  How are you eating it?

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Cupcake boutiques continue to be the rage, and frankly, I don’t get it.  Maybe it’s because I’m cynical and not cutesy?  Maybe it’s because most of their product is terrible?

It’s easy to screw up a cupcake.  Most often, the problem is that they’re dry.  You have to be extra careful when you’re baking a little weeny cake.  There is no baked good more unappealing than a dry cupcake.   And I’ve even had cupcakes made by really terrific, accomplished bakers, that are dry dry dry.  No good.  Not worth the calories.

Then there is the cute and hip factor.  Cute and hip alone don’t get you very far in life, and not in cupcakes either.  I want substance:  a moist cake with a firm but tender crumb and good flavor in the cake.  I also want enough icing so I can get some in almost every bite, but I do not want it mounded up on top so precariously that I have to eat it off before I chomp the cake or worse, that it just falls off when I unwrap my cake.

Last, but certainly not least, there is the pricetag problem.  You can pay $3.99 for a single cupcake at some places.  $3.99!?  I find it offensive.  And this is coming from a woman whose biggest budget line-item is for food.  I am lucky enough to be able to spend good money on good food, and I will pay extra for a premium product.  But I haven’t found a premium cupcake in a boutique yet.

Lest you think I’m insane, see what ire cupcakes can inspire on boards like Chowhound.

What the heck has set me off on this rant?  The other night my husband and I broke down and tried Sweet, in Harvard Square.   We split their “organic karat” cupcake, which they bill as “Moist carrot cake with shredded organic carrots and crushed pineapple topped with classic cream cheese frosting and an edible gold leaf petal.”  I can’t remember how much we paid for this puppy, but it was in the $3 range . . . because although I brought a menu home to refresh my memory, there are no prices on the menu.  Grrrr.  Don’t even get me started on this junk.  It’s similar to when you’re at a restaurant and they describe the specials, but don’t let you in on the prices.  Makes me craaaazy.

So this cupcake was actually moist, and it certainly was cute.  But with all that carrot and pineapple, you’d have to work hard to have it be dry.  And here’s the thing, the cake was pretty much flavorless.  It was merely a vehicle for the cream cheese frosting, which was fine, but not outstanding – and it was mounded up in such a cute way that it did not pass my icing distribution requirement.  It fell off.  A total buzz-kill.

Here’s what I like about cupcakes – they’re a sweet treat in a portion-controlled package.   I’ll spend money on cupcakes from old-school venues like Lyndell’s, but better yet, I think it’s fun and relatively easy to make cupcakes.  This recipe for black-bottom cupcakes is one of the best I’ve had anywhere, frankly.  It’s moist, it’s chocolatey and flavorful and fun, and it’s cheap to boot.

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The September/October issue of Clean Eating magazine is out, and there are a bunch of good recipes to try.  Are you familiar with this magazine?  With “clean eating” as a concept?  From the magazine:  “The soul of clean eating is consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible.  It is not a diet; it’s a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to an improved life – one meal at a time.”  Sage words, folks!

I like their lack of hype and their focus on good nutrition and exercise, but I gotta say, this publication is poorly edited.  I find typos in every issue, and some of the recipes aren’t quite right – for instance, the one I highlight here doesn’t tell you to put any sort of oil/cooking spray in your skillet before you try to cook your chicken breasts . . . that could lead to bad things.  So consider this a little “buyer beware” warning from your friendly neighborhood hausfrau.

Last night, I decided to satisfy my husband’s desire for “a little more meat” with a chicken dish from the issue – it was a solid recipe, despite the lack of a little grease, but you know me – I couldn’t leave it alone.  I tweaked it and this is what I came up with:

Arugula Polenta With Chicken

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with salt & pepper.  Spray a large skillet with vegetable oil cooking spray, and heat over medium heat.  Add chicken and cook until no longer pink in the middle, about 6 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to a plate, tent with foil and let rest.

Meanwhile, put broth in a medium saucepan with garlic.  Bring to a boil, then add the polenta slowly, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.  Return to a boil, and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until polenta is tender and the consistency reaches that of loose mashed potatoes.  Remove from heat and stir in arugula and yogurt.  Cover to keep warm ’til you’re ready to plate the meal.

Cut each chicken breast on a diagonal into approximately 1/2-inch slices.  Divide the polenta among 6 shallow bowls, top with chopped tomatoes and chicken, and serve.

Serves 6.

I steamed up some green beans to serve as a side – despite the polenta, it was a quick fix – 30 minutes from counter to table!

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This is an adaptation of a Deborah Madison recipe.  I made this with fresh rainbow chard from the farmers’ market – it’s in season now and if you are trying to incorporate more leafy greens into your diet, this is a delicious vehicle!

Chickpeas With Chard & Moroccan Spices

For the greens:  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Meanwhile, separate the stems of the chard from the leaves and coarsely chop each, but keep separate.  Add the chard stems to the boiling water and cook for approximately 5 minutes, until just tender.  Add chard leaves to the water and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, 1/2 t. of salt, dried spices, 1 t. oil, 2 T. of the cilantro and the parsley.  Stir to make a thick paste.

Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and pepper.  Cook for 7 minutes, then stir in the garlic paste, chickpeas and 1/2 c. chicken broth.  When the onion is translucent, add tomatoes, chard, another 1/2 t. salt and the other 1/2 c. broth.  Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the remaining cilantro and serve.

Serve over brown rice, barley or whole-wheat couscous.  Serves 4, generously.

P.S.  This is even better the next day, when the flavors have come together.  Makes a GREAT lunch!

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It’s August, and here in the Northeast U.S., we all know that our beautiful weekends are numbered.  I don’t know about you, but we’re trying to squeeze in as many backyard BBQs as possible . . . evenings on the patio are precious.  Soon we’ll be shoveling again.

This is a menu I’ve made many times, always to raves from the crowd.  It’s virutally all do-ahead, so you can take some time with your guests instead of running around crazy before dinner.

Grilled Lemon Chicken recipe from Gourmet Magazine – FYI, I use ~3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and it works out well.  Also note that you must marinate this chicken overnight, so plan accordingly!

Pair this with the Orzo With Tomatoes, Feta & Green Onions recipe from Bon Appetit.  FYI, if you can get fresh, multicolored cherry tomatoes, they’ll look really pretty in this.  And a note:  I am usually a hater of pasta salads, but this one has so much flavor, it’s worth the chopping.  Trust me – I’ve never had a party where this was served and people didn’t request the recipe.  Never!

Serve this Fig Salad With Greens & Walnuts on the side – be sure to scale up the recipe to however many servings you need – as written, it only serves 3 people.

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Tried it mixed with a huge tomato, which I cubed.  Although it was better (lending credibility to my too-much-pesto-hypothesis), I still wasn’t a huge fan.  Don’t know what I’m going to do with all these remaining leftovers!

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I think it was my sister-in-law who turned me on to green salads with fruit in them.  Until I’d had her spinach salad with strawberries, I’d always been a salad-traditionalist of sorts – salads were savory, and for me, eaten after my main course (unless, of course, a salad was my main course, which it often is).

But there is something interesting and tempting about a salad loaded with both greens and fruit, and maybe some nuts and dried fruits too, with a slightly sweet dressing.  For me, they’re always slightly unexpected, but enjoyable.

I tried this on Saturday night, and we liked it.  It incorporates fresh figs, which we “discovered” last summer.  I ate dried figs as a kid, but as a grownup I hadn’t regularly eaten fresh figs, and certainly never cooked with them.  If they are ripe, they can be very tasty.  If they aren’t (they’ll be very firm), they won’t be.  And sometimes they’re really mushy and over-ripe, in which case they’re awful.  So see if you can man-handle your figs a bit before you commit to a basket.  I also try to find organic ones, and then I just wash them and slice them with the peel intact.

Green Salad With Figs, Grapes & Pine Nuts

Dressing

*To toast your pine nuts, put them into a small, dry skillet and stir them constantly over low heat – they’ll toast quickly, so watch them!  Let them cool before you add them to your salad.

For dressing:  combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine (or use an old spaghetti sauce jar – add all ingredients and shake vigorously – this is my fool-proof method).  This makes about twice as much dressing as you will need for the salad – so you can either halve the recipe, or keep the leftovers in the fridge for about a week).

For salad:  toss all ingredients in a large bowl, dress with prepared dressing to taste.

Serves 4 as a side-salad.

Some tips:  Pine nuts are expensive, and because of their high oil content, they spoil more quickly than your other nuts.  Trader Joe’s has great prices on nuts generally, and also on dried fruits.  Buy a large bag of nuts and use what you need – keep the rest in the refrigerator and they won’t go rancid as quickly.

Turned on by sweet dressings?  Newman’s Own makes a good light raspberry walnut vinaigrette that is a staple at our house – try tossing it with mixed greens, crumbled blue cheese, dried cranberries and then topping it with a sliced grilled chicken breast (here again, TJ’s can be a time-saver – their already-grilled chicken breasts are pretty darn good (no weird texture) and don’t have any crazy sauces on them.  The balsamic ones are my favorite, but lemon-pepper and plain grilled are great, too.  Voila!  If you used bagged salad greens and the pre-cooked chicken, you now have a healthy and summery main-course in less time than it takes to order take-out!

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Tonight I made Heidi Swanson’s Arugula Pesto Wheat Berryrecipe and my verdict is “meh.”  My husband’s verdict is two-thumbs-down with a pouty face.  That’s pretty bad.

There’re a few things that were going on here.  I absolutely do not think that this recipe was a dog.  I think I put too much pesto on my wheat berries, for starters.  So if you do make this, go easy at first and add more, which Heidi does encourage you to do.  I just thought the pesto was delicious and so I was in a “if some if good, hell, more is better!” place, and, well, I overdid it.

Second.  I did add the fried seitan, and although I’ve been wanting to like seitan forever now, I just don’t.  The texture is too weird for me – if you’re a seitan lover, put it in and you’ll have a tasty, protein-packed meal.

Third.  Wheat berries are chewy.  They have a great, sort of nutty flavor, but they are work.  I like this, actually, but they are not for everyone – for instance, my poor husband.  I think these pushed him over the edge of his whole-foods tolerance.  He said “I like quinoa soooo much better.”

Fourth.  The pesto.  I love arugula – it’s peppery and fresh.  This pesto is an electric green color, toasty from the pine nuts, zesty from the fresh Parmesan.  I thought it was great.  Husband pronounced it “too green,” both in color and flavor.  I tried some on our daughter’s plain udon noodles and it was terrific.

I’m not giving up on this!  I have the leftovers in the fridge and tomorrow for lunch I’m going to try them again – the flavors will have melded well by then, and if it’s still too much, I might put a mound of wheat berries, etc. on a bed of arugula and eat it that way.  Some chopped tomato might be great with it too. 

I’ll let you know.

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