A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

We’re rounding out the Thanksgiving dessert preparations today with pecan pie.  Chocolate pecan pie, to be exact.  This easy recipe isn’t for the faint of heart – it is RICH RICH RICH.  Serve it with a little sweetened whipped cream and watch your guests hold their bellies with delight. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put your oven rack in the lowest position.  Put the chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass) and microwave in 15-20 second intervals to melt (be careful not to scorch those chips!!).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together (don’t whisk) eggs, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stirring constantly, gradually add melted chocolate.  Pour filling into prepared crust; place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet.  Arrange pecans in one even layer over the filling.

Bake just until set (filling will jiggle slightly when pie plate is tapped), 50-60 minutes, rotating halfway through cooking time.  Let cook completely on a wire rack, at least 4 hours (or up to overnight) before serving. 

Leftovers!?

OK, if you’re making all this pie, depending on how many guests you’re feeding, you’re gonna have leftovers.  Which is never a bad thing, when it comes to pie – I mean, what better Friday-after-Thanksgiving-breakfast is there than a slice of pie and a cup of coffee or tea??  What’s the best way to store those goodies?  Fruit pies (double or single-crust) are best stored at room temperature.  Putting them in the fridge will only make the crust gummy.  Wrap them well in foil and they should keep for 2 days.  Custard and cream-filled pies (like pumpkin and pecan) should be wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the fridge.  They’ll last for a day or two. 

Stay tuned – learn all about Chia in Monday’s post!  Have a great weekend.

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A mid-day post, how novel?!  I wanted to get this up, stat, because I just got an email from a flummoxed reader who asked me to explain the term “blind baking” – the pumpkin pie recipe calls for you to blind bake the crust. 

“Blind baking” is just a fancy term for baking the crust before you put the filling inside.  You should use dried beans or pie weights (the pie weights I’ve seen are either ceramic balls or else little metal balls all linked together on a chain) to keep the bottom of the crust from puffing up too much as it bakes.  It’s likely something you’ve already done, if you ever bake pie or quiche.  For the uninitiated, after you get your crust situated in the pie plate, put a bunch of dried beans/pie weights in to cover the bottom part of the crust, bake for the time indicated, remove the beans/weights, and fill the pie. 

Many recipes/cookbooks call for you to line the crust with aluminum foil before putting the pie weights in – this can help keep the crust from getting too brown.  I don’t do this, and I haven’t had an issue with too much browning – in fact, I find the foil to be cumbersome and that it usually wrecks the crust a little bit going in.  So if you wanna be a purist, you can do this, but I take the short-cut way and don’t.

Please, if you ever have questions about terms or recipes, just email me or post them in the comments, OK?

Carry on!

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OK, back to pie today!  The two other pies I make at Thanksgiving are pumpkin and pecan.  Today we’ll deal with pumpkin.  The pumpkin pie recipe is adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (a GREAT all-‘round cookbook if you’re looking for one – nice pictures, well laid-out, tasty, easy recipes).  So, like all ATK recipes, it’s got some funky steps – but let me tell you, I was not a big fan of pumpkin pie ‘til I had this one.  And my mother-in-law went crazy over it – I can’t remember if she says it’s the “best” she’s ever had, but this pie generates that level of enthusiasm.  So it’s worth the effort.   

For this pie, you’ll need one single pie crust – check out my post from the other day for the double crust recipe . . . just use one ball o’ dough and you’ll be all set!

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

 Blind-bake the pie crust at 375 degrees, for about 20-30 minutes (crust will look dry and slightly golden).  Remove the crust from the oven.  If it’s not already there, set your oven rack to the lower-middle position and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Note: the crust must be hot when the filling is added, so time this accordingly! 

While the crust bakes, process the pumpkin, brown sugar, spices and salt in a food processor until combined, about 1 minute.  Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in the cream and milk, return to a simmer briefly, and then remove from the heat.

Put the eggs in the food processor (don’t bother cleaning the bowl beforehand) and process them until beaten and uniform in color.  Keep the machine running and slowly add about half the hot pumpkin mixture through the feed tube.  Stop the machine, add the remaining pumpkin, and continue to process the mixture until uniform, about 30 seconds longer.

Dip you finger in to taste – it is SO tasty!  OK, enough.

Pour the warm filling into the hot, blind-baked crust.  If you have extra filling, ladle it into the pie after it’s baked for about 5 minutes (your filling will settle a little bit in that time).  Bake until the filling is puffy and lightly cracked around the edges, and the center of the pie wiggles like Jell-O, about 25 minutes.  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool until warm or room temp. before serving.

You can make this pie ahead of time!  Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 2 days . . . .

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Can you believe it’s November already?  That Halloween is behind us and that we’re staring down the barrel of THE HOLIDAYS?  The older I get, the more quickly time passes . . . not a great combo, if you think about it.  But that’s for another post. 

The next major food-oriented holiday is Thanksgiving – are you hosting?  I *love* hosting Thanksgiving dinner, and have been doing it for our family for the past few years, but this year I asked for a pass since I’ve had all these foot issues . . . so my dear sister-in-law agreed to take on the job. 

Over the next several days, I’ll share some of my favorite Turkey-day recipes with you – the ones I make, year after year.  Even if you’re not hosting, chances are you’ve offered to “bring something” to contribute to the meal – come here for ideas, and let me know if you need a specific recipe.   [Read more →]

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Did you notice?  No post at 9 a.m. today?  I’d drafted a post about my newfound love, chia seeds, but somehow WordPress had other ideas and deleted all but three lines . . . discovered this at 9 p.m. last night and was just too beat (L. up at 5 a.m., thank you time-change!) to regroup and redraft.  Lesson learned.

So this’ll have to be quick – I’ve got PT soon and a bunch of errands on tap today – I promise I’ll get back with a better thought-out post tomorrow!

I was p*ssed off this morning about the post, and had scheduled myself to ride the bike at the gym today (pool was closed, double grrr) . . . so what did I do?  I took out my anger on the bike (D. & L. will thank me later).  I have to say, it was one of the best rides I’ve had in a while, and that’s saying something since I ride the bike a lot. 

To what do I attribute my success this morning?  Two things – first, I got a great night’s sleep last night, so I was rested and strong.  Second, I decided to switch up my music today and cycle to a Podrunner mix.  You may remember this post on workout music, I mention the Podrunner mixes there.

Today’s mix was called “Upgrade*,” and it is a 140-170 BPM mix.  You can look it up in the archives that are right on the Podrunner home page.  This mix gradually increases in tempo as you get further through the hour.  It helped me go faster and longer today – I’ve figured out, finally, where to set my bike so that I can spin fast, with lower resistance, and still keep my heart rate in the zone . . . in the “old days,” before foot issues, I used to cycle with a lot more resistance, but at a slower RPM.  So actually now, the Podrunner mixes are even better for me than they were before!

I urge you to check ‘em out – you don’t need an iPod, just a MP3 player.  You can subscribe on the site and be up-to-date on the latest mixes (now bi-weekly due to budget issues), or if you do have an iPod, you can just subscribe and you’ll be scheduled to download new mixes as they become available. 

And if you like what you hear, do us all a favor and donate to Podrunner . . . they’re remarkably well-thought-out mixes for a fraction of what you’d pay to download and create your own playlist.

Happy sweatin’!

*P.S. Another one of my favorites is a 140 BPM mix called “Progressive.”

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I know I said that my favorite Halloween treats are pre-fab bits of artificial everything, but I have some favorite fall desserts that are more wholesome.  And since I’ve been sharing lots of savory meal ideas, I thought I’d mix it up and share with you a super-easy fall dessert – loved by kids and grownups alike. 

If you want to give this more nutritional value, you can substitute whole wheat pastry flour for all or half of the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe.  The WW pastry flour has a higher starch and lower gluten content than regular WW flour, so it offers less structure for your product, but will give you a more tender result.  Because it’s pastry flour, it’s finer and its somewhat nuttier taste is much less noticeable than regular whole wheat flour (read: less grit).  I have made these with all WW pastry flour, and people have raved about them . . . shhhhh, they didn’t realize they were enjoying some added protein and fiber!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt and set aside.  With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy; beat in the egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in the pumpkin puree.  Reduce speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips. 

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, about 35-40 minutes.  Cool completely in the pan, cut into squares, and serve!

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

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The EWG’s follow-up report was published yesterday – check it out here.  It reiterates that there is reason for concern – and that some changes in how we use our phones to reduce exposure (especially in kids) are warranted.

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Today’s recipe is a little more time-consuming than the usual 30-minute jobbies, but it still clocks in at a reasonable time for a weeknight dinner – 40 minutes.  Warm apple slices and onions compliment tangy, mustardy chicken cutlets to serve up a healthful, yet flavorful main dish.

Chicken With Apples And Onions

Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper and coriander.  Brush each side of the cutlets with the mustard.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Add the cider; reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.  Add the apple slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 5 minutes.

Spray another skillet (preferably cast iron – you’ll get a nice crust) with cooking spray and heat it over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.  Serve the chicken topped with the apple mixture.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Weight Watchers Magazine.

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