Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Diet Update - Three Weeks In

Five pounds of me are gone. Bye, bye! I stood on the scale three times trying to get it to tell me I've lost six pounds, but five it is. Not bad for just over three weeks on my diet.

People keep asking me what my weight-loss goal is, and while I'd love to be back at my fighting weight of 105, I'll settle for 110. It's more about clothes fitting me, getting my flat tummy back and being able to look down and see certain parts of my body... You know how it is.

I've been doing the high fiber thing. Some of the products that are helping me in my quest are...

Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Oatmeal Bread - throw a slice in the toaster and smear it with some natural peanut butter (no added sugars!) or some apple butter (also no added sugars) and it fills me up pretty well and gives me the sweetness I'm craving.

Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta - I've plugged this stuff on numerous occasions. Love it! Tastes just like regular pasta but with five grams of fiber in every two ounce serving. We had some friends over for a roast duck/chicken dinner and you can bet the leftovers found themselves in a tasty pasta salad brimming with chopped veggies like carrots and celery and peppers, even a few chopped gourmet olives. The trick with pasta salad is keeping the dressing light. Use olive oil, of course, but don't drown it. You can blend some olive oil with red wine vinegar and chopped onion in a mini-blender with some salt, pepper and fresh herbs to make a nice dressing that'll keep your salad moist without all the crap from commercial dressings.

Kashi - Kashi, kashi, kashi. GoLean, baby, they ain't lying. Their cereals can have as much as ten grams of fiber in a serving. Mixing it with yogurt makes a nice crunchy/sweet snack reminiscent of my skinny days. They even make granola bars with four grams of fiber!

I'm getting back into the eating habits of my skinny days, that's what it is. Back then I was fueled by my desire to be a famous actress, now I just want to see my gig.

My metabolism isn't what it used to be, so I've pretty much cut out the candy, sweets, junk food and ice cream I used to be able to get away with eating. I'm not going to say I don't miss it, sometimes at night I crave caramel and/or Cheetos, but I'm able to fight off the urge because I already feel the benefits of eating right. I'm not winded when I walk uphill, I don't feel big folds of fat in my back when I'm doin' the peaceful warrior, I LOOK GOOD! Eating like this isn't completely foreign to me, I guess I have that advantage.



And, of course, once a day I have a really good meal. I'm seriously piling the veggies on my plate. As I learned months ago, 50% of your plate should be fruits and veggies. Last nights beef roast dinner was cooked with red skinned and sweet potatoes flavored with apples and onions and accompanied by cauliflower and brussle sprouts roasted with red peppers and duck stock. Does that sound like diet food?
-HH

Friday, January 13, 2012 Black Bean and Barley Lettuce Wraps

Mmm... This DDelicious dinner was made without any additional fat! No oil was used in the cooking process, instead I opted for a flavorful veggie stock that I whipped up during the day. Black beans with peppers and onions, barley with mushrooms, a little cheddar cheese, an little cilantro. It was almost like Chipotle but I didn't have to leave the house, and this had a little more fiber.

The barley I cooked in the stock - 1 1/4 cups stock and 1/2 cup rinsed barley. I cooked the sliced mushrooms in a pan with some more stock, transferring the barley to the pan when it was almost done cooking and adding more stock as needed.

In another pan I simmered the chopped peppers, onions and garlic in a little more stock and then added a small can of black beans. The whole can, black bean sludge and all. Let that cook until the onions are clear, let the other one cook until the barley is done.

Lettuce cups are pretty self-explanatory. Make sure you wash them, that's my advice.

My husband added a little sour cream and hot sauce to his. I realized as I was plating that I hadn't used any additional spices, but they weren't really needed on my end. I loved the flavor of the cilantro and the black beans, the texture of the lettuce and the barley. These were quite good! And I ate four of them without any guilt. Lots of fiber, beans are a good source of protein and fiber. I added very little cheese to mine - I felt good about the whole meal!

Stay tuned for more of my "diet recipes" - they're tasty!

-HH

Thursday, January 12, 2012 Diet Update - Two Weeks In

Since it was couple days before New Year's that I began my diet I have reached the two week mark. Two weeks of eating "right," eating "healthy," and I might add not eating "boring."

Sure, there's nothing too exciting about high fiber cereal. Mixing it with half a container of yogurt makes it slightly exciting, and finishing the yogurt later makes me feel as if I've cheated the system. I've been writing down everything I've eaten at the end of the day, almost more of a memory exercise than a food diary. Every entry had something along the lines of...

High fiber cereal
PB on whole grain toast
Apple Butter on whole grain toast
cheese stick (Weight Watchers cheese. It's not fantastic, but it's a small snack)
Apple
Banana
yogurt

A few times, like yesterday, we had a nice late lunch/early dinner that was large enough to keep us full well into the evening. Yesterday's purple cabbage, kielbasa and perogies wasn't exactly diet food, but I did what I could to keep the fat down. First I boiled the kielbasa for about 1/2 an hour. This takes out some of the fat, but I also cooked the perogies in the same water - they didn't absorb all the fat, maybe not even the flavor. I did save myself the trouble of having to boil another pot of water. The purple cabbage was sliced thin by my husband and cooked in water and red wine vinegar - it could have cooked a little longer, but I like it crunchy. The kielbasa we finished up quick outside on the grill, it just gives it a nice flavor and crunch.

I've also been putting in the exercise effort. When I can't go walk at the beach (which is like always because the cold wind freezes my inner ear) I'll try to do some yoga at home. Just 1/2 an hour of whatever moves I remember from my hour long sessions at the Y. My heart rate really does go up, I'm not flexible so it could be a fear of falling over that gets my heart racing, but whatever it is I sure hope it's burning some calories! I can feel I'm getting stronger, and I can feel my muscles getting a workout, so I've gotta be doing something right.

And in the end? Let's call it 3 pounds. It's very hard to tell. I stand on the scale with one foot and my hand on the towel rack, ever so slowly lifting my weight onto the scale, trying not to jostle the numbers up, down and around. It's an old scale, older than some of my friends probably, that never quite zeros out right. You can start at zero, get on and get off and it's at 3 - know what I'm saying? But my goal is 2 pounds a month, so three pounds in two weeks ain't bad!

Do I feel better? Yes. Do I look better? Not sure. Am I starving myself? Not at all. Sure, sometimes it takes super human strength to fight off the munchies, but I'm doing it! Not eating for two hours before bedtime (which is 8:00 because I'm asleep by 10:00) hasn't always been easy, but it has surely relieved me of the nightmares that have been plaguing me. Thank goodness.

How's your diet going?

-HH

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Light Italian Fare

In my house I don't attempt to make "sauce" - an interchangeable word with "gravy" which is Italian code for tomato sauce. My husband is Italian, he makes the sauce in this house. When I want to make sauce I have to make a conscious attempt to NOT make sauce. It's all very confusing. When Arcane Malevolence came for Italian Night my husband made his sauce and I made mine, a roasted pepper/tomato sauce that is different enough from regular sauce to elicit a "good sauce" compliment instead of a "good sauce" comment. See, it's confusing.

So yesterday, when I was in the mood for some spaghetti, I had to go outside of the sauce-box yet again. Diced tomato (from a can), onion, garlic and a basil cube. I let it simmer on the stove for close to an hour. While that was going on I marinated some organic chicken breasts in olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, dried oregano, granulated garlic and onion powder.

As the dinner hour approached I put a big pot of water on the stove to boil the pasta. Smart Taste angel hair, I do love that brand, I'll admit it. I set up the George Foreman Grill to cook the chicken. As soon as that heated up I put the chicken on for 9 minutes. When that was done I put the pasta on for 4 minutes, giving the chicken time to rest. See how nicely this meal times out?

I plated the pasta, poured the chunky sauce over the top, shredded the chicken and topped it all with a dash of Parmesan.

It was really good, filling. All the familiar flavors but in course form, a hearty yet light meal. I felt no guilt. Small amounts of olive oil were the only sources of fat. My husband ate a whole chicken breast, I ate about half, but the leftovers (they come three to a package) will end up in a Smart Taste pasta salad today.

Rock healthy, yo!

-HH

Saturday, December 31, 2011 The End of 2011

With all the Hanukkah posts on Facebook last week I had to make me some deep fried latkes. Twice. And as DDelicious as they were, it's time for me to put away the deep fryer and focus on finding my waist line.

You've heard this before. Last year. And I wrote an article for this month's Alternative Control on the issue. I'm fat, that's my issue.

But, I am determined to lose some weight and get back into some of my old clothes. How will I do this? Eat better, move more. That's it.

Over the last few days I've begun the process. GoLean high fiber cereal has 18 grams of fiber in a serving. Fiber is key, and back in my skinny days high fiber cereal was the cornerstone of my diet. I could eat anything I wanted, as long as I ended the day with a big bowl of high fiber everything would come out okay, if you catch my drift. But, these days that trick no longer works. I'm assuming my digestive tract is too old to perform the way it used to. And, in my defence, I move way less now than I used to. I used to have to learn choreography and execute it, now my musical theatre days are over and I spend all that time sitting on the couch instead of moving to the music.

I've been making soup for lunch with my homemade stock. Add a little high fiber pasta (Smart Taste in the purple box) a little broccoli, maybe some beets or purple cabbage. It's filling, low fat (if there's any fat at all, the veggie stock I make is fat-free) and packed with the veggies and fiber my body needs.

I played around with a stuffed manicotti recipe a few times in the past couple weeks. I had a ton of ricotta cheese that I needed to use before it went to waste. Since there's obviously fat in the cheese, I wanted to try to leave it out of the rest of the prep. The pasta was cooked for about 7 minutes in boiling water. I mixed about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese with one egg and one thawed cube of basil. The basil was actually pureed with olive oil and frozen in an ice cube tray, so there is some additional fat in the recipe, but it's a good fat.

While the pasta cooked I sauteed another cube of basil (more olive oil) with some broccoli, carrots, onion, garlic and stock cubes. This time it was ham stock, but you can use veggie stock. I let it cook for a while to let the carrots get soft. Then I thickened the whole pan with a little cornstarch in water.

I assembled the whole thing in a casserole dish. One layer of raw baby spinach on the bottom of the dish, then pipe the cheese mixture into the manicotti (you can use a cake decorating bag or a ziplock) and arrange them on top of the spinach. Top with more baby spinach and then pour the sauced veggies on top of it all. Put the lid on and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

It was really fantastic. Almost like pesto and primavera had a baby. A great way to get some veggies in me without the usual fat from sauteing. I'll continue to perfect the recipe and experiment with lots of different veggies and fillings. Someone suggested cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and I'd like to try using a vegan egg (1 tablespoon milled flax seed with 3 tablespoons water) to add more fiber to the recipe. We'll see what happens.

I've cut the extra calories from some of my favorite side veggies as well. I usually saute my purple cabbage in butter before I braise it in red wine vinegar and water until tender. I left the butter out the other night with no discernible difference. And my mashed sweet potatoes were just scrumptious, even without the added milk and butter. I used the cooking liquid instead to get them to the right consistency. Just as tasty. I'll save a lot of calories if I prep all my food this way. Plus, the leftovers will end up in the next days soup. More veggies in my tummy and less in the trash. Good all around.

As I head into the new year I'll be writing down everything I eat. The last two days I didn't do too badly. A soft boiled egg on plain toast is just about 150 calories and it fills you up. All I have to do is get my neighbor to stop bringing me candy and it should all work out.

By keeping track I hope to get back on track. I'll be a hot Headbanging Hostess by Spring! Boo yeah!

Have a wonderful New Year, everyone! Be safe! Rock on!

-HH

PS - My Headbanging empire is ever expanding (like my ass). Check out The Mercurial! You'll love it! \m/

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 My First Saugatuck Craft Butchery Experience

Look at that little bundle of joy. Go ahead, just look at it. I won't judge you.

OMG. Yesterday I had my first Saugatuck Craft Butchery experience. I was looking forward to it since I'd first read the article on CTBites. As most of my Facebook fans know, I'm not one to get excited about restaurant openings. But butcher openings? Give me a place to get some kick-ass ingredients and I'm a happy headbanging camper.

Well let me tell you, they did not disappoint.

As I walked up to the joint there was a nice young woman setting up shop for the day, placing doormats with pink pigs in their proper places. Of course I had to comment and we started talking (the doormats were at Bed, Bath & Beyond) and the conversation organically shifted to the organic meats (get it? Ba-dum-bum). She was super nice in assisting me, it's a good thing I was the only customer there because I had no idea what I wanted. I knew I wanted to use the fancy dutch oven my neighbor gave me, that was about it. I hemmed and hawed over lamb for a bit, I've only really liked it once. I know I need to learn to like it, and the uber-patient young woman helping me explained that pasture raised lamb has a different taste than supermarket lamb, but I was still unsure about it. Thankfully the Owner/Head Butcher who had been busy breaking down a steer with a bunch of other manly-men in burlap hats chimed in with a beef roast and I was sold. A pound-and-a-half, just enough for me and my husband. It was $15.08 - I know that sounds like a lot of money to some people. But just think about it, I supported a local business, a local farmer; I can live with the fact that the animal I ate only had one bad day in his life (straight from the butcher's mouth) and my husband and I had an awesome dinner. That was money well spent!

Check it out! They have tons of stuff, local yogurt, maple syrup, all sorts of dried meats, burgers, chicken wings, local cheeses. They use up every bit of the animal and even have cuts of meat you've never heard of. They visit all the farms as well as the slaughterhouses. It's a top notch operation, people; just go already! I can't come up with any more words to describe the awesomeness. Two Tits-Up for Saugatuck Craft Butchery!

And now, the recipe portion of this programming...


So I get this beautiful, tied-up piece of meat home. I give it a good covering of garlic salt, onion powder, rosemary powder and pepper and let it sit for a while. Just before General Hospital started I put the enameled dutch oven directly on the stove top (Which I wasn't sure I could do. Thank you James and Jane) and I browned the meat in olive oil all around. Then I threw in some of my husbands white wine and some bay leaf, threw on the lid, tossed it into the preheated 300 degree oven and left it for two hours.

When I opened the lid I was horrified. Everything looked scorched, my piece of meat had been replaced with a much smaller piece of meat that looked horribly overdone. I almost cried. I've never used a dutch oven before and I was convinced I'd ruined that beautiful piece of steer. My husband consoled me, assuring me it would be great. He grabbed some stock-cubes from the freezer as I doused it with more wine and tossed in some onion and carrots.

An hour later I took it out of the oven. I took the meat out to rest and put the carrots back on the burner. I tasted it, adjusted the salt, added pepper, rosemary, a shot of maple syrup to take out the bitter; a corn starch slurry thickened it up as it simmered on the stove. I threw some green beans and pine nuts under the broiler for a few minutes. I like them that way, nice and crispy - some people might say they were raw but that just means they've eaten overcooked green beans their whole lives...how sad for them.

The meat rested for about 20 minutes before my husband sliced it. There was no slicing. It was so tender...just look at the picture.




The carrots were covered in a rich brown onion sauce and cooked perfectly, giving way easily to my fork and still bright orange in the middle. The meat was incredible, light as air, almost indescribable. Have you had the Hershey chocolates with the air bubbles? This is the meat equivalent to that. Smooth like ice cream, tender. We dogged it. Wasn't one bite left.

I will be using both the butcher and the dutch oven more often. Rock on! \m/

-HH

Saugatuck Craft Butchery is located at 575 Riverside Ave in Westport, CT - Right of I-95 exit 17

Friday, November 11, 2011 Gardener's Pie

I wore myself out yesterday slaving over this Gardener's Pie. I walked down to the supermarket for ingredients (after doing my usual 3 miles for exercise) and walked back switching the overfilled bag from hand to hand asking my elbows to please stay attached.

I bought everything I needed, but I forgot to put some of them in the pie. This is why I'm up at 4AM - I just realized I left out the frozen veggie mix that cost me $3.50! (I was forced to buy fancy organic, the supermarket mixed veggies included Lima beans! Ick! Lima beans!) I also forgot to add the barley I'd planned to add for texture and fiber...whatever. It was damn tasty.

Here's a link to the picture set on Facebook.

I like to think it's self-explanatory, but here's a description just in case.

First off I started caramelizing one thinly sliced onion in a pan with a spot of butter and olive oil. Then I ground up 3/4ths of a bag of chips in a food processor with a splash of olive oil. I used reduced fat chips because I was trying to be healthy (ha!) and skipped the melted butter I usually use in this application. I wanted to save the butter for the potatoes.

Lookin' healthy so far, right? ;)

Push the potato chip crumbs into a pie pan forming a crust and bake for 5 minutes or so at 350.

While that's going on and the onions have started to color add a 10 ounce package of chopped up mushrooms to the pan. Stir that up and let it go for a while. If there's not enough moisture in the pan you can go ahead and add a little stock. All told I added about 1 1/2 cups of stock but it all cooked down so much there was just enough left for a good covering of gravy - not too much because you don't want it soupy. Maintaining the crunch of the crust isn't entirely possible, but you don't want to ruin your chances by adding too much liquid - then you're guaranteed mush.

Once that's started you can boil the potatoes - I used two of each and had a little left over. While they were cooking I added some cooked asparagus to the mushroom and onion filling and thickened the gravy with 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch mixed in a spot of water. That's the spot where I forgot the barley, I'll have to try that again some day. I do use barley in my bean chili and it gives a nice texture that somewhat makes up for the fact there's no meat.

I suppose that's also where I missed the veggie mix - but I had plenty of filling for the size pie plate I was using. I carefully spooned most of the mixture into the pie, careful not to disturb the crust, and then used a rubber spatula to spread the rest of the gravy covered goodness evenly in the center of the pie.

Then I mashed the potatoes, keeping some of the water in each. What I should do is boil down the water and keep it for stock, there's still flavor in there, but I'm not that hardcore, yet. A spot of butter in each, a little salt - I loaded a piping bag with the white mash and made stripes at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock and then added another stripe in between, ending up with 8 stripes. Then I went in with the sweet potato mash and did zig-zags in between ending with a nice dollop in the center. Sprinkle with chips, bake for a bit. Make a little extra gravy in the same pan in you want... Outstanding. Even if I forgot a few ingredients. My husband said it was really good for something that didn't have any meat in it. So there. The caramelized onions and mushrooms are just killer and anything you want to add or forget to add to them is going to make your Gardener's Pie uniquely yours - and it'll taste awesome! No lie!

-HH

Thursday, November 3, 2011 Farmers Market Wrapping Up

Sad but true, the last few weeks of the Farmers Market are here. Sometimes, if the weather cooperates, you can get a couple of weeks in December, too. But given our October Nor'easter I'm not holding out hope.

I had to put my foot down in order to hang onto this beautiful purple cauliflower yesterday. I was wandering around to all the booths, surveying the land as I always do and I came upon the purple treasure at my favorite farmer lady's stand (I don't know her name, how awful am I?). I thanked her for having it and told her I only ate it because it was purple. Another customer at the stand started asking how I prepared it and a whole conversation began between the three of us ladies about cauliflower prep.

Anyway, I had the last purple one, the rest were orange or white. And she tried and tried but I wasn't going to give her the purple one. "The orange ones are good, too!" I exclaimed. "They have different vitamins!"

She still wanted the purple one, but it was obvious I wasn't going to budge. So she gave up and picked up an orange head of cauliflower; something she wasn't going to do before I had arrived and sparked the cauliflower conversation.

There's a lesson in there for me...

And for you - my purple cauliflower prep, along with chicken and white sweet potatoes.


One whole organic 5 pound chicken bought on sale

One handful of Herbs de Dionysus (oregano and rosemary)

One large white sweet potato

One head of purple cauliflower

Penzy's Northwoods Seasoning


Remove chicken innards from still-frozen chicken cavity without freezing your hand. Stuff with herbs and cover chicken with Northwoods Seasoning (washing your hands every 15 seconds so you don't get salmonella on everything). Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Then add chopped, skinless sweet potato lightly tossed in salt, pepper and olive oil. About 30 minutes later add cauliflower florets also tossed in salt, pepper and olive oil. Stir potatoes while the oven is open. Stir it all again in about 20 minutes to make sure it's all covered in chicken-fat-goodness and continue to cook until the bird is done. About 1 hour 45 minutes to two hours for a bird of that size.




We ate almost all of it, but the leftovers will find themselves in something grand. I'm preparing to teach a Dinner for Two class for Trumbull Adult Ed in February! Start saving your pennies, folks! More info soon, stay tuned!

-HH

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Alternative Control Archives - Pre-Coitus Cooking For Two

This article originally appeared in the February 2011 edition of Alternative Control.

Pre-Coitus Cooking For Two


When cooking a romantic dinner for two it is most important to find balance between the amount of tasty food you consume and your ability to move about the bedroom after consuming said food. Loaded baked potatoes are not likely to lead to the sex Olympics. And as half of a couple, we each have that duty in the spirit of St. Valentine to please our partner in the bedroom, in the kitchen and in the dining room. That’s a lot of pleasing. You’ll need a proper, well-balanced meal with all the tastiest aphrodisiac ingredients to fuel your evening, hopefully well into the next morning.

Start the meal off with some celery and peanut butter. Oh yes, you heard me. Celery has something in it that drives women wild when men secrete it, so munch up boys! And why not pair it with peanut butter? It’s got the vitamins and essential fatty acids that a woman’s body needs. And if some peanut butter happens to fall in her cleavage? Napkins need not apply.

For the main course I’d get some filet mignon and cover it in a mixture of spices. Salt and pepper the meat and then coat it in cocoa seasoned with paprika, cinnamon, chili, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cayenne and cloves. Get all them anti-oxidants in there doing their thing so you’ll be able to do your thing! Let it sit for a little while before you cook it, let those flavors settle in. While that’s going on whip up a bit of salsa - tomato, onion, garlic, cucumber, green pepper, cilantro. Heck, buy it if you want, but please buy fresh. Most supermarkets have fresh salsa in the produce section. If it’s not in your local market - move.

While you’re at the market pick up a testicle fruit, also known as avocado. You may need to do this a few days before to give it time to ripen (I won’t say soften.) With a sharp knife cut around the entire fruit stem to tip, vertically, top to bottom, you get the idea. Then, with one hand around each half, give it a good twist. One half will come off clean and one will still have the pit attached. Take the clean half, and with a sharp knife, make several lengthwise cuts, the more cuts you make the thinner the slices will be. Then use a spoon to scoop out the slices, scraping along the inside of the skin.

Getting back to your meat, take a non-stick pan and get it hot. If you don’t have a non-stick pan borrow one from your neighbor and don’t give it back like I did. Put a little oil in the pan and make sure it’s hot enough to sear the meat. “Tttttssssssss” is what you want to hear when the meat hits the pan. Don’t cook it too long, just a few minutes on each side – it depends on the size of the meat.

There. I said it.

If you should happen to buy super thick cuts like I did you may have to finish cooking them in the oven. Put them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375°. The internal temp of the cooked meat should be 125° for rare, 145° for medium and if you want it well done I insist you stop reading this article right now.

Plating is the fun part. Place two slices of avocado off to one side of the plate and use salsa to fill in the heart. Then place your perfectly cooked meat in the empty space. Serve with a wink and a smile.

As for dessert…you really don’t need me to tell you what to do. But please, for the love of St. Valentine, don’t use whipped cream from a can. Nor cool whip. Eww.

Friday, July 15, 2011 Grilled Pork Chops, Peaches and Squash

As you can see, I didn't end up stuffing my squash. Well, I stuffed it onto my face, along with a pork chop and a peach.

There's just something groovy about having your husband out on the grill, cooking away. I did the prep work - sliced the squash into steaks and seasoned it, seasoned the pork chops with some Worcestershire sauce and cinnamon, allspice, black and red, ancho, cumin and salt and then sliced the peaches in half and dipped them in vanilla extract.

As you can see, they were all grilled very nicely. The peaches could have been a bit more ripe, but I liked the toothiness (is that really a word?) and, of course, the sweet and the savory were playing off each other like Satriani and Vai (best example I can come up with right now).

I still have one more patty pan squash in my fridge. We'll see if I get inspired to do something else with it!

Until then...

-HH

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Pork is Cheap, Yo!

I made this fantastic discovery - don't ask me why it took me so long, maybe I wasn't paying attention, but pork is cheap, yo!

These beautiful deep fried meatballs were born of a 1 plus pound pack - $2.41 I paid for it. That's it! What the heck kinda food do you get for $2.41? The cabbage is actually super cheap, too. 59 cents a pound and the sweet potato was 99 cents a pound. Looks I'm growing up to be an expert in post-modern-depression-like-living.

Of course the 1 plus pound pack yielded me enough meatballs to feed an army - or at least feed my husband and I for two nights. Tonight they found themselves sandwiched inside some kick-ass garlic scape bread and topped with caramelized onions and creamy cheese sauce.

It's was messy, drippy, tasty good. The kinda sandwich you need to take a shower after because it's dripped down your face and neck and arms.

Yum.

Here's the basic recipe for the meatballs. How would you serve them?

Basic Pork Meatballs

Slightly more than a pound of pork
1 egg
1/3 of an onion
1 clove garlic
fresh herbs (use what you like! I used sage, thyme and arugula)
salt and pepper

Mix everything together and then add bread crumbs in small amounts until the meatballs can be rolled into a semi-firm ball.

I deep fried mine, but you can fry them in a pan or do them in the oven at 350 until they're done. Always do a test meatball to make sure you've properly seasoned them!

I actually still have a handful of meatballs left...pizza?

-HH

Monday, June 20, 2011 Mushrooms for Meatless Monday, Monday

So here's me giving Meatless Monday a try.

I've been aware of Meatless Monday for a while, and I've done it on occasion, but more because I ate so much crap over the weekend and not because it was a national trend. I try to avoid trends.

But here we go with this DDelicious dinner construction...in poorly constructed sentence fragments...

Portobello mushroom caps - salt, pepper, olive oil.

Put cheese on top - grill.

Thin slice shallot, flour, fry.

Boil 4 parts water, add one part semolina, stir, salt.

Put it on a plate.

Eat. Enjoy. Rock on.

-HH

Thursday, April 28, 2011 Trying to Eat Healthy

Some of you may remember that I proudly announced I'd lost 10 pounds in the Vegan Night video. Well, you can go ahead and forget that little tidbit of information. I have packed up all my size 4 or less dresses to give away. I bought two new size 6 dresses and I'm looking at living the rest of my life pleasantly plump and overflowing with bodacious bazoombas.

I haven't even weighed myself, but I know I need to at least try to lose a few pounds. And my husband is in the same boat with me, so we've vowed to eat healthy for the next two days. No cheese, no bread, no meat, no candy... That there is my downfall. I love candy. I'm making candy for my Baking Two final. But for the next two days I'll lay off my crack of choice in an effort to keep my other crack safely tucked into the back of my jeans.

I spent 25 bucks on fruits and veggies at the supermarket. Apples, oranges, strawberries, bananas, mushrooms, tomatoes. I also bought some barley and 1% cottage cheese. I know, I know, I said no cheese. I'm afraid my tummy will rebel against me if I don't provide it with something milky and creamy. And maybe I should have gotten yogurt, but I can't seem to find any good yogurt these days! Activia blows-chunks since they changed their formula. I know that's not a very nice visual, but they really screwed up a great tasting yogurt, rendering it as plasticized and fake as all the other crappy yogurt brands out there.

And while I'm complaining... Eating healthy is not easy! You can't just open up a bag of chips and shove them in your face. You have to wash, prep, cut, peel, cook. By the time dinner was finally ready I was STARVING!

The good news is it was DDelicious! Mushrooms and polenta with fresh tomato and basil. I've not been a polenta fan in the past. When I was a kid my parents would make it with a layer of melted cheese in the middle, and I'd refuse to eat the polenta and just peel out the gooey layer for consumption. And my husband has made it and I've refused to eat it. I'm really mature sometimes, I know. Someone made it at school and I tried it but I thought it was awful. But somehow today's polenta was quite tasty. The mushrooms were drizzled with olive oil and coated with sage before roasting and the fresh tomato and basil was just that. Fresh.

Not a speck of cheese on the plate, but still a filling and satisfying dinner that delivered a bit of home cooked nostalgia, even though I'd never really tried it.

-HH

Friday, April 22, 2011 Butternut Squash Burritos

First off, I've gotta say the Stop & Shop in Darien has excellent employees. Every time I'm in there wandering around the produce department like a lobotomy patient someone always offers to help.

Sometimes I just don't know what to make for dinner. And, considering I'm a culinary student and accomplished dinner-party-thrower, this boggles me further into not-knowing-what-to-make-for-dinner purgatory. My mind gets hazy, I can't think straight and I have zero idea how to make anything into something tasty.

Yesterday I did about three laps around the produce section.

"Can I help you?"

"No...I just don't know what I want for dinner."

She smiled. She works in a supermarket and she doesn't know what to make for dinner either. Happens to the best of us.

Finally I spotted a container of cut up Butternut Squash. Hallelujah. Not very Earth Day of me, but this was yesterday. I'll admit, the ease of it caught my eye. I do tons of prep at school. Although I usually cook my winter squash whole, the chunks of orange sold themselves to me and I decided to make some...

Butternut Squash Burritos

Butternut Squash (cubed)
Brown rice
Black Beans
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
Flour tortillas
Wholly Guacamole 100 Calorie Pack (Since I can't seem to get a good avocado this is my guac of choice for now. Feel free to make homemade and feel superior \m/)
Fresh Cilantro (I was thrilled to find single serving herb selections. For 99 cents you can get the herbs you need and not feel like you're wasting anything. Brilliant.)

First I put some brown rice on the stove. For the two of us I added 1/2 cup of dry rice to about 1 1/4 cups of my homemade chicken stock (I added more later to finish cooking the rice). If you're vegetarian make it with veggie stock or water, although something with flavor is always best.

The cubed squash I boiled until it was tender and seasoned it with some salt and pepper when I took it out. While that was going on I put the chopped onions in a pan with a little olive oil, once they were translucent I added the black beans and spiced them with two kinds of paprika, chipotle and fresh garlic.

Throw the tortillas in a warm oven for a bit then layer the goods around the bottom third, fold in the sides, then the bottom and roll it up. Rice, squash and beans topped with fresh chopped cilantro and guacamole all rolled up in a warm tortilla. Mmm, mmm, mmm. The fresh cilantro makes it. The texture and flavor of the brown rice playes nicely with the spicy beans and sweet chunks of squash and the cool guacamole sneaks in to provide a contrast in temperature.

Very tasty. I'm looking forward to leftovers.

-HH

Sunday, April 10, 2011 Introducing the Faux Boy!

I can't possibly be the first one to come up with that play on words, but please, give me all the credit.

Tonight's dinner came to me slowly as I walked down to the supermarket. I've wanted seafood all week. Actually, I've wanted lobster all week. But I've been unable to find it anywhere on sale. Fairway had shrimp on sale but that's a much longer walk than my neighborhood supermarket. So my mind somehow settled on mushrooms, hence, the Faux Boy.

A French bread sandwich with fried mushrooms, fried onions, bacon, sprouts, tomato, guacamole and a hint of lime. DDelicious. The mushrooms I fried in the same style as Carnival Night! But this time I seasoned the corn flour with Old Bay. Mmm, mmm, mmm. This sandwich is out of this world. Flavorful, fresh, cool and crispy all at once. You won't miss the seafood!

I got all of the ingredients (minus the onions and bacon which I already had) at the store for less than 15 bucks. One french loaf, one lime, one package of sprouts, one package of mushrooms, one really good tomato, one bag of fancy chips and a fabulous product called Wholly Guacamole . I wanted to buy an avocado and make my own guacamole, but they were all hard as rocks, so for $2.79 I gave the product a try. I liked it! It gave the sandwich great flavor and all I had to do was open the 100 calorie package and smear.

This dinner will be repeated \m/

Rock on!

-HH

Saturday, February 5, 2011 Good and Dangerous

This DDelicious casserole was made possible by BYO Breakfast Night!

Hells yeah! Another perk to having your peeps bring ingredients. Leftovers! Oh yeah, baby. I had leftover potatoes, chopped onions and peppers. Someone had brought mushrooms, I still had broccoli, two kinds of cheese. Throw in a little of my culinary education and a casserole is born.

I've mentioned before, in the Corn Flake episode, I never had casserole growing up. Both my parents were immigrants, my dad from Hungary and my mom from England, so casserole wasn't something that got cooked in my house. Pigs feet, head cheese and fish stock. Those things got cooked in my house.

So this is the second casserole I've made. Not sure how cheese sauce fits into my diet. But if I keep doing the Bitty Bop I can keep the calories at bay.

I totally winged this, so the measurements are only comic relief.

A good pour of milk, a couple inches on the bottom of a sauce pan, low heat. On a small plate mush up equalish two-tablespoonish parts of butter and flour with a fork. Don't melt the butter, mush at room temp. But mush completely, like mash mush. Smoosh. Together. Completely.

In another pan sweat some onions in butter and add whateverthehellitis you're gonna add. Precook things like potatoes, the broccoli went in raw. Use your judgement. Remember, it's going to cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes. You don't want to overcook it into a bowl of mush. Season with salt, pepper and whatever your heart desires.

Back to the cheese sauce. Add the mushed up butter/flour mess to the warm milk in the pan. As it melts the milk will thicken. This is much like magic. You may want to call your neighbors over to watch. Once it's a smooth mixture add a couple handfuls of shredded cheese. I used mozzarella and smoked gouda. The smokey flavor, and the veggies, and the cheese sauce...oh my goodness, go with the smoked gouda.

Whisk the sauce into submission and then pour it in the other pan with whateverthehellitis you're putting in your casserole. Stir to get everything covered and then pour into (drum roll please) a casserole dish! Top with seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Let it rest before you serve it. And enjoy!

-HH

Friday, January 28, 2011 "Repurposing" My Three Compartment Lasagna Pan

I got this awesome pan way back in August when Arcane Malevolence first came to dinner. And, to be honest, I don't think I've used it since! It sure came in handy, though, in that first usage. Three kinds of lasagna - regular, pesto and zucchini! But what else could I use it for? Of course the idea of using it as a TV dinner tray crossed my mind, but I had yet to try baking mac n cheese, peas with pearl onions and a brownie all at once.

Does anyone actually cook the TV dinner brownie, or do we all eat it raw like children?

I actually haven't eaten a TV dinner in decades. Literally.

So last night, as I was figuring out how to cook our dinner, I jumped on the possibility of using my relatively unused pan. Just a little forethought and I could have a perfectly timed, perfectly cooked meal.

I started by cutting up the potatoes and boiling them into submission. I steamed the broccoli only for a minute or two. The fish I seasoned with salt and pepper and then coated it with some flour. In the microwave I melted half a stick of butter and then I added some fresh squeezed lemon juice.

I cut the fish into smaller pieces and placed them in two of the pans compartments. Drizzled them with the butter and lemon and then dusted it all with some good Hungarian paprika. The potatoes found themselves in the last compartment, covered with the broccoli. I poured some olive oil over the broccoli and sprinkled it with salt, pepper and sesame seeds.

A little foil to cover the veg, 20 minutes at 350 and WOO FRIGGIN' HOO! A super tasty dinner worthy of a top-notch seafood restaurant.

The size of the pan helped me out. The fish was doused with the butter and lemon and the sauce had no where to go! So all that goodness was cooked right into the fish. Moist and flavorful, it was simply delicious.

Check out the pics on Flickr!

-HH

Thursday, January 6, 2011 Celery Apple And Brie Pizza!

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm on a pizza kick!

I'm experimenting with white whole wheat flour in the dough, if I add some fiber I feel better about myself. But this baby is topped with double cream brie, so I'm not sure what the point was, other than making tasty pizza.

I topped my crust with some celery tossed with salt and pepper, honeycrisp apple pieces and five of the thinnest possible squishy slices of brie.

About 15 minutes on the pizza stone and wow! I love apples and brie, the celery really complimented the familiar flavor and the crust was like icing on the cake.

Awesome!

-HH

Thursday, November 11, 2010 90 Second Meal Mosh - Autumnal Chicken and Rice

Thursday, November 4, 2010 60 Second Meal Mosh - Fancy-Faux Fish & Chips