5/11/12

Thank You Ray Ray

Do you ever just stop for a second and look back on what you've been feeding your body for the past few weeks and just think "ugh what was i thinking!?"

I swear, I've eaten a farm of chicken in the last week.

Not a lot of veggies. Just a few lettuce-y side salads. No good-for-your-belly plain greek yogurt. And waytoomuch chocolate. I've hit up the froyo shop like twice a week for a month now. Seriously, so much sugar. And so much Diet Coke that I've willingly gone to bed with raging heartburn more than once.

Dear self, you feel like crap when you eat like crap. So knock it off.

At least I can draw the correlation, right?

Sometimes you just gotta get back on track. Today's recipe comes from RayRay. Love her. 


Ricotta Smothered Mushroom Burgers with Onion-Olive Jam
for four


4 giant portabellas
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp EVOO
1 large red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 rounded tbsp tomato paste
1 c. nonfat ricotta cheese
1 tbsp prepared pesto (tj's has a great one!)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. roughly chopped greek/kalamata olives
4 crusty substantial rolls of choice
2 large handfuls arugula
S&P

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Drizzle mushroom caps with 1 tbsp EVOO, all of balsamic, and S & P. Toss to coat.


Lay mushrooms gill side up on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice red onions. Cry.

Heat remaining EVOO in a saute pan. Add onions, garlic, and tomato paste and saute over med-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring often.


In a bowl, mix together ricotta and pesto. Yum.


Chop olives.


Toss olives into onion mixture with chicken stock and a pinch of salt.


Return heat to high and let the juices reduce and all ingredients get cozy with each other.
When it's ready, it will look like this:


Layer mushroom, a healthy dollop of ricotta, and a handful of arugula on bottom of roll. Spread jam over top roll. Squish together and die of taste bud happiness.


I may or may not have eaten this meal with potato chips, removing any credibility from that whole preface. And possibly this entire blog.

5/7/12

Saucy

Things are about to get saucy up in here. 

"Why do I need sauce?", you ask.

"For many reasons", I reply:
  • Topping ice cream
  • Topping soft serve
  • Swirling into plain or flavored yogurt
  • Drizzling over cake
  • Filling cupcakes
  • Dipping cookies
  • Dipping fruit (probably a better choice than that last one...)
  • Swirling into plain oatmeal
  • Drizzling on smoothies
  • Latte flavoring and garnishing
  • Cocktail flavoring and garnishing
  • Eating by the spoonful when nobody is looking
So here are two sauces to blow the lid off your taste buds. Or something. 

Raspberry Chambord Sauce
makes two cups

1 16 oz. bag frozen raspberries, defrosted
2 tbsp white sugar
5 tbsp Chambord or high quality raspberry liquor, divided

Add raspberries, sugar, and 2 tbsp Chambord to a small sauce pan. 




Bring to a boil and reduce to low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Stir in remaining Chambord.


Jar that business. 


You want a second sauce? Mmmmmkay.

Fudgy Chocolate Sauce
makes 1 1/2 cups


1 1/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp creme de cacao, or chocolate liqueur of choice

In a microwavable bowl, combine chocolate chips and cream.


If your microwave has a melt setting, AWESOME! Set to melt and stir every 30 seconds. If not, microwave the mixture for 10 second increments.


Once all is melted, add in extracts and liqueurs, and stir until smooth.


Jar it.


As the sauce cools, it will thicken to a fudgy consistency. Great for sundaes! If you want a thinner sauce (like Hershey's syrup), add in a bit more cream or milk until you're happy.

Both of these sauces should keep for a week or two in the fridge.

If you can resist that long.

5/5/12

Savory Strata for Breakfast

Happy Cinco de Mayo, drunk Americans!

Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day. We've talked about this before. This works well for me, because there are just a ton of statistics about the benefits of breakfast.

  • Improved mental performance
  • More success in dieting for women (if mid-morning snacks are averted)
  • People who eat breakfast have lower rates of Type 2 Diabetes and/or heart failure
  • Lower cholesterol, insulin levels, and smaller waist circumferences
  • Blah blah blah (Source for all bullets)
I'm sure you could find a bunch of statistics about why breakfast is bad for you too, but this is my blog and I am biased towards breakfast. So....

Usually I'm an egg white omelette person, but occasionally enjoy some oats or some cereal. But when I've got a leisurely morning on my hands, I'm all about making something extra special. 

Also, you are definitely going to be hungover tomorrow, so you're going to need some solid AM nutrition to pull you out of that tequila headache. Plan ahead. 



Savory Breakfast Strata
4 hearty servings
adapted from Cabot Cheese

Cooking spray
3 large slices whole wheat bread
1 tsp EVOO
1 small white onion, sliced
1 cooked chicken sausage, sliced (TJ's has the best selection!) 
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and halved
1/2 c. grated parmesan
4 eggs
1 c. 100% egg whites
1/4 c. nonfat plain greek yogurt
healthy grind of pepper
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray a square baking dish with cooking spray and line the bottom with one layer of whole wheat bread. Get creative.



In a frying pan, heat oil over med-high heat. Saute onions until soft, then toss in sliced sausage and saute until lightly crispy.

Layer onions and sausage over the bread.


Drain artichokes, slice in half, and press out any extra liquid. Layer those over the onions and sausage.


Sprinkle an even layer of parmesan cheese.


In a bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, yogurt, salt, and pepper.


Pour evenly over the dish, making sure all is level in the end.


Bake for 40 minutes, then turn off the heat but leave strata in the oven for 30 more minutes. Weird method, but trust me, it makes those eggs perfect.


By using whole wheat bread, lean chicken sausage, egg whites, and less cheese that packs more flavor, I've adapted the original recipe into something that won't leave you feeling guilty or gluttonous. You could easily make this recipe vegetarian by omitting sausage or using a meat substitute like morningstar farms "sausage", a boca burger, tempeh, or tofu. Extra protein is good for you. Also, you could add more veggies. This would be excellent with spinach, broccoli, asparagus, or bell peppers.

Here's the best part:

               Cals, Carbs, Fat, Prot., Fiber, Sugar
ps, I used myfitnesspal.com to do this

For the ingredients I used (200 calorie sausage, 80 calorie bread), my heaping serving was less than 300 calories and 25 grams of protein! It could def use more fiber, but that's what a side of fruit is for!

I think this qualifies as a breakfast of champions!