Light Desserts - Holiday Cooking With Jameson

Looking for a cake that has great holiday flavor but isn't coated with a ton of heavy icing.  Try this one.  Here - I'll even walk you through making one.

Irish Whiskey Bundt Cake

Directions:

Check the Jameson's to make sure the quality is good. Pour a sample and sip delicately.

Take a large bowl from the cupboard. You will need that, two cups, and a set of measuring spoons. Check the Jameson again. Your shot glass is now in the dishwasher, so use that large glass.

In a bol sift flour, being careful not to knock over the glass of Jameson. You'd best move it, so take a sip and set it aside.

Turn on the electric mixer.n. . Beat cup of butter with the sugar in a large fluffy bowl.

Get the eggs out. Have another sip of that Jameson.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit there.. It's not in ther recipe, but what the heck. .

Mix on the turner, watching the the fried druit doesn't get stuck in the beaterers.

Oh #(&*. It DID get stuck. Oh look there's a knife, I can just pry it . . .

OW OW OW. Son of a *&^%#

Get bandage. Best splash some Jameson on the wound to sanertize it, and here let's have another sip. Pour a cup in the battery, stirring will, taking a taste to make sure the tonsisticity is still good

Next, measure two cups of baking . . .washing. . . . gun? Some kind of powder thing.

Another sip.

Now shift the liquids and strain your nuts. Add am xtra spoon of sugar if you lick it sweeter and one Table. . . . I can't read that, looks like. . .well. is that cinnaman, no, maybe CLOVES, or clothes?? OK, I set my clothes aside, now I'm cold, best have another sip to warm myself. It's medicinal you know.


Grease the oven. Turn the bundt pan 360 degrees.

Damn, now I'm dizzy. I think I forget to beat off the turner. Do that, and bake for 40 minuets.

This cookin thing is easy, need my own show on the TV ZZzzzzzzzzz

 cake photo and recipe http://www.gourmet.com/

Giving Thanks

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day - whatever you do.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln?

A Question for my readers who are also science geeks like me - If they're "Newtons" how come they are measured in ounces?

This weekend was not good in "eatinghealthyland".  My husband went out of town for several days to visit family.  Since I use all my leave time caring for my 95 year old Dad out on the West Coast, I couldn't join him as I can't afford to take a day off without pay with expenses for Dad that run into the thousands per month (he will NOT live with us or any of the grandkids who have offered, wanting to die in the house he outlived two wives and two children in -  but that requires nursing care).

My in-laws understand, but it made for a lonely weekend.  After a big blow out meal for the husband of macaroni and cheese with bacon and pie before he left - I was left alone with leftovers, red wine and sandwich stuff, and Fig Newtons.

Let's just say I should not have got on the scale this morning as I'd gained two pounds back.

He's home and tonight it was crockpot chicken drizzled with a Bragg Organic Vinaigrette (the BEST) with herbs and steamed veggies. But I still feel like. . . but you know, the Fig Newtons with a small glass of red wine before a bubble bath almost made it worth it.

Shades of Grey Poupon - French Cookpot Cooking Lesson

My husband bought me one of those French enamel cook pots.  It's like a Dutch oven, but the instructions are in French!  I had hinted that I wanted one after seeing the roast perfection our friend Mr. B. did one night in his enameled cooking pot and next thing you know - there's one on the counter.

Here is my first attempt at chicken  for him in it.  It turned out really tasty, but the aroma, oh my, the aroma that filled the house.  Definitely worth a try if only to sit and watch both man and beast sniff the air.   It's not a "crispy skin" chicken, but it is so very, very moist, perfect for slicing up for salads and sandwiches later. You can remove the bacon before serving if you wish, it's purpose is to add a smoky flavor to the skin and keep it moist.

1 whole roasting chicken
7-8 strips of bacon
1/3 cup olive oil (80 mL)
2/3 cup  vermouth  (160 mL)
4 stalks fresh rosemary
1 large lemon
2 sweet onions
generous sprinkle of summer savory (I used Penzey's)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed slightly.

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. (177 C).

Stuff the cavity of the emptied, cleaned and dried chicken with one onion, outermost layer peeled away, the rest cut into quarters, half a lemon, squeezed (save the juice) and cut in half again, the garlic cloves and 3 sprigs of rosemary.

Take the other onion, peel and cut into medium sized rings, spreading out on the bottom of the enamel pan.

Truss your chicken.  This helps the bird cook evenly and hold it's shape as it cooks and as you carve it (even if two lemon slices stuck to the top of the French Oven.).  Basic directions are below but if you need additional help there's numerous videos of it on the net (though it's  "trussing" not "bondage" or you may get some web sites you don't want).

1) Pass about 3 feet of cooking string underneath the tail. Bring the ends of the string up around each leg and cross the ends over the top.
2) Bring the string under the drumsticks and pull both ends to pull the legs together. Draw the ends of the string along either side of the chicken and over the wing joints.
3) Turn the chicken onto its breast, cross the string over the neck skin, and tighten to pull the wings to the body
4) Tie the strings securely so your chicken doesn't fly the coop.
5) Turn the chicken onto its back again, it is now ready for. . . . bacon!

Sprinkle the chicken with summer savory and place breast side up in the pan on top of the bed of uncooked onion rings.

Place the bacon across the top of the chicken until most of the surface is covered.  Mix the lemon juice from the 1/2 lemon that went into the chicken with the vermouth and pour over chicken.  Drizzle with 1/3 cup olive oil. Slice remaining 1/2 lemon (do not squeeze first) and place on top. Sprinkle dismantled remaining rosemary sprig on top of that.

Cover and bake for one hour. Remove lid, check internal temperature near the bone and continue cooking as needed until the chicken is 165 degrees F (another 30-40 minutes in my old gas oven) at the thickest part of the bird.  Cover loosely with foil and let set 5-10 minutes, remove foil and serve, warm or cold.

Now for your salad dressing.  Grey Poupon Dijon Vinaigrette

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (5 mL)
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (22 mL)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (60 mL)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of tarragon (to taste)

Whisk together the mustard and vinegar, then SLOWLY stream in the oil in a thin stream, whisking to make an emulsion.  Salt and pepper to taste, adding tarragon if you wish (optional). Serve a portion of the meat on top of fresh chopped romaine with dressing accompanied by French bread, a glass of wine and a little Cartier Baiser Vole' Eau de Parfum behind each ear.

Convenience Food Rip Off Report - And an Alternative

I don't have to tell my readers that the majority of convenience food is a rip-off, one can cook from scratch for so much less.  However, I still have times I'm willing to try a product, for that rare day I've nothing in the freezer at the crash pad, and I've come back from days on the road.

I've had my not so pleasant surprises, like the Bob Evans frozen Omelet from the grocers which was LESS than a filling breakfast (even on a salad plate you needed an electron microscope to find it).

But I had always liked Kashi products.  Kashi started out with some good cereals and bars, then they were sold to another company ten or so years ago.  New cereals coming out had a fair amount of sugar so I usually do Cheerios or a generic version of Grape Nuts. But I did try their frozen individual black bean burrito meal and it was tasty, if expensive for the amount.  So when I saw this "steam meal" I had to try it, even if the price $4.79 was well, still high.  But look how big the bag is for one serving.

Four and a half minutes in the microwave and there would be my big heaping plate of grilled chicken breast, veggies and a bit of pasta. It's not advertising itself as a "diet" meal, simply a healthy one.

This is the picture on the package (and on their website, kashi dot com)

This is what I got (I separated out the ingredients so you could see).

A cup of noodles in some "sauce",  1/4 cup of limp veggies (and I cooked at the minimum time on the package), and about three and a half anorexic strips of chicken.  The noodles were whole grain but the "Parmesan sauce" tasted like salt, mixed with salt with a dash of salt.

click to enlarge photos, hypothetically speaking

The chicken was as tender as a parking meter and apparently whatever they painted the "grilled" marks on the cover picture with must have washed off during the steaming process. They advertise it as "natural" but it tasted just like those"brined with rib meat" breasts that you can buy at Big Box Mart in 20-pound bags.  But their website says the "natural"  means "minimally processed" with "no artificial sweeteners or preservatives", which simply means they didn't take the chicken out for a couple of martinis and Cirque du Soleil, before turning it into chicken bits.

I've had much worse tasting pre-packaged meals but mixed together, the contents of the bag wouldn't cover 1/4 of a normal size plate.

Frankly, folks, this was about twenty cents worth of food, for which I paid close to $5.

The day I made that I had spent the majority of the day in tabletop exercises that involved neither a table or exercise. I donated blood with the Blood Center on my meal break.  I washed and vacuumed the Bat Truck, which is roughly the size of Delaware.  I wanted something that would fill me up.

I could do better than that, and almost as fast.

Cowboy Pasta (light version) - serves four and freezes well

2 cups dry pasta
2 reduced fat Brats or Chicken sausages (If you want a vegetarian version, Whole Foods has a good vegan bratwurst)
1 cup Light Alfredo Sauce (Classico and Bertolli both have good ones).
1 can sliced black olives
2 cans MILD Rotel (tomatoes with green chilis) DRAIN before using.
1/4 tsp dried jalapeno (I used Spice Island brand)
1 to 3 shakes of dried red pepper (three makes it HOT, but not "reach for the water" hot).
2 cups lightly steamed veggies such as broccoli
smoked cheddar (garnish only).

 Mix Rotel, olives, and Alfredo sauce and spices, and heat on low. While that heats, cook pasta in boiling water until al dente (about 10-11 minutes for the thicker wagon wheel style pasta).

While pasta cooks cook Brats. I sauteed with some non stick cook spray and a teaspoon of olive oil until lightly brown then, poured half a can of light beer over the top and covered, reducing heat, letting them steam while the pasta cooks. Drain the pasta, and keep warm. Uncover the Brats and saute in the pan juice/beer mixture (you can use water if you don't wish to use alcohol) until nice and brown and about 170 degrees internal temperature (easy way to figure, slice, should not be pink in the middle). Should be just a minute or two on the saute part. Slice bratwurst and mix with pasta, sauce and a the steamed veggies. Sprinkle with a little bit of freshly shredded smoked cheddar.

A bowl weighs in at less than 500 calories and is a complete, and filling meal.  With a breakfast and lunch of around 300 you can enjoy this and still have a small glass or wine or a couple of pieces of fruit during the day as a snack and be around 1500 calories for the day.

Dairy Free - The Final Chapter

OK, I have made every effort to stay meat and dairy free and have done OK with non-dairy slices on my sandwiches but I really had a craving for pizza.

This is a Daiya vegan cheese pizza slice.

I should have got suspicious when it said to cook it at 500 degrees. 

The "cheese" did not melt". It just solidified and the crust needed a camping tool to cut. (We couldn't find the chain saw).   I'm thinking if it weren't for the price (almost $10 for a single, serves two, pizza) I could buy a few of these and put a new roof on the house. (Except the vegan Hansel and Gretel would then come and nibble on it.)

Nope - even in more light it doesn't look better.

Sorry, I like their cheese flavors but the pizza was a bust.

National Sandwich Day

Happy Sandwich Day.  "Chicken"  salad made with plain Gardein "chicken pieces", dried cherries, a couple of diced walnuts, and Veganese (heart healthy, egg-free lower calorie vegan "mayo") on Dave's Killer Bread.

Thai One On - Meatless Monday

It's time for Meatless Monday again.

I'm in my second month of eating healthier without "dieting" and have lost 5 pounds already.  I've expanded my meatless meals to more than double what I used to - to see how well that plays out with overall health and wellness by cutting back on too much red meat and saturated fat. I am researching more "veggie" recipes as well as more menus that revolve around small portions of lean meat  (I don't like fish at all except for salmon) as opposed to the giant steak swimming in butter, that was my Friday night date for many years.

The main push with my overhauled diet is to get rid of all of the sugar, white flour, vegetable oil and dairy I was eating, none of which were doing my overall health and post injury arthritis in one knee, any good.  

Breakfast did have an egg, as I usually have one each week.  With it, a fresh batch of the homemade veggie "sausage" featured in this last week's pizza post.  I was out of brown rice so substituted some white rice and it worked just fine, texture wise.  It's a great substitution for pork sausage, and leftover makes a great little breakfast sandwich on a whole grain English muffin smeared with raspberry jam (trust me on that, it's awesome). It's also made with just a tablespoon of healthy olive oil to make 4 servings.

Lunch was Gardein "chicken" strips on chopped salad with Braggs dressing. At work the salad is  in a Tupperware, but you get the idea. My husband even nibbled one of the chicken pieces and said "wow - those are good".  I like them as they're made out of actual food and grains and not a bunch of artificial ingredients like a lot of other meat replacements.

The Braggs dressing is great, made with real olive oil.  Most store salad dressing is made with vegetable oils and studies are finding that too much of those are not good for you. In addition to the Vinaigrette I also bought a ginger one which will make a great marinade for fresh chicken or tofu.

For an afternoon snack I had a Vega vanilla protein powder mixed with a little cherry juice, spring water, and dried cranberries that I could tote to work in my thermos.

Dinner was roasted sweet potato with a zesty Thai peanut sauce.  It was excellent and with leftover rice from making the sausages, took only minutes to prepare, so I could get a few things done around the house while the potatoes roasted. A friend sent me the photo and the recipe and I'm glad she did.

Cut two sweet potatoes into chucks about an inch long and 3/4 inch wide. Toss in two tablespoons of melted coconut or olive oil, and dust with cumin and salt to taste.  Roast in 425 F oven for about 35 minutes, flipping them over about halfway through with a big spatula. 

Serve on rice or couscous with Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup reduced sodium tamari (or soy sauce)

3 Tablespoons Braggs apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of raw honey

1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger (or two pinches of dried)

2 teaspoons chopped garlic from a jar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 Tablespoons spring water.

Whisk and serve.

Garnish with onion or some chopped peanuts.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

Lunches as the weather gets colder tend to go from cold to hot.  By the time the first snow and ice of the season arrives we'll eat out biggest meal of the day at noon and have a slight  supper of a simple salad or bowl of soup for dinner.

The other week, during our last cookout of the year, I made some buns to go with the burgers.  I had no yeast so I came up with a recipe that was a cross between a biscuit and a bun (the "buncuit" and they were tender and so good, but sturdy enough for the burger.

No yeast "Buncuits" (a cross between a biscuit and a hamburger bun)

In one bowl mix:
3 and 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

In another bowl mix:
1 and 1/2 cups kefir (fermented milk drink) or plain yogurt
1 stick butter  or non dairy stick, softened until starting to melt
3 Tablespoons wild honey

Combine wet and dry and stir until it holds together. Place on floured board and knead 12-14 times, adding flour as necessary to keep it from being too sticky. This is more than you'd knead biscuits but LESS than bread. You don't want it so smooth and elastic that you have a a hockey puck when you are done.

Make six small balls out of the dough. Give each another knead in your hands and form into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly.

Bake in 375 F preheated oven for 17-20 minutes. The top will NOT get brown, but the bottom will. Check for doneness with a toothpick.

But what to do with the leftover ones?

Lentil Sloppy Joes on Buncuits.

Lentils are low in calories, and super high in fiber and protein, to make a filling lunch or dinner.  1/2 cup of lentils dry, then cooked, has less than 150 calories and 16 grains of protein.  Pair it with a grain and you have a complete, filling protein and they make a great burger substitution in soups, chilis and stews.

3 cups of cooked lentils.
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 onion (onion and garlic are optional)
1 and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
a pinch or two of crushed red pepepr
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 dashes of cinnamon
1 and 1/2 Tablespoon raw honey
1 14 to 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespons tamari (or use soy sauce).

Cook lentils for 20-25 minutes, until soft, in boiling water and drain (I just dumped some in the pot, so there were leftovers I mixed with leftover rice and froze for something later).

While lentils cook, if you're using onion and garlic saute until soft in a little olive oil. Add remaining ingredients and warm to blend

When lentils are done, drain and add to liquid ingredients, stir until heated through. Makes enough to serve 4-6

For dessert - you've eaten healthy so try and stay out of the leftover Halloween candy and have an apple instead :-)