PICTURE THIS: Happy Halloween!!

Recipe For Creamed Spinach Lightened Up

Creamed Spinach Lightened Up

I’m always intrigued by a “light” recipe.  Gina’s blog has some great ideas.  I saw her recent post for lightened up creamed spinach and used it for my inspiration.  It’s an easy recipe that came together quickly (so quickly I almost forgot to take pictures!)

The taste was very creamy and rich.  At only 100 calories per serving, go ahead-indulge and enjoy.  Thanks Gina!

Recipe for Roasted Vegetable and Cheese Omelet

I'm trying to expand my repertoire of veggie cooking methods beyond my go-to steam and season routine.  So, this past weekend when the TV was on and I was only half way paying attention to whatever was on, I pulled out a bunch of fresh veggies from my weekly Kula Fields delivery.  I chopped them up, seasoned them, tossed them around in a little oil and roasted them up in the oven.  We’ve enjoyed them for dinner twice (just reheated in a pan on the stove top the second time) and I’ve made a veggie omelet twice.  Don’t you love cooking once and eating twice (or more!)

Recipe for Three Cheese Mini Macs Adapted from Food and Wine Magazine



Three Cheese Mini Macs from Food and Wine

We were hosting a pot-luck cookout for a bunch of our friends and I wanted to have something homey on the menu.  The ladies stick mainly to healthy eats as I do but we also like a treat, especially if it is portion controlled like these delicious little bites of mac and cheese from Food and Wine. 

These mini macs were pretty easy to make.  The blend of 3 kinds of cheese made them, well, really cheesy.  I made them ahead and then popped them back in the oven to warm up as the burgers and chicken were coming off the grill. 

Recipe for Overnight Oatmeal: Three Days, Three Ways

Are you eating all the whole grains you can?  Are you?  We’re trying to do our best and a delicious bowl of oatmeal is a great start to the day.  I have high cholesterol, so I am doing myself a favor every morning I eat oatmeal because it is a great way to naturally lower my "bad" cholesterol.

When I lived in chilly San Francisco, a hot bowl of oatmeal was great.   I used to make it in the microwave with milk for a creamy hot breakfast in about 5 minutes (as long as I didn’t boil it over and have to clean up the microwave before work).

Here on Maui, even the mornings during fall and winter aren’t quite "hot bowl of cereal" kind of mornings but I still love oatmeal and am still doing everything I can to naturally manage the cholesterol (it is working pretty well, BTW). 

I don’t know when I first saw a recipe for overnight oatmeal, I’m sure it was on a South Beach chat board or the like.  It is a great recipe for warm weather and you can heat it up quickly (without any boil overs) if you prefer it that way (or during the middle of winter!).  Such a versatile recipe too.  You can use whatever milk/yogurt combination you like, or no yogurt (increase the milk).  Add in different nuts, or add in fruit, dry or fresh.  Experiment!  Let me know what you come up with.

PICTURE THIS: Perfect Maui Tomato

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard

Recipe for Chopped Caprese Salad

I hate wasting food so I’m always looking for ways to use up bits of this or that in our day to day meals.  I made a caprese salad inspired pizza yesterday that was reeeallly good and still had half the heirloom tomato, some basil, and some of the mozzarella left from that meal.

I had an open face breakfast sandwich with mozzarella and tomato grilled on half a thin sandwich bun.  It was a lovely fresh start to the day and surprisingly filling and satisfying.  The rest of the tomato, along with another regular tomato, and some of the mozzarella were used to make this twist on a traditional caprese salad.

So easy! Because of the shape of the heirloom and the fact that I had it and a more traditional tomato to use, instead of slicing I chopped everything in to small bite size pieces. Dressed it lightly with some fine ribbons of basil, salt and pepper, good EVOO and balsamic vinegar and we had a delicious “left-over” salad to go with a meal.

I know you have been creative using left over ingredients-what was your most ingenious creation?
Printable Recipe

Recipe for Quick and Easy (and Tasty) Whole Wheat Caprese Pizza

Aloha!
Well it is pizza night, and the last ball (small one) of dough was pulled from the freezer last night.  Time to crank up the bread machine and make some more.

My whole wheat pizza dough recipe is here.  But this would also be good on a Boboli pizza crust.   Tonight's inspiration was the hubby's favorite salad-Caprese.  The heirloom tomatoes were on sale, and who could resist!   Some pesto as a base, good moz, and some spinach for added veggies, basil of course, and a squirt of balsamic to finish it off.  Magnifico! 

Tasty Tenderloin of Pork with Naan and Tangy Sauce

Recently, I made a version of Alton Brown’s Pork Wellington, a fairly easy and very tasty meal.  Our normal way to eat pork tenderloin however, is grilled with various marinades and/or rubs.  This is the first time I’ve actually written the recipe down, I usually wing it!  You can marinade for an hour or all day.  For a new twist, I served the pork on grilled store bought naan with a tangy sauce (I’m looking for a recipe to make naan at home). 

I hope you’ll try this!  I’ll be sharing more marinades and grilling ideas with you soon.  Would love to hear your favorites for the grill.

Gougères with Whole Wheat Flour

There is a group of courageous bloggers/cooks who are cooking a recipe a week (I think that is how it is going) from Dorie Greenspan’s new book Around My French Table.  You can follow along here.

I’m not committing to the series, but I was intrigued by their first recipe, gougères, French cheese puffs.   A friend was recently in Paris and mentioned on Facebook that she had some which brought back memories of the cheesy puffs eaten on my last trip to Paris.  The next day, I came across the FFwD group and their first recipe.  So, Cathi, this one’s for you!

PICTURE THIS: In Vino Veritas

Grapes, Colchagua Valley, Chile February 2010





Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance. -  Benjamin Franklin

Great Guacamole!

A few days ago, I finally ripened up a couple of avocados that I had sitting around.  I've been enjoying the avocado salad dressing I made and today I made up a quick batch of guacamole for our cocktail time snack.  (Check out the salad dressing post for how to ripen avocados).

This is super easy, very tasty and satisfying.  You can use fresh deli salsa in place of the tomatoes and onion if you'd like.  Just be sure to drain it really well.   I keep the seed from the avocado in the container to help keep oxidation at bay (it doesn't hurt anything if it oxidizes, but it is more appealing to have nice bright green/yellow guacamole rather than dull brown).

BTW, I had this cilantro for over 2 weeks.  I kept meaning to use it but...  I clipped half an inch off the bottom of the stems and stuck the rest in a glass of water in the fridge and changed out the water every 4-5 days.  This works well for most herbs, especially if they are pretty fresh when you get them.

Lighten Up Pumpkin Muffins

I like to have lazy Sunday mornings reading the paper and drinking coffee (who doesn't?!).  A few weekends ago, I came across a recipe for "Skinny Pumpkin Muffins" in Parade Magazine in our local island paper.  Since the transitions between seasons are very subtle here on Maui, Pumpkin Muffins sounded like just the thing to help get us in the "Fall" mood.  I have been looking for pumpkin puree for 3 weeks (not that unusual-"gotta wait for the boat") so when I found some today, I grabbed a few cans and promptly came home and made these muffins.

Avocado Dressing

Two very firm avocados had been sitting on my counter for a week…hmmm.  Well first I needed to ripen them up so into a paper bag they went for another week, yep another whole week on the counter in the paper bag.  This morning, ta-daaah!  Soft avocados.

I recently had a very fun “BLT salad” at one of our favorite Maui Restaurants, Merrimans Kapalua.  I commented to the waiter about the dressing and he said it was made with buttermilk and avocados.  So, I thought I’d give making it a try and it turned out to be very tasty. 

The great thing is that this is a 3 ingredient recipe-you could definitely doll it up some but I liked the simplicity.  Now, I’m on a quest to find recipes I can use it with besides the obvious, salads.  Let me know if you have some ideas!

Slowcooker Cuban Beans and Rice

Extra post today! My blogging friend Steph at The Cheapskate Cook asked me to participate in her Beans and Rice series.  Check out her blog for some frugal recipes and tips!  Here was my contribution-Cuban Beans and Rice cooked in the slowcooker.

Chocolate Hazelnut Whole Wheat Pancakes

How did I come up with this concoction for Chocolate Hazelnut Whole Wheat pancakes?  Breakfast at our house is generally pretty simple.   Almost always cereal for the hubby, pretty often for me too.  I’ll also make some of my breakfast quiches and eat those, or some hard boiled eggs.  Rarely do we do pancakes unless we go out.  Primarily because I haven’t found a recipe that feels halfway healthy.  That is until I found this one on Cooks.com

I liked it because it used whole wheat flour as the base and it got rave reviews about lightness and fluffiness.  Sounded good to me.

I felt a little creative this morning so I looked in the pantry and fridge for some inspiration.  Pumpkin?  Probably would be good, but didn’t float my boat and I had recently made pumpkin muffins.  Banana?  Hmmm, sort of ho-hum.  Semi-sweet chocolate mini chips (the tiny ones)?  OK, I can work with that, who wouldn’t like a chocolate treat for breakfast? 

I was thinking of adding some walnuts or other nuts and a light bulb came on…what about chocolate and hazelnut?  Sort of like that amazing choc/hazelnut spread I refuse to buy because I’m tempted to just stick a spoon in it and eat it straight from the jar?

PICTURE THIS: STAYCATION MAUI STYLE!

I hope you can visit Maui some day...until then, enjoy some photos from our recent Staycation on the west side of the island.  Aloha!

View from our day 1 lunch spot

Roasted Beets

Wednesday evenings are always fun as we open our veggie delivery to see what goodies have arrived for the week.  I was very pleased to see some fresh beets in a recent delivery.  I love the earthy, subtle flavor of beets and I have never met a beet salad on a menu that I passed up!

Palak Paneer (Indian spinach and cheese curry)

OK, the color is off a bit in the picture, but believe me this was AAAAmazing!  And fairly easy to make too.   As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been wanting to make palak paneer.  I stumbled across this blog, Indian Simmer, and Prerna's palak paneer recipe.  Well, actually it is her husband's recipe! (Read the blog for the story).

I had tons of spinach, and I made my own paneer since I couldn't find any here.  I followed Prerna's husband's recipe pretty closely, but here is exactly what I did.

Paneer (fresh cheese, Indian origin)

What is your favorite ethnic food?  That's a hard one for me to answer.  Living on Maui has very few drawbacks but one is a lack of many good ethnic restaurants.  I'm sure that living in the foodie city of San Francisco spoiled me and gave me high expectations for restaurants.  Fortunately, when we get the itch for some good Indian Food, we have a place to go.  And, it is really good.  And a bunch of our friends like it too so we always take a group and order family style so there is alot to taste and enjoy.  If you come to Maui and like Indian food, be sure to go to Monsoon India in North Kihei.

One dish everyone, including me, seems to love is palak paneer-spinach and fresh cheese in a curry sauce.  I wanted to try making it at home but wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find paneer.  I did, however, come across this recipe and decided it looked foolproof enough to try even though I've never made cheese before.

I didn't do alot of additional research until after I made the paneer.  One step that this recipe doesn't include that I found in several others is to chill the cheese in ice water for a few hours.  Next time I'll try that because, although the taste was perfect for the dish, the cheese was a bit crumbly (like a goat cheese log) compared to what I'm used to in palak paneer (firm cubes).

Here's the recipe as written.  I followed it to the letter.

Posh Pork

My dear hubby is a late afternoon/early evening exerciser.  Me?  If I don't work out in the morning, chances are I won't work out at all.  When he's taking his early evening run, I'm usually watching "Good Eats" on the Food Network.  I love Alton Brown's show!  It's filmed in Atlanta, where I have alot of ties and I enjoy his goofy science spin on things.

Recently, Alton did a show on pork tenderloin, one of our favorite meats to grill (I'll be sharing some marinade recipes with you soon!).  He did a twist on Beef Wellington, making it with pork.  Here's the original recipe.  It looked easy on the show and so off I went to get some puff pastry.

The dried apples were MIA at my local grocery store, so I substituted dried apricots, which I've used with pork before and knew was a good pairing.  Turns out, when I read the recipe online, that many who tried the recipe also used apricots with good results.  I also used 2 tsp of thyme.  I had very fresh young thyme so I didn't worry about getting the leaves off the tender stems.  I omitted the salt (thought the prosciutto would be plenty salty enough).  I also used 2 TBSP mustard and 2 oz of apricots.  Otherwise I followed the recipe as written.  Oh, and I rolled the pastry out on a baking mat.  Next time, I would trim off some of the ends of the pastry and make a pretty decoration for the top.

PICTURE THIS: Shrimp as Art

From a lovely meal on a rainy night, November 2009, in Kyoto Japan

I hope you have a great weekend.

Rich and Creamy Carrot Soup

One month anniversary for my blog!  I'm so enjoying this-hope you are too!

I found when we moved to Maui that living here didn’t naturally generate those urges to make and eat hearty cool weather fare like soups, chili, stews and the like.  However, I think my blood must have thinned out in the 3 years we’ve been here full time, because I have no problem with those kinds of foods today!

Case in point-this hearty carrot soup.  I had carrots in last week’s produce box and even using some each day in my lunch salad, I still had quite a few left.  And, today is produce day again so last week’s carrots were begging to be used!

I thought about making dilled carrots for a dinner side dish but that didn’t really feel right with the rest of the meal.  So, what could I make with the carrots that I could use later?  Carrot cake?  Love it but, A. having a whole cake around is not on my healthy eating plan right now! And B. I didn’t have what I needed to even make it remotely lower in calories than the “normal recipe”.

So….Soup!  As usual for inspiration, I looked in the pantry and here is what I came up with.  It is really thick and rich, exotic tasting, even.  If you like a thinner soup, use more chicken broth. 

I was also happy to use up a couple of the limes off our new lime tree!

Pizza Night

Mushroom, turkey sausage, spinach whole wheat pizza

I love having my whole wheat pizza dough ready to be pulled from the freezer for pizza night.  The only request from the hubby regarding toppings for tonight's pizza was for "mushrooms" so I started there-I had some buttons and shiitakes in the fridge.  Also there was some nice turkey Italian sausage in the freezer, so that came out and into the fridge last night with the dough ball.

Dough ball from the freezer

Simple Goodness in a Glass

Most of my friends, like me, try to eat healthy at least most of the time so when I have guests for dinner, I often turn to fruit to end the meal.  We can almost always get local strawberries so I definitely gravitate to those.  Beautiful clamshells full of fat, juicy blueberries get my attention at the warehouse store.  This week, my local grocery store had a great special on raspberries, and they weren’t already moldy and mushy so I grabbed them!  (Don’t you hate it when your berries go south as soon as you get them home?)

Here is a super simple, very versatile dessert.  Approximately 95 calories, 23 grams carbs, .7 grams fat, 4 grams protein as depicted

Ingredients:

1 cup of raspberries, (or any berry or berry mixture)

2 TBSP non-fat, plain Greek yogurt

Drizzle of Agave nectar (or natural honey)

Sprinkle of cinnamon

Find a pretty glass or bowl and add the fruit.  Top with yogurt, Agave and cinnamon. 

A sprig of mint from the garden would have made a nice garnish!

You could also layer the ingredients and top with ice cream instead of yogurt.  Some crunchy granola would also go well, in layers or sprinkled on top.  A drizzle of melted dark chocolate would be very nice!  See, I told you-simple and versatile.  Enjoy!  Please tell me about any simple, healthy desserts you share with guests.

Friday Night Fajitas

Do you have a "go to" recipe?  One that you know will never fail you, that you can pull together flawlessly when its the end of the work week, you're tired, cranky, or just not that into cooking that night?  My recipe for chicken fajitas fills that bill for me.  I've been making them for years and they always turn out great, good for just the 2 of us with leftovers (you know I love to cook once and eat twice, or more!) and much appreciated by company.

When we moved to Maui, I couldn't find the Mexican Seasoning I had been using forever.  I was not going to give up my "go to" meal and asked several of my mainland friends as well as my Mom to send me some of the seasoning.  No one could find it so I guess it's no longer made.  I experimented with some different taco, Mexican, and fajita seasonings and am currently using a brand name taco seasoning with 10 calories/TBSP. 

Picture This: Picture Perfect Papaya

How lucky we are to be able to get fresh papaya all the time!
If you haven't tried fresh lime juice with papaya, give it a try, I think you'll like it.

I'm a Believer Shake

I don't know if you are old enough to remember the Monkee's song "I'm a Believer" but I can't get the jingle out of my head after today's mid-morning shake. 

I'm always interested in shake ideas (Roni at Green Lite Bites shared one with Green Tea as a base, on my list to try) and an ingredient I see occasionally in shakes is raw spinach.  Now don't get me wrong, I love spinach, raw or cooked but my knee jerk response to it as an ingredient in a shake is "BLECH!"

Punched Up Whole Grain Quinoa Salad

I follow one of the blogs on the Whole Foods website and came across a recipe that I thought, with a few tweaks would be right up our alley.  Here is the original recipe.

I used whole grain quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), fresh chicken instead of store bought rotisserie (but that is a great idea if you are pressed for time), added some goodies I thought would punch up the flavors (feta, rice vinegar, cumin, lime) and used red grapes instead of green for a brighter presentation.

I poached the chicken in a flavorful broth (cumin, lemongrass, ginger) and then used the broth to make the quinoa.  It’s a pretty adaptable recipe. You could use other spices, goat cheese instead of feta, orange slices or apple cubes instead of grapes...  Let me know if you try something that works well.

Punched Up Whole Grain Quinoa Salad

Serves 5 as main course; approximately 394 calories, 38 grams carbs, 15 grams fat, 31 grams protein per serving

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless breast of chicken, sliced into thin strips 

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 stalk of lemongrass, sliced thinly

1 TBSP finely chopped ginger

4 tsp ground cumin, divided

Salt

Ground black pepper

1 cup whole grain quinoa

1 ½  cup red seedless grapes, halved

½ cup roasted almonds, chopped roughly

2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP rice vinegar

2 oz reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled

2 TBSP fresh lime juice

Lime slices, whole grapes, whole almonds for garnish (optional)

Method:

Bring the broth, lemongrass, ginger, 2 tsp of cumin, and black pepper to a boil and add chicken.  Bring back to a boil and turn off heat.  Let chicken soak in broth for 15 minutes, remove chicken and strain and save broth.

Rinse quinoa first if so directed.  My whole grain quinoa doesn’t require rinsing.  Make quinoa per package directions, using the reserved broth as the liquid (add more chicken broth if needed).  

Move to serving bowl to cool.

When quinoa has cooled, add chicken, feta, grapes and almonds.  Whisk together olive oil, rice vinegar, and remaining 2 tsp cumin. Add dressing to quinoa mix and stir gently to combine.  Drizzle lime juice over salad and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve at room temperature or chilled, alone or over chopped greens (lettuce, chard, arugula…).  Tangy feta and lime, smoky cumin, sweet grapes, tender chicken, satisfying quinoa....all good and good for you!

I served this at room temperature alongside my Asian Chard Salad.

Printable Recipe 

Birthday Inspired Spicy Fish Curry

Last week for my birthday dinner, I had a most excellent Spicy Thai Fish Curry at Spago, Wailea.  For our fish dish this week, I was inspired to try to recreate Spago’s amazing fish curry.  I don’t think the Chefs at Spago have anything to worry about, but my version was pretty good for home cookin’!  Yummy, tender fish.  Lemony-lime, gingery-coconutty, licoricey curry sauce with a little heat.  Crunchy veggies.  All that goodness over white basmati rice.  Are you getting hungry yet?  You could probably wok cook this but I just used a regular pan.  Served without the rice, this would be a tasty phase 1 South Beach meal.

Easy Make Ahead Breakfast Quiche

A frequent complaint of phase l South Beachers is “I don’t have time to cook breakfast, so what can I have that is within guidelines that will get me out of the house on time?”  Usually, someone who has been following a South Beach based lifestyle for a while will offer some great breakfast ideas.  Crustless quiches are a favorite as they meet phase 1 guidelines and can be made ahead of time. 

Here is one of my favorite creations.  Makes 4 servings each with approximately ½ C veggie (measured after sautéing), 2 protein servings and some fat;  155 calories, 9 grams carbs, 7 grams fat, 14 grams protein (made with egg substitute)

Ingredients:

2 C chopped mushrooms

¾  C chopped roasted red peppers (from jar), squeezed of liquid

½  C chopped artichoke hearts (in water, not marinated), squeezed of liquid

½  C finely chopped green onions

TBSP EVOO

6 eggs (or egg substitute equivalents)

1 ½  oz goat cheese

½  oz grated parmesan

Liberal sprinkling of herbes de Provence

Cooking spray

Method:

Saute veggies in EVOO and herbes de Provence until softened and warmed through.  Place in a round cake pan sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Cover with eggs and add goat cheese in small drops.  Top with parmesan.

Cook in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until set.  Store in fridge.

Serve warmed or cold.  

It's delicious and the beauty of these quiches is that you can use whatever veggies you like or have on hand.  Give it a try, even if you aren’t a South Beacher I think you’ll enjoy the flavors and convenience.

Suggestions for easy, healthy breakfasts?

Printable Recipe

PICTURE THIS: Special Birthday Dinner

Feast your eyes!  A wonderful "big eats" meal

at

Spago Wailea

Refreshing adult beverage in the 4 Seasons Bar before dinner

Tempura ahi tuna

Spicy Thai fish curry

Chocolate cake and coffee ice cream!

Microwave Popcorn

Do you know how easy it is to make popcorn in the microwave? I don’t mean the many varieties of prepackaged popcorn which can contain various oils and additives. I mean just plain ole’ corn popped in the microwave in a paper bag with just hot air. How easy is that?
I heard about this on the South Beach chat boards-gave it a try and now I’m hooked. I like that I can add just the right amount of salt and flavorings. And, it is very filling!

Somewhat Southern Stuffed Collard Greens

I mentioned last week about my weekly produce delivery from Kula Fields.  This past week featured some big leafy things-and despite growing up in the South, I had no idea what they were!  Fortunately, there is always a list to refer to!  Viola! Collard Greens.





Ooooooooookay, now what?  My friend Jennifer suggested using the greens like cabbage and stuffing them.  Sounds good to me, I know I wouldn't enjoy them cooked to death with ham hocks and vinegar, served with black eyed peas, as I'd known them as a kid (known of them, not eaten them!).  Next, what's in the freezer and pantry for stuffing? Ground turkey breast-that will work; brown rice-good South Beach grain; ingredients for basic tomato sauce-good; red bell peppers-mmmm, love them; onion-good.  Well, looks like stuffed collard greens are on the menu!

Baked Pesto Chicken

Aloha y'all!
Last week, I made Basil Walnut Pesto and stuck it in the freezer for a future use.  I pulled it out last night with a couple of chicken breasts and tonight used them both to make Kalyn's Easy Recipe for Baked Pesto Chicken.  If you haven't found Kalyn's Kitchen recipe website/blog, I heartily recommend it.  Kalyn was one of the first, if not the first, food bloggers I started following.  She mainly features South Beach, or South Beach adaptable recipes and really was a big part of my inspiration to start my own blog.

Tonight's chicken was easy, very tasty and quick-all good!  Here's the recipe, adapted very little from Kalyn's-enjoy...

Company's Coming Slow Cooker Pot Roast

I recently purchased a slow cooker after seeing tons of healthy slow cooker meals that I knew we’d enjoy. Plus, I like cooking once and eating twice-leftovers!

When the slow cooker showed up, my hubby surprised me by asking if I could do pot roast in it. He lived in California for a long time, but I guess you can’t take the mid-west out of him completely. Pot roast is a meal I haven’t cooked in a long time!  Our good friends were coming over with the wife’s mom for dinner, and tri-tip roasts were on sale so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do pot roast and mashed potatoes.

PICTURE THIS: Cinnamon maple oatmeal with walnuts from SusieBee's kitchen!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread

I’ve been making my own bread for about 3 years now (in a bread machine). While I’ve been on phase 2 of the South Beach diet, I’ve cut down on bread products and when I do have bread, it is either whole wheat sandwich thins or whole wheat bagel thins. For the hubby, though, I make this bread which, after faithfully, uncomplainingly trying many versions, is his favorite. This one seems just right: good for you, good texture, good taste, easy to slice.