Mushroom sherry bisque

First time making mushroom sherry bisque, and definitely not the last!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean one pound of white button mushrooms and trim tough ends. Chop one large yellow onion into large chunks. Chop mushrooms into large chunks. Peel 6 cloves of garlic. Take these three and mix in bowl with olive oil, s&p, and chopped, fresh rosemary. Spread out mixture on baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring a couple times. When roasted and brown, take out of oven and pour .5 cup of dry sherry into the pan. Scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of them pan. Transfer some of the mixture to a blender. Add a little bit of veggie stock (you will use a total of 5 cups of veggie stock). Blend the roasted veggies and stock until creamy. Transfer that to a soup pot. Do this with the rest of the roasted veggies until all are blended and in the soup pot. Pour in any left over veggie stock. Bring up to a simmer. Add about 3/4 cup of skim milk. Add a cornstarch and cold water mixture until it is the consistency you desire. Serve hot with chopped parsley and crusty Italian bread.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Snacks from the garden

New produce to work with, so new recipes for me too!

 

Salted, roasted sunflower seeds:

I've never roasted sunflower seeds before because birds always tend to get to the seeds before I do. I saw some recipes online for fancy flavorings, but wanted to do something just simple for my first try. I simmered the sunflower seeds in heavily salted water for about 45 minutes. Then roasted them in the oven for another 45 at 325 degrees. This lets the salt inside the shell casing so the seed itself is salty. Yum!

 

Next, I used almost anything I could to make fries. The two pictured here are zucchini fries and green bean fries. The recipe is the same for both:

Take beans or sliced zucchini, coat in flour, dip in egg+water mixture, then coat in a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs, s&p, and paprika. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until crispy and slightly browned. Turn them around once or twice and in about 30-45 minutes, bam! Fries!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Vegetarian Moussaka

I've been overrun with eggplant lately and I'm never quite sure what to do with them.

I roasted them with evoo, s&p, and garlic cloves once and that was pretty good, but you can only do that so often. I tried baba ghanouj a few weeks ago and HATED IT (although, I never really gave it a fair shake because I didn't have tahini at the time so I used a recipe that replaced tahini with something that I can't remember).

This time, I left it up to friends and family to suggest a way to use this over abundance. The most suggested dish was moussaka. Now, although I really always try very hard to research traditional recipes and follow them as closely as possible, I wanted this dish to be a vegetarian stand-by. My rainy-day veggie recipe, if you will. I saved 3 different moussaka recipes, substituted things I wanted, and combined all three for the recipe I offer below.

Ingredients: 2 eggplant, olive oil, s&p, 16oz can diced tomato, 1/2 onion, 1/2 bulb garlic, 12oz pkg Morningstar griller crumbles, 4 carrots, Greek seasoning, dash red pepper flakes, dash cinnamon, dash nutmeg, 3/4 c red wine, 1 c skim milk, 1/2 c shredded mozzarella, 3/4 cup chopped or crumbled feta, 1/2 c shredded part cheese, 1 lemon, 1 bunch flat leaf parsley.

Basically, moussaka has three distinct components: eggplant, tomato/meat, bechemel sauce.

Eggplant: First, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I sliced 2 different kinds of eggplant in about 1/2 in rounds, covered in olive oil and s&p and roasted for about 10-15 minutes. At the same time, I cut the top off of a half bulb of garlic and threw that in there too (lately, I tend to enjoy roasted garlic in things rather than sautéed).

Tomato/meat sauce: I sautéed some Morningstar griller crumbles (one 12oz pkg) in some evoo for a few minutes, then added about a half an onion and about 4 carrots from our garden (I say about four because I wasn't sure if they were ready yet, so I pulled them out, only to find that they were not completely ready. Oops). I added some red peeper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, a bit of cinnamon & nutmeg, and a bunch of Greek seasoning I got at GR Greek-fest (mostly salt, oregano, thyme- I think, and maybe some other stuff). I sautéed all that together for a few minutes until the onions started getting soft. Then I added a 16oz can of diced tomatoes, with all the juices, and a good splash of red wine. At this point, I took the eggplant out of the oven and chopped up the roasted garlic and threw that in the tomato/"meat" mixture. I also turned the heat down to 350. Sautéed for a few minutes until the liquid reduced by about half. During this time, I started the bechemel sauce.

Bechemel: Being (semi-)health conscious lately (only when I remember, actually), I decided to use a recipe containing only skim milk and flour for the bechemel (instead of the typical butter, flour, milk routine). I brought 1 cup of milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. I added small spoonfuls of flour until it became thicker, whisking vigorously the entire time. I think I probably added about 1.5 tablespoons. Then, I turned the heat to low and added a small handful of shredded mozzarella cheese and two handfuls of crumbled feta cheese. Whisked again until all the cheese had melted.

Assembly: I took a small amount of the tomato/"meat" mixture and placed it on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. I took half of the roasted eggplant and laid it out over the mixture. Then, another later of tomato/"meat" and then the other half of the eggplant. I finished with the remaining tomato/"meat" mixture and then lured the bechemel over the whole top. Last, I grated some fresh part cheese on top. I baked, covered, at 350 for 30 mins, then took the tinfoil off and baked uncovered for another 30 mins.

Before putting in oven:

After the oven:

After cutting a piece out, I squeezed lemon juice and sprinkled some fresh chopped parsley over the top. This one I can say is so amazing, I can't wait until this pan is gone so I can make another batch!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Boca crumbles round 2

When I sautéed the Boca crumbles with onion this morning, there was a lot left over. I love having this stuff in the fridge, in a pinch, you can make anything that you typically would using ground beef. For dinner, I made a taco salad using lettuce, Boca crumbles with onions, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, cumin, cilantro from the garden, and crushed tortilla chips. I used Kraft fat free Catalina dressing. Added up, this huge and satisfying meal is only around 5 points.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Omelets two ways

The hardest thing when cooking with WW specifications is cooking for two. I've learned that G sometimes doesn't always want WW friendly food. In this case, I've got to make something that can be easily transformed for his tastes and mine at the same time. This morning's breakfast was a perfect example of that. Omelets are the easiest thing to make and you can throw anything into them (including any and all leftovers in the fridge)!

This morning, I sautéed some Boca crumbles with onions and red pepper flakes. Then I assembled the ingredients for the two omelets. G's included two whole eggs, the Boca crumble mixture, marinated artichoke hearts, tomatoes, shredded 4-cheese blend, Parmesan cheese, and parsley from our garden. For mine, I used just two egg whites and omitted the 4-cheese blend, opting for just a few savory teaspoons of freshly grated parm cheese. Fresh Parmesan cheese is the best for WW recipes because while it is rather expensive for the real kind, you need just a tiny bit for tons of flavor! As you can see below, G's looks a lot better than mine, but the taste is spot on for both!

Cheers!

Forgot to mention: the egg white omelet is only 1.5 to 2 WW points, depending on how much of the Boca "meat" you put in!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cheap, quick WW dinner/snack

When I get home from work, sometimes I just know I need something quick to hold me over until dinner (which we usually eat late). I've found this cheap and quick low point snack a perfect mix of filling fiber and tasty goodness!

 

 

1/2 cup of Bush's Grillin' Beans in Black Bean Fiesta - 1 point, 1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese - .5 points, 1 large dollop of fat free sour cream - .5 points for a total of 2 WW points! If this was going to be dinner instead of just a snack, I'd wrap it in a tortilla for 2 extra points.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Mexican Scramble 10/4/09

Arielle asked me yesterday about a recipe for a breakfast scramble. So, I tried hard to think of the last time I made one. It had obviously been too long. So today, I tried out my "Everything in the Fridge Mexican Scramble" ( has anyone else noticed that Mexican food is the easiest to prepare because you just throw everything in there with some salsa or hot sauce?)

Here it is:
I baked some red skin potatoes in the microwave until they were done (5-7 minutes). Then let them cool a bit and diced them. I heated about a 1/4 inch of olive oil in a large skillet, on medium high. I threw the potatoes in with salt, cracked black pepper and cumin, and let them brown (be careful, they splatter when you're doing them this high, but it's the only way to get them really nice a brown and crispy on the outside). I used that time to prepare my other ingredients.





Next, I lowered the heat to medium and added diced green chilies, green onions, stewed tomatoes that I cut with a kitchen shears and some more s&p and chipotle chili powder.

After a few minutes of cooking on medium, I added diced ham and chopped fresh garlic.



I sauteed for a few minutes with the ham and garlic in the middle of the skillet, then mixed everything together.



I then added the eggs (which I seasoned with a bit of s&p and a couple tablespoons of milk). Then, when the eggs were almost set, I added some fresh grated extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream (fat free of course!), green onion tops and valentina hot sauce (gabe's favorite) or frank's hot sauce (my favorite). Enjoy!

dresses

lazy sunday

it's cool, it's rainy, i got to sleep in on a sunday... perfect! here's lunch!

tomato and spinach couscous (from a box mix) and cuban black beans... best part is 1 cup of couscous + 1/2 cup of black beans = 5 WW points only! and it's so filling! (cuban black bean recipe is on here somewhere, so i'll spare you the recipe again)

April

I probably won't be posting too much on here for the next little while for 2 reasons:
1. I'm SUPER busy... with school (I"ll be graduating April 25!!yay!) and with my two part time jobs (Holland and research assisting).
2. I've just started on Weight Watchers. I'm not really telling too many people, but I figure, my friends on here are close, so I'm sure I've already told you anyway, or I would have in the near future anyway.
So, hopefully I'll figure out how to make some stuff that is low points when I have a little more time. For now, I'm sticking to salads and other things that I just have to "prepare" rather than cook. Kind of a bummer since I love cooking, but it's good timing because I'm so busy anyway.
See you on the flip side

It's been a while

I've made some great food lately... here's just a preview

roasted whole chicken with sweet potato fries


fish tacos, with tilapia, home made salsa and home made cumin and garlic aioli


pot roast with root vegetables


RIBS!!!!


(I've posted this one before, but it's black bean burgers! YUM!)


southwest chicken panini... mmmm.... home made southwest sauce


more chicken enchiladas


chicken and noodle soup (it wasn't very soupy... haha!)


angel hair pasta with shrimp and broccoli



I've also eaten some amazing food... here's genuine chicago deep dish pizza... man, that was good!

dinner, dec 19

so... the molasses cookies i made last night looked amazing! and tasted not so good... bummer... just another reason why baking is not for me. once you stick stuff in the oven, there's nothing more you can do, there's no control over the baking process. you just have a hope that when you open the oven door that everything turns out. i don't like that. oh well, no more baking for me!

but tonight... i made chili for the first time! beef and bean chili, i've made white chicken chili a million times. i had 4 beef sirloin steaks in the freezer, so i decided on chili. it was super easy too! and it turned out great!
recipe:
i soaked a bag of pinto beans overnight. then in a cast iron dutch oven, cooked them in water for about an hour and then drained them.
in another skillet, i sauteed the cubed beef with green onions, garlic, green chilies, chipotle chili powder, ancho chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt and pepper. after about 6 or 7 minutes, i poured the beef and veggie mixture into the dutch oven with the beans. i added two 10 oz. cans of stewed mexican tomatoes which i cut into pieces. i also added about a third of a jar of leftover pasta sauce and about 3/4 a cup of beef broth. then a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. i also added some more chili spices and salt and pepper at this point. i put the lid on and it simmered for about an hour.
we garnished it with shredded cheese, sour cream and green onions. served with blue corn tortilla chips.

christmas break means cooking a lot!

so, since school has been done, i've been on a cooking/baking spree!
first up, pasta with a homemade arrabiata tomato sauce with chicken and italian sausage


next, chicken and bean mexican tortilla soup


the next morning... homemade pancakes!


then, bacon wrapped filet mignon



just for lunch today, a chicken and bean quesadilla




right now... there is molasses cookie dough chilling in the fridge... i'll put a pick up, and the recipe up, when they're done baking... i hope they turn out!