....to tell you that I've moved to http://ellysaysopa.com.
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I've gotten pretty cozy over there, so I hope you'll join me. :)
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You can now find me at http://ellysaysopa.com
Well, after all the talk and complaining about moving, I am FINALLY moving my blog. Please come visit the new blog at: http://ellysaysopa.com!
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Vox is, of course, the only blog service that doesn't integrate seamlessly with other services, so I had to copy all my posts (and as a result, lost all my comments and a few other things). So, there are still a few kinks to work out but I hope you find the new site to be more user-friendly and more streamlined. I'll still be coming back here to visit my Vox neighbors, but all my content will be posted on the new domain.
Go on over and let me know what you think!
I never ate Chinese food as a child. My dad is an incredibly picky eater, and this is something he absolutely refused (and still refuses) to eat, so you can see where I got it. But, one chicken chop suey at a restaurant while out with my mom, and I was hooked. Thing is, I got stuck on chicken chop suey and never tried anything else.
As a freshman in college, I fell head over heels for a local Japanese and Chinese restaurant that was a few blocks from campus. But once again, I got into an ordering funk and stuck to my signature dish--there, it was chicken fried rice. I liked this fried rice more than any others I'd had because it had finely sliced peapods (my absolute favorite), and lots of other veggies; not just the standard (or, what I thought was the standard) peas and carrots.
These days, it's pretty rare for me to order fried rice or even chop suey at a Chinese restaurant. I tend to be more into Kung Pao or sesame chicken, or Mongolian beef. So there you have it, the timeline of my Chinese food eating.
Still, I get cravings for chop suey or lo mein from time to time, but I try to make those dishes at home rather than ordering them out. I mean, if I am going to eat all those calories, I might as well have something that tastes deliciously unhealthy, like fried sesame chicken, rather than something that seems almost healthy (even though it usually isn't) like chop suey.
This is a recipe for a healthier version of pork fried rice. It uses lean pork tenderloin and brown rice, as well as minimal oil. It comes in at just under 500 calories for a healthy sized portion. But don't worry, it still tastes great and will definitely nip your craving for Chinese food in the bud! For a little more oomph, you can drizzle some toasted sesame oil over the top.
Pork Fried Rice
Serves 4
2 eggs, lightly beaten and a little oil or cooking spray
2 Tbsp. canola oil, divided
1 (1 lb.) pork tenderloin, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch green onions, sliced (greens and whites separated)
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 small carrots, sliced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 knob of ginger, peeled & grated or minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup frozen peas
3-4 cups cold cooked brown rice (from 1 cup raw)
1 cup peapods, sliced
2-3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
Heat a large pan or wok over medium heat and add a little oil or cooking spray. Add the eggs and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook the eggs without scrambling (so they look like a pancake). Remove from the pan and cut into pieces. Set aside.
Add 2 tsp. of oil to the pan and increase the heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper, and then add to the hot oil. Cook for a minute before adding the white parts of the green onions (set the sliced green tops aside), celery, carrots, garlic, mushrooms, ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir fry for about 2 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp.
Add the remaining 4 tsp. of oil to the pan. Add the rice, peapods and peas. Stir to coat with the oil and allow to warm through and start to get "fried" for a minute or two. Add the soy sauce and the egg you sliced earlier. Season to taste, and top with the sliced green onion tops.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned on here before that as a child, I would eat seconds and thirds of horta, which are basically different greens (for us, primarily, they were dandelion greens). My grandma would always prepare them really simply, usually boiling the greens and then adding lots of fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.
If there's one thing I've learned over the course of hundreds of food blog posts and even more dishes I've cooked, it's that simple wins out almost every time. If you have a few fresh ingredients, there is little else you need to make something taste great.
That said, any cook will tell you that even a dish you love is often just a starting point; something you modify that will eventually become your own. This dish is no different. Though I love the simplicity of my grandma's greens, I also love garlic. A lot. I like that the shallots add just a little bit of onion flavor and the pine nuts add a nice, toasty crunch. This is my favorite way to prepare greens, and it's so simple. Use it with chard, spinach, kale, dandelion greens, whatever your favorite leafy green may be. And don't forget to modify it and make it your own!
We leave for my in-laws' tomorrow so I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Lemony Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch rainbow swiss chard, coarsely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper
Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the oil. Saute the shallot and garlic until the shallot is translucent. add the greens and allow them to slowly wilt down, stirring occasionally.
Squeeze the lemon over the chard and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss with toasted pine nuts and serve.
I had a little shredded coconut to use up and was trying to figure out what to make for it that wasn't TOO awful. I decided biscotti would be a good way to use it because it's one of those things that, even when made according to recipe with no healthy substitutions, is not too bad for you. Plus, it's something to eat with my eggs in the morning.
I didn't have to do any recipe inventing here, though. I was glad to find a recipe for Coconut Biscotti on Cooking Light's site right after I got the idea. These turned out great, and even with my addition of the chocolate, are not a calorie killer. Plus, biscotti have a long shelf life, so these work out great even though there are only 2 of us.
This makes a sticky dough. I would recommend using a silpat or parchment paper to do all the kneading and forming, so you don't have to transfer it to the baking sheet. Kinda wish I would have thought of that when I was making them...
Coconut Biscotti
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 20 biscotti
3/4 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. grated whole nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
2 large eggs
1 cup flaked coconut
3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
a few drops of canola oil
Preheat oven to 300.
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts and eggs together at medium speed until thick (about 2 minutes). Add the flour mixture and then fold in the coconut mixture.
Turn the dough onto a heavily floured surface and knead 7 or 8 times. Shape the dough into a roll and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. Pat to about 1" thickness. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes on wire rack.
Cut diagnally into 20 slices. Place slices on baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Flip the slices, and bake 10 additional minutes.
In a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl over simmering water, add the chocolate chips and just a little canola oil to thin it out. Melt the chocolate and then drizzle over biscotti.
Food confession #463: Baked chicken skeeves me out.
I don't mean a crispy-skinned roasted chicken, or finishing off a chicken breast in the oven that you pan-seared first. I'm talking seasoning or saucing a chicken breast and sticking it in the oven to cook completely. I've at least come to embrace the baked panko- or breadcrumb-coated chicken (but 9 out of 10 times, I'll still pan fry that sucker, first), but I don't think I will ever embrace the seasoned, baked chicken breast. I'm sorry! I imagine if you make your chicken this way often, you have a "WTF does she know?" look on your face right now, as I frequently do when people tell me they won't eat dark meat chicken. :-)
Now, there are a couple reasons for this (umm, I really like oil and butter, for one), but mainly it's the lack of color and the odd texture. It's just unappetizing (to me).
That said, there are a few ingredients that I've come to realize save many a dish and/or a cooking method. At the top of that list is bacon. Oh, bacon, how I love thee. Not only does bacon add moistness and flavor to a baked piece of chicken, it makes the chicken bacony-flavored, too. And really, who doesn't want chicken that tastes more like bacon? I mean, I'm pretty sure people wouldn't complain about having to eat chicken breasts all the time if they tasted like bacon.
To capitalize on both the smokiness of the bacon and my love of cheese, I stuffed this chicken with some smoked mozzarella. This dish will take about 2 minutes to prep and then you can just finish your sides (in our case, braised lentils with kale and green/wax beans) as it cooks in the oven.
Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon Chicken
1. Slit your chicken breasts (or butterfly them) and stuff them with smoked mozzarella (I very thinly sliced mine which I think is the easiest way to get it in the pocket). Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.
2. Take 2 strips of bacon per chicken breast, and wrap them around the chicken. This will keep the chicken moist (and tasty) and it will even help to seal up your pocket-full of cheese.
3. Stick the chicken breast on a rack, and then put that on a lipped cookie sheet (to catch any bacon grease that drips down) and cook it in a 375 oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the peace of chicken.
Tom and I are back from Vegas, and it's definitely with less money than which we went, but that's OK. We had a great time and ate very well - particularly at Alize and SW Steakhouse.
I know I've mentioned before that I really, really hate wasting food. As a couple who "shops the perimeter" of the grocery store much more than the aisles, it can sometimes be difficult to use everything up before it goes bad. Planning meals in advance is one way to combat that, but there are still things I always seem to have in overage, like parsley, sour cream and sometimes even cheese.
Before leaving last week, I found a large container of sour cream staring back at me from the fridge. Sour cream is so hard because 1. For some reason it is almost impossible to find a small version of sour cream in a lowfat variety and 2. It tends to be used (at least for me) more as a topping/condiment so it's not like I use a lot of it at one time, except on a rare occasion.
Being that it was the day before we were leaving, I also didn't want to make a huge batch of something that wouldn't keep well. So, I decided to make muffins because they are easy to freeze and eat later. I wrap the muffins individually in saran wrap and then pop them into a freezer bag. And, to take care of the extra basil I also had leftover, I decided to make some corn and basil muffins.
I might increase the amount of sugar in these the next time around. I don't particularly like overly sweet cornbread/muffins, but I think these could have used a little more sweetness. Other than that (and overbaking them slightly), these were a great use of that sour cream and basil! I tried to keep these relatively healthy by using whole wheat flour and olive oil instead of a ton of butter, but they are corn muffins afterall, and they do require at least some butter, don't you think? :)
Corn and Basil Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1.25 tsp. salt
freshly cracked pepper to taste
1 cup lowfat sour cream
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp. butter (I always use unsalted)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil
1.5 cups corn
Preheat the oven to 400 and grease or line a muffin tin.
Combine the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, butter, olive oil and basil until well combined. Add the flour mixture to the sour cream mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the corn.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin and bake for about 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Nutritional Information Per Muffin: Calories: 172 / Fat: 8g / Carbs: 22g / Fiber: 2g / Protein: 4.3g
This will be my last post for a while because tomorrow we are going to Vegas to win millions. Actually we will probably do minimal gambling, but maximum eating. I should be back to blogging next week!
Our friends recently got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii. Andrea was telling me how she had at least one Mai Tai each day, which reminded me of all the pina coladas I drank when we were on our honeymoon in Anguilla. I adore pina coladas, and it's incredibly rare that I drink them. I am normally not a fruity drink kind of person (I much prefer vodka tonics, wine, and beer), but there is something about pina coladas that is oh so good. I think it's probably the millions of calories in them. Actually the third day we were there, I was reading the paper and there was an article about how pina coladas have like 800 calories in them. Did that stop me from having one every day during the duration of our honeymoon? Hell no.
At any rate, I started thinking of pina coladas and remembered that I had some leftover coconut from the almond joy cupcakes, so I knew I wanted to make something pina colada inspired. I decided on pancakes because we pretty much never eat pancakes. So, why not combine two things I rarely eat and indulge in breakfast for once?
I am still a bit of a novice when it comes to making up my own recipes for baked goods or breakfast treats, so I actually ended up making this recipe twice before posting it. The first time, I overshot the amount of liquid, so the second time I reduced it a bit and also added a little bit more flour. I also upped the coconut extract the second time around, and used brown sugar instead of white. And, I reduced the temperature on my electric griddle because I think the instruction manual is wrong. :)
I would not call these healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but they are slightly better than other coconut pancakes because they don't use coconut milk, which is very caloric and fatty. You can use a lowfat buttermilk or even skim milk (which is what I used when I realized I didn't have buttermilk). I've also used less sugar and butter than most pancake recipes. Oh, and I accidentally left the butter in the microwave one of the times and it didn't get added. Oops! But, it was fine without it. Better with, of course, but completely fine without.
Pina Colada Pancakes
Makes about 6 pancakes
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
small pinch of salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1.5 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained but reserving some juice
About 2 Tbsp. reserved pineapple juice
Enough milk or buttermilk to add to the reserved juice that it equals 3/4 cup
1/4 cup flaked coconut
Maple syrup
Rum or rum extract
Preheat your griddle or nonstick pan, and grease with cooking spray or butter.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg until just frothy and then beat in the sugar to combine well. Beat in the coconut extract, butter, and milk/pineapple juice mixture.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in 2 additions, mixing until well incorporated but not overmixing. Fold in the pineapple tidbits and flaked coconut.
Using a measuring cup or batter dispenser, place equal amounts of batter on your griddle. Cook until you see bubbles on the top, and then flip until golden on the other side.
To make syrup: Put as much maple syrup and rum or rum extract in a small sauce pan and heat to combine the flavors.
Garnish with additional flaked coconut and pineapple if desired.
I think those Yes We Can(dy) Cupcakes worked, y'all. Obama is our president-elect! I won't subject you to my political drivel on a food blog, though. But I did want to document my thoughts on the whole thing so if you are so inclined to read said drivel, you can do so here.
So yeah, smoking stinks, right? Right. UNLESS we are talking about cheeses. Because, holy crap, smoked cheeses are good. (Yes, Kate, they are!)
As you know, smoked gouda is my favorite cheese, but I have a special place in my heart for smoked mozzarella and fontina, too. I once had a smoked mozzarella risotto with wagyu at a restaurant and this is sort of a (cheaper) twist on that because I added some thinly sliced flank steak to the top.
This was meant to be a smoked mozzarella and roasted tomato risotto, but I ran into a bit of a snafu with that. I kinda sorta *maybe* completely forgot the tomatoes were roasting in the oven. And it's possible they burnt and stuck to the pan because they were so thinly sliced. Maybe.
Thankfully, I always have a jar of sundried tomatoes around, so I chopped a couple of those up and stirred them in at the end. Crisis averted. This is a simple but great twist on a classic risotto. The smoked mozzarella just adds so much goodness.
I know I've been a horrible blogger lately and I wish I could promise I'll get better, but I won't. At least not until the year is over. We have been out of town a lot, and will continue to be out of town through the holidays. On Monday, we are actually going to Las Vegas, which is really exciting because neither of us has been. Though, like any gastronome, I am looking more forward to eating well than anything else. :) But you can still wish me luck to win millions. Or hell, even hundreds.
I'm hoping to have one last blog entry before we leave for Vegas, but I make no promises. It's not that I don't have time to make the post, it's just that I worry about what I'm making actually turning out somewhat attractively. Here is a hint: it's pancakes. Oh, wait, I guess that's the answer, not a hint. But anyway, I notoriously suck at flipping things without them falling apart or sticking or what have you. But it's been a LONG time since I've made pancakes and my skills have improved, so I think we'll be good.
Of course now that I've given so much away you'll know that if this is indeed my last post before Vegas, I have failed miserably in my pancake adventures.
Smoked Mozzarella and Sundried Tomato Risotto
Serves 2 as a side
1 Tbsp. butter
1 shallot, diced, or about 1/4 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup arborio rice
scant 1/4 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth, kept warm on the stove
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
2 oz. smoked mozzarella, shredded or cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper
Heat the butter over medium heat until melted and then add the shallot and garlic. Cook until the shallot (or onion) is translucent.
Add the rice, and stir to coat it with the fat, and toast it a little. Add the wine and cook it off almost entirely.
Start adding the warm broth, a ladel at a time. Stir the risotto frequently, and once the broth is almost all absorbed, add another ladel. Continue doing this until the rice has cooked (it should still have bite to it, and should be a little runny, not like regular rice). Stir in the sundried tomatoes during your last broth addition.
Off the heat, add the mozzarella and the basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
