October 24, 2011

Counting Chef's Crock-a-touille Sauce {recipe}

Getting more vegetables into your child’s diet is always a challenge. Try this kid tested recipe. This is a wonderful sauce which can be incorporated into your child’s favorite dish where spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce is used.

The Counting Chef’s Crock-a-touille Sauce™
Ingredients: 
  6 Roma tomatoes
  1 small eggplant -trim off top and bottom
  1 small zucchini
  1 small yellow summer squash
  1 green pepper seeded
  4 cloves garlic- chopped
  1 medium onion sliced
  4 tablespoons butter (melted)
  1 ½ tsp brown sugar
  5 tablespoons vegetable oil
  1 tsp. dried thyme
  1 tsp. dried basil

Chop first five ingredients into 1” by 1” cubes. Put into large mixing bowl. Add garlic. Put butter in a frying pan. Add brown sugar. Saute’ until translucent and caramelized. In small bowl put vegetable oil, thyme, and basil. Stir. Pour over mixture in large bowl. Stir to coat. Add caramelized onions.


Put this mixture into a crockpot and add ¼ cup water. Cover. Cook on high heat for 4-5 hours or low for 6 -7 hours.   When done, carefully drain mixture with metal strainer placed over a large bowl. Keep the juice!! Put veggies back in crockpot.


Take reserved juice, put it in a fry pan, cook on stovetop until mixture is reduced to half.  Pour reduced mixture over veggies in crockpot. Stir. Put in bowl to cool. Place in refrigerator until ready for use.


To make Crock-a-touille Sauce™, put in food processor. Process until well blended. This sauce is meant to add nutritional value to your favorite purchased pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce. For each cup of sauce required in your recipe, replace 1/3 of it with Crock-a-touille Sauce. Use this “new” sauce on pizza, noodle hot dish, lasagna, as a dunking sauce for breadsticks, or as sauce for spaghetti.

August 02, 2011

MonAmie Mardi: Mock Guac {recipe}


We all know someone who makes “The Best” guacamole. I am lucky know one of these people. My friend, Mariane, makes a very flavorful guacamole that always tastes so perfectly fresh. She has spoiled our M-CAKE lunch group several weeks in a row by bringing it to our picnics upon request. I felt a little guilty because I tended to hover over the guacamole and was not a good sharer. I decided that because of my greediness, it was my turn to bring the guacamole to the get-together.

Don't worry, I don't make a habit of wearing an old prom dress in public.  This was a special event for Mariane's birthday.

I couldn’t possibly try to mimic Mariane’s recipe. I think hers is “The Best” because she’s Brazilian and makes it with just the right amount of zest and zeal like only she can. It’s sort of like when my kids say I make my desserts in the “loven”, meaning “with love from my oven.”  Mariane’s guacamole is always made with love…zesty love.

I digress…so, instead of just trying to make Mariane’s guacamole, I invented my own. It can’t really be called guacamole because it’s not a traditional version. It’s Mock Guac, made mostly with edamame (soy beans). I’ve been needing a little extra protein to fuel my runs lately and this recipe is full of it.


I did add one avocado to give it a little more of a guacamole flavor. Actually, I used a Slimcado. Have you ever seen one of those? They are slightly larger, brighter green on the outside, more yellow on the inside, and have half the amount of fat and calories as a regular avocado. Avocados have “good fat” so I wasn’t too concerned about the fat/calorie count, but the Slimcados were on sale. An avocado would work just as well in this recipe.

MonAmie’s Mock Guac Ingredients:
  1 bag frozen, shelled edamame
  3-4 T. olive oil
  2-3 T. water
  1 slimcado (or avocado)
  1 lime
  pinch of sea salt
  3 cloves of garlic
  grape or cherry tomatoes
  1/3-1/2 c. finely chopped red onion

Steam edamame according to package to thaw/soften.


Puree in food processor while drizzling in olive oil and water until smooth. Smash the slimcado (or avocado) with the juice of 1 lime to keep from turning brown.

In large bowl, combine pureed edamame, slim/avocado mixture, sea salt, pressed garlic, and tomatoes (as many as you’d like, but I used about 10 cherry tomatoes). You can hand-mash, use a mortar and pestle, or hand blender. I WISH I had a fabulous volcanic rock mortar and pestle (*hint, hint dear husband), but alas, I had to use my hand blender, and it worked just fine. Add the red onion and thoroughly combine. Serve with multi-grain chips and veggies.

**A note about sea salt- I much prefer to use sea salt in this recipe, rather than table salt because of it’s taste and texture. Of course the very BEST sea salt is straight from the Mediterranean Sea, and given as a gift from a great friend who’s daughter brought it back from Europe, where she is going to school at AIU, and is a most fabulous up and coming fashion designer, who also made me my own Kelly Hulderman original for my son’s Young Marine ball last year. Boy, now that’s a run-on sentence if I ever saw one, but Kelly is wonderful and ya’ll heard about her here first!

Dawn & me wearing our Kelly Hulderman originals at the 2010 Young Marine ball.

After my friends and I devoured the Mock Guac I had a light bulb moment and was extremely disappointed I didn’t think of this sooner…Mock Guac Quesadillas! You can add whatever you’d like, but I think black beans, Mock Guac, a little Queso Fresco and salsa would be fantastic!


Or Mock Guac, roasted sweet potatoes (diced small), and a little crème fresh.

Or Mock Guac, Mahi Mahi, and red cabbage, topped with mango salsa! Oh my, yes!!!

Experiment with your flavors. Enjoy!

March 15, 2011

P-P-P-Pleasing St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

Every year on St. Patrick’s Day, a sly little leprechaun comes to my house and hides dozens and dozens of golden wrapped chocolates (it seems his favorite is Rolo candies). 

Leprechaun's Gold Chocolates

My kids look forward to waking up and finding as many as they can before school.  Another tradition we embrace is the wearing of the green.  Unfortunately, this year my favorite green sweater will now be worn by my 6 year old daughter because the dear husband, being the big helper that he is, has put it in the dryer one too many times.  Whoops.

Last year, I made a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner of stew and Irish Soda Bread.  It was pretty good, but I don’t want to make the same this year.  We are still on King Cake Bun overload and the Irish Soda Bread just sounds too heavy.  I also want to bring the green color that we’ll be wearing into our dinner.  When I eat green I feel like I’m doing something great for my health.  I think it is important to introduce healthy eating habits to our kids at a very young age.  Don't get me wrong, everyone in my family has a HUGE sweet tooth.  I allow us to partake in our favorite treats every now and then because I know the rest of the time we’re filling our bodies with nutritious food.

I decided to get my green from peas…English peas for the Irish holiday. 
Huh? 
My family is a blend, so we’re combining my husband’s English roots with the smidge of my Irish heritage.  Sounds good to me.

I don’t want to just make ordinary peas though.  I have to be creative.  I conjured up an idea in my head and once again, I didn’t know how it would turn out, but here goes…

When researching alternative St. Patrick’s Day meals I couldn’t shake the idea of pork chops.  They were just screaming out to me.  Not to mention they were on sale at the grocery store, buy one get one free.  You can’t pass that up. 

Buy One Pork Chop Get One Free

The great deal was on the whole pork loin.  It’s very, very simple to save a few bucks by cutting the loin into boneless chops.  Score!

In my research, I learned before St. Patrick’s Day was the big crazy celebration that it is today, the Irish actually made boiled pork instead of corned beef because pork was plentiful in Ireland and beef was imported and expensive.  The recipes have evolved, but the very early original was boiled pork.  Ha!  My roots were singing to me.  I may be a little more Irish than I thought.

Green Peas

So, back to the peas…The silly leprechaun in me is coming out again.  We have pork and peas so far.  Let’s add parsnips, potatoes, parsley, pistachios and aPPles.  That last one is p-p-pushing it.  I could do pears, but apples go so much better with pork.

So the plan is pork chops with a shallot and apple glaze paired with mashed parsnips, potatoes and peas flavored with roasted garlic and (you guessed it) Greek yogurt for a creamy texture.

Roasted Garlic

Start with the side dish because the pork takes little time.  Place a head of garlic in foil and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake at 375° for about an hour or until soft. 

Potatoes and Parsnips

While the garlic is in the oven, boil 1 lb. of parsnips and 4 smallish potatoes until soft.  Steam an entire bag of beautiful green peas and then stick them in the food processor (or blender, or just hand mash) until mostly smooth. 

Blend Veggies

Mix the mashed veggies together with your soft garlic and ½ cup Greek yogurt.  Done with that!  You could flavor it a little more with parmesan cheese and/or a little sea salt, but it really doesn’t need it.

Fresh Parsnips

Let’s back up to talk about parsnips.  Parsnips look like white carrots and they taste a little sweet.  They are full of fiber, potassium and folic acid and are lower in calories than potatoes.  A good trick if you’re a mashed potato lover like me, but want to watch your carbs is use half potatoes and half parsnips.  You may find that the taste is extraordinary and forego the gravy altogether.  Bonus.

Pork Chops

On to the pork…in a heavy, oven safe pan, sear your pork on high heat with just a touch of olive oil.  Once browned on both sides add sliced shallots. 

Shallots

You can use up to a cup of shallots here, but I chose to just use 2 so the sauce would have more of an apple flavor than onion (for a kid friendly taste). 

Pork Chops with Onions

Put the uncovered pan in the oven and bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.  This will cook your pork to a medium temperature, depending on the thickness of your chops.  I cut mine about ¾ in thick.  I like my pork a little more well done so I baked my chops for 10 minutes. 


Once baked, remove the pork from the pan and set aside.  To the shallots, add ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, ¾ cup apple juice, and a teaspoon of cornstarch (combined with a little water) for thickening. 

Pork Chops in Sauce

Place the pork chops back in the pan to heat and sprinkle in a little parsley at the last minute.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

There you have it.  A somewhat traditional, Pleasing of your Palate, St. Patty’s Day Dinner.  But wait…I said pistachios too.  Along with my green dinner, I need green dessert.  This recipe came from my grandmother (I don’t know where it exactly started).  She made this for my birthday every year using chocolate pudding.  I thought green pistachio pudding would work great.

Combine ¾ cup flour with 1 ½ sticks of softened butter until crumbly.  Pat in the bottom of a 13x9 in pan sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 350° for 15 minutes.  Let cool while you make the next layers.  I like to put it in the freezer to get it extra hard for the next layer.

St. Layer Cake

Bottom layer- Combine 4 oz. softened cream cheese, about 6 oz. Cool Whip, and 1 cup powdered sugar.  Spread over completely cooled crust.

Middle layer- Combine 2 small instant pistachio pudding mixes and 3 ½ cups milk until thick.  Spread over cream cheese layer.  You can use ANY flavor pudding for any occasion.

Top layer- Cool Whip.  My grandmother’s recipe calls for a 12 oz. container of Cool Whip, half for the bottom layer mixture, half for the top.  Apparently, they don’t make 12 oz. containers anymore so just get the large one and use as much as you want.

Easy, easy!  The kids can make this one.

I hope you enjoy this meal and find it p-p-p-perfect.

Supplies Needed:
  1 lb. parsnips
  4 small  potatoes
  1 bag frozen peas
  Head of garlic
  ½ cup Greek yogurt
  4-6 boneless pork chops
  2 shallots
  ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  ¾ cup apple juice
  1 t. cornstarch
  1 ½ cup flour
  1 ½ sticks butter
  4 oz. cream cheese
  Large container of Cool Whip
  2 small boxes instant pistachio pudding
  3 ½ cups milk

February 25, 2011

Greek Pizza {recipe}

Greek Pizza

I have a craving for something I’ve never eaten before.  Is that strange?  I have no idea what it will taste like, but I can imagine it.  I want a pizza, with a creamy sauce, fresh vegetables, and thin crust.  I want it to have a unique flavor, a simple process, and a quick cooking time.

I like to walk around the grocery store aisles in search of inspiration.  I easily found what I was looking for…Greek yogurt.  I’ve never tried it, but I’ve been told the stuff with the fruit mixed in is really yummy.  It’s extra thick, rich, and creamy.  The fruity stuff won’t work for my pizza though.  I decide on the plain kind. 

My friend, Emily, who was shopping with me said, “Ew.”
“We’re going to experiment,” I told her.  I grab more items for my pizza that looked a little different…marinated artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, and feta.  Emily is always up for trying my experiments, but I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about the yogurt.

The obvious choice for a Greek pizza crust is pita bread.  I chose whole-wheat pitas for the extra nutritional punch and place 4 on a cookie sheet.  They are the perfect size for individual pizzas.  If you have a picky eater, you can omit any ingredient on their pizza.  I do tell my kiddos that they have to try everything at least twice before they decide if they don’t like it.  I also advise them that all the flavors are supposed to work together and form a new flavor that they might actually like.  I understand the problem for some kids can be a texture thing.  I have a trick for this too (read on). 

The next step is the sauce.  I tasted the yogurt and decided that the tang needed to be tamed slightly. 

Saute Onions and Garlic

I sautéed red onions and garlic in a little olive oil just until the onions were translucent.  Then I added fresh spinach, and lots of it! 

Fresh Spinach

Spinach is a stress relieving, heart pumping, cancer fighter, packed with vitamin C that we should all become fonder of.  Fill the pan with spinach.  Fill it, fill it, fill it!  It will quickly cook down with the other ingredients.  Remove the pan from the heat so the spinach retains as much of those powerful nutrients as possible.

Spinach and Greek Yogurt

Add the spinach mixture to 8 oz. of plain, nonfat, Greek yogurt in a medium sized bowl.  Mix well and spread on top of your pitas.

Greek Pizza Sauce

It’s topping time.  You can get as crazy as you want here.  I love to load up on veggies, but I’m sure grilled chicken would work just swell too. 

Kalamata OlivesArtichokes

In addition to my marinated artichoke hearts and Kalamata olives, I added baby Portobello mushrooms and Roma tomatoes.  You could definitely leave the mushrooms in slices and the artichokes in big chunks, but my trick for getting picky eaters (kids and adults) to try new flavors is to chop everything the same size, the smaller the better. 

Because I had willing taste testers this time, I decided to chop my veggies relatively the same size as the olives (a little bigger than I would do for kids).  Divide up the veggies for each pizza and top with a light sprinkling of feta cheese.  Of course, my non-chalky cheese-eating friends could substitute mozzarella cheese here.

Broil the pizzas for a couple minutes.  You only need to crisp up the edges and slightly melt the cheese.  Keep watching the pizzas.  They can burn quickly if left in too long or are too close to the elements.

Greek Pizzas

These are F A B U L O U S, if I do say so myself!  I’ve accomplished what I set out for: a simple, quick, unique pizza.  Enjoy!

Supplies Needed:
  4 whole-wheat pitas
  ¼ cup red onion, chopped
  3 cloves of garlic, minced
  2 T. olive oil
  SPINACH (2 giant handfuls works well)
  4 oz. plain, nonfat, Greek yogurt
  ½ cup chopped baby Portobello mushrooms
  ½ cup Kalamata olives
  ½ cup marinated artichoke hearts
  1 Roma tomato, chopped
  Feta cheese