It's Fall

There is a chill in the air and the leaves are changing color - It's Fall in New England!  I really don't know how I lived without one of the best seasons for 20 years of my life.  Fall brings pumpkin coffee, comfy sweaters, boots, pumpkin cream cheese, apple cider, and apple picking!

The girls and I wandered out to Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA for a day of picking apples, enjoying apple cider, and devouring apple cider donuts - YUM!  My favorite part was eating apples right off of the tree.  There is seriously nothing better than a fresh picked apple - so juicy and crunchy.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

We left the orchard with almost 30 pounds of apples... Time to cook and bake! 

I originally planned to bake an apple cake as well as homemade applesauce, but I was enjoying the fresh apples for snacks so often that I was left with only enough apples to make applesauce.
Boyfriend loves this applesauce and does a little happy dance every time he eats it - it must be good if Boyfriend likes it!

Here's my recipe for baked applesauce:

INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons water
1/4cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh NH maple syrup (for a sweet New England twist!)
4 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and halved

METHODS:
Preheat oven to 375*
Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven; toss to coat.  Cover and bake for 1 hour, or until apples are tender, stirring once after 45 minutes.

Happy Fall!  

Copy Cat

Last week my friends Kitchen M, CAL, and I went to Mustard's for dinner.  Since we all work in Napa we like to take the opportunity once a month or so to discover new restaurants in wine country.  The fact that all 3 of us are dietitians, foodies, and food bloggers,  makes for a photo-filled, nutritious, and giggly meal.

After a mishap at 'Go Fish', the three of us decided to dine at a restaurant that did not smell fishy - literally!  We figured we couldn't go wrong with a restaurant that's known for their 'Honest American Fare' - Mustards Grill.   

Per our usual dining experience, the three of us chose a bunch of appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts that we MUST try.  One appetizer especially caught my eye as it included two of my all time favorite ingredients: garlic and goat cheese! 

Warm Cabecou Goat Cheese, sundried tomato relish, roasted garlic, grilled bread

The combination of these ingredients was fab.  I don't particularly like sundried tomatoes...although this dish may make me a convert.

It's been oddly warm here for February, but it has made for some beautiful sunsets.  Such a beautiful night for dinner with wonderful friends. 

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As every football - loving American is aware,  Sunday was the superbowl.  As you can see from many of my previous posts, I will do just about anything (even cook) to avoid watching football on a Sunday afternoon.  Well, this super Sunday was no different - It was time to cook.

I could not get the delicious appetizer from Mustard's off my mind, so during my 35 mile, 2.5 hour bike ride on Sunday morning I plotted how I could run to the store to collect the necessary ingredients to make the yummy appetizer before kickoff.

Ingredients:
2 heads of garlic
goat cheese
sundried tomatoes
1 loaf of bread (I prefer seedy bread)

Method:

Cut off the tops of each head of garlic to expose all garlic gloves

Wrap the garlic in foil and bake at 400* for 45 minutes.

Cut the loaf, plate the sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, and roasted garlic

Assemble and Enjoy!

This appetizer is SO easy to make and SO SO SO delicious.  The roasted garlic disappeared within minutes.  Next time I may have to purchase 3 heads! I think I'm enjoying sundried tomatoes more and more each time... or maybe I just like them with garlic and goat cheese, who knows.

The unfortunate part of this dish being so easy and quick to make was that I still had plenty of time to watch football... Thank goodness it was the Super Bowl.  No more football till next year!!  WOO HOO

Lasagna

My favorite lasagna comes from New Hampshire.  It's made in a cozy kitchen in New London by an amazing lady.  

The cold weather has spurred an early craving for her delicious, cheesy lasagna.  Due to the fact that I now live on the "wrong" coast, I had to try my skills to re-create boyfriend's mother's specialty.  For the purpose of this blog, lets call the lasagna master "D".  

Now, I can make pasta and sauce NO problem, in fact, I think I could even call it my specialty.  So I figured lasagna would be no problem. Right? Wrong!!  I e-mailed D for her recipe.  She sent back  instructions  like I knew what I was doing... Also WRONG!  In fact, because the e-mail didn't say so, I didn't know I needed to cook the noodles before I layered and baked them.  After a little insight from boyfriend, I headed out to the grocery to pick up the necessary supplies.  

My mom made home-made sauce with tomatoes from dad's garden (not something readily available in NH).  I defrosted the sauce and browned turkey.  I combined the meat into the sauce to make an easy meat sauce. Check!

D's e mail said to mix the ricotta cheese with an egg.  I was a little put off by this, so I looked it up.  Turns out everyone mixes an egg with ricotta cheese to make it easier to spread.... okkkk. 

I bought fresh mozzarella and sliced it up.  

I then put down the first layer of tomato sauce

Step #2: the noodles 

I stuck a dollop of ricotta cheese on each side of the noodles  

  

and added a bit of sauce to spread the ricotta cheese out evenly.  

Then, as if laying bricks, I filled in the cracks with mozzarella.

I repeated the layering process until I reached the top of the pan and then added the remaining mozzarella to the top. 

I put the lasagna in the oven to bake for about an hour.

Boyfriend came home from basketball a VERY hungry boy.  He was so anxious to try the lasagna, he refused to let it finish baking, and removed it from the oven after about 45 minutes.  Since everything was cooked before it went into the oven, I didn't see any food safety issues with taking it out early.  

I personally like my lasagna a little crunchier on top and at the edges.  Since this one didn't get to bake the full time, it was a  waterier and more runny that I would have liked.  

As you can see in the picture above, the whole thing was kind of watery.  I'm unsure if it's because of the short baking time or because I used home-made sauce from fresh tomatoes.  I will have to try again the next time I want lasagna.  OR I will hop on an airplane to New Hampshire and have the REAL thing with some REALLY great company!  


Boyfriend and I have to plan our trip back east soon... I definitely cannot make it through winter without lasagna! 

Fun at the Farmer's Market

I recently watched the documentary Food, Inc. and just as the website claims, I will probably never look at food the same way. Although I found the movie very informative, I am still at a loss about where to find grass fed chicken and beef- If anyone knows of a good, reasonable place, PLEASE let me know! Immediately following the movie I decided that I was going to be a vegetarian. Watching chicken and cows be slaughtered will do that to you... Of course the next day I went out for sushi and I couldn't resist the fish, so I decided to become a pescatarian. And after about 4 days of eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish, I began to crave meat again. So here I am back at square 1. I did however, vow that from now on I will buy local and organic whenever possible.

Every Sunday there's a fabulous farmer's market at the Mountain View train station. As we approach spring, I find it irresistible to be outside enjoying the sunny weather. Last weekend I bought some beets, broccolini, and bok choy - some of my faves.

I absolutely LOVE beets. They are super easy to make too! I must enter the disclaimer here: be forewarned that #1 and #2 will be a little pink... no you do not have bloody stools. But I always wonder how many people show up in the ER complaining of bloody stools a day or two after enjoying this wonderful vegetable. Please do share your stories!
RD tip: Beets are super healthy! They contain powerful nutrients that help protect against heart disease, birth defects, and cancers - especially colon cancer. Beets are high in folate, manganese, potassium, and fiber. For more nutrition info about beets check out this site.
My Asian friends at work: Em, N, L, and C always have the coolest vegetables. The biggest problem is my friends only usually know the Chinese or Japanese names of the vegetables and a lot of them are not even found in regular grocery stores. While at the farmer's market I spotted one of the vegetables my Chinese friends usually have. Broccolini is super easy to make by sauteing it with some EVOO, garlic, and soy sauce.
Bok choy is another one of my favorite Asian vegetables. I haven't make this quite yet, but I will most likely saute it the same way as the broccolini.

For dinner I had the beets, broccolini and quinoa. DELICIOUS!
I cannot wait to see what I will find at the farmer's market this week. Happy Sunday!

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

I am beginning to realize that my blog is turning into a baking blog, so for this month's RD meeting / pot luck I had to make a conscious effort to make something NOT sweet or baked and blog about it... I attended an awesome nutrition seminar at the CIA in St. Helena where I received some delicious olive oil as a 'party gift' and it got me thinking - of olive oil pound cake! haha

Of course when you rule something out, it's the ONLY think you can think about. Naturally, I could think of a million items I would like to bake, but no 'real food'. I called my cooking go-to-gal (Ronnie) and asked her for suggestions. A few weeks ago, I remembered Ronnie going on a small rant about how terrible it is when people put "weird stuff" in tuna salad - like relish... Ronnie came up with a great idea of making mini tuna sandwiches, but "without anything weird in it". She e-mailed me this great recipe that incorporates my new olive oil!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp olive oil

2tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp oregano

3 oz. tuna fish, water-packed low sodium

5 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

1 serving of bread of choice

METHOD:

Rinse and pat dry vegetables. Cut cucumber and tomatoes into bite size pieces, and mix with drained and flaked tuna in a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, and oregano, and toss with tuna-vegetable mixture. Serve with toasted bread or crackers.

I used carrots and cucumbers instead of tomatoes - I personally don't like the seeds, texture, and juiciness of tomatoes in this type of dish.
The oil and vinegar actually held the tuna together better than I expected it would!
I served the tuna on croissants cut in half (so I would have enough) and sealed the deal with a cute umbrella toothpick. The mini sandwiches were such a hit at work that my boss stashed some away for dinner and lunch the next day!

La Bete Noire - "The Black Beast"

This take on a flour-less chocolate cake definitely lives up to its translation: The Black Beast

**DISCLAIMER** While this cake is incredibly rich, chocolatey, and delicious, as an RD, I do not recommend consuming more than a tiny wedge. Note the nutrition facts are not included for a reason...

This cake is gluten-free and a great dessert choice for those with a gluten intolerance.

Ingredients:

Cake

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced

18 ounces (2 1/4 cups) bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

6 large eggs

Ganache

1 cup heavy whipping cream

8 ounces (1 cup) bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

lightly sweetened whopped cream

Preparation

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment (I used cooking spray). Wrap 3 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim.

Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly.

Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. cool completely in pan.

For ganache:

Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan.
Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Whip cream and add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides.

Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream
This cake is mouthwatering, rich, and delicious! It is best served cold and if you leave it out of the fridge for too long it can get mushy. It is so satisfying for chocolate lovers and is perfectly paired with cold, skim milk. This is a great dessert for entertaining or even as a weeknight indulgence, but may not be the best choice for those watching their waistline... check out those ingredients again! But then again, those ingredients are what make it taste so wonderful. Always remember: portion control!

ENJOY!!

Recipe courtesy of epicurious: September 2006

Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinner

I was pressed for time this week in between my travels and needed to think of a quick meal as I was STARVING after work. I stopped at Trader Joe's on my way home for some ready made balsamic rosemary chicken, veggies (yellow zucchini, broccoli, snap peas, mushrooms, and some cherry tomato - sized heirloom tomatoes), and bottled spaghetti sauce (only 40kcals per serving!).

When I got home I boiled some water for rigatoni. I sauteed the veggies with some EVOO and garlic, set them aside, and cut the chicken up into cubes. I left the tomatoes out of the saute so they didn't get mushy.

When the pasta was done I mixed in the vegetables, chicken, tomatoes, and some marinara sauce. I of course sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top and enjoyed!

The BEST part of this meal is that it only cost me $15.00 and took about 20 minutes to make. I had enough food to feed me and my friend dinner, take some for lunch the next day, and still had enough left over for both of my parents to enjoy when they returned from vacation.

Who said eating healthfully was expensive?! The pasta was packed with colorful veggies and lean protein from the chicken - what else could a dietitian ask for?

Happy New Year. I wish everyone happy and healthy eating in 2010!