Marjorie Approved Turkey Meatballs

Soooooo, never leaving anything alone, I have a new Turkey Meatball recipe

There are three things to remember
1)  Fresh ground turkey, no frozen chubs.  I prefer turkey from The Turkey Store (Go Barron WI), but you can use other.
2)  You MUST cook by temperature - once the meatballs hit 150, off the heat they go.  At 170 they turn into dry disgusting balls of sawdust.  Under 150 you risk food poisoning.  So get a Thermapen.
3)  Seasoning is your friend - low fat means you need lots of seasoning.  Under season and they are boringly bland

Ingredients
1 lb fresh ground turkey (I use 93/7 - you can use 99/1, but that is pretty dry stuff
8 ounces fresh mushrooms
1/2 onion
1 stalk celery
Garlic (you can use fresh, or use Penzeys Roasted Garlic)
Seasoning as appropriate (depending on if you want Italian, Asian, Swedish, or other style meatballs). For Italian I like Penzeys Tuscan Sunset and for Asian the Sate seasoning.
Salt
Pepper

Sauce of choice, depending on style of meatballs

Recipe
Finely dice onion, celery and mushrooms
Saute onion, celery and 1/2 the mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper, and whatever seasoning your using.  Cook till soft, then cool.
Spread cooked veg on plate, spread turkey of the top
Spread rest of mushrooms on top of turkey, salt, pepper, season with seasoning
Mix together, but not too much.  Compress the turkey, you get blech

At this point I like to make a quarter size piece of the meatballs (squished flat) and cook, to check the seasoning.  Then adjust seasonings if necessary and cook the rest

Heat pan  medium (I use teflon, just spray oil)
Make meatballs and begin to brown
Once meatballs are brown on two sides (but not cooked yet), I add sauce and turn temp down to low. The idea is that the sauce will bring the temp of the meatballs up slowly to 160, making it hard to overcook.  Remember - at 150 they come off the stove.  Residual heat will bring them to 155

Serve - I like using Rosarios Spaghetti Sauce over Zucchini noodles.

Marjorie Approved

Turkey (or chicken) Meatballs the don't suck - HMR Phase 2!

Turkey/Chicken meatballs can suck.  Dense, dry, DISGUSTING.  I don't care how low calorie a food is, if it tastes bad it doesn't get made.

There are a couple key things to remember.

1)  You must use a Thermapen.  Poultry has to be cooked to 165 degrees.  But anything over 170 and it gets dry, especially if your using the breast.  Thigh meat is a little more flexible, but higher calories. A thermapen is the only true instant read thermometer there is.  Spend the $100 - best kitchen tool ever.
2)  You must use fresh ground poultry, or at very least the fresh Turkey Store ground turkey.  Those frozen turkey chubs turn turkey into dog food.  Just say no.
3)  Use raw veg - they will cook and release moisture as they cook, helping keep the meatballs moist

Ingredients

1 lb fresh ground chicken or other poultry
8 oz of finely diced RAW vegetables.  Options can include:
- mushrooms
- onions
- spinach
- peppers (red, green, whatever)
- think creatively - use several to add up to 8 oz
2 ounces of COOKED (this adds some bulk and keeps them from getting too dense)
- quinoa
- wild rice
- brown rice
- barley
- any cooked grain
Salt, pepper, seasoning ( I like 1 tbs of pizza seasoning, but hey, go mexican, asian, whatever)

Recipe

Heat teflon pan (medium)
Get out a wide, shallow bowl
Spread half of the veg and other items in the bowl
Spread the meat over it
Spread the rest of the fixings, including spices
Mix gently as you can.  You do have to work the meat, but try to go easy
Make meatballs - I go for about 1 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter
Spray pan with a shot of spray oil
Put in pan
Cover pan!
When meatballs begin to brown, rotate
After rotation, be sure to check, and keep checking their temp - when they hit 160, turn the stove off and take off the burner!  DO IT.  It will naturally rise to 165.

Use whatever sauce you like.  I like using the HMR chicken soup made with chicken stock

Chicken - 500 calories (I used 99% fat free chicken breast)
Veg - depends on what you use - 40 calories
Cooked wild rice - 2 ounces - 60 calories
HMR Chicken Soup (1/2 package) 50 calories
Fat Free Chicken Stock, 1/2 cup - 10 calories

660 Calories, three servings - 220 calories per serving.  Add more vegies, a great, filling meal for under 300 calories.

WOW - Creamy (non dairy) Jalapeno Green Sauce (Vegan even) - Low Calorie! HMR Compliant!

A.K.A. the Green Stuff.

This is awesome.  I mean really good.  And it takes a fairly typical salsa/sauce at Taco Trucks (the green stuff) and makes it far more nutritious with far fewer calories.

The bottled green sauce you get at taco trucks and Taqueria's is pretty basic - boiled jalapenos and onion, pureed in a blender with vegetable oil and salt.  Sometimes with garlic, sometimes with cilantro.  Some may add avocado, but most don't, even though everyone thinks it's in there.  It is really good.  To cut the heat, you take out the seeds and the membranes before boiling (which is where most of the heat in a pepper is).  Boil them with the seeds and membranes the heat goes up - your choice.

I have made it without the oil, but it is missing something.  Missing more than the 500 calories a 1/4 cup of oil brings.  The oil adds fat, smoothness and tames the heat some.

Today, VICTORY.

The solution for not using oil?  Soft Silken Tofu.  Yes, Tofu.

Tofu gets you that smoothness, the texture that oil brings to the sauce.  It has just enough fat to taste great, not enough to bust your diet.  It has 180 calories for 12 ounces, not 500 calories for 1/4 cup.  Plus 16 grams of protein, some calcium, iron and other nutrients and minerals.

And it tastes great.  On to the show.

Ingredients

One lb fresh jalapenos, seeded and de-ribbed (wear vinyl/nitrile gloves when cutting and don't touch your eyes!
One onion, chopped (nothing special, it is getting boiled and pureed later).  I use white onions as that is more typical in mexican cooking, but whatever.  You could even use green onions, tops and all.
1 Box (12 oz) Soft Silken Tofu
Salt to taste
Garlic if you like
Cilantro if you like

Recipe
Boil jalapenos and onions for 20 minutes in sufficient water to keep covered
If you like, in the last 5 minutes, add peeled garlic to the boiling water.  As much garlic as you like.

Drain and blend all three ingredients for a minute.  Be careful - it will be hot.  I use a blender, you could use a food processor.  I think the blender gets it smoother.

While blending, scoop in the tofu.  Blend for another 30 seconds.

Add salt to taste (as in, add a tsp, taste, add more as you like, or don't)
Add fresh cilantro as desired, or not.

Serve warm, or put in the fridge to cool.  This will keep for at least a week

If you de-ribbed and de-seeded the jalapenos, the sauce will be quite mild, especially if you put it on food such as HRM Turkey Chili, eggs, as a veggie dip, etc.

Calorie count for the entire recipe 355 - 180 for the Tofu, 130 for the Jalapenos, 45 for the onion. So 355 calories for the entire sauce, which will be about 2 cups.  That is about 11 calories a tablespoon, 22 calories for two tbs.  So this is actually OK on the No Decisions HMR diet as a condiment!

Woo Hoo!

HMR Pancakes - Phase 2 - The new, the improved, the awesome

Or so my wife says.  She also said write down the recipe now!  So here it is.

Ingredients

Bowl 1 - the dry
3 apples, peeled, cored, diced fine
2 Multi-grain HMR cereal
2 HMR 70 Shakes
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 cup quick cook/instant oatmeal (no sugar added!)

Bowl 2 - the wet
1 banana mashed
1/2 oz dried cranberries - no sugar added!  Just dried!  No Craisens!
1 tbs Vanilla extract
1/2 tbs Almond extract
1/2 cup water
Let sit 5 minutes for the cranberries to rehydrate

Recipe

Mix Bowl 1 up
Mix Bowl 2 up
Add Bowl 2 to Bowl 1, mixing with silicone spatula

You are looking for a fairly dry mix, very chunky - not liquidy

Having said that, 1/2 cup of water will likely not be enough

Let sit 5 minutes for the oatmeal/cereal to absorb the water.  Add more as needed, understanding this is a fairly dry (think brownie thick)

Heat non-stick pan on stove at medium heat - DONT USE A VERY HOT PAN.  These pancakes both burn easy and need a while to cook through.  So you need a medium heat pan to accomplish this

Add pancake mix to pan in whatever size pancake you like.  I recomend mushing out the center of the pancake so it spreads out - the center takes the longest to cook, so you don't want it thickest there.

When the pancake mix bubbles up, the bubbles burst - AND STAY OPEN - that is when it is time to flip.  Otherwise the pancakes will be too wet.

To calculate the calories, cook all the pancakes and divide by the total calories.  The size I make them come in at about 65 calories each.  Four pancakes is one shake and one fruit, at about 260 calories.

The extra I cool down, then put on a waxed paper lined baking sheet, then put in freezer.  After frozen, bag in freezer bags.

They reheat well in either the toaster or the microwave.

HMR Apple Banana Bars

So....

This is only when you get to add fruit to your diet

It is also a high calorie low volume thing, so it is not an every day type food.  Basically my wife and I have them for when our choices at work or family is things like pie, donuts, etc.  So it is an HMR in the box treat.  Count the calories!  This is low calorie when consumed in moderation and compared to the usual office things.

Turn oven on to 350 degrees
Line 9x9 pan with parchment paper, spray with non stick

Bowl One

1 ripe banana mashed
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Mix together

Bowl Two

2 apples, peeled, cored, diced fine
1 Vanilla 70 Shake mix package
2 Multi Grain Cereal package
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs Baking Powder
Mix together

Recipe

Add Bowl One to Bowl Two
Let sit for five minutes so that Bowl Two absorbs all the water
If it is very dry, you can add more water, one tbs at a time.  It should be fairly dry, almost crumbly

Place into prepared 9x9 pan, bake.... 20 to 30 minutes ... or more.  I cook it until a toothpick put in the center comes out dry.  The temperature in the center should be about 200 degrees if you have a thermapen.

This is more a raised fruit bar - the baking powder "puffs it up".

This is about 800 calories for the pan - divide by the number of bars you cut and that gives you a per bar calorie count.  One third of the pan counts as one shake and one fruit - One sixth is 1/2 a shake and 1/2 a fruit.

They will keep several days in the fridge.  We cut them into 12 pieces, then freeze separately, then bag and keep in the freezer.  They thaw nicely for eating at work/road/party/etc.

HMR Five Bean Casserole - Becomes.... West African Peanut Stew - Maafe!

The HMR Five Bean Casserole is pretty good.

And you can do a number of things with it - my favorite is making it into Peanut Stew.

Peanut stew is, typically, root vegetables with chicken, and of course, peanuts and peanut butter..  Which is not exactly hmr material.  So, what to do, what to do.

Well, this is what you do

The simple adds are

PB2 - yes, that wonder of modern science, freeze dried, defatted peanut butter.
Cilantro
Green Onions
Jalapenos
HMR chicken soup

Get to add Vegetables?  Time for some fun

Cooked Sweet Potato or Butternut squash are classics
Sweet corn
Fresh or canned tomato
Garbanzo beans (1/2 cup equals one serving of veg)
Cooked potato
Diced red peppers

This is a delicious stew - really!

Leek and Potato Soup - 100 calories a cup!

I like this soup in the fall when leeks are cheap.  As in 69 cents each.  When they are $2.69 each, I don't like them as much.  Plus, they are cheap when potatoes are cheap also - 50 cents a lb - so a big win on the budget front.

To determine calories, you must of course base it on what you use.  Your calorie count will vary...

Ingredients

Leeks (3 @54 calories each, 162 calories total)
Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled (18 ounces @ 26 calories per ounce, 468 calories total)
Swanson or Progresso Chicken Broth, low sodium (8 cups, 15 cal per cup, 120 calories total).  Or go with vegetable broth.
1 cup water (free)
salt and pepper to taste (free)
Thyme to taste (free)

Yields 8 cups, so 94 calories per cup with what I used.

Cut the dark green portions of the leeks off, slice in half the long way, then slice fine.  Put in a big pot of water and swish around to get the dirt out of them.  Drain.

Add to big pot and sweat (that is, cook at low to medium heat till they soften).  You don't need oil, butter or anything else.  They will release moisture as they cook down.  Salt with about a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper.

Peel and slice potatoes into 1/4 thick slices.  I do it this way because they then cook evenly no matter how big the potato is - every slice cooks at the same speed.

When leeks have gotten soft (10 to 15 minutes), add potatoes, thyme, broth and water.  Cook at medium until potatoes are soft

Put half at a time into a blender, blend till smooth - be careful and put a towel over the blender and don't fill it more than 1/2 way - to much is a good way of blowing the top off, burning yourself and painting the walls with the soup.

When pureed, serve.  Good hot, good cold.

HMR Lasagna with Meat Sauce - Pump It Up!

The HMR Lasagna with Meat Sauce is fine.  I mean, it's not great, but its ok.

However, it can be so much more....

There are a few things you can add in the no decision phase, for example....

Penzey's Frozen Pizza Seasoning - spices, garlic, it amps it up some

Hot sauce of your preference

and.... not sure what else goes in.

Once you get to add Vegies to your diet....then it can become quite good.

My fave is spinach and mushrooms

Saute the spinach with garlic
Saute the mushrooms with the Penzey's Frozen Pizza Seasoning

Layer with the Lasagna in a microwave dish

Spinach, Mushrooms, Layer of Lasagna, repeat.  Top with Spinach and Mushrooms

Cover and nuke.

Serve with a salad...Pretty good.

HMR Turkey Chili with Beans - Best HMR Entree?

HMR has about a dozen plus entrees that largely remain the same - they add some, they drop some, but generally there is little change.  Some are good, some ok, all of them are at least edible.  All of them are improved by adding things.

Having said that, I think the Turkey Chili with Beans is the best entree, and certainly better than most packaged chili's.  But it still can stand to be spiffed up some.

Flavors - rule is, must be under 20 calories, or be an HMR product.

HMR Chicken Soup is a good addition to add a little more to the meal.  Makes it more soup than stew, but....

Chili Powder - if you need to amp it up a little.  I recommend Penzeys.  If you just want chili flavor, add some of their chili con carne seasoning (no heat, lots of flavor).  If you need some heat, they have lots of chilis that can bring it.

Chop up and add

• a jalepeno
• green or regular onion (keep it under 20 calories!)
• Some canned green chilis or other peppers



Sunday Lunch - with corn, fresh tomato,
green onion, cilantro, cocoa, coffee, jalepeno
salsa over power greens.   Really good

• Cilantro

Fat free sour cream is nice

Salsa is available at this point, as are most hot sauces

PB2 is an interesting addition (hey, don't knock it till you try it)

A half teaspoon of cocoa powder (really!)
A tablespoon of strong coffee (really truly!)

Ingredients - Now we are cooking!

Corn is always a winner
Potatoes
Broccoli
Fresh tomato
More beans (1/2 a cup is one vegetable)
Make a taco salad - serve it over lettuce (with tomato and avocado!)
Spinach
Sweet potato, butternut squash or even pumpkin (cook ahead of time)
Avocado
Some people like mushrooms in their chili
Red, green, yellow or orange peppers (or go for others)
Hominy is interesting (or disgusting, depending on your preferences)

Hacking the HMR Vegetarian Thai Curry with Brown Rice

HMR Vegetarian Thai Curry with Brown Rice - Pumping up the Thai

The HMR Veg Thai is ok.  A little spicy, but not too much. They use Gardein as the meat substitute, and it's actually good.  However, the meal is a little boring.  So, what to do.....

Two questions really - what are the options when you are only using HMR products, and what can you do once you add fruit and veg.

Flavorings

Mixing the Thai Curry with a Chicken soup makes it more like the curry you get in a restaurant, which tend to be quite soup like

To pump up the curry, try Green Curry paste - just watch out for calories.  Some pastes are quite low - some are not so low.  I find green curry paste is often the lowest calorie of the red, yellow, etc. types.

Fish Sauce is an added feature, but it can be salty, and the HMR meal has a fair bit of sodium

Some add Soy Sauce, which is a flavor, but see fish sauce.  I usually skip the Soy Sauce

PB2 (Powdered Peanut Butter, 85% less fat)  makes an interesting addition (but remember to measure accurately).  Makes it more of a pad thai type meal.  Add it to the chicken soup when you are adding the water.  You may need to add a little more water as it will thicken

Chopped Green Onions - one onion is less than 20 calories, and it adds a little crunch and bite

Cilantro - fresh herbs are always free

Coconut extract (1/4 teaspoon) - I am not a huge fan, but some like it since coconut milk is definitely out, although technically a 1/8th of a cup of lite coconut milk would be about 22 calories.....

Lime - half a fresh lime, squeezed over the heated meal

Splenda Brown Sugar - just 1/2 a teaspoon packed is 10 calories

Garlic powder (rehydrate in the chicken soup)

Minced garlic, although I would probably only use it with vegetables when I stir fry them

Thai Basil

Hot sauce, such as sriracha

Vegetable (and Fruit!) add ins

Things get a whole lot more fun at this point.  I still would mix the meal with the chicken soup as the start, add your choice of flavorings above... then you can think about ...

Pineapple!
Red Pepper (or green, orange or yellow), sliced thin and stir fried briefly
Onion, sliced thin and stir fried (no oil remember!)
Snow pea pods stir fried
Sugar Snap Peas, just cooked lightly
Bean Sprouts (no need to cook at all)
Frozen Peas (just add to the soup to warm)
Sweet potato - peeled, then sliced or cubed and cooked just al dente, not mushy
Cauliflower rice!
Cooked sliced carrots (or raw for some crunch)
Peeled, cubed, stir fried eggplant (but don't over cook!)
Birds Eye Chili's - if you like it hot!

HMR Pancakes - official version, and oh so much more

HMR Pancakes, in multiple options

The "official recipe" is good, and fits in with the no decision diet well, so long as you take their advice and make it an occasional item.  I have tweaked both the ingredients and the recipe, and I think it improves on the original.

1 HMR 70 Plus Vanilla Shake
1 HMR Multigrain Hot Cereal
1/8 th Teaspoon Baking Soda (this is less than 1 calorie)
½ cup Water
1 Non-Stick Cooking spray

Method to Madness

• Mix the Shake with Cereal and Baking Powder.  DON'T Blend both packets in a blender until you have a flour consistency. Instead, use the cereal as is, or just pulse one second the cereal after you have taken out the fruit.  If you are cooking for two, pulse one and leave the other as is.  I think this gives a better texture.  And the baking powder gives the pancakes some lift.
• Add water until a pancake batter is reached
• Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes (batter will thicken; add more water if needed)
• Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray
• Pour ¼ cup batter for each pancake
• Cook until bubbles form, pop and stay open, then flip to brown the other side

• Things to "spiff it up", and stay in the box, include (but only pick one - they are condiments, not the meal)
• Splenda Brown Sugar - 10 calories per HALF teaspoon (packed)
• Low calorie syrup (we like Vermont sugar free low calorie - 15 calories per 1/4 cup)
• I Can't Believe It's Not Butter brand butter flavoring spray

If your cooking for two, I use three cereals and two 70 plus shake (thus a 1/2 batch is equal to two shakes).  I would also add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda for a double recipe.  And of course you have to increase the water amount.  I add about 2 cups, but vary based on thickness.  The mix should be thick.

Once you start adding fruits and vegetables to your HMR diet, things get really interesting

Favorite things we add include:

• Finely diced apple, not pre-cooked.  I use one apple for a double recipe
• Blueberries.  1 cup for a double recipe
• Mashed Banana (mash ripe banana and mix with water, then add to the pancake mix.  1 Banana for a double
• Zucchini, finely diced (I spiralize, then chop into rice size pieces).  I also do not precook.  Half a zuchini (med) per double recipe
• Sweet potato, sprilized, chopped and microwaved with a little water until soft (1/2 cup per double)
• Apple pie or pumpkin pie spice
• Pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) (1/2 cup per double
• Cooked carrot, diced fine or shredded

There are lots of things you can add and stay in the box - get creative and experiment!

This is our Saturday morning breakfast - that's how we keep it "occasional"

And these freeze pretty well - if you wanted to make them as a treat, just reheat in toaster or microwave.  Pretty good a work when others bring in treats or a pot luck - gives you an in the box option.

Peace and Comfort, a.k.a. Death and Disaster, a.k.a.Joy and Celebration - Chicken and Uncle Bens Long Grain and Wild Rice Casserole

This is one of those family recipes that came from my mother.  Where she got it from, I suspect a Better Homes and Garden cookbook from the 60's.  It has that vibe - you know when beans and wienies with bottle bbq sauce was fine living.  It is the opposite of fine cooking ala Mark Bittman.  It is full of sodium and fat.  It has no fresh vegetables.  But for when it is needed - it is just the thing. My mom always called it Death and Disaster - for when there was a death or disaster in the neighborhood, this is what she made to take over.

I think the habit of making food for your neighbors in time of trouble has become a lost art.  First - do you even know your neighbors?  I don't, not really. Not like when I grew up.  Today we live in a neighborhood, but we don't live life together.  Xbox and Cable, a dozen different churches (or none), with schools so big you will never know your classmates - we don't live life together.  Shame on us.

Later, my sister in law renamed it Joy and Celebration - because it is a fine dish to bring over in time of  Joy and Celebration, and perhaps she is just a little less fatalistic than my mother (and I).  So it became Joy and Celebration.  I made it when we went to visit our new granddaughter.  And visit our daughter and son in law, but lets face it, its all about the bebe.  Joy and Celebration it was.

Recently I had the occasion to make it for a family where the mother of two young children had died. Well, I really did not want to call it death and disaster (although the situation is both), but Joy and Celebration really did not fit.  So what to call it....

In all the events this is shared, it really is about sharing life together.  Sadness and Joy.  Death and Life.  So I have renamed this dish - it shall now and forever more be called Peace and Comfort. Because that is what it is.  It is that family dish that binds together all who share it.  It is, and always has been food made of love.

The recipe is my mothers - with my edits in parenthesis.  This makes a lot of food - it comes from a time when 3 kids was a small family.  Cut the recipe in half or make it in two dishes - one to share and one for your family to eat.

• 2 chickens, cut up (or just a bunch of chicken thighs - boneless or not, but I do remove the skin.  I think thighs handle the cooking time better than the breasts)
• 2 packages Uncle Ben's Rice-Wild Rice Mix, but only one of the seasoning mixes.  Mom thinks it is too salty with both. (I agree)
• 1/4 cup brown rice
• 1/2 cup white rice
• 1/2 cup french dressing
• 2 cans each cream of celery, cream of mushroom, and cream of chicken soup (so that's six cans of soup)- Mom says low fat does not work well - who am I to disagree?
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 soup can water
• Hazelnuts, a.k.a. filberts (My sister in law omits them - I insist on them)
• Parmesan cheese (or other)

Mix all ingredients except chicken, nuts and cheese and put 2/3 in bottom of baking pan. Place chicken parts on top. Cover with remaining mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to coat. Add nuts. Bake at 350 for 75-90 minutes. This reheats well.

May it bring peace and comfort to those who you share it with, in times of death and disaster as well as in times of joy and celebration.

Green Sauce, a.k.a. Creamy Green Sauce a.k.a. Jalapeno Avocado Sauce a.k.a. ?????

There are a lot of names for this, none of them really very accurate, outside of “green sauce”, because it is, well, green. You will find this in only the finest taco joints.  And by finest, I mean good ones.

While smooth and luscious, there is no dairy, so not really creamy (although you could add crema or yogurt)

While it kind of tastes like perhaps there is avocado in it, there isn’t.  But you could put one in instead of the oil.

It is really just, well, DELICOUS!  Crazy Good!  The kind of stuff you go to a taco joint just to eat spoonfuls of!

So, what is it?

Jalepenos (or other pepper like Poblanos or Anaheims), onion, garlic, salt, fresh squeezed lime (if you like) and oil, cooked and pureed.

Super simple – make some tonight!

This is the mild version - if you follow the directions, it really will be pretty mild, unless your jalapenos are the insanely hot (sometimes they are)

Ingredients

• ·         1lb jalapenos (about 20 or so)
• ·         4-5 green onions, cut into 3 inch sections, whites and greens)
• ·         3-6 cloves garlic, peeled
• ·         ½ teaspoon salt
• ·         ¼ cup corn oil (or other neutral oil – no olive oil)
• ·         ½ lime juice, to taste

Recipe

• ·         Put on some disposable gloves
• ·         De-stem, de-seed and de-rib the jalapenos.  If you like your sauce spicier, skip step – just toss in whole.   WEAR GLOVES.  Really bad idea to do this and then rub your eyes.  #justsayin
• ·         Toss jalapenos, green onions into pot of water, bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until soft (about 20 minutes)
• ·         For the last 1 minute or so, toss the peeled garlic cloves into the simmering water.  This will temper the raw garlic taste
• ·         Drain, let cool
• ·         If you did not de-stem, etc earlier, do so now.  The more seeds and ribs you scrape out, the milder it will be.  Like it spicier?  Leave some or all of that out.  But do get rid of the stems
• ·         Toss everything into blender, add salt, puree at low speed
• ·         When things are getting nice and pureed, start slowly adding oil to mixture in blender.  Once added, speed up the blender.  Basically your making a nice emulsion so the oil does not separate out of the sauce
• ·         Taste, add more salt or squeeze some lime juice into the mix while blending.  The lime juice will brighten up the flavors.  Not sure it needs it, be sure to start with just a half lime.  You could use a tablespoon of white vinegar

Options

If too spicy, cut with greek yogurt or sour cream or add advocados.  Yogurt adds it's own tang and was generally preferred in our house.  If you were planning on using yogurt, especially yogurt with fat in it, I would probably reduce the amount of oil.  Same if your adding advocados

1 cup cilantro is a very nice contribution - just put it in at the start of the blending stage.

I like it better without the lime, but to each their own

If you want to have this on chips, remember you want El Milagro "Totopos" homestyle chips.  Really you do.

EAT IT

Dad’s Butternut Squash, Chicken and Pasta, Risotto style

Dad’s Butternut Squash, Chicken and Pasta, Risotto style.  Low calorie, low fat, all delicious.

This is cooked risotto style - that is to say the pasta is sauted in a pan then cooked in chicken stock with the rest of the ingredients.  As it is not boiled, merely simmered,  the pasta takes longer than normal to cook.

Calories are approximately 194 per cup.  Approximately.  It depends on how much you cook down the sauce, how much cheese you put on, did you measure the oil, how big was your butternut squash, etc.  So basically, with 2 tbs of grated parm on top, I call a two cup serving 400 calories.

1 onion, small dice

1 stalk celery, small dice

1 red bell pepper, small dice (or large, if a food fusser wants to pick out theirs)

2 cloves of garlic, smashed and diced fine

1 medium to large butternut squash, cubed (½ inch cubes) - mine ended up being 5 cups diced.

1 lb raw chicken breast, no skin, bone or fat,  cubed (½ inch cubes)

2 oz white wine or white vermouth

3 cups chicken broth

4 oz Creamette 150 calorie pasta

½ lemon

1 tbs italian seasoning (dried basil, thyme, etc.  I use Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset)

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese (not included in above calorie count - 1 tbs grated is 20 calories)

Heat pan (burner at 6 or so (medium heat)  add olive oil.  Put chicken in Pan, brown chicken  in a teflon coated chicken fryer that has a lid.  You could do this in a Le Crueset pot, but you will probably need another ½ tbs of olive oil if you do.  Don’t forget to adjust your calorie count. You do not need to cook it all the way through at this time - just brown it.  It will finish cooking later.  After brown, put to the side in a bowl, leaving any remaining oil, juices in frying pan.

Return pan to heat.  Saute the onion, celery, red bell pepper and italian seasoning.  If you need to add oil , adjust your calorie count.  Since I used a teflon coated pan, I did not need to.  When just about turning brown (or browning a little bit) add the garlic, saute for another couple of minutes.  I am generally at medium heat for this.

Add Pasta, saute with veg.  Pasta will get coated with oil and start to toast.  Feel free to cook for a while, or not.  Add vermouth or wine and stir.  When the pasta has absorbed the vermouth, use a spatula to scrape out the pan into the bowl that is holding the chicken and set aside.

Return pan to the burner and add the butternut squash and chicken stock.  Bring to a low boil (still at medium heat), cook for 5-6 minutes.  Be sure to cover the pot at this time to keep the chicken stock from evaporating too much.  When you taste a piece and it is getting cooked, but still firm, that is where you want it.

At this point, add all the ingredients back to the pan that is cooking the squash in the stock.  Stir, and cover.  A nice thing about the teflon chicken fryer I have is that it is a glass top, so you can observe the cooking without pulling the top.  This keeps the cooking temperature up, the evaporation down.  

Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring two or three times  Basically you are cooking the pasta till al dente - just slightly chewy.  The sauce is going to thicken and become very creamy, even though you did not add any dairy nor flour nor cornstarch..  Basically this is a combination of the starch from the pasta and the butternut squash forming a nice thick sauce.  You may need to add a little boiling water if it is getting too thick and the pasta is not cooked yet.  I usually just get the electric tea kettle going and keep the water hot in case I need it.  If the pasta is cooked and it is to liquidy, I take the top off and cook it down some.  Generally if you use the same proportions I do, you won’t need to do much of this.

When the pasta is just about cooked, and the sauce is nice and thick, I turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute or two. If you wanted to  you could mix in a bag of frozen peas which would make a little more food and add some nice green color (adjust calories if you do, although I think the per serving calorie count would be near about the same).

Just before serving, squeeze the juice of half of a lemon on top and stir.  Serve, with grated parmesan on top.

This will make four servings of two cups each. More or less, depending on how thick your sauce is.

A great dish, the takes some work but not to much.   It should be served immediately as you do not want the pasta to overcook.

A nice green salad would be perfect with this.  If you wanted to make this vegetarian, I would add a can of drained chick peas in place of the chicken.  Adjust the calorie count as required.

If you had some left over chicken sausage, that would be great also. Adjust calorie count.

Creamy Tomato Soup, no dairy, low calorie

I updated the recipe, with calories - call it 100 calories per cup.  The math is close enough for a liberal arts major such as myself.

Creamy Tomato Soup - non dairy, low calorie.  Vegan if you like (skip the chicken stock)

How to Eat, Seed, De-Seed, open pomegranate - in 10 seconds

Rad Rainbow Raw Pad Thai

place holder.  Someone tells me it's good.

Best Breakfast Ever - Eggs, Salmon and Goat Cheese

It's leftover time, this being day 2, post Thanksgiving.

Lunch on Tday was light - bread, cheese, fruit, smoked salmon.  Just enough to take the edge off to make it till dinner.

Being who we are, there was food for 20, with only 8 attending.

So, in additon to having to much turkey, we had a lot of the above mentioned items left over also.

So is born, THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER.  All Caps, must be true.  Plus, this is going to be on the internet, so there

About 30 minutes before starting, take out the salmon and goat cheese - they need to be room temperature. You are going to need enough of each to cover however many english muffins or pieces of toast you are making.

Warm up teflon frying pan on low for five minutes.  This lets you insure there are not hot spots

Turn frying pan up to medium, add a tablespoon of butter.

Start toasting the bread, muffins, etc.

Crack eggs into pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 2 minutes.  At 2 minutes, turn off heat, cover pan (this is going to set the top of the egg).  Cook for 1 minute or until top of egg is set (the white should just be a little milky looking, not clear.  If you want, you could flip them  instead.

Spread toasted bread items with room temperature goat cheese.  Layer on thinly sliced smoked salmon. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice or add a few capers.  Place egg on top.  The egg needs to be runny, otherwise what's the point?

Eat.  Enjoy the Best Breakfast Ever.

Oatmeal Banana Apple Pumpkin Nut Bars - No added suger, no added fat

My wife said I had to write this one down, so here it is.

Turn oven to 350

Mash 3 ripe bananas
Add 1 cup milk, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp apple pie spice, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
Stir well
Add 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
Add 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
Stir well
Add 1/2 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds)
Add 2 diced apples (cored and peeled)
Add other dried fruit or cocunut (no more than 1/2 cup)
Mix well
Add 3 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal
Mix Well

Line 13x9 cake and brownie baking pan (pyrex) with wax paper
Spray wax paper with spray oil

Put the bar ingredients in lined pan
Layer 2 sliced apples on top of mix, push into bar material slightly
Put in oven

Bake for 30 minutes - you want the the bars to start to brown and pull away from the sides

This will be slightly sweet, but not hugely sweet. If you cut that into 20 even sized bars, it's about 70 calories a bar.

If you use almond milk or the like, use the unsweetened variety.

Hunters Stew

Holding place