FOODIE NIGHT-2/27/2010

Our Foodie night was FABULOUS! Thanks Amelia and Paul for hosting! Your home is DARLING! We had amazing recipes last night: Here is the recipe for my whole wheat pasta:

Pasta with spinach, tomatoes, and asiago

1 lb whole wheat pasta (I prefer the shells, fusillis, or penne, but whatever you have will work)
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 (9 oz) bag spinach, roughly chopped
8 oz (1/2 pint) cherry tomatoes (or more to taste)
1 cup grated asiago cheese (or more to taste)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (or more to taste)
Bring pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. (follow directions on the package) Drain but SAVE 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Warm up the olive oil in a saucepan on med heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add spinach and tomatoes and cook til wilted. (about 2-4 min) Add pasta and toss. Add cheeses, salt, pepper, and pasta liquid and stir. Serve immediately.
This pasta is great leftover! We make it all of the time! Enjoy!
Ash and Jake

SPINACH COUSCOUS

1 1/4 c. water

2/3 uncooked wheat couscous

1 c. chicken breast (optional)

1/4 c. fresh basil

2 tbsp. green onions

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 c. small salad greens

1/4 c. cheese

Bran Flake Cereal

I was going through some serious cereal withdrawals so I tried this homemade Bran Flake recipe. It turned out some pretty tasty cereal. However, one pointer. . . grease the pan really well and don't use wax paper on the bottom - either use the greased pan or parchment paper. I lost half the pan of flakes that got cooked to wax paper. Sad.

• 1/2 cup bran
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup walnuts or pecans - finely ground
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add milk and water and mix well.

Cut parchement paper into two 12 x 16 pieces.

Lay one piece of parchement on a flat surface and scoop half of the dough onto the center. Flatten dough by hand and cover entire parchement with clear plactic wrap. Roll out the dough over the plastic wrap.

The goal is to make the dough extremely thin with areas of near transparency. You may notice that you are in effect making one huge bran flake at this point.

Remove the plastic wrap and place the dough (on the parchement) onto a 14 x 16 flat sheet pan. Cook for 10 minutes checking often after 5 minutes. A dough this thin will burn easily if left in too long.

The resulting product after cooking will be a leathery thin cracker (crunchy at the edges).

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Repeat the rolling and cooking process with the other half of your dough.

Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees.

After both huge bran flakes have completely cooled... rip and crack them into the sized flakes you are most familiar with (about 3/4 of an inch).

Place all flakes on a large cookie sheet and cook at the reduced temperature for 20 minutes... stirring the and flipping the flakes every five minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow flakes to cool completely.

Serve with milk and fresh fruit. Stores well in a sealed container for up to two weeks.

TED talk on food

VERY interesting.
Check out this 20 minute TED talk when you get the chance. It helps with motivation. :)

Fast Food AHH!

Once upon a time, back when Ray Kroc was still pushing milkshake machines, a hamburger and fries meant a wad of freshly ground chuck and a peeled, sliced, and fried potato. Now, these two iconic foods—like nearly everything we consume—has taken on a whole new meaning. Sadly, many of our favorite foods today (especially fast foods) weren’t merely crafted in kitchens, they were also designed and perfected in labs. We uncovered the ugly truth in the course of our research for the Eat This, Not That! and new Cook This, Not That! series. What we found was not pretty.

Before you mindlessly chew your way through another value meal, take these mini-mysteries (conveniently solved below) into account. Sometimes the truth is tough to swallow.

What’s in a Chicken McNugget?
You’d think that a breaded lump of chicken would be pretty simple. Mostly, it would contain bread and chicken. But the McNugget and its peers at other fast-food restaurants are much more complicated creatures than that. The “meat” in the McNugget alone contains seven ingredients, some of which are made up of yet more ingredients. (Nope, it’s not just chicken. It’s also such nonchicken-related stuff as water, wheat starch, dextrose, safflower oil, and sodium phosphates.) The “meat” also contains something called “autolyzed yeast extract.” Then add another 20 ingredients that make up the breading, and you have the industrial chemical—I mean, fast-food meal—called the McNugget. Still, McDonald’s is practically all-natural compared to Wendy’s Chicken Nuggets, with 30 ingredients, and Burger King Chicken Fries, with a whopping 35 ingredients.

Bonus tip: For the nutritional breakdown of each of these “chicken” meals, and thousands others, download the brand-new Eat This, Not That! iPhone App! It’s like having your own personal nutritionist always at your fingertips!

What’s in a Wendy’s Frosty?
Wendy’s Frosty requires 14 ingredients to create what traditional shakes achieve with only milk and ice cream. So what accounts for the double-digit ingredient list? Mostly a barrage of thickening agents that includes guar gum, cellulose gum, and carrageenan. And while that’s enough to disqualify it as a milk shake in our book, it’s nothing compared to the chemist’s list of ingredients in the restaurant’s new line of bulked-up Frankenfrosties.

Lentil Veggie Soup

This soup makes a ton! Clay and I ate it for three or four meals. It was a great healthy veggie and lentil soup! (I think Lentils are good for you. . . ) My only suggestion would be to cook the lentils, drain them and then add to the chicken broth instead of boiling your lentils in the broth. P.S. I found this recipe on a sweet GREEN living website . . . www.sarasnow.com.

• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 quart water
• 2 cups red lentils - rinsed
• 1-2T olive oil
• 2 onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 5 carrots
• 4 stalks celery
• ½ pound potatoes
• 2 zucchini
• 3 diced tomatoes
• 3 teaspoons salt
• Pinch of each of the following: Cumin, Bay leaf, Dried or fresh parsley, Oregano, Thyme

INSTRUCTIONS

• Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil and allow to cook for 45-60 minutes.
• Chop together onions garlic cloves, carrots, celery, potatoes and zucchini.
• Add vegetables into the pot.
• Add 1 can diced tomatoes
• Add salt, cumin, bay leaf, parsley, oregano and thyme to taste.
• Allow to simmer 10 minutes more.
• Serve piping hot with warm whole grain bread.
• 
  

Oat Berry Pancakes

Clay and I spent the weekend in St. George and ate at a little breakfast spot called "The Egg and I." My friend got one giant delicious OAT BERRY PANCAKE and I was jealous. I looked up a recipe online tonight and made some for dinner. It was tasty! I used Agave syrup in place of Maple or Butter syrup.

1 c. OATS

1 C. Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

2 c. milk

2 c. berries

( I used frozen berries from Sam's club)

Oprah's 25 Superfoods List

avocado, beets, horseradish, sweet potatoes, cabbage/cauliflower, blueberries, spinach, scallions, whole grains, spelt, tumeric, oregano, cinnamon, ginger/cayenne/black pepper, miso, yogurt, sardines, salmon, sesame seeds, walnuts, green tea, dark chocolate, flax seeds, figs, seaweed.

For the link to all the healthy reasons why to eat these foods, go here!
http://www.oprah.com/food/25-Superfoods-to-Incorporate-Into-Your-Diet-Now

Recipe: Spinach Smoothies

So I still have a long way to go, but have lost 19 pounds since last fall! Nothing like Amazing Adam Sensai Master, but at least it's a medium-sized bag of flour that I'm not lugging around anymore....right?

If you're chubby like me, maybe the devil on your shoulder whispers: Fatties can't be healthy foodies!, but I am trying to prove that notion false. Helping me win this war is a regular breakfast dose of spinach smoothies. Here's the recipe:

Love from,

The Fat Foodie

Rosehill Dairy

So, to go along with the awesome "Field to Families" program. The other day our neighbor was telling us how she has hormone free, cache valley milk delivered to her home every week. I looked up the website www.rosehilldairy.com and the pricing is amazing for organic milk! Compared to $3.29 at Smith's marketplace, they offer the same thing for $1.89 and it is from Cache Valley.

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato and Basil

So I have recently discovered something about myself. I grew up never liking pasta or spaghetti. I avoided spaghetti and red sauce like the plague. Since we started doing this whole food thing, I found that I love pasta. . . I just hate ragu, prego and red spaghetti sauce. I have found so many great pasta recipes, here is one we had tonight that we loved and it only took twenty minutes to cook!

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pints grape tomatos
• 5-6 large basil leaves
• 1 tbsp. parsley
• 1 tbsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 pckg angel hair pasta
• parmesan cheese to top

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add garlic, tomatoes, basil, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook for seven minutes. Add tomatoes to pasta and top with parmesan.

"RULES" for recipes

1. A combination of single ingredient foods (ex. carrots, beans, ground wheat, basil) combined to
make the dish is ideal.

2. When adding foods with multiple ingredients, the goal is to find items with

a. Ingredients you recognize and can easily pronounce and explain where they come from!

b. The fewest number of ingredients as possible.

3. Try to use ingredients that are organic and locally grown/raised.

4. No high fructose corn syrup! (one of many reasons: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html)

5. Try to use an alternative to refined sugars and flours, if possible. (some alternatives to sugar
include: agave syrup, honey, maple sugar, evaporated cane sugar are all alternatives. For
unrefined flour, grind it yourself or purchase whole wheat flour, etc)

(Read this: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html)

Compelling news for LDS population...

I know that this group does not officially affiliate itself with any particular religion, but I felt that this article was appropriate given the amount of LDS people within it. It was written by the same guy who wrote "Original Fast Foods". It's pretty crazy.

Here is the link: Daniel's Challenge

FIELD TO FAMILIES

Hey there fellow foodies,

My neighbor just told me about this website : http://fieldtofamilies.i360net.com/

You can get fresh produce (pretty local, no pesticides, etc) every week throughout the winter! I'm excited to join, and thought some of you might want in also. Check them out!

Natural No Sugar Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I had to try this recipe!

http://www.worldfamousrecipes.com/2005/10/13/natural-no-sugar-whole-wheat-banana-bread/

1/6 cup no sugar added applesauce
1/6 cup walnut oil or reg oil
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas (~ 3-4 bananas)
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
(* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans if desired)

Preheat oven to 325�
In a large bowl, beat applesauce, oil and honey together.
Add eggs, and mix well.
Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt.
Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter.
(Blend in chopped nuts here if desired) .
Spread batter into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

Tips:
* Put browning bananas into the freezer until ready to use
for your recipe.
Makes the bread even more moist!
* May change up the recipe by adding raisins or pumpkin pie spice.
* Make it into 4 mini loaves and bake about 35 minutes.

Bran Flax Muffins

I tried these muffins this weekend and they are delich! They are moist and really tasty warm with a little butter. Not to mention they are packed with fiber!

BRAN FLAX MUFFINS

1 1/2 c. wheat flour
1 c. natural brown sugar
3/4 c. flaxseed meal
3/4 c. oat bran
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 apples peeled and shredded
1 cup carrots shredded
1 cup nuts
1/2 c raisins
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix wet ingredients, add to dry ingredients. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Spray with non stick spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Makes about 15 muffins.

P.S. The all natural fruit leather is on sale at smiths marketplace 3/$1.00 normally $.59. Also, I found all natural chicken broth at Sam's club for a great deal. I read that chicken broth can be a substitute for bullion. (To add to the bullion conversation on Friday)

Cilantro-Lime Sweet Potatoes

I LOVE these and they are a little different spin on the sweet potato fries!

2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
3 TB olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp finely grated fresh lime zest
1 TB fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425. Toss sweet potatoes with 2 TB oil and 1/4 tsp salt in a shallow baking pan in a single layer. Roast, stirring halfway through, roasting until tender, about 25 minutes total. Stir together cayenne, zest, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl. Whisk together lime juice and remaining TB oil in a medium bowl, then add potatoes. Sprinkle with cayenne mixture and cilantro, stirring gently to combine! They are DELISH!

Sweet Potato Fries

1 large peeled sweet potatoe
Kosher Salt
lime zest of 1 lime
1/2 lime juice
cayenne pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Peel and cut your potatoes into fries. Toss in a little olive oil. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Bake for 15 minutes on one side and flip. Bake again for 5 minutes. While baking, zest your lime. Add some Kosher salt to the lime zest and some cayenne pepper to taste. After the potatoes are roasted, sprinkle the zest mixture on top, squeeze half of your lime over the potatoes and serve.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Ok, so these can be modified however you'd like! Put whatever fresh veggies and herbs in them that you have lying around! This is what I used:
Rice paper wrappers
Rice noodles
Red Leaf Lettuce
Seedless cucumber, cut into strips
Carrot, cut into strips
Bean sprouts
Fresh Thai Basil
Fresh mint
Cilantro

You can use any protein you'd like, I used Lemongrass beef (cut beef extremely thin, marinate with a little fresh lemongrass that you put in your food processor, olive oil, and salt) and shrimp. I also made vegan rolls with Tofu that I marinated and seared.

Just soak the rice paper wrappers in warm water until they are soft and pile in the rest of the ingredients. Roll like an eggroll. Start at one end, roll, fold in sides, continue to roll. This is the tricky part and takes practice. Obviously from the way mine looked, I haven't practiced enough! The sauce I prefer are these:

Peanut-Hoisin sauce

1/2 cup hoisin
2 TB vinegar
1 cup water
1-2 cloves garlic
2 TB all natural peanut butter
Premix 1 tsp cornstarch and 2 TB water

Add 1/2 tsp oil to a saucepan. When hot, saute garlic until fragrant. Add hoisin, vinegar, water, and peanut butter. Mix well, bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch-water mixture. Bring back to a boil . Serve with some red pepper flakes and coarsely chopped peanuts on top.

The other sauce I like to use is a traditional sweet fish sauce called Nuoc Cham

2 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 TB sugar (I used raw cane, could use honey)
1 cup cold water
3 TB fish sauce
3-4 cloves garlic
red chili flakes to taste
extremely finely grated carrot for the top

Mix well and serve.