Easy, Cheap, and Healthy Side Dish - Spinach Souflee

A friend asked for easy side dishes.  This is a super easy weekday recipe that is healthy and happens to be low cost.  This side dish is a great way to get those veggies.  This recipe is also open for experimentation, add an egg for more souffle, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for more creaminess, or add cooked bacon crumbles for more deliciousness.

Altered from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-spinach-souffle/

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste 
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, or a bag of fresh spinach washed, dried, and lightly sauteed in 2 tsp of olive oil or steamed in the microwave until tender.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl whisk together egg, milk, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold in spinach. Place in a small casserole dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly set.
4. NOTE: If you are in a hurry, use a microwave safe casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high for 3 minutes. Release the steam, recover, and cook on high for another 3 minutes. Enjoy!

 Serves 4 - about 90 calories and 2 WW points plus per serving

A Cure For Everything

Lately my Dog has been sick.

Not just a little sick, but the kind of sick that signifies the start of a spiral towards the end of a long life for a dog. 

Our Dog has trouble with her hips, stiffness in her legs, a lump in her neck, and she has less and less ability to eat.  Whether it is the lump in her neck, causing pain with swallowing, a tooth that has gone bad, or a sour stomach we have no definitive explanation of why she is not eating.  We do know that she is losing weight very fast.  Earlier this week my Husband had to start force feeding her and give her subcutaneous fluids to keep her strength up.  She will eat an odd bite of food here or there, but she looses her appetite very quickly.  She has refused even delicious steak, chicken, and eggs.  We believe it is causing her pain to eat.  We have been giving the dog medicine for pain, for upset stomach, for infection, but although it helps with some of her symptoms, it has been no cure for her starvation.  We have spent a small fortune, which we do not have, looking for the right medicine.

Tonight I may have found a cure. It was not expensive, it did not involve needles, and it was not prescribed by the veterinarian. What it was, was the obvious solution, I just was not listening to my inner Jewish Mother before. Tonight, I made chicken soup.  Even before I was done with the soup, the Dog came sniffing around the kitchen.  I ladled out a bowl of broth with generous hunks of chicken.  I cooled the bowl with an ice cube and when I was satisfied that it was cool enough, I placed it in front of my Dog,  She licked carefully at first and then chewed the meat with gusto.  She licked the bowl clean and looked at me for more.  When I asked "More?" she wagged her tail.  I got her another bowl, this time with even more chicken, and she finished that one, too. Then she took a nap. When later I went to put the cooled pot in the refrigerator, she awoke from her nap and begged for some more.  I ladled out another bowl.  She ate it all up.  Maybe tomorrow we won't have to give her fluids.  I know that tonight she will be spared the forced feeding.  If I have to make chicken soup a few times a week to get her healthy again, I will.  It seems that chicken soup is truly a cure for everything, or maybe everybody.

Click here for the recipe.

Yogurt Biscuits

If you are on the Weight Watchers Points Plus Plan, you may be hard up for very low point satisfying foods.
I have discovered one recipe that has been the perfect remedy for this problem, Yogurt Biscuits.
If you make them with Nonfat Yogurt they are one point a piece for 16 servings; with Lowfat Yogurt, split it into 18 servings and they will be 1 point a piece.  If you eat two, you might want to count it as 3 points total..
The great thing about these biscuits is that I can never overdo it, because my family gobbles these up before I can even come close to wrecking my point total.  If you are counting calories, this recipe is about 60 calories per biscuit.

One thing to keep in mind is that you need some forethought when making this recipe.  Do the first step before bed and wake up to an easy recipe for breakfast.

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Plain Lowfat or Nonfat Yogurt
1 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
Spray Oil

Step 1:
If you have an electric mixer use it for this recipe, use the dough hook if you have one.
Take one cup of flour and mix it with the cup of plain yogurt until smooth.
Sprinkle the sugar on top of the mixture.
Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Let the mixture sit for 4 hours or overnight.

Step 2:
Preheat the oven to 425°
Add the rest of the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt to your mixture.  Mix until you have a dough.

Step 3: Spray a cookie sheet with Spray Oil.  Lay out a piece of wax paper or lightly flour a hard surface.  Turn out the dough onto the prepared surface and pat into a rectangle.  Cut into 16 - 18 rectangles.
Place rectangles on the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.

Step 4:
Bake for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 400° and bake for 10 minutes more.
Serve hot.

LOVE IT SHOW - SEASON 2 EP #2

Culinary Cuties on Sharon Catherine Blanks "Love It List"
This looks very cool.  Los Angeles based cooking classes for kids.
http://www.culinarycuties.com/

Comfort Food, Tuna Noodle Casserole

I have mixed luck with Tuna Casseroles.  Either the pasta isn't cooked right, the topping is weak, or there just isn't enough tuna.  Today, determined to cook a winner, I decided to take the best parts of several Tuna Noodle Casserole recipes and create a version of this traditional dish that was delicious yet not too fattening.  I used fresh vegetables to improve the nutrition in this dish.  The veggies not only added a health boost, but were also one of the tastiest components of the casserole.

This Tuna Noodle Casserole was yummy, however, the pasta was still a bit al dente for my taste.  The remedy is a different type of pasta like egg noodles, or to cook the pasta first, then add it to the mix.  I decided not to precook the pasta because I wanted to keep the process simple and have fewer dishes to wash.  If you want a better casserole, you'll precook the pasta and wash the dishes.  Anywhoooo, other than slightly hard shells, the casserole was pretty tasty.  Here is the recipe.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Serves 6 people

Olive Oil Spray

1/2 Large Onion (or one small one)

1 Cup Chopped Carrots

1 Cup of Green Beans, either fresh or frozen ones that have been defrosted

3 Cups of Pasta (Egg Noodles, Shells, Macaroni, or any short cut pasta)

2 Cans of Tuna; drained and rinsed (I used 7oz cans)

1 Can of Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can of Cream of Celery Soup

1 Cup of Milk

Dash of Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Salt (Optional)

1 Cup Grated Sharp Cheddar

1 Cup of Panko Crumbs

1 Tbsp of Parmesan Cheese
Parsley Flakes

Spray a large pan with the Olive Oil Spray. 

Saute the onion, the carrots, and the green beans in the pan until the onions are soft and slightly browned. 

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees.

Pour the vegetable mixture into a 9x13 casserole pan. 

Add the Pasta, the Tuna, the two cans of Soup, the Milk, the Pepper and Salt.
Mix these ingredients well with a spoon, so that the liquid fully covers all of the pasta.

Sprinkle the Cheddar Cheese evenly over the mixture.

Sprinkle the Panko Crumbs over the Cheddar.

Sprinkle the Parmesan over the Panko.
Sprinkle the Parsley Flakes over the top to make sparse flecks over the crumbs.

Bake at 350 Degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy your casserole! 

If anyone has the Weight Watchers Tools and wants to build out this recipe, I would be really interested in knowing how many points this has on their site.  I calculated it out on a nutrition site and ended up with these numbers...

For Serving 6 people with this recipe, per serving you get:
307.2 Calories
14 Grams of Fat
2.6 Grams of Fiber

I calculate that on my WW calculator to be about 7 Points a serving.

Easy, Inexpensive, Low Point, Low Calorie, Healthy Meal

The slow cooked Chicken and Salsa recipe worked, I think...

I made a classic slow cook mistake, associated with my particular crockpot. I will try and upload a picture later, but if you look below in the last post, you may notice that the knob on my slow cooker is missing. We are still able to use the cooker, but the controls don't quite match up with the text on the pot. The dish looked great at the end of the day, however instead of switching it to warm while I waited for my husband to come home, I switched it to high by accident. An hour later, when I checked on it, the food was dried out and overcooked. The dish was still edible, but not as good as it might have been. As easy as it was, I will surely make it again and do better next time.

Here is the whole recipe as I made it:

Cut up some chicken,
put it in the slow cook pot
Cover with salsa (I used a fresh made type)
Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic
Cut up a yellow pepper and add it to the cooker
Stir.

Cook all day on low.

Serve over rice.

The Verdict: Very Easy, Low Calorie, Healthy Slow Cook Meal Number Three

It worked! Sure, it could have been better with more effort, but this dish worked as it was. There was approval every member of the family. What was it? Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas.

Here is the recipe. Cut up about a pound of chicken. Put it in the slow cooker. Cover with enchilada sauce. Cook all day on low. When you are ready to eat, wrap some of the mixture in a tortilla. Cover with more of the mixture. That's it!

Here is the enchilada sauce I used. I got it at Costco, three for $5.39, I used one which is $1.79.

I got the chicken at Costco, too. 12 breasts for about $19, I used 2 which cost about $3.17.

The Tortillas I used were La Tortilla Factory Low Carb, High Fiber Tortillas 16 for $5.69 of which we used 6, which is $2.13

$7.09 cents for dinner for a family of 4. We even had a bit left over.

We did add rice and a couple of garlic cloves to our meal which may have added a dollar to the entire cost. This meal could have cost even less if I wasn't also watching my calories. Those La Tortilla Factory Tortillas are comparatively costly. Also, I used chicken breasts, when dark meat would have worked just as well and probably would have tasted better. It was another choice made for the calorie output.

Here is some nutritional information for this recipe as served(4 servings total):

Chicken breast 120 calories, 3 Weight Watchers Points

Enchilada Sauce 48 calories, 1 Weight Watchers Point

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Tortillas, 80 calories, 1 Weight Watchers Point (split 1 and 1/2 per person = 120 cals, 1.5 points)

288 calories per serving

5.5 Weight Watchers Points per serving

The verdict stands! Dinner for less than $2 a person, for less than 300 calories, for less than 6 Weight Watchers Points, for less than 10 minutes prep time, what more could a working Mother of Twins want? ...Maybe someone to clean up, this enchilada sauce is messy! Thank goodness for Husband of Food.

Very Easy, Low Calorie, Healthy Slow Cook Meals

Is this too good to be true? I learned of a couple of very easy slow cooker meals this weekend that seem unbelievable.

The first one. Are you ready? Get your crock pot out.
Add chicken and salsa.
If you're feeling adventurous, add some veggies to the pot.
Cook all day (on low).

That's it. Does it work? People swear by it. Someone said they learned about it from Ellen. That Ellen... she makes everything easy.

The second one.
Put chicken in the slow cooker and add Trader Joes Indian Simmer Sauce.
Cook all day.

Again, that's it. I can't wait to try this one.

The third one... well, I'm making it tonight.
We'll see how it comes out and then I'll give you the recipe.

Hugo's for Brunch

I had a weird experience at brunch this Sunday. I went to one of my favorite neighborhood places for weekend breakfasts, Hugo's in Studio City. Hugo's is known for quality, healthy homemade food and a wide variety of teas. I don't go much for tea, but I love healthy food. When I was, for health reasons avoiding red meats (for about a decade), I loved the fact that I could order almost anything on the Hugo's menu without the worry of eating a mammal. Hugo's is very accommodating to full Vegetarians and Vegans as well.

Because of the varied yet ever so good for me menu, I like to try different things when going to Hugo's. This time I tried an oatmeal frittata. The menu said it was steel cut oatmeal folded into a frittata garnished with cottage cheese, applesauce, and strawberries. I like oatmeal and eggs... I love strawberries and cottage cheese... This sounds like it could be a really good thing. Well, I can't say this dish was bad, but it wasn't good either, It certainly missed the mark for my favorite breakfast of all time. It was like something the chef might have experimented with one hungover morning in pursuit of a full stomach and a good bowel movement. I can attest that I was blessed with both after this meal, but I have had better tasting food than this at Hugo's. The service was excellent, the pre-meal rolls, delish, and the company I shared the meal with, a true treat. I highly recommend Hugo's especially to those who like to eat from a more enlightened selection on life's menu, but I would stay away from the Oatmeal Fritatta, after all, maybe you can have too much of a "good thing."

Hugo's Restaurant
12851 Riverside Dr
North Hollywood, CA 91607
(818) 761-8985

Another Tiny Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Yams

Yams are an under appreciated food in America. This country is focused on meat and potatoes, but Sweet Potatoes and Yams can be a delicious alternative. Sweet Potatoes and Yams are different vegetables, but are similar for cooking purposes. Yams are a bit sweeter. Most American markets carry Sweet Potatoes, but if you look you can find Yams.

If you are going to make Candied Yams, or Sweet Potato Pie, you will not get the healthy benefits of these tubers. I have a simple recipe for tasty Sweet Potato or Yam chips which makes a tasty side dish while keeping up the nutrition.

Serves 2
Calories: 230 (for 6 oz potatoes)
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS® Value: 4 - includes 1 Vegetable Serving
1Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 14-18 min min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
2 Sweet Potatoes or Yams (or one of Each)
Olive Oil Spray (or Olive Oil and Brush)
2-3 cloves garlic
Course Salt

Preheat Broiler on Oven.
Slice your Sweet Potatoes into thin circles (use a food processor if you have one)
Mince the garlic till fine. How Fine?
My knife skills teacher said you would never want a bigger bit than you would want stuck on the front of a tooth.
Spray a cookie sheet and the slices with Olive Oil, or brush on Olive Oil to the slices and the pan.
Sprinkle with Garlic and Salt making sure both sides have seasoning.
Broil Each side until Brown (about 6-8 Minutes).

Tiny Little Recipe: Strawberries and Cream for Breakfast

I made this for the toddlers one morning and realized it would be a great healthy alternative to some other sweet treats, like a strawberry shakes or strawberry ice cream. This recipe has a rich taste but is low in calories and high in nutrition.

Strawberries and Cream for Breakfast

Calories: 270 (more or less depending on brand of Applesauce)
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS® Value: 4 - includes 1 milk and 1 fruit portion
Servings: 1
Preparation Time: 1 min
Cooking Time: 1 min
Level of Difficulty: Super Easy

Ingredients
1 container Strawberry apple sauce
1 packet Nabisco Instant Cream Of Wheat
1/2 cup fat-free skim milk

Cook the Cream of Wheat in with milk instead of water. If you don't care about the extra calories use whole milk.
Mix in the strawberry applesauce.

Enjoy!

More Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean: Gazpacho Recipe

As promised... More from Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Read through this recipe and you will find the steps are quite simple. You may even have all of the ingredients on hand. The tough part for me was finding the sungold tomatoes. I almost made this recipe this weekend, but I had trouble finding the tomatoes. Any readers out there know where I could get sungolds?

Thanks again to Nicole, Cousin of Food, for this recipe.



Golden Gazpacho with Condiments


Condiments are fun! Add minced fennel, minced melon, crab meat, Aleppo chilies, or minced onion to this most delicious of gazpachos. Just be sure to chop all the vegetables or any garnish as small as possible to keep the elegance of the dish.
Makes 4 cups to serve 4.

2 pints sungold tomatoes (about 6 cups)
½ cup fresh, plain bread crumbs or ½ small pita bread, torn up into ½-inch pieces
2 tablespoons Spanish sherry vinegar
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon salt plus more to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 cup bottled sparkling mineral water
1 cup hand-torn bread pieces (tear them with your fingers, to make little croutons)
1 hard boiled egg
1 red bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed and finely minced
6 chives, finely minced


1. Place the tomatoes, bread crumbs, vinegar, ½ cup of the olive oil, the turmeric, curry powder, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and sparkling water in a blender. Puree until smooth.
2. Strain through a fine sieve or china cap (a very fine cone-shaped sieve) into a medium stainless steel or glass mixing bowl, pushing it through with the back of a small ladle or pestle. Discard the pulp and seeds and check soup for seasoning. It should be a beautiful golden color. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
3. Chill 4 soup bowls.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
5. In a small bowl, toss the hand torn bits of bread in ¼ cup of olive oil and place on a small heavy baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for about 7 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Cool and set aside.
6. Grate the hard cooked egg with the finest side of a box grater so that you have little egg “jimmies.” Place them in a small bowl and season them with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and chill.
7. Ladle the soup into 4 chilled soup bowls. Serve immediately with the egg, peppers, croutons and chives, all passed around separately so that everyone can add a new one per bite.

The Sneaky Chef

What a big Family of Food in a Small, Small World! It turns out there are several Cookbooks written by people somehow related to the Family of Food. The Sneaky Chef is one of them, written by, Missy Chase Lapine.

I ran across this book while looking for recipes for my kids. The book guides the chef on how to discretely put the nutrition back into food children will eat. As my kids get older, they are exposed to more kinds of food, and they are getting pickier. They are starting to ask for foods that are not so healthy. The kids are doing nothing wrong. Children choose foods that are the saltiest or sweetest based on eons of evolutionary development. Our job is to make sure these tasty foods are as good for them as they can be, especially if it turns out that bad foods are are all they will eat. The Sneaky Chef demonstrates techniques to make many familiar "Bad Foods" into Good Foods.



Providing healthy yet attractive food becomes even more important with older kids that are surrounded by junk foods every day. Which brings me to the next Recommendation... Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals Any Guy Will Love.
This book may be marketed to wives cooking for their husbands but it looks like a book for the big kid in me! Check out The Sneaky Chef Cookbooks for kids of all ages.