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I must admit that the best thing I make in the kitchen….. are reservations on the telephone!!
I love to cook but I have to be in the mood. I consider the holiday’s a challenge and you all know I LOVE a challenge so I only look forward to cooking four or five days a year. I will spend three days in the kitchen planning, preparing, cooking and baking a holiday feast. I want my holiday table to be filled with the same delicious dishes one would naturally expect at a holiday table yet different in preparation that you would leave the table satisfied yet never considering the fact your arteries…….. and thighs will remain clean and lean.
It is the rest of the days of the year that used to bore me beyond comprehension when I had to plan a meal. Does it NEVER END?! Yes, it does end. It is called DEATH! By all intents and purposes I should be dead. Had I not dragged my behind into the kitchen and come up with SOMETHING nutritious to eat I would be dead. Don’t believe me? Ask my doctors. My local doctor, Dr. Ajoy, has told that he refers his overweight/heart patients to my site. He told me during an appointment that “most people would have gone home and given up, you didn’t do it……..48% ejection fraction AMAZING!” Believe me, I remember that endorsement when I drag my butt into the kitchen!
“EAT TO LIVE AND NOT LIVE TO EAT” I find recipes that have “potential” to be a staple in my kitchen “CHEAP AND EASY” and what I call JJ-ize them… ie: ultimate nutrition, ultimate flavor and if it were any more jj’ized you would have to graze in a field and eat it raw! I am like the Rice Krispies commercial where the mommy reads a book while making her treats, flings some flour in her face and drags herself out to the wild cheers and bows of her family. I challenge myself to find the best sounding recipe using the most organic product and process it the easiest fashion.
Following are recipes I have “made my own”. When I see something I think I would like on tv, in a magazine or sent to me from a friend, I challenge myself to make it healthier. When it passes the JJ test I have “got r dun”. My version of Red Pepper Cappelini with Shrimp passed the JJ test and was printed in her August 2008 E-Zine. Hopefully you will see a recipe you like and try it. I would love to hear from you what you think about it!
Baked Eggs with Canadian Bacon, Spinach and Goat Cheese
** Note: I make the veggie part of this diet as a vegetable side dish to any meal I cook including an additional breakfast or brunch dish. The cooked spinach, onions and mushrooms are delicious in an egg white omelette! I even added the cooked veggies in a low sodium, organic store bought marinara and put it over a single serving of whole wheat pasta for an incredibly easy COMPLETE dinner dish. Hellooooooo cook some whole wheat pasta, 2 minutes cooking the veggies, add it to store bought organic, low sodium marinara and you have a meal and a half! Where’s the flour for the face! Sam loves it. I could make it five days a week and he would not complain! Neither do I!
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp minced Vidalia Onion
½ C Sliced Mushrooms
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 Oz Organic Baby Spinach
4 Slices Canadian Bacon
4 Large Eggs
¼ C Heavy Cream
2 Oz Crumbled Goat Cheese
Heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange rack in middle. Lightly mist with EVOO 4 (6-oz) ramekins and set aside.
Place 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook until spinach is well wilted, about 2 minutes.
Place Canadian bacon on bottom of ramekins and top with spinach. Crack eggs into ramekins, place 1 Tbsp heavy cream over each egg, and divide the cheese evenly among ramekins.
Put ramekins on a baking sheet and bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, about 15 to 18 minutes.
Serve with sliced tomatoes.
Yield: 4 servings
Red Pepper Cappelini with Shrimp
¼ tsp cracked Red Pepper
6 cloves minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
24 medium Shrimp, peeled
4 medium Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced
4 tsp Capers
4 Tbsp chopped Basil
4 Tbsp chopped Parsley
¾ Cup White Wine
¾ tsp Sea Salt
1 cup cooked Whole Wheat Cappelini
½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 medium diced Vidalia Onion
6 large Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Gently sauté the pepper and garlic in the olive oil in a non stick skillet until the garlic begins to color. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute. Add Tomatoes, Onion, Mushrooms, Capers, Basil, Parsley, Wine, Sea Salt and cooked Pasta; cook quickly to reduce the liquids.
To serve: Toss the Pasta with the cheese and divide onto four plates.
* To peel a tomato, cut an “x” in the bottom with a sharp knife. Plunge the tomato into boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool. Peel. Squeeze out the seeds, then dice.
Blueberry Crumble
*Note* I try to JJ-ize everything I eat and serve. I use xylitol as a sweetener of “healthy” choice. Xylitol is extremely toxic to animals and Sam has a tendency to give a bite to all of our “kids”. Therefore, for this recipe I use the Splenda for baking.
For the crumble:
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar Splenda
For the filling:
3 - 1/2 cup blueberries, washed and dried
3/4 cup Splenda for baking
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cardamom
1 small apple, peeled and grated
1 1/2 Tbs, quick-cooking Tapioca
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
To make the filling, in a medium bowl, combine the blueberries, splenda, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon, cardamom, grated apple and tapioca. Toss lightly and let stand about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir together the oats, cinnamon, salt, and Splenda in a bowl until combines. Rub butter into oat mixture for topping until evenly distributed.
Sprinkle topping over blueberry filling in a lightly sprayed (with EVOO baking dish) and bake until topping is golden, 25 to 30 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool 1 to 2 hours! This is DELICIOUS!
