Frenched Rack of Lamb over Mushrooms and Artichokes

I found this recipe on epicurean.com and lowered the calories without sacrificing any taste.  The original recipe also called for 3 pounds of lamb and made 4 servings.  Mine is a single serving of meat with extra veg.  I purchased my lamb from Planet Organics.  I have not been let down yet; I am so lucky to have that sort of service near me.

Rack of Lamb over Mushrooms and Artichokes

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp rosemary
6 oz roast rack of lamb, frenched (2 chops) - fat trimmed
1 cup crimini mushrooms, halved
1 14oz can artichoke hearts in water, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBS flour
1.5 c. beef brother, 99% fat free


Preheat the oven to 450. Combine the salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary for a rub and apply to both sides of the lamb. Brown both sides of the lamb in a cooking spray treated skillet under high heat.  Place lamb on a cooking rack* and put in the oven 8 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 140 (thicker slabs of meat will require longer cooking time).  Remove from oven when done and let rest 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, brown the mushrooms in the skillet used for browning.  Reduce heat, add artichokes and garlic and saute another 3 minutes.  Sprinkle flours over the top and mix well, until flour is incorporated and no white is left. Add beef broth and allow to simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.  Sauce will thicken.  Serve lamb over the vegetable mixture, spooning sauce over the top.

Single serving if you want lots of veggies, 455 calories

Eric's dinner: box of Safeway brand beef stroganoff

*I was very clever (if I don't say so myself) with the "oven rack".  I didn't want to dirty my HUGE oven rack for 2 tiny chops, so I used a vegetable steamer in a casserole dish.  Worked perfect:

Pan-Asian Pan-Seared Ahi and Sweet & Savory Kale

It was an error to have these two dishes together.  Both were completely delicious, but the fish was much to delicately flavored to be paired with the punch-in-the-mouth flavor bomb that the kale is.  When I make this again, I think that I would try to pair the fish with a citrus-and-beet salad,  or a frisse salad with wasabi dressing, and the kale would go better with lamb or red meat.

Pan-Asian Pan-Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

2 6-8oz Ahi Tuna steaks about 3/4 of an inch thick, 2+ Sushi grade (very important as the center of the steaks should remain raw)
for the marinade:
1 tsp sesame oil
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS freshly grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 of a lemon, juiced

Mix your marinade ingredients together, add to your steaks, and let marinade for at least an hour.  Heat a non-stick skillet on the stove and let it get super hot.  Drain off marinade from steaks, and place them in the pan.  Let them cook, untouched, for 2 minutes.  Flip and allow 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat immediately.

serves 2, 201 - 261 calories per serving, depending on size of steak.

Sweet & Savory Kale
1 small red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBS Dijon mustard
2 packets Sweetener*
4 TBS red wine vinegar
1 14oz can Chicken stock, fat-free
2 small bunches kale, de-stemmed, and chopped (about 4 cups)
1/3 c. dried cranberries
S&P to taste

Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray and brown the garlic and onion.  Add mustard, vinegar, sweetener, broth.  Stir well, and bring to a boil.  Add kale, lower heat to medium, and cover for 5 minutes.  Add cranberries, reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes until kale reaches desired doneness and cranberries have plumped.

*the cranberries made this dish overly sweet for my tastes but then I never eat refined sugar, and I couldn't find cranberries that didn't have sugar as an additive.  You may want to adjust how much, if any, sweetener you need to add. 

makes 2 large servings, 200 calories each

Eric's dinner - nothing but he ate the hell out of a bagel this morning.

Tea-Spiced Oatmeal

This has been my favorite breakfast for the last 3 weeks.  I can't get enough!  I believe I came up with the idea at home when I was pondering what to have for breakfast on a rainy Sunday morning.  I can't type hard enough to express how good it is!

Also, this barely counts as a recipe, but screw it - it's tasty and was a good idea.

And it's easy-peasy:

2 cups hot tea
1/2 dry oatmeal
1 c. fresh fruit, in a flavor that compliments your tea

Prepare a cup or two of STRONG tea in your choice of flavor (I use Good Earth Original - very strong cinnamon, anise, ginger flavors).  Let it steep for extra long, and use double the amount of tea leaves / bags that you would for just a cuppa. Add 1/2 c. dry oatmeal (I use Quaker 1-Minute).  Add in a cup of chopped fruit.  Microwave for a minute or 2 to heat your fruit through.  Bon appetite!

Some flavor ideas: Mint tea & blueberries; Raszzberry Zinger & raspberries; Green tea & mango; Mandarin Orange Spice tea & raisins.  You get the idea...

bonus: caffeinated breakfast ftw!

215 calories w/ 1 apple.  Check the calorie content of your fruit.  Oatmeal is 150 calories per 1/2 c. dry

Hot and Sour Soup

Seriously, when nothing else seems good, hot and sour soup is perfect!  I used to order out just to get this soup twice a week, and then I discovered how ridiculously easy it is to make from scratch.  This is my typical hot & sour soup that I lightened up (less oil, no egg, fat free stock, chicken instead of pork).  Also, I didn't actually measure my soy sauce or vinegar... or my white pepper.  I like it very sour, and very spicy.  I think I had more along the lines of 1/2 c. vinegar, 1/4 c. soy, and 1 TBS of white pepper.  You can also add carrot, use pork, try out lily bulbs, or use any assortment of other mushrooms besides plain ol' button.



Hot and Sour Soup

• 1 large chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips (280)
  
• 3 teaspoons soy sauce (9)
  
• 1/2 package presliced  mushrooms (20)
  
• 1 4oz can bamboo shoots (90)
  
• 4 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 32 oz non-fat chicken broth (40)
  
• 1 teaspoons Asian spicy sesame oil (45)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground white pepper
• 4 scallions, sliced (20)
  
• 2 TBS cornstarch, mixed with about a cup of water (60)
  

Add everything in a pot except cornstarch.  Bring to a boil and let cook a good 10 minutes (make sure that chicken is cooked thoroughly) .  Add your cornstarch slurry at the end.

makes about 7 cups / about 80.6 calories per cup

Eric's dinner: left over pizza

Veggie Adobo

I did adobo again last night, but this time I made it without meat to see how it would turn out.  I'll let you look at the prior adobo post for the basic recipe.  Instead of chicken, I used 1 whole eggplant, which I cubed and browned in the same pan after removing the garlic.  I also added 2 cubes of chicken bullion, a suggestion from one of the ladies at work.  All in all, pretty good

Calories:  the entire dish, including a full medium sized squash, is 654.  Divide it up how want for a serving .  nomnom.

Eric's Dinner: Domino's delivery alfredo bread bowl

Spicy Curry Coleslaw

One of the items in my PO box this week was a small head of cabbage.  I found a couple of really cool looking recipes, but landed on one similar to what I ended up making. I made some minor tweeks to make it almost fat-free and change the sauce proportions to be more to my taste.  The end result is fabulous!  I could also see tossing some raisins in to this which would be incredibly good.  I ate my slaw along with my chili.

Spicy Curry Coleslaw
1 small head of green cabbage. finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 large red jalapeno, minced
 for the dressing:
3 TBS curry powder [update 4/24/10 - substitute 1 tbs curry, 1 tbs cinnamon, and 1 tbs cumin]
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 lemon, squeezed
4 TBS red wine vinegar
2 TBS Dijon mustard
2 packets equal

Place your cut veggies in a large bowl and set aside. Fry the curry powder with the olive oil under high heat until just fragrant. Add it to the rest of the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined.  Add to your chopped veggies and toss well.

makes about 8-10 cups / about 30 calories per cup

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Eric's dinner: Pasta Roni, alfredo

Crock Pot Veggie-Turkey Chili

I threw this together the night before and stored it in the fridge until the morning.  Before leaving for work, I turned on the crock pot.  There is nothing like coming home on a Friday night to the smell of fresh chili and knowing you don't need to cook (other than throwing together the nightly salad).  Feel free to add or subtract veggies and bean types!

Crock-Pot Veggie-Turkey Chili
1.5 lb ground turkey - the lower fat the better
1 28oz  can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 small zucchini, slices
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 large jalapeno, de-seeded and minced
2 TBS chili powder
1 8oz can chopped green chili peppers
1 TBS dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Spray a pan with nonstick spray, then brown the turkey.  Place the cooked turkey along with the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot and give it a good stir.  Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4.

Makes 10 cups of chili, 180.4 cal per cup

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Eric's dinner - cheese quesadilla

Chicken-Mushroom Adobo over Butternut Squash

I have a feeling that Filipino grandmothers everywhere are going to be shaking their head and making fun of me in Tagalog over my dinner (who am I kidding, Filpino's don't read my blog. Except Cyncha).

I looooooooooooooove adobo.  There is a woman at my office who brings in her mother's adobo on special occasions and my little heart flutters in joy at the thought.  I have had pork adobo, chicken adobo, beef adobo, pork belly adobo, various mixtures of the aforementioned and all of it has been mana from heaven.  So, when I set out to make my own adobe, my hopes were not high as I knew what master adobo is supposed to taste like.

I didn't enter this endeavor without research.  I had 2 recipes printed off, watched 3 vid blogs on youtube, and then went to another lady who works here for tips on how any "secrets" she wished to spill the beans on.

I final note before getting to the actual recipe.  I don't do rice, so I had to be creative with the accompaniment.  I decided that the butternut squash I got from Plant Organics this week would do, but it would be a stretch and I was pretty nervous about the final result.  I also only had 1 chicken breast in the freezer and thought I had more to work with, so the addition of mushrooms (also a PO delivery item) was a last minute decision - I figured once I had entered the sacrilege of my sans rice adobo, I might as well take the plunge and really screw everything up.  The result is astounding.  The sweetness of the the squash really adds a terrific counterpoint to the tangy adobo sauce, and the mushrooms soaked up broth like mad and became little flavor explosives.  Because this is a fat-free rendition of adobo, the chicken breast is a little dry; I will have to work on that. 

Chicken-Mushroom Adobo over Butternut Squash
1 small butternut squash
6-10 cloves of garlic, crushed and rough chopped
2 small chicken breasts (about 8 oz total), skin and fat removed
10-12 criminy mushrooms, quartered
1 tsp whole peppercorns, crushed
2 bay leaves
1/2 c. white distilled vinegar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. water


Preheat oven to 350. Slice your squash lengthwise and deseed.  Place cut side up in a glass baking dish with about 1 inch of water.  Bake for 30 or so minutes.  You may find that the squash isn't quite done by the time the adobo is done, depending on the thickness.  If this is the case, microwave the squash at the end for 5 minutes, one side at a time, in a dish with some water.

Spray a saucepan big enough the rest of ingredients with non-stick spray.  Add garlic and brown.  Remove.  Cut your chicken breast into 3 inch strips, or cubes.  Over high heat, add to the pot and brown all sides.  Add garlic back into the pot, along with the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Spoon adobo over the squash, make sure to drizzle some extra sauce!


serves 2 / 284 cals per serving

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Eric's dinner: 2 cheese quesadilla's, plain

Mango-Jalapeno Trout and Cilantro-Tomato Corn Salad

Both of these turned out so good! I will definitely be making both again.  Also, they work well together in a meal as each uses 1/2 a bunch of cilantro, and 1/2 a lime.  Keep that in mind if you make both together.


Mango-Jalapeno Trout
2 whole trout, cleaned, and pat dry
1 large jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
4 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 c. ripe mango, peeled and diced
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
garlic salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
This can be done on the grill over medium heat, or in the oven, at 350; either way, preheat.  In a bowl, mix together everything but the fish.  Lay out squares of foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay your fish in diagonally, then stuff each with 1/2 of the mixture.  If it all does not fit, you can put the remainder on the outside of the fish if you wish.  Bring together opposite corners of the foil to form a packet, making sure it is fully sealed.  For oven cooking, place the packets on a cookie sheet, and cook for 30 minutes. For grill cooking, place the foil pack directly on the grill, turning once, for a total of 20 minutes. 

Serves 2, 352.5 calories per serving (assumes 8.5oz fish pre-cooked, skin, head and tail not eaten)

Cilantro-Tomato Corn Salad
2 c. corn kernels (fresh is best, frozen if you must)
1 TBS olive oil
4 Campari tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
S&P to taste

Mix everything together and call it a day.

Makes about 3 1-cup servings, 85 calories per serving.

Eric dinner: Pasta Roni, Alfredo

As an aside, I had a "moment" with my fish last night as I was prepping.  I guess this is sort of peculiar, and frankly I feel a little funny about putting it out there for everyone to read, but it was kind of a neat feeling.

I was washing and patting my trout dry when I noticed the rainbow sheen glinting off of his scales, and I thought that it looked really lovely.  Then I looked into his clear eyes (this fish was FRESH) and noticed tiny little teeth in his mouth. It occurred to me that it is so easy to forget that the food we eat, which is generally presented as heaping mounds of neatly shaped flesh on colorful plastic trays and wrapped in slick plastic, was once a creature that was alive going about his business.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully cognizant of the fact that humans are the top of the food-chain and we have evolved to find sustenance off of other animals.  I felt no guilt or sadness when pondering the fish.  This was just a moment where I sent my heartfelt thanks out into the cosmos for the life that was given in order to sustain mine.

Top 100 Movies (as of today, anyway)

A friend of mine and I decided it would be a fun exercise to try to list our Top 100 movies.  This is my list.  The first 10 are my top 10 in order, and the unnumbered ones in the bottom almost made the list, but didn't quite cut it.  Everything in the middle is listed in no particular order:


1    The Fifth Element
2     Princess Bride
3    Serenity
4     Dr. Horrible s Sing Along Blog (I am counting this is a movie, even though it was in 3 segments, and only 45   minutes long - BUT its an hour and a half if you count Commentary: The Musial - which I do, making it full length)
5    Labyrinth
6    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
7    Army of Darkness
8    Clerks II
9    The Chronicals of Riddick
10   Repo! The Genetic Opera

and in no particular order:

11    28 Days Later
12    Shawn of the Dead
13    I am Legend (Directors cut)
14    Clerks
15    Mallrats
16    Dogma
17    Chasing Amy
18    Pretty in Pink
19    Sixteen Candles
20    The Dark Crystal
21    Zack and Miri Make a Porno
22    Conan the Barbarian
23    Conan the Destroyer
24    Clash of the Titans
25    Terminator
26    Breakfast Club
27    LOTR 1
28    LOTR 2
29    LOTR 3
30    Harry Potter 1
31    Harry Potter 2
32    Harry Potter 3
33    Harry Potter 4
34    Harry Potter 5
35    Harry Potter 6
36    Shawshank Redemtion
37    The Usual Suspects
38    Star Wars 4
39    Star Wars 5
40    Star Wars 6
41    Pulp Fiction
42    Aliens
43    Singles
44    Monty Python The Meaning of Life
45    History of the World, Part 1
46    Braveheart
47    Fargo
48    Blue Velvet
49    The Sixth Sense
50    Twelve Monkeys
51    Say Anything
52    The Matrix 1
53    Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
54    Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)
55    The Matrix 2
56    Sweeney Todd
57    Dazed and Confused
58    Office Space
59    A Christmas Story
60    Waterworld
61    Underworld 1
62    Underworld 2
63    Underworld 3
64    Terminator II
65    The Jerk
66    Starship Troopers
67    Total Recall
68    Superbad
69    Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist
70    Willow
71    Hot Fuzz
72    Contact
73    Unbreakable
74    Blade
75    Men in Black
76    Independence Day
77    I, Robot
78    Mad Max
79    Mad Max 2
80    The Andromeda Strain
81    Seven
82    The Chronicals of Riddick: Dark Fury
83    Pitch Black
84    Enemy Mine
85    Trading Places
86    Zombieland
87    Stardust
88    Bladerunner
89    The Abyss
90    Minority Report
91    A.I.
92    The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
93    Spaceballs
94    Time Bandits
95    Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
96    28 weeks later
97    Run, Fatboy, Run
98    Some Kind of Wonderful
99    Dawn of the Dead
100    The City of Lost Children
     Constantine 
    The Doom Generation
    Soylent Green
    Charlotte's Web
    Dragonslayer
    Cloverfield
    The Day After Tomorrow
    The Postman
    Red Dawn
    Raising Arizona
    Wild at Heart

And now my bottom 10 most hated movies (there is 12 or 13 of them but who's counting)

Bruno

Napolean Dynamite

Twilight (and I haven't seen New Moon, nor will I ever, but lets go ahead and count it)
Howard the Duck
Disaster Movie
Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus
all Saw movies (and if you have seen 1, you have seen them all, so only counting as 1)
The Scorpian King 2
American Pie: The Naked Mile
The Lost Boys: The Tribe

Hamburger Hill
Blackhawk Down

Broiled Scallops and Eggplant w/ Ricotta & Tomato-Basil Relish

Yes, I could have wiped off the plate and made the presentation nicer for the purpose of this blog post, but I was freakin' hungry and could almost not be bothered to even take a photo. This was last night's noms.

Broiled Scallops
1 pound u-10 Sea Scallops
Garlic Salt - to taste
2 TBS butter, melted
fresh squeezed lemon

Rinse and pat scallops dry. Spray the bottom of a shallow baking dish with no-stick spray. Place scallops in the pan, sprinkle with garlic salt, squeeze half a lemon over the lot. Spoon a bit of melted butter over each scallop. Place under high broiler at about the middle rack. Remove once the scallops start browning, about 10 or so minutes. You can serve with some extra butter on the side, but I just squeezed more lemon. Serves 3, (3 scallops/5.3 oz per serving), 394 calories.


"Grilled" Aubergines w/ Fresh Ricotta & "Grilled" Tomato-Basil Relish
('aubergine' is the posh Brit way of saying eggplant.)
for the relish:
6-10 campari tomoatoes, halved
1 TBS olive oil
S&P to taste
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. fine chopped fresh basil

Toss tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil and S&P. Heat a pan on the stove to high heat, and lay the tomatoes in. Reserve left over evoo in the bowl. Leave them alone until they start to brown, then turn them. Remove when the other side browns. You can also grill part or all of the onions at this step in the same pan as the tomatoes. Chop the cooled tomatoes and put back in the bowl you seasoned them in, adding onion, vinegar, and basil. Set aside.

Eggplant and assembly
1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds (6-8 slices)
1 TBS olive oil
S&P to taste
7 oz skim milk ricotta (1/2 a small tub)
1/4 c. finely chopped parsley

Using a brush, sparingly coat the eggplant slices with the olive oil and season with S&P. Place in a hot pan, and flip when they brown, about 4 minutes per side. Meanwhile, mix ricotta with the parsley and S&P.

To assemble, take 1 slice of eggplant, top with about 1.5 TBS of the ricotta mixture and spread it out, then a healthy dollop of tomato relish on top.

Makes 3 servings (2 slices per serving), 223 calories per serving

Plenty of leftovers for not only my lunch, but also for Cyncha!  Eric's Dinner: nothing, he wasn't feeling well.

It is a pity I haven't been updating. I have had some awesome dinners lately:
Lamb with pear and blackberry chutney
Poached eggs with roasted tomatoes and spinach over toast
Stir fry
Curry
Miso soup
Potlicker greens w/ smoked turkey

And now I rejoined planet organics so mystery veggies every week to figure out what the heck to do with. Good times!