Bittman Inspired Beet Salad

I know. We are getting stalker-ish.

At least MB has inspired us to make a few new meals!
This is aiding our vegan efforts and lets us "give the goats a break" (and make Liz very happy!)


Bittman Beet Salad
Makes 7-8 servings, 160cal/serving

9 Beets (baked roasted in aluminum foil for 1+hr)
1/3c Olive Oil
6 cloves of garlic
1/3c Chopped walnuts

Roast the garlic cloves in oil for 5min (ish) then add the chopped walnuts and toast for another 5minutes.
Process in food processor until the consistency is like a thick salad dressing (we did not use orange juice like he recommended... next time)
Mix over chopped roasted beets.

We served these beets with:

Soy Lime Baked Tofu
Makes 5 Servings/90 cal per serving

1 14-ounce package extra-firm, water-packed tofu, drained
1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup lime juice

1. Pat tofu dry and cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes. Combine soy sauce and lime juice in a medium shallow dish or large sealable plastic bag. Add the tofu; gently toss to combine. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 4 hours, gently stirring once or twice.
2. Preheat oven to 450°F.
3. Remove the tofu from the marinade with a slotted spoon (discard marinade). Spread out on a sprayed large baking sheet, making sure the pieces are not touching. Roast, gently turning halfway through, until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Both served on top of:
1c blanched (boiled for 2m) beet greens
1c blanched kale
1/2 of a blood orange

Such a yummy lunch and very healthy! If anyone wants the nutrition breakdown of any of the individual parts let me know.
Here is the nutrition info for 1 serving of the salad.

Energy | 359.8 kcal 22%
Protein | 18.1 g 36%
Carbs | 39.5 g 30%
Fiber | 12.9 g 52%
Fat | 17.8 g 27%
Water | 488.7 g 18%

Vitamins (46%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 28969.0 IU 1242%
Folate | 163.7 µg 41%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.4 mg 34%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.6 mg 55%
B3 (Niacin) | 2.7 mg 19%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 1.0 mg 20%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.6 mg 43%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 0.0 µg 0%
Vitamin C | 133.4 mg 178%
Vitamin D | 0.0 IU 0%
Vitamin E | 5.3 mg 35%
Vitamin K | 1765.1 µg 1961%

Minerals (48%)
===========================================
Calcium | 380.7 mg 38%
Copper | 0.8 mg 86%
Iron | 6.6 mg 37%
Magnesium | 166.5 mg 54%
Manganese | 1.9 mg 106%
Phosphorus | 184.6 mg 26%
Potassium | 2125.4 mg 45%
Selenium | 4.2 µg 8%
Sodium | 1016.9 mg 68%
Zinc | 1.7 mg 21%

Lipids (25%)
===========================================
Saturated | 2.3 g 12%
Omega-3 | 0.7 g 62%
Omega-6 | 3.1 g 28%
Cholesterol | 0.0 mg 0%

Snow Day Cooking/Baking

I got busy on Monday after feeling the guilt of doing nothing- busy cooking that is!

First up: Homemade Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. TE said it was lacking "something:" which is probably fat, or sausage flavor ;-) Any additional flavors/spices would go great with this- it is a pretty simple garlic flavored bean dip. Note the photo highlights TE's Christmas gift from me- an immersion blender! It was perfect for this use. Sorry for the lame tupperware bowl... I need to work on plating things better that I am showing off on this blog...


Homemade Hummus
1 15oz can of chickpeas
1 medium red bell pepper
1 head of garlic
1tsp olive oil (for roasting garlic)

Roast pepper and garlic/oil in [toaster] oven at 350 for 25min
Peel skin from pepper and remove garlic cloves from head and blend with chickpeas
Season with salt to taste

Next I made an EW recipe for dinner. Pork with mushrooms and thyme. It was yummy and a keeper for my cookbook-in-progress. I served it with a side of quinoa topped with feta cheese and grape tomatoes- mmm!



Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Thyme
2 5-ounce boneless, center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed and pounded to 1/4 inch thick (I bought them thin already- and used only 5oz total)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (about 4 ounces)-- I used 10oz baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup dry vermouth (I used 1/4c sherry cooking wine)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I used dry)

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the pork chops and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to 2 serving plates; tent with foil to keep warm.
2. Swirl oil into the pan, add shallot and cook, stirring, until soft, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and begin to brown, about 2 minutes. Add vermouth and cook for 15 seconds. Stir in mustard, thyme and any juices that have accumulated from the pork; cook until the sauce is thickened and slightly reduced, 1 to 2 minutes more. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and serve immediately.


And finally I made Swag Bars- a recipe makeover from the most recent Cooking Light. I am happy to report that these yummy bars turned out very well considering that I changed almost every ingredient :)

Swag Bars- Liz's Changes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter (I used chunky)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) chopped lightly salted, dry-roasted peanuts (I used a mix of 3oz cashews and 3oz pecans)
3 1/2 cups (4 ounces) whole-grain flaked cereal (such as Total), finely crushed (I used 2.37oz fiber one cereal, and 1.63oz graham crackers)
Cooking spray
1/3 cup (2 ounces) chopped dark chocolate (I used semisweet)

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook 4 minutes or just until mixture begins to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in peanuts and cereal. Spread mixture evenly into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray.
2. Place the dark chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until chocolate melts, stirring every 20 seconds. Drizzle chocolate evenly over peanut mixture (my chocolate didn't drizzle- I had to smear it). Score into 36 bars while warm (I waited until they cooled and it was v. difficult! I used TE's muscle power).

Sesame Crusted Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms

I am starting from the bottom of the list :)

Sesame Crusted Tofu Sticks with Shiitake Mushrooms

Yield- 6 servings (this made 3 "Liz size" servings- double the nutritional information)

From Cooking Light

Ingredients

• Tofu:
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 (15-ounce) package extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 18 sticks (we only had 12 sticks)
  
• 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided
• 
  Vegetables:
• 1 (6-ounce) can pineapple juice
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 pound shiitake mushroom caps (about 10 mushrooms)
• 2 cups (2-inch) sliced green onions
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Japanese sweet and sour sauce (such as ABC sauce; optional)

Preparation

To prepare tofu, combine first 4 ingredients in a shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs, flour, and sesame seeds in a shallow dish.

Dip tofu, one piece at a time, in egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Return tofu to egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining tofu, egg mixture, and breadcrumb mixture.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of tofu; cook 4 minutes, turning to brown all sides. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and tofu. Keep warm.

To prepare vegetables, pour pineapple juice into pan. Bring to a boil; cook until juice is reduced to 1/4 cup (about 5 minutes). Remove from pan.

Heat pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add shallots, minced garlic, and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add green onions, tomatoes, and thyme, and cook 1 minute. Stir in pineapple juice and balsamic vinegar, and cook 30 seconds.

Arrange about 1/2 cup vegetable mixture on each of 6 plates; top each serving with 3 tofu sticks. Drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sweet and sour sauce, if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 253 (29% from fat)

Fat: 8.1g (sat 1.4g,mono 3g,poly 3.1g)

Protein: 12.5g

Carbohydrate: 32.9g

Fiber: 3g

Cholesterol: 36mg

Iron: 3.5mg

Sodium: 846mg

Calcium: 119mg

Weekend BBQs

This past weekend my friend hosted a BBQ at her house, and I jumped at the chance to make some new recipes! My personal favorite was the spicy peanut slaw, but everyone loved the corn salad- a recommendation from LR, the super-dietitian!

Here are the recipes

(Sorry for the crappy corn salad picture, that must have been taken after I had a beer or two... my critical assessment of photograph quality was amiss...)

Macque Choux ("Mock-Shoe")

Recipe from Eating Well, August 2008

Adjusted for how I made it, quantities doubled from original recipe

Serves 20 at about 1/2 cup each

95 calories/serving

2T EVOO

1/2 of a large vidalia onion

1 Red bell pepper, diced

1T chopped jarred garlic

20oz Frozen sweet corn (recipe called for fresh corn, but my local market did not have any great looking ears... thus the corn was a bit more mushy than I would have liked)

1/3c water

2 Medium tomatoes, chopped

5 scallions, green parts sliced thinly

1tsp fresh chopped thyme

1tsp cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Heat oil in pan, add onion and cook until onion softens (~2min)

Add bell pepper and garlic and cook another 2 min more

Add corn and water and cook until tender crisp (mine was never...) about 5 min more

Remove from heat, and stir in tomato scallions, thyme and cayenne.

Confetti Cabbage Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Cook's Illustrated

Again, estimated serving 20

68 calories/serving

32 oz shredded cabbage and carrots (Bagged variety. The chefs at CI would be very disappointed- there are explicit directions to slice fresh cabbage and add salt to wilt it for up to four hours...)

4T smooth peanut butter

2T Walnut oil

1T Canola oil

1T Toasted sesame oil (recipe called for all peanut oil- but I didn't have any... this seemed to work well enough

4T rice vinegar

2T soy sauce

2t honey

1t chopped garlic (jarred)

1.5in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped

1 Jalapeno chili

6 scallions, green and white parts sliced thinly

Salt to taste

Lime juice (1/2 lime)

1/2 lime for decoration

Dump bags of cabbage into bowl

Puree the remainder of ingredients in a food processor

Add dressing to cabbage, stir

Add lime juice, and lime

(so easy, right?!)

Enjoy!