Recipes
I know a lot of people are trying to lose weight right now, and I know a lot of people aren't interested in hearing about weight loss right now, so this post is not about weight loss, but it does contain a few recipes that I've been using/developing lately that are really good and relatively easy and happen to be pretty healthy.
I don't use a lot exact measurement when I cook, but in these recipes, that doesn't matter too much.
1. Zucchoodles
(Keith named these.)
I was peeling zucchini once (I don't remember why, I pretty much always cook it skin on), and I realized that the vegetable peeler made these perfect, firm ribbons. So I tried ribboning off the whole zucchini, and it worked, making about 6" long "noodles" of zucchini (often,the middle of the zucchini gets weakened till it breaks, but you can make short ribbons from the remaining halves).
I didn't want to boil them like regular pasta because of how mushy zucchini can get if overcooked or cooked wet, so I just sauteed them lightly in olive oil and some salt, pepper, and seasonings (you can select the seasonings based on your meal, but I really like tarragon and a little garlic), and they were perfect. As long as you don't overcook, they stay nice and firm and you can use them as a stand alone side, or under sauce, or any way you'd use pasta noodles.
2. Romescu Sauce
I heard this sauce described on a travel show and pretty much made it up as I went along. It turned out really well, and is fantastic on seafood and pizza (I like to make a quick whole wheat dough, shape it into shells, and freeze them between sheets of wax paper for the sake of convenience). If you're going straight-up, hard-core low fat, the hazelnuts and olive oil in this maybe a no-go, but they're both good monounsaturated fats and full of great vitamins and nutrients that are good for you and good for weight loss. You can also use all almonds instead of hazelnuts. In fact, you can make a lot of substitutions in this to suit your personal taste, as that's what I gather people in Spain do.
Essentially, I chopped up an onion, some cloves of garlic (I use a lot of garlic, but that's me), and a couple of good-sized red bell peppers and sauteed them well in olive oil, salt, and pepper (you can roast the peppers and garlic instead, but I'm lazy). Then I added a bunch of roasted hazelnuts (maybe a cup?), a good handful of roasted almonds, and about a dozen chopped up little tomatoes (again, you can roast the tomato instead) and sauteed a little longer, just till the tomato was cooked but not mush. Then I dumped all of it into my blender, added a good drizzle of olive oil, and pureed till it was smooth. If yours gets chunky and clumpy, add more olive oil will you get a good puree and nice smooth consistency.
Spinach Casserole
This is based on a recipe in an old, hippie-dippie astrological cook book of my mom's (apparently, you may especially enjoy this recipe if you're a Libra). It's high in protein, fiber, and iron, low in fat, and very low in carbs.
Take one bag of frozen spinach, dump it into a strainer, and run some warm water over it till it's mostly thawed (this doesn't take long). Then press out as much of the liquid as you can (this is important, and again, I am lazy, so I wouldn't tell you to do it unless it was). You can cook the spinach from fresh for this, but the difference in the end is pretty negligible, and you can't beat frozen for convenience.
In a biggish bowl, mix together a couple of eggs (you can use three if you want it a bit quiche-ier), a container of cottage cheese (I think they're 16 oz? I use non-fat, it works fine), and a handful of shredded low fat cheese (I use part skim mozzarella). Then mix in the drained spinach, salt, pepper, other seasonings to taste, and grate a whole bunch of fresh parmesan over the top and mix that in as well.
*Note: If you only have the green-canned parmesan, it will work, but I can't stress enough the enormous jump in quality and flavor that you will get just by keeping a big chunk of cheap parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano in a tupperware container in your fridge and grating off only what you need for a given recipe.
If it seems a little dry at this point, drizzle in some olive oil. Then throw it all in a baking dish, grate some more parm on top, and bake for about an hour at 350 (you'll see and smell when it's done). I like this as a side at dinner, or at breakfast time with a couple of chicken sausages.
Next time: soups.
I don't use a lot exact measurement when I cook, but in these recipes, that doesn't matter too much.
1. Zucchoodles
(Keith named these.)
I was peeling zucchini once (I don't remember why, I pretty much always cook it skin on), and I realized that the vegetable peeler made these perfect, firm ribbons. So I tried ribboning off the whole zucchini, and it worked, making about 6" long "noodles" of zucchini (often,the middle of the zucchini gets weakened till it breaks, but you can make short ribbons from the remaining halves).
I didn't want to boil them like regular pasta because of how mushy zucchini can get if overcooked or cooked wet, so I just sauteed them lightly in olive oil and some salt, pepper, and seasonings (you can select the seasonings based on your meal, but I really like tarragon and a little garlic), and they were perfect. As long as you don't overcook, they stay nice and firm and you can use them as a stand alone side, or under sauce, or any way you'd use pasta noodles.
2. Romescu Sauce
I heard this sauce described on a travel show and pretty much made it up as I went along. It turned out really well, and is fantastic on seafood and pizza (I like to make a quick whole wheat dough, shape it into shells, and freeze them between sheets of wax paper for the sake of convenience). If you're going straight-up, hard-core low fat, the hazelnuts and olive oil in this maybe a no-go, but they're both good monounsaturated fats and full of great vitamins and nutrients that are good for you and good for weight loss. You can also use all almonds instead of hazelnuts. In fact, you can make a lot of substitutions in this to suit your personal taste, as that's what I gather people in Spain do.
Essentially, I chopped up an onion, some cloves of garlic (I use a lot of garlic, but that's me), and a couple of good-sized red bell peppers and sauteed them well in olive oil, salt, and pepper (you can roast the peppers and garlic instead, but I'm lazy). Then I added a bunch of roasted hazelnuts (maybe a cup?), a good handful of roasted almonds, and about a dozen chopped up little tomatoes (again, you can roast the tomato instead) and sauteed a little longer, just till the tomato was cooked but not mush. Then I dumped all of it into my blender, added a good drizzle of olive oil, and pureed till it was smooth. If yours gets chunky and clumpy, add more olive oil will you get a good puree and nice smooth consistency.
Spinach Casserole
This is based on a recipe in an old, hippie-dippie astrological cook book of my mom's (apparently, you may especially enjoy this recipe if you're a Libra). It's high in protein, fiber, and iron, low in fat, and very low in carbs.
Take one bag of frozen spinach, dump it into a strainer, and run some warm water over it till it's mostly thawed (this doesn't take long). Then press out as much of the liquid as you can (this is important, and again, I am lazy, so I wouldn't tell you to do it unless it was). You can cook the spinach from fresh for this, but the difference in the end is pretty negligible, and you can't beat frozen for convenience.
In a biggish bowl, mix together a couple of eggs (you can use three if you want it a bit quiche-ier), a container of cottage cheese (I think they're 16 oz? I use non-fat, it works fine), and a handful of shredded low fat cheese (I use part skim mozzarella). Then mix in the drained spinach, salt, pepper, other seasonings to taste, and grate a whole bunch of fresh parmesan over the top and mix that in as well.
*Note: If you only have the green-canned parmesan, it will work, but I can't stress enough the enormous jump in quality and flavor that you will get just by keeping a big chunk of cheap parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano in a tupperware container in your fridge and grating off only what you need for a given recipe.
If it seems a little dry at this point, drizzle in some olive oil. Then throw it all in a baking dish, grate some more parm on top, and bake for about an hour at 350 (you'll see and smell when it's done). I like this as a side at dinner, or at breakfast time with a couple of chicken sausages.
Next time: soups.