Nurturing my inner... restaurant quality

I've been focused on being back to my proper eating habits since my return from visiting family in New England for the holidays.  While I was in Connecticut, and a couple days in Pennsylvania, I ate what I pleased and indulged in local items I can't get here.  (Look for blog posts to come.)  I don't regret it because I enjoy all kinds of treats every now and then.  However, I would not want to eat those things every day.  In fact, I just can't.  Not only because I like to maintain a healthy heart and weight, but also because it makes me feel ill after a short while.  I just can't stomach fried foods or lack of veggies for long.  So when my friend wanted to get together and have a movie and appetizers night, I asked her if we could make some smarter choices with the food we planned.  It's so nice to have a friend support you when you are readapting to wise behaviors.  It's much more challenging to be around the folks who are quick to send you back into the fatal direction from whence you just began to extract your slightly fluffy self from.

Before I get too far on this, I have something to say about words I hear a lot.  I don't really like when people go on about, "I'm going to eat healthy."  What is "healthy?"  I suppose you could say a rice cake is healthy when compared to French fries, but they are bland and fairly unredeemable.  I don't want to eat healthy, per se.  What I want is to eat delicious and nutritious foods.  Everyone should have that goal.

Back on topic.  I made a delicious and nutritious salad inspired by different combinations I've had at some local restaurants.  Complete with a dressing I whipped up on my very own.  I wasn't sure how it would be, as I tasted and adjusted along the way several times, but it was terrific!  Definitely restaurant quality.  And it started with learning how to make candied pecans.

Candied Pecans

1/3 cup raw pecan halves
2 tbsps water
2 tbsps sugar
1 tsp brown sugar

A tasty little treat I've enjoyed on salads are various kinds of candied nuts.  But didn't want to buy a whole bag for home.  I thought, how hard can it be to just make enough for an evening?  Well, not very hard at all.  Here's what you do:

Add the water, sugars and pecans to a sauce pan.  Stir and turn on high until it boils.

You can toast the pecans first if you like.

Keep careful watch as the mixture boils, for around seven to eight minutes or until the sauce has caramelized and become thick.  If you take it off too soon, the pecans will be more sticky due to more water content.  (They'll still taste okay, even if they aren't exactly perfect.)

It's ready if when you run a spoon through, the
caramel doesn't come right back together.

Have a baking sheet with parchment on it at the ready.  Spread the caramelized pecans out in one layer with space to harden.

Parchment prevents sticking.

Let dry for half an hour, or longer, and then separate them.  If they don't appear as dry as you'd like, I hear you can put them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes to crisp them up more.  (For other variations, try adding some vanilla extract, sweet curry powder, black pepper or rosemary.)

They look good, no?

On to make the dressing.  Vinaigrettes are not a precise science.  You need to adjust to your taste.  I'll show you approximately what I did (because I was paying more attention to taste than exact amounts I was using) and then you can add a pinch more this and that until you get it to please your palate.  My advice to you is to start with the lemon, add a little sugar and vinegar, mix it up well, taste and then go from there.

Lemon Vinaigrette

Juice of one lemon, freshly squeezed
2 1/2 tsps sugar
2 tsps champagne vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Sprinkle of a salad herbs (or combination of herbs)

What I love about making things like this at home is that you know exactly what's going into your food if you buy pure ingredients.

Penzey's has different spice blends that you just
add oil to and you get instant dressing.

I used a couple shakes of premixed salad herbs, but you also could combine individual flavors you prefer like dried oregano, thyme and Parmesan. Or switch out orange or pomegranate juice.  There are so many ways to tweak the flavor profile of a vinaigrette with different oils and infused vinegars that you can discover exciting new tastes each time you whip up a batch.  (Something I plan on doing more of this coming year.)

This is all I have left, but it made more than
enough for six servings.

Now to compile the restaurant presentation.

Pear, Pecan & Gorgonzola Salad

1 bag of field greens or other dark green salad blend
1 ripe Bartlett pear, cut into cubes
1/3 cup candied pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3 ou Gorgonzola, crumbled

Get a big bowl, throw in the field greens, pears, pecans and cranberries.  Add the dressing right before you serve so the lettuces don't get soggy, toss it about, and then add the crumbled cheese with the last light mix so it stays in chunks.  Serve straight away.

Looks like it came right off a high class menu.

You can switch out the Gorgonzola for feta or goat if you're not a fan, but pear and blue cheese go particularly well together. I happen to love it, but my friend does not. So when I made the salad last night for our moviefest, I tossed all the other ingredients together without the cheese and then let her put feta on hers whilst I put the Gorgonzola on mine.  Everyone was happy.  (Even though I maintain my combo remained the better choice!)

Just because you're settled in front of the tube to watch a film or two for the evening, doesn't mean you need to eat junk.  Quality, tasty, vitamin rich foods can be quick to prepare when you plan for it.  A grocery list is your friend.  Don't knock a bit of forethought.

So what do you think?  Should I open a secret restaurant in my condo?

Nurturing my inner... small cookie, long name

Here's a quick Christmas "cookie" I whipped up this year for a last minute gathering at my house.  Ending 2011 on a sweet, and salty, note!

Caramel White Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels

50ish mini pretzel knots
1 cup of Kraft caramel bits
1 8 oz bar of quality white chocolate
3 tbsps PB2 powdered peanut butter  (I know, weird, right?)

I really need a shorter name for these.  Before you get all caught up on the powdered peanut butter stuff you're suddenly super curious about, let's just start at the beginning.  This is a super simple way to make an easy treat that just looks hard.  It also happens to be all of my mother's favorite snack flavors in one location.  So I tailored these just for her.  (I know.  I proudly accept my daughter of the year award.)

There is a reason to buy the traditional pretzel knot.  I knew I needed some compartments.  Chambers to hold the next item.

Okay, so I happened to buy a really
huge bag, but they are a good
snack choice plain.

Not sure if they have these everywhere, but my mom had picked me up a bag.  Pea-sized caramel bits.  They are actually soft, if you tried to squish them between your finger and thumb.  (I did.  Just so I could tell you that.)

Good for tossing on top of brownies before
you cook them as well.

I suppose I could have bought the squares and diced them up, but this is what I had which inspired the idea anyway.

No chopping.

I put down a Silpat silicone mat on my baking sheet because I was afraid of the caramel sticking.  Into a 350 degree oven for about five minutes or until the caramels melt into the holes.

One bit per chamber. They fit perfectly.

As for the next part, buy high quality chocolate.  Do not attempt to use chocolate chips because they have a stabilizer added that changes how they melt and withstand heat.  (Hey, that's news, huh.)

It was on sale.

Use a sharp knife and shave up the chocolate for easy melting.

Smaller pieces melt faster.

Place a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water, but not touching the water.  The steam will heat the bowl and melt the chocolate.  Do not add any cream or you'll create a ganache that won't reharden.

Stir until all is soft.

Remove the pretzels from the oven.  Let cool for a few minutes so the caramel sets.

That was just long enough for the caramel to
adhere to the pretzel.

Okay, you've been so patient.  Now for the odd stuff.  Powdered peanut butter.  Yep, that's right.  It's peanut butter without the oil.  Which means it's 85% less fat.  Less fat = less you!  (Not that I don't like all of you, but if there was 5% less of you, I wouldn't miss it.  Unless it was the really awesome 5% of you.  Fat is not awesome.  So, I think we'll be fine.)

Comes in regular peanut and also chocolate
peanut. Makes for a fun gift too.

You can mix it into tons of things like smoothies, pancakes and even cereal. Or sprinkle on ice cream, yogurt, apple sauce or bananas. It tastes amazing and heck, you've saved yourself a lot of unnecessary fat grams without losing the nutty flavor.

Yep, looks just like cocoa or powdered sugar.

Once the pretzels with caramel have cooled a bit, take the melted chocolate and spread some on top with a small, flexible spatula.  Neatness does not count.  (At least not in my case.)  I suppose you could drizzle the chocolate as well.  You could also use more than one type of chocolate for even more contrasting flavors.  Then take a small sifter and with a spoon, quickly dust the peanut butter powder on top of the soft, warm chocolate.  So it has the best chance of adhering.

Assembly line. But don't do all the chocolate
at once or it will harden before you can get
the powder to stick.

I took the entire sheet and put it in the fridge to cool faster.  When the chocolate was set and I wasn't worried about them sticking to one another, they were ready to serve or stack in a container.

A lot going on in one little snack!
(I did try to choose the prettiest ones for you.)

My mom LOVED them.  Well, of course she did.  It was all her favorite sweet treats in one bite.  That is like toffee, pistachios and dark chocolate to me.  (Trader Joe's has that candy, BTW.  No need for me to brush up on toffee making skills quite yet.)

It's nice to get a custom made, everything you like, edible Christmas gift, no?  I have a feeling mom will be asking for these again next year.

Nurturing my inner... shake and quake

Such a busy, busy time of year.  Good busy.  But short for free time nonetheless.  Amidst all the cookie exchanges and holiday parties, who says you want to give up cooking dinner for yourself though.  (To be fair, maybe you. Yet, not me.)  So I found a great little helping hand from Wegmans.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers

2 large sweet peppers
1 premarinated chicken breast
1/2 a container of small button mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsps chopped onion (I have some in my freezer)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of cooked black rice
1 cup of pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 tbsp butter

Let's do this assembly line style and get everything prepped and ready so we just have to build them later.  First thing, slice and unseed (deseed? exseed? Just take the seeds out.) of the peppers.  Throw in some boiling water for about 20 minutes to par cook.

Yellow was what they had. But you can get
them in green, orange and red too.

Here's where it gets easy and this is one of my favorite new items from good, old reliable, Wegmans.  Individually, vacuum-packed marinated chicken breasts.  So handy.  I just throw them in the freezer as is and take one out as needed.  Today I used the mojo-flavored one.

I just slice down the middle of the package to
make individual portions.

Into a baking dish then a 400 degree oven for about 30 min. 

Stoneware is handy.

While you're baking up the chicken, you'll have plenty of time for your other tasks.  Like sauteing up some mushrooms and garlic with a bit of butter.

On medium until they become soft.

I also make lots of rice ahead of time and then freeze it in smaller containers, so I can pop it in the microwave and have it ready in minutes.  (Because it takes like 40 minutes to cook the first time!)  I love black rice, so I chose that for this dish.

Black is the new white this season. When
it comes to rice, that is.

Pop out the grater, 'cause you're gonna need some cheese.  Somethin' with a little kick!

Pepper jack in peppers. Irony? Perhaps.

Use the large shred side.  I'm not even sure if I've ever used the smaller side.  Well, maybe once for fresh Parmesan.

Piles of cheese are just the bestest.

And we're going to need some finishing flavors for when we plate it up shortly.

Topping

1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsps adobo sauce and chipotle
1/2 avocado, sliced

I really do love the chipotle pepper. I need a
tshirt that says that.

Into the blender go the sauce and the sour cream.  Give it a whirl.  Tip: Add less sauce to begin with, blend, taste and add more slowly to suit your own level of heat tolerance.  If you go all out at first, you may hurt yourself.  (I cannot be responsible for that.)

Hot and cold together. Balance.

Before I go any further, I must tell a quick tale.  I actually made this a few months back on August 23rd and just haven't posted until now.  It was during the time we had a freak earthquake here in DC.  About a 5.8.  Enough to shake our houses for about 90 seconds, but nothing broke at my place.  Well, nothing - until this freak occurrence...

How in the...

Back to the quake.  It was such an odd sensation.  I thought my above neighbors were having new furniture delivered, as is common to hear rumblings of that sort in condos because we're all attached.  But when I looked outside, there was only one other car.  Not theirs.  And the duration was much longer than any couch delivery should be, even when movers are slogging a sectional up four flights of stairs and into a living room.

Oh yes, at 1:51 pm that day, things in my place definitely shook, including me when I stood up, but nothing fell, nor broke.  Then later that day I go and make dinner and I hear a loud *bang*.  I realized it came form my oven.  I flung open the door and saw it.  A clean split of my baking dish!  Lucky for me, it was at the end of the cook time.  I pulled it out, removed the chicken immediately and looked at it totally in shock.  All I can think of, because these dishes can safely go up to much higher than 400 degrees, was that there must have been a weird flaw in the materials.  And when the heat agitated it, boom, the crack.  Somewhat like an earthquake.  On a very small scale.

Never to be deterred by a little natural disaster, inside or outside of my oven, I forged ahead.  I took the parboiled peppers and laid them in a different, and hopefully heartier, baking dish.  I had sliced up the chicken, that I rescued earlier, and placed a few pieces in the bottom of each pepper.

Pepper boats.

On top of that, a spoonful of the mushroom, onion and garlic mixture.

Gotta have a veggie. Mushrooms are packed
with such great flavor once cooked.

Next up, the rice.  Heat in microwave if frozen or use fresh while hot.  Hefty spoonfuls of that next.

Something about layers really makes a dish
turn into an adventure.

Seriously, you had to know I was going to top this with cheese.  Who wouldn't?!

I tried not to go overboard with the cheese. 
I was exercising a seldom used trait I
 do possess - self control.

Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes covered with foil.  All the ingredients are already cooked and warm, so it won't take long.

Just until cheese is melted.

When hot, it's ready to plate.  That simple.

Gooey. That's a good word. But not unhealthy.

You could eat it just as is.  But it's more fun to dress it up a bit with a little sliced avocado and the chipotle sour cream we made earlier.  Makes you feel like you could have your own feature in Food Network Magazine.

Please.  Enough awesome flavors to punch you
in the face and knock you out!

I really have to thank the good practice of being prepared for this one.  Having precooked rice in my freezer (a fantastic time saver) and then Wegmans premarinated chicken breast made this SO super easy.  Baring the seismic activity of the day and the broken dish, things went rather smoothly.  Some people's earthquake kits include batteries and water.  I guess mine had chicken and rice.

Nurturing my inner... sparkle

When I tell you I'm not much of a soda drinker, you'll probably ask me why I'm writing about soda.  Well, heck, there are exceptions.

San Pellegrino Limonata is not just a soda.  In fact, it's not a soda at all.  It's is what happens when you take a lemon and add pure, Italian, age old, underground, natural sparkle.  (A little legend doesn't hurt it either.)

On my desk at work from
lunch. Saved for later.

This is what I have to say about it - I LOVE IT!  (And not just because it's from the Lombardy region of Italy.  That is coincidental and not how my last name is spelled anyway.)  The top of the can has a label over it.  To keep it clean and void of sticky yuckiness.  So if you need to just pop it open because you're dying of thirst and can't wait for a glass, you can feel confident that the fine people at San Pellegrino care about your protection from nasty germs and general traveling foulness.  (These are the people after all, who make the highest quality handbags, shoes and sports cars.  Of course they'd take a mere soda can to a new high-class level!)

I am utterly impressed by little things.
(Remember this when you're Christmas
shopping for me.)

Seeing as I saved my lunchtime soda for later, I had access to glassware.  And nice glassware at that.  I thought my lemon glass would be a great complement for my limonata soda.  (If you can ignore that the words on the glass are in French.  Eh, it's all European.  Good 'nuff.)

More special than you know.

Why do I like this sparkling beverage so much?  For starters, it's not just a common, syrupy soda.  It is a sparkling mineral water beverage.  Which means less sugar.  The taste is tart and clean.  As if you added freshly squeezed lemon juice directly to a glass of crisp, cold sparkling water.  Most refreshing.  And here's the back story on it: the type of water they use has naturally occurring carbonation.  It originates from deep below the surface and when it comes in contact with limestone and volcanic rock on the way up, key minerals are added which creates some of the bubbly reaction.  Rumor has it that in 1509, Leonardo da Vinci even went to the town of origin to sample this amazing, miraculous water.  Not sure if all that's really true, but that's a heck of a good story!

It also comes in aranciata (orange) as well.  In CT I can get it at the local grocery store.  (Thanks to all the eye-talians up there.)  So if you're interested, look there first.  Here, I haven't found it quite as readily yet.  I stumbled upon individual cans in a nearby deli and in the 6 oz bottles at Wegmans.  I'm on the hunt to find the six pack of cans still, but I have full confidence that someone sells it within a five mile radius of my condo.  I'll let you know when my treasure hunt is over.  (Or I'll just buy a bunch in CT and drive it over state lines!)

Nurturing my inner... tortilla de papas

Where did November go?  It's nearly over.  And I have not posted one thing for you.  (Some kind of lousy friend I am.)  You must be hungry.  Let's see if I can make up for my slackard ways with a great family recipe, from the Perez side, that I turned up the flavor volume on.  (To be honest, I think it's even better than my grandparent's version.  Shhhh.  Honor your elders.)

Spanish Tortilla

10 small red potatoes
1 medium leek, sliced
3 cloves are garlic, sliced
5 eggs, beaten
Fresh thyme
Olive oil
Butter
Salt
Munster cheese, sliced

Now, before you get mixed up, Spanish tortilla is different than a Mexican tortilla.  It's not something you use to wrap around other things.  It is the thing.  And the thing, is good.

My family sliced up raw potatoes and then fried them in vegetable oil.  I did it a little different.  So follow me.  Not them.  Focus on me...

Start by boiling 10 small red potatoes until fork tender.

Drained and dried.

Then, this is fun, you put the heel of your hand on them and smash them.

I didn't say pulverize. Just a light squish will do.

Place a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan on medium and add in the smashed potatoes.  (You don't need to drown them in oil.  Let 'em breathe!)

Can you hear that sizzle?

Flip when golden brown with a crispy exterior.  (My mom would use garlic powder at this point, but I prefer to add fresh ingredients instead.  That's coming up soon.)

Fried potatoes are yum even if you did nothing
more. But we're not done yet.

Take the potatoes out and set aside with a dusting of salt.  Put a little butter and olive oil into the bottom of the same pan and add the leeks and garlic.  Cook until soft.

Medium heat. Burnt garlic tastes awful,
so don't do it, man!

Add the fried potatoes back in to the pan in one layer on top of the leeks and garlic.  Throw in some fresh thyme.

Layer it up!

Pour in the beaten egg in over the potatoes and surround them all.

Get it all around the edges.

Cook it up until the edges are firm.  You'll want it solid enough for the next step... the flip!

Oh, we are getting there.

Place a flat dish on top of the pan.  A light in weight one, if you got it.  (My mom always used her Corning Corelle ware plate with mustard yellow butterfly pattern.  I need to get one just for this purpose.)  Flip the tortilla on to the dish, then slide it back into the pan to cook the other side.

Try not to slide it right onto the burners.
I've seen many a partial blunder in my life.

When the second side is also golden and the egg is cooked through, you're done!

Look at those tasty leeks. Nice pattern.
And crispy exterior!

The way we liked it as kids was to slice it into square pieces and serve on untoasted white bread with butter and American cheese - sandwich style.  (As if this needed more carbs.  But hey, kids can get away with that because of all the non stop running around like maniacs they do.)  I prefer to serve it in nice, fat wedges.

The perfect triangle.

My cheese of preference for this dish is Munster.  I put a not too thick slice on top and it melted perfectly.  Topped with a fresh bit of thyme and it becomes a portrait of a well-loved family member.

If my Papa had only thought to tell
my Nana to add leeks to the papas!

Such a simple dish.  Everyday, unpretentious food.  Can be breakfast, lunch or dinner!  Eat warm or cold.  Travels well.  Makes a great snack too.  You can change the herb or the cheese to add variety.

I'm glad I could share one of my childhood go to favorite foods with you.  I hope it becomes a new family favorite for you too.