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Archive for April, 2010

Crispy Kale

Posted in Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , on April 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I would like to use this moment to discuss a little bit about my family.  My great-grandmother, Sarah, was probably one of my favorite characters in my family history.  She was the only generation of my family that I got to meet that went through what I like to call the “family exodus”.  Most Americans came from somewhere else, usually through hardship and a need to travel, and that was my great-grandmother.  She escaped Russia, ran across some river in Austria, crossed a border in some Czech-related country where they tried to arrest her for no reason, (I’m not really sure how all this mapping works, but I believed her because she was my great-grandmother and lived to 94 on her own before needing help for the rest of her years), found my grandfather again in Boston, and resided in Brighton Beach until she started throwing old fruit out the window at workers because it was rotten.  From the 10th floor of an apartment building.  I guess they were in her way (my kind of woman).

Living to over 100, she had some “radical” eating ideas for her time.  She refused to eat red meat, except for a little lamb (“Just the size of your finger,” she would say.), ate a ton of vegetables and always leaned towards organic–all this before the food revolution and the understanding of health pains from pesticides.  One of the main foods she used to make me eat was kale, and let me tell you, it tasted terrible.  The health benefits are so high; however, when raw, it tastes like dirt.  Cabbagey dirt.  I have seen a lot of recipes lately for crispy kale, so I decided to put my heritage in front of me and my past with kale behind me, as I shoot to live to 100 without needing a diaper (again, following in her footsteps).

This is high in vitamin C, calcium, and tons of other good stuff.  Kale is 34 calories a cup–I had about 5.  This, plus the 80 calories of oil divided between 3 people makes three 80-calorie, absurdly large servings that could easily feed about 4 or 5 people.

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups of kale
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon (or less, USE SPARINGLY) kosher salt

I got a bunch of kale, but it also comes in bags.

Pull the leaves off of the stems, using a knife or your hands.  Make sure that you cut all the leaves around the same size.

Wash and dry the leaves very well.

Spread over 2 cookie sheets and pour olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the salt.  Toss well.

Bake at 375 for around 10 minutes, or until the leaves become paper-like and crispy.  Watch for burning; it will not taste good.

Enjoy your vitamins!  And the kale no longer tastes like dirt…

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Rack of Lamb

Posted in Main Dishes (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , on April 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I have a very special announcement to make.  From eating healthy (and following my blog, obviously), my young, spritely father has lost 20 pounds!  I came home for the weekend and in celebration, we decided to indulge in some small-portioned, red meat.  Rack of lamb is usually pretty expensive, and should be saved for special occasions.  I suggest serving it only for special times with the right guy (or gal), including your pops.

Ingredients:

  • 1 rack of young lamb (Doesn’t that sound pleasant?)  Ask the butcher to “French” the rack, leaving the ribs clean and trimming the fat.
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Open up the lamb, trim off some more fat and French the bones further if desired.  Wash and dry lamb.

Put the lamb in an ungreased, high-sided pan, and cover with the spices.  Put into upper third of the oven and roast for 25 minutes for perfect medium rare.

Lamb should be slightly charred on the outside, pink on the inside.  Let rest for 10 minutes before carving or all the juices will run out when you cut into the lamb.

Ooooh, carving.

Action shot!

Makes 2-3 servings at around 115 calories for a small chop with the fat well-trimmed.  Remember, lamb is very pricy, so make sure he’s worth it.

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Mini Brownies–Butterless Baking Challenge Round 4

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , on April 19, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Little Mommies guest posting here again.  Actually, I just needed a place to complain, so I decided to borrow Jess’ blog.  About forty-six hours and 35 minutes ago, I had a Keratin Hair Treatment.  Anyone ever try it?  It’s fabulous—makes your hair silky smooth and your hair won’t frizz even in 100 percent humidity.  A summer necessity!  Except you must keep this icky stuff in your hair for 72 hours before washing it and by the third day you really don’t want to go out in public.  So, I elected to hide out in my house and catch up on my TV watching and blog reading.  But workers on my street accidentally cut a cable line and voila—no TV or Internet.  Thus, I opted to bake these really easy, mini pecan brownies that I love, but I didn’t have the pecans, butter, or espresso that the recipe required.  Therefore, I improvised.  And this is the result.  They are delicious!!!!  And they fit perfectly into Jess’ past Butterless Baking Challenges.  Say hello to my Butterless Mini Brownies.  They are so small that you won’t feel too badly about eating 1, 2 or 6.  They are delicately crispy on the outside and nice and fudgy on the inside.  Bake them today.  You probably have all the ingredients in your home.  I did!

 

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces good quality, semisweet chocolate (I used Callebaut.)
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
  • Confectioners’ sugar 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On a baking sheet, arrange 36 (1¼ by ¾-inch) paper, mini muffin cups; set aside. 

In medium saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. 

Whisk in oil and eggs. 

Stir in flour, sugar and coffee powder.  You don’t really taste the coffee.  It just intensifies the flavor of the chocolate. 

Spoon batter into prepared cups filling them 2/3rds full.  I know the picture is blurry.  I just wanted you to see how much batter to put in. 

Bake until batter is set and toothpick comes out clean, about 15 to 18 minutes.  Cool on baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes or until firm enough to handle.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Sprinkle with Confectioners’ sugar.  The brownies may be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days—if they last that long.  I have already eaten 8! (I feel a little bad.)

Note:  The better the chocolate you use, the better the brownies will be.  But if you must, you may use chocolate chips.  Substitute ½ cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips for the 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate.

 

Addendum:  I really did feel badly about eating 8 brownies, so I decided to calculate the calorie count for 1 mini brownie.  And guess what?  Not too bad!  Only 58.63 calories per mini brownie, if I did my research and math correctly.  Maybe I’ll go grab another one….

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Spiced Yogurt Pork Chops

Posted in Main Dishes (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , , on April 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I love Down Home with the Neelys.  I am never more entertained by a Food Network show and never so hungry.  I think they might actually be the happiest people in the world.  I want them to live in my home for my own entertainment in the room next to Miley Cyrus.  One night, I was watching “Daddy” use his special rub on some pork chops and I got a hankering.  I went to buy some meat, but realized I really had nothing in the apartment to throw the chops together with.  This was the result.  I might not have had the Sugar Fairy Gina to help me put this together, but I think I got some of my own groove in this mix.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups fat free Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon Garam Masala
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper.
  • 2 boneless, trimmed pork chops (Mine were about 7 ounces each raw and 3/4- inch-thick.)

Measure out your yogurt.  Make sure that your iPod cord is in the background.

Add the Garam Masala.

And lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Red nail polish preferred.

Throw the marinade in a Ziploc with the pork chops and marinate for at least an hour to overnight.  This is also the most important picture in the series.

Get your pan really hot and cook the chops on one side for about 4 minutes.

Now flip it; flip it good.  Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

Enjoy with a side of gus, or something else green to make your plate pretty.  Each chop, which cooked down to about 5 ounces, is around 220 calories.

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Turkey and Vegetable Meatloaf Muffins

Posted in Main Dishes (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , on April 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Like most women, I loveeeee cute little things.  Usually anything compact, small-sized or mini makes the few girl hormones I have spew out of my pores and make me go nutso.  I especially love personal-sized meals, perfectly portioned and absolutely adorable.  Hungry-Girl, a wonderful diet food debonair, who uses all the amazing low calorie and fat free, processed, half chemical but sorta taste like the real thing ingredients that I rely upon for my waistline, made cupcake-sized turkey veggie meatloaves.  Little Mommies and I made some adjustments, and these babies turned out fantastic and low calorie.  They are fun to make, healthy with surprisingly not much of the fake stuff–and delicious.  Right here my mom would want me to use what I call the “M” word–starts with an M, rhymes with hoist–but that word creeps out both me AND the girlfriend so for all of you -oist a phobes, I’ll save you the pain.  (It’s right up there with the “Y” word–starts with a y, rhymes with tummy.  Ugh.  Gross.)

These are from our anti “Y” and “M” words campaign.  Vote for us.

Gently adapted from hungrygirl.com  http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=2022

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, cut into quarters
  • 3 cups bagged, dry, broccoli cole slaw–also known as California Slaw
  • 1 pound raw, lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup ketchup, plus 9 more tablespoons for topping meatloaves
  • 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
  • 1/2 cup oats, quick cooking or old fashioned
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon horseradish mustard (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with disposable muffin cup liners. 

Place onion in food processor.  Pulse until minced.

Add 3 cups slaw and process until finely chopped.

Transfer onion/slaw mixture to large bowl and add turkey, ketchup, Egg Beaters, oats, garlic salt and mustard.  Mix until well blended.

Using 2 large spoons, evenly distribute mixture among muffin cups. 

Top each with 1 tablespoon ketchup.  Bake for 40 minutes until firm and browned around edges. 

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Makes 9 servings.  About 150 calories per meatloaf.

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Dark Chocolate Coconut Bark

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , on April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Being the young, awkward twenty-something that I am, I lean on other blogs to help me follow the trends of the times.  May I say, it seems quite in fashion and logical to post holiday recipes–usually before different holidays.  We’re just trying to help all you readers out; it’s our style.  I, however, as a nice Jewish girl, completely forgot that this past Sunday was Easter, so this post is a little late.  However, I do feel responsible in the fact that this recipe is completely kosher for Passover if you buy the correct coconut with the fancy little P.  Who’s the culture queen now?

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pounds good quality, dark chocolate (or candy melts, see note below)
  • 7 ounce bag sweetened, flaked coconut

Below is a chocolate tempering machine by Chocovision.  This is their oldest, least expensive version for $429!   http://www.chocovision.com/choco/site/revolation_spec.htm Meet the Revolation 1:  (It’s idiot-proof!)

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper; set aside.  Temper chocolate in this amazing machine–or by hand if you know how.

I want to eat this now.  It is 8:30 am when I am writing this.

Stir coconut into tempered chocolate.  Mixture will be thick.

Spread mixture onto cookie sheet.  Tap cookie sheet against counter to spread chocolate out into a thin, even layer.  Refrigerate until set, about 25 minutes.  Break candy into irregular-shaped pieces.  Store bark  in an airtight container at room temperature.  Makes about 2 pounds

 

Note: If you don’t know how to temper real chocolate by hand or don’t want to buy this machine, you may use chocolate melting wafers instead of real chocolate.  The chocolate isn’t as delicious as real chocolate, but your friends will still swoon over this decadent and addictive candy.  Melting wafers, also known as candy melts and confectionary coating, are a very easy to use chocolate substitute.  I prefer the Merckens’ brand and it is available in many candy and craft stores.

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Jessica’s Laziest Things!–Oatmeal Edition

Posted in Main Dishes (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , , on April 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

And now for another episode of Jessica’s Laziest Things!

This box is my savior.  Around junior year of college my addiction to eating things that tasted good due to butter and oil caught up with me and rested on my hips and clung to my belly button.  I switched from eating boxed cereal, which I emotionally could not stop eating if there was still cereal in the box–especially if it had clusters, to eating old fashion oats and lost the weight.  You gotta get the old fashion oats, not the 1 minute quick cooking kind, and pour your heart into this cheap meal option.  The old fashion oats will be nice with big, whole oats like below, not all mealy and ground up like the 1 minute kind that gets all gummy.

I just want to use this time to mention that I could never have Honey Bunches of Oats in the house when I was in high school because Little Mommies would pour them out on the kitchen counter and eat all the clusters.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal
  • 1/2 teaspoon light butter
  • Salt to taste (I prefer Kosher salt.)
  • Scant cup of water

Combine oatmeal, light butter, salt and water in microwave-safe bowl.  Place on a plate to catch any overflow as it cooks.

Microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes or until it looks pretty dry.  Oatmeal will puff up as it is cooking and then deflate when it is done.

Stir well.  The consistency should be chewy and nutty, not mushy like the prepackaged oatmeal.

One serving has 158 calories, 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber.

May I mention that this is one of my favorite “pre-going out” meals?  It doesn’t bloat you out, gives you plenty of carbs to enjoy a nice cocktail on, and has very few calories, so you can feel much better about the 100 cal a serving liquor you are about to consume.

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