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Archive for June, 2010

Crash Hot Potatoes

Posted in Sides (For the High Cal Right Brain, tagged on June 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Remember my wonderful rant about the terrible human being that left my roommate Rachel and I homeless in this post?  Well no more worries young readers, we have found a new home!  And get this, IT HAS A WASHER AND DRYER IN THE APARTMENT.  Yes, in Manhattan and with a Washer and Dryer.  I don’t even need a bedroom.  I just want to sleep on the floor in front of its glory.  Oh, and guess where the door to the washer and dryer is located?  In our second bathroom!  Yup!  Anyways, while making one of the last few dinners I will make in our current apartment, I knew I needed a potato side dish and I reached out to the goddess of Southern Cooking, The Pioneer Woman.  She’s witty, full of butter, and talkings about conceiving her first child in this recipe post.  I was in love.  I did change her recipe around a little bit.  I chose to infuse the oil first, but hey, follow either way.  And check out her pictures, they are much nicer and more appetizing than mine.  Blame the 400 degree apartment.

Slightly altered from the Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

  • 12 Whole Small Round Potatoes
  • 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • Kosher Salt to Taste
  • Black Pepper to Taste
  • Rosemary (or Other Herbs of Choice) to Taste

Mix three tablespoons of olive oil with your chopped herb of choice and set aside to lightly infuse. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

Generously drizzle a sheet pan olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the sheet pan leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher (Or the back of a measuring cup if you don’t have a masher, like me.), gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with the infused olive oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

DSC_0050_6299

I stole the above picture from The Pioneer Woman’s website so you could get a good close up of how incredible these potatoes look.  They taste even better.  You must make them.

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Layered Baked Ziti

Posted in Main Dishes(For the High Cal Right Brain), tagged on June 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Alright everyone,

True Blood is back!!  As an avid vampire supporter, one who went as far to do her college final in Public Speaking about my anger towards people who like vampires to be cool, aka Twi-suck, I am SO happy that True Blood is back.  Now, this may seem off topic to you and you may wonder what True Blood has to do with baked ziti, and well you’re right, it has nothing to do with ziti.  I just wanted to share some excitement before I get this super fattening recipe going.

This dish serves a crowd.  It can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and baked just before serving, just be sure to take the chill off by letting it sit at room temperature for 3 hours before baking.  You can use any type of spaghetti sauce you like–homemade or bottled.  I love using 3 jars of  Rao’s Roasted Eggplant Siciliana Sauce combined with 1 jar of Rao’s Arrabbiata–if I can afford it!  However, my lovely local grocer, Zeytuna, sells it for only $6.99 a bottle. Stock up people!

Ingredients:

  • 2 boxes (16 ounces each) ziti
  • 3 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 4-5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 4 jars (24 ounces each) bottled spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In very large soup pot or 2 large pots, cook pasta according to directions on box for pasta that will be baked.  It will have a shorter cooking time, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile (I usually do this while the pasta water is coming to a boil.), in large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, oregano, garlic salt and pepper.

Mix well; set aside.  I suggest using your hands; it’s cold and squishy and wonderful.

When pasta is done cooking, drain it and return to pot.  Combine with sauce.  In very large lasagna pan or 14x10x3-inch disposable aluminum pan, place half of sauced ziti.  Spread into one smooth layer.

Top with ricotta mixture.  With spatula, spread into smooth layer.

Cover with remaining sauced ziti.

Sprinkle with 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.  May be covered and refrigerated for up to 48 hours at this point.  Bring to room temperature for 3 hours before baking.

For easier handling, place ziti pan on baking sheet.  Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and casserole is hot throughout.  Makes 12-16 large servings.  Note:  If ziti is not at room temperature when placed in oven, it may take longer to heat through.

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Low Fat Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

Posted in Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , on June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I would like to use this moment to discuss something important.  That something important is Justin Bieber.  Whenever I’m back at my parents’ house for some reason unbenounced to me, the kitchen TV only has about half of the current channels.  However, MTV always comes in crystal clear.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve been known to watch MTV for hours, especially when anything having to do with teen moms is on.  But for some odd reason, whenever I’m cooking, ONLY Justin Bieber related images flash across the screen.  Somehow, this 16 year old boy has caused over 2000 girls to go to the hospital for hyperventilation, has had to cancel shows because there were riots, plus has hair that never seems to move. Well anyways, while my mother and I were making the following dip, I gave in.  I watched Justin.  I was enchanted by his cute little childlike antics, and for the first time I didn’t stick my hand in the food processor and almost chop off all my fingers trying to eat this dip by the palmful. Enjoy this delicious creation, but be warned–only the enchantment of some teen drama king may keep you away.

This recipe was adapted from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook to use mainly low or non fat ingredients.  You can substitute the real thing if you wish.  Either way, it is incredible.  I like to serve it with carrots, celery, and cucumber slices to keep it healthy.  It is about 30 calories a tablespoon, if I calculated correctly.

Ingredients:

  • 6 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
  • 8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise
  • 10 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced (Save a few slices for garnish.)

In food processor fitted with steel blade, combine the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper.

Process until smooth.

Add scallions and pulse twice.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

Transfer to serving bowl.

Garnish with a few scallion pieces.  Serve with veggies and crackers.  Makes 2 1/2 cups.  Dip tastes best if allowed to sit at room temp for about 20 minutes before serving.  Be amazed at how sinfully rich it tastes for being a low fat dip.

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Butterscotch Graham Cracker Cookies

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , , on June 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I have a confession to make.  Today, I went full girl.  During my 23 years of old age, I’ve become quite the tomboy and devote most of my emotional energy to the singular emotion of anger.  However, today that mold was broken.  After getting to work at 4am for two days straight, then working until around 6pm, plus being super busy apartment hunting because one of my roommates finally decided to stop gracing us with his UnderArmour half shirt and moved out–so we need to move at the end of July, thus, I needed cookies.  Was that too ranty?  Make these cookies and you’ll forgive me.  They are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside and absolutely addicting.  And ready for this?  They are only about 100 calories each.  BEAT THAT.
Borrowed  from Very Best Baking
 
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 package (11 ounces) butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Set aside.

Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Beat in eggs and vanilla extract; gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chips.  Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.  TRUST ME.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Keep the batch of dough cool until right before it goes into the oven.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 48 delicious cookies.

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Pigs in Blankets

Posted in Sides (For the High Cal Right Brain, tagged on June 9, 2010 | 3 Comments »

These are not any ordinary Pigs in Blankets–they are the whole hog (or should I say steer, because they are beef?) in a comforter!  That’s because they are made with Hebrew National All Beef Quarter Pound Franks instead of cocktail franks or normal-sized hot dogs.  My Mom’s friend, Dava, always makes these for my Dad’s Super Bowl parties and everyone devours them.  And she was nice enough to share the recipe.  They are the perfect party appetizer except for when my Mom and Dad got married.  Little Mommies considered them “uncouth” and wouldn’t allow them at the cocktail hour.  Luckily, my father is just like me and will never let her forget her crazy decisions, and therefore, reminds her at least once a month.  I would say that in this case, Little Mommies was wrong.

Recipe courtesy of Dava Seraita

Ingredients:

  • 1 (16 ounce) package (4 hot dogs) Hebrew National Quarter Pound Beef Franks
  • 1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent roll dough
  • Mustard

The quarter pound hot dogs are what make this recipe so special.  Each frank is twice the size of a normal hot dog.  Double the meat, double the deliciousness.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with Reynolds Wrap Release Non-stick Aluminum Foil or spray a baking sheet with Pam; set aside.

Cut each hot dog into 5 pieces.  Try to cut them more equally than I did.

Open crescent roll package.  Separate into the 4 pre-scored sections.  Working with one section at a time, press dough together with hands to form a uniform rectangle and “erase” the scoring.  You can see that the one on the bottom right has not been “erased” yet.

Cut dough rectangle, the short way, into 8 or 9 thin strips.  You will not use all of the dough strips.

Place one hot dog piece at top of dough strip.  Roll up so that dough makes a band around the middle of the strip.  Sorry about the blurry picture.  I have no excuse.

Repeat with remaining hot dog pieces and dough strips.  Place on prepared baking sheet.  Hot dogs may be prepared up to this point, covered and refrigerated for 24 hours before baking.

Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with mustard for dipping.  Makes 20, wedding-appropriate, Pigs in Blankets.

Hog heaven.

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Healthy Roasted Eggplant Dip

Posted in Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , , on June 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Memorial day weekend I was lucky enough to go to my friend Jes’s wedding. Out of the billions of weddings I’ve been to in the last few years, I find that I really love the food-a-ganza at southern weddings.  Best part of this one?  The picnic the night before consisted of a whole smoked pig.  Yes, whole smoked pig of deliciousness.

Yes, that’s the bride, hand in pig.  We were told to dig in…

One of the other great things about this wedding was the copious amount of dips at the actual reception.  They had hot and cold dips, tons of bread and crackers, and I was in heaven. The following recipe is one of my favorite dip recipes for company.  It is pretty low calorie, yet hard to calculate the exact calorie count, due to the changing sizes of the vegetables.  I suggest serving it with baked pita chips, cucumber slices, or crackers and then save the leftovers to spread on sandwiches for the week.  Or you can eat it with a spoon, which I find myself doing most often.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large eggplant, unpeeled
  • 2 red bell peppers, seeded
  • 1 red onion, peeled
  • 2 garlic gloves, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut eggplant, peppers and onion into approximately 1-inch cubes.

Place cut up veggies on ungreased baking sheet.

Add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss well to coat all veggies with oil.  Spread out in even layer.  The colors Duke, the colors!  (Yes, this will keep coming back to haunt you.)

Roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until veggies are lightly brown and soft (Peppers should be soft when pierced with a knife.), tossing once during cooking.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Place veggies in food processor fitted with steel blade.  Add tomato paste.

Pulse 10 to 20 times to blend.  Do not over process.  The dip should be a coarse with a slightly chunky consistency.  Taste for salt, pepper and tomato paste.  Sometimes I add an additional tablespoon of tomato paste if I think it needs the zing.

Transfer to serving bowl; cover and refrigerate.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

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Ice Cream Cake with Homemade Whipped Cream

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , on June 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »

As summer approaches, I find that my cravings to stick my head into a hot oven to bake decreases and my clothing slowly gets smaller and smaller.  For my dad’s birthday, my mom and I needed to think of a great dessert choice that if we ended up eating way too much of, we wouldn’t feel so terrible.  My favorite dessert, next to my mom’s frozen key lime pie, is ice cream cake.  Luckily, the Gods at Edy’s have found a way to make delicious light ice cream that it is impossible to tell is diet.  At my dad’s request, we used pound cake as a base; however, you can use any store bought cake that you prefer.  Our ice cream choices were Caramel Delight and Chocolate Fudge Chunk (to describe the state of my hips after having way too many cookies last week) and we used crushed chocolate wafers in the center to simulate crunchies.  If my father wasn’t such a chocolate crunchie addict (I think he would trade me for a Fudgy the Whale cake.), we could have used graham crackers, gingersnaps or whatever we felt like.  Lastly, since we’re crazy, we made homemade whipped cream for the topping, but you can use Cool Whip Light to drop the calorie count.  Feel free to make the cake up to 1 week in advance (and unmold the day of serving), if you think it will last in your freezer that long.

Ingredients:

  • 16 ounce pound cake
  • 2 (1.5 quarts each) ice cream, any flavors you like
  • 9 ounce box Famous Chocolate Wafers
  • 1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Let ice cream sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften.  Meanwhile, slice pound cake into large pieces.  Arrange in a 9-inch spring form pan, covering the bottom.  Break up any left over chunks into small pieces to use to fill in any really big holes.  Eat any leftover pound cake.

With fingers, smush down on cake, spreading it out to fill in all the holes and creating one big piece of pound cake.

In food processor (or in plastic bag with rolling pin), grind 8 cookies into coarse crumbs; set aside.  Break about 6 cookies in half for decoration; set aside.  Don’t eat the leftover cookies yet.  You might still want more for decoration.

Once the ice cream is soft enough to spread, dump one container on top of the pound cake.

With rubber spatula, carefully spread ice cream out being careful to not disturb the pound cake below.

Sprinkle crushed cookies on top.  Freeze, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Now you can lick the spatula.

Very carefully spread the now very soft second flavor of ice cream over the crushed cookies, being careful to not disturb the cookies.  Freeze, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Now it’s time to make the whipped cream.  Place the bowl and beater you are going to use in the freezer for 10 minutes.  This will help keep the cream cold while you beat it.  After 10 minutes, take bowl and beaters out of freezer and pour heavy cream into the bowl.  With electric mixer on low spread so the cream doesn’t spatter everywhere (this is a good time to wear an apron), beat cream until it starts to thicken.  Then, slowly added the sugar.

Beat cream until thick and stiff peaks form.  This happens pretty quickly.  DO NOT OVER BEAT or you will end up with butter!

Take spring form out of freezer.  Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe stars over the top of the ice cream.  (If you don’t want to pipe on the whipped cream, you can just spread a layer of cream on top with a spatula.)

Still piping those stars…

Decorate the top with the cookie halves.   I would suggest spacing them more evenly than I did.  Freeze, uncovered, for 2 hours.  (Now you can eat the leftover chocolate wafers smothered in the leftover whipped cream for a little snack.)  After 2 hours, the whipped cream will be hard enough for you to wrap it up well for at least another 3 hours or up to 1 week before unmolding and serving.

To unmold cake:  Dip metal spatula or butter knife in very hot water, wipe dry.  Holding straight up and down, press knife against side of spring form and run between cake and spring form to loosen cake from pan.  You may need to take spatula out several times and dip in hot water again to warm it up to make it “cut” thorough the frozen cake resting against the spring form pan.  Once you have loosened the entire cake, open spring form and remove cake.  Leave cake on spring form bottom.  Transfer to serving dish.

Voila.  Your homemade ice cream cake!  Let sit, uncovered, at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing.  Makes 12 impressive and delicious servings.

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