Fat is flavor!

Did you know mayonnaise is over 250 years old--created in 1756 by the French. It was introduced to the United States in 1905 by a German Immigrant and was branded by Hellman's first. We like mayonnaise here in NH in the summer, on salads like potato, macaroni or even on our loved BLT. As a foodie and a fitness lover it is hard to marry mayonnaise with such foods unless it is a "free meal" or something. However, we can use the benefit of the fat on our low fat meals to add that wonderful flavor and full feeling we seem to miss out when we are eating clean.

I do not like the mayo you can purchase in the stores, canola oil is most often times from a genetically engineered plant--corn syrups and artificial colors litter a few brands. Plus, I like my food fresh, don't you? So--I made my own mayonnaise and despite what food bloggers say--it was actually pretty easy and took me maybe 10 minutes to complete! I then added some spice to it and served it up on our Tuna Cakes.

Squeaky Mayonnaise
1 cup organic olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 organic egg yolk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp water

Add the egg yolk, salt, water and lemon juice to your blender and blend on medium-high speed. Start to s-l-o-w-l-y drip some of the oil into the egg mixture as it is blending. This is where you will begin to form an emulsion and the protein and oil particles will fall in love, hold hands and spin around the bowl in blessed union. In this picture you can see the slow, delicate stream of oil on the side of the bowl. I used a spoon to touch the side of the bowl and tip it so the oil drizzled down the side of the bowl into the eggs.

As the egg and oil fall in love and bind together you can begin adding slightly more oil to the "oil slide" on the side of the bowl. If you look at this picture you can see the increased oil pooling above the emulsified egg mixture.



The advice from many recipes is to slowly add the oil with a dropper, a spoon, a funnel or some other hands on slow adding way. I am lazy and did not want to mess this up by getting too much oil in the bowl--so I just kept the oil pouring onto the side of the bowl while using a simple liquid measuring cup.
Then suddenly--I had a mass of oil and egg in a completely new way--I had mayonnaise!
It felt more glamorous to me than this picture can depict of course. If your mayo turns out too thick you can add more water (slowly of course). Also if you miss the emulsion by adding too much oil or add the oil too fast--you will know as it will be bits of yellow floating in oil. You can repair this by removing the mixture and removing it from the bowl and starting the egg blend again and add this "missed mayo" slowly as if it were the oil.

So--next I decided to add some cilantro and fresh garlic to this beauty and was amazed at the wonderful taste! My husband loved the dish as well! Normally he is not a big tuna cake fan--see what a little fat can do to a dish?

Oh and a tip on the garlic--do you still peel your garlic? I do not, I smash it on the counter and scare the peeling right off the bulb. It is an easy tip to try:Place your garlic bulb on a cutting board and use the flat side of a butcher knife and smash the bulb. The peelings separate very easy from the flesh and saves time from trying to actually peel the skin. I then pressed the garlic rather than chopping it because I wanted the juice to really permeate the mayonnaise.

The cilantro was fresh and I just diced it up finely and stirred it in. However, this is what I chose to add: this is your sauce! Think outside the box--what flavor are you adding this too? Fish--try some dill--chicken--basil and sun dried tomato--it has endless choices as the mayonnaise is the blank canvas for your dish to be created on!

Check out more real food here: http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/08/11/real-food-wednesday-august-12-2009/

A Sorbet Day

I went out to the garden this morning and found that the local mule deer herd had visited my well fenced veggie patch and cleaned me out of squash and green tomatoes. I was going to do something with my little yellow patty pan squash but--No! It was not to be.

But I had fresh blueberries calling out so I made some sorbet.

Peach Berry Sorbet
Serves-4
1 c water

1/3 c natural sugar
Combine water and sugar in a microwave bowl and bring to a boil ( 3 minutes or so). Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool in refrigerator.

2 c fresh blueberries
1 c frozen peaches or 1 large fresh peach
1 c frozen or fresh strawberries
2 limes or lemons – juice only
Pinch sea salt

Combine sugar mix and all other ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Spread mix into a 8x8 cooking pan, cover, and place in freezer until frozen. 3-4 hours.

Remove the frozen mix, break into chunks and place in a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. If you have a smallish food processor, you may have to do the blending in 2 batches. Place the creamy mix into a freezer container and re-freeze until solid.

Other Good Ideas:

Place the liquid in Popsicle molds and freeze--makes perfect vitamin rich Popsicle for the kids..yeah for the kids!

What is your story Morning Glory?

When I was a younger woman I worked at a deli and we sold muffins called "Morning Glory" muffins. Wow-were they ever tasty! They had carrot pieces, zucchini chunks, walnuts, raisins--they had delicious goodness in them. At the time I did not realize the fact that they gave me heart burn and coated my hands with a shiny film was a bad thing. I just loved the taste of them. So, I was inspired by that love when I picked up the fresh Zucchini from a local farmer--hence my lovely pancakes with dots of green and orange in them this morning.

A few new cool things I tried with these little flat cakes I thought were so great they needed to be shared with you. First, I used rice flour to keep them gluten free, but this time I soaked the rice flour in warm water for 30 minutes. You see, a few weeks ago a woman asked me how to make gluten free items not have the texture of corn bread because her husband did not like that. (Hi Marci!) So yesterday while surfing new recipes I saw a blog post about soaking the rice flour overnight and I thought CRAZY-I must try this! Given that I have low attention span and lack of impulse control, I managed to soak them for 30 minutes. As an aside--I do have some more soaking right now and will wait to prepare perhaps some biscuits or something at a later time.

I also used coconut cream in the batter, just 2 tablespoons so no one needs to close the page and run from the computer. Little tidbit about coconut cream--like avocado fat--this is good for you fat. This is the stuff which helps your body work, smoother skin, faster brain functioning etc. You can purchase it at your local market or pick it up at your Asian marketplace--where I buy mine.

Zucchini Carrot Pancakes
Serves 10
1 1/2 cups rice flour soaked in 3/4 warm water
1/2 cup finely grated zucchini squash
1/2 cup finely grated carrots
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 Agave or Honey
2 fresh eggs
1 tbls Vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of Salt

Soak the rice flour in warm water for at least 30 minutes. It reminded me of the recipe for making slime with water and cornstarch. When you moved the fork around the flour had a firm texture but when you let it sit, it appeared to be liquid. It was magic flour!





While the flour is soaking you can shred the vegetables (fruit?) into a glass bowl. Then add the rest of the ingredients aside from the sodas.





Set a pan on medium heat and grease lightly with butter. While that is heating blend the wet ingredients with the wet flour and add in the sodas. I let this sit for about 5 minutes so everything could meet and meld and agree to taste fantastic.



Adding one ladle of mixture to the hot pan allow to cook until the edges are dry--then flip and cook for a few more minutes. Serve while hot!


Calories Per Serving-145
Fat-3 grams
Carbohydrates- 26
Protein-4

Other good ideas--
- add chopped cranberries and orange zest
- omit sweetener and serve with a savory dish
-make ahead and freeze

Asian Turkey Wrap-all natural and gluten free

A lot of times when we venture out into the "healthy eating" world we look for foods that are clean but recreate the same old flavors we are addicted to eating. We look for the low carb pre-packaged food products or the low fat pre-made dinners that sit for months on end in the grocery store shelves--we do this simply because we have little knowledge on what healthy eating means. I know, I have seen it countless times with clients asking if eating carrots or onions are ok because they read somewhere on some tabloid which was selling the "fastest and easiest way to shed 30lbs in 30 days" that those carrots or ontions--or even tomatoes--were what was keeping them over weight. All that sugar in those--vegetables? Come on! My response is always the same--Have you ever met a person who is obese who can realistically state it is from eating too many vegetables? No--you have not and you never will.

So, recently I was watching "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerns" on TV, he was visiting Japan and eating some really interesting fare! I love that show--so I was looking at the people he was surrounded by and I thought to myself how no one there really even seemed to have much of a weight issue let alone appear obese. He was not in an impoverished area where food was hard to come by, they were dining on seafood and rice dishes in upper end restaurants even. The key was they were not eating any of the prepackaged garbage the FDA seems to prescribe to the American people as healthy choices. They were eating food closest to how it is found in nature. If we ourselves are a carbon life forms, just as animals are etc--why do we insist on putting into our body artificially created food "products" and expect good health to be the result? No, really--I am asking you to think about that right now--why? We are the obese carbon life forms--not the Squirells eating the nuts and berries--not the beast of the field allowed to roam and graze the way they were designed to be. In fact, house pets are fat--why? How are we feeding them? Chemically engineered food products--go say sorry to Rover.

In this respect we need to consider what we are eating--once again. Is the tomato pretty close to how it was created by nature? Yeah, usually--but that is a whole other article to rant about. The onion, the carrots, the potato and even the wild rice--all the way it was intended. Now, how about that sandwich wrap with an ingredient list 25 items long--but clearly labeled that it is "low fat, low carb, low calorie" low in benefits to your human body as well!

These thoughts were the long drawn out basis for the newest recipe I created. I went to my favorite Asian market and looked over their food items. I picked up a package of rice paper and read the ingredients: rice flour (just ground up rice) water, (as close to nature as we can get without drowning!) salt--perfect! Next I picked up some chutney-which means "to crush". This chutney was coconut and it listed: coconut meat (ok sans shell this is good!)hot peppers, spices. Perfect, again! So, with those 2 items I decided to try to make a sandwich we can prepare and keep in the fridge--for snacking or for work or travel, parties--you name it!



Asian Turkey Wrap
serves 1

3 ounces ground turkey breast
1 tbls Coconut Chutney
1 tbls Soy sauce
1/2 cup Red Cabbage
3 rice wraps

In a non-stick pan on medium high heat brown the ground turkey. Add in the chutney, soy saice and cabbage and cook for about another 5 minutes. You want crunch to the cabbage so don't over cook this.

Take the rice paper and place in warm water for about 30 seconds, the paper will become pliable and easy to roll. Place 1/3 of the turkey mixture into the center of the wrap, fold the left and rigt sides towards the middle and roll. Do this to all 3 wraps and allow place in the refrigerator. I ate mine cold. If you serve them right away they are a bit --weird. Spongy and gummy--however you can bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes to crisp up the rice paper. Again, I preferred mine cold because the flavors really married.

Calories Per Serving: 288
Carbohydrates: 29 grams
Fat: 7 grams
Protein: 26 grams

Other good ideas: You can easily switch out the flavor here to make it a totally different dish. Try cayenne pepper, cumin and salsa to replace the chutney and soy sauce.
These can make great party appetizers as well!

Stop trying to replace you comfort foods with artificial creations of food. Sometimes the best find is something you have never even tasted before! Think outside the FDA approved "food product "box"!

Um, yeah this is cake and I am on a diet--do you have any carrot sticks?

So many people love chocolate cake to a level some may deem--unnatural--comfort food, libido enhancer, symbol of love and affection etc. Chocolate cake--just those words can send a dieter into thoughts of cheating and remorse. You can also find numerous "healthy" versions of chocolate cake on many recipe sites. Recently I was surfing the web and found a recipe that looked decent enough for me to try and prepare for my family. It had real chocolate, real sugar and such a wonderful blend of espresso with it that I had to try it out. Well, I was rewarded with the same let down many of the dieters of the world have shared when trying out a recipe which has removed the love from the food. I mean, eating a healthy chocolate cake still has to have the same sensuous experience to it or what would be the point? We already know where the carrot sticks are in the fridge, right? Why do we want a "carrot stick" version of a lusted after comfort food like cake? We don't. So--I modified the recipe with so much success I would like to report this as " A chocolate cake your husband would even request you make. Your kids won't even know and they will be licking the frosting off the plates and begging you for just one more piece!" The average slice of a frosted piece of chocolate cake has over 600 calories. The same size portion of this rich cake is less than half of those calories! (Yeah, that means you can have 2 pieces!) Yes, we even included the gluten free recipe alterations!











Rich Mocha Cake with Creamy Cheesecake Frosting
Serves 12

Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour (sub in rice flour for gluten free)
1/2 cup pastry flour (sub in coconut flour for gluten free)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients:
2 Whole eggs
2 Egg whites
2 tbs melted butter
1 tbs canola oil
1 1/2 cups non-fat Vanilla yogurt
1 tbs espresso powder melted in 2 tbs hot water
2 Oz. dark chocolate melted
1/3 cup Agave syrup

Heat over to 350 degrees and spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Combined dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whip eggs, whites, butter, oil, vanilla and syrup on medium speed. Add in the yogurt and espresso to the wet mixture blend thoroughly. Slowly add in melted chocolate until fully incorporated. Begin adding the dry mix 1/2 cup at a time while blending on medium speed. Pour blended batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.

Cheesecake Frosting

1 package low fat cream cheese at room temp.
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and whip on medium high speed until the rich frosting texture is accomplished. Frost this bad boy and serve it up!

Calories per serving: 255
Carbohydrates- 33 grams
Fats- 9 grams
Protein- 6 grams

Coconut Cherry Granola

In Keeping with the kids theme here is a snack my kids love, especially the teenagers! I like it over yogurt or even in a protein pudding.

2 1/2 cups old fashion oats
2/3 cup Pomegranate juice
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup shaved almonds
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray or lightly butter it. Heat the juice and honey together and stir well. Add all the ingredients except the cherries to the juice mixture and blend. Spread evenly on cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stir the granola well and add cherries. Continue cooking for another 20 minutes. Allow granola to dry after cookie. The juice makes it a wet mess and once dried it forms wonderful granola chunks of goodness. Serves 12

Calories 133
Carbohydrates 23 grams
Fats 4 grams
Protein 3 grams

Boredom is in the eye of the beholder

Veggies and brown rice, brown rice and veggies. We hear it and we roll our eyes and dream about a time when we could eat richer foods with more flavor--but now we are on some sort of health kick. So--veggies and brown rice--brown rice and veggies. Then we get bored.
I mean who wants to eat like this EVERYDAY? Well, I do. However, I think that spices are the variety of life! The basic recipe for brown rice is simple: 2 parts water to 1 part rice. From there we can move on. Rice is like an artists canvas waiting to be created. You can add chopped garlic,onions and green peppers for a traditional rice dish. You can add different seasonings like cumin and paprika or even spicy treats like dried hot peppers with some diced tomatoes. Really, any flavor you can think of can be put into a rice dish with no added calories. Next time you are at the market take a slower walk through the spice isle and try out some new flavors. You may discover something you had no idea you would love!

As for veggies--yes, they can get boring as well. We can get stuck in the steamed veggie train and not see a way off. However, I LOVE roasted vegetables. They are rich in texture and taste. You can use any vegetable you want, toss it with some olive oil and seasonings of your choice and bake them at 350 degrees until cooked. When are they done cooking you ask? When you want to eat them. I prefer my vegetables with more of a crunch but you may like yours cooked a little bit longer.

Last night I took a full head of cabbage and chopped it into big chucks and then tossed it with olive oil, Mexican chili powder and garlic powder and baked it for about 30 minutes. YUM! SO next time you want to create a new flavor try roasting the vegetables and enjoy the new adventure in the produce isle as well!