the holiday fifteen

I think we can all admit that we give up during the holidays and eat whatever we want, whenever we want … or is that just me? Cooler weather rolls in, bulky sweaters hide everything, and hell, we’re *this* close to the new year so why not say “eff it” and promise to make a resolution to eat better and exercise in 2011 (or 2012, or 2013). Holiday food is amazing; I’ll take the turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, buttered corn, glazed carrots, various vegetable casseroles and whatever that is there with cheese on top, all covered with a heaping ladleful (or two) of gravy made with pan drippings please! Just like the first time you went into your college dining hall, the buffets seem endless. Thankfully, the holidays only come once per year, not 2-3 times per day, every day like freshman year.

Perhaps, like me, you justify why you eat so much during the holidays: they do only come once a year, it’d be rude not to heap our plates full of the yummy foods the hostesses so carefully prepared, I’ll just try a little bit of each, and there are only so many months where you can find pumpkin pies!! As part of my ongoing efforts to cut the fat, I’ve tested out variations of my personal faves and will be sharing those recipes here on my blog for any of you that are willing to give something new a try this holiday season. First up: creamed spinach!!

Baked Creamed Spinach
2 pkg frozen chopped spinach
½ cup fat-free half & half (you may need ¾ cup, depends on the brand of spinach you use)
1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella (divided into ¾ cup and ¼ cup)
½ cup reduced fat grated parmesan (or parmesan blend), plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 clove garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup panko
Salt to taste (optional)

-- Prepare the spinach according to package directions (pretty much you just boil it in water)
-- Drain the spinach really, REALLY well then place in casserole dish
-- Add the remaining ingredients (except for the panko and ¼ cup mozzarella) and mix well; if you’re not getting a creamy texture, add more half & half; the mozzarella will somewhat melt but don’t worry if it’s not melting, it will once it gets into the oven
-- Smooth out the top of the spinach and top with the ¼ cup mozzarella, a handful of panko and sprinkling of parmesan (in this order)
-- Bake at 350 for about 30-40 min until all bubbly and somewhat browned then broil for about 5 min longer to get a nice toasty crust on top
-- Let it set on the counter or table for at least 10 min before serving and enjoy!

dan-the-man watson

Dan has been a HUGE help as I work to complete my 101 items in 1,001 days. I recently marked #88 off my list by joining a gym and am working towards completing #26 (exercise at least 3 times per week for 6 straight months). For those of you who know me, you know how ridiculously hard this is for me to do. I hate exercise, hate sweating and am slightly (read: completely) robotic when it comes to my daily schedule; any changes to such schedule throw off my entire day, often resulting in a mild (read: unreasonable) hissy fit sometime that evening. This usually takes place in the kitchen when dinner is, goshforbid, served later than 7pm. Thankfully, I am also obsessed with being organized and prepared so with the help of Dan, the schedule change has caused more laughter than tears.

Because I’ve been going to the gym right after work, I haven’t been getting home until 7/715pm each evening which has caused a little stress in my life (see above re: dinner after 7). Fortunately, I have Dan, unequivocally the best husband ever. Every evening when Dan gets home, he plays with the dogs for a bit then finds the slip of paper on which I’ve written his instructions for that night’s dinner. He then goes to the fridge, pulls out all of the food I’ve prepped and gets to work. The first night was great: chicken stir-fry. I’d marinated chicken in a healthified teriyaki sauce and already cut the chicken and veggies into bite sized pieces. All Dan had to do was spray the wok with olive oil, add the chicken and stir, then add the veggies when I got home and stir some more. When I got home breathless and exhausted, he was doing fabulously and had just added the 1 cup brown rice + 1 cup water to the rice cooker and hit “start.” By the time I got out of the shower, dinner was ready! Dan grinned ear-to-ear as I complimented his gourmet dinner (hehe).

The next night was equally a success. Dan took the prepared Salisbury steaks out of the fridge and had them slowly simmering in the healthified gravy when I got home. He threw in the fresh mushrooms then boiled the water for the whole wheat egg noodles while I showered and we had another fantastic weeknight dinner. On the third night, I learned my instructions needed to be slightly more specific. I’d prepared chicken parmesan for Dan to cook. The chicken was already breaded and on the pan, the sauce was made. Dan placed the pan of chicken in the oven, boiled water, heated the sauce and was doing great until he got to my line item that stated “when the timer goes off, spoon a little sauce over each chicken breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top then put it back in the oven for 10min.” When I got out of the shower and headed towards the dinner table, the timer went off to indicate all was ready. Dan drained the whole grain linguine while I went to take the chicken out of the oven … it went like this:

Me (laughing): how much cheese did you use?
Dan (serious): just the one bag
Me (still laughing): baby, the instructions said “a sprinkle!”
Dan (still serious): no, the instructions said to sprinkle some on top, I sprinkled it on top like the instructions said!! (points to instructions; he was right, damn!)
Me (giggling): but honey, isn’t this a bit much?
Dan (snippy): well you never use enough when you make it!!!

Now I pre-measure out cheeses for him so as not to leave any room for interpretation. He used an entire 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella for 2 chicken breasts!! True it was part-skim, but still, wow!

Night 4, Dan ruined my chicken satay. Hungry Girl emailed out a recipe swap earlier that week so I decided to try it. Everything was prepped and ready except for the final step: stir in ¼ cup plain yogurt. Dan came home, played with the dogs, put the chicken skewers in the oven, heated up the peanut sauce and steamed the veggies. While I showered, he set the table and completed the final steps for dinner. That was the night I learned that plain is synonymous with vanilla in Dan’s world. To me, plain is plain, vanilla is a flavor but nooooooooo, in Dan’s mind plain = vanilla and vanilla = plain … or “vanilla is totally plain, it sucks.” Can you tell he’s a chocoholic?? Let’s just say the peanut sauce was a tad too sweet for my taste (but he loved it).

Night 4 also happened to be the night I started having Dan come back in the kitchen after I finish prepping the next night’s dinner to have him walk through the instructions with me while pointing at what is what in the fridge, and we haven’t had a similar incident since! Dan was very happy to have the weekend off from “cooking” and did a fabulous job last night. I’m hoping he keeps this up so that I can complete #79 in the near future (don’t complain about anything for a week). Wish me luck!

Oh!! I owe you some recipes ... check out the facebook page to see my most recent note, a chicken corn chowder that is FAB! I'm still working on interpreting the chicken scratch that is Dan's handwriting so I can post the cookie recipes :)

epic. fail.

going to something like the superbowl or a world series game is a once in a lifetime kind of experience. unfortunately, i am now completely convinced that i am the jinx. the rangers really blew it last night and dan won't even let me watch tonight's game. he'll be watching in the bedroom while i see what regular tv programming has to offer in the living room. the only good that came out of yesterday's game was crossing #22 off my list of things to do. while there, i was able to complete #53 as well. i walked right up to a table full of young, adorable navy sailors and thanked them for their service and told them i admire their commitment. then i ran away before i could start crying because something about someone so young in uniform makes me happy sad.

after the game, we came home exhausted and frustrated. i let dan check #76 off the list, we left the dishes in the sink and went to bed.

today, i have satisfied #28, a total "me" day off from work. i slept in, went to the dentist then spent the day relaxing on the couch catching up on the dvr'd shows we missed last night. pretty sure i may do #28 again, it's been a nice day. i think i've fully recovered from the craziness of last night so on to my next item for completion: #15 cook for a whole week - no takeout.

i'm going to take this one completely seriously so i won't even be eating out for lunch. this might be a lot of work but i'm sure my body will thank me for it next monday. first up for tonight is a teryaki pork tenderloin with fried rice and veggies teppanyaki style (or as close to it as i can get without the huge flattop iron grill). wish me luck!

what to do first ...

my dear friend shannon talked me into doing the day zero project. i still don't think i'm very clear on the overall purpose of this, but you make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1,001 days. i tend to be a fairly impulsive person (but not in the dangerous way) and tend to just do whatever i want, whenever i want; therefore, it was a touch difficult for me to come up with a list of 101 things when i've done most of what i want to do already. i'm also very rational and know that 1,001 days isn't a super long time and i don't get an unlimited budget so i couldn't list some of the things i really do want to do like "open a restaurant." trying to come up with a list of 101 things that i thought i could actually complete in 1,001 days proved to be a challenge in itself. the task of completing the list was my #1 thing, and only thing i've completed thus far.

i tried to put things on my list that i thought would be fun, interesting and new. i also tried to add a few things i knew would be easy for me to accomplish. being the opportunist that i am, i also put a few on there that while they are not the same thing, i could totally kill two birds with one stone. since shannon wouldn't let me prorate my number of days to meet a shorter list, i had to find a way to make this doable. an example of this can be found by looking at #23 and #14. i can satisfy #23 as one of the three in #14 ... two birds, one stone!

you can find the full list here: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/valwatson

since cooking is one of my passions, yes, many of the items on my list have to do with cooking. i'm trying to branch out though and am forcing myself to do so with #34 and #51. then there are the things i did just to appease dan. in consideration for many of the items on the list that he will have to endure (see #17), i added #76 and #77. so does that satisfy #19? perhaps. i think i'll leave #19 left as incomplete though because that is one that i don't want to cheat, it'd be bad karma. ok, enough of the numbers, sorry.

bottom line, this is going to be tough but i'm going to do it. now i just need to determine what to do first. i think #22 is a great way to start ... go rangers!!! dan and i are going to the world series game at rangers stadium on halloween :)

The Perfect Bite

For my last bite of any meal, I have to have the “perfect” last bite. Dan makes fun of me relentlessly over this peculiarity, but I just can’t help myself. If I’m at breakfast, my perfect bite typically consists of a bit of egg atop a small piece of bacon over some hash browns, lightly dipped in ketchup (unless I’m having pancakes or French toast in which case the bite has to be from the very middle, no side/crust) … YUM! I simply cannot end a meal on a sour note. It is so important to me that often, I’ll even assemble and line-up 2-3 last bites. The other night, we went to a steakhouse and Dan couldn’t help himself from torturing me as I lined up 3 last bites: 2 onion strings on each of the 3 cubes of ribeye so that I could then dip my fork into my potato then spear the onion/steak combo for my perfect last bites.

It was because of his ribbing that I think I may have come up with the perfect restaurant idea … American food served tapas-style. In other words, every plate would have 5-6 perfect bites!! This would also solve my problem of when I just want a bite of something. I would definitely serve breakfast as I am often conflicted when faced with ordering breakfast. I want a bite of everything but the combo meals are too much food for just one person; I try to talk Dan into ordering some of what I want so we can just split but he usually orders something I don’t want to touch; so either I end up half-way satisfied because I only order one thing or wasting a ton of food because I order everything even though I only want a bite. How great would it be if Dan and I could order breakfast tapas?? We could have a few bites of pancakes, some waffles, eggs with sausage, (oh yea, and a plate of something he wants too) I am DROOLING here just thinking about it! For lunch, we’d serve small shot-glass sized tastes of various soups paired with bites of matching sandwiches; for example, I’d love two shots of tomato soup with 5 bites of grilled cheese followed by a shot of black bean soup and 3 bites of a chicken tortilla wrap. OR you could pick your favorite bites served on skewers over a lunch-sized salad.

Dinner would be magnificent. We’d serve some traditional things like bacon-wrapped scallops and grilled bbq shrimp skewers, olive and cheese plates, various croquettes, etc. for the Happy Hour crowd but our signature foods would be our Perfect Bites. My star attraction would be the ribeye bites described above but I’d also have pot roast bites (roast topped with a slice of carrot, slice of celery and cube of potato drizzled in gravy) and for sure serve chicken parmesan/fettuccine alfredo spears! I’m seriously having difficulty concentrating on anything else while I sit here brainstorming different Perfect Bites and wondering how I’d be able to build things like the “baked bean with macaroni and cheese over corndog” bite off the kids’ menu without making it an ugly mess. I think the shepherd’s pie bite would be ok but the chicken pot pie bite difficult; lasagna bites easy but any other pasta besides ravioli too messy. And for gnocchi and prosciutto with asparagus, do I layer them one on top of the other? In which order? Or should I just wrap the gnocchi/asparagus in the prosciutto?

So many questions, but I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out before I ever actually open a restaurant … if I ever do open a restaurant. In the meantime, enjoy how to turn your leftover mashed potatoes into delicious and light homemade gnocchi!

Leftover potato gnocchi:
3 cups leftover mashed potatoes, a little bit dried out (leave uncovered in the fridge overnight)
**really this can be any amount, just alter the egg/flour amounts**
1 egg, beaten well
1 cup flour, if using whole wheat flour you'll need more (make sure you sift it or if you don’t have a sifter, toss it in a bowl and run a fork through it a few times)
Salt to taste

- Mix the egg into the potatoes until fully incorporated and the potatoes are sticky, lightly salt the mixture to taste (I sometimes add pepper and garlic here too)

- Add the flour a little at a time until you get a crumbly mixture then knead the dough VERY gently, if it’s too crumbly add a few drops of water, if it’s too tacky add a little more flour; the dough should be moist but not sticky (I usually start by adding about ¾ cup of the flour to get it crumbly then the rest as I knead it to make it a more consistent dough)

- Now the hard part … cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each of the 8 into a long, thin log without overworking the dough (very light touch required); cut each of the logs into ½ inch pieces (I use a pizza cutter for this) and lightly dust with some flour until ready to boil OR lightly dust and follow next step if you’re up for the challenge (I failed next step 4 times before finally succeeding)

- Optional step (aka HARD step) - to shape the gnocchi hold a fork in one hand and place a gnocchi piece against the tines of the fork, cut ends out; very quickly but lightly, use your thumb and press in and down the length of the fork creating a little curl/C-shape with the ridges from the fork on the back

- Finally you get to boil the gnocchi!!!! Bring your pot of salted water to a boil and drop the gnocchi a little at a time into the boiling water; gnocchi is done when it floats to the top, it should only float for no more than 30 seconds or so before you fish it out with a slotted spoon

- Immediately toss the gnocchi in sauce and serve … enjoy! I like this best with pesto, for a super easy homemade pesto w/ tomato, blend a jar of sundried tomatoes (with the oil they’re in) with a big handful of fresh basil, 2 garlic cloves and some black pepper until smooth.

happy first full day of fall!!!

Autumn is hands down my absolute most favorite of the four seasons. It is also the only time of the year that I miss living on the East Coast. While Texas is beautiful, nothing compares to a drive through rural Pennsylvania in mid-October with the sun shining and the various colors of the leaves providing such beautiful scenery that you almost forget you’re in the 21st century. Texas tries, don’t get me wrong; we have pumpkin patches and such, but nothing close to the outdoor harvest festivals of PA/NJ that serve homemade apple cider and hand-crafted beers from locally grown ingredients. It’s also just hard for it to feel like fall here with the 95 degree temperatures instead of the crisp, cool mornings so common back East.

Last fall, Dan and I went to Boston with our friends Shannon and Ed to celebrate Shannon’s birthday. It was definitely one of the best mini-vacations ever! We had a great time with great friends, saw all the sights that could be seen (ps if you’re going to walk 15miles per day, wear appropriate shoes and no, flip flops are not appropriate shoes … whoopsie!), drank A LOT of Sammy A “LAH-guh” and most importantly, we rang in Shan’s birthday with a bang-bang-bang. As wonderful as the company was and as beautiful as the scenery was, I almost lost it over all the pumpkin-based products at every stop. Breweries had various pumpkin ales, bakeries had pumpkin everything and local ice cream shops had pumpkin ice cream (side note: if you’re ever in Salem, MA you must get the pumpkin pie ice cream at the little shop right near the ferry). Suffice it to say, if there was pumpkin on the menu, I had it. One may say my obsession with pumpkin* borders on the unhealthy, but I don’t mind, I love me some pumpkin!!!

To me, autumn truly begins on the Monday of Labor Day weekend. That day typically signifies the end of summer: you’re in pain from the weekend-long last blast before school starts back up again, it’s your last chance to hit the beach before packing up and heading back to reality, and it is sadly your last “holiday” from work until Thanksgiving. It’s also the day I usually start picking up cans of pumpkin in the grocery store. However, this year we experienced a pumpkin shortage. I went to the grocery store as usual with thoughts of pumpkin cheesecake dancing in my head, but I could not find pumpkin anywhere! I checked two other stores before heading to the farmers market then eventually the specialty food store but still no pumpkin. Ok, maybe it was just going to be a week late, two weeks late, three weeks late?? Those of you who know me, know that I almost fell into a full-blown depression over this. Then last week, I saw actual pumpkins in front of the store and flew to the baking aisle, but alas, there was still no pumpkin puree … I was sad. Thankfully, pumpkin has now made its grand appearance on grocery store shelves and I am ready to stockpile.

In honor of the first full day of fall, and thanks to a big can of pumpkin given to me by a fellow foodie, I made a pumpkin walnut cake with cinnamon butter cream frosting. I would normally have made this cake with cream cheese frosting, but I didn’t have cream cheese in the house and was too impatient to wait for Dan to go to the store to get me some so I subbed butter cream frosting instead. Over the next few months, I’ll use pumpkin in everything, sweet and savory, until Dan finally confesses that he’s had enough and begs me to please stop the insanity. Here are the recipes for the cake/frosting that I made to celebrate the coming of fall; they are super easy and this cake will fill your house with the most delicious aromas of autumn. I hope you give them a try!

After the cake was baked and almost cooled, I frosted it while still warm, gave Dan a sizeable slice then packed it up to bring the rest to work this morning. To quote two coworkers:
- It’s like pumpkin pie but richer; it is SOOOOOOOOO good
- I can’t believe Dan let you leave the house with this; I would’ve tackled you at the door and kept it for myself if I were him


*Remind me some day to tell you about my similarly unhealthy obsession with bacon and my trip to Montreal when I had bacon with every meal. Don’t judge, bacon makes everything better!! Dang it, all this talk about Montreal makes me want poutine.

Pumpkin Walnut Cake:
1 box cake mix – butter recipe (Moist Deluxe is best)
1 cup water
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
1. Mix all ingredients except walnuts using an electric mixer; first on low speed for 2-3min then on med-high speed for 4-5 min
2. Stir in the chopped walnuts
3. Bake at 375 for 40-45 min (if using bundt pan; 30-35 min if using 2 rounds)

Cream cheese icing
1 stick butter (½ cup)
1 lb cream cheese (two 8oz pkgs)
1 cup powdered sugar (sometimes more)
1 tsp vanilla
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream the butter and the sugar together with an electric mixer, add cream cheese in chunks and blend on high until smooth, add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Buttercream Frosting½ cup shortening (Crisco all-vegetable based)
1 stick (½ cup) butter (make sure it’s super soft but not melted)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk (don’t use skim but 2% is ok)
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream shortening, butter and vanilla together then gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well with each cup. After all the sugar has been added, it’ll look tough and difficult to spread so add the milk a little at a time until light and fluffy and spreadable.

feel better soup

Everyone has that one thing that makes them feel better when they’re not feeling well … I have multiple. When I’m sad, I want popcorn with lots of butter. When I’m sleepy, I want chocolate milk. When my belly hurts, I want peanut butter on toast. When I have a cold, I want soup. When my muscles ache, I want a burger. When I am stressed, I want pizza. When Dan is any of the above, he wants “feel better soup.”

Turkey vegetable soup, aka feel better soup, became Dan’s go-to back when we had dated less than 6 months and he got a really bad cold. Wanting to be a good girlfriend, I took the Thanksgiving leftovers and tried to recreate my grandmom’s turkey soup as best as I could from memory. I somehow succeeded in both making a fantastic homemade soup and making Dan feel better in a snap! Now it’s become my annual tradition: every Saturday after Thanksgiving, I turn my leftover turkey into “feel better soup.” I try to make a HUGE vat of the soup and preserve it to last through cold and flu season, but it rarely does. Dan drinks this soup like water, having it every evening between dinnertime and bedtime, like it is a preventative medicine. If he does get sick, he’ll eat it and only it until he’s better. I’ve found I make multiple batches of feel better soup throughout the year now, in addition to the once a year event (side note: it also cures hangovers). I do have to admit that I sometimes wonder if this soup is magic!

I don’t know how to explain it, there’s just something about it; the smell wafting through the house as it simmers on the stove puts a smile on my face and starts to make me feel better hours before it’s ready for eating. So when Dan wasn’t feeling so great this past weekend and said he wanted feel better soup, I went to the store and bought some turkey breasts, hit the produce aisle and went straight to work. While it wasn’t exactly the same as our after-turkey-day soup, it came pretty darn close and it still cured my honey. I’ve tried to make it with chicken before and it’s just not the same, chicken does not have the healing powers of turkey. The soup varies from year-to-year based on what’s left over from the turkey day feast and batch-to-batch based on what I have in the fridge; however, the main components are always the same: turkey, broth, tomatoes, and lots of vegetables!

Here is the soup, as made this past weekend:
•1lb turkey breasts
•6 cups chicken broth
•4 cups water
•15oz diced tomatoes
•15oz stewed tomatoes
•4-5 carrots
•4-5 celery stalks
•1 medium onion
•2-3 cups mushrooms
•2 heads broccoli
•2-3 cloves garlic
•Olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning

Lightly season the turkey breasts with olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry season then bake until cooked through. Allow the turkey to cool then shred it into small bites.

Peel and chop the carrots; chop the celery and onion; slice the mushrooms; break up the broccoli into small florets and mince the garlic.
Pour a healthy bit of olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot and add minced garlic, sauté until the garlic opens up and makes your kitchen smell fantastic. Add the carrots, celery and onion and sauté about 10min or until the veggies are tender. Add the mushrooms and sauté about another 5-7min. Add the broth, water and both cans of tomatoes; bring to a boil. Add the turkey, broccoli and some pepper; reduce heat to low, cover, and allow it to simmer for 2-3 hours.

You can add egg noodles, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Serve garnished with a little bit of parmesan and fresh cracked pepper … and a big hunk of bread!