Saturday, 11 February 2012
They're Here!!!
Topic: Garden
I can't believe it's already time to start picking out your seeds, but it is...
Here's a photo of the first set of seeds I've bought for this season. I'm picking out seeds that I will be sowing directly into the soil, so it's going to be a few months before I actually plant them. I just have to get them snagged before they're sold out. All of the above seeds have relatively short plant-to-germinate-to-pick times. Our growing season in northwestern Illinois is painfully short, but all of these plants work fine.
For tomatoes--I think I'll wait until I see what seeds are already in the soil and waiting to sprout this season. I can alwas put plants in later if last year's seeds fail me.
I will likely put banana pepper and eggplant plants in later. I have an amazing Mexican stuffed banana pepper recipe to share with you this Summer--I made it for the entire ER last year when dozens of banana peppers ripened simultaneously.
Still have more seed shopping to do--some short carrots and Spaghetti squash would be nice, and of course, I still need the onion and garlic sets, the rosemary and lavender plants...I am so excited that most of my herbs are perennial woody plants and will be back again this year.
More to share, but --fair warning: Get those seeds soon or the selection will be picked over or gone!
Posted by Karen
at 16:36 CST
Updated: Saturday, 11 February 2012 16:49 CST
Friday, 10 February 2012
Vegetarian Pizza
Topic: Recipe
This Pizza looks very tempting, doesn’t it?
Hard to believe it’s vegetarian. In fact it packs a lot of vegetables in a very sneaky way…hidden under the cheese. The only caveat is not what you put on the pizza, but the crust that holds it together.
If you are very skilled at working with dough, you can use the standard Hot Roll Mix, and after the first rising, divide the dough in half. Freeze half and use the remaining to make a 16 inch pizza (that’s the giant one you see in the picture. This pizza crust will have 150 carbs in the entire crust, or if sliced into 8 generous slices, then about 19 grams per slice. If you serve this pizza with a dinner salad, even a very hungry adult can’t eat more than 2 slices.
Still, you may want to conserve carbohydrates even more.
If so, I would suggest that you make individual pizzas using a high fiber, low carbohydrate tortilla shell. Here’s a photo of one of my favorite low carb tortillas. Use the same ingredients listed below but divide by 4 individual pizza.
Either way you go, I’ve included the carb count for the pizza toppings, based on what you’d need to put on the 16 inch mega-pizza, assuming you’re serving it to 4 hungry adults.
Vegetable Pizza (serving 4 hungry adults)
Amount Measure Ingredient
1 16 inch Pizza Crust
4 oz Pizza Sauce
10 oz cooked, drained spinach
1 oz fresh baby spinach leaves
4 oz canned, chopped mushrooms, drained
4 oz canned, roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (6 ounces)
1 small finely chopped onion
2 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
Chili powder
Build the pizza by first applying the sauce, then distribute the cooked spinach, red pepper and mushrooms. Toss the fresh baby spinach leaves on top for additional texture. Then add the cheese. Finally top with finely chopped onion and fresh garlic and sprinkle a few dashes of chili powder across the top.
Bake freshly made dough crust about 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees. But a individual pizzas built on a tortilla shell will be done in about 10 minutes. Either way, let pizza stand a couple minutes before slicing.
Vegetarian can be addicting--just watch your crust!
Nutrition (calculated from all recipe ingredients, excluding crust, for ¼ of the pizza, that is, 1 expected serving size )
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 165
Calories From Fat: 71
Total Fat: 8.2g
Cholesterol: 27.6mg
Sodium: 503.6mg
Potassium: 708.8mg
Carbohydrates: 10.9g
Fiber: 2.6g
Sugar: 2.2g
Protein: 14.3g
Posted by Karen
at 12:54 CST
Updated: Friday, 10 February 2012 13:11 CST
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Low Carb Superbowl Food?
Topic: Education
Superbowl Sunday--tomorrow!
Remember that the game will cross dinner time--so you've got to make foods that can be munched down in front of the TV, right?
A few last minute suggestions to mitigate the carb attack on Superbowl Sunday.
Let’s play “Instead of -------, Make -------“
Instead of Nachos and Cheese Sauce---
Make a giant Taco Salad with chopped lettuce, onions, black beans, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, and salsa
Instead of Hot Dogs and Chips---
Make Brats on low carb buns with grilled onions— served with Cole Slaw with vinegar-and-oil dressing and baked beans (you can make them low carb, too!). If you want to try some fresh fruit salad, the one to make is chopped melon cubes with berries, just sprinkle a little Splenda (or even a tiny bit of sugar) and toss to draw out the juices.
Instead of Hamburgers----
Make mini-meatballs from lean beef and/or lamb- serve with Greek cucumber and yogurt dipping sauce
Instead of Beer and Pop---
OK—you have to have beer, but why not have light beer in that cooler, along with really great low carb root beer, diet cola, diet gingerale, and seltzer! Encourage alternating alcoholic with non-alcoholic beverages.
Instead of Brownies for that sweet tooth---
Brew some really good, strong coffee and set out dark chocolate truffles or other dark chocolate candy.
Once you start thinking about these substitutions, I know you’ll come up with more great ideas.
Warning—don’t even try to put out veggies and dip or fresh fruit. You’re just kidding yourself.
Hope your team wins!
Posted by Karen
at 10:10 CST
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Crustless Vegetable Quiche
Topic: Recipe
“Baked Eggs”, “Crustless Quiche”, “Fritatta”—whatever you call it—it’s a high protein, ultra low carbohydrate and (depending upon what you throw in it) great way to get VEGETABLES into your diet right from the start of the day.
It’s a pretty good idea for Superbowl Sunday breakfast/brunch. It will keep your family satisfied until the “food fest” of pre-game, then game-time, shows.
Here’s the recipe for:
Vegetable Crustless Quiche (for 2)
Prep a Pyrex baking pan. Set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees.
Distribute on the bottom of the pan--1 cup of cooked, drained and chopped greens (spinach is great, but chard, kale-any greens will do)
Next, chop 2 seeded Plum tomatoes ( or substitute equivalent amount in reconstituted dehydrated tomatoes or sundried tomatoes)
Optional veggies—Chopped black olives or chopped, canned or cooked, chopped and drained mushrooms are good—likewise any leftover veggie from the night before -- can be added here, or not—depending on availability.
Add, 4 oz shredded cheese of your choice.
Whisk 4 eggs and 1/3 cup of milk together with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning (or more fresh chopped parsley and basil!) according to your taste preferences and pour over all.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until eggs are set.
Serve as is, pass the hot sauce—or you can kick it up with salsa or leftover, heated marinara sauce. Or whatever suits your interest at the time.
What a great, sneaky way to get those veggies in!
Posted by Karen
at 17:23 CST
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Mardi Gras King Cake
Topic: Education
No, I am not going to give you a recipe for Mardi Gras King Cake, though I will show you a picture of the final product.
As you probably guessed, it's the first time I made a King Cake.
But I HAD to do it at least once. You see, on Epiphany, we had a talk with the Religious Ed students about the Three Wise Men. That eventually led to a discussion about the traditions associated with The Three Wise Men, the symbolic colors, etc. Eventually it included some discussion about the Mardi Gras celebrations. And that led to the King Cake.
It's a rich brioche dough, that's rolled out and filled with a pecan-praline filling, then rolled up and shaped into the circular form you see. Once it's baked and cooled, you put a Confectioner's sugar glaze and colored granulated sugar crystals in the tradional gold, green, purple colors or--the colors of the three wise men's gifts: gold, frankencense and myrrh. Finally the "Baby King" doll is "hidden" in the cake. Because it's a choking hazard, mine is sitting outside for the grabbing.
After the long discussion about the Wise Men, I HAD to bake the King Cake for them.
But, my comments today aren't about the Three Wise Men or the King Cake. They're about "portion control."
Clearly this cake isn't going to be cut in the portions determined by the creator of the recipe. The carbohydrate count of a 1/18th of this cake is nearly 60 grams. The kids will be getting a sliver--that's all they need anyway. It's a taste of a tradition, a sample sharing, they don't NEED more than that to feel the satisfaction of the celebration.
In my last post, I commented that you could make a hearty soup out of the leftovers from the Balsamic Beef and Mushrooms. Well, it turned out that I had enough beef to make both soup and a Shepherd's Pie.
But, in thinking about portion control, I really needed to concern myself most about the carbohydrate count coming from the mashed potatoes in the Shepherd's Pie. I found that instead of coating the whole top of the beef and vegetables with mashed potatoes, I could easily get by with 4 half-scoops, one in the middle of each quadrant. That meant my Shepherd's Pie for 2 would only have 16 grams of carbohydrate from the potatoes for each portion. And, you wouldn't miss the extra potatoes.
Just like with the King's Cake, sometimes you only need a taste to feel the tradition, right?
Posted by Karen
at 14:47 CST
Updated: Saturday, 28 January 2012 15:17 CST
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Balsamic Beef with Mushrooms
Topic: Recipe
No reason not to cook dinner with this extremely simple main course: Balsamic Beef with Mushrooms.
I found this recipe originally years ago in a soup company cookbook.
What a great idea! There's virtually no prep involved. And, if you are a sensible cook, you will realize that the leftover juices and beef and mushrooms not used for dinner today, serve to be the basis for a hearty soup tomorrow!
Balsamic Beef with Mushrooms
One 2-3 lb chuck roast with or without bones
1- 26 oz jar of marinara sauce (your own or your favorite Italian pre-made pasta sauce)
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
8 oz.sliced mushrooms
It's this simple:
- Pour off about 6 oz. sauce into bottom of prepped crockpot.
- Put the roast in the crockpot
- Add the vinegar to remaining sauce in jar and shake to blend.
- Place sliced mushrooms on and around the roast
- Pour the balsamic sauce over all.
- Cook all day (8 hours) on "low.
This is what is looks like when you start. (I probably should have used my larger crockpot)
Remove the meat to a large platter and cut into chuncks. Serve along side (or over)--steamed greens, mashed cauliflower, mashed potatoes or egg noodles. What you choose as your side is determined by your dietary needs--clearly, low carb and high fiber vegetables are preferred.
After several hours...
Spoon additional sauce and mushrooms on top.
REMEMBER: the remaining sauce, juices, beef and mushrooms can be turned into a hearty soup with the addition of cooked, diced vegetables, some chopped greens, and additional vegetable cooking water or plain water--season with additional basil, bay leaf, salt and pepper as desired.
Posted by Karen
at 12:31 CST
Saturday, 14 January 2012
"Minute Steak"--an oxymoron worth the irony
Topic: Recipe
I am still recovering from waking up to 3 degrees above zero this morning. The horses are fed and I punched some holes in the creek with a huge pole this morning for the cows, though on further inspection, I found they'd done the same higher up the valley.
However, merely walking around in my 3 layers of clothes worked some calories and it did give me an appetite. The "Minute Steak" I cooked yesterday will be great for tonight's dinner.
I'm not sure how it got the name "Minute Steak" because it clearly takes a bit of prep time and you need to bake it at least 1& 1/2 hours to get it fork-tender and to reduce the juices to a "gravy-consistency."
Minute Steaks for 2
4 "Minute" or "Cube" Steaks
1/4 c. flour, seasoned with seasoning salt, ground pepper
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
Dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour and brown both sides. Place in a prepped baking dish.
! medium onion, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
Saute until carmelized and spoon on top of the meat.
Pour 1 can of condensed beef broth--undiluted--over the onions and meat. It will look like this.
Although I've never tried it, you CAN simply use a can of condensed French Onion soup, undiluted and forget about carmelizing your onion. I suspect it would work just fine, too. But make sure you still take the time to do the seasoned flour-and-browning step with the meat.
Then, bake in a 350 degree oven until juices are reduced by half, creating a great sauce and fork-tender "minute steaks." This will take about an hour and a half.
Below is what you'll have when you pull it out. See how the sauce line is reduced? (If you sprayed your pan with a little cooking spray it will be easy to clean up!) It really is a great comfort food!
Posted by Karen
at 09:08 CST
Updated: Saturday, 14 January 2012 09:39 CST
Friday, 13 January 2012
When it's cold outside, create indoor warmth
Topic: Home environment
I can't believe that just two days ago I was outside in a T-shirt and jeans, pruning grapevines.
Yesterday and today, a T-shirt and jeans were the first layer, covered with a hooded sweatshirt (hood up!), jacket (hood up!), snowpants, hiking boots and ski mittens. And the activity? Snow clearing with the snowthrower--feeding animals, snowshoveling...
So it's now kind of settled down into mere frigid weather.
Time to create a cozy indoors...
As you can see, I haven't cleared off the table with Christmas cards, so light the candle for a little warmth...
Did you notice all the snow on the porch beyond?
Get the fireplace going. Really get a roaring fire to counteract that wind chill of ...minus 9!
Did you get something like this for Christmas? These are called "Bath Bombs" and they similar to huge, fragranced "Fizzies" for the bath.
Seriously, they are huge, aren't they? Each has it's own fragrance combo and great mineral salts for your skin.
But, before you soak those aching muscles in your "Bath Bomb" bath--make a quick Quiche Lorraine (recipe is archived under "recipes"). Here's mine right out of the oven--since I am indulging I did NOT skimp on the anchovies.
Now get into some cozy, comfortable, loungy clothes, and enjoy that quiche in front of your roaring fire...
Posted by Karen
at 12:47 CST
Updated: Saturday, 14 January 2012 09:07 CST
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Something beautiful that I must pass forward
Topic: Values
This email is being circulated and the photos are so beautiful I thought I'd do my part by re-posting on the blog. Thank you to the unnamed photographers who shared these pictures for our reflection.
018
019
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What a ride huh ! ? ! ....P@ V.
Posted by Karen
at 18:06 CST
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Herb Rubbed Pork with Beans
Topic: Recipe
I'll bet a lot of you cooks out there received various meat rubs this Christmas for gifts. You may have even made some yourselves. Usually we put rubs on grilled meats, but you don't have to wait until the outdoor grill is thawed in the Spring. Try this recipe for "Herb Rubbed Pork with Beans" that's made in the slow cooker.
Herb Rubbed Pork Roast with Beans
(4 servings)
First, prep your crockpot with a spray vegetable oil.
Then find a can of beans in your pantry. Any "Pork and Beans" or similar pre-cooked beans will do. I had a can of "Grilled Beans Texas Style".
Next saute 2 diced celery stalks with 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1 diced small onion in olive oil until tender.
Stir this mixture into the beans and put it into the bottom of your crockpot.
Next, liberally rub all surfaces of a small boneless pork roast with your signature meat rub blend.
Place on top of the beans, cover and cook on "low" all day --or 8 hours--and enjoy... not exactly the usual pork and beans, huh?
Once it's all done cooking...I am serving this with sauteed greens and a cucumber salad.
Posted by Karen
at 13:41 CST
Updated: Saturday, 7 January 2012 13:58 CST
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