What would you add?

Okay, my foodie friends, I'm counting on you for this one!

Today I made this recipe. The only changes were

• I used fresh rosemary instead of dried (didn't measure, but more than a tsp)
• the spinach looked dodgy so we skipped it
• turkey kielbasa instead of the regular kind

It was yummy enough, but…kind of bland. At about 6 hours I tasted it, thought it was bland, and dashed in some sea salt and dried parsley. When we ate it, we both added a bit more sea salt.

What herbs and/or spices would you recommend adding to punch it up a little? Not necessarily spicy (hot spicy), as we eat a lot of that already. Just more flavorful.

(Please answer here on the blog rather than FB/Twitter, because I'm about to leave town for almost two weeks and won't have time to check those sites regularly, and by the time I get back any responses will have disappeared into the gaping void. I can never find anything on FB after a few days, if that!)

The healthy mac-and-cheese experiment, take one

Remember when I asked about healthy/healthier mac-and-cheese recipes? I finally got around to trying one, last week when we were on a “make a shit-ton of food to freeze” kick.

I opted for this recipe, and made the following tweaks:

I used caulflower instead of squash, and I didn’t measure it; I basically used a small head of cauliflower. Instead of buy both peccorino Romano and Parmiagano-Romano, I just used Parmiagano-Romano. And of course I ditched the panko crumbs and parsley, because that does not a creamy mac-and-cheese make.

The result: a rather bland mac-and-cheese that tasted of cauliflower. It’s not bad, it’s just not…not at all what I wanted.

We had some shredded medium cheddar in the fridge from a previous meal, and I tried adding a bit of that to the individual servings…and it was much better. I was hesitant to use cheddar in the recipe because it normally doesn’t cook/heat well (it’s so oily), but now I’m re-thinking that. It shouldn’t take a lot of cheddar (especially if I went for the extra-sharp kind) to bump up the recipe flavor.

I’m also pondering this recipe, which is similar to the first but uses cheddar and jack cheeses. I’ve also seen one that tosses in half a cup of gorgonzola, which sounds heavenly. (I do like a spot of gorgonzola with my pasta, Gromit!)

The experiments shall continue!

Healthy mac and cheese?

Okay, here I am with another question for my foodie friends! (Note: I'd be grateful if you posted your responses here rather than FB/Twitter/G+, so I can keep everything together in one place. I cannot find anything on FB after a day or two after it's been posted, and I rarely even check Twitter, and I'm on G+ even less. Thanks!)

This time, I’m looking for a reasonably healthy macaroni and cheese recipe. I say “reasonably” because it’s hard to make something full of cheese super-healthy, but I want to strike a balance. I’ve been eating Amy’s Organic frozen mac and cheese, but it’s expensive, and doesn’t use whole wheat/whole grain pasta. I’m choosing it over boxed mac and cheese – which I can get as whole grain and organic – because if I make a box of mac and cheese, I will eat the entire box. And it’s still more processed than I’d like.

So what I’m thinking is, if I make my own (either in the crock pot or oven, or on the stove), then I can freeze it in portion-sized amounts.

I’ve done a little research and found bits and pieces of recipes that sound good, but I can’t seem to find one that covers everything I’m trying to do – and I’m not a good enough cook to know how to combine recipes.

Here are my parameters: 

• Ideally less than 400 calories per serving (where a serving is a reasonable size, not a quarter of a cup or some such bs).
• Whole wheat/whole grain pasta – doesn’t really affect the recipe; I can just substitute.
• No ingredients beyond pasta, cheese, and things that make it saucy. No breadcrumbs, no onions, no cauliflower. Those things are all fine and sometimes I do want a dish like that, but right now I’m looking for bog-standard comfort-food mac and cheese.
• When I see the phrase “low fat,” I think “chemical shitstorm.” I’d rather have a strong-tasting full-fat cheese and use less of it than use a blander low-fat cheese that will trigger my body to eat more.
• A little flour or cornstarch is fine, yogurt/milk is fine. I’m open to suggestion.

Here are some of the recipes I’ve looked at online. None of them fit all my parameters, so one question is, how could I combine these ideas?

Fitness recipe. What I like is the idea of using Greek yogurt for creaminess. What I don’t like is the onion-garlic puree (I could see trying it later, though), the breadcrumbs, or the reduced-fat cheddar. Would ditching the puree and using regular cheddar keep it below 400 calories, I wonder?

Food Network Squash Recipe #1. I know I said nothing funky, but eventually I’d like to try something like this one, with squash. Will it appreciably change the flavor? (I add squash, carrots, all sorts of stuff to spaghetti sauce and it doesn’t change the flavor, but then again, tomato sauce is different than cheese sauce.) What would happen if I left the squash out but used the same basic recipe? Likes: Ricotta, regular cheese. Dislikes: Lowfat milk (it’s not enough to make a big calorie difference, though), doesn’t give calorie count.

Food Network Squash Recipe #2. Ditto questions about squash above. Likes: Yogurt (would use regular, not non-fat), decent calorie count (but how far would it go up w/regular yogurt and cheese?). Dislike: The low-fat/non-fat options.

AllRecipes recipe. Likes: Basic and simple. Dislikes: Low-fat stuff, and what’s the calorie count?

Blissful recipe. Would cauliflower puree make it bland? Otherwise, my biggest issue with this one is the lack of calorie count…I’m guessing it’s high, given the cream cheese.

Food, glorious food!

I’m finally starting to feel better from cold #2 (which came on the heels of cold #1, thanks to Ken bringing it home with him), which means food other than mac-and-cheese (albeit organic whole wheat mac-and-cheese) is sounding appealing to me. Plus we did a major shopping today because we’re hosting Boxing Day brunch for Ken’s brother and sister-in-law and their three boys and Ken’s mom.

I don’t enjoy cooking, but I enjoy eating, and it’s nice to be interested in something more than mac-and-cheese and fresh meals from Trader Joe’s and Fresh & Easy. I did make a huge vat of split pea soup last week; a good chunk of that is in the freezer (along with the vat of red sauce I made) and I even gave a goodly amount to our tenant.

Here’s what’s on tap for the next few days:

Tonight’s dinner will be Mongolian-type stir-fry with veggies, tofu, and noodles. I actually bought most of the ingredients last week but we’ve been way to tired to cook them, so I’m glad they’re still good.

Tonight I’ll also be throwing a mess of onions in the slow cooker to caramelize overnight, in preparation for a near-future slow cooker French onion soup. I’ve got the cheese to shred (a gruyere/cheddar mix), and an adorable tiny whole wheat loaf from TJ’s to go with it.

At some point there’ll also be a vat of sloppy joes in the slow cooker, some of which we’ll freeze. Freezer’s getting full…!

We’ve got a great two-bean soup with sausage (we use a chicken-herb sausage from TJ’s) and kale recipe that’ll happen soon, too. Now that the weather’s turned cold (and is so pleasantly overcast and sometimes even rainy!) I want hearty soups and stews, and soups in particular are a great way to load up on healthy veggies!

For brunch, we’re having a make-your-own-breakfast-burrito bar (TJ’s whole wheat olive oil wraps, scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheddar-gruyere and feta cheeses, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, green onion, green pepper, salsa, sour cream…I feel like I'm forgetting something), scones (Ken’s mom’s bringing those) with clotted cream and lemon curd and jam, fruit salad (via Ken’s sister-in-law), and various drinks (coffee, tea, bloody marys, mimosas).

Right now, though, it’s time to stop thinking about food, continue sipping my Duchess Grey tea, and get back to work!

Question for my foodie and health-conscious friends

I think I’ve mentioned here a few times that Ken and I have revamped (and continue to revamp) our eating habits, cutting out processed foods as much as we can, eating as clean as possible, etc. I’ve cut out sugar and am frequently dairy free (barring milk in my tea). And so on.

Another step in that direction was to send all our old nonstick cookware off to a charity shop and replace it all with Pyrex (charity shops, ebay, and one of my sisters have been fabulous in that regard). Now I’m frowning at all the plastic cooking spoons, spatulas, etc., and wondering what to replace those with (especially since they’re starting to flake off at the edges. Ew!). That’s where I need your advice, my pets!

Wooden? If so, are there some that are better than others? I have one set of wooden spoons and one of them is developing splinters. I don’t want to eat wood…

Stainless steel? Or would this scratch the Pyrex?

Silicone?

And what about food storage? Are BPA-free plastic containers really safe? Or should we switch to glass (which has the downside of being pricey)? Our current containers are old and also flaking, and I’ve already gotten into the habit of transferring contents to a glass bowl before microwaving. I’ve also been slapping plastic wrap over leftovers on a plate or in a bowl rather than transferring the contents into a container. I don’t use the plastic wrap when I re-heat in the microwave, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t like the waste of plastic wrap (i.e., use it and then toss it).

Bonus points to suggestions that are eco-friendly as well. Thanks! xo

Cooking questions

I’m planning on making a vat of spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker, and I have a basic recipe cobbled from various ones in the Internet. I want to include a bunch of pureed veggies so it’s even healthier; from what I’ve read, you can’t even taste them.

My question is this: How do I prepare the veggies in order to puree them? Steam them?

Or, since I don’t like cooked tomato chunks, should I just toss in the veggies at the beginning of the slow-cooking process and puree the whole mess at some point? If I do that, at what point in the process would I do it? Because I’d still like some onion chunks, so I'd have to add them later, and I’d need to add the ground meat early enough to get the sauce flavors into the meat.

The potential veggies in question are broccoli, carrots, spinach, green or yellow peppers, and squash (not sure what kind—thoughts?).

Suggestions for other are welcome as well. Thanks!