Mahi Mahi with Corn and Black Bean Salsa

 

This was a completely improvised, but healthy and delicious meal I made tonight! When I came home tonight, I already had frozen mahi mahi filets defrosting in the fridge, but I wanted to do something a little different with it.  We also had half a can of black soy beans in the fridge, so I rummaged around the fridge and freezer to see what else I could do with this.  I had seen restaurants serve fish with corn and beans before (like at Chandler’s Crabhouse during our trip Seattle), so I whipped together this mild salsa with odds and ends I had in the fridge and steamed some broccoli to go on the side. The result is what you see here, a colorful, tasty dish!

Ingredients

For the fish:

• 4 mahi mahi filets
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the salsa:

• 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup corn (I used frozen which I defrosted in the microwave, but if it’s in season, fresh would be best)
• 1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
• handful of grape tomatoes, chopped (or a whole plum tomato would work nicely here too)
• 1 Tbs grated onion
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1 Tbs parsley, finely chopped
• seasoning salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne pepper
• juice from half a lime (or more to taste)

Variations

• Substitute parsley with cilantro, if you are not cilantro-averse like me
• Substitute bell pepper with a finely chopped jalapeno for a spicy kick
• Some cubed avocado would be an excellent addition, but my avocado was not ripe yet

Method:

Preheat oven at 450 degrees

Prepare the fish: lightly oil a roasting pan with olive oil.  Place filets in pan.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle a little more olive oil on the fish.  Roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

While the fish is cooking, prepare the salsa by combining ingredients into a bowl.  Set aside.

When fish is cooked, plate it and top with salsa, and an extra drizzle of lime juice.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

 

Week 2 of my “new recipe” New Year’s resolution and going strong! When I told J. about my resolution, he made one request – to use up ingredients in our cabinets and fridge! Since we have about half a dozen cans of pumpkin stocked up in our cabinets, I knew I had to do something with them.  And since one of the requirements of the new recipe resolution was that it had to be “healthy,” pumpkin pie was out of the question.  (Plus, who eats pumpkin pie in January?  That is a dessert I personally reserve for Thanksgiving.) 

So after some google searching, I found this recipe for this Thai pumpkin soup, which was perfect for the cold single-digit weather we had this week!  But since it calls for ingredients that I usually have in my pantry and is ready in minutes, I would make this any time of the year.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

Adapted from Foodie Crush

Ingredients:

• 2  14.5 oz cans pureed pumpkin
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1  14.5 oz light coconut milk
• 2 Tbs red curry paste
• 1-2 tsp fish sauce (to taste)
• A few dashes of sriracha sauce (to taste)

Method:

• In a medium sized pot, toast the curry paste for about a minute over medium high heat.
• Add chicken broth and pumpkin, stir until smooth and cook until it reaches a boil, about five minutes.
• Stir in coconut milk, and cook until heated through, about another three minutes
• Season with fish sauce and sriracha to taste and serve.

Lobster Rolls from a Naked Lobster

 

Earlier readers may remember my Quest for the Best Lobster Roll in Maine a couple years ago.  Since then, I’ve been meaning to recreate my own lobster roll at home.  But the idea of buying and cooking a live lobster still freaks me out.  Then J. sent me this article about a company that has special equipment that can shell lobsters, while keeping the body of the lobster intact! They call it the “naked” lobster.  (The article has a picture of the naked lobster – it’s a little disturbing and intriguing at the same time).  The company uses steam pressure to extract the meat without breaking the meat.  This makes it so it is cheaper to freeze and transport Maine lobster.

Coincidentally, the day after J. sent me the article, we went shopping at BJ’s, and found this intriguing product.

It cost about $20 at BJ’s and since we were intrigued to try it out, we bought a box to try to recreate Maine lobster rolls.

Inside the box, there were two plastic packages of lobster meat.  These were cut up into pieces and not whole as described in the article. (They do sell the “naked” lobster, though).

But you can see that there are two claws, legs and knuckles

To make the lobster rolls, I made sure to keep it simple – I chopped up the meat into bite size pieces, mixed it up with some mayo and a squeeze of lemon juice in a bowl.

I toasted hot dog buns and slathered the mixture into the buns.  I served them here with a salad.

The lobster meat still isn’t quite the same as a fresh lobster.  It was a bit fishier and not quite as firm as a freshly cooked lobster.  But I really liked the convenience of not having to cook the lobster myself.  Yes, I know you can ask your seafood department at many supermarkets to steam cook the lobster for you, but I liked being able to just pull these out of the freezer, defrost, and eat. And by my estimation, one $20 box of lobster makes about 4 lobster rolls, plus hot dog buns, and mayo = about $5.25 for a lobster roll! Not a bad price. 

Incidentally, J. and I will be going to Maine in about two weeks, so we’ll be able to have some fresh lobster rolls soon!

Note: I was not compensated for this review.  I just really like lobster.

Maine Lobster Rolls

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 package Shucks Maine Lobster meat (or about 3.5 ounces of cooked lobster), defrosted and chopped into small pieces
• 1 Tbs mayonnaise
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 hot dog buns

Method:

Mix mayonnaise, lobster meat, and lemon juice in a bowl.  Lightly toast hot dog buns in a toaster oven.  Spoon lobster mixture into buns. 

A “Chopped” Style dinner

 

I hope you enjoyed my recap on poutine last week.  I have at least one more recap on Montreal coming up, which I hope to share with you all later this week.  But first, dinner!

Tonight’s dinner looks atrocious, but I promise you it was tasty! And good for you too!

I came home tonight and threw together what J. calls a “Chopped”-style dinner.  “Chopped” is easily my favorite cooking reality TV show – it’s so addictive to watch! For those of you haven’t seen the show (where have you been?!), the show begins with four contestants and one is eliminated from each round by a panel of judges.  Each round is a course (appetizer, entrée, and dessert), and each course the contestants are given a “mystery basket” to prepare the course.  The mystery basket always has some hodgepodge of ingredients that don’t seem to go together, like easy cheese, “duck white kidneys,” brown bread in a can, or one episode, an emu egg.  (By the way, if you don’t know what duck white kidneys are… Google it, you’ll be surprised!)

Anyway, so I came home and found a hodgepodge of ingredients in the fridge that had to be used – half a bunch of wilting kale, a quarter of a browning avocado, and pork tenderloin.  So I threw them all together in a pan, along with garlic, some salsa and came together with this Mexican inspired “stir-fry.” It’s not the prettiest dish -- I would definitely get “chopped” for presentation, but it came out to be spicy and flavorful. 

Spicy Pork and Kale Stir Fry

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. lean pork tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces
• 1/2 bunch of kale (about 17 stems), stems removed and roughly chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 zucchini
• 3/4 cup prepared salsa
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil

Seasonings to taste:

• Cumin
• onion powder
• chili powder
• red pepper flakes
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• a few dashes of hot sauce

Accompaniments :

• Avocado
• Plain yogurt or sour cream
• Corn tortillas

Method:

Heat about 1 Tbs olive oil over medium heat.  Season pork with a little salt, pepper and cumin.  Add pork and cook until browned on all sides (about 1 minute on each side).  Remove heat from pan and set pork aside on a dish.

Add another Tbs of olive to the pan and bring it back to medium heat.  Add zucchini and cook for about 1 minute.  Add garlic (see note on cooking garlic*), and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Push zucchini and garlic to the sides of the pan, forming a well.  Cook kale in the well, until wilted. Add seasonings to taste. Stir in cooked pork and salsa.  Cook for about another minute until heated through.  Serve with optional toppings or just eat it as is!

*Note:

To avoid burning the garlic, I learned this method from Cooks Illustrated, which I have described here on the blog, but I finally took a picture.  Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, forming an empty space in the middle of the pan.  Add 1/2 tsp of olive oil in the middle of the pan, and then add the garlic to the oil.  What you have will look like this:

Once the garlic has been cooking for about 30 seconds, stir to combine it with the vegetables. 

Swiss Chard with Eggs and Bacon

Last Saturday, J. and I finally made it out to the farmers’ market for the first time this season.  With all the various weddings and birthday festivities occupying our weekends, we haven’t had much time to ourselves. Which also means we haven’t had much time to go food shopping, so a lot of meals have been either eating out or cobbling together what I have in the pantry and freezer.  Which has been taking a toll on our wallets and waistlines!  So I was pretty excited to finally get to buy fresh produce from the farmers market.

In an effort to get more vegetables in my diet, I decided I wanted to experiment with a vegetable I had never cooked with before.  J. and I eat a lot of bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, and the occasional Brussels sprouts here and here.  But I wanted to try something new.

Enter this Swiss chard from the farmers market. 

I have never cooked with Swiss chard before.  In fact, when I got home I had to google how best to store it. (Wrap it tightly in plastic and store it in the fridge.  Don’t wash it before storing it because it will wilt and get moldy).  So I polled the audience on Facebook on how best to cook it.  My sister’s good friend M. had made a beautiful suggestion, which she got from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver:

“Saute some onions and carrots in a large skillet, add the Chard. When it wilts, make depressions in the Chard, crack eggs in the depressions, cover and cook until the eggs are done. Yummy!”

I was pysched to try it! I had to wait until Sunday to try it though, since we already had dinner plans for a friend’s birthday. I had read that swiss chard, like corn, is best when eaten the same day, so I was a bit bummed that I had to wait.  But it was well worth the wait!

I wanted to add a little something more to M.’s original suggestion.  And since swiss chard was a leafy green like spinach, and spinach goes great with bacon, bacon would be the perfect accent for this dish.

But Cheryl, you ask, isn’t this supposed to be your “healthy” post for the week?

Well, bacon is delicious and makes everything better.  And when used as in moderation as an accent, and most of the fat is drained, it’s really not that bad for you.  I believe it was Mark Bittman who even encouraged the use of moderate amounts of bacon to be used to season or accent food. 

Still not convinced?  Have a religious or dietary restriction on pork products?  Well, I’m sure this is still great without the bacon.  But the bacon adds a richness that makes it “soul-foody” as J. described it.  So unless you have a religious or dietary restriction, then I say go for it, eat the bacon.

Special Thanks to M. for the excellent suggestion!

Swiss Chard with Eggs and Bacon

Adapted from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch swiss chard, thoroughly washed, ribs removed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped (I used a handful of baby carrots, and thinly sliced them at an angle)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 slices of bacon
• 2 eggs (can cook more, but we only had two left in the fridge)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper, to taste

Method:

In a large skillet, cook bacon to desired doneness.  Remove bacon strips from pan and drain on paper towels.  Set bacon aside.  Drain most of the bacon fat from the pan, leaving about one tablespoon in the pan to cook the vegetables in.   Reserve the bacon fat.  Cook carrots and onions in 1 tablespoon of bacon fat over medium-low heat for about 8 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and soft.  Add Swiss chard to the pan.  (You may have to add them in handfuls, allow it to wilt a bit, and then add more, to get it to fit in the pan.)  When the chard has wilted, push it to the sides of the pan, creating a “well.”  Add about 1/2 tsp of bacon fat (or you could use olive oil if you forget to reserve the fat).  Add minced garlic to the fat and cook for about 30 seconds before stirring it into the vegetables.  Make two little “wells” in the chard for the eggs.  Crack the eggs in to the “wells” and cover the pan.  Cook for another 4-5 minutes or until done.  Add seasonings to taste.   Crumble reserved bacon strips and sprinkle on top of the chard.  Serve immediately.

Other accompaniments I would add for next time would be to serve with a slice of good crusty bread, or perhaps with some parmesan or gruyere cheese on top.

Other useful links on Swiss chard:

• Nutritional information, storage, cooking, and preparation tips from The World’s Healthiest Foods
• Sautéed Swiss Chard recipe from Simply Recipes
• How to stem Swiss chard from About.com – wish I read this before I tried stemming them!
• Don’t throw out the stems! I plan on using them to make this roasted Swiss chard stems or this Swiss chard stem au gratin.

Spicy Tuna Melt with Avocado

This post is part of the Healthy Living series, which appears here on Food Judicata on Monday evenings.  Click here for other Healthy Living posts.

I ran the Newport 10k last weekend and made a new PR! My goal was to break my last 10k race time (my first!) of 1:08.12.19.  I shattered it last weekend by finishing in 1.03.53.64! I remember when I first starting running in the summer of 2011. Before that I had never run more than a mile, and that was in high school gym class. So it was a big leap for me when I registered for my first 5K, the World Trade Center Run to Remember on Governor's Island in September 2011, and started training.  My goal back then was to simply to finish the race without stopping.  I ran a 12:00 min mile pace for 3.1 miles.  And that was really hard!  Now I can run 10:17 minute mile pace for 6.2 miles!  I have to admit losing weight helped in my vast time improvement.  As J. always says, imagine running 6.2 miles with a 30 lb backpack.  That was what I was running with before.

In the spirit of healthy living and exercise, (and to make up for all the almond butter ice cream, and the leftover birthday cake I had for breakfast), here is a light and healthy twist on the classic tuna melt, which makes a quick and easy lunch.  I made this a few weeks ago after I did a trial kickboxing class at CKO.  It was a hard workout! And left me starving! So this lunch really hit the spot, without completely undoing the effects of the workout!

Spicy Tuna Melt with Avocado
(Serves 1)

1/2 can Albacore tuna, packed in water, drained (I used Trader Joe's no-salt added)
1-2 tsp mayonnaise (to taste)
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
chopped pickled jalapenos, to taste (I used 3-4 slices and chopped them)
1 slice of cheddar cheese
1 slice whole wheat bread
1/4 avocado, sliced
Dash of cayenne pepper

Mix the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.  Toast bread and cheese in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted.  Top with the tuna mixture, sliced avocado, and dash of cayenne.

The Great Greek Salad Debate

Last Saturday night, J. and I had a deep discussion on a topic of utmost importance: What goes in a Greek salad?

The Greek salad I have come to know has lettuce, feta cheese, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Bonus points for roasted red peppers, or regular bell peppers.  Meats, such as grilled chicken or lamb are optional.  My experience is based on New Jersey diners (many of which, are owned by Greek immigrants).

According to J, peperoncini is a key element to the Greek salad.  He bases his Greek salad experience   from a place called The Parthenon in Western Massachusetts, where he grew up. To me, this was preposterous.  Peperoncini is a product of Italy.  Why would you put it in a Greek salad? But J. insisted that because The Parthenon had peperoncini in their Greek salad, it was not optional.  

So in order to resolve this debate, I did what I do with any other heated dispute we have: I looked it up on Wikipedia. It turns out we were both right.  Or maybe we were both wrong.  According to Wikipedia,

 Lettuce, tomatoes, feta, and olives are the most standard elements in an American-style 'Greek salad', but cucumbers, peperoncini, bell peppers, onions, radishes, dolmades, anchovies/sardines and pickled hot peppers are common. 

And if it was on Wikipedia, it had to be true, right?

Bell peppers and peperoncini are both common elements.  But really, it seems, as long as you have the core ingredients, that is lettuce, cheese, olives, and tomatoes, then you have a Greek salad. 

Here is what we put in a Greek salad:

Core ingredients:
Leafy greens (baby spinach or mixed salad greens, which ever we have on hand)
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Kalamata olives
Feta cheese

Optional ingredients:
Roasted red peppers
Bell peppers
Peperoncini (I don't care what J. says, I still think these are optional)
Sliced red onion
Carrots (not traditional but we always seem to have them)

Question of the Week:
What do you put in a Greek salad?

Brussels Sprouts and Chinese Sausage

Last night, I just didn't feel right blogging about food.  My heart goes out to all those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.  Although the longest distance I have ever run is 6.2 miles, I can only imagine the heartbreak of the runners and their loved ones on a day that was supposed to celebrate months of hard work and training, which turned to devastation and tragedy.  To learn more about how you can help, Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers has compiled some useful links and resources.  

This is what I would have blogged about last night: 

I've been on a bit of a brussels sprouts kick lately.  I've learned that brussels sprouts are best when cooked with a cured meat, such as bacon, ham, or corned beef.  But since I didn't have ham or corned beef handy, and all of our bacon was an icy frozen block in the freezer, I had to rummage through the fridge to find a good substitute.  Sure enough, I found a ziploc bag of Chinese sausage, or lap cheong. hidden in the back of the fridge.  Unlike breakfast sausage or Italian sausages, Chinese sausage is salty and sweet in a way that's hard to describe. While it is a little different in flavor from the Taiwanese sausages I grew up with, Taiwanese sausage is hard to come by unless you have a live-in Taiwanese grandmother in your house.  So it's good to have around a substitute to throw in stir-fries and fried rice.  When I was growing up, I remember my mom and my grandma would use leftover bits of sausage to flavor cabbage stir-fries.  So when I found the forgotten sausage links in the back of my fridge, I had a culinary epiphany! Chinese sausage  and brussels sprouts! Perfect. 

The rest was improvisation.  I sliced the sprouts into quarters and minced the garlic,  I thinly sliced the sausages on a diagonal just like my grandma used to.  But to season the sprouts, I mixed together my own concoction of fish sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sriracha.  The combination of the fish sauce, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce mimicked the sweet and saltiness of the sausage, while the sriracha added just the right kick of spiciness. J. and I both loved how this dish came out. So I gave myself a virtual pat on the back, and mentally drafted how I was going to write this post.  

Today, I did a quick google search on "brussels sprouts and chinese sausage," which produced approximately 162,000 results, including this recipe from Steamy Kitchen, one of my favorite blogs. It turns out either I just reinvented the wheel, or on some subconscious level I was remembering reading this recipe.  

And here I thought I was so clever.  

Oh well, I still say this is a a great recipe, and I take full credit for my method and seasoning.  

Brussels Sprouts with Chinese Sausage

1 package brussels sprouts, halved or quartered, depending on size of sprouts 

3 links Chinese sausage, thinly sliced on a diagonal

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

1 Tbs hoisin sauce

a few dashes of sriracha sauce, to taste

Heat large skillet.  Cook sausage until fat is rendered (about 2 minutes), be careful not to burn it.  Remove sausage from the pan, while keeping as much of the fat as possible in the pan.  Drain sausage on a paper towel.  Return pan to medium heat.  Add brussels sprouts and cook until lightly browned.  (Try not to stir it around too much or it won't brown).  Push sprouts to the sides of the pan to form a well in the center of the pan.  Add sesame oil to the center of the pan.  Add garlic to the oil and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Stir garlic with the sprouts.  Add sausage, fish sauce, soy sauce, hoisin and sriracha to the mixture and toss until combined. Allow to cook for about another minute or until heated through.  Serve immediately with rice. 

Other Brussels Sprouts and Chinese Sausage of recipes (since apparently I am not as original as I thought I was): 

Steamy Kitchen

Foodie with Family

Imeeshu

Overnight Oats + Chia Seeds

This post is part of a "Healthy Living" Series that I have started on Monday evenings. Read more about the series and my journey to a healthy lifestyle here.  

What you see here is culmination of two things I keep coming across on my favorite healthy living blogs for the last few months - overnight oats and chia seeds.  I finally tried both of them for the first time last week. While I recognize I am late coming to the party,  I'm glad I made it, because together, overnight oats and chia seeds make an easy nutritious breakfast. Overnight oats are simply rolled oats (not quick cooking) soaked in liquid overnight (clever name, huh?).  Chia seeds are now making their reappearance into pop culture.  Yup, that's right, these are the same chia seeds that children "plant" on to animal-shaped pottery. Except now, they are being recognized for their nutritional benefits, are marketed as a "superfood," as opposed being recognized for the catchy jingle.  (Which anyone reading this who grew up in the US during the early 90s has running through their heads right now).

What's great about overnight oats is that it takes minutes to prepare the night before, so there is virtually no prep time in the morning and no cooking involved.  The time the oats spend soaking make them thick and chewy. When the chia seeds are soaked in the liquid, they become gelatinous, sort of like tapioca balls, which was made them good for adhering onto terracotta pots, but also good for giving the oatmeal a nice thickness.  So the oats start out looking like this at night....

And look like this in the morning!

Sorry, no matter how hard I try, oatmeal is just not photogenic.  You'll just have to trust me that it tastes good.

I had to play around with the ratios a bit and read up on a lot of variations.  The possibilities for spices and toppings are endless.  This version, which is adapted from Kath Eats Real Food, has been the best for me so far.  Below the recipe is a list of other versions that I plan to experiment with soon.  Don't be surprised if there is an Overnight Oats: Part II sometime in the near future...

Overnight Oats
Adapted from Kath Eats Real Food

1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind)
1/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup 1% milk
1 Tbs chia seeds
1/2 tsp brown sugar/splenda blend (can substitute with 1 tsp brown sugar)
4 medium strawberries
1 oz blueberries (a small handful)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt
dash of cinnamon

The night before you plan to eat this, combine all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together.  (You could also save the fruit for topping in the morning, but I wanted to have one less step to worry about in the morning).  Cover and put in the fridge.  In the morning, put in the microwave for about 20 seconds on high to take the chill off it, if desired.  Stir and enjoy.

Other Overnight Oats Recipes I want to try:
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough from Peanut Butter Fingers
Pretty much all the variations from Kath Eats Real Food
Not overnight oats, but I really want to try this version of microwaved oats from Fannetastic Food

Healthy Portable Lunch Ideas

I really like to bring my lunch to work when ever I can.  Not only does it save money, but it also ensures that I eat a healthy and nutritious lunch.  (Not that eating out has to be unhealthy - more on that next week!)

Most frequently, I bring leftovers from dinner the night before. What I love about doing this is that it gives me something to look forward to in the middle of the day since I still have the memory of the tasty meal I had the night before. So when I am making dinner, I often will cook an extra serving so that I will have lunch to bring the next day.  For example...

This basil pesto salmon with quinoa pilaf, with an apple on the side.  I usually supplement my lunch some fresh fruit to help fill me up (without adding a lot of calories).  Plus, I enjoy having something sweet at the end of a meal. 

Slow cookers are great for cooking large batches of food to bring to lunch.  In the past, I have brought a tupperware of these yummy recipes to work with me....

Spicy Enchilada Chili

Albondigas Soup

Minestrone Soup

Tortilla Soup

Or other times, I will have a small piece of chicken or fish that I put on top of salad, like this chicken breast on top of this spinach salad with avocado and carrots.  (Pretty sure there are grape tomatoes in there somewhere too...)

But when I don't have leftovers available, I bring a lot of sandwiches...

Like this Tomato, Cheese, and Hummus on Whole Wheat Pita, with tomato slices on the side.  When I first saw this sandwich in The Supermarket Cookbook, I thought it was so weird.  But now it's one of my favorite sandwiches to bring to work! (By the way, you are also treated with a glimpse of my work keyboard  and mouse in the background there).

Smoked Salmon and cream cheese on whole wheat bread, with steamed broccoli on the side.  Okay, I cheated a little on this one - I made this for dinner one night when J. was in out of town for work.  But this could easily be packed into lunch. (Just bring some breath mints or chewing gum, if you don't want fishy breath for the rest of the afternoon).

So there you have it, my Healthy "Bring to Work" lunches.  Stay tuned for next week when I will show you my strategies for healthier take-out lunch options.

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

After the positive feedback I've been receiving on my journey to a healthier lifestyle, I've started a "Healthy Living" series, which I will endeavor to post tips and strategies that I use to live healthier every Monday. (For those of you reading this for recipes, or just not interested in this topic, rest assured, I will still post the occasional sweet treat or otherwise indulgence food when it meets my fancy.  Variety is the spice of life!)

This week's topic - Breakfast!

Your mother was right, breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. There are countless reasons why eating a healthy breakfast is good for you; it jump starts your metabolism, it provides you with energy for the day... I won't bore you with a lecture on the specifics as there is plenty of literature out there on the topic, such as here and here.  Fortunately for me, as a kid, my mom never let me leave the house in the morning to go to school without eating breakfast first, which in turn developed a very good habit for me into adulthood.  On weekdays, I usually eat breakfast after a workout at the gym, so that doesn't leave me with much time to prepare an elaborate breakfast.  But being pressed for time doesn't mean that you can't eat healthy.  Here are some of my favorite weekday breakfast ideas:

Whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, banana, and a drizzle of honey

Elvis had the right idea with combining peanut and bananas.  I use a tablespoon of reduced fat peanut butter to "save" on calories (I'm partial to Skippy, but J. prefers Jiff, so I buy which ever one is on sale).

Whole grain cereal with berries and nuts

My favorite brand of cereal to use for this is Kashi Heart to Heart - either the warm cinnamon or toasted oat flavor.  The toasted oat flavor reminds me of a more grown-up Honey Nut Cheerios.  I also sometimes change up the fruit, such as a banana or apple.  

Low-fat (or nonfat) yogurt with fruit preserves, berries and nuts

I find mixing plain yogurt with a quality fruit preserve actually tastes better than the packaged "fruit at the bottom yogurt."  And also depending on the brand of preserves, you can avoid some of the scary chemicals and artificial flavoring.  

As you may have gathered, we had a lot of berries in the fridge last week.  But if you are looking for a savory breakfast, try this:

"Rocky Mountain toast" toast with avocados, cheddar cheese and grape tomatoes, and a few drops of sriracha sauce.  "Rocky Mountain toast," also known as "Man on a raft" is simply a piece of bread with a hole cut into the center.  You put the toast in the frying pan and cook the egg in the center.  (The egg is buried under all the toppings in the picture). 

What do you like to eat for a healthy breakfast? Do you eat different breakfast foods during the week and on weekends?

Note: I was not compensated by any of the products mentioned here.  I purchased all the products with my own funds. 

Shrimp and Vegetables in Sherry Sauce

I love shrimp.  Not only are they tasty, they are a low-calorie protein, and inexpensive too.  On top of that, they don't require planning ahead in that you don't have to defrost them the night before.  Just run cold water over the shrimp in a colander for five minutes. (Shake the colander around so that the shrimp defrost evenly).

Plus, adding shrimp makes any meal look fancy, when really you hardly spent any time on it, and didn't even plan ahead!  What's not to love? (That is of course, so long as you are not allergic to them)

And doesn't this dish look fancy? In reality, though, it was really simple to make, and I used ingredients I usually have on hand. I often cook shrimp with vegetables this way, but this time, I threw in a shot of sherry on a whim because I love how sherry tastes with seafood.  It turned out to really make the sauce for this dish.

Shrimp and Vegetables in Sherry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, dished
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup (a handful) grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped
1 shot dry sherry
dash of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

Method:
Heat olive oil with a dash of red pepper flakes.  When the oil is hot, beginning cooking onions.  When the onions start to soften, stir in garlic, and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).  Add zucchini, bell pepper, and yellow squash. Add a pinch of salt to taste  Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until soft. Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, creating a "well" for the shrimp.  Add shrimp to the "well" and cook for about a minute on each side, or until pink.  Add sherry.  Let it reduce for about a minute.  Add grape tomatoes, and cook for about another two minutes, until heated through.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with quinoa, pasta, or rice.  (Earlier this week, I made a big batch of quinoa pilaf with a slightly modified version of this recipe, which is what is pictured here.)

Sriracha Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry

I know what you're thinking, "Another stir-fry post?"  Bear with me, though, because this one incorporates a few tricks I've learned to keep the meat juicy and tender, plus a spicy kick.  The trick is to add corn starch to the marinade.  I don't understand the science behind it, but some how the corn starch "seals" the meat and keeps it juicy and tender.  And the sriracha adds a spicy kick, which was good since I still had a cold when I made this and needed to clear the sinuses.

Sriracha Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

Marinade:

2 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbs sriracha sauce

1/2 tsp fresh grated garlic

2 small cloves of garlic, pressed through a garlic press (or minced)

1 Tbs sesame oil 

1/2 Tbs corn starch
Juice from half of a lime

1 large skinless boneless chicken breast, sliced into roughly pinky-sized pieces

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced on a diagonal

2 scallions chopped into 1-2 inch pieces

1 Tbs grapeseed oil

Method:

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Add chicken and toss to coat.  Marinate for about 15-20 minutes. 

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat.  Add pepper and celery, and cook for a few minutes until they start to soften.  Add marinated chicken breast and cook for about two minutes on each side or until fully cooked.  Add scallions and cook until the scallions are slightly wilted. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Serve immediately with rice. 

Italian Sausage and Peppers - Two Ways

After we came back from Chicago, J. bought two long links of sweet Italian sausage from Moloney's Meat Market in Jersey City.  It was my job to figure out what to do with them.  I had never cooked with Italian sausage before but I love to get sausage and peppers at street festivals.  So I made two variations, pasta and sandwich, over the course of two nights.  Both are essentially the same ingredients, but tweaks in the method.  My preferred method is the sandwich version because the roll does a better job soaking up the juices.

Night 1: Sausage and Pepper Pasta (pictured above)

1 10 inch link of sweet Italian sausage, sliced at angle.  (I didn't remove the casing, you really should)
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into bite-size pieces
handful of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 pound of whole-wheat penne pasta
parmesan cheese for sprinkling at the end
1 T and 1 tsp (separated) olive oil

1. Start boiling water for pasta.  When it reaches a rolling boil, drop in pasta and cook according to the directions on the box. Reserve about 1/3 cup of pasta water for later.  Drain pasta.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Cook sausage slices until browned. Set aside

3. Return pan to heat. (add a little more oil if necessary).  Add red and green peppers and onion. Cook until they start to brown.  Push the vegetables to the edges of the pan, and in the empty space in the middle, add 1 tsp of oil and minced garlic.  Cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant, and stir the garlic with the rest of the mixture.  Add grape tomatoes. Cook for about another minute or two.

4.  Add cooked pasta, and reserved cooking water to the pan and toss.

5.  Sprinkled parmesan cheese on top and serve.

Makes about two servings

Night 2: Sausage and Pepper Sandwiches


Same ingredients as above, except swap the pasta for two rolls, and omit the tomatoes.  We bought rolls from the bodega around the corner from us.  They came from one of those plastic bins that you fish out the rolls with tongs.  The bin didn't have a label, but I think they are portuguese rolls.  Also instead of chopping and mincing the vegetables into small pieces, I simply sliced them so they would be easier to eat in a roll.

Cook the sausage and vegetables the same way as above.  But instead of mixing it with pasta, spoon it in to rolls.

The New and Improved Food Judicata

After a seven-month hiatus, I have decided to return to the food blogosphere!  As you can see Food Judicata has a fresh new look, I am planning on some new changes that reflect some of the big changes in my life in the last seven months. In the past months I:

1) Lost twenty pounds - expect to see a healthier, lighter Food Judicata

2) Moved to a new city - look out for bits on local businesses and restaurants

3) Combined households with J., the boyfriend - expect to see more about family-style cooking

4) Got a new computer - I am not sure what this will mean for the blog yet, except that maybe I will be posting more frequently

These changes all mostly happened within the last two weeks (well, except for the 20 pound weight loss, of course!)

To kick of my return, here is a "recipe" (more of a method, than a recipe) to my Southwest Tuna Salad that I threw together for lunch today with J. As you can see, it uses mostly light and fresh ingredients, (except for the tuna), but the seasonings give it an extra punch of flavor.  

Southwest Tuna Salad

Ingredients

1 can Albacore tuna (no salt added, packed in water - I used Trader Joe's)

2 Tbs light mayonnaise

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Dash of cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

squeeze of fresh lime juice

Mix together these ingredients and lay on top of a bed of the following: 

Mixed Salad Greens

Corn 

Black beans

Roasted red pepper

Hard boiled eggs

Baby carrots

Finish with another squeeze of the lime and serve.  Makes about two servings

Spicy black bean and orzo soup

Unlike last year, I will not be hosting Thanksgiving dinner. And while it was fun, I am more than happy to return the torch back to my sister this year. But as is what happens before any long weekend in which I am going to be away, I am on a mission to finish any perishables in my fridge. Which usually involves a little creativity and making use of some staples from the pantry, since I hate to buy more groceries just before a long weekend. So what does one do with a handful of baby carrots, a few stalks of limp celery and an onion? Make soup, of course!

Since I wanted to do something different than the classic chicken noodle soup (and since I hadn't had the foresight to defrost any chicken), I decided to add a can of black beans. When I tasted the soup, I felt it needed something more to jazz it up - so I added some cumin to bring out the smokiness of the beans, and a few dashes of chipotle tabasco sauce. I'm quite pleased with the end result, and even more pleased I didn't need to make a trip to the grocery store to buy any of the ingredients!

Spicy black bean and orzo soup

Ingredients:

About 1 cup baby carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
A couple tablespoons of olive oil
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste)
a few dashes of chipotle tabasco sauce
2/3 cup orzo

Method:
Start boiling the pasta water with a generous pinch of salt. Add orzo when it comes to a boil. Cook for about a minute or two less than the time indicated on the instructions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop the vegetables. Add oil to another pot and heat on medium-high heat. Add vegetables, stirring frequently for about 7 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add chicken broth, beans, bay leaf and spices and tabasco. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Allow it to simmer, covered, for about twenty minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste.

I like to keep the orzo separate from the soup, until just before serving, since I am one person, and can't eat it all right away. My concern is that if there are leftovers the pasta will absorb all the liquid and get mushy. But go ahead and toss it in if you plan on eating it all right away.

Quinoa Patties

Earlier in the week, I cooked a batch of quinoa to go with some chicken. While rice is my first love when it comes to grain side dishes, quinoa is rapidly becoming a close second. It has a nice nutty flavor, and it cooks faster than rice. And I like to see how the little curly strand comes out in the quinoa. (I know, I am easily amused).

Anyway, I had about two cups of leftover quinoa that I didn't know what to do with. After surfing the 'net for ideas, I was intrigued by the idea of making these quinoa patties. But I didn't have most of the ingredients, so used the recipe as a base and took some liberties with the spices. What I ended up with something of a cross between a biscuit and an Italian meatball with the basil, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It made for an unique snack when dipped with tomato-basil sauce. If I were to make these again, I would probably follow the recipe more closely and add feta cheese. What I am curious to see, though, is if theses patties would work as sort of vegetarian "meatballs" if tossed with pasta and tomato sauce.

Quinoa Patties
Loosely adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 cups cooked quinoa
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1/2 yellow onion, grated
3 garlic cloves, grated
3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
5 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Oil a baking sheet (I used cooking spray). Form batter into roughly two-inch patties. Bake for 15-20 minutes, (until nicely golden brown on the bottom side). Flip and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Makes about a dozen patties. Best served dipped in tomato sauce.

Pork and Apples in Bulgogi sauce

This may seem like just a riff off of the last post. But there’s a moral at the end of this story, I promise.

So a few weeks ago, when Hurricane Irene was allegedly rampaging through the Northeast, Boyfriend and I and another couple decided to escape the torrential rains, flooding, the Apocalypse, etc. for drier pastures inland to State College, PA. Which actually turned out to be a very entertaining getaway, even if it turned out the world did not end when the hurricane hit New Jersey.  While our friends in New Jersey were huddled inside their homes, conserving bottled water and unperishables, we were exploring Penn State's campus, walking to bars and swimming in the hotel swimming pool.  On the last night our “hurrication” we drove to a neighboring town for Korean food at a restaurant called, “Kimchi.” Yes, we had kimchi at Kimchi, you know that just had to be said. Among the other dishes we had though, was a classic Korean dish, beef bulgogi, which I very much enjoyed. The next day, we left early in the morning to make our way home.  The trip home started out smoothly but came to a standstill shortly after we crossed the state border into New Jersey where we sat in traffic.  Apparently the storm had eroded away pieces of 287!  We eventually made it home and to find that my apartment was fortunately left unscathed by Irene.  Everything inside my apartment was as it was before; I didn't even come home to the flashing red digits on my alarm clock, a tell-tale sign of power outage.  I did, however, come home with a craving for bulgogi.  Luckily, since the power never went out, the contents of my fridge remained unspoiled,  including a bottle of bulgogi sauce. (Which I most likely purchased the last time I went out for Korean food.)

So that is the inspiration for this week’s post. After the impromptu teriyaki stir-fry from the last post, I wanted to improve upon it, because the meat turned out to be overcooked and tough. So this time, I marinated the pork in the bulgogi sauce in the morning and went off to work.

When I got home, I had to decide what to do with it. I had a green apple, which I had saved for the purpose of cooking it with pork. Boyfriend makes a pork and apple stir-fry that comes out quite nice, and Rachael Ray has her own pork and apple dish, so I knew that pork and apples go well together. So I chopped the apple up along with the other vegetables I had in the fridge.

But what to do with the meat, so it would not be so tough? This time, I cut the pork into bigger chunks. I then sprinkled about a teaspoon of corn starch and mixed it around the meat and let it sit while I chopped the vegetables.

It turned out this method worked out really well. The pork was not tough and overcooked, but plump and juicy. I will definitely stick to this method in the future. And the apples let out a little bit of sweetness to the pork and the sauce, to make a sort of East meets West all blended together into one dish.

So as promised, there is a moral to this story, in fact there is more than moral to this story:

1. Marinate your meat with cornstarch
2. When there is a hurricane, take a “hurrication” if you can, you’ll have a blast.

Pork and Apple Stir-Fry in Bulgogi Sauce

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin, chopped into 1-2 inch chunks
1 green apple, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
½ onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
About 3 Tbs of bottled bulgogi sauce for marinade, and another 2 Tbs for adding at the end
1 tsp cornstarch
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:

Prep:
Marinate pork in 3 Tbs of bulgogi sauce. (I did it for about 10 hours in the fridge since I did it just before I left for work. You can probably get away with 1-2 hours). Sprinkle with cornstarch and set aside while you chop the vegetables.

Cook:
Heat some oil in a large skillet. Brown the meat first for about two minutes on each side. Set aside on a plate. Add some more oil to pan and heat it a little bit on medium heat. Cook the onions first. Then add pepper, apples, and squash and cook for about 3 minutes. Create a “well” for the garlic by pushing the vegetables to the rim of the pan. Add the garlic with a little more oil to center of the pan. Allow to cook for about 30 seconds before incorporating with the rest of the mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the mixture for a few more minutes until you can easily pierce a fork into one of the chunks. (You may need to cover it to speed up the cooking). Add cooked pork, and stir in 2 Tbs of bulgogi sauce, heat for about another minute. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds.

Impromptu Pork and Vegetable Teriyaki

Growing up, we had a lot of stir-fries for dinner. Both my parents worked seven days a week, and nearly ten hours everyday. We ate out a lot as a result of that, frequently at Chinese restaurants (why do Chinese/Taiwanese families always eat out at Chinese restaurants?). But when we did eat at home, it had to be cooked fast and on the fly. Served over white rice, of course. And now that I am an adult, I find that this style has influenced my everyday cooking.

Of course, my stir-fries are a bit different from my mom's. My mom's stir-fries usually involved garlic, dried shrimp, ginger, and cabbage. A lot of cabbage. I tend to use more western vegetables, such as zucchini, summer squash, peppers and eggplant. I've also experimented more with sauces.

Here is an example of something I threw together today, using the vegetables I had in the fridge:

Impromptu Pork and Vegetable Teriyaki

Ingredients:
1 boneless pork tenderloin
1 small eggplant, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed
1 red pepper, chopped into roughly 1 inch chunks
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced (set some aside for the sauce)
Olive oil
Sesame seeds for garnish

For the sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
1 Tbs sugar
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of minced garlic


Method:
Heat some oil in a large skillet. Cook the pork until brown on both sides (Roughly 1-2 minutes on each side). Remove and set aside on a plate. Add a little more oil and reheat the pan on medium-high heat. Add onions first. When the onions are starting to brown, add eggplant, zucchini and pepper. Allow to cook for about a minute or two and then push the vegetables towards the rim of the pan, leaving a space in the middle for the garlic. Add garlic and little more oil, and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds). (This method is to avoid burning the garlic.) Incorporate the garlic with the rest of the vegetables. Continue to cook until the vegetables are soft enough that a fork will easily pierce them). Stir in cooked pork.

While the vegetables are cooking, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a small saucepan and heat on low. Allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce is slightly thickened. When the pork and vegetables are combined, pour the sauce and mix to combine. Garnish with some sesame seeds and serve immediately over rice.

Acquiring new tastes

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I went to the Hester Street Fair in New York City. Now, when you first walk into the Hester Street Fair, it looks like a rather ordinary street fair. Racks of hand-woven scarves and blouses, custom-made jewelry laid on tables, and the like. But when you venture a little further, then you will discover amazing new tastes to be acquired. Towards the rear of the fair, there were at least half a dozen food vendors serving unique artisanal foods. We sampled the meatballs from Mighty Balls, a chorizo taco and a tamale from Brooklyn Taco Company, and my personal favorite, Taiwanese shaved ice from The Shaved Ice Shop.

But this isn't a post about the foods I ate, but rather the new tastes that I took home with me. At the fair, we bought a bottle of fish sauce from The Saucey Company and salsa from ZapoSalsa. This salsa has a new taste that I acquired, and used in the quesadilla that you see above. The label boasts that it is made of fresh ingredients, such as tomatillos, onions, tomatoes, but most importantly for this post, cilantro.

I hate cilantro.

Or at least, growing up I did. And I am not alone in this averseness to the leafy herb. There are enough people out there that the New York Times ran an article on why a certain segment of the population hates cilantro. To me, it always seemed to make me want to gag. So when I tried this salsa, I had my doubts. When I sampled it at the fair, it had a nice smoky, tangy flavor, with just a bit of a kick of heat.

So for dinner last night, we made pork and bean quesadillas. I marinated the pork tenderloin in the salsa for about two hours before cooking, which made the meat wonderfully flavorful. I also used the salsa as a garnish at the end.

So there you have it. I have acquired a new taste. What new tastes have you acquired?

Pork and Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients:
1 slice of pork tenderloin, about 1 inch thick, cut up into bite-sized pieces
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red pepper, diced
a few slices of pepper jack cheese
a few tablespoons of Zapo mild salsa
flour tortillas (burrito sized)
Olive oil

Seasonings to taste:
Salt and pepper
cumin
chile powder

Garnishes:
Salsa
sour cream
avocado slices

black beans

Method:
Marinate the pork in salsa for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better. Heat oil in a pan and cook the pork. Remove from pan, leaving as much oil as possible in the pan. Add peppers to the pan and sprinkle with seasonings. Cook until soft and have a slight char. Set aside with the pork. Wipe the pan clean.

In a separate pan or pot, heat the beans and add some cumin and chile powder. Stir in pork and peppers.

Spray some cooking oil in the pan that you cooked the pork and peppers in. Heat until hot. Add one tortilla in and lay some cheese on it. When the cheese starts to melt add some filling. When you see the tortilla is forming bubbles and the bottom is nice and brown, cover with another tortilla. Flip the quesadilla as carefully as possible. Cook for another minute, or until the tortilla is golden brown. Repeat as necessary.

Serve with garnishes.