Edible Therapy

Diet, Vol. II

OK, so I took the above picture before I started this diet so I could use it with the first diet post, but I was so ashamed of how much weight I have gained that I decided against it. After two days on the nutrisystem diet, I am sure I cannot possibly fail, so I decided to post the horrible picture. This diet is super easy! You receive a big box of food at your doorstep, none of which needs to be refrigerated, and you follow the plan. I feel like I have been eating nonstop, and I am never hungry. Of course, the food is nothing like what I would make, but that is why I am on the diet, isn't it! For example, this morning I had the nutrisystem scrambled eggs (passable but a little wierd-add water and microwave) and a fat free vanilla yogurt with 3/4 cup of blueberries. And, I am allowed to drink coffee!! Hallelujah! I am already stuffed and I am not yet finished with my yogurt and blueberries. Lunch includes a provided entree (for ex., a chef-boyardee style pasta cup or a soup cup or a lean cuisine style entree) AND a salad (there is a list of "salad vegetables you can have unlimited amounts of in your meal planner) with 2 tablespoons of fat free dressing. I have been using Girard's fat free balsamic vinaigrette, which is pretty good as fat free dressings go. AND (still on lunch) a dairy or protein, which could be another fat free yogurt or a little tuna, etc.. you get the idea. In the afternoon about 3 PM, I have a snack, which consists of a fruit and another dairy/protein, usually another fat free yogurt because I have not gotten that creative with my menu just yet. Dinner is like lunch: provided entree, great big salad (or fruit serving), plus two servings of vegetables and one serving of fat (1 tablespoon of regular dressing or a little oil or mayo...), and a nutrisystem dessert. The desserts are kind of like a later snack for me...some of them are sweet, like cookies or pudding, and some are savory like soy BBQ chips. I even went out to lunch yesterday and did not have to cheat: I ordered a grilled salmon salad from Fresh Slices and cut the salmon portion in half, asked that the other salad ingredients be left off, and used my own dressing. The waitress did not even seem slightly annoyed, and of course I left her a good tip. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Diet

Sadly, I must go on a diet. Actually, it's not sad! It's great! I need to lose the weight, and I am going to feel better when I do. I have ordered my first month of Nutri-System food. All of my entrees are portioned out and made by Nutri-System. Scary. For breakfast today, a cranberry orange pastry, coffee, an apple, and a fat-free yogurt. More than I usually eat for breakfast, actually, and certainly better for me. I can eat all of the salad I want (but not all of the dressing), and I like salad- that should be a big help. I can drink all of the coffee and tea I want without sugar or milk, again fine, because I like black coffee and plain tea. For lunch today: black bean tortilla soup is the entree, along with salad and cottage cheese. Not too shabby, eh? I'll let you know how the food is, and will keep you up to date on the weight loss. The blog will be different for the next month or so, as I try to whittle my body down to a size with which I'll be more comfortable. Thanks for bearing with me.

Cucina's Bread at the Memphis Farmer's Market

There is a new vendor at the Farmer's Market, although you would not know it unless you were there fairly early this past week. Cucina Bread sold out in a matter of minutes during its first weekend at the Memphis Farmer's Market. Luckily, Chad and I were up early this Saturday. We got two loaves: a baguette and a honey wheat loaf with sunflower seeds. Folks, this bread is amazing. It is some of the best bread I have had, and certainly the best you can buy in Memphis. This is the first time the general public has been able to purchase Sheri's hand-made bread, as she formerly only sold to restaurants in town. Sheri still bakes for the Hunt Phelan Home, but now we are all lucky enough to be able to have this bread in our own homes! Visit Sheri's booth at the Memphis Farmer's Market downtown every Saturday until it closes in October.

Korean Barbecue

Korean barbecue is dinner at our house about once a week. It is so simple, and so yummy! And it always feels healthy- grilled meat with crunchy, fresh lettuce, fragrant herbs, and cool cucumber salad. Perfect for summer or any other season- sometimes we roll up our meat in the lettuce leaves and other times we make rice bowls.

The first time Chad and I had Korean barbecue was when we lived in Los Angeles. Our friend Sam took us to Koreatown to try out one of my now favorite places in Los Angeles, Soot Bull Jeep on West 8th Street. When you leave Soot Bull Jeep, you will smell as if you have been sitting around a campfire all night: the tables are all situated around the charcoal grills on which you cook your meat. Every time we went to Soot Bull Jeep, we had to wait for a table (like any good restaurant in LA), so we would order beers and sit on the bench by the front door, anticpating the meal ahead while watching the many families crowded around the table grills turning meat, tasting the seemingly infinite number of condiments served with the meal and, finally, getting up to free the table for us. If you go, order the spareribs.

We decided to create this meal at home because we loved it so much, and that has been at least five years ago, so Chad has got his recipe exactly the way he likes it by now. Enjoy!

Korean Barbecue
serves four

For the marinade:

1 package breakfast pork chops (those super thin chops with no bone), probably less than a pound
1.5 T asian garlic chili sauce
1 T toasted sesame oil
1/3 c rice wine vinegar
1/2 c soy sauce
1 t sugar
1 t sesame seeds
a handful of chopped fresh cilantro
2 T fresh grated ginger

lettuce leaves (we use a head of boston lettuce, but you could also use romaine or green leaf) for wrapping the meat

Mix all items except the meat together in a big bowl. Put about a cup of the mixture aside to use as sauce on rice or on your lettuce wraps. Put the meat in the bowl and allow it to marinate for about twenty minutes. Grill the meat (about five to seven minutes til done) and slice into thin strips. Serve with white rice and cucumber salad.

Garnish:

Fresh mint, fresh cilantro, lettuce leaves, lime wedges, sliced hot peppers, chopped green onions, kimchee, cucumber salad, and anything else you might like! (bean sprouts, pickled ginger?)

Cucumber Salad
serves four

1 or 2 cucumbers, depending on their size, thinly sliced (no need to peel)
1 T asian galic chili sauce
about 1 1/2 cups rice wine vinegar

Fill a jar with thinly sliced cucumbers. Add 1 T garlic chili sauce and fill with vinegar. Shake gently, and let sit for at least thirty minutes.

Bruschetta with lavender for lunch

What a lazy day! Chad and I have been on the couch reading for most of the day, occaisonally taking breaks from our books to play with the pooches. We fried eggs for breakfast and have plans for a big dinner with friends tonight, and so we needed to take it easy for lunch. We purchased a bunch of gorgeous tomatoes yesterday at the farmer's market, so I decided to whip up a little tomato toast, a.k.a. bruschetta. We fell in love with bruschetta in Italy, where they pronounce it "broos-ket-ta" and they toast the bread over open flame.

Chad and I were engaged in Italy at a restaurant on Via Veneto while on a trip with my family. Incidentally, my brother and now sister-in-law were engaged on the same trip! It was a very romantic trip, needless to say. I ordered bruschetta almost everywhere we went, no matter what ingredients were offered as toppings. The great thing about bruschetta is that it is so simple and it can be whatever you want it to be! In Italy, I had it with chicken liver, mushrooms, tomatoes, anchovies, white bean puree, all separately, of course. In Memphis, I make it with whatever I feel like. I have made it frequently with whole cooked white beans, black olives, garlic, and basil, also with the familiar basil-garlic-tomato combo, which is where today's inspiration for lunch came from.

I went outside to gather some basil to smash up with my tomato, and I noticed that the lavender plant is doing quite well. I have not used the lavender hardly at all lately, so, I plucked up a small bunch to go with my bruschetta. Inside to the mortar and pestle, which always makes me feel like a real gourmet, and moments later: I had bruschetta for lunch! I used a panini grill for my bread, but you can do it in the oven or toaster if you don't have one, or on the grill if you are feeling ambitious. If you do not have a mortar and pestle, either go get one at Viet Hoa (under $20) or chop the hell out of the ingredients all together with a big knife and a cutting board.

Bruschetta with lavender:
makes lunch for one

1 ripe medium tomato, cored and cut into quarters
1 clove garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 T fresh herbs such as lavender and basil
1/4 t salt
5 grinds black pepper
2 slices bread (I used whole grain wheat sandwich bread because it's what I had, but use whatever you like as long as it will hold up to the tomato juice that will inevitably and happily sog up your bread after just a little while)

Throw into your mortar the tomato, half a clove of garlic, the herbs, and the salt and pepper. Smash until the mixture is pulverized. Toast your bread on a panini grill until crunchy, and rub all over with the remaining clove of garlic, cut side down. Tope the bread with the tomato mixture and enjoy! I served mine with leftover cucumber-papaya salad from last night's cooking bee.

Note: you can make this for lunch, or you can increase the quantity as needed and use some fancier bread to make this an appetizer at a dinner party. Serve it already put together, or for a more casual gathering, serve the toasted bread with a bowl of tomato-lavender topping for your guests to spoon on themselves.

Shameful Confession: I ate about every fourth bite with a little hummus, my main food addiction.

Frozen Mango Cream Cake

This recipe is actually from back in April, when Chad and I went to Florida with all of the cousins. This delicious and beautiful cake was our cousin Mimsie's birthday cake. She was reading Martha Stewart Living magazine on the beach, and she ocasionally would share with us a recipe that she thought sounded particularly good. This cake was one of them, and so we made it for dessert on the night of her birthday celebration. Martha Stewart's recipe is quite long, but the cake is super simple to make. Martha's recipe also was intended to make eight small cakes, and we decided instead to make one cake to be cut into pieces. The macadamia nut crust is so yummy that we all decided we could have eaten it like candy- I think it would be a great crust for a key lime or lemon icebox pie as well. The filling is a creamy mango mousse turned ice cream that could easily stand on its own without a crust, and I would imagine that you could use any fruit you like other than mango as long as you use it in the same quantity. I don't think freezing the mousse would be necessary if you decided to use it on its own, but it just depends on how you like it! Try making this- it is perfect for summer, it is very impressive-looking, and it was a hit with our crowd!

Frozen Mango Cream Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine May 2007 issue
serves eight

For the crust:
cooking spray
2 oz salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts
6 T granulated sugar
1/4 c flour
2 T unsalted butter, melted

For the mousse:

1/4 c orange juice
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (1 scant T)
2 ripe mangoes, peeled (about 2 lbs)
1/2 cup sugar
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350. Coat the inside of a springform pan with cooking spray. Pulse the nuts and sugar in a food processor until finely ground. (Or you could use a ziploc bag and a rolling pin like we did.) Combine in a bowl the nuts, flour, and butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and press into the bottom until firm. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Pour the orange juice into a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the juice and let stand until softened, about five minutes. Heat over low heat until dissolved. Remove from heat.

Cut one quarter of one mango into small cubes for garnish and set aside in the fridge. Coarsely chop the remaining mangoes and put them into a blender along with the sugar and lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Add the gelatin mixture while the blender is still running. Blend until combined and then transfer to a bowl. Beat the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, add the powdered sugar, and then beat until the soft peaks form again. Whisk a third of the cream into the mango mixture, then fold in the rest of the cream with a rubber spatula until combined. Pour the mixture over the crust and freeze until firm, at least four hours or up to a week. Garnish slices with the chopped mango pieces.

Boat Food: Muffulettas

This past weekend, Chad and I went to our friends' lake house on Kentucky Lake. It was wonderful! So relaxing and far away from everything at home- work, the dogs (thanks Aja for staying with them!), the house cleaning, the phone ringing, etc... We were in charge of breakfast for Saturday and Sunday (bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls on Saturday and croissant french toast with sausage on Sunday) and Julie and Wally were in charge of lunch on Saturday. Julie has been on a big muffuletta kick lately, as she just got back from her trip to New Orleans to see the Police, so she made two big ones to take with us on the boat Saturday. Muffulettas are perfect boat food, by the way! They are best when made in advance and allowed to sit for long enough that the oil from the olive salad begins to seep into the bread. Julie made her bread from scratch, and what a yummy lunch! I am still craving more muffuletta... Here is the recipe she used- it is from a great food blog called Nola Cuisine.

Muffuletta Bread Recipe
From Nola Cuisine Food Blog

1 Cup Warm Water (110 degrees F)
1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp Iodized Salt
2 Tbsp Lard or Vegetable Shortening
Sesame Seeds
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

For the Egg Wash:
1 Egg
2 Tbsp Cold Water

Combine the water, yeast and sugar in the workbowl of a stand mixer, stir
well and let stand for 5-10 minutes or until good and foamy. Meanwhile,
combine the flours, salt, and lard in a bowl and work in the fat with your
hands until broken up into very small pieces. When the yeast is foamy, fit
the mixer with a dough hook attachment and gradually add the flour on low
speed until its all incorporated. Scrape the sides down between additions.
When the dough comes together, turn it onto a floured work surface and knead
until smooth and elastic, 5-10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary..
Alternatively, you can let the machine do the work, but for me, bread is a
touch thing. Coat a large bowl with the Olive Oil, then put the dough in,
turning once to coat both sides. Cover loosely with a clean dry towel, or
plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk,
about 1-1/2 hours. Punch the dough down and shape into a flat round about 9
inches across (it will expand to about 10″.) Place the dough on a lightly
oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds, about 2-3 Tbsp
should do it, then press them lightly into the dough. Loosely cover the loaf
and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. When the dough has risen,
remove the cover, gently brush with the egg wash then gently place into a
preheated 425 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 375
degrees F for an additional 25 minutes or until it’s golden brown and
sounds hollow when tapped.

Makes 1 Muffuletta Loaf.

Julie used an italian meat assortment and olive salad purchased from Costco, but you can make it from scratch using Danno's recipes if you like! Now, back to my healthy diet...

Homemade Butter

It is so appropriate that this blog is about butter. Butter is definitely the most decadent, rich, fattening foodstuff that I consume on a fairly regular basis. I have recently decided to make some changes in my eating habits, as I have gained way too much weight over the past few years. I plan to explore the world of vegetables in the way a vegan would, depending on variety for sanity. Not that I intend to go vegan, although I have heard that one loses a lot of weight fast when one eliminates meat and dairy from the diet: my friend Aja recently decided to go from being a vegetarian to being a vegan, and she is always hungry! I don't think that plan is for me, but I am going to eat at home more, thereby cooking more, thereby blogging more! The last thing I made before I had this enough is enough epiphany was, of course, butter. The New York Times Magazine published an article about making butter in this past week's issue, and after I read it I was astonished! Who knew how easy it is to make butter? Not me. Basically, you just beat the hell out of some heavy cream. I made a key lime pie for my little brother's birthday this week (and then forgot to gve it to him, so it is still in my refrigerator-Ron, come get your pie if you want!), and the pie was topped with whipped cream. As I finished topping the pie, I decided to try making butter. After all, the kitchen-aid was already dirty with cream, might as well use up the rest of it! It was amazing to me: the cream whips up as one would expect, then it begins to turn a pale yellow, then it begins to separate- butter from buttermilk. You remove the mass and liquid from the bowl and strain it, then what you are left with is butter! All you have to do from there is knead it a little to make it creamy.

Butter

Pour a carton of heavy cream (I used a small carton of organic heavy cream) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Turn the mixer to high and watch the cream turn to butter. It will first turn into whipped cream, then it will begin to turn pale yellow, then it will begin to look a little pebbly, then the buttermilk will begin to splash the plastic wrap. This process will take about six or seven minutes. Turn the mixer off and pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl. The butter will remain in the sieve and the buttermilk will drip through. Knead the butter with clean hands in order to expel more liquid until it looks creamy, like butter. At this point you may add salt or leave it be. You can also use the buttermilk to make cornbread or to coat chicken for frying! Unless you are trying to eliminate that kind of thing from your diet...

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette for your green beans (or eggplant, or squash, or tomatoes, or asparagus, or zucchini...)

It is so hot in Memphis!! And, to add to the heat, the humidity is absolutely oppressive. I feel like I can swim through the air. So, when it is time to make dinner, I am definitely not looking for a hot meal. Give me some cold veggies and a light piece of grilled fish or meat, and I am a happy girl. I seem always to default to green beans or asparagus when it is time to choose a vegetable to go with dinner, and last night was no exception. Green beans and grilled salmon it was, and I decided to make this vinaigrette to dress up the green beans just a little. I have dressed all manner of vegetables with this dressing, and when I used to do a little catering, grilled vegetables tossed with vonaigrette were a regular side item, espcially in the summertime. Almost any veg can be steamed or grilled and tossed with a vinaigrette to make it a little more special, and it is such a simple way to make a lovely side dish to go with just about anything! I dressed my green beans with the vinaigrette and then tossed them with some cherry tomatoes and chopped fresh basil, but you could leave them plain with just the vinaigrete or you could use any fresh herbs you have lying around.

Basic Balsamic vinaigrette:
makes about 1/2 cup

Into a jar, put:
1 medium clove of garlic, minced
1.5 T balsamic vinegar
6 T olive oil
1/4 t salt
1/2 t dijon mustard

Shake the jar vigorously until all ingredients are combined.