Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

A while back, Libertarian27 provided a link to a Blue Cheese dip recipe that she had previously posted. I tried it this week, and it really is good; I used it on seasoned Chicken Lettuce Wraps and it went perfectly. Here is her link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2644498/posts?page=5#5

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I'm not sure I've posted this before, but it's a nice appetizer or side dish, and though not strictly 'low-carb friendly', you can cut down on the flour, or use a low-carb substitute:

Zucchini Pancake Appetizers

3 cups unpeeled, grated zucchini

½ tsp. salt

2 large eggs, beaten

3 T. all-purpose flour

1 Cup crumbled Feta cheese

Butter for Frying

Dips/Garnish: Yogurt, Sour Cream, etc.

Toss the grated zucchini with salt and let stand in colander for 1 hour at room temperature.

When ready to cook, squeeze excess moisture from zucchini, without wringing it dry.

Place in medium bowl; add the eggs, flour and feta, and mix well.

Melt about 1 T. butter in a heavy sauté pan or griddle, enough to coat bottom generously.

Fry zucchini mixture in small pancake-sized amounts over medium-low heat until dark golden on both sides, about 5 minutes altogether. Transfer to paper towels to drain and continue with another batch until done.

Arrange pancakes on serving platter and garnish as desired (can use fresh or dried oregano, lemon slices, slasa, yogurt, sour cream.)

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The following is from George Stella's 'Livin' Low Carb' cookbook. The recipe makes 4 servings, with only 2 grams of carbohydrate per serving.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature

8 oz. crab meat

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/8 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tbsp. parsley, chopped

Vegetable cooking spray

16 white button mushrooms

2 green onions, sliced into 1/8 inch rings

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, crab meat, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, black pepper, salt, poultry seasoning and chopped parsley, and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and coat a baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray (I would use parchment or a Silpat mat for this.)

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and wipe the mushroom caps clean with a damp cloth.

Stuff the crab and cream cheese filling into the mushroom caps and transfer them to the baking sheet, stuffing side up.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook the mushrooms for about 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and transfer the mushrooms to a platter. Sprinkle the green onions over the tops of the mushrooms, and serve immediately.

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I'm always looking for interesting YouTubers who are doing videos on cooking/gardening/household subjects, and I found a new one last weekend. Her name is Phyllis Stokes, and she and her husband live in South Carolina. This lady is somewhat older than I, but we are near enough in age to be 'of a generation' and a lot of what she talks about is familiar to me. I felt very close to her after watching just one video, and there's probably a reason for that: she appears to have grown up in or near Newport News, not a far jaunt from my father's birthplace in Gloucester County, VA. When I'm listening to Phyllis I can catch in her diction, and in the cadence of her speech, little vestiges of my grandmother's ancient Tidewater accent.

Phyllis does lots of videos on healthy smoothies, and LOTS of wonderful Southern comfort food (you will gain weight just watching her 'Full Meal' and 'Southern Dessert' videos :-)

Here she is talking about Food of the 1950's (I do have to disagree with her on one point: I've loved Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast since being introduced to it in the 1950s! Also, she has a video on the Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding that she mentions here, which I've strangely never made or eaten; but my crew at work would love it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsfAx98fHzY

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Had time to cook and to try a couple of new things, over the past week; since I’m attempting to diet, everything is low-carb for awhile :-(

(If you’d like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping list, please send a private message.)

-JT

[HarleyLady27]

Just printed them off, that crab mushroom sounds yummmy...I will try to get a BBQ rib thing I created....my family loves them...

Have a great day and posting soon!!!

[trisham]

Breakfast today: (low carb)

Crustless quiche lorraine and smoked salmon drenched in fresh lemon juice accompanied by thinly sliced red onion and capers.

[trisham]

Yum!

[bert]

my wife went on a low carb diet back in February.

so far, i’ve lost 7 pounds

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wife and I are running our excess tomatoes through our dehydrator and would like to make these little slabs into olive oil soaked snacks like are sold in grocery stores.

Anyone have experience doing this ?

[miss marmelstein]

Chipped beef actually goes back a long way. I remember in the great actress Louise Brook’s memoir “Lulu in Hollywood,” she relates how she used to dine in the finest restaurants in the very early 1920s but always retreated to Chipped Beef on Toast after all the complicated food.

I’ve tried banana pudding and been unsuccessful with it. I think it may be the artificial flavor of Nilla Wafers and my “meh” attitude towards baking them from scratch!

[mrsmith]

VERY CHEAP AND EASY BREAKFAST

Oil a cereal bowl, pour out excess
Crack in two eggs
Add water to cover by about 1/2 inch
Cook on high in microwave 40 to 60 seconds
(time will depend on conditions at your house so expect to have to determine it yourself)
Dump out water (strain through fork)
Dump in enough canned hash on top to go with the eggs
Microwave enough to heat the hash

There you go: coddled eggs and hash in a couple minutes while the toast is cooking
Nothing to clean but the bowl and the fork
Maybe you could lay a couple microwaveable bacon strips over the eggs. Shame not to have bacon for breakfast.

[Liz]

Those zucchini pancakes of yours sound yummy.

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps

METHOD Toss 1/4" thick unpeeled zucchini rounds, tb ol/ oil. Then dip in combined Parm, bread crumbs, s/p; coat both sides evenly, press coating to stick; arrange single layer on sprayed sheetpan.

Bake browned and crisp, 450 deg 25-30 min.

Serve immediately w/ a side dip of marinara sauce.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Thanks for the low-carb recipes.

I've been on low carb for 6 months now and have lost 50 pounds.

My goal is to lose another 50 pounds and get back to the weight I was when I quit smoking 18 years ago.

[freeangel]

Low carb Lasagna made with eggplant instead of noodles. I slice the eggplant first, spray with a little Pam and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes before using. It helps to make the dish not so watery. Add mushrooms for an extra boost.

[Liz]

Chock-full of veggies---get healthy just reading the recipe.

Tortellini Spinach Casserole

METHOD Mix in casserole 19 oz pkg cooked frozen cheese tortellini, pound butter-sautéed sliced fresh mushrooms, tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp pepper. Top w/ Spinach Cheese Sauce. Sprinkle w/ 1/2 lb fave brick cheese cubes. Bake/ melt cheese/heat through.

SAUCE: Cook down a bit: 3-10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella, 1/4 c butter, can evap/milk.

[pugmama]

I made this and my husband who doesn’t like eggplant very much liked it. I would add a few spices like maybe cumin and add red pepper flakes next time.

Spinach Eggplant Lasagna

Ingredients

2 large eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise (if you have a mandolin, use it for even strips)

2 1/2 cups low-fat mozzarella cheese, sliced

2 cups low-fat ricotta cheese

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

2 eggs

1 tablespoon olive oil

fresh basil, garnish

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Tomato Sauce: (homemade or store-bought)

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 large white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 425º F.

Brush both sides of eggplant strips with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Lay eggplant out on a baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes per side. Then, remove from oven and set aside.

Lower oven temperature to 400º F.

Start your tomato sauce (if not using store-bought) by heating olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sauté onion until softened and translucent, 6-8 minutes.

Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.

Pour in crushed and diced tomatoes, then season everything with basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Stir everything together, then add spinach. Reduce heat and let sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk ricotta and eggs together, and season with salt and pepper.

Spread 1 tablespoon tomato sauce around the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish and lay out an even layer of eggplant strips.

Take 1/3 tomato sauce and spread it evenly over eggplant, then top with 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.

Repeat with a second and third layer, and top everything off with remaining sauce and mozzarella.

Cover lasagna with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Remove from oven and let sit 5-10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

Recipe adapted from Food

[pugmama]

This is a really good site if you don’t know about it. Many great recipes here.

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for that. We really like eggplant.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks very much! I hadn’t heard of the site, and the recipes do look very good.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

My husband lost 65 pounds over a year, and has kept it off for two years now - and he does occasionally enjoy pizza, pasta, etc. He’s very ‘gourmet’ about it, and always trying recipes. But he’s the type who can eat meat three times a day.

It’s harder for me, because I’m not a big meat eater, and can’t sit down to ‘slab-O-meat’; so I eat things like tuna salad, chef salad, lots of deviled eggs, and all-meat chili from ground beef.

I can lose weight on any diet, but low-carb is definitely the least painful way; there’s always something you can snack on that won’t upset the diet, and after the first day or two most folks don’t even get hungry.

The only problem is really the same problem with a very low-fat diet: you have to have so much food prepared, to get enough calories per day. (When I was on low-fat, I used to leave the house with a big basket in the morning, saying, “Well, my lunch and I are going to work”). So, I suggest anyone trying this to have a lot of stuff on hand - do freezer-cooking for a week ahead, etc. - before you start the diet. Otherwise, the boredom of eating one or two things constantly, or the aggravation of so much cooking, will tempt you to quit.

There’s a ‘roll’ recipe that we’ve used after the initial phase of the diet. It comes out with a texture like a Yorkshire Pudding, or a popover, or a big gougere; and you can make them any size, including for hamburger rolls (just remember to keep them frozen until you want one):

http://findingradiance.com/2011/02/24/magic-rolls-eades-low-carb-comfort-foods/

-JT

[trisham]

That looks delicious!

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm making coffee syrup today to go with the Banana Bread. This is particularly good.

/johnny