Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

                I am not a huge dessert person.  I almost always choose salty/savory over sweet.  But sometimes I just like to bake something.  Being on Weight Watchers and baking from scratch can be complicated, mostly because I need to use all my daily points for breakfast/lunch/dinner and a snack, and almost never have any left over for dessert.  And I save my weekly points for the weekend and eating out.  My in-laws were coming for the weekend, and Scott had been bugging me to bake something, so I decided to look for a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I was excited to find one on the Weight Watchers website that looked good.

                Disclaimer: usually when I look at a recipe I might be interested, I kind of skim the list of ingredients and completely ignore the part about what you actually have to do.  This has bitten me in the ass on several occasions.  Turns out, my foray into WW friendly chocolate chip cookies would do the same.  These cookies were called “Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies”.  When I think of mini cookies, I think of cookies about a third of the size of regular cookies.  Of course, I should have known this was too good to be true when each cookies was only 1 point.  Well, silly me, I didn’t even look at how much dough to use per cookie.

3x the size the recipe called for, and still only
about the size of a poker chip.  Better than the cookie crisp size
the recipe called for!

                So there I am, in the kitchen on Friday night with Scott, putting together these chocolate chip cookies.  I mad the dough, preheated the oven and had out my baking sheets.  I get to the part about portioning out the dough, and it said to use HALF A TEASPOON for each cookie.  I thought that seemed small, but decided to go for it.  I portioned out about 6 cookies, and Scott had the biggest WTF look on his face.  He asked if I was making cookie crisp.  It was the saddest looking cookie mound I have ever seen.  After some discussion and disappointment, we decided to make the cookies half a TABLESPOON each, which still made some pretty tiny cookies.  At 3 points apiece, I’m not sure they were worth it though.  The cookies tasted good, although I did have to add an extra tablespoon of softened butter, because there wasn’t nearly enough fat to cream the butter and sugar together.  Here is the recipe:

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies from http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=50634

1 point per cookie with the WW serving size, 3 for my serving size

2 Tbsp salted butter, softened (I used 3)

2 tsp canola oil

½ Cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg white

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375ºF.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white; mix thoroughly to combine.
In a small bowl, mix together flour and baking soda; stir into batter. Add chocolate chips to batter; stir to distribute evenly throughout.
Drop 48 half-teaspoons of dough onto one or two large nonstick baking sheets, leaving a small amount of space between each cookie. Bake cookies until golden around edges, about 4 to 6 minutes; cool on a wire rack. Yields 1 cookie per serving.  (I used ½ tablespoon measure and cooked them about 8 minutes)

Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

Rumor has it that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I kind of hate breakfast.  Okay, hate may be a strong work, but breakfast is not my favorite meal of the day.  I don't love most breakfast foods, and if given the choice, I always choose breakfast that looks more like lunch or dinner, like an egg sandwich or chicken & waffles (mmmm the chicken and waffles from Miss Shirley- to die for, but so NOT Weight Watchers friendly!)  The only exception to my breakfast indifference is bagels.  I could eat a bagel 3 times a day.  I'm from New York originally, so good bagels are in my blood.  Thankfully, there is a place in Annapolis that serves pretty good bagels so I can get my fix every once in a while.

Now, the real horror here is that I married a man who LOVES breakfast.  I'm pretty sure he would eat a breakfast meal 3 times a  day if he could.  Pancakes, waffles, eggs, etc. Scott loves them all.  So I have to compromise.  On Saturday and Sunday, since I like to revert back to being a teenager and sleep till around 9 or 10, I usually one eat two meals a day with a healthy snack, like fruit, in between.  Coming up with breakfast recipes that I will like is pretty hard, but this hash I made was pretty good, even for this breakfast hater.  Hash can be really pointy, with lots of potatoes and meat, so I lightened this up by subbing apples for some of the potato, and I only use a little bit of really good quality meat. 

This is a great, hearty, weekend breakfast.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Apple Hash
10 Weight Watchers Points + per serving (serves 2)

2 slices of bacon
1/2 onion, diced
1 10 ounce sweet potato
2 medium apples
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs

Dice bacon and saute in non-stick skillet. Spoon out about two tablespoons of bacon fat and reserve. When the bacon is almost done, add the diced onion and cook until golden brown.  Meanwhile, peel and dice the sweet potato, and put in a microwave safe bowl with 1/4 cup of water. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for 3-4 minutes, until soft.  Peel, core and dice the apples.

Add the sweet potatoes to the onion/bacon mixture, and let brown for a 4-5 minutes.  Add the apples and cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste.  Saute for about 4-5 minutes, until apples are just cooked.  Split hash into two bowls. 

In the empty skillet, put the bacon fat back and heat.  Crack four eggs and cook them to your preference.  I like them over easy in a hash so that the yolk coats all the other ingredients. 

Enjoy!

Srirachi Cream Salmon with Pineapple Jicama Rice

Srirachi Cream Salmon with Pineapple Jicama Rice

                One of the pictures floating around Pintrest (btw do you follow me on Pintrest yet?  I’ll follow you back!) is of a Srirachi Cream Salmon, but when I looked at the recipe that it came from, it seemed to have a lot of ingredients and wasn’t very WW friendly.  So I decided to simplify the recipe and lighten it up.  What I came up with tasted great and was 9 point plus per serving, and looked good too (but I didn’t have my camera ready and didn’t want to let it sit to take a picture, sorry).   I wanted the rice to be a little sweet to balance the spicy Srirachi. 

Srirachi Cream Salmon

2 6 ounce salmon filets (at Whole Foods they sell them already pre-portioned which works out great for paying attention to portions)

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

½ tablespoon Srirachi, or to taste

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

¼ cup water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and put salmon on baking sheet.  I use a baking sheet with a silpat to prevent sticking. Brush salmon with soy sauce, then sprinkle on sesame seeds.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until done to your preference (I like my salmon pretty rare).

Meanwhile, mix together mayo and Srirachi.  Slowly add water until the sauce gets to the point where it can be drizzled

Pineapple Jicama Rice

2/3 cup Jasmine rice, prepared whichever way you usually cook rice (I just throw it in my rice cooker)

½ cup diced pineapple

½ cup diced jicama

½ lime

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Mix Jasmine rice with the pineapple and jicama.  Squeeze lime and drizzle soy sauce into rice and mix well.

Serve the salmon on top of the rice, then drizzle with the Srirachi cream sauce

Recipe: Oven Fried Pickles

In my attempt to eat healthier, one of the things I find hardest to replace is snacks.  Let’s be honest- sometimes an apple or veggie slices just don’t it for me.  I’m a salty/crunch snacker, so finding things to replace some of those items can be difficult, especially since I am not a big fan of “low-fat” versions of foods.  I would rather eat a little of the real thing the version where fat is replaced by chemicals.
                I have also recently become addicted to pintrest, which is kind of a like a visual way to favorite different things online.  It is great for organizing recipes you want to try, crafts to make, clothes you like, etc.  I have actually made several things I found on pintrest, so it isn’t just a way to waste time for me.  This recipe is inspired by something I saw there, but I tweaked it to make it even lower in points than the original recipe was. 

                This recipe for oven-fried pickles combines so many things I love.  Pickles, which I could eat a whole jar of by myself, crunchy breading, salt, etc.  Plus, it really is a very quick and easy recipe to make.  The pickles I used came from Whole Foods, and are kind of ridiculously expensive, but they are SO good, especially if you are a fan of Srirachi.  You can use any kind of pickles you want though, but they are best sliced into rounds for this recipe.

Oven Fried Pickles (6 WW points+ per serving, serves 2)

1 jar of pickles
1/8 cup flour
1 large egg and 1 large egg white
¾ cup Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Take pickles, and drain in a colander.  Pat dry with paper towels. 

Put into a Tupperware container, then sprinkle in the flour.  Put a top on shake until all the pickles are coated in flour.

Beat the egg and egg white together.  Dredge the pickles in the egg mixture, then in the panko, making sure to coat on both sides.

Lay coated pickles on racks on top of a baking sheet, without over lapping.  Spray with olive oil spray.

Bake for approximately 7 minutes, then flip, spray the other side, and bake for an additional 7 minutes.  Both sides should be nicely browned.

These are excellent on their own, and a little bit of ranch dip goes a long way.

Running and the Warrior Dash

Part of being the best me I can be is working out on a regular basis.  I’m not going to pretend that I go to the gym every day, or that I never make excuses to not go, because that wouldn’t be true.  But, I have been trying to go on a regular basis and feel like I am doing okay with that.  Here is the problem: I love actually working out.  After the 3^rd minute on the treadmill I get into it and am happy to be there.  I just HATE everything leading up to that.  I hate driving past my house to get there.  I hate changing clothes.  I hate finding parking in the parking lot, mostly because people seem to forget they are there to work out and block the parking lot trying to find the closest spot possible. I hate the other people in the gym.  But I know I need to work out.  I know working out is part of being healthy. 

                I have always been athletic, and played tennis all through high school (and was pretty good) and softball until I wrecked my knee and couldn’t play catcher anymore.  I am pretty sure I have belonged to a gym in some form or another since I was 16 and going to physical therapy after having my ACL and meniscus repaired.  The place I went had an office in the gym and it was just natural to continue to work out there and keep strengthening my knee.

                In the past year I have started running.  Despite all my athletic prowess ;) I have never been a runner, especially of long distances (and by long distances I mean over a mile).  Both of the sports I played involved more sprinting than long distance running.   I managed to have good stamina just by playing these sports, especially tennis, all the time.  Now that I no longer play any sports, I need to do other things to keep in shape.  I find the elliptical boring, but will do 15 minutes or so after the treadmill to try to use different muscles. 

The problem I am having is that I start getting better and better at running, and then my gym attendance drops off and I start back at square one.  Well, last night Scott got a text from a friend of ours asking if we wanted to join him and his wife to do the Warrior Dash.  I have heard a lot about it, and it seems fun.  Well as fun as a 3 mile run with obstacles can be (and oh yeah, getting covered in mud!) Crawling through a tunnel? Sure! Crawling under barbed wire? Alright! Jumping over fire?  Umm... sure?  But there is beer at the end, and I will try almost anything once.  The goal now is to be able to run the full three miles without stopping.  Currently I am working on run/walk intervals while I build up to a constant run.  The race is in May, so I have plenty time to get there, and I am really looking forward to this.  Even if I suck, a friend told me that there are a lot people there who are only trying to have fun, and don’t care about time/winning. 

Running + obstacles + mud + beer = awesome!

Quick Recipe: Asian-inpired Roasted Potatoes

On Sunday night, I decided to make super-easy tuna burgers inspired by the recipe in Hubert Keller’s Burger cookbook.  The burgers themselves were delicious, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t love raw tuna lightly seared on both sides?  I needed to come up with a side dish, and had half a bag of baby fingerling potatoes to use up.  I knew I wanted to roast them but had to figure out how to season them so they would go with the Asian-inspired tuna burgers.  I took a gander in the pantry to see what seasonings I had and came up with a brilliant idea (if I do say so myself)!

I had a jar of rice seasoning that I bought when after Scott and I had taken a sushi making class.  It has seaweed and sesame seeds, and who knows what else in it.  I used about half a teaspoon of oil, rubbed that into 14 ounces of large-diced potatoes, then sprinkled about a tablespoon of the rice seasoning on and roasted at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  When the potatoes were done, I squeezed half a lime one and a heaping tablespoon of finely diced cilantro and mixed.  They were some of the best roasted potatoes I have ever had, and the best part was they were only 4 Weight Watchers Points + per serving (recipe makes 2 servings). The sesame seeds got nicely toasted and the lime added a wonderful zing.

Now I am trying to think of other interesting seasonings on roasted potatoes to make as an easy side dish.  Any suggestions?

Pastrami Cupcakes

One of my favorite cooking blogs is called Emily Bites.  She has great, Weight Watchers friendly recipes that are pretty easy to make.  I have made the Lasagna Cupcakes several times.  They are perfect for lunch, since they pretty much package themselves into single servings, and two is just the right amount for a satisfying meal.

Over the weekend, Scott spend Saturday smoking a pastrami that we had been brining for a week.  As you can imagine, a 9 pound brisket left us with a LOT of leftovers, and I need a creative way to use some them that would fit into our diet.  So I took some inspiration from Emily Bites, and made Pastrami Cupcakes.  They came out even better than I imagined.  Bear clearly agrees since he stole several of them off of the kitchen counter while they were cooling.

Pastrami Cupcakes

3 Weight Watchers Points + per cupcake
Makes 12 cupcakes

5 ounces beef pastrami, diced
1/2 pound Jarlsberg light, or other light Swiss cheese
3/4 of a pound of mushrooms
24 Wonton wrappers
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  While oven is heating, saute sliced mushrooms in a non-stick pan until cooked through.  Mix pastrami and mushrooms in a bowl.  Shred the cheese.

To assemble, spray muffin pan with olive oil spray.  Press a wonton wrapper into the bottom of the muffin tin.  Put approximately a tablespoon of the pastrami/mushroom mixture in the wrapper, then top with a tablespoon of the cheese.  Press another wrapper on top of the cheese, then repeat the layers of pastrami/mushroom mix and top with cheese.  Repeat 12 times in the muffin tin.

Spray the tops of the pastrami cupcakes with the olive oil spray (this will help the wontons get crispy) and bake for 25 minutes.

This is a super-easy recipe that I think everyone will enjoy, and check out the other variations on Emily Bites.

Recipe: Tarragon Vinaigrette Salad

Tarragon Vinaigrette Salad
Tarragon is a bit of underrated herb. It doesn’t get much use, but the licorice flavor really packs a punch, and made a flavorful vinaigrette for a winter salad. This is one of those salads where I combined a few leftovers with a few fresh ingredients to make a fast and easy dinner.

Salad Ingredients (serves 2)
4 ounces stale bread, cubed and baked at 350 degrees until crunchy
2 pears, cubed
½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved (I used some beautiful yellow teardrop tomatoes)
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, toasted
1 roasted beet, diced
4 cups salad greens

Tarragon Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Wish the vinaigrette ingredients together, then pour over salad and toss.

2012: Being The Best Me I can Be!



The new year is a time for reflection, and a time to look ahead. 2011 was flat out amazing. The meals I ate, the places I visited, the fun I had with friends and family all added to something wonderful. I can’t even remember what resolutions I made at this time last year, but no matter what they were, if I accomplished them or not, 2011 was great.

Now that it is 2012, I’m looking ahead to another year that I hope is just as amazing. There are so many wonderful things happening this year, including my husband turning 30 (and the surprise that will accompany that!), my big brother is getting married to a fabulous woman who has become a friend, and my fifth wedding anniversary will be celebrated with another great trip.

This year, my only resolution is to do everything I can to be the best, happiest and healthiest me I can be. How this will play out over the next 12 months is anybodies guess, but I can tell you one thing- by the end of 2012 I plan on being great. In 2011 I lost 30 pounds, and I hope to continue that trend through Weight Watchers, which is a great program that has really worked for me. I want to couple that with being a regular, consistent gym goer. Hopefully this will also involve becoming a better runner but I would be happy just doing some kind of work out on a regular basis. My gym habit has waxed and waned over the past year, and I need to make it a priority.

Another part of being the healthiest me I can be involves finally getting a handle on my headaches. There have been weeks at a time where I cannot remember a day where I did not have a headache. Excedrine is like candy to me and I have never thought twice about popping more than the recommended dose multiple times a day. A lot of my headaches are stress-related, and I carry all of my stress in my neck and shoulders. I have actually already started working on this goal, through acupuncture and a laser treatment. So far, the combination really seems to be helping me. Hopefully things will continue and the frequency and duration of my headaches will continue to lessen.

I hope everyone has also had a chance to reflect on the past year, and have figured out what they can do to be the best they can be.

Feel free to leave a comment here about your resolution, and we can look back at the end of 2012 and see how we did. Happy New Year!!!!!

Indian inspired Pizza

Pizza is one of my favorite foods.  I could eat it pretty much every day, not even joking.  But I get bored of the same old tomato sauce/mozzarella cheese combo, so I try to mix it up.  Some combinations are more successful than others, and the pizza I made last night was a definite winner.  The recipe has several parts.

Indian-inspired Pizza

For the dough, I like to make my own.  It takes about 10 minutes in my stand mixer, and about an hour to rise, and is so much better than store bought, but feel free to pick some up at the store.  Whole Foods makes a good whole grain dough that would work in this recipe.

This is my go to dough recipe, from Martha Stewart.  The cornmeal adds a nice crunch. I use half the recipe for a pizza for 2 people.

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

Ingredients

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

2/3 cups warm water

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1/4 cup cornmeal, plus more for pizza peel or baking sheet

1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl

Directions

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved and mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.

Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and add the yeast mixture and oil. Slowly stir ingredients with a wooden spoon just until dough starts to come together. Turn out dough on a lightly floured work surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 7 to 10 minutes. Let rise for 1 hour in a lightly oiled bowl.

For the pizza

¼ head of cauliflower

Pinch of garam masala

Olive oil in a spray bottle

4 ounces goat cheese

Slightly under ripe mango, diced

One bottle Seeds of Change Jalfrezi Sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Dice up the cauliflower, sprinkle with garam masala, spritz with olive oil and bake for about 15 minutes or until just turning brown.

Spread the pizza dough out on a pizza pan, sprinkle with a garam masala, spritz with olive oil and bake.  I use a cast iron Lodge pan to make pizza, and it comes out nice and crispy.  Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven.

Take the Jalfrezi sauce and puree it with a stick blender or in a regular blender.  Spread over pizza, then top with the roasted cauliflower and the goat cheese.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven; sprinkle the diced mango over the pizza.  Slice and serve.

This was a great combination of sweet with the goat cheese, tart with the mango, spicy with the sauce and smoky with the garam masala.  Try this to turn your pizza night into something different!