Corn Pesto Pasta

Last night I ended up making a really amazing dish that I just threw together with ingredients I had on hand.  In my CSA share this week I got 3 ears of corn and a giant zucchini.  I really wanted to use the corn quickly because I was worried it wouldn't last, but I didn't have any proteins I could serve it with on the cob.

I thought about making a pesto with the zucchini, but the pictures I saw online didn't appeal to me.  Then I realized I could probably do the same thing with the corn!  It turned out really well, and was very easy.  This recipe is a little higher in points than most that I post, but you could serve a smaller serving of pasta and bulk it up with more vegetables and it would still be excellent.

This is really not a very attractive
dish, but it was so good!

Corn Pesto Pasta
Serves 2 - 14 WW Points Plus Per Serving

4 ounces pasta, cooked al dente and drained
3 ears of corn, kernels removed from the cob
1 small zucchini or 1/2 a large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, diced
1/8 cup olive oil
10 hazelnuts
lime
salt
Parmesan (optional, and not calculated into the points)

While your pasta (use a short pasta with nooks and crannies to catch the sauce) is cooking, heat about 1/2 a tablespoon from your olive oil in a nonstick pan.  Saute 2/3 of the corn you removed from the cob and the garlic for 3-4 minutes, or until just fragrant.  Put in a small food processor or cup that you can use a hand held blender in.

Pour in almost all of the rest of the olive oil, but reserve 1/2 a tablespoon. Put in the hazelnuts and squeeze the lime juice in with the corn/garlic mixture, season with salt and puree until almost smooth.

In the same pan you cooked the corn in, put the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, and once hot saute the zucchini for about 5 minutes.  Put in the remaining corn to cook.

When your pasta is finished cooking, drain and stir into the pan with the zucchini and corn.

To serve, split the pasta/zucchini/corn mixture into two bowls, then top with 1/2 the corn pesto on each serving.  Sprinkle with a little Parmesan if you wan.

Fear

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Jim Morrison

Have you ever heard the saying “Do something that scares you every day?” Honestly, I think it is one of the stupidest sayings I have ever heard, and really makes no sense.  I mean, how is it even possible to do something every single day that scares you, unless you are afraid of almost everything?  Well, despite the way I feel about that saying, I do think it is important to try things that scare you every once in a while.  New experiences are great, and not trying something just because it is scary doesn’t seem like a very fun way to live your life.  Plus, exposure therapy is a great way to get over those things that do scare you. I never want to miss out on experiencing something cool just because it is scary!

My husband letting the Lorikeets drink.

                There are a few things I am afraid of, and have decided to partake in activities that will help me deal with those fears this summer.  In the past I have done things to help with my fear of birds (I love to look at them, but they seem to like to randomly attack me for no reason!) Hanging out in the bird house at the Portland Zoo really helped me deal with them, although I still wouldn’t want one as a pet.  I also visit butterfly houses every chance I get, because they kind of freak me out a little as well. 

 I don’t have the best body image, and have never had the confidence to wear a bikini, no matter what my weight.  I was out this weekend, and saw the cutest bikini in the window of a store, and decided I need to get over my fear and buy it.  I tried it on, and the bottoms have great coverage to hide some of my least-favorite body parts, and the top seemed pretty flattering so I decided to go for it.  Hopefully I will feel the same once I am actually walking onto the beach in it! In reality, I don’t sit at the beach looking at other people and judging what they are wearing, so I hope most people would not be judging me.

Me swinging on the trapeze!

One of my other fears is ladders.  I don’t even like going in my attic because climbing the ladder freaks me out.  I have already done some work on my fear of ladders by taking 2 trapeze classes, where you have to climb up a pretty tall ladder to get to the platform that you then have to swing off of. Even though you had to climb the ladder several times in each class, it still scared me by the end of the class almost as much as it did in the beginning, so clearly I need to work more on this fear.

  In a few weeks, my friends and I are doing a ropes course in the woods at Terrapin Adventures.  The highest point is 40 feed off of the ground.  I’m not sure if it is a ladder or stairs to get up there, but I am sure it will make me nervous.  But I know that I can do it, and that it will be worth it, and maybe the next time I need to climb a ladder I will be a little less freaked out! (And at the end we will be grabbing beers, so I can always just focus on that!)

What are you afraid of?  What can you do to work on that fear?

Recipe: Ham Crusted Quiche

Ham Crusted Quiche

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve posted a recipe!  I’m sure you all know how it is, life just gets the in the way and all the sudden you wake up and realize you have been neglecting your blog!  And while I was neglecting my blog, my healthy journey has been doing some ups and downs.  I find myself on a great path, and then stumbling.  I’m trying to focus on the positive, and when I stumble get right back on the horse instead of letting it derail me, but I am by no means perfect and that doesn’t always work!

One of things I have been working on it is trying to not rely on carbohydrates so much in my meals.  I was feeling like every day, every meal was carb-heavy.  I don’t think that it is necessarily a problem to eat a diet high in carbs, but I felt like it was slowing me down, and I like to mix it up a little and give myself new challenges.  I also am doing a half-share of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture where I get a “basket” of fruits and vegetables) and want to make sure that everything I get is being eaten.  I have tried several of the “low carb” recipes that are popular right now, like the cauliflower pizza crust.  The verdict on that one is that it is good in its own right, but it is not the same as pizza crust.  The cheese mixed with the cauliflower does give it a nice crunchy texture, and I prefer a thin crust to the cauliflower crust, but I would make it again.

I did, however, make a low-carb recipe that I am enjoying a lot.  We get a dozen eggs every 2 weeks with our CSA, and what is a better use than a quiche?  It is totally customizable, and you can make a different variation all summer long.  I wanted to make it to bring to lunch at work, but the pie crust full of butter and flour is not on my current to-eat list.  I went searching on the internet for ideas on other types of crusts, but they all seemed to be based on other carb-heavy things like potatoes.  However, one link to a flickr account caught my eye: a ham crust. 

This seemed like the perfect idea, but I wasn’t in love with the rest of their recipe for the quiche, so I kind of mashed up a bunch of recipes I had in my head and came up with the recipe below.  It turned out really well, and this will definitely be added to my list of go-to recipes!

Ham Crusted Quiche

6 servings

4 Points Plus per serving

6 ounces deli ham

4 eggs

1 cup milk

4 ounces light Jarlsburg/swiss cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 pint mushrooms, roughly chopped

2 garlic scapes or green onions, sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray pie pan with olive oil spray, then lay the ham out so it covers the entire pan.



Mushrooms and Garlic Scapes

In a non-stick skillet, heat up the olive oil.  Once hot, sauté the mushrooms and garlic scapes or green onions until the mushrooms release their liquid and it cooks off.  Set aside to cool.



Eggs and Milk ready for
whisking

In a bowl, break up the four egg yolks, then add the milk and whisk and until combined well.  Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the cheese.  Finally, stir in the mushroom mixture.  Gently pour in to the pie pan on top of the ham.   Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the eggs are set. 

Ready to go in the oven

 Some of the eggs might end up on the outside of the ham because it will shrink a little in the oven, but this doesn’t mess up the taste or texture.  Let cool for a few minutes, then slice and enjoy!  (As a note, there may be some liquid released from the ham, but this did not mess up the quiche at all.  Just don’t let your husband drain it in the sink and drop the remaining servings into soapy water!)

My go-to pot luck recipe: Bacon Beet Horseradish Dip

Like most people, I am invited to several pot luck events throughout the year.  I always want to bring something tasty and unique.  I already know there will be at least 2 different kinds of broccoli salad, so why not go with something I am sure no one else will bring.  Of course, now that I am letting everyone in on my little secret, I might show up to a pot luck and find this dip already there!

The world needs more pink food!

The great thing about this dip is that it is both delicious and and conversation started.  I personally believe that the world needs more pink food, and if that can be done without artificial colors, that makes it even better.  It is very easy to make this, takes about 20 minutes, and even through people will be apprehensive at first, everyone who tries it enjoys it. This past weekend I brought it to Scott's company picnic, and it was well received.  Plus, bacon makes everything better!

Also, this not a particularly healthy recipe.

Bacon Beet Horseradish Dip

1/2 pound of bacon
2 8 ounce boxes of cream cheese
1 cup sour cream (you can sub light sour cream or mayo)
8 ounce jar of Gold's horseradish with beets

Dice the bacon, and cook until crisp.  Drain off all the fat.

In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, sour cream, bacon and horseradish together.  Your dip will be bright pink, and will be awesome!

This goes well with cut up vegetables, pita, tortilla chips, or bread.  My favorite thing to serve it with is the Russian brown bread that I get at Whole Foods.  To be extra fancy, serve it in a bread bowl.

Recipe: Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken

This past weekend, I attended one of my favorite things: a beer festival.  Me, my husband and my brother-in-law had  a great time, trying lots of good beer, eating BBQ and being responsible by not driving. As you can image, beer festivals are not exactly great for staying on point with Weight Watchers, but sometimes you have to just enjoy life and not count points, and this is definitely one of those events.  Despite all the gluttony, something I found at this particular beer festival inspired the recipe I am going to share today.

They often have vendors selling products at these types of events, and anyone who knows me knows that I could never resist a free sample (my dad likes to talk about when I at at least 10 British pounds, the currency not the weight, of cheese samples at Fortnum & Mason in London).  One of the vendors there was TorchBearer Sauces.  They had several different types of sauces to try, including BBQ sauces and hot sauces, but when I tried the Honey Garlic Wing Sauce, I knew I had to have some.  Tangy from the garlic, with a hint of sweetness from the honey, I figured there was a lot I could do with this.   The great taste combined with the lack of high fructose corn syrup seemed like a great combo, and it was made even better when I determined that it was only 1 weight watchers point per tablespoon! 

Crispy Chicken... yum!

I'm not a huge chicken fan, but when I do make it I prefer it to be crunch, but breading usually involves coating the chicken is something pointy.  What I did instead was marinate the chicken in the honey garlic wing sauce, then use the marinade to get the coating to adhere to the chicken.  It worked out great!





Recipe: Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken
Serves 2
9 weight watchers points per serving

So maybe french fries are not the healthiest side
dish.  Serve with a green vegetable!

3/4 chicken breaks, pounded so they are slightly thinner, or cut scallopine style
4 tablespoons TorchBearer Honey Garlic Wing Sauce
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Marinate the chicken with sauce for at least one hour, but around 3 or 4 would be best. 

Preheat the oven to 450.  Lay an oven-safe cooling rack on a baking sheet (this allows the air to circulate around the chicken).

Spread the panko on a plate.  Remove chicken from marinade, and coat each side lightly in panko, then lay out on the cooking rack.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, then flip and bake for 8-10 more (cooking time depends on thickness of your chicken.)

Serve with even more sauce to dip in!



p.s. In case anyone is wondering, I don't have enough people who read my blog for anyone to pay me to write about their products.  This is purely done because I enjoy the product.

Warrior Dash

After the race.  I was
hosed off before this was
taken.

Last weekend, I ran in my first 5k.  Of course, I couldn't pick a regular 5k to start with, I had to start with a 5k that also had obstacles. The Warrior Dash Maryland takes place in Southern Maryland, and there are several obstacles you have to climb over, crawl under, slide down, and finally at the end swim/crawl through mud the texture of wet cement.

 I have been thinking about writing about how it went, but I kept putting it off because I have such mixed feelings about it, and I was trying to reconcile those feelings before letting the whole world read about them.  I was hoping with a little time, I would gain some perspective and some of the less than warm and fuzzy feelings about myself regarding the race would fade away, but they haven't.

Let me start with this- I am extremely happy that I managed to finish the race, and complete every obstacles.  Even when I was sure I could never do it, I didn't want to do the race in a time that I am not happy about AND not do every obstacle.

However, I am also not happy with the way I ran.  The course involved a lot more uphill parts than I am used to, and combined with the obstacles, I found myself very tired earlier in the race than I would have liked.  It was pretty disappointing, and I also felt like I was holding my entire group who I did the race with back. 

I am signed up for the Color Run in September, so hopefully with some more training I will be able to complete my 2nd 5k in a reasonable amount of time.  Although the Color Run is not a timed race, so I will have to time myself. 

My completion medal and free beer :-P

Recipe: Peanut-Sesame Noodles

Doggies on the beach... pure bliss!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately.  I spent the last week of April on Cape Cod, my favorite place in the world, and it has just been hard getting back into the swing of things. We had a great time, took the dogs, Bear and Otis, to the beach at least once a day, and sometimes twice.  We ate wonderful food, including lots of lobster.  I like to try to spend some time on the Cape before or after the main tourist season.  Everything is so calm and relaxing.  Next time I will be there will be in August, the week before labor day, for my brother’s wedding, and it will be crazy busy and packed with people!

However, this blog post is not about that. I made a new recipe last night that turned out really well and wanted to share it with everyone.

                I think I may have mentioned my love of Chinese food before.  If not, well, I really love Chinese food. Everything about it appeals to me, from the crunchy coating on the General Tso’s chicken when it is fried to the silky eggs in egg drop soup.  However, take out Chinese has become a rare indulgence while trying to eat healthy.  This means I need to get my flavor fix in a lighter way.  

                When I was growing up, we didn’t really eat a lot of Chinese food.  One very rare occasions, usually when my mom and I had a craving, we would get take out from the “fancy” Chinese restaurant that was close to our house.  We HAD to have the cold sesame noodles.  I’m sure their version is incredibly unhealthy, since it was clearly made with a lot of peanut butter and sesame oil.  I have tried several lighter versions, and most are pretty meh.  But I had picked up a Cooking Light special magazine (5 Ingredient & 15 Minute Recipes) that had a recipe that looked good.  Scott marinated some ribs in an Asian marinade, and then smoked them on the Big Green Egg.  The ribs were really good, very tender and a little salty, and the cool noodles balanced them out nicely.   While I don’t think any home-made sesame noodles will ever be quite as good as those found in restaurants, these were definitely some of the better ones  I have made.

Peanut-Sesame Noodles
4 servings
8 WW points per serving

1/2 pound noodles (I used some labeled "Chinese noodles" but you can use soba, angel hair or whatever you feel like)
1/2 cup julienned cucumber
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup sliced green onions
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

For the sauce
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
crushed red pepper to taste

Whisk all the ingredients for the sauce together. Cook the noodles according to the package directions, then run them under cold water.  While the noodles are cooking, put together the vegetables. In a large bowl, toss the sauce with the vegetables and cool noodles.  Serve at room temperature.

Recipe: Buffalo Cupcakes

 Back in January, I wrote about pastrami cupcakes, a recipe that was inspired by a great cooking blog called Emily Bites. For this week, I needed to make something for lunch.  Usually I make extra of something I am making for dinner, but none of the recipes I chose for this week worked well with making extra, so I decided to make some kind of "cupcake".  Scott originally suggested Thai-inspired cupcakes, but I couldn't really think of anything that would work.  Then I remembered that Emily Bites has made buffalo cupcakes in the past. She uses chicken, and I try to eat vegetarian at lunch, and Laughing Cow blue cheese wedges, which to be honest, kind of gross me out.  I would rather have a little good blue cheese then use something that might not be great.  Plus, a little blue cheese goes a long way flavor-wise.

Buffalo wings are great, but they are not particularly healthy, so this is a great way to get that buffalo flavor fix without the points!

Vegetarian Buffalo Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes, each serving is 2.
8 points for 2 cupcakes

40 wonton wrappers
16 ounces mushrooms
2 bags Gardein chipotle lime "crispy fingers"
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
12 tablespoons buffalo sauce

Prepare the faux chicken according the the package directions.  When cooked, chop into small pieces.  Saute mushrooms in non-stick pan until cooked, then process in a food processor until well chopped.  Mix faux chicken and mushrooms in a large bowl, pour in buffalo sauce and toss to coat.

A perfect, easily portable, lunch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a muffin tin with olive oil spray.  My muffin tin makes 12 muffins, so I did this in two batches.  Push 10 wonton wrappers into the bottom of the muffin tin.  Top with about a tablespoon of mushroom/faux chicken mixture (this will take some estimating.  Just make sure you have enough to do 2 layers in 20 cupcakes.  It may help to separate mixture into quarters.)

Put another wonton wrapper on top of the mixture, then another layer of mushroom/faux chicken.  Top each cupcake with about a half a tablespoon of blue cheese.  Spray the top with more olive oil spray (this helps the wonton parts that are sticking up to brown).  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Let the first batch cool, then do the same thing for the second batch.

This is such a great dish because it reheats and travels well.  This size recipe made enough lunches for two people for the whole work week.

Recipe: Balsamic Whipped Cream

Strawberries, marshmallows and raspberries
were great for dipping

I am not a huge dessert person, but when I get the chance to combine the savory and the sweet, that is when you have my perfect dessert.  Most of the time I don't bother with dessert, although I do enjoy baking and just tried to make macarons for the first time! But, on Friday night I was invited to a friends house for dinner, and I would never show up empty handed.

I am also obsessed with balsamic vinegar.  One of those fancy places where you can taste a ton of different olive oils and vinegars just opened up in the Annapolis Town Center, near the Whole Foods where I do my grocery shopping, so of course the other weekend Scott and I had stopped in and we picked a couple of things up.  The place is called Cleo's Fine Oils & Vinegars and one of the vinegars we got is a 25 year old balsamic.  It is the perfect balance of sweet and sour, and it goes great on pretty much everything.  Drizzle it on pasta? Check.  Marinate chicken?  Check.  Put on ice cream? Check.

Heavy cream, powdered sugar and balsamic,
ready to start whipping

For this particular dessert, I knew I needed something good for a small group, that would travel well since they live about 30 minutes away, and would combine sweet, savory, light, and my balsamic obsession.  I had a hunch that a balsamic whipped cream would work and after some searching around the Internet, found that some people had done it.  I sort of winged it with amounts, and it worked out perfectly!

I served this with strawberries, marshmallows and raspberries, but it would go well with lots of fruits as well as sponge cake and cookies.  I have a feeling pretzels would also be good with this.

Balsamic Whipped Cream (4 generous servings, 6 regular servings)

The finished balsamic whipped cream

8 oz heavy whipping cream
1/8 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons REALLY good balsamic vinegar



Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until the cream forms light peaks.  Dip various fruits and sweets and enjoy.

Recipe: WW Pierogi Lasagna

Two of my favorite words when it comes to eating are comfort food.  Comfort food is different for everyone, but almost every single person I know has something that they eat when they are feeling under the weather or having a bad day.  To me, comfort food is food that is white- white pasta, mashed potatoes, bread, etc. 

Last week I ran across a recipe for pierogi lasagna.  Wait, you mean combine pasta AND mashed potatoes?!?  I thought this was the best idea I have ever seen.  I was a little worried about how many weight watchers points it would be, but with a few slight changes that didn’t affect the taste too much, I came up with a great and point-friendly version.  All I really did was use low-fat versions of the dairy, which I am normall not a huge fan of but don't mind in cooked foods, and the big help was swapping out 1/2 of the potatoes for cauliflower.

In the future, I might add bacon to give it that little extra something. And because bacon makes everything better!

Pierogi Lasagna (10 servings, 10 points per serving)

Inspired by Omnomicon

1 pound no cook lasagna noodles

¼ cup reduced-fat sour cream

½ cup skim milk

2 cups low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded

2 pounds potatoes

1 head cauliflower

½ cup butter

1 onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut potatoes into a one inch dice and cut up the head of cauliflower, discarding the core.  Put in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and cook until everything is tender.  Drain potatoes and cauliflower. 

In a bowl, mash potatoes and cauliflower with milk and sour cream however you prefer.  Since there were a lot, I did it in a stand mixer.  Stir in cheddar cheese and season with salt and pepper.

In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and sauté the onion until translucent.

Take a 13x9 casserole dish, and spread a light layer of oniony butter on the bottom.  Put one layer of pasta noodles. Spread with a little more butter.  Spread ¼ of the mashed potatoes.  Top with more noodles, then onion butter, then potatoes until you run out of pasta.  My top layer was mashed potato covered with buttery onions.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

I don’t have any pictures because it pretty much looks like a white brick.  But the taste is awesome!