Light and Fresh Potato Salad

This recipe is another great one from Cooking Light magazine. It's a great alternative to the usual potato salad which can be calorie packed from the mayo. This recipe uses seasoned rice vinegar to add a flavorful kick.

Ingredients

Dressing:
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
5 cups cubed red potato (about 2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped peeled cucumber
3/4 cup sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 (2 1/4-ounce) can sliced ripe olives, drained

Preparation

1. To prepare dressing, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

2. To prepare salad, place potato and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above potato; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until tender; drain.

3. Add potato to dressing in bowl, tossing gently to coat; let stand 15 minutes. Stir in cucumber and remaining ingredients; toss well. Cover and chill.

Yield

12 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 90(28% from fat); FAT 2.8g (sat 0.2g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 1.8g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 19mg; SODIUM 295mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 0.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.9g

Lemon Meringue - Pass the Extinguisher

As a wedding shower gift, my new company gave Andy and I one of those KitchenAid stand mixers. Its amazing! (What color you ask? Ice which is like a sea green). So I had to test it out of course and I thought why not a lemon meringue pie! I'd never made one before and to think of it I have never actually eaten one. So I got on CookingLight.com and found a recipe.

I used the mixer to make the meringue and it was the easiest thing ever. In a matter of seconds I had fluffy white clouds of meringue in my mixing bowl. So I spread the meringue over the smooth lemony filling. It was gorgeous: peaks of white like waves. All it needed was those nice browned edges so I popped it into the broiler which was preheated. I put the microwave timer on for a minute per the instructions. After that minute passed, I checked on the pie and to my horror the top of the pie was burned and some of those beautiful white peaks were actually on fire! My clouds had been turned into ashes! I was horrified. I took the pie out and blew out the tiny flames.

What could I do? With a fork in hand, I started peeling off the burnt crust of meringue that was on top. Luckily it was pretty easy and beneath was still a good layer of pretty tasty meringue. Once I had finished, I used my mini torch (used for such delicacies as creme brulee) and began the restoration process. I browned the meringue and then sprinkled lemon zest over it for garnish.

So now was the taste test. I grabbed Andy and Carl (Andy's brother) to be my guinea pigs. We all had a piece and to my delight it was delicious. I forgot to let the filling set after baking so the lemon filling was not as set as I would have liked it to be, but I put it in the fridge afterwards and it solidified beautifully.

So be weary of the hot gates of the broiler. I do not use it very often so am not a connoisseur of its high heat prowess, but now I'll know better for the next meringue pie!

Below is the recipe I used from CookingLight.com. I love how CookingLight.com tells you the nutrition information for each of the recipes they have. This recipe uses a lot of fat free ingredients which was perfect for the weight watching we are doing before the wedding!

Ingredients

Crust:
1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 8 cookie sheets)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Filling:
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 (6-ounce) carton lemon fat-free yogurt (such as Yoplait)
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons water

Meringue:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°.

To prepare crust, combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl; toss with a fork until moist. Press into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned; cool on a wire rack.

To prepare filling, combine lemon rind and next 3 ingredients (rind through yogurt) in a medium bowl, and set aside. Sprinkle gelatin over 3 tablespoons water in a small microwave-safe bowl; let stand 1 minute. Microwave at HIGH 15 seconds, stirring until gelatin dissolves. Stir gelatin mixture thoroughly into yogurt mixture. Spoon filling into prepared crust. Press plastic wrap onto surface of filling; chill 1 hour or until almost firm.

To prepare the meringue, combine 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer registers 240°. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed of a mixer until foamy. Pour hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over egg white mixture, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form. Remove the plastic wrap from filling. Spread meringue evenly over filling, sealing to edge of crust.

Preheat broiler.

Broil meringue for 1 minute or until lightly browned, and cool on wire rack. Chill until set.

Yield

9 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 293(9% from fat); FAT 2.9g (sat 1.1g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 6.8g; CHOLESTEROL 9mg; CALCIUM 141mg; SODIUM 178mg; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 0.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 59.9g

Mini Pizzas - A Variety

One of my friends from work who is now in Switzerland (Josh aka "Shuffler") loved this bread called "Seeduction" from Whole Foods. I bought some today, toasted it, and dipped it in pesto (also from Whole Foods). It was so good! I then proceeded to spread the pesto on slices of the Seeduction bread and then topped it with mozzerella and tomato slices and sprinkled on italian herb seasoning and salt. I then melted the cheese till bubbly in the toaster oven. It was a delicious little pizza appetizer.

I use to make this same thing in England when I was studying abroad. All the English girls would make it and they called it "cheesy toast". In this version, we used slices of buttered white bread, topped with white cheddar and sliced tomatoes and sprinkled with salt and pepper. This is also a very satisfying mini pizza like snack.

You can make various versions of this pizza snack using whatever cheese or bread you have around the house. Bon appetit!

Hummus...Yum-mus

I have been on a hummus kick lately. I bought some red pepper (or roasted pepper?) hummus from HEB last weekend (the HEB down south on Escarpment is more like a Central Market; impressive). They were out of regular hummus so I chose the red/roasted pepper one thinking I would be sadly disappointed...and it was AMAZING. I ate it with Wheat Thins and I could not stop. Hummus is a mixture of mashed up chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), tahini (sesame seed paste), and some mixture of seasonings. Since its just mashed up beans I feel like its pretty healthy (getting my proteins). It is usually eaten with pita bread and I think its origins are Greek. I have not tried to make hummus myself yet but it's on my list of foods to conquer.

This affinity for hummus is just one of the many foods using chickpeas that I have recently discovered. I tried a falafel recipe from Cooking Light magazine that came out pretty good and I have made it multiple times (I will add it to this blog as soon as I can find the magazine clipping!). Falafels are mashed up chickpea patties.

Okay I'm getting hungry...

Here chick chick chick pea!

Mashed Cauliflower - Potatoes Be Afraid!

I am a huge..HUGE potato fan but my fiance and I started a new diet where we eat no white potatoes (okay maybe the occasional Wendy's french fries..I am weak!). Tonight I tried making mashed cauliflower as a substitute for mashed potatoes. I had heard about people making this and it turning out great but I had my doubts. I took a bag of frozen cauliflower and added it to boiling water with some salt. I drained the cauliflower and put it in my blender with some butter, half and half, salt, and pepper. It blended well but I noticed the consistency was a little bit too watery (it was like cream of wheat) so I added some bread crumbs to soak up the excess moisture. It worked like a charm. I served the mashed cauliflower with some left over chicken gravy I had from last night's dinner and it was AWESOME. I asked my fiance and his brother how they liked the cauliflower and they didn't know what I was talking about. If I hadn't mentioned it they probably would have gone on thinking they were eating potatoes. Cauliflower..mission accomplished.

Pumpkin Pie

I got this recipe from Foodnetwork.com. It is one of Paula Deen's recipes so you know its gonna be rich and definitely not low fat! Her recipe calls for adding melted butter towards the end of the mixing process but I added it at the beginning with the cream cheese and liked the way it turned out. I made this pie this weekend for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my future in laws. My fiance's brother who is a big pie fan thought it was really good.

1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup half and half
1/2 stick butter, softened (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 piece of pre-made pie dough
whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Macaroons

My sister and I love macaroons; we fell in love with them when we bought a box at Whole Foods. I wanted to try to make them so found a recipe from AllRecipes.com. The smell of coconut is intoxicating!

4 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour cookie sheet. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla, almond, and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar and whip until stiff. Toss together flour, salt, and coconut in a separate bowl; fold into egg whites. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 18 - 20 minutes or until golden. Allow cookies to cool.

The first time I made these I noticed it was too wet and when I baked them they did not come out as coconut mounds, more like a flatter cookie. Next time I added more coconut flakes until mixture was more coconut than mix so the shape held better.