On Hiatus

Due to an incredibly hectic schedule, inclding almost a month of travel, I will be on haitus until the last week in June. Please browse my archives, or take a look at some of the great blogs on my blogroll.

I’ll see you in July!

Best. Stroganoff. Ever

I don’t have any pictures of the stroganoff, as we couldn’t wait that long to dig in, but it was made with these:

We got about 5.5lbs of Chicken o’the Woods mushrooms last weekend, and when MJ mentioned she’d seen a recipe for Venison and Chicken Mushroom stroganoof, I think I actually started drooling. A short trip to the grocer and a few hours of thawing out last year’s venison (thanks again to my brother for the wonderful loins and steaks!) later, I was ready to whip something up.

I varied from the recipe a bit, and I also added some shitakes (we’re growing our own for next year!); but, I left in the brandy for the cream sauce.  It is a measure of how much I love UC and my friends that the sauce made it to the table at all. Served over whole wheat pasta and sided with spicy zucchini, it was an amazing dinner if I do say so myself. We’re doing this again very, very soon. And very, very often.

Chestnut Bourbon Butter

Last fall, I stocked up on chestnuts when they were in season. Hours of roasting and shucking later, I was left with something like 10 lbs. Aside from the holidays when I make Chestnut stuffing, I haven’t used them since. This is tragic, and I’ve made a promise to myself to start finding uses for them. There’ll be a soup next week, but yesterday I decided to at least get a start by making a nut butter.

I realize it doesn’t look like mcuh, but it is all that and a bag of chips, without the trans fat. I added some bourbon (because we are sans brandy at the moment)  to deepen the flavor, a bit of Tahitian Vanilla Powder, and then reduced it in the crock pot for several hours. I can’t wait to put this on the banana bread we’re making tonight!

More Canning Goodies!

I put these up last year, when I had a bushel of green tomatoes. Part of that bushel was hot-packed slices for later frying, which worked beautifully, and part of them went into pickled green tomatoes. These turned out incredibly well, though this year I am going to add some jalepenos.

Nutrition Counseling

I really do need to do a food update, I know. I’ve just been swamped, but there are food posts coming down the line, I promise. Some will even involve wild mushrooms and home canning (not in the same post).

In the meantime, I realized I hadn’t mentioned here that I do a lot of nutrition and lifestyle counseling. The sessions are in home and on location at markets, farms, and grocery stores, and focus on healthy eating on a budget.  For pricing, just give me an email at chef at shwankie dot net! Group rates available.

Where Do You Stand?

The USDA publishes average food costs each month. I’ve never posted these before, but a discussion came up on one of our boards. When looking at this, keep in mind it is for food only, not paper products, personal products, etc.

USDA Cost of Food

While we’re fairly frugal, we also eat really well. After deducting  personal products, etc. and averaging the costs for a month, we fall somewhere between thrifty and low-cost, depending on the week. I’ve been able to get us well under the “thrifty” at times, but it’s not a great way for us to try and eat. Thadd needs too many calories to make that reasonable for long (especially without a garden, which we didn’t have until this year due to apartment living), and we do try to eat healthy. Unfortunately, real produce costs a fortune!

So, where do you fit?

Meal Plan 4.27.09

I realized a while ago that I hadn’t done a meal plan here in some time. I’ve been so busy with other food-related goodies that it’s just escaped my mind, but we are still doing them for ourselves every week.  As usual, breakfasts, lunches, and snacks aren’t planned by the specific day, but rather as a list of items to select from. Dinners are planned for each night, and with this being really busy, we’ve got some quick ones.

Breakfasts: Steel cut oats in the crock pot. Fat-free Greek yogurt with low-fat granola and fruit. Homemade whole wheat toast. Eggs in various forms. Milk. Coffee. Matcha milk tea.

Lunches: Leftovers. Tuna salad sandwhiches on whole wheat bread. Fruit salad. Green salad.

Snacks: Various fruits. Nuts. Cheese. Yogurt. Salad.

Dinners:

Monday: BLTs on homemade wheat bread. I have Body Combat on Mondays, and UC has been really busy at night, as well. This was our concession to time, and we had to eat it on the go.

Tuesday: Asian Chicken & Veggie Kabobs with brown rice. I marinaded the chicken in a sesame-soy-garlic sauce, then skewered it along with zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms. We broiled it, as we have no grilling capability, and I reduced the marinade into a great sauce.

Wednesday: Pork spare ribs with whipped sweet potatoes, green beans, and geen and fruit salads. The ribs are from Double H farms, free-range and better than organic. I’ve had them going in the crock pot since this morning, and they’re literally falling off the bone. The whipped sweet potatoes will have a bit of milk, pepper, and a pinch of smoked black sea salt to compliment the barbeque sauce on the ribs. The green beans will be seared off with garlic, cracked pepper, and lemon juice. Fruit salad is served on the side (we’ve got a pile of this in our refrigerator this week), and a mixed greens salad will be served before dinner.

Thursday: Tacos with spanish rice & black beans. This was, again, a meal planned for time. As it turns out, the commitment we had on this evening has been moved. Fortunately, we still like tacos.  These are going to be chicken tacos, simply because we have a lot of chicken. ( I need to get some more beef from Pannill’s Gate next week so we can eat beef again!). Thadd will be having the hard taco version, but I’ll be keeping it a bit lower calorie with high-fiber tortillas instead of crunchy corn shells.

Friday: Out. Unfortunately, given our work schedules on this day, there’s no way to either cook at home or pack a cooler for Friday. We’ll likely eat at Revolutionary Soup in Charlottesville, which is healthy and relatively inexpensive.

Saturday: Pork piccata. We’re using up some pork from last fall that needs to come out of the freezer. This is one of UC’s favorite dishes. I cut the fat by not using cream in it, and up the fiber by putting in veggies and serving it over whole wheat pasta.

The Recipes You’vee Been Waiting For!

I’ve gotten several requests for recipes of late. Some of my recipes, such as my Shape It Up Meatloaf:

I can’t really give out for proprietary reasons. I can, however, give out the recipes for these that everyone’s been asking for since I donated them to Ladie’s Night Out:

Above: Pesto Farmer’s Cheese Torte (mini). Below: Butterscotch Pecan Gorgonzola Torte.

They’re more suggestions than recipes, and both start the same way:

In whatever size & shape bowl works best for you, lay plastic wrap to cover inside. Make sure you push it gently into all the corners, and that there is enough left on all sides to cover the bottom of the cheese mold. Spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.

Pesto Torte:

(I used farmer’s cheese because I was donating this and goat cheese was too expensive, but I recommend goat cheese. )

Combine cream cheese and enough pesto to color a light green. Mix & set aside. Press goat cheese into plastic covered mold, using slightly wetted hands or plastic gloves. Use enough cheese to fill about 1/3 of the mold, and press firmly to pack cheese into mold corners.  Layer in enough pesto cream cheese to fill up the next 1/3 of the mold, again pressing gently to make sure it reaches all the corners and has no air bubbles. Finish filling with the goat cheese, again pressing mixture in firmly. Fold plastic over the bottom of the mold tightly, and set in refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove mold from refrierator, and unwrap the bottom of the mold. Make sure your plastic is out of the way, and invert mold gently on plate. If necessary, gently tug one corner of the plastic to encourage cheese onto plate.

I bought pesto, because frankly at this time a year it was too expensive to buy that much basil. Roast pine nuts gently in a dry pan for several minutes, turning frequently, until they are toasted. Spread pesto on top of mold, then cover with pine nuts. Top with either pepperdew peppers (above), or with roasted tomatoes or garlic. Serve chilled.

Butterscotch Pecan Gorgonzola Torte

In a heavy-bottomed pan, combine:  dried figs or apple slices, dried cranberries, butterscotch syrup to coat, and pineapple juice to thin enough to not burn. Heat on low until fruit plumps. Add enough corn starch, mixed with pineapple juice, to thicken and heat until thickened. Add roasted pecan (roast first if necessary) and stir. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

(I used gorgonzola because it was relatively cheap, but I’d actually recommend a blue stilton for this recipe if cost is less of an issue). Mix blue cheese with farmer’s cheese in whatever ratio you prefer (I did about 1/3 lb gorgonzola to 1 lb. farmer’s). Press into mold as described above for pesto mold, filling entire mold with cheese. Refrigerate for one hour. Release from mold onto plate, and scoop generous amounts of topping onto cheese. Stud cheese, if desired, with roasted walnuts or pecans for extra presentation.

And, that’s it! They’re really simple and delightful appetizers, with fun and unique presentations. Stores like Wegmans’ sell these for a mint, but you can make them much more cheaply in just a few minutes at home. Enjoy!

Bike Stop Ladie’s Night Out–Join Us!

Well, join everyone else and eat some of my food. I have to work elsewhere, so can’t make it; but, my food can:

Above: Pesto Cheese torte. Below: Caramel Pecan & Fruit on Gorganzola torte.

Below: Fruit skewers

So, here are the details:

Bike Stop Ladie’s Night Out!

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

april 23, 2009

7-9pm

(doors open at 6:30pm for Reception)

120 W. Culpeper Street

540-825-2105

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

Celebrating

the active

female lifestyle

and

Mother Nature

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

*THE FIRST 30 WOMEN WILL RECEIVE FREE GOODIE BAGS!*

Suggested $5 contribution at the door:

a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life”

(1 goodie bag and 1 raffle ticket with $5 contribution; additional tickets $1 each)

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

Events:

• Bike maintenance & repair clinics

• Bike fit & ride information

• Triathlon training and race talk

(Coach Vivian Arenas)

• Yoga for the female athlete

(Evelyn O’Laughlin)

• Health/fitness info (Gold’s Gym)

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

and more . . .

• SPRING SALE!

(mountain, road, hybrid bikes)

• NEW spring apparel and accessories

• Coffee break (World Bean RoastHers)

• Raffle/door prizes (local businesses)

• Refreshments and samples

• Free 5-minute massage

Decadent Dessert–No Guilt

I love Greek style yogurt, I love fruit, and I love granola. So, for dessert last night, I tossed all of that in a glass and made a decadent, rich dessert high in protein and fiber, low in fat, and bursting with fresh and creamy flavors.

I love desserts like this: sinfully rich, guilt-free. I used lowfat Greek yogurt, a low-fat granola mixture, banannas, strawberries, blackberries, and fresh raspberry sauce (raspberries cooked down quickly with a bit of white wine, honey, and some spices). It was painfully good, and I am considering having another one as a mid-day snack today.