A Week of Groceries

Today I stumbled across this interesting series of photographs from Peter Menzel. The photos appear in Menzel's book, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, and the FStoppers website has rounded up a bunch of them. While I found his images interesting on their own merit, it was quite fascinating to head over to Menzel's website to read about the families pictured, their homes, their cooking methods, methods of food preservation and how much they spend on food in a week.

The Casales family, Mexico (Source)

Back in March I posted a Wordless Wednesday photoset of what a week's worth of groceries looks like in my house. Is your home country pictured in the FStoppers roundup, and if so, does your weekly haul resemble what is pictured?

I was on quite a vegetable kick in March! 

Crush on You: Easy Entertaining, Inc.

Welcome to the new "Crush on You" series!

I should confess that, thanks to eat drink RI, I had a slight crush on Easy Entertaining, Inc. before I stepped through the doors of their gorgeous Café (located at 166 Valley Street). If you're anything like me, you voraciously read eat drink RI's "Upcoming Events" list each week and daydream of a better world- a world in which you're able to attend every event. I first noticed Easy Entertaining's cooking classes on that list last year, and I've been admiring the company from afar ever since (thanks, Facebook!). Three weeks ago the stars finally aligned, and I was able to attend one of their classes. The topic? Healthy Weeknight Summer Meals.

Easy Entertaining Café's decor and design alone were crush-worthy. The tables were topped with simple flower arrangements and the large windows let in tons of great ambient light. The space felt both comfortable and upscale at the same time. It quickly became clear that there was much more to admire about this company than its good looks, though. They're one of Rhode Island's premier farm to fork establishments. With an ethos built around sustainability, I was digging their message and values too. Add to that some delicious food served up in a friendly and informative manner, and I was positively giddy by the time I exited their Café doors!

Our host for the evening was Easy Entertaining's Sous Chef, Ashley, and she was assisted by Chef Marlon. I hadn't been able to register in advance since I only learned of the event that afternoon, but both Ashely and Marlon did a great job of seamlessly adding me into the fold. Eight of us sat at the counter surrounding the makeshift demo kitchen they had created. The classes at Easy Entertaining are BYO, so we opened our bottles of wine and chatted amongst ourselves while Ashley prepared to start the class. The women next to me had been to an Easy Entertaining class before, and were raving about the onion chopping skills they had picked up. So, Ashley was kind enough to teach the rest of us the tricks of the onion chopping trade before diving into the first recipe of the evening.

Ashley covered three recipes over the course of about an hour. She started with a Quick Split Pea Soup with Ham Hock. My dad always makes split pea soup the Monday after Easter, but Easy Entertaining's version was ready in a lot less time and tasted much lighter. "Quick" doesn't mean instant, however. The soup Ashley whipped up in front of us needed to simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hours, so the soup that we sampled was one that had been started by Marlon earlier that afternoon. Next Ashley showed us how to toss together a tasty pasta dish composed of shrimp and zucchini. The flavors were simple and well balanced; it was a delicious meal that we all agreed would impress friends despite being delightfully simple to prepare. The final recipe of the night was one for scrumptious Chicken and Zucchini Burgers- and it's that burger recipe that I'd like to share with you below. Guilt free burgers that pack a hidden vegetable punch?! Yup. That's crush-worthy!

Before we get to the recipe, I want to share a few of the practical tips and tricks that I picked up during the class.

1. A "Take your soup from ordinary to Yay!" tip: each time you add a vegetable to the oil, add a little salt and pepper to help build on the caramelization.
2. If you accidentally over-salt a meal, add a little lemon; or if you've used too much lemon, add a dash of salt.
3. A microplane makes an excellent garlic grating tool. (I bought one a few days later and love it!)

Thanks, Easy Entertaining, for a great evening of food education! I look forward to attending more classes in the future.

Chicken and Zucchini Burgers 

Servings: 5 burgers Serving Size: 1 burger Points Plus*: 3 pts
(Easy Entertaining's recipe, mildly adapted)

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Chicken, extra lean
1 small Zucchini, grated
1/4 cup Seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 clove Garlic, grated
1/8 cup Green onion, chopped
Dash of salt and pepper
Oil spray

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, green onion, salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet on high heat. Make five equal patties. When the skillet is hot, lightly spray with oil. Add the burgers to the pan, and reduce the heat to low. Cook on one side until browned, the flip. Flip over a few times to prevent from burning, and make sure the burgers are cooked all the way through. I cooked the burgers for about 6-7 minutes on each side.

Serving Suggestion: I topped a couple of the burgers with cheese in the final two minutes of cooking. Yum! 

 
These burgers freeze beautifully. Seal a few of the cooled, cooked burgers in sandwich bags and pop them into the freezer so that you'll have them on hand when your next burger craving strikes.

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website

Wordless Wednesday: Incredible Ice Cream Throwdown

{Lack of} Progress Report

I published my last weight loss progress report back in March. Some time in early April I fell off track and stopped attending Weight Watchers meetings. Last Saturday I returned to the scales for a weigh in. Here's how it all went down.

"Go ahead and step on the scale," said the chipper Weight Watchers employee.

She didn't use words to tell me that I had gained a bunch of weight- her face said it all.

"When's the last time you were here?" she asked, trying unsuccessfully to regain her composure.

"I guess it's been a few months," I answered sheepishly.

A few months of glorious eating...

But maybe I shouldn't have entirely eschewed counting points!

 

I hurried into the meeting, already underway, needing to be inspired.

Our leader was discussing low points plus methods of incorporating power foods into our breakfast routines.

Still reeling from my experience at the scale, I wasn't in the mood to pretend to care about power foods when I took my seat.

I did my best to silence that negativity quickly.

By the end of the meeting I had stopped feeling sorry for myself, and was clapping enthusiastically as members received "Bravo" stickers for sharing their accomplishments with the group.

I'm slowly getting back on track, and have made a conscious effort to count points over the last week. I'm hoping to receive a much more positive reaction at the scale one month from now.

Two Proud

Today is a big day for LGBT communities and their allies in both my homeland of Bermuda and here in Providence. I'm calling it a double rainbow kind of day!

Bermudian parliamentarians debated an amendment to the Human Rights Act banning sexual orientation discrimination and banning certain instances of age discrimination. Thanks to the Bermemes website I was able to listen to much of the conversation via live stream while at work; it was enheartening to feel included in this historic moment. An added bonus: the Bermudian accents, I don't hear those often enough! After a full day of debates, the majority of MPs seem set to approve the amendment.

Here in Rhode Island, Providence PrideFest kicks off tonight, and we're in for a weekend full of events. Having recently passed a same-sex marriage bill, there's much to celebrate and to be proud of in the Ocean State this year! 

This blog is about my passion for food and cities, and it is not my intention to politicize my little corner of the web. I'm merely grateful that there are so many people out there bravely fighting for love, equality and justice. 

Now, back to my regularly scheduled programing: a delicious and healthy breakfast recipe. Overnight oats recipes are among my favorite go-to workday breakfasts, and this PB&J version is delicious!

PB&J Overnight Oats

Servings: 1 Serving Size: It's all yours! Points Plus*: 4 pts
(Adapted from Skinnytaste.com)

Ingredients

1/4 cup Uncooked quick oats
1/2 cup Unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp PB2 (powdered peanut butter)
1 tbsp Reduced sugar strawberry spread/jam
1 tsp Chia seeds
1 Handful of fruit (I had frozen, unsweetened blueberries on hand this week.)

Directions

Overnight oats are quick and easy to mix up right before bed. Toss all of your ingredients into one travel sized, sealable container.

I had a chia seeds spill!

Only half the teaspoon of chia seeds made it into this batch IN  the measuring spoon.

Mix everything up, seal the container, and refrigerate overnight. Then simply grab and go in the morning.

Serving Suggestion:
I don't like my food super sweet, there's enough sugar in the fruit spread and blueberries for me. If you like your breakfast on the sweeter side, though, you could add a little of your favorite sweetener to the recipe.

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website

Paper Plates and Pesto

That little bit of back pain that I mentioned last week ended up morphing into something much more debilitating, but with the help of some great friends I'm finally back on my feet. I'm still moving relatively slowly and gingerly, so I'm keeping things as simple as possible around the apartment and especially in the kitchen. We're talking paper plates, folks, so that I don't have to stand over the sink washing dishes.

In the interest of said simplicity, this post is going to be a short one- in part because the recipe I'd like to share is just so darned easy. During last month's heatwave, the last thing I wanted to do was spend much time cooking over a hot stove. What's perfectly delicious and requires little to no time at the stove? Pesto!

I didn't have any fresh basil on hand, but I had recently purchased a lovely bunch of garlic chive blossoms at the Providence Alternative Market. Garlic chives were a brand new ingredient for me, so I took to the interwebs for some advice. While the herb is typically used in Asian cuisine, I found a few garlic chive pesto recipes out there. I improvised a little to create something low(ish) in Points Plus values: I cut out the nuts, cut down on the oil, kept the cheese.

Have you used garlic chives at all this spring? What's your favorite way to use the herb?

Garlic Chive Pesto

Servings: ~6 Serving Size: ~1/2 tbsp Points Plus*: 3 pts

 

Ingredients

1 bunch Garlic chives, chopped (I ended up with roughly one heaping cup)
1/3 cup Shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Basil paste
1 tsp Lemon juice (I only had concentrate on hand, fresh is always better!)
4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper, to taste (I've been cutting down on salt, but you should feel free to add a pinch or two to taste)

Directions

Chop the garlic chives into 1/2 inch pieces.

Combine the garlic chives, Parmesan cheese, basil paste, lemon juice, two tablespoons of olive oil, and black pepper in a food processor.

Blend the ingredients until finely chopped. Add the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more olive oil and/or lemon juice; blending again to combine.

Serving Suggestion:

It's easy to turn this pesto into a full meal in under half an hour.

Before getting to work (and I use the term lightly!) on making the pesto, I set a pot full of water over high heat and preheated the oven to 425° for my PERDUE® SIMPLY SMART® Lightly Breaded Chicken Strips. When the water came to a boil, I added 4 oz of whole wheat linguine- that's approximately two servings- and put the chicken in the oven. At this point my pesto was already blended.

When the pasta was al dente, I strained it, reserving about 1/4 cup of the liquid. The chicken needed another few minutes in the oven, and in that time I returned the strained pasta to the pot, adding one tablespoon of the pesto and the reserved liquid. I also tossed in a half cup of roasted spaghetti squash that I had in the fridge. A quick stir, and "Presto!" Your pesto dinner is ready.

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website

Keep Calm and Eat Pizza

You might have noticed that I've been a little bit wordless lately.  Almost nothing exhausts this introvert more than back to back social and professional commitments. The last few weeks have been jam packed with house guests, committee meetings, air travel, and weddings. Periods of hyper activity scare the bejesus out of my quiet-loving soul. I'm not complaining; I'm fortunate to have been included in so many fun events and projects over the last month. I'm merely explaining my absence.

"Hermiting" is my preferred method of recovery following long periods of socializing. Hiding out from the world between social events and activities is the only way for me to completely recharge. What does this hermit time entail? Well, I spend lots of time on my couch, beneath a blanket, binge watching television series on Netflix. There's little-to-no texting, tweeting, or emailing. My friends know the deal. They'll send a quick "Hermiting?" text to check in after a busy week, and if I don't respond they know that the unwritten answer is a resounding "Yes!" I'd like to find a way to blog while hermiting, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to do so.

A mantra to embrace

I've been so busy that I haven't had the energy to cook very often. One of the few things I have made the time to throw in the oven is pizza. I've eaten lots and lots of pizzas! In my opinion it's the perfect hermiting food. If you've been following this blog at all, you already know that I like to experiment with low carb, alternative pizza recipes. While hermiting, however, I crave a good old fashioned pie. It's comfortable. It's easy. It's fast. It's even Weight Watchers friendly. I buy fresh dough at the grocery store, and freeze individually portioned 4 oz balls of it. It is my belief that one should always be prepared to satisfy a pizza craving without leaving the house.

"Homemade" Cheese Pizza

Servings: 1 Serving Size: the whole darn pie Points Plus*: 12 pts

Ingredients

Baking spray
2 tbsp White whole wheat flour 
4 oz Fresh pizza dough
1/2 cup Tomato sauce, canned
1 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Basil paste 
Black pepper to taste
Onion powder to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 cup Part skim shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425° and coat your pizza pan with baking spray.

Lightly coat your rolling surface and rolling pin with one tablespoon of flour. Reserve the second tablespoon to sprinkle onto the dough and surface as needed while creating a nice thin crust. I like my crust paper thin, because that creates a larger surface area and it feels like I get more pizza for the same number of points.

Paper thin!

Transfer the flat circle of dough to your prepared pizza pan. Mix your tomato sauce with the garlic, basil, black pepper, and onion powder and then top the dough with it. Add a few shakes of red pepper flakes if you like a little kick to your pizza. Top with cheese, and the pizza is ready for the oven.

I bake my pies on the bottom rack for 10 minutes, and then move them to the top rack for an additional 3-7 minutes. When the cheese is a gorgeous, melty, sea of golden, gooey goodness your pizza is done.

This pizza was featured in the Serious Eats "My Pie Monday" series

Serving Suggestion: Add your favorite toppings to this basic cheese pizza recipe, but remember that non-vegetable toppings will increase the Points Plus value of your meal.

And remember to...

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website

Ultimate Imaginary Brunch Guests

I took last Monday off from work and slept in as late as the pup would let me. When I finally rolled out of bed, I was in the mood to experiment with something new in the kitchen. I opened my cupboards to hunt for ingredients to play with and settled on quinoa- a word I didn't learn to pronounce correctly until the day after I cooked with it (like a moron, I had been pronouncing in quinn-oh-ah). Then I hopped on Pinterest and scrolled through my "nom nom nom" board for breakfast or brunch quinoa recipes. I decided on frittata-esque quinoa muffins, inspired by a pair of recipes from Iowa Girl Eats. Before I started cooking, I made a cup of coffee and searched my Neflix Instant Queue for something to watch.

You know the Imaginary Dinner Party game, right? You pick five people, alive or dead, real or fictional, that you would invite to a fantasy dinner party. Well, it turns out that watching TED Talks on Netflix is sort of like being a guest at the most awesome imaginary party- an imaginary brunch in this case. I watched the "For All of Womankind" series while cooking and eating these quinoa cups. Let me tell you, those ladies (and one gentleman) were inspirational company! It was as if I had hosted the most stimulating brunch, without having to clean my house. I often watch something on Netflix while playing around in the kitchen, and TED Talks are going to be my new favorite programming while cooking.

You'll find two delicious variations of quinoa bites on the Iowa Girl Eats blog. Her recipes inspired me to create my own version based on the ingredients I had available. She suggests using a mini-muffin tin to make adorable and easy to eat bites; I only own a 12-muffin tin so I made larger quinoa cups. Not only are these cheesy, eggy treats super tasty and satisfying, they're also über versatile. You could mix up just about any combination of ingredients that you're craving. I'm considering a caprese salad version for my next batch. Yes, I'm already planning the next batch even though I still have two servings of this turkey club version in the freezer.

I definitely recommend serving these to your real friends at your next potluck gathering. Add Gloria Steinem and Staceyann Chin to the cast of "For All of Womankind" and you'll have the guest list to my ultimate imaginary brunch. Who would be on your imaginary brunch or dinner party guest list? 

 

Turkey Club Quinoa Cups 

Servings: 12  Serving Size: 1 muffin  Points Plus*: 2 pts each, 5 pts for 2 muffins
(Adapted from Iowa Girls Eats)

Ingredients 

Cooking spray
4 slices Bacon, chopped
1 cup Shredded zucchini
2 tbsp Chopped onions
1 tsp Minced garlic
2 cups Cooked quinoa
2 Eggs
2 Egg whites
1 cup Shredded, low fat, sharp cheddar cheese
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss
1/2 cup Cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 oz Diced turkey
2 tbsp Mustard
1 dash Salt
2 dashes Pepper

Directions

Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare you muffin tin with cooking spray, spray liberally. 

Preheat a frying pan, and then cook your bacon until crispy. 

Remove the bacon from the pan, spray pan with a little cooking spray and then add your shredded zucchini and onions. Saute for a couple of minutes over medium heat, then add your minced garlic. Continue to cook until onions soften, about five minutes. Remove from heat, drain off any access liquid, and allow zucchini mixture to cool for a few minutes while you chop your tomatoes and turkey.

In a large bowl add your cooked quinoa, eggs, egg whites, shredded cheese, Laughing Cow cheese, tomatoes, turkey, mustard, bacon and zucchini. Add a dash or two of salt and pepper. Mix well.

Spoon the mixture into your muffin cups, filling each cup to the top (these aren't going to rise, so you don't have to worry about them spilling over while cooking). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. 

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool completely before attempting to remove the muffins from the tin. 

Serving Suggestion: These would be delicious at just about any time of day. They were a perfect brunch-time treat with a side of fruit salad and a large cup of coffee. They'd also be great for lunch or a light dinner when paired with a salad or some steamed vegetables.

Make sure to thoroughly rinse your quinoa before cooking, unfortunately I encountered a couple of off-putting pieces of grit in a few muffins. 

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website