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Archive for January, 2009

Mushroom Bisque

Published January 28, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: cauliflower, mushroom, soup

While reorganizing all the containers of frozen goodies in my freezer, I came across two boxes labeled “Mushroom Bisque.” I remember that as being one of my favorite soups, warm and comforting. It almost always makes me want to curl up for a nap. (Hmmm, maybe it’s the sherry in the soup.) So when I came in from some frigid outdoor chores, I microwaved a bowl, and immediately after eating curled up under the down comforter for a nap. That being said, it is also an elegant dish to serve for company. Then I remembered that I had photographed the soup, garnished with mushroom slices, when I first made it for a small dinner party – and before it became a delightful frozen leftover.

I can’t remember where the original recipe for the soup came from. I know it was called “Mushroom-Cauliflower Soup”, which did not make it sound very appealing. This was one of the soups I made because of aging mushrooms and cauliflower that I needed to use. And was I ever surprised! Don’t let the old name put you off, though. You don’t even know the cauliflower is in there – it just tastes like a cream soup.

Mushroom Bisque

1 pound mushrooms (mixed or just plain old button mushrooms), tough stems removed
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
Cooking Spray
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cans reduced fat beef broth or 6 cups mushroom broth if you want to make it vegetarian (this batch was vegetarian)
1 cup dry sherry
2 cups chopped cauliflower
Mushroom slices for garnish (optional)

Coarsely chop mushroom. Spray a large pan with cooking spray and melt butter over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and onion and stirring often until mushrooms begin to brown, 12-15 minutes. Add flour and mix well. Remove from heat and stir in beef (or mushroom) broth, sherry, and 1 cup of water. Add cauliflower. Return to high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender when pierced – about 5 minutes.

Put 1/3 of the soup in a blender and puree, taking the center lid off and putting a kitchen towel over the hole to prevent splashing. Repeat until all the soup is pureed. Return to the pan and stir over medium heat until steaming. Makes 6 soul-warming servings at 2 grams of fat/serving.

mushroom-bisque

Black Bean Dip

Published January 26, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: appetizer, beans, dip

This is another good party dip, although I also use it on sandwiches and on crackers. It can be used with veggies or chips. The original recipe came from Cooking Light. It has unlikely ingredients, which is why I made it. What food has both cocoa and balsamic vinegar? The caramelized onions give it a pleasant sweetness. Don’t be turned off by the black bean name – it doesn’t taste really beany. In fact, I can’t really describe the taste. You’ll have to make it.

Black Bean Dip

Cooking spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 cups coarsely chopped onion
2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed.
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon paprika

Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and add oil. Heat over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté. As the onion begins to turn golden (about 5 minutes), add ¼ cup of water, stirring the onions. The water will evaporate and help the onions soften without extra oil. Cook the onions until they are golden. Be careful not to burn them or they will be bitter.

Put the onions and all the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. This makes 12 ¼ cup servings with about 0.3 grams of fat/serving. The original recipe said that the serving size was I tablespoon. Who ever eats 1 tablespoon of dip?

black-bean-dip

Light Guacamole

Published January 25, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: appetizer, avocado, dip

What with the Super Bowl on the horizon, a good dip recipe is handy to have. I love guacamole either as a dip or on top of various Mexican dishes. But avocados are pretty high in fat, and I tend to want to eat a lot of guacamole once I get going. This lighter recipe has a number of virtues in addition to being lower in fat, it is really a lovely color, and it doesn’t turn brown if left standing, like conventional guacamole does. It is also good on sandwiches, especially veggie sandwiches. It goes well with veggies, or as pictured below, with a variety of low fat chips such as baked tortilla chips and pretzel chips.

Light Guacamole

1 medium sized ripe avocado
1 cup fat free cottage cheese
1 Tablespoon lime juice
¼ cup chopped cilantro
½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce or to taste
½ cup chopped tomatoes (optional)
1 chopped scallion (optional)

Blend the avocado and cottage cheese, preferably in a food processor. Mix in the lime juice, cilantro and hot pepper sauce. I usually don’t add the tomato or onion, but if you do, mix them in now. This makes about 8 quarter cup servings, at about 3 grams of fat/serving.

guacamole2

Braised Lamb Shanks

Published January 23, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: lamb

Lamb shanks are very rich. The shank is the lower part of the leg – the ankle so to speak – and perhaps their richness comes from the notion that the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat. They certainly are bony. I always thought that they would be high in fat, so although I love their pronounced lamb flavor and hearty goodness, I have avoided cooking them. But, since they were on sale last week, I looked them up and they were surprisingly low in fat if you trim them well.

Lamb shanks require long, slow cooking , otherwise they would be very tough. This is a good make ahead dish, because you will want to skim the fat off after cooking, and like many rich dishes, the flavor deepens the next day.

Braised Lamb Shanks

1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed dried savory or 1 teaspoon minced fresh savory
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 lamb shanks (about 12 ounces each)
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups onion, chopped small (I chopped the onion and carrots in the food processor so they melted into the sauce)
1 cup carrots, chopped small
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups dry red wine
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

Trim every bit of visible fat from the lamb shanks. Combine the first 4 ingredients, setting aside 1 teaspoon of the herb mixture. Rub lamb shanks all over with remaining herb mixture. Spray a large pan or Dutch oven with cooking spray. Add oil to pan and heat over medium heat. Add lamb to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. (I had to do them 2 at a time to fit them in the pan and give them room to brown.) Remove lamb from pan; keep warm. Add onion, carrot, and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally. Add wine and reserved 1 teaspoon herb mixture; bring to a boil. Cook until mixture is reduced to 2 cups (about 6 minutes). Add broths; bring to a boil. Cook until mixture is reduced to 1 3/4 cups (about 5 minutes). Return lamb to pan; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 1/2 hours or until lamb is tender, turning shanks occasionally. I had to add ½ cup of water to the lamb about half way through to keep the liquid from drying up and burning – so keep a careful eye on them, and check the liquid level when you turn the shanks. When the shanks are done, remove them from the braising liquid.

lamb-shanks

Pour braising liquid into a container. Refrigerate lamb and braising liquid separately. When liquid has chilled and fat hardened on the surface, remove the fat and discard it. Reheat the shanks in the braising liquid. Makes 4 servings at about 8 grams of fat/serving. Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

lamb-shanks-and-mashed-potatoes

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Published January 18, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: breakfast

Due to the snow, we didn’t have Christmas morning. No one could get here. Now, there’s still snow on the ground, but the road and driveway are clear, so we decided to have Christmas yesterday (what’s a few weeks between friends). Every Christmas, after we open the presents, I make mountains of these pancakes for our Christmas morning breakfast, accompanied by hot chocolate or coffee depending on your preference. They are different than regular pancakes because they are not cakey. They don’t absorb a lot of the maple syrup, and have a distinct tang because of the cottage cheese. I don’t remember where I first saw the recipe – I remember it had six tablespoons of butter, but I modified the original to make them low fat. To be honest, I no longer measure when I make them, so the recipe may take a little more flour to make the batter right.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup non-fat cottage cheese
1 ½ cups egg substitute
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Melt one tablespoon of the butter and allow to cool slightly. Mix the cottage cheese and egg substitute in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and stir well. Add the flour and stir well until incorporated. This batter should not be runny, but should be like regular pancake batter – you may need to add more flour a tablespoon at a time to get it to the right consistency. Spray a non-stick griddle pan with cooking spray. Heat over medium heat. When the pan is hot, use a pair of tongs to hold the remaining tablespoon of butter and use a bit of the butter to lightly grease the pan. Re-grease it between batches. (You can make these with only cooking spray to grease the pan. They are a bit lower in fat, but they lose some of flavor). Spoon by about ¼ cup measure onto pan. Cook until the underside of the pancake are golden brown; turn and cook the other side.

pancakes-cooking

You can keep these warm on a plate in a low temperature oven while you make subsequent batches. This makes about 16 pancakes, with a serving of 4 pancakes having about 5.5 grams of fat/serving. Serve with your favorite syrup.

pancakes-on-plate

Personal Aside: The pan in the photo is known in our family as “the WestBend”. Once a long time ago it made fried chicken and other such items. Now it only comes out to make these pancakes. The rest of the year it lies buried in the bottom of the pantry. But “break out the WestBend” means Christmas here.

The Famous Jezebel Sauce

Published January 17, 2009 Uncategorized 4 Comments
Tags: appetizer, sauce

This is the famous Jezebel Sauce – a sweet hot jelly sauce that has multiple uses. I first made it to serve at a buffet dinner, because I thought that the Cornish hens seemed a little plain and needed something to spoon over them to dress them up. Well, the guests put it on the Cornish hens, and shortly they began to put it on the roasted vegetables, pot roast, and, to my great astonishment, the chocolate cake. I used the little bit of leftover sauce on a pot roast sandwich. I think it would be great spooned over reduced fat cream cheese or goat cheese as an appetizer served with crackers – which I am going to make for a gathering his week. And, in addition to its flavor, it’s beautiful and very easy to make and can be made ahead.

jezebel-sauce

The original recipe, from Cooking Light, called for pineapple preserves, which I couldn’t find at the time. So I used apricot-pineapple preserves, which gave it a more orange color, but I think it had much of the same flavor.

Jezebel Sauce

½ cup boiling water
¼ cup dried apricots
2/3 cup pineapple preserves
1/3 cup red pepper jelly
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Combine apricots and1/2 cup boiling water in a bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain. Finely chop apricots. Combine apricots, preserves, and remaining ingradients in a bowl. Cover and chill.

This makes about 9 two tablespoon servings with 0 grams if fat/serving.

Au Gratin Anything

Published January 16, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: cauliflower, cheese, potato, vegetables

I love cheesy things – no, not that kind of cheesy. Cheese is one of the best things that can happen to a vegetable. So when I see the word au gratin or gratin, count me in. Technically, a gratin is a food that consists of thinly sliced potatoes or another ingredient in a cream sauce, usually topped with breadcrumbs and cheese. Au gratin actually refers to the technique of cooking in a cheesy sauce.

The problem with most au gratin preparations, much as I love them, is that they are quite high in fat – butter, cheese, cream, and other ingredients that up the fat gram count far beyond my desire to eat cheesy vegetables with some frequency. This preparation, derived from trial and error (oh yes, lots of error – curdled milk, mushy veggies – ugh), combines a number of techniques that make it possible to have a lovely, creamy dish that is still low in fat. Even better, you can make it in one pan for serving at an everyday meal, or dress it up for only a few fat grams more by spooning it into a baking dish and topping it with a bit more cheese, and putting it under the broiler for a minute or two. I have made this with potatoes (naturally), cauliflower, broccoli, and green beans, and I think you could try other vegetables as well.

Speaking of cheese, you really need a good sharp cheddar to make this dish. Most low fat cheddar doesn’t have the flavor to carry this dish without getting lost in the sauce. I recommend Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish cheddar. This cheese has only 4 grams of fat/ounce and a sharp cheddary flavor that makes it great for cooking and a good snack (maybe with a nice apple), too.

kerrygold-cheese

Basic Au Gratin Recipe

4 cups of vegetables cut in 1 to 2 inch pieces (or ½ inch slices for potatoes)
1 ½ cups non-fat milk, divided
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ounces shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (potatoes only need 1 Tablespoon of flour)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon white pepper (or to taste)

For the dressed up version, 2 additional ounces of shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese. You can also sprinkle it with a little paprika for color.

In a large pan bring vegetable, salt, and 1 ¼ cups milk to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. The time will vary depending on the vegetable. Be sure to check the vegetable while they are simmering – you don’t want mush. In a small bowl, whisk remaining ¼ cup milk and flour. Stir the flour mixture into the vegetables, stirring constantly until it thickens, about 1 minute. Stir in the 2 ounces of cheese, mustard, and pepper, stirring until the cheese melts. This makes 4 servings at about 2 grams of fat/serving. This is cauliflower au gratin.

cauliflour-au-gratin

Variation: For the dressed up version, spoon the vegetable mixture into an oven proof pan. Sprinkle with an additional 2 ounces of shredded cheese, and paprika if you want Broil for 1-2 minutes until cheese melts (or if you’re lazy like me, stick the pan in the microwave for a minute to melt the cheese.) This makes 4 deliciously cheesy servings at about 4 grams of fat/serving. This is potatoes au gratin.

potato-gratin

Lemon-Ginger Muffins

Published January 10, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: ginger, lemon, muffin

The snow is finally melting! I can see parts of my truck and driveway. For three mornings in a row, I did not have to shovel snow!! What will I do with all the free time.

Obviously, I’ll cook. I bake muffins about once a week. They go in my lunch bag and make a great late night snack. I occasionally (today) eat a muffin and fruit for breakfast. These muffins are a little different because they are made with fresh ginger, which gives them a little bite. They are not dark brown, like most gingery baked goods. I did not have to alter the original recipe from Cooking Light, because they were already quite low fat.

Lemon-Ginger Muffins

1 cup sugar, divided
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup chopped peeled fresh ginger (yes, I’m lazy; I use the fresh chopped ginger from the jar)
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest (the outer yellow layer of the lemon skin)
2 cups plus two Tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Combine 1 tablespoon of the sugar, ground ginger, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Combine fresh ginger, sugar, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside (if you are using whole ginger, you will need to grind this mix together in a food processor until finely minced, but since I am lazy I skipped this step by using the prepared ginger.)

Combine remaining sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Make an indentation in the center of the flour mixture. Combine the ginger mixture, buttermilk, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white; stir well with a whisk. Add to the flour mixture, stirring until just moist.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon cinnamon mixture over each muffin. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 muffins at about 2 grams of fat/muffin.

Note: The originally recipe called for prune butter as the fat replacement, but this product has essentially disappeared from local groceries. I think applesauce made a good replacement, but if you have prune butter you could use it.

Variation: I didn’t have blueberries in the house, but I think that these would be very good with a cup of blueberries in the batter.

lemon-ginger-muffins

Curry Roasted Winter Vegetables and Apples

Published January 8, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: curry, vegetables

Winter is a great time for roasted vegetables. It’s nice to turn on the oven on a chilly day, and the vegetables that are in season in the winter are very amenable to roasting. Carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes and other winter vegetables become yet sweeter when roasted. Now, I confess that I created this recipe to deal with my all too frequent circumstance of aging produce. The potatoes were beginning to evidence little sprouts, the apples had gone beyond crispy, and the sweet potato was beginning to show signs of middle age. So here is a recipe to make whether you want to use up vegetables or just make something hearty for a winter meal. You can use any combination of vegetables that will stand up to roasting. I used carrots, turnips, sweet potato, yellow potato, and cauliflower, but you could also use parsnips, Brussels sprouts, rutabagas, or even small onions.

Curry Roasted Winter Vegetables and Apples

10 cups of assorted winter vegetables, peeled as needed, and cut into 2 inch pieces
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced into 1 inch pieces
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seed (now often available in regular grocery stores)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala, homemade or purchased
½ cup of hot water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Put the cut up vegetables and apples into the pan. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium high heat. Add the mustard and cumin seeds. Listen for the mustard seeds to begin to pop, then add the garam masala, stirring for one minute until the mixture is fragrant. Watch the mixture carefully so it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat. Pour the spice mixture over the vegetables, tossing to combine and coat the vegetables thoroughly. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven. Immediately pour ½ cup of hot water into the pan and stir the vegetables, scraping up the caramelized browned bits on the bottom of the pan and mixing them with the vegetables. It is important to do this last step when the vegetables are right out of the oven, so that the water will steam and lift the browned bits off the pan. This makes 4 very large servings at 4 grams/serving, or 6 side dish servings at just under 3 grams/serving.

curried-vegies

Bean Soup

Published January 7, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: beans, principle, soup

Well, if it’s going to snow, it must be time for soup – bean soup to be precise. It’s hearty, filling, tasty, and has very little fat. It doesn’t make the snow stop but it makes it slightly more bearable. I use the recipe from HamBeens 15 Bean Soup, but there are bean mixes sold in bulk at the grocery, or just mix your own bean blend, with 20 ounces of dried pinto, lima, garbanzo, split pea, red, etc., beans to your liking.

Bean Soup

20 ounces of dried beans
1 pound of very lean ham, cut into 1 inch dice
1 cup of onion, coarsely chopped
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 Tablespoon of chili powder
Juice of one lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
seasoning packet from soup mix or ½ teaspoon of smoke seasoning (or to taste)

Put the beans in a large pot or bowl, cover with 2 quarts of water, and allow to soak at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans. Add 2 quarts of water and ham (you can also use low fat turkey smoked sausage, but it is about 1 gram more of fat/serving). I recommend a high quality ham slice, such as Kirkland, which has very little fat.

kirkland-ham

Bring beans and ham to a boil and simmer uncovered for 2 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. I find I sometimes have to add a half cup of water periodically to keep the soup from getting too thick. After simmering, add onion, tomatoes, chili powder, lemon and garlic. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add contents of seasoning packer or smoke seasoning and cook for 2 more minutes. This makes 10 servings at about 2 grams of fat/serving. I find that the soup gets really thick, and I have to add a little water when I reheat it.

bean-soup-bowl

PRINCIPLE: One of the reasons I made soup is to stock my freezer. One of the basic principles I have followed to lose weight is that it is very important to have low fat food available on a moment’s notice, especially when I am ready to grab at whatever is convenient. For example, when I get home from work and am tired, I would be perfectly happy to make dinner of cheese and crackers. Now even if they are low fat crackers and reduced fat cheese, this is not very healthy – especially not frequently. So my freezer looks like this:

freezer-food

The soup got labeled with the name of the contents, date it was made (so it doesn’t linger in the freezer forever), and the fat grams/serving.

bean-soup-labels

Then the soup was packaged for freezing – after I ate a nice hot bowl.

bean-soup-stack

ABOUT KAREN

I have lost 200 pounds. I did not do it through surgery – I don’t like knives and needles – or by joining a club, vigorous exercise, or rigorous dieting. I did it by gourmet cooking. To be precise, by cooking low fat, really delicious food. I love to cook as much as I love to eat. Food magazines are some of my favorite reading. I would feel deprived if I couldn’t have the sensuous experience of good food crossing my lips. This blog is about my perpetual feast, my passionate love of food, with recipes, photos, and occasional advice and principles that I have learned along the way.

More about me.

The Perpetual Feast

Archive for January, 2009

Mushroom Bisque

Black Bean Dip

Light Guacamole

Braised Lamb Shanks

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

The Famous Jezebel Sauce

Au Gratin Anything

Lemon-Ginger Muffins

Curry Roasted Winter Vegetables and Apples

Bean Soup

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