Pizza and other Italian Delectables

The other night, I was hungry for the flavors of Italy and it was getting late.  So I ventured over to Pinterest to find a low-carb pizza that I could throw together quickly for dinner.  I found several pins that seemed to fit the bill, so in my usual manner, I morphed together several ideas into my own recipe.

For the crust, I combined 2 cups shredded mozzarella, 1 cup shredded cheddar, and three eggs.  (The next time I make this, I am going to reduce the fat content by using 3/4 cup egg whites instead of whole eggs.)

After combining well, I spread the mixture thinly and evenly into a rectangle on a sheet pan that was lined with a silicone baking mat. It baked for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  When done, I allowed it to cool a bit.  You can also use parchment paper, but keep the temp at or below 425 degrees.

While it was baking, I prepared my other ingredients.  Since they wouldn't be in the oven long, it was best to pre-cook them.  I cooked up some bulk Italian sausage, zucchini noodles, onions, and peppers, which I then sprinkled onto the slightly cooled crust.  My daughter is going through a vegetarian phase, so her half didn't get any sausage.  Her loss. I didn't even use tomato sauce for this pizza (because I didn't have any on hand), but of course, you can.  I added thin slices of fresh tomatoes instead. I sprinkled a little more mozzarella over the toppings, and put under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes.

Look at this thing! A delicious S pizza!

As my daughter was eating it, she told me that it tasted better than any of the junk food she could get at our local convenience store.

Um, thanks - I think.

The following day, I had some leftover cooked sausage, so for lunch I sauteed some peppers and onions, added the sausage to reheat, threw in some chopped fresh basil from my garden, and then topped this concoction with mozzarella cheese.  Into a 375 degree oven went my pan until the cheese was all melty.  My side dish was a salad of halved cherry tomatoes that I sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and basil. 

Delicious and filling! It was like having an Italian sausage with peppers and onions at Boston’s Fenway Park, only without the bun. 

Buon appetito!

*Update: The crust made with cheese and egg whites turned out beautifully!

What's In Your Fridge?

Planning ahead has never been my forte.  Some people prepare menu calendars for the week or the month.  The Lord bless them!  I have tried this, but have never had the stick-to-it aptitude that is necessary to make it work.  So I try to stay prepared in other ways.

For example, today I came home at midday, and had nothing prepared in advance.  So I came up with a meal based on what I pulled out of the fridge.  I had some thawed dark meat chicken, so I knew this would be an S meal.  I also had some little beef kielbasa sausages that needed to get used.  I then pulled out hot peppers, roasted red peppers, olives, salsa, and cheddar cheese and proceeded to have a chop-and-shred fest in my kitchen.  (It really helps that I find chopping food to be therapeutic.  I have a friend who feels this way about pulling weeds... which makes me shudder!)

A meal waiting to materialize!

After my chop fest (which took about 8-10 minutes), I threw everything into a bowl and mixed well.

A meal in the making

All of this got thrown into a casserole pan.

Looks messy but stick with me...

That chopped mess went into a 350 degree oven until I could smell it.  It came out all melty and delicious!  I could have spooned this into a low carb tortilla, but I had some romaine to use up.  I garnished it with Frank's hot sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime, and voila!  It became a yummy salad.  

From fridge to plate in about 30 minutes.

This would not have been possible without just a little planning ahead.  It is a good idea to always keep proteins thawed and ready in your fridge.  In this case, I had pre-cooked chicken and little sausages that were ready to go.   I used those up in preparing this dish, so I went to my freezer to grab a frozen chuck roast and a package of frozen ground turkey so they could begin thawing for later use.

You always want to be conscious of what proteins are in your fridge and how soon they should be used.  Proteins tend to be the most expensive part of the meal, and it is a shame to throw away food that has gone bad.  "Waste not, want not," my frugal mother always said.  Don't thaw (or buy) too much at once. 

And even when pulling meat from the freezer, it is good to be conscious of how long something has been there.  Try to use the older items first.  Freezer burn also wastes food.

Also, sometimes life just gets busy and I forget to thaw meat.  This is why I always keep eggs, cheese, and vegetables in the fridge for a quick omelet.  And when we leave home for vacation, fried eggs are my go-to for a quick meal upon our return. 

Summertime Salads and Berries

Ahh, summertime!  I eat salads all year, but the ingredients that are available in the summer are just so fresh-tasting!  I have a small garden right outside my house, so I take advantage of that as much as possible.  I am also a member of a CSA and get fresh veggies every other week.  And I also have a neighbor who is more than generous with her sizable garden.

Salads are easy to throw together.  Today, I want to share with you a few of my recent inspirations.  (For more salad and salad dressing ideas, you can view a previous post here.)

First up:  BLT salad with Caesar dressing.  This S salad consists of mixed greens, tomatoes, turkey bacon, parmesan, and homemade Caesar dressing (recipe in the above link).

BLT Salad

Here is another quick salad I came up with when I was particularly hungry - an S Greek salad.  It contains chopped romaine, cucumbers, yellow peppers, roasted red peppers, green olives, pepperoncini, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken breast, and then sprinkled with feta.  My Greek salad dressing contains red wine vinegar, olive oil, black olive tapenade (because I had some in my fridge), fresh minced garlic, a smidgen of Dijon, and cracked black pepper.

Hearty Greek Salad

Right now, strawberries are in season near me. Berries can brighten up many a salad!!  The following salad luncheon (S) contains some of that leftover Greek salad, along with a sweet and sour spinach, strawberry, and cashew salad. For the dressing, I simply combined lime juice, stevia, and olive oil.  (Keep reading for information on that smoothie in the photo).

Colorful Salad Lunch

This next yummy salad came about last night, when I arrived home at 9:20 pm after an evening of Uber driving.  I know it was late, but I was hungry.  So I dug through my fridge and came up with this S salad/late night snack:  Chopped hard boiled eggs, yellow and red peppers, olives, feta cheese, pepperoncini, sprinkled all over with fresh lime juice.  (Boiled egg time-and-sanity-saving hint:  I buy the ready-cooked two-packs of organic hard boiled eggs from Costco. So convenient!)

Late-night salad/hearty snack

Before I go, I want to share about an ingredient I discovered this week:  honeyberries (also called haskaps).  My generous neighbor has bushes that are full of them, and she let me come and pick.  The name is somewhat ironic, because they are quite tart.  I blended some of them with the limeade that I keep in my fridge (in my adorable new lemon/limeade bottle that I brought home from Israel) for a refreshing beverage that you can drink with E, S, or FP meals.  If you don't happen to have access to honeyberries, you can substitute any berry of your choice.

For the lemon or limeade, squeeze 4-5 lemons and/or limes into a bottle (I think my bottle is about a liter).  Add 4-5 doonks of stevia, fill with water, and store in the fridge.  Add fresh mint if desired. 

Honeyberries, and a smoothie made with limeade from my fridge.

Hanging in the Kitchen - Lunch, Bacon, and Almond Milk

After my last post on baking blend, my intent was to bake today.  But my day ended up being an If-You-Give-A-Mouse-A-Cookie kind of day. Because first, I really needed to visit the gym this morning.  I came home hungry and ready for an ooey-gooey S meal.  I needed something quick, and I opened up to page 54 in the Trim Healthy Table Cookbook and saw Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers.

Bingo!  I knew I had peppers in the fridge.

This looks yummy.

The problem was that I had no ground beef (or anything else) thawed.  Well, I never found a recipe I couldn't change.  I went to the freezer and pulled out a little zip bag of cooked dark chicken meat (courtesy of Costco's rotisserie).  I plopped the bag into a bowl of hot water, and a few minutes later I was able to work with it.

Meanwhile, I chopped and then sautéed peppers and onions in bacon fat.  When that was nice and brown, I put those into a square baking dish. To the sauté pan, I added the chicken, which was thawed enough to pull apart and chop.

I then added in some frozen riced cauliflower, salt, pepper, chipotle powder, and a can of diced green chilies to the chicken.  When this mixture was hot and bubbly, I squeezed the juice of a fresh lime over all.  Then I combined the chicken mixture with the onions and peppers in baking dish and and topped it with shredded cheddar.

I popped the dish into a 350 degree oven and baked it for about 20 minutes.  The resulting dish was really nothing like the cookbook recipe, but all I had needed was a photo to get me going.

Behold:  Cheesy Chicken and Peppers

Nonfat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
adds protein without all the extra fat

Since my oven was hot, I decided to do a little advance prepping.  While the chicken dish was baking, I chopped a Costco-sized package of bacon (3 pounds total) into bite-sized pieces and put them into a rectangle roasting pan.  (I had to thaw the packages in hot water for a few minutes before chopping it up).

Ready for the oven

When lunch came out of the oven,  I reduced the oven temp to 325 degrees and in went the pan of bacon.  The trick with the bacon is to stir occasionally, and more frequently as it reaches doneness.  It can easily burn toward the end.  Set a timer if you need reminders.

When the bacon came out of the oven, I let it cool for a few minutes before draining the fat through a strainer into a pourable container.

This 8-cup Norpro Krona multi pot is one
of my top favorite kitchen utensils.

This is where it gets fun.  I poured the bacon fat into my silicone mini muffin pan and then put the pan in the freezer.

Silicone pans: another kitchen utensil favorite!

Out came solid little discs of bacon fat, which went into a zip bag and back into the freezer. Whenever I want to cook something with bacon fat, I just have to grab a ready-to-go disc.  And if one disc is too much for what I need, they are easily cut in half.

The cooked bacon bits also took up residence in a bag in the freezer, ready to grab whenever I need them.

While the bacon was chilling, I wanted to make one of my Trim Healthy Table cookbook favorites:  Cinnamon Butter Bundt Cake, page 380.  But a quick perusal of the recipe reminded me that I was out of almond milk.

No problem.  Almond milk is so easy to make at home if you have a good blender.  It only lasts a few days though, so I don't make a large quantity at a time.  However, you can make extra and freeze it if you want to.

Throw a handful of almonds into a small bowl (maybe a half cup) and cover with water and let sit about an hour.  If you want a product that is more digestible, add a small spoonful of salt to the water and let sit for seven hours to neutralize the phytates in the nuts.

When your soaking time is up, strain off the water and discard. (Here is the good news.  If you are in a hurry, you don't have to soak the nuts at all).

Throw the nuts into the blender along with about 2 cups fresh water to cover them, and add a shake or two of salt.

Let 'er rip.

Strain.  I like to use a piece of flour sack towel over a strainer, which is over a bowl or pan. You can pick up the cloth by the four corners and squeeze the last bit of almond milk out.   Store the milk in the fridge.

See?  Milking almonds isn't much
 different than milking a cow.

What to do with that leftover almond meal?  For awhile, I saved it, dehydrated it, and made it into almond flour in the blender.  But it just got to be too much, so for now now I compost it.  But I'd love suggestions if you have one!

Now that I have almond milk on hand, it's time to whip up a cake.  But this post is so long already, it will have to wait until the next post.

Traveling THM: Holiday Week Part 3

This is the final post from my week long road trip. I just got home today, and I am looking forward to spending some quality time in my kitchen!

The last several nights of our road trip were spent in hotels that featured breakfast buffets. Since finding  E meals seems to be more challenging in restaurants, I generally go for oatmeal at the hotels to make sure I get those E's in. One day I added cinnamon, and another day I added a small handful of dried blueberries, and always stevia.  Both times, I also ate an Oikos Greek Triple Zero yogurt to get my protein in. Since both meals were nonfat, I added one little serving of half and half to my coffee.

Later that night, lo and behold I was able to find an actual E meal in a restaurant.  It was called Bourbon 'n Toulouse in Lexington. The dish was called Chicken Piquant, a lowfat and delectable cajun chicken stew.  It was served over rice and had bread on the side, both of which I enjoyed in moderation and gave the rest to my hubby.  Since I was in E mode, I actually ordered a rare (for me) beer.

E dinner - Cajun Chicken Piquant!

The next day, I knew I couldn't leave Lexington without just one more trip to the Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen.  This time, it was a BLT salad with added wild salmon and strawberries (I know, sounds weird but it was delicious).  I declined the croutons to keep it in S mode.

S Salad - BLT with Wild Salmon

Side note.  While in Lexington, I stopped at an olive oil and vinegar store where they let customers taste the products.  Those kinds of stores seem to be popping up all over the country (in cities, of course, and not in my little town of 5,000).  I came home and rearranged my kitchen around those oils and vinegars, which will someday soon get their very own blog post. 

Anyway, it was time to head home.  Lunch on the road was a simple E picnic at a rest area.  No lingering.  I still had stops to make while on the road.

E lunch on the go

The last of these stops was Costco, knowing that I was out of vegetables at home.  While there, I picked up my favorite frugal travel food… The amazing Costco chicken Caesar salad for $3.99. You simply cannot beat them for an S meal on the road. And you do not have to be a member to eat at the food court.  I am saving that salad for tomorrow, and I picked one up for my daughter as well.

Travel hack - Costco Chicken Caesar 

You might be wondering why those Oikos Greek yogurts kept popping up throughout my week of travel. They are my latest convenience food discovery, and my daughter’s Costco in Nashville had them on sale. (Oddly enough, they were not on sale at my own Costco, so I’m glad I stocked up).  They are a Fuel Pull food, so they are a great protein option to go with any kind of meal. 

My beloved Oikos

When I travel by car, I usually take my ancient gray cooler and keep a frozen gallon of water in it to keep things cold. And from Sunday to Wednesday, everything I had in my “traveling fridge” stayed cold. I have traveled with that beloved gray cooler for years. When my kids were little, I think they were disappointed to see it, because it meant fewer Culvers and Cracker Barrel stops for them.

I hope you have been able to see that traveling with trim Healthy Mama is quite possible. I have two big travel challenges coming up soon, and they involve an Alaskan cruise and a trip to the Middle East. I am determined to demonstrate that THM can be done in both cases.  Stay tuned!

Why Did the Tomato Turn Red?

Because it saw the salad dressing.

Funny or not funny?

Ok, kindergarten humor aside, I want to show you today how truly simple it is to make your own salad dressings.  And you only need the culinary ability of a child to make it happen.

Many years ago when I was in culinary school, one of our teachers, French of course, said that no self-respecting French woman would EVER buy bottled salad dressing.   I know that this sounds terribly snobbish, but seriously - salad dressings are so simple to make, and the bottled stuff usually contains ingredients that are not in favor of your health.

The most basic of all dressings includes two things:

Oil
Acid

That's it!  From there, the sky is the limit!

First, the oil.  For salad dressing, my go-to is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Another great THM option is MCT oil, which is a coconut oil-based liquid fat with concentrated amounts of medium chain triglycerides - thus the MCT.  It is neutral in taste; it does not taste like coconuts.  And the plan allows you 2 teaspoons of MCT in an E context, instead of one.

There are other liquid oils that you can use, but make sure they are cold-pressed so that you know they are not heat-damaged.  Those pristine vegetables oils that you see in the grocery store are probably terribly rancid, but you'd never know it because of the refining and bleaching process they go through.

Next up - the acid.  Here's where your dressing gets its zing!

Here is my long list of personal favorites:

• Fresh lemon juice (bottled is ok, but fresh is so much better)
• Fresh ime juice
• Red wine vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar - which has its own list of subcategories.  Currently in my cupboard, I have:
• 18-year aged balsamic
• Fig balsamic
• Cranberry pear white balsamic
• Espresso balsamic
• Plain old balsamic

So already you can see the many possible combinations, and this is just for a simple 2-ingredient vinaigrette made with oil and acid!

The classic formula is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid.  But on THM, it is easy to change that up depending on what meal mode you are in. In S mode, I tend to go 50-50.  I will wrap up this post with an E mode trick below.

(Notice the absence of white distilled vinegar from my list.  That same snobby French culinary teacher impressed upon us that the best use of distilled white vinegar was for washing windows.)

So moving on, things get really exciting when we add a third ingredient category:  flavorings!  This is where you can get as creative as you want!  Here is a list of ideas to get you going:

• Dijon mustard
• Fresh garlic
• Fresh or dried herbs
• Spices
• Crushed red pepper
• Poppy seeds
• Stevia (for sweeter dressings)
• Extracts
• Essential oils (go easy)
• Lemon, lime, or orange zest
• Anchovy paste
• Horseradish
• Wasabi
• Soy sauce

In the mood for an asian-inspired salad?  Try this combo

(Measurements are approximate since I don't usually measure much when I cook):

1 T. olive oil

1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

1 T. lime juice

1/2 tsp garlic powder or small amount of chopped fresh garlic

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp soy sauce

1 doonk pure stevia (or your favorite stevia blend equal to about a teaspoon of sugar)

Whisk together.  Toss together with a bowl of leafy greens, chilled chicken meat with skin, chopped non-starchy veggies such as cabbage, peppers, cucumbers; carrots in moderation, etc; and garnish with chopped almonds.  You have a delicious S lunch that might look something like this:

This past weekend, I made an E salad for an event.  I've named it Spring Quinoa Salad.  The body of the salad was cooked-then-chilled quinoa, asparagus (blanched for a minute and then chilled quickly in ice water), frozen peas (thawed), chopped green onions, and chopped fresh mint.  The dressing ended up with no oil in it at all!

Here are the approximate amounts for a single serving:

Juice of one lemon

Zest of that same lemon

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

I small clove fresh garlic,chopped 

1 doonk stevia 

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

I was going to add oil to the dressing, but it tasted so good when the salad was all tossed together that I left it out.  And because there was no fat in this recipe, I garnished the top with a sprinkle of feta cheese, just enough to keep the salad in E mode.

Spring Quinoa Salad

So let's talk about creamy dressings now.  You can do all sorts of emulsifying gymnastics with eggs and your food processor, but I know that is not realistic for most of us (including me).   

When I make creamy salad dressings, I start with a good quality mayonnaise.  But then I add the same amount of zero fat Greek yogurt.  This cuts down on the fat load while adding protein to the dressing.  Then you can continue with the list of flavorings.  

This is a great base for green goddess dressing.  Combine your favorite fresh herbs with the mayo/yogurt combo in your blender, adding a splash of your favorite vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

My personal creamy dressing favorite is Caesar:

1 T each mayo and Greek yogurt

Juice of half a lemon

1 generous squeeze anchovy paste (or 1 chopped anchovy)

1 small garlic clove, chopped

Fresh cracked pepper

Whisk everything together and toss with chopped romaine and parmesan cheese.  You can easily add chicken or salmon to this S salad for your protein. 

Keep in mind that these creamy dressings with the mayo/Greek yogurt blend are S mode dressings.  You can use all Greek yogurt plus your teaspoon of fat if you want to keep them in E mode.

Let me wrap up with my favorite helpful hint for tasty E salads. 

Put all your greens and chopped veggies into a big bowl.  Add a teaspoon of olive oil (or 2 teaspoons of MCT oil, which is allowed in E mode).  Get in there with your (clean) hands and mix until everything is lightly coated with the oil.  Combine your acid and flavorings in a dish, and then toss into your salad. 

Fear not!  Get in there and spread the joy (I mean the oil) around.

Don't forget to actually add your E ingredient to your salad, such as mango, pineapple, oranges, apples, black beans, quinoa, and so on, as well as your lean protein. 

How does this sound?  (I'm making it up as I type)

Mixed leafy greens
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Peppers (as hot as you want them)
Chopped cilantro (unless you hate it, but it's great for pulling out heavy metals from your system)
Toss and coat the above in your teaspoon of olive oil.

Then add:
1/2 cup black Beans
1/2 cup chopped mango
Lean chicken breast

Dressing:
Lime juice
Lime zest
Garlic as desired
Sprinkle of cumin
Splash of Franks or other hot sauce
Doonk of stevia

Toss together.  Enjoy.  Dang, this sounds good.  I think I will make it tomorrow.

Meals on the Fly!

The past two days for me have been crazy.  I have been preparing for a Passover Seder event taking place at my congregation this weekend, and I am getting ready to feed over 70 guests.  I didn't have much time to plan my THM meals, so this post is how I did THM on the fly for two days.

Yesterday was pretty simple.  One of the dishes I was working on for this coming weekend is French Lentil and Lamb Stew.  I tasted as I tweaked.  Lunch - done. I  know... it's better to sit down and enjoy your meal without distractions.  But sometimes, life happens.

The Lentil Stew recipe, minus the lamb, is from Ina Garten, and you can click here for it.  I reduced the amount of olive oil to keep this dish in E territory.  I absolutely love this stew.  It is also a great vegetarian option if you use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock in the recipe.

And can I point out that French lentils are earthy, green, and delicious?  I think they are my new favorite legume.  And one serving (1/4 cup uncooked, or about 3/4 to one cup cooked) provides 9 grams of protein! 

French Green Lentils

Because I like to serve lamb at Passover, I added the meat from lamb shanks that I had braised the day before, to Ina's recipe.  This puts the dish into crossover territory since lamb isn't exactly a lean protein, but I did try to remove as much fat as I could.  I am really thrilled at how this dish turned out.  I just hope that the people from my small Midwestern town concur.

Dinner last night ended up being Italian Quinoa soup, because one of the salads for my weekend event includes it, and I had just cooked a metric ton of it.  I threw some chicken stock, onions, canned tomatoes, lowfat chicken Italian sausage (Costco, have I told you lately that I love you?), quinoa, and Italian seasonings into a pan on the stove.  E dinner - done. 

Three hours later, I was hungry again, so I ate a delicious piece of S chocolate cake that was in my fridge.  Because I could.  THM Chocolate Zucchini Trimtastic cake. 

This morning had me hitting the ground running.  My FP  breakfast was coffee with just a splash of cream and stevia, and a Triple Zero Vanilla Oikos Yogurt (another shout-out to my bae, Costco). 

I paused from my food prep mayhem to make some THM egg salad for lunch.  My hubby was hungry and he loves egg salad.  Costco to the rescue once again!  I always keep their organic hard boiled eggs in my fridge, so out came six of them. Three packages of two.  I chopped them up along with some celery and some fresh jalapenos, and I made a quick dressing of Greek yogurt,  mayo, and dijon mustard.  Normally I add a splash of fresh lime juice and a tiny bit of stevia to the dressing, but I just didn't have the time today. Hubby made a sandwich with it with his off-plan bread, and I chopped up some romaine and tossed it all together and made myself a salad with it.  Here's where I brought out a fresh lime... squeezed it all over my plate.  Along with a berry and Greek yogurt smoothie, this was a yummy S lunch.

Egg Salad Salad

Dinnertime arrived.  Food prep was done for my weekend event with the exception of one salad that I will make tomorrow morning (some call it Israeli Salad; I call it Bob and Larry Salad - tomatoes and cucumbers).

Some will get the humor.  Others will not.

Sigh, what to make for dinner tonight?  I had no protein thawed. My adult daughter had some cooked spaghetti noodles languishing in the fridge that she was not going to use.  I don't often eat pasta, but I hate wasting food.  So I heated the noodles in the oven, and  meanwhile made a quick sauce by sauteeing onions, peppers, and mushrooms in a small amount of butter.  I added a can of tomato paste, water, some chopped garlic, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, a doonk of stevia, and a splash of red wine and let it all simmer.

Here is how I got my protein in:  I put a moderate amount of hot noodles on my plate.  I topped the noodles with some lowfat cottage cheese, and then spooned the sauce over that, topping my plate with a garnish amount of parmesan cheese.  It was pretty much the laziest lasagna ever.

Along with my Friday night Sabbath glass of red wine, this E meal was simply bliss.  It's time to enjoy a night of rest and cribbage with the neighbors.