Chilling and grilling

It is drastically heating up here in good ole Las Vegas.  In the summer months, it becomes increasingly difficult to find fun ways to be active without suffering heatstroke.  Last Sunday turned out to be quite the day!  We started with a Wet Desert Expedition on Lake Mead. 

http://www.wetdesertex.com/

We met up with a group of about 14 of the Las Vegas Kayakers and hit the open water.  All we had to do was show up....our kayaks, life vests, dry bags and guide was waiting on the shore.  It was pretty great.  We paddled out to the Boulder Islands, took a swim, learned some rescue skills, and paddled back.  This is yet another example of all the fabulous things to do in Las Vegas on any given day.  The lake was lovely, the weather was perfect an the water was luke! 

They also demonstrated some rescue skills, in case you fall out of your boat.  I just waded around in the water while everyone else learned these; I figured one of them could just rescue me!
All that paddling made us muster up quite an appetite.  Since it was father's day, I wanted to grill up man dinner for the fathers in my life.  The fare was delicious and nutritious!  I started by making some chimichurri.  Chimichurri is popular in Argentinian cuisine.  I put approximately 10 cloves of garlic in the food processor and let her rip.  I then added 3/4 bunch of stemmed parsley, approximately 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 tbsp. dried oregano, salt, and red chili flakes.

I picked up some NY steaks, japanese eggplant, corn on the cob, zucchini, mushrooms, and sourdough bread.  All these ingredients are so delicious, they require little to no preperation.  For the steaks, I seasoned them with a little three chili salt and tossed them on the grill.  For the corn, I husked the cobs, drizzled them with a little bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and threw them on the grill.  I sliced the mushrooms and zucchini and drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed them on the grill.

 

The sourdough was sliced, brushed with olive oil and grilled as well. The only thing that requires a bit of attention is the eggplant.  Sliced up the eggplant, lay it out on a sheet pan, and generously sprinkle with kosher salt. 

Let the eggplant sit for about 20  minutes and the salt will draw out the extra moisture.  Firmly pat the eggplant down with a paper towel to remove excess moisture before cooking.  You will want to do this with eggplant before using it for any preperation.  I added it to the grill with the rest of the veggies.

The diners were encouraged to use a piece of grilled sourdough for the base, place a steak on top, and spoon the chimichurri on as a sauce.

For a refreshing beverage, I made a light white sangria.  I use a big botle of cheap sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, add in diced frozen peaches, 1/2 a bottle peach schnapps, and top off with ginger ale.  Serve over ice.

We dined al fresco and finished our fabulous father's day grilling with grilled paches and vanilla ice cream.  Fruit on the grill is a fantastic, less guilty way to enjoy something sweet.  You can also easily grill plums, bananas, and pineapple.

The father's day feast was fabulous, and well deserved after the morning paddling on the lake.  I heard nothing but yummy sounds and prasie for my efforts. 

Fabulous chef tip: Just two days later, we attended a poolside grill at a friends house and were asked to bring a dish.  I cooked up a bag of ditalini pasta, tossed it with the leftover chimichurri, a bag of frozen peas, and some queso fresco and voila! Pasta salad!  It was a hit!  Always make extra of these things and freeze them for a dish in a pinch!

 

What's your favorite grilled foods? What foods make you think of summer?

To cook or not to cook? That is the question.

Every one of us has done it.  You're hungry; you open the refrigerator door and stare aimlessly.  Repeat for pantry and freezer.  Trust me, there is stuff in there.  Since I lacked motivation to go to the grocery store in my sweaty post running garb, I rustled around and found usable ingredients.

I found ground turkey, and butternut squash in the freezer, two tomatoes and queso fresco in the fridge, and whole wheat gnocchi and a jar of pesto in the pantry.  Voila! Lunch!

First, thaw out all the frozen stuff.  Next, lay the butternut squash out on a sheet pan, drizzle with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper.  Bake in the oven at 400 degrees.

Toss it around after about 10 minutes and switch the oven to broil.  In approximately 20 minutes, remove it from the oven.  It should look like this:

Cook the gnocchi according to package instructions.  Basically, drop them in boiling water until they float.  What is gnocchi? It's a potato dumpling. This particular package had the added bonus of whole wheat. 

It looks something like this when you purchase it premade.  You could, of course, make them yourself, but that'll be another day.  Strain when finished cooking and put back in pan.

While your squash is roasting and your gnocchi is boiling, brown the ground turkey in a saute pan with minced garlic, onion powder, and the diced tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir everything together in a big pot with 2 tbsp. pesto.  Add in some queso fresco and shredded Parmesan cheese, or whatever you have on hand.  Serve and enjoy.

Other variations include:

Feta, gorgonzola, fresh mozzarella or blue cheese

Add in roasted asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccolini, other squash, eggplant, artichokes

Use other whole wheat pasta instead of gnocchi

This whole operation took me approximately 20 minutes.  It made enough to serve 4 and was delicious!  Now, I understand that you may not have gnocchi or butternut squash on hand.  However, I guarantee you have some kind of frozen vegetable suitable for roasting.  Things like squash, asparagus, and brussel sprouts are easy to freeze and then roast back to perfection so keep them on hand. 

So, the moral of this story is, to cook! Let your creative energy combine the ingredients you have on hand!



Back on Track

Health, nutrition, dieting.... it's all about balance. 


Let's picture a scale.  On the left side is a doughnut, on the right side is an apple.  Which do you choose?  Well, actually, in this scenario I'd take the apple.  I'm not much of a doughnut fan.  However, if the left side held a loaf of warm crusty sourdough bread, a few pats of french butter, and a bottle of truffle oil, it would be no contest.  The trick is to do that 2 days a week and stay on track the other 5.


Today was an on track day.


Breakfast:


Shredded wheat with skim milk.


Snack:


Fresh Cherries


Lunch:


Tuna mixed with diced cucumbers, onions, and celery.


Dinner:


Sushi


Physical acticity level was high today! 5 back to back classes dancing and stretching with preschoolers then 1 hour at the gym including 30 minutes of cardio.  I don't know about you, but the more consistently I work out, the more energy I have!  I definitely feel better when regular workouts are a part of my week.  Try to stay focused a majority of the time but definitely take 1 or 2 days off.  There shouldn't be ANY off limit foods, unless you have a food related life threatening illness such as food allergies, renal disease, or diabetes.  If doughnuts are your thing, then have 1 once a week.  Just avoid 5 - 7 a week.


People always ask what dietitans eat.  Well it looks something like the aformentioned.  Most dietitians are lunch packers, that's for sure!  Generally, they keep a constant aresenal of healthy snacks.  Granola bars, nuts, fresh and dried fruits, raw veggies.  If it's handy, you'll eat it.  It seems super daunting to pack your lunch sometimes.  I prefer to pack mine the night before.  I don't want to sacrifice precious minutes in the morning.  Keep grab and go items in the fridge all the time: yogurt, applesauce, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, string cheese, nuts.  You can eat one of these items every 1 - 2 hours and you'll be satisfied all day long. Enough said...off to pack my lunch for another on track day tomorrow!

A Date With Some Wine

June 12, 2011

Yesterday turned into quite an adventure.  Eight of us hit the road at 9:30 to the mystical China Ranch Date Farm.  Where? You might ask.  And people say Vegas isn’t home to fabulous produce.  Hmphf. 

A mere 77 miles from Las Vegas, you can find yourself smack dab in the middle of the date farm.  It’s a small oasis in the middle of nowhere with quite a crop of date palms.  The ranch has a bakery/gift shop, succulent gardens, and a nice path that runs along the trees.  Informational signs tell the history of date farming, and explain the varieties of dates.  Strange as it may sound, this is my second trip to the date ranch. 

The drive is a little bit treacherous and takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes from west Vegas.  The last leg of the trip is a curvy dirt road. You head west on Blue Diamond, hang left on Tacopa highway and follow the signage.  Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, you will see a lush green oasis.  We strolled around the path, admiring the variety of palms, while sipping on our treats.

Oh yes! You must sample a date shake.  The China Ranch mixes them up fresh.  In case you’re wondering, a date shake is essentially a vanilla milkshake with dates blended up inside.  It’s good.  The bakery also offers date nut bread, date cookies, date bars and so on.  You can buy dates in bags, and boxes and they freeze very well.

What to do with these dates??  Well, aside from the shake, and the aforementioned baked goods, dates have a plethora of uses.  They are popular chopped up in cous cous in Moroccan cuisine.  They also make excellent hors de’ oeuvres when stuffed with an almond and wrapped in bacon.  Chop them up and stir them into your morning oatmeal; mix them into a stuffing for a turkey breast; add them to mixed greens for a lovely salad.  Naturally, since dates are a fruit, they provide fiber, and vitamins and minerals along with their delicious flavor.

Date Stuffed Turkey Breast

·         1 turkey breast

·         ¼ cup almonds, toasted and chopped

·         3 slices dried whole wheat bread, diced

·         8 dates, pitted and chopped

·         ½ cup low sodium chicken broth

·         ¼ cup raisins

·         1 tsp. sage, minced (or substitute dried sage)

·         ½ tsp. rosemary, minced

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl and moisten by slowly pouring in chicken broth.  Slice a pocket into the turkey breast - do not cut all the way through.  Season inside the pocket with salt and pepper.  Fill the pocket with moistened stuffing and secure opening with toothpicks or by trussing with twine.  Heat a sauté pan over high heat and add 1 tsp. olive oil.  Season turkey breast with salt and pepper and lay skin side down in pan to sear.  For an even more healthful version, remove the skin form the turkey breast or buy a skinless turkey breast.  After browning, turn breast over, pour in ¼ cup chicken broth, and place entire pan in oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  Approximately 20 – 30 minutes.  Remove breast from oven and take out of pan.  Whisk in a slurry to thicken for a nice pan gravy.  Bring to a boil and turn off.  Remove toothpicks, slice stuffed breast ad served drizzled with gravy.

Slurry – Equal parts cornstarch and water.  Whisk together and slowly drizzle in.  Bring to boil to thicken.

After wandering the date farm, we headed to the Pahrump Valley Winery for an afternoon lunch al fresco.  We enjoyed the lovely 80 degree weather and sampled their offerings overlooking the grape vines and garden area.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  My mother and I shared a cup of the lobster bisque, the baked brie and fruit platter, and the chicken limone.  It was all washed down with a glass of sweet Symphony.  This is one of the many things I love about Las Vegas.  There are about 1 million creative things to do on any given afternoon.  There are day trips in any of three surrounding states, and I tend to feel like I am on an eternal vacation.

Bountiful Basket

June 10, 2011

http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

My husband has been chatting about this for a while.    I kept hearing him in the back of my mind…”My co-worker and his wife do this thing, where you get a basket of produce…”

Well, last Saturday, he showed up with a huge box of produce.  Apparently, his coworker’s wife volunteers for bountiful baskets and they just knew we would love it.  Kevin strolled in Saturday morning with a box filled with fresh, gorgeous produce.  Our bountiful basket included:

·         10 ears of sweet spring corn

·         1 head of celery

·         1 head of romaine lettuce

·         1 lb. of strawberries

·         1 lb. of red seedless grapes

·         3 artichokes

·         3 lb. bag of new potatoes

·         2 lbs. of apples

The price tag you may ask for this bounty???  $15.00! I know! Crazy right! It was pretty incredible. 

In chef world, we would refer to this as a market basket.  You get a basket of awesome stuff and create something fabulous out of it.  Obviously, my culinary wheels started spinning.  I suppose this is a good time to mention that my better half and I are slightly notorious for good produce gone bad.  We just get so dang overzealous at the store.  We dream up all the delectable things we are going to cook and buy all the goods, but we generally don’t get to it in time.  So, in order to avoid such nonsense, I wanted to get started right away.  It was a no brainer…Corn Chowder!  This summer corn was going to be put to good use pronto! 

I ran over to the store to supplement my bounty.  I picked up some Serrano chilies, green onions, cream, bacon and parsley.  I put on a nice afternoon movie while I shucked and cleaned the corn.  I rubbed the cobs down with a bit of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I then laid them out on a sheet pan and roasted them, about 375 degrees, turning once, until browned on the tips of the kernels.  In the meantime, I diced potatoes, seeded and chopped the chilies, chopped celery, green onion, and parsley.  I snipped up the bacon and browned it in a stock pot.  I removed the crispy bits and added in the veggies and potatoes to sauté.  I added in chicken broth and skim milk to cover and simmer.  Next, I cut all the kernels off the corn cobs and pureed them in the blender with the heavy cream.  I left half of the kernels whole and added them to the pot.  I let the soup simmer for about an hour and served it garnished with bacon bits and crumbled queso fresco (a fresh Mexican cheese.)  Everyone was quite pleased with the results. My dad and uncle helped themselves to a second bowl; always a good sign.   I received a text from Kevin later that night at work, “best corn chowder ever!” 

Admittedly, this was a slightly decadent recipe.  However, the bacon and heavy cream could have been easily omitted.  Lighten it up by just sticking to the skim milk, and garnish with turkey bacon.  Another option includes sticking to vegetarian by using vegetable stock and just garnish with cheese.  It would still be delicious and showcase the incredible corn.

The strawberries, grapes, apples and artichokes wandered into my lunch bag throughout the week.  It really was a cool thing and I know we will be getting another bountiful basket soon!