Sneak in those veggies!

One of the first things they teach you in catering is if something isn't moving off a buffet line, put some cheese on it.

This is applicable to pretty much anything.  It is equally effective on both children and adults.  People love cheese.  I, a former resident of the great state of Wisconsin, especially love cheese, and all things cheesy.

The key is to put cheese on your veggies!  Delicious and nutritious.  A perfect example of this....broccoli cheese soup.

Start with a hefty amount broccoli - about 4 cups.  Saute it in a soup pot with minced garlic and red onion.

After the onions are translucent, add chicken stock to cover.

Let simmer.  In a separate sauce pot, make a roux.  A roux is equal parts butter and flour and it is used as a thickening agent for sauces.  In this scenario, we are essentially making a bechamel, then a mornay sauce.  Whoa! Big fancy French cooking.  A bechamel is one of the 5 mother sauces in French cuisine.  It is a white sauce made with a roux and milk and usually a little nutmeg.  From there, you can add to it and make hundreds of other sauces.  For example, when you add cheese, you get a mornay sauce.  Yum!  This cheese sauce can be used for loads of scrumptious dishes such as homemade macaroni and cheese, lasagna and so on.  Place a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of flour in your sauce pot and stir constantly.  A roux goes through stages as you cook out some of the starchiness.  The darker the roux, the less thickening power it has.  As you are stirring, be careful not to burn your roux.  Keep it moving over medium heat.  You may float away into an aroma induced coma as you inhale the stages of sugar cookie dough, and nuttiness.  For a bechamel, you just make a quick white roux.

Cook the roux for about 5 minutes until it thins out a bit, bubbles, and develops a nutty aroma.  Whisk in about 4 cups of milk and a dash of nutmeg.

Now, you will have a thick white sauce.  You can adjust this sauce for other recipes by adding more or less milk.  We want a fairly thick version since we are adding in the chicken stock with our broccoli.

Next, whisk in approximately 3 cups of shredded cheddar.

When finished, you should have a pot of silky cheesy goodness.

Now, blend your broccoli and stock mixture.  You can pour the contents into a blender or use an immersion blender right in the pot.

It's ok for the mixture to remain a little bit chunky.  Next, combine the contents of both pots together and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with a slice of garlic bread for dipping and enjoy your bowl of cheesy broccoli goodness!!

You could make this same soup as cheesy asparagus, cheesy artichoke, cheesy brussel sprout and so on!

Lighten up!

Comfort food and cravings can get you trouble!  I've been working extra hard to keep my pregnancy weight gain in check; therefore, I have to lighten up old recipes for a delicious and healthy new rendition.

Recently, a t.v. commercial got me salivating for some good 'ole lasagna.  I made a few simple changes to make a much leaner version.

First, I substituted the cheese for their low fat counterparts.  I used ground turkey instead of beef and I added extra vegetables: spinach, mushrooms, and onions.

Thaw a bag of frozen spinach, place in a strainer and squeeze out all the excess water.

Dice up some red onion and slice up some mushrooms.

In the meantime, boil a large pot of salted water and cook the lasagna noodles per the instructions on the box.

In a large saute pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Saute the red onion and some minced garlic.  Crumble in the ground turkey, with some red chili flakes and brown.  Add in the mushrooms, spinach, and a splash of red wine of you like.  When everything is stirred together, add in your favorite spaghetti sauce, salt and pepper, and simmer on low.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish and create layers with the noodles, turkey mix, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese.

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Bake at 375 until golden and bubbly.

This meal is very affordable and crowd pleasing.  Serve up a green salad on the side and you've got dinner for 10 people for less than $20.

There is always an easy way to lighten up your old favorites.  Make a few simple substitutions for a way healthier alternative.  

What recipe would you like to lighten up?

Post Holiday Cleanse

Whew! The holidays have come and gone in a frenzy and a blur.  I'm sure everyone has been crazed and busy, like myself. 

Although, the holidays are often our favorite time of year, they tend to leave us feeling less light on our toes.  The look of horror shows on my face as I take a moment to remember each and every cookie, chocolate covered pretzel, buttered roll, and cheese covered hors d' oeuvre that found its way into my mouth in the past few weeks!  Yikes!

Well, all the social gatherings have passed.  I am back to work and now its time to get back on track.  The perfect solution...vegetable soup!

A hearty dose of vegetable soup is the best way to initiate a cleanse, jump start some weight loss, incorporate extra fiber into your day, or just eat something plain delicious!! A big steaming bowl of vegetable soup is soul warming during these winter months.  The trick is to make it extra tasty so you are looking forward to consuming it and not giving it the stink eye like a big, daunting bowl of raw spinach. 

You can put absolutely any vegetables you desire into this soup.  This is also an excellent way to put all the produce in your fridge to good use.  For this particular batch, I used:

• tomatoes
• onion
• garlic
• radishes
• celery
• carrots
• green beans
• kale
• zucchini
• mushrooms

Other excellent choices would be peppers, squash, parsnips, cabbage, bok choy, snow peas or whatever your heart desires. 

It does take a fair amount of prep work to clean and chop everything up for soup.  Try to keep everything around the same size so it cooks evenly and fits nicely in a spoon. 

The important thing to remember here is to start with the veggies that need to cook longer, such as carrots, and add in the quick cooking ones last, such as kale.

The first step is to get a BIG soup or stock pot and heat up around 4 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.  Stir in minced onion and garlic.  Next add in extra firm veggies like carrots and parsnips, then celery and radish, then green beans, then tomatoes and zucchini and so on, and lastly quick cooking leafy things like cabbage, or kale.  Saute everything for a minute or two in between additions. 

Stir in 1 small can of tomato sauce, and 1 small can of tomato paste. Add in one can of drained beans. (I used kidney)  Cover with chicken or vegetable broth (around 2 boxes).  Sprinkle in salt and pepper and 1 tsp. each of dried herbs such a coriander, basil, and oregano.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer. 

In a separate pan, cook up some of your favorite mini soup pasta.  I chose ditalini, but orzo, mini shells, macaroni, or alphabet letters would work perfectly.

As an optional garnish, you can make some fresh croutons.  Dice up your bread of choice, and toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, and dried basil and oregano.  Lay out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until golden.

Allow the soup to simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes and stir in the cooked pasta.  Serve hot and garnish with a few croutons and a sprinkle of cheese such as feta or Parmesan.

Replace 1 - 2 meals a day with this veggie soup and you'll shed a few lbs. in a week!  The extra fiber will definitely get your GI tract moving as well so be prepared for the cleanse.  This soup will help you eat the rainbow with ease and the beans ensure protein. 

I love to whip this up 2 to 3 times a year to get things moving in the right direction!  It is delicoius, and, of course, nutritious!

Themed Brunch

Recently, we needed to share some pretty great news with our families.  We decided it was best to communicate through food!

The Menu

Baby Quiche

Baby Green Salad with Baby Cucumbers

Balsamic Glazed Baby Zuchinni, Baby Squash, 

and Baby Bella Mushrooms

Baby Carrots

Babybel Cheese

I'm sure, by now, you've figured out our plan.  Kevin took things to the table, one at a time, and tried to announce their title with a straight face.  Finally, my mother said, "Hey! Are you trying to tell us something?"

Of course, this started with a long brainstorm about all the baby themed brunch appropriate foods I could think of.  I had to eliminate a few ideas, such as baby back ribs.

Baby zucchini looks just like their big counterparts.  The mini yellow squash are also called patty pans.  First, I reduced some balsamic vinegar over low heat for a few hours to make a thicker sweet glaze.

I cut up all the veggies, tossed them with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and laid them out on a sheet pan to roast. Approx. 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Them should be slightly softened and golden.  

For the baby quiche, I purchased pie crust sheets. I cut them out with a circle cutter and pushed them into a cupcake pan.  

I sprinkled feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and sliced asparagus into the little cups.  

Next, I whisked up 1 pint of heavy cream, salt and pepper, and 5 eggs.  I poured it into each cup and baked the baby quiche until the center was set.  Approx 25 minutes.

They will puff up while baking, so leave some room for expansion. 

Next, I chopped up some mixed baby lettuce and thinly sliced the baby cucumbers into half moon shapes.  

I put Kevin in charge of salad dressing. He put shallots, parsley, parsley stems, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper, in to the blender and slowly drizzled in olive oil while blending to create an emulsified vinaigrette.

The key is to drizzle the oil in slowly.  The ratio for a vinaigrette is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. If you exceed this ratio, your vinaigrette will break and separate.

We tossed the dressing with the cucumbers and lettuce, drizzled the roasted veggies with the basalmic reduction, popped the quiche out of the pan, and brunch was served.   

The baby quiche could house any ingredients you like! Bacon and swiss, ham and brie, goat cheese and roasted red peppers, broccoli and cheddar - the sky is the limit!

Everyone was pleased with this delicious and nutritious brunch and even more pleased with our big news!!

Anything you can do, I can do better.

My mother has an extremely close-nit group of gal pals that refer to themselves as the ya yas.  She informed me that two of the ya yas, or as I like to call them, my aunts, were coming to town and, in turn, would like see my new house.  Of course, I had to whip up a fabulous luncheon in their honor.

I debated several menus.  The chilly fall weather has set in here in Vegas and the highs have been in the 50s.  I decided on a soup and panini combo.  What better than a revamp on America's favorite? - tomato and grilled cheese.

I should mention these ladies are seasoned diners and drinkers. Everything must be fabulous and most importantly delicious!

I got some little red baja tomatoes.  I used about 36 of them.  Romas would have worked just as well.  I sliced them in half.

I laid them out on a sheet pan and drizzled them with olive oil, and sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and chili flakes.

I roasted them on high, 475 and brown and crackly.

I laid out some bacon on a sheet pan and baked until crispy.  Baking bacon is an easy way to cut down on the mess, and cook a large amount at one time. Around 350 should do the trick.

In the meantime, I diced up some garlic and onion and sauteed it in the bacon fat left on the pan.

When the garlic and red onion started to brown, I deglazed the pot with 1/2 cup of vodka.  I let the vodka reduce and them added 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock.

Next, I placed the garlic and onion mixture, and the roasted tomatoes in the blender and pureed until smooth. I returned the soup to the pan and finished it with 4 cups of heavy cream.  I let the soup simmer to reduce and keep warm.

For a lovely garnish, I fried some whole basil leaves in olive oil.  Be careful! They tend to pop and spit hot oil.

I got some yummy cheese, apple smoked gruyere, and sharp white cheddar.  I sliced it up and layered between buttered sourdough slices with the cooked bacon.  I placed the sandwiches on the george foreman to grill them like a panini.

For a scrumptious cocktail, I served bocce ball martinis.  I shook 1/2 shot butterscotch schnapps, 1 shot of amaretto, and orange juice in the martini shaker and strained into a martini glass.  Of course, you can serve this tasty cocktail on the rocks, but girls love to socialize with a martini glass.

Although grilled cheese and tomato soup may not sound elegant, you can make it into something decadent and spectacular.  The creamy tomato vodka soup with fried basil was delicious.  The chili flakes added a bit of zing and the vodka added complex flavor.  As for the grilled cheese, we all know, everything is better with bacon!

So, take that campbell's.  Like I said, anything you can do, I can do better!  Kick the can - this version is way better.  Now, off for a jog....bacon and heavy cream comes at a price!