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Home > 352
KitchenKatalog: Blog 352
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 10:32 PM
Okay, I am at war with making gnocchi. I do not know why I have so much trouble with it. I roasted butternut squash halves, then I took it off the peel. After mashing it, I added a tiny bit of egg and then I started to add flour. The different recipes said 8 oz to 2 cups of flour. I lost count on about 5 or 6 cups. Plus, I beat it so long trying to get it, it became very stringy and elastic. I split off half and kept going. I finally started to form it.
They had almost no butternut squash taste. I was so full of flour that it masked it. I need to read a lot more watch videos and what not. I am determined to make it better and to get it. Not that I actually like gnocchi all that much, but I want to get it. Also, they were dense.
Meredith made the fake cream sauce. It was very good. She roughly followed this recipe. But, she used evaporated skim milk. It was great.
The mushrooms were an interesting experiment. We mixed crab (from the other day) with some laughing cow cheese and some bread crumbs. Usually when we do stuffed mushrooms, we spread the laughing cow on the mushrooms but I wanted to try it in the mix. It was not as good. I really like the way it melts into the mushrooms. This did not do that. So, I know for next time not to try it.
It is hard to figure out the points but since there was so much flour but we cut it and have lunch, it was not too bad. The mushrooms were pretty low. The "cream" sauce was 6 total and we ate very little of it.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 436, 2010-09-21_223249
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 05:16 PM
The home fries were very good. I cut the potatoes into small pieces and then I sautéed them with some hogie spread, and some Serrano peppers. They added heat but not until my lip started burning after eating it.
The ham steak was just plain and simple.
The ham steak was 2 and the potatoes were 2.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 432, 2010-09-21_171637
Monday, September 20, 2010, 09:40 PM
The empanada idea was roughly from this and the dough was roughly inspired by this. For the dough I used 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. I added ~1 Tbsp melted Smart Balance light, a Tbsp of egg beaters and salt. I then added skim milk until it came together. I ended up adding too much so I added another 1/4 cup whole wheat. I let the mixer knead it for a pretty long time. In the end, the dough was very nice. Easily rolled and pliable. There were no holes in the final product either. Extra kneading did a lot. The dough did have a nice buttery taste and was soft. And, still low points. I think I may use this on Samosa next time.
The filling was 6 oz 92/8 ground beef and 2 oz extra lean ground turkey. We added a lot of Adobo powder (very good!), some cumin and oregano. We also sautéed 1/2 an onion, some garlic and a bunch of minced Serrano chilli and some frozen corn. The chile did not add as much flavor as we expected but in the end, it was very, very good. The adobo was a nice new flavor (though, for better or for worse, it has MSG).
Even though it does not necessarily go with it, we had steamed edamame. Very good!
Dough (total, made 6): Around 4 points all purpose plus 4 for whole wheat. Around 1 for butter and egg. Around 2 for skim milk.
The filling was 8 total for the meat. So, 19 total or 3/empanada
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 428, 2010-09-20_214034
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 09:42 PM
The chicken saltimbocca was made roughly from Gina's Recipe except we made some modifications and made it smaller. We used tenderloins (the usual) and did not end up using any butter at the end. Also, we used much more fresh sage. The taste was very strong from the sage. I need to get better at controlling the heat of the pan. After the chicken was done (and slightly burned), the wine deglaze made the entire apartment fill with wine steam. Still, it was very good. Also, we forgot the salt and pepper but it was fine. Also, we used German prosciutto because it was much leaner and lower calories.
The soup was very roughly inspired by this but I really just used it for the ingredient list. I used a can (I think ~14 oz) diced tomatoes and then I filled the can with water and added that. I then used the immersion blender lightly to thicken it. I still left it very chunky. I then added a cubed yukon gold potato, asparagus (was going to go bad), frozen corn and frozen spinach. After simmering for a while, I added ~2/3 lb crab. I bought claw meat. While it looked less nice than whatever we got before, it was more flavorful. Also, I put some Old Bay in (of course!). And some Sriracha for a little bite. One nice thing is that since we were making it, we did not skimp on the crab like some restaurants.
The soup ended up a bit salty but very good. It was really thick. After dinner, I added almost 2.5 cups more water and some sodium free beef and chicken broth. That should stretch it a lot more.
Chicken Saltimbocca (per person):
Chicken...~4.5
Prosciutto...1.5
Soup (entire thing, over 6 servings)
Potato...~2
Corn+Peas...1
Crab....6
Chicken Saltimbocca (From Gina's Skinny Taste)
Local Copy-- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 422, 2010-09-19_214216
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 09:41 PM
No photo because I figured I would take a picture on the second batch but they burned. Basically, I made the microwave chips with sweet potato. They were very good with salt and pepper. I forgot to use less time for the smaller second batch, hence the burn.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 414, 2010-09-19_214133
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 09:35 PM
This came from me testing out some microwave poached egg ideas for later in the week. I took egg beaters, whisked in some soy sauce, sriracha, ground ginger and anything else I felt like. Then I microwave poached it. Meanwhile, I took a piece (~1/4) of a red pepper, microwaved it for 20 sec to soften it and then I sautéed it. I then melted some cheese.
It was good and I hope to use some of the egg mixture type stuff later in the week.
Egg...~0.5
Cheese...1
1/2 Arnolds....0.5
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 412, 2010-09-19_213507
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 12:09 AM
The chicken is very loosely based on this but modified for much less chicken and with less oil. Also, I used tender pieces. After marinading and putting on a stick. I used the griddler. First on medium to cook it and then on high to get the lines. Next time, I should reverse that order. Put them on and then turn it down. I also flipped them half way so that the uneven pieces still get cooked.
The tzatziki was a seeded (really, deseeded) cucumber, 0% Greek yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and dill. It came out a bit watery. We added extra yogurt to counter that and then extra dill for flavor. Needs improvement still. I do not know that exact (if there was one) recipe that was used.
The squash doesn't really go but I wanted to use it up. It was roasted in the oven wit salt, pepper and oregano or rosemary (depending on the tray). They were all very good! Will do again.
We also had whole wheat pitas (store bought, but I want to make them in the future)
Points are less exact in this but probably around 3-4 for the chicken, 3 for the squash (maybe 4 or 5). The tzatziki was low. The pitas were 2 for the first and 3 after that.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 409, 2010-09-18_000933
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 08:44 PM
I got inspired for this from a cooking show. First, I marinated cut up chicken pieces in a bowl with a can of "chipotles in Adobo." Then I sautéed the chicken with some of the sauce. After taking out the chicken, I sautéed onions and peppers in the same pot. Then, after they were browned, I added back the chicken and all the sauce, with a 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sodium free chicken broth. I let it cook down until it was very thick and then served it over brown rice and topped with FF cheddar
Overall, it was very good but also extremely spicy. I think I underestimated the spice of the chipotles in adobo. Still, it was a very good and easy meal. I made two servings and took the other for lunch.
Points:
Chicken...3
Brown Rice...3
Cheese...1
Peppers in adobo...1
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 406, 2010-09-16_204446