Someone’s in the kitchen with Ina…

    

 

It is no secret I love The Food Network.   I love it in spite of the fact that true foodies regard that particular channel with various levels of distain.

I consider myself an equal opportunity viewer.   I adore Top Chef most of all but I’ll also spend a day watching Anthony Bourdain (he who hath a lot to say about the Food Network and none of it nice).

But truth be told I would honestly watch a channel that was all Ina all the time.  

How do I love Ina?  Let me count the ways.

1)  Her voice.   It has the polar opposite effect on me than Mary Hart’s voice had on that poor lady.   It’s melodic - like a lullaby – except I stay awake.

2) Her look.   Her hair is always perfect and shining – but not in a $400 salon type way.  She’s the J. Jill poster girl.  She looks every bit like a wealthy Hampton’s wife of a certain age – the kind of wife who isn’t trying to be 20 when she’s well over 50.   Ina looks like she takes a bite of every thing she eats.   It’s why I also love Nigella Lawson.  She totally owns the fact she puts on about 25 lbs every time she films a series of shows.

3) Her love for all things Long Island.   Well.   The East End of Long Island.   Let’s face it – she’s not traipsing around Amy Fisher’s old haunts.  But I do know I never loved Long Island more than I do now that I’ve moved to New Jersey.

4)  Her recipes are easy – her food looks delicious.   And when I try to make it myself – my food is delicious too.

5) She shops at Zabar’s and Citarella like it’s Stop and Shop.   Nevermind that – she has Eli Zabar over for breakfast for God’s sake.

6) Which leads me to her entourage of artsy friends who get roped into play acting like they don’t know their going to be in an episode and act all surprised when she leaves jars of jam and fresh muffins on their porch.

7)  Jeffrey and his roast chicken.   My dad did a whole routine about Ina and Jeffrey which was not very PC (my father often liked to be not very PC in order for us to react).    My niece once sang a version of “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad” which features the line that is this post title followed by “Jeff-Jeff-Jeffrey I-O”  as we drove past her house on the way to Sag Harbor.  (don’t ask!) I also think it’s adorable they’ve known each other since she was 15.

8) She used to work in the White House and now she works and lives in her lovely house making lovely food.  

In short - I want to be Ina when I grow up.

But for now I’ll settle for making her shrimp scampi over pasta.

Last night it was just me, Dave and a kid who ate the last of a jar of organic sweet potatoes.    I followed the recipe exactly – except I added some asparagus that I hadn’t used yet this week.   Shrimp and asparagus is one of my favorite combinations and it helped me with my goal to eat something green with each meal. 

Something green sautéed in garlic, butter and oil.

Baby steps.

All I did was chop it up and add it as a sautéed the shrimp in the garlic/butter/oil mix.

The problem I usually have with shrimp scampi is the butter.   I mean, garlic and butter?   What is not to love?   For me it’s that the butter seems to over power the shrimp making it greasy instead of saucy.   I know there is butter in shrimp scampi but to look at a plate of pink shrimp swimming in butter it becomes hard to deny that what I’m eating isn’t exactly low cal.

Ina’s recipe calls for a few tablespoons of butter plus olive oil.   The fact that you serve it with pasta takes the pool of butter out of the equation.   What you are left with is garlicky lemony goodness.   The parsley adds a bright note and the red pepper just enough kick.

 

Yum.  How easy is that? ;)

Paper Spaghetti with Newman’s Own Cabernet Marinara

 

I received a bunch of products (and a Flip camera!) from Newman’s Own as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.    As soon as I got the package I knew I’d have to have my lovely assistant, Miss Mora help me out.

You will soon see she’s really the star of the show.

Even though I am a control freak who won’t let the poor kid touch the spoon to save her life. :)

We had a terrific time making the video last night.   Thanks again to Dave for his fine camera work and direction and to Maddie and Alex for being so patient.

Dave and I once had Spaghetti al Cartaccio at Barolo in NYC.   Once I got these ingredients and was asked to make a quick and easy recipe I knew what I had to do. 

The video (at the end of this post) will show you step-by-step but here’s some pictures from the shoot to help you out.

    

I have to say the sauce was pretty delicious all on it’s own.  You could really taste the wine and to me wine is an important ingredient in my homemade sauce.  I would definitely use this again in a pinch.   This recipe looks fancy but is super simple and really takes less than a half hour all told.

  

 

Disclaimer:  The camera adds 10 lbs.   The sweater adds another 10.  Less Pinot Grigio and Girl Scout Cookies + more salads and Zumba will get me to minus 20.

PS: No comments on my corny jokes or my Long Island accent thankyouverymuch.

Hope you enjoy!

 

Knife & Fork Breakfast Sandwich

Today I am taking a bit of a half day.  I have to meet Carrie to give her her invites (almost done!) so I figured I would knock off early.

I think it might do wonders for my disposition.

I realized why I’ve been hibernating for the past two weeks.  It’s so cold and all the pants I have to wear to work need the hems fixed.

Note to self:  Take them to the tailor on Monday.   You might as well get them dry cleaned too.

Anyway – because I know I won’t be tied to the computer till 5 it feels a little like the weekend is here already.  And weekends for me mean eggs for breakfast.

This won’t take long to make if you have a few key ingredients on hand.  What makes this sandwich great however are the ingredients I used.

At least I think so.

 

 

Above you will find what’s left of my loaf of No-Knead bread, what’s left of my Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam, some baby spinach and the best cheddar cheese ever created.

All you need to add is a slice of bacon and an egg.  Cook the egg sunny side up.  The runnier – the better.

For those of you cooking for one or two – or who are watching your weight – let me tell you about bacon.  Dave just bought some turkey bacon and it looked like that fake bacon you buy for kids to play with in their toy kitchen.  And it didn’t have that smoky taste.  Suffice it to say when we went to Costco I helped him purchase 4 packages of the real thing.

It’s only because I care.  :)

I use bacon sparingly.  When I get a package I take it apart, wrap it in wax paper (sort of accordion style – one piece, fold, another piece, fold) so that they don’t stick together and I can take out a slice at a time.   I wrap the final result in foil and freeze.

1-2 minutes in the microwave and the bacon is done.

Warn the bread (it’s hard to fit this bread in the toaster so I put it in the frying pan before I made the egg for a few moments).  Spread with the jam.  Layer on the cheddar and the bacon.  Cover with the egg and garnish with spinach. 

When you assemble the items I have mentioned you have a delicious combination so special you need to savor every bite.  So sit down like a grown up, put a napkin on your lap and take a knife and fork to this bad boy.

  

If you really feel the need have some skim hot chocolate to wash it down.

Pasta with chicken, red pepper and goat cheese

 

My sister keeps a running list of foods I despise and those I adore obsess over.

The former includes such things as:

Rosemary

Raisins

Olives

Rye bread with caraway seeds

(Most) Mushrooms

Any kind of melon

Lemon Pits in my Diet Coke.   Seriously.  I have a really difficult time drinking a Diet Coke if there is an errant lemon pit swimming around in there.

The latter includes most of the things in the title of this post. 

Last night I walked home from work and made a detour to Trader Joe’s because in NYC there is no place else that you can get Dubliner cheese, goat cheese, a dozen eggs, a pack of English muffins, a bag of frozen mixed veggies, baby spinach, a bag of potatoes, an onion, a quart of milk and a tub of sour cream plus a Valentine’s surprise for a little over $20.00.

Things you will need to make this:

1/4 cup diced roasted chicken (you could definitely use rotisserie chicken for this)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/4 cup sliced red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced sweet onion

1 cup fresh baby spinach

a pinch of crushed red pepper

1 oz goat cheese (you could use about 2 tablespoons of crumbles if you have them)

1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta (I used TJ’s whole wheat penne) cooked to package directions – reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water

S&P to taste

Upon arriving home I put a chicken breast in the oven to roast.

This is a skin on, bone in chicken breast.  I drizzled it with olive oil salt and lemon pepper and some sliced onions and garlic.  I roasted it for nearly an hour (covered in foil) at 375, turning up the heat to closer to 400 for the last 15 min.   I used about a quarter of this breast in the pasta.

 I added a little olive oil to a pan and sauteed some onion and peppers.  This was tossed in the pasta with the baby spinach and goat cheese.My cute ceramic nesting measuring cups from Anthropologie include a measure for a pinch.  I guess you could say I used about a quarter of a pinch here.

Sidenote:  It doesn’t look like they have them anymore :(  Here is what they look like.

                                                                  

Sidenote #2:  Going to the website was a mistake.  Now I am obsessed with having these…and one of these…and maybe these too.  And STOP IT with this apron.

I drained the pasta, put it back in the empty pot and added the veggies, spice and about 3/4 of the goat cheese over very low heat to get things all melty.  I added the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce out a little.   I crumbled the remaining goat cheese on top and added a crank or two of pepper.

The result was a simple, filling, slightly tangy, mildly spicy, creamy dish.  I wish I had some left over.

Mexican Rice (for lack of a better description) with Pace Picante Sauce. Also: sing it Gwyneth!

In an effort to make myself feel a bit better I ventured out to take in a movie last evening.  I was trying to decide what to see and settled on Country Strong.  It might not have been the best choice but I loved the music.

I have 2 songs by Gwyneth on my iTunes from the movie Duets.  A movie I never saw but I gotta admit – I really like the tone of her voice.  And I’m really digging this song.

I wasn’t cheered up by the movie but spending 2 hours with my new boyfriends Garrett and Tim wasn’t torture either.

I promised to show you my leftover creation the other day didn’t I?  Well – here it is.

I had leftover chicken and wanted something – well – just not Italian was my only thought.  I had planned on chili earlier in the week but changed my mind.

Mexican sounded good.

I put together a spice mix of cumin, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, a pinch of cinnamon and some fresh ground pepper.   I tossed some leftover chicken with the spice mix.

I grilled some orange bell pepper and onions and then added the chicken.

Plus 1 can of black beans and 1 bottle of Pace Picante Sauce that I remembered I had from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.  I had planned to use a can of TJ’s Fire Roasted Tomatoes w/Green Chiles but this sounded like a better idea.

I also added a bag of TJ’s frozen brown rice, tossed it together and topped it with cheddar and light sour cream.

   I had a mug full of leftovers for lunch yesterday.In other news - I’m loving eggs lately for some reason.  The other day I made myself a little breakfast sandwich and today made myself a little casserole with an EM on the side.   

Today I’m going to get some sort of workout in and enjoy the snowy scenery.   Hope you’re staying warm where you are!

Chicken with the Sauce

 

Ingredients – Serves 2-3

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 gloves minced garlic

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce (small)

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp shredded parmesan

2 tbsp fresh parsley

2 tbsp basil

2 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup peas

Pasta of your choice

 

In a large pot or saucepan sautee onion and garlic over medium heat. Add chicken and cook through. 

 

 

 

Add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.  Add red wine (I use the sauce can filled about half way) add parmesan and tomato paste.  I only added the paste because it seemed a bit thin.

  

 

They did not have fresh basil at the ghetto market (this is just the market that has virtually NOTHING but is convenient on my way home from work)  so I had to buy this.  I used a bit as well as fresh parsley plus some crushed red pepper and Italian Seasoning.

Simmer and serve.  I like to wait a good 45 min or so before I serve this.  Makes all the flavors have a chance to get acquainted.

I added a handful of frozen peas to mine but it works great with broccoli or if you simmer some zucchini or summer squash with the sauce.  You can also serve it over rice.

It’s one of my favorite favorite dinners.  I hope it becomes one of yours.  Originally it was made with breaded veal or chicken cutlets that were fried in an electric frying pan.  Not the healthiest thing – so the recipe has evolved.

Pappardelle Primavera w/Shrimp

For my first food writing assignment, I need to write about an ingredient I love. My task is to talk about shrimp and how I eat it now compared to how I did before I lost weight.

There is a simple answer to that. I used to eat fried shrimp like it was my job and now I...don't. It was honestly my go to order when eating out, though I rarely made it for myself that way. These days, even if there's a bit of oil (and sometimes butter) involved the shrimp I eat are most definitely not dripping in fat.

I used the following for 2 servings:

I took the shells of the shrimp and tossed them in a hot pan, deglazed with white wine. I removed the shells and added onion, simmering till translucent - about a 1/4 cup of onion.

Then I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, 2 cloves of roasted garlic and 6 large shrimp.






I then added a bit of leftover zucchini I had, chopped finely + a pat of butter.



I know. But it really makes such a difference. It was a small pat - that camera angle makes it look monstrous.

Then I added some tomatoes, which I had roasted earlier and some broccoli and asparagus that I steamed quickly before adding.




I tossed with the pasta, some fresh parsley, a little crushed red pepper.



And it was delicious.

Is there something you love that you eat differently now than you did before you were watching your weight? There are things that just don't taste as good unless you eat the full fat version, but this was just as delicious, if not more so, than what I used to eat.



Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. It went way too fast for me. The weather is so nice this week I'm finding it REALLy difficult to be inside.

Lunch pics will be up at dinnertime. I forgot the cord for my camera at home. :( Unless I use my cell phone. We'll see what happens.

It's a tuna wrap - so I don't know if you'll really be missing much. :)

Have a happy Wednesday. See you later!