Under Construction

Hey!

Things are moving elsewhere and I'm switching it up a bit. It should be fun. Hang on for another week.

There won't be any new posts right now, but I do have a few drafts ready to go when I change over.

Follow along on Instagram for the daily basics!

- Harti

The Scramble

I get hooked on a breakfast item, and then eat mainly that for long periods of time. I had a year and a half long love affair with an oatmeal bowl once. I take my breakfast relationships pretty seriously.

Right now, it's The Scramble. It's easy, high in protien, and low in calories. I can cook it up between finshing toddler meals and ushering them to their seats (about 5 minutes of "Sit down. I said it's breakfast, let's go. Get to your chair. NOW!").

The result is a good portion of food for 150 calories. That's low enough to throw some bacon or sausage on, which I do often.

The Scramble:

1 cup egg whites

2 thin slices red onion

3 cups fresh spinach

1 Roma tomato

1 tsp Sriracha

Salt and pepper

Heat a nonstick skillet, coated in cooking spray, over medium high heat. Add egg whites and cook until just set. Move eggs to one side of skillet. Add onion and spinach. Allow to cook in place, and as spinach begins to wilt, mix with eggs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove egg mixture to a plate and top with tomato and Sriracha sauce.

Polenta Cakes

What comes in a tube and results in the fanciest leftover canapé this side of the Mississippi? Why, it's a polenta cake of course!

Anyone can make these - even with the horribly vague directions that will follow.

Unfortunately for you, I just kind of make these. Luckily though, I think it's so easy that it doesn't matter much. I'll try to pay attention next time and update later. Until then, just wing it.

These are great as a side to a sauced dish. I served it recently, with the Pollo in Potacchio recipe posted here. The leftover chicken got shredded and tossed with remaining sauce for the next day. That mixture was placed on top of a some cakes for a really classy lunch, that probably deserved more than a view of scattered toys in the backyard.

Broiled Polenta Cakes:
Tube of polenta, sliced 3/4 inch thin

Line a sheet pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Place polenta slices on sheet pan and give the exposed tops a hit with more cooking spray.

Place in oven, positioned to the top rack. Broil on high until charing begins. Flip and repeat.

I want to say it takes about 10 minutes or less per side, but in truth I have no clue.

Egg Salad, Straight Up

Egg salad is good stuff. This is a very basic recipe, but that's how The Husband prefers it, so it's what we do. I've fancied it up before and tried different verisons. Nope, this one always wins. It tastes like a deviled egg in salad form - good stuff. 

I'll update this picture eventually. The lighting in my kitchen is really bad late at night when I typically make this. Go figure. 

I always have eggs, so unless requested, this is the back-up to the back-up of the 'what the heck are we eating for lunch tomorrow' question. 

The recipe serves 4, with a decent portion size for a sandwich. Don't want to add on bread calories? Celery is an awesome scooping vessel for this. I actually prefer it. 

Anyways, I introduce to you, Egg Salad...

But first things first though. Let's boil some eggs.

Hard Boiled Eggs:

Eggs

Water

Salt

Ice

Place desired amount of eggs in a single layer, in a stock pot. Fill with cold water, covering by one inch. Pour in a bunch of salt (I do a two second pour from a container - no clue what that equals, but one heaping Tbsp sounds about right).

Heat on stove top over high heat until water reaches a slight boil.

Remove from heat and cover. Allow to sit for 12 minutes.

Transfer cooked eggs to an ice bath, (big bowl of ice, filled with water) and allow to cool completely.

When ready to peel, give one good crack on the bottom and while making sure to break the thin membrane, remove the shell. Toss the egg back into the ice bath to insure any leftover flakes of shell get swept away. 

Egg Salad:

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup mayo

4 green onions, chopped

2 tsp plain Greek yogurt

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork, mashing egg slightly until combined. 

Pollo in Potacchio

This is a fantastic recipe from skinnytaste.com. It's great as written and can handle slight alternations like a champ.

Here's the link to the original. 

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/pollo-in-potacchio.html

Go for it. 

If by chance you drank all the white wine and have failed to grab dried marjoram at the store for two months and counting, don't sweat it. Red wine and oregano work just fine. 

I serve this up with sautéed spinach and broiled polenta cakes. Yes, there is a chicken thigh under that pile of sauce. The sauce is so good!

Good Morning Blueberry Dutch Baby

Sunday morning breakfast is a thing in our home. I make something a little more extravagant than normal, and The Husband joins in on the fun. He typically does a separate meal, due to timing and exercise the rest of the week.

Anyways, this past event was a fun one and I'm happy with the results. The kiddos and I had ours with the pictured dusting of powdered sugar and a bit of maple syrup. The Husband got fancy. His slice was topped with a sausage patty, fried egg, and melted cheddar. I was envious I didn't think of the combo myself.

The baby serves 8 people and totals in at just under 180 calories per person. Not too shabby for an indulgence meal. I plated my slice with a sausage patty and my standard egg white and spinach scramble (which I'll elaborate on soon). It was a pretty substantial meal for under 450 calories in all. 

GMBDB:

1/3 cup unsalted butter

4 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup fat free milk

pinch of salt

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with rack positioned at bottom level.

Beat eggs in a medium sized bowl.

Combine flours in a separate bowl and set aside.

Combine remaining ingredients, excluding blueberries, in yet another bowl. Set aside.

In a medium cast iron skillet, melt butter in preheated oven. Watch closely, so butter does not burn. Remove from oven.

Mix the liquid ingredients into the eggs, and then slowly incorporate the flour mixture. Pour into heated skillet with melted butter. DO NOT mix. Top with blueberries and return to oven.

Cook for 20-25 minutes, until browned and puffed.

Lightly dust finished baby with a teaspoon or two of powdered sugar. The dish will deflate, but man does it look impressive upon 'birth'. 

  

Leftover Broiled Quesadillas

The easiest thing out there. It's pretty hard to mess up, and contains cheese. Eveyone likes cheese.

We normally have some leftover food from the previous dinner (excluding items for The Husband's lunch). It can be meat, or veggie, or both. The beauty of a quesadilla, is that it can contain anything. It's like a pizza. Endless possibilities.

Typically, I chop everything to a fine dice and then add in extra vegetables. I prefer the 6 inch corn tortillas, for bite sized portions.

This is an example, using leftover BBQ ribs and a side of sauteed spinach with garlic. I had about a cup of leftover filling with this appilication.

Leftover Quesadillas Example:
4 leftover baby back ribs, bone removed and diced fine
1/2 cup leftover sautéed spinach
2 green onions, minced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 Tbsp BBQ sauce
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
8 - 6 inch corn tortillas*

Combine first 5 ingredients, mixing to incorporate filling.

Place 1/2 of cheese on one half of each tortilla. Top each tortilla evenly with filling, and finish with remaining cheese. Fold tortilla over to create one 'half moon'.

On a baking sheet, lined with foil and with the addition of a wire rack, arrange quesadillas. Coat with cooking spray.

Set oven to broil, and using a middle rack position, cook quesadillas until browned bubbles appear. Remove from oven. Flip, coating new side with cooking spray and continue to broil until browned again.

Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.

*Watch for stubborn tortillas. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds to allow flexiblity.

Sesame Soy Meatballs

I love this recipe, and have been making it for years - long before the little people. Meatballs are great for introducing new flavors and sneaking in a few things that might otherwise be thrown across the room.  

The latest adaptation included a whole carrot (peeled and grated), and 1/2 a cup of kale (after having stems removed and finely diced). I could not tell a difference in the flavor profile compared to the original.

Here's the link...   

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sesame-soy-meatballs

I served this one up with quinoa and green beans.

Purple Drink (Smoothie)

This is what I round out a known 'no-go' meal with, a couple times a week. Purple drink is a spinach/greens smoothie with blueberries and banana.

Shhh, don't talk about the spinach. They'll hear you. 

I don't have a fancy Vitamix (though I think I deserve one). I rock an immersion blender in a large cup. It works fine for two toddler servings. The little people think it's awesome.

Technically. It's a small meal in itself. I get about an 8+ ounce serving per kid with this. 

I've found that when I do half kale/half spinach, a honey addition is needed. It's easiest just to use spinach.

The Basic Purple Drink:

3/4 cup Greek yogurt (any flavor)

1/2 a banana, broken into pieces

1 large handful of fresh spinach

2 tsp (heaping) whey protein powder

1 cup frozen blueberries

Milk to cover (sorry, I don't have an exact measurement)

Combine all ingredients, and blend until smooth. Add milk if needed.  

Silly Sloppy Sliders

Now, I know that quick sloppy joes aren't the healthiest meal out there (I'm looking at you, absurd amount of ketchup and sugar), but they're good. They're also easy, so let's just add a bunch of vegetables and call it a day.

I goofed on my grocery trip and didn't have a critical ingredient for the planned meal. I was not hauling two under napped kids to the store and then frantically speed cooking. I needed an alternative and the pound of ground beef was looking like a contender. I had rolls, so sloppy joes made sense. I did some googling and found a recipe labeled "healthy". It had two measly carrots in addition to the traditional ingredients. Ha! I'll see you those two carrots and empty my fridge of plant life.

H can be wary of any sandwich without peanut butter, so I talked these guys up as 'silly' because they could get messy. It worked I guess, or the sugar content did. Either way, kids ate them and the included vegetables up. I'm calling it a win.

I tallied the nutritional content on the final result, and it's not horrible - except the sugar. Under 400 calories for 2 sliders. Also, I literally just grabbed random vegetables from my fridge. Do the same if needed. You don't have to have the exact things as long as they make sense together.

Silly Sloppy Sliders:

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1-1/2 cups (ouch) ketchup

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp fish sauce (optional)*

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1/2 cup onion, diced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced small

1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced small

1 cup packed fresh spinach, diced fine

2 stalks celery, diced fine

4 crimini mushrooms, diced fine

1 pound lean ground beef

S&P to taste

Slider buns

Provolone cheese slices

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Set aside.

Brown beef in a large skillet, coated in cooking spray, over medium high heat. When just a bit of pink is left, add vegetables and cook until slightly softened. Stir in ketchup concoction and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. Season to taste.

Broil cut side up slider buns in oven until lightly toasted. Remove from oven. Add broken provolone cheese slices (half a slice per sandwich) to each exposed side and return to oven to melt.

Top one side of cheesed roll with beef mixture and create a sandwich with the other side.

Eat.

*Fish sauce is awesome and adds that umami taste you've heard about somewhere. It's good stuff. 

The 'Dip Dip' Sauce (Ranch)

Ranch dressing. Everyone loves it. Have you ever made it?

It's surprisingly easy, and uses ingredients you probably already have in your home.

I've been making all of our dressings for several years now. I have a few 'signature' varieties that we make regularly. They're quick, and even better - really tasty. I can normally give The Husband a few options while I prep dinner and whip one up then. It's that simple. M loves anything that accompanies a dip, so we 'dip dip' often (though within reason and correct portion sizes) to encourage attempting the dreaded vegetable.

This is our ranch. I like it tangy, so feel free to half the vinegar and give it a taste first. The yogurt is a player too, so again, maybe do all mayo. Make it your own.

Ranch:

3 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp (heaping) dried parsley

1/2 tsp (heaping) dried dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground back pepper

2 tsp distilled white vinegar 

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Honey Mustard Dressing

Another creamy dressing for your tasting pleasure.

This one is really just too easy. In case you haven't noticed, mason jars are great for this particular application.  Combine all ingredients and shake. Sometimes dressings need a bit of stirring (this one does to break up the honey), but that's not so horrible, is it?

Honey Mustard:

1/2 cup mayo

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Pizza Night

I can do pizza. I've played around with different recipes for a few years and I'm pretty pleased with the standard now. Warmer weather is knocking and due to our lack of A/C, the pizza days are coming to an end until the rain returns. I do have plans to experiment in grilling this particular crust, but until then...

Our final farewell to the weekly pizza night.

The dough and sauce yield enough for 3 18" pizzas. Throw on 8 ounces of mozzarella per pie, and a single serving is under 360 calories. You get to eat a fourth of a pizza for that calorie count. Add on toppings to your liking.

My kids gobble up pizza. It's really easy to toss veggies underneath the cheese, and it's a lot harder to pick things out when it's not so obvious on the toddler radar. Even our simplest pizza gets spinach layered in there.

The dough freezes well, just make sure it comes back to room temperature before trying to stretch it out.

The Dough:
1 envelope (or 2-1/4 tsp) instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups warm water

Combine all ingredients except water in the bowl of a mixer, fitted with a dough hook. On low, mix ingredients and begin to add water. As dough combines, increase speed to high. Let dough mix until smooth and easily stretched without tearing, about 7 minutes. Add more flour or water as needed. The dough should fully pull away from the bowl and not leave dry crumbs.

Remove dough and form into a ball. Spray mixing bowl with cooking spray and return dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch dough down to release any trapped air, and divide into 3 equal portions - about 11 ounces each. Form each third into a ball and cover with a clean towel to rest for 20 minutes.

Congratulations, you have pizza dough!

The Sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup onion, small diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained.
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat sauce pan over medium heat. Add oil and turn to coat. Sauté onion and garlic until softened, but not browned. Add tomato paste and stir constantly until becoming fragrant and slightly rusty in color. Pour in diced tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and blend until smooth, or to desired consistency with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The Classic Cheese;
1/3 of dough recipe
1/3 of sauce recipe
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled

Position a pizza stone on the bottom rack of oven, and preheat to 500 degrees.*

Using two sheets of tinfoil, create one large square by slightly overlapping in the middle and folding edges over to keep them connected. Coat tinfoil tray with cooking spray.

Roll out dough to form an 8 inch circle and transfer to tinfoil tray. Using your hands, gently push dough into a larger circle until you reach 18 inches. Prick dough all over with a fork and coat with cooking spray. Bake on pizza stone (on tinfoil tray) for 4 minutes, or until bubbles appear and the underside develops light brown spots. Remove the dough, and flip over.

Rub the garlic clove over exposed crust. Spread sauce on pizza and top with cheese. Return to oven, baking on the pizza stone (again, still on tinfoil tray), until cheese is melted and begins to brown.

Remove pizza and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack, without tinfoil tray.

Slice and enjoy.

*I like to let my oven sit at 500 degrees for at least 20 minutes before cooking.

*If you don't have a pizza stone, create a more substantial tinfoil tray (extra layers), and place directly on the bottom rack. While I have not tired this method, it stands to reason that it will work just fine.