What (Was) For Dinner: Coconut Noodles and Spicy Shrimp

So, after searching high and low on Martha’s site and coming up with naught, I finally just broke down and scanned the recipe cards I used for her Coconut Noodles and Spicy Shrimp recipes…and they are inexplicably tiny.  No matter - comment if squinting at the screen leaves you with questions.

I had been wanting to try shirataki-style noodles for ages, and this recipe seemed like a good test run, as some criticisms I had heard of the noodles were that they were rather bland, etc.  I managed to find the Wildwood Pasta Slim brand at the Haight Ashbury Market, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say THESE NOODLES ARE GOING TO CHANGE MY LIFE.  The thing is, I love pasta and noodles, but low carb brands either a) taste like dookie, b) aren’t all that low carb, or c) some combination of the both. 

Not only did the Pasta Slim noodles work fabulously for this recipe, but I’ve since used the thin angel hair variety (really the best kind, the thicker noodles draw more attention to the fact that, you know, they’re tofu and good for you) just straight up with olive oil and pecorino romano, and was happy as a clam.  Since these noodles are pre-cooked, you are just instructed to heat them in hot water to warm them up, but here’s what I do: drain them of the water they were packaged in, let them sit in a hot water bath, and then drain and cook them with whatever sauce you’re putting them in.  Cooking them a little in the pan with whatever sauce or accoutrement you’re using goes a long way.

In terms of other substitutions for this recipe, I of course took out the sugar,  but that’s pretty much it.  It ended up being quite tasty, although I think the recipe could be further tweaked (say, a little more coconut milk, less cilantro, etc), and the coconut milk concoction can only taste better the longer it is slowly cooked and allowed to absorb all the flavors.  I will definitely update once I figure out the tastiest combination of things.  The shrimp is also a good quick and dirty way to have some delicious, spicy shrimp…ordinarily I would advocate making your own sauce, but realistically, sometimes you just don’t have the time or the energy for that shit.  I used the Lee Kum Lee brand of Chili Garlic Sauce, which was quite tasty (although unfortunately does contain a little sugar).

Veganize it!  This recipe is actually ideal to veganize, especially with the coconut milk broth and substituting shirataki noodles.  Simply sub out the chicken broth with vegetable broth (which frankly, I think may taste better in general for the recipe), and omit the fish sauce.  The fish sauce adds that little bit of funk that tends to make certain dishes really tasty; I think a dab of tamarind paste might be a nice vegan substitution.  The shrimp is easily subbed out with some tofu, which I would recommend even though the coconut noodles stand on their own…it’s kind of nice to bring the spice to accompany it.

- Posted by Tanya 

Feeling less than hawt.

I’ve been a bad hawt blogger lately, largely because I have pretty much been spending the last few days working against any sort of increased hawtness.  Beyond just being busy and having random shit to do, I have just been extremely unmotivated for a number of reasons.  

So I’ve just been eating massive amounts of shit, and as I was out of town this weekend, have not really done any real form of exercise since Thursday (with the exception of some Pilates on Monday).  Some of this can be contributed to hormones, and some of it can be attributed to my feeling uninspired and vaguely depressed.   Unfortunately, being a human garbage disposal over the last few days has only led me to feel like further poop.  The fact that everybody and their frickin divorcee grandmother is engaged and waving their shit in front of my face is also not helping.  And to add insult to injury, I have what seems to be a veritable volcano of a zit coming to fruition on my chin.

Yes, there are no great tragedies contained herein, but I would feel hypocritical posting modified recipes considering I’ve been on a straight nacho, taco, and pizza (it was allegedly “low carb” thin crust, but the massive amounts of sodium were enough to make me feel like I had a hangover all day) diet for the last few days.  Rest assured I will be back to forcing myself to eat vegetables tomorrow.

- Posted by Tanya 

Today for dinner: French Onion Soup

Let me set the record straight: I may hate on Progresso’s stupid “soup diet” ads, but I love me some good soup. The nice thing about making a big pot of homemade soup on a Sunday night is that it can last you all week, doesn’t have the bad fillers and heart-attacking amount of sodium like canned soup, and only gets better after a couple of days in the fridge.

French Onion soup is a particular favorite of mine, and I used this Martha Stewart recipe (although there generally aren’t huge variations in recipes for French Onion, but LOVE her rustic presentation in the photo):

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 pounds yellow onions, sliced 1/4-inch into half circles
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 3 cups Homemade Beef Stock
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small French baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3 cups)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot on medium-low heat. Add onions. Spread them out in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with sugar, and cook, stirring just as needed to keep onions from sticking, until they are melting and soft, golden brown, and beginning to caramelize, about 1 hour.
2. Sprinkle flour over onions, and stir to coat. Add sherry, stock, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Meanwhile, lightly toast bread under a broiler; set aside. Ladle hot soup into six ovenproof bowls. Arrange the bowls on a baking pan. Place 1 or 2 slices of toasted bread over each bowl of soup. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated cheese over bread in each bowl, and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and crusty brown around the edges. Watch carefully that bread doesn’t burn. Serve immediately.

One hour may seem excessive for cooking the onions, but the longer and slower you cook the onions, the more delicious they will become (caramelized onions are one of those recipe components, like scraped vanilla bean, that cannot help but add some serious deliciousness). Plus, you can do what I did and watch a movie while they cook, just getting up to stir occasionally. I did not use the sugar or flour (neither are needed, frankly), but per one of the commenters, did add some balsamic vinegar into the onions closer to the end of their cooking, which adds a nice sweet-ish flavor as well as some depth. This recipe uses sherry, which makes many soups QUITE tasty (lobster bisque, holla), although I have also made some good French Onion soup using red wine instead.

I also did not make my beef stock from scratch - it’s a lovely idea, but I can only spend so many hours in the kitchen. TJ’s has a great liquid stock that I warmed up and added the thyme to before putting it all with the onions. I of course used Ezekiel bread in lieu of the French bread, although if you want to skip bread altogether, you can easily just pile a bunch of grated cheese on top of the soup before throwing it in the broiler (as I did for my seconds).

Oh, and one more thing I always do with soup, although it’s not mentioned in the recipe…once all main ingredients are in (save, perhaps, the last little bits of salt and pepper to tinker and perfect the flavor), I bring the soup to a complete boil before letting it simmer for a good 20+ minutes. It may be my imagination, but I think it brings the flavor out as well as thoroughly combines the components.

Veganize it! Obviously this is a very easy recipe to convert for vegetarians and vegans. Simply use vegetable stock instead of beef (if you’re feeling ambitious, Martha has this one for homemade veggie stock, just use extra oil instead of butter), and cook the onions in Earth Balance (you could use oil as well, I just think Earth Balance would just give it more of that nice buttery caramelized quality). I am definitely not an expert on soy cheeses, but you would be looking for a Swiss cheese-ish substitute, although the soup stands well on its own as well.

- Posted by Tanya

Now THIS is a meal plan I can get behind…

It’s so funny that I found this article tonight, because I was just thinking this afternoon about the bitter fact that alcohol impedes weight loss as, among other things, it’s the first thing your body burns (i.e. before fat).  Granted, this new study is probably total bunk, but I’m willing to believe!  From Time.com:  

“If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’re probably trying to eat right, exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Good steps. Now how about adding a little alcohol to your regimen?

That’s right. It is well documented that tossing a few drinks back in a week (and that means a few: up to one a day for women, up to two for men) has potential heart benefits. But researchers in Denmark decided to look further. Could drinking alcohol have a benefit similar to that of exercise?

“If you don’t want to exercise too much,” asks Dr. Morten Gronbaek, epidemiologist with Denmark’s National Institute of Public Health, “can you trade it for one to two drinks per day and be fine?” A study Gronbaek and colleagues just published in the European Heart Journal suggests the answer just may be yes. That finding, not surprisingly, has proved to be a crowd-pleaser.

There are a number of reasons a drink can be such a tonic. First, alcohol and exercise affect your heart health in similar ways. “They help increase good cholesterol, or HDL [high-density lipoproteins], and clean the circulatory system’s pipes,” says Dr. Arthur Klatsky, a cardiologist and researcher at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “HDL helps remove fatty deposits, created by bad cholesterol, or LDL [low-density lipoproteins], from blood-vessel walls. The higher the HDL, the less likely vascular disease becomes. The lower the HDL, the more likely.”

Gronbaek and his team surveyed 12,000 people over a 20-year period. They found that exercise and drinking alcohol each had an independent beneficial effect on the heart and a compounded effect when practiced together. The investigators got even greater insight when they separated the study participants into four categories.

People who don’t drink at all and don’t exercise had the highest risk of heart disease. People who drink moderately and exercise had a 50% lower risk. Teetotaling exercisers had a 30% decreased risk, as did moderately drinking couch potatoes. “There’s an additional protective effect to doing both,” says Gronbaek. “That’s the new finding.”

This study is part of a growing body of work that makes a medical virtue out of what was once seen as a vice. There is evidence that alcohol in combination with caffeine can limit the damage to your brain after a stroke, even though it may not lower your risk of having a stroke in the first place. Other possible benefits include lowering your risk of diabetes, improving insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women and decreasing dementia rates in older adults who had been consuming one to six drinks per week.

Before you rush off to hit the bar after your workout, keep in mind that your age matters. Alcohol may do you no coronary good until you reach the age at which heart disease becomes an appreciable risk. “You wouldn’t advise everyone to drink,” says Gronbaek. “You shouldn’t even think about doing it until age 45 or 50. There’s absolutely no proof of a preventative and protective effect before age 45.” Also, younger women who have a higher risk of breast cancer and anyone who has a family history of alcoholism should pass on the pint and order a soda.

And remember, moderation is everything. Gronbaek’s study, like most, stuck to the one-drink-a-day standard for women and up to two a day for men. It did not distinguish between type (wine vs. beer) or size (pint vs. shot). But here common sense must rule. A 10-oz. martini is a lot more than a 6-oz. serving of wine, even if they each fit in one glass. And it goes without saying that you should never drink your weekly allotment all at once.”

Source

- Posted by Tanya 

It’s terrible, but…

…one way to get my ass on the Precor and to keep it there is having some decent (and by decent, I mean deliciously trashy) on TV.  Our gym has little individual TVs on most of the cardio machines, so I can watch Bravo instead of golf that some meathead set the general channel to.

Seeing that the Real Housewives finale that I missed would be on at 2:30, and being hopped up on what seems to be disproportionately caffeinated loose leaf black tea, I was totally motivated to go to the gym today.  And the new NY Housewives show was on afterwards, double bonus!

The downside is that during the week there is NOTHING decent on at 6:30 AM-ish (except, well, you know, the news, and I’m already too into election minutiae as it is).  Infomercials run rampant on the cable channels, including my beloved Bravo.  The gravest insult is that Law and Order used to be playing at that time on USA (I think), but now it is nonstop JAG.  Which, if you’re going to play JAG, I guess you’re not going to put it in a primetime slot, but I sure wish they would bring the L&O back.  Any Law & Order, I’m not picky.

- Posted by Tanya 

Today for breakfast: “Perfect” French Toast

This recipe, of course, came via Martha Stewart, which…perfect is really unnecessary, Martha.  I’m just shooting for very good. 

Perfect French Toast 

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• Juice of 1 medium orange, (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cognac, (optional)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon, (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 6 slices bread, such as brioche, sliced 1-inch thick, preferably day-old
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Pure maple syrup, (optional)

1. Whisk together eggs, milk, juice, vanilla, cognac, sugar, zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
2. Place bread in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold bread slices in a single layer. Pour egg mixture over bread; soak 10 minutes. Turn slices over; soak 10 minutes more or until soaked through.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet, and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry half the bread slices until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to wire rack; place in oven while cooking remaining bread. Wipe skillet, and repeat with remaining butter, oil, and bread. Keep in oven until ready to serve. Serve warm with maple syrup, if desired.

 I of course modified as usual.  I didn’t have the cognac, so I used bourbon and triple sec, used Ezekiel bread, subbed out Splenda for sugar and half-and-half for milk because that’s how I do, left out the orange juice and vegetable oil, and used TJ’s pumpkin pie blend spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, etc).  I have yet to see any kind of diet - low carb, low fat, whatever - that thinks Ezekiel bread is bad for you.  Apparently there are some people who take issue with the fact that it’s called Ezekiel bread (like this doofus who tries to riff on the whole Biblical thing and fails miserably), but seriously…I’m an atheist and nobody has yet proved any religious ties to the organization that produces Ezekiel bread.  Clearly they need some sort of hook to sell their bread, so Ezekiel it is (it’s made from sprouted whole grains, is kosher, and sans flour).  Frankly, they’re probably a bunch of friendly hippies.

Anyhow, D stated that he would suffer with me, but clearly wanted some nice high carb bread, so I made his with a crunchy rustic bread with pecans, raisins, and dried cranberries.  Unfortunately at some point I forgot to keep modifying quantities for two people and the batter turned out a little boozy, but it still was quite tasty.  If you are not using day old or super rustic bread, don’t soak for 10 minutes on each side as it will become too soggy (I probably did about 3 minutes on each side with the Ezekiel bread).

To veganize it, just use the vegetable oil to cook the bread in and a combination of soy/coconut milk for the batter.  Subbing out eggs is always an interesting proposition when converting recipes to vegan…this vegan French Toast recipe blends bananas with the soy milk to form the batter (which I bet would be pretty darn tasty also using the coconut milk, and perhaps adding some ground macadamias on top, but I am a sucker for anything tropical).  I think if you incorporated that and kept the booze, spices, vanilla, etc, you would have a very delicious vegan French Toast.  Top with Smart Balance and maple syrup and you’re good to go!

- Posted by Tanya