Fit Fare

Pantry Staples: Rice Salad on a Budget

Patti Villers — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:00:50 +0000

By Ralph and Patti Villers. We have been on a kick making salads lately. Not your typical leafy green salad, but one made from ordinary and prosaic items, such as grains that we often keep in the pantry. Given the current (high) price of gasoline recently, we employed a ‘raid the pantry only’ strategy. Happily, this strategy works well in this inflationary era. However, does scrimping affect taste? Is there a dichotomy between taste and cost that are … unpalatable? Not this time, and by keeping the pantry filled with the right items, probably never.

Since we made a barley salad recently, a rice salad was our choice. As the weather warms, we are going to try more salads of this type made from other grains, such as barley.

This particular recipe was adapted from the website http://www.chefs.com. We changed from the recommended vinegar to rice from red wine. We chose the milder rice as the soy sauce and raw onion added the requisite sharpness to our favored rice vinegar. Likewise, I omitted the cranberry raisins and sunflower seeds as our cupboard was empty of these items, although the addition of these two will further enhance this salad.

Because we made this salad with ingredients and condiments on hand, the choice of the Texas grown Jasmati rice was an easy – that is what we had in our pantry. Brown rice can be substituted, and might be preferred due to its having more fiber, and we will try this the next time.

Pantry Rice Salad

Serves 5

6 oz. cooked Jasmati rice
6 scallions, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper-raw, cored, seeded and diced
1 carrot, large, diced
3 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
2 oz. dark raisins
2 oz. dry roasted peanuts, lightly salted

For the dressing:

1/2 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

Instructions

Cook and place the cooked rice in a bowl
Place oil, honey, soy sauce and vinegar in a bowl and whisk well
Pour dressing over warm rice and toss with remaining ingredients
Chill before serving

An individual serving has about 390 calories from a total of 1950

Warmth on a Cold Winter Day: Carrot Soup

Patti Villers — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:00:10 +0000

As it is winter, we enjoy a warm soup. What better on a cold night than a carrot soup? It’s new to us, and we always have plenty of carrots on hand. Besides the sweet taste and fiber load, there are many other health benefits of carrots. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds and a rich source of the vitamin A carotenes. Beta-carotene helps to protect vision, especially night vision, and these can help provide protection against macular degeneration.Intake of foods such as carrots, that are rich in carotenoids, may be beneficial to blood sugar regulation. Research has suggested that physiological levels, as well as dietary intake of carotenoids, may be inversely associated with insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels.

Carrots also contain the nutrient falcarinol that may be responsible for the recognized epidemiological association between frequently eating carrots and a reduced risk of cancers.

So with this mind, this soup is easy to prepare and has a sweet aftertaste. We used an immersion blender to make this soup a smooth consistency. We made this recipe based on the ease of preparation, not a particular recipe. I considered using sour cream or half-and-half for the smoothness, but by blending the mixture, we avoided the extra fat. To thicken the soup, we used a potato instead of flour to achieve the desired consistency.

The sweetness due to the carrots was expected, but we were surprised at how filling this soup was, without additional calories. We enjoyed this with a warm baguette.

Potato and Leek Soup

2 cups carrots, chopped
1 Russet potato, medium, cubed
1 Onion, medium, chopped fine
1 Celery stalk, medium
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 Tsp. dried oregano
1 Tsp. Paprika
3 cans chicken broth, 14.5 fl. oz., fat free reduced sodium
Salt and Pepper

Melt olive oil in stock pot

Add onion and celery to pot, sauté briefly

Add carrots and potato

Add Tabasco, paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper

After sautéing vegetables for a few minutes, add the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer

Simmer until all vegetables are soft

Blend the mixture just before serving

Serves four
Calories per serving: about 125

Barley and Bean Salad

Patti Villers — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:41:56 +0000

By Ralph Villers
With help from Patti Villers

We tolerated a Nor’easter last week, so we are thinking about a summer salad. Further, we have been looking for another use for barley. Of course, just about everybody has probably had barley in a soup, as did we last week. However, we are intrigued about other uses of this grain.

There are nutritional benefits found in barley. Barley contains high levels of dietary fiber and selenium (a type of antioxidants). Recent studies showed that a diet high in beta-glucan from barley helps lower blood LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol. Barley may also help stabilize blood glucose levels. High beta-glucan levels in the may be one of the reasons for the improved blood glucose and lipid levels among diabetics in clinical trial at the University of Alberta.

This recipe was adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Barley and Bean Salad
Serves 4 as an entrée, or 6 as a side dish

For the salad:

1-1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup quick cooking barley
1/2 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
2/3 cup vinaigrette (recipe below)

In saucepan, add barley and chicken broth, bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 10-12 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

In a bowl, combine barley and all other ingredients with the vinaigrette.

Chill for at least four hours before serving

For the vinaigrette:

1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tbsp. paprika
1/4 tbsp. dried mustard
1/4 tbsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk together.

(Patti here: In addition to shopping for the ingredients and taking the photo, my only other contribution was taste- testing this recipe at dinner. It passed! It’s cruncherific.)

Potato and Leek Soup

Patti Villers — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 06:00:33 +0000

By Ralph and Patti Villers

We enjoy homemade soups when the weather starts to begin its autumnal cool down. It has been several years since we made a leek soup, but have always enjoyed the results.

To keep the calories down, we worked with lower fat items, such as canned chicken broth with reduced fat and sodium, 2% milk, and turkey bacon.

The turkey bacon was chosen to add another element of flavor without adding the fat of pork bacon. Because the bacon was sautéed with the vegetables, it was not crispy, but had a chewy texture not unlike shredded ham.

The vegetables and bacon were sautéed in the olive oil and unsalted butter to add the rich flavor of fat. We often sauté many items in this oil and butter mixture as well for the additional flavor.

In the past, we’ve used an immersion blender to make soup with a smooth consistency, however since we misplaced the device, we used a potato masher to reduce the size of the potatoes. The result was a delightfully rustic soup, not too lumpy nor too smooth.

We served the soup with a chunk of ciabatta bread, but this can be omitted. This recipe produced six servings. Using a variety of online calorie charts and manufacturer’s data, the calories for each serving total about 255. If the bread (about 230 calories) is added, the total meal would be 485 calories, and this is reasonable in a lower calorie way for the main meal of the day.

Potato and Leek Soup

2 cups leeks, chopped
3 Russet potatoes, medium, cubed
1 Onion, medium, chopped fine
1 Celery stalk, medium
6 Slices, turkey bacon, chopped
3 Cans chicken broth, low fat and sodium
2 Cups 2% milk
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1 Tsp. Paprika
Salt and Pepper

Melt butter and olive oil in stock pot
Add leeks, onion and celery to pot
Add bacon to mixture
Add potatoes
Add basil, paprika, salt, and pepper.
After sautéing vegetables for a few minutes, add the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer.
When the mixture cools down sufficiently, prior to serving, add the milk
Heat the milk prior to serving

Serves six.

This soup is almost like comfort food, perfect to ward off winter’s chill. It’s easy to make yet tastes rather “gourmet.”

Enjoy!

Making Acorn Squash Rings

Patti Villers — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:55:13 +0000

Truth be told, I am not the cook in this family. I write for a living and write for fun on my personal blog when I’m not at work. I’m a wife and mother of two, and have been for many years. But I’m still rather uncomfortable in the kitchen.My dear husband, Ralph, who uses a wheelchair, is the chef around here. Together we can put together a meal for the family, and often have fun in the process. I think of myself as his assistant. That way, if it doesn’t come out right, well…I am not the responsible party.

However, since I selected this recipe for acorn squash rings to prepare for this month’s entry for Fit Fare, I guess I’m up.

I’ve never made acorn squash before. I‘ve cooked summer squash and baked zucchini bread, but that is about all the experience I’ve had with the squash family.

I just finished slicing the rings – not an easy task but I refrained from asking my teen-aged son, who is much stronger than I, to help. Score one for the cook.

I came across this recipe on www.About.com and it sounded interesting. And the acorn squash is in season! A perfect harvest-time dish. Low-fat too!

Here’s the recipe I am using from www.About.com.

Acorn Squash Rings
serves 4

2 acorn squash
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup orange marmalade (I used Smucker’s All Fruit – yum!)
1 tsp ground ginger

Slice top and bottom from each squash and discard ends. Carefully slice each acorn squash into four rings, making eight rings in all.

Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Lay rings on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Combine maple syrup, marmalade and ginger in a small bowl.

Remove squash rings from oven and brush with maple syrup mixture. Return to oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with glaze once again. Bake for 10 minutes, or until tender.

Per Serving: Calories 211, Calories from Fat 2, Total Fat 0.2g (sat 0g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 20mg, Carbohydrate 50.4g, Fiber 3.5g, Protein 1.9g

Ralph and I taste-tested these rings and they are delicious. The recipe would make a perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving dinner, or as an accompaniment to your leftover meals after the holidays.

Frittata Firsts

Patti Villers — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:07:12 +0000

This is a story about our first foray into frittatas. Ralph has made many omelets but, because he uses a wheelchair and is cooking from a different perspective from those who are able to stand, he has found flipping the egg mixture in one piece to be difficult.

Egg scrambles were easier, but we wanted to prepare our eggs differently, so we tried the frittata.

The consistency after cooking it covered was a fluffier texture that we both liked. This recipe was adapted from recipes we saw on BellaOnline (www.bellaonline.com).

My First Potato Frittata
serves 2

1 tbsp butter
1 baked potato, skin removed and diced (about one cup)
1 cup cheddar cheese, diced
1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

In an 8” oven-ready non-stick skillet, heat butter over medium heat.

Add the potatoes and mushrooms; cook 5 minutes or until potatoes are browned, stirring occasionally.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, cheese, basil, and salt with whisk.

Pour the eggs over potato mixture and cover.

Reduce the heat to medium-low (3-4 setting) and cook for 12 minutes.

Let stand 5 minutes. Cut in half and serve.

——————————————–

Given the versatility of this dish, we will try any or all of the following changes in the future. We can’t yet attest to how they work, since we haven’t tried them yet though.

Baked in the oven at 350° F for 15 minutes
Adding defrosted and drained chopped spinach
Using parmesan, Swiss or gruyere cheese
Using chunks of fresh tomatoes in the egg mixture.

The possibilities are endless!

We didn’t leave the skin on the potatoes, because we prepared it as if our daughter were eating with us. She loves egg dishes, but will have nothing to do with potato skin. Next time, if it’s just for the two of us again, we’ll remember to keep the skins on, for added nutritional value.

As a woman concerned about bone health I particularly like getting more calcium into my diet, and the cheese and milk provide that.

Unfortunately no matter what we do our 16-year old son refuses to eat eggs. This dish was easy and delicious and we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will outgrow this aversion and enjoy it with us sometime soon.

The calorie count is 550 total, or 275 calories per serving.

Enchilada Lasagna

Patti Villers — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:00:29 +0000

We enjoy Tex-Mex style of cooking in our home, and this easy to prepare dinner worked well with he four of us. This recipe reminds Ralph of a dish he had at a Mexican restaurant in Denver that was referred to as an Enchilada Tort. The term lasagna is used as it was built in layers like the pasta dish using tortillas instead of noodles.

Ralph can assemble this dish easily at the wheelchair accessible workspace in the kitchen, he only needs someone to place the casserole dish into the oven - thats my job.

Enchilada Lasagna
serves 6

canola oil cooking spray
3 cups cooked chicken
12 6-inch corn tortillas
1 15 oz. can hot enchilada sauce
1 15 oz. can mild enchilada sauce
2 chopped fresh jalapeño peppers
1 8 oz. package Monterey jack cheese

Spray cooking oil in a 10-inch skillet. Briefly sauté tortillas in skillet

Layer four tortillas of bottom of a shallow fifteen-inch rectangular baking dish

Add 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the cheese, 1/2 of the jalapeno peppers, and 1/2 can of the hot enchilada sauce.

Layer four more tortillas, chicken, jalapeno peppers and the rest of the hot enchilada sauce.

Cover with the remaining four tortillas. Pour the mild enchilada sauce over and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

Pasta Salad

Patti Villers — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:31:16 +0000

By Ralph Villers

This is an appropriate dish for hot weather days. The obvious beauty, of course, is that is something served chilled. In addition, even better, it is simple to prepare and can be made many ways.

Today our choice is a pasta salad. This salad was prepared and served in short order. The ease of preparation was nice, but the style of dressing led to slightly longer periods of debate. The choices for any of the salads are a mayonnaise based dressing versus an oil based one. I had opted for the latter, but discussed it with our daughter. Her opinion, as she does not like mayonnaise, was for the oil based dressing, I acceded to her idea, and the recipe was prepared in only 20 minutes, including the pasta. Note that we used only food on hand in the pantry or freezer; we did not purchase any food especially for this.

To serve with this dish, we chose a Vihno Verde Branco from Portugal. This is a white wine, light in alcohol (9%), with a slight effervescence. This is a perfect hot weather wine. This wine would pair well with seafood dishes.

Pasta Salad
serves 8
1 lb rotini
2 tbsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 stems fresh oregano, chopped
2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1 cup frozen yellow corn, defrosted
1 cup carrots, diced
1 jar roasted pepper, diced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cook the rotini according to package directions. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water.

For the dressing, mix mustard, vinegar, oil, basil, oregano, garlic powder in large mixing bowl.

Add pasta to the dressing and mix thoroughly.

Add the vegetables to the bowl.

Add the grated cheese, and mix the salad thoroughly.

Chill the salad before serving.

Serve this salad with a Portuguese or any crusty bread. Since we used an entire box of pasta, this amount will serve eight.

A non-alcoholic warm weather drink

Patti Villers — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:28:02 +0000

By Patti Villers with Cameron Villers

For this month’s entry I thought we’d share an interesting non-alcoholic drink recipe that our son Cameron made for a project in his high school Spanish IV class. Cameron has just finished his junior year and Spanish is one of his best subjects. He said his classmates who sampled the drink liked it.

The recipe is for Pinolillo, a beverage that is indigenous to Nicaragua. According to Wikipedia, it’s so widespread in Nicaragua that it’s become one of their cultural symbols, with Nicaraguans referring to themselves as pinoleros.

The ingredients:

2 or 3 cobs of corn (enough to fill 2 cups with kernels)
½ c. of roasted cocoa beans (we used ½ c. cocoa powder)
½ tsp. cinnamon
dash of paprika
1 tsp. of chili powder

The cinnamon, paprika and chili powder are optional, but recommended .

Cook the ears of corn, either by boiling for 10 minutes or microwaving for half that time.

Cut the kernels lengthways off the cobs. Spread the kernels on a baking sheet and place in a 325-degree oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until the kernels appear lightly toasted. Make sure they don’t burn, or else the flavor will be ruined.

Put the corn and other ingredients in a blender and use blend setting for about a minute or until the corn kernels are pulverized.

Add the mixture to a glass of cold milk; sweeten with sugar to taste.

It also can be served over ice for a refreshing drink.

To me it tasted a lot like chocolate milk, with a slight edge to it. On a hot day it would be an interesting change from iced tea or lemonade.

“Yankee” Tropical Salad

Patti Villers — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:04:24 +0000

When I was thinking of what to make for this month’s entry, it was the first of May. And when I think May, I think of Mother’s Day and my mother, who used to do a lot of cooking.

She often made this tropical fruit salad for my late father, who I would consider a Connecticut Yankee. He liked particular things that his mother had made, and this quick and easy salad was just up his alley!

So my mother prepared it for him on a regular basis. But for some reason she would never eat it. Something about shredded coconut…

She still doesn’t eat coconut. But if you don’t use too much, the flavor doesn’t permeate the fresh fruit.

Yankee Tropical Salad

2 ripe bananas, sliced thin
2 navel oranges, cut in chunks
2 tbsp. shredded coconut
splash of orange juice, with pulp

Take a baking dish or casserole dish and layer bananas and orange chunks. Sprinkle with coconut, and add just a splash of OJ.

Let chill for at least an hour before serving.

It’s a refreshing and light ending to a meal. I enjoy it, now I will see if my spouse likes it too.