Brussels Sprouts two Ways

Until about a year or so ago, I didn't think I liked Brussels Sprouts. Which is strange, because I don't know that I'd ever eaten them before. Veggies growing up alternated between canned beans and frozen peas, with the occasional broccoli or cauliflower boiled and covered in cheese sauce. Though my Dad is a lover of veggies, he would sometimes make different options--but he was mostly the one who ate them.

But then, a revelation--my vegetarian older sister made some for a family dinner. I was transported--crispy, salty, and delicious! Ever since than I've made them frequently--alternating between these two methods, with different flavorings and toppings. This past year I've found a lot of foods that I thought I hated, but was really just not familiar with until I tried it again.

The original roasting method:

This is more a technique than specific recipe, and is pretty much based off of the America's Test Kitchen method--what I remember of it--so amounts vary. Pre-heat the oven to 350, and cover a cookie sheet with tin foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Rinse your sprouts off in the sink, than cut the ends off and slice them in half. Sometimes I'll put the sprouts in a zip lock bag to get the seasoning all over them, but when I'm lazy or in a hurry they go directly split side down on the pan.

If I put them on the pan, I spray them with cooking spray before adding seasonings. Whether in a bag or on a pan, the sprouts are seasoned with kosher salt and pepper, and whatever other flavors you want. This last time I made them, I put fresh thyme leaves, and lemon zest in addition.

Once the sprouts are seasoned and on the pan, I add a couple of tablespoons water--or last time I used lemon juice to go with the flavoring. The pan is covered tightly with tinfoil and goes into the oven for 10-12 minutes--then the foil is removed and the oven is turned up to 400-450 for about 10-12 minutes more. I watch the time less than I do the color on the sprouts--once they have a lovely brown color on the top and bottom they are ready. I finish them off with more large grain kosher salt, and sometimes more fresh herbs or even grated Parmesan.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts--the Second Method.

This is one of my all time favorite ways to eat Brussels Sprouts--it is good cold or hot, as a side dish or a main dish with some shredded chicken added. The one downside to this is that it is more time consuming to prepare--I need to get a food processor and this would be a snap.

I take about a 1 to 1.5 pounds of sprouts--rinsed and the ends cut off. After cutting the ends off and cutting them in half, I then cut the halves in slices. Really the goal is to shred them--so if you have a food processor, cut the ends off and run them through. To get the flavor on them I toss the slices in a plastic bag. I also chop one whole yellow onion in rough dice and toss that in the bag as well. I dress the shreds with some kind of marinade or salad dressing--acid, seasonings, and a little oil.

The last time I made this I seasoned it with lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped fresh rosemary, black pepper, salt, grated garlic, honey, and a little olive oil--the same things I used to marinade the turkey. Once all of the onions and sprouts have been coated, I spread them in an even layer on a cookie sheet covered with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Then they go in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then I toss them a bit in the pan, and cook them for another 15 minutes or so and check--if they have lots of brown crispy bits they are done! Sometimes I'll also cook chicken with it that is chopped fairly finely.

Breakfast Bowls

Since I changed my diet last year, I have tried to eat real breakfast foods in the morning. I know that nutritionally it doesn't matter what you eat when, and that cake in the morning is just as healthy as cake in the evening. But I think eating a proper meal in the morning gets things off on the right foot for the rest of the day. I rotate between cheerios and yogurt, cheerios and fruit and rice milk, and an egg mug of some sort with a multi grain thinwich.

During the summer, I ate a lot of fruit--strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries--in my cheerios, and I still get veggies in my egg bowls. Sometimes I use leftover veggies from the night before in my eggs in the morning, but lately it has been harder to get my fruit and veggies in my morning meal. I miss fresh berries, but I'm not willing to pay 6 dollars for a small thing of berries that will not last few mornings.

This morning I was out of bread and had nothing to eat my cheerios with, so I found another bowl meal and gave it a whirl. It is sort of a dish in between the eggs and cereal and should be easy to experiment with different variations. This recipe comes from the author of the Make Your Someday Today blog, though I couldn't find the recipe there--he posted it on the lose-it forum. So go read Trevor's blog, this isn't the first yummy thing I've made from him--his zucchini pancakes are a favorite of mine!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rolled oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 cup berries (any type, fresh or frozen0
1 tablespoon milk
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Cinnamon



Just like with an egg mug, you really need to start by spraying your soup bowl or mug with cooking spray. Otherwise it will stick and be hard to clean up later--unless you let your dog lick the bowl. Which never happens. Never. Like I let her do anything.

Mix together all the ingredients--you could also add peanut butter, or chocolate. I substitute honey for the brown sugar when my brown sugar was too hard.Once it is combined, it goes in the microwave for between 90 seconds to 2 minutes--or until it is set and not liquidy. I've found adding too many berries can make it more liquid, and if they break can give it a grey cast--but that is easily disguised with some whipped cream. You can eat it in the bowl, or turn it over on a plate and top it with goodies.

It comes out like a very soft pudding cake--less mushy than regular oatmeal, which I hate the texture off, and more like a proper breakfast. I think it would be good with some fresh fruit on the side as well!

The Verdict: A nice hearty breakfast that is lower in calorie, while still providing protein, whole grains, and some fruit as well. It really hits the spot--though I just calculated this as under 200 calories per serving, so I may increase the quantities so I'm fuller longer. This will be joining my other breakfast bowls in the morning rotation!

Butternut Squash Risotto--or Stiring my Arm off

When I uploaded my cooking pictures, this one came with, and I figured it added some nice variety. My adorable niece does look surprised to be here on this blog. Butternut Squash risotto is the dish I made to go with my pork roast for my sister's birthday. My other sister is a vegetarian so this works as a side or main dish, I did substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth. This is from the Everyday Food Light cookbook I got the pork roast recipe from as well. I will say this recipe does not give a good idea of how long it will take to cook. It says one hour, but I took over an hour, almost two hours just on cooking. My sister says that my problem was that the heat was too low, but I cooked it on two different stoves so it was hard to adjust.

Ingredients:

3 cans low sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup water (or more)

1 tbl unsalted butter

2 lbs butternut squash, 

coarse salt and pepper

1 1/2 c arborio rice

3/4 c white wine

grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tbs chopped fresh sage

Earlier in the day, well before the party was supposed to start, I got to work on the prep--I had two butternut squashes from my work--we'd used them as fall decorations and they'd just come down after Thanksgiving. I pealed and diced both, though only used one and a half for this recipe--the rest I used in my black bean and butternut squash toastadas. Since this was early in my day of cooking, I was taking a lot of pictures. When it got hectic I took fewer pictures--harder to take pictures and stir!

With all the prep done in advance, I was able to get right to work. In a small pan, I heated up the broth and water and set to simmer with the lid on--this is the liquid to add to the rice. I've never made risotto before, but I watch food TV so I understand the theory behind the dish. In a big pot I melted the putter and added the squash, stirring it until it had just started softening on the edges. I seasoned it with salt and pepper. Once that had started to cook, I stirred the rice in and cooked until it had taken off some of the white color and become a little translucent around the edges. I was supposed to add the wine at this point, but forgot and went straight to adding broth a half cup at a time. After each cup I added, I stirred until it absorbed most of the liquid and then repeated for a long time. I did eventually remember to add the wine, but not until later.

Midway in the cooking I moved the pans and spoon to my sisters house and continued stirring. I had to heat some water to keep adding, and the rice wasn't softening. My sister has a gas stove and I probably didn't have it high enough. Once I'd finally gotten it to a good place, my sisters helped me salt it--they added WAY more salt than I would have, but it did bring out the flavor. The grated parm was stirred in with the chopped sage, and topped with more fresh parm and sage. I didn't get a picture of the final product until after dinner--there were leftovers, but they were so good!

Verdict: A lot of stirring made me wonder if it was worth it--sure it was creamy, rich, and delicious, but I started at 4 and it wasn't ready until after 6. Most of that time was spent stirring. By the time the rice was done, the squash had really cooked down to a more broken down state than pictured in the book. I liked it, because it made it more creamy without adding more than the initial butter and the parm cheese. Maybe I'll try again on a higher heat and see if it takes less time. We did get my older niece to try some--she particularly liked saying the name--ri--so-T-oh.

My First Pork Roast

I do like pork loin, but still.

So I understand there is a rule that you aren't supposed to make something the first time for a party, but we've already established how bad I am at following directions. So for my sister's birthday dinner, I decided to make a pork roast. This was not just my first time making a roast of any kind, but one of my first times eating a pork roast. My mom doesn't love pork, so it rarely featured on our dinner table growing up.

This recipe was followed pretty closely from the Everyday Cooking Light cookbook. I've had good luck with the recipes in this book, and since I have never made something like this before I wanted to follow the directions to get it right.

Ingredients: 
2 tsp olive oil
3 lbs boneless pork loin tied at 1 inch intervals
1 tsp ground coriander 
salt and pepper
1 lbs small onions (cipollini, white onion, and a shallot is what I used)
2/3 cup white wine
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp fennel seeds
orange zest
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
1 tsp red wine vinegar

 Unfortunately, I was trying to get this ready on a tight schedule so it would be finished for the party, so I neglected to take as many pictures as I usually do. But it is a pretty simple recipe--not too many ingredients or steps!

The roast is seasoned with ground coriander, salt and pepper, and tied with string. Youtube helped me with the tying--the trick is to do one long string and loop and twist. The roast is browned on all sides in my dutch oven which was heated to medium high--I even propped it up to get the ends. The seared roast went onto a plate while I tossed the shallots, cipolini onion, and white onion in the pan cooked them until they were brown.

After the onions had taken on the lovely brown color, picking up the bits from the bottom of the pan, I added the roast back, and sprinkled the chopped apricots, fennel and orange zest around and poured on the broth and wine. The lid went on the roast and into the oven it went. I had borrowed a meat thermometer, but it didn't seem to want to go over 100 degrees. Fortunately the roast was not underdone--maybe a little over since I kept cooking it, but my brother in law said it was right.

Now I read the directions from the book--there is a last stage I missed--the vinegar needed to be added and the sauce thickened. It was pretty hectic getting this on the table--since I was cooking it at my house and serving it at my sister's next door.


The Verdict: I am really coming around to fruit in my meat dishes, the pork was sweet and tender, and the apricots were not overpowering at all. The onions were SO good--I used the leftovers in my eggs the next morning. I usually like more assertive flavors, so I might amp up some of the rub, or do a dry rub earlier in the day, or remembering to add the vinegar would help. The good news is I bought my own meat thermometer. I served this with a butternut squash risotto, and sauteed broccoli.

Experiments for 2014

"Goal" is a word that has limited usefulness in planning my year--to me it assumes that the things I want to do are things I can check off, like a to do list. I agree with Emerson that life is all about experiments--playing around with things that take you closer to your destination. So I have some things I want to play with, figure out, improve, conquer in 2014. Most of them are things that I've already been working on--but want to continue into the new year.

2014 marks my real start of the grand experiment that is maintaining a weight loss. Hundreds of thousands of books are published on how to drop pounds, but few tackle the real problem, which is keeping the weight off for the long term. So I'll keep weighing myself regularly, experimenting with what I eat and how much to maintain an equilibrium. I don't want to go under 130 or over 135, but weight fluctuates a lot all the time. My sister recommended a book called intuitive eating, that I think will help. The idea is there are no bad foods, no diets, just listening to your body and what it needs.

As part of the first experiment, I'll be cooking--trying the recipes from my cook books, from the web, and ones that I've invented, and sharing them here on the blog. Hopefully, all of these cooking experiment will keep me in lunches and dinners, and out of fast food!


I'd love to say that I want to run again in 2014, but there is only so much I can control. So instead I will experiment with ways to stay active--swimming, cycling, walking, aerobics, whatever it takes to keep moving every week, all year long. Hopefully, all the exercising, strength training, and work will result in me being able to run before the weather gets too hot, but if not I will continue to move forward!

The biggest experiment is with my knees--I've got to find how to get them not to hurt. I'll be going back to the doctor and doing physical therapy, but a lot of it seems like experimentation is what will really help.

My last big experiment is trying to teach myself Spanish--this is a long term goal to learn Spanish so I can better serve the patrons at my library. It would be such an asset to the community if I could better serve our many, many Spanish speaking patrons. Right now we have one staff member who speaks Spanish, but he is not always there, and he works in the circulation area. I've started the Pimsleur cds, am using duolingo on my phone, and have been doing some grammar lessons on a website my dad sent me. It is hard already, I feel like it will be years before I'll be able to say more than "no entiendo Espanol." But if I know my mom, and I do, she'll be speaking Spanish to me if she hears I want to learn.



So I'm looking forward to 2014, which will be ever moving forward. As my Dad would say--onward and upward! Let's make this year even better! My mom would say that whatever you do on New Year's day is what you'll do all year long--so I did my physical therapy, went swimming, practiced Spanish, and cooked a whole bunch of foods I'll have to blog about!

Butternut and Black Bean Toastadas

One of my favorite ways to figure out what to eat has been to buy some veggies and look for different ways to cook them. This is one of my very favorite recipes that I've invented. I figured if I write it down, then others can enjoy it, and it might be more consistent the next time I make it. The hardest part of this recipe is cutting the butternut squash--so if you are in a hurry buy pre-chopped.

Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash,
1 medium/large onion
1 can black beans
taco seasoning packet
chili powder
cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
corn tortillas
light cream style cheese (skinny cow is what I use)
salsa or other toppings

When I made this last, I used butternut squash leftover from another recipe, which saved a lot of time chopping! Even though the squash can be time consuming to prepare, this is actually a pretty quick and versatile dish. You could serve it over rice, in burritos, enchiladas, or as a dip. I usually eat it with cheese, but without it could be a vegan, gluten free dish depending on what you serve it with. 

The onion is diced into small pieces, and placed in a medium saucepan sprayed with cooking spray and heated to medium hot. I let them soften a little and then add the butternut squash. That cooks for about 5 minutes, before the drained black beans are added along with about half the taco seasoning packet (use low sodium or just use chili powder and cumin), about 2 tablespoons chili powder, and a dash of cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. I like quite a bit of heat to balance out the sweetness of the butternut squash, but taste as you cook and adjust.

As this cooks, the onions and butternut really cook down and get almost syrupy with the seasoning, and adding the beans lets them get some of that flavor. I let it cook until the butternut cooks through, and becomes soft.

At this point the mixture could go into lots and lots of things--served on rice, chips, or even folded into scrambled eggs. I like this as a topping for crispy corn tortillas. To save calories and money, I toast my own in the oven. I take corn tortillas, spray them with cooking spray, lightly salt them, and toss them directly on the rack of a preheated oven on broil. I check them often, turn and rotate, until they are crispy and not too dark. They burn quickly if you don't watch carefully, so keep an eye on them. This batch I made had some that were over done--you can really see if your oven has a hot spot if you don't rotate them. Still they are delicious and healthier than buying tostatas pre-made from the store.

 The verdict:
The spicy cayenne and the sweet butternut and onions make a balanced flavor profile that goes well with the creamy cheese, and crunchy toasted tortillas. This is a regular dish on my rotation. I'll make up a big batch and divide it into serving size tupperware and bring to work with tortillas, cheese, and salsa. I've also used it in my morning egg bowls to add some veggies and flavor.

Looking Back at 2013

Every month this year I said at least once that I was astounded by how rapidly time was moving--it feels like it was just yesterday we rang in this year, and now a new one is here! This past year has brought change upon change, in my family, in my career, in my diet, and in my body, so while the days have flown by, I've attempted to cram in as much as I could. As I started to ponder my goals for 2014, I wanted to reflect on where I've been and what I've done in 2013. So here are some highlights.

• In January I became acting manager of my little library, interviewed for the job, and became the real deal in February. 
• Over this past year as manager, I've been busy:

• I changed the staffing configuration (we got a second librarian!), 
• We more than doubled our programming statistics
• There were so many building problems (we had ~3 floods, HVAC problems up the wazoo, and people may or may not be using our roof for no good reasons)
• Our entire collection has been dramatically weeded, and we've removed an entire row of shelving to make a new space for patrons.

• In February, my parents left to serve a LDS mission in the Dominican Republic. They went first to Santo Domingo and are now in Santiago. My mom keeps an awesome blog of their service--helping the people of the DR become self reliant, finding education and employment. 

• March was when I decided I needed to become a responsible adult and start cooking for myself--with my parents far away I guess it was time to grow up (though that makes it sound like they cooked dinner for me every day, it was more that I didn't regularly eat meals, just junk food, frozen foods, and sandwiches) I figured if I was going to eat regular meals, they should be healthy, so I started using an app I'd downloaded when I'd got my phone. Called Lose-It, it allows me to track what I'm eating, how much I exercise, and track my weight. I didn't actually have a scale for a week or so after I started it, and my doctor said I weighed at 213 in my last check up in 2011.
• When the weather started to get warm in April, I started running using the couch to 5k app. At first I couldn't run for a minute without panting so hard I was coughing, but by July I could run 4 miles at a time.   

• For Cinco de Mayo I marched in a parade for the library!

• June is always crazy in library land, with school out and summer reading programs in full swing--and of course it was the time we needed to replace our youth services librarian. Good times.
• July was full of fun--I was in a pet parade, ran with my sister to watch my sister run a race, and finished the couch to 5k program, running my longest distance ever.

 

• In August, my sister in law ended up in the hospital for a week, with complications related to an ongoing illness she struggles with, and my brother needed to stay with her. My sisters, my brother in law, and I spent a week babysitting their 5 year old--it was great to spend time with her, but a challenge working around all of our schedules. And just a very short while after she was released from the hospital, one of my sisters was checked in the same hospital to give birth to a new niece! 
  

• I closed out September by running my first ever (and maybe last) 5k with my cousin--since it was my first race it was my fastest time for the distance at just over 28 minutes! 

Meya strutting in October

Note my not matching knee braces.

•  Unfortunately, in October my knees started to hurt worse from all the running, and after seeing a doctor and a physical therapist, I've been on the sidelines since then--though I've been swimming and doing my physical  therapy exercises. 

• For Thanksgiving, I visited my uncle and aunt bringing a tasty jello dish--I even got a photo!

Polaris Express Party!

•  December has been a crazy month--we had several huge software changes at work that we've been planning, training, and focusing on for the whole year. I did a lot of cooking for work related events--and started this blog in late November to track some of the things I've been cooking.
• On December 10th, exactly 9 months after I started with my resolution to watch what I eat and cook regular meals, I reached my goal weight--losing 75 lbs. Yay! Now is the hard part of keeping it off. It seemed like a long time while I was doing it, but a short time looking back.
• Just before Christmas my two younger sisters and I went down to the Dominican Republic to visit my parents. It was fabulous to see them, and see all the amazing things they are doing. It was also nice to be warm!