dietfoodie's Profile
Sigh-- how to eliminate cream from this recipe?
I often sub in low-fat evaporated milk in recipes that require a bit of cooking, like chicken pot pie, and I haven't yet had a problem. I've never used Egg Beaters, though, sorry. (And I've also always wondered that about fat-free cream!)
Mom's meatloaf...add your own.
I like the Heinz Chili Sauce idea! I usually make a "from scratch" ketchup or barbeque sauce blend, but I bet the Chili Sauce would go really well with the Cracker Barrel recipe I make on occasion. (Can't say much about my mom's meatloaf; it was pretty much meat, onions, and Kitchen Bouquet, smothered in brown gravy. Not comforting at all.)
I want to try Collards
If you try Paula Deen's, definitely try the variation with smoked turkey wings. My mother-in-law makes them that way and they're really good.
What's a good recipe book/ blog for untalented beginers? [Moved from Not About Food board]
I second the Everyday Food recommendation -- I love it. They have nutritional information in each magazine, and usually do features with a week's worth of recipes from one shopping trip. And often the feature recipes are very efficient with ingredients and time, with a nice amount of overlap (say, prep a double batch of rice for tonight's side dish, reserve half, make the next page's stir fry later in the week in minutes). I've found it seems to be scaled towards two to four servings, too, and since there's just the two of us, that means there's usually just enough left over of each meal for a lunch or light dinner later in the week.
If you're looking for a good, easy to read blog, I suggest Simply Recipes. I've never made anything from the website that wasn't delicious. The instructions are so easy, and if there's any question, the blog author responds right away. Did I mention that the recipes are fantastic? And the pictures make it really easy to follow.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/
And another vote for the Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook, if you can get your hands on it -- the recipes won't require you to debone a chicken or simmer a sauce all day. It's Italian weeknight food, but not at all boring or bland. These are the kinds of things my guy grew up eating and considers "comfort food", just like his mom's.
I think I might be the only one who doesn't use the Joy of Cooking! I own a copy, but I haven't yet come across a reference question I can't google quickly instead of looking up in there, and, while the recipes seem edible, they don't "wow" me. Possibly because my mom cooked from it pretty much exclusively when I was a kid -- you know what they say about familiarity.
Don't hit me, but consider Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals (or at least check out some of her recipes on the Food Network site -- the pasta puttanesca, the chicken cacciatore subs, and the devilish chicken sammies are some of our favorites). I've found that I can't make them in 30 minutes, at least not the first time, (more like 40 - 50 minutes, still not bad), but I have yet to make a recipe of hers that didn't please the people I was serving dinner.
Shortcut Chicken Pot Pie
http://www.vegall.com/75th/rec_2k.shtml
It's near the bottom. I had to look up what a 'VegAll' was!
Eating like a Chowhound on $3 a day – Week 1 menu and recipes
I was wondering the same thing about the meat, especially the fish, but then, I'm in Houston, so I figured fish is just more expensive here? I mean, I can get shrimp for $3.99 a pound on sale, and my folks up north envy me (while I envy their $2.50 a pound black label cheddar and inexpensive salmon). And a pound of shrimp will feed the two of us for two meals.
Still a neat experiment -- what a great technique to get yourself motivated and educated about food!
Huevos rancheros with green chile stew
I made this for dinner tonight, and it was fantastic. I did the eggs over easy (well... attempted over easy, more like "over-splat-is-scrambled-okay?"), layered everything, and we gobbled it up for dinner. Easy, quick, and I have almost everything on hand in the pantry most of the time. Thank you!
WW Snacks and Recipes?
The big problem I have with Splenda and other sweeteners -- even real ones -- is that if you're constantly searching for the next sweet fix, it's really hard to adapt to not eating many sweets. If I make Splenda part of my diet now, I'll be eating Splenda for the rest of my life. Far better to learn to eat real foods and real desserts in moderation. Think of it like a financial budget. Is it better to spend $1 several times a day on cheap plastic trinkets that you'll have to replace practically daily, or to save that money and buy a nice $5 item every so often that'll last you awhile?
Tip wise, I'd say buy a scale, practice obsessive portion control, and eat tons of fiber! I am not kidding; you can't eat too much fiber, especially for breakfast. Ignore people who look at you funny when you're comparing cereals and putting back the ones with less than 10 grams of fiber. Unlike them, you won't be craving a snack mid-morning because your blood sugar will be still be stable. ;)
Foodwise, the Cabot reduced fat cheddar is pretty decent tasting (the higher fat version, not the ridiculously reduced, which I found bland and gummy). And, of course, the Laughing Cow light wedges are a lifesaver... I love them with Old London melba toast rounds, or smeared on a tortilla. Look for 'low carb' versions of things like tortillas and bagels and check the numbers; a lot of times, for some reason, they're very high in fiber.
If you're looking for a good breakfast cereal, I've been really digging the Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Kashi Vive lately. They don't taste like 'diet' food; they taste like healthy food, and in a good way. And I like that, unlike All-Bran, the first five ingredients aren't corn syrup or some variant.
For a quick, easy snack with just a little prep, buy one of every fruit you see when grocery shopping, wash and chop into bite-sized pieces when you get home, and squeeze half a cut lemon over them. I like to store my fruit salad in glass jars instead of plastic, because I think it keeps longer.
Also, I like Kraft's "Light Done Right" ranch dressing. It's fluid, unlike a lot of low-fat ranch dressings ("glorp" is not the sound of good ranch, especially if it has the texture of cream of mushroom soup) and I like the taste. Might be a weird northerner thing, but I like it on potatoes, tortillas, and sandwiches.
Oh, and be careful with the "0 Point" foods that can't possibly really be, like tortillas -- if you eat too many a day, even though they're supposedly "0", you will not have the results you're expecting at weigh-in.
Tasty Recipes for Weight Loss
Just wanted to report that I plugged the ingredients from the cake into the WW recipe calculator and came up with 5 points (low-fat milk) or 4 points (skim milk) per serving (assuming 9 servings as written). Which probably means it's a bit higher than 88 calories and 3.6 grams of fat as the recipe says (that'd be 2 points). Was still incredibly delicious and relatively low point/low fat anyway!
Danish Apple Bread
I looked at those, and I've added some of the recipes for it to my 'to try' list (aren't those pictures scrumptious looking?), but I'm not sure that they're quite the right thing. I'm starting to suspect that it's more of a coffee cake or monkey bread deal than an actual "bread", mostly based on her description of a glaze. But around here, even 'banana bread' is actually banana pound cake, so who knows.
Danish Apple Bread
I'll add this to the list to try, definitely. Sounds delicious, and I've bravely resolved to eat any batches that aren't the right thing. ;) Thank you!
Danish Apple Bread
My mother-in-law's 30th anniversary is coming up soon, and I'd really love to make her some apple bread! They had it on their honeymoon in a Danish-themed town called Solvang, in California, so I'm assuming it's Danish instead of Swedish, but I could be wrong. She described it as more like a bread than a cake, with a glaze on top. So it could be anything from a coffee cake to a yeast loaf.
Does anyone know of any particularly Danish recipes for "apple bread"? Or, if there's no such thing, I'd love to hear any recipes that sound similar!
Try a slice of pineapple on your burger..it's great!
To admit to a guilty pleasure, my favorite diner burger is usually the one with a big thick slice of pineapple and teriyaki marinade, "Hawaiian" style. It's a childhood thing. And the last time we hit Red Robin, my guy ordered a burger with a fried egg, and it looked insanely good... I never thought to combine the egg AND the pineapple! And I bet I could get pickled beets at the Central Market... thanks for the very intriguing idea!
Shaping parker house rolls
My "Beard on Bread" cookbook shows a sketch of a roll that looks almost like a circle folded in half (kind of like a pair of lips, oddly). He says to take a pencil or chopstick, make a deep indentation in the center of the round (I originally read this as with the end of the pencil, but now, reading pikawicca's post, I think he maybe means with the length of the pencil instead), then fold over one-third of each round to the center.
Or he suggests making three small balls and putting them together in a muffin tin, which is what I always thought was a "Parker House Roll" but I guess isn't?
If I were folding like a pocketbook, I'd probably bring one third to the center and then the rest down over that, like an envelope with no sides. But that's not what the Beard book said... now I'm really interested to see what the correct way is!
What kind of cheese is best for my Mac?
I like fontina, too. Or, if you like mustard in your mac and cheese, add a chunk of Welsh Dragon (the ale and mustard kind) to your cheese blend and leave out the mustard.
Chicken Adobo.....
If you can, pick up some of Penzey's pickling spice. It's surprisingly versatile! I've used it for corned beef, shrimp boil, pickles... even in stews in a pinch.
Perfect Light Desserts Cookbook- using real butter, sugar, flour and eggs.
I own it and absolutely love it. The portions are reasonable -- not what most of us consider 'normal' (ie, 'way too much'), but definitely reasonable, especially for a dessert made with real ingredients. And you can always have two servings, if your diet budgets for it (two slices of the chiffon cake are still fewer WW Points than a single 'normal' slice of homemade cake with icing).
The key is moderation -- if you bake from this book expecting to be able to eat five 'diet' cupcakes for the dietary price of one regular cupcake, you'll be disappointed. If, as I was, you're looking for delicious desserts that won't blow your diet budget for the week with a single serving, you'll be really pleased, I think.
My favorite recipe so far has been the chiffon cake. I split it into two layers and spread it with a few ounces of white chocolate buttercream and raspberry jam (for 1 additional WW Point). To be on the safe side, I cut it into the right number of pieces and froze most of them, and it held up to the abuse very, very well.
I also liked the milk-based gelato quite a bit; the texture was similar to the gelato at our favorite ice cream shop.
If you try the raspberry tart on the cover or the devil's food cake, let us know how it comes out! I've been dying to try both but haven't had time yet!
Making popcorn at home-preferred method?
I saw an episode of Good Eats with a similar technique. And see Val's post below for pretty much exactly what I do (although I use 3 tablespoons popcorn per bag).
Oops, bought 11 loaves of sliced whole grain bread
This sounds like a fantastic excuse to make bread pudding. You can pretend the whole grain makes it healthy! Hmmm... make bread crumbs and freeze for later?
Too-salty cookies
Why not make a second batch, with no added salt and maybe low-salt peanut butter, and combine? Worst case, you have twice as much cookie dough. And I second the suggestion to dip in chocolate -- chocolate covered pretzels are one of my favorite things! Or maybe caramel... isn't that a big trend, chocolate and caramel truffles sprinkled with salt?
Olive Oil gelato- recipe?
Is this it?
http://www.sugoodsweets.com/blog/olive-oil-gelato/
Maybe you could try it using pasteurized eggs or something.
Edy's/Dreyers Overloaded Ice Cream
Wow, thank you for posting about this! I looked up the Dreyer's version and I can get it locally -- I'm very excited to try it. Of course, the flavor that has me drooling, the peanut butter, is almost as bad as regular ice cream points-wise, but hey, I'll devour chocolate brownie fudge just as quickly!
Huevos rancheros with green chile stew
Oh, okay! I think I know exactly what you're talking about (over by the Ro-Tel and canned enchilada sauce?) -- I've seen my mother-in-law use them in casseroles before. I think my initial confusion was mostly panic at the thought of picking the "right" pepper out of the six feet of fresh and dried peppers at the HEB!
Can't wait to try this tomorrow! (Don't know how I've lived in Texas for seven years without ever once having huevos rancheros, either.)
Huevos rancheros with green chile stew
Looks delicious! IDefinitely a candidate for dinner tomorrow night, but I do have a probably dumb question. Is 'green chile' a specific type of pepper, or can I just use jalapenos or poblanos? (I'm a bit intimidated by the vast selection of peppers at my grocery, I admit.)
ISO Cookbook - simple & delicious recipies
I like Rachael Ray's cookbooks, or at least the one I have -- 30 Minute Meals 2, I think. The recipes fit your requirements of simple, delicious, and down to earth. And they're not intimidating at all to someone who is new to cooking or who doesn't have a whole lot of exotic ingredients at hand.
For simple recipes featuring fairly common ingredients, I really like the latest Weight Watcher cookbooks, Pure Comfort and From Pantry to Plate. I also found the Frugal Gourmet books very useful in my learning-to-cook days, but I suppose they're pretty dated now!
WHAT shall I do with all this marscapone?
Oh, I know this is late, but do you have a recipe for that? I have a tub of mascarpone reproaching me in the fridge right now, and that lemony pie sounds just about the perfect thing to cool off right now!
Beer Can Chicken - is it safe?
Just for the record, I had my first ever beer can chicken the other day at a friend's house, and I'm still alive. And I could definitely taste the beer (she used Budweiser -- it's pretty, um, distinctive). I suspect the guy linked to above who couldn't taste any difference between the beer and water had too many other spices going on; my friend just used a very simple, very mild barbeque rub.
New to baking- need to bring a cake/brownies
I found this recipe in an old Woman's Day magazine the other day. It ends up looking like a rectangular layer cake with many narrow layers, topped with nuts and frosted with whipped cream. Quite pretty.
I haven't tried it yet -- the calories and fat make it a definite special occasion treat for me -- but the picture looks surprisingly scrumptious and the ingredients are all ones I like! The article says they used Duncan Hines mixes, too.
Paraphrased from the Sept. 13th, 2005 issue of Woman's Day:
German Brownie Torte
1 1/2 c. (5oz) sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 c. (6oz) chopped pecans
1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick (4 tbls) butter, melted
1 box (21 oz) Family-Style Chewy Fudge Brownies mix
2 c. heavy (whipping) cream
1/3 c. confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 350'. Line a 15 x 10 baking sheet with foil (let edges hang over the short sides of the pan for handles) and spray with non-stick spray. Stir together pecans, coconut, brown sugar, and butter until well blended and set aside.
Prepare mix as directed for cake-like brownies, then spread evenly in pan, top with pecan mixture, and bake 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Use foil handles to transfer to a wooden cutting board. Slice into three pieces, crosswise (I think this means along the length, so you end up with a fairly narrow but long rectangular cake).
Whip cream with sugar in a bowl on medium-high speed until moist, stiff peaks form when beaters are lifted.
To assemble, place one brownie layer on a serving plate, spread with 1 c. whipped cream, repeat using the second layer and another 1 c. whipped cream. Set the last layer on top and frost sides with remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate at least two hours.
I don't know why, barring dislike, you couldn't sub in 2 or 3 cups Cool Whip for the whipped cream, if you're pressed for time or don't want to dirty up another bowl!
(And the recipe says it serves 20, but that's a 1 inch slice cut in half, so I'd expect it to be more like serves 10.)
Why can't I make pancakes?
I use a quarter-cup measure, exactly, every time, and they seem to come out all right. My mother-in-law can make them whatever size she wants, but she has a lovely gas stove and I just have a crappy thirty year old apartment stove. I find that if the first test pancake is dry and bubbling on top in about four minutes, the temperature is right, if that helps any!
Help me prepare under the radar chow
I love recipes that use a lot of my pantry staples! I've been wanting to try my hand at a pound cake, and this looks delicious and easy. Thank you for the recipe!
