Tweety Bites (No Bake Cookies)

It has been a cold, damp summer thus far which has given me a bit more time indoors.  Late last week it suddenly turned very hot and humid, bringing a few nasty storms with the change.  I wanted to do a bit of experimenting in the kitchen but didn't want to use the stove or oven.  I came across a recipe for no bake treats and immediately thought it could be tweaked to use hemp hearts.

Hemp hearts are about the size of sesame seeds.  They have a nutty flavour with a firm yet somewhat chewy texture.  Typically they are used to boost the protein content as they contain just over 3 g protein per 10 g (1 tbsp).  Hemp hearts  are also high in omega 3 and 6 polyunsaturated fats.  They can be stored at room temperature but for best taste, they can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

I buy Canadian grown hemp hearts at our local health food store.  They are on the expensive side at $14 for a 454 g (1 lb ) container but it lasts a long time.  I like sprinkling a teaspoon of hemp hearts on top of plain Greek yogurt for breakfast.  

No bake cookies and bars are perfect hot weather treats.  I experimented with hemp hearts to make no bake treats that are not only easy to make but a tasty low calorie, low car, high protein, tasty treat.  I used organic 90% cacao dark chocolate for dipping.  Clearly, I need to practice my dipping skills but overall, I was rather pleased with the results.  The cookies are tasty, with a slightly nutty flavour.  The chocolate adds a nice note.  These are not really sweet cookies but they are tasty. 

Tweety Bites
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

113 g (4 oz) cream cheese
140 g (3/4 c plus 3 tbsp) hemp hearts
1/2 tsp homemade vanilla extract
40 g (1.4 oz) 90% cacao dark chocolate

Soften the cream cheese at room temperature in a small bowl.  Stir in the vanilla extract.  Stir in hemp hearts until well mixed.  Roll into 20 equally sized balls.  Place balls on Silpat lined baking sheet.  Flatten balls with fingers.  Cover and place baking sheet in refrigerator for an hour.  Melt chocolate in small bowl place over slightly larger bowl containing boiling water.  Carefully tip the bowl with the melted chocolate and dip each chilled cookie, replacing the dipped cookie onto the Silpat.  Chill.  Remove from Silpat for serving.

Note:  These cookies should be kept in the refrigerator.  I put them in a container to enjoy as desired.

Italian Venison Fusilli

My husband spent a week in November at hunt camp in the Muskoka Region of Ontario.  A fun time was had by all!  They got two doe that were cleaned, cut and wrapped before they left.  Everyone brought home a bit of venison, a much welcomed addition in our freezer.  Venison is a rich, flavourful red meat that can be used in place of beef for most dishes.  It is a healthier option, well for those counting calories.  Venison is lower in calories (102 cal/3 oz), lower in sodium (42 mg/3 oz), lower in fat (2.8 g/3 oz) and lower in cholesterol (72 mg/3 oz) than beef (3 oz: 162 cal, 56 mg sodium, 5.8 g fat, 76 mg cholesterol).  It is, however, lower in protein at 19.2 g per 3 oz verses 25.8 g per 2 oz of beef.  Venison should be served hot because what fat there is has a slightly unpleasant mouth feel when cold.  For that reason, venison is often cooked with pork fat.
  

I used home canned Italian Garden Sauce with Mushrooms to make a delicious venison sauce for pasta.  This is a must have staple sauce in our pantry, one I created a couple of years ago then tweaked in small batches until it met my specifications. 

I lightly seared the venison pieces then poured in a 750 ml jar of Italian garden sauce with mushrooms.  I brought the mixture to a boil then reduced to a simmer.  I let the mixture simmer until the venison pieces were cooked through and tender.  While the venison sauce was simmering I cooked tri-colour fusilli to al dente then drained.

I topped the tri-colour fusilli with a generous scoop of the venison sauce along with fresh grape tomatoes, green peppers and chopped onions for Italian Venison Fusilli.  This entrée was low calorie and low fat, yet tasty and filling. 

A serving size of tri-colour fusilli is 2 oz dry which gives a yield of 255 g/9 oz cooked [210 cal. 7 g protein, 41 g carbohydrates, 25 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 1 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol].  Plain wheat fusilli does not have any fiber so the tri-colour is a healthier choice as is whole wheat fusilli.  If counting calories, it is best to weight out the cooked pasta for the proper serving size.  I often add fresh vegetables over pasta sauces.  They add a nice texture, complimenting the flavour of a wide variety of sauces while adding extra nutrition. 

Sautéed Cabbage

Cabbage is one of those vegetables that we do not eat enough of.  Our most common ways to eat cabbage is as creamy coleslaw, home canned coleslaw and cabbage rolls.  I occasionally add it to rustic potatoes or a soup.  Cabbage has a natural mild sweetness that is enhanced by cooking and yet it is low in carbohydrates.  It is also low in calories at only 227 calories in a 2.5 lb head of cabbage.  The real advantage cabbage has going for it is the health benefits it offers, high in Vitamins C and K as well as antioxidants and potassium. 

We are still cleaning up after the horrid snowstorm earlier in the week.  This is the kind of weather where the aroma of dinner slowly cooking in the over is very much appreciated!  Yesterday, I cooked a cross rib roast with potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage.  We had the left-overs for dinner tonight.  The vegetables were a bit sparse so I added steamed broccoli and sautéed cabbage.  Sautéed cabbage is a delicious, easy to prepare side dish.  

The meal as pictured came in at 481 calories which also takes into account the small amounts of butter (2 tsp) and olive oil (1 tsp) used.  A half tsp of butter was added to the olive oil for sautéing the cabbage.  The rest went on the broccoli.  I sprinkled just a little Tone's Rosemary Garlic seasoning on the cabbage to finish. With all the health benefits cabbage has to offer, it will be appearing more often on our table!

 

Grilled Peameal Bacon

Boneless pork loin is a good budget stretching meat as not only is it lower price per pound, it is a very versatile meat that can be used fresh or cured.  Last week I shared how I prepare a boneless pork loin at our vacation home.  Half is cured for peameal bacon, our must have taste of home while the other half is sliced into thick chop for grilling.  If need be, the chops can be cut into slices or pieces for other dishes.

One of the most common questions I get with respect to peameal bacon is "What do you do with it?"  The simple answer is, peameal bacon can be used much the same way you would use a ham.  The texture and flavour differs from ham.  The most common way to use peameal bacon is thin sliced then fried as bacon but it can be cooked other ways.  Thick sliced peameal bacon is quite lovely when grilled. 

I cut the peameal bacon into about three quarters of an inch thick slices.  Thick slices ensure the meat does not become dry while cooking.  I place the peameal bacon slices on a pre-heated medium hot grill.  Once the grill marks form nicely on one side, I turn and grill until the marks form on the other side.  The peameal bacon slices are then ready for serving.  They pair nicely with zucchini and baby carrots, both of which cook quickly on the grill.  Simply cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and brush with olive oil then sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Grill cut side down until grill marks are nicely formed and the squash is tender.  Baby carrots cook quickly in a foil pouch on the grill.  This entire meal can be cooked on the grill in about 20 minutes.  Complete the meal with a tossed salad sprinkled with fresh squeezed lemon juice and sliced watermelon for the perfect low fat and low calorie meal that is sure to please! 

My Version of Starvin' Guy Chicken Pie

Over the past couple of weeks while on crutches I managed to watch a few shows on Food Network Canada.  It was a bit of a treat while icing my ankle and knitting the most testy ever afghan pattern.  I pretty much gave up watching television during the day a few years ago so don't indulge as much as I used to on the food channel.  Greta and Janet Podleski of Eat, Shrink and Be Merry made a healthier version of individual chicken pot pies called Starvin' Guy Chicken Pie that sounded too yummy not to try making it.  I made my version of their dish last night for dinner.

Greta and Janet's recipe is based on using a large rotisserie chicken.  This is one of the very few take-out foods that I consider frugal in terms of cost and time.  A whole, raw chicken here costs about $10 in the stores and they very seldom go on sale which explains why we buy chicken pieces rather than whole chickens most of the time.  Whole chicken from the farmers costs us $8.  We can buy rotisserie chicken at Sobey's and Wal-mart for $7.47 but once it gets past 5 PM, Wal-mart marks them down to $5.  Since I needed the chicken for dinner, I ended up paying full price.  It was still a good deal.

I deboned the rotisserie chicken cutting the meat into bite sized chunks and reserving the bones that would be added to my bag of frozen chicken bones for making chicken stock later.  Not only would this chicken make a delicious, low cost and healthy meal, it would also go towards making home canned chicken stock for the pantry. 

Greta and Janet's recipe did not specify how many cups of chicken, only to use a large rotisserie chicken (light and dark meat).  I ended up with about 3 cups of prepared chicken. 

We have dealt with the same local butcher shop that my husband's parents dealt with.  They have good quality meats, lunch meats and cheeses as well as a specialty Dutch foods section.  What I really like about buying there is I can buy according to my need.  Greta and Janet's recipe called for grated Swiss cheese.  Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, the grocery store here did not have chunk Swiss cheese.  This is rather normal as it is a smaller community.  The butcher shop came to my rescue.  The cheese ended up costing $17 and I only used a piece about 1 inch wide off the end of one of the pieces for this recipe.  However, cheese doesn't go to waste here so I'm sure the rest will get used up without a problem.

I started tweaking the recipe to eliminate a bit of measuring and using what I had on hand.  What I did keep was their very low fat added for cooking.  Their recipe called for measuring the onion, celery and garlic but I just guestimated for my version.  None of these would add extra calories or fat so a little over their measurements wouldn't hurt.  I used homemade poultry seasoning and home canned turkey stock which lowered the price per serving.  My home canned turkey stock is defatted as well.  I would have used home canned creamed corn but am completely out so had to buy a can.  I also used a frozen mixed vegetable blend (peas, corn, carrots, green beans, Lima beans) as I didn't have just plain frozen peas and carrots on hand.  Rather than make individual chicken potpies as they did, I made one large one saving a bit of time in the process.

While I modified the filling, I kept the biscuit topping the same (refer to link to recipe above).  I will note that the biscuit topping was very much on the wet side and difficult to work with!  Here is the recipe for the filling as I changed it:


My Version of Starvin' Guy Chicken Pie Filling
recipe by: Garden Gnome

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic
8 oz package sliced mushrooms
¾ c frozen mixed vegetables
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp poultry seasoning
2 c home canned turkey stock
1 c cream-style corn
1 c 2% evaporated milk
3 tbsp unbleached flour
½ c grated Swiss cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3 c rotisserie chicken

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in ceramic coated (or non-stick) fry pan.   Add onions and garlic.  Cook until onions are just turning translucent.  Add celery and mushrooms.  Cook until mushrooms are tender.  Stir in mixed vegetables, thyme and poultry seasoning.  Mix well.  Stir in stock and corn.  Let the mixture simmer for about 2 minutes.  In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and milk together then pour into the vegetable mixture.  Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the cheese, parsley and chicken.  Pour the mixture into an oven proof baking dish.   Cover with dough of your choice.

One of our kids warned me that Greta and Janet's recipes are very flavourful bordering on intensive.  We did not find that to be the case with this recipe and in fact we both found the recipe to be on the bland side.  The filling was a definite keeper but needs a bit of tweaking.  It could definitely use a bit of pepper, more garlic and I would use fresh lemon thyme rather than dried thyme.  In fact, Herbes de Provence would work rather nicely in this recipe.  Both of us agreed that a stronger flavoured cheese like Asiago would have added a bit more spark to the filling.  I would be tempted to use a small grated potato as the thickener in place of the flour as well. 

The biscuit topping was an utter failure!  It looked lovely but that's it.  I was expecting flavour but there really wasn't any.  Even though the dough was horrid to work with and that can be easily remedied, the flavour was very much lacking even though I used the flesh from sweet baked potatoes with that bit of extra caramelization.  It was missing the pizzaz!  Perhaps a pinch of nutmeg or even garlic or onion would brighten the flavour.   The nice thing is, their recipe gave me a healthier way to make the filling.  Even though it does need tweaking it is still an excellent starting point.

Faux Spaghetti

Fruits and vegetables provide such vibrant colours in meals that it is really is quite easy to eat a rainbow.  Who can resist the tantalize yellow of fresh sweet corn with a bit of creamy yellow butter or the beautiful ruby red of fresh strawberries?  Even the plain old potato is not so plain when it comes to colour with the crispy golden brown skin of an oven baked potato playing against the creamy white flesh.  Squashes range in colour from creamy white with a deep green or yellow skin left on for cooking (eg. summer squash) to a deep, rusty orange with other shades of yellow and orange in between.  The darker orange the colour is, the more beta carotene the squash contains.

I love playing with the colours of fruits and vegetables, bringing life and vibrance to the plate.  Squash is the ideal way to add those splashes of orange.  Spaghetti squash has a wonderful medium toned yellowish orange colour.  It can be served much the same way regular spaghetti is served.  I baked the squash then plated the strands topping them with steamed baby spinach and homemade roasted Italian sauce with mushrooms.  I garnished with chopped red onion and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  I found the spaghetti squash wept a bit more than I would have liked but some of the excess liquid could have been from the steamed spinach as well.  This excess liquid affected the appearance only and I'm sure it is something easily remedied.  It was a cheery, tasty and delicious low calorie meal.  Not only is this meal low calorie it also comes under the category of vegetarian.

Spaghetti Squash

Winter and summer squash are available year round in the grocery stores however the best price is always when local squash are in season.  Squash is usually priced somewhere between 29¢ and 39¢ in season, 49¢ to 99¢ the remainder of the year.  In terms of nutrition, squash is an excellent value for your food dollars.  Not only is squash easy to prepare it is quite versatile.  Squash can be used in soups, stews, casseroles, as a side dish, in desserts and breads.  Squash seeds can be roasted for a delicious snack.

Spaghetti squash (Cucurbita pepo) is a winter squash that gets its name from the long fleshy strands that resemble spaghetti.  This squash is high in folic acid, potassium, Vitamin A and beta carotene.  It is low in calories at 42 cal per 1 cup serving in comparison to 220 cal in 1 cup of spaghetti.

Despite its appearance, spaghetti squash does not taste like spaghetti nor does it have the same texture.  The squash can be baked, steamed or microwaved.  As with all winter squashes, I prefer baking that brings out the flavour by slightly caramelizing the natural sugars.  Spaghetti squash is quite good topped with a little butter and salt or it can be topped with your choice of sauces.

To bake: Wash the squash then cut in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds.  Place about a half inch of water in a baking dish.  Turn the squash halves upside down in the baking dish, cut side down.  Bake uncovered at 350ºF until squash is tender, about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Place squash cut side up on cooling rack.  Use a fork to pull the squash strands from the shell.

Portobello Pizza

The past five days have been a whirlwind of activity with little time for cooking. Saturday we managed to siphon enough time to get to Sam's Club. While the purpose was not for stocking up on food I managed to pick up a few food items, mainly large containers of seasonings. I also picked up a package of beautiful looking portobello mushrooms.

Portobello mushrooms are the mature form of brown crimini mushrooms. These mushrooms are often used in vegetarian cooking. They are very impressive simply by size often reaching diameters of 6 inches. They have a bit deeper more pronounced flavour than the juvenile crimini mushrooms which is to be expected. Portebello mushrooms are ideal for used as a bread replacement because they have a lovely texture when cooked. Believe me you won't even miss the bread when you substitute porobello mushrooms!

There were four lovely portobello mushrooms in the package. Now generally portobellos are viewed as expensive but these worked out to $1.05 each I will tell you I really do not like buying any kind of mushroom in a plastic wrapped tray. Mushrooms are like sponges so absorb moisture. This type of packaging can cause the mushrooms to be soggy and soil quickly plus it is not very environmentally friendly. Mushrooms packaged this way should be repackaged into a paper bag for storage in the crisper.

I decided that an easy meal of portobello pizza was in order. Toppings included home canned pizza sauce, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, bacon and Asiago cheese. Essentially the portobello mushroom is used in place of pizza dough.

Method: Place the mushroom on a baking sheet with gills facing up. Top with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Bake at 350ºF until cheese is bubbly.

You will need to use a knife and fork for eating portobello pizzas when eating a whole one. Portobello mushrooms have an intense enough flavour that they can easily accent stronger flavoured cheeses. One of the real beauties of homemade pizza based dishes is they are versatile. Use the toppings you want and leave omit the rest.

My husband wanted only sauce, cheese and bacon on his portobello pizza. I chose an Asiago cheese for this purpose as it has a bit more flavour that pairs nicely with the depth of flavour of the portobello mushroom. Bacon is another topping that pairs nicely with the flavour of portobello. Mine was topped with onion, green pepper, tomato slices, bacon, sauce and cheese. Both were quite lovely but very filling!

Portobello pizzas are very filling so don't let the smaller size fool you. Baked they are still a good 5 inches in diameter but are very meaty. Even though you are not getting a lot of carbs, the portobello mushroom itself is quite meaty and filling. One large portobello is more than sufficient per person for this meal. If anything it is more filling than the bread crust version. This dish would make a great appetizer as well although you may want to cut them into quarters.

Sun Tea

Sun Tea Brewing

One of our favourite summer drinks is ice tea and I don't mean that sugar with a hint of tea drink I mean real ice tea. We go through a lot of it so it is quite common to see a pitcher of sun tea brewing daily during the warm months. There really isn't much to making sun tea. Basically you put the tea bags in a pitcher, pour water over top then set it in the sun. But why have plain old sun tea when you can kick it up a notch? I absolutely insist on using Red Rose tea. Sorry this is a Canadian product although I have heard tell it is being distributed in the US in some areas. If you can't find this tea use a fine quality orange pekoe tea as a substitute. This tea packs a lot of punch without adding calories.

Method: Place three tea bags in a large pitcher. Add ½ sliced lemon, two spring lemon balm and two sprigs mint. Fill to the top with water. Cover. Place in direct sun for 2 to 3 hours. Put the pitcher into the refrigerator.

To Serve: Pour into a tall glass over ice cubes. Find the nearest shade tree. Sit down and enjoy :)