Trevor

Individual Chocolate Souffles

Individual Chocolate Souffles

Make 2 servings

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
3 tablespoons low-fat chocolate milk
1 large egg white

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Fill an 8×8 pan half-full of water (water bath), and set in the oven to preheat.
2.  In a small saucepan, place the cocoa, flour and 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Add the chocolate milk, and set over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth (about 2 minutes.) Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes.
3.  When you remove the chocolate sauce from the heat, whisk the egg white until soft peak form. Slowly add the remaining tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until soft peaks are present again.
4.  Fold in cooled chocolate sauce, a little at a time, until the egg whites and chocolate are completely incorporated together.
5.  Spray baking ramekins with cooking spray. Pour batter into each.  Place in water bath and bake until the tops look slightly dry (14-16 minutes.) Do not open the oven until you are ready to take them out.  A sudden burst of cold air can make them deflate.
6.  Remove from oven and top with whipped cream and instant coffee granules (or espresso powder.)

Other possible toppings are powdered sugar, cinnamon or shaved dark or white chocolate, or a raspberry or strawberry sauce. 

Other options are adding the instant coffee or cinnamon to the chocolate syrup, or making this a Mexican chocolate souffle by adding a touch of cayenne pepper to the sauce.

Nutritional data:
Calories:      123
Fat:               0.8g
Sat fat:          0.3g
Chol:            1.9mg
Sodium:        43mg
Carbs:           26g
Fiber:           0.8g
Protein:        3.4g

Too Busy to Enjoy the Moment?

Have you ever felt so busy that you can’t enjoy life? Or that you feel if you stop and relax for a moment, life will run away from you? Or that you are juggling a dozen flaming logs while pedaling a unicycle, and people are tossing you more and more?

It happens to everyone at times. But we need to remember that while we can not always control the exact situation in which we live, we can control how we react to these situations. When we are overwhelmed with deadlines and demands on our time, we need to find a way to sit back and recapture a little “me time” and “us time.” And dinners are a great way to do that. Especially dinners that are a little out of the ordinary. Tonight, we were all home for dinner (a rarity). My wife Tammy and our son Ethan (as well as our pug Ozzy) were home and I wanted to have a special dinner with the family.

The meal was partly an old favorite (grilled flank steak, rubbed with crushed garlic, rosemary and black pepper, with bleu cheese mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and onions, and a side salad) but then I decided to throw in a nice dessert.

Normally, dessert around here is a small bowl of ice cream, or maybe a strawberry shortcake in the summer. But I wanted to go outside the ordinary, and I wanted to make it myself rather than buying something at a bakery. I am more of a grill chef than a pastry chef, but I have some skills making baked goods, too.

I decided to make individual chocolate souffles based on a recipe that my wife gave me (just a subtle hint, right?) topped with fresh whipped cream and powdered espresso granules. I hope it does not sound too immodest, but this dessert was to die for. I don’t make a lot of souffles (they are rather painstaking) but every time I make them, it turns an average to good meal into a meal worth remembering.

The dinner table is the heart of almost every home. Take time to enjoy your meals with family and friends. And take time when you sit there. Enjoy their company. Have good conversations. Laugh a lot. This is not where you “spend time” as if you are squandering a precious resource, but rather this is living in the moment, relishing a time that can never be regained once it is gone. And good food can help draw together the people that are most important.

A quick and easy meal for one

It helps to keep a moderately well-stocked pantry and refigerator. I got home from work today. Yesterday I was at the clinical site until 8:30pm, back at the site at 5:30am, and finally got home after lecturing about the economics of health care at 5pm.

I did not want to cook anything.

So, I poked my head in the fridge, and started pulling stuff out. I ended up with a salad. A nice, robust, flavorful salad. I built it with a sense of fun, thinking what ele can I add that will make it tasty and still healthy.  I started with a base of mixed lettuces, and then halved about eight cherry tomatoes.  Then I weighed out an ounce of walnut and an ounce of Gorgonzola (crumbled) cheese, and 1/3 cup of fresh blueberries. I layered each of those on top, and then made an ounce of balsamic vinaigrette.

Delicious! This is what I looked like:

Make it easy for yourself to make a quick meal. Unless you live next door to a grocer, keep some basic essentials in the kitchen. I always have lettuce on hand. Never iceberg (far too bland) but usually some romaine hearts (for crunch) and mixed greens (for color and flavor). A bag of baby spinach works well, too. When in season, I have fresh blueberries, blackberries or strawberries on the bottom shelf of the fridge. If you want to use raspberries, that would work, too, but that is one fruit that I don’t like. Grapes would also be a nice salad addition, as would an apple, mandarin orange wedges, or dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, cherries, or mango. (Dried fruit tends to add a LOT of sugars, to use sparingly.)

Walnuts are my favorite nut to add to a salads, but pecans, cashews or slivered almonds would be tasty. Remember, you are building this salad to your preferences, so use what you like. I like cherry tomatoes for their texture, but any tomato would be okay to use. Diced onion would also be a good addition, but I didn’t chop any tonight.

If you want to avoid sodium, skip the cheese, but I was able to budget for it, and I like aged blue cheeses. An aged Parmesan or cheddar, or even shredded Swiss would be good. You’ll need a robust cheese with the fruit and nuts or the cheese will get lost (so no mozzarella.)

Top it with your favorite dressing, or make my vinaigrette. It is a simple recipe.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar (or 1/4 tsp stevia or other non-sugar sweetener)
1/2 – 1/2 tsp of your favorite herbs

Stir together, pour over salad immediately.

The nutritional data, for the salad I have in the picture, and with the vinaigrette:

Calories:          489
Fat:                  41.5g
Sat fat:               8.8g
Chol:                  25mg
Sodium:            315mg
Carbs:                21g
Fiber:                6.3g
Protein:           16.1g

Busy. Very busy!

It’s mid-terms at my college. That means a lot of grading papers, meeting with students to discuss their performance (or lack thereof in a few isolated instances.)

But it also means that I haven’t been very active here on my blog. It’s not that I don’t want to post my thoughts, ideas, and meals here, but I need to prioritize what NEEDS to get done over what would be FUN to do. However, I am almost through the pile of work, so I will soon be actively blogging here, hopefully on a daily basis.

Prioritization is the key to successful weight management. You need to ask yourself, “Which is more important? Staying within my calorie budget and hitting my weight target, or eating that piece of cake?”  Sometimes the cake will win, and that is appropriate. When you attend a special event, enjoy some of the treats. But limit yourself to one serving, and a small one at that. But most days, you should decide that your goal is more important to your health–both physical and emotional–than that cookie will taste.

Right now, I am still enjoying my maintenance er, my target weight range phase.   However, I am still slowly losing weight. That is not intentional, but it is a side effect of my mental inability to eat ALL my budgeted calories each day. After working so long and so hard to stay slightly under my weight loss budget, now I find myself still staying just a little under my current budget. I tell myself “Just a little under the budget, just in case I didn’t accurately measure my food.”

I need to stop that belief pattern. I know that I accurately measure my food. My Fitbit accurately gauges my caloric burn.

But old habit die hard. However, I taught myself to eat the correct portion sizes. I can teach myself to eat ALL my calories!

Rosemary Chicken and Tomato-Avocado Salsa

Rosemary Chicken
Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, 6 ounces each, boneless skinless
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoongs red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary crushed, or 1 tsp dried  (I used 1 tablespoon Penzey’s Bouquet Garni.)

1.  Place chicken in a heavy-duty freezer bag, and pound with a meat mallet until approximately 1/2 inch thick.  Do this one at a time, then place the chicken in a second ziplock bag. (The first bag may have holes from the mallet.)
2.  Mis remaining ingredients together, pour over chicken.  Toss in the marinade to coat.  Place chicken in refrigerator for at 30-60 minutes.
3.  Heat a non-stick skillet, and spray with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the skillet over medium-hiigh heat for 3-4 minutes on the first side, and 3 minutes on the second.
4.  Serve with  Tomato-Avocado Salsa and roasted vegetables.

Nutritional data:
Calories:       307
Fat:               16.5g
Sat fat:            3.8g
Chol:               98mg
Sodium:          62mg
Carbs:              1g
Fiber:               0g
Protein:          38g

Tomato-Avocado Salsa

Serves 4, approximately 2/3 cup each.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or Bouquet Garni)
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 ripe avocado, peeled, and diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes (about 24), cut in half
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

1.  Whisk together first four ingredients.
2.  Gently stir in the remaining ingredients.
3.  Make this while the chicken cooks, as its texture is best when fresh.

Nutritional data:
Calories:        126
Fat:                10.9g
Sat fat:             2.6g
Chol:              8.3mg
Sodium:         112mg
Carbs:             6.3g
Fiber:              3.1g
Protein:           2.6g

Roasted Vegetables

Serves 4

Fresh vegetables, your preference.  I have used Brussel sprouts, onion, tomato, mini-bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, mushrooms and asparagus.  (If you use cauliflower, pre-cook it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
Black pepper, and any spices you like.

1.  Fill a one gallon ziplock bag with your preferred veggies.
2.  Whisk together other ingredients, and pour over veggies.  Toss to coat.  Let sit for 10 minutes.
3.  While the veggies are resting, preheat oven to 450F
4.  Place veggies in a 9×13 pan.  Place in oven for a total of 30 minutes.
5.  Toss veggies after 15 minutes.
6.  Remove when the veggies are tender/crunchy and beginning to brown.

Nutritional data (will vary slightly based on your choice of vegetables):
Calories:       126
Fat:                10.g
Sat fat:           1.6g
Chol:                0mg
Sodium:          11mg
Carbs:          12.4g
Fiber:            4.7g
Protein:            5g

A new toy helps achieve goals!

New toys are fun!
I love to cook. I mean, I really love it! I find it to be relaxing, creative and joyful, especially when the end product turns out as expected and everyone enjoys it.  And while most of my kitchen equipment is simple and unchanging (my knives, my non-stick cookware) I do have some gadget.  A couple weeks ago, I bought a new toy.
My new panini press! Prior to this, I used an old George Foreman grill. It worked, but it was big and bulky and awkward to store. My new press is shiny stainless steel, smaller and easier to handle and it works great!
So, where did I find my press? A nice kitchen store or a cook’s specialty shop? An online vendor?  Nope.
I got it at Aldi! Yeah, my favorite inexpensive grocery store occasionally has kitchen and household appliances. I picked this up for $14.99, and it makes two paninis using ciabatta rolls or one large sandwich using a hoagie bun.
This is the end result. Here are the recipes for my Portabella Panini and Spinach Pasta Toss.
Why is this press helpful for me to stay at my goal weight (or to actively lose weight if needed?) Because if cooking becomes easy, fast and fun, we are all more likely to cook for ourselves instead of letting a restaurant cook for us. That leaves us in control of the ingredients used. We can choose to use fresh vegetables, healthy oils and lower sodium components. We are also to make the correct portion sizes. When I used to eat a lot of takeout Chinese, I thought the container was one serving. In reality this little cartons hold two or more servings!
I hope my readers begin to enjoy cooking. Try new recipes. Buy some new kitchen toys. Make cooking a meal something to anticipate, not something to dread. When you do that, you will also start seeing more personal victories, and make more progress toward your goals.

Salmon and Spinach Pasta Toss

Salmon Fillets
1 pound salmon fillets (4 ounces each)

Season the salmon with your preferred seasoning.  Heat a non-stick skillet, pan fry until cooked, about 3 minutes per side.

Nutritional data, per serving:
Calories:      190
Fat:               9.0g
Sat fat:          1.5g
Chol:            70mg
Sodium:        50mg
Carbs:            0g
Fiber:             0g
Protein:        24g

Spinach Pasta Toss (makes 6 servings, approximately 1 cup each)

1 tablespon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
Black pepper, dried oregano, and dried basil to preference
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
2 cups whole wheat penne pasta
1 cup water
6 ounces V8 (low sodium) juice
2 ounces white wine
4 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
6 ounces raw baby spinach
2 tablespoons (6 teaspoons) romano cheese

1.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet (10-12 inches).  Add onion.  Saute for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat, until it begins to turn translucent.
2.  Add garlic, and spices.  Saute for another minute.
3.  Carefully pour V8, water and wine.  Turn heat up, and bring to a near boil. Add pasta, stir and return to a boil.
4.  When boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta cooked to your preference.
5.  Bring heat back to medium. Add half the spinach.  Toss pasta and spinach until the spinach begins to wilt.  Add remaining spinach, and toss until the spinach is wilted.
6.  Serve, with 1 tsp romano cheese on each portion.

Nutritional data, per serving of the Spinach Pasta Toss:
Calories:      159
Fat:               3.7g
Sat fat:          0.7g
Chol:            1.2mg
Sodium:       120mg
Carbs:         25.6g
Fiber:           4.4g
Protein:        5.7g

Mini-Meatloaves

Mini-Meatloaves
Makes four loaves, each approximately 5 ounces

1 pound lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 clove garlic, crushed and minced
Pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 350F
2.  Mix all ingredients together. Only mix enough to incorporate the egg and onion into the meat. If you mix it too much, the loaves will become very tough.
3.  Divide meat into four balls. Form each ball into an oval shape. Lay on baking pan.
4.  Bake for 25 minutes.
5.  If desired, in the last 5 minutes, top each loaf with ketchup or BBQ sauce.

Alternatives that can be added to each loaf  (the options are endless): 
1/2 – 1 minced jalapeno. 
1 tablespoon minced sun-dried tomato
One strip of cooked bacon, chopped.
1 tablespoon chopped green olives

Nutritional data for one basic loaf, no cheese or toppings:
Calories:     180
Fat:               9.2g
Sat fat:          3.4g
Chol:           123mg
Sodium:      102mg
Carbs:          0.6g
Fiber:           0.1g
Protein:       23.6g

Comfort Foods

Sometimes I just need simple comfort food.

Right now I am under a pile of papers to grade for school, which leaves little time for anything else (including this blog.) I need to prioritize my time so that I get the papers graded quickly, but I still need to eat and I’d like to eat healthy. That means I can’t simply have a pizza or Chinese delivered.

I was feeling really overwhelmed yesterday. I had a lot of work to complete, I needed to attend a meeting for my son’s summer trip, and I was just tired. In response, I made simple mini-meatloaves. They baked in 25 minutes, and I paired that with a microwaved potato (Yukon Gold), topped with plain Greek yogurt, and some green beans. Simple food, easily prepared, filling and healthy.

Of course, I couldn’t just make normal meatloaves. I needed to experiment a bit.  In one mini-loaf I added half of a minced jalapeno pepper,  and in another I added 1 tablespoon minced sun-dried tomatoes. When they came out of the oven, I topped the jalapeno loaf with sharp cheddar cheese, and the sun-dried tomato loaf with shredded mozzarella.

Next time, I think I need more jalapeno.

I will try to blog as much as possible this week, but my student’s assignments are a top priority (only 33 papers left to grade!)

Veggie Hash with Eggs

Veggie Hash
Makes 2-4 serving, depending on how hungry you are.  The picture shows two servings, on a 10″ plate.

8 ounces shredded potatoes
1 bunch (approxmately 1 pound) fresh asparagus, cut into  1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
Black pepper to taste
Seasoning of your choice (I used Penzey’s Sunny Paris.)

1.  Heat a large non-stick skillet. Add 1 tsp olive oil, the asparagus, mushrooms.  Saute over medium-high heat until the mushrooms begin to brown.
2.  Remove veggies from heat, set aside, cover to keep warm.
3.  Add the remaining olive oil, and over medium-high heat, add the onions.  Saute for 2-3 minutes, and add the garlic, saute for an additional minute.
4.  Add the shredded potatoes.  Gently toss (to prevent mashing the potatoes) until the onions begin to brown (another 3-4 minutes.)
5.  Return all veggies to skillet, toss to mix.
6.  Serve with eggs prepared as you like them.

Nutritional Data (for one serving of hash only, without the eggs):
Calories:  102
Fat:            3.8g
Sat fat:       0.6g
Chol:            0mg
Sodium:    163mg
Carbs:     14.7g
Fiber:        3.3g
Protein:     4.2g