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Holy Crucifers!

Nov 1

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Vegetarian | 4 Comments

Good morning friends!

I hope you all had a very nice Halloween!  I enjoyed reading the comments about what your plans were, thank you!  They all sounded like fun!  Our “Haunted Forest” was actually a really good time.  I found a link to some video of it on our rec association website if you want to take a look (click HERE). I’m not sure how long they’ll keep it out there, so if the link doesn’t work when you read this, my apologies.

It was the right amount of scary for me, to be honest.  I don’t like to be totally petrified.  People in scary costumes would jump out of the bushes and scream or growl at you.  The creepiest part was that you were following a hiking trail in the dark and bumping into twigs and bushes (or were they …? ha ha).  I was so focused on watching my step to keep from rolling an ankle that I wasn’t as worried about things scaring me.  So in that way it was PERFECT!  :)   I enjoyed it and feel we got our $8 worth.  We appreciate that our HOA/Rec Association does so many fun things in our community that we’d like to continue to support things like this so they keep doing them!

After we returned home, we watched the 1968 version of “Night of the Living Dead” which on the scary movie scale is just about the right speed for me.  It was in black and white with such outdated effects that it wasn’t at all scary, and more fun to watch.  That is about the level of scary I can handle anymore.  Ever since seeing “The Strangers” on Halloween ’08, I have banned myself from scary movies.  I think that one left me scarred for life.  :D

Something else that I found to be scary?  Brussels sprouts in their raw form.  As I mentioned yesterday, it was a big recipe testing day and on the list was Brussels sprouts slaw.  I love Brussels sprouts, but apparently I love them roasted or stir-fried.  Raw – not so much. Fortunately I started with a very tiny batch.  I’ll still eat it, but I’ll probably *hide* it in a wrap or something.  (BTW, sorry for the weirdly colored photos – I miss the summer daylight already for the sake of pics!)

I roasted up a small batch of remaining sprouts and used the dressing on them too – I like it better this way:

And then I used the dressing again on a “two kale” salad with raw walnuts and dried cranberries:

I’ve been in a cruciferous salad mode, it seems.  This was last week’s which had some spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts (shredded and lightly sauteed), honeyed walnuts:

I am up to my eyeballs in crucifers right now – I certainly have no shortage of greens to eat right!

Here are some of pics of other recipe tests going on.

Orange Scented Beet Soup

Kelp Noodle Salad with Tamari Almonds

Hummus Soup with Garlicky Croutons

Tempeh Walnut Unmeatballs with Shiitake Sauce

Today I really need to force myself to get some yoga in or maybe even just a good long power walk.  I’ve been so busy with business stuff and recipe testing that my fitness routine has been set aside more than I’d like to admit.  I’m putting it out here to keep myself accountable!  :) What’s the first thing to go out the window for you when things get insanely busy?  Sleep?  Healthy eating?  Exercise?  All of the above?

Have a great day FitFeat friends!  I’ll see you next time!  I’m gathering ideas for Volume 2 of the Recipes to Inspire series so that will be coming in the near future.

– Shari B. =)

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Take Your Temperature

Oct 27

Posted by Shari B. in Adventures in Dehydrating, Cooking, Handy Kitchen Tools | 2 Comments

Hi friends!

I’ve had a topic that I’ve wanted to cover for a while and seeing how this has been the week of bizarre weather extremes in Colorado (record heat on Monday, then snow yesterday and near record lows this morning), I figured it’s the perfect time to talk about TEMPERATURE!  But instead of outdoors, I’m talking about in some of your appliances!

When I work in a client’s kitchen, the first thing I do when I’m there is test the accuracy of their oven.  The last thing I want is to burn their food if I think I’m cooking something in their oven at 350° only to find out that it’s actually much higher than that.  You’d be surprised how the dials tell a completely different story than the actual temp inside your oven.

You can find an inexpensive hanging thermometer that you can pop right onto a rack in your oven and leave it there.

You can also determine “hot spots” in your oven this way as well by moving it to different locations.  This would explain why that batch of cookies you made burned on the back right side of the cookie sheet and the front left ones were perfect.  :)   You’ll find that if you have a convection oven the temp may jump around a bit as the fan turns on and off.  If I set my oven at 325° often times it actually registers on the thermometer at 350°.

It also helps you to know if your oven preheats in the amount of time it says it does.  Just because your oven beeps that the oven has reached the desired temp doesn’t actually mean it has.  I’ve had some client ovens signal preheated when still 100° away.  So place your thermometer and then compare.  Is it at the expected temp when it tells you it’s ready?

Don’t just stop at your oven though.  Do you have a toaster oven?  I do.  And I used to make the mistake of trusting the dial on the front. Until something came out of it TOTALLY charred (and not in that tasty ‘blackened Cajun fish’ kind of way).  It hadn’t occurred to me until then to check my toaster oven and BOY was it ever OFF.  I’m talking almost 200 DEGREES off.  I thought I was cooking at 325° and it was over 500°!

Another good appliance to test is your dehydrator, if you have one.  Many raw food enthusiasts use dehydrators to dry their food below certain temperatures in order to preserve the live enzymes in the food.  (Depending on which expert you follow, some say that is below 105°, some say 114°, and others say below 118°.)  So if you want your kale chips dehydrating at 105° and they are actually at 130°, you no longer have raw chips.

My dehydrator’s dial is anything but accurate when it comes to determining where the white dot actually is on the temp range.  In this photo, I’d figured I was set at about 108°:

But I was actually much closer to 120°:

To test your dehydrator, rather than using an oven thermometer you’ll want to use an instant read thermometer that will give you a smaller range.

And last but not definitely not least, you should also check your refrigerator and freezer temperatures rather than trusting what the built-in appliance thermometer may be telling you.   A recent job I was on found me working with a fridge/freezer that just didn’t want to stay as cold as they should.  In the Food Safety world there is something called the DANGER ZONE that you don’t want your food sitting at for too long and that’s between 40° and 140°.  In that range bacteria can multiply in phenomenal numbers.  So you want your fridge to be under 40° but not freezing (ideally 33-37°).  And ideally your freezer should read at 0-3°.  Otherwise you might have a few million (billion, trillion) more ‘guests’ joining you with dinner than you may have anticipated!

Do you check your appliance temperatures on a regular basis?

– Shari B.

***

Stop by Cindy’s blog today and check out this delightful post about her visit with a good friend.  ;)

***

Shari Becht is a Certified Natural Chef, Fit Living Coach and ACE Certified Personal Trainer.  She is extremely passionate about teaching people how they can take steps to fit healthy habits into their busy lives. 

If you or someone you know could use some help learning how to eat more healthfully, achieve a healthy bodyweight or fit more “FIT” into their lives, please feel free to email her at shari [at] fitfeat  [dot] com.  For more information, click here.

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Blackstrap & Mirin Caramelized Onions

Oct 4

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Good morning friends!

I have been in an onion mood lately – not sure why.  I made a batch of dehydrated onions right before I went on vacation and ate them like a snack when we got back.  Then I decided to make a batch of caramelized onions to have in the fridge to reheat and add to different dishes.  I’m sure this drives Cory nuts, as he is definitely not an onion fan.  Not only did the house smell like them but so did I!  :)

I thinly sliced one onion (since it’s just me that will eat them).

I preheated my skillet over medium heat and then added a bit of ghee to my pan.  In this instance I prefer ghee because it maintains its ‘silkiness’ in the bottom of the pan for the duration of the cooking, since these will be in there for a while.

While they were cooking away on the stovetop, and just turning to their golden brown phase, I add in about a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses for flavor (and a health boost of minerals and iron).  I let my onions go for about 30 minutes (longer if they are thicker sliced).

This time though, I decided to deglaze the pan with a few splashes MIRIN (a sweet Japanese rice wine).  Deglazing is when you add a liquid (sometimes stock, water, or something acidic like a vinegar or citrus juice) to the pan and scrape up all of the brown caramelization in the bottom – that’s where your flavor is.

The mirin added so much flavor and worked really well with the blackstrap.  I wanted to just eat these onions straight out of the pan!

But I restrained myself and used half of them for a cup of onion soup using some overnight crock pot mineral broth I’d pulled from the freezer the night before, and served it with some sprouted grain bread sprinkled with some goat gouda and toasted.

This turned out to be a really fun and delicious lunch.

Better go refill the breath mints in my purse! ;)

What food have you been craving lately?

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Giveaway: Win A Fun New Cooking App

Sep 19

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Giveaway Contest | 2 Comments

Hi friends!

Earlier this year, I was invited to participate in something really fun that I’m excited to share with you today.  I was asked to select a recipe to test and write about for a project that was in development at the time.  I have strong admiration for the person who was putting this project together.  She is Deborah Chud, MD.  And her project is called Trufflehead, a new healthy cooking app for iPhone, iPad and iTouch.

I just recently installed the app on my own iPhone now that it’s been released and can’t wait to try some of the recipes from it when I’m back in my own kitchen after I’m home again from “travel mode”.   It is a SUPER SLICK cooking app.  What I especially love about it is the inclusion of video guidance for certain steps IF you need it.  For example, if you are making the artichoke appetizer, but have never worked with a fresh artichoke before and are unsure of how to prep it for use, all you do is click the video arrow inside the recipe and it walks you through the steps.

When I tried the Sesame Slaw with Pea Pods recipe as a contributing blogger, I was provided with the video for destringing the pods, something that I’d never done before.  You can read about my experience with this recipe and the video on the Trufflehead site at this link: Shari Becht’s Sesame Slaw with Pea Pods.

I also love that every recipe has a photograph.  I will almost always pick a recipe with a pic over one that doesn’t when I’m looking in cookbooks.  In this app, I don’t have to choose because EVERY recipe has one.

There’s something here for everyone:  omnivores, vegetarians, pescetarians, vegans.  I saw a recipe in the app for vegan Pumpkin Blondies that I definitely want to try.   Some of the recipes do call for Splenda OR sugar, and I can’t judge because I used to use Splenda myself (but I no longer do).  Deborah addresses the sweetener issue both in the app and on the website, and I appreciate the way the topic is handled.

To learn more about Trufflehead and the cool features included in the app, take a look at this video clip:

Here’s the best part!  Deborah has kindly offered to GIVE a free download of this awesome app to TWO FitFeat readers!

The first two people email talk@trufflehead.com with FitFeat in the subject line will receive a free download.

Let me know if you are one of the winners!

Now, if you DON’T win, you can still purchase this app at a 50% discount for a limited time from the iTunes store.  When I went to check it out at iTunes, the iPhone version was only $1.99 during this sale.  Think about how expensive cookbooks are to purchase and this app only costs $1.99?  That is a steal – and I really mean that because I know that Deborah put a LOT of work into bringing this to fruition.

Have a MAGNIFICENT MONDAY FitFeat friends!  See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

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Autumn Vegetable Ragu with Pumpkin, Fennel and Sage

Sep 14

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Vegetarian | 3 Comments

Hi there friends!

Is it just me or does it feel like today should be FRIDAY not WEDNESDAY?  The weather here is dreary and a little on the chilly side (high of 58 today).  My internal solar battery is running low already today.  I feel like I need a nap or some caffeine.  One or the other.

Hope you guys aren’t getting too sick of me, what with all this daily posting again during the ‘challenge‘ days!  It’ll be over in a couple of days and then I will be back in ‘travel mode’ again so you’ll get a breather!  ;)

So yesterday’s exercise was an EARLY hilly interval running session with some extra-intense intervals on a steep long hill tacked on at the end.  I was feeling pretty beat when it was done.  I’ve been running on an empty stomach again because I noticed I felt less sluggish.  However on this particular day, I wish I’d had something prior because I could have used the extra oomph!

My post-workout meal was a smoothie made with kale, cucumber, frozen pineapple, mint, pepitas and some raw plant protein powder.

Some other highlights of the day included leftover fajita veggies for lunch, this time in a “Southwest” tortilla that I picked up at Whole Foods.

Times two, because it was delicious.  The red, yellow and orange peppers were so sweet and flavorful on their own, the only ‘condiment’ I added was smear of garlic that I’d roasted when I made the veggies.  No need for standard fajita fare here (meaning cheese or sour cream) – it would just detract from the natural flavors of the good stuff!

And a wonderful treat that I split up throughout the day into 2 servings.  A bubbly!!  Mmmmm kombucha!

I was looking forward to cooking dinner because I recently found some tomatoes packaged in an aseptic box rather than in a can!

Love the ingredients list:

Nothing but tomatoes!

I made kind of a pumpkin-infused vegetable ragu.  I’ll call it Autumn Ragu with Pumpkin, Sage & Fennel.  In last month’s Good Housekeeping, there was a recipe for Linguine with Carrot Turkey Ragu that sparked the idea.  But I totally revamped it and did my own thing.  Here’s my take on it:  I sauteed some onion, carrot and fennel, then added fresh garlic, a little cinnamon and some rubbed sage (dried).  I deglazed the pot with red wine then added the tomatoes and a cup of pureed pumpkin.  I let it all simmer for about an hour and then I added some Eden (BPA free) lentils, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some fresh basil. The idea with the lentils was to provide texture (and a little protein) that a meat normally would have.

I spiralized some carrot and zucchini into ribbons to serve along with spaghetti noodles (you can add them to the pasta water with the noodles for the last minute of cooking to take the cold edge off the spiralized veggies).  Whenever I use pasta, I almost always try to cut it down by at least half using some sort of vegetable (like these ribbons, or spaghetti squash or kelp/tofu noodles).

And dinner was served!  (There I go doing something with some Italian influence again.  It looks like a marinara based meat sauce, but taste-wise  you get the pumpkin and fennel undertones with a hint of the cinnamon).

This was another meatless dinner that Cory and I were able to enjoy together.  His review was that the sauce was very “meaty” for not having any meat in it and that the only thing missing was “garlic bread on the side”.   :D

Late evening I had a little Teecino with almond milk and a bit of dry cereal.

So today’s question (which maybe someday should be a whole post topic and discussion):  do you find that you actually USE cookbooks or recipes?  I don’t write out the meals I make “recipe style” very often here, because my hope is that something I make will just spark your creativity with whatever you happen to have in your own kitchen at the time.  I love to READ cookbooks (and I own a bunch of them too) but truth be told I just don’t use them very often.  I have also read through the recipes on a zillion blogs, but have probably only tried a handful over the course of 3-1/2 years of blog reading.  Usually I’ll try a recipe from a cookbook checked out from the library or I’ll adapt one from an online source, like Epicurious.com.

Have a fabulous Friday friends!  (Ha, just kidding:  make that Wednesday!)

– Shari B. =)

 

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Grill Fajitas

Sep 13

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

Hi friends!

Well we’re in the remaining days of the *3 weeks of cleaner eating* challenge.  How have you been doing?  Overall I’ve done well during the weekdays, but still have allowed some sneaky refined foods into my weekend eats.

Yesterday’s breakfast was 2 pieces of sprouted grain toast with almond butter, miso and drizzle of honey.  I had a “carb strong” meal because I was going on a cleaning frenzy the first half of the day so I needed some energy.  (I’m even SORE today from the cleaning if you can believe it!)  I moved around furniture to do some deep cleaning, did some hand scrubbing on hardwood floors then polished with the BONA mop, vacuumed our main level, our upstairs and our basement, cleaned all the mirrors in my training studio, pulled a ton of weeds in our front yard landscaping, ran the trimmer and the lawnmower in the front yard, etc. etc. etc.  I was beat!  And at the end of it I decided I miss having a 700 sq ft apartment.  The cleaning process was so much quicker!  :D

It was about 3 1/2 hours in all.  And you can bet I counted it as my exercise for the day!

Late morning I had a scoop of greens powder mixed in water:

For lunch I made some egg salad with two hard boiled eggs, chopped celery, Vegenaise and mustard, pepper and Hungarian sweet paprika.

I ate it along with a handful of baked pita chips.

Mid-afternoon I had half of a coconut cream pie Larabar and then got busy getting dinner prepped so that it could marinate for a few hours.

I was planning some fajitas on the grill, so I mixed up some lime juice, grapeseed oil, cumin, coriander, chipotle powder, a pinch of cayenne, black pepper, ground garlic and some Alderwood smoked sea salt:

It was veggies for me and chicken for Cory.  I used half of that crazy large zucchini, along with some onion, and a trio of sweet bell peppers.

I ate my ‘fajita’ without a tortilla since I was having a side of rice.

I’ve been using my cast iron pan on the grill here and there, along with my dutch oven.  It’s such a nice way to use high heat outside and not overheat the whole kitchen.  But I definitely need more practice out there, because I’m so used to being able to really control the heat on my stovetop.  It’s not quite as easy on the grill.  But it turned out OK and we had a nice little dinner and a LOT of leftovers!

Are you a GRILL MASTER?  Do you prefer using your grill to your stovetop or oven?  What’s your favorite grilled food (or just ‘cooked outdoors’ food)?  I know Cindy has been doing a lot of outdoor cooking this year (check out her solar oven!) so I bet she has some tips to share!

Have a TERRIFIC Tuesday friends!

– Shari B. =)

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BBQ Seitan Sourdough Sliders

Sep 3

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 6 Comments

Woot woot it’s the weekend!

It’s CHILLY here this morning!  Even though I’m not ready to let summer go, it’s a welcome change from the high temps we’ve been having. It’s so nice to still have the windows open late morning, instead of having to shut everything up to block out the sun and heat!

Yesterday’s movement included 30 minutes of Iron Yoga and a 40 min power walk. Last night, Cory and I tried out the Wii Just Dance: Summer Party – as usual, it was an AWESOME cardio workout!  Love the entire Just Dance series!

Dinner last night was awesome so I have to show you that first, then I’ll recap the rest afterward.  The reason I enjoyed it so much is because I’m really trying to make meals that Cory and I can enjoy together rather than making “meat versions” for him and “vegetarian and/or seafood versions” for me.  The meatless loaf was one example.  He’s not really into a lot of the same veggies that I enjoy so it sometimes poses a ‘creative’ challenge when coming up with dinner ideas.  He’s really reduced his meat consumption a LOT over the last 2 years and has been willing to try most of the veggies I do make, so I’m already proud of him for that.

He loves to eat at BBQ restaurants, and that’s one type of restaurant that I can RARELY come up with something to eat from the menu (meat, meat and more meat, with a side of deep fried something or other!).  And I used to LOVE BBQ sandwiches with coleslaw.  So I decided it was time to give SEITAN a try.

This is a product that I probably won’t use more than a few times a month, because it’s basically just concentrated wheat gluten.  (So if you have a gluten intolerance, this isn’t for you!)  I do not, but I still like to use alternative, non-glutinous grains more often when I have a choice.

Seitan wasn’t a product we worked with at all in school and I’m sure that’s because it’s not a “whole” food.  It’s processed to get just the gluten to make a “meat substitute”.  However in the interest of trying something new and finding a way to incorporate some things that Cory and I can eat together on a vegetarian level, I am willing to use it here and there.

I made some BBQ Seitan Sliders on mini sourdough buns, Ancho Lime Corn and an Agave Lime Apple Cabbage Slaw.

I only wish I’d taken more time to get a better picture.  I was so excited to eat I pretty much just slapped it on my plate, took the photo, then dug in!

For the seitan, I had planned to use Annie’s Organic BBQ sauce (original flavor), but when I got home from the store and tasted the sauce it was very strongly flavored of vinegar.  So some tweaking was in order.  I sautéed a couple of minced shallots and a little garlic until they were golden brown, then poured in some of the BBQ sauce (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the small bottle).  I added a squeeze of Dijon mustard as well as a squeeze of sriracha.  Mmmm now the sauce was speaking to me!

I sliced up an 8 ounce package of seitan, put it in the pot with the sauce, stirred to coat it and then let it simmer with the lid on for a good hour.  (I was using a pre-cooked version of seitan by WestSoy, so all it needed was warming.)

While that was cooking, I made the slaw.  I adapted a recipe I found in the Inspired Eats iPhone app (great app for healthy cooking, BTW! It was written by one of my Bauman instructors.).  I sliced up some red cabbage, a green apple, and 2 scallions (from my garden!!)

Then I mixed up some equal amounts of grapeseed Vegennaise with organic Greek yogurt, added a squeeze of lime juice, some salt, and a little agave nectar for the slaw dressing.  Tossed it up and put it in the fridge to chill.

Next I made the corn – I used frozen because there wasn’t a single cob of fresh corn to be found at Sprouts yesterday.  I thawed the corn first in boiling water, then drained it well and sautéed it, adding in minced garlic, ancho chili powder, lime zest and some lime juice.

Cory totally loved the meal and said that he wouldn’t have known it wasn’t meat if I hadn’t told him.  I’m excited for leftovers today – there’s enough for one little slider, and I’m calling DIBS!!

The rest of the day’s eats probably weren’t as exciting.

Green juice in the morning (celery, 3/4 red apple, kale from our garden, cucumber):

Followed by some leftover reheated brown rice (“oatmeal style”) with almond milk and cinnamon:

Greens powder:

And an unpictured HUGE salad from Sweet Tomatoes salad bar.  While there, I had part of a chocolate muffin topped with a little non-fat fro-yo.

Because I had the muffin at lunch, I didn’t need to have a full snack in the afternoon (that and I was looking forward to my BBQ dinner!) so I just had some green tea steeped with fresh mint:

That was my Friday!

So I’m curious:  Do you ever cook with seitan?  What’s your take on it?

– Shari B. =)

 

 

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Magic Show

Aug 17

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 6 Comments

Hi friends!

This morning I turned this:

ABRACADABRA!!! … into this:

Delicious green juice!!!  So you know what that means.  It’s TRAVEL TIME again.  I am getting quite familiar with the inside of Southwest planes as of late.

I also turned this:

into this:

Overnight Mineral Stock.  I do not like to babysit a stockpot on the stove for hours.  There is something about that open flame of my gas stove that wigs me out and makes me scared I’ll burn my house down!  Yet, I’ll leave a crockpot on for 24 hours straight and think nothing of the possibility of an electrical fire!  I’m weird like that.

Making stocks in the crockpot is AWESOME though because you can let it go for 18 to 24 hours and the minerals have a really long time to seep into the liquid.  For this one, I use the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken that I picked up for Cory and a TON  of veggies, plus some seaweed.

One more… turned this:

into this:

Black bean brownie bites!  A colleague provided me with a container of the rice protein meal replacement she sells at her health center so that I can do a little playing with some recipes and see what I might be able to work it into.  I’m liking how it turned out so far, but I want to try another batch to see if I can tweak the texture somewhat.

I also made a batch of Kale Chips this morning to munch on for even more “extra green” before I fly.  Every bite counts, I think! When I flew last week, I was seated next to a very adorable little girl with a NOT SO ADORABLE cold.  I swear I put on 15 applications of hand sanitizer and practically held my breath the entire time!

Which means I’ll turn this:

into this!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

** If you have any air travel in your future, check out my post on 5 Things That Can Undermine Your Health When Flying…

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Saturday Souffle

Aug 12

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 6 Comments

Hi friends!

Happy Friday!  It has been a little quiet on the blog this week.  I was out of town Saturday through Tuesday and then had a ton of work to catch up on when I got back.  I’m always amazed at how busy I am for not having a “regular” job.  When “they” say that you work a lot more hours being self-employed, they were right, at least about me.  And then you realize how many of those hours are unpaid! :)   Fortunately, it’s also true that when you LOVE what you do, you aren’t really WORKING!

And I have a tendency to WORK at bizarre hours.  Like last Saturday morning when I had a plane to catch, I still felt the need to make mini souffles at 5:00 AM before I left.  We’d watched an episode of “MasterChef” the night before on the DVR and their challenge was a perfect savory cheese souffle.  Truth be told, I’d never made a souffle before.  And it bothered me.  So I wanted to try one too.

But you guys know I don’t like to make a big fuss in the kitchen so I found a recipe that didn’t require me to separate the eggs, make a roux, beat egg whites and then fold them in.  Bonus!

The recipe can be found over at STEAMY KITCHEN for those of you that want to try it out too.

And OF COURSE I tweaked the ingredients a bit…  Where it calls for sour cream and whole milk, I used organic Greek yogurt and almond milk.  Because that’s what I had in my kitchen at the time.  And I really cut back on the cheese.

(Yes, I’m trying to eat a little dairy again here and there in the form of Greek yogurt and CULTURED cottage cheese to see how things go – but that’s a whole other post… ;) )

And because I don’t have a souffle dish big enough for one large souffle, I made this version into MINI souffles.

Here are the action shots!

 

(It actually only made four and a half mini souffles, I was aiming for 6)

I wondered if I’d have any trouble with the souffle rising, seeing how I live at 6,000′ above sea level.  But VOILA:

They did in fact rise!

My thoughts:

  • I liked this recipe because it’s a lot easier than having to separate all the eggs and whip up the whites to peaks separately and then folding them back in, not to mention making a roux. Less dirty dishes makes me happy!
  • I did not taste the Tabasco at all.  There really wasn’t a whole lot of “flavor” to be found and maybe that was because I cut back on the cheese.  Cory reheated the leftovers the next day and he said he thought they had better flavor the second time.  I’ll experiment with flavors the next time, additional pepper, more spice.  (It would be helpful if I’ve actually had a cheese souffle at a fancy restaurant so that I could compare.) The inside was creamy, which from what I understand is what you are aiming for with a souffle.
  • Truth be told, if I want to serve an egg dish to company, I think I’ll go with good ol’ scrambled eggs (with fresh garlic added right at the end, OMG that’s my favorite) or Mediterranean Egg and Quinoa bake, simply because then I don’t have to worry about it “falling” before it gets to the table.  I’m already pretty bossy – so I can just picture myself at a brunch yelling at everyone to hurry up and sit down so I can get the souffles to the table before they cave!  :)   Probably not the best way to welcome my guests to their food!

Have you ever eaten a restaurant souffle?  Have you made them?  Savory or sweet?  I’d love to hear your experience with them.

– Shari B. =)

 

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Mediterranean Egg & Quinoa Bake

Aug 4

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 5 Comments

Hi-dee-ho there blog buds!

So during this crazy heat wave we’ve been having, I’m the *smart one* who’s ALSO been running my oven and stove non-stop, further adding to the already “uncool” main level of our house.  (Damn you, inefficient south-facing windows that keep our house at a steady 82 even when the AC is on!!)

In my defense, I don’t really have a choice.  I’m on a deadline and have to have a certain number of “freezeable” recipes developed every month.

The bright side:  I never need to venture to the rec center to use a sauna!  ;)

Thought you might like to see a little of what I’ve been making lately.  This is one I really enjoyed: a Mediterranean Egg & Quinoa Bake.  I adapted it quite a bit from a Food.com recipe and per usual in the FitFeat household there is the SHARI side of a meal and the CORY side.

My side is on the left – you can tell it’s where the party’s at:

My piece after cutting:

Bottom view of the QUINOA crust:

The fun thing about this recipe is that you add rinsed, uncooked quinoa right into the egg mixture and give it a shake.  The quinoa sinks to the bottom and you have an easy-peasy “crust”!  To make mine Mediterranean, I included a lot of chopped spinach, Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, sauteed garlic/red onion, plus some nutritional yeast, dulse (sea veggie) and goat’s feta.

The lesson learned during this recipe test is that IF you want to eat the dish right out of the oven, the quinoa probably needs to be soaked for a few hours first (which is ideal anyway for increasing bioavailability).  But if you are making it ahead, it reheated perfectly the next day after the moisture had more time to permeate the quinoa.  It also worked well in the freezer, although I wouldn’t recommend keeping it in there longer than 4 weeks max.

Leftovers with a side salad:

Verdict:  I loved this one!

I don’t publicly post the recipes that I adapt and develop for clients; however, if you want to try it, feel free to mention so in the comments section of this post and I’d be happy to email you my adapted test recipe privately.

Hope you are having a TERRIFIC day so far friends!

***

Just wanted to give a shout out to my good friend Allison of The Sunday Flog who will be competing in her first triathlon this weekend.  Good luck Allison!  Stop by her blog to wish her luck and while you’re there you can read about her SHARK diving adventure or her delicious cake pops!

– Shari B. =)

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