Wow! No more of that!
Friday was pretty normal, basic oatmeal breakfast, with a serving of the bulgur stuff for lunch, with some pieces of fresh fruit. My daughter had to dropped off for a sleepover, so Kasi (my honey) and I, took my son to Chipotle. It was the first time we had gone out for dinner, since starting to eat healthy.
All in all, it was successful. Kasi and I got the vegetarian fajita burrito bowl, with brown rice, black beans, lettuce, and salsa. It was very good, if not about a quarter smaller than I remember them - the last time I had one was 2005, so my memory could be exaggerating things. Not bad for 405 calories.
My son had a chicken burrito bigger than his head, and was very happy. :)
Saturday started off the same for me, oatmeal and coffee, but we also busted out the juicer, and juiced a bag of oranges, and a couple of peaches. That was a delicious addition!
Lunch was a basic tuna fish sandwich - tasty and filling for less than 500 calories - and a pluot.
Dinner was special. I made up the Olive Oil Dough (recipe below) recipe from the cookbook, Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes, a Day. This dough makes 4, 1 pound loafs, of great bread. It also makes a great pizza dough. We made two pizzas, one for the kids, and one for us. Both used the Big Sur Bakery & Restaurant Pasta Sauce I made in bulk, and froze, the other day, as a base (see the recipe at the bottom of the post, here). Their pizza then had pepperoni and shredded mozzarella.
Our pizza had a bunch of vegetables that we had roasted earlier in the day, cooled, and then diced. The veggies included garlic cloves, a red onion, red peppers, tomatoes, & carrots (see recipe below). To those veggies we added fresh spinach and basil, and a Tbs of shredded mozzarella.
We had a lovely fresh salad, with heirloom tomatoes to finish the meal off. It was delicious!
As the kids watched a movie Saturday night, I cleaned, stemmed and seeded, roasted, and skinned, a bunch of Serrano peppers (see method below) for freezing and later use. Here they are, ready for their initial flash freeze.
I had to work all Sunday afternoon, I work at Sur La Table, part time, as a cookware sales associate. So, the first part of Sunday was basic. The usual breakfast, and a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Dinner, was tasty though. While I worked, Kasi made a Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili (see recipe below). She served it with a Tbs of Sour Cream, and two warm tortillas. I had to go back for seconds.
Delicioso!
I'm making hummus and pizza today. I'll let you know how that goes. Eat well! Eat Healthy!
Olive Oil Dough
From, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois
Makes four 1-pound loaves.
2 & 3/4 Cup Lukewarm Water
1 & 1/2 Tbs Fresh Yeast (1 & 1/2 packets)
1 & 1/2 Tbs Salt
1 Tbs Sugar
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 & 1/2 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
Mix the water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl, and let sit for 5 minutes as the yeast begins to foam. Add the olive oil and salt, and stir to mix.
Add the flour and mix without kneading, with a spoon, until all the flour is incorporated. To get the last bits of flour, use your clean wet hands to mix.It should look like the picture to the right.
Cover the bowl with a towel, and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours. Dough should complete the rise and collapse cycle.
The dough can be used immediately, but is easier to handle when cold. Additionally, I believe the flavors are better after a night n the fridge.
To use as pizza dough, place a pizza stone in your oven, and preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
Take 1/4 of the dough, form it into a ball and let rest, covered, at room temperature, for 15-20 minutes.
Press down on the middle of the dough with the base of your hand. With a rolling pin, on a surface well dusted with flour, place the pin in the middle of the dough, and roll out. Place the pin in the middle again, and roll towards you. Flip, and turn the dough 90 degrees, the dough over, dusting damp dough spots as needed, and repeat the rolling process.
Repeat theses steps until the dough is as big as you want, but no larger than your pizza peel. Sprinkle corn meal on your peel and place the dough on the peel. Roll the edge in a couple of turns, to create a dam, and then add your sauce and toppings.
Using your peel, slide the pizza carefully onto your pizza stone, and bake for 15 minutes. Take it out and let it cool 5 minutes.
Slice, eat and enjoy!
Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili - Using a slow cooker
Adapted from, Your Full Plate.
2 small onions, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2, 14 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
1.5 cups of water
3 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T cocoa powder
3 T chili powder
1/2 T smoked paprika
3 roasted Serrano peppers
1.5 T cumin
½ cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
2 T lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili - Using a slow cooker
Adapted from, Your Full Plate.
2 small onions, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2, 14 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
1.5 cups of water
3 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T cocoa powder
3 T chili powder
1/2 T smoked paprika
3 roasted Serrano peppers
1.5 T cumin
½ cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
2 T lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
Add all ingredients except lime and cilantro to slow cooker.
Cook on low for about eight hours.
Stir in lime juice and cilantro, plus extra salt and pepper to taste.
Easy Roasted Veggies
2 Carrots quartered,
1 Onion, quartered
1 Onion, quartered
2 Bell Peppers, quartered
1 Tomato, halved
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place cut veggies on foil lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper,
sprinkle with chopped garlic.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove onions and bell pepper and continue baking tomatoes and
carrots for an additional hour.
carrots for an additional hour.
Let cool, and then cut veggies into a medium dice.
Frozen Roasted Serrano Peppers
1 bunch of Serrano Peppers
Turn on Broiler to High.
Wash peppers and set aside. Being careful not to get any capsaicin juice in, or on, sensitive areas, like eyes, or open cuts or sores (I'd suggest wearing food handler's gloves), cut of each pepper's stem, slice in half lengthwise, and remove seeds.
When done, spread the halves, skin side up, evenly, onto an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.
Place sheet in oven, under broiler for 5-7 minutes, or until they are mostly blackened.
Remove sheet from oven and, using tongs, quickly move peppers into a large plastic zip lock back. Once all peppers are in the bag, seal it, and let it sit for about 25 minutes to steam the skins.
Place a piece of parchment, or waxed, paper on a baking sheet. remove pepper halves form the bag, and peal the skins, individually, under running water.
Place skinned peppers in a single layer on the parchment paper, and place in freezer for at least an hour.
Remove baking sheet from freezer. Transfer frozen peppers to a zip lock freezer bag. Roll bag to remove most of the air, and seal it. Return to freezer.
Use as needed in recipes. Should be fine for 12 months or more.
Turn on Broiler to High.
Wash peppers and set aside. Being careful not to get any capsaicin juice in, or on, sensitive areas, like eyes, or open cuts or sores (I'd suggest wearing food handler's gloves), cut of each pepper's stem, slice in half lengthwise, and remove seeds.
When done, spread the halves, skin side up, evenly, onto an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.
Place sheet in oven, under broiler for 5-7 minutes, or until they are mostly blackened.
Remove sheet from oven and, using tongs, quickly move peppers into a large plastic zip lock back. Once all peppers are in the bag, seal it, and let it sit for about 25 minutes to steam the skins.
Place a piece of parchment, or waxed, paper on a baking sheet. remove pepper halves form the bag, and peal the skins, individually, under running water.
Place skinned peppers in a single layer on the parchment paper, and place in freezer for at least an hour.
Remove baking sheet from freezer. Transfer frozen peppers to a zip lock freezer bag. Roll bag to remove most of the air, and seal it. Return to freezer.
Use as needed in recipes. Should be fine for 12 months or more.
Everything was delicious, especially the pizza, which really hit the spot.
ReplyDeleteI was reviewing the recipes and wanted you to know that there were two small correction on the black bean and sweet potato chili. I did not use canned black beans, but used 2 cups of dried black beans that I soaked in water over night in 3x the amount of water. I added about 3 cups of water, rather than the 1.5 called for in the originally recipe to give liquid for the beans to cook. Finally about 1 hour before I served it I added a touch or a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Next time I will do less, but I felt it needed a little sweet to balance the chili powders.
ReplyDeleteUsing dried beans is much more cost efficient than using canned and whole lot less waste. You could probably cook the beans in advance, freeze them and use them in this recipe too.