Low Fat Lemon Bars

My dad has his gallbladder removed a few years ago, so I made some additional adjustments to this recipe when preparing these for this weekend's visit.

I substitued ~1/3 cup of finely minced prunes for the 1/2 cup of butter.

I minced them in the food processor and then pulsed them together with the sugar and the flour.

I also lined the pan with aluminum foil for easier extraction when cooked.

They came out quite tasty. I even reduced the calories from 100 (which isn't bad already) to ~58 per bar.

The only fat left in them is from the one egg yolk which has ~5 g (50 calories).

Fantastic pork recipe

I found this on Epicurious's new recipe feed yesterday, and decided to try it. It's a winner -- the meat stays juicy, and the flavors are fantastic. I made one tenderloin, not two, but the whole amount of sauce. It's my dinner, with brown rice and greens.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Honey-Marinated-Pork-with-Gremolata-363729

My Mother's Linguine and Clams

Since we were discussing my response to Laurie's recipe over on Facebook, I figured I should share how my mom makes linguine and clams. "Recipe" is far too formal, but this is her description of what she does. She always makes this for Christmas Eve dinner, with the additional whole clams; the usual recipe just uses the chopped ones.

Without fresh clams (at Christmas I add them for flavor and presentation, steaming them in the broth till they open):

Gently saute not-too-finely chopped garlic (and maybe shallots sometimes?) in a generous pour or two of olive oil. Add clam juice or fish stock and drinkable white wine (more stock than wine) and chopped/minced clams (at Christmas I use LOTS of clams, about a pound for the three of us). Heat through, adding some chopped Italian parsley and black pepper. Stir in cooked linguine and let it get comfortable in the liquid. Although purists say no cheese with fish, I say bah humbug and serve with grated/shredded Parmesan.

Cheap & Easy Creamy Clam Sauce over Thin Pasta

Once again, a bechamel from a roux is my friend. Yeah, it involves seafood from a can. That's life on a budget.

This is a 15 minute meal. The current proportions serve 2 hungry or 3 average diners.

Ingredients:
6-8 oz dried thin spaghetti - any long thin pasta will do (1/2 box of Barilla whole wheat pasta is 6 oz)
6-6.5 oz can of clams in clam juice
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 cloves of minced garlic
~1 cup of milk (at least 1% - we keep 2% in the house)
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp flour
~1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
~1/4 tsp thyme
~1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper - a bunch of grinds, I'm totally guessing here
(Optional: ~1/2 tsp red pepper flakes)
Parmesan or Romano cheese for topping

In a medium pot bring slightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta as directed. Sauce takes ~10 minutes. It's best to time the pasta so that it's ready ~5 minutes after the sauce is thickened completely.

Open and drain the clams into a 2 cup measuring glass. There should be ~1/2 cup. Add milk up to 1.5 cups (12 oz).

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

Add the onion and sweat for ~2 minutes.

Add the garlic and the flour and stir together for ~1 minute.

Add the spices (I don't measure; I just shake from the jars until it looks right...) and then add the milk/clam juice mixture 2-3 oz at a time stirring until thick and bubbly. Once the last of the liquid is combined, lower the heat to simmer and cover the pan. Stir occasionally.

When the pasta has ~2-3 minutes left, turn off the heat under the sauce and stir in the clams.

When the pasta is finished, drain and then toss immediately with the clam sauce.

Serve the pasta onto plates or shallow bowls and grate Parmesan or Romano cheese over it to taste.

Enjoy!

While we didn't have any fresh bread in the house this evening, this dish would of course go with with garlic bread or slices of warmed Italian, Focaccia, or Ciabatta loaf. Ya know, the usual pasta accompaniments.

New Year, new resolutions

I have been horrible about posting stuff up here on the blog. However I have vowed to change that! My goal for this new year is at least one recipe a week, preferably something I am actually cooking that week. We'll see how this goes.

This highlight of this weekend was a Yogurt Marinated Roast Chicken, slightly modified from the Dec issue of Fine Cooking. The marinade worked wonders and the chicken remained moist throughout multiple reheatings. This was so simple and easy to throw together, fed 7 of us, AND had 3 more portions of leftovers that it's hard to beat the low cost, high flavor factor of it! We'll be making this again for certain!

Yogurt Marinade
(for 7 lb chicken)
1 whole small onion
3 cups plain yogurt
2 Tablespoons dried dill (they used fresh)
1/4 cup dried parsley (they used fresh)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon pepper
generous seasoning with sea salt

Clean chicken, put onion in cavity. Combine rest of ingredients and Marinade overnight.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. We roasted the chicken for an hour and a half but ended up having to throw foil on it half-way through to prevent burning. I will probably lower the temp and leave it in longer next time to avoid needing to foil it. It had a lovely crispy skin though. Worked beautifully with roast broccoli and potatoes. Enjoy!

Toffee Butter Crunch

This recipe is not healthy in any manner whatsoever. Its two main ingredients are butter and sugar with a side of dark chocolate.

Well, I normally double the recipe and skip the nuts. It's still a wonderful treat minus the almonds or pecans. I generally only prepare a batch near the Holidays. That's mostly because it's forgiven to have it present at this time of year. It is always a hit at parties.

As for notes/alterations, I normally double the recipe and pour the molten toffee onto a wax paper lined 17x12 jelly roll pan.

I stir it every 45 to 60 seconds with a silicone scraper (won't melt at high temps).

I use my handy dandy Pampered Chef small spreader to spread the chocolate. I find that having the angle in the handle makes the difference between burned chocolate covered knuckles (often found with the use of a butter knife) and clean unscathed knuckles. I can also be a giant klutz when I get excited, and well, toffee & chocolate!

Immediately after pouring the corn syrup, soak the tablespoon measure in hot soapy water for a minute and wash. Immediately after pouring the toffee from the pan fill it with hot soapy water and insert the candy thermometer and scraper. Cleaning these immediately saves days of soaking by letting it sit for even 10 minutes. You are making crunchy candy.

Don't hate me, just eat it in moderation!

Loaded Cheddar Potato Soup

Serves 4-6

Soup:
2.5 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 quart of chicken broth
2 cups (8 oz) of cheddar (and/or Monterrey jack), shredded
1 tbsp poultry seasoning (I use Bell's)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
Grease from Bacon (see toppings)
1/2 large onion, chopped
2-6 cloves of minced garlic (to taste)
1 cup of milk, sour cream, half & half, light cream, or heavy cream...
Optional - 2 cups of broccoli

Toppings:
4 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
2 stalks of scallions (~1/2 cup), chopped
1 cup of cheese (cheddar, Monterrey jack)
1 cup of sour cream (optional)

Add potatoes, spices, and chicken stock to a large pot. Cover and boil ~20 minutes or until fork tender.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a separate pan. Remove the bacon from the pan and cook the onion in the drippings. Set to low heat.

Once the potatoes are cooked, use a blender or food processor to blend 3/4 of the potatoes with the chicken broth until a smooth texture is achieved. Mash or break up the remaining potatoes to the size desired for chunks. (If no chunks desired, you may process all of the potatoes, but it keeps some texture in there.) Recombine all of the potatoes in the pot.

Turn the onions back to med-high heat and add the garlic. Once you just start to smell the garlic cook (30-45 seconds), add the milk (or whatever, unless using sour cream.***).

Use a spatula to transfer the onion, garlic, & milk mixture to the soup. Stir and bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat and slowly mix in the cheese. Let cool ~10 minutes.

If using broccoli, steam while the potatoes are boiling and set aside. Stir in once the heat is turned off just before adding the cheese.

Serve into bowls and top with bacon bits, scallions, cheese and sour cream. Loosely mix the toppings into the soup and enjoy!