Day 79: Soup, Soup, Tasty Soup

We're getting close to the holidays which can mean you will be faced with some terribly tempting and very unhealthy dishes on that dining room table during any number of gatherings. What's a poor PCPer to do?!?

E's at it again with another of seasonal recipe to help turn that potentially disastrous meal into something that your non-PCP guests will want dish onto their plates!

This recipe is a slight variation of one that comes from a French Medieval cookbook. It's very adaptable for a wide range of flavors!

WINTER SQUASH OR PUMPKIN SOUP

5 1/2 pounds winter squash or pumpkin
4 cups milk

I used a Hubbard squash for the soup in the picture but pumpkin, butternut, or acorn squash will work just as well.

Peel the squash and remove the seeds. Cut it into 1-inch (2-cm) chunks and cook in boiling water for about 10-minutes. The squash must remain firm and must not fall apart; you will need to be vigilant, as cooking time will vary with the variety of squash or pumpkin you use.

Place the chunks of squash in a food processor with some of the liquid and puree. (This will definitely be multiple batches.) Place the puree into a saucepan, add the milk, and bring to a boil. Serve.

This simple recipe just calls for spices and experimentation! Try it with less milk or use plain yogurt instead to make it thicker. Boil the squash with some garlic or bay leaves to add some flavor. After pureeing toss in some curry, garlic powder, onion powder, or dry mustard. When serving, top with some steamed vegetables. (I used asparagus in the picture.) You're only limited to your imagination!

Enjoy!

Day 78: You'll Always Be My Cranberry, Forever My Cranberry

We're getting close to the holidays which can mean you will be faced with some terribly tempting and very unhealthy dishes on that dining room table during any number of gatherings. What's a poor PCPer to do?!?

E's at it again with a new seasonal recipe to help turn that potentially disastrous meal into something that your non-PCP guests will want dish onto their plates! This is a fresh alternative that tackles the holiday stalwart: jellied cranberry in a can. (What do they put in that stuff and why is it in a can?!?)

CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH

12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 medium orange1/2 cup agave nectar (to taste)

Slice an unpeeled orange into eighths and remove the seeds. Place the cranberries and orange slices in a food processor. Process until the mixture is evenly chopped—do not puree. Transfer into a bowl. (If you have a small food processor, you may need to do it in two or more batches.) Stir in the agave nectar to desired sweetness. (If you use a sweet orange, you'll probably want less agave nectar.) Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

One of my favorite variations is to use the relish as a topping for yogurt. It also goes great with bananas and grapes!

Day 33: R. E. S. C. U. E. Me, Only You Can Rescue Me

It's Culinary Rescue Time! Here are some more ideas to help your PCP meals. (Thanks Amy, for getting the creative ideas flowing!)

Bored with plain milk? Add it to tea! Celestial Seasonings offers a wide variety of Chai Spice teas. Just make a cup of tea, add some milk to it, and a little bit of honey. It makes a very refreshing beverage!

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Yogurt and fruit are just naturals together, but what to you do when you're given vegetables to go with your plain yogurt? That's easy. Make a veggie dip! Mix some of your favorite spices into the plain yogurt and serve it with a bunch of raw veggies. Here's a recipe to get you started:

1 cup yogurt
1/2 Tbsp minced dry onion
1/2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 Tbsp dill weed
1/8 tsp minced garlic

Blend all ingredients together. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

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Plain hard boiled egg whites can be pretty bland. Liven your lunch a bit by making some pseudo-egg salad sandwiches! Just take your hard-boiled eggs whites and chop them into small pieces. (An egg slicer does this quite well.) Take a bit of mustard and mix it all together. Spread the mixture between two slices of bread.

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If you don't like wasting food by throwing away all of those egg yolks, here is a product that could be helpful: Egg Beaters 100% Whites. Just 3 tablespoons equals the egg white from 1 large egg. The best part of all: it only has one ingredient—egg whites! No chemicals, no additives, no preservatives, no nothing! Just pour into a skillet, cook, and enjoy!

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Marinades and rubs are great to turn plain chicken and fish into something exotic. The trick is that you will want to make these yourself in order to keep them on level with PCP.

Marinade:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons fresh or dried rosemary leaves
Ground pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together. Add meat and marinate for several hours or overnight.

Rub:

1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp thyme
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 Tbsp grated lemon or orange peel
1 Tbsp black pepper

Mix together. This makes a great seasoning for fish or chicken. For a little more zing, rub a thin layer or Dijon mustard on the meat before sprinkling the seasoning on and rubbing in.

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That's about it for now. As always, play around with the ingredients until you find something that tickles your palate. Remember: Spices are your PCP friends!

Day 20: I Make Spaghetti With Tomato Sauce Because That's All I Can Make

The challenge was thrown out there to create some PCP-friendly main menu dishes. I have a number of recipes in mind, but they all seemed to require the same ingredient—tomato sauce.

The first thing was to find a recipe to make fresh tomato sauce that was quick, easy, and fit the PCP plan. There are some jar spaghetti sauces out there that can come close to being PCP friendly, but a majority of them out there include salt and/or sugar in their ingredient lists. Definitely not something that we can use!

So, I searched on the web and came across the blog for Chez Pim. One of her entries was a recipe for 15-Minute Tomato Sauce. I took a look at it. With a very slight adjustment to the ingredients, the recipe could be PCP-friendly. But the question was, would it really be tomato sauce in 15 minutes? I decided to give it a shot.

The nice thing about her recipe is that she makes it very easy to follow and includes pictures so you can make sure your tomato sauce is coming out like hers. And it was very quick to make. It probably took me a little over 15 minutes to do, but that was mainly because I was waiting for the water to boil.

CHEZ PIM'S 15-MINUTE TOMATO SAUCE—PCP STYLE

Ingredients:

2 pounds (or almost a kilo) of fresh tomatoes
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
just a misting of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
black pepper, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste

(Pim's recipe adds a lot more olive oil and salt, which really isn't necessary. I found that the balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes give it quite a lot of flavor.)

First fill a pot with water and set it on the stove. Bring it to a boil.

While you are waiting for the water, take a sharp knife and make a cross mark on the bottom of each tomato. The water should be hot enough by the time you're done.

Plunge the tomatoes into the pot of hot water and let them sit for about a minute, until you can see the skin come a little loose at the cross mark. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and give them a quick rinse in cold water. This will make them easy to peel.

With a small knife, peel the skin from the tomato and discard it. It should come off very easily. With the tip of the knife, cut around each green crown and remove it. Discard that too.

Then take the tomato in your hand and squeeze it until the excess juice and seeds come squirting out of it. (It's fine if a few seeds remain.) Put the tomato pulp (which is what's left in your hand) in a bowl and crush it thoroughly to break it up to small chunks.

Spray some olive oil onto a large saute pan. We use this product called Misto. Just fill it with olive oil, pump the lid, and spray onto your cooking surface. It uses a lot less than if you were to pour the olive oil in the pan. Use a brush to make sure the bottom of your pan is coated.

Toss the chopped garlic into the pan and then the tomato pulp a few seconds later. Let cook for about a minute or two (or five) until you can see the pulp breaking down and releasing the juices. Use a slotted spoon to pick up the pulp and put it in a bowl. Set that bowl to the side. Leave the juices in the pan.

Cook down the watery juice until thick, about another couple of minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Check to see if the sauce is thick enough. You should be able to scrape the bottom of the pan and the sauce will stay to the sides.

Add the tomato pulp you removed back into the pan. Stir to mix well. Check the seasonings again to make sure it's to your liking. Then pour the tomato sauce in a bowl. It will store well in the refrigerator. When I made this recipe, I ended up with 294g of tomato sauce.

Now that you have a PCP friendly base tomato sauce, it should start inspiring some more meal ideas for you. It will definitely bring you pasta back to something that you were use to.

Until next time!

Day 17: All I Know For Sure Is I'm Trying. I Will Always Stand My Ground

I gave the yard a second chance today. It had been begging me to take it back after it had failed me once, so I was very leary of it's enticing offer. You know what they say—once bitten, twice shy.

But the yard came back to me with a new look, a much shorter 'do. No longer was it the long-haired hippie that greeted me when I came back from vacation. It now was sporting a close-cropped sassy look. Very desirable, but I didn't want a repeat from before.

"C'mon, man!" J-Rope said. "Let's give it another chance. The yard has reformed. No more of those wild days. It's ready to be there for you."

I'm a sucker for second chances and sporty new looks. So me and J-Rope went out into the backyard for some one-on-one-on-one time. Janet Jackson was singing in the background as I grabbed nine rocks out of the flower bed and set them in a row nearby.

The jumps began.

I have to hand it to the yard—it played real nice, not ever once being a tease and flirting with J-Rope. We were there to do some serious work. 100 jumps. I took one of the rocks and tossed it back into the flower bed. 200 jumps. Another rock tossed. 300 jumps. 400. 500. Eventually all the way to 850 jumps, and the nine rocks were back in the flower bed.

The yard had done us good. Maybe it had changed it's ways. It was worth a shot. J-Rope and I decided we would give it another try tomorrow. The yard had earned my trust.

And now, more Creative Cooking from E's Kitchen!

Not-So Devilish Eggs

Ingredients:

2 hard-boiled egg whites
low-fat cottage cheese (enough to fill four egg halves - I used approximately 80g)
curry powder to taste
mustard powder to taste
paprika to taste

Take the low-fat cottage cheese and add about a pinch of curry powder and a pinch of mustard powder to it. Mix it together. (If you like more or less curry or mustard, feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.)

Fill the hollow of the egg with the cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle a little paprika on the top for some extra color. You can add a parsley sprig for a festive touch.

Day 16: You've Got To Learn To Brace Yourself

I knew that Friday was going to be a hectic day for me, so I decided to do my ropes in the morning instead of my usual late afternoon/evening time. So, I went outside and started jumping. By jump three or four, my right knee totally gave out, sending me sprawling to the ground. After lying there on the driveway for a few minutes, I managed to pick myself up and limp back into the house. My legs had decided there would be no ropes for me that day.

I rested my leg for the remainder of Friday, and most of Saturday. Then I went out and bought a knee stabilizer. (It's like a knee brace, but allows leg movement.) I put it on and went outside to challenge it against the ropes.

800 jumps later, my knees were sore but not the painful mess they had been previously. I still had to take some ibuprofen and rub some IcyHot on it, but a few hours later I was walking just fine, and sometimes better, than I had days before. I was actually able to walk up the stairs, instead of having to take it one step at a time.

My knee stayed pretty happy for most of today—that is until came to be rope time. My partner persuaded me to do my jumps in the house, as the temperature and humidity was really awful outside. I decided I would give it a try.

Big mistake.

Although there is enough room to swing a rope around, there is too much stuff around. I was in constant fear that either I would hit something on the wall or mantle, that the rope would be caught on the couch or the entertainment center, or that I would rip the ceiling fan out of it's socket. That fear influenced my jumping like crazy. I tripped more than I jumped, and the sudden stoppage of movement would twist my knee just enough it would start to ache. I even broke that rope twice, which my partner fixed both times. I got very frustrated, especially since yesterday's jumps had been so good!

Fed up, I finally took my jump rope outdoors and finished my 800 in the driveway with little problem. That seems to be the only place where I can jump rope without major issues. I know that I'll need to create a "rope-safe" space in the house, especially if I want to jump rope in the winter, but for now it'll be the driveway.

Mike's post last week about what to make with the night-time snack got my gears a turning. Here's what I came up with:

BLUEBERRY-BANANA SMOOTHIE

Ingredients:
1/2 of your fruit grams in blueberries
1/2 of your fruit grams in banana
3/4 of your milk grams in plain low-fat yogurt (we make our own here, so there's no sugar in it)
1/4 of your milk grams in low-fat milk
1/2 cup crushed ice

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. (I used the "grind" setting on my blender in order to really pulverize the ice.) It was a very nice treat on this hot and humid summer day.

Enjoy!

Day 15: Colours Of The World, Spice Up Your Life

Getting bored with your meals? Do you feel if you eat one more egg you'll crack? Need to add some pep to your bell peppers? Does your fish fillet flounder? What can you do to add a bit more zing to your food?

Well, look no further than your very own spice rack! Yes, spices can bring life back into your food, and the best part of all is that they're 100% free! That's right! Spices add nothing to your meal plan totals!

If you have never used spices in your food, or the only spices you've ever tried are those that come pre-packaged with your hamburger helper, then you are in for a world of adventure!

SPICE 101: For the spicing beginner, there is a very easy and simple method to exploring spices: Just take a bit of food and sprinkle a little bit of spice on it. It will allow you to taste the flavor of the spice and gives you an idea of how well it will mix with that food item. This way you won't spoil your whole plate with a spice that you find utterly revolting!

SPICE 201: Once you get comfortable with those single spice flavors, it's time to mix it up a bit. Try combining two or three spices together! The easiest way to achieve this is to do something I call "Cooking With Color". For the most part, spices that are the same color tend to work well with other spices of the same hue. Here's a sampling of some spices that work well together with others in their color groups:

White spices: garlic powder, onion powder. (Stay away from garlic salt and onion salt. They're not PCP-friendly.)
Red spices: cayenne pepper, paprika, chili powder.
Yellow spices: mustard powder, curry powder.
Green spices: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, dill weed.
Brown spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

Just a little dash of this and a little dash of that from the same color group will help perk up your meals! From there you can advance to the spice blends!

SPICE 301: Spice blends are really great to add pizzazz to any food. Just mix the blend ahead of time and store it in an air-tight container. Usually a spice blend recipe uses enough ingredients to last you a while. Just be careful! Some spice blend recipes include salt! The nice thing is that you can just leave out the salt from the recipe—it won't hurt the flavor a bit!

Here are some of my favorite spice blends that take minimal effort:

SWEET SPICE BLEND

Mix together:
2 rounded tablespoons ground ginger
2 rounded tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 heaping tablespoons powdered bay leaves (Just use a spice grinder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground clovers


STRONG BLACK SPICE BLEND

Mix together:
1/4 cup fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup ground long pepper (If you can't find long pepper, use additional black pepper)
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 whole nutmeg, grated


CHINESE FIVE SPICE BLEND

Mix together:
1 1/2 tablespoons ground star anise
2 1/2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cassia or cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Szechwan pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

(Optional: 1/2 teaspoon white pepper and/or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Both will give added bite and depth of flavor)


CREOLE SEASONING BLEND

Mix together:
2 tablespoons PLUS 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon black pepper

And there you have it! Just sprinkle a little of these spice blends on your food and make the flavor sing!

Until next time,

Bon Appétit!