Love and the Smell of Onions...

I drizzle the oil and heat up the pan, I dice them and throw them in. First you hear that amazing sizzle and then the aroma hits you..the best smell in the whole world, onions..

So it's Valentine's Day...Love is lingering in the air for all...and at our house, the smell of onions too.  I truly believe that the way to a loved ones heart is through their stomach. Nothing makes people happier than a nice home cooked meal.

February is also Heart Health Awareness Month. Heart disease is the number one killer of our American population and the funniest thing is, it is totally preventable. There are so many small changes that you can make with your family to decrease your chances of developing heart disease.

Cardiovascular (heart) disease includes a wide range of diseases that affect the heart, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are the most talked about.  

Here are some simple food tips that you can do starting today!

·        Cook at home – Cooking at home is a great way to control and limit your portion sizes and of course what you eat. You are able to limit the amount of oil used, salt and of course it will be fresh.

·        Oils – when cooking, use heart healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, safflower oil or soybean oil. Although they are considered healthy for our hearts, use them in moderation (they still have about 100 calories per tablespoon)

·        Add Spice to your Life – experiment using spices and seasoning combinations. Avoid prepackaged seasoning mixes that usually contain tons of salt. 

·        We teach our kids to share…why don't we? – If you do go out to your favorite restaurant, order one entrée and share it. Maybe you will have room for some dessert.

For more information visit www.heart.org , American Heart Association.

Tonight our special Valentine's Day meal included a combination of healthy foods and then of course a couple cheats. Here are a few recipes....

Dijon Brussel Sprouts with Crumbled Bacon

2 cups fresh brussel sprouts, cleaned and cut in half
1 onion, diced
2 strips of bacon, diced
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

In a heated frying pan, fry bacon until crisp. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. With the heat still on high add onions and saute for 5 minutes, add brussel sprouts and saute another 10 minutes. Add water and dijon mustard, stir. Keep on low heat for another 10 minutes or until sprouts are tender. When serving crumble bacon on top. Serves 2 with lots of left overs!

Seared Boneless Pork Chops

2 boneless (thick cut) pork chops
1 tbsp Montreal Steak seasoning
1 tbsp oil

Heat oven to 350*F. Heat a frying pan on high heat, add oil. Sprinkle steak seasoning on both pork chops and add to pan. Sear one side for 5 minutes and flip. Sear second side for 1 minute and then put in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes. Serve.

 For more info, or for other recipes...please comment!

 Simple Salad

Dijon Brussel Sprouts with Crumbled Bacon

Seared Boneless Pork Chops

Vanilla Mold with Toasted Coconut and Caramel Sauce

Oh, and don't forget the secret ingredient to all my dishes....Love :).

Chicken Soup Kinda Day..

Sunday is family day...my whole life, Sunday has always been the kind of day that you spent with your closest family and maybe some friends and basically ate your way through the hours of the day. Whether it is gathering around the TV to watch a football game, or it’s catching up with stories of your workweek or upcoming news or events, Sundays are my favorite day of the week.

Today we had breakfast at our house. My parents and sister (and her kiddos) came to join. We started with bacon and eggs in the bread (a traditional breakfast that my husband's grandmother used to make, and now his mom, where you cut a whole in the middle of a slice of bread and butter both sides. When it is in the fry pan you crack an egg in the whole, therefore the end result is egg in the bread!)

*Tip - Bacon does not have to be fried; we bake it in the oven! Lay the bacon on a cookie cooling wrack and then place wrack in a cookie sheet (make sure your cookie sheet has high sides so that the bacon fat doesn’t drip in your oven) bake until crispy at 375^oF. Bacon is a sometimes food. It is delicious but should be eaten in moderation. This cooking method is a good way to eliminate some of the excess fat.

As the day went on I decided to make a nice pot of Chicken Soup. Very traditional, simple ingredients, but hit the spot on so many levels considering the weather outside.


Traditional Chicken Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 onions diced
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
½ cup rice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups of shredded chicken
fresh lemon juice

In a large stockpot add oil and heat on high. Add onions, garlic, celery and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add rice and sauté another minute. Add chicken and stock, salt and pepper and simmer until rice is cooked and vegetables are tender. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

  

For dessert, we cheated! I made Fried Wontons. There is a traditional Portuguese pastry, whose name I will not attempt, that my mothers family would always bring to us during the holidays. I remember my mother and grandmother hiding the tray from the other guest, now I know why. The traditional pastry is a homemade dough, but as we got older we discovered that you could skip the actual process of making and stretching the dough and use Wonton wrappers (which they sell right at the regular supermarket).

Sooooo easy, all you do is heat vegetable oil to about 350^oF. Drop the wonton wrapper one at a time into the oil. When the wrapper starts to sizzle in the oil, take a fork and press it into the middle of the wrapper and spin, creating a pinwheel (picture to follow). Fry until golden brown, flipping once. Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with white sugar.

Final product...delicious treat!

Chicken, Chicken, and more Chicken...

Chicken to me is a blank canvas. By itself it is plain, dry, boring and really unappealing. Just like when we add spice and color to an outfits with a zebra print scarf of magenta earring, chicken needs some dressing up to give it life too!

Because chicken is so bland, I have found that almost every flavor combination added to it works! Whether it is a simple soy and orange zest marinate or my favorite dish my Mother-in-Law makes, soy sauce and molasses chicken wings, if you are going to start experimenting with flavors, chicken is where to start. It can be baked, sautéed, fried and even dehydrated (well of course Basil would be the only one to eat it that way). It really is the beginner cooks best friend. There are wings, breasts, thighs, legs, and then my favorite, the whole chicken.

Food Fashionista's Baked Chicken

1 Whole Chicken
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2-cup beer (whatever brand you have)
2 tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove chicken from its packaging, remove the back of organs from the cavity and discard. Rinse the chicken under cold water on the inside of cavity and outside and then pat dry with a paper towel. Place whole chicken into a baking pan and pour melted butter all over (the chicken is cold so the butter will sort of harden on the skin). Massage the butter all over the skin of the chicken. Next sprinkle the steak seasoning all over the chicken and again, massage it into the skin. Pour beer on the bottom of the pan. Bake for 1hr45 minutes or until the juices run clear. Remove from over, let chicken sit for 5 or 10 minutes, carve and serve.

*Don't throw away the carcass! Wrap it up and put it in the freezer, you can make great (simple) chicken stock with this.

  
Easy Chicken Stock

2 chicken carcasses (some meat could still be attached)
Water

In a stockpot place chicken carcasses and add water (maybe 12 cups of water). Cover and place pot on medium heat and bring to a boil. Allow boiling for about 20 minutes, watching to make sure that it doesn’t boil over and then bring to low heat and simmer for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow cooling and then straining the broth into a large bowl to remove chicken pieces.

*Because we used the whole chicken carcass, the stock will be very greasy. To eliminate the grease after it has cooled to room temperature put in the fridge over night. When you take it out of the fridge the next day you will see the grease floating on top, you can now drain the stock again to remove fat.
*If not using right way, place stock in freezer safe containers for later use.

My most recent favorite chicken recipe from TV!

Provided by Buddy Valastro TV host of Kitchen Boss

INGREDIENTS

3	pounds chicken wings, drumettes and wing joints
1	Tablespoon butter
Marinade:
1/3	cup soy sauce
1	teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4	cup honey
1	Tablespoon sherry
1	Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1	teaspoon dry mustard
1	Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
3	pressed cloves garlic
1	fresh red chili, thinly sliced
1	teaspoon black pepper
1/2	teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:

1. Whisk together all marinade ingredients. Place wing pieces in a large Ziploc bag with the ingredients, seal the bag and turn to coat the chicken well. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight (can be marinated two days ahead).
2. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a half sheet pan with heavy duty foil and spray lightly or brush with oil.
3. Remove chicken from the marinade, reserving the marinade in a small saucepan. Lay the chicken pieces skin-side down on the prepared pan and roast 30 minutes. Baste with some of the reserved marinade and turn the pieces. Brush again with the marinade and roast another 30 minutes or longer until deeply bronzed.
4. When the wings are almost finished bring the reserved marinade to a boil, lower heat to simmer and reduce the marinade until almost a syrup (don’t allow to become a syrup -- will be bitter). Remove from heat and whisk in the tablespoon of butter. Place wings in a large bowl, pour in contents of the saucepan and turn to glaze evenly. Plate and serve.

Easy Weeknight meal

Stir Fry with Sesame Cilantro Rice

1 cup white rice
2 1/2 cup water
6 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
Veggies of your choice (I used broccoli, red pepper and shredded cabbage)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
protein of your choice (I used beef)

In a frying pan heat olive oil and add protein, cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 minutes (depending on meat, if tofu may be a little less time, if chicken maybe a little more time). Remove from pan and set aside. Next add onions and garlic and saute for 2 minutes, add the rest of vegetables and saute for another 5 minutes. Add protein back into the pan and add 3 tbsp of sesame oil and soy sauce, stir and remove from heat.

In a saucepan add rice and water and cook on low head until tender. Add remainder of sesame oil and cilantro stir until well combined.

Serve.

Grocery Store

Over the weekend, my sister and I (who is equally as crazy about food as I am) took a little road trip to Burlington, MA to a store called Market Basket. I know it sounds crazy to drive ½ hour out of our way to simply go food shopping but when I tell you their produce and their prices are amazing it would be an understatement. We went early to beat the crowd, and to our surprise when we walked in...a table of Girl Scout cookies! I think Kris almost had an anxiety attack over the caramel delights. Anyways, we got 2 carts and made our way to the fresh produce section. “Is it weird that I am excited?” I said to my sister as a bagged the most beautiful bunch of cilantro I had ever seen (ya..I told you I was crazy). My point to this story is that food shopping shouldn't be a chore, it should be an adventure. If you plan ahead and have a general idea of what to do with the foods that you buy, cooking will be easier and less stressful.

I always try to keep staple items in my fridge and pantry for those “oh no! we have nothing to eat” kind of days.

Rice

Pasta

Bread crumbs

Olive Oil

Vegetable Oil

Canned beans

Dried Lentils

Dried Spices (rosemary, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, Montreal steak seasoning)

Canned tomatoes

Chicken broth or bouillon cubes

Onion

Garlic

Carrots

Celery

Rotisserie Chicken

Bacon

With these staple food item you can make a lot of quick and easy meals.

Quick Lentil Soup

1 bag of dried lentils

2 tbsp olive oil

2 slices of bacon, diced into small pieces

1 tbsp dried or fresh rosemary

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

2 onions

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 chicken bouillon cubes

8 cups water

In a small pot add dried lentils and 2 cups of water, bring to a boil for 10 minutes until lentils are softer but not fully cooked. The lentils will absorb most of the water but drain off the extra water and set aside

In a soup pot add oil and bacon and cook until crisp. Add onions, carrots and celery and saute for 2 minutes then add garlic, saute for another minute. Add bouillon cubes, rosemary and prepared lentils and saute for another minute. Add water and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve

Tips for Food Shopping:

Plan meals – think about what you might want to eat or prepare for the week ahead. Take advantage of cooking shows, recipes from friends or recipes from the Food Fashionista. Having an idea of what you are going to be eating for the week makes shopping much easier.

Always make a list and stick to it – include only the foods that you are going to using to prepare meals for the week ahead Think about if you need to replenish any of your “staple items”. Also think about breakfast in the morning and grab and go snacks. Stick to your list, if you buy things that aren't on it because they look yummy or your craving them, you bill is going to be way over budget and 9 out of 10 times, those foods you pick on a whim are not healthy.

Don't go food shopping hungry  - your more likely to but thing you don't need and that aren't healthy for you

Clip coupon – don't be embarrassed to be the Coupon King or Queen!

.

Yummy Party Food Pics...

Just a sneak peak of some party foods from yesterday. Just a reminder that healthy foods are not only beautiful but are delicious!

Skinny Margarita and Fresh Raspberry Martini

Vegetable Platter with Onion Dip

 Vegan Lettuce Wraps

 Braised Beef Tacos



Your mouth watering yet?  Comment if you would like the recipes :)

Super Bowl Sunday

There are two things that we consider favorites, "must haves" at our house on a Sunday, that's Food and Football. My husband is a die hard NE Partiots fan, so seeing that this weekends Superbowl does not include his beloved team, you could say there is some sorrow around the house. Although our team is not playing we are still going to have a party with our closet family and friends to celebrate our two favorite things!

So I know usually when people think of Football food or party food we always think of greasy fried chicken and dips and appetizers loaded with calories but it doesn't have to be like that. There are so many simple substitutions that can be made to your favorite recipes to make them a little lighter on the fat, calories and even salt.

Here are some examples:

Buffalo Chicken Wings: at your average restaurant in 2 or 3 wings there is almost 400 calories. The reason for this high amount is the fact that they are breaded and usually fried and then slathered with sauce and melted butter.
Food Fashionista Buffalo Chicken Wings: By eliminating the breading on the outside and baking our wings to crispy delicious-ness, and using just plain old Franks Red Hot, I have cut the calories in half if not more, AND you can eat a few more than 2 or 3 pieces.

Seven Layer Dip: From the saturated fat in the sour cream and re fried beans to the thick layer of guacamole, Seven Layer Dip is a delicious but dangerous combination of ingredients. A serving size is about 1/2 cup (maybe enough to eat with 5 chips) with a whopping 250 calories (maybe more depending on the ingredients) and 15+ grams of fat!
Food Fashionista Seven Layer Dip: using simple substitutes like fresh pureed beans and fresh veggies this recipes is a touchdown compared to the original.
1 can of Kidney beans, pureed
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 scallions, diced
1/2 cup black olives
1 cup low fat sour cream or plain yogurt
3/4 cup shredded cheese

I like to start with the bean puree, then scallions, olives, tomatoes, sour cream, cilantro and the cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

Today's Cocktails:
Skinny Margaritas - fresh lime juice, seltzer water and tequila
Fresh raspberry martinis - pureed raspberries, raspberry vodka and a splash of seltzer
Diet Sangria - 1 bottle red wine and 1/2 bottle diet orange soda, float fresh limes, lemons and oranges in pitcher.

Today I am also making beef tacos, veggies and dip, Asian lettuce wraps, mini baked potatoes, and mac and cheese bites, and cheating a little bit with fried mozzarella balls.



Pictures and more recipes with today's food to come...