Unsweetened Sweets!

Last Christmas I asked for a Cuisinart Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt maker. I have used it a few times, but not as often as I should have. Today I decided I was going to make a frozen treat for dessert. I had a large bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer and last weekend when I went food shopping, I picked up some plain low fat yogurt thinking about making some frozen yogurt.

Mixed Berry Frozen Yogurt
12oz bag frozen mixed berries( set aside 1/2 cup berries for later) ...thawed, pureed and strained to remove seeds.
2 cups lowfat plain yogurt ( or vanilla )
1/2 fat free milk
1 tsp sugar substitute if wanted
In mixing bowl, combine yogurt, milk, berry puree and sugar substitute. Mix well. Follow directions for your icecream maker with regards to freezing your bowl. Turn ice cream maker on and pour yogurt berry mixture into freezer bowl through the ingredient spout. Let mix until thickened approximately 25-30 minutes. Optional: 2 hours in freezer to "ripen" ( set up ). Serve and eat! MMmmmm delicious! Note: the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar. Being Diabetic now I will not add sugar to this kind of dessert. I did add some splenda, but only to cut some of the tartness of the berries.

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

We dont have to sacrifice taste to eat healthier. We just need to be creative, improvise and add herbs or spices to add flavor. Mom mentioned she bought an Eggplant and mentioned she felt like having Eggplant Parmesan. So sunday morning I decided to prepare the pan of EP for monday nites dinner. I peeled and sliced the eggplant to about 1/4 inch slices. Drizzled with olive oil and went outside with my iced coffee for some grilling. I thought grilling off the eggplant would be alot healthier than breading it and frying it in oil. Putting some nice grill marks on the eggplant slices I then assembled the EP. There was left over sauce in the refrigerator from thursday nites dinner ( we made extra purposely ), and we usually always have some fat-free shredded mozzarella cheese on hand. Preparing the EP the way I would normally, I stacked the eggplant, sauce and cheese, I topped it with about a 1/4 of a cup of grated parmesan for some added flavor and texture on top. I will bake the casserole dish in a 350 degree oven until sauce and cheese is bubbly approximately 30min. Half covered to heat thru and half uncovered until the cheese is a golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving. Some steamed broccoli for my side dish and Voila, EP the quick and healthy way. I think next time I am going to experiment with maybe some whole wheat panko breadcrumbs sprinkled in between the layers or on top of the melted cheese to add some of that texture we get from our fried counterpart. Remember, Life is full of Tasty Morsels!

Thats Amore

Whats better than Pizza? not much! Dont we ALL love pizza? and how many kinds of pizza are there? Thin crust, Chicago, Sicilian, Grandma's, square, sauce, no sauce, veggies, cheese...I could go on and on. I decided this morning to take the Boboli 100% whole wheat pizza shells out of the freezer. There was some fresh mozzarella, gorgeous garden tomatoes and a big pot of fresh Basil in the yard. MMmmmm Pizza. Placing a piece of parchment paper on my half sheet pan, I placed the boboli shell on top. I took one large clove of garlic and crushed it. I rubbed the crushed clove all over the pizza shell. I sliced the tomatoes nice and thin placing them all around the shell. Grabbing a large bunch of fresh Basil from outside, I ripped it off the stems and sprinkled it all over the tomatoes. SLicing the fresh mozzarella cheese as thin as I could, I placed it over the tomatoes and basil. I did not cover the entire shell in cheese, just enough to melt nicely. Some fresh cracked black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil ( about 1 TBS for the whole shell ) to finish it off. In a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 min. until the cheese is bubbly but not browned. Remove from oven and let sit for a minute or so to allow cheese to settle before slicing. A couple of slices and a nice salad is a great fast and easy dinner. I am hoping in the future to calculate calories and carbs for the recipes I post. A healthier way to eat pizza...I know when I was on WW last year, it was about 6 points for a third of the boboli shell. Mom and her hubby loved it. She of course had a glass of wine and was lookin pretty happy. Of course she forgot to take a picture of the pizza when it was done cooking so I can only post the before pic. LOL. I guess it smelled good and she was hungry! Next time....and Remember...Life is full of Tasty Morsel's!

Changes in Attitudes......

I decided to give my blog a new makeover. A fresh new look. Color and whimsy. Its a physical and mental makeover. New recipes, new ideas, new everything. Including me. I mentioned in my previous blog that I was having some health issues. Well I have all the results and fortunately I am blessed. Everything the doctor told me can be treated with diet and exercise. That being said, I have to change my attitude before I can change my appearance....or maybe its changing my appearance that will help change my attitude. Either way, New Blog New me! Damn the genetics....I am now Diabetic. I guess the thinking it will never happen to me took over, as I never worried about doing things to reduce my risk of being diagnosed with it. Its now a part of my life and I have choices....along with some other health problems its time to CHANGE!! I am going to see a nutritionist next week to find out what is going to work best for me. Since I have extremely high trigycerides, very low good cholesterol and slightly elevated blood pressure along with the diabetes, I am going to need to know what to do. I am going to work on recipes that I love and make them healthier so I can still enjoy them. Loving food was a part of my life long before I went to Culinary School. Noone wants to just give up the things they love, so this is my mission : To find tasty and healthy alternatives to the foods I love so much. I will be sharing it all with you, and please send me your favorite healthy recipe or ideas....thats what its all about. Trying new things and passing it on. I am also changing my sign off. I loved the "Bite Me" but I think its time for yet another change...so here we go...hope you like it. Remember....Life is full of Tasty Morsels, enjoy them all.

You can take the Chef out of the kitchen but....

Its been quite a while since I posted anything on my blog. Health issues and some self pity prevented me from even wanting to cook or write. Thanks to some old friends from HS that I have reconnected with, and some awesome family members ( you know who you are CIL ), I think I'm back! LOL. The past couple of weeks I have been cooking alot. So far our summer has been pretty hot ( for NY ) so I am trying to stay out of the kitchen and outside at the grill as much as I can. You'd be suprised how much can be cooked on the grill. My prep work is done as early in the day as I can, with as little work as possible involved. One of my culinary instructors always said "prep" is 90% of the work. I truly believe that. Its the most time consuming and tedious work there is. Get it done and out of the way. Its what we call "Mise en place" which is the french term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish, prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking. My mise en place is all ready for tonites dinner. We are having Talapia. Tilapia have very low levels of mercury, as they are fast-growing and short-lived with a primarily vegetarian diet, and thus do not accumulate mercury found in prey. Tilapia is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source, as well as high in other vitamins and minerals. I will be coating the Talapia with an Japanese spice blend called Shichimi Togarashi which is a combination of red chili flakes, white sesame seeds, nori( seaweed ), dried mandarin orange peel, black hemp seeds, and white poppy seeds. It is also knows as 7 spice seasoning. It has a peppery citrus flavor that brings out the simple and clean flavors of the food used with it. I will cook the fish on the grill using a fish basket since the peices of talapia I have are a bit thin. Each peice of fish will get some of my Mango salsa which couldnt have been easier to make. It enhances the citrus flavor of the Togarashi spice and gives a coolness to the heat of the spice.

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangoes diced small
1/2 small red onion diced
1/2 roasted red pepper small diced
1/2 jalepeno finely diced no seeds
Juice of 1 small lime
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste. ( salt will bring out the sweetness of the mango)
mix all together and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

I use the mango salsa recipe for Fish and Chicken. I also substitute fruits...I love nectarines and peaches which give a great flavor to Pork(just add some fresh grated ginger) Be creative, try something you like! And remember......BITE ME!

Tastes like Chcken?

How many ways are there to cook chicken....I think enough to serve chicken every nite for a couple of years and not have the same thing twice....I am trying to eat a little lighter these days in hopes to lose a bit of that post summmer weight. Last week I thought about making that old comfort standby Chicken and Dumplings and decided that I needed a lighter fare. Chicken Marsala....one of my old favorite standbys...Its easy, light and delicious. I serve it with Brown Rice ( not a substitute for dumplings or mashed potatoes but it will do ), and usually roasted asparagus or some other great vegetable. Here is my recipe for Chicken Marsala...

Chicken Marsala by Michele

Ingredients:
4 large boneless breasts sliced thin
1 small shallot minced
1 clove of garlic minced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup marsala wine
1 lb mushrooms sliced

Dredge the chicken fillets in flour. Melt 2 Tbs butter with 2 tbs olive oil in saute pan. Sear the breasts in the oil until golden brown. Remove from pan. Melt another 2 tbs butter and 2 tbs olive oil in same pan. Saute garlic and shallots. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 min. Deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine....add chicken stock. ( delgazing is removing all the bits of food that are on the bottom of the pan) Add the chicken back to the saute pan and cook on a low simmer for 45 min to 1 hour. Make a slurry of cornstarch and cold water using 1 tbs cornstarch and 2 tbs COLD water. Add to pan and let come to boil to thicken. Serve over Brown Rice.
Hope you enjoy it!
Remember - BITE ME!!

Always be prepared....Boy Scout motto or Culinary Proverb?

Its been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. Christmas has come and gone..Its 2010. I have been sooo busy cooking, baking, visiting and basically just enjoying the time with family and friends. I was determined to not overwhelm myself with all the baking and shopping we normally go through in preparation of the holidays. Call me anal, but it serves its purpose. My Christmas shopping was finished before I left for Dallas the beginning of November ( I also made my mother finish hers ). So when I got home Thanksgiving week I was ready to shake and bake. Since my mother left for her Carribean vacation 2 days after Thanksgiving, I took advantage of the empty house to decorate and prep my baking. Once the tree was up, lights on outside, and the house cleaned I started making my cookie doughs. This year I decided to make a couple of new cookies so it was going to be 7 types in all. I doubled each dough and froze them in quarters. Now I could bake, as needed, smaller amounts and NOT be overwhelmed. Each week, a couple of trays of cookies went into the oven, and we had fresh baked cookies throughout the holidays. I lost count of the amount of cookies I baked, but I do know I made 7 rum cakes, 1 chocolate with chocolate ganache cake,and 1 chocolate with raspberry and chocolate ganache cake, and one batch of Aunt Carole Anne's Eggnog. That is just the beginning. I of course forgot to take pictures of everything I made so I have vowed to myself that this Year ( 2010 ) I will not only be prepared but I will deliver the goods! and Remember....Bite Me!