Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 319
Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 04:23 PM
I am writing this about a week later. Anyway, this was the idea we came up with when we started to figure out what to eat around 9:00. We needed something really fast and we had little in the fridge. We did have some low-fat crescent rolls and the really low fat hot-dogs. We cut the hot dogs in half and rolled them into the rolls. It wasn't until they were in the oven that we realized the rolls expired about 6 months ago but we decided to eat them anyway. (thankfully, we are still alive to tell the tale)
The points plus was actually not as bad as I expected when we first thought of the idea. We each had 4 rolls made with 2 hot dogs. It was 2.5 points/roll and 3 for all the hotdogs so only 13/person. Not too bad as the only dinner item. Certainly not a well balanced meal but fine for what time we had.
Since the hot-dogs are hebrew national, it feels wrong calling the meal "pigs in a blanket," hence, "cows in a blanket"
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1633, 2011-12-13_162310
Monday, December 12, 2011, 11:10 AM
We made stuffed poblanos like this time. We super sautéd onions, and then added shredded chicken. I used some Franks Red Hot in the pressure cooking brother. We used this to moisten the shredded chicken and onions. We added franks red hot, 3 laughing cow cheeses and some olivio. We probably went a bit heavy on the olivio and cheese and maybe light on the Franks. I say that because it didn't taste overly buffalo (is that a word?). We stuffed them into poblano halves, topped them with low fat cheese, and baked them at 375 for 20 minutes. Next time, I would precook the poblanos a bit.
Even though we could have used more buffalo sauce / Franks red hot, it was super flavorful, as is usually the case when we do the shredded chicken and laughing cow.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1626, 2011-12-12_111046
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 11:10 AM
We made chili and I think for the first time, we didn't use a pre-made chili seasoning. We started with a pound of 93% lean beef and a lot of onions. In addition to tomatoes (2.5 cans) and black beans, we also added zucchini.
I do not remember all of the seasonings, but the biggest one was dried ancho (maybe something else. Meredith may know), We chopped them up and then used the Magic Bullet grinder to break it smaller. We also used crushed red pepper, hot paprika (not smoked),cayenne pepper, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cumin (most "chili" like in my opinion).
It was really good and we made enough for the next two lunches. Also, it was really low in points having a contribution from the beef (16 points plus) and the beans (7 points plus).
We also had some jalapeño-cheddar bread
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1623, 2011-12-11_111030
Thursday, December 08, 2011, 11:53 AM
We had company over and we went for a southwestern theme. First was the posole. We used the same recipe from the Homesick Texan from p 146. We basically followed the recipe with a few changes. We used 2 poblanos since we didn't have seranno. Also, instead of broiling them whole, I cut them since I was going to be blending them anyway. Also, inspired by the Chile Verde we made, rather than boiling the tomatillos, we roasted them as well in the broiler. We also used about 3/4 of a pound instead of half a pound. We also used the immersion blender to blend it all. That was so much easier. Finally, we forgot to add the lime juice. The posole was very good! It had a nice and complex flavor. It seemed well received as well.
We made empanadas using the standard dough(doubled). We made the filling with a mix of red kidney and black beans. What made this time different was we added shredded chicken. As we usually do with shredded chicken things is we used the water/broth from the chicken to moisten the bean mixture. We used habanero and regular tabasco and regular seasonings. I think this was one of the better times we made the empanada filling. One nice thing about this was we made and assembled it ahead of time and then just cooked it.
Finally, we made date-nut bars from Homesick Texan (I'll add the page later). We replaced half of the sugar with splenda. This was the only change we made so it still had some points (1/2 cup of nuts has 22 points plus). We made make it again for ourselves but we will use more splenda, less nuts, and may make other changes to lower the points. They were delicious! Sweet, but not too sweet and a nice texture. They were also pretty easy...when Meredith chopped all of the dates and nuts :-)
Date Bars (From The HomeSick Texan [Book, p336])
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1615, 2011-12-08_115346
Wednesday, December 07, 2011, 11:51 AM
Meredith made this so I cannot comment too much, but we had bought a tofurky to cook for a quick dinner. Meredith made a marinade of soy sauce, a bit of olive oil, and some thyme and also put some sweet potato and zucchini in as well. We also had artichokes with a salsa-greek yogurt (fat free) dipping sauce.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1611, 2011-12-07_115112
Tuesday, December 06, 2011, 10:47 AM
We cooked the broccoli using a similar method to the curried cauliflower. Basically, after tossing them with olive oil and seasonings (TJ 21 seasoning salute, onion+garlic powder, etc), I put them on a tray and covered it with aluminum foil I then roasted them for about 8 minuted. After that, I uncovered them and let them roast for another 10-15. I used 450 instead of 500. The broccoli was very good and certainly done enough. I wouldn't mind them more charred, dried out and crispy though. I am afraid to go as long as the cauliflower, but maybe that is what it needs. Or a higher temp, or both.
The shrimp was really just thrown together. After defrosting them, I marinaded them in lemon juice, lime juice and a bit of apple cider vinegar. I also sprinkled adobo seasonings and italian seasonings. I think they cooked a bit in the acid (a la ceviche) but I (obviously) still grilled (on the griddler) them. It may have been a bit too strong on the acids but they tasted pretty good.
The only real problem with this meal was we didn't really have enough food. More shrimp next time.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1608, 2011-12-06_104758
Monday, December 05, 2011, 06:49 PM
We made lentil soup with the recipe here. We basically followed it but I added 1 cup of water since it looked like it was cooking down too much. Well, I do not know if the one cup made it this way, but it was flavorless! Looking back we used bouillon in it and apparently it was needed. With some Sriracha and tabasco, it was better. It was also a bit better the next day but still nothing like the first time when it was so amazing.
So next time, I will use bouillon and I will also blend a little like the did originally.
We also roasted sweet potatoes for about 45 min on 400. They were tossed with some olive oil, salt, pepper and italian seasonings. They were very good! The only thing is I should have flipped them half way through or something.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1603, 2011-12-05_184908
Thursday, December 01, 2011, 01:41 PM
We made the usual taco stew and it was extremely good! We used a bit extra seasoning and we let it simmer for a long time. I think that is the trick to this stew. The extra seasoning adds flavor and the longer simmer removes more water and also concentrates the flavor. We also used about 2/3 of a pound of (extra lean) beef which is a bit more.
We also had roasted butternut squash.
What was also really good is that the next morning, I took a bit of the leftovers and made a taco (egg beater) omelet. Also very good!
I do not think I have done it before so here are the points plus:
2/3 lbs 93% lean beef...12
1 cup corn...4
1 can black bean...7
--------------------------
23points+ for at least 3 if not 4 servings
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1597, 2011-12-01_134139