Interesting Vegetables: Part Five

As I mentioned on Thursday, there's been precious little going on in my kitchen these last few days. We did manage to eat at home on Friday night, but as I can't recall what we had, it couldn't have been too exciting. I've been out and about again this weekend: visiting a friend's beach house one day and another spent out in the wilds of New Jersey at the home of one of the husband's colleagues. We were blessed with a magnificent day weather-wise and the party was altogether lovely. Many of the guests hadn't seen me since last November and I was thrilled to be complimented on my weight-loss. I even donned my bathing suit -in public! - and partook of the glorious hot tub and swimming pool ... which is totally out of character for me and something I would not have felt comfortable doing were it not for my recent success on this diet. I've lost 20.5 pounds and I couldn't be happier about it!

That being said, I wasn't particularly faithful to the South Beach this weekend and, as it turns out, it doesn't much matter. I've learned not to stress the social occasions and by giving myself permission to *not* worry about it, I think I've been better off. Yes, I had a hot dog, some bread products and even a dessert or two along the way, but I still lost weight last week and I'm down another 1/2 pound today after the weekend. When "dieting" ... and boy do I dislike that term ... I think its important to view the week as a whole and not get too wrapped up in being perfect every single day. I tend to "eat clean" 95 to 99% of the time and not sweat the other small percent. If I have to eat out, or attend a party, I eat what I want when I'm there and I return to the South Beach the following day - 100%. I'm also pretty religious about my exercise program and will tend to ramp it up both prior to and following a social function. This works for me and my sense is that it works this way for others too.

Keeping up with my vegetable intake has been a key component of my weight-loss strategy ... and doing so can be a challenge when eating out or attending parties. I like to ramp up the veggies following any enhanced dining occasions and this weekend was certainly no exception. Our trip to New Jersey included a stop at a farm stand and we stocked up on the spectacular Jersey tomatoes, cukes, native corn (not SB approved, but I don't care!) and some really beautiful eggplant. My counter tops runneth over with the bounty of the earth this week and that makes me happy!

Last night I put two of the eggplants to good use by making a delicious Baba Ghanouj. I have no idea how authentic this recipe is ... I just kept adding things until it tasted good to me. By now you know that that's the way I cook - and that's the way I encourage you to cook as well. Feel free to experiment here and make it your own.

Baba Ghanouj:

• extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium sized eggplants, halved lengthwise
• 3 tbsp. tahini paste
• juice of one large lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced*
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
  
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  
• dash of sriracha or Tobasco sauce, optional
  

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the eggplants, cut side down, on a generously oiled rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for @ 45 minutes, until the eggplant is very soft and the cut sides are well caramelized. Allow the eggplant to cool enough so that you can handle them and, using a soup spoon, scoop out all of the flesh from the skins. No need to be perfect here, if you get a little skin mixed in with the pulp, no biggie. Discard the empty skins and place the cooked pulp in the bowl of a food processor.

Process on high until nearly smooth. To the eggplant, add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, mint, parsley, cumin and the hot sauce if desired. Process on high until all ingredients are combined and a thick puree is formed. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding the salt and pepper as desired. Pulse again to combine. Transfer the baba ghanouj to a small bowl and serve immediately or cover and chill if you prefer. Enjoy!

I like to serve the baba ghanouj as a dip for raw red and yellow bell peppers or with some whole grain pita chips that I've made myself. I use Ezekiel brand pita pockets - simply split them in half, cut into wedges and toast in the toaster oven until crisp and pale golden brown. Delicious!

* In retrospect, I wish I had chosen to roast the garlic prior to adding it to the eggplant. If you're wary of the flavor of raw garlic, I do suggest using the roasted or reducing the raw garlic to one clove. As written this will yield a very garlic-y dip. S'ok for me, but your mileage may vary, of course.

Happily, this leaves me two eggplants just begging to be fashioned into a South Beach Friendly eggplant parm. Guess what's on the menu for tonight? Stay tuned!

Housekeeping: Another Extended Edition

I'm afraid the virtual maid is here early this week ... I'll be AFK ... away from keyboard for a few days. Much like my lack of preparedness for emergency, I haven't managed to squirrel away a ready supply of posts to be published while I'm gone either. Will have to remedy that in the future.

I'll be back to posting normally on Monday - though there'll be precious little going on in my own kitchen until then. Fear not though, I'm sure I'll have a tasty morsel for you come Monday afternoon.

In the meanwhile, have a great weekend - and make it Divalicious!

Snacking: Diva Style

I think my profile description says it all ... or at least it says what used to be. Prior to becoming a Diva on a Diet - I was a Diva with orange encrusted fingers. Doritos, Cheetos, Jax, even the inferior brands - if it was crisp and covered with day-glow orange cheese powder then we were going to get it on. Snacking is the one area of my food life where I am not a snob. I've been shopping the organic produce, seeking out grass-fed beef, and eating whole grains for years now ... but when it came to getting my snack on, I was all about the processed foods. Weird. And, truth be told, even now I'd probably sell a limb for a calorie-free rendezvous with a bag of Cheetos. But no one's made me such an offer - and its probably not forthcoming either.

Bottom line, I'm a girl who likes to get her snack on. No diet is going to change that. But, sad as it may seem, I've broken up with the Cheetos and I'm not returning their calls. I'm still all about the cheese, but these days its in the form of low-fat string cheese. While they're lacking in crunch, they definitely satisfy my salt-tooth. Awhile back there was a question about snacking in the comments and I thought it would be a good idea to give you all a window into my snacking habits. Most of these come straight from the South Beach Diet recommendations, and all of them have been delicious.

My New Favorite Snacks -

• 1 low-fat string cheese stick with a cup of raw red and yellow bell pepper strips for crunch

• Any kind of nuts, as long as they're salted. Pistachios, cashews, almonds and pecans are particular favorites. I don't worry about the fat content because they're high in protein and heart-healthy fats ... just be careful not to over indulge.

• 1/2 cup of low-fat, as in 1%, cottage cheese, mixed with some lemon juice, minced chives, and as much freshly ground black pepper as you can handle. I like to use it as a dip for either raw veggies or Multigrain Finn Crisp crackers.

• 1/4 cup of good quality hummus, again, served with raw veggies - usually the bell peppers.

• one package of Orville Redenbacher's 100 Calorie Smart Pops ... which, incidentally, has 110 calories. Go figure.
  

• one wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese, served with raw veggies. Are you sensing a theme here?*
  

• And this last one is a South Beach classic ... dole out your serving of turkey pepperoni, place it on a micro-wave safe plate and wave it up, on high, until its crisp and chip-like. In my wave it takes about 2 to 2.5 minutes. Use the pepperoni chips as a dipper for hummus and OMG you've got an amazing snack! I want this every day ... but, sadly, none of my supermarkets carry the turkey pepperoni. Waaah!

*There is a theme here: the pairing of a protein with some kind of vegetable. This is the very best way to snack. You're munching on high-quality fuel and the combination of protein and veg helps to keep you satisfied far longer than any snack chip would. Its a winning combination and its definitely working for me.

These tasty little bites have been my version of a 12 step program for my Cheeto/Dorito addiction. There are certainly other healthy snack combinations ... this is just a little taste to get you started. An amuse bouche of sorts.

So, how do you get your snack on?

Feet on the Beach, Head in the Sand

The Home and Garden section of last Thursday's New York Times had an interesting, if somewhat frightening, article that's got me thinking. It was about a woman in Massachusetts, Kathy Harrison, who has been stockpiling all manner of provisions in case of disaster - natural or otherwise. Its a pretty sobering read. Especially for someone like me who tends not to dwell on such things. Consider, for example, my Y2K preparations - which consisted of laying in a case of champagne and two gallons of bottled water, purchased in haste at the last minute. (I'm not kidding here ... the party was fantastic and the water collected dust under my kitchen table for some time.) Living in New York, you'd think I would give some attention to such things, but disaster preparedness is so not on my radar screen.

Its on Kathy Harrison's. She's written a book: “Just in Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens.” It focuses not only on the stockpiling of non-perishable food stuffs, but also on self-sufficiency in times of crisis ... things like cooking without electricity and canning your own foods, etc. Sounds interesting ... and terrifying. I mean look at that title ... its not "How to be Self-Sufficient If ..." its when. Yikes. That said, this is not a doomsday book. Apparently its rather down-to-earth and the tone is cheerful and positive. Given my total lack preparedness, I suppose I should consider giving it a look.

I do not have a "go bag", or a ready supply of canned goods ... there might be some wretched form of canned chili fermenting in the back of my pantry cabinet, but other than that there ain't much. I wonder if I should remedy that? I wonder if I could remedy that? Though I'm blessed with a large kitchen and many cabinets, I can't imagine where I'd put all this readiness stuff. Its surely a problem for disaster-minded city dwellers, as the article points out. I know our last blackout certainly caught me off guard. I was able to purchase the last pack of batteries at a local bodega, so we could run the radio and a flashlight - but that was just luck. Fortunately, I'm a big fan of candlelight, so we had the most brightly lit apartment on the street that hot, summer night ... but again, that's luck not foresight. I haven't learned my lesson either ... I doubt any of my flashlights are in working condition at present. Sigh.

Like the title says ... I've got my feet on the beach and my head in the sand. Which has me wondering about you, gentle readers. Do you have a "go bag"? Or are you laying in provisions in case of emergency? (Do they consist of something other than champagne?) If you're not now, will you be after reading the article? Click the link and read the article ... then come back and let me know what you think.

May I Have the Envelope, Please ....

This post is a big Shout Out to darling Scarlet of Jamjarsuperstar who's passed on her Arte y Pico Award to me. I'm thrilled!

I'd like to thank the Academy, my hair-stylist Patrique, my love guru Armand, my baby Dachshund Fifi, my macrobiotic chef Claude, and all you little people up there in the gallery who made my film ... ooops, where am I?

~Looks around room and notes that it is *not* The Shrine Auditorium~ ~blink~

For a moment I forgot where I was and launched into my pre-prepared Oscar speech. Sorry! But that's because I'm every bit as thrilled with this award as I would be with an Oscar - more so even. Thank you, thank you dear Scarlet! And now its my turn to pass it on. Wheee!

The “Arte y Pico” award comes with a few rules. These rules are listed below:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each awardee has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the Arte y Pico� blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

5. Display these rules.

I'm pleased to pass on my award to these 5 winning food related blogs in no specific order:

1. NYC Donut Report by Duane Reade - this dude doesn't know me but I am loving his blog. Its tasty, funny and you gotta give some props for creativity to anyone calling himself Duane Reade. Love it.

2. Cake Wrecks by Jen - this chick doesn't know me either, but I know her blog. A friend hipped me to it recently and now I check it daily. Also funny and tasty. Love it.

3. Altered Plates by Deb Schiff - a recent addition to my blogroll and I'm quite happy about it. Anyone creative enough to bake without sugar and make it all delicious certainly deserves an award. Love it.

4. Pinot & Pineapple by Tracy - another recent addition to the blogroll and fellow New Yorker. Great recipes, great photos and great (well written) restaurant reviews. This site makes me hungry! Love it.

5. Taking Over the World One Bite at a Time by Jo Boston - one more recent addition to the blogroll - astoundingly delicious photography, great expressive style, fun and free-wheeling food blog that makes me want to move to San Francisco. Love it.

Congrats to all the winners and pass it on!

Interesting Vegetables: Part Four

Let's face it, zucchini can be pretty scary this time of year. If you're a gardener, its likely taking over your yard right about now. And, if you've got a friend or family member who's a gardener, they're likely trying to pawn great bushels of it off on you. Fortunately, I love the stuff and am always happy when my bro has some to share. In this case, said zucchini was about the size of my forearm. It was big. BIG. That picture doesn't do it justice! When faced with a squash of such threatening magnitude, the best way to tame it is to stuff it.

I'm sure it would have been delicious if simply steamed as a side dish - but this baby was more meal-sized and seemed to demand the spotlight. I have a magnificent stuffed zucchini recipe that I've been making for 15 years. The original is from the Weight Watcher's Favorite Homestyle Recipes cookbook - which may well be out of print by now. It was published in 1993, and I've been cooking with it ever since. Its excellent - though typically I find the dishes need more seasoning than the recipes suggest. I modify them as I see fit. Its a great source for ideas and the recipes are simple and mostly of the quick-cook variety. Amazon does have copies of the book, new and used, and I do recommend it.

Hollowed out and filled with a melange of savory vegetables, the stuffed zucchini makes a lovely, vegetarian main course and would be well served by a side of brown rice pilaf to complete the meal. If your zucchini is of lesser proportions, by all means serve it as a delightful and hearty side dish. Either way, its all good ... and far less threatening when pulled from the oven, bubbling hot and oozing with melted Parmesan.





Stuffed Zucchini:

• 1 very large, or 2 medium zucchini
• 1 1/2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 1/2 cup Vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of diced carrots
• 1/2 cup of Crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small stalk of celery, diced
• 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. dried Summer Savory
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. curry powder
• generous grinding of fresh black pepper
• 4 tbsp. low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
• @ 4 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cut zucchini in half, lengthwise, and using a teaspoon - hollow out the zucchini, removing the pulp from both halves while leaving @ 1/4 inch of the shells intact. (See above photo.) Dice the removed pulp and set aside.

Using a vegetable steamer large enough to hold the squash, steam the zucchini over high heat for @ 3 to 4 minutes or until the shells are just tender when pierced with a fork. Do not over cook! Remove the shells from the pan when tender and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium high heat and sautée the onions, carrots, mushrooms and celery until the onion is translucent and the carrots are crisp/tender - @ 3 to 4 minutes. Add the reserved zucchini pulp and the salt, summer savory, cayenne pepper, curry powder, black pepper and chicken broth and continue sautéeing the vegetables until the squash is tender and most of the chicken broth has cooked away. Add the chopped parsley, stir well to combine and remove from heat.

Pre-heat your broiler. Spoon the cooked vegetable mixture into the reserved zucchini boats in equal measure and top with the grated Parmesan cheese - @ 1 or 2 tbsp. per zucchini - but that's up to you. (More cheese is never a bad thing, just be sure its freshly grated and not the powdered stuff.) Place the stuffed zucchini in a heat safe, low-rimmed dish or on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown - @ 3 or 4 minutes, depending on your broiler. Serve and enjoy!

Here's the finished product:

If you're vegetarian, feel free to substitute some vegetable broth for the chicken stock. If you're on Phase 1 of South Beach, leave out the carrots and substitute some diced yellow bell peppers. As a main course, this recipe will serve two. As a side dish ... its up to you ... larger squash can be halved again to serve four, or not, depending on your appetite. Bon Appetite!

Sugar Plums and Xanthan Gums

If you're wondering whether or not I have fun making up these titles ... I do! Again, this one is slightly misleading as I won't be discussing Xanthan Gums ... I just wanted to rhyme something sugary with a food additive! Xanthan Gum is a complex polymer used as a thickening agent to increase viscosity in foods (such as salad dressings) and is not the subject of this post. I am, however, going to delve into the realm of artificial sugars or sugar substitutes.

While I'm loving The South Beach Diet so far, I have been concerned about the diets' recommendation of using Splenda as a sugar substitute. With the exception of all things chocolate and the occasional dessert, I'm really not much of a sugar fiend. I don't use it in my tea and don't add it to cereals or anything else. I only keep it in the house for baking and for guests, so eliminating it hasn't been much of a problem for me.

That being said, the advent of summer has presented me a challenge perhaps even greater than Brillo Head: ice cream. I want some. I want some now. And I'm going to want some after dinner too. Lately, I've been having a sugar free popsicle instead and for the most part I've been happy with them. They're icy cold and fun to eat ... and they're also made with Splenda. Sigh. What's a chemical-fearing-dessert-craving Diva to do?

Rather than donning my tiara, I put on my reading glasses and decided to do an exhaustive -well to me anyway - internet search on all the artificial sugars so as to make a better informed decision about whether or not I need to have a Splenda freak-out. And, as it turns out, I don't think I do.

Splenda is the brand name for sucralose - a chemically engineered artificial sweetener which is roughly 600 times sweeter than ordinary table sugar (sucrose). Basically, sucralose is made by replacing three of sucrose's hydroxyl groups with three chlorine atoms ... which is chemist speak for: they take sucrose, remove some stuff, add some chlorides and a new chemical compound "sugar" is formed. Tasty, right? Um, I dunno. Should we be concerned about eating chlorine? Well, it seems that the good news is you're not actually eating chlorine when you ingest sucralose. There's a bunch of complex chemical reasons why - but suffice it to say we're not talking about sweetening your pudding with the stuff you use to clean your pool. Its not the same thing.

Splenda-related internet theories abound. I think I've read them all, including one very amusing website called The Truth About Splenda - which was actually produced by the sugar industry! Does that tell you anything about possible bias? Think they've got an axe to grind? Rather than getting mixed up in the conspiracies I turned to The Center for Science in the Public Interest's website. They're the people that harshed our mellow with that "movie theatre popcorn is death in a carton" revelation. Now I don't know if they have their own axe to grind, but as watchdog groups go, I kind of trust them. They have a really good page on their site about food additives and it gives clear recommendations for what to avoid and what appears to be safe for consumption. They have concluded that sucralose is safe for consumption.

Now, I'm not saying that its ok to eat Splenda, or any artificial sweetener, just because a watch-dog group has deemed it safe. I think its a personal choice. In my case, I eat so little of it that I've decided not to freak-out. I don't think having a sugar-free popsicle a couple of times a week will be the thing that kills me. I might think differently if I was using Splenda several times a day, but I'm not. I don't eat any other sugar-free products or snacks, I don't drink diet soda and don't sweeten any of my beverages period. What I am saying is beware of internet conspiracy theories and be conscious of possible bias when you're surfing about.

There are certainly other, more natural, means of sweetening up your life. Agave nectar and Stevia come to mind. Given the choice, I'd opt for the agave nectar. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has deemed Stevia unsafe for consumption. There is some controversy there as well ... something to do with sugar and artificial sweetener lobbyists. But the more salient point, I think, is that while Stevia is approved for use in other countries, these countries don't use sugar in the excessive amounts that we in the US do - and there have been no long term studies on the effects of increased Stevia consumption. There is some concern about possible mutagens as well. I don't think I like the sound of it. Much like the Splenda though, you can take all of this with a grain of salt because there's clearly some bias at work and very little hard data on long-term use.

As for the agave, though natural, it is not considered a "whole" food. It is processed and there appears to be some concern that some manufacturers have been adding high fructose corn syrup to the nectar to lower production costs. If you buy agave products, be sure to check the label and stay away from those that have added HFCs.

The bottom line here, I think, is moderation in all things. Too much of anything can kill you ... and too much conflicting information can be confusing! (Though I do encourage you to check out the link on food additives, its excellent.) By and large I try to avoid processed foods, and I think its probably a good idea not to over indulge in any of the "natural" sweeteners either. I am certainly not trying to encourage the use of Splenda, or any other substance here, I'm merely offer this post as a spring-board to discussion. I'd like to hear your thoughts on artificial sweeteners and what you've decided with respect to them. Sound off in the comments and let me know how you get your sweet on!