fixing lunch fast

I like to think of myself as reasonably healthy, but even so there are some less than ideal habits that I know I should break. For example, I am not the best at preparing lunch in the mornings. In Chicago I used to buy my lunch at the hospital cafeteria pretty often. I almost always hit the salad bar for a mix of veggies and hummus, which was healthy and fairly cheap, and thus easily justified to myself. However in C-ville there is no cafeteria at work. There are not even any good restaurant in walking distance. In absence of the easy salad bar solution, I got into this tendency to pick up a few boxes of Amy's or Kashi meals, as they are really easy to grab in the morning. But even though those brands are healthier than many with their organic ingredients, they are still processed. Eating less processed foods is one of those goals that keeps popping up every year, which means cutting back on this shortcut.

So what are the alternatives? The easiest, fastest option is to take leftovers if available. And salads are good healthy options to maximize veggie consumption, but in my morning rush I have a tendency to be really boring when throwing salad ingredients together - think a bunch of spinach in a tupperware with some leftover grilled chicken and salsa on top. This lunch isn't horrible, but it's also kind of boring especially if eaten several days in a row.

Yesterday was one of those mornings where I woke up a bit late and was tired and hurrying to get ready. After a debate whether to bother packing my lunch at all and just going out to eat, I remembered that Steve was going to drop me off so he could have the car, which meant no transportation to go to lunch. And the coworkers I sometimes go out with have not been around this week. So, at the last minute I needed to throw something together. Looking in the fridge, inspiration struck when I saw the cucumber I was offered from a coworker's garden excess. I quickly chopped up half of the cucumber and threw it in the food processor with a bit of greek yogurt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and dill. And suddenly I had some tzatziki sauce!

I spooned the sauce into tupperware with the chicken and then threw in the other half of the cucumber and a few of our garden cherry tomatoes. Then I packed some romaine leaves in a separate ziplock bag, and filled a small tupperware with blueberries. Checking the clock, I was pleased with how quickly I put together a healthy and interesting lunch!

I realize this may not be exciting for those who are pros at packing healthy meals to go. But for me it seemed like a good milestone. I want to keep this up, so I am documenting my success! I think this worked out for a few reasons:

• having a teammate ~ Steve grilled the chicken on Monday night. If he wasn't around, I probably wouldn't have cooked that chicken, and thus would not have had the leftovers
• having extra veggies to use, along with accompanying ingredients ~ the success our garden means we are trying to use tomatoes in as many recipes as possible. Also my coworker keeps bringing veggies from his garden in to share every week. It's nice having office goodies that I don't feel guilty about! Plus, shopping over the weekend meant we had yogurt and a lemon on hand to put together the tzatziki sauce.
• eliminating the lazy options ~ I haven't been letting myself buy my fallback frozen meals, which means I can't eat them! Also the logistical circumstances which meant going out to eat was not an option forced me to find something to pack up.
• maximizing shortcuts  ~ chopping up veggies always seems time-intensive to me, so I usually just skip it when I'm in a rush - hence the boring spinach-only salads. But I've realized that I can take advantage of some unique aspects of my workplace to reduce my morning prep time. My office is equipped with a full kitchen, including an oven/stovetop and a supply of utensils/cutting boards/ plates/ cutlery. This means I can throw whole veggies in my tupperware, and then chop them up at the office just before I eat. So while I don't have as many walking distance restaurant options as I did in Chicago, I have other resources I can use.

I do know that there is room for improvement in the form of doing more pre-planning. Meal planning strikes me as such a good idea, but I have not yet been very successful at implementing a system for myself. But at least I'm getting the hang of putting together some good salads for myself. And with Steve home now, there's been way more cooking during the week - which means more leftovers! Today's lunch was delicious leftover pizza that we made again last night. So easy, and a no-brainer! Gotta love having fast, easy, healthy, and delicious options!

more adventures on the phone and in the kitchen

 At the beginning of July I finally got a smart phone. It's more of a fun item than a necessity for me, since I spend my life in front of the computer (or so it seems) and didn't entirely feel the need to have constant access to the internet. But it's definitely nice to be able to look things up if I need them when I'm on the go. Plus, technology is cool.... I feel more legit as an engineer now that I have an up-to date phone as opposed to my previous 4 year old one :)

Then in the middle of July, I got invited for a Google+ account. And since my phone is Android based, I got the Google+ ap. I haven't used it much, but the feature for instant photo upload is kind of cool. I discovered yesterday in my pizza blog post that I could access my pictures right from blogger, which saves some time in the whole photo uploading process. The phone photo quality is far from ideal but it's not too shabby for being on a phone. And the fact that it saves some steps for blog posts works for me! I mean here I am posting two days in a row ;) Here are a few more pics from our weekend cooking adventures.

After making the dough for the pizza crust, Steve was flipping through an "Art of Bread Making" book that I picked up for ~$2 at a library book sale a few months ago. He was somehow inspired to attempt making naan, the yummy Indian bread. He made the dough right after the pizza crust and placed it in the fridge over night. Then yesterday he cooked it on the stove top for lunch, while I attempted an Indian daal recipe that I found here. We didn't have all of the spices, so I increased the tumeric and added some curry powder. 

It still turned out really good! I love Indian food - some of my closest friends growing up were Indian, so I got hooked on the spicy cuisine from hanging out at their houses frequently. As a teen, I was so impressed by the fresh cooked naan from the stove top. Turns out it's not that hard to make. I may have to invest in some of the more exotic spices - homemade Indian is so much better than the restaurant version. 

Our garden tomatoes made another appearance :)

To be honest when I am on my own I usually find cooking to be a chore. But with Steve, it's an adventure! I am glad that he surprised me with his naan attempt, since otherwise I don't know if I would have tried out this recipe. We ended up with a very tasty Sunday lunch, and much appreciated leftovers for an easy delicious dinner tonight after a long Monday.

pizza perfection

Homemade pizza has been one of our go-to meals since we've been married - we tend to make it about once a week. For a long time, though, we used those Boboli pre-made crusts. For some reason, these crusts are harder to find in c-ville grocery stores, and when we do find them, they are more expensive (it's kind of a myth that a small town is cheaper than a big city, we are finding..). So about a month ago we started making our own - and found it surprisingly easy! Not to mention it is much cheaper and healthier without all the preservatives. I don't think we could ever go back to the pre-made version now.

And since it's harvest time in Virginia, this week we stepped up our homespun pizza by including freshly picked basil for a pesto sauce, topped with cherry tomatoes from the garden along with caramelized onions and goat cheese. Yum!! This pizza turned out to be a delicious summer meal.

Homemade dough, using this recipe. Subbed out 2/3 of the flour for whole wheat, and used our KitchenAid mixer. And Steve has become quite expert at hand tossing for a nice thin crust.

The one challenge we found with homemade dough is that it is much flimsier than the pre-made ones. On our first attempt, we followed the general advice of pre-heating the pizza stone in the oven as usual, and added toppings to the rolled out dough before attempting to transfer. This made a huge mess, as dough stretched out and toppings globbed together in the center. So now we first transfer the dough to the pre-heated stone, and then quickly top with sauce, veggies and cheese before placing in the oven.

 Pesto - just a classic Genovese basil~ 1 c basil + 1/4 c olive oil + 1/4 c parmesan + 1/4 c walnuts (we didn't have pine nuts but walnuts work really well too) + dash of salt and clove of garlic. Very simple to whip up in the food processor. However next time I might try the true Italian method using a mortar/pestle - especially for a small batch like this. I had some trouble getting everything chopped correctly because it kept clumping up under the blade. And since the word "pesto" comes from "pestare" meaning "to pound", the mortar/pestle (same root word!) gives a slightly more authentic flavor. Thus ends my language nerd tangent...

Caramelized onions have been key to a delicious pie since the first time I attempted my own back in grad school. I'm still adjusting to getting them right using an electric stovetop - gas is so much easier! My technique is generally to cut the onion thin, start off with a higher heat to get them sizzling, splash with balsamic vinegar, and then reduce the heat, letting them cook at a low temperature until they caramelize. Another sign of progress in terms of healthy eating ~ we used to throw in brown sugar to help with the caramelizing process, but the balsamic vinegar results in a sweetly flavored onion without the extra sugar.

And, voilà! I mean, ecco! (Sorry, there's that language nerd again.) Finished product. Steve's half has mozzerella. I generally prefer to go cheese-less, but I make an exception for goat cheese! Yum. Oh and you may notice that one quarter of the pizza has tomato sauce, just because the pesto didn't quite spread the whole way. And we don't want to skimp on sauce of course. Seriously, this baby was so good!! I really felt like I was getting in touch with my Italian roots with this one -

I think my grandma would have been proud :)

pumpkin oatmeal raisin cookies

Pumpkin cookies have become a mini-tradition for Steve and me. Decided to make them this weekend since we'll be traveling over Thanksgiving. I was excited to find a recipe with ingredients that were already on hand - and made a few healthy tweaks by subbing whole wheat flour and using raisins instead of chocolate chips (though I'm sure the chocolate version would be delicious!). They turned out pretty addictive, as usual :) Good thing we fit in a 6 mile run this afternoon!

smoothie goodness

One issue that I have with half-marathon training is that so much running means I find myself always hungry. Blame it on homeostasis ~ my body is burning more calories, so it revs up my hunger drive in hopes of replenishing those calories. Annoying, if you'd like to see some net weight loss :)

I am not the best at dealing with that hunger, and use training as an excuse to have less than healthy snacks. But I can get away with it because of all the running, and maybe even still lose a few pounds. Now that I've stopped training, though, I'm trying to break the bad habits that I formed by all those post-long run snacks.

My current weapon: smoothies! I love the abundance of fresh fruit that's available in the summer. I find that blending them up into a smoothie is a refreshing treat after dinner ~ and keeps me from munching on less healthy foods. Plus, they actually keep me feeling full and energized!

image from here

My smoothie making tips:
1. use frozen bananas! I cut some up, stick in a ziplock bag, and keep in the freezer. They give smoothies a thick creamy consistency similar to adding ice cream ~ but much healthier!
2. Try a green smoothie, to cut down on sugar. By this, I mean, start off by blending some spinach, and then add in your fruit. May sound unappetizing, and might look a bit scary too ~ but the sugar in the fruit masks the spinach so you don't even taste it! Play around with the amounts, to see what tastes best for you.

healthy pancake experiment

In my last post, I mentioned that Steve and I concocted some healthy banana pancakes last weekend. Pancake Tuesday was yesterday, so now we're officially in Lent. But if pancakes are healthy, then they don't have to be off-limits, right? ;)

Anyway just thought I'd share the results of our little kitchen experiment. We basically looked at 2 recipes and the stuff we had in the kitchen, and then swapped out some things for healthier options. The result was surprisingly tasty. The oats make them feel hearty, the pecans add a nice crunch, and I'm a fan of the banana flavor - it reminds me a little of banana bread. Here's what we came up with:

2 large eggs
1 cup flour
1.25 old fashioned oats, ground in a food processor
3 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 cups skim milk
1 T Splenda
1 T brown sugar
1 T vegetable oil
2 small bananas, mashed
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3 T protein powder (the supplement stuff, provided by Steve)

Just mix everything together and cook batter as per usual for pancakes. This made a lot more than we usually get - about 12 good-size pancakes. To see just how healthy these were, I used a recipe calculator ~ per pancake, they come to 180 calories, 8 g fat, 2 g fiber, 4 g sugar, and 6 g protein. Not to shabby for pancakes! A couple of these makes for a tasty breakfast that sticks with you til lunchtime :)

Christmas Baking Blitz: Results!

Merry Christmas Eve! If your family is like mine, you have already loaded up on plenty of Christmas goodies… get ready for some more of the virtual variety, with the results of my Christmas baking blitz!

First up: espresso shortbread cookies. I had not attempted shortbread cookies before, and found that they were pretty fun to make! I used this recipe, which yields delicate shortbread with a strong coffee flavor. I went with the recommendation to use a toffee chocolate bar, and think the flavor combination worked quite well.

I also really liked the suggestion to roll out the dough inside a ziplock bag – this helps keep things nice and rectangular. Being the engineer that I am, I followed the “measure with a ruler” directions closely.. and was excited by the nice even results.

to make sure I cut these evenly, I marked notches in the dough on all four sides...

then I used a thin cutting board as a straight edge, lined up on the notches.

Mmmm.. matrix of cookie dough!

The results may be the closest I've gotten to matching the picture on the recipe's webpage~

I boxed these guys up to give as homemade Christmas gifts - let's hope the recipients like them too!


Next was gingerbread men. These are a favorite of ours - in past years we used a recipe that somewhat “cheated”, in that it did not use molasses. But this year I wanted to try the traditional version. Since our preference is for softer cookies, I went with this recipe that I found that mentioned it produces soft gingerbread instead of crispy. So I rounded up some blackstrap molasses and dark brown sugar from Whole Foods, and gave it a whirl. I really like the resulting dark dough, and the finished product is indeed nice and soft, with a rich spicy flavor thanks to the molasses.

Third on the list were chocolate peppermint bark cookies, inspired by my fondness for peppermint hot chocolate. I didn’t actually find peppermint bark in the store, and didn’t have time to make my own, so instead I used Hershey’s candy cane kisses ~ white chocolate with peppermint bits. I through in a few chocolate chips as well. Result: tasty peppermint chocolatey goodness!

Finally – the best for last: orange cranberry bars. I liked the look of this recipe, which looked a tad healthier with its inclusion of almond meal and cranberries. I chose to zest it up a bit with some grated orange peel. The result: light, citrusy bars with tart cranberries, an addictive flavor combination. And the fact that it’s the healthiest of the recipes I tried makes me wonder if my taste preferences have changed after attempting to eat lighter over the years. Regardless, this one was my definite favorite.

That concludes this year's baking adventure. Now that the cookies are made, gifts bought and wrapped, and traveling complete after the 8 hr drive yesterday, I am ready for Christmas celebrations ~ dinner with my dad's family tonight followed by Midnight Mass, and then dinner with my mom's family tomorrow... then Sunday it's on to the in-laws! Hope everyone enjoys a merry, restful holiday!

Improving Baking Efficiency

When it comes to baking Christmas cookies, some years I am all about baking up batches of our traditional favorites. Then there are years like this year, where I want to experiment with new recipes. I read a number of baking blogs so it’s hard not to get enticed by all the amazing-looking treats baked by the pros. This year, I found it really hard to narrow down my recipe choices into something manageable – so many tasty options! Thus, I currently find myself in the midst of a Christmas baking blitz ~ in the works are espresso shortbread cookies, orange cranberry bars, possibly peppermint bark cookies, and gingerbread men.

For anyone else who is baking up a storm in the few days left before Christmas, I thought I’d post a few easy baking efficiency tips that I’ve found over the years.

• If you are making multiple cookies in a short period of time, I find it useful to mix up the dough one day, refrigerate overnight, and bake the next day. Many recipes call for chilling the dough anyway, and by splitting up the mixing and baking processes, it makes things a bit more manageable.
• For the mixing day, keep the sink filled with soapy water for dirty bowls/measuring cups/etc. You can put them in to soak as you go, making the washing process go faster.
• Usually butter needs to be softened to room temperature. I like to slice up the appropriate amount I need and put it on a plate to sit out for a bit. Slicing it into smaller pieces helps speed up the softening time.
• Invest in parchment paper! For a long time, I would see baking bloggers post recipes that specified using parchment paper, and didn’t know what that was exactly. I finally bought some and it definitely helps simplify the baking process. Basically, it’s non-stick paper (kind of like wax paper) designed for baking. You tear off a piece the size of your cookie sheet, put it on the sheet, and put the cookies directly on the paper. This eliminates the need for greasing, makes it really quick to transfer cookies to cooling racks (as you can slide the paper sheet directly over), and best of all – no washing cookie trays in between batches!

Hope to post some updates of the final results a bit later!

bring on the holidays!

A couple weeks ago, I was thinking about the upcoming holiday season, and how nice it is to not have to worry about finals, like I did for the many (oh so many) years that I was a student. A big perk of being into the real world is not having finals and projects hanging over my head at the end of November and beginning of December. Unfortunately, I forgot about the whole grant cycle thing; grant applications have a tendency to be due in December. And then there’s the academia attitude of “what holidays?” With a fairly big grant due on Dec 7, work has been quite busy the past 2 weeks. This means I haven’t had much time for thinking about holiday preparations at all, sadly.

But I finally escaped work and am free until Monday! Tonight I sat down for some Thanksgiving strategizing. The plan is to keep it simple, as it’s just dinner for my husband and me. Last year was our first year attempting the full Thanksgiving dinner. It went well, so to make things easy I’m using the same recipes. I had the foresight to buy most of the groceries over the weekend, including the smallest turkey we could find – an 8 lb butterball. It should be totally thawed by tomorrow, and only take a couple hours to cook.

Here’s the plan of action:

• Morning: bake the pumpkin cookies. Gotta do the dessert first, since it’s my favorite part of the meal ;) Plus that means energy food for the rest of the cooking! These cookies are some of Steve's favorites. And they are healthy - really healthy, not like the cupcakes :)
  
• Starting around 2 pm: put everything in the slow cooker for these slow cooker rosemary garlic mashed potatoes. This recipe is great because you just put everything in and then forget about it – don’t even need to peel the potatoes. The potatoes get nice and soft after cooking for 3-4 hours, so they mash quite easily and voilà – creamy mashed potatoes. Additional bonuses are that they stay warm right up until served, and they don’t have excessive quantities of butter.
• After sticking the potatoes in, we’ll make the caramelized onion stuffing. This recipe was super tasty last year – the onions add some really good flavor. Since it takes a little while for the onions to caramelize, we can put those on, chop up the veggies, and then start prepping the turkey. Once the stuffing is finished, just have to stick it in the bird and put it in the oven to bake for ~ 2 hours or so. Just before dinner, we’ll throw together a salad with dried cranberries, and we’re ready to go.

This all went quite smoothly last year, and hopefully it will be much the same tomorrow, since I’m looking forward to a relaxing day with just the two of us. Maybe there will even be some time to start thinking of preparations for the next holiday… internet shopping anyone?

Hope everyone has a happy, restful Thanksgiving!

Learning to Brown Butter for Pumpkin Cupcakes

Saturday night was “Turkey-stravaganza” – a gathering hosted by a couple friends who cook turkey and other Thanksgiving items, and attended by assorted friends. It’s a fun way to share the Thanksgiving experience with our friends.

I volunteered to bring a dessert, since that tends to be what I do best. I decided to try something from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes cookbook that I bought on a whim awhile back using a Border’s gift card.. kind of a random selection, but I get most of my books from the library and wanted something that I’d consult multiple times. A cookbook fit the bill, and it’s hard to go wrong with cupcakes, right?

The most appropriate recipe that jumped out was the Pumpkin Brown-Butter Cupcakes. I like baking with pumpkin, as it is such a distinct yummy flavor and tends to produce moist, flavorful baked goods. Plus it’s healthy! The recipe involved “browning butter” – a new kitchen technique that I hadn’t really heard of before, let alone tried out. I wasn’t sure what to expect based on the details in the book, and it was an interesting baking experiment for me!

Today I was surprised to find a posting on the browning butter technique in my Google reader – would have been helpful before I attempted the recipe, but I managed to do ok on my own. Basically, “browning butter” refers to cooking butter past its melting point so that it turns into a nice nutty brown color. This results in a distinctive flavor, that’s a bit, well, nutty! Apparently it’s popular in the fall/wintery recipes.