Monthly Archives: March 2009
Product Review: Popchips
| March 24, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Reviews |
I had a late night at work tonight, and I still havn’t gotten to the grocery store so dinner ended up being pizza. Which makes tonight the perfect night to do a product review!
Like many other people, popchips first came to my attention during the Superbowl. I was really excited to have the opportunity to try them! They seemed to have a lot of promise since they are all natural and low fat. The texture of these chips takes a little getting used to, but I kind of like it. Its like a cross between a Pringle and a rice cake. They’re really light and crispy, and not greay at all which is really nice. I also find that one serving is surprisingly filling!
As for flavors, I’ve tried barbeque, salt and vinegar, origal, and salt and pepper. I also have a parmasean and garlic, but one bag of those got lost (the box exploded in the FedEx truck, but the driver was nice enough to try to find all the contents for me) and for some reason I’m hoarding the bag that I do have. The barbeque is hands down my favorite. They have a really great flavor. I even went to Target to buy some more, but unfortunately they only stock original. Lame. The salt and pepper was my second favorite- the pepper had a nice bite to it! Salt and vinegar is usually one of my favorite chip flavors, but I thought these were too mild. They smelled really strongly of vineegar, but I couldn’t really taste it. The original were good, but I’m not really a plain chips kind of a girl.
All in all, i think these are a pretty nice alternative to standard chips, and I reommend them (especially the BBQ) for anyone who is looking for a chip with less fat and calories. I hope they come out with mor flavors soon- i bet these woudl be great in sour cream and onion or cheddar!
Meat-Free Friday's: Pasta with Mussles and Lobster
| March 23, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Fish and Seafood, Italian, Lent |
Back to the regular programming! I promised you that I would post about this. There really isn’t much to it, but it was delicious! Fresh linguini (seriously, use fresh- it’s so much better than dried!) topped with sauce and seafood. My husband had one lobster steamed at the store. (They’ll do it for free, and since it was going to be eaten right away anyway, why not?) When he got home, he cleaned and steamed one bag of mussels. Removed those from the shell and dumped them into some sauce that heated up with some red wine, garlic, ]fresh Italian herbs, and lots of crushed red pepper. Plopped some lobster on top of it all, and served it with Italian bread. This was a super easy meal that he pulled together at the last second after I dropped the ball and disn’t have a Friday-appropriate meal planned. He did good.
24-Hour NYC Food Whirlwind
| March 23, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Italian, Lent |
This weekend, I hung out with some of my great friends and fellow foodbloggers: Mo, Carol, Heather, and Sarah. And our friend Emily, who may soon have her own music blog. Here we are!
I arrived at Grand Central around 2:00 on Saturday. I hadn’t eaten lunch and we were planning on an early dinner, so I stopped at Junior’s bakery and made quick work of a black and white cookie. It was fantastic! We hung out for a while, then headed out to the Bronx to eat at the much-acclaimed (by Mo) Tu Casa. Unfortunately they were closed until 6 for a private party so we had some time to kill. There was a bakery across the street, so we popped in. I had a pear lindzer. It was delicious! It had half a poached pear and some strawberry preserves.
Finally we were able to get a table for dinner! We ordered a pitcher of sangria to start, along with some empanadas. Mine was beef and it was the yum:
We also had some tostones. With some awesome green sauce, that Carol decided she was taking all for herself:
Then our food came. Check out this soup! Yes, that’s a corn cob in there! I ordered the roast pork, at Mo’s recommendation. The pork was amazing- super juicy- but unfortunately the rice was burned. they brought us new yellow rice no problem though and that was much better!
After dinner we went to Crumbs for cupcakes. I was way too full for my own, so I had a bite of Mo’s red velvet and some of a caramel chew that I shared with heather and Sarah. These cupcakes are no joke! the red velvet was my fave- it wasn’t too sweet at all. By this point, my stomach was killing me from all the sugar.
The next morning (after some Starbucks oatmeal for breakfast) we went out for Korean. I’ve never had it before, so I was a little intimidated. Some of it was great, but some I didn’t like very much.
First they brought out a bunch of condiments. Apparently they were making fun of us for eating these by themselves. Whatevs. The dandelion greens were my fave.
Then some appetizers to share: pork belly rolled in cabbage leaves (I felt very “Anthony Bourdain” by this point), some noodles with chicken, and some starchy pancakes (I think someone said they were mung bean?) that were AWESOME with a little bit of the dark sauce.
For entrees, I totally got the wrong thing. the menu said that it was strips of beef, but I ended up with a huge plate of sweet, greasy, ground beef. It wasn’t very good to be honest. I tried some of Heather’s dish and hers was much better. I didn’t order it because the raw egg freaked me out, but the bowl was piping hot and the egg cooked.
Then it was off to PB and Co, where Mo hooked up up with a great deal for free peanut butter! I got the spicy pb, and i have tons of plans for it. I also grabbed a sandwich for the train ride home- maple pb with bacon. OMG, this was so good. I was craving it again today, and i am totally going to have to get some maple pb.
One last stop for some cupcakes to bring home, and I was back on the train by 3 on Sunday! What a fun weekend! I love your girls!!
Us again (from left to right: me, Sarah, Heather, Mo, & Carol)
Steak with Shallot Pan Sauce
| March 20, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Quick Weeknight Meals, Special Occasions |
Mmmm… steak. Until recently, I was a steak purist. I wouldn’t dream of putting anything on it except maybe some blue cheese crumbles. I don’t know where this hang-up came from, but I’m glad I got over it! This sauce compliments the steak perfectly, and turns what would normally be a relatvely boring piece of meat into something wonderfully complex. I generally serve this with baked potato wedges or oven fries and blanched green beans tossed in a little olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.
- 1 lb boneless sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into four pieces
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 T brandy
- 3/4 c beef stock
- 1 T grainy mustard
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1- 1/2 tsp butter
Heat a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Cook steak to you desired level on done-ness (about 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare). Remove steak from pan and let rest.
Add shallots to pan and sautee until they begin to soften. Add brandy and bring to a boil. Add stock, mustard, and thyme. Cook unti lreduces to about 2/3 cup. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve sauce over steak.
Serves 4.
***
Meat-free Fridays is going to be a little delayed this week. I didn’t plan very well and dinner was made on the fly by the hubby. I’ll post about it later, but like yesterday it won’t be a “real” recipe.
Stilton-Stuffed Burger
| March 19, 2009 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Cake and Pastry, Sides |
Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was home sick and had no appetitite, so dinner was just a simple grilled cheese. Ok fine. I didn’t think you would fall for that coming from me. It was grilled mozzarella, tomato, and bacon. Delicious, but really not worth posting about.
This burger on the other hand is another story. Stilton is one of my favorite cheeses, and it goes wonderfully with beef. I’m not going to post this is a normal recipe style, because you really don’t need to learn how to make a burger, do you?
For two burgers, we used 12oz of beef (this was too much if you ask me, but my husband was in charge and he likes his burgers BIG) and about 3 oz stilton. Take about half the cheese and stuff it right into the center of the meat. That way, it gets all melty and gooey when it cooks. If you want a real treat, you can press each patty into some cracked pepper. Cook however you normally cook your burgers. Top with more stilton, some bacon, and a thick slice of red onion. YUM.
Sorry for the brevity of this post. I have other work to get back to. Stay tuned… big changes (and a move) are coming to Healthy Delicious.
Prosciutto and Fig Panini with Lemony Chickpea Salad
| March 17, 2009 | Posted by LK under Italian, Light, Salads, Sandwiches, Sides |
Tonight, I made another recipe that I saw first over at Je Mange la Ville. Love that blog. This panini was every bit as delicious as it sounded- fig jam, proscuitto, and goat cheese? I mean, come on! This does take a little more time than most of my recipes what with the jam and all, but you only need about an hour all together so it’s not totally impossible for a weeknight. I knew I was going to be late tonight, so I had my husband start on the jam and the onions. They came out great and he had no complaints, so it must be really easy. Oh, did I mention the onions yet? They are so good. They taste like a blooming onion, but without the greasy breading.
I wanted something different on the side, so I thought I’d try to recreate the chickpea salad that I had at The Ginger Man. Well, I was out of a bunch of ingredients that I planned on using, so mine was pretty different. It was super good though, with a nice texture and a bright flavor. I have a feeling that variations on this are going to be heavy in my rotation this summer.
For the salad:
- 1 large can chickpeas
- 5 radishes, thinly sliced.
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 T red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 T dried mint
- Some fresh parsley, chopped
- kosher salt, and lots of cracked pepper
Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Toss with the radishes in a large dish. In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, vinegar, garlic, mint, and parsley. Mix well. Add about 1/8 of the chickpeas. With a potato masher, mash chickpeas into the liquid until its nice and soft. Add the rest of the chickpeas and radishes, and toss to coat everything well. Add a little bit of kosher salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper.
For the sandwiches:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 T sugar
- 1/2 cup dried calamaria figs , stemmed and halved
- 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
- 1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- 1 tbsp chilled butter, diced
- 1 cup loosely packed baby spinach
- 8 slices of good bread (I used a soft Italian)
- 1/4 lb prosciutto
- 4 oz goat cheese
1. Bring water, wine, sugar, figs, and rosemary to boil in small saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly. Puree until it has a smooth consistency.
2. Preheat oven to 400. Place onion rounds on a baking sheet. Dot with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes.
3. Assembly sandwiches: Spread 4 pieces of bread with about 2 T fig jam. Top each piece with 1 oz cheese, prosciutto, spinach, and onion. Top with another piece of bread. Cook in a panini press; alternately, cook in a hot grill pan while placing a heavy weight (a can works well) on top of each sandwich to smoosh it together.
Serves 4.
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