Mango and chili powder: Good snack, or GREAT snack?

My favorite snack as of late is mango and chili powder.

It is so, so good. And good for you! I was proud of myself for coming up with it, until I learned it's a pretty common thing.

Some recipes call for salt, lime juice, and other additives. I just cut up a mango, sprinkle chili powder on top, and eat. Though I do love salt, I may have to try that.

I've got a system. I buy firm mangos from the supermarket then ripen them at home for 5-7 days.  After I cut up the ripe mangos, I buy new ones and the cycle continues. For optimal cutting, well, I haven't gotten that down yet. I've been peeling, then slicing (or hacking, whatever), then gnawing the leftover fruit around the pit like Tom Hanks's baby corn in Big.

Sexy.

The National Mango Board's method is way easier, and it's exactly how I cut avocados! Who knew?

I want to work for the National Mango Board so I can tell people I work for the National Mango Board.

What's your healthy snack du jour?

Licensed to Chili

Who doesn't love a good chili? I've been trying to reduce my carb intake, and my usual standby vegetarian recipe with all of its delicious beans just doesn't fit into my plan. Luckily, the first recipe I found when I googled "low carb chili" was a winner. So much so, I've made it twice in two weeks. It's hearty, delicious, easy to make, and you probably have most of these items in your kitchen already. Can't beat that!

Low Carb Chili
Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

• Water
• 2 lbs ground meat
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 8 oz fresh baby bella mushrooms, chopped 
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (add more if you like it hot!)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 3 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Chop up the mushrooms, onion, pepper, and garlic. 



Lower right: Two cubes of frozen minced garlic
Idea credit: Kalyn's Kitchen

2. Brown meat in a large pot. Drain some or all of the fat, depending on your preference. I used ground turkey the first time, and ground chicken the next.

   

   Neither meat gave off much fat, so I just left it in. Mmm, fat.

3. Stir in everything else EXCEPT the tomato paste and water. I like to think the spices soaked into the meat before I added the liquids. Is it true? I don't know. Don't crush my dreams.

4. Add tomato paste, then water. The original recipe calls for a quart of water, but I did ok with 3 to 3.5 cups + the meat fat, to where it almost covered everything in the pot.  The more liquid you add, the more you'll have to cook off anyway.

5. Bring everything to a boil, then simmer uncovered until you've reached the desired chili consistency. Took me a few hours. It was pure torture because it smelled so good.

When I first tasted it, it reminded me of sloppy joes, which reminded me of this:

Have you ever cooked anything that unexpectedly reminded you of your youth? I promise that this chili is much better than anything you ever ate in high school. Even that awful frozen pizza that you won't admit you loved.

Shrimp Pad Thai, Take 1

I promised I'd write about my first Pad Thai experience! What can I say, I love Thai food.

It didn't turn out horribly, but it wasn't great either. The tastes were right, but the texture and the whole experience of the dish was way off. Luckily, I know exactly what went wrong, so I know what to do to make it better next time. Heed these words of wisdom and learn from my mistakes!

Mistake #1: Forgot to check on noodles and didn't rinse with cold water thoroughly
Result: Mushy, overcooked noodles
Solution: Keep a better eye on the noodles as they boil, and rinse them better.

Mistake #2: Dumped freezer burned shrimp, complete with ice crystals, into pot.
Result: Dish came out soupy. Watery straight-out-of-package tofu may have also contributed.
Solution: Use fresh shrimp, or thaw and drain frozen shrimp. Also pre-fry tofu or buy extra firm tofu next time.

Mistake #3: Cracked egg directly on top of cooking food instead of pushing food aside and cracking into empty space in pan
Result: Weird egg white specks throughout dish instead of those nice yellow chunks-o-scrambled-egg
Solution: Follow the recipe, jerk (me, not you)

The morals of the story are 1) don't do what I did, and 2) don't be a jerk. The latter can be applied to almost any situation, how's that for efficiency?

Shrimp Pad Thai
From Skinnytaste

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp oil
• 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp chili powder or to taste
• 3 oz rice noodles or rice sticks
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 oz medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 oz firm tofu, cut into slices (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 5 oz bean sprouts
• 1 oz Chinese chives or scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp crushed peanuts
• lime wedges

Directions:

1. Prepare chives, tofu, garlic and peanuts and set aside. This recipe moves quickly, and I'm a slow chopper. Not a good combination. Cutting everything up beforehand makes things so much easier!

2. Prepare noodles according to package, rinse with cold water and drain (seriously).
3. Mix fish sauce, sugar, water, rice vinegar and chili powder in a small bowl, set aside.
4. Heat large skillet on high and add oil.
5. When oil is hot, add garlic. Stir until you can smell the garlic.
6. Add tofu and shrimp and keep stirring.

See? Soupy!

7. When shrimp changes color, add noodles. Stir for 30 seconds.
8. Use a big spatula to push the food to one side of the skillet, then crack an egg into the empty part of the skillet.
9. Break the yolk with a spatula and let cook for about 30 seconds.
10. Combine egg with rest of food.
11. Add sauce and stir to combine.
12. Add bean sprouts and chives and keep stirring.

Hard to tell, but still soupy. 

13. When sprouts are done, add peanut.
14. Turn off heat and serve immediately with lime wedges.

Like I said, it wasn't a complete disaster, so I'll definitely try this one again. If at first you don't succeed and all that.

Don't make me tongue Thai'd: Coconut Curry Shrimp

I like Thai food. And coconut. A lot. I made that chicken coconut soup a while back, and I'll be sharing my semi-successful first attempt at Pad Thai... someday.

Recipes containing "Thai" and "coconut" have a 99.999% chance of getting pinned. The .001% accounts for the possibility of an accompanying terrible ingredient like raisins. Or hair (but mostly raisins). Lucky for me, Skinnytaste's Red Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp contains neither.

I was a little nervous going into this, as my biggest successes so far have been soups, salads, baked goods and crock pot dinners... AKA dump stuff in a bowl then either eat it right away or wait until it's done. This was easy peasy though, and so good! I love the way it makes my whole apartment smell like coconut.

I linked some of the ingredients below so you can see which brands I used. Your local supermarket should have all of this stuff. This recipe moves fast, but you'll be fine as long as you chop and mince everything beforehand. With rice, it made enough for 4 lunches.

Red Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp
From Skinnytaste

Ingredients

• 1 tsp oil - Canola, vegetable, something bland
• 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 6 oz light coconut milk
• 4 scallions, chopped - Separate the whites and greens
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined - Go with the frozen kind, less work for you!
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high.
2. Add scallion whites and red curry paste, saute for about a minute.
3. Throw in shrimp and garlic, season with salt, cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add coconut milk and fish sauce, mix well, and simmer until shrimp is cooked through (2-3 minutes, longer if shrimp is frozen but still pretty quick).

5. Remove from heat, then add scallion greens and cilantro.
6. Serve over rice and eat your heart out! 

I have yet to perfect the art of cooking rice, but that's a whole other blog post.

Summer salads, had me a blast.

I did it!  I found the perfect summer meal, no grilling required.  Nothing against grills personally, my apartment complex doesn't allow them.  

Don't worry, future grill.  Our time will come.

Arugula salmon salad?  Meet watermelon feta salad with mint.  So many good things happening on this plate.  

Arugula & Spinach Salmon Salad with Capers and Shaved Parmesan

Adapted from Skinnytaste

Ingredients

• 1 cup arugula
• 1 cup baby spinach 
• If you're really fond of one of these greens, double your favorite and cut out the other one altogether!  Or, use a different green.  The power is YOURS!
• 4 ounces salmon, skin removed (optional)
• 1 tsp capers, drained
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp shaved parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Season salmon with salt and pepper.  Cook in pan with oil or grill for 10 minutes.  Remove the salmon skin if you want to be healthy.
2. Place greens on plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Top greens with salmon and capers.
4. Drizzle oil and vinegar, then sprinkle parmesan.  As you can see above, I used way more than 1 tablespoon.

I bought a lot of greens, cooked up a lot of salmon, and brought this salad to work for lunch for a few days.  It was quick to throw together in the morning, which is a must because I'm always running late.

---

Watermelon Feta Salad with Mint

From The Shiksa in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• Seedless watermelon, chilled
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lime juice
• Fresh mint leaves, chopped
• Crumbled feta
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cut rind from the watermelon, the cut into 1-inch chunks.  Place in colander and drain.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.
3. Place watermelon in a bowl, toss with dressing and mint.
4. Add feta, stir to combine thoroughly.
5. Serve with a slotted spoon so watermelon juice stays away from the rest of your food.  Unless you really like watermelon juice.

You may be skeptical about combining watermelon, feta, and mint.  If I had to throw three things into a salad, they'd be the last three things I'd pick.  But trust me.  A friend made this for a recent spa night, and the salty and sweet complement each other perfectly.

Three notes:

1. I purposely omitted amounts from the ingredients.  I didn't make as much as the original recipe called for, so I just eyeballed it.
2. Make this salad just before serving.
3. Try to avoid leftovers.  It doesn't keep well.  The dressing congeals and it's just gross.

Looks great, doesn't it?  With sangria to drink, everything about this meal just oozes summer.

En-Thai-sing soup: Chicken-coconut with vegetables

I've made several soups and crock pot recipes over the past few weeks, but nothing that excited me enough to say, "I really need to blog about this." Until today!

Brandon's Thai chicken-coconut soup with vegetables
From a fairly lame husband vs. wife column on CNN.

32 ounces chicken broth
1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 pound boneless chicken breast
4 garlic cloves
3 jalapeños
6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
4 medium-sized carrots, sliced thinly
6 ounces water chestnuts, sliced thinly
6 stalks fresh lemongrass, peeled
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 bunch fresh cilantro
6 ounces frozen corn
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Dash red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Tips:

• Don't want to squeeze limes? Me either. Your supermarket produce section sells lime juice for a reason.
• Don't know how to prepare jalapeños? Me either. Hot peppers are scary. Thank heavens for YouTube.
• Sub-tip: Wear gloves, especially if you have a paper cut and/or are prone to biting your fingernails, even hours after the fact. Yow.
• Can't find fresh lemongrass? I actually did (props to ShopRite!), but they didn't have enough. Right below the fresh stuff were what I like to call Squeezy Herb Tubes by Gourmet Garden. I think the name will catch on. One Squeezy Lemongrass Tube equals 6 fresh lemongrass stalks. Perfect! I also got a Squeezy Ginger Tube because I hardly ever use ginger and didn't want to buy a whole root for one tablespoon.
  
• I bought a bottle of Thai fish sauce without checking to see if I already had some. Because really, why would I have Thai fish sauce? But I did. So now I have two bottles.  What's a girl to do with so much fish sauce?
• One bunch of cilantro is way too much for garnish. I'm drying the rest for use in my future spice rack.
• My supermarket produce section sells fresh, pre-sliced water chestnuts! Also picked up a container of bamboo shoots. Easy.

Let's make some soup!

Finely chop the garlic and 2 jalapeños. Sauté with olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes.

Dice chicken and add to pan.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Sauté for a few more minutes. Don't cook the chicken all the way through. It will cook more in the soup.

Pretty!

Add chicken broth, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, lemongrass, soy sauce and ginger to a big pot. Stir and bring to a gentle boil for 2-3 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer. Add carrots, mushrooms, corn and water chestnuts (and bamboo shoots, if you got 'em). Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Slice remaining jalapeño and add to soup.  Simmer for 10 more minutes.  Remove lemongrass stalks (if you used fresh).  Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro.

Excuse the lame bowl. I was packing my lunch for work.

If you read the CNN column and are observant, you may have noticed the shiitake mushrooms in the ingredients list, but not in the recipe. That's because the bonehead who wrote it neglected to say what to do with them. I didn't realize this until after the soup was finished and cooled, so now I have a bunch of unused mushrooms. I'd imagine they get thrown in with the carrots so I added that above, but I'll have to wait until next time to find out for sure.

I had to stop myself from sneaking tastes while it was simmering. The lemongrass, lime juice and coconut work so well together. I may add more coconut milk next time, as it was overshadowed a bit by the citrus. The jalapeños add just enough heat for my taste. I don't eat the slices, but I do eat the minced pieces. If you like it hot, consider adding more jalapeños and/or red pepper flakes. Serve with bread if you're looking for more substance. I've been eating an Italian soft roll with each bowl. Perfect for dipping! I've brought this soup in for lunch all week, and every time I take that first spoonful, I do a little happy dance in my seat. I love it that much.

Note: This can be a gluten free soup if you use fresh lemongrass and ginger, and gluten free soy sauce. Squeezy Herb Tubes may contain trace amounts of gluten.

Gluten-free cooking

While planning the menu for my husband's birthday party, I was faced with a challenge.  How can I feed my dear, gluten-free friend Karen without making her sick?  Rather than making one dish just for her, I decided to deglutenize dinner entirely!

First off, major kudos to Hannaford for having a whole gluten-free section.  Thanks for making my life easy.

Entree 1: Lasagna
Easy. I picked up some rice noodles, made one pan of lasagna with meat sauce, and one pan with marinara sauce. Hannaford carries DeBoles noodles; I don't know if they're the Rolls Royce of gluten-free noodles or what, but use enough cheese and sauce and anything will taste fine.

Entree 2: Chicken Parmesan
I had fun with this.  The store sold bags of readymade gluten-free bread crumbs, but they were really expensive for such a small bag.  In a rare flash of brilliance, I bought two loaves of sliced white gluten-free bread and decided to make my own.

1. Get toasty.  Throw the slices right on the rack at 250 degrees. Bake for 10, then flip and bake for another 10.
   
   I was glad to do this because I tasted a "raw" slice, and honestly? Yuck. Burn, nasty bread, burn!
   
2. Pulverize!  Throw those slices into the food processor and process the shit out of it. 
3. Spice it up.  Add parsley, oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.  Just eyeball it until it looks like the stuff you buy in a can.
   
   That nasty bread doesn't taste so nasty now!
4. Follow your favorite chicken parm recipe.

Entree 3: Sausage and Peppers

No gluten to avoid, and stupidly easy to make.

Of course, I didn't take any pictures of the finished products.  But everyone ate it, everyone LIKED it, and most importantly, it didn't kill Karen. Mission accomplished!

Chump, Chive & Kale

I'm drawn to cheesy recipes like a moth to a flame, or Lindsay Lohan to meth.

We got a metric ton of kale, and a CSA-suggested recipe was Raw Kale Salad with Gouda, Pear, and Walnuts. Gouda is one of my most favorite cheeses, so hell yeah I made it.

I need to take food photography lessons from wholeliving.com. Look at this photo. Wooden bowl! Carefully placed matching utensils! Slightly rumpled tablecloth! And are those flowers in the salad? I expect nothing less from Martha Stewart.

Now here's mine:



Maybe I should buy a tablecloth.

Something I need to work on: Portion control. I'm super paranoid that our vegetables are going to go bad before I use them, and one day I will open the fridge to a bevy of mold, slime, and bugs. Shut up, bugs can get in the fridge. I made two BIG bowls of this salad (see?) the day before my husband left on a 5-day business trip.

I tried so hard to eat it all, I really did.  It was so tasty, but just too much.  After a few days, the sliced pears turned brown and the cheese got slimy.  Next time, I will prepare the salad in smaller portions as I go. Kale's pretty hardy; it was fine at the end of the week despite the grody toppings.

The recipe's linked above, but for the lazy:

Raw Kale Salad with Gouda, Pear, and Walnuts

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 bunch of kale (about 1 1/4 lbs (I had a LOT more)), tough stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 oz goat's milk gouda, cut in 1/2 by 1/4 inch pieces (How snobby! Regular cow's milk gouda is fine, and cube that sucker all you want (AND ADD MORE CHEESE).)
6 chives cut into inch-long pieces
1 Anjou pear, halved, cored, and very thinly sliced crosswise

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place walnuts on rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden brown, tossing once during baking, 8-10 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl (or two, if you're me!), whisk together vinegar and oil; season with salt and pepper.  
3. Add kale, cheese, chives, walnuts and pears.
4. Toss to combine.
5. EAT.

Chilled Cucumber-Mint Soup and Greek Salad: 99 problems and a cuke ain't one

Remember all those cucumbers we got in my last entry? Multiply that by 4 or 5 and that's our fridge the last few weeks. My husband actually ate a cucumber for dinner one night while I was out.

Having a surplus of one vegetable (or fruit, if you're one of THOSE people) forces you to get creative. Thankfully, Justine at our CSA does that for me. She e-mails us yummy recipes each week.

My first cucumber experiment was Chilled Cucumber-Mint Soup (scroll down about halfway to get the recipe). It was also my first go-round with our big food processor. Woo!

Chilled Cucumber-Mint Soup with Yogurt or Sour Cream
Serves 4-6

4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 4 cups)
1 to 2 cups water
2 cups plain yogurt (You can use 1 cup plain yogurt and 1 cup of sour cream instead. I used 2 cups of nonfat Greek yogurt!)
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
fresh mint, several leaves (Don't go too crazy, a little goes a long way.)
2 tbsp fresh dill OR 1 tsp dried dill
1 tbsp honey
1 to 2 tbsp salt
2 scallions, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1. Combine the chopped cucumber, 1 cup water, yogurt, garlic, mint, dill, honey, and 1 tbsp salt in a blender or food processor.
   
   
2. Puree the ingredients, adding more water until the soup is a consistency you like. Season with more salt to taste.
   (Side note: Cucumbers are really watery. You can probably do without the extra water, unless you like soupy soup. Whatever floats your boat!)
   
3. Transfer soup to large bowl and chill for several hours. Garnish with chopped scallions.

I didn't chill it for long because I was hungry! It hung out in the fridge while I made the Greek salad, which took about 10 minutes. It was flavorful and refreshing. I only used 4 mint leaves, which were enough to get a taste, but not overpower. Husband could taste the dill (which he's not a big fan of), but the combination of everything else made him not mind as much. Small victories!

However, it definitely tasted better the next day after being chilled. Recipes are meant to be followed sometimes, I guess :P

The soup took care of half of our cucumbers, so I threw together a Greek salad to use the rest. Super easy.

Good for You Greek Salad
Serves 6

3 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (Surprised it didn't ask for fresh, but I didn't have fresh anyway.)
salt and pepper to taste (Unnecessary! The feta is salty enough.)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (Get the nonfat kind if you can!)
6 black Greek olives, pitted and sliced (6?! Screw that. Throw in as many as you want! I got half a pound from the supermarket's olive bar.)

1. In shallow salad bowl, or on serving platter, combine tomatoes, cucumber, and onion.
2. Sprinkle with oil, lemon juice, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. (I'm serious, you really don't need salt.)
3. Sprinkle feta cheese and olives over salad.
4. Serve!

No feta yet.

Unlike the soup, the salad tastes better if eaten right away. The leftovers were ok, but the tomatoes were mushy. I never cared for cold tomatoes though, so it could just be a preference thing. Throw some more olives and feta in and you won't notice :)

And with that, cucumber dinner is served!


Of course I used the one chipped plate for this picture.

This was the fastest I'd ever turned out a meal. Granted they weren't the most difficult of recipes, but I'm admittedly slow when it comes to preparing. I need to learn to not care as much about how big my chopped pieces and other little details are.