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Spinach Sauce Pasta with Shrimp

July 27, 2010

Work has been more hectic than usual lately so I was trying to brainstorm ways to be more efficient when a light bulb went off and I realized that I could save a bunch of time if I started running home from work a few times a week! Not only do I get a great workout in, but the jog home only takes 10 minutes longer than my usual 45 minute commute. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?!? I’m taking the shortest route home right now, but hopefully will start gaining enough endurance to mix my things up eventually. It’s funny, but I don’t usually have much of an appetite after I run…until the next day that is, when I become completely ravaneous and end up snacking all day. Anyway, one night after my run I decided to get some carbs ready in anticipation of my need to recharge the next day and whipped up this yummy pasta dish.

This spaghetti has a bit of a Greek twist because I made a sauce of pureed spinach, onions, garlic, lemon juice, and oregano. I mixed in some tomato paste to give it some depth and a bit of cottage cheese to add some richness without the heaviness of cream a la Cara. The shrimp and feta rounded out the dish nicely, although next time I may also add in some chopped roasted red peppers!

Spinach Sauce Pasta with Shrimp
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Juice of one lemon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
To prepare the pasta, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pot, and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté 5 to 7 minutes or under tender; add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Place onion mixture in a food processor and wipe the pan clean with a damp cloth. Add half the fresh spinach to the cleaned pan and place a lid on top. Heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until wilted. Add the remaining half of the fresh spinach to the pan; stir well and repeat, cooking spinach 4 to 6 additional minutes or until wilted. Place spinach in the food processor with the onion; add in tomato paste, cottage cheese, oregano, lemon juice, and salt and pulse until smooth.

Place shrimp and spinach sauce into a large nonstick skillet and cook on medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, or until shrimp are cooked through and opaque. Add sauce to the pasta and mix well. Scoop evenly into 6 bowls and garnish with crumbled feta cheese. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 430 calories, 9.6g fat, 10.6g fiber, 30.7g protein per serving
Cost: $1.75 per serving

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Tuscan Frittata

July 21, 2010

I’ve gotten into the habit of buying one pound logs of goat cheese from Costco and since goat cheese goes bad faster than other varieties, I’m always trying to quickly use it in several different ways after opening the package – there’s nothing worse than wasting goat cheese! So after enjoying it in my Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Potato Stacks, I decided to finally use some in a breakfast dish inspired by the frittata I had with Meghan at Yolk during our visit to Chicago last November!

The frittata at Yolk features “chicken breast, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and red diced potatoes all scrambled together and baked. Topped with goat cheese.” Mmm, I love all these ingredients and didn’t want to change a thing, so I put the potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and chicken all in a frittata, along with red pepper and shallots, and then topped the frittata with goat cheese and fresh basil when it came out of the oven. There’s nothing better than breakfast for dinner and it reheated beautifully for lunch the next day too.

Tuscan Frittata
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 red potatoes, chopped into chunks
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1 cup chopped red pepper
1 cooked boneless, skinless, chicken breast, sliced into strips
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and sauté potatoes for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shallots and red pepper to the skillet and sauté 5 additional minutes or until veggies are tender (the potatoes will continue to cook in the oven so it’s ok if they are slightly underdone at this point). Remove from heat and stir in chicken breast strips and sun dried tomatoes.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs, milk, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour egg mixture into the pan over the other ingredients and bake at 350˚F for 20 to 25 minutes or until eggs are set. Evenly sprinkle goat cheese on top and return to oven for 2 to 3 minutes or until goat cheese is warmed through. Remove from oven and top with fresh basil. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 398 calories, 20.7g fat, 2.8g fiber, 28.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.43 per serving

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Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Potato Stacks

July 16, 2010

I don’t eat beef very often. In fact, you may have noticed that there are no recipes featuring beef on my blog because it’s a protein I very rarely cook at home. But, every once in awhile I get a craving for a juicy medium rare dry-aged New York strip steak or hamburger smothered in cheese and mushrooms. Well, after making these cute little potato stacks last night, I’ve been completely dreaming of the former because I can just imagine them on the a la carte menu of a fancy steakhouse!

I decided to put some extra effort into our side dish last night and layered pan-fried potato slices with two of my very favorite ingredients – goat cheese and caramelized onions. I’m normally too impatient to wait for onions to caramelize but it was definitely worth doing so for these little guys. They are perfect for serving to guests and oh so tasty!

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Potato Stacks
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large yellow onions, cut into thin strips
2 large potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch thick round slices
6 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium low heat in a large nonstick pan and cook onions for 30 to 40 minutes, or until caramelized, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, working in batches, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick pan and cook potato slices until golden brown and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Mix goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and milk in a small bowl until smooth.

To assemble the potato stacks, top a potato slice with some goat cheese spread and caramelized onions. Do this two more times for each stack so that you have 10 stacks containing three potato slices each. Makes 5 servings of 2 stacks each.

Nutrition: 328 calories, 17.2g fat, 4.3g fiber, 12.5g protein per serving
Cost: $1.01 per serving

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake

July 12, 2010

I’ve been having a lot of fun in the kitchen lately. First of all, I’m reviewing a product from CSN Stores, a fabulous Boston-based company with over 200 online shops. They have everything you need for your house, from a vanity to a grill, so stay tuned for that! Secondly, I made a cake for my good friend Geeti’s surprise baby shower this weekend! Her expression was priceless when she saw the room full of people and I already can’t wait to meet her little one!

I iced a tall triple layer strawberry cake with a classic vanilla buttercream and then covered it in white fondant and decorated it with a pastel green border at the bottom and blue and yellow circles everywhere else. It was my first time covering a cake in fondant, so I was a bit nervous, but thankfully it worked beautifully on my first try.

Then I rolled the dice and decided to see if my eggless sugar cookie dough decorations would work well on a cake. I was inspired by this cake and so happy with how my cute jungle animals turned out – they really spruced up the front of the cake! Since the dough has butter in it, it’s a bit shiner than fondant, but it also doesn’t dry out as easily. It’s also a bit more fragile than fondant and the finish isn’t quite as clean and crisp, but boy is it a lot more tasty! I will definitely be decorating with it again.

Anyway, when I saw 30 people were attending the shower I got nervous that the cake wouldn’t be enough, so I decided to whip up a cheesecake as well. This is the third time I’ve made this cheesecake and I finally nailed it. I topped a crust of pecan shortbread cookies with a layer of classic creamy cheesecake, and added a layer of eggless chocolate chip cookie dough on top. Then I crowned the dessert with a layer of homemade caramel, pecans, and chocolate! It was so rich and sinful and the perfect treat to bring to a celebration! Congrats Geeti and Puneet!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
8 ounces pecan shortbread cookies, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Cheesecake Layer:
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Toppings:
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350˚F. To make the crust, mix the pecan shortbread cookie crumbs and butter in a large bowl until well blended, transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch springform pan, and press into a uniform layer over the bottom of the pan.

To make the cheesecake, combine the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla. Pour into prepared crust and bake at 350˚F for 32 to 35 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly. Cool to room temperature, about one hour.

To make the caramel, place apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until mixture is a caramel color. Monitor closely so the sugar does not burn! Remove pan from the heat and slowly stir in cream and vanilla. The mixture will boil up. Return pan to the heat and boil an additional 2 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to room temperature.

To prepare the eggless cookie dough, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy; add milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in flour and salt; stir in chocolate chips. Spread cookie dough evenly over cooled cheesecake layer and top evenly with caramel. Sprinkle toasted pecans and chocolate chips on top. Refrigerate for several hours or until cheesecake is chilled. Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting into wedges. Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition: 427 calories, 25.0g fat, 1.4g fiber, 5.7g protein per serving
Cost: $0.69 per serving

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Peanut Butter Protein Bars

July 8, 2010

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve always been pretty athletic. I swam competitively from the second grade all the way through college and really excelled in the freestyle endurance races, although I was always trying to convince my coaches to let me swim butterfly because it was my favorite stroke. Here’s one of my favorite shots from college – my teammate Carmen and I had just blown the competition away at our conference swim meet in the mile, a 66 lap race, and I had just broken my first school record!

During grad school I participated on a Master’s team for awhile, but ended up getting a bit burnt out. I took a break for a few years when we moved to Boston, but I’m very happy to say that I’ve recently gotten back into it! I’m training for a triathlon that I’ll be doing with Shannon at the end of August and I’m really enjoying all my time in the water. I think it helps that I’m not just swimming, but also keeping things interesting by running, biking, and lifting to get ready for the race. Anyway, my favorite post-workout snack in college was a cinnamon raisin bagel covered in peanut butter, so when Apolinaras mentioned he wanted me to make some homemade protein bars, I knew I wanted to highlight these flavors.

Apolinaras forwarded me a recipe for homemade protein bars from one of his weightlifting buddies, which was very amusing because it contained tidbits like, “add/remove with a spoon if you messed up” and “throw in the protein power and mix it all around.” Very entertaining. Anyway, the bars contained just four ingredients – oat flour, milk, protein powder, and almond butter, so I decided to use these ingredients as a starting point and see if I could come up with something a bit tastier. I just mixed the oats, protein powder, peanut butter, milk, cinnamon, and raisins in the food processor and put the mixture into little mini muffin cups. The raisins provided a nice natural sweetness and I thought the bars tasted just as good as those that you can buy, but of course were much less expensive!

p.s. Apolinaras thought my shot of the bars with my swimming suit, googles, and cap was cheesy, but I think it’s cute!

Peanut Butter Protein Bars
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:
Place oats in a food processor and pulse until a fine powder forms. Add protein powder, peanut butter, milk, cinnamon, and raisins to the food processor and mix until a ball forms. Divide mixture and place into 12 mini muffin cups. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and pop out of cups. Makes 12 bars.

Nutrition: 87.0 calories, 3.4g fat, 1.9g fiber, 4.2g protein per bar
Cost: $0.18 per bar

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Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July! I wanted to whip up a fun treat to celebrate the holiday this weekend and while I was mulling over the red, white, and blue color scheme, I was reminded of the Chicago Cubs Dessert Sushi I made last year. Suddenly a light bulb went off – I should try making decorations with my eggless sugar cookie dough, which was the base of my dessert sushi! While I like playing with marshmallow fondant and creating crisp cute shapes to top cakes and cupcakes, I don’t enjoy the overly sweet bland taste and have often wondered why no one has come up with a tastier alternative. So, here’s my attempt!

Eggless sugar cookie dough is absolutely delicious so I whipped up a small batch, rolled it out, made cute little shapes with cookie cutters, and topped some Oreos with my designs. The dough is not quite as stiff as fondant, so you have to be a bit more careful with it, but I think it has a lot of potential! It’s also very moldable like Play Doh so I was able to make some cute little American flags. I’m going to try decorating cupcakes with it next time and maybe play around with chilling the dough as well before rolling it out. Overall, I think my foodie arts and crafts project was pretty successful! Ok, I’m off to eat a hot dog and munch on some yummy sweet potato chips from Trader Joe’s – hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Food coloring

Directions:
Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamed. Add milk and vanilla and mix until smooth; stir in flour and salt and knead with your hands until well mixed (if the dough is too sticky you can add 1 more tablespoon flour). Mix dough with desired food colorings. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to create cute shapes or mold dough into desired shapes by hand. Top cookies or cupcakes with your decorations!

Nutrition: 784 calories, 35.8g fat, 2.0g fiber, 8.9g protein per batch
Cost: $1.15 per batch

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Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles

June 30, 2010

I often joke that I’m a walking advertisement for Costco because I’m always gushing about my latest find or fabulous deal. From their cute greeting cards to their juicy sweet fresh strawberries – I love it all! In fact, I’ve talked about Costco in eleven posts already, and this mention makes it number twelve! When I noticed the Costco Connection magazine features member recipes, I sent in two of my own and look what they published this month! Apparently my Costco karma has come full circle!

To celebrate, I decided to combine two of my favorite things – eggless cookie dough and Oreos. I whipped up a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough and mixed in some leftover Oreos. Then I rolled the dough into truffles and coated the outside of each one in more crushed cookies. Just writing this post is actually making me crave one of these little guys – they are so yummy and completely addicting! The best part is that they are the perfect treat to make on a hot summer day when you don’t want to turn on the oven.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 Oreo cookies

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in milk and peanut butter and then gradually beat in flour and salt. Pulse 10 Oreos in the food processor until coarsely chopped and mix into the cookie dough. Roll into 32 1-inch spheres. Pulse remaining 4 cookies in food processor until finely ground and coat truffles in the crushed cookies. Makes 32 truffles.

Nutrition: 82 calories, 5.0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 1.5g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.10 per truffle

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Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken

June 26, 2010

The last part of our trip was spent on the Lithuanian coast in several resort towns by the Baltic Sea. We were there pretty early in the season so it was still a bit chilly at the beach and I just got my feet wet, although Apolinaras actually swam a couple of days!

We spent a lot of time exploring Nida, which has gorgeous sand dunes and a lighthouse that can be spotted from all angles. Apolinaras spent many summers here, so it was really fun to see all his favorite spots.

Another one of the highlights was walking through the Hill of Witches in Juodkrante, which is home to hundreds of wooden sculptures carved by Lithuanian artists.

Many were inspired by folklore and fairy tales and several were interactive.

We felt like kids again and had a blast posing with them all!

We also really enjoyed checking out the Devils’ Museum in Kaunas. One of the most popular customs is the use of art to scare away evil spirits. It’s thought that the devil hates being mocked and leaves when people make fun of him. Therefore many people collect devil sculptures and display them in their homes.

After indulging in traditional Lithuanian dishes like those yummy zeppelins and these fried dumplings stuffed with mushrooms and covered in cheese for the majority of our trip, I was ready for some lighter fare once we arrived in Palanga.

After strolling the grounds of the Amber Museum and the boardwalk, I ordered a crispy pan fried chicken breast topped with grilled pineapple, a berry sauce, and whole walnuts for lunch.

I just loved the flavor combination and was inspired to create something similar after we got home. For my version, I coated the chicken with finely ground walnuts and bread crumbs and topped it with a sauce made from berry preserves and lemon juice for a bit of tang. Then I topped the chicken with chunks of fresh pineapple!

So this ends the recap of our trip to Lithuania. I’m so happy that we were able to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary exploring Apolinaras’ homeland together!

Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded flat until 1/2-inch thick
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup of your favorite berry preserves (I used Trader Joe’s reduced sugar blackberry)
Juice of one lemon
1 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Mix ground walnuts, bread crumbs, and salt in a shallow pan. Put the flour in a shallow dish and lightly dredge both sides of the chicken in the flour. Place the beaten eggs in another shallow dish and dredge both sides of the flour coated chicken in the egg mixture; place chicken in the walnut mixture and coat well on all sides.

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick pan and sear two walnut coated chicken breasts on both sides. Repeat with remaining tablespoon of oil and two chicken breasts. Place seared chicken breasts in a 13×9-inch baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

Make the sauce by mixing berry preserves and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon sauce over cooked chicken and sprinkle chopped pineapple evenly on top. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 386 calories, 23.8g fat, 2.7g fiber, 9.0g protein per serving
Cost: $1.92 per serving

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