Posts Tagged ‘Light’

Cooking With Sin Goes Lite – The Ultimate Garden-of-Eden Salad

Posted on: November 23rd, 2014 by Carla Johnson No Comments

Carla Johnson author Cooking With SinLike so many ventures into healthier eating, mine has had its fits and starts, but it keeps moving forward. Recently I had the true pleasure of sharing a kitchen demo at Word on the Street with Christine Gingerich, the author and visionary of the book “Optimal You.” Christine is driven by a sincere passion to help people live vibrant, healthier lives and she shares her recipes and advice with a gentle, personal approach.

Excited by her project, I asked Christine if she would be willing to share one of her recipes here on CWS. No surprise here, none of her recipes have booze in them, but her most-requested salad is made with red wine vinegar, so I decided it worked for me. :) And her salad is called Garden-of-Eden, the location of the “original sin.” Coincidence? I think not! 😉

The Ultimate Garden-Of-Eden Salad

by Christine Gingerich

Christine Gingerich Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin

For many years, I have been known as The Salad Girl. For holidays, parties, and potlucks, I always seem to be asked to bring the salad. This recipe has been my most popular salad creation with the most tallied “oohs” and “aahs.” It contains lots of brain-nourishing healthy fats and antioxidants to help fight disease. Serve it as a healthy addition to a light lunch or as a starter with a main entrée.

1 large bowl organic mixed greens, about 8 cups (spring mix is our favourite)
1 ripe avocado, chopped
1½ cups tomato, chopped
⅓ cup carrot, finely shredded
1 cup red pepper, seeded and chopped into chunks
¼ cup red onion or shallots, thinly sliced
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup black olives, sliced or ½ cup whole
1 cup Homemade Croutons

Dressing: Garden-of-Eden Salad Dressing – see below

Clean the lettuce well. Add avocado, tomato, carrot, red pepper, onion, feta, and olives. Top with homemade croutons. Coat salad well with desired amount of dressing. Toss and serve immediately.

Note: An avocado is ripe when it changes from bright green to dark green (not completely black). It should be just barely soft when pressed with the thumb.

Yield: 6 servings          Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Garden-of-Eden Salad Dressing

This is, by far, our favourite salad dressing, and it’s especially perfect on The Ultimate Garden-of-Eden Salad. It contains anti-microbial garlic and fresh lemon to cleanse the liver. This dressing is easy to make, very nourishing and great tasting. The recipe makes a large batch that can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four weeks. It’s also a delicious marinade for chicken or steak.

3 cups extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil
1 cup red wine vinegar or dark balsamic vinegar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (less if less-tart dressing is desired)
3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp garlic cloves, minced (or 2 large cloves)
2 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
3 tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
 

Mix all ingredients, and store in a labelled glass bottle in the refrigerator. For easy pouring, remove dressing from fridge 10 minutes prior to pouring, and shake well. This dressing is best if allowed to marinate overnight before serving.

Yield: 4½ cups             Prep Time: 10 minutes

Check out all the great features Christine’s book “Optimal You” has to offer. It is available online or at our local Waterloo Region book stores.

Carla Johnson author Cooking With Sin

The cover of “Optimal You” by Christine Gingerich

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin


 

Cooking With Sin Goes Lite – Roast Turkey

Posted on: July 29th, 2014 by Carla Johnson No Comments
“People who are always taking care of their health are like misers, who are hoarding a treasure which they have never spirit enough to enjoy.”  
―  Laurence Sterne

Recently my doctor put me on a low-carb regimen. She also strongly recommended I seek out low-fat options too. So, I have incorporated some new recipes into my life. I always knew that most spirits were low-fat, but you can imagine my delight when I realized they also have no carbs in them. Truly. Rum, vodka, tequila, gin, whisky… no carbs. So, that means I can keep “cooking with sin!” :)

I’m not going to pretend that alcohol is healthy in any way. Heck, Grandma called in “sin” for a reason. While spirits have no carbs or fat in them, they still contain about 100 calories per shot – aka a jigger, 1.5 oz, 43 ml. I even went several months without touching any of it, just to be on the safe side, but once I learned it was carb-free, well… you know. 😉

This roast turkey breast recipe is the first really great recipe I came up with on my new healthy-yet-still-sinful regimen. Now, this one  has white wine in it, which definitely has carbs, but there’s that whole moderation thing I tend to keep in mind. 😉

CWS LITE Cooking With Sin Light 1 - Roast Turkey 1 Carla

Lite Roast Turkey Breast with Wine

 
1 large fresh turkey breast
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup white wine
 

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Loosen the skin on the turkey and place it in a roasting pan.

3. Mix together all the dry ingredients with the olive oil and lemon juice to make a paste.

sm Cooking With Sin Light 1 - Roast Turkey 2

4. Using your hands, rub the paste all over the breast and under the skin so it is evenly distributed. Pour the wine in the bottom of the pan.

Cooking With Sin Light 1 - Roast Turkey 3

5. Place the pan in the oven for 1.5 – 2 hours until the skin is golden and the meat is 165°F.

Cooking With Sin Light 1 - Roast Turkey 4

6. Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 10 minutes, then slice and serve with the juices.

Cooking With Sin Light 1 - Roast Turkey 5

If you’re curious to know, a 3.5 oz serving of a typical white table wine contacts 100 calories and 3 grams of carbs. That’s a little less than what this recipe calls for, but remember most of it stays in the juices in the pan.

 

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin


 

“The Lighter Side” Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

Posted on: March 12th, 2010 by Carla Johnson 1 Comment
julia-child-with-rolling-pins Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin

Julia Child (source unknown)

“Wine is a living liquid containing no preservatives. Its life cycle comprises youth, maturity, old age, and death. When not treated with reasonable respect it will sicken and die.”

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”

~ Julia Child

Last Sunday was the 4th time I watched the movie “Julie & Julia.” There are so many different reasons to enjoy that movie. It’s a wonderful story of two women forging new paths for their lives by following their passions; doing what they love to do for themselves rather than doing for someone else.

Being a happily married woman – 21 years and counting – I enjoyed the husbands in this movie, too. After years of playing villains, Stanley Tucci has found his way into my heart.

For many years I have been a classroom teacher and I took this year off to pursue some of the ideas that have been brewing in my imagination, this being one of them. Sitting at a computer, I knew I wouldn’t be as active, so I decided to lose some weight. I figured even if I didn’t lose a lot of weight, at least I wouldn’t gain a lot!

Recently Weight Watchers magazine published their trimmed down version of Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Both recipes call for red wine. We know Julia’s recipe is stellar, yet the Weight Watcher recipe has received its share of kudos, too. I cooked the WW version and loved it! I’ll share them both with you here. You can decide for yourself.

Boeuf Bourguignon can be served over potatoes, buttered noodles, rice or green vegetables. It can also be served with bread for dipping.

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Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

(Serves 6)

Kitchen Supplies:

  • 9- to 10-inch, fireproof casserole dish , 3 inches deep
  • Slotted spoon

Boeuf Bourguignon:

  • 6 ounces bacon
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil
  • 3 pounds lean stewing beef , cut into 2-inch cubes
  • 1 sliced carrot
  • 1 sliced onion
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 2 Tablespoon flour
  • 3 cups full-bodied, young red wine, such as a Chianti
  • 2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 cloves mashed garlic
  • ½ teaspoon thyme
  • Crumbled bay leaf
  • Blanched bacon rind
  • 18 to 24 small white onions , brown-braised in stock
  • 1 pound (450 grams) quartered fresh mushrooms , sautéed in butter
  • Parsley sprigs

Directions:

Remove rind from bacon, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, ¼ inch thick and 1½ inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1½ quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325°F.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the melt is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2½ cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Copyright © 1961, 1983, 2001 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted by arrangement with the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

– Everytime I read that I hear Meryl Streep’s “K-Nopf.”

plate2-sm

Weight Watcher’s Boeuf Bourguignon

January • February 2010 ǀ Weight Watchers magazine

(Serves 6)

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs boneless bottom round roast, trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes wine-tetra-sm
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 (14½ ounce) can low sodium beef broth
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 (16 ounce) package frozen pearl onions
  • 1 (10 ounce) package cremini mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 lb. (450 grams) carrot, thickly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Toss beef and flour in medium bowl until evenly coated. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl with a slotted spoon.

Add broth, wine, onions, mushrooms, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot.

after-wine-added

Maybe I used too much flour, but when I added the wine it turned pink!

Stir in beef and reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour. Stir in carrots.

cooking-pot

Not pink anymore. It turned a beautiful colour.

 Cover and simmer until beef and vegetables are fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Serve sprinked with parsley.

Filling Extra: Add 1 lb thickly sliced parsnips with the carrots.

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Cremini mushrooms were a lovely new discovery for me.

 

Bon Appétit!

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin

Carla Johnson Cooking With Sin