Better for You Benedict

Reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was enlightening and frightening all at the same time. His mention of brunch simply being a meal that chefs create using leftover scraps from the week makes me want to just stay at home and cook. Oh yeah, and that delicious fattening hollandaise sauce is a playground for bacteria just sitting beside the stove. So instead of going out to Founding Farmers, which by the way has made a huge slide downhill, I stayed in my kitchen and mastered the poached egg.

Here is my recipe for a healthier, yet oh-so-satisfying eggs benedict:

2 servings

30-45 mins

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs (I like mine brown, organic, and cage free)
• 2 whole wheat english muffins 
• lox a.k.a smoked salmon (Whole Foods sells this little container of pieces that worked out well)
• white vinegar
• heaping tablespoon of lite mayo
• heaping tablespoon of non-fat plain yogurt
• squeeze of lemon
• dash of white pepper
• a few grinds of sea salt
• a small handful of chives, finely sliced
• buttery spread or butter

Put a small pot of water on and bring to a boil. While it is coming to temperature, open up your english muffins and spread a light layer of buttery spread/butter on the tops.

In a small bowl combine: mayo, yogurt, lemon, chives, white pepper, and salt.

Once the water is boiling, turn it down to a simmer and add a dash of white vinegar. Crack your first egg into a small bowl. Then with your spoon start swirling it in the water until you have a little tornado brewing. Drop the egg into the water and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel. Repeat until all 4 eggs are cooked.

While you are poaching the eggs, you will want to toast your english muffins. I like to do this in a pan or griddle. Start by toasting the bottoms and flip it over onto the top so that both sides are golden. 

Now it's time to assemble! First the english muffin, then your lox, gently place your egg on top , and a sauce drizzle to finish.

Serve and enjoy without the concern of food poisoning...yay!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Josh: Butternut squash is on sale, should we buy it?
Me: Yes!

A week goes by and that squash is still sitting on my counter begging to be cooked. What should I do with it? Soup...nah, not in the mood, just have it on the side...nope too much for that, lasagna...yes!

And so it began -- the "I'm going to make a lasagna because I have a bunch of stuff in my fridge that I need to use before it goes bad." As most of my recipes go, I didn't measure, you've been warned.

Ingredients:

• 9 sheets of lasagna noodles
• 3/4 container of part skim ricotta
• 1 egg
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of fresh basil
• half a bag of baby spinach
• 6 or 7 decent sized cremini mushrooms sliced
• butternut squash
• olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 slices or so of prosciutto
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 3/4 - 1 cup of grated parmigiano reggiano (you can use regular parm, this is just what I had)
• white pepper
• ground sage
• ground allspice
• garlic powder

Step 1: Heat oven to 400 and put a large pot of water on to boil the noodles. In the meantime, peel and chop the squash and place it in a 9 x 13 baking dish and coat with olive oil, a sprinkling of sage and allspice over the whole top. Put in oven and cook until soft, tossing often.

Step 2: In a bowl add the ricotta, chopped basil, and the egg. Put this back in the fridge for use later. At this point your water should be at a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 9 minutes. Strain.

Step 3: In a saucepan heat a tsp of olive oil. Roll slices of prosciutto and cut into small pieces. Add prosciutto to oil cooking until crisp. Remove, but leave behind the oil. Melt butter and then whisk in the flour slowly. You will see that it begins to create a sort of paste. Slowly add in the milk while whisking. You do not want this to become lumpy! Add in your parmigiano reggiano and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Then add the prosciutto back in and add white pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Step 4: To use less pots, use the same one you cooked the noodles in. Add some olive oil and brown the mushrooms. Dump in the spinach and cook until it is wilted. 

Step 5: Your squash should be soft now. Move it to a bowl and mush it into smaller pieces. 

Step 6: The 9 x 13 pan should still have some olive oil, which you will want to prevent the noodles from sticking. Layer your first three noodles, then add the ricotta mixture, then 3 more noodles, then the mushroom/spinach mixture, then the butternut squash, now sprinkle allspice, garlic powder and sage, layer on the last three noodles, pour and spread the sauce across the top. Place in oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes until cooked through.

Oatmeal Bars to Replace Your Granola Bar Habit

It's back to school time and that means finding snacks for your kids that are affordable and healthy. Granola bars were always a go-to snack for my family, so I decided to create a DIY alternative. These oatmeal bars are filled with nutrients, are super easy to make, and can be adapted to your taste.

You can choose different nuts, fruits, and seeds. I've been enjoying a mixture of walnuts, flax, cranberries and dates. I also add some chocolate chips for sweetness.

Here is a basic list to help you with the proportions:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
• 1/2 cup dried fruit 
• 1/4 cup seeds 
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips 
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• pinch of salt 
• 1 1/4 cups milk 
• 1 egg 
• 1 tsp vanilla 

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Grab a 2-cup measuring cup, add your milk, crack and egg into the cup and add a dash of vanilla.
4. Pour your wet ingredients into the dry. Stir until combined.
5. Pour into a square baking dish lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Cut into 9 squares and wrap for grab-and-go ease. You can store in the fridge, which keeps the chocolate firm. Yum! 

Quinoa Crusted Eggplant Parmigiana

Eggplant Parm has to be one of my favorite guilty pleasures. But who likes feeling guilty? Not me, especially since I get enough Jewish guilt from the women in my family. So the challenge became, making a healthy eggplant parm without it being a soggy mess.

My grandfather has always grown prize eggplants that my bubbe thoughtfully prepares. Growing up I would eat these aubrigene beauties, baked, with a layer of marinara tossed pasta. In my own kitchen I follow this process, which often leads to the sauce soaking in and ruining the fried eggplant crust.

Like many days, I was having a long drive home and dreaming about cooking up something creative. It was in that moment that a light went off -- QUINOA. There was my answer. I would grind it down to a granular flour and then follow my normal steps.

This is what you'll need:

- 1/2 - 1 cup of quinoa ground by either a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to about a quarter size of the normal quinoa grain (if it's flour consistency you've ground too much and it might not be as crispy)
- 1/4 cup or so of shredded hard cheese like pecorino or parmesan
- seasoning such as garlic powder, oregano, salt, pepper, parsley
- egg whites
- pasta (whole wheat penne is what I use)
- marinara sauce (I whip up my own, but I also like Rinaldi)
- eggplant
- mozzarella
- olive oil spray*

Step 1:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place a layer of eggplant in a strainer and sprinkle kosher salt so that it is on each piece. Repeat until all layers are salted.

Step 2:
While the eggplant is sitting in the salt grind the quinoa. Once you have reached the right consistency dump it into a mixing bowl and add the shredded hard cheese and any seasoning you would like. This basically makes a "seasoned quinoa crumb."

Step 3:
Rinse the eggplant thoroughly so that no salt is left behind. Then get another bowl for your egg whites. The amount will vary depending on your eggplant size. I use the pourable ones to make it easy and adjust as I go.

Step 4:
Grab a cookie sheet and spray it with olive oil. Now it's time to bread! One piece at a time, dip each side of the slice in the egg whites, let it drip off some, and then into the quinoa it goes. Now place it on the baking sheet.

Step 5:
Spray the tops of the eggplant and put the sheet in the oven. Bake for 10- 15 minutes and then flip for another 10 minutes or so until both sides are golden brown.

Step 6:
While the eggplant is baking, put some water on to make your pasta. Cook according to package directions and then toss with sauce. Once that is complete, layer it on the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Step 7:
Layer the eggplant on top of the pasta, top with sauce and mozzarella. Lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake until the cheese is melted. Let it sit for 5 minutes, cut and enjoy!

*Note: I like using the Misto for the olive oil spray. You pump it by hand and then it makes a mist. This product also allows you to select your own oil, which is awesome.

Lunching on Lentils

So if you didn't know that lentils are delicious and full of nutrients, well you know now.

Based on Self Magazine's nutrition page, one cup of cooked lentils without salt comes out to:

That's great stuff you should be eating. I know Josh and I are going to make a more concerted effort to do so. In fact, this week we made two separate dishes featuring this protein packed legume.

Lentils found their way into my belly in two forms this week: swiss chard rolls with lentils (duh) and brown rice, and a grilled lentil wrap.

While I enjoyed the swiss chard rolls, I didn't perfect it enough to share with you. Instead, we can just cover the wraps which were loosely based off of this recipe.

We left out the brown rice, used spinach, and shredded smoke mozzarella. The schmear was substituted with Stone Wall Kitchen's Hot Pepper Peach Jam.

Feta Watermelon Salad

Want a delicious and easy salad? Throw this together:

Ingredients:

• Watermelon
• Romaine
• Red Onion (sliced thin)
• Cucumber
• Red Bell Pepper
• Feta
• Fresh Mint (just a little)

Dressing:

• Red Wine Vinegar
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Honey
• Salt and Pepper

If it sounds weird to you, just try it. You will be amazed at how excited your tastebuds will be. And if you're trying to lose weight, this is a great outside-the-box healthy recipe. Keeping that weight off is about finding healthy foods that don't bore you.

If You Give a Lea a Cookie...

She will want a dozen more.

While I LOVE all desserts, I am a total cookie monster. When I first started baking in my teens, I had a few specialties. Hands down, my most popular was the chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Cooking. My dad has a huge sweet tooth and still asks for them to this day.

This Mother's Day, I was in charge of the desserts. So I immediately thought...COOKIES! Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies and there are a trillion recipes out there, many claiming to be "the best." But who wants to keep making the same ones over and over and over? Not me. So instead, I made hazelnut toffee chocolate chip cookies.

Let's just say, the moment I ate the first one I turned blue and fuzzy. Thank goodness the recipe made about four dozen because no one wanted to stop eating these delicious morsels. My counter and kitchen table looked like a sea of cookies -- pre-scooped oven ready on sheets and freshly baked on cooling racks. Absolute heaven.

So here are my tips for this recipe:

• Since you need to put the oatmeal in a food processor, do the nuts in it too after you take the oatmeal out. Then do the toffee in there too. Make it easy on yourself -- no chopping by hand!
• Get a cookie scoop. It will be your best friend, just trust me. Plus each one will be the perfect size, making baking time easier.

General tips:

• Bring your ingredients to room temperature. You have probably heard this before, but it really is the number one rule for baking (with some exceptions). There is no way you can properly cream your butter and sugar without this step. If you are patient and do this, your cookies will be a lot softer and won't get stale as quickly.

C is for _____. Come on, go bake these already!