Easy Cottage Cheese Sandwich for Breakfast, Lunch or Snack

Yesterday I mentioned an article that discussed healthy snacks. One of the good, easy snack ideas, according to this piece, was to mix cottage cheese with applesauce and cinnamon.

I used to make something like that (minus the applesauce) for my children when they were kids, but I would make it into an open-face sandwich. They loved it so much they still talk about it. Whether you make it for lunch or a snack, it’s amazingly easy and takes just a few minutes. Here’s how:

Warm, Open-Face Cottage Cheese Sandwich

1 slice whole wheat or multi-grain bread

1/4 to 1/3 cup cottage cheese

a few drops pure vanilla extract

ground cinnamon

Toast the bread lightly to give it a surface crispiness. Mix the cottage cheese with a few drops of vanilla extract to taste. Spread the cheese on the toasted bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 375 degrees. Place the sandwich on a small baking sheet or ovenproof dish and place in the oven or toaster oven. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until hot. Makes 1

Popcorn!

Yes, yes, yes!!! I just read that popcorn is a good, healthy snack. One that will not “derail” my diet. I’ve heard that before, but it’s so good to see it said at a reputable website.

Yes, yes, yes!! I love popcorn. Have ever since the long ago days when my brother Jeff took me to the movies on Saturday and doled out the kernels one by one.

The article was about 10 healthy snacks and one of the points that was made was this one:

"You should think of a quick snack as a mini-meal,” advises Debra J. Johnston, RD, registered dietitian and director of nutrition services at Remuda Ranch, a treatment program for eating disorders in Wickenburg, Ariz. 

A mini-meal!! Imagine, popcorn as a mini-meal.

I have to confess that on occasion, when my husband Ed is away on business and I am alone, I sometimes go to the movies with my friend Susan and popcorn is my meal. And I don’t mean mini-meal. I get the big bag because like most Americans I can’t resist the fact that it is SO much bigger than the smaller one and only costs a dollar more.

I only make popcorn at home occasionally. It’s a snack I really should think of more often because if I had homemade popcorn to nibble on while reading or watching TV, it might cut down on more caloric items (like yogurt raisins, which sound healthy but are sugar-loaded candy, after all, or potato chips, which are probably the worst snack there is because they are high-fat, high-calorie and addictive (at least for me)). 

Fairway has great store-made packaged popcorn, but I have found that when I buy the package I eat half on the way home from the store.

Not good.

Homemade — is good but I tend to cook it after I’ve eaten a meal so I don’t gobble it all up.

Here’s how to make popcorn. It isn’t difficult and takes only a few minutes. Also, you don’t need any special equipment. Just a large pot. The recipe is dressed up a bit to add variety to your popcorn choices. But you can leave out the additions and just pop the kernels in the vegetable oil. 

Garlic-Parmesan Popcorn

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 large cloves garlic, cut in half

1/3 cup corn kernels

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes to brown the pieces and flavor the oil. Remove the garlic and add the popcorn kernels. Cover the pan and cook, popping the corn until all the kernels have popped. Place the kernels in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil on top and toss the ingredients. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper and salt. Makes about 8 cups

Friday Reads: Foods that will Win the War

fridayreads:

Good morning! It’s Friday. You know what that means! Share with FridayReads what you’re reading with a reblog or an answer to the question at the bottom of the post and you will be entered to win a copy of THINGS WE DIDN’T SAY by Kristina Riggle. 

So, what are you reading?

Doing some research on staple foods. So I’m reading: Foods That Will Win The War And How To Cook Them (1918) #fridayreads

Margaritas

Yesterday I mentioned our somewhat-but-not-quite annual Cousins Cookoffs. It’s actually been a while, mostly because all the cousins are young and there are babies being born and other larger-than-cookoff life events to consider, so we’ve postponed.

I am determined to have a cookoff this summer. I have to think of a theme (suggestions welcome).

But getting back to the one where we all cooked burritos, I did mention that at these cookoffs, I am the shopper (for all the ingredients), and also the judge and bartender. The younger generation does the cooking (isn’t this a swell way to invite family and not have to cook for them!).

The year of the burrito cookoff I made pitchers-ful of Margaritas. 

They were deee-lish. Everyone was happy. Here’s the recipe:

Margaritas

2-1/2 cups tequila

1-1/4 cups Rose’s lime juice

1/2 cup Triple Sec

2 tablespoons Orange Curacao

1 cut up lime

ice cubes

kosher salt

Place the Tequila, lime juice, Triple Sec, Orange Curacao, cut up lime and some ice cubes in a shaker or pitcher. Let sit for a few minutes, then shake or stir until well blended. Moisten the rims of margarita glasses and dip them in kosher salt. Strain the Tequila mixture into the glasses. Makes 10-12

little LADIES WHO LUNCH: School Ice Cream Party

littleladieswholunch:

Pictured: My 8 year old daughter’s choice for her ice cream sundae: Haagen-Dazs low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, chunks of frozen black cherries and a drizzle of dark chocolate.

The end of the school year is coming to a close, and we’ve taken part in one celebration after another — end of the…

BRAVO! 

Yes, the whole healthy nutrition, school-lunch thing has been politicized. And guess who’s being hurt?

OUR CHILDREN.

Why wouldn’t all parents want their children to eat in a healthy way? Do they actually want their kids to be obese and feel sick and get diabetes or heart disease?

Those who think that proponents of healthy choices for their children are “police” or that the government is in their faces can choose not to have their children eat the healthy snacks. But why try to derail the rest of us from making our choices, from trying to give our children the gift of a healthy life?

I also have a daughter who had food limitations. She has a life-threatening allergy to fish and certain tree nuts. There never was a problem at school — or anywhere else — when she was young. The school, camp, even certain restaurants and other places we went were more than happy to accommodate. No one felt I was the police. No one felt that their rights were being infringed because I asked that the smoked salmon be put at the other end of the room (in fact many of our friends simply refrained from serving those foods when Gillian was going to be present. And no one said boo about it.)

Today I would be regarded as the food police. Or one of those parents whose kids are fussy (as opposed to having an actual anaphylactic-prone allergy). As a person who prevents others from eating peanuts on an airplane. As if eating peanuts on an airplane is a Constitutional right. 

I also never wanted to be the mother who sent her kids to school with carrots and raisins when the other parents sent chips and cheese doodles. But I also didn’t want to send chips and cheese doodles. It’s difficult to keep a stand and yet not be the weird one. In those days (my daughters are now in their 30s), granola bars and peanut-butter/cheese snacks were touted as “healthy” (oh my!). So that’s what I sent. I am sure my kids traded sometimes with the chip and cheese doodle kids.

That’s okay. I am not the food police. And I don’t think they did that every day.

Sometimes you can make progress little by little. We can’t convince people to change their ways all at once. But we can do it one small step at a time. Slowly. This kind of education always takes longer than we think it will.

And in the meantime, those who want to politicize this will keep on keeping on because they have a political agenda to achieve. They don’t care about the kids. If they did, at least for this one issue, they wouldn’t use the children as bait for their ideology. They wouldn’t work so hard against those who are trying to educate parents and young people about healthier dietary choices. No matter what their political agenda, they would all choose health and life.

One further word, as long as I am now on my soap-box. It’s very difficult for parents to say “no.” A lot easier to just give the kids the bag of chips or raisinets. But our responsibility as parents is a balance of yes and no and guiding our children into adulthood. Sure, you have to say no to so many things, you could feel that giving in to the snack thing is less important than some of the other “nos.” That’s true. But honestly, your children will not hate you because you said no to the daily junk. They may even thank you for it when they are old enough to understand.

My kids still tease me about the “healthy choice” stuff when they were kids. But I see what they give their children for snacks. It’s not the chips and cheese doodles.

Rachel and Mitchell’s Tofu Burritos

The Stamford Fairway market is going to have a Firefighters Cookoff at noon on Saturday (June 25th) in the parking lot at the store. Firefighters from Stamford, Darien and Ridgefield will put down their hoses, put on their aprons, get out their tongs and brushes and cook away at ribs and beef and turkey burgers.

You can taste (it’s FREE) it all if you go to the event. The finalist gets a $500 shopping card and the others get $100 cards. So, everyone wins. The judges include baseball star Bobby Valentine and Steve Jenkins, the cheese guru who wrote “Cheese Primer,” among others.

I LOVE cookoffs. I’ve gone to them. I’ve been a judge at several of them. 

Mostly, we have cookoffs in our family. It used to be a Mother’s Day event. We would pick a food and my daughters/husbands and Ed/I would compete. We’ve also had a couple of “Cousins Cookoffs,” when all the cousins came to my house to compete.

It works this way: I pick a theme, like “burritos,” and buy caps for everyone, with an embroidered logo that seems to go with the food theme and the date of the cookoff.

The cousins pick a recipe and tell me the ingredients so I can buy them and have them for the appointed day. Then everyone gets a spot in my kitchen (I have a large kitchen) and cooks away.

The grandparents sit in another room and watch the kiddies.

And after everyone finishes cooking, everyone eats, but I am the judge.

It’s my house and my party, after all.

Also, I do NOT cook. But I am in charge of the beverages, usually alcoholic.

One year the theme was burritos. Everyone wins of course. It IS family. I’ll give a prize for most inventive, best appearance, easiest to prepare or any other category I can think of so everyone wins.

Here’s one of the recipes from that particular Cousins Cookoff:

Rachel and Mitchell’s Tofu Burritos

14-ounce package extra-firm tofu

2 tablespoons olive oil, approximately

hot chili oil

Olivier oil (see below)

finely chopped jalapeno peppers, optional

1 tablespoons Very Very Teriaki sauce (or soy sauce)

1/2 bottle beer

Salsa

4 large flour tortillas

Guacamole

Sour Cream

Jalapeno slices for garnish

Cut the tofu into one-inch squares and set aside. Heat the olive oil and a few sprinkles of chili oil and Olivier oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped jalapenos and cook for about one minute. Add the tofu and cook, turning the pieces gently to coat them, for 6-8 minutes or until browned and crispy. Add the teriaki sauce and then the beer, a little at a time. Cook briefly and dish out to a bowl. Spoon the tofu mixture with some salsa onto a tortilla and roll into a burrito. Top with dollops of guacamole and sour cream. Garnish with jalapeno slices. Makes 4 servings

Olivier oil is a mixture of olive oil, toasted garlic, Parmesan cheese, herbs (rosemary, thyme and peppercorns). You can use olive oil and mix in some fresh or dried herbs and grated Parmesan cheese.

New York City Classes for Pregnant Women, New Moms: Go The F*ck To Sleep, part 2

amotherisborn:

A couple months ago, I saw the cover art for Adam Mansbach’s Go The Fuck To Sleep, and one sample verse. Of course, I burst out laughing. I think the word “perfect” crossed my mind. And I posted about it here, because the concept totally captures that bizarre moment we all know: when…

Fresh Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Has anyone else noticed how expensive cherries are? Wow! They usually cost more than other summer fruit but this year it’s almost painful to buy them.

They better be really really good to justify the expense.

And I really hate that so many stores put a large bunch of them in a bag and make the customers think they have to buy the whole bag. This reminds me of Francis Bacon’s famous quote: 

“Like the strawberry wives, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones.”

Because if you look inside that bag of cherries you are sure to find some gushy ones, some moldy ones and more than a few of them overripe.

You actually don’t have to buy the whole bag. YOU are the customer and you buy what you want. 

I have some spare time today so I am going to nibble on a few of the cherries I bought, but use the rest for one of summer’s best ice cream flavors: cherry vanilla, my grandmother’s favorite. The first time I saw her eat some I made the usual wince face kids make when confronted with new food. The idea of putting anything in vanilla ice cream to distract from the good vanilla flavor seemed so strange that I remember it and it’s over 50 years ago.

Then I tasted.

Yum. It’s really not cherry vanilla. Because the best cherry vanilla ice cream has that hint of almond in it. At least that’s the way I always remembered it and the way I like it.

Yum.

Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup coarsely cut pitted cherries

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups whole milk

2 cups whipping cream

2-inch piece vanilla bean, split open

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

Combine the cherries and almond extract in a bowl, mix and set aside. Place the milk, cream and vanilla bean in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is hot and bubbles have formed around the sides of the pan. Set aside to cool. Beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together with an electric mixer set at medium speed until the mixture is thick and pale (4-5 minutes). Gradually add the milk mixture to the egg mixture, stirring to blend ingredients to a uniform color. Remove the vanilla bean (but scrape out as much of the seeds as possible into the pan). Heat the mixture, stirring frequently, until it has thickened, but do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool. Stir in the cherries, including any liquid. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Makes about 1-quart

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets Still on the Menu

My cousins, Leslie and Neil are coming for a sleepover this weekend. We get together at one or the others’ houses a few times a year, beginning with New Year’s Eve. It’s our turn.

I have known Leslie all my life. She is a year younger than I am and our mothers were sisters. Close sisters who saw each other all the time, so so did Leslie and I.

It’s the best of things. We are like sisters but we don’t have the sibling rivalry thing and didn’t share the relationships, with all that means, regarding parents.

Leslie is the one woman on earth I can say anything to and confess anything and she will still love me. If you can ever have a person like that in your life, I say, you are very lucky.

We always have an apple pie when they come, because Leslie and I both love that and the two of us nibble at it all weekend and polish off almost an entire pie between us.

Over the years our menu has changed, depending on the season of course, but the weekends always had plentiful amounts of wine and food.

We have sloooooowed down over the years. Last time we got together we only had one bottle of wine for the entire 2 days. We also don’t eat as much. We’re down to breakfast and dinner plus a few snacks in between.

As for the snacks, if I had kept menus of these weekends I probably could have made a culinary timeline and seen how much the ingredients and style has changed. In the old days it would be stuffed mushrooms and now it would be more like beet chips with crumbled goat cheese and toasted almond sprinkles.

But the ONE hors d’oeuvre that never changes is the chicken nuggets. Can’t get enough of these. I usually have a supply in my freezer. You don’t even have to thaw them, just place them in a single layer in a preheated 425 degree oven and bake them, turning them over once or twice for 8-10 minutes or until they’re hot.

Chicken Nuggets

• 2 whole boneless and skinless chicken breasts

• 1 large egg white

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking sherry (or use white wine or sherry)

• 1-1/2 cups ground almonds (or use bread crumbs)

• vegetable oil for frying

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and put them in a large bowl. Add the egg white, cornstarch, salt and sherry and mix until the chicken pieces are uniformly coated with the mixture. Dredge the chicken pieces in the almonds, pressing to coat the entire piece. Set aside, preferably on a cake rack, for 20-30 minutes to air dry slightly. Heat 1/4-inch vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot enough to make an almond crumb sizzle, fry the chicken pieces a few at a time for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Do not crowd the pan when frying the chicken.

Makes about 36 pieces. Serve hot. 

These may be reheated in a hot oven (425 degrees) for 2-3 minutes per side (more if the nuggets have been frozen or refrigerated and cold). 

How to Increase Your Metabolism

Wow, am I lucky! I read this article which says that in order to increase my metabolism and perhaps lose some weight, all I have to do is do some strength training. Which I do, two and sometimes three times a week.

My trainer Robbie helps me out and then I also bought these CDs, in case I have some extra time at home to exercise in between everything else I’m doing and in case I believe that someday, even though I am now grandma age, I can look like that woman instructor with the sculpted arms, small rear end and slim thighs. 

Well, I could exercise all day and night and never look like that, especially if I eat these cupcakes, which my daughter Gillian made for her son (my grandson’s) Remy’s first birthday party this weekend. But they sure were deeelish! (Recipe below)

So let me ask. Is it worth devouring one or two of these and then having to work out more?

My mother used to quote a favorite actress of hers, Loretta Young, who apparently said something like this: “a moment on the lip, forever on the hip.” Loretta Young was gorgeous and slim. But I wonder if she ever ate a really delicious cupcake.

White Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups milk

5 large egg whites

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24-30 cupcake tins (or line them with paper cupcake holders). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl (use an electric mixer) or a standing mixer, cream the butter and 1-1/4 cups of the sugar together at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk, beating after each addition. In another bowl, beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until they stand in soft peaks. Continue to beat at high speed, gradually adding the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, until the mixture stands in stiff peaks. Fold the beaten whites into the batter. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cups, filling them 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Makes 30-36 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

8 ounces cream cheese

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

milk

Beat the butter, cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add enough milk to make the frosting easy to spread. Enough for 12-15 cupcakes