Eggplant Parmesan My Way

Well, maybe not my way per se because it's a slight adaptation from a recent Bon Apetit recipe.

Basically, they updated the classic Eggplant Parmesan using broiled eggplant as opposed to the battered and fried variety. Since my goal is to make this a delicious, low-carbohydrate meal, I figured I would use the same method. Incidentally, if you happen to have a grill pan, grilled eggplant would be pretty damned delightful as well.

Low-Carbohydrate Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium to large size eggplant, rinsed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
salt

1 1/2 tsp olive oil
5 oz fresh spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 oz feta*
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
1 egg

1 8 oz can tomato sauce (or Marinara sauce if you don't have tomato sauce on hand)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Sprinkle the eggplant slices on each side with salt and layer on paper towels or on a nice, long cooling rack over the sink to drain. Let these guys sit for about an hour before continuing with them.

In the mean time, make the filling. In a large pan, heat oil and garlic over medium heat. When the garlic begins to sizzle, cook for about 2 minutes to remove some of the intensity. Add the spinach and cook until nearly wilted. Remove from heat (spinach will likely continue to wilt, if not, it's okay, the difference in texture is quite pleasant). Let cool.

In a bowl, combine the cheeses, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the cooled spinach mixture to the filling. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Now back to the eggplant. Once the hour is up, preheat the broiler in your oven. Rinse the excess salt off of the eggplant slices under water and pat dry. Arrange on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush olive oil on both sides of eggplant and broil until brown, roughly 3-4 minutes on each side, but don't let these guys out of your sight - there's a hairsbreadth difference between delightfully brown and disgustingly black. Once the slices are finished let them cool until easy to handle.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a heaping 1-2 tbsp of filling onto the center of each eggplant slice and roll up (I ended up having exactly the right amount - how often does that happen?!). Coat the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan with a little tomato sauce. Place eggplant rolls in dish like so:



Top eggplant rolls with remaining tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. At this point, these guys could be refrigerated for up to a day (as per the Bon Apetit recipe). Bake, covered in foil, for 30 minutes (40 minutes if coming straight from the refrigerator). Remove foil and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes more until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.



These did take some time to make, but they really weren't that complicated. Describing the process, now that was complicated! I had mine with a simply dressed side salad. This makes enough for 3 servings.

Total carbohydrates: 60.
Total fat: 25.

There are more carbohydrates if you use marinara sauce rather than tomato sauce. I have to say that the tomato sauce, after cooking and combining with the parmesan cheese and some of the filling, was incredibly tasty on its own - I think store bought marinara might actually have been overpowering had I used that. Per serving, and I have to say that it makes three hefty servings of three rolls a piece, it breaks down to 20 carbohydrates. This is a bit intense for my cleanse, but it can be a good reward at the end of a long day. Additionally, if you're careful with how much oil you use, this is a very light, but filling, meal as well containing only about 25 grams of fat total, or about 8 grams per serving. I didn't count the calories, but since most calories come from carbohydrates and fats, something tells me it would be pretty light.

*the feta cheese was a total add lib on my part - I had a tiny bit left over in the fridge but figured it would go well with the spinach and garlic and would provide a nice tanginess to the filling

It's been quite a while...

Well, only a couple weeks. Since my last post I've gone through finals and most of my spring break.

Currently, in terms of my eating habits, I'm a little disappointed in myself. I've maintained my weight loss from last summer, and I've definitely toned up a bit as well, but I haven't lost any more weight. I'm setting a goal to lose 10 - 15 pounds by the end of spring quarter. That averages 1.5 pounds a week which, considering my running, should not be too difficult. The trick is going to be eating healthier more consistently. This past quarter saw a week or two of eating well followed by a week of eating not so well and weekend bingeing definitely occurred more often than I would have liked.

What I'd like to do is go through a 1 - 2 week carb cleanse, similar to phase 1 of the atkins diet where most carbohydrates (except for fiber) would be eliminated from my diet. In the past, especially when I've been eating healthfully, I noticed that my carbohydrate intake was restricted to vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots, and occasionally some brown rice. This past winter quarter, and even fall quarter to some extent, definitely saw the end of that, so this cleansing process is really only to reset my eating habits. Also, the elimination of refined sugar will be particularly welcome since I have a sweet tooth that has gotten insanely out of hand in the past few weeks.

My plan after the next 2 weeks is to slowly become more reliant on healthy, whole-grain carbohydrates and vegetables. Ideally, I'd love to integrate oatmeal and other healthy carbohydrates into my breakfast options. However, for the rest of the day, I'd much rather stick with vegetables and fruits. Ultimately, I'd love to maintain this eating habit with a couple splurges during the week (which will definitely necessitate some dessert experimentation).

Basically, I'd really like to give this cleanse a shot and see what happens. First on the menu is an eggplant parmesan that should be pretty delightful. I've got a couple other recipe ideas to try out later, but I'd like to keep things as healthy and as vegetable-and-fruit oriented as possible right now. Updates and recipes to come...

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

At long last, my Moroccan Chicken and Lentils post. This recipe comes direct from my friend/colleague Jess. She gave me some of this to try and I had to have the recipe. The cinnamon flavor combined with the subtle heat in this dish is amazing. It's incredibly hearty on it's own but if you wanted to make it go farther, serving this with basmati rice or pita chips would be pretty amazing.

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

1 8oz package baby carrots
1 1/2 cups lentils, uncooked
1 1/2 lbs frozen chicken breast tenders (although I used thighs for incredibly tender meat)
2 tbsp minced garlic
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 (14 1/2 oz) cans fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth

Place all ingredients, in order listed, in a 4 or 5-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on high setting for 5 hours. Alternatively, cook on high setting for 1 hour, then reduce to low setting and cook for 7 hours.



Is that not ridiculously easy?! Also I was thinking that, if you wanted a vegetarian option, adding more carrots and a couple cans of chickpeas would be pretty out of this world. My only worry is that the chickpeas may get over cooked, so adding the chick peas halfway through the cooking process rather than at the beginning may be necessary.

This yields 6-1 cup servings and per serving has only 320 calories, 2 grams of fat and ridiculous amounts of protein and fiber.


After only a couple hours cooking. As it cooks down, the lentils get incredibly soft and break down a bit. The end result is not the prettiest image ever (but then, greyish green was never an attractive hue), but trust me, it's delicious.

Up next, I've got a really healthy, vegetarian pasta and white bean toss I'm working for a quick evening meal through the week that can turn into a healthy lunch option.

Stolen from my friend Charles' website, who stole it from...

Not a typical blog update, but an interesting one none the less. This is one of those delightful maps of America. In this case, a map of Hamburger places in the U.S. The scariest part? McDonald's is black.



Moroccan Chicken and Lentils still to come, likely on Friday or Saturday.

I'll have the penne a la arabiata!

The title comes from an hilarious Eddie Izzard piece from his "Full Circle" dvd discussing the Death Star canteen:



I can't help thinking of this bit any time I cook with penne. I want a pasta that's healthy and not too heavy, so my idea for this pasta casserole dish is to use one of those delightful maxed-out pastas (you know the kind, with protein and fiber and omega 3s and everything under the sun). Additionally, I'll use a mix of broccoli and spinach to account for vegetables. Finally, I'll keep with parmesan cheese (yeah yeah yeah, parmesan and not parmiggiano reggiano - but let's face it, I'm on a student's budget) to add flavor without a lot of extra calories. Basically, I see this as a glorified mac and cheese, with pan seared chicken on top. Sure the chicken could be cut up and baked with the pasta as well but when your entire dinner comes in one dish, I have a hard time not engulfing the entire thing.

Also, I've decided to try and start doing better at counting calories. I need to be more aware of what, calorically speaking, goes into my body, and in making these meals, sometimes it's easy to forget that every tsp of olive oil really adds up.

Spinach and Broccoli Penne with Pan-Seared Chicken

1lb uncooked penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil
3 lean chicken breasts

1 tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup chicken stock
2 1/2 cups milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

12 oz package frozen spinach
11 oz package frozen broccoli


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Begin by setting a pot of salted water onto boil. While that is getting going, set a large over medium heat and let it get warm. Add the olive oil to the pot and let the oil heat up. Rinse and pat the chicken breasts dry, season them with salt and pepper and place the chicken breasts into the pan. Sear until nice and brown, then turn over and sear on the opposite side (about 4-5 minutes per side. Once the chicken breasts are done, place on a sheet pan and into the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes to finish cooking.

In the meantime, your water should be boiling, so add the pasta.

Add the butter and garlic to the pot that contained the chicken and cook for a minute or two, max. Add the flour and combine to form a clumpy roux. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the flour for a couple minutes longer. Then, add the milk and whisk to dissolve the roux. Let the mixture come to a boil, whisking frequently to make sure there are no clumps. Once the mixture boils, add the parmesan cheese and allow it to melt before adding the frozen spinach and broccoli.

Once you've added the veggies, the mixture will thicken and cool almost instantly because of the drastic temperature change. Keep the pot at medium and allow the mixture to warm through and just barely bubble. When your pasta is done, drain it and add it to the spinach and broccoli sauce. Remove the chicken from the oven, slice the chicken and serve.



I decided to do a little experiment with this recipe and count the calories and fat grams that went into it. I didn't leave out anything to make it super healthy, but I didn't go crazy with heavy cream and ridiculous amounts of cheese either. In the end, with everything accounted for, the fat grams were at 80 and the calories were about 2880. Dividing this total meal into 4 portions renders a very filling serving size (a little light on the chicken and a little heavy on the pasta though) of about 20 grams of fat and 720 calories. I feel like the calories were about average, but I was a little shocked by the fat. Overall, the butter and oil (1 tbsp each) contributed 25 grams and the cheese contributed 24 grams itself! All in all though, it's a solid meal on it's own, chock full of veggies, carbs, and a lean protein, so I'm pretty okay with this meal, at least once in a while as a break from soups and stews. Speaking of which, next up will be my friend Jess's Moroccan Chicken Stew!

Treats

This week has been a week of stress, essay-writing, and hastily cobbled together meals. Case in point: I just finished up a soup consisting of vegetable broth, brussel sprouts, and green beans, thickened slightly with left-over mashed potatoes.

I'm not going to lie, it actually was pretty good. I love brussel sprouts in any form, and the mashed potato-thickened soup was creamy and full-bodied. But I digress.

I'm planning on cooking more this weekend and next week. Lately, I've been craving pasta, so I think some kind of chicken, spinach, broccoli alfredo bake is in order. Since casseroles tend not to keep as long as soups, I figure, by Friday at the latest, I'll be making a Moroccan Chicken and Lentil dish that can very easily be made vegetarian.

Right now though, I wanted to show off some fun food finds from this week.

More vanilla beans? Hell yes. I've been wanting to post this link for quite some time just so that it's easier for me to find in the future. Here's the product, 1/4 lb of Tahitian vanilla beans, excellent quality, arrived 3 days after I purchased them, vacuum-sealed and aromatic as all get out.



And here's the link (I know since it's an eBay store the site isn't as fancy as it could be, but trust me, 9 bucks for like 30 vanilla beans is totally worth it): Vanilla Products USA

Currently, I have vanilla beans in sugar and vanilla beans in vodka. Until I added more beans to my vodka batch it was getting quite dark. I figure in another month or two it will be the most amazing vanilla extract ever.

Next up, we have my favorite food in the world: eggs! Specifically we have more farm fresh eggs straight from my colleague's chicken's cloacae!



And finally, what I like to do with eggs when I really want to treat myself: get a lox and cream cheese bagel from Bagel Street Deli in uptown Athens, open-face it, and top it with scrambled eggs. Now that's what I call breakfast!

The Buttercream Gang

I decided to say "eff it" to no sweets for today. Not that I'm going to go crazy or anything, I just have that vanilla sugar cookie dough in the freezer, and it's too good not to use some.

I want a simple frosting for the cookies, so the natural answer is a quick vanilla buttercream. Rather than a traditional buttercream (made by beating hot egg whites with sugar, then mixing in soft butter), I'll make a quick version with confectionary sugar, butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract and the seeds from a vanilla bean (these are going to be some violently vanilla cookies).

I don't really have the time to fool around with decorations, so I'm thinking simple round or square cookies with frosting - maybe using fork tines or something to that effect to further design the cookies, but we'll see if the frosting can hold up.

Gratuitously Vanilla Cookies

I used a recipe of the vanilla sugar cookies only this time I had brown sugar and I added the delicious innards of a vanilla bean.

Frosting
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
2 -3 tbsp heavy cream

Mix the sugar and butter together on low speed in a stand mixer (or with a hand model) until well combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla, vanilla beans, and cream beating for 1 minute more. Add a little more cream if necessary to get to spreading consistency.



Gratuitously vanilla sugar cookie, meet chocolate milk.