Fried Couscous Salad

I have to admit that I don't really like Giada. She has always seemed a little pompous to me and I absolutely can not stand how she will insert Italian words with a really thick, fake accent into her dialogue. I happened to glimpse a clip of her show as I was flipping channels the other day and this recipe caught my attention.

Unlike most of Giada's recipes, this one looked fairly simple and didn't require a ton of hard to come by ingredients. It did take a little looking to find Ricotta Salata. I ended up going to a specialty Italian deli in town since none of the regular stores in my area carry it. If you can't find it, you could substitute a different crumbly cheese such as Feta.

The recipe cooked up quickly and was really tasty. Vince raved about it and has requested it again. It is a great side dish for those nights when you want something easy but different than plain old rice. I served it with eggplant the first time and with salmon the next time I made it. It definitely has an Italian taste going on so be sure to pair it with something that the cheeses will go well with.

Fried Couscous Salad

Adapted from FoodNetwork Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
2 Cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 10 oz Box (1 1/4 Cups) Couscous
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Minced Garlic
4 oz Ricotta Salata Cheese, crumbled into 1 inch pieces
1/4 Cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes (packed in olive oil), chopped
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Dressing:
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth and salt to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the couscous.
3. Cover until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the couscous is tender, about 6 minutes.
4. Using a fork, fluff the couscous to break up any lumps.
5. In a large non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
6. Add the garlic and cook until golden, about 1 minute.
7. Increase the heat to high and add the couscous.
8. Cook, stirring constantly, for 6 minutes.
9. Continue to cook the couscous, stirring every 5 minutes, until toasted. This will take about 25 minutes.
10. Transfer the couscous to a large serving bowl and cool for 5 mintues.
11. Add the cheeses and tomatoes.
12. In a small bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients.
13. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until all of the couscous is coated.

Yields: 12 Servings (1/2 Cup per serving)

Please forgive me, I have Baked Falafel

I know I'm a LLPOF (liar, liar, pants on fire). I said I took a short break and would be back and then...nothing. I haven't posted in almost 3 months. That is completely inexcusable. I guess I should start by giving an update on what's been going on here and then, to try to win your forgiveness, I'll give you a most excellent recipe for baked falafel. You will love it, I promise.

So bake in August, when I last posted, I was still on the weight loss journey and becoming increasingly frustrated with my lack of progress. I was also a little down about our fertility problems. Well, let me tell you all of that has changed!

On September 1st I went to my fertility doctor for my routine blood draw and to begin planning my next cycle of medications. That afternoon I got a call from the nurse telling me that our August cycle had worked. We were finally pregnant! I was in shock. I had been having PMS symptoms for a couple of days and was absolutely positive that I was going to start my period any second. I even went to the store to by tampons after my blood draw. I called Vince at work and told him that I was pregnant. He was in the middle of a meeting and couldn't talk, but I think he was a little lost for words anyway. As soon as I got off the phone with him, I ran over to CVS and purchase a couple of digital pregnancy tests. I needed to see the positive result for myself. I took a total of 4 tests that afternoon. It was a shock each time to see "Pregnant" show up in the window.

On September 15 I went in to the doctor for my first ultrasound. I was 6 weeks pregnant at that point. We were able to see a little blob and a tiny little flicker of a heartbeat. On September 22 we had our 2nd and final ultrasound with the fertility doctor. At this appointment our baby looked like a little Gummi Bear with arm and leg numbs. We were able to see a strong heart beating away at 131 beats per minute.

My last ultrasound was on October 25. This was done as part the NT scan to test for Down's Syndrome. Our baby actually looked like a little baby at this point. He was jumping around all over the place, kicking at the ultrasound wand, and waving his/her arms around. He/she flipped over to moon us at one point too. It was very cute. We will not find out the sex of the baby until mid-December when we do the anatomy scan. I can't wait to see him/her again!

I've made my first maternity clothing purchases and will be wearing them very soon. My belly just keeps on growing. When I got to 8 weeks along, my doctor had me come off of the Metformin that I had been taking. As soon as I came off of it, I gained 7 pounds. My doctor and I were worried about my weight during this pregnancy so I made an appointment with a dietitian. The dietitian put me on a strict carb control diet and upped my calories to 2000 per day. I've also been told to limit my exercise to keep my heart rate under 140. I have so far lost 4 pounds, so I am doing well keeping healthy. I'm also hopeful that I won't have much to lose once the baby is born.

In other news, we have decided to do some renovations to our condo. We are meeting with a contractor tomorrow for pricing and timelines. We are going to remodel our kitchen, put in a laundry room, add a den workspace, put in crown molding and new baseboards, and put in new lighting and tray ceilings in the bedrooms. We are hoping to have all of the work finished by April so that we have time to set up the nursery before the baby gets here.

I have not been reading as much since summer ended. I have a few book reviews to give on books that I read over the summer and I'm always looking for a good read. Recommend 'em if you got 'em!

I've been going through more of my photos from various vacations and trips so I'll be making a few posts to show off some of my photography. I know it is a complete attention whore thing to do but, isn't that the purpose of a blog anyway?

Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks. That means that Christmas is right around the corner! I plan to be giving lots of updates on Black Friday sales and my holiday baking projects. I have tons of recipes to add to my list.

So, without further ado...Baked Falafel!

Since meeting with the dietitian I have been searching for recipes that are low carb and higher in protein. I found an awesome blog by a registered dietitian and have slowly been trying out her recipes. So far so good! I got this recipe from her blog and made a few slight changes to suit my personal tastes.

I found the recipe on the blog PreventionRD. Please check out her whole blog, she has tons of yummy stuff on there!

Baked Falafel

From PreventionRD

Ingredients

1 Cup Dried Garbonzo Beans (Chick Peas)
1 Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
1/2 Cup Fresh Parsely, chopped
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
6 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
5 Whole Wheat Pitas, cut in half
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumber Slices

Directions

1. Soak the beans in water overnight.
2. The next day, drain the beans and put them into a food processor with the onion.
3. Pulse until well chopped and blended.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and blend well.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Lightly grease a baking sheet. (I use PAM spray.)
7. Form the bean mixture into walnut sized balls (about 20) and place on the baking sheet.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Spread 2 tablespoons of hummus on to a pita half and then fill with 2 falafel balls, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

This recipe can be doctored up in any number of ways. Use tahini sauce instead of hummus, or use a different flavor of hummus. Use any type of vegetable you want to stuff the pita with. Very filling, nutritious, and low on points!

Yields: 10 servings

Spanakopita

Spanakopita is a Greek spinach pie. It is usually seen being passed around at wedding as tiny hors d'oeuvers. I found a recipe for dinner Spanakopita on one my new favorite cooking blogs, Branny Boils Over. I, of course, took that recipe and modified it to make it dairy-free and higher in protein.

I think it turned out awesome. Vince on the other hand, didn't like it. He said the flavor was good but he didn't like the flaky pastry shell. He's "not a flaky crust kind of guy". Oh well, I guess I can't win them all with him. I'm still making a batch to put in the freezer. I can take them out and heat them up for a quick, yummy lunch.

This recipe does call for the use of phyllo dough. I know that can be intimidating but it really is easy to use. I'll walk you through it. Don't panic, it will be ok.

Spanakopita

From Branny Boils Over

Ingredients

14 Sheets of Phyllo Dough (about 1/4 of a package)
1 10oz Box of Frozen Spinach, Thawed and Drained
4oz Soft Tofu
2oz Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons Parmesan Flavor Veggie Shreds
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, Diced
1.5 Tablespoons Pine Nuts
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg White
1.5 Tablespoons Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
4 Tablespoons Margarine, Melted

Directions

1. In a skillet, fry the onion until caramelized (about 3 minutes).
2. Briefly add the spinach to the skillet, just long enough to steam off any excess moisture. You want it to be completely dry.
3. In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients, except for the margarine and the phyllo dough.
4. Set the filling aside.
5. Open the package of phyllo dough and roll out the sheets.
6. Place a damp paper towel over the sheets to keep them from drying out while you work.
7. Carefully take one sheet and lay it out flat.
8. With a pastry brush, brush the sheet with melted margarine.
9. Carefully lay a second phyllo sheet on top of the first.
10. Brush the second sheet with melted margarine.
11. Lay a third phyllo sheet on the stack.
12. Brush the third sheet with margarine.
13. Lay a fourth sheet on the stack.
14. Do not brush the top of the fourth sheet.
15. Cut the stack of phyllo sheets in half, lengthwise.You will now have two long rectangles of phyllo dough.
16. Make 4 more long rectangles of dough in this way.
17. For the last (7th) rectangle, take one sheet of dough and brush margarine on half of it (lengthwise).
18. Fold the sheet over itself lengthwise.
19. Brush margarine on the top of the sheet.
20. Place another sheet on top.
21. Brush margarine on half of this sheet.
22. Fold the second sheet over itself. You will now have one long rectangle of dough.

Assembly

1. Place 1/3 cup of filling onto one end of one of the rectangles.
2. Take the corner of the rectangle, with the filling, and fold it towards the edge of the dough.
3. Continue folding the dough until you have a large triangle.
4. Place the triangle on a cookie sheet.
5. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake the Spanakopitas in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes. You want them to be golden brown and flaky.

Yields: 7 servings

These are pretty quick to make and are very filling. The best part is that they are each under 200 calories! The stats below are for each pastry triangle. You could also add in some Fiber One powder to up the fiber, it is pretty low.

Squash & Spinach Stuffed Rotolo Pasta

Jamie Oliver is awesome. I've been watching the Food Revolution on ABC Friday nights. I've been a fan of Jamie's cooking for awhile but this show is what really sparked me to start cooking more food from scratch. In the show, he tries to get the public schools in Huntington, West Virginia to change the cafeteria menus to healthy food. He sets ups a "kitchen" in town where he gives free cooking lessons to anyone that walks in. He does fund raisers to have the cafeteria cooks retrained on how to cook actual meals, instead of just adding water and reheating precooked junk. It really is fun to watch the transformation and his enthusiasm for healthy cooking is infectious.

So, I took what Jamie was teaching in the schools and applied it to my own life. Basically, he says that you can still eat the food you love, you just have to make it healthy. So the journey began. There have been some disasters and some pretty good finds. I'm slowly adding to my recipe rotations and having fun trying new stuff.

This recipe is an adaptation from one of the recipes in the book Jaime's Italy.

This is a great summer meal. It is light and filling. There is no heavy sauce to go along with it, although Vince thinks this is a great tragedy. It is also very pretty. It makes a great presentation for guests.

Now don't panic, but you will be making your own pasta for this recipe. Deep breaths...really, it will be ok. It is not that hard to do. I'll walk you through it step by step. Just take it slow and it will turn out beautifully. I promise.

Squash & Spinach Stuffed Rotolo

From Branny Boils Over

Pasta

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 Cups Flour
3 Large Eggs
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Directions

1. Place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Make a hole in the center of the flour.
3. Break the eggs into the hole.
4. Whisk the eggs until pale yellow.
5. Continue whisking while slowly incorporating the flour.
6. Continue to incorporate the flour until a dough has formed.
7. Once a dough ball has formed, begin to knead the dough until it is no longer sticky.
8. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface to roll out.
9. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a large rectangle shape. It should measure about 10 inches by 15 inches. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.
10. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap until ready for use.

Filling

Ingredients

1 Small Squash (I used acorn)
3/4 Teaspoon Coriander
1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic
About 2 Cups Baby Spinach Leaves
1 Tablespoon Butter/Margarine
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese (I used Soft Tofu)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut the squash into quarters.
3. Scoop out the seeds and place the squash, flesh side up, into a baking dish.
4. With a mortar and pestle, grind the fennel seed with the coriander and salt.
5. Season the squash with the ground spices.
6. Cover the squash with tin foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
7. After 25 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool.
9. Once cool, scrape the flesh out of the skin and into a bowl.
10. Mash until smooth.
11. In a large saute pan or skillet, melt the butter and brown the garlic.
12. Add the spinach and cook until completely wilted.
13. Add the nutmeg and toss.

Assembly

Directions

1. Lay out a large piece of cheese-cloth or a clean dish towel (bigger than the pasta).
2. Lay the pasta onto the cloth.
3. Spoon the squash across the long end of the pasta that is closest to you.
4. Spoon the spinach across the pasta right next to the squash.
5. Spoon the cheese/tofu across the remaining edge of the pasta, be sure to go all the way to the edge.
6. Begin slowly rolling the pasta up, jelly-roll style. Start at the squash end and roll towards the cheese/tofu. Roll fairly tight but don't squish out the filling.
7. Use the cheese/tofu to seal the end of the pasta to itself.
8. Wrap the cloth/towel around the rotolo.
9. Tie the cloth on each end and 2-3 times in the middle using kitchen twine.

Cooking

Directions

1. Fill a large pasta pot (or stew pot) with about 6 inches of water.
2. Generously salt the water and bring to a boil.
3. Once the water is boiling place the rotolo (towel and all) into the water. You may need to place a plate or other object over the rotolo to keep it from floating to the top of the water.
4. Boil for 25 minutes.
5. After 25 minutes, remove from the water and place on a cutting board.
6. Carefully unwrap the rotolo and slice into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces.

Yields: 6-8 servings

I served this without any sauce but Vince "needed" it. He has an aversion to pasta without sauce. *sigh* He put basil tomato sauce on it, which I would not recommend. If anything, I would do a light cream sauce but it was really yummy without anything.