The "D" Word

Oh boy, here I am welcoming another year thinking about starting a diet . . . again. I apologize if the “D” word has you ready to quit reading because I know exactly how you feel. I have a dear friend that is pretty much diet obsessed. She is always counting her points, weighing her tofu and looking at me from under her eyebrows every time I order dessert, basically throwing me into a state of food guilt. She just doesn’t understand that for me dessert eating (or pretty much eating in general) is job related, kind of an occupational necessity if you will. I mean she has to understand that I have to stay on the cutting edge of trends in foods, and if that means consuming silken sauces and sugary confections all washed down with bubbly libations well, all I can say is, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Now, saying all this, I must make a confession, and please don’t tell her that I said so, but she’s right. I can no longer deny it; I’ve got to cut back. You know when your sweatpants are too snug it is time to make a change.

I think that the root of my problem goes way back. I was always the skinny kid in school. I could eat anything I wanted and lots of it without gaining an ounce, so I find myself a bit unprepared to make a serious lifestyle change. I always think of myself as that willowy school girl until I catch a glimpse of my real self in the escalator mirrors at one of my favorite department stores. How disheartening when you have spent an hour putting yourself together and patting yourself on the back for looking so ravishing, only to be contradicted by a lowly piece of reflective glass on your way up to the 1st floor café. If that doesn’t take the fun out of a cappuccino and slice of Victoria sponge I don’t know what will. I can only speak for myself here, but John Lewis if you have noticed a slump in your café sales, you might want to reconsider those brutal escalator mirrors and let me live in the land of denial that I love so much.

Well I guess I’ve finally come to the realization that my extra pounds aren’t going to just melt away and those mirrors aren’t going anywhere either, so I need a game plan. I’ve decided that I’m going to start power walking and I don’t just mean a brisk jog in my high heels across a rainy supermarket car park. I’m going to put on my trainers and actually break a sweat. I am also going to start eating off of tea plates so it looks like I’m eating more (I hear that’s an effective illusion). I’m going to skip the silken sauces (oh my) and pass on those tempting desserts (ouch) and consider quit buying butter (probably not). I’m also going to start taking the stairs. Personally I’ve never seen one, but I bet they don’t put mirrors in stairwells. The biggest change of all is going to be the way I eat and that is also the trickiest part. I don’t like recipes that substitute the really good ingredients for some substandard imitation product that was born in a laboratory, so I’m hitting the drawing board.

We’ve all heard the expression that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, well, I don’t know about that. Before that big mirror the aforementioned cappuccino and Victoria sponge made me feel pretty close to perfect. So here’s the hard bit, coming up with something creamy and delicious yet lower in fat and calories. I’m of the opinion that if you take the fun out of food, then you need to put something back in the way of flavor. After much deliberation with my in-house panel of food critics (my children), I’ve come up with a figure friendlier version of a couple of our favorites. I finally decided on cream of mushroom soup which is spiked with herbs and has tons of flavor. I’m pairing it here with tomato and artichoke bruschetta and some fun little truffles that are so satisfying you’ll only need one of them to calm your sweet tooth. Who says you have to deprive yourself of goodness and suffer to be beautiful?



Herbed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 ounce (30g) dried Portobello mushrooms
4 cups (1 liter) hot chicken broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium size sweet yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
8 ounces (227g) white or Crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 large bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, plus a couple of sprigs for garnish
2 medium to large size fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves, crushed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups (375ml) light evaporated milk
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper

Place dried mushrooms in a medium size bowl and pour hot chicken broth over them; soak for approximately 15 – 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, celery and fresh mushrooms and sauté for approximately 5 minutes before adding crushed garlic and sautéing for 1 minute longer.

Remove the mushrooms from the soaking liquid with a slotted spoon and transfer to a cutting board. Pour the soaking liquid into the stockpot with the vegetables. Add the bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley and marjoram; stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
While the mixture is simmering, coarsely chop the soaked dried mushrooms; set aside.

Remove the vegetables and liquid from the heat. Discard the bay leaf and remove and set aside 1/4 cup of the liquid from the pot. At this point if you have an emersion blender, puree the remaining contents of the pot. If using a countertop blender, cool the contents of the pot to warm before pureeing and returning to the stockpot. Add the chopped and soaked dried mushrooms to the pot before placing it back over medium heat and bring back up to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes before adding the condensed milk, cayenne and salt and pepper. Bring the contents back up to a simmer and continue cooking.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour and the 1/4 cup of reserved broth. Add this to the stockpot and stir as the liquid simmers and thickens for 5 minutes.
Divide the contents equally among four warm soup bowls. Garnish with small rosemary sprigs. Serve immediately.


Tomato Artichoke Bruscetta

5 ounces (150g) marinated artichoke quarters, chopped
1 medium size tomato, seeds removed and chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped green or black olives
12 – 1/2" inch thick slices of bread from a French baguette
Olive oil cooking spray
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200C).

In a medium size bowl toss together the artichokes, tomato, spring onion, basil, olives and a drizzling of the juice from the artichokes; set aside.

Spray both sides of the bread slices with the olive oil spray. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place in the preheated oven. Bake until the bread is toasted and golden brown; turn over and toast lightly on the other side. Remove from the oven and sprinkle each piece of toast with 1 teaspoon of the Parmesan cheese; return to the oven for just a minute or so to melt the cheese. Remove from the oven and set aside until ready to use.

Top each piece of bread with a heaping teaspoon of the tomato mixture and serve immediately.
If you want to change this up a bit, I often toast sliced pita bread or flat bread and top it with hummus instead of the French bread and Parmesan.


Chocolate Cookie Truffles

18 ounces (540g) chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo)
8 ounces (240g) light soft cheese (such as Philadelphia), softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125g) icing sugar or cocoa powder

Crush cookies to a fine powder. Food processors work great for this but you can also place them in a zipper seal bag and crush with a rolling pin.

In the bowl of a food processor or medium size bowl, blend in softened light cheese and vanilla extract.

Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the dough at a time and roll it between your palms to form a ball.

Place truffles in refrigerator to set for approximately 1 hour.

Sprinkle icing sugar or cocoa onto a large plate. Roll balls one at a time in sugar or cocoa and place in a single layer on a covered plate. Store covered in refrigerator.
Makes approximately 48 – 1” truffles.

Even though plain chocolate is my family’s favorite, I sometimes add a few drops of orange or mint extract to make them just a bit extra special.

The original recipe calls for the truffles to be frozen and then dipped in melted chocolate instead of powdered sugar or cocoa powder which is delicious for those lucky people not dieting.

As Seen in American in Britain: Chicken Soup for the Expat's Soul

Thank you to Helen Elliot, Editor of American in Britain for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to showcase my writing and recipes in her magazine. Below is a copy of the article and recipe as it was featured. I hope you enjoy.

When my husband was first offered a job in England, we felt we needed to mull it over for a couple of days. It was a good job, with the potential of becoming a great job so we jumped on it. After months of preparation, which included two garage sales and the birth of our second child, we somehow found ourselves on the outbound platform of the Gatwick Express at 6 am, in the middle of January, with two young children, six large suitcases, a stroller, two car seats, and a partridge in a pear tree. Our little caravan then made its way to Victoria Station. From there we took a taxi to St. Pancras, where we boarded the Midland Mainline, rode it to its termination point and caught another taxi to our new address.

Finally, twenty hours after leaving Houston, we were in Nottingham in the little flat that my husband had called home for the few months prior to our arrival. He had decorated the children’s room like only a dad can. He had purchased the smallest crib that I had ever seen, dressed our daughter’s bed in a mature looking light gray and white duvet and tacked a couple of Disney posters on the wall. I was really quite amazed that he had managed to arrange all of this in a room the size of my walk-in closet back in the States. After a quick survey of our new surroundings, I deemed the flat adequate for the short time we would be there before we could find a more family friendly abode. The kitchen had everything I needed, a stove, microwave, refrigerator and washer. The only problem was that the appliances were on a scale for Barbie and Ken’s life in the UK, not ours. Oh well, I decided to worry about that tomorrow because the new found sensation of jetlag had set in and I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

On the trip over, the four of us had amassed a small mountain of dirty clothes so first thing the next morning, I got started. At first I was delighted to see that the washer was also a dryer. How clever! After fifteen minutes or so of studying the Martian looking symbols on the dial, I slammed the door shut on the handful of clothes that fit inside. Once I figured out where the detergent went, I started it up and got on with my other housekeeping chores. Three hours later, our clothes were still being tossed inside the tiny machine. Finally, out of sheer frustration, I managed to pry the door open to check the clothes on the inside. I was totally dismayed to discover that my husband’s jeans were half wet, half French fry. At this stage in my life I had become quite the laundress so I knew that there was only one thing to do, douse them with water and start all over again.

With the laundry going for the next few hours, I bundled up the children and made the trek from our 1st floor flat to the Sainsbury’s that was very inconveniently located across the street. Since there was a busy street and a roundabout located at our front door, we had to walk a quarter of a mile down the hill to the crosswalk, across four lanes of traffic, then a quarter of a mile back to the store. Once at the entrance, I was amazed to see that the trolleys were all threaded together in some manner that was so confounding, I didn’t even attempt it after the washer ordeal. Thank goodness for hand baskets. We swept around the store in an attempt to find the ingredients for a surprise dinner for my husband. Basically the only thing I recognized in the entire building was the produce. I have to say, I was truly amazed at the beauty and variety of the fruits and vegetables. My little daughter and I loved discovering from the labels where everything was grown. I was mostly amazed, and still am, by the beauty that is English bacon. America could learn a thing or two from England in the bacon category. Of course, England could learn a thing or two from America in the Tex-Mex category. Corn tortillas in a can are just unnatural in my opinion but hey, any old port in a storm.

Finally, back in our flat, I shut the door on England and walked into our little bit of America. After all of the trials and tribulations of our first day in our new home, our first meal together wiped them clean. I was able to assemble the ingredients of one of our favorite meals and I even successfully prepared it in Barbie’s kitchen. I knew from this point that we were going to make it but it was going to be more of a challenge than I thought. Of course, if I thought cooking was difficult, that was nothing compared to driving, but that’s a whole other story.

It took us a few months, but we found a big beautiful home, figured out the trolleys, met new friends and yes, I learned to drive, and no one got hurt. Most importantly, we learned to bloom where we were planted, and when the ache of homesickness set in, I figured out how to dull it a bit. We took day trips to parts unknown, made phone calls to family and friends, and cooked comfort foods from home. One of my favorite comfort recipes is the one I’d like to share with you here. It’s a reflection of my roots in south Texas, but since it is on the milder side, it appeals to everyone. I hope you enjoy it and it brings you a bit of comfort, if and when you need it.

For more recipes, please visit my site at www.eatdrinkwashup.blogspot.com.






Chicken and White Bean Chili

1 small to medium – 3-1/2 - 4 pound (1 ½ kilo) whole chicken cut into quarters or approximately 1 ½ pounds (750g) boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs
4 cups (1 liter) water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules or chicken soup base
1 large bay leaf
1 medium size yellow onion, finely diced
1 medium to large size orange, red or yellow bell pepper, with seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
3 large garlic cloves, finely minced
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 – 15.5 ounce (439g) tin cannellini beans (or any other white bean), drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
1 cup (250ml) single cream
3/4 cup (187ml) soured cream
Pepper to taste

Rinse the chicken quarters really well and place them in a stock pot. To the chicken in the pot, add the water (water should mostly cover the chicken), bouillon, bay leaf, onion, bell pepper and garlic. Place the stock pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, approximately 30 minutes. Remove pot from the heat.

Remove chicken quarters from the pot and transfer them to a cutting board and cool until they can be comfortably handled. Remove meat from the bones and chop it into small pieces then shred slightly; set aside.

Remove approximately 1 cup (250ml) of the liquid from the stock pot and set aside. Return the stock pot to medium heat and bring to a simmer. Place the flour into a small bowl. While stirring constantly, gradually add the reserved liquid to the flour until a smooth paste is formed. Pour the paste into the stockpot and stir constantly until the mixture starts to thicken.

Add the beans, chopped chicken, chili powder, coriander and cumin. Increase the heat to medium and, stirring frequently, simmer, uncovered for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Reduce the heat to low and add the fresh coriander, single cream and soured cream. Stir well until the single and soured creams are completely incorporated into the chili. Add pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Garnish with chopped avocado, spring onion, fresh coriander or grated cheese.

This recipe makes approximately 9 – 10 cups which easily serves 6 people.

*Like most soups, this chili is great refrigerated and served the next day but if you intend on freezing it, leave out the single cream and soured cream (they separate when frozen) and add them just before serving. If you’d like to spice things up a bit, add ¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes for a slightly hot flavor.