It's been a while

Well, here at Made by Yours Truly, we've gone through a year or so of things that definitely haven't been working, but, as they say, just wait awhile and it'll change. Well, today was that day!

I was craving potato leek soup and leeks happened to be really affordable at the grocery store yesterday, so who was I to say "no?" But then I realized, that starchy potato soup was probably not in my healthiest interest. It's one thing to indulge every now and then, but since the soup won't freeze well (more like it won't defrost well) and I'm the only one eating at my house regularly, I will probably be eating soup all week long. That's officially too many indulgences. So, I looked to the left of the leeks and found turnips! These are one of my favorite potato replacements in things like soups, roasted root veggie dishes, mashes, etc. They behave almost exactly the same as potatoes when cooked, taste almost exactly the same, but they are no where near as starchy, carb-y, or calorie-y as potatoes. Let's take a look.


Crazy, huh?

Now, my Great-Granny Williams is probably rolling in her grave with how I changed her original recipe, but personally, I think it came out pretty good.

Ingredients:

• 6 Turnips
• 3 Leeks
• 3 C Chicken/Veggie Stock
• 2 T Butter
• 1/2 C Milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional Garnish:

• Diced bacon
• Cheddar cheese
• Chives

In a soup pot, over low-medium heat start melting the butter.

Cut the leeks in half and rinse thoroughly. There will probably be a lot of dirt between the layers, especially where the green meets the white.
You should probably wash the turnips now, while your hands are wet.

Cut the leeks into small pieces. Don't worry about them being even sized or too little, they're going to be pureed at the end.

Dump all the leeks in with the butter. Give it a good swirl so all the little bits mix in with the butter. Let it chill and do it's thing for a while.

Don't worry about crowding the pan, everything will cook at about the same speed.

While the leeks are getting soft and filling your whole house with amazing smells that make your mouth water, peel the turnips and chop them into smallish pieces. The smaller the pieces, they faster they will cook through. Stop as you finish each couple and give the leeks another swirl so the ones on top get some heat.

When the leeks are soft and have become somewhat translucent, add the turnips to the pot. This should happen right about the time you're finished cutting them all up.

Season with salt and pepper, add the stock, increase the heat to full blown medium and bring to a simmer.

I don't completely cover everything with the stock because I want the end result to be pretty thick and creamy. So I use less liquid and stop the cooking before the turnips become too mushy.

After 10 minutes or so, you'll know it's done when you can stick a fork through the turnip and it's soft and kind of crumbly. A lot of the edges will look a little clear, with somewhat more opaque centers.

Turn the stove off and puree the crap out of those suckers. If you have an immersion blender, this is the perfect excuse to use it. If you don't, transfer a couple cups at a time to a blender, but make sure there's plenty of liquid in the blender with it.

Once it's pureed to a creamy soup, add the milk for a little extra creaminess and texture.

Now for my favorite part, dish it up, top with your preference of garnish and eat!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Ok, so not chicken, or dinner, but HOLY COW I just made some deliciousness!

I don't have a before picture, because it didn't last long enough, that's how good it is.

Frittata's are my favorite way to make something healthy and filling, and a little bit different than your everyday meal. This one has bunches of flavor from healthy stuff and it's super satisfying. Oh, and it took me all of 10 minutes, and most of that was putting the ingredients into my calorie counter to see how much I could add and not exceed my calorie goal.

This is perfect for small meals throughout the day, but you could easily add to it to make it a heartier meal. The way it's prepared below it's an even 150 calories to fill you up for a bit.

Asparagus Frittata
2 large eggs, whites only, whisked to scramble
2 slices (15g) Turkey Bacon (reduced fat)
30g Asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1T Chives, chopped

22g Reduced Fat Feta Cheese (just shy of 1/4 cup)

Canola Oil Cooking Spray

Spray down a fry pan with the canola oil, add all but the egg whites and cheese. 

Let it get a little crispy, then pour the egg over and scramble until done. 

Add the cheese and let it melt a little. 

Eat and make your tummy happy!

See, super easy.

It was gone so quickly there wasn't even anything left for Cadbury!

Squishy purple plant

I am not a big fan of eggplant. In fact, I have yet to meet an eggplant I love. Something about the spongy, squishy consistency of the flesh combined with the almost hard unforgiving skin... yea, it's just not appealing.

Yes, I've tried it breaded and fried.
Yes, I've tried it in veggie lasagna.
Stir fry. Grilled. Broiled. Baked.
Done. done and done again.

Needless to say, when a ginormous specimen showed up in my CSA delivery last week I was less than excited. After a week of avoiding, I turned to the ever reliable pinterest for an idea that was different.

I came across this post:

Credit: CupcakesOMG - click picture for link

And I thought, "Genius! Change the consistency!" So I immediately sliced my eggplant into a bunch of little rounds, covered them in olive oil and popped them into the oven.

My end result was not quite the same.


So, turns out you shouldn't cut them all that thin, they burn in half the time, and there's no possibility of turning.

With the next tray I sliced them a little thicker and they came out a little better.


I haven't figured out how she got them all crispy and curly in her pictures, but I'll take chips not burned to black gunk. So now, I've tried them and the verdict is, they're not bad. Definitely edible, and better than eggplant parmesan, that's for sure.

But I'm still not a fan of eggplant.

Sunday at the Farmers Market

I hit up the farmers market today - I LOVE the farmers market. Especially here in San Diego, it seems like there is always something super yummy in season - all year. Today's find was apricots.

And to make it a zillion times better they were free! I was wondering around in the last 10 minutes before closing and I was totally prepared to pay for them, but they were a little on the squishy side from being in the sun all day, so they just gave them to me.

I'm sure you're thinking "a little on the squishy side... ick," but it's ok that they were a bit soft because I was buying them to make fruit leather! I didn't need them to be perfect solid fruits because I was planning to cook them down to squishy goodness anyways.

I also bought fresh cucumbers, kale, green onions, strawberries and pesto-jack cheese. All was locally grown/made. I love it! I bought my very own kale plant, too, so I can grow it at home. As much as I get excited about what the farmers market has to offer, I find growing my own veggies to be so much more fulfilling and exciting and yummy and convenient.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic. Fruit leather. The stuff is awesomely yummy, a great snack and healthy for you - as long as you don't buy the sugar laden crap from the store. So I spent 30 minutes of my time today to make a big batch for the next couple weeks. Now I'm impatiently waiting for it to dry out in my oven so I can begin eating it. To help with the wait, I'm going to tell you how amazingly easy it is to have some fruit leather of your own.

Side bar: this works for just about any kind of fruit, not only apricots. Though, I would remove the skin on tough skinned fruits (i.e. apples) and for fruits with hard little seeds (strawberries, raspberries) I recommend pushing them through a mesh sieve after pureeing.

Side bar #2: If you have a dehydrator you could use that instead of the oven, and then you don't have to stay home while the oven is on. I'm not that cool, so I just use my oven.

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Ingredients

4 cups of apricots

1 quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Sweetener: sugar, agave syrup, honey (optional)

Making the magic

Preheat your over to 150°F - or the lowest setting your oven has.

Wash, pit and quarter the apricots.

Add apricots and lemon juice to a pan and cook on medium low until the apricots begin to get juicy and squishy, 15-20 minutes or so.

Turn off the heat and let everything cool down a little.

Dump everything into a food processor and puree until liquefied.

Taste it, if you like it as it is move on. If it's too tart, add your sweetener of choice. If you use a granulated sugar, put over the heat again for a little to fully dissolve the sugar.

Use a cookie sheet with an edge, and line it with parchment paper or one of those nifty silicon things. Do not use wax paper or foil as alternatives.

Spread out your puree in the cookie sheet, about 1/4 thick.

Put it in the oven and wait. And wait. And wait some more. It will take most of the day.

But when it's done, it's so worth the wait.

Delicious Mustard Chicken

I can't take credit for this recipe, but trust me, it's awesome whether you go for the full fat cream version, or the healthier alternative.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 c dry white wine

1 T chicken stock

1/2 c non-fat half and half (you could use real cream, but this tastes just as good as is better for you!)

2 T/to taste Dijon mustard

In a skillet with a lid, saute chicken until it browns.

Add white wine and chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Spread mustard on the chicken, add cream to pan. Simmer until sauce is reduced.

Serve warm. I particularly like this with a fancy green salad. Yum!