Image Credit – survivaldigest.com

OK, I’m not that bad!

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how I ‘re-discovered’ Swiss chard.  I love the unique taste of this leafy green and the fact that it’s loaded with vitamins and nutrients.  Plus, it literally cooks up in a hot minute.  It’s also healthy for your wallet.  So really, what’s there not to like about this veggie?  I can’t seem to find a single darn thing.  Not sure if this is actually fact for me, or simply my justification for being obsessed with the chard of Swiss, but I can’t stop dreaming of new and creative ways to eat it.  I even challenged the Healthy Chow brain to come up with a little diddy using only the ingredients that existed in my fridge and cabinets.  My creation came out quite well.  I’m pretty sure you won’t be hatin’…

You Won’t Be Hatin’ POM, Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Bacon
Serves 2 (as an entrée) or 4 (as a side dish)

• 1/3 cup of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth)
• 1 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce
• few dashes of white pepper
• few dashes of onion powder
• 1/2 TSP of Dijon mustard
• 1/2 TSP of corn starch dissolved in 1 1/2 TBSP of warm water
• 1 bunch of Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 5 slices of turkey bacon (I used Jennie-O brand)
• 4-5 medium-sized white mushrooms, sliced
• 1/3 cup of chickpeas (I used canned)
• sea salt to taste

1) In a small saucepan, combine the POM juice, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, white pepper and onion powder.  Heat everything on medium/medium-high heat.  Keep stirring as it starts to come to a slow boil.

2) Add the Dijon mustard.  Mix until the Dijon mustard is well-blended (there will be little lumps of mustard, it won’t completely dissolve).  Add the cornstarch mixture to the pot and keep stirring until the sauce begins to thicken.  It should take about 3 – 5 minutes.  Turn the heat to low, cover and set aside.

3) Heat a large skillet on medium-high.  Once the skillet is hot to the touch, add the bacon in a single layer.  Allow the bacon to cook for about 3 minutes or until it begins to crisp.  Flip the bacon and cook on the other side for another few minutes.  Once it has reached your desired crispiness, drain on a paper towel-covered plate.

4) In the same skillet, add the Swiss chard and begin moving the Swiss chard around in order to mix in with the bacon drippings (because it’s turkey bacon, it won’t be very greasy).  Allow the Swiss chard to wilt a bit, it should take a couple of minutes.  Then, add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet.  Cook until the mushrooms begin to brown.  Add the white pepper and sea salt to taste.

5) Turn down the heat to medium.  Begin tearing the bacon into bite-sized pieces.  I left mine on the larger side for a more rustic look   Add the bacon to the skillet and stir until warmed.  Finally, add the chickpeas.

6) Add the pomegranate juice mixture to the skillet.  Mix until everything is well-blended and the juice reduces a bit. It should take another minute or so.

7) EAT!  This is great as a side dish, or as your main dish served over a hot bowl of brown rice or quinoa.  Heck, eat it in pita pocket if you want!

DEE-VINE!  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I began combing all of these ingredients together.  While I like the unique taste of Swiss chard, I know many are turned off by its mildly bitter taste.  Thus, I wanted to find something to cook the Swiss chard in that would remove or lessen some of that often considered undesirable taste.  Because POM juice is tart and semi-sweet, I figured it would be a good match.  The saltiness and smokiness from the turkey bacon rounded out this dish and added to the layers of flavor.  I threw in some chickpeas for an additional kick of protein, and mushrooms because I like the taste of mushrooms   If you’re wondering, the POM juice wasn’t overly tart or overbearing in this dish.  In fact, it nicely lightened the recipe without making it taste too fruit-like.  And, the POM juice made this recipe even more nutritious by adding a boost of antioxidants!

It’s safe to say that my obsession with Swiss chard won’t be going anywhere any time soon.  Even when I tossed various random ingredients with this vegetable, it still tasted great.  Actually, I didn’t even eat this recipe with any rice, quinoa or bread.  I ate it as soon as I plated it.  With all those beautiful colors and fabulous flavors, I just couldn’t resist.  I guess I’d just rather declare, “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” versus “Hangin’ Tough” and fighting my love for this mighty green!  (Oh yes, that was corny.  But like I said before, I was obsessed!)

Do you have any guilty pleasures?  Perhaps a cheesy TV show, band or movie?  Come on, I know you do…

Namasté,
Nicole

Image Credit – picasaweb.google.com

That said, I wanted to create a delectable hot appetizer as one of the dishes I would bring to Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner.  However, I wanted the appetizer to not only be finger lickin’ good, but I also wanted it to be something that I could easily put together.  Because I had already committed to cooking a main entrée, a lasagna, a vegetable, a dessert and an appetizer for both days combined, I really couldn’t take on something that would involve much time or that would require much effort.  After searching through my cookbooks, and seeing the same old recipes and not being entirely thrilled by them, a light bulb finally went off in my head!  I remembered Kerstin’s recipe for Cranberry Pecan Brie Bites and how amazing they looked, not to mention how simple they were to prepare.  And within a few short moments, I knew exactly what I was going to make!

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, Bacon and Gorgonzola Bites
Inspired by Cake, Batter and Bowl and Pillsbury
Makes 24 bites

• 1 can (16.3 oz.) of Pillsbury® refrigerated Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits or 1 can (12 oz.) of Pillsbury® Grands!® Jr. Golden Layers® refrigerated biscuits
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
• 2 TSP of chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 TSP of dried thyme
• 1  TBSP of light brown sugar, packed
• 2  TBSP of white wine or chicken broth
• 1  cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 5 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled into tiny pieces
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

1) In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and thyme and cook 8 – 10 minutes, stirring
frequently.  The onions will shortly begin to soften.  Then, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 7 – 9 minutes, stirring constantly.

2) Once the onions are completely softened and caramelized (brown), stir in brown sugar and wine.  Cook for another 2 – 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until liquid has evaporated.  Add the mushrooms.   Set aside.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Open the can of biscuits.  If you’re using the Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits (I couldn’t find the Grands!® Jr. Golden Layers® refrigerated biscuits), you will need to roll out each biscuit and cut out three 2 1/2-inch circles from each biscuit (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to cut out my circles!).  If you can’t cut out three, cut two and roll together the remaining biscuit dough to cut out additional circles.  You will need a total of 24 circles of dough.

*If you are lucky enough to find the Grands!® Jr. Golden Layers® refrigerated biscuits, all you need to do is split each biscuit into two even layers in order to get your circles.

4) Press each circle into the ungreased cups of a miniature muffin pan.

5) Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the onion and mushroom mixture into each cup.  Top with a few crumbles of the Gorgonzola cheese and then top with bacon.

6) Bake 14 – 17 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese starts to bubble.  Let cool slightly for about 2 minutes and remove biscuit bites from the pan.  Place on a platter and serve to all your guests!

First and foremost, I want to thank Kerstin for giving me the inspiration to make these bite-sized bundles of joy!  I really liked the idea of using the mini muffin pans to make something other than muffins/cupcakes.  Plus, using a pre-packaged refrigerated dough was a whole heck of a lot easier than making my own dough from scratch.  My hot appetizer was definitely a crowd pleaser.  But when you pair buttery biscuits with sweet caramelized onion, Gorgonzola cheese and bacon, how can you go wrong?  Even though this recipe wasn’t the ‘healthiest’ or ‘lightest’ fare, they were bite-sized and consuming one or two was more than enough.  It was just enough indulgence to keep your mouth and taste buds happy, but to also leave your tummy with room for more.

Image Credit – media.photobucket.com

I must admit that I did panic a tad when I realized the biscuits I bought were not going to be as easy to use as the Jr. sized-version.  However, instead of running back to the grocery store in a frenzy to find the Jr. size, I improvised.  Rolling the biscuits and cutting my own circles was actually fun.  I don’t often get the chance to roll out my own dough (I don’t bake too many cookies or breads) and being able to be hands-on with my recipe was quite entertaining.  And then to see my creation come to fruition (when I had anticipated for a split-second that it was going to be disaster) and hear my family ooh and ahh, I was definitely on cloud nine.  Now instead of watching and eating the passed hot appetizers at parties, I look forward to watching people eating and enjoying the hot appetizers that I made.  And that’s a feeling I will never be able to pass up.

What’s your favorite appetizer?  Do you have willpower or are you like me and can’t pass up a hot app?

Namasté,
Nicole

A couple of weeks ago, because it was a day that ended in the letter ‘Y’, I was at the grocery store.  As I was breezing through the produce aisle (I was actually in a rush that afternoon and had only a few minutes to grab a few items), I saw one of my favorite snack foods, baby carrots.  And of course, those crunchy little orange delights had to be on sale and naturally, I had a 85% full bag just sitting in my fridge.  Immediately, I was caught in a big conundrum.  Should I buy the carrots?  If I buy one bag, I obviously have to get another since it’s free.  But then again, I know I won’t be able to eat that many baby carrots before they start getting all slimy slimerson (you know what I mean) and smelling less than good.  But then again, it’s such a good buy, how could I pass it up?  Then all of the sudden, a light bulb went off (it doesn’t happen too often, kiddies, but when it does, look out!).  I realized I could buy the carrots and keep them both in the freezer until I needed them.  I could get my great bargain and I could escape the slime factor.  Problem solved.

Image Credits – WiseGeek.com

Not so fast.  When I finally finished the 85% full bag of baby carrots that was sitting in my fridge, I dove into the freezer to find my frozen babies and then quickly tossed them into the fridge to defrost.  I’m not quite sure what I thought the carrots would be like once they thawed.  I guess I assumed (you know what that means) that they would be like the snappy mini veggies I normally bought and dipped into hummus.  To my disbelief, the usual crisp and hard baby carrots had now been reduced to a limp and lifeless mess (I’m not even going to say it…).  What was I going to do? Not only did I have one bag of orange mush, but I had two.  Not good.

Then, another light bulb went off.  Can you believe it? If I wasn’t going to eat the thawed baby carrots in their mushy state, then why not enjoy them in a ‘mushy-er’ state?  Why not mash them up so much that they no longer resemble carrots and no longer remind me of the silly goof-up I made?  That said, I salvaged my purchase and turned it into what I consider a stroke of luck.

Carrot Ginger Potato Soup
Adapted from AndreasRecipes.com
Serves 6

• 1 1/2 TBSP Smart Balance Light (feel free to use butter or your choice of buttery substitute)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup peeled grated fresh ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I used a heaping tablespoon of minced jarred garlic)
• 4 cups chicken stock (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Low Sodium Chicken Stock – you could use vegetable stock)
• 1/2 chicken bouillon cube (I only had one carton of TJ’s chicken stock on hand, I probably needed 2 more cups)
• 1 cup cooking wine (I used Goya Dry White Cooking Wine)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (mine were mushy, but feel free to use non-mushy)
• 3 small white potatoes, cubed
• 1 TSP cornstarch
• 2 TBSP of honey
• dashes of curry powder
• dashes of cinnamon
• dashes of nutmeg
• dashes of dried parsley
• juice of half a lemon juice
• s&p
• chopped chives for garnish (optional)
• Greek yogurt for garnish (optional, but highly recommended)

1) In a large pot, melt the Smart Balance Light on medium heat.  Once warmed, add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook until the onion starts getting translucent and your kitchen smells unbelievable (about 5 minutes).

2) Then add the chicken stock, wine, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Stir.  Add the bouillon cube.  Stir again.

3) Reduce the heat back down to medium and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender and can be easily broken up with a spoon.

4) If you are lucky enough to have an immersion blender (I am not), this is the time to purée the mixture in your pot.  If you are using a regular blender, be sure to let the mixture cool down a bit first before dumping the mixture in batches into the blender (you don’t want to overfill your blender).  Blending hot items can be dangerous; take precaution! I blended my cooled down mixture in three different batches.

5) Once all of the mixture has been puréed, add it back to the pot.  Turn the heat back on to medium/medium-high and let the mixture get hot.  In a small cup, mix the corn starch in a tablespoon of warm water until well dissolved.  Add the corn starch mixture to the pot.  Stir the mixture.

6) Add the curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, parsley, salt and pepper to the pot and season to taste.  Give it a good stir.  Then add your honey and lemon juice and give your soup a thorough stirring as it heats up.

7) Once hot, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish (if you wish) with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of dried parsley or chives.   Voilà!  Soup’s on!

Not only did my kitchen smell heavenly with the scent of warmed onion, ginger and garlic, but my belly was pretty much on cloud nine, too.  Not only is this quite the hefty soup (it’s actually more like babyfood consistency), but the curry, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon warmed me from the inside out.  And while a cup of a regular broth-like soup would not normally fill up Healthy Chow, this one kept me from raiding the kitchen cupboards for at least three hours.  The Greek yogurt may have also helped to fill the usual insatiable hole that is my stomach.  I also like being able to swirl the yogurt into my soup.  The color of the stark white Greekness against the vibrant orange of the carrot was like having art in my bowl.  And the sprinkling of the green parsley just made me want to take pictures (hey wait, I always take pictures of my food ).

I was so pleased with this recipe.  It was easy to make, I pretty much had all the ingredients on hand and I managed to save my carrots on clearance from going into the trash.  Ahhh, what’s there to complain about?  When life hands you lemons, you need to make lemonade.  And when your weakness for produce bargains hands you mushy carrots, make carrot soup!

Are you a sucker like me for bargains?  What’s your favorite thing to stockpile?

Namasté,
Nicole

***Awesome Giveaway Alert! – Shannon at Tri to Cook is celebrating her blogiversary by giving away a Cuisinart ice cream maker!  If you’re interested, go to Shannon’s blog for further details…***

***It’s week two of Project Feed Me!  Please go to Natalie’s blog to see what to buy for this week.  And if you haven’t signed-up yet, you can still do so by going here.  And if you want to see how photogenic canned chili can be, please go here.***

Do you have anyone in your life that is tough to shop for?  Someone who has impeccable taste and great style and has one (or more) of just about everything and anything? A person who is so beautiful that nothing you buy her will compare to her beauty? But this human being is very near and dear to your heart and you love her so much that you want to give her something but you just don’t know what?  Well, ladies and gents, let me introduce you to that person.  That person in my life is Mother Healthy Chow (or MHC for short).

As you might have read from my posts a couple of weeks ago, MHC recently had her birthday.  She turned 39 (*ahem-ahem, cough, cough*) and doesn’t look a day older 25.  Being the good daughters that we are, Michelle and I wanted to get a nice gift for MHC.  But we just didn’t know what?  The woman has too much a lot of clothes, more handbags than she ever can carry, fanciful jewelry, mucho make-up, a collection of shoes that can rival Imelda’s or Mariah’s and two amazing daughters (*pats herself on the back*).  What more could she want or need?

Can’t get enough of this pic!

However, even if a person has just about everything, the person’s gotta eat.  So, instead of taking MHC to the latest and greatest resto in the Boston area, we decided to shake-n-bake things up a bit and do something we haven’t done in awhile and should do more often.  Michelle and I decided to cook MHC a birthday dinner! And because MHC just moved in with her boyfriend, Darrell, we decided to make dinner at their newly renovated home.  There’s nothing like cooking in a brand spankin’ new kitchen!

Because Michelle and I were going to be responsible for cooking the whole dinner and bringing dessert, we had to plan in advance what we were going to make and thus, bring the ingredients.  I’m not quite sure how we decided, but we divvied up the courses as follows: sides, salad and dessert – Healthy Chow and main course and dessert – Michelle.  Yeah, I know dessert is mentioned twice.  That’s no mistake!  We wanted a birthday cake-ish treat for MHC, for candle blowing and wish making, as well as some other goodies, for variety and pigging out’s sake.

Image Credits – fundraw.com

While I was planning the few days prior to the dinner party, I chose to make sides that I felt would go with just about anything.  Because Michelle hadn’t told me what she was making as the main course and I didn’t want to keep annoying asking her, I just went with my gut (lame pun intended)  and selected recipes that were tasty and on the ‘healthier’ side.  Thus, I chose to make two recipes I found from Cooking Light - Creamy Parmesan Orzo and Mustard-Dressed Asparagus.  Both recipes received at least 4 out of 5 stars and very good reviews and comments from readers.  In addition, I had made the orzo recipe a few times before and it was delicious and easy and the asparagus recipe seemed healthy and easy.  Done and done! For the salad, I decided to bring mixed greens (baby spinach, arugula, radicchio and frisée) and the ingredients to make a homemade vinaigrette dressing.  So easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!  And for dessert, I just stopped by the store and grabbed brownie bites and chocolate chip ice cream.  You can’t go wrong with warm, soft chocolate baked goods à la mode, right?

I was so excited for this night!  Not only did I want to show off some of my much improved culinary skills, but I also love spending time with my family and I could not wait to see my mother’s new place.  MHC had just moved into Darrell’s condo, which they recently renovated and enlarged by acquiring the adjacent condo unit.  I’ve always loved seeing the interior of people’s homes, but ever since we gave our place a face-lift, my interest has reached a whole new level of appreciation.

Oh my stars!  I thought the ocean view from the outside of their building was incredible; the interior of their home was absolutely gorgeous! I tried not to have any expectations or visions in my head before arriving in order to be totally surprised and when I walked in, I was blown away.  Not only was their condo ginormous, but every detail was carefully paid attention to and flowed seamlessly to the next.  I felt as if I was flipping through the pages of an interior design magazine.

I lurrrrvvve those bamboo floors!

Absolutely beautiful…

Sparkle, sparkle…

I think the food might taste better coming from this kitchen…

Even the spices are cool, or should I say, ’sah-pie-say’!

Now that’s a closet!

My dream come true!

Even the washer and dryer are stylin’!

Darrell loves his shoes, too…

This closet would suit me just fine

An ocean view…

Simply breathtaking…

After receiving the grand tour and getting my groceries for dinner settled, I nibbled on some shrimp cocktail and chips and salsa.  While we told our mother she didn’t have to do a thing, she naturally put out a spread of appetizers and snacks.  What a good lil’ doobie.

It’s a good thing I had to cook or else I’d be full before dinner…

Snacks and sports…

I was having so much fun chatting it up with the party goers that I almost forgot that we were in charge of preparing dinner.  I could see the hungry looks growing, so I stopped munching (for a few minutes) and got started on cooking.  Since all of my dishes were relatively simple to prepare, I picked the one that would take the longest to make and would be the easiest to reheat.  So, I started on the creamy parmesan orzo.  Having Michelle and MHC (she couldn’t stay out of the kitchen for long, nor did we want her to) by my side in the kitchen was so much fun and so helpful.  While I would read off the instructions, one would hand me the needed ingredient and the coordinating utensil.  It was like having my very own sous chefs!

Stir that orzo, Michelle!

Even the birthday girl isn’t safe from kitchen duty!

Love that green!

Once the orzo was about done, I began on my asparagus dish.  Even though the recipe was for asparagus, I decided to add some zucchini since it would give the dish some variety and because I had some just sitting idle in my fridge.  I know, your girl is so resourceful! The recipe called for the asparagus to be boiled, but because MHC had a crazy-arse steamer built into the stove top, I just had to steam versus boil.  It just seemed so cool and high-tech; I had to give it a whirl.  The vegetables took only minutes to cook and the sauce took an even shorter time to prepare.  The key ingredient to this recipe was no doubt the mustard seeds.  They’re little, but they’re powerful (does that remind you of anyone you know?).

I gotta get me one of these…

The Yellow Wonder…(tee hee)

While I was cooking the vegetables, Michelle and her boyfriend, Jonathan began cooking the main dish – chicken saltimbocca.  Jonathan and Michelle make a great team both in life and in the kitchen.  They love cooking together and testing out new recipes.  I was told by the dynamic duo that the trick to making their recipe was to brine the chicken in salt water the night before.  I guess I’ll take their word for it.  It looked dang good! And just as the chicken was about to be taken out of the oven, I whisked together a simple salad dressing using Trader Joe’s Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, some chopped shallot and salt and pepper.  As I’ve said before, Trader Joe’s never lets me down and he came through for me again that night.  The Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar was divine! It gave the right amount of citrus and zip to the dressing without making it too sweet or weighing it down.  Another winner from TJ’s!

That’s some kickin’ chicken!

I heart TJ’s

Veggie Might!

Finally, dinner was served! MHC did a fabulous job setting up her dining room table for her first dinner guests and her first dinner guests did a fabulous job of dining.  I couldn’t believe how well everything turned out.  Everything was cooked to perfection and tasted wonderful.  Michelle and Jonathan’s chicken saltimbocca was moist and juicy (must be that brining action) and the prosciutto that enveloped it was flawlessly crisped with just the right amount of fresh sage.  Ah-may-zing! And like the chefs who played off of the synergy that was overwhelming the kitchen, the dishes co-mingled with each other fantastically and complemented each other perfectly.

And while I don’t like to brag much, I just want to say that my dishes came out quite well.  MHC loved the creaminess of the parmesan in the orzo recipe and said that the fresh basil was the perfect complement to the dish.  And everyone seemed to really like the mustard sauce on the vegetables.  They said it gave the vegetables a unique flavor.  As for the salad, everyone wanted to know what I used to make the ‘fruity’ dressing.  They truly seemed to enjoy my new found secret weapon from TJ’s and the fact that the salad was tasty without being too greasy or heavy.  Success!

And what would a birthday dinner party be without birthday cake and dessert?  Not a good one in Healthy Chow’s book! Jonathan made a key lime pie that was so light and refreshing, I thought I was having a cocktail.  There was just enough lime to cleanse my palate and the airiness of the filling coupled with the flaky crust was enough for me to want to have seconds.  However, because there were other desserts to sample, I stayed with having only one small (ish) piece and had a scoop of ice cream along with a mini fall-inspired brownie.  I think MHC honestly loved every bite of her birthday celebration.

While receiving a luxurious cashmere sweater, the latest bottle of perfume, a new pair of fall boots, or some fancy handmade jewelry may be a wonderful birthday gift, it’s no match for the gift of time.  Being able to spend time with my mother and sister in her new kitchen laughing, cooking and simply enjoying each other’s company was my favorite part of the night and by looking at my mother’s face, she felt the same way.

Oh, he’s such an angel! Hahahahaha!

Gotcha!

“Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderfuuuuullll?“

MHC is always appreciative of any gift she receives, but I could tell that this time this gift meant the world to her.  She was so excited for us to finally see her new home with Darrell and to be able to see how our culinary skills had developed.  I think it’s always a gift for a parent to see how their children have matured and blossomed, but it’s also a gift for the child to see their parent being happy in their new life.  While it may have been MHC’s birthday, I feel as though I was the one who was showered with presents.  It was a spectacular night filled with giggles, good times and great food.  While it might have been easier to go to the mall or hop online to buy our mother a birthday gift, it definitely would not have been as much fun, nor would it have been as special.  Being able to create a memorable night, such as our dinner party, is something that everyone should try – it may require a bit of time and energy, but what you get back is immeasurable and certainly priceless.  For the person who has everything, it’s definitely something of which they could use more.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?  Or, what’s your favorite secret ingredient to use?

Namasté,
Nicole

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