Ja cię kocham…

I just had two weekends both consisting of going out with my girlies.  And yes, it’s Friday night, and I already went out this weekend with my girls.  And yes, it’s before 8pm and I am home already.  Don’t judge.  I start early

Confession: I cannot tell you the last time that I had a girls’ night out let alone having it happen two weekends in a row.  One of which was my darling sister’s bachelorette party downtown filled with laughter, mojitos, and tapas and the other consisted of a bunch of co-workers hitting up Happy Hour at a local restaurant.

Another Confession: If I’m out with a bunch of friends and the restaurant offers free bread to snack on before our meals come out, I’m doomed from the start.  You can be pretty certain that I’m the first one to take a piece of bread and then wait until everyone has eaten her share to see if I can also have the last piece of bread.  Don’t you hate when there is just ONE piece of bread left untouched in that basket?  Personally, I think it’s a crime, but so often I find that no one is willing to take that last piece of bread as if it makes them greedy or something.  C’mon, we all know you want it.  I know I want it.

Sometimes I wish that they wouldn’t even offer that bread because then I’m “forced” to eat it until I’m full.  Then my meal comes out and I’m “forced” to eat that, too.  I can’t let it go to waste, right?  We won’t talk about the dessert that I inevitably always have room for despite eating most of the bread and my meal.  I can’t divulge too many secrets right now.

We’ll just stick with the irresistible bread.

I have to laugh because I made this bread WAY back in February when my area was slammed with several MONSTER snow storms.  The snow piled up against my sliding glass door, and I had nothing to do besides bake (even though I am challenged in the baking department) and play Wii.  Since I work at a school and the snow was well over 2 feet high, I had several days to mill around the house finding something to do.

That’s when I discovered this guilt-free bread.

Did you catch that, people!?  GUILT-FREE bread!!  You may wonder why this bread is worthy of such a title.  Does it have carbs?  Yes.  Does it satisfy your hunger?  Yes.  Is it tasty enough for restaurants to put it on their tables instead of the yummy white bread?  YES!  It’s that good.

And it has minimal ingredients.  And the ingredients are good for you.  This bread was specifically made so that we can consume it without a guilty conscience.  SWEEEEET!!!

Let’s have a go with it, shall we?

Clean Whole Wheat Bread

Source: Clean Eating Magazine and Eric Pater
Yields 18 slices

Ingredients:

3 cups whole-wheat flour
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Mix 1 ¾ cup warm water, flour and yeast in a small bowl. Let rise until mixture doubles in size, approximately 30 minutes.

Combine remaining ingredients with dough and knead by hand or with bread maker until dough is sticky. Add additional warm water if needed. If kneading by hand, let rise for 30 minutes, knead again and let rise for 30 minutes. If using a bread maker, let rise once, then put it in standard bread loaf pan to rise for an additional 30 minutes until dough fills out loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes. Slice to desired width and serve.

NUTRIENTS per 2 5/8-inch slices:

Calories: 160
Total Fat: 3.5 g
Sat. Fat: 0.5 g
Carbs: 30 g
Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 14 g
Protein: 3 g
Sodium: 55 mg
Cholesterol: 0 mg

The ladies of the family celebrating Mom’s birthday in 2007 – Mom, me, Mom-Mom, and Emmy

Writing this I realize that it has been close to two months since I have posted anything on Ja Cie Kocham.  The past two months have been filled with tremendous joys and utter sadness, both of which have kept me from taking the time to cook meals worth blogging about.  Exactly one week ago, our family suffered a tremendous loss that will take a lifetime to overcome.  My unbelievably sweet and loving Mom-Mom passed away unexpectedly.

Mom-Mom was the ultimate peacemaker and matriarch.  She was always calling (and I emphasize ALWAYS) to make sure we were all tucked in safely, always making sure that we were happy and healthy, and always ready to offer invaluable words of wisdom and encouragement.

I miss you so much already, Mom-Mom.

Me and Mom-Mom bustin’ a move at my wedding in 2006.  We seriously had a crowd of people surrounding us cheering us on.

She and I always laughed at the fact that I am a “mini-Mom-Mom” worrying about everyone else, dancing around the house for no reason, and being ornery as sin.  I still have an answering machine  message that Mom-Mom left me telling me how to curse in Polish.  (She only told me because I asked.  Hehe.)  See??  We’re both ornery!  (Sorry, Mom!!)

My beautiful sister and soon-to-be-wifey (soon-to-be meaning in a week!), is posting all of Mom-Mom’s favorite recipes.  Since I was a little girl, I helped Mom-Mom make her famous Mashed Potatoes and Filling.  I treasure the memories that she and I share and cannot wait to pass these recipes along to my children (that have yet to conceive… and apparently Mom-Mom was antsy in her pantsy for me to birth her great-grandchildren).

Mom-Mom all decked out in her princess gear for her birthday last year.  Awwww… you are so beautiful!

I love you so much, Mom-Mom, and cannot wait until we meet again.

As soon as these bad boys were done, I stacked them on my plate, added BBQ sauce (Jay added hot sauce), and started shoveling them in my mouth.  Half way through my piggy-fest I realized I didn’t take a picture!  So here you go.  I had to take a picture of Jay’s fries since mine were almost gone.

The reason for my extreme excitement was the fact that I am on a strict diet to get ready for my sister’s April wedding, and I am getting to eat french fries!  No, I’m not going extreme and eating 100 calories a day or eating only cabbage soup.  I’m just allowing myself to consume a certain amount of calories a day based on the metabolic testing I had done at the YMCA.  This testing determined how many calories a day I burn if I were to lay on the couch all day.  It also determined a healthy calorie range for me for to lose the unwanted pounds.  I started on Monday writing every single calorie that I eat and drink and am doing well.  I am refusing to get on the scale for the first few weeks because I don’t want to become either complacent with what I’ve achieved so far or disappointed with how much I still have to lose.

As Oprah has so wisely put it:

Weight isn’t a number.  It’s when you get to the size where you start strutting your stuff.

I want to strut.

So WHY am I making french fries if I’m trying to lose weight?!  Doesn’t that seem hypocritical?

First off, no one can take my french fries from me.  They are far too amazing to take them away so I just made my own and tweaked the recipe to meet my needs.  And they totally met my needs.  I love you, french fries.

Just so you know, organic potatoes seriously last for only a few days.  I JUST bought them this week, and by Friday I knew I had to use them or lose them.  It makes me wonder what is in non-organic potatoes to make them last weeks rather than days.

Okay, we won’t go there.

I have been making french fries for years always being slightly disappointed with the results.  No matter how long I soak them in water and/or sugar, they always end up mushy!  That’s not a french fry, that’s a mashed potato.  And no, I have never used a deep-fryer.  I don’t own a deep-fryer, and if I want deep-fried and greasy french fries (and I get these cravings often), I go to McDonald’s.

Well today I can proudly say that I conquered the squishy french fry!  I now have a recipe that gives me healthy, crispy, and delectable french fries.   I’m so excited.  No more mush, no more potatoes sticking to the baking sheet, no more “bleh” french fries.  Stand back fast food restaurants, I have found your replacement!

Perfect Oven Baked Fries

Source: Slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats and The New Best Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes (about 24 oz. total), peeled and cut lengthwise into even sized wedges
5 Tbs. vegetable, grapeseed, canola or peanut oil, divided
¾ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 475˚ F.  Place the potato wedges in a large mixing bowl.  Cover with hot water; soak for 10-30 minutes.  Put 4 tablespoons of the oil onto a heavy, rimmed baking sheet.  Tilt the sheet side to side to evenly coat the pan with oil (a pastry brush can also help with this).  Sprinkle the pan evenly with the salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Drain the potatoes.  Spread the wedges out on layers of paper towels or on clean kitchen towels.  Pat dry with additional towels. Wipe out the now empty bowl so it is dry.  Return the potatoes to the bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.  Arrange the potato wedges on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue to bake until the bottoms of the potatoes are spotty golden brown, 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes.  Using a metal spatula and tongs, flip each potato wedge keeping them in a single layer.  Continue baking until the fries are golden and crisp, 5 -15 minutes.  Rotate the pan as needed to ensure even browning.

When the fries are finished baking, transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to drain some of the grease.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm.

Photo Courtesy of Recipe.com

Yesterday was the first time in my life that I have ever had a snowless snow day.  Starting at about 2am, I kept peeking out the window in hopes of seeing snow-covered streets.   Seriously, I was like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive because I kept getting up to see the snow that ended up being a no-show.   All of this excitement mixed with a tinge of anxiety caused me to be wide awake at 4:45am.  The call came at 5:30 that school was closed, and I looked out the window to find nothing.  Not an ounce of snow.  Confusion immediately set in because school was closed and there was absolutely no snow on the ground.

How did this happen you ask?   It’s simple.

The meteorologists were wrong.

Because our area has endured tremendous amounts of snow in the month of February, it’s very easy for all of us to assume the worst.  How could we not?  I mean I still have snow piles more than 2 feet high in my front yard!

I have to say the coolest snow days are the ones with no snow.  As much as it’s a hard pill to swallow that I’m exchanging this day off for June 18th when it’s warm and beautiful, at least I was able to get out and about.   I’m so used to being literally snowed in for days that this was a nice treat.

Above, you can see that we were actually snowed in.  2 more feet of snow came after this picture.

This was 6am yesterday after finding out there was no school.  You can see why I was so confused!

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Since the sidewalks were obviously clear, I went for a nice, long run.  It felt really good especially since I haven’t gone out for that long in a while.  I decided to keep up with the health mode that I was in and make a very healthy and oh-so-delicious pulled chicken sandwich.  This recipe came from my awesome sister’s food blog so I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed.  I cannot believe how easy it was!  When I think of pulled chicken or pork, I think of the crockpot and the hours it takes to make it.  This sandwich was ready in 10 minutes.  Flippin’ awesome.

_______________________________________________________________________
Clean BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Source: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness and Clean Eating Club
Serves 6

Ingredients

1 TBS olive oil

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

1/2 cup chopped green or red sweet pepper

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1 package of chicken tenders

6 whole grain buns or whole wheat sandwich thins

—–

Directions

Fill a skillet with water and bring it to a boil, then put the chicken tenders in to poach. Poach for about 5 minutes and remove the chicken from the water. Then with a fork, ‘pull’ the chicken apart.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and peppers and cook until soft (5 minutes). Add chicken and barbecue sauce and gently mix together. Simmer until heated through. Spoon mixture onto buns and serve!

This picture makes me laugh because on the bottom there is half of a head.  This man for some reason thought that we were taking a picture of him.  He made sure to get the perfect pose – and we didn’t take a picture of him.  Poor guy.  We won’t tell him that the picture wasn’t of him.

For Valentine’s Day 2010, Jay and I along with Travis (Jay’s best friend) and Abby (Travis’s fiance) went to The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

Jay, Travis and I met at Temple University in North Philadelphia.  (Go Owls!)  Abby went to DeSales College, but we try not to hold that against her

To start off our weekend of festivities, we went to Chinatown for an enormous lunch filled with hot tea, rice, and hot chili sauce.  Then we sported our Cherry and White gear and headed to a Temple Basketball game where they ROCKED Rhode Island.  I know it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, but the four of us LOVE sports so much that our lives wouldn’t be complete without at least a basketball game.  I mean, I missed my field hockey game to go to Philly – I had to make it up somehow!

Once upon a time I would stand in the crowded and wildly enthusiastic Wild Cherry student section cheer my heart out for our team.  See all the students behind the basketball net?  Those are some dedicated fans.  Temple Basketball games are an experience.  I recommend them to everyone.

After the game, we strolled back to our hotel, lounged a bit, consumed some drinks and potato chips, and decided on dinner.  We ended up at the Fox and The Hound for some much needed french fries and late night chit chat and we busted a move in our seats to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.  Well… at least Abby and I did.

The next morning (Valentine’s Day) we paired off with our loved ones and went to breakfast.  Jay took me to my all-time favorite restaurant on the entire face of the earth – Sabrina’s Cafe.  There are two locations in the city, and we decided to check out the one in the Art Museum/Fairmount District since it was a few blocks from the hotel.  I discovered my love for Sabrina’s while strolling through the Italian Market in search of fabulous produce and opera singing.  Oh how I adore Sabrina’s.  It makes my heart flutter.

This place is so popular that we had to wait almost 90 minutes for a table.  Typically when we are told that the wait is that long, we go somewhere else.  Not when you’re at Sabrina’s.  It is well worth the wait.  Plus they lavished all the freezing cold soon-to-be customers with warm, buttery, chocolate scones as we waited.  And we all waited patiently.  I’m telling you, this place is worth it.

While we were waiting we found a dying snowman.  He didn’t look to happy.  My guess is because we haven’t been able to feed him snow in over a week, but not to worry droopy snowman, we are getting snow on Monday.  And apparently 40 inches of the white ca-ca in the 3rd week of March.  At least that’s what I’m told.

Oh, and also some cute kid dancing his heart out to some imaginary song in his head accidentally kicked me in the shoulder.   His tough-looking father said something not so pleasant to him in Russian and the kid came over and said sorry.  I was still laughing at the fact that he was prancing around.  I want to hear the song that he was dancing to… it looked like it had to be a good song.

After a very long time withstanding the winter chill, we finally got to thaw out and sit with a piping hot cup of coffee.  And we realized that it was now lunch time.  Thank God they serve breakfast all day.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Then we had to decide what to eat and that was a challenge that I was ready for.  Below is the Valentine’s Day Dinner menu.

Oooh… this sounds good, too…

In the end, I chose a salmon burger topped with grilled asparagus, portabello mushrooms and spicy mayo, sweet potato fries and coleslaw fit for a king or queen!

Jay got peach and blueberry french toast stuffed with nutella and raspberry jam.  I have never seen a more massive plate of french toast in my life.

Clearly we couldn’t eat all of our food, though we wanted to.  So much food for a very reasonable price.  I love you, Sabrina’s.  Thanks for making my Valentine’s Day so memorable.

Then we had to walk it all off by reuniting with Travis and Abby to see the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Franklin Institute.  If you have never heard of The Franklin Institute, you need to go.  It is an ENORMOUS science museum for children and adults in Philadelphia that is dedicated to Ben Franklin’s inquisitive nature and all of his inventions.  Such a cool place.  And it’s right by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Natural History Museum if you want to make a nice day out of it.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my incredible Valentine’s Day weekend.  It was truly amazing.  AND to top it all off, we ended it with a pit stop at Whole Foods and feeding the sheep at Jay’s parents’ house.  Amazing indeed!

Holy crap, it’s a blizzard!

I stepped outside and the snow is blowing sideways and the visibility is probably oh, 100 feet.  I took this picture of my deck before the wind kicked in.  We have satellite TV and the only channel we are able to get is Syfy, and the ONE thing that bores me more than no TV is Science Fiction.  Okay, that’s not completely true, Country Music TV would probably do me in.  Sorry country lovers.  Not my thing.

Food on the other hand is totally my thing.

These pancakes were gone in less than 5 minutes.  Hubby and I split them.  We were so hungry that we didn’t even put them on separate plates.  He grabbed the silverware, I grabbed the serving platter filled with pancakes, we crowded at the dining room table and just stuffed our windblown faces.

We managed to squeak in a conversation while we were shoveling in the sweet, fluffy discs of oatmeal and vanilla.  We debated whether or not it actually tasted like an oatmeal cookie.  Honestly, they tasted like regular pancakes to me… the nutmeg and cinnamon were awesome, but I just couldn’t find the oatmeal taste.  Jay told me that they tasted exactly like oatmeal cookies.  Don’t get me wrong, these were VERY good, and I could understand the “cookie” in the title as they were a little sweeter and had a freshness about them that reminded me of a bakery but the oatmeal flavor and texture was lost on me.  I couldn’t find it.  Of course I did omit the raisins from the recipe because nuts and raisins are a deal breaker for me as far as baking is concerned.  Most of you know this about me already.  I just can’t bear them in my sweets, but I’ll be the first to put carrots in my pancakes.  I know, I’m weird.

Maybe they should be called Sugar Cookie Pancakes.   They weren’t overkill on the sweetness, but it was like eating a very fluffy cookie.  Yum!  Perhaps you’ll find the oatmeal in there like Jay did.  Or not.  Quite frankly it doesn’t really matter because they were perfect for being snowed in.  Side note: I think these would be faboo with bananas on top, too.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Source: Joy the Baker
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
heaping 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
healthy pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbs pure maple syrup
4 Tbs butter, melted and cooled
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
oil or cooking spray (for cooking)

Directions:

In a large bowl beat eggs. Add buttermilk, butter , maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth. Fold in raisins and let batter set for a few minutes.

Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spray with cooking spray. You can test to see if the pan is hot enough by adding a few drops of water,  when the drops start to dance its hot enough.

Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. You can also gently lift up the pancake to make sure the bottom is not overcooking, if it is the pan may be too hot and you will need to adjust the heat. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Let cooked pancakes rest on a heat proof plate in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

After the roads have finally be cleared of the 2ft+ of snow that the Northeastern part of the US just received, we are again in the midst of a Nor’easter.  As I sit here, I see the snow piling up on my deck, inch by inch.  And I just got word that my school is closed tomorrow.  Ahhh…a day off.  What shall I bake?

We’ve been fortunate enough (or unfortunate – depending how you look at it) to have our major snowstorms of the 2009-2010 winter on SATURDAYS.  I won’t mention the fact that the first one that blew through in December destroyed my birthday plans at a Tapas and Vodka bar.

No, strike that.

The FIRST real snow prevented my Drexel U ladies from trekking to my house for a Girls’ Weekend, the SECOND snowstorm caused the cancellation of my much needed and highly anticipated tapas and vodka ON TAP with 30 of my closest friends and family members.  This storm owes me an appearance during the week when my house is already clean, and I can just kick back and relax.

May we have Thursday off, too?  Chances look good.  How about a 2hr delay on Friday?  Am I dreaming?  Maybe, but it’s fun to dream!  Plus, Old Man Winter owes me.

A day work-free means I get to spend some quality time in my beloved kitchen, and since I only have an iPhone to take pictures for now (my camera lens STILL won’t open… grrrr*), I can manage to squeak in some pics of food with some decent sunlight.  I loathe the dark food photos.  But what’s a girl gonna do when BOTH cameras decided to fart and die on her?  Maybe my dead cameras and Old Man Winter should have a party somewhere else and give me my tapas party back.

During the snowstorm this weekend, I whipped up a batch of my sister’s Whole Wheat Crackers that very much remind me of our family favorite, Wheat Thins.  These were a hint sweeter because of the added vanilla and sugar, but don’t worry they were savory enough to go along with the adored fruit and cheese platter that so many of us include when we entertain.  And my sister is right, these bad boys go quickly.  One batch is good for a small party of 6-8, but you might as well double it so you can enjoy some later.

Simply the best crackers I have ever had.  Thanks for the recipe, Emmy.  Loveyou.

I’m totally thinking about adding cocoa to these and turning it into a chocolate cereal.  Okay, maybe that’s what I’ll do tomorrow since I’m snowed in.

Sweet Whole Wheat Crackers

Source: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness & King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour or white whole wheat
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
4 Tbs (1/2 stick) cold butter
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 tsp vanilla
Additional salt for topping (optional)

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and paprika in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it in thoroughly, using your fingers, a pastry blender, a mixer or a food processor. Combine the water and vanilla, and add to the flour mixture, mixing until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces; keep the other pieces covered while you work with one at a time. Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin and roll the piece of dough into a large rectangle, which should be at least 12 inches square when trimmed. Keep your pin and the surface of your dough evenly floured. Flip the dough frequently to keep it from sticking, but too much flour will make it difficult to roll. Keep rolling until the dough is as thin as you can get it without tearing, at least 1/16 inch thick. Trim the dough to even the edges and use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the piece into squares approximately 1 1/2 inches wide.

Transfer the squares to a prepared baking sheet; you can crowd them together, as they don’t expand while baking. Sprinkle the squares lightly with salt, if desired. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Save the scraps under plastic wrap and re-roll them all at once just one time.

Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, 5 to 7 minutes. If some of the thinner crackers brown too quickly, remove them and return the remaining crackers to the oven to finish baking. These crackers bake quickly, so watch them closely – even 30 seconds can turn them from golden brown to toast! Remove the crackers from the oven and cool on the pan or on a plate; they cool quickly. These crackers will stay crisp for several days, but are best stored in airtight containers.

I woke up yesterday morning to find 2 feet of snow at my door step.  That’s a lot of snow, at least for people in my area.  Noodles, on the other hand, had no issues with it.  She was in her glory. (Probably because she didn’t have to shovel!)

For some reason massive amounts of snow bring on a baking bug for a lot of us.  So many of my friends told me that they were baking this weekend because of the snow.  Being cooped up causes us to get ants in our pants!  Since the superbowl is this weekend, I decided to make something that would go with the beer that the husbands will be consuming.  I’m not a beer drinker, but I do love my pretzels!

They were super simple, but a little time consuming.  Anything that needs to be kneaded then rise, then rolled, then risen again will take time so make sure that you have the day to relax and enjoy making your pretzels.

They were bland in my opinion (probably because I didn’t put the huge chunks of salt on them – the huge salt makes me cringe), but this is easily remedied by putting that salt on them, sprinkling some cinnamon sugar on them or dunking them in salsa con queso!  Mmmmmmm….

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels

Source: Delicious Wisdom
Yields: 12 small pretzels

Prep Time:  About 2 Hours (mostly inactive)
Cooking Time:  15 Minutes

Ingredients:
1 Cup Warm Water
1 Package of Dry Active Yeast
1 ½ Cups + 1 ¼ Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3/4 Tsp Sea Salt
3 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Baking Soda
Course Sea Salt (optional)

In a large bowl, stir yeast into warm water and set aside to dissolve for 10 minutes.  Stir in olive oil, sea salt and 1 ½ cups of flour.  Once well combined, add remaining flour and knead for about 5 minutes.  Place into a dry bowl, lightly cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Divide dough into 12 equal portions and roll into balls.  Roll each ball into a long snake-y piece and form into pretzel shapes.  (See below.) Let them rise for about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.  Bring water and baking soda to a simmer in a deep pan.  Simmer pretzels in simmering water for about one minute, flipping halfway through.  Place pretzels on a lightly greased baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

Try to eat them the day of baking that’s when they are the best!

The Biggest Loser has been on for almost 10 seasons, and I have never, ever watched it until now.

I missed out because that show rocks.

Watching Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels scream in the faces of the contestants instantly reminds me of my college field hockey days.  It wasn’t a good workout unless someone was screaming at you to push harder or run faster.   I think that’s why I’m so picky about how I exercise now.  Most exercise videos just seem wimpy to me.  If I don’t feel like I’m about to drop dead of exhaustion then I need to keep going.  “Pain is fear leaving your body – keep going!!” Ha.  Thanks Coach Mike.  Point taken.  I think at this point in my life after all of the sports-related “pain” that I have endured, I must not be scared of anything.  My fear is gone.  Bring it, Bob and Jillian!

The show is truly inspiring.  If you aren’t familiar with it, you need to check it out.  People that are morbidly obese check-in to a “boot camp” of sorts led by a team of nutritional and training experts and leave 200+ pounds skinnier.   Last week, the show did a bit on healthy eating and how to eat foods that we enjoy without all of the extra fat.   Bob grabbed a pack of ground turkey, corn and black beans and made a chili.  Unfortunately they didn’t exactly disclose a recipe – it was more of a plug for Jennie-O turkey – BUT it did give me an idea for a recipe.

I went to the grocery store, picked up some ingredients, and gave it a shot.  Jay asked me what I was making and my response was, “I’m not quite sure yet, we’ll see where this food takes me.”   I’m calling it a chili because quite frankly I’m not sure how else to describe it, although the liquid content is no where near the same as an actual chili.  We put this recipe in whole wheat tortillas and I would go even as far to say I would put it on a pizza.  Yummmm….

Also check out my Turkey Pumpkin Chili that I made in the fall.  It was goooooooood.

If you are looking for more motivational weight-loss stories, hop on over to Caren’s Blog, City Momma/Country Momma.  She has currently lost 87.6 pounds (and counting!).  We work together and every time I talk to her, I get so pumped to be healthy.  She has lost weight the correct way – eating healthy and exercising regularly – no fad diets, no slashing carbs or starving.  She is a wife, a proud momma of an adorable boy, swim instructor, and an elementary school teacher that has recently started a career as a nutritional expert.  She runs weekly meetings/support sessions for people trying to lose weight.  She’s certainly busy, but she makes sure to take time for herself.  Talk about inspirational!  She chronicles her weight-loss journey on her blog.  You should check it out!

The Biggest Loser-Inspired Black Bean & Corn Turkey Chili

Serves 6-8 (depending on how hungry you are!)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 large sweet onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (don’t drain it!)
2 lbs extra lean ground turkey
2 Tbs. chili powder
1 Tbs. cocoa powder
3 tsp. water
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 -15.5oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-8.5oz can whole corn kernels, rinsed and drained
3 scallions/green onions, sliced
1/2 avocado, cubed

Directions:

In a large skillet heat olive oil to medium-high.  Add onions and cook until tender.  Then add tomatoes with liquid.  Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove onions, tomatoes, and liquid from skillet and place in a bowl.

(You may need to now add a little bit more olive oil to skillet since turkey is extra lean.)  Add turkey, chili, cocoa, water, salt and pepper to skillet.  With a minute or so left on the turkey throw in your garlic and cook until turkey is browned (no pink!).

Add onion/tomatoes, black beans and corn back into the large skillet with the turkey.  Stir and allow beans and corn to warm through.  Taste test it for any additional salt or pepper.  Turn off heat.  Add scallions.

Divide into separate bowls.  Top with avocado cubes….

…OR you can place this in the center of a tortilla wrap, add avocado, roll it up and enjoy….

…OR you can serve this along side tortilla chips.

The possibilities are endless!

ENJOY!

It’s a party up in here!  This time last year, I posted for the very first time and had no idea what was going to come of this blog.  Little did I know that I would have so many foodie friends (HUNDREDS of you!) and so much support!  Thank you!

And in celebration of Ja cie kocham’s birthday, I’m making chocolate covered pretzels – a boatload of them.   They are festive, easy to make, and I’m probably going to eat them all within a few days.

I’m also going to use this time to recap on some of my favorite recipes of the year:

Breakfast:

Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast – Heaven on a plate.  ‘Nuff said.

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Appetizer:

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms – What a crowd pleaser!  Make sure to double the recipe because these will be gone in minutes!

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Pizza:

Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza – Wish I would have thought of this one sooner!  Seriously melted in my mouth.  I could have eaten the whole pizza by myself.

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Sandwich:

Grilled Vegetable, Herb, and Goat Cheese Sandwich – Perfect for a picnic and requires no refrigeration!

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Chicken Dish:

North African Grilled Chicken Paillards – Add ethnic flare to your chicken with a few pantry staples!

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Lime Chile Steaks with Pico de Gallo and Homemade Guacamole – Home run dish.  Bursting with flavor and super healthy to boot!

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Vegetarian:

Lemon Chickpea Stir-fry – AMAZING.  Nothing is more gratifying than making a very healthy meal that is so full of flavor.  I had several people ask for the recipe because they loved it so much.

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Pasta:

Linguine with Bacon, Baby Spinach, and Sage – I found this recipe on the back of the pasta box.  Always check the back of boxes for recipes.  They tend to be real winners!

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Side Dish:

Grilled Pineapple with Agave Nectar (or Honey) and Coconut – Elegant, healthy, delicious!

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Cookie:

The best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER.  They were huge, fat, chewy, and absolutely sinful!

Thank you for spending time with me in my little corner of cyberworld this year.  Here’s to many more years together!