Spinach – It’s not Just for Popeye, the Sailor

Ok, so you grew up with canned spinach and don’t like spinach.  Well, now that you are an adult, it may be a good time try spinach again.  Your taste buds have matured and spinach is available in a number of forms.  Canned is no longer your only option. 

You may be wondering how I got on this spinach kick after all I the fattening stuff I write about.  Would you believe I was looking for something a little redeeming?  Ok, you are not buying that.  Here is the truth.  A colleague of mine has an abundance of spinach.  She is up to her eyeballs in spinach and needed a few suggestions for spinach.  So I thought why not blog about spinach.  Maybe give a few ideas for using and preserving spinach for those of you lucky enough to have an abundant supply.

Spinach Ideas.

1.     Spinach wrap – Use larger leaves as a wrap, the same as you would for lettuce.  You can wrap a vegetable or meat based salads.

2.    Make a frittata – For each person, use 2 eggs, 2 ounces cheese, seasonings (garlic, onion, salt and pepper) to taste, 1 cup firmly packed spinach.

3.      Spinach pesto – Use spinach instead of basil to make pesto.  Use with spaghetti or lasagna.

4.      Stuffed chicken breast – Combine spinach with cheese such as ricotta, parmesan, goat and stuff inside a chicken breast and bake.

5.     Salad on-the-go – Toss spinach leaves with your other favorite salad ingredients.  Add your favorite dressing and put inside a pita. 

6.       Twice baked potatoes – Add sautéed spinach to baked potatoes.

7.     Spinach fruit salad – Spinach pairs nicely with a variety of fruits, like, strawberries and mandarin oranges.

8.       Sautéed spinach – Sauté spinach with garlic and olive oil.

9.       Creamed spinach – This is an old favorite.

10.   Toss spinach into a stir-fry.

Thai Inspired Spinach Wrap

Ingredients:

4 cups rotisserie chicken, skinned and boned
2 celery ribs, cut into small dice
2 medium green onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup chopped peanuts
Juice of one lime
2 Tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger, squeeze to remove juice
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
Large spinach leaves

Directions:

1.     In a medium bowl, mix chicken, celery, green onions and peanuts.  In a small bowl, whisk lime juice, fish sauce, ginger liquid, sugar, red pepper, cilantro and mint.

2.     Toss dressing with chicken mixture.  Allow individuals to place desired amount of salad in a spinach leaf.  Roll.  If making ahead of time, hold together with a toothpick.

 If you still have too much spinach, here are a few suggestions for using the"excess".

Fruits and Vegetables – More Matter - http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/spinach.html

University of Nebraska Lincoln – Extension - http://food.unl.edu/web/preservation/freezing
National Center for Home Food Preservation - http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze/greens.html

Haloumi Cheese – A Continuation of My Assignment

 

As some of you may recall, months and months ago, I gave my students an assignment to visit grocery stores they do not normally visit and look for cheeses they would not normally look for.  My goal was to get them out of their comfort zone. An education should move one to a higher level of thinking on a variety of subjects – food included.   

To say that I am behind schedule on my assignment is an understatement.  But, I am not getting a grade.  However, I am bound and determined to complete my assignment.  Never let it be said that I left a job undone. 

For my fourth assignment, I picked a Middle Eastern cheese, haloumi.  I learned about this cheese from reading Greek recipes.  I have never tried it, so this is a new experience for me too. 

Haloumi (Halloumi) originated in Cyprus and is also popular in the rest of the Middle East and Greece.  Traditionally, it is made from a mixture of goat and sheep’s milk.  Haloumi is a white cheese, similar to mozzarella.  It has a salty taste.  It is unusual in that it can be fried or grilled until brown without melting due to its higher than normal melting point.  Its resistance to melting comes from the fresh curd being heated before being shaped and brined.  Haloumi can be used to make saganaki, a fried cheese appetizer often found on Greek menus. 

Although some of my sources state that haloumi is similar to mozzarella, I’m not sure that I agree.  First of all, I did not find it to be as tough as mozzarella.  The texture was more grainy and fell apart easier than mozzarella.  It has a stronger flavor than mozzarella.

I decided to make saganaki with my haloumi.  Saganaki is often served in Greek restaurants as an appetizer.  Saganaki gets its name from the pan in which the cheese is cooked.  However, I made mine in a small cast iron skillet.   I have never made this before and was a little intimidated.  As I was making this dish, I thought of fried mozzarella.  I now wonder if this is how fried mozzarella got started.  If anyone in the blogosphere knows, please let me know.

Classic Saganaki with Olives and Lemon

Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounce) haloumi

All purpose flour

2 Tablespoon olive oil

½ lemon

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Tomato wedges

Pita wedges

Kalamata olives

Directions:

1.      Rinse cheese under cold water.  Do not pat dry.  Coat with flour.  Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add cheese and cook until beginning to brown, about 1 minute per slide.  Transfer to plates and serve.

2.       Squeeze lemon over cheese; sprinkle with oregano.  Serve with tomato, pita and olives.



Woman vs. Rabbits

Every year I plant a garden, probably more to see who will win, me or the elements.  Up until this year, I thought I stood a chance.  This year, I am fighting the heat.  The heat won.  You see, it was cold in the Midwest and then, boom, it was hot. 

And now to top things off, the rabbits are loose and wrecking havoc in my garden.  I tried putting little cutout milk jugs over the tomatoes.  It appears the rabbits used them as a perch from which they could gnaw my entire garden of tomatoes.  Instead of tomatoes, I have stalks.  My gardening buddy took one look at my garden and promptly stated, “Why, Miss Jones, your garden looks worse than mine”.  Now if that isn’t a vote of confidence, I don’t know what is.  I’m on my third planting of tomatoes.  I once had hopes of tomato sauce and a few other tomato dishes.  I now hope for enough tomatoes for a couple of BLT’s.

I planted okra this year, just like all the other years.  I thought they were safe.  They came up, so nice and cute.  I went out one morning and my okra plants were just a thing of beauty.  Yes, I’m a proud mama.  I went back later in the afternoon and what did I have?  Okra stalks!  Those little jokers ate my plants in broad daylight. 

I now have my entire garden in either a fence or milk jug cover (thank God I drink milk).  It’s actually quite comical.  Some of the milk jugs are even double stacked. 

I suppose in some ways, this is sweet revenge.  You see, as a child my favorite book was Peter Rabbit.  I thought it was so cute for Peter to be loose in Mr. McGregor’s garden.  Well, you got it.  I am now Mr. McGregor.  And Peter Rabbit ain’t cute.   I have now switched over to Mr. McGregor’s side.

For those of you who have managed to grow a few strawberries, here is a recipe for you.  For the rest of us, a trip to the farmer’s market might be necessary.

 Strawberry Sauce

 Serves 4.

 Ingredients:

1 quart fresh strawberries

¼ cup sugar

Directions:

1.       Slice strawberries.  Add sugar and stir.  Refrigerate mixture for about 1 hour.

2.       Cook over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Cool.

3.       Serve with ice cream, pancakes, angel food cake or as you desire. 

Regardless of how you serve your strawberry sauce, eat it outside so that you can guard the garden.

Buttermilk – The Wonder Ingredient

Buttermilk is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with.  I use it to marinate chicken.  I would never consider making biscuits without it.  It is often used to make cakes.  It is used to make salad dressings.  There is even a buttermilk pie.

When I talk to my students about buttermilk, they frown as if it is the worst thing they have ever heard of.   The name buttermilk seems to imply “full of fat”.  However, the original buttermilk was the milk left over after making butter; thus the name, buttermilk.  There is very little fat in buttermilk, making it a lowfat product. 

As a kid, I remember my parents and grandparents pouring buttermilk over cornbread and eating it for supper.  (Yes, supper, not dinner.)  With a touch of sugar, it wasn’t a bad dish.  Americans don’t seem to favor consuming buttermilk as a beverage.  I always thought that when fruit was put into yogurt, they would do the same thing for buttermilk.  It seemed like a natural progression of things.  But there was no such luck.  Buttermilk still languishes in the frig waiting for your next favorite dish. 

Well, I think it’s time for buttermilk to step out on its own, no more hiding out in cakes and salad dressings.  A few years ago, I came across a recipe for mango lassi. 

As I did research for this posting, I found that lassi is a beverage with its origins in India.  Indians make this beverage by blending yogurt with water or milk.  Traditional or salted lassi is a savory drink, sometimes flavored with ground cumin.  Sweet lassi is made with fruits and sugar can be added.  I believe it is traditionally made with yogurt, but this recipe called for buttermilk. 

If posssible, make this recipe with ataulfo mangoes.  Ataulfo mangoes tend to be more flavorful and juicier.

Mango Lassi

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups chopped peeled mango

1 quart buttermilk
¼ cup sugar

Directions:

1.       Purée mango in blender until smooth.  Add buttermilk and blend well.

2.       Strain mixture through a sieve.  Add sugar, stir and serve.

3.       Add ice, if desired.

Let the Healthy Grilling Begin

So summer is here and we are heading out to patios and back porches, deck, parks and all sorts of other places.  After months of snow and slowly braised foods, we are ready for the grill.  When you think about grilling, think outside of beef, hot dogs and ribs.  Grilling is actually very healthy since a lot of the fat falls through the grates.  When deciding what to grill, basically, if you can cook it, you can grill it. 

 Here are a few things to think about before heading out to the grill.

1.        Use smaller portions of meat.  Round out the meal with grilled vegetables.

2.       Choose leaner cuts of meat.  Check the beef (http://bit.ly/cFFqOd) and pork (http://bit.ly/iCW8Dy) boards for examples of leaner cuts.  Leaner cuts also mean less flare-ups and smoke during grilling. 

3.       Marinate meat.  According to some studies, marinating meats helps reduce the formation of carcinogens. 

4.       Vegetables can be grilled.  Sliced vegetables such as summer squash, zucchini, asparagus, peppers and onions are great when cooked on a grill.  Simply toss vegetables with a little and place on a hot grill.  If desired a grill basket can be used.  When cooked, add a little acid like vinegar or lemon juice, salt, pepper and herbs. 

One of the most common mistakes most people make when grilling is not having the grill hot enough.  The colder the grill, the more likely the food is to stick.  Foods with less fat tend to stick to the grill more than fatty foods.  Coating the food with a little oil reduces the likelihood that it will stick to the grill.

To get you started on healthy grilling here is a salmon recipe.

Brown Sugar and Mustard Salmon

 Serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 center- cut salmon fillet,
about 1½ pound


 Directions:

1.       Prepare grill for indirect grilling.

2.       Combine brown sugar, mustard, black pepper, salt, ginger and garlic.  Stir until well blended.  Spread mixture over fish; let stand 15 minutes.

3.       Place fish, skin side down, on grill rack over unheated part of grill.  Close lid; grill 30 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.  Remove fish from grill.  Discard skin.

To expand your repertoire of healthy grilling ideas, check out these resources.

Cooking Light Magazine and Website - http://www.cookinglight.com/

Eating Well Magazine and Website - http://www.eatingwell.com/

Warmer Temperatures Is No Reason to Forgo Desserts

Ok! The temperature is rising and summer is on the way. Just because the temperature is increasing does not mean you have to skip dessert. Also does not mean that you have to turn on the stove. Thank goodness for no cook desserts. We can have our cake and eat it too.

Summer is an ideal time to pull out a few recipes for no cook or minimally cooked desserts. This type of dessert may start with a cake mix or a purchased product, like pound cake. Ice cream, cakes, cookies, whipped topping, fresh fruit, ice cream, milk, gelatin, and instant pudding can all play a role in no cook desserts. Just let your imagination run wild.

If you are in need of recipes, try looking at websites for your selected ingredient. Companies are a great source of recipes using their ingredients.

Summer Lime Pie

Serves 8.

Ingredients:

1 package (3 ounces) lime flavored gelatin

1 teaspoon lime zest

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 container (8 ounces) whipped topping

1 graham cracker crust

Directions:

1. Dissolve gelatin in ⅔ cup boiling water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Add lime zest and juice.

2. Add 1¼ cup cold water.

3. Gently whisk in whipped topping. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until mixture will hold its shape. Pour into crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Garnish with additional whipped topping and lime slices.

Semester Leftovers

Late last week I was in a quandary over what to write about this week. Nothing sparked my interest. It’s that time of year – you are at the end of winter produce (or you are sick of it) and spring hasn’t quite sprung.

It is also almost the end of the semester and as usual, we have too much of some stuff and are scrounging around for other stuff. This year we had potatoes left over. They are about ready to sprout. So of course I had to save them. At least this way, I would have part of my lunch taken care of.

I decided to make mashed potatoes. Since we have other odds and ends around the food lab, I decided to throw in a couple of other things. I roasted some garlic. There is also ½ of a package of cream cheese dying a slow death. I have a colleague who puts cream cheese in her mashed potatoes. So I thought I would try that too. Afterall, I do have that ‘waste not, want not’ mentality. Off to the kitchen to make my ‘End of the Semester’ Mashed Potatoes.

‘End of the Semester’ Mashed Potatoes

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 pound Russet potatoes

5 to 6 cloves of roasted garlic

4 ounces cream cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Peel and cube potatoes. Rinse potatoes. Drain. Add to a medium sized saucepan. Cover with water and place the lid on saucepan. Cook until potatoes can be pierced with a knife.

2. Drain and leave on burner until potatoes are dry.

3. In a large bowl, combine garlic and cream cheese. Add potatoes and mashed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

If you would like to tell us what you do with your 'end of the whatever' food, please do so.  We relish the ideas of other foodies.

To all you heading off someplace fun for the summer, enjoy! And please read the blog occasionally. We will be posting over the summer.