The 430 Calorie Burger

So we have still stuck to our calorie counting journey…and I am amazingly 4 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight 15 weeks after having given birth to SB. I have lost 26 lbs. and my husband has lost 13 lbs.

One of the things I used to crave most were hamburgers and ice cream. The girl at our local Cold Stone once commented, “You guys like to come here a lot.” Maybe she didn’t notice the gigantic baby bump standing right in front of her. Early on in my pregnancy, I had 5 burgers in one week. This was an early indicator to my husband, that I was pregnant. The burger craving never subsided throughout the  9 months, and now that I’m not pregnant, I’m not so keen on burgers that much. Today, t hough, I thought I’d have one….but make it sensible and low cal.

I decided to use turkey, swiss, mushrooms and avocado with these little thin whole wheat buns that are great.

I hate flavorless burgers, so I seasoned the patties with Mrs. Dash Steak Seasoning and Adobo (yes, that’s the Cuban part of me).

My husband grilled the patties for 10 minutes total, flipping them over after 5 mins for each side.

As for the mushrooms, I sauteed them with garlic, a dash of olive oil and a little splash of thickened barrel-aged balsamic with some salt to taste. I sauteed them for 10 minutes while the patties were cooking on the ‘que.

The total cals for this were 430 as opposed to oh…say a Carl’s Jr. Six Dollar Portobello burger which is 870 calories…and as my husband said afterwards, “Wow, this was actually filling, but it doesn’t make you feel like crap.”

So there you have it.

Asian night at the Martins

This week has been hell for us. It was in all certain terms, “one of those weeks.” I had car problems and my dog had another bloody nose issue for two days. I swear, walking into our house from a long and trying day at work….all we could see was blood all over the kitchen floor. It looked as though someone had been violently stabbed while we were away at work. I couldn’t take it anymore…this has been going on for once a month and I’m frustrated and tired of worrying about his bloody noses. I decided to bite the bullet and pay the outrageous amount of money a vet would ask to get this thing fixed. Luckily, Baxter’s problem wasn’t a tumor (which is what I was dreading) but high blood pressure, which is easily treatable with medications. He’s also overweight and has to go on a diet, sorry buddy…no table scraps!

This weekend, we tried to relax a bit and forget the hectosity that was this week. Relaxing was short lived since we decided we’d re-do our office instead. The office has been a junk storage room for awhile, and so we thought it was high time to make it a proper office instead. That said, we put in some hard work this weekend and in doing so, I decided to make a dinner on Sunday to treat ourselves.

How could you treat yourself better than with a $16 piece of sushi grade tuna, a homemade wonton soup, vinegared sushi rice and a nice refreshing japanese salad? Tell me, how?

Pretty much most of the ingredients were easy to find at Whole Foods…except for the Tobiko. The way I got my grimey mitts on the Tobiko was simple. I went up to the guy at Whole Foods who prepares the sushi and asked him for some…okay….so I begged him for it. I’m not ashamed to admit it…I batted my eyelashes and begged him for some Tobiko. He looked confused and scared as if he would lose his job for giving me some tobiko, but he was kind enough to go in the back and get me some for free.

Now…before starting any weekend meal, you need to wind down a bit and relax. Enjoy the cooking…have a drink, particularly some Lambic Raspberry Framboise.

Celebrate all that hard work you’ve accomplished all week…and forget all your stress.

Next, get down to the nitty gritty…Start makin’ those wontons!

WONTON SOUP:

• Wonton wrappers
• Water chestnuts
• Shitake mushrooms
• Enoki mushrooms
• Straw mushrooms
• Broccolini
• 1 teaspoon of Ginger
• 2 cans of Vegetable Stock
• 2 cans of water
• 2 tablespoons of Mirin
• 2-3 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of Rice Vinegar

In a pot, add the 2 cans of vegetable stock and water. To make the wontons, refer to my previous blog on making dumplings.

What is different about these dumplings and my previous dumpling attempt was that I included different ingredients, like the broccolini.

For the stock, add some of the the stuffing ingredients: water chestnuts, mushrooms, broccolini, enoki mushrooms. Also add the mirin, soy, rice vinegar and let boil for about 15 minutes. If you boil it for too long, the wontons will end up falling apart.

SEARED TUNA:

• Sushi grade tuna
• Sesame seed/Ginger (I bought a container with both ingredients at Whole Foods)
• Toasted Sesame Seed Oil

Remove the tuna from it’s wrapping and add sesame seeds to it. Since fish is naturally sticky, they will hold on. Add sesame seed oil to a pan and heat. Add the tuna and cook for 2 minutes on each side, removing it promptly from the pan.

I added a wasabi sauce to the tuna, which was extremely SPICY HOT. If you dare, you can simply make this by adding water to wasabi powder, but I warn you….It’s pretty darn hot. I topped the tuna with scallions and tobiko and served with sushi rice.

Also add a Japanese salad topped with enoki mushrooms, scallions and mushrooms with Ginger Dressing for a complete meal!

Soup: Shiitake Lemongrass Miso

I had heard of a Wild Oats being nearby my home…but I have never seen it. It was like my own white whale. I’d pass by the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and look down the street to see if I could see it from 7th street….but alas, nothing. Finally, this weekend…I  decided to go to the Wild Oats site and do a store locater search to end this mystery. Turns out, it’s a Whole Foods that I already know of. I’m not a stock market expert, but when I first heard that Whole Foods and Wild Oats were merging, I was seriously thinking of buying stock…but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

While I was on their site, I saw a nice image of a soup and a link to the recipe. I’m a huge fan of soups, so I decided it was easy enough to try out.

I’m going to cut and paste the recipe directly from the site itself:

Dairy-Free, Vegetarian, Vegan

Colorful peppers, carrots and green onions add bright flavors to this miso soup. Earthy shiitake mushrooms and fragrant lemongrass provide the background aromas. Serve soup over cooked brown rice, if desired.

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon unrefined (not toasted) sesame oil or canola oil
• 1/3 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
• 1 (12-inch) length of lemongrass
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 5 green onions, white and light green parts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons miso paste
• 1 handful cilantro or flat parsley leaves

Heat a large saucepot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil, mushrooms, garlic, ginger and soy sauce and toss to coat. Cook, stirring once or twice, until mushrooms are browned on edges, about 5 minutes. Bruise stalk of lemongrass with the back of a knife to release the flavorful volatile oils and cut it into 3 pieces. Add lemongrass to pot.

Pour in vegetable broth and increase heat to medium high, scraping bottom of pan to release any browned bits. Stir in green onion, carrot, red pepper and tofu. Bring to a boil and reduce to a brisk simmer for 5 minutes. When vegetables are tender, remove from heat. Remove lemongrass from pot and discard. Put miso paste in a small bowl and add a tablespoon or two of hot broth from the pot. Stir to dissolve miso. Stir dissolved miso into pot. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Nutrition Info

Per serving (About 16oz/452g-wt.): 240 calories (70 from fat), 8g total fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 14g protein, 36g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 12g sugar), 5mg cholesterol, 600mg sodium

I added some chili paste to the soup while it was cooking for additional spice. Looking back at it now, I would do it again but add the brown rice for a little more substance. The soup was extremely easy to make and quick as well. Also, if you’re not a fan of tofu, I would suggest adding shrimp instead.

Vegetarian Stroganoff: Finally

Okay, so I decided not to go with vegan because those egg noodles looked too good NOT to use. This recipe can be VEGANized by using regular dried pasta, as most dried/boxed pastas on the market do not contain egg.

I used the same basic recipe as the beef stroganoff recipe I posted earlier, except that I did not have to use 6 tablespoons butter. I only used 3 tablespoons.

Here’s how I did it:

• Thinly slice a block of baked tofu (I used one that had 5 spices already added)
• Add 3 tablespoons of vegan butter (I use the one below and it tastes great)
• Fry the baked tofu slices until they turn a bit golden. This should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.
• Add shallots or yellow onion (there should still be plenty of liquified butter in the pan which is why you don’t need the extra 3 tablespoons that were called for in the original recipe).
• Sautee the onions until they begin to be a bit clear. At this time, add chopped cremini mushrooms and continue cooking until they are soft.
• Add the tofu to the pan again.

• Make sure to lower the heat to low and add 1 cup of soy sour cream.

• Add some tarragon and serve over a bed of your choice of noodles.

Vegetarian Stroganoff update: upping the ante!

I haven’t made it yet, but I went to Whole Foods yesterday and bought most of the components–they ran out of cremini mushrooms!!! I was discussing with my fiancee the popularity of stroganoff and how I’ve noticed many people search for stroganoff recipes and how frequently I see people searching for a vegetarian alternative. He was also as surprised as I was.

I told him I wanted a good cooking challenge and that I wanted to make a vegetarian stroganoff, but not only vegetarian, but try to make it as vegan as possible. How challenging would that be?

The only problem we came about during our shopping trip for the perfect vegan stroganoff ingredients was the pasta. I love egg noodles and even though most dried pasta is vegan (does not contain eggs) I could not find a vegan noodle that was appropriate for stroganoff, (i.e.- the shape). I like my stroganoff to have the flat wide noodle shape to it. I guess you could use dried fettucini, even though it’s still a bit on the thin side. I caved in and bought my precious egg noodles anyways…but bear in mind that you can veganize the recipe with regular dried noodles in any shape you want…Even bow ties (hmm…I do love bow tie pasta.)

Hmm, maybe I’ll reconsider and think about scrapping the egg noodles for bow ties to keep to my challenge. I could use the egg noodles for something else, possibly a tuna casserole.

Also, wanted to say how great last night’s dinner was (sorry no photos). We bought some chicken from Whole Foods which was pecan encrusted. Good god I can’t stop thinking about it! I didn’t want to pan fry them, so I opted for baking them in a pan with a bit of marsala wine, olive oil and freshly ground pepper. The marsala wine gave it a nice sweet flavor that soaked in as it baked. I baked it at 365 degrees for about 30 minutes, flipping it over mid-way through cooking.

I made a side of brown rice and garlic sauteed spinach.

I am definitely going to make it again!

Happy New Years!

This New Year’s Eve, we were invited to a small dinner party. I decided that I wanted to make some sort of appetizer and when I heard that they were serving Thai food, I decided to try my hand at steamed dumplings which I have never made before. Another challenge, was that there were two vegetarian guests.

I decided to make a shitake mushroom wonton.

There was yet another challenge or roadblock, rather….to beginning my wonton experiment: I DO NOT OWN A BAMBOO STEAMER! If it were a regular day, I would have gone to Crate and Barrel or some food store and bought one, but it was NYE and nothing was open except the supermarket.

I got crafty…I went to the supermarket and bought a metal “splatter” guard. It’s flat and has small holes so the steam would be able to rise through it. I also bought some parchment paper to gently rest my delicate wontons on. I decided to rest the splatter guard on top of a pan with some water in it and then cover it with another pan since I do not have anything high enough to cover the pan with (I know, I need better pots and pans and I hope to get some soon).

Here are step by step pictures of the process:

Step 1: Soak the dried shitake mushrooms for 20 minutes in luke warm water.

Step 2: Prepare the filling.

I began the filling mixture while the mushrooms were soaking. I added some bamboo shoots and water chestnuts to the food processor and put aside in a bowl.

Step 3: Add flavor!

To the mixture, I added a squeeze of pureed ginger, about 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil.

Step 4: Add the mushroom!

I know, not very appetizing looking right???? But it smelled so good at this point, words cannot describe! After soaking the shitake mushrooms, remove the excess water and stems. I added them to the food processor to make them consistent in size to the other things in the mixture.

Step 5: Make the wontons!

These are pre-made wonton wrappers. I have used them before as ravioli and I have to say that they are extremely convenient. After you spoon a bit of the mixture on, you add some water to the edges of the wrapper and fold it in half in a triangle shape. Afterwards, you can fold it again. I like to take the two tips and make little envelope shapes.

Step 6: Prepare to steam!!!

Here are my little soldiers of shitake wontons ready for steaming. You can sort of see the mesh splatter guard underneath the parchment.

Steam the wontons for 17 minutes. The package said to steak for 15, but I found the tip of my wontons were still a little hard…so the next batch I made I left in in a few minutes longer and they were nice and soft.

Step 7: They’re ready….so be gentle.

I found that the easiest way to remove the steamed wonton/dumplings are to remove them while they’re still on the steamer (with the heat off). The excess moisture allows them to come off the parchment paper easier and lessens the chances of breaking the noodle. They’re very sticky, so be slow and gentle.

Step 8: Arrange them and top them off.

I added some sesame seeds and green onion (not in the picture) to the wontons. I also made a spicy dipping sauce from: Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Chili Paste, Hot Mustard and Rice Wine Vinegar. I would give you guys the exact measurements, but there were none…Note: Soy Sauce is the base to this sauce, so you would need to put a lot more than the rest. Adding the spicy components to this sauce depends on how much spice/heat you like. For those who don’t like spicy sauces, you can also use Plum Sauce which is already made and sold in your supermarket.

Additionally for presentation, you can lay your little steamed pockets of goodness on a fresh bed of lettuce like they do in a lot of NYC’s Chinatown restaurants (oh how I miss them).

All in all, the guests loved them and they lasted about 10 minutes. I should have made more…oh well, maybe next time!

Freshly Made Fettucini with Chicken Marsala

First of all, forgive me for not updating this more frequently…we’ve been sick this past week and have been souping it mostly and when you’re sick, it’s hard to make “real” soup.

Secondly, forgive me for the horrible photos…Since my mac died (2002-2007 R.I.P.) I haven’t been able to upload pictures as much and the photoshop program on the computer I’m using now is very errrr…..”basic.”

Hopefully, I’ll be getting a new mac soon and buying aperture to go with it…so my lovely photos will be back in the near future. For now, you get what ya get!

I woke up on Saturday morning and started watching Kitchen Nightmares re-runs. I loooove Gordon Ramsay and his show. I was watching the BBC version and he was teaching an Italian restaurant how to make fresh pasta…this “inspired” me so I went and bought a pasta maker the same day. I had been in the mood for real pasta lately…I remember eating some freshly made ravioli from a place in the Bronx once a few years ago when I was still living in NYC and the memory of that ravioli has never faded!!!

I also decided to make fresh alfredo sauce and chicken marsala to accompany my fresh fettucini.

Pasta Directions:

To make fresh pasta, you need:

2 cups of flour

3 eggs

Place the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle of the flour. Add the eggs inside the well and stir the flour into the eggs slowly.

I added a bit of water because my mixture was still too dry.

After you’ve mixed everything together, kneed it into a mound shape and keep it in the mixing bowl covered with a wet cloth for about 10 minutes to let the ingredients blend together.

Chop about 1/4 of the pasta and rest it on a floured surface. Roll it into a long sheet and then place it through the roller section of the machine. The machine comes with a knob that has numbers indicating the thickness of the pasta. I only rolled it out twice, but next time, I think I will roll it out two more times to make it thinner.

Let the flattened pasta rest for 10 minutes so that it can harden before you put it through the cutter.

Finally, cut the pasta into the shape you want. The machine has fettucini or spaghetti.

Another mistake I think I made here, was leaving the pasta in this way (above) on a plate. When making long strands of pasta, you should try to hang it up to let it dry a bit before you boil it. If you leave it in this “clump” it will be very difficult to put in the pot separately. Unfortunately, the directions did not state this…but it’s good to learn on your own.

I then added salt and grapeseed oil (or olive oil) to a pot of water and let it boil. The timing for the pasta depends on the thickness and how much you make so I went blindly into it, testing it every so often.

While I was making the pasta, I also made the alfredo sauce.

Directions for Alfredo Sauce: 

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

2 cloves of mashed garlic

Parmesan Cheese 

Pour the heavy whipping cream and mashed garlic into a pan. Slowly add parmesan cheese while stirring until you get a thicker consistency than water. Personally, I don’t like to make it too thick, but just thick enough to coat the spoon.

The alfredo sauce doesn’t take too long to make, so after I made the sauce, I put it aside and started working on the chicken marsala.

Directions for Chicken Marsala:

Two Chicken Breasts

Flour

Mushrooms

1 Shallot

1 cup of Marsala cooking wine 

I had two chicken breasts which were pounded thin and coated in flour.

Add grapeseed oil (or olive oil) to a sautee pan and cook the chicken breasts for 4 mins. on each side.

Remove the chicken from the pan and put aside.

Sautee mushrooms and 1 chopped shallot until the scallions are translucent.

Add 1 cup of Marinara cooking wine.

Let the mushrooms and shallots simmer for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add 1 tbsp. of flour to thicken the Marsala sauce and stir.

Once the sauce is thickened, add the chicken breasts back into the same pan and coat with the sauce. (This also helps to re-warm the chicken)

Plate the chicken with the fresh fettucini and serve with a nice chopped salad!

More wine and sausage!

I love sausage and all the different kinds out in the market now. It seems sausage makers have finally decided to get creative. We bought some chicken sausage this weekend with spinach, fontina cheese and roasted garlic. Sounds pretty fancy, right?

Last night on the drive home from work, I was thinking of ways to cook the sausage…creative ways. I decided to stop at the market and buy some brussel sprouts to pair it with the sausage.

In that old familiar way…I also thought about how I can minimize mess and  clean up, so I decided to cook everything together in one pan.

Prep time was about 10 minutes or less. I peeled and chopped the brussel sprouts and chopped the sausages. The cremini mushrooms were already chopped (I love when things are already prepped).

I added a drizzle of olive oil with chopped garlic and started cooking the brussel sprouts with some cracked pepper and salt. I then added a bit of sauvignon blanc because it was what we had in the fridge. At this point, I also added a few sprigs of Thyme.  As for wine and what type to buy that’s up to you…but I totally recommend a brand of wines called Barefoot. It’s pretty well-priced and every type of wine we’ve tried from them has never ever been a let-down!

I added the sausages and the cremini mushrooms and added more wine and more salt and pepper to taste.

I let the sausage and vegetables simmer in the pan for about 15 minutes.

This dish was paired up with some garlic butter rice.

By Special Request

Someone previously posted about being on a diet and wanting some mushroom/tomato dishes. Well this dish has plenty of mushrooms but lacks a bit of tomatoes. This is also a great recipe for vegetarians!

I originally saw this recipe on “Take Home Chef” and decided it was easy enough to try out on my own. Not only was it super easy to make, but it tastes ridiculously good.

All you basically have to do is this:

Take a nice large portobello mushroom and remove the stem.

Coat it with olive oil and salt/pepper.

Grill it for awhile so it cooks through.

About 10 minutes before you remove the mushroom off the grill, add a dollop of ricotta cheese to the center portion of the mushroom and let it heat up a bit. (For those of you worried about your figure as much as I am, make sure to buy a low fat ricotta).

As you can see, that’s all it takes. If you’re really adamant on NEEDING and WANTING tomatoes, I can probably suggest taking small cherry tomatoes and cutting them in halves and adding them to the portobello before topping it with ricotta. Hmm…that actually sounds pretty good. I think I might just do that next time!

On a side note: I won’t finish this blog until I’ve tortured each and every one of you. Even though I’ve been trying to eat healthier, I had a massive craving for cake yesterday. I hate baking…not the baking kind, nope…but I made a cake anyways. Yellow with whipped strawberry icing. Good god! Why do I do this to myself?

Re-creating restaurant dishes

When I lived in Downtown LA, there was only one good side to that and it was the close proximity to Little Tokyo and all of it’s excellent sushi restaurants and Asian markets. Our favorite sushi restaurant in LA is and forever will be Komasa. Back when I lived in NYC it was most definitely Tomoe and when I’m back home in Miami? Eh….I haven’t really found one as good as in LA and NYC. If you’re a Miamian and know of a solid place, let me know!

One Sunday afternoon while lolly gagging about town, I decided to make my own Japanese feast inspired by Komasa. I am a huge fan of their miso soup and green salad. You might think to yourself at this point, “How hard is it to make a miso soup and green salad?” Well, it’s not…and I’ve never been one to make challenging dishes, but Komasa’s miso soup and green salad are special….wait….~*special*~

I also decided to sear some tuna, buy some spicy as hell wasabi peas to snack on and make some rice vinegar sushi rice in addition to the soup and salad.

The soup was easier than putting together a 10 piece puzzle while blitzed out of your mind. I basically bought miso soup packets from the Asian market and added scallions and “Buna Shimeji” mushrooms.

The salad was equally as easy. I added lettuce, broccoli (which wasn’t in the original Komasa salad), sprouts, Japanese pickled carrots and topped it off with tobiko (I love the stuff!). The dressing was not Ginger like most Japanese restaurants usually top off their salads with, but instead I used a Japanese dressing that looks like Ponzu. It contains: sesame seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, sake, lemon juice, yuzu (citrus), wine, konbu seasoning and spice.

The seared tuna was quickly cooked in a hot pan with a little bit of toasted sesame oil. I added some salt and pepper to taste. The tuna was topped with tobiko (again), toasted sesame seeds and scallions. There was some ponzu sauce on the side for dipping.

All in all, it was an extremely enjoyable meal with minimal effort involved in the preparation. We had some hot sake to accompany the meal which was the perfect thing for it. I would do this again, especially when I have some guests over. Maybe next time, though, I’ll actually roll some sushi…