Roasted Spaghetti Squash

February 4th, 2013 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (1 Comments)

I absolutely love spaghetti squash. The texture is crunchy and fun, and the taste is buttery even though you don’t add butter! Mr. Cyclist/Triathlete (whatever he is into these days) doesn’t like spaghetti squash that much unless he eats it right away hot off the pan. So, some people might not like the idea of a pasta looking vegetable that taste like squash.

This time around, I decided to try roasting the squash to see if I could get a more roasted, crispier flavor.

roasted spaghetti squash

First, I bake the squash whole in the oven for about 45 minutes at 375 F. Poke some holes in it before you bake it. Turn it halfway through. Watch parts of Roni’s video here–this is similar to what I do.

After you have scooped out the insides, you can layer it on an olive oiled baking sheet as pictured above. I also sliced up a whole onion, a few cloves of garlic, and added some seasonings and sun dried tomatoes for a bit of extra flavor.

Roast it in the oven at 400 F for about 45 minutes longer. I kept checking to see if it got more golden brown, but only slightly.

spaghetti squash

The main difference cooking it this way is that it became a little more crispy and delightful, and a little less mushy compared to the normal preparation.

We also ate some homemade palak paneer made by Mr. Cyclist:

palak paneer

The two dishes don’t really go together, but this is the kind of cooking you do to make sure your produce doesn’t go bad!

For those who don’t know, palak paneer is an Indian dish made of a blended, thick spinach curry “sauce” with paneer (an Indian cheese that reminds me of thick mozzarella). We discovered palak paneer is best eaten with a bread or cracker of some sort. Mr. Cyclist made it from scratch based off of his travels to India last year.

So, do you like spaghetti squash?

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Foods of the Baltic

September 12th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (3 Comments)

Just got back from my Baltic cruise vacation. Was super jet-lagged yesterday. Felt like I was in the Twilight Zone all day.  I drank some kefir this morning to ward off getting sick due to lack of sleep–I swear by drinking kefir to prevent the common cold.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure here are the foods I ate while on the trip. I did not stick to the healthiest foods because I wanted to try different things while in a different country.

Copenhagen:
The main strip in Copenhagen, Nyhavn, is full of expensive $40 entree dinners. We lucked out, and found this small little local bar place right off the main canal. Took us a while to find, but we got affordable wine, beer, and these open face “sandwiches” that they are known for. Just a small square of flat real rye bread with a piece of fish or egg and shrimp with fresh herbs and some type of sauce. They were meant to be little appetizers to eat with a beverage, but we made it our dinner–it had been a long day of travel!

Cruise Ship Food:
Made a salad topped with a beet/corn salad and I loved getting roasted turkey because it is such a pain to make at home. Great to take advantage of on a cruise ship.

The first night I got a Mediterranean curry type dish that was super tasty. Loaded with veggies.

Princess love boat dream dessert. Super cute dessert. 

Lots of shrimp dinners.

Plentiful desserts. The ice cream was a favorite.

My snack/lunch food one day. So funny because I have a load of veggies and then throw a piece of bread and cookie on the plate.

I loved having the julienne vegetables because it was something different, and they always had some type of new veggie sandwich.

Ate a load of cantaloupe because it was the main fresh fruit they had that I liked.

I tried escargot for the first time. What you taste mostly is butter, garlic, and something that tastes halfway between shrimp, crawfish, and mussels.

The tastiest vegetarian dish–very rich and decadent, though. A pumpkin/sweet potato crepe with a cream garlic topping and dallop of tomato sauce. I already dug into it before taking a picture. Then, when I ate it, I said hold on this is so good, I have to take a picture to remember!

Germany:

Russia:

Loved this apple, celery, walnut yogurt salad.

Borsch and other pickled soup that I actually liked!

Russian vodka for the birthday man. I rarely drink any vodka or hard liquor, but this was a pretty decent vodka, or so it seemed…

Helsinki, Finland:

Gross large hot dogs. I despise hot dogs.

Massive meringues. Everywhere we went seemed to have massive pastries and fresh breads. What I started to realize is that these countries had fresh baked pastries and breads and NOT super processed packaged sweets.

Cocktail Time:

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Eats of the Week: Indian Food & Trader Joe’s Salad

June 24th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (0 Comments)

I try to be pretty good about bringing my lunch to work everyday. Even if I don’t bring all the food I need for work, I at least bring part of my lunch or snacks to get me through the day.
Sometimes I just throw together whatever we have in the fridge. Green, beans, olives, cucumbers, a little cheese, and a vinaigrette.

If I don’t bring lunch from home, I at least plan what I will buy. This time it was this amazing salad from Trader Joe’s:
It had this delicious carrot orange ginger dressing that I want to try to recreate. The whole thing with the dressing was about 400 calories. Amazingly tasty and healthy.

Anyway, so I do a pretty good job of eating healthy throughout the day and packing healthy lunches. But, then, dinner who knows what can happen. For the most part, we eat healthy. But, there is the occasional deviation from the mean.

Mr. Cyclist was in India recently for about 2 months, so we wanted to try some more authentic Indian food. The dishes are so incredibly rich. Most made with a large amount of butter, or if not butter, probably some kind of heavy cream. On top of that, there is a lot of white rice and white bread. And probably more oil to cook the paneer and other ingredients. I ate about 7 bites, and felt pretty full (because the meal was heavier). So, this makes Indian food not my favorite. It was tasty, but not for me.

This past week, we also made a yellow squash dish sauteed with caramelized onions, and some thyme. I added some romano cheese to the top of mine.
What you see in the background is mixed seafood (calamari, shrimp, scallops) that has been coated with corn meal and then sauteed (with more oil than usual in order to get them crispy).

So, next week, the focus is to eat more healthy dinners since there has been a slight deviation. Perhaps this is the fault of the Costco avocados. When you give a mouse an avocado, he’ll want more chips… haha.

Have a good rest of the weekend!

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Serious Chicken Masala

June 1st, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

Mr. Cyclist traveled to India and Thailand for work for 2 months, and when he came back, he was determined to make an authentic Indian dish. He made chicken masala, and it was packed with flavor.

It may not look so pretty, but it was tasty.
And English peas are not typically added to this dish… But, hey, it makes it look prettier.

Chicken Masala

Makes about 6 servings
Ingredients:

  • 10 chicken drumsticks
    For the chicken marinade:
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1/4 c. Masala spice blend (cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, clove)
  • Salt
    For the rest:
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • A few cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 jars of curry or masala simmer sauce (got ours from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 3 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
  • 1 cup green peas
  • 1/2 of a bunch fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:

  1. Marinate the chicken drumsticks in yogurt, rosemary, and masala spice blend for about 2-3 hours. Note: Recommend pulling the skin off of the drumsticks before marinating.
  2. Later, in a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken drumsticks with all of the marinade. Cook until lightly browned. Remove the drumsticks from the pan and set aside on a plate.
  3. Add the onion, garlic, shallot to the saute pan. Cook about 3-5 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken back to the pan along with the jarred simmer sauce and Tbsp. of sugar. Heat until simmering. Add the cubed potatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer (barely simmering) for about 2 hours on low.
  5. Add the peas near the end. And then, stir in chopped fresh cilantro right before plating.

Serving tip: Prepare some brown rice near when you add the peas in (about 30 minutes before you are ready to eat). Serve on top of brown rice.
So, it is not totally authentic because we used some jar sauce, and added peas and potatoes. But, according to Mr. Cyclist the dish came out near perfect!

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Quest for Curry: Take 2

February 20th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

Mr. Cyclist made this all on his own. I just stood by saying, “looks good”, and then washing dishes. After all, he is the one who has been studying different curry-making videos and recipes. I am no expert, but he is becoming one. I was thoroughly impressed. So, here is his spicy and tasty recipe:

Spicy Green Curry Recipe
Makes about 6 servings.
Ingredients:
Spices for the curry paste:

  • 1 Tbsp. Whole coriander
  • 1 tsp. Ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. Ground turmeric
  • 1-1 1/2 Tbsp. Minced/Crushed garlic
  • 1 tsp. White or black pepper
  • 3 Tbsp. Fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 whole bunch of fresh cilantro
  • 3 Serrano peppers
  • 3 Jalapeno peppers
  • 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
  • 6-8 keffir lime leaves
  • 2-3 tsp. anchovy paste

For the remainder of the curry:

  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil
  • 23 oz. can coconut milk
  • 1 lb. chicken tenderloins or breast, sliced into cube-like chunks (it is easiest to slice when chicken is still partially frozen)
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar (palm sugar preferred), to taste
  • 3 Tbsp. fish sauce, to taste at the end
  • About 10 fresh basil leaves
  • Pinch of salt

For the vegetables:

  • 1-2 cups peppers, any color you like
  • 1 small can bamboo shoots, water drained
  • 14 oz. can baby corn, water drained
  • 1 cup onions, sliced

*Note: All of these ingredients are approximated because Mr. Cyclist never measures anything–he just adds what looks right and what tastes right.

Directions:

  1. Take all of the ingredients for the curry paste and put them into a food processor, and process until a paste-like consistency forms. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
  2. Add the curry paste ingredients to the pan, and toast until they absorb the oil. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan or saute pan, heat the coconut milk to thicken slightly.
  3. Add some of the coconut milk to the curry paste slowly as if you are making a roux. Continue adding the coconut milk in small amounts until you have added of it. Stir continuously, and add the 1 Tbsp. sugar to the mixture.
  4. In the same pan you used for the coconut milk, you can add 1 Tbsp. oil and cook the chicken in that pan briefly to just cook the outsides of the meat.
  5. Add the chicken to the curry mixture to continue cooking the chicken all the way through. Simmer for about 5-7 minutes.
  6. Add the vegetables to the curry and continue to simmer another 2-3 minutes.
  7. Add the fish sauce, pinch of salt, and fresh basil to taste. Check near the end to see how it tastes, and you can add a few more ingredients to tweak if you need to.

Serve with brown rice, and you are done!

This is a more labor intensive dish mainly because of all the ingredients needed. But, it tastes amazing, and is worth it. You could make it ahead of time, and reheat during the week. The curry tastes very similar and better than a few other green curry dishes I have had at Thai restaurants.

Curry Health Benefits:

  • The turmeric in many curry recipes may help prevent Alzheimer’s and Dementia, but you have to eat the curry at least 2 times per week. But, research has shown that it can help even reverse some damage that has been occurring in the brain.
  • Anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying.
  • Coconut milk is high calorie, but has quite a few health benefits as well. Even though the saturated fat content is high, coconut milk can help our body improve fat metabolism, and is not known to increase risk of heart disease. Excellent source of iron which is good for those with anemia. Excellent source of magnesium and manganese which is good to maintain balanced blood sugar.
  • The spiciness of curry can help release endorphin’s and can also be an aphrodisiac.
  • Like I mentioned, curry has a unique depth of flavor, and research has shown this intense amount of flavor can lead you to crave more intensely flavorful foods.

Many don’t think of curry as a dish that is good for weight control, but it is! Curry will satisfy you with a smaller portion due to the fiber, satisfying fat in the coconut milk, and the spices and heat will increase fullness more quickly.

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Quest for Curry

February 16th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

Mr. Cyclist is obsessed with curry. So, he inspired me to procure the ingredients needed to make curry at home. And, I wanted to see if I could make it any cheaper at home. His argument was that since there are so many specialty ingredients required to make top quality curry, it might be just as cheap to order a dish from our favorite Thai restaurant.

Here are some of the necessary ingredients to make Panang curry which I have decided is my most favorite right now.  Panang curry is supposed to be more mild than others, but in my experience it has been full of flavor and a little spicy.

I used this recipe idea from Temple of Thai for a slight shortcut to making curry. The shortcut is that you use a curry paste instead of making your own curry paste which can require many ingredients and spices in addition to the ones you already have to buy.

We added some peppers, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and chicken as well. Mr. Cyclist, aka Curious Curry Man, watched a few YouTube videos to try to make himself more of a Thai chef.

This recipe did not turn out perfect because there was a tad bit too much coconut milk, and it would have been better to make the sauce and the vegetables separate, and then combine near the end.

So, when I perfect this recipe, I will post my own version. But, for now, you can try the Temple of Thai recipe linked to above for a tasty and different weeknight meal. Don’t forget to serve with brown rice! And don’t be too afraid of coconut milk because there has been some research out about coconut milk and its ability to help burn fat as well as prevent Alzheimer’s. Don’t be afraid to try new meal ideas that you have no idea where to begin–it may lead to something delicious!

Quote for the Week: “Sometimes”, said Pooh, “the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

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Miso Hungry

January 9th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Kitchen | Recipes - (0 Comments)

Have you ever thought about making your own miso soup? I hadn’t, but Mr. Cyclist got the urge to make some, and I found out it is super easy.

These are the instructions from a container of miso paste:

Love the pictures.
Here is what miso paste looks like for those wondering:
So, all you have to do is boil some water, add some tofu that you have cubed, add seaweed (which I find is optional really), and then add a few spoonfuls of miso paste. Stir, and then turn off the heat. Add some green onions or chives to the top for garnish.
But, be careful, because the miso soup contains a high amount of sodium! There are a few varieties that sell reduced sodium miso paste, and I would definitely recommend that. But, they are harder to find. You may have to go to a specialty grocery store like we did.

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Tasty Thai Food

September 6th, 2011 | Posted by Nicole in Food Review - (0 Comments)

I had what was so far the tastiest Thai food this past Labor Day weekend. I was out at Jekyll Island, GA having a nice weekend, and the boyfriend and I decided we wanted to set out mouths on fire with some spicy Thai food at Tuptim Thai in Brunswick, GA.

We got this Thai salad as an appetizer. It was savory, salty, sweet–all flavors packed into one salad.

And of course we got some spring rolls. Maybe not the healthiest… I always love the dipping sauce–tangy and sweet. One spring roll is about 6o to 80 calories.
For my entree, I got a vegetable dish with a spicy brown sauce. It had so many flavors (including basil–yum!), and a wide variety of veggies, and a few tofu pieces. I really don’t know where all the flavors come from. It is a mystery to me.

I think this was called pad prik, and the nutrition facts are pretty healthy for this dish compared to others. I am not sure exactly how many calories it is, but I believe it is very reasonable for a dinner meal.

And my boyfriend got a green curry which the server recommended. I am not usually a huge fan of curry because I don’t like a lot of coconut milk flavor, but this one was this best I have had–I actually liked it. Again, I have no idea what makes it so good!
We both even ordered a glass of wine because it was only $3.50! Anyway, we really enjoyed the dinner, and my mouth was on fire when I left like I had expected. But, the visit makes me want to learn more about Thai cooking, and try to re-create some dishes.

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