DITALINI PASTA SALAD

Posted in Pasta & Noodles, Salads, Side dishes, Vegetarian-friendly by sallybr

I am not at all fond of pasta salads that are loaded with oily dressing, or the dreadful mayo to weigh things down even further. I like a salad that leaves me feeling refreshed and light. Ditalini is a shape normally used in soups, but I thought it would work well in this type of recipe. It has slightly more body than orzo, and is not as “slippery” . Rather than a strict recipe, this is all about flexible amounts, so play with it, and make it shine!

DITALINI PASTA SALAD
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

Ditalini pasta, cooked all dente and rinsed in cold water
1/4 cup grape seed oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice
Dried oregano to taste
Dried mint to taste
Red pepper flakes, a pinch or two
Cherry tomatoes, red and yellow
Green onions, sliced thin
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the cooked and cooled ditalini pasta on a large bowl.

Make the vinaigrette by mixing and whisking well the grape seed oil, vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, mint, and red pepper flakes.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Add the vinaigrette to the pasta and mix well. Incorporate the cherry tomatoes, add the green onions, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep cold… and….

ENJOY!
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to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Feel free to use fresh mint instead of dried, as well as fresh oregano, although I find fresh oregano too overpowering and always use dried instead. I kicked myself for not thinking about adding capers, so keep that in mind, this salad begs for a handful of those. We like our vinaigrette to be more about the vinegar than the oil. We also prefer the milder taste of grape seed compared to olive oil, so grape seed was my choice. You should make it the way you prefer, more oil, olive oil, a little mustard, maybe some garlic. As you may have noticed, we are not garlic people. It is quite possible that if they sequence our genome, a few vampire genes might be found here and there. But, nothing to worry about, we are usually very well-behaved, your neck is safe with us. 😉

Are you familiar with Vincent Price’s cookbook? A classic, a real classic….

ONE YEAR AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

TWO YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

THREE YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

FOUR YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

13Sep2013

ANOTHER WALK ON THE FLIP SIDE OF FOOD: FOCUS T25

Posted in Fitness by sallybr

Disclaimer: This is a post exclusively on fitness. No recipe included.

For those who have been around my blog for a while, it’s obvious that I am addicted to Tony Horton’s exercise routines. I already wrote two reviews about his systems: for P90X click here, for P90X2 click here. However, I am always up for trying different videos, as four and a half years of Tony can get a bit repetitive. When picking a new routine, two things are important to me: they need to be challenging, but shorter than P90X. In fact, one tricky aspect of Tony Horton’s classics is that each video is at least 52 minutes long, with the YogaX demanding 90 minutes of my time.

Last month I got an email from Beachbody.com advertising a new product, the series called FOCUS T25. The instructor, Shaun T, is also the guy behind the famous Insanity workout. I immediately went online to read reviews and watch the infomercial about it. I have bought one of his series in the past, the Hip Hop Abs, but did not care for it. I am familiar with Insanity (did the first workout a couple of times), but it is too focused on aerobics and better suited for those interested in losing weight. However, even if those workouts did not appeal to me, I thought Shaun T’s enthusiasm and personality made him a great fitness instructor. And, let’s face it, his looks don’t hurt either. 😉 So, I gave FocusT25 a try.

Nine DVDs total, five routines for the so-called “Alpha-Phase” that should last for a month, and five for the “Beta-Phase”, that would take 4 more weeks. If you are in top shape you could potentially skip the “Alpha” and go for the kill. I didn’t do that, so this review will cover only the first phase. One important thing to add: all the Beachbody.com videos promise a full transformation in your body if you follow them to a T. When you open the box of FocusT25, one of the things you will find is a recommended diet to follow for 5 days as you go through your first week of the program. In the diet, you will consume from 1,200 to 1,600 calories per day (and that range applies for men too). Anyone will have a pretty dramatic change in the body following this gruesome method. I don’t pay attention to the diet component of any of these systems, all I want is a nice, effective workout. Do what works best for you, and keep in mind the most important thing is to listen to your body, set sensible goals and enjoy the ride to get there.

For the Alpha series you won’t need any special equipment, all exercises use exclusively your own body. A mat for abdominal work is all that’s required. If you intend to follow the system as laid out by Shaun T, you will be working out 5 days per week, with a double session (that is, 50 minutes) on the last day. Then you use the Stretch DVD on day 6, and rest on day 7. Each workout lasts for exactly 25 minutes, with a recommended cool-down of 2 to 3 minutes at the end. The investment of time is quite minimal, compared to most programs, but trust me, it will be enough. I did the first five series in consecutive days to get acquainted with the system (skipped the Stretch video), and now I am settling on a mix-and-match of 90X, 90X2, Focus25, and just a little bit of running. Variety is key for me.

DVD ONE: CARDIO WORKOUT. A fun routine, fast-paced and organized with what Shaun T defines as “progressions”. You start with one basic move, for instance, marching in place with the knees lifting above your waist. After a minute of doing that you will increase the level of difficulty by doing the same movement on the tip of your toes, with the option of hopping a little bit. Jumping jacks progress to double jumping jacks and then doubles with arms moving up and down above your head. Lunges start slowly and controlled and then move to a lunge with a hop. At any given time you can dial back and follow Tanya, the girl who demonstrates lower impact variations (that is true for every single DVD, by the way). A few “breaks” in intensity make this series a little easier. For instance, at half time he introduces controlled squats for 30 seconds or so, bringing your heart rate down a little. Of course those squats progress into hop squats so that you don’t get too comfy. Time passes fast in this video and if you follow the non-modified version, you’ll need a towel to dry the floor. 😉 Very nice video, two thumbs up.

DVD TWO: SPEED 1.0. Love, love, love this one! A slightly faster-paced aerobic routine that also includes some moves like the “burpee“. If you are familiar with Tony Horton’s Plyometrics, some of the moves are similar, like the Heisman jumps. Having done Plyometrics was a great help, because Shaun T built on some of those basic moves, making them faster and a little move complex. If a person is new to this type of exercise, it might take a few sessions to coordinate the movement of arms, legs, and waist. The music is great, and again Tanya shows low impact variations, even for the tough burpee. Another thing I loved about this DVD was the incorporation of a little stretch in between the exercises. It feels almost like a break, which doesn’t happen in any other of his routines. Two thumbs up for this video too.

DVD THREE: TOTAL BODY CIRCUIT. Holy tomatoes. This one works you really really hard. You will involve every single muscle of your body in this session, and there will be aerobics mixed with planks and push-ups. Of all these videos I’d say this one was the hardest for me, and I had to stick with Tanya for a few moves. In my review of P90X2 I mentioned that a mixture of aerobics and strength training is harder for me than one type of exercise all along, and this routine demands a constant switch from one type to the other. I suffered, I struggled, but I must admit it was one of the best compilations of fun and challenging exercises in 25 minutes of self-inflicted torture. Two sore thumbs up.

(from WA Today)

DVD FOUR: AB INTERVALS. I was very curious about this DVD, because as I said before, in my mind no other ab workout could match the quality of Tony Horton’s Ab RipperX. It is not easy to compare both, because in the P90X system, the AbRipper is performed at the end of other series, so once you get to it, you will be doing only abs. Shaun T Ab Intervals uses a different approach, mixing aerobics (jumps, and a lot of twist exercises that will engage the waist and core), with traditional abs and a lot of plank-type moves. Instead of Horton’s method of many repetitions of each move, Shaun T often goes for isometric contractions holding them for a while. Harder on the neck and lower back, if you have weaknesses in those regions, be careful and take breaks or modify the exercises. I had a blast with this video and was probably the easiest for me. However, I had to cut short the last move of the series, in which Shaun T brings first one, then two, then three… all the way to seven burpees in a row. That was too much for my neck and lower back. But, apart from that, no issues. Two thumbs up with a smile.

DVD FIVE: LOWER FOCUS. As the name indicates, this video centers on legs, but you will train your core and lower back too, since there are plenty of squats and lunges as well as exercises based on the “chair pose” of yoga. Very intense, but again all the exercises that could potentially hurt those with joint issues can be toned down by following Tanya. Quite a few of the exercises are similar to those in P90X and 90X2. For instance, in P90X plyometrics you have an exercise called “hot foot”, in which you jump in one foot for 30 seconds, forming a cross pattern on the floor. In Focus 25 you will wrap one foot around the ankle of the other leg and do ankle lifts then jumps. Tony and Shaun T target similar muscles in those exercises, and have approximately the same level of difficulty. Lower Focus might be easier than P90X Legs and Back, but it is far from a walk at the beach. Two thumbs up and a knee kick for the last routine of Alpha Phase…

In summary…

I highly recommend this program for anyone healthy enough to exercise, without serious joint or hip problems. When I wrote my review on P90X, one thing I made clear is that one needs to be in reasonably good shape to face it. I believe Shaun T’s Focus25 will work for people who have not exercised in a while, but in that case he or she MUST follow Tanya’s modifications for a couple of weeks or so. By doing that, all high impact is removed, but you still get a very decent workout. Maybe some of the moves that require upper body strength (push ups, planks) will be hard to do at first, but not impossible. Both Shaun T and Tony Horton have a similar training style: they pump you up, trying to make you work your hardest, but always remind you it’s ok to take a step back if needed. On a side note, this is not the case for Jillian Michaels, but I will share my thoughts about her videos another time.

Focus 25 has the same high quality of other products from Beachbody: a nice timer at the bottom showing the progress of each series. A pop up message 5 seconds before each new exercise letting you know what comes next. This is particularly helpful on a routine that has no breaks at all. Would I quit P90X to use only Focus 25? No, at least not in the near future. I need my Yoga and KenpoX, I love my dumbbells and pull-up bar too much to say goodbye to them. But whenever I’m pressed for time and want to have a nice, fun workout, I’ll be inviting Shaun T to be my coach. Virtually, that is. Virtually. 😉

And to close the post, a little smile for the day:

ONE YEAR AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

TWO YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

THREE YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

FOUR YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

9Sep2013

SEA SCALLOPS WITH PEA PUREE & CILANTRO GREMOLATA

Posted in Seafood, Side dishes by sallybr

Preparing this dinner was not easy. It was probably not very wise to make it during the kitchen hellnovation, but I was craving a nicer meal to make our Sunday evening feel special. It can be very stressful to be in a house undergoing renovation, so having a slightly fancier meal seemed like a good idea. However, what used to be a kitchen is now an almost empty space with no finished floors or appliances. We are lucky to be able to keep the fridge turned on in our garage, and to have improvised two cooking areas: one in the laundry room, another in our enclosed patio. Still, pantry items are in boxes, a few dishes are piled in the dining room for our daily use, a few pans at close reach, but not that many. I wish you could see a video of me preparing this meal. Actually, I am very glad there is no video documenting the process. It involved me dashing a few times across rooms, forgetting that some passages are blocked by heavy plastic. It involved a mildly twisted ankle while balancing scallops on a baking dish and “almost” losing them all to a floor covered in rough concrete bits. It also involved a scorched pan, but the pea puree, even after subjected to torture tasted absolutely awesome! So, allow me to share with you one of the toughest meals I prepared in the past year, a recipe that I first saw on a favorite food blog of mine, Taste Food. Yes, I cooked from Lynda’s blog before… 😉

SEA SCALLOPS WITH GINGERED PEA PUREE AND CILANTRO GREMOLATA
(adapted from Taste Food)

for the scallops:
12 sea scallops
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of Mycryo

for the pea puree:
2 cups shelled English peas
salt
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne

for the gremolata:
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Make the gremolata by combining the cilantro, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons salt and the peas. Cook until peas are tender. Remove from heat and drain peas, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

Combine peas, ginger, olive oil, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and cayenne in bowl of food processor. Purée until smooth. Add some of the reserved water (approximately 1/4 cup) to thin to desired consistency; the purée should not be too thin. Discard remaining water. Transfer purée to a bowl and keep warm. Pat scallops dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Add a sprinkle of Mycryo right before cooking. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the scallops, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook, turning once, until brown on both sides and just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate and keep warm. Repeat with remaining scallops. No need to add any oil to the pan, just the sprinkle of Mycryo will be enough.

To assemble, spoon pea purée on serving plates. Top with scallops. Sprinkle scallops and purée with gremolata. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Mycryo is a great product with a poorly chosen name, if you ask me. The word – Mycryo – makes me think of tears, sadness, despair. But that could not be farther from the truth: they gave sea scallops THE most perfect brown ever, even though they were prepared in THE most rudimentary cooking conditions available to a cook (the Drama Queen says hello). I even conducted a small experiment by preparing two batches of sea scallops. One cost a small fortune, they were the ultra-special, huge dry sea scallops. The other was a frozen type that while thawing released a gallon of white milky liquid. No bueno. With a light sprinkle of Mycryo (and no oil added to the non-stick pan), all scallops browned like a Brazilian under the tropical sun! We could not tell the difference in texture or taste between the two types, which was quite amazing to me. Great product! You can order here, they shipped very quickly, contrary to what I heard from customers who got it through amazon.com.

The pea puree competed heavily with the scallops to win the spotlight of this meal. Bright flavor with the ginger and just a slight heat from the cayenne. Lynda really came up with a perfectly balanced side dish.

I close this post with a little snapshot of our laundry room. In one side we installed the induction cooktop + microwave. On the other side, where we do have a large sink, we stuffed together the coffee machine, coffee grinder, and our beloved Penguin Sodastream. It’s cozy in there, folks. Cozy.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mediterranean Skewers with Balsamic Dressing

TWO YEARS AGO: Five Grain Sourdough Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: The Nano-Kitchen

FOUR YEARS AGO: Kaiser Rolls

5Sep2013

BLUEBERRY-BANANA BREAD

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Back when my site was a young baby, I blogged about one of the greatest classics in American cooking, the banana bread. I had no idea that a few months down the line, that recipe would be part of a fun quest to find the world’s best banana bread, and what’s even more amazing, it tied for first place! To me, that matter was solved. No need to even bother trying another recipe. Then, on a quiet Saturday morning, while checking FoodTV episodes taped during the previous week, I saw Giada cheerfully making a blueberry banana loaf. Blueberries and bananas, baked together until the blueberries get all soft and intensely sweet… I decided that my blog can handle a second take on a classic, especially one with a purple twist! 😉

BLUEBERRY-BANANA BREAD
(from Giada de Laurentiis)

Butter, for greasing the loaf pan
1 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the loaf pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup of mashed banana)
1 cup (about 4 ounces) fresh blueberries
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Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9- by 5- by 3-inch loaf pan. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in the bananas and blueberries. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

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Comments: I decided to make this loaf around 9pm on a Monday night. It was a dark and stormy night… ooops, no, that’s the beginning of a bad novel… It was actually a nice and warm summer night, but one in which I had to be in the lab at midnight to get some bacteria growing for an experiment early next day. I wanted to make sure I would not fall asleep in the middle of a Law and Order episode, and baking definitely gets my adrenaline going. Side benefit? Taking banana bread to the department, to make the life of the early birds a little sweeter… 😉
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This banana bread (or cake, or loaf, whatever you want to call it) is a breeze to make! I followed Giada’s advice and did not even use the electric mixer, was left with only a whisk plus two bowls to clean. Awesome!

ONE YEAR AGO: Busy Times (one year since we moved our lab to KSU!)

TWO YEARS AGO: Oriental-Style Turkey Patties

THREE YEARS AGO: Sourdough English Muffins

FOUR YEARS AGO: Kaiser Rolls

2Sep2013

IN MY KITCHEN – SEPTEMBER 2013

Posted in In My Kitchen by sallybr

Time for another little tour of our Bewitching Kitchen, to join the virtual party started by Celia, from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

LET ME START WITH THREE SPECIAL GIFTS…

Freshly picked blackberries from a colleague at KSU… As you might remember from a recent post, they were put to excellent use in a blackberry-cherry sorbet... Hummmmmmm…..

Vanilla beans straight from France, a surprise package, courtesy of the same dear friend who sent me a huge load of saffron in the past… My first use of one of these incredibly potent pods was the Apple-Cinnamon Bread you read about last week.

A Hamilton Beach electric oven, surprise gift from Phil, who found it on ebay… the thing is huge, and the temperature control pretty accurate. I’ve baked bread in it (the Black Sesame Sourdough), I’ve used it to roast the meat for our French Dip sandwich... Very nice option to keep the house cool during the hot months. His name is Mr. Hamilton, and our patio is his new home.
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AND MOVING ON TO OTHER STUFF GOING ON IN THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN…

Roasted bell peppers made in Mr. Hamilton. I like to cut the peppers and seed them first, the peel comes off very easily after, no need to run under running water or do all sorts of manipulations needed with the whole pepper. Try it, you might adopt this technique too!

When we spent the sabbatical year in Los Angeles the house we rented had beautiful Italian dishes from Jennifer Moore. We loved them! Ever since we left L.A. Phil has been actively searching for places that sell them. Thanks to his persistence, we now have several pieces to remind us of the months spent in California.

We normally prefer clear glasses, but these are so delicate and beautiful with a light pink body and green stems! Those are my favorite glasses to sip some Portuguese green wine. Another great ebay find by Phil, by the way…

A new product, Mycryo… If you haven’t heard anything about it, be ready to be amazed! It is a cocoa butter-derivative, that you sprinkle on food to be sautéed. It has fewer calories than any other type of fat, and is supposed to brown the food like nobody’s business. Fantastic on scallops, by the way, you don’t even have to worry about drying them. Yes, there will be a blog post about it…. stay tuned!

Preparations for one of our favorite ways to entertain: a pizza party! We provide the dough, the toppings, and if needed a quick lesson on how to open the dough. After that, our guests can have a lot of fun creating their own versions and “sharing the love”… Artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, grilled zucchini, and of course those roasted red and yellow bell peppers were also part of this feast.

Another way to preserve sourdough starter, inspired by Celia and Joanna, two of my bread baking gurus who definitely know how to handle their starters! I dried a very active batch of Dan, and stored several “chips” in ziplock bags at room temperature.

AND WRAPPING UP, A QUICK HELLO FROM OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS…

What do you mean “You cannot have dark chocolate?”

I hope you enjoyed the visit to our Bewitching Kitchen… if you’d like to participate of the In My Kitchen series, compose a post and link to Celia’s site. The more, the merrier! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Raspberry Sorbet at Summer’s End

TWO YEARS AGO: When three is better than two (2 years with Buck in our home!)

THREE YEARS AGO: Grating Tomatoes (and loving it!)

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Peachy Salad for a Sunny Day