What I'm eating now: Butternut squash

'Tis the season...winter that is.  A season when supermarket produce starts to look a little suspect...

The joy of the modern age is that we can basically get whatever fruits and veggies we want whenever we want them.  Unfortunately, for those of us in northern climates that means trucking (flying, boating) produce in from warmer places, and the journey isn't always kind.  So instead of going for the same greens you enjoy during the summer months, consider moving on to winter squash when the weather turns cold.

There's something about butternut squash that makes it perfect for soups, stews, and casseroles...which is exactly what I want to eat when it's cold outside.  So the other night I made myself a delightful pot of soup, which I then dressed up with some roasted shrimp and a dry Riesling.

Living alone doesn't mean that you can't get fancy once in awhile!

The general directions for roasting the shrimp can be found here.  The only change I made was in how I seasoned the shrimp...this time I used lime zest (since I had a lime for the soup), chili paste, ginger paste, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Don't worry too much about quantities; season to your own taste.  Other than that the directions are exactly the same.

As for the soup, the recipe follows.....

Ingredients (makes about 6 cups of soup)
-1 butternut squash (about 2 lbs), peeled, seeded, and cut into 2 inch cubes
-4 tsp canola oil
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 cup chopped onion
-3 cups chicken stock
-4 tsp red curry paste (or a little more if you like it spicy)
-1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
-1 can (400 ml) light coconut milk
-cilantro and red chiles to garnish (if desired)

First, roast the squash.  Toss with 3 tsp canola oil and 1/4 tsp salt.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 35-40 minutes (until golden and tender).

After the squash is ready, heat the remaining oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook 5 minutes (until soft), stirring occasionally.  Add the curry paste, chicken stock, and the squash.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and bring to a boil.  Then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes (stirring occasionally).

(If you're roasting shrimp to go along with the soup, put them in the over when the soup has about 5 minutes of simmering left.  That way they'll be done at the same time that the soup is.....)

After 15 minutes, remove the soup from the heat.  Stir in lime juice and coconut milk.  You have two options for what to do next.....

Option 1: for a silky smooth soup, blend the mixture.  I have an immersion blender that I use for this part, but you could use a regular blender as well.  If you are using a regular blender, make sure to remove the round cap from the lid (to let the steam out), and cover the hole with a towel.  Be careful, the soup will be hot!

Option 2: for a soup with a little more texture (or if you don't have a blender), mash the squash in the pot.  You can use a potato masher, ladle, or fork...whatever works for you.  This soup will not be as smooth as the one in option #1, but it will be equally delicious.

Divide soup into bowls, add shrimp, and garnish however you please!

Comfort for a cold night

When the days are short and cold I find myself wanting to eat things that are warm and comforting.  Unfortunately, most of these recipes involve obnoxious amounts of butter and heavy cream, which is not what I want to eat when I'm trying to avoid putting on winter weight.

Luckily, there are ways to cheat the system and create delicious, comforting meals that you don't have to feel guilty about eating.  In a chicken pot pie, you can give the classic a makeover by packing it full of green veggies and using low fat milk and chicken stock instead of cream.  Also, ditch the thick buttery pie crust and opt for thin sheets of crispy phyllo!

You will need the following...

-about 1lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
-salt and pepper
-1 tbsp olive oil
-2 leeks, bottom 4 inches only, washed well and chopped
-2 ribs celery, chopped
-2 medium potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 1/2 cups milk
-1/2 cup flour
-2 cups chicken stock
-2 cups frozen peas
-1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
-3 sheets of frozen phyllo dough, thawed

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Then, season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken and brown; transfer to a plate.

Heat 1 tsp more oil in the skillet.  Add the leeks and celery and cook until the vegetables begin to soften.  Add the potatoes, garlic, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and stir well to combine.

Add the milk.  Stir the flour into the broth until it is dissolved and add that mixture to the pan.  Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer (stirring every so often) for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the chicken, peas, and thyme.

Now you're ready to put everything into the dishes to bake.  If you have little individual size baking dishes that's ideal, but if you don't this whole mixture should fit comfortably into a 9x13 baking dish.  You won't get that same "pot pie all to yourself" feeling, but it will be just as delicious.

Once you've spooned the mixture into the baking vessel of your choice it's time to cover it with the phyllo.  Cut the sheets to the correct size.  Place one sheet on top of the dish and brush with some olive oil; repeat with all the layers.  Tuck the edges into the rim of the dish, and sprinkle with some parmesan (if desired).  Bake for about 30 minutes...until the filling is bubbling.  Be careful when you take your first bite!

Perfect for when it's cold outside!

Make your own take-out, part 1.

Ahh....pizza.  A staple of the student diet, this beautiful circle of food is just as good (if not better) for several days after it is first brought home.  Unfortunately, there are several drawbacks to take-out pizza. For starters it can be an expensive habit, and depending on where you order from the toppings are not always high quality.  It can also be hard on your waistline...and this is the biggest concern for those of us trying to avoid the dreaded "freshman" fifteen.

The good news is that pizza can be made by anyone, not just the professionals.  But it takes a couple of steps, and this can be intimidating for people who don't do much cooking.  In order to take some of the intimidation out of the process, I'm going to walk you through the steps with photos so that you can see what the dough should look like at each stage.

It also requires several different ingredients, which can look like a big investment for a single meal.  The thing you have to remember here is that most of the ingredients required are pantry basics.  One of the recipes for dough that I've included only requires flour, salt, yeast, and hot water...all ingredients that you might already have on hand, and all ingredients that (a) keep for a long time and (b) pop up in recipes over and over again.

The recipe that I personally use for pizza dough comes out of the Looney Spoons cookbook, and incorporates whole wheat flour and ground flax for a healthier crust.  Of course this is not for everyone so you'll find a basic recipe here as well...don't worry, the steps to making the dough are exactly the same in both cases.

Ingredients for whole wheat & flax dough          

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-2 tbsp ground flax

-2 tsp quick rising yeast

-1/2 tsp salt 

-2/3 cup very warm water

-2 tsp olive oil

-2 tsp liquid honey

Ingredients for basic pizza dough

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-2 tsp quick rising yeast

-1 tsp salt

-3/4 cup very warm water

-2 tsp olive oil

Step 1: Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl, mix well.  If you're making the whole wheat and flax dough, also combine the water, olive oil, and honey in a separate measuring cup.  If you're making the basic recipe, do the same with the warm water and the olive oil.

Step 2: Pour water over dry ingredients and mix to form a ball.

Of course it won't be a "ball" so much as a "semi-solid collection of dough," but you get the idea.
Once the dough sticks (mostly) together, then it's time to move on.

Step 2.5: Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes.

It's hard to capture the exact moment you should stop kneading in a picture, but consider yourself done when the dough is smooth and elastic.  Add more flour as required to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter/your hands.

Step 3: Spray a medium sized bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.

After your dough has doubled in size, it's ready to go into the oven.  Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into whatever size and shape you need (the above recipes should comfortably fill a 12 inch round pizza pan).  Top as desired, and bake at 425 degrees F for about 15 minutes.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for some of my favorite pizza toppings!!

Resolving your weight away

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to share stories about how I've lost (and kept off!) weight over the last year and a half.  And I did it not through crash dieting, but rather made a sustainable lifestyle change that involves delicious food :)

The number one New Years resolution made by women is to lose weight, which means that the January issues of women's magazines are always full of advice...some good, some bad, and some that just needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  My January 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan was no exception.  For their diet advice, they turned to Gary Taubes, who gave four pieces of advice.  Here's my take on his tips.....

Rule #1: Stop counting calories

If my experience has told me anything, it is that counting calories works.  However, this doesn't mean that a person should starve themselves between meals.  That is, in fact, the wrong thing to do.  Your body is a pretty smart thing, and if you're starving yourself in hopes of burning more calories than you consume in order to lose weight it's going to catch on fairly quickly.  When you do something like this your body goes into starvation mode, and stores as much extra energy as it can.

The key with calorie counting is eating smaller meals more often.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner...and healthy snacks in between.  This way your body is never starving, and it will burn the energy that you eat rather than saving it for later.

Rule #2: Start paying more attention to what you eat

This is a very good piece of advice, though Taubes comes at it from a "eat fewer carbs because those spike your insulin"place.  My take on this is: eat smart.  When it's snack time, go for an apple or a granola bar instead of a bag of chips.

I would also recommend that you start reading the labels on the snack foods you consume.  Specifically, look for where on the list of ingredients you find sugar...the closer it is to the beginning, the more sugar there is in the item.  This is especially relevant to "good" snacks like granola bars and yogurt...and it's a problem because it means snacks that are high in sugar do not keep you satisfied for long.

Rule #3: Don't stress about the fat you eat.

This is true...but don't go overboard either.  You need fat in your diet, but a little fat adds a lot of calories to a meal.  Popcorn, for example is an extremely healthy snack: 1 cup of air-popped popcorn has about 35 calories, and it counts as a whole grain snack.  But when you add butter the count goes up: there's about 100 calories in a single tablespoon of the stuff.  And the same goes for olive oil...it might be better for your heart than some of the other options out there, but you still want to use it in moderation.

Rule #4: Avoid carbs and sugar

This is probably my least favorite diet tip, mostly because I love bread and pasta.  So you heard it here first...you DO NOT need to give up carbs in order to lose weight.

The key is moderation, and making sure that whatever you're eating with your bread or pasta has enough protein to keep you satisfied.  Carbs are digested quite quickly, which means that it won't take you long to feel hungry again after you've eaten.  And, as was mentioned in rule #1, when your body finds itself starving it tends to hoard calories rather than burn them.  To prevent this from happening, make sure to eat something that is high in protein or fibre when you are eating carbs...these things take longer to digest and help you feel full longer, meaning that your body isn't going to think that you're trying to starve it into submission.

Sugar is the same...moderation.  You can't avoid it, especially since everything you eat is eventually broken down into this super basic energy source.  But you can make sure to consume it in moderation, and this is what I was hinting at in rule #2.  Read the labels, and buy things that have sugar as close to the bottom of the list of ingredients as you can.

Now that I'm done addressing Taubes' rules, I'm going to add one of my own....

Rule #5: Eat good food

There's this myth about dieting, and it's that diet food tastes like cardboard.  Not true.  There's also another myth, and it's that diet food requires all sorts of special ingredients and that it is hard to make.  Also not true.  Cooking for yourself is the easiest way to guarantee that you're eating something healthy, because you can control exactly what goes into your meal.  And when you're eating things that you love, dieting doesn't feel like work.

Which leads me to the shameless self-promotion...I created this blog to share what I've learned since my big change.  So keep tuning in...I've got some great posts lined up for 2013.  Among them, time saving shortcuts, recipe makeovers, and the occasional splurge.

Because what's the point of a diet if you can't cheat once in a while?