Favorite Fake-outs...and a Halloween treat idea

I love to indulge - whether that means partaking in a rich, gourmet meal or digging into a big juicy hamburger with tater-tots. My taste definitely ranges from fine dining to real junk: I love it all! But about 90% of the time, I try to stick to a pretty healthy diet, eating as cleanly as possible, avoiding processed foods, and buying organic when it makes sense. When I find some middle ground where I can eat a healthy (or healthier) version of my favorite indulgences, I love it! That's why I love "fake-outs" so much - you get to eat something fun, while not doing too much damage to yourself. So I've accumulated a lot of these fake-out recipes and products and I would like to start sharing more of them with you.

Trader Joe's Soy Nuggets

With all the age-old rumors about chicken nuggets and the recent widespread circulation of this story about the pink goop that makes up McNuggets, it's nice to have a healthy alternative since I grew up on nuggets. These are great because not only are they extremely affordable, they are ready in the microwave within a couple minutes. They are meatless, but one of those great meatless items where you can't really tell. These lowfat nuggets are even breaded with stone-ground wheat flour, which I love, and they are artificial flavoring and preservative-free. Even if you hate meat substitute products, give these a try. One 4 nugget serving has only 120 calories and 2 grams of fat. I always have them in my freezer for a quick meal or fun snack. Find them in the freezer section at your local Trader Joe's.

Rustic Crust Ready Made Pizza Crusts in Ultimate Whole Grain

Pizza is one thing that I definitely have an incredible appetite for - I'm not proud to say that it wouldn't be that difficult for me to eat an entire pizza on my own. So while I definitely don't advocate doing that even with these delicious healthy crusts, you might still be tempted to do so. Rustic Crust has a line of all natural ready made pizza crusts and all natural pizza ingredients. Making your own pizza is the easiest way to make it healthier, because you can control what goes on it. That's one reason I love these. Just brush them with olive oil, top with your own sauce, cheese, and veggies, and pop in the oven - you will have a homemade all natural pizza about as fast as cooking a frozen one. I especially love the whole grain crust since I avoid bleached flour and mostly stick to whole wheat and grains. These can be found at your local Whole Foods and I've also seen them in the organics section of Jewel. You can also check them out online on their website.

No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix

I've been making these for years and no one has ever noticed that they are not full fat because they are so fudgy and decadent. No Pudge brownie mix is fat free and made from all natural ingredients. Instead of adding eggs and oil to the powder mix, you simply add non-fat vanilla yogurt (I usually use Light and Fit or Trader Joe's nonfat organic). What results is a pan of delicious brownies, even better than some full fat mixes. The No-Pudge brand comes in a few different flavors, but I always stick to the original. The box even includes an easy single-serving recipe that you can make in the microwave if you don't want to make an entire batch. No Pudge is available at most grocery stores, as well as Trader Joe's and some specialty shops.


In honor of Halloween coming up this weekend, I used this favorite fake-out of mine to make super cute Halloween treats. Here is an easy and impressive looking idea:



Halloween Brownie Bites

Prepare No Pudge Fudge Brownie mix according to the instructions on the box. Take a cupcake tin and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place a heaping tablespoon of batter into each cupcake well (batter makes enough for 12 brownies this way).


Bake according to the instructions for the mix, but the brownies will most likely take a few minutes less than the recipe inducates since the batter is divided up. Allow to cool before removing from the tin to decorate.


To create a spider web pattern on top of the brownies, use whatever type of white colored icing you prefer. I bought the Betty Crocker Brownie topper cream cheese frosting, which works great. Use the narrow tube or a pastry bag (or ziploc with a corner cut off) to make circles with the frosting in a target pattern on the top of the brownie. Then use a tooth pic or skewer, dragging from the center to the edge of the brownies in lines. This easy technique will look a lot more complicated than it actually is.

Check back soon for more of my favorite fake-outs. If you have suggestions, keep them coming! And thanks for all the comments :)

Something Great You Never Tried - Celeriac

I think that a fun recurring topic will be "Something Great You Never Tried". One of my favorite things about cooking/dining is trying new things that I had always ignored or put off or never knew about. Everytime I go to Whole Foods, I see tons of things that I wonder about, even though I try to educate myself about different foods. This week, in my Fresh Picks delivery, I received something that I had never tried and was honestly frightened to see in the box. This thing that looked like a wart-covered potato was celeriac. I resisted the urge to pitch it and did some research.

Celeriac, aka celery root, is a relatively unknown and often avoided because of it's ugly appearance, but it's a very healthy fall/winter vegetable. It tastes mainly like celery (not shocking), although the flavor is a little more complex. Interestingly enough, it is not the root of the celery plant that we usually eat, it's actually just in the same family, but unlike it's better-known cousin, only its bulbous root is consumed and not the plant parts. It is just as versatile as celery because it can be used in recipes that call for celery, but it's nutritional value is much greater. A 1/2 cup of celeriac contains only 30 calories and is fat free as well as very high in fiber. It is prepared by cutting off the rough exterior and has a very pleasant consistency that lends well to soups, purees, or a number of other recipes.

Here are some recipes that I found on the web that all look fabulous:

• Celeriac Slaw from Just Vegetable Recipes
• Five Things to Do With Celeriac from the Seasonal Chef
• Celeriac Mash from Jamie Oliver
• Braised Celeriac from Cooking Light

So to use my celeriac, since I just got a new blender, I made a very easy soup that can be modified any way that suits your taste.

Simple Celeriac Soup

1 large celeriac bulb (peeled)

2 large potatoes (peeled)

1/2 yellow onion

1 clove garlic

2 C vegetable broth (I like Imagine Organic Low Sodium Vegetable broth)

1 C water

1. Chop the onion and garlic and heat in some cooking spray or olive oil in the bottom of a pot over low heat until soft/transparent
2. Add broth and water to the pot and bring to a boil
3. Cut potatoes and celeriac into chunks and add to the pot. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes)
4. Transfer broth and vegetables to blender and mix until smooth (mix in batches and be careful not to overfill your blender and also make sure some of the heat can escape out of the hole in the top of the blender so pressure doesn't build too much
5. Put soup back into the pot and add salt, pepper, spices to taste. Allow to simmer for about 15-30 minutes more for flavors to blend even more.
6. Serve with your choice of crackers or side. Excellent garnished with parsley.

This is another recipe that tastes better the longer the flavors have to blend, so definitely hang on to leftovers. This soup has a really smooth texture that is perfect for cold weather and very easy to season different ways for different results and would probably be great mixed with other vegetables as well. Hope you like celeriac if you give it a chance

What are some things you haven't tried or finally tried and loved? I would love ideas for new entries or just suggestions to expand my own tastes. Feel free to comment or email me.

I'm Back (With Tabbouleh!)

Soo I dropped this for a long time, and I have been feeling guilty about it because I missed blogging, but I've been really busy since my last post. The main reason for that is I have a job now! But I am going to try to post here more often now.

One of the things I've been into lately is Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks . They carry mostly locally grown, sustainable, organic produce and they are popular for their Fresh Picks boxes, where they send you an assortment of vegetables that are plentiful and in season that week (I get deliveries bi-weekly and also just switched to their Vegetable and Fruit assortment -I love it). It's affordable, they give you a TON, but one thing it does is it challenges me to make things I wouldn't normally seek out at the store, but may be delicious or really healthy (and challenges me to use things up quickly, since they give you so much). Not to mention, you maximize flavor and nutrition if you try to eat in-season as much as possilble. So many advantages to this, I am probably their biggest fan.

In my last shipment, they included a lot of flat leaf parsley. I noticed yesterday that it was getting a bit wilted, so I decided to make the best recipe for using a lot of parsley : tabbouleh.

There are plenty of interpretations of this dish, but regardless, it is very healthy as it usually uses a lot of vegetables, herbs, olive oil, and some sort of whole grain. I didn't necessarly want to use the traditional bulgur wheat, so I figured I would use quinoa since I'm a big fan and this is a popular subsititute. While at Trader Joe's, I also discovered something new that would be great for many recipes. It's called their Harvest Grains blend and it's Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa. I also use my favorite True Lemon crystalized lemon in place of actual lemons because it was what I had on-hand, but it tastes the same and you can use actual lemon juice if you want.

For the recipe, I used a cup of the blend and a cup of red and plain quinoa for the grains portion and then used the herbs and vegetables that I had on hand to make my own version of the recipe. Hope you guys like it! Heads up - this makes a lot. I'll probably be eating it for another week.

Kate's Simple Spin on Tabbouleh

1 C Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend
1 C quinoa

1 large bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (will equal about 1.5-2 C)

1 1/2 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 C chopped green onion

4 packets of True Lemon (or the juice of about 1 small lemon)

Pepper and salt & spice (to taste)

3 Tbsp olive oil

*Mint: optional (this is typical to many recipes, but I didn't have it, nor do I care for it in Tabbouleh)

• Cook quinoa and Harvest Grains per directions, then combine and let sit until cooled to room temperature
• In a large bowl, mix true lemon into olive oil. Add in cooled grains and mix to coat with the oil
• Fold in parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, and green onions
• Add salt and pepper (or salt & spice and pepper) to taste, but don't go overboard - flavors will intensify as the salad sits in the fridge.
• Refrigerate until serving (a couple hours, or even overnight is best if possible)
  

I had this today for lunch with shrimp sprinkled with chili powder on a skewer and it was very light, but satisfying. Hope you enjoy this great, versatile dish (and thanks for still reading, even though I disappeared for a long time)