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Healthy Food For Everyone

Fix-It and Enjoy-It, Healthy Cookbook

by; Phyllis Pellman Good with nutritional expertise from the Mayo Clinic

It seems that all of a sudden, everybody wants to know the food they're consuming is healthy, comes from a  sustainable source and was dealt in a free trade manner by the marketplace. In this new age of food enlightenment we are also demanding that our food can’t contain trans fats, high fructose corn syrup or BHT either and oh by the way, it should probably taste good too. That's really not too much to ask is it?

Picking your way through this minefield can be tricky and daunting and there's no reason to make it harder than it really needs to be. Phyllis Pellman Good saw this problem and added Fix-It and Enjoy-It Healthy Cookbook to her already successful stable of Good Books volumes. With the help of the Mayo Clinic, she has assembled easy to follow recipes utilizing all manner of fruits, vegetables and legumes as well as all the grains that can be the deal breakers for many novices to the world of healthy cooking. These are recipes from everyday people cooking in their everyday kitchens. The Mayo Clinic nutritionally analyzed each recipe providing each with a graphic key based on their Healthy Weight Pyramid. All of this adds up to a book that Main Street America can pull off the shelf and begin cooking healthy food.

There is a problem though, I found the book a little dull. I appreciate the collection of recipes, but with titles like Spaghetti Pie and Chicken and Rice Bake I find it hard to separate this volume from any assortment of recipes from any one chapter of the Junior League. I know there must be a market for this kind of cookbook…but it's not for the cook with a sense of adventure. If your new to the concept of trying to cook bulgur, quinoa or barley, then this may be a good starter volume for you. But if you’re the cook who needs the challenge of new frontiers or authentic ethnic flavors, this is not your cup of tea.

I applaud Ms. Good for realizing the course of cooking in America, I just know there are more exciting ways to approach it.

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Simple Recipes For The Recipe Challenged

The stress of Valentine's Day can be bad enough. But add to that the tardiness of your actions, the lack of space in your favorite restaurant and an inability to boil water probably drove you to this web page. Here are some simple instructions for two simple recipes.

1. Breath...you will survive
2. Add a salad and chocolate dessert to wither recipe to complete the meal
3. Don't forget the wine, candles and Barry White.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Roasted Salmon and Potatoes with Dill
Serves 2

1 pound red new potatoes, halved

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, smashed

Kosher salt and pepper

4 6-ounce pieces salmon fillet

1/4 cup fresh dill

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat oven to 400° F.

On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, oil, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Arrange in a single layer and roast, tossing once, until golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes.

When the potatoes have 15 minutes left to cook, place the salmon on a second baking sheet, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and roast until opaque and beginning to flake, 10 to 12 minutes total, depending on the thickness.

Divide the potatoes among individual plates and serve with the salmon, dill, and lemon

Chili-Rubbed Roast Beef

Serves 2-4

1 4- to 6-pound top-round or eye-round roast
1 tablespoon ground ancho chili (such as McCormick) or chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 2-inch chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

Take the roast out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature about 45 minutes before roasting. Heat oven to 325° F. Place the roast on a metal rack in a roasting pan, fat-side up, and rub with the chili and salt. Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil and place around the roast. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers at least 120° F (for rare), about 1 hour and 15 minutes (15 to 20 minutes per pound). The potatoes should be fork-tender. Remove from oven. Loosely cover the roast with foil and let stand 10 to 15 minutes. (The temperature will rise to 125° F.) Slice half the roast. Serve with the sweet potatoes. Wrap and refrigerate the remaining meat for another meal.

Download and Print Simple Recipes

Valentine's To Go

For my friends and colleagues in the restaurant world, Valentine's Day is falling in the wrong part of the week to help anyone's bottom line. When this fairly lucrative holiday falls mid-week, it can add another weekend like day of sales to the restaurant's balance sheet and the pockets of the servers. But alas, in a year full of perfect economic storms Cupid's holiday is on Saturday. Tomorrow in fact. Oh well. The smart operators who have the ability to make some minor changes to their dining rooms are removing their larger tables and replacing them with tables for two in an effort to maximize the demand for tables. And even though we all may be feeling a bit recessionary about now, reservations for dinner all weekend at restaurants all over the Twin cities are fairly robust. In a quick review of Open Table, the web based reservation site for many restaurants around he Twin Cities, it revealed about 56 restaurants with reservations available at or within 2 hours to of my 7:00 p.m. request. Now most of these were the kind of places you wouldn't think about making a reservation for such a special day, but there were a few surprises. Jimmy's Food and Cocktails, Wayzata Eatery, Salut (both locations) and Murray's all showed some availability at some decent hours for dining. Open Table did show 106 other restaurants that claimed no availability whatsoever to take a reservation.

So what is a classic procrastinator (i.e. loser), like me, supposed to do? If you can't postpone the celebration to Sunday or later next week, there are few steps you can take. First, there's always the begging phone call to your sweetie's favorite restaurant. They may have rebuffed your first phone call, but a little hitch in your voice and promises of untold wealth through generous tipping may have an affect. If that doesn't work and you don't want to or can't cook for your honey, order in. My recommendation is to stay away from the usual suspects of pizza and Chinese take-out, this is after-all a special occasion, and stretch out to some restaurants the you may not have thought about for boxed meals. You may be surprised how good a meal you go get and bring home. Especially in today's economy, restaurants are very reluctant to turn down any kind of a sale. If you don't have or know their menu, call ahead and most will gladly fax it to you. Avoid calling during peak business hours, and they'll be happy to spend some time on the phone with you describing the food and helping you with the order. If they don't…you probably should avoid the place anyway. Once that's done, all you need to do is ship the kids off to the relatives and set the mood with candles and Barry White. For extra points though, I would take the food out of the carrying boxes and re-plate it on your best china, or at least don't use the plastic forks. Show a little style, ya loser.

My recommendations for surprising meals on wheels:

112 Eatery

112 N. Third St.

Minneapolis

612-343-7696

 

Chamber's Kitchen

901 Hennepin Ave.

Minneapolis

612-767-6978

 

Osteria I Nonni

981 Sibley Memorial Hwy

Lilydale

651-905-1081

 

The Lexington Restaurant

1096 Grand Ave.

St. Paul

651-222-5878

 

The Strip Club

378 Maria Ave.

St. Paul

651-793-6247

 

Vincent

1100 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis

612-630-1189

 

Rinata

2451 Hennepin Ave,

Minneapolis

612-374-8998

Valentines Day; Time for Romance, Chocolate and "It's not you...It's me"

We need to believe in love. If we don't, Hallmark and See's Candies would both be knocking on the bailout door along with Chrysler. I know it's a jaded vibe, but if you haven't figured this out for your self by now you must be living under a rock. The commercialism swirling around this candy hearts and flowers day makes Christmas look like a day of quiet reflection. Needless to say, thousands of us at one time or another have drunk the kool aid and jumped head first into the fancy restaurants, boxes of chocolate, flowers, lingerie, jewelry and not to mention the obligatory sentimental card...even me.

This year I thought I could provide an important public service by offering a little insight and advice on a few of the more important aspects of Cupid's day.

How chocolate is made.

Through childhood I was convinced of two main precepts about chocolate. First, that all chocolate came from Willie Wonka like factories. And secondly, those hollow chocolate bunnies at Easter were a cruel joke. My opinions of the former changed drastically once I visited the Ghiradelli factory in San Francisco. There I was surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of real chocolate being made by real people. The chocolate making process, I came to find out, was real with not a trace of mysticism nor the participation of Oompa Loompa like characters to it. The latter however is still a cruel joke being pervaded on our youth and must be stopped.

The chocolate making process is a precise combination of tradition, science and artistry. The pulp and the beans of the cacao tree are left to ferment in the open air. The beans start out white, bitter and odorless. As they ferment they turn purple then a dull brown, losing their original bitterness and developing the essential oils known as "flavor precursors." Fermentation lasts from two to nine days. Then the beans are set out to dry. Drying reduces their moisture making them safe to ship without fear of spoilage. At the factory the beans are cleaned of debris and sorted by size before roasting. It’s the roasting that produces the heady aromas and enticing flavors that is chocolate. After roasting, which takes place at about 250 F, the beans are cracked open and the husks removed to reveal the nibs, the meat of the bean. The nibs are then ground to start their journey to chocolate.

Grinding heats the nibs sufficiently to melt the cocoa butter. A vegetable fat that makes up about half their content. The rest is known as "cocoa solids". This is all there is to unsweetened baking chocolate, the chocolate liquor that has been allowed to cool and solidify. After grinding, all chocolate, whether dark or milk, undergoes a treatment known as 'conching', where the mixture is pummeled for hours by large rollers of the conching machines.

Conching got its name from the Conch shaped rollers used in early chocolate production. The temperature of the chocolate for conching is higher for dark than for milk chocolate. The time of conching may take 12 hours or less for milk chocolate, but it may take days for the highest quality dark chocolate.

Production of dark chocolate consists essentially of a finely ground mix of cocoa mass and sugar, with enough added cocoa butter to enable it to set in block form when molded, or to set as a firm shell on confectionery centers when used for covering. For milk chocolate production, it is essential to remove practically all the water from the milk before the refining stage. Incorporation of milk during manufacture produces the very popular milk chocolate, which is much milder and also softer in texture due to the lower melting point of the milk fat.

Now that you know everything there is to know about chocolate, here's a recipe for the most jaded amongst us.

Broken Heart Chocolate Cake
Serves 6

5 large Eggs
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Strong Coffee
1 cup Unsalted butter
6 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate

1 ounce Unsweetened chocolate
1 Tsp. Pure vanilla extract

Powdered sugar, for dusting

1 1/2 cups whipped cream, as accompaniment

1/2 cup Raspberry Sauce

This cake is like a super-moist fallen chocolate soufflé with a delicately crisp crust. It puffs up a lot while it bakes and then falls as it cools—so don’t panic. Be sure to give it at least 20 minutes to cool before serving; if it’s too warm, it will be tasty but much too difficult to cut.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a heart shaped pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom if you want a little insurance. Butter and flour the paper as well.
Melt the chocolates, butter and sugar in the top of double boiler. Stir in the coffee and vanilla extract. Pour the chocolate mix into the bowl of a mixer and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes with the whip. Add the eggs one at a time. Adding the next when the previous egg is fully incorporated. Continuing mixing for 10 to 14 minutes until the batter increases in bulk and lightens. It will begin to resemble a normal cake batter. Be patient and wait for this to happen, otherwise the cake will not rise properly and be way too dense. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and push into the corners. Level as best you can. Bake 40 minutes until the cake moves as one mass when you gently jiggle the pan and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes (or overnight) and invert the cake onto a cake plate. Dust with powered sugar.

Make a jagged cut down the center of the cake to resemble a broken heart. Fill the opening with raspberry sauce. Serve the slices with whipped cream and extra sauce on the side.

 

RASPBERRY SAUCE

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 10 ounce pkg. Frozen Raspberries in Syrup

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

2-3 Tbsp. Kirsch Liquer (Cherry Brandy)

Puree the raspberries with the syrup, sugar and kirsch. Push the sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the seeds. Serve chilled.

 Download and Print Broken Heart Chocolate Cake

Romantic Restaurants

If baking isn't your thing, you might just want to make reservations instead. When Valentine's Day falls on the weekend as it does this year, restaurateurs are left trying to make the best of it. They live for the years that places the holiday mid-week, thereby giving them an extra day of weekend like sales to boost a usually dismal month of sales. But in our special economy there are great deals to be had and reservations that in years past were hard to get, have been a bit easier to secure. My tip is to choose a place, not for the deal, but for the experience. You'll rack up mega points if you can nab a table at your sweeties favorite spot. Stick to what you know.

If you must explore though, here are some of my recommendations for places that will surely offer a good meal and good service in sexy atmosphere.

 Sanctuary

903 Washington Ave.

Minneapolis

612-339-5058

Afton House

3291 S. St. Croix Trail

Afton

651-436-8883

Zelo

831 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis

612-333-7000

Barbette

1600 W. Lake St.

Minneapolis

612-827-5710

"It's not you...it's me"

Valentine's Day may possibly be the best time to dump out of a relationship. Just think of it. He or she won't see it coming. It's always nice to soften the blow with a gift and if you do it in a crowded restaurant the chance of an ugly scene developing drops exponentially. So, if your in the market to trade in your sweetie for a newer model...here are some of my recommendations. (Zagat has compiled complete volumes on New York and San Francisco places for dating and dumping by the way)

The ultimate break-up venue for guys;

Hooters

Several location around the Twin Cities...my choice would be the Mall of America. At least she can go shopping afterwards.

Though texting may be the best method, the best venue for a gal to dump her loser would be anyplace with hot female bartenders or great steaks. Since the bartender subject is too vast to cover, here are two places with great steaks, great scotch and crowded enough to avoid the wrong scene.

St. Paul Grill

350 Market St

St Paul

651- 224-7455

Manny's Steakhouse

9th & Marquette

Minneapolis

612-339-9900

Technorati Tags: Valentine's Day,romantic restaurants,chocolate