Basil and Lemon Smoothie

I am given, on the weekends, to doing chores around the house while the Food Network is on in the background. This past weekend, I tuned to Giada de Laurentiis, and put the volume loud enough that wherever I was, I could hear her talking and preparing food in her immaculate, granite-countered Los Angeles kitchen, while her Anthropologie fashion designer husband, Todd Thompson, was out fashion designing and stuff, and, I kept imagining, totally missing the fun.

Giada was getting ready to have "the girls" over (some paid actresses) to enjoy a spa day with her when I took a break from cleaning and sat down to watch. The first thing she started making was this Basil Lemon smoothie, which looked delicious.

Today, with the sun finally showing its face, I made my own version, as I thought hers had too much sugar. It's a nice blend, lemon and basil. The end effect is a clean-tasting and healthy summer beverage.

You will need

For the smoothie:

• 1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 scoops vanilla bean protein powder (I use Designer Whey, as I am personally dubious about the side effects of soy. Also, there are 12 solid grams of protein in 2 scoops, that's 1/5 of my daily protein needs.)
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup ice

For the simple syrup:

• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 3 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 cup water

Mix the simple syrup ingredients together to make the less caloric simple syrup. Boil over medium heat then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 20 minutes.

Once syrup is cooled, blend all ingredients together in the blender, serve immediately. Makes about 12 oz.

How to Cook Rice Spring Roll Wrappers

It would have been smart of me to Google "cooking rice wrappers" before I tried it myself. But after looking through about a dozen cooking forums, it turns out nobody really knows how to cook these things, and what I tried for improvisation was mostly right.

Except I didn't cut the wrappers in half (which would have made them easier to work with, the smaller the better) and I put them over medium heat in a skillet for a little too long, instead of just dipping them into a bowl of hot water.

To read a recipe on Spring Rolls that gives you a clear overview of how to cook rice wrappers, this site helped.

Spring Rolls (i.e. just order in)

I must preempt this recipe by saying that it took me about 2.5 hours to make 5 or 6 spring rolls, which turned out looking ridiculous. And of the 2.5 hours, the first was me just dealing with the wrappers. In the chaos, I would say as many as 7 of those noodly suckers ended in casualties.

Luckily, it is Mother's Day! So I can justify this painstaking kitchen effort as part of my big plan to please Mom. I was even so good as to make sure she was not in the house while I went about the business of seriously messing up her kitchen, so she still has NO CLUE how many of the torn, mushy wrappers ended up gooped on her floor and down the front of her stove (Mom don't read this!)

Nevertheless, if you have a few hours to kill and would like to learn more about Asian cooking, you will need the following ingredients (though I am ultimately imploring you to call your local Vietnamese restaurant--or Thai, or Korean, or whatever and just order them in!)

• 18 to 20 spring roll tapioca wrappers (found at an Asian specialty foods store)
• 1 head Boston Bibb lettuce, leaves separated and largest leaves cut in half
• 1/2 cup cooked shrimp, tails and shells removed, then diced
• 1/4 lb cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced fine
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 egg white

* Cook one spring roll wrapper at a time in a large (10 inch or larger) skillet over medium heat. Translation: carefully remove one very delicate wrapper from the pack of wrappers and just see if you can get it to the skillet before it breaks.

*If you can, place it in the skillet, slowly shifting it around with a spatula until the whole thing has been wetted. Let it stay on medium heat for no more than 30 seconds.

*To remove the wrapper from the pan, my advice (the method that produced the best results) is to take the pan off the heat and just use your fingers. Then transfer quickly to hard countertop and try not to drag half the water from the pan with you. If you do, the wrapper will be too slippery to stay together and hold the stuff inside of it.

*If you fail at leaving the water in the pan when removing the wrapper, attempt to dab the wrapper very very lightly with paper towel. It still probably won't work, though, so plan on throwing this sucker out.

*Try again.

*If you manage to get one of the wrappers out, and it remains intact, lay it across the hard counter surface and place one Bibb lettuce leaf on top, then a little chicken, shrimp, green onions, carrots, and sprouts. Top with 1 slice avocado.

*Roll wrapper from right to left (or like a burrito) folding the sides in as you go. The wrapper should be sticky enough that it's sticking together (and to your hand)

*If it doesn't stick together once it's wrapped up, you can swipe the lip with a little egg white and it should hold

For Spicy Peanut Satay Sauce ( if you still have the patience to make this, do. But I used the store bought kind from a jar):

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/8 cup creamy natural peanut butter, unsalted
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce
• 2 tsp agave syrup
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 drops chile sesame oil

Whisk all ingredients together in big bowl.

If you're like me, and enjoy hotter sauces, add 1 or more tablespoons of basic hot sauce to it and mix it around. Dip the spring rolls in and enjoy.

Bottom line: The saving grace of all this hardship was that it's all really very good.

Allergen-Free Brownies

PREMIUM chocolate jones this week, you know what I mean?

I tried this new recipe, which comes allergen-free and bite-sized!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
10 tbsp. agave nectar
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp. baking soda
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee
2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1. Set oven to 325 F. Place mini cupcake papers in mini cupcake pans.
2. Whisk together first 7 ingredients. Set aside.
3. Mix vanilla and oil together, then add to flour mixture
4. Add coffee until batter forms.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 3 dozen mini brownies.

A little frittata?

Leftover spinach? (Hey, Popeye!)

Serves 3.

You need:

6 egg whites
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup low-fat or skim milk
1 tsp olive oil
as much or as little spinach as you want (either cooked or fresh leaves)
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parm or Romano (or Parm-Romano) cheese

1. Beat egg whites vigorously until very frothy. Whip in egg yolk and milk. Set aside
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet. Add spinach when the oil is hot. Add egg mixture and lower heat. Sprinkle cheese over top.
3. Cook slowly on low heat (about 12-15 mins) until the frittata is firm around edges and the center isn't jiggly.

Serve!

Guacamole for Cinco de Mayo

The canceled parade in Puebla will be held at my house!

Actually, we're just having guacamole and beer, but it may as well be a parade.

This recipe will go down in family history because of how easy, good, and often I make it. Today, though, it's totally in honor of Mexico.

You will need:

3 medium avocados
1/2 small white onion
cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
sea salt and pepper

*Mash the avocados in a bowl.
*Chop the white onion and mix it in with the mash.
*Add 1 tsp lime juice and ground salt to taste.
*Add pepper (optional).
*Mix a small handful of chopped cilantro into the mush.

Eat on anything (triscuits, tortilla chips, goldfish crackers, or my personal favorite, matzo)

*Note that avocados are full of good fats. They contain high fiber and no cholesterol (my mother was under the mistaken impression that avocados were extremely high in cholesterol, and so she'd been avoiding them for years~such a shame)

Doldrums Soup

It's cold and rainy in Harrisburg today. Whatever desire I have to eat anything is bound to hot food. Since the Derby party Saturday consisted mostly of summery, picnicy foods, I had to rummage through the forest of leftovers to procure the untouched: a sweet potato, some scallions, and a bag of ready-to-eat Uncle Ben's brown rice (why this was in the fridge I don't know)


This is what I ended up calling Doldrums Soup:

*Cut 1 medium sweet potato into 1 inch chunks.
*Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, and add 1 bouillon vegetable cube. (Or use 1 cup of low-sodium vegetable broth instead)
*Bring broth to a boil in a small saucepan, and add sweet potatoes, cooking until fork inserts into them easily (but not too easily, we don't want mush)
*In a larger pot, heat chopped scallions and 1 tbsp water over medium heat
*Add rice after about a minute and stir briefly
*When potatoes are cooked, pour the contents of that pan in with the rice and scallions. Stir and season as desired (sea salt, pepper)

Mixture will be more like a stew than a soup. Serves 1. Fuels well for a night of book-reading and floor-sprawling.

"Real" Mint Juleps

Mint Syrup in a jar:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
6 mint leaves (fresh from the yard!)

Julep:

2 ounces bourbon, premium Kentucky
1 tbsp mint syrup
1 mint leaf
ice, crushed

*To make the syrup, mix sugar and water in a saucepan. Boil, while stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.

Bruise 6 mint leaves to release the oil. Place them in a glass pitcher or jar.

Pour cooled syrup over mint leaves, cap tightly and store in the refrigerator overnight.

*To make the julep, when ready to partake, strain syrup from the jar to remove the leaves (or put it in a container with a lid small enough that the leaves can't escape when you pour. You can use a syrup bottle for this, or a salad dressing bottle)

Into your cocktail shaker, add bourbon, mint syrup and 1/2 cup ice. Shake, shake shake your julep

Pour mixture into a tumbler. Serve with short straw and mint leaf garnish.

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

These are Dad-approved!

Pomegranate Syrup:

1 cup pomegranate juice
2 tbsp honey

Pancakes:

3 med. bananas, plus 1 sliced for garnish
1/2 cup low-fat milk (I used skim)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats, ground to a coarse flour (in a food processor)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
cooking spray

*To make syrup, bring pom. juice and honey to a boil over med-high heat in a saucepan, then drop the heat to medium. Simmer mixture and reduce it to a syrup, about 15 mins. Remove from heat and let syrup cool slightly before using

*To make pancakes, blend bananas, milk and vanilla in a blender
*In a large mixing bowl, whisk ground oat flour, rolled oats, whole wheat flour and baking powder. Fold banana puree into the dry ingredients.
*Gently fold egg whites into the mixture
*Spray large griddle with cooking spray and add portions of batter (2 tbsp)
*Cook lightly until browned, serve with banana slices and drizzle of pom. syrup!

per 2 5-inch pancakes and 1 tbsp syrup: Cals 200, Fat 2 g, Sat fat 0 g, Carbs 41 g, Fiber 5 g, Sugars 11 g, Protein 7 g

Breakfast: I Say Yes!

Your body can adapt to anything, even breakfast. And it should---we've tested it out, and even my boyfriend says it's better to eat a bigger, denser breakfast, and then slowly decrease the size and complexity of meals throughout the day. You'll find it's easier to wake up in the morning. (Less hard on your digestive system!) And devoting yourself to breakfast will get you started on a good fuel regimen, which, like any good habit, is key for order!

Try oatmeal or whole grain toast with almond butter, egg whites and plain yogurt with honey as a friend to your coffee. That kind of breakfast will stick with you like student loan debt (except in a fibery, energizing way!) and leave you more likely to choose vegetables, fruit and lighter proteins later in the day.

(We also leave two or three hours between the time we eat our last food and the time we hit the hay.)