If It's Good Enough for Oprah...

Ugh, it's been a rough winter.

I've been struggling with the same 10 pounds up and down since the holidays.

I buckle down for a couple of weeks, then go off the rails. I eat perfectly all week, then the weekend rolls around and I turn into the Tasmanian Devil.

I've got to get my shit together A.S.A.P.

So, I pulled out another cookbook with "healthy" in the title.

The Healthy Kitchen by Rosie Daly and Andrew Weil.

Rosie was Oprah's personal chef back in the day, and Andrew Weil is a doctor who has written many books about holistic health...and I have never read any of them.

I think I've barely read this one. I'm sure it was purchased in another one of my "I'm gonna get healthy" phases. There's a Costco sticker on it.

Costco is dangerous. Everything is seemingly a bargain, so aside from purchasing what you need, you end up with a book, DVD, towels, raincoat, fake UGGS, or whatever else is laying around.

So, I must have thrown this book into my cart.

Sticking with my 17 Day Diet, I found a chicken recipe that looked pretty interesting and fit into my plan.

Santa Fe Chicken

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients

• Juice from 3 limes
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 6 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
• 2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts ' '
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

• Mock Sour Cream or low-fat sour cream
• 1 lime , sliced into 6 thin slices
• 6 scallion firecrackers (see Tips below)
• 1/4 cup fresh salsa or Papaya Salsa

Directions

Mix together marinade ingredients in a bowl, stirring thoroughly. Pour into a shallow baking pan and lay the chicken breasts in. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat the broiler.

After one hour, when the chicken has absorbed all the flavors of the marinade, pour in the white wine. Broil the chicken under a medium flame for 8 to 10 minutes, basting it with the juices to keep it moist.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and slice it at an angle. Garnish each piece with a little of the pan juices, a dollop of sour cream, slices of lime and a scallion firecracker, as well as a dollop of salsa.

Tips from Rosie's Kitchen

• The scallion "firecracker" is a lively garnish that gets its name from the way the leaves of the onion curl away from the body of the onion, creating a "firecracker" appearance. Cut 2 inches off the green leafy side of the scallion. Trim the roots at the white bulbous end. Then cut three slits about 1/2-inch down through the white, bulbous end. Fill a bowl with ice water and drop in the freshly cut scallions.
• It is never too much trouble to cook extra chicken breasts. They hold the flavor of the marinade and are wonderful for chicken salad or sandwiches for work or school.

Nutritional Information

212.3 calories, 4.4g fat, 0.8g saturated fat (46.8% of calories from fat), 30.1g protein, 13g carbohydrate, 72mg cholesterol, 0.9g fiber 

I ended up just cooking the chicken in a saute pan. I have bad luck with broiling. I always end up burning things.

After slicing it, I served it fajita-style.

I've gotta say, this was pretty damn tasty. I get so caught up in my usual way of making chicken, and I get worried about trying new things with spices that aren't my favorites. I'd hate to waste all the time and ingredients.

But....this was good. I would make it again. The kid ate it without complaining. It's probably good cold, sliced into salad. It makes a mean fajita.

So, even though I'm not completely sold on the holistic teachings of Dr. Weil, I think I may hang onto the book and try some more recipes. 

If it's good enough for Oprah, its good enough for me!

Parton Me, But Have You Seen Dolly?

Back in 2009, we took an epic road trip.

Starting here in Connecticut, we stopped in State College, PA, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and then back home.

We saw everything from Penn State, to Churchill Downs, a ball game, a bat factory, Lincoln's birthplace, Graceland, the motel where MLK was assassinated, the Smoky Mountains, Dollywood, Luray Caverns, Mammoth Cave, and everything in between.

We ate at places we had seen on Man v. Food and Food Network, like Gus' Fried Chicken, Lynn's Paradise Cafe, and the Loveless Cafe. We sat in Elvis' booth at the Arcade and ate fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. It was awesome.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was one of our many stops. I thought it looked like the Hillbilly Las Vegas. A strip of pancake houses, wax museums, go-karts, hotels, panning for gold and other oddities. It is also the home of Dollywood and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. Oh, and Dolly Parton herself.

We grabbed lunch at a place called the Applewood Farmhouse. It was down home cooking that featured things like apple fritters and apple juleps. For some reason I ended up buying their cookbook, because who doesn't like apples?

This ended up being another dust collector. I suppose its more of a souvenir than a practical cookbook at this point.

Guess I got all caught up in the apple-craziness that afternoon?

I chose to make Topsy-Turvy Apple Coffee Cake. Mostly because I had all of the ingredients already and because it looked fairly easy.

3/4 c butter or margarine, divided
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c pecans, chopped
1 cups of sliced apples
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt 1/4 cup butter in 8-inch square baking dish; blend in brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle pecans over brown sugar, place apple slices in single layer over nuts. Stir baking soda into sour cream and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Cream remaining 1/2 cup butter; add eggs and beat thoroughly. Stir flour, sugar and baking powder together. Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to creamed mixture; starting and ending with dry ingredients. Pour over apples, bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in dish 10 minutes, invert onto serving dish.

Ok.

First of all, I had no idea what happens when you add baking soda to sour cream.

Science!

It glopped all over the place, and that was really annoying. This was not turning out to be as quick and easy as I thought...

The end result was just okay. The boys ate it and liked it, but I tasted it and would not make it again. There was nothing remarkable about it...and I have made so many other apple cakes that were much better than this one.

Still, I feel like I can't get rid of the cookbook. Mostly because it's just a fun souvenir from a great trip. I may drag it out one day and try something else. And then probably get rid of it!

Split Pea Heaven

I was a total slug this weekend.

Between the below zero temperatures, the Valentine's Day gluttony, and the four and a half hours I spent on the couch watching the SNL40 special, I feel like garbage.

Not enough fresh air, too many carbs, and a neglected house.

Time to push the reset button!

I'm like the Very Hungry Caterpillar who needs just one green leaf to feel better. Hopefully that will do the trick!

I did make some soup yesterday that is unbelievably delicious...if you like split pea.

It is incredibly easy to do, and only has a few ingredients. The only one that I wonder about nutritionally are the smoked turkey legs. Obviously there is a salt factor going on, and some other shady ingredients. But...I may have to try with regular turkey legs and see if it still works because this soup is ridiculous.

3 carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 T olive oil
1 cup green split peas
2 medium smoked turkey legs
Pepper
(I am leaving out the salt due to the smoky turkey)

Heat olive oil in stockpot. Sauté carrots, celery, onion and garlic until they begin to sweat. Add split peas and turkey legs. Add water to cover just above the split peas. Cover and simmer for an hour or so.

Remove turkey legs and let cool. Shred meat off the bone, discard skin. Add the meat back into the soup.

That's it, people. It's that easy.

My Funny Valentines

It was a rare treat to have Valentine's Day on a Saturday this year.  It gave us plenty of time to be together and spend some time in the kitchen as a family.

Since there are three of us in my little family, we each chose a cookbook from the collection and picked a recipe to make.

Each one of us had varying results!

The kiddo chose something from this book:

The husband chose something from this book:

And I chose something from this book:

That makes 19, 20, and 21 of 99 cookbooks down.

The best part is that they are all keepers!

I could start in order with salad, then entree, then dessert....but I'm going with dessert first!

The chef is super cute!

He chose something more complicated than I had expected, so I gave him a hand. I would say he did about 75% of the work on this one.

This particular book is fantastic for kids, because it gives very specific instructions and encourages the chef to be sure they have all of their materials ready before they begin. There are explanations as to why they need to prep things a certain way, and helpful suggestions for substitutions or corrections.

I picked this one up at a Scholastic Warehouse sale last year, and I am SO glad that I did. It's a beautiful book and all of the recipes look fantastic. It isn't a dumbed-down kids' cookbook at all. We've got one of those...I'm sure it will make an appearance sooner or later!

Instead of transcribing the recipe, I am going to post photos of it.

 

Here is Mr. Big Hands swirling the batter together:

And the finished product:

 It was pretty damn delicious! Very rich though, even though I subbed reduced-fat cream cheese for the regular. If you make this, I suggest a tiny slice or you may regret it!

To erase the dessert calories, we can move on to the salad...

This is a Winter Green Salad with Sugared Walnuts, Crispy Pears and Pomegranate. 

My darling husband chose this from his new cookbook that he got for the holidays. He nailed the Pomegranate Vinaigrette that goes on the salad.

Winter Green Salad with Sugared Walnuts, Crispy Pears and Pomegranate

Serves 6.

6 cups chopped or torn bitter greens (arugula, romaine lettuce, frisee, dandelion greens or watercress)
2 D'Anjou pears (red or green), thinly sliced
Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

For the sugared walnuts:
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon walnut oil
1 tablespoon maple sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups walnuts

For the pomegranate vinaigrette:
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon zesty honey mustard
sea salt

Prepare the vinaigrette: in a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients by hand or with handheld blender. Season to taste with salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the walnuts: Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine syrup, walnut oil, maple sugar and cinnamon. Add walnuts, toss to coat and spread on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake until lightly browned (about 20 minutes). Remove from oven and set aside.

Assemble the salad: Place greens in salad bowl, combine with most (but not all) of the sliced pears, drizzle with pomegranate vinaigrette and toss to coat. Arrange remaining pears and sugared walnuts over salad greens, top with pomegranate seeds and serve.

Unfortunately, we had some issues with the nuts.

When you've been primarily out of the kitchen for the last 17 years, and you have multiple distractions, mistakes are bound to happen. Rather than measuring the nuts out into a dry measuring cup, he just went by the weight on the bag. Bzzzt. Not the same thing.

So, our nuts were not as candied as one would want. Then when we tried to fix them, we just ended up burning them.

Fortunately, I had a stash of candied pecans from Target in the cabinet left over from Thanksgiving. Success! (You've got to picture Kristin Wiig's Target Lady saying that one!)

The salad was saved and it was delicious.

Onto the main event....

Blue Ginger is a restaurant in Wellesly, MA. When my husband and I lived outside of Boston in Newton Centre back in 1998 & 1999 Ming Tsai opened a restaurant nearby and we had to check it out. Ming was the MAN back then. A big, handsome guy who had a cooking show on Food Network.

We had a delicious meal at Blue Ginger, and were fortunate enough to meet Ming himself that night. We purchased his new cookbook, and he was gracious enough to sign it for us:

I chose to make Teriyaki Salmon, since that seems to be the only protein source that we all can agree on these days. Living with a vegetarian, a dieter and an 11 year old can get complicated. 

So, we settled on Teriyaki Salmon with Mirin Cucumber Salad

Vinaigrette

1 ½ teaspoons wasabi powder1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese sweet sake)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
½ cup Grapeseed oil
Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

Marinade

1 cup soy sauce
Juice and zest of 2 oranges
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
4 skinless salmon fillets (about 6 ounces each), preferably center cut
2 large English cucumbers julienned*

To make the vinaigrette, combine the wasabi powder and mirin in a medium bowl and mix to make a paste.  Whisk in the vinegar and sugar.  Whisk in the oil and season with the salt and pepper.  Taste and correct the seasonings, if necessary.  

1. To make the salmon, combine the soy sauce, orange juice and zest, brown sugar, garlic and ginger in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer slowly until reduced by half or syrupy, about 15 minutes.  Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame seeds and cool.   Transfer to a baking dish, at the salmon, turn to coat and marinate for 1 hour. 
   
2. Prepare an outdoor grill or preheat the broiler.  If cooking outdoors, spray the grill with nonstick cooking spray.  Grill the salmon over high heat, or broil, turning once until the flesh is slightly charred, about 4 minutes per side.  Brush the fish with the remaining marinade as it cooks.   The fish will be medium-rare to medium.
   
3. About 10 minutes before serving, toss the cucumbers with enough of the vinaigrette to coat them completely.  Correct the seasonings and set aside.   Divide the salmon among 4 plates.  Place a salmon fillet on top of each portion and serve.

And there you have it. A pretty successful Valentine's Day dinner that we all helped make. I couldn't think of a lovelier way to spend a snowy Saturday night!

My Heart Belongs to Whole Foods

It's no secret that I've had a long-standing love affair with Whole Foods.

Its one of my happy places. I get a Whole Foods high every time I step through the doors. There is just something intoxicating about it. I don't know if its something that they pump through the ventilation system, or just the dizzying array of exotic products that haven't been tainted with preservatives and pesticides.

I was fortunate enough to have been invited to an event back in November to explore Whole Foods Thanksgiving options, which I wrote about here.

This time I got to go back for a Valentine's event, and I'm going to share the love with all of you right now!

Last time, we had a sit-down dinner to sample all of Whole Foods offerings. This time, it was a more casual environment, with stations set up with delicious Valentine foods, gift ideas and some beautiful floral arrangements that are offered this time of year.

There are some amazing specials going on, and a great selection of floral arrangements, from a single rose in a bud vase to tulips. There were also some very creative options, like this one:

Not the greatest shot, but I love the pussy willow stems crafted into a heart! 

They had some gift items as well, and I ended up gifting myself some of the Savannah Bee lotion later on in the evening! Happy V-Day to me!

Aside from the flowers and the gifts, there were seven other stations set up with delicacies to entice everyone. 

There was the ubiquitous Valentine's Day dinner....surf and turf. Whole Foods is offering an outrageous deal this year:

Seriously? $19.99 for two steaks and two lobster tails? Ridiculous! I passed on the lobster due to allergies, but I had some sirloin. It was good, but I would punch it up a bit at home with a compound butter while heating it up. Amazing deal, though!

I much preferred this option:

Sole with Caper Lemon Butter Sauce, Herb Truffled Fingerling Potatoes with Crispy Shallots, and Ribboned Carrots with Baby Brussels Sprouts. The fish was delicate and perfectly cooked, with a gentle lemon-butter flavor. The veggies were good, and I even ate the sprouts like a good girl! But those potatoes? Oh my. I needed a moment with those. I'm not sure if it's because I've been off the carbs for so long or what, but those potatoes were making my head explode with delight. Insanely good.

There was also the option of Coffee and Vanilla Rubbed Pork. Same sides as the fish. The pork was very tender, and had more of a kick than I had expected! There was some cayenne in there, as well as chili powder. It was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

Pasta was also represented in the form of Heart-Shaped Ravioli that was stuffed with crab and lobster:

There was also a pasta company from South Jersey called Severino Pasta that had some heart-shaped pasta. They supply all of the fresh pasta to Whole Foods as well as some of their sauces.

Now we come to my two most unexpected favorites...

One of them is from a wonderful company that makes a product called Just Mayo. It is a delicious egg-free mayonnaise. There is the most adorable woman who demos the product at Whole Foods all of the time. The kind of lady that hugs you when you say goodbye. Just as sweet as can be! We are big fans of the product...but I was wondering what the heck she was doing at a Valentine's Day event. Mayo? Not so sexy.

Well, consider me wrong.

This mayo was dead sexy. Don't believe me? Just watch...

Where's the mayo? What? You don't see it?

It's there. It's in the chocolate.

I was blown away. It was delicious. 

Fortunately, my new BFF the Just Mayo lady shared her recipe with me and I will now share it with you:

1/2 cup packed cocoa powder

3/4 cup Just Mayo

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

2 T milk

Beat cocoa powder, Just Mayo and vanilla together until well combined. Add milk and sugar and whip until smooth.

Serve with strawberries, graham crackers, or whatever else you want to slather chocolate deliciousness on!

The other product that I fell for was from a company called RIPE. They make "bar juice" that is cold-pressed and 100% natural. Simple, pure ingredients. Low glycemic. Insanely good. 

So good that I went and bought some to bring home. The Mojito was phenomenal, and its a fun mixer  with or without the alcohol. With more snow coming our way this weekend here in Connecticut, I'm happy to know I have a little bit of summertime in my glass with this product!

So what's Valentine's Day without the chocolate?

Well, Whole Foods has covered ALL of the bases. From custom chocolate-dipped strawberries, to cheesecakes, cupcakes, layer cakes and tiered cakes you are all set to go into sugar-shock.

Look at these gorgeous creations:

So there you have it. Whole Foods put out yet another stellar spread for the holiday. And one that won't break the bank, either! Can you imagine getting steak, lobster and two dozen roses for under $50? That's NUTS!!!

I know I'll be celebrating with my two favorite guys this Valentine's Day and some provisions from my favorite store...Whole Foods!

Martha! Martha! Martha!

Oh, Martha!

Once upon a time, you lured me in with your crafty crafts and your culinary delights.

I subscribed to your magazine and tore out every project and recipe I wanted to tackle. I watched your television show and vowed to emulate your highfalutin' ways.

I would be the epitome of domestic fabulousness.

Of course, this never happened.

The closest I came was when I copied this cake:

I crushed up the chocolate wafers to make the dirt, I made pastillage and cut out the picket fence. I dyed and sculpted marzipan into tiny vegetables. I baked a layer of carrot and a layer of zucchini cake and made cream cheese frosting.

Amazingly, I was so successful with this I ended up making it twice. Once for a baby shower and once for a birthday.

Obviously, this was before I had a child.

It was hard enough to follow Martha's multi-step directions for everything when I had no one hanging on me or trying to follow me into the bathroom. Now it was damn near impossible.

I let my magazine subscriptions go, and I let my cookbooks gather dust on the shelf. Ain't nobody got time for Martha.

Until now.
I HAVE to do it.

So, without further ado, I give you

After paging through this and seeing nothing that I wanted to make, I was tempted to do replicate the Salted Edamame recipe.

My darling husband pointed out that steaming some edamame and throwing some salt on it did not really constitute a recipe.

So, I rolled my eyes and chose the least offensive thing in the book:

Butternut Squash with Roasted Garlic

• 1 large butternut squash, halved and seeded 
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme 
• 4 large cloves of roasted garlic
• 1 cup warm chicken stock, or low-sodium canned

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Season the squash with salt and pepper and tuck 2 sprigs of thyme into each cavity. Place, cut side down, on the baking sheet and roast until fork-tender, about 40 minutes.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, discard the thyme; peel the squash and coarsely chop. Combine the squash, garlic and 1/2 cup chicken stock in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Add the remaining stock gradually until the mixture forms a very loose puree. Season the soup with salt and pepper.

Seems pretty basic, right? 

Here's my roasted squash:

And my beautiful roasted garlic:

And the gorgeous finished product:

Beautiful, right?

Yeah.

It tasted like baby food.

That perfectly roasted butternut squash and head of garlic, thyme and broth blended together tasted like a whole lot of NOTHING.

Martha?  Your recipe sucks.

I salted and peppered the hell out of it and it was still ridiculously boring.

Then I grabbed some curry powder. Minimally better.

Added some cayenne. 

Getting there.

A dash of cinnamon.

We may have something tolerable?

And then? I gave up.

Fortunately the husband (who wouldn't let me just make the damn edamame) ate it.

As for cookbook #18 of 99?

Buh-bye, Martha. Your recipe may have been healthy, but it was also tasteless. Something I'm sure you aren't used to hearing about yourself.

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Bargain-Basement Balls

This was a new one for me.

I've never made falafel before.

I've bought it many times, fresh and frozen....but never attempted to do it from scratch.

Cookbook #16 of 99 finally got me to try it.

Another random vegetarian cookbook in my collection. Not sure where it came from, but it originated in the UK. I know this because they use words like aubergine instead of eggplant and courgette instead of zucchini. The measurements are also given in metrics. It looks like something you'd find on the $5 table at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It's even got a terribly boring name....

It is so obscure,  I can barely find any reference to it online other than a few used book sites.

Admittedly, I was pretty worried about what I was going to get out of this generic, bargain-basement book. But...I was committed to the project and figured that falafel was my safest bet.

1 lb 7 ounces of canned chick peas, drained
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 1/2 ounces whole-wheat bread
2 small red chilis
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbs chopped cilantro
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 ounces bread crumbs

Put the chick peas, garlic, onion, chilis, spices and cilantro in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Stir and season well. Remove the mixture from the food processor and roll into walnut-sized balls.

Place the beaten egg in a shallow bowl. Dip the balls in the egg to coat and then roll in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Fry the falafel in batches 2-3 minutes until crisp and browned, then drain on paper towels.

So, what's the verdict?

To be honest with you, I only ate one bite. I'm watching my figure, remember?

My husband really enjoyed it. We didn't have the typical falafel fixings like pita, tahini, lettuce and tomato, so he made do with some tzatziki, carrot hummus, guacamole and some sort of green chiles.

For a non-descript, bargain-basement book, Vegetarian isn't that bad. I think we'll hang onto it for a while!

New York State of Mind

Living on Long Island for the first 25 years of my life has turned me into a bit of a snob.

A bagel snob.

There is nowhere else I have been (and I've been around) that beats the bagels of my youth. 

You just can't top a Long Island bagel!

As a kid, there were the basics. Plain, poppy, egg, sesame, salt, onion, everything and raisin. As I got older, they started making stupid crap like French Toast bagels and spinach bagels. Those are NOT bagels. 

For me, the ultimate is an "everything" bagel. Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, salt, minced onion and minced garlic. There are some places that throw in caraway seeds...but I hate those. Ick.

An everything bagel with lox spread, olive cream cheese, or just plain old cream cheese. Oh, mama! That is heaven!

Alas...bagels are the enemy. Carbs like that are not my friend.

But that doesn't mean I don't have a craving every once in a while!

Pinterest came along and gave me some inspiration with these Everything Bagel Cauliflower Rolls. 

Ingredients

1. 1 head cauliflower, riced (about 3 cups) - do this in the food processor
2. 2 tbsp almond flour
3. 1 tbsp coconut flour
4. 1 tbsp corn meal (not paleo- you can sub almond flour)
5. 2 eggs
6. 1/2 tsp garlic powder
7. 1/4 tsp sea salt

"Everything" Topping

1. 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
2. 1 tbsp sesame seeds
3. 1 tsp dried minced garlic
4. 1 tbsp dried minced onion
5. 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In a food processor, or using a hand grater, pulse/grate cauliflower until rice consistency
3. In a bowl combine eggs, cauliflower rice, almond flour, coconut flour, corn meal, garlic powder, and salt   
   
4. In a separate bowl combine "everything" topping ingredients
5. Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet
6. Make 4 even sized balls and lay onto parchment paper
7. Sprinkle "everything" topping and slightly press them into the top
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bread-like consistency (it might be longer depending on the size you make)
9. Optional: Broil on high for 3-5 minutes after baking - be careful! Mine got a bit too brown.
10. Optional: For extra crisp, remove from baking sheet and do the broiling step with the buns directly on the oven rack and try not to set the smoke alarm off like I did!
11. Remove from baking sheet and let cool directly on a cooling rack
12. Serve with your favorite sandwich ingredients  
    

So....how was this? Was it worth buying a bag of almond flour and coconut flour?

I think so! It wasn't a bagel by any means, but it did fit the bill for having something bread-like. I haven't had a sandwich that was 17 Day Diet appropriate in a long time. We were having breakfast for dinner, so I used a slice of turkey bacon, some avocado and a wedge of Laughing Cow Light.

So while it isn't taking me back to Long Island, it will keep me on track with my diet!

Are You Ready For Some Football? No? How About Some Wings?

I grew up in a family that was completely disinterested in following professional sports. No one watched football or baseball, there was no "big game" or team to root for. It just wasn't something anyone cared about.

There was a brief flirtation on my part with the '86 Mets...because that was the talk of the kids in Junior High.

When I was 22, I was semi-into the Knicks. I remember this because I was at a bar watching the playoffs when they interrupted the game because O.J. Simpson took off in the white Bronco.

I happened to marry a man who also was not a sports fan. There was a nostalgic interest in the Philadelphia Phillies of his youth, but nothing more than that.

Our union resulted in a son who also has zero interest in pro-sports.

So, when the Super Bowl comes around each year, its not the thrill of the game that gathers us around the tv.

It's the food. And the commercials. Sometimes the halftime show.

But mostly the food.

Food that isn't going to win any awards from Dr. Oz.

This is a day where people will construct entire models of football stadiums out of cheese and bread and guacamole and rice krispie treats!

But I needed to at least make an attempt to lessen the crap factor. So I made some adjustments.

We had queso...but it wasn't made from Velveeta and Rotel. I made it from scratch.

We had guacamole that the boys made. We had multigrain tortilla chips.

We had falafel. Not very traditional, but then again we aren't too traditional either. I'll blog that in another post since it was from cookbook #17 of 98.

We also had the ultimate football food. Wings.

I am not a big wing fan at all. Obviously the vegetarian husband isn't either. The kid? LOVES them.

There is only one place where I will eat wings.

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

Every time we go to Florida, we have to go to Anthony's at least once. They have the best pizza and wings.

I could go more often to Anthony's in White Plains, NY or on Long Island...but that would not be very good for my health!

The wings at Anthony's are baked...there is no flour or coating on them. Just some spices, and they are perfection. This is coming from a girl who typically wouldn't touch a chicken wing with a 10 foot pole.

So, with Google leading me...I found an article from a local Florida paper where some old yenta from Delray Beach wrote in asking for the recipe for the wings from Anthony's. Miraculously, they supplied it!

Obviously we aren't all working with coal-fired ovens and it's nearly impossible to replicate the wings entirely...but this recipe came pretty darn close! The only thing I changed was cooking them a bit longer to get them nice and caramelized.

Coal Oven Roasted Chicken Wings

Adapted from Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza.

5 pounds chicken wings

1/4 cup peeled garlic cloves

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon black pepper

Kosher salt, to taste

Caramelized onions and focaccia bread, for serving

1 Place chicken wings in a large nonreactive bowl or roasting pan. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, season with salt, to taste. Pour marinade over wings, tossing to coat. Cover wings and refrigerate for 24 hours. Stir occasionally; do not over-marinate.

2 Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Place wings in a baking dish, single layer, skin side up. Cook for 25 minutes, turning wings over halfway through cooking process to brown both sides. Serve with onions and focaccia, if desired.

Makes 5 servings.

So if you ask me who I'm rooting for?

It's Team Anthony's all the way.