Well, I found it! ZUCCHINI PASTA!

Back in October I had the squash fettuccine at Small Plates in Cambridge. I had been thinking of that “pasta” for months, until I finally decided to try and make it. For some reason I thought that I would need a special tool to make pasta out of zucchini, but I just used my normal vegetable peeler. I know some people (like The Fitnessista) make spiralized zucchini, but I do not have a spiralizer.

The process was really simple. I cleaned a zucchini, cut off both ends, and then used my vegetable peeler to make strips. I kept going until I got all the way down to the core where the seeds are. One normal zucchini makes about 1-1.5 cups of pasta. I then steamed the zucchini “pasta” for 2-3 minutes in salted water before topping it with my favorite pasta sauces. Be sure to strain the zucchini well because it gives off a lot of liquid.

The resulting healthy zucchini “pasta” tastes just like al dente pasta, and is the perfect vehicle for any sauce. I like it more than regular pasta because I really like big portions, but I don’t want to gain weight or feel sluggish. With zucchini pasta I can eat a HUGE bowl for less calories and carbohydrates than pasta, but I also get plenty of vegetable servings too! And it is really delicious.

The first sauce I tried was the pesto sauce featured above.

Other sauces PB and I ate with zucchini pasta:
-crushed tomatoes with mozzarella, garlic, and black pepper
-cannellini beans, Athenos feta, tomatoes and fresh basil
-just a touch of garlic, salt and pepper

For the record, PB loves it just as much as I do and asked that we make it at least once a week! I think that is a success!!!

If you have any other suggestions for sauces to eat with this pasta, please share. We are on a healthy zucchini pasta mission! You must try this technique!

***

PB and I celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend. I posted a video of wedding photos yesterday- Check it out!

I’m not a real mom yet, but I teach my readers to eat their fruits & veggies.. just like mom!

I lost my own mom in 2001, and somehow losing her also sparked my interest to cook. I got fat (my own words, some disagree) and then lost it all while still cooking nice meals every day. . Then I got married and started to really cook great meals. It is hard to balance blogging with life, since the internet is its own world too, but I squeeze blogging into life, and life into blogging. I am better on camera than I am with words, but I never have anyone home to tape me. I work from home and talk to myself all day long. Kind of like this post, but out loud. OK, maybe worse than this post, since you can’t hear me singing!

I love my husband. Really really really love him. You would too, if you knew him.

Some of my friends don’t understand how easy it is to cook healthy meals every day while living life. I started teaching them by emailing recipes they asked for, but soon I just turned my blog into that resource. How boring does that sound?! It really isn’t. I share recipes I’ve created or tried as well as product and restaurant reviews. I think it’s fun, and by my monthly increases in traffic I would guess my readers think it’s fun too! I do it for the fun, not the money, and until very recently I donated all blog profits to various charities.

One day I have anxiety over having not posted, the next I don’t really care. I wish I could say I only blog for myself, but I don’t. I love sharing my passion for food and life with the world. I’m on Twitter and blogs all day long, even while working. I guess you could say I am obsessed. I haven’t been around for long, but I really love blogging!

I’m not a mom, but I want to be one… like yesterday. Maybe that will happen soon… maybe not. I’m still really young. Maybe that’s where my story currently hides.

MaryEllen

July 16, 2010 at 2:07 pm (Edit)

Spinach, pecans, feta, strawberries, and poppyseed dressing.

Please email me your contact information! You have until July 22 at 11:00 PM EST to send it to me!

*****

Welcome to ATHENOS Feta Friday!

For each of the next few Fridays I will be giving away a fun ATHENOS Feta package to one lucky winner!

The prize package includes:

• ATHENOS Feta coupon
• ATHENOS Feta “Shape Up Your Salad” recipe booklet
• ATHENOS Feta water bottle
• Life Time Fitness 1-month membership
• Fit & Fresh salad container
• An adorable Built NY lunch bag

How to enter? Leave a comment in this post giving me your best salad ideas using ATHENOS feta!

I have some salad recipes still up my sleeve, but I want to make sure I don’t get stuck in a salad rut! You can find my previous ATHENOS feta salad posts here. You have until this evening, July 16, at midnight to enter.

Good luck and HAPPY FETA FRIDAY!

I Am Domestic.

Me. Domestic. Even I am shocked. This is going to sound far-fetched, especially for someone with a strict “no cook” policy, but I have learned how to make my own baby food.

Yes, baby food. Pick your jaw up off the floor.

Ok, let me back track a few days and explain so you aren’t all confused.

I think it started while watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Have you seen that? Those kids are HECKA LUCKY to get french fries as a vegetable! We had to make do with mystery coleslaw and fried okra in my day, but then again that was Alabama….But yeah, I was watching that show and I couldn’t believe all of the excuses the school board gave as to why they couldn’t serve Jamie’s chicken & 7 veggie stir fry instead of pizza. I’m sure it was much easier to just heat up some frozen fries and chicken fingers, and probably cheaper, but at what/who’s expense? The overweight teenager’s? Think of how many preservatives must be in her school lunch that she just paid $2 for. Is it still $2? It was $1.10 when I was in HS….12 years ago. The show was mildly entertaining (I love a Brit!), but it did make me think about the kinds of foods I was/will be feeding Mia.

And then there was that sale on pears at Costco, which pretty much sealed the deal.

So far, Mia has been on formula and starter baby food. In the beginning, we used Gerber 1st & 2nd Foods. Most of them were fine, but a few of the vegetables had an extra ingredient…

We also used (and still use) Happy Baby Organic frozen cubes. Read about them here.

And when we are on-the-go, we use Sprout, by Tyler Florence.

I know this all sounds fancy and you’re thinking “oohh organic…she must have really done some research!” but you would be wrong. Still, to this day, the only kind of kid research I’ve done was on the stroller (which we ended up hating as of last month) and on whether or not you can paint your infant’s toenails (you shouldn’t). I happened to be at Whole Foods getting a salad and realized I didn’t bring any baby food with me to feed to Mia. I walked the aisle and found the Sprout pouches, grabbed one, then remembered that Miriam said her kid was eating the Happy Baby stuff (and her kid is, like, a smart, man-baby) and grabbed some of that too. I like to taste everything Mia puts in her mouth- yes, breastmilk- and I really preferred the texture of the Sprout over the texture of Gerber or Earth’s Best. I assure you it had nothing to do with being organic or fancy.

Both Sprout and Happy Baby are a little on the pricey side, so eating them for every meal just wasn’t in our budget. Then came the Costco trip with the sale pears…and I decided to make it myself. You know I’m a bit of a ditz and the opposite of a Sally Homemaker (‘cept I do have my Danny Tanner moments), so I hope you realize how awesome I think I am for not screwing this up.

This is SO EASY. I think I spent a total of $4 on fruit & rice that made 10 meals. If I had relied on Gerber or the fancy stuff from whole foods, I would have spent $30. To prove to you how easy it is, I’m going to show you step-by-step how to make it.

First, you need a machine. You could totally get the coveted Beaba BabyCook, but you really don’t need to spend $150 on something you will use for a few months (they only eat puree stuff for a couple months, then they want to use their teeth). I’ve got a mini food chopper from the 1980’s that works great! If you want something similar for about $20, try this one from Black & Decker.

Here’s mine:

You also need something to put your puree in. I use the Beaba food trays, but you could use a regular ice cube tray from Target for $1.

You will need a saucepan to cook your fruit/vegetables. I like to use this one because it has a pour spout on the side.

Chop your fruit or vegetables into 1 inch pieces, put in your saucepan and cover. Cook until tender.

When I’m cooking a fruit puree, I like to boil the fruit in apple juice, but you can always use water. Also, I have found that frozen chunks of fruit work just as well as fresh fruit. Frozen fruit is also a bit cheaper!

Once tender, place in your food processor.

Pour in a tiny bit of liquid. You can always add more later if you think the consistency is too thick.
Puree!

It should look like applesauce when you’re done, but you can always make it thicker/chunkier.

Pour into the tray.

Cover.

Put in freezer.

When you’re ready to take it out and serve to baby, pop out a cube (the Beaba brand is great because they literally just pop right out), and put in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

This is too easy. Really. If I can do it, you can definitely do it.

Good luck.

Oh- need the recipes? Try Annabel Karmel’s website, or you can buy her book. Once you get a couple of recipes down, its easy to make up your own. Do what I do- just throw a bunch of fruit in the pan and puree together. Apples, pears and mangoes are a great base!

I know it seems like a ton of work, but I do this start to finish in 15 minutes, including clean-up.

Egyptian Stuffed Peppers & Zucchini (A Guest Post from My Life in a Pyramid)

Sabrina of RhodeyGirl Tests is an amazing cook. How do I know this even though I haven’t yet met her in person? A few weeks ago, I made a recipe that she created just by “experimenting” a little in the kitchen (her words!). Lentils with Zucchini & Mint. This is a great example of a combination that doesn’t automatically come to mind when you think of lentils, or when you think of zucchini or mint, individually. Sabrina has a knack for making a dish with interesting and unusual ingredient combinations taste absolutely delicious! After I wrote a blog post about this lentil recipe on my blog (My Life in a Pyramid), Sabrina asked me to guest post on her blog while she is traveling to Jordan. I was excited and immediately started to think about what recipe I’d like to share with her readers…

I’m originally from Egypt (hence, the ‘pyramid’ play on words in my blog name ) and since Sabrina is currently traveling to the Middle East, I figured it would be most fitting and appropriate for me to share with you an authentic Mediterranean / Middle Eastern dish. J I was fortunate enough to grow up eating mostly traditional home-cooked meals made with fresh ingredients next to a huge salad every day. On special occasions and feasts, my grandmother, whenever she came to visit, always made flavorful Egyptian dishes, such as molokhia (Jew’s Mallow) stew with roasted chicken, goullash (meat pies), and rice pudding.

A favorite meal we ate on occasion is stuffed vegetables. Middle Easterners love to stuff vegetables – grape leaves, green and red peppers, squash, artichokes, onions, tomatoes… You  name it, we stuff it! Colorful peppers especially make perfect containers for various meat and vegetable-herb stuffings. Egyptians like to stuff with meat and rice, but there are also vegetarian options for stuffing. Today, I’m going to share with you one of these recipes for stuffed yellow and red peppers, as well as zucchini. My previous stuffed squash recipe featured an untraditional (but delicious) quinoa-based stuffing. In contrast, this recipe I’m sharing with you today is the tried-and-true Egyptian one . Sabrina made an awesome recipe for vegetarian stuffed grape leaves a while back. That stuffing she put together can certainly be used to replace the meaty stuffing I made if you’re a vegetarian or if you just wish to eat a lighter version of this meal. But, on occasion, you’ll love the taste of the veggies stuffed with meat and rice.

So, without further ado, here’s what you’ll need to make Stuffed Red & Yellow Peppers & Zucchini (Serves 4):

• 4 medium sweet bell peppers (red, yellow or green)
• 2-3 large zucchinis (pick wider ones for easier coring)
• ½ lb organic ground beef
• ½ cup rice (sushi rice or risotto rice work well)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups organic tomato sauce
• ½ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• juice of ½ lemon
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Wash peppers. Then, remove stems and seeds. Slice off top for stuffing.
2. Wash zucchini. Then, remove top. Using a vegetable corer, remove pulp.
3. Chop onion finely. In a mixing bowl, add meat, onion, rice, parsley, seasoning, olive oil, lemon juice and mix well with 1 cup tomato sauce.
4. Fill peppers and zucchinis (somewhat loosely, because the rice expands when it is cooked).
5. In a pot, arrange peppers upright and zucchinis on their sides.
6. Add olive oil to 1 cup of tomato sauce, season, and pour over the veggies.
7. Cook over a low-medium flame for about 30 minutes until meat is well cooked.
8. Cut zucchinis in half, while being careful not to break them up too much. Serve hot with the veggies’ own sauce drizzled on top.

I hope you can try making this recipe sometime – if you do, let me know how it turns out! For more ethnic recipes and helpful information on healthy living, stop by at My Life in a Pyramid (and say hello!). Well, I’m really happy to meet all you RhodeyGirl fans! This has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to collaborating with Sabrina a lot more in the future in different ways

I will give a far more thorough recap on the Dead Sea when we have a good internet connection, but I leave you with this for now! Also, I have been getting so many ideas for the Athenos Change for the Feta Salad Challenge I am participating in this month! More details as soon as I can get connected somewhere. Probably in 2 nights! I love vacations!!

I am off to read my book, eat some Sun Chips, and drink some Perrier.
**********
Our flight to Jordan was delayed and delayed. Instead of leaving at 11 pm Friday we are leaving at 4 pm Saturday.

All the hotels are booked.

We are sleeping on the floor.

Encouraging and kind comments strongly welcomed.

If you said you never eat sweets you must be lying. Or you’re not my friend.

Everyone likes a sweet treat now and again, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be heavy or high in calories. I found the perfect solution to an ice cream cone craving…

See here:

Oh, and please vote for my mushroom lentil burger recipe on Recipe Rivalry! The first 500 voters will receive a free bag of dried peas or lentils!

Related posts:
Serving of Cereal
Ridding Yourself of Unnecessary Sugar Forever
Apples & Bananas

#1 Pack Snack Packs

See yesterday’s post for more information.

#2 Pack extra snacks for the return trip.

I always have a large ziploc bag in my suitcase for extra snacks for the return trip. Usually I pack raw almonds (or other nuts), dates, a few bars, and any fruit that would make it through a weekend in a suitcase (like oranges). If I am away for a longer period of time, I do my best to stop in a market to grab some items on the way home. On the way to the airport after the Foodbuzz Festival, Brittany of Eating Bird Food and I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some items for our long plane rides home. You bet I was thankful when I still wasn’t home 8 hours later!

#3 Eat well 70% of the time, and try new or fun foods 30%.

Somehow having percentages in my mind makes it easier for me to focus on eating well. In Bora Bora I was not going to miss out on the incredible croissants, but I paired them with fresh fruit and ate a light salad every day for lunch to balance them out. At home I would not normally eat a croissant, but with a French baker preparing them daily in Bora Bora, I chose to eat them every day. To me, vacation is about enjoying oneself, and while I love healthy foods, I also love special treats. I didn’t gain a single pound on my honeymoon, despite eating my weight in croissants.

#4 Bring workout clothes even if you don’t think you will have time.

Before Amy & Joseph’s wedding, all my college friends made fun of me for planning to work out. Well, Saturday morning came around and I had a great workout while some of my friends wished they had brought their workout clothes. I did not miss out on anything fun since nothing was going on in the morning, and I felt great all day. Sometimes even a quick 20 minute workout is all you need!

#5 Make an exercise plan and stick to it.

In Rhode Island last weekend I scheduled a one hour gym class on Saturday morning, and a short run on Sunday. While I had to get up early both days to get in those workouts, I felt great all day after doing them. I even got to spend time with one of my best friends, Lauren, by taking the class together!

#6 Drink lots of water.

This might seem like a strange tip, but for some reason so many people forget to stay hydrated while traveling. I often mistake thirst for hunger, but I have learned to keep water in my purse when traveling for when I need a drink. Relying on flight attendants on a plane or buying a bottle of water at a rest stop just doesn’t work for me. I bring water, buy it from a market when I reach my destination, or pay $4 for a large bottle at the airport. I don’t mind spending money for something good for me.

#7 Go and read everyone’s comments from yesterday’s post! They had some great tips!

My mom at my high school graduation

Why lemons? They remind me of my mom!

This Sunday, celebrate the women that make your life special, whether it be a mother, aunt, friend, grandmother, or anyone else that makes your heart warm with love. While my mom is no longer here with us, she lives with me in my heart. I feel like she sent me the incredible and loving mother in law I have, and I am so thankful to have my MIL, my auntie Daniela, and my Nonna as some of the strong women in my life. Thank you all forgiving me strength, advice, and love when I need it… and when I don’t!

Recipes Perfect for your Mother’s Day Brunch

Egg White Vegetable Frittata Muffins
Roasted Asparagus
White Bean Crostini
Zaatar Bread
Diary of a Sweet Tooth’s Bread Pudding (www.diaryofasweettooth.com)
Gina’s Whole Wheat Banana Bread (www.fitnessista.com)
Ina Garten’s Spinach Gratin (www.foodnetwork.com)
Pumpkin Pie Cake (www.cookinglight.com)
Real Simple’s Lemon Chicken With Olives (from Real Simple)
Smashed Chickpea Salad (www.smittenkitchen.com)

Other Brunch Menus

Easter Menu 2010
Easter Lunch Menu
Fall Luncheon
Thanksgiving Brunch Menu 2009

If you need any help pulling together a menu, feel free to email me. I am happy to help!

Any special Mother’s Day plans? Share them in the comments!