Roasted Asparagus

I was invited to attend Easter brunch at a friend’s house this morning, and was told to bring a veggie. I know asparagus is a traditional dish for Easter but I’d never made it before, so I bought some and hoped for the best!  In the same trip I picked up a copy of a new (to me) food magazine someone recently recommended – Everyday Food (a Martha Stewart publication).

In the magazine was a recipe for roasted asparagus with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Being Passover I couldn’t do the breadcrumbs, but I thought I could just leave those off and follow the rest of the instructions. It seemed easier than trying to steam the asparagus, which intimidates even some of the good cooks I know. I went with the roasting, and it turned out great. Here’s what I did:

0) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
1) Cut the bottoms off of 1.5 lb worth of asparagus stalks.
2) Using a peeler, peel the bottoms so they’re not as thick.
3) Place the asparagus in a single layer on the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.
4) Drizzle 1 Tbsp olive oil evenly over the asparagus. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
5) Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese evenly over the veggies, too.
6) Roast at 425 for 20 – 25 minutes, until the asparagus is tender.

It really couldn’t have been easier, and the people at brunch seemed to like it.  Split into 6 servings, it’s 1 PT per serving. The evoo also helps count toward your daily servings of oil on the Good Health Guidelines.

I know we’re coming to the end of fresh asparagus season, but if you get another good bunch or two I recommend this preparation. Thanks, Martha!

Crustless veggie/ham quiche

I  have never made a Quiche before, but a friend at work had some for lunch Friday and said it’s a great way to use up veggies that don’t have much longer before they go bad. For me it wasn’t the veggies I needed to use up, it was 6 eggs, so I decided to give it a go. Being Passover I didn’t do any crust, but honestly I don’t think  I needed any. I can hardly call this a “recipe”, but here’s what I did:

Ingredients:
~1 c frozen diced green peppers
~1 c frozen chopped onions
1/2 bag broccoli/cauliflower florets (fresh)
1 tsp evoo
3 oz lean ham steak
3/4 cup 2% milk shredded cheddar & colby jack cheese
6 – 8 fresh large eggs
~1/4 cup fat free milk
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Dash of salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Sautee the peppers and onions in the evoo until they’re soft and the onions are starting to brown.
2) Dice the ham into small chunks. Place in a medium bowl.
3) Chop the top (floret) part of the broccoli and cauliflower into small pieces. Place in the bowl with the ham and toss it all together.
4) Add the peppers and onions to the ham, broccoli, and cauliflower. Toss to mix.
5) Coat a 9″ pie plate with cooking spray. Spread the veggies and meat evenly across the bottom.
6) Top the veggies and meat with the shredded cheese.
7) Crack all the eggs into the bowl that used to have the veggies and ham. Whisk together.
8) Add the milk, salt, pepper, and mustard to the egg mixture and stir to combine.
9) Pour the egg mixture into the pie plate on top of the meat, veggies, and cheese.
10) Cook the quiche at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let cool slightly, then cut into 8 wedges.  Serve warm.

That’s it! Really, really simple. And by my calculations each slice (which is fairly large) is 2 – 2.5 PTS. There are a few caveats or notes to share, though:

- I used a deep dish pie plate, like you’d use for apple pie, to make sure nothing spilled over. I highly recommend this because it was puffed up quite a bit when I took it out of the oven.

 - I only had 6 eggs, which did not make enough liquid to cover the filling. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of egg beaters, and you’d never know. That’s why I said 6 – 8 eggs in the listing above. It may push the PTS up to 3 PTS per piece if you do that, but I’d be afraid of what would happen if you didn’t have enough liquid.

I’ve had this for breakfast for the last 2 days, and it makes a quick, easy snack with protein. It’s also a great way to get your veggies in if – like me – you don’t like some of the ones that are best for you. I actually don’t like broccoli, cauliflower, OR eggs so it’s a miracle that I like this dish. But I do, so I’m going to run with it!  (this also looks great and is something I would serve to company or bring for brunch without a second thought)

Daily Menu Plan 3/31/10 (Passover)

Here’s the plan for today. Looking forward to a good OP day because the last few weeks I have not been a model of healthy eating or staying within PTS.   Slipping up happens – what matters is that you get back on track. And today I am!

B: 1/2 whole wheat matzo (1) with 1 Tbsp peanut butter (2) and 1 banana, sliced (2)

S: 1 cup blueberries (1) with 6 oz greek yogurt (2)

L: Matzo ball soup with turkey (4), large salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette (1)

S: 2 clementines (1), 1 Passover Date & Nut bar (2)

D: Marinated pork tenderloin (5), 8 oz (raw) sweet potato w/ SF maple syrup (3), 1/2 c steamed baby carrots (0)

Total PTS: 24
GHGs: F&V = 6, Protein = 2, Dairy = 1, whole grains = 1/2, oils = 1

WW-Friendly Matzoh Ball Soup!

I made matzoh ball soup tonight and am so excited with the way it came out, both for taste and PTS reasons!  First I made the matzoh balls with:

1 envelope Streits Matzo Ball mix (Manischewitz is the same calories)
1 1/3 Tbsp olive oil (it was all I had!)
2 large brown eggs

I mixed all that together and let it sit in the fridge for about 45 min while I prepped the soup. I made that from the following:

1 carton low sodium organic chicken broth
1 carton full sodium organic chicken broth
1/2 bag organic baby carrots, cut into pieces
approx 1/2 – 3/4 cup frozen chopped onions

I let all that boil in my soup pot on the stove while the matzo ball mix chilled out.

When the mix was cold, I formed it into 11 matzo balls, each starting about the size of a quarter. I plopped them into the pot as I rolled them and let them cook for 30 minutes. They fluffed up SO nicely, I think because I used less oil. The recipe called for 1/4 cup and I had no intention of using that much! I would have used 2 Tbsp but I ran out, and it turns out that 1 1/3 Tbsp (approx) is more than enough!

I then tore up some leftover turkey white meat from our Seder turkey and put it in the bottom of the bowl (nuked it for 30 seconds just to warm it up from the fridge). I then ladled a generous helping of soup and 2 matzoh bowls over the meat and sat down to the perfect light Passover dinner for a cold, rainy evening (we’re having the great flood here in Boston right now…can Elijah bring Noah and his ark please?!).

And the best part….Total PTS = 4!!!!  2 PTS for the 2 oz of turkey, and 1 PT per matzoh ball (I put it into Recipe Builder to be sure). Amazing!!  I packed up the soup into smaller containers for lunch for the rest of the week. I’ll probably have it with a large salad and a Date & Nut bar. This is seriously going to be the tastiest Passover in a long time!

Passover Date and Nut Bars

My mom and I tried a new-to-us recipe from the Passover section of my grandmother’s 1972 temple sisterhood cookbook. The goal was to use up some potato starch my grandfather bought, so we found a recipe for Passover date & nut bars. They were AMAZING!  Light and fluffy – like blondies but with dried fruit and nuts instead of chocolate chips. And I was happy to learn they were only 2 PTS per bar!  I took a few home from Mom’s to use as snacks for the week, and will definitely add them to next year’s menu.

Passover Date and Nut Bars
 
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup potato starch
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs, separated
½ cup matzoh cake meal
1 cup dried dates, cut up
½ cup orange juice and rind (we interpreted rind to mean a little zest)
1 cup raisins (we actually did have raisins, half dried cranberries)
 
Beat yolks and sugar well.

Add salt, cake flour, potato starch,dates, nuts raisins and orange juice and rind.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to a stiff peak. Fold into the rest of the mixture. 

Spread in greased shallow pan (about 8 x 11) .  Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes . Let cool, cut into 24 squares.

PTS per bar: 2

Thanks to Mrs Abraham Altman  of the Temple Beth El sisterhood for contributing her recipe way back in ’72! It’s a winner!