Healthy Eating: Volume 1

Post-Thanksgiving, I'm trying to eat healthy, which is already hard enough with all of the holiday temptations abound. Unfortunately, most of the magazines I subscribe to and shows I like to watch are all about indulging for the holidays. Since when did this time of year become a gorge-fest? Don't get me wrong, for a big celebratory dinner, or even an occasional Friday night, I'm the first one to throw sensible out the window. But an entire season?

So I've found a few of my fall favorites that are fairly healthful to keep me on track for the holiday season--and allow me the freedom to throw caution to the wind on special occasions!

Ina Garten's Lentil Sausage Soup--ommitting the sausage or replace with turkey sausage, and just use 1T of olive oil
Winter Vegetable Paella--using 1T olive oil, and boneless skinless chicken thighs. I also use brown rice; just parboil it for 15 minutes or so
Fresh Vegetable Penne--I use whole wheat pasta

Swiss Chard Gratin

Happy Thanksgiving! I created this recipe to take to our annual family Thanksgiving dinner. I've struggled with what I could contribute over the years, as all of the traditional sides have long since been claimed. So this year I came up with my own recipe that I think will compliment the carb-heavy dishes already at the table, without overwhelming the rest of dinner. Also, swiss chard reminds me so much of fall, it's the perfect dish for Thanksgiving!

Swiss Chard Gratin

3 lbs swiss chard, thoroughly washed, leaves cut away from stems, stems coarsely chopped, leaves cut into ribbons
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T flour
1 c fat free half and half
4 oz Parmagiano Reggiano, grated
½ c pine nuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 375.

Boil chard stems in salted water for 15 minutes. Then add leaves and cook another 15 minutes. Drain well, squeezing out as much liquid as possible.

Meanwhile, cook onion in olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add garlic, cook another 1 minute. Stir in flour and cook until a paste forms. Stir in half and half and cook until thickened.

Mix together chard, half and half mixture, and 3 oz of cheese, and pour into a gratin or soufflé dish. Top with remaining cheese and pine nuts. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Book Review: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Like many people, I get many of my recipes online at sources like allrecipes, Food Network, Food & Wine, etc. It makes me wonder why I keep so many cookbooks cluttering up the kitchen. Then I open a book like Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, and it's crystal clear why it's allowed valuable shelf space in my cluttered kitchen.

Recipes as simple as tomato sauce made with only tomatoes, butter, onion and salt come alive with descriptions such as:

"There is nothing inherently crude about tomato sauce. Quite the contrary: No other preparation is more successful in delivering the prodigious satifactions of Italian cooking than a compentently execute sauce with tomatoes; no flavor espresses more clearly the genius of Italian cooks than the freshness, the immediacy, the richness of good tomatoes adroiitly matched to the most suitable choice of pasta."

Essentials is quite literally essential for anyone who wants to create authentic Italian dishes. The recipes focus on the quality of ingredients and the methods for preparing those ingredients to maximize the flavor and experience. Few recipes require more than 5 ingredients.

The instructions are comforting, as Marcella makes you feel as though she is in the kitchen with you. From her Bolognese Meat Sauce recipe, she instructs: "When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface."

Essentials is the perfect volume, for both seasoned foodies and beginner cooks alike. The introductions and recipes read as though you are cooking beside your Italian grandmother. Remarkable, given that I am only Italian in spirit!

Leftover Turkey: Turkey Chili

After Thanksgiving, I am so tired of turkey and all the trimmings, that the last thing I want is a leftovers meal that tastes like Thanksgiving dinner all over again. I developed this turkey chili as a great way to use up leftovers. Best of all it's healthy, and goes great with football!

Turkey Chili
8 servings

2 T olive oil
2 onions, diced
3 poblano peppers, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced across
1 serrano pepper, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced across
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 T cumin
3 T chili powder
½ t cinnamon
1 t oregano
1 T smoked paprika
1 chipotle pepper, chopped
1 bottle dark beer
4 c turkey stock
28 oz. Diced tomatoes
1 14 oz. can pinto beans
1 14 oz. can black beans
1 14 oz. can chickpeas
1 ½ pounds cooked, shredded turkey meat
1 oz dark chocolate
Salt & pepper
½ cup low fat sour cream
4 scallions, chopped

Sauté onion and poblano slowly over medium heat until the onion begins to caramelize, approximately 15 minutes. Then add a pinch of salt, Serrano and garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in all spices to make a paste. Cook 2 minutes. Add chipotle, beer, turkey stock and tomatoes, bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour to let the flavors combine.

Add all beans and turkey and warm through, approximately 10 minutes. Stir in chocolate, just until melted. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve topped with low fat sour cream and scallions.

Welcome to Diva Cook

Hi there. Welcome to my first posting of Diva Cook. I'm hoping this will be a place where people like me can chat about at home cooking, entertaining, and generally having fun with food and drinks.

In my opinion, a diva cook is one who owns the kitchen, in whatever way that works for you. For me, it's a little Alton Brown (food geek), a little Rachel (simple and fun), and little Tyler (making it the best), and a whole heck of a lot of me. I like to have fun, I like to try new things, and I like to bring my friends and husband into it.

I think the cooking experience isn't just about following a recipe's instructions, but bringing your own attitude to the meal. In my kitchen, that means mixing classics with new techniques, and pairing food and drink for an overall fun experience. You don't have to be a master chef to have fun in the kitchen, and cooking shouldn't be a chore. If it is, you're making things that are too complicated for your cooking interest level. Try new things, have fun, and express yourself!