enjoyed in the past – but with better pictures

“Old” tomato goat cheese strata (yikes!). Visually improved tomato goat cheese strata:

Same delicious recipe from Cooking Light. Now hopefully you’d actually want to make it

How is your week going so far?? Mine is flying by and I’m not too happy about it. I have things to accomplish!! Although now that I think about it, this weekend I’m going to NY to go wedding dress shopping with my sister (and hopefully celebrating my best friend’s 30th birthday… if I can get a hold of her!) so it’s going to be a good one. So I guess it’s ok that it’s coming so soon.

As I mentioned in the my previous post, my sister’s wedding is definitely motivating me to get a little more serious about healthy eating. I’m not going on any crazy diets but I am being a little more mindful about what I’m eating. I put up a big calendar on the fridge reminding me of the “big day” (sort of funny saying that since it’s not my wedding) and a few pictures of myself at a lower weight for motivation. It’s only been 1 day, but I feel like I’m approaching this in the right way and feel good about weight loss results that are sure to follow!

The best part? I have a few old favorites to ensure I’m eating satisfying healthy meals. Like this strata. It comes together quite quickly, uses ingredients I always have on hand (well, I happened to have fresh sage on hand this time, but I’d just use dried if I didn’t) and it’s so warm and comforting. It has (whole wheat) sourdough bread and goat cheese. You can eat it for breakfast or dinner. And one quarter of the pan is a serving. Really, what’s not to love?!

Diets, shmiets. I’ll stick to this!

What are your favorite healthy and satisfying recipes? Please share with me in the comments!

A few weeks ago I received an email from Daria who does PR for Nasoya. She wanted me to check out their new Nasoya Tofu U website (U stands for university) – a destination of all things tofu (recipes, games, instructional videos, and contests). She also told me about some of their newer products, like the organic sprouted tofu and TofuPlus which is fortified with additional vitamins, and offered to send me coupons to try them out. Of course I jumped at the chance (and asked for somethin’ somethin’ for you too!!).

I browsed through the Tofu U “cafeteria” section and found an interesting looking recipe for crispy tofu tacos with creamy jalapeno lime drizzle and decided to give it a go.

It’s important to press water out of your tofu if you want crispy results. Thanks, Lindsay, for sending me this awesome press!! The tofu pressis not a must though. Here is my previous “tofu-pressing system.”

This recipe was unusual to me because instead of flour, you covered the tofu pieces in cornstarch before stir-frying. I was really happy with the results, though – it created a real crust on each piece and the Worchester sauce gave it a lot of flavor!

Don’t forget the fantastic toppings! This was the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, crunchy and creamy with mango, jalapenos, bell pepper and avocado.

I turned the tacos into refreshing burritos… sort of This recipe is a winner!!

Ready to win some Nasoya swag? One lucky winner will get 5 coupons for any free Nasoya product and a Tofu U t-shirt.

Here are the rules: there are plenty of ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me anything tofu related.

2) Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (a link to this post must be included to qualify)

3) Take the Nasoya Tofu U pledge. You’ll automatically get Nasoya coupons and tofu recipes.

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Link to this post on your Facebook page.

7) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

8 ) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each qualifying entry. This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!) and ends at midnight on Sat, December 10. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her the following Monday. Good luck!

PS – I created a Favorite Recipes page over the weekend. This recipe will be added to it as well. Please check it out and let me know what you think!!

So here we go – 3 new favorites from the past few weeks

Healthified zucchini bread from The Sweets Life

I made 2 loaves of this bread last weekend and have been enjoying a slice (or 2) each morning with some Greek yogurt and a cup of coffee. I can’t imagine a better breakfast to wake up to! This bread/cake is slightly sweet, moist and full of cinnamon flavor. And who doesn’t love hidden veggies for breakfast?

In the perfect world, I’d start my morning with the above zucchini bread and have these grilled pork chops with peppers and capers from Mario Batali’s Italian Grill cookbooksince these were the best pork chops I’ve ever made!!

The secret is brining the pork chops overnight (actually since salt is a preservative, I left them in the brine for a few days since I was too busy to cook – extra bonus points for ease!). You know how salt makes you retain water and bloated? Well brining does the same for meat. The water retention makes them super juicy!

These peppers with capers were fantastic as well – smoky and briny. Yum! And no, these aren’t onions – they’re purple peppers from the farmers market. Cool, right? I have not made one thing out of that cookbook that I wasn’t completely head over heals for. LOVE.

How about something packed with veggies for dinner? When I saw Ranjani blog about this grain salad with corn and poblano peppers, I knew those wheat berries all the way in the back of my pantry had to come out of hiding.

I will take advantage of the last days of summer, fresh corn, heirloom tomatoes, local hot peppers and all!

I went light on the olive oil, used goat cheese instead of queso fresco (when is goat cheese not the way to go? amiright??), added chickpeas for extra protein… and apparently forgot the toasted pumpkin seeds. Oops. (I didn’t miss them though)

I loved the chew from the wheat berries, the sweetness of the corn, spice from the 2 kinds of chili peppers and the wonderful garlic infused olive oil dressing the grains. It’s fantastic room temperature but even better warmed (the goat cheese gets all melty and seductive. Do it!)

Oh and as proof that I’m committed to reinstating some old favorites – here is an oldie but goodie. My favorite chocolate chip cookies. Everyone needs a go-to choc chip cookie recipe. Could this one be yours?

Get a little closer…

Hungry yet?

That’s a whole lot of favorites. What are your favorite recipes? Do share. And yes, I want details!!

PS – A new post on a summery Russian dessert is up on Russian Bites. Check it out!

Prior to my long weekend break (during which, in case you’re wondering… Adam and I hosted a bbq gathering for all of our friends, and then spent a full day lounging around the house – watching tv and eating leftovers, not bad… not bad at all), I did do something blog related and very fun. I took a crepe making class at the local pop-up creperie in Boston.

Dore Creperie was founded by Greg just a few months ago and will be at its current location downtown for the next 5 months… until they move and pop up at another spot. I don’t frequent Boston’s downtown often but I have heard buzz about Dore and was very excited to be invited to a crepe making class there, especially since I just learned how to make Russian crepes. Wanna see what making crepes entales? Come, come!!

Elizabeth organized the whole thing and Megan and Lindsey also attended the class with me. We started the class with a quick history of crepes, while tasting historically inspired combos like honey and figs…

… and fried egg and tomatoes

We also tried the very early crepe batter from buckwheat flour and water. I actually thought it was interesting in its own way (earthy for sure!) but the more modern buckwheat crepe (which has eggs and butter) I am sure is a lot tastier and less “crunchy granola.”

We fast-fowarded to the current classic dessert crepe with nutella and strawberrries.

Drooooooool

Oh yeah, while listening to Greg talk, we sipped on banana and nutella milk shakes. So indulgent. So incredible.

Let’s just say I wasn’t hating this. At all.

Time to get our hands dirty!

Megan felt way too comfortable with a gigantic bag of flour. Lindsey was a little more apprehensive…

Oh, Megan also taught me how to crack eggs with one hand. Very exciting. I put those skillzzzzzzz to use already and feel like a pro every time (I’m going to get to 3 at once at some point, Megan, just give me time!)

Here is how you make a basic crepe batter:

 1. Whisk eggs, then slowly add milk

This was 10 eggs + 10 cups of milk… in summary: a lot!

2. Add the egg/flour mixture to all-purpose flour (1 cup of flour to each egg and a cup of milk)

3. Whisk it all together, then add melted butter (2 T/egg)

Let rest for 30 minutes.

Basically the proportions are 1 egg to 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of melted butter. This would make a few crepes. Definitely make at least 2 or 3 times that!

Ok, time to use the fancy crepe pans… pour some dough in the middle of the pan, then spread around the pan.

I failed at life at this step miserably. Look at attempt #1:

Attempt #2 (you can actually patch up the whole with a few more drops of batter – much needed in my case)

… there are a few more undocumented ones. Luckily I had help (and making them at home is waaaaay easier - see my picture tutorial here).

Much better! [That means I didn't make it, ha!]

Filling them with every imaginable combo was definitely the best part!

Brie, fig spread and prosciutto

Egg, feta and sundried tomato

Chocolate, graham crackers and stawberries…

We made dozens of combos – these are just a few!

I could really get used to this job

Before going home, we got some of our batter to-go. I had dozens of crepe filling combos in my brain but decided to finally try the mushroom crepe cake Shannon blogged about a few months ago (I made 1/2 a cake as you can see).

Cheesy mushrooms between layers of herbed crepes… buttery, rich. Delicious!

I had such a fun time learning about the evolution of crepes and trying my hand at using those crazy crepe pans. What should I use my sweet batter for? I’m thinking of sauteed peaches and salted caramel. How does that sound??

How did you spend your long weekend? Did you have a chance to unplug?

PS – Just noticed that LivingSocial has discounted crepe classes at Dore. Funny coincidence – if you’re local, I’d recommend it!

Now onto something fun I did this weekend. The weather was dreadful (stoopid rain) but we still had a chance to eat at East by Northeast – a sustainable Chinese tapas place, which happens to be on my 30 by 30 list. The place was adorable but the lighting was not good for pictures so Adam and I happily enjoyed a photo-free dinner.

I continued to plow through my list (ok not exactly “plow”) by inviting Josh and Melissa over for dinner. I’m totally crushing my goal of 12 dinners this year (this one was #3 already in less than a month! Told ya I’ve been busy!!).

Scenes from the kitchen…

[Tofu pressing]

Melissa is vegan so dinner was a 3 course vegan meal. On the menu:

• Tofu and mushroom lettuce cups
• Jamaican veggie hand pies
• Double chocolate cranberry cookie dough balls & Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream

[Recipes linked to the names]

I don’t think that having a few friends over for dinner needs to be a big production, but if it’s the weekend and I have time, I love making things a little more special. I’ve mentioned it before but I just love browsing through recipes and having a theme in mind (vegan in this case) was actually fun.

Tofu and mushroom lettuce cups

I doubled the recipe to make sure we have enough and it made A LOT.

This was quick and very flavorful. Would make for a really great entrée over rice.

While the guys were chatting it up, I went back to the kitchen to make the hand pies which… were a pain in the ass. Instead of butter (not vegan) the dough had coconut oil which was pretty hard to work with. It was either rock solid or almost mushy the second it started to warm up. I persevered and made 5 large and 1 mini hand pie and crossed my fingers that it would bake up into something edible.

Oh it did.

While the coconut oil was hard to work with, it made these taste so much more special. It had the texture similar to any short dough (given the high fat content) but had a natural sweetness that was very appealing. Btw, I added some black beans to the filling (and omitted the onions of course) which was a great decision. Some hot sauce over the top and these were lip-smacking good. We devoured them within minutes! (I saved the dough and the remaining filling and am determined to make a few more pies for me and Adam to enjoy later this week). I’d make these again and see if practice makes perfect

Dessert time!

[How cute is my ice cream container???]

Cookies fresh from the oven with homemade ice cream. Does it get any better than that??! It doesn’t. I speak from experience.

I used dark vegan chocolate chips instead of white, and dried cranberries instead of cherries for the dough balls and am very happy with the results. Just like the peanut butter chocolate chip dough balls the dough was quite dry, but the taste was nothing short of amazing. Pea Daddy said “Those will be gone by midnight”… well ours were gone by 10!

The vegan ice cream was delicious as well. If you put it side by side with the “cows milk” ice cream, it wouldn’t win but in a class by itself, it was very delicious (and well, if you’re vegan – obviously that taste test would never even happen). I LOVED the cookie dough made of cashews, dates and chocolate chips (larabar-style) and will make those again just for a random dessert soon for sure (I ran out of cashews, otherwise I would have doubled the recipe right there!). Nice job, Lauren!

Happy bellies all around. Checking things off the list has never been tastier

I realized at the end that we never took people photos so here are Josh and Melissa with their “party favors” (aka a box from our popchips stash)

Haha, don’t they look like proud (popchips) parents or something?

All right, that’s enough rambling. Say hello in the comments if anything strikes your fancy See you soon!

I actually had plans to make this curried chickpeas and broccoli dish but when I saw this Seeds of Change tikka masala sauce in my pantry as I reached for the chickpeas, I decided to make dinner even simpler. What could be easier than 3 ingredients with a little premade help?

I browned the chickpeas a bit, then threw broccoli pieces and the sauce into the pan to simmer.

Red quinoa was cooking on the burner next to it and everything was ready in 10 minutes.

[Sorry for the picture, the steam coming off the curry was making everything blurry!]

I loved that someone else took the time to let the flavors develop and all I had to do was dump the sauce over some protein and veggies and 10 minutes later a real meal was ready! Unfortunately this particular sauce had so many onion chunks I was completely appalled – I dug them out like a little kid between bites, which did not make for a pleasurable dinner experience and actually ruined my mood. The search for the perfect tikka masala sauce continues!

Next time I’m in no mood to cook, I would love to turn to some premade “shortcuts” for a semi-homemade dinner. Do you have any favorites? While I always prefer homemade, convenience sometimes wins. I often turn to bottled salad dressings, packaged granola bars, etc.

Oh, and if there is jarred sauce you know of or you have a tikka masala recipe that tastes like the real thing at restaurants, I’d love to hear about it! It’s my favorite!!

For more from me, check out my post on kotleti over at Russian Bites.

We’ve been spending waaaaaaaay too much money on groceries lately and since I refuse to reduce my quality of food standards (and I do plan on continuing cooking!), there is only one way to save money. Less meat. [We bought over 3lbs of raw meat this past week, plus bacon and deli turkey – that really added up!]

The problem is that I always feel like if I’m going to make something vegetarian, it has to be super comfort foody (yes, I just made up that word) to make up for the lack of meat. I feel like a vegetarian dish has to prove something, which can only be made up by excessive amounts of cheese or crusty bread. Lean (meat or seafood) protein just seems so much healthier in comparison!

So I’d like to build a library of healthy meatless meals that I can make over and over again. Adam said that because I rarely cook anything twice, he’s always a little scared before I serve dinner (especially if it’s vegetarian). Here is this week’s meatless contender…

Kale and bean enchiladas with sweet potato sauce (which Natalie actually linked to in my go-to recipes request post… see, I listen to your suggestions!!).

I didn’t have any zucchini on hand (and of course omitted the onions) but I had mushrooms and a bell pepper so I tossed those into the mixture. I also used black beans because Adam has a not-so-secret obsession with them. Lastly, Natalie’s pumpkin sauce became a sweet potato sauce because Adam is also not a fan of pumpkin (although I really think it would work well here… and it would be zero points!) Side note: have you ever tried pureed canned sweet potatoes? This was my first time and I’m IN LOVE. So sweet and amazing. I think I’m going to buy a few cans and eat it straight up for dessert) The result:

OMG, you guys. This was seriously incredible!! I used Trader Joe’s low carb tortillas and the recipe made 7 enchiladas for me (they were basically like mini-burrito sized) – 5 Points Plus each (I reduced the amount of cheese to a little over 1/2 cup and used light cheese). The greens, bean and veggie mixture was super garlicky and the sauce was creamy, slightly sweet with a bit of heat… and more garlic. I LOVED this. Adam said it was good but does not deserve to be on the favorites list. Ugh. I could eat it every day, but you know – I have a husband to please.

SO, help me find more healthy and balanced meatless meals! I promise to try them if onions are not the star ingredient.

Josh and Melissa were over for dinner. You’ve probably seen them on the blog before but I have to give them a shout out anyway. Josh is the blogger behind Lost In the Beer Aisle and Melissa is the founder of Ecolissa (remember it?). They’re both vegetarian (Melissa is vegan) so I challenged myself to cook an all vegan dinner. Actually, it wasn’t even that hard. I cooked real food, like I always do.

Scenes from my kitchen…

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On the menu:

• Hazelnut tahini dip with baby carrots
• Thai red curry with tofu + brown rice
• Peanut butter chocolate chip dough balls

We started with some Azerbaijani dip – naturally vegan!

Here is a preview of what Josh was drinking – you’ll have to check out his blog if you want to know whether it’s any good

Melissa and I were drinking organic Riesling she brought over. It was perfect with the slightly spicy dish I made.

This red curry recipe had great reviews on allrecipes.com but it seems like everyone made modifications to it (which by the way is a major pet peeve of mine… if you had to modify it to death to make it taste good, guess what – the recipe is probably not 5 stars!! anyways… we won’t get cranky tonight ).

I (obviously) subbed tofu for chicken, used light coconut milk, doubled the amount of veggies and included broccoli and bamboo shoots as well. It tasted off for a while until I just kept on adding more and more red curry paste (I used at least 5T by the end). A whole lime’s worth of juice seemed to finally make the flavors pop. It still wasn’t spicy enough for me but Adam talked me out of dumping the whole jar of thai curry paste into the pot. What can I say, I like things spicy

Dessert needed almost no modification.

I am certain you’ve seen Mama Pea’s dough balls all over the blogosphere. Yes? I’ve been drooling over them ever since the Foodbuzz festival (I think she veganized Annie the Baker’s recipe the day after the trip!). My dough was DRY – like powdery dry. I hoped it would stick together in the freezer but no luck. I added about 1/4 cup of water to the dough and worked it with my hands until it seemed to cooperate a bit better and I was able to shape it into dough balls. 10 minutes later came out these lovely pillows.

Peanut buttery perfection. This whole plate was gone by the end of the night. We won’t name names but someone at the table consumed 8 cookies. Maybe even more than one person. Yup, that good.

It was such a fun night!! We didn’t even realize that we talked until past 1am and that is way past this old lady’s bed time. Melissa even informed me that no one wears nude stockings anymore. Is that true???? I felt like one of those people that still wear things that were “in” when they were young. Wow, now I really sound old. Haha. Anyways, we made plans to talk fashion and beer again, very soon.

And the next morning, I had to pretend like a late night and drinking did not happen because this slave driver my sister was at my house bright and early ready to run.

I was NOT as excited to run outside. In the cold. Between mounds of snow.

But it was amazing!!! It was actually a gorgeous day out and I did a 4+ mile loop around the river with my sister and she took off for one more finishing 9 miles for the first time (she’s training for the NYC half marathon!). It sure set the right tone for the rest of the day. Oh yes, it was one good weekend full of more good eats and even shopping (thanks parents!!).

Ok, I’m off to pack for my business trip to NY. Melissa, I bought new tights so hopefully I won’t get laughed at in NY.

Ooh, before I forget – the winners of the Now Eat This cookbook giveaway are #15 and #79. Congrats ladies! Please email your addresses to elina@healthyandsane.com and I’ll make sure you get your cookbooks asap.

Does vegan cheese taste like “real” cheese? Or at least, can it taste good?

I present to you, the contestants!

I halved one small pita and made little pita pizzas. Daiya topped pizza:

Lite (dairy) cheese pizza:

Some ‘shrooms

After 5 minutes in the toaster oven (quickest dinner ever!)

Can you tell what’s what?

Yup, that’s daiya cheese – didn’t melt as much but I’m sure it would if I gave it more time in the oven. I just wanted to compare the two with the same oven times.

“Regular” pizza with light cheese melted a bit better for sure. But how did these taste?

This lite cheese is not great but I’m more about the crust, sauce and toppings when it comes to pizza. Daiya mozzarella cheese tasted rich and cheesy but unfortunately it tasted like blue cheese to me, not mozzarella… and I can’t stand blue cheese. I took a second bite to give it another chance but just couldn’t stomach it. 20 minutes later Adam was home and gobbled up my leftover half with Daiya. He said to tell you all that it tasted really good, blue cheesy but way better than he thought. And he doesn’t pity vegans as much anymore… that’s basically a quote.

Have you ever had vegan cheese? What did you think? It was fun conducting this little experiment! Anything else you’ve been wondering about? Maybe I can be your guinea pig.

Just 2 more days left to enter the Now Eat This! cookbook giveaway!

Something I’m focusing on this year streamlining my life a bit so I have more time for things that make me truly happy. Today, Adam and I made a decision to cancel our cable (well, bring it all the way down to basic) and I hope that for me, this removes the temptation of trashy brainless television and leaves more room for cooking, reading, friends and blog related activities (it will also save us nearly $90/month!). Yeah, Millionaire Matchmaker was the last straw before that decision was made (yup, I’ve hit the bottom, lol) [We will be buying Apple TV so that we can still enjoy our favorite shows on occasion!]

Today, Adam and I also came up with an awesome new feature that will be added to Healthy and Sane. I am SUPER excited about it but you’ll have to wait for details (we literally just thought of it today so there is a lot of stuff to figure out!). I hope it will make this blog a more interactive and helpful experience for all of you. Stay tuned!

Lastly, I’m proud to say I’m back in full force on the exercise bandwagon. 2 workouts in 2 days in 2011 (actually 5 since this post) and I’m feeling all new and shiny. I love how exercise makes me feel. Don’t let me skip too many days in a row, ok? Ask me about it!!

The food part has been interesting. I’ve been semi-healthy the past few days (well there were cookies and wine on NYE but that’s to be expected) but either the meals I try have been bland or my taste buds are being extra picky.

Case and point…

North African chickpea and vegetable tagine from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

9 PointsPlus and bland. Extra salt and hot sauce made it edible but despite all the spices, I still found this boring.

This recipe for mushroom cakes with guacamole and red pepper couli was on Lizzy’s list of best dishes of 2010 (btw, did you catch my list?).

I love mushrooms but found this to be too mushroomy. What’s up with me?!

Are you ever bored of just about anything you cook/eat? Any new changes for you in this new year?

I hope I get out of this weird food funk. I want to be excited about everything this new year has to offer (and you know food is up there)!!

Oops, almost forgot – the winner of the RainCoast Trading giveaway is #32. Kerstin, congrats, please email me your address!

See you soon! For more meals from me, check out a new post on Russian Bites (it’s on my dad’s specialty!).