Comunidad Health Foods

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love ricotta cheese, and those who hate it. It seems to be one of those polarizing foods, and there’s really no getting around it. If you love it, lasagna and stuffed shells aren’t the same without it. If you hate it, there’s no method of preparation that will make it palatable. My family comes from the second camp, and somehow, my body synthesized the ricotta-loving gene out of thin air.

At least, that’s what I thought, anyway.

I never eat homemade meals with ricotta in it, because my family doesn’t like it. This means I’ve never bought ricotta before. I only ever eat it at restaurants or in some other sort of prepared dish. I decided to treat myself and buy a container recently – some would go into a pasta dish, this pasta dish that I’m about to share with you, and the rest I would experiment with. I chose part-skim because I wanted something a little leaner than whole milk ricotta, and a little less…artificial, shall we say? Than the chemical-laden nonfat variety. Ever since cracking into this tub of part-skim, though, I’m starting to think that either I’m not really a die-hard ricotta fan – just another poser enthusiast - or I’m such a ricotta purist that only the fresh, full-fat kind will suffice. Sigh.

If you can spare the calories, I would recommend making this dish (or any other in which ricotta plays a pretty prominent role) with the best quality, least processed kind you can get your hands on. This means, I think, more fat. The flavor and texture will really take the meal to a new level. Still, even with part-skim you can get decent results.

I swapped the plain chicken with lean chicken sausage, fresh thyme with dried, and broccolini with broccoli rabe. To be honest, it was missing something – a sprinkling of mozzarella, a dash of sugar, some small addition to heighten the flavors already in the pasta. The higher fat ricotta (or maybe the addition of a few tablespoons of creamy, plain greek yogurt instead) might do the trick, too. Even so, it’s an easy and different recipe, so I enjoyed it, and hope you do, too!

After a scary bout of snow that did more damage than I thought possible for the measly 3 inches that accumulated, we’re back to fall weather flanked by sunshine and brightly colored trees. I breathed a sigh of relief when I walked out of my class this morning and wasn’t met with a blast of cold air that would convince any unsuspecting person that it was surely the dead of winter.

To celebrate this return to autumn, I have to tell you about this slightly sinful but absolutely incredible granola I tried out recently. I’ve actually never made granola until now, and for one reason and one reason only: the RD-to-be in me gets hung up on the nutrition facts. You hear the word granola and you think health – it conjures up images of yogurt and fresh fruit, whole grains – the perfect post workout snack, right? Unfortunately, granola almost always delivers a mean dose of sugar, fat, or both, and the calories can be pretty high. I’ve just never found a recipe that keeps those 2 in check – the sugar in particular. You see, even honey and maple syrup, no matter how natural, are sugar in the end.

This one passes the fat test (about 7 ½ grams total, less than 1g saturated), replacing most of the oil with applesauce and coming out no less fantastic. The calories aren’t even unheard of, with each ¾ cup serving being only 315 calories. Unfortunately, there are 29 grams of sugar, which is more than enough to push it into the dessert category for me. To put 29 grams into context, that equals about 2 1/3 tablespoons, or just over 100 calories just from sugar alone. It isn’t abysmal, but it’s still not going to find its way to my breakfast plate.

If you get past the nutritional hang up, however, this granola is quite something. I tried it warm from the oven and the flavors weren’t nearly as strong as when I let it cool. It also developed a better crunch as it cooled down, so in the end I had a bowl of crunchy granola that tasted exactly like pumpkin pie (with some raisins and walnuts thrown in for good measure)! I’d like to try decreasing the sugar at some point to see if I can get it into my breakfast cycle, but it really is tasty as it is. Turn it into dessert by sprinkling it over vanilla ice cream, mixing it into chocolate mousse, or just eating it by itself!

Well, I’ve gone and done it again. I took a perfectly good recipe and just had to lay my grubby little nutrition paws on it. This time, the victim was my Best-Ever-Knock-Your-Socks-Off sugar cookie (and by “my,” I really mean the one I found on Bake at 350 and fell in love with, not one that I created and tested myself). It was really harmless – I just don’t buy all purpose flour at my apartment because I feel like I don’t use flour enough to justify two different kinds. I only ever have white whole wheat flour in stock, so I decided to try it with this recipe and just see how it would go.

For the first time ever, everything my Food Prep professors told me about each flour having its place made sense. My stubbornness did not win, at least not completely. You see, I knew deep inside that whole wheat flour was not chemically the same as all purpose: it attracts more water, drying out the product; it gives the finished product a darker tint and a hearty little chew; it’s just not the same, and apparently the tender crumb of a truly wonderful sugar cookie depends on at least the partial actual of good ole’ all purpose. My dough was a little dry and the cookies cracked more than usual. The giant smear of buttercream on top somewhat masks this more intense version of a sugar cookie, and they certainly do not taste bad – in fact, several people who tried them (myself included) admitted to appreciating the extra bite from the fiber, but I also know that I will likely refrain from a 100% flour swap for this recipe again. I’m sure I’ll test it, maybe ¼ cup at a time, but I have a feeling these cookies will be the kind of dessert that you just accept as being essentially one big batch of empty calories, and enjoy them for what they are: simply delicious.

You can find the recipe for this beautiful, perfect, everything-I-had-ever-dreamed-a-cookie-should-be recipe in an earlier post on Floptimism. On the other hand, if you’re interested in a whole wheat sugar cookie that packs a little bit of a hearty, chewy punch, check out my last attempt at whole wheat-a-tizing a cookie. They’re absolutely not traditional, but they have a nice bite to them that the delicate, traditional ones lack – and the dough, I think, was more amenable to the whole wheat switch than this one here wound up being.

And, if you want to learn how to make these adorable pumpkin sugar cookies just in time for Halloween, keep reading!

What are your plans for Halloween? Have you already started celebrating? I’m away for the weekend to visit some friends and celebrate with them, and then it’s back to the trenches of school on Monday for the actual holiday. Still, living in my new apartment, I’m going to get trick-or-treaters for the first time! I already stocked up on candy and have my witch’s hat ready to go for when they start knocking. I can’t wait!

Snow. In October. I know that’s not so uncommon in parts of this country, but for here, it’s a little disheartening. True, I may be speaking too soon – right now the precipitation is cold, wet rain, but the temperatures are preparing to plummet and I can feel the rain clouds getting ready to turn into snow clouds. I almost feel as though I’ve been robbed of autumn: it was so warm throughout September, and just when the leaves were turning and the crisp air came in, we get hit with this unseasonably cold front. My meals have consisted of chili, soup, and more soup, and the bundles of firewood at the grocery store have come very close to finding their way into my cart.

Enter Rachael Ray’s Emmanuel Nini’s Caponata – and if that’s not enough of a mouthful for you, I don’t know what is! This is another reliable recipe from her Classic 30 Minute Meals cookbook, but not one that I went stark-raving-mad over. It was a standard, perfect-for-cold-weather meal: warm and comforting, though not wildly seasoned so ultimately pretty simple. Every once in a while you get a sweet burst from a hidden raisin, which is a really nice surprise. I ate it with some toast, but I think it would make an even better chunky, hearty sauce for pasta. Later on I snacked on some leftovers with added parmesan cheese and a dollop of plain greek yogurt, and then that meal had me at hello! It was creamy, and absolutely killer. I broke tradition, I know, and may not even be allowed to call it a caponata anymore, but I’m including that dollop of yogurt in the recipe below because it was fantastic.

I took some other liberties, nixing the capers and olives (those pesky salt monsters!), using all green peppers because my poor little red one was infested with mold when I cut into it, and opting for a full can of diced tomatoes with added time for reducing/thickening because when you try to scale down the recipe, you’re left with two half-containers of different tomato products.  The only other change I would make, and it’s really not so much a change, would be to serve it with a fresh side salad for extra crunch and freshness.

I used to like hummus, but I never really loved it unless it was coming from an actual Greek restaurant. I couldn’t get myself to go crazy over any of the brands in the supermarket. Then, I tasted a homemade batch that one of my nutrition professors had made, and my taste buds just about died and went to heaven. It was fresh, clean, and so much more flavorful but in the subtlest, gentlest of ways. I knew that was the secret. Sure, I still buy and eat Sabras or Athenos every now and then, but more and more I have started to try my hand at homemade hummus.

Beyond the quality improvement that I think goes hand in hand with making your own, you can control a lot of different factors, from nutrition to new and exciting flavor combinations. Today I have two different recipes for hummus to share with you – one that demonstrates how easy it is to control the nutritional content, and another that shows how fun and creative you can get with different varieties (I’m not just talking about garlic or roasted red pepper, folks).

Before I get into those, though, I thought I might take a moment to break down a basic hummus recipe and talk about the individual ingredients that go into it, for anyone who might be new to this fantastic dip/spread.

Chickpeas: also called garbanzo beans, these beans are at the heart of virtually any hummus recipe – they are certainly the foundation for any traditional recipe you might see. You can read about my ode to chickpea recipes to see all of the versatile ways you can incorporate them into your diet. One half-cup serving has only 100 calories and 1.5 grams total fat, but it offers 5 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber and only 13 grams of net carbs – making them a nutrient-dense choice for anyone. Mostly, though, I love them for their nice, understated flavor that pairs well with everything from feta cheese and lemon juice to smoky spices and spinach.

Tahini: the next ingredient that you will find in pretty much any recipe for hummus is Tahini, or what is essentially sesame seed butter. This seed butter has around 88 calories, 2.6 grams of protein, 3.2 grams of carbohydrates, and just under 8 grams of total fat per tablespoon. Considering that most serving sizes call for 2 tablespoons, this brings it up to be pretty comparable to other nut and seed butters. I have to admit, I have not once purchased a container of tahini. In the beginning, I got it in my head that it was overpriced compared to other butters. Now that I’ve seen the price tag on containers of, say, almond butter, I’m starting to rethink that assumption, but nonetheless, I have yet to find myself in possession of a jar of the Real Deal. Instead, I use whatever nut butter I have on hand – sunflower butter is a particularly nice substitute, but peanut and almond butters work just fine, too. I’m sure a hummus purist would tear their hair out over such news, but for the average home cook, it’s perfectly ok to use whatever you have in your pantry.

Flavorings: Once you get those two basic ingredients, most recipes will call for some ratio of garlic, lemon juice, and herbs/spices. The more traditional you go, the fewer extras will be thrown in, but lemon seems to be pretty much a staple no matter what. This helps with the clean, fresh taste I was talking about earlier, and can really lighten up the dip in terms of flavor.

Once you have the basics down, you can start playing around with different flavor combinations. Pumpkin hummus, cilantro-jalapeno hummus, carrot hummus, “skinny” hummus – the possibilities are really endless. In fact, I have yet to make a full-on traditional hummus, though the half-used bag of dried chickpeas in my pantry is calling to me for that very purpose.

The first recipe I have to share with you today is a lower-fat hummus. Even though tahini and nut butters give you a hearty dose of healthy fats (the unsaturated kind), they still contribute to calories, and when you’re adding hummus to a sandwich or something like that, the calories can add up and be pretty deceiving. So, I tried out a recipe that replaces all of the tahini with plain, non-fat Greek yogurt (possibly my favorite ingredient of all time – I really am only one step away from being Chobani’s chief spokeswoman). It did still taste like hummus, though it wasn’t particularly as smooth as I was hoping. This tends to happen with homemade hummus in general, so I’m not really too deterred by that. Still, in the future I might do a combination of nut butter and yogurt, just to get that hint of nuttiness in there without giving up on my buddy, Greek yogurt, completely.

After that, I tried out a beet hummus that bucks tradition pretty much at every turn. Rather than adding pureed beets to the chickpeas, and most variant hummus recipes do, this one actually replaced the chickpeas completely. What this means is that nutritionally, you’re getting less protein and more sugar and, really, a completely different gustatory experience altogether. It’s sweet, but tart from a generous serving of lemon, and the prettiest, brightest shade of magenta you could dream of.

Both were delicious in their own way, and a good way to shake things up if hummus is a common food in your diet. They couldn’t be easier to make, either – once the beans and beets are cooked (and you can see my notes below on how easy those can be to make), it’s really a matter of dumping everything into a food processor and making a puree. The extra little bit of effort that goes into making your own is far outweighed by the amazing difference in taste and the endless possibilities for flavor combinations – at least, if you ask me. 

 (Hummus Deviled Eggs made from the LF Hummus)

As much as I grumble when cool, fall weather initially sets in and my body struggles to adjust to the lower temperatures, there’s one thing I do wholeheartedly welcome about this time of year: warm food. Sure, I enjoy a salad every once in a while, and a good yogurt parfait is none to be trifled with, but in the end, I like my food hot. Autumn and winter give me the only excuse I need to churn out meal after meal of warm deliciousness: a chill in the air. If you’re at all like me, you’re probably gearing up for this kind of cooking, and if so, I have the perfect recipe for you.

If you don’t find yourself getting excited over a dish titled “Chickpeas and Spinach,” call it the much more exotic, traditional name of “Espinacas con garbanzos.” However you refer to it, though, know this: this is easy comfort food at its finest. It’s light in a way that most vegetarian dishes tend to be – that is, it’s certainly filling, but doesn’t leave you feeling physically heavy by the end of it. It also has a very nice heat to it, and this time, I’m talking spices, not temperature. The first time I made it, I brought it to a potluck and didn’t even get a taste of it before it was gone. So, it went onto my “try again” list, and just a month or so ago I gave it a second shot. I don’t recall what foul thing happened the day that I planned to make this for dinner for round 2, but whatever it was, I was in no mood to fuss around. I wanted food – good food, comforting food, hot food – and I wanted it a.s.a.p. Lucky for me, this recipe was wondrously forgiving, and I was able to throw the ingredients in without much measuring at all, and I was, in fact, able to have good, comforting, hot food in front of me in no time at all. (Unlucky for all of us, but mostly for you, said bad mood also meant that I just took a last-minute picture of the dish with my phone, rather than a thought-out picture with an actual camera.)

My high school gustatory passions pretty much consisted of cheesesteaks, French fries (cheese fries were even more heavenly), and buffalo wings – the hotter, the better. I remember one time actually needing to hold ice cubes to my lips after a particularly harrowing experience courtesy of a hotel room service menu in Colorado. I haven’t bitten into a real cheesesteak since giving up non-grassfed beef almost a year ago, and my French fry consumption has mostly been weaned out and replaced by things like roasted root vegetables cut into fry shapes (lest you think this is some form of self-deprivation, I’d like to add that I find the roasted veggies to be much tastier now than a plate of greasy fries). I also haven’t chowed down on a good plate of wings in what seems like eons.

So when I saw a recipe for buffalo chicken sandwiches in Rachael Ray’s Classic 30 Minute Meals, I couldn’t get it off my mind. Every week when I sat down to plan my menu, I would think of that recipe. It was only a matter of time before I gave in and tried it out. Of course, I revamped it, giving it my RD-to-Be stamp of approval (without, of course, disappointing the high schooler who is still very much a part of me, believe it or not). I also like to think that I cut back on some of the total calories, making it a more me-sized meal, since I tend to eat several smaller meals throughout the day. One super-stuffed baked potato and a chicken sandwich and dessert just seemed like a bit much.

Words cannot describe what I wound up with on my plate that night. This was a total indulgence, 100% enjoyable, and not even something that anyone should feel overly guilty about (brushing aside the whole-other debate of whether or not there’s really any food we should feel guilty about in the long run). With this meal, you get fiber, lean protein, and more flavor than some people might know what to do with. This is also the first time I’ve liked celery in a dish – it gave the potato filling a nice crunch and freshness – so bonus points for that.

Next time, I might make it a little spicier – the buffalo flavor came through loud and clear, but needless to say I didn’t need 10 glasses of water to help me through the finish line. I also need to remember that microwaving times vary depending on how much food is being heated in them, so when I cut the recipe down and didn’t change the potato cooking time, I wound up with some pretty shriveled potato skins. Not the end of the world.

In the end, this is probably my favorite from Rachael Ray’s cookbook so far. I may actually catalog this in my real, honest-to-goodness recipe box, and if you’ve been following my Thirty Minute Thursday posts at all, you’ll know that most of the time I tell you that her recipes are really just rough guidelines to keep in the back of your mind. They aren’t the kind of meals you need to follow step-by-step. It’s true that you can tweak this and mess around with it just like the other recipes, but I do want to remember this for future meals because you can bet it’ll be gracing the Floptimism kitchen again. And again. And again…