Butternut Squash Risotto

I read through many recipes before deciding on this one on marthastewart.com.  I liked that the squash was cooked throughout and it used only 1 tablespoon of butter for the whole recipe.  Somehow in my calculations, this dish came in at about 300 calories per serving assuming the recipe makes enough for 4 – I was expecting it to be a lot more.

Preparing the Meal

Risottos are not hard to make – they are more an exercise in patience than anything else.  You simply can’t speed it up and still have good results. It’s definitely a dish where you feel like you’re truly putting your heart and soul into it.

The most difficult part was working with the fresh squash.  They are very hard to peel, seed, and cut.  It’s a pretty curvaceous gourd, so I would recommend a high quality, sharp “Y” Peeler. I do not own one and was really regretting it.

Impressions

Risottos are very rich by nature and this one is no exception. Any more Parmesan cheese and it would have been over the top. The fresh sage really brought the whole thing together, so I definitely would not recommend omitting it.  I would make this dish again, but probably not until fall comes around.

Conclusions

Since I’m resting on Day 7, that wraps up our meat free week.  It was a fun challenge to go meatless and I feel like it has acted as a sort of detox which my body can certainly appreciate. Hope you’ve enjoyed my little experiment!

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

Gnocchi in Marinara

Now, when I say we made gnocchi, I don’t mean I made those little potato dumplings by hand.  Rather, we bought them from our local farmer’s market, boiled them, tossed them with sauce, and ate.

Preparing the Meal

I boiled the gnocchi according to package directions, which was 3-5 minutes for ours. I’m not positive, but I think when they float, they’re done.

I had some half-used cartons of broth in my refrigerator, so I boiled the gnocchi in that rather than water to give it some extra flavor (and to use up the broth).  Meanwhile, I heated up some marinara as well as some frozen green beans as a side dish.  I tossed the gnocchi in marinara and we were ready to eat.

Impressions

Though not something we crave, gnocchi is a nice change from the usual pasta and marinara combination.  Our biggest problem is remembering to put it on the meal plan once in a while! It’s a nice, quick meal for those busy weeknights when you want dinner done fast.  Beware of the “eyes bigger than your stomach” syndrome! Gnocchi may not look like a lot on your plate but I guarantee it’s filling.

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

Everyday Red Lentils

I saw Aarti Sequeira make this recipe for her mum’s red lentils on one of the first episodes of her Food Network show and I just had to try it. It was terribly delicious and I’ve become obsessed with these little legumes ever since. This recipe makes 4 generous servings at only about 160 calories each.

Preparing the Meal

I take some shortcuts when making this recipe and so far, I’ve had no complaints. Instead of dicing the tomato and onion by hand, I cut them in large chunks and throw them in my food processor. Everything just cooks down, so it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the final texture. I also use pre-minced ginger from a tube and pre-minced garlic from a jar which both tend to keep longer than their fresh counterparts. We skip the cilantro (because we’d have to buy an entire bunch just for this dish) and garnish it with a squirt of Sriracha instead.

Impressions

This is another tried and true recipe in our home.  We absolutely love it but are afraid to cook it more often on the chance that we’d get sick of it!  Neither of us had eaten lentils before this recipe and now I am on a mission to find tons of lentil recipes for our rotation (another great one is the Indian Dal Nirvana over at Steamy Kitchen).  Their high fiber and protein content really fills you up for a very low calorie count – I’d consider them a super food!

Got any great lentil recipes for me? Leave them in the comments, or send me a message :)

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

We don’t make these sandwiches very often, but they are a nice change from the norm.  Goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, and basil – how can you go wrong (or should I say, ‘how bad can that be’)?  I calculated this recipe serving 4 at about 350 calories each.  It will vary wildly depending on your bread however.

Preparation

While this recipe is essentially an “assembly” style one, Ina has you roast the peppers on your own. I did that…Once. It was a huge pain and so now I use pre-roasted peppers from a jar.  The peppers also are supposed to marinate for a few hours, so it takes a bit of advance planning if you want to eat at a reasonable hour.

Impressions

Being a huge fan of basil and balsamic vinegar, I really like these sandwiches.  The idea of a roasted vegetable sandwich is a great one to build upon. Someday I may swap out the peppers for roasted or sun-dried tomatoes and the goat cheese for fresh mozzarella.  Absolute heaven!

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

Fattoush Salad

I found the recipe on the Food Network website, nestled in a page of Lebanese side dishes.  It’s light, refreshing, and very unique.  I calculated it at about 6 servings of 206 calories each (the calories are mostly from the olive oil in the dressing).  Aside from the dressing, I rarely measure the ingredients for this salad – I just chop up what I have and it always turns out great.

Preparing the Salad

Like the vegetable stew, this dish requires a lot of chopping.  We actually prepped it the day before while we were already in the kitchen chopping up a storm for the vegetable stew.  I combined the lettuce, mint, parsley, scallions, and Sumac in a container and stored it separately from the tomatoes and cucumbers. We use grape or cherry tomatoes because they’re usually more convenient and quicker to chop. The day we had the salad for dinner, all that was left to do was make the dressing.

Impressions

This salad has really become something we crave.  It has a freshness that screams summer, and I’m hoping to grow mountains of mint and parsley this year so we can use them in our cooking. The herbs at the grocery store are pretty puny right now, but dried ones just won’t cut it for this salad.  The dressing is very simple, so I’d also recommend using fresh squeezed lemon juice if possible (1/2 cup should be the juice of two lemons).

A note about the ingredient Sumac – I don’t consider it crucial to the dish.  I was only able to find it at an Asian grocery store, in a huge container,  and I’m not sure how much it really adds to the salad aside from an interesting visual.  It resembles chili powder, but smells sort of like tobacco.

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

I thought it would be interesting to use my blog to keep track of what we’ve had for dinner and how we’ve liked it.  First up, a vegetable stew for Sunday Dinner.

Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous

For Day 1 I used Robin Miller’s roasted vegetable stew recipe.  You serve the stew atop flavored couscous, which was my favorite part of the recipe.  I calculated it at about 5 servings of 325 calories each.

Preparing the Meal

There was lots of chopping involved (Jason helped so we zipped through it) but otherwise it was very easy.  I cooked the vegetables in the broth for longer than the recipe said in order to thicken it up a bit.  I used all the roasted vegetables for the stew, rather than reserving some for use in other recipes.

Impressions

• Jason enjoyed it but we both felt like it was missing something, possibly sweetness, possibly acidity, possibly butter
• Not as good as leftovers for lunch the next day
• Probably won’t make this recipe again, but it was a good way to fill up on vegetables and the roasted vegetable concept can easily be reused in a variety of different recipes with different flavors

Follow the Rest of Our Meat-Free Week

• Day 1: Roasted Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Couscous
• Day 2: Fattoush Salad
• Day 3: Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
• Day 4: Everyday Red Lentils
• Day 5: Gnocchi in Marinara
• Day 6: Butternut Squash Risotto

Then, we started counting calories and exercising almost daily. The experimental dinners became less regular because it simply was easier to plan and prepare meals you already know.

Then came this week. Nothing really special about it but we’re suddenly in experimental recipe overdrive. Four of our six meals planned are new recipes, the first of which we made for Sunday dinner–Reuben Sandwiches.  I must say, we totally knocked it out of the park with this one. Jason had never had more than a bite of a Reuben before but bravely tried it anyway. And he loved it.  The only problem, as Jason said, is “now I can never order this anywhere,” because it probably wouldn’t be as good.

There’s nothing terribly complex about the sandwich itself. Just assemble, cook like a grilled cheese, and serve–but I had never made one before, so I was still unsure of myself. Turns out they’re pretty hard to mess up unless you walk away from the frying pan and let them burn.

Classic Reuben Sandwich

Ingredients

• 8 Slices Rye Bread (Swirl Rye is pictured above)
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 1/2 pound corned beef (best from a deli)
• 2 cups Sauerkraut, rinsed and squeezed of excess liquid (don’t rinse if you like a more pungent kraut)
• Thousand Island dressing
• Butter or margarine (we use Olivio Light margarine)

Directions

Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium heat, as you would for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Butter one side of the bread and place it buttered side down on a cutting board. Spread a very thin layer of the dressing on the bread.  Cut a cheese slice in half and arrange both pieces on the slice of bread.  Place 1/4 of the beef on top of the cheese, and then place 1/4 of the sauerkraut on top of that.  Drizzle some dressing on top of the sauerkraut and spread a thin layer on the second piece of bread. Top the sandwich with the second slice of bread, dressing side down.  Butter the bread slice facing up.  Repeat for 3 more sandwiches (or put them all together at once, assembly line style).

Place the sandwiches in the pan and cook on one side until it becomes golden brown.  Carefully flip the sandwiches and cook for a few minutes more until golden. Serves 4.

California BLT

Ingredients

• 2 slices bread, toasted
• 1 large tomato slice
• 1 large leaf iceberg lettuce
• 1 TBSP light mayonnaise (try it, it’s really a great swap) or chipotle mayonnaise
• 2-3 slices avocado
• 2-3 slices pan-cooked turkey bacon

Directions

Slice the avocado and sprinkle with a little lemon juice to prevent browning. Spread each slice of toast with mayonnaise.  Top with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and turkey bacon slices. Season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper if desired. Enjoy!

Nutrition

I put this recipe into MyFitnessPal and came up with the following approximate nutrition info:

• 377 Calories
• 42g Carbohydrates
• 21g Fat
• 15g Protein

A Tea Party

For a fun office get-together, we recently had a British style “High Tea.” It was a lot of fun and there was tons to eat.  Everyone pitched in and brought a dish, and ours were Ina Garten’s lemon bars. I wanted to make lemon bars for a couple reasons. I’d never made lemon bars from scratch before, and I’d never eaten one made from scratch.

As evidence of why I continue to treat Ina’s recipes like gospel, the response to the lemon bars was borderline ridiculous. We got multiple comments and requests for the recipe. People were talking about them days later. They were that good. Thank you, Ina!  If ever there was a case to be made for using fresh ingredients, these lemon bars would be it. Zesting and juicing 6 lemons was well worth the work. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I didn’t cut them until the next morning before work and I was running pretty short on time.

Here’s the catch: afterward, Jason calculated each lemon bar to be about 300 calories in square format. The recipe actually says to cut them in triangles which would cut the calories in half, but I had never seen triangular lemon bars before and wanted to go standard.  It was definitely a little depressing to find out just how high in calories they were.

The Weight Loss Thing

So you might be thinking, “what’s so bad about a lemon bar once in a while?” And my answer would be that normally nothing is wrong. The real reason it was so depressing to find out how many calories a single bar had was that it became pretty clear that even once in a while, those lemon bars would really hinder our fitness goals. It reinforced that there are lots of things we could probably do without.  I have to think to myself: “Is this lemon bar worth 35 minutes on the treadmill?” When I think of it in those terms, I realize I can probably live without it.

The Honeymoon

I haven’t written many posts about fitness, but it’s actually a main goal for me and Jason right now.  We obviously want to get healthy in a way that we can maintain, but another reason to start was because of our upcoming honeymoon in April.  We’re going to Hawaii and while I’m super excited, I want to be sure I look good in my bathing suit! Having the honeymoon as a goal has been very helpful because it’s something tangible that makes all the hard work worthwhile.

And it has been a lot of hard work.  Thanks to Jason, we’ve gotten back onto the calorie counting wagon and as a result, we’ve discovered that this whole weight loss thing is a lot more tolerable if you supplement with as much exercise as possible.  For example, without exercise, my daily calorie intake cannot exceed 1200.  That’s 600 less than I could eat per day to just maintain my weight. That’s a large meal or two to three snacks. Kind of a big deal.  If I go for a 35 minute jog, I suddenly get 200-300 calories I can spend while staying within my daily goal. The extra padding makes a big difference and I feel better because I’m improving my muscle and cardiovascular strength.

So that’s where most of my time has gone lately. As soon as we get home from work, Jason and I head to the gym.  Then we come home, make dinner, eat, and clean up. By the time we finish, I’m exhausted and just want to vege out a little.  So that’s why I’ve gone a little quiet lately.

The Progress

As much as I hate, hate, hate counting calories, it’s really the only thing that works consistently. It’s the only way you can ever really know how you’re doing.  I’m not going to lie-it kind of sucks being so accountable for everything you put in your mouth, but it’s the only way to have long-lasting results. It’s a complete lifestyle change.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always curious to see exactly how much people lose.  I think it’s what makes us able to sit through the insufferably long weigh-in process at the end of each episode of The Biggest Loser. I hope I don’t jinx myself by saying this, but since the beginning of July, I have lost 21 pounds. I still want to lose about 17 more before the honeymoon, but I would be more than happy to settle for 12. It’s still a long way to go, but I feel like I have the tools to do it.

If I don’t meet my goal I’ll only have myself to blame because after all, it’s all about the math.

We love our favorite orange salad, but sometimes we need a break and for that, we turn to what we call our Harvest Salad. With apples and dried fruit, this salad just screams “FALL!”

This salad is awesomely simple and the flavor payoff is huge. It’s also filling enough to be an entree. Enough chit-chat though. Let’s get to the recipe!

Fall Harvest Salad with Apples, Berries, Pecans and Honey Mustard Dressing

If your pecans are not pre-toasted, put a couple handfuls in a dry skillet and cook them over medium heat, tossing them occasionally, until they become fragrant. Assemble salads individually with the desired amount of fruit, nuts, apples, and dressing. Enjoy! Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 5oz baby lettuces (red leaf and green leaf, or spring mix)
• 2 apples, chopped into bite-sized pieces (I like apples with a little tartness but any kind you like will work)
• dried berries (cranberries, blueberries, cherries, or a mix)
• toasted pecans
• honey mustard dressing, recipe follows

Alton Brown’s Honey Mustard Dressing

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl or liquid measure. Adjust the sweetness if desired. I’ve noticed that different types of honey make this dressing taste different and sometimes an extra tablespoon may even be necessary. (See the recipe on foodnetwork.com)

• 5 TBSP honey
• 3 TBSP dijon mustard
• 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar

Simple, right? Let me know what you think in the comments!