Love for the Lactards: Lactose Free Chocolate Cake

Life is a little less sweet when you are a lactard. Sure you can get a tofutti cutie at Dartmouth halal and margarine is healthier than butter, but it's just not the same. People can rave about sorbet all they want but it is certainly no ice cream. Then of course there is the lactard tax-- that miserable $0.40 that Starbucks tags on to for added soy milk. In my younger days I complained to the mighty 'bucks in letter form... Nothing happened. But rather than dwell on this Brie lover's misfortune, I have just worked around it. Luckily I live with another dairily disabled food lover who is usually down to try out my concoctions. For his birthday last week I made him a deliciously rich chocolate cake from my aunt's recipe; adapted to be lactose free without using random soy substitutes or mocolate. For this rich cake recipe (in both lactard and regular versions), continue reading...

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Happy Birthday CCL

Now chug a beer!

Spicy Fried Rice and So Long NYC

After 3 lovely years of east coast living I am finally moving out. My apartment is 90% packed (movers arriving tomorrow) and my last day of work is Thursday. After a summer of getting married, traveling and living out of parents’ fridges, I should be driving cross–country to my new home in SF in early August. Hopefully by then we will have found a place to live and I will be gainfully employed. I have fantasies of a bigger kitchen to work with and even, wait for it, wait for it… a grill. A girl can dream!

So while I won’t be cooking too much over the next few months I will attempt to cultivate my live blogging skills (which are seriously lacking) by focusing on the awesome culinary photo ops that are sure to arise in my mom’s fridge, various weddings, Hawaii and of course in any diners, drive-ins and dives encountered on my journey west.

My last home cooked meal in my teeny tiny NYC kitchen really developed out of the need to clean out our fridge. Leftover ground turkey, rice and some various asian condiments provided the base for a pretty delicious spicy fried rice. Continue reading for the flavorful goodness…

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Tofu for Haters

Like 90210, Kashi cereals and capri pants, tofu is not always appreciated by men. Fear of this soy product usually stems from it’s bad name as a bland white blob or previous experience with poorly prepared versions. While I could eat this stuff any which way, living with a boy forces me to flex a little culinary muscle and spice it up a bit. There’s no need to make the stuff unhealthy. Just make it well and serve it up in 2 styles, his and hers…

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Easy Mango Chicken Skewers

In a matter of days I will get to be an aunt--- which at this young and irresponsible age, is an ideal baby situation. My sister’s unborn son, who we lovingly refer to as ‘the little critter’ will undoubtedly be a cute bundle of joy and as an aunt I am in the awesome position to spoil the little guy and also carry him around in one of those awesome front backpacks for a few hours, reaping some “ooohs” and “ahhhs” while simultaneously keeping warm with this adorable space heater strapped to my chest. The best part of this equation is that it only lasts a few hours at a time and then… I get to give the baby back! This is key to the amazingness of being a mere aunt or uncle: Giving the baby back and going on with your life.

I’d imagine that free time will be pretty much eliminated in my sister and brother-in-law’s home, so in their honor I’ll offer a recipe so quick and easy that even new parents could whip it up for a delicious dinner. But don’t worry, you don’t have to have a baby to make this :) It is also easy and delicious for us young folks with a busy sched and a hankering for some tasty food.

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I Say Fro, You Say Yo

New York goes from sweet and pretty to muggy and sweltering in a heartbeat. For me, glimpses of humidity and walking around in the sunshine lead to intense fro yo cravings. What is it with girls and fro yo? We love it, we crave it, we put wayyy too many toppings on it and honestly if I could get my daily vitamins and fiber intake from Pink berries and tasty d swirls alone, I think I could be content living on the stuff all summer long.

This summer love is what made last week's fed ex delivery so exciting; a magical gift arrived in our apartment --- a Cuisinart ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt maker. What!? You say. Make your own frozen yogurt?!! Make your own flavors in the comfort of your own tiny apartment??? Yes, my friends it is true. I have done it, it was easy and yes It was gooooood.

Gather your roommates, nag your bf, do whatever it takes and get yourself a cusinart model #ICE-30BE to make this delicious concoction...

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Healthy Carbonara for the Spring

Ankles are bare, coffee is iced and the streets of NY are filled with happy people soaking up some much needed Vitamin D... Spring has officially sprung! The street-side restaurant seating, floods of European tourists on the Upper Westside and the faint aroma of dog pee on the sidewalk promptly cast my mind back to my junior year semester in Rome where my mind travels to one place... The food!!!

With the help of our rowdy group of 10 studenti di Dartmouth, I quickly learned the 4 most important things about Roman culture:
1. The Italian word for strike is sciopero. This is an essential piece of vocab since the Italians love strikes and have them all the time, especially the public transportation. Luckily you can plan to walk ahead of time since the strikes are conveniently announced in advance in the newspaper.
2. Italians do NOT like binge drinking. This posed a problem at first but we soon found an American bar with Wednesday night AYCD beer power hour, where we held "meetings" every week.
3. Italians are terrible dancers --- a great discovery and amazing confidence booster for those non power-hour nights out at Italian discoteques.
4. Most importantly, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a bad meal in Rome. Really, it's impossible!

Which brings me to the pasta - it's all about the Roman Carbonara. Unfortunately, with crazy 85 degree weather in NY and swimsuit season around the bend, Carbonara is a pretty heavy dinner to say the least. Luckily I found this suprisingly delicious Carbonara swap out: a healthy low-fat remix that still gets across the key flavors.

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Hot and Cheesy Chicken Wraps

Air travel is not what it used to be. I’m not talking about the Oooold days where people dressed in their Sunday best and stewardesses looked like pinup girls, but rather the old days, where they gave you a meal and a pillow and it didn’t cost $20 to check your bag, EACH WAY!

Having just returned from a delightful trip to Utah I was thoroughly unimpressed with the status of New York air travel. I arrived at JFK terminal 8 --- which if you’ve been there, you would know it is an entirely un-feng shui little rat hole. Any movement is slowed by crisscrossing security and check in lines and the space is made all the more creepy by the ever-present chirping birds which fly around in the rafters, nesting and inevitably stealing fries from your table at Sam Adam’s brew house. I got onto the airplane and realized that I of course would not be fed on the 5+ hour flight unless I wanted to shell out $5 for a giant STAX of lays chips or a face-size cookie. The saving grace was the PB+J in my carry-on and the back of the seat in front of me, a personal tv. Food Network is definitely my airplane station of choice. I can zone out in my chair and watch it without having to focus. The problem with this is that it makes me SO hungry. I normally stick with Giada and The Barefoot Contessa but I would be lying if I said I didn't get a sort of sick pleasure out of watching Paula Deen. I mean that woman can take something an innocent as a banana and defile it in every fattening way possible and still tell you to feed it to your kids, with a smile! Watching her show is akin to clicking here. You say ewww gross but every once in a while you think ‘Mmmmm that actually that looks kinda good’ and stow away that recipe for a far-off rainy Sunday. I was intrigued by the tagline for this particular show: ‘Paula goes bananas with bananas!’ I like bananas, I'd like a good banana recipe and I am grossly curious how unhealthy Paula Deen can make them. She does not disappoint. First off she's making a great after school snack for kids --- bananas covered in melted butter, fried in cornflakes crumbs. It’s kind of like watching a heart attack in super slow motion. Then it's a banana ham casserole. She layers wonder bread with ham, cheddar cheese, banana, potato chips, heavy cream and wait for it, wait for it... Bacon. It's sick… It's clogging arteries across America… but I have to wait till the end of the show to watch her fat face light up when that gnarly ham banana casserole comes sizzling out of the oven.

So in Paula’s honor I’ve decided to jazz up a chicken breast with bacon and cheese --- or rather turkey bacon and low fat cheese. Continue reading for all the gooey goodness of a heart attack Paula-style but without the actual fat and cholesterol!

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Healthy Meatloaf to Keep You Rocking into your 80s

Last week was my grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary. The two were married in 1945 when they were both serving as marines. They started a family and got into Dartmouth with the GI bill but went to Middlebury because it offered family housing and they had a baby to cheer on daddy at his football games. In a time when more marriages end in divorce than not, I find this pretty impressive and think it worthy to explore their particular recipe for love. Humor is definitely the definitive ingredient and in their older years all the more important...

2 summers ago, I bravely orchestrated the meeting of my grandparents with my boyfriend’s parents over a summer lunch in Massachusetts, where the two families only live an hour apart. Things were going well and my future father in law was discussing his job as a professor at Harvard. My grandfather, upon hearing the word Harvard was very excited to tell the table that he had always dreamed of going to Harvard Medical School, so he had decided to do the next best thing… Donate his body to Harvard Medical School when he died. “It’s good for science and it’s free!” Unfortunately, he explained that Harvard told him that after a cadaver is used the family still needs to pay to have the remains cremated. He was of course indignant that this would cost anything. “So”, he paused, “I’m going to UMass. They’ll cremate me for free, ship me home to Kay and then she can just sprinkle my ashes on the steps in the winter so her boyfriend doesn’t slip on the ice!” My grandmother, Kay, giggled and said, “Oooh honey you’re so good to me!”

Lately my grandparents have had a habit of being at their most amusing when I bring visitors to their house. This summer I went up to my grandparents house in MA with my boyfriend for a weekend and drove up their wooded driveway at about 2pm on a Friday. As we pulled in and looked over to their pool we saw them swimming laps: my grandmother, wearing a humongous sombrero to shield her 85 year old skin from the sun. My date strained his eyes over the car wheel and then looked at my slowly saying, “Um… are they????” Knowing my family like I do, I didn’t even need him to finish his sentence. I looked harder at the pool and finished it for him, “Oh my god, yes, they are totally naked! Turn around!!!!”

We exited the car, facing the opposite direction and shouted, “Hello!!!”
“Oh dear! We didn’t know when you’d be arriving! We’re naked as Jay birds over here!! Just give us a minute!” My grandmother shouted gaily.

“We’ll just go inside and put our stuff away, we’ll see you in there” I replied. And they happily finished their laps before dressing and greeting us.

So in honor of these octogenarians I am sharing a delicious old school dish with a healthy new recipe fit to keep you ticking wayyyy into your 80s…

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Obama Sushi

from my new favorite distraction

Fresh Veggie Dumplings

The other night, while out to dinner with some people at a pub, one of my friends ordered fried calamari with our meal and explained that it was not only his favorite standard app but he ordered it anytime it was on the menu. In trying it everywhere he ate he had created his own mental calamari Zagat guide: solely rating the quality of a restaurant on the quality of its fried calamari. Good fried calamari = good restaurant. As specific as this may sound I can definitely appreciate the idea of rating places by what you like to order and creating a tiny niche for yourself as a food critic. For me, it all comes down to the steamed vegetable dumplings. Chinese, Japanese, Thai or Vietnamese, if there is a steamed vegetarian dumpling on a menu I always order it. It is my appetizer of choice and I feel confident in my ability to direct you to a quality veggie dumpling. For those in new York I strongly recommend the crystal spinach dumplings at Saigon grill, the steamed edamame dumplings at Rickshaw, the black bean dumplings with mango sauce at Josie’s and whatever you do, do NOT order dumplings (or anything for that matter) at Ivy Cafe on west 72nd street, ick.
So with all these great dumpling places I have never made my own, until now. I found this really simple healthy recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com and they were delicious. Continue reading for my adapted (easier) version of his recipe. These guys were healthy, tasty and satisfying enough to serve as a main course to a table of carnivores....

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Meatballs Fit for an Olympian

Watching skiing, skating, bobsledding and luging in the Olympics really highlights the two most vital possessions of a winter Olympic athlete: the ability to confidently wear a spandex suit in front of millions of people and lots of courage. I mean obviously everyone knows the racers are bad asses; what normal person could confidently and coolly hurl themselves down a mountain at 90 miles per hour? But what has really caught my attention at these Vancouver games is the utter cojones of the men and women in pairs figure skating. First of all you’ve got this 100 lb woman willing to be thrown up into the air over hard cold ice by a dude wearing sequined spandex but then even more ballsy is her sequined partner who is facilitating the spins and twists of a woman with sharp metal blades on her feet rotating just inches from his sack. Now that takes guts!

So what dish can I salute these brave icemen and women with? My homemade chicken meatballs of course --- these are not only delicious but will keep you looking cut in a spandex suit!

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Submitted with a giggle: Russian Ice Dancers

Picture (with article about outraged Australians) from here.

Gold Medal Spaghetti Squash for Vancouver

In honor of the 2010 winter games I am feeling the need to pay homage to our brethren to the north, Ooooooh Canada!

I was first exposed to Canadian culture at the age of 7 when my father took my excited brother and I to a WWF match in White Plains, NY. We were fortunate enough to view a cage match in which the Mountie (from Canada) gave a whoopin' to the Big Boss Man. I will never forget how his Canadian mountie baton emitted sparks when touching the cage walls thus shocking the Boss Man who was leaning against them. My next Canadian experience came in my French 1 class in the 9th grade when I learned about French-Canadian culture through the lens of "TeleFrancais," a zany French-Canadian teaching show featuring a dancing pineapple - "L'ananas son dances?" Finally in college I met some Canadians. They all played ice hockey, wore really wooly intarsia sweaters and said strange things like "When I was in grade 8" instead of "When I was in the 8th grade" and smoked a lot of pot. Thus my experiences have left me with a positive impression of Canadian culture.

But aside from a delicious breakfast on a trip to Montreal, I have not experienced Canadian cuisine. In researching the matter I have found many a hearty dish to keep those crazy Canucks warm. In looking up what is local and currently in season in British Columbia, I am drawn to the wonderfully delicious spaghetti squash. So in honor of the Vancouver games I’ll share with you my adaptation of this great recipe I found and made last week…

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Valentines Breakfast photo follow Up + Chocolate Covered Bacon

The chocolate scone and scrambled eggs turned out pretttty good. I used the leftover chocolate to whip up a bit of chocolate covered bacon with a peanut butter swirl from this recipe. I know I know, but I couldn't help myself. I heated the chocolate in the microwave to make the recipe easier and subbed the white chocolate with peanut butter.
I'm not really a bacon eater but I was told it was reaaaaallly good!

Valentine's Day Breakfast Special

I used to think that you needed to spend a lot of money or be somewhere exotic to really spoil yourself. Now, with work consuming my life for five days out of the week, it's clearly the simple things in life, the ones I never have time for, that are the biggest indulgence. This includes the simple act of sleeping in. After a long busy week I can think of nothing better than a Saturday morning with nothing to do. How amazing is it to sleep in on a weekend, wake up to eat a delicious breakfast and... *Now here comes the beautiful part*... get back into bed and go back to sleep! It’s even better than my next favorite morning maneuver which my brother’s friend has appropriately coined “the sweet baby Jesus”. This move is quite similar; You wake up in the morning, get out of bed, take a nice hot shower, THEN… you get back in bed and go back to sleep. All sweet and clean in your sheets. Priceless.

So this Valentines Day, ditch the expensive dinner out and the overpriced gifts and really treat your special lady or dude by starting their day off right with breakfast at home. They can eat this delicious meal in the comfort of their jammies and get right back into bed afterwards...

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Game Day Grub: Hot Subs Two Ways

The last time I knew what was going on in professional football, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith were killing it for the cowboys and I was watching the Superbowl in Airwalks.

In terms of this coming Sunday, I know the following: the Manning brother that’s not from Hoboken is playing against Kim Kardashian's boyfriend and I should turn to Animal Planet at halftime for the most amazing puppy display I will ever witness.

My lack of knowledge does nothing to diminish my enthusiasm though... Football food is the best! The Superbowl is usually primetime to be a big fatty but this year I'm going to share some delicious dishes that only taste unhealthy. Here are two easy hot sandwich recipes that skip on the grease and are also delicious served without bread as a hearty entree...

Rachel Ray's Buffalo Sloppy Joe's
-Makes 4 big servings
Serve on a roll or baguette for an amazing sandwich or just in a bowl as a hearty stew.

-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 pound ground chicken or turkey breast
-1 carrot, peeled and chopped or grated
-2 stalks celery, chopped
-1 yellow onion, finely chopped
-2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper
-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used 1 tablespoon of a brown sugar/splenda blend)
-1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
-1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
-1 cup tomato sauce
-1 cup chicken broth
-Burger rolls, split and toasted (optional)

Directions
-Heat a large skillet with extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat.
-Add meat and break it up into little chunks with wooden spoon, cook 5 to 6 minutes.
-Add in carrots, celery, onions and garlic, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cook 7 to 8 minutes more.
-In a bowl combine the vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, hot sauce, tomato sauce and stock. Pour into the pan and stir to combine.
-Simmer a few minutes more. Pile sloppy Buffalo filling onto buns and top with blue cheese or a little of the below ranch sauce.

Optional side sauce - cools down the spicy.
-1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
-1 half packet ranch dressing seasoning powder.
- Mix together and serve a little dollop on your Jo.

My Sausage and Peppers
-Serve on a roll or baguette for an amazing sandwich or just in a bowl as a hearty stew.

-4 sweet Italian turkey sausage
-1 large (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
-1 onion - chopped into thin slices
-2 red bell peppers – chopped into thin slices
-2 cloves garlic – chopped finely
-Italian seasoning
-1 bay leaf (located near seasonings)

-Put large pan over medium- high heat
-Spray with Pam
-Cook sausage for a few minutes until browner on all sides- take off and put on plate
- auté the onions, peppers and garlic for 10 mins sprinkle on some salt
-While veggies are cooking, cut the Sausages up into little bite size pieces
-Throw sausages back in pot and add canned tomatoes and juice
-Sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning and mix everything up
-Sauté for 20 minutes, taste and add more salt to taste.

Remix to Fried Chicken

(HT to R. Kelly)

Now,um,usually I dont do this but uh....
Go head' on and break ‘em off wit a lil' preview of the remix....

No I'm not tryin to be rude,
But hey muffin top I'm seein’ you
The way you eat oily gassy food
Remind me of my Lexus coupe
That’s why you need to use yo grill
Tryina lower yur fast food bill
You must be a big fat joke
S'here's how you got to make yo meal

So baby gimme that shake shake
Lemme give you that bake bake
Runnin those breasts through the sauce
Eat’em with mustard sauce
While they say on the radio...

It's the remix to fried chicken
Hot and fresh out the kitchen
Mama rollin that body
Got every man in here wishin
I was cookin his bird
I’m like so what I’m drunk
It's the freakin chicken baby
Health food can be so much fun

Bake Bake Bake Bake Bake
Bake Bake
Bake Bake Bake…

Fried Chicken (the healthier remix)
Makes 2 medium servings

Chicken
3 Chicken skinless breasts
1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
3 slices wheat bread
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Pam

Sauce- Stir together the below ingredients while chicken is baking
1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons grey poupon Dijon mustard
3 teaspoons honey

The night or morning before...
- Slice chicken breast up into thirds - so each piece is about 2 inches wide
- Put chicken in plastic bag with about a cup of the yogurt, let marinate (between 2-24 hours)

That night
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Line pan with tin foil and spray with PAM
-Toast bread
-Put bread in blender/cuisinart and add 3 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder blend until you have made fine breadcrumbs. Put bread crumb/spice mixture in a big plastic ziplock bag
-Take chicken out of other bag with yogurt and pat dry with paper towels to get rid of excess yogurt
-Put chicken in plastic bag with crumbs and shake until chicken is all coated
-Put on tinfoil covered pan and bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through
-Serve with mustard dipping sauce

Submitted with a cheer! - Cindy McCain step out against Prop 8

Click here for the Huffington Post article.

Chicken Sate with Peanut Sauce

It's hard to say how some foods came to be. Take fois grois for example, who was the first asshole who thought to himself, "Hmm I wonder what will happen if I shove a tube into this duck and force feed it until it's liver is completely diseased and fattened?... it's going to be delicious!" Or who was the brave soul who decided, “Let's take this bacteria laden milk, let it sit in our counter for a few days and then I’ll add some berries to it” - voilà you've got mixed berry yogurt.

Other things are a bit more intuitive, like food on a stick. Some cavewoman was obviously grilling up some mammoth when she couldn't find a flat stone to heat over the fire and realized she could just put the meat on a stick. The rest is history: a history filled with awesome things served on sticks.

While I abstain from eating corn dogs I do love a good toasted marshmallow, popsicle, lollipop and of course, the timeless meat skewer. So in honor of this historically tried and true way of cooking, I present you with my rendition of chicken sate...

Chicken Skewers with Homemade Peanut Sauce
Makes 3 big servings

Sauce
-1/3 cup-creamy peanut butter (I like skippy natural)
-1 and 1/3 tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium is preferable)
-2 tablespoons water
-3 teaspoons honey
-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (from spice section) - use more or less depending on your spice tolerance
-1/3 cup light coconut milk (comes in a can, found in international section)

Skewer
-2 cups butternut squash- cubed
-1 red bell pepper - chopped into big squares
-1 purple onion - chopped into squares
-2 large chicken breasts cubed
-Wooden skewers
- Pam

-Preheat oven to 300
-Make sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Add crushed red pepper flakes at the end - stirring and tasting to make sure it's not too spicy for you!
-Line large baking pan with tinfoil and spray with Pam
-Put cubed squash in oven on the pan.
-After 12 minutes of baking the squash throw in the onions
-Bake for another 5 minutes and take out onions and squash
-Assemble skewers using peppers, chicken, onion and butternut squash
-Brush peanut sauce all over skewers and sprinkle lightly with salt (leaving about a 1/3 cup of sauce in the bowl.
- Bake skewers for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through
-Serve skewers with the extra peanut sauce for dipping

Enjoy! This sauce is delicious and would also be great for dipping beef or tofu or as a sauce on soba noodles.