Cheese and Yogurt Parfait

Life’s back to normal. The holiday season brought Christmas, New Year’s and birthdays, and all of them involved multi-day celebrations with lots of eating. Surprisingly, I did not gain any weight. In fact, I lost some (What, What!). Happy New Year to me!

One of the reasons I was able to make it was that I picked up running again. Man, was that hard… I still can’t run as fast or for as long as I could last year, but 5K in around 30 minutes is still somewhat decent. Ironically the reason I stopped running was exhaustion because I read somewhere (it was you Men’s Health) that my speed and resistance was “poor” when compared to the “average man”. I don’t know they may have been referring to Superman’s or Thor’s home planets. Who knows? The point is that I was too tired and I did not like feeling like I was about to pass out after exercising. The reason I workout is because I feel great afterwards and I was not getting that feeling. I took a few months off, but now I’m back running.

Another reason I’ve been doing well managing my weight has to be this month’s workout. Now, that’s an intense workout. During most of my weight loss (and I refuse to call it “my journey”- just saying) I’ve focused on short workouts because 1, I have to move fast and I burn more calories, and 2, because it’s simply easier to commit to it. I was doing about half an hour of lifting or so. But not this month... I’ve been working on building some serious muscle (not sure it has happened yet, though) so I’ve been lifting “hard” for at least an hour, 4 times a week. So, not only I burn a few cals working out, but lean muscle causes the body to burn more fat and I think that has helped a lot. 

Still, the most important part of managing my weight this season has been nutrition. If I knew I was going to be indulging, I made sure I saved it for the planned occasions. While dinning out I minimized the amount of drinks I had, because, let’s face it, EVERYTHING counts. I had wine instead of cocktails, and I limited the amount to two glasses, maybe 3 during New Year’s. And knowing I would be eating so much meant keeping the eggnog – which is a calorie bomb, at bay.

To couple exercise with nutrition I made sure I was eating plenty of protein. I don’t do protein shakes often. Not anymore. They work great for many people but they are not for me. Just like diet soda, protein shakes make me hungrier during the day and through the 3 months I used it, I gain muscle, but did not lose any fat. I think I actually gain some. I went back to my original protein sources (eggs, Greek yogurt, cheese and meat), and it’s working well for me. 

As an example, the other day I needed a quick snack/meal replacement after my workout. I had only a few minutes and I was starving. To kill my cravings and to meet my needs I had a cheese and yogurt parfait. I used fat free cottage cheese, non fat Greek yogurt and apricot jam. I’ve made this with many preserves, and most of them seem to work well! To add a bit of a crunch, I added some granola. I know it sounds somewhat simple, but this snack has it all. A bit of saltiness from the cheese, notes of sourness from the yogurt, sweetness from the jam and crunchiness from the granola. Also, I may only have 338 calories, but it had a butt-kicking 39 grams of protein. Best part, it kept me going through the rest of the afternoon, until I could finally had dinner 4 hours later. 

This 2014, commit to a healthier lifestyle, whatever that implies for you. A healthy lifestyle is not a resolution you know you’ll drop in a few weeks. It’s a commitment to yourself because you know you are worthy of better things. And better things come to those who work for it! Happy New Year!

On the road shortcut

Nutrition facts

338 calories, 37 g carbs, 0 g fat, 39 g protein

Ingredients

1 cup fat free cottage cheese

6 oz non fat plain Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon apricot jam

1 tablespoon granola

Layer the cottage cheese, the Greek yogurt and the apricot jam in a tall glass. Top with granola.

Bacon Blue Burger and Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges

I am a scientist. At least that what I tell myself. As any other grad student, I am stubborn. Anyone who has at least tried to get a Ph.D. in sciences knows that grad school isn't about revolutionary findings that will shape the world for years to come. No, no, my friends. Grad school is about failing... a lot. It's about learning how to avoid self loathing when an experiment fails. It's about doing everything in your power to save that failing plan of yours, even though your inner self's only contribution is a constant "you should have gone to business school". At the end, a Ph.D. is about not giving up in the face of adversity.

The great thing about this Ph.D. resilience is that once you've built it, you can use it to deal with anything life throws at you, for instance, cooking. Earlier this week, I had leftover bananas from last week. Against my better judgement, I decided to make a pie out of them. I told myself, "self, why don't we make a blueberry-banana pie? They work well together in smoothies, so why not a pie? " Oh my, lets just say the pie was a bit of a disaster... There's not even a point in discussing the flavor (which was ok if you were wondering, but certainly nothing to blog home about). I made quite a few mistakes. The worst one was that I didn't use any corn starch, so everything was liquidy at the end. I started with frozen blueberries and they never really cooked, so it was like eating "fresh" blueberries, and to top it all, they released so much water... My combined stupidy resulted in a perfectly baked crust, and a great crumble top getting totally soggy.

Oh, I was so annoyed, but it was time to move on. The birthday of a good friend of mine was approaching and she refused to celebrate it. I mean, come on! You have to do something... So I decided to solve the problem with a "clever" idea. I was to make a birthday cake, a rum cake to be precise. That way we could have the birthday cake, and we could feel like we were at happy hour at the same time. I found a recipe from a Puerto Rican cookbook written in the 50s, that had less details than an Amish dress. I followed the strange and overly simplistic directions and baked the cake. It was a beautiful cake, so I was happy. I left it cooling to decide later whether I wanted a frosting or not, but when I came back the cake had collapsed in the center because, you guessed it, it wasn't fully baked. It was such a tall cake that the toothpick test said it was done, but it wasn't. I wasn't about to give up. No sir. I'm stubborn. I rebaked the damned cake, frosted it with a simple vanilla frosting to retain the moisture, and topped it with sweetened coconut flakes to round the rum and vanilla frosting flavors. At the end it was edible, and according to the ones who ate it, the cake was good. I liked the flavor, but it wasn't as good as it could have been (plus I could taste all that drama...). Maybe next time. 

With a bruised ego, I decided that my last two failed attempts at baking had left me with way too much sugar in my system. It was time to go for a wholesome, summery, and low calorie dinner that will bring my spirits back up. Logically, I decided to make a burger. You know what they say... "burgers make everything better". Oh, wait; maybe I'm the only one who says that... Blue cheese and bacon are probably my favorite toppings for burgers. Even though both of them are good sources of protein, they are high in calories and high in fat. Thankfully, both of them have powerful flavors, so I don't really need to use (or eat) that much of either, so I can get away with using them without adding too many calories to my burgers. Instead of having fries as a side, I decided to make grilled sweet potato wedges to pair with my burgers. I was so excited I told myself "I'm loving it".

 

I started with the sweet potatoes, since they take the longest time to cook. I salted cold water and added two medium sized sweet potatoes, and brought them to a boil. I boiled them until they were almost cooked. I left them cool a bit just so I could touch them, and I sliced them as wedges (first in half and then as wedges). I brushed them with olive oil, and seasoned them with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and brown sugar. I left them sitting on the side until it was time to grill them.

For the  burgers I used a mixing bowl and added the meat, the blue cheese, and the bacon. I seasoned with the mix of my spices (salt, pepper, cumin and oregano) and mixed everything. I split the meat mixture into four and shapped them as balls. I pressed them with my hand making a little bit of a dip in the center, because when the burgers grill they tend to rise at the center, so when they do, they will just even out and they won't have a hump. I fixed the patty shape and went to the grill. I grilled them over high heat for about 5 minutes. I flipped and transferred to another side of the grill over a medium flame, and cooked for 4 more minutes for well done. Please, never-ever press your burgers while grilling. You will loose all the juicyness of the meat. Leave them alone, flip them once and gently check their doneness. 

I grilled the sweet potatoes on the side of the grill that was still hot, for 5 minutes, turning them twice. I used the upper part of the grill to toast the whole wheat kaiser rolls I was using as buns. Please, don't ruin your burger using cold bread. Just don't. When everything was ready, I used olive oil mayonaise on my rolls, assembled my burgers, and served them with my sweet potatoes.

The burgers were very, very good. I loved their blue cheese and bacon flavor. Since I was using sirloin, which is the leanest cut of beef, the bacon and blue cheese really helped keep my burgers tender and juicy even at well done (I prefer medium, but since I was doing two well done, I made them all well done). The best part is that because bacon and blue cheese are powerful flavors, I didn't have to use much to get all the flavor, but only a few of the calories. It was like having my favorite burger at Red Robin without the calories. My burgers were 317 calories per serving and the grilled sweet potatoes were only 122 calories. It was definetely more than just a "happy meal"; it was a great one. I usually don't buy burgers from fast food places, and only seldomly from restaurant chains. When I do, it's from Red Robin because, lets face it: It is a happy, happy place, and their burgers are yu-mmy! However my favorite burger, the "bleu ribbon", has a hefty 1052 calories, and that's without the bottomless fries!!! My burger had all the flavors I love, for a third of the calories (on a cheat day, go to Red Robin just for fun and have any of their great burgers - non payed advertisement, lol).

Finally, a good result! That's all a scientist can ask for. 

Got a healthy recipe for burgers you love? Share it on the comment section!

On the road shortcut

Burger

1 lb ground sirloin 

1 oz blue cheese, sliced or crumbled

2 slices uncooked bacon (18g)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dry oregano

1/2 teaspoon cumin

In a medium mixing bowl add the meat, the blue cheese, and the bacon. Add the spices (salt, pepper, cumin and oregano) and mix. Split the meat mix into 4 and shape them as balls. Press them with the hand and make a little bit of a dip in the center, so when the burgers are grilled and rise at the center, they won't have a hump. Fix the patty shape. Grill them over high heat for about 5 minutes. Flip and continue grilling on a side of the grill that's over a lower flame, and cook for 4 more minutes for well done.

317 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 18g protein per serving.

Grilled sweet potato wedges 

2 medium sweet potatoes 

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper 

1 teaspoon oregano

Use a medium saucepan; add some salt to cold water and use to boil 2 medium sized sweet potatoes until they are almost cooked (20-30 minutes). Let them cool a couple of minutes or so, until cool to the touch and slice them into wedges (first in half and then into wedges). Brush them with olive oil, and season them with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and brown sugar. Grill over high heat for abour 5 minutes, turning them twice.

122 calories, 24g carbs, 3g fat, 2g protein per serving.

Calories from Red Robin's Bleu Ribbon Burger were taken from fatsecret.com
Calories from my recipe were calculated through myfitnesspal.com

The hot chick with the blue ribbons

One of the best qualities of summertime, the longer days, brings great opportunities to finally finish all the home projects that have been waiting all year round. Indeed, we have dedicated the last couple of summers almost exclusively to home projects, but this year we've had the chance to cash in the summer fun (you know, when is not raining, what the hell?) and we've been able to enjoy ourselves. We've spent time with our friends, we've done our share of grilling, and we've done some partying here and there. But of course, one still has to keep up with home stuff, especially if you are borderline OCD like me (yes, everyone knows about my dirty laundry-folding habits). While giving the house some general TLC I noticed that our book collection has grown like crazy during the last few years (and it's certainly doing better than my flowers and without any watering). All those books contain all these great recipes but they're just being ignored, the way I ignored the treadmill for so many years (and we all know how that one ended). I decided to make an effort to make more and more of those recipes.

I decided to start with one of my favorite dishes, turned healthy. I went ahead and picked up one of my favorite books, "Now eat this!" by Rocco Dispirito and flipped the pages until I finally found his version of chicken cordon bleu. This is a dish of American origin (no, it didn't come from France), created sometime during the 1940s, and it was very popular in the 80s and 90s when I was still a kid (I still get carded when I go to bars, just so you know). Cordon bleu translates to "blue ribbons". Blue ribbons used to be associated with a high order of knights in France (L'Ordre des Chevaliers du Saint-Espirit); very prestigious guys. The association stuck around almost synonymous with prestige, and when referencing the dish, it probably just references that it's a "prestigious" or "fancy" dish, just like with the famous food academy. One of the close relatives of the chicken cordon bleu is the traditional Swiss dish made from a veal fillet used to wrap ham and Gruyere cheese, battered and fried. In that part of the world the breaded veal, pork and chicken fillets are very popular (schnitzels), so all they had to do was to add the ham and cheese, and wrap it (now suddenly KFC's chicken - ham and cheese- chicken sandwich with no bread doesn't seem that crazy any more, just nasty). There's also an Ukrainian dish, "Chicken Kiev", which is made from a thin chicken fillet, it gets stuffed with butter, rolled, breaded and fried, is also a likely influence in the development of the chicken cordon bleu.

I love chicken cordon bleu. My mom went through a short phase of making those often when we were kids (although I have reasons to suspect she bought them frozen, they were very good). Suddenly she stopped making them, and never made them since. I have to say that as a cordon blue expert (do not mess with me, sista), this recipe is amazing. All the flavor is there; I knew that from the get go since I had it before, but I've never made it myself. I feel like everyone should now this recipe, and since I found out Mr. Dispirito has published online as well, I figured I wouldn't be sued for sharing it with you.

Rocco's recipe is beyond amazing. It has 4 times less calories (4-fold less, for my scientist friends), and 12 times less fat than the regular cordon bleu. That means that a serving (4 ounce boneless chicken breast) is only 333 calories (it's kinda scary how precise he gets), 6.6 g of fat, 43 g of protein (my guns are already thanking me for it) and 24 grams of carbs, 3 of them of fiber. The only catch is that you need to start 2 hours ahead you want to cook, because the cheese sauce takes about 2 hours to freeze, but if you do it the day before, you're all set!

You'll need:

1/2 cup evaporated skim milk

2 teaspoons cornstarch 

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (I used Gruyere, because that's what I had)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Nonstick cooking spray

4 chicken cutlets, (4 ounces each) pounded very thin (I scissor-cut a giant-1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast because that was on sale!)

3 ounces thinly sliced lean ham (from the deli counter)

1/3 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs, such as Ian's all natural

4 large egg whites (whisked until extremely foamy, but before peaks hold)

Act I - Prepping the cheese sauce

1. In a small sauce pan, whisk the evaporated milk (constantly) into the cornstarch until it boils. Reduce the heat to low and cook for a minute to thicken it.

2. Whisk the cheese into the sauce, until is melted and smooth.

3. Whisk in the chives and season with salt and pepper to taste (about 3/4 teaspoons each to me).

4. Spray an ice cube tray with cooking spray (you'll need 8 of the spaces)

5. Split the sauce into 8 of the cube holes.

6. Freeze until the sauce is hard (2 hrs). (I did it overnight, so I covered the ice tray with Saran Wrap to prevent "freezer smell").

Act II - Making the chicken

1. Preheat the oven at 450F. The chicken will be cooked on a roasting wire rack, so to minimize the mess, place it under a foil-lined baking sheet, or roasting tray.

2. Prepare the breading station. You'll need the breadcrumbs and the flour each on a shallow dish, and you'll need the egg whites in a medium bowl.

3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 of pepper across divided among all the cutlets). 

4. Line the chicken with the ham.

5. Place 2 sauce cubes per chicken cutlet.

6. Roll up the chicken to encase the filling. Secure with toothpicks.

At this point some of my rolled chicken cutlets were not looking pretty, and God knows I was annoyed and angry Spanish was used. However, they were gorgeous at the end, so have patience. (Note that that's a note for myself in the future.)

7. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking the excess. Then dip them in the eggs to coat them completely. Dredge now on the breadcrumbs to coat completely. Do this for every cutlet.

8. Place the chicken on the wire rack.

9. Spray the chicken with cooking oil (lightly).

10. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I didn't).

11. Bake until breading is golden brown and cheese is fully melted (25-30 minutes).

I don't know if it's because I'm a protein junkie, but this dish was so satisfying! I was a bit skeptical on the serving size since the rolls seemed a bit small, but I was done after one serving (although based on the flavor I was tempted to go on). The chicken cordon bleu looked so beautiful, and like I said the flavor was amazing. You don't really miss all the butter missing from the original recipe. I think the Gruyere cheese worked so well in this recipe that I might always do it that way.

As a quick, yet delicious side, I boiled pasta in salty water until it was al dente, drained it, and dressed it with butter, garlic and chives. This came mostly as a realization that I hadn't even thought of a side when I only had 10 minutes till the cordon bleu would be ready. Still, it worked really well. It was a simple, yet good pairing to this dish. A side of quinoa, rice, sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes would go well with the chicken too. A glass of Bordeaux or tempranillo couldn't hurt either... Still, if you want to keep the calories low, skip the wine and go for a side of steam veggies instead. They will be delicious and will go well as well!

Note: The history of cordon bleu was based on a quick review from a fellow internet user (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071211123944AAALlp9) who actually used books for references!