Flan de Mango

Omigod. This year’s weather has sucked. We’ve had -17F one day, then just 2 days later it was close to 60F, and now again the temps dipped into the single digits and windchills bellow 0F. That’s it people. The time has come for me to start writing a blog on cooking seals and decorating your igloos. It’s time I let my inner Eskimo-Martha Stewart loose! It’s too bad I don’t eat fish because I would totally try to make a mockumentary of “My life as an Eskimo in Cleveland”.  Maybe a network would see me and offer me my own TV series “Breaking Eskimo” or “The Real Eskimo guys of Cuyahoga County”. 

At least this year promises to be a bit more “social” for me. During the last 2 years I’ve barely had time to see my friends and to do fun stuff. Really, I’ve barely seen anyone. Obviously, it wasn’t on purpose, but it happened regardless. Well, it’s over now. Maybe it’s because I have finally achieved some kind of balance between work and my so-called social life. Seriously, you can only work so much before you are burned out, and totally exhausted. Or maybe it is because I’ve been watching way too many episodes of Super Fun Night. Let’s get real; there’s nothing that can happen to Kimmie that can’t happen, or hasn’t happened to me. Well, except for the girls-only issues. All I’m trying to say is that weird things happen to me when I’m in public places. Let’s leave it at that. But in a surprisingly incident-free season, we’ve been to cool bars and restaurants, to movies and to concerts. All fun!

Well, maybe I should add the disclaimer stating that not all things meant to be enjoyed were actually enjoyed. Some were not fun at all. Let’s say that I went on a 15 minute rant about how much I hated a particular piece of music (Yes, they had the nerve to call it music, I called it total CRAP) performed by the Cleveland Orchestra. Everything else was fine, but I really felt insulted by that garbage they played. Really insulted. Enough to make me go on a 15 minute rant-kind of insulted. But that’s in the past, and we just have to let it go. I did really enjoy the other 2/3 of the concert, though.

Anyway, it’s been fun, and it’s been cold. That’s the bottom line. Besides that, or maybe because of that, I’ve been craving desserts for a few days now. I’ve made ice cream recently (eggnog flavored) but it did not satisfy my cravings. I’ve been thinking on making a mango upside-down cake for a while now, but when I had the chance, I decided to teach myself how to make mug cakes instead. Oh, Angel. I did make a good “yellow cake” mug cake and served it with custard instead of frosting (or instead of crème anglaise). Still, I had enough of my cravings and I did what any other good Latino would: I made a flan to get it over with. 

Well, it wasn’t just a flan. I took the mangoes that had been waiting for the cake, and used it to make a Flan de Mango. I dropped the caramel part and used the mangoes and their “light syrup” as my substitute. I used their syrup only because they were organic mangoes and the syrup was made of only water and sugar, not a single ingredient more. The Flan de Mango turned out very, very good. However, even though I tried, the pictures I took did not make my flan justice (as we say); my bad. Just take my word for it: It was so good! 

The custard part of the flan was awesome. But the real happiness it brought came from the mangoes. I grew up with a big, badass Mango Tree in my backyard. Sometimes mangoes would literally fall from the tree and get into my bedroom by themselves. So by mid-February the tree starts its mango production and lasts about a month and a half. Some years my parents manage to send me some of those amazing mangoes, and they bring me a little bit of the tropics with them. In Puerto Rico, we don’t have groundhogs and by extension no Groundhog Day (or winter to be predicted, I should say). But to me, nothing says “spring will come” like eating mangoes. And this flan was like my own personal Groundhog Day, and it told me to hold on, Spring is near!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (4 servings)

267 calories, 45 g carbs, 6 g fat, 8 g protein

Ingredients

1 can mangoes in light syrup

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (plus more to sprinkle – optional)

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (plus more to sprinkle – optional)

4 large eggs

1 cup 2% Milk

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the mangoes with their syrup, the cinnamon and the nutmeg in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer until most of the syrup has evaporated. Pour into a large sized soufflé dish (1 ½ quart), set it aside and let it cool.

Mix the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla extract. Strain the mix through a sieve over the cooled mangoes. They will float (I bet fresh ones wouldn’t). Bake in a water bath at 350F between 65 to 85 minutes. Insert a toothpick and if it comes clean, it’s done. Let it cool, and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs (I do overnight) before serving. 

(Optional- Dust some more cinnamon and nutmeg for decoration.)

Plantain Soup

I can’t believe that Christmas-time is over. I feel like we had so much fun on Christmas and we built so much momentum as we approached it, that it’s kind of a bummer that it’s over. The house still looks Christmassy with all the decorations and the Christmas tree still looking beautiful. I can almost taste all the great food we had and the fun times we shared that day. But it’s over now. Well, is not really over just yet, since we still have New Years Eve and New Years Day to look forward to. And a New Year means we get new resolutions to work on for the next 365 days ahead of us. 

I’ve become pretty good at keeping my resolutions in the last few years. For 2012 I decided that I’ve had enough of my own whining, so my New Year’s resolution was to stop whining. Man that was hard. If you ever get to see me sick, or sleepy, you’d know what I mean. Still, the day-to-day whining was too much, and it had to go. I’d like to think that part of my weight loss success had to do with me not complaining about things as much, and working hard on them instead. For 2013, I had a different kind of resolution. I decided not to use elevators unless I absolutely had to. I’ve been good so far so I’ll count it as a success! I haven’t decided what my 2014 resolution will be just yet, but I’m sure I’ll find something. Self improvement never ends.

Of course, the holiday season was not just fun. It brought some stress, and it also brought some worries. As an example, my mother had surgery a few days before Christmas. I hear (since we don’t live in the same country) that she seems to be OK, and she’s constantly improving. The worst part of her recovery though, is dealing with the dietary restrictions imposed by her doctor. According to her, the instructions were that she can’t eat solid foods for a while. That means she struggles trying to keep her diabetes under control while following the unclear and somewhat generic advice her doctor gave her. 

Even though her mother (my grandmother) could’ve easily (and happily) survived on soup alone, it’s not really my mom’s cup of tea (which she doesn’t like either). So I thought I could come up with a soup she would actually like, using only ingredients found in the Island*. OK, I did use some sour cream to garnish the soup (which makes it optional) even though it doesn’t really exist there (unless it was recently introduced and I’m just not aware of it). Plantains on the other hand are a ubiquitous in the Puerto Rican markets and supermarkets and are the core of my soup. They’ve been a staple ingredient of our cuisine since brought to the Island by the African slaves centuries ago.

Although plantain soups are not really that common, there are a few recipes around, using mostly green plantains. Ripe plantains though, seemed more appealing to me. I guess it’s only natural since I’m obsessed with both sweet potato and butternut squash soups, and the ripe plantains bring those sweet notes I seem to be always longing for. The sweetness was balanced by hints of spiciness, and although a garnish, by the sour cream. Luscious and rich, but light on the calories; this soup has it all. 

One last thing, before I forget: Happy New Year! Make it count!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (Serving size 2 cups, serves 4)

337 calories, 55 g carbs, 13 g fat, 5 g protein

1 large onion

1 green pepper

1 clove garlic

3 tablespoons of olive oil (1 for making the sofrito, 2 for cooking the sofrito)

½ teaspoon tomato paste

8 cups hot chicken broth

3 ripe plantains

2 tablespoons brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 teaspoons reduced fat sour cream (optional garnish)

8 small sweet peppers (optional garnish)

1.       Make the sofrito. Using a food processor or a blender, purée the onion, the pepper, and the garlic clove with 1 of the tablespoons of olive oil.

2.       Preheat a stockpot over medium heat and then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the sofrito and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for an additional minute.

3.       Add the previously-warmed chicken broth, the salt, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir. Add the plantains and bring the soup to a boil.

4.       Once it starts boiling, cover the stockpot and lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

5.       Using an immersion blender or transferring in 2 batches to a regular blender, purée the soup.

6.       Serve hot and garnish with a teaspoon of sour cream, and a small sweet pepper if desired. (Sour cream can be substituted with Greek yogurt).

  *Note: I'm not a physician. This soup was designed based on my interpretation of what my mother may like. It is not intended to control her diabetes.

Meatballs

I met with my thesis committee this week to get my project – and me- evaluated (and judged). To me, the whole process feels like being on a reality TV competition. You do your thing, then you leave the room so the committee members can deliberate, and then you come back to get your critique. It has all the elements needed for a good TV show, including the suspense, the crying and all the drama behind the scenes. So if you are a TV executive looking for your next hit TV show – Grad School Shark Tank - give me a call and I’ll give you some ideas.

Some fellow students claim that meeting with their thesis committee is not a big deal. Not to be disrespectful, but that’s a lot of bull… It is very, very stressful, and you need to prepare quite a lot to be ready. You have to prepare a power point presentation, write a progress report and be ready to answer all sorts of questions.  It can go well, but it can also go south pretty quickly. I’ve had some meetings that have gone so bad that I’ve thought of storming out in a song- Broadway style- to protest, but I’m not a good singer and I certainly don’t want to go viral on YouTube “singing” my heart out. I’ll leave that to the cast of Glee. So instead I’ve taken notes and I've worked harder and harder. This time the hard work finally paid off. Now I’m a step closer to that Ph.D. and more motivated to finish than ever.

The last part of getting ready for my meeting was to actually chill a bit during the last few days before my meeting.  We went to see (or to listen to) the Cleveland Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Piano Concertos 2 and 3, and we went to Playhouse Square to see Wicked. I’ve been listening to the original cast recording for years, but I’ve never seen the actual musical. I was so excited! Going to the show was meant to be the highlight of the weekend, but I’ve got to say it was harsh, man. The bad acoustics of the theater were nothing compared to the problems created by the people attending the show. The worst of it was this woman saying hi (yelling, actually) from the second floor of the theater to someone in the first floor DURING the second act. She is so lucky that I’m not a witch, because I would so be a wicked one. She would’ve been turned into a flying monkey in no time. Still, I did my best to enjoy, and I did. It was a good performance, but it wasn’t the stress-free evening I was going for.

I still needed another way to relax and to enjoy myself. Frankly, I don’t know a better way than to have a nice homemade meal to feel relaxed and happy. Cooking makes everything better. I wanted to cook, but I couldn’t make anything complicated (or that involved getting many dishes dirty) because of time constrains. Meatballs were the solution to all of my needs. They’re easy to make, they’re done quickly, and they can be low in calories. The ones I made were just 239 calories per serving. They were so good! They were also an inexpensive dish! In my last blog post I said I could cook nice meals regardless of the budget. Well, these meatballs are the perfect example; they were made with just about $5.00 for the whole dish, or just $1.00 per serving! These meatballs really gave me that “everything will be alright” feeling I was longing for!

On the road shortcut
Nutritional info per serving (serving size 2 meatballs):
239 calories, 4 g carbs, 14 g fat, 23 g protein

1lb 93% lean ground beef (calories calculated using 1.13lb)
1 teaspoon salt
½ ground pepper
½ dried oregano
½ dried thyme
1/3 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 jumbo egg (beaten)
2 tablespoon olive oil

cooking spray

optional: fresh parsley (to garnish)


Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, season the beef with salt, pepper, oregano and thyme, and add breadcrumbs. Add the egg and oil, and mix with your hands.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop the meatballs (about 10) into a baking dish lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

(Optional: lightly spray the meatballs with cooking spray.)
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Turn the meatballs, and bake for 5 more minutes.