Food Confidence

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!!

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If you are not redirected in 10 seconds, please click here: http://foodconfidence.com/blog/.

Healthy regards,

Danielle Omar
www.foodconfidence.com

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

{recipe} Spaghetti with Eggs, Tomatoes & Spinach

Last month I submitted a recipe to the Eggland's Best "Your Best Recipe Just Got Better" contest. The idea was to adapt an original recipe to make it healthier using at least 2 eggs and less than 10 ingredients.

My recipe was one of four finalist winners. I didn't win the grand prize, but I'm happy to have won a $250 Amazon gift card -- which will go toward my highly anticipated kitchen pantry makeover. I'm so excited to create an uber-organized pantry space! Thank you to the folks at Eggland's Best!

My winning recipe is a unique twist on a pasta dish I grew up eating. My mother would throw this meal together a few times each month from staple ingredients she always had on hand; it was her go-to dinner when she needed a quick weeknight meal. The original version of this classic Italian dish combines thin spaghetti tossed with eggs that have been fried in lard. I adapted the dish to be healthier by using olive oil instead of lard, and whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta. I also added baby spinach and cherry tomatoes to the dish for beautiful color and flavor, as well as a healthy dose of flavonoids, antioxidants, fiber, lycopene, and additional vitamins and minerals. The added anchovy is rich in omega 3 fats, and provides a little vitamin E, D, calcium, and selenium.

If you've never had spaghetti and eggs, you're in for a real treat. Enjoy!

Spaghetti with Eggs, Tomatoes & Spinach

Ingredients

1 pound thin spaghetti

5 large Eggland’s Best eggs

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large clove garlic, minced or chopped

1 tsp anchovy paste

½ pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (about 1 cup)

2 cups baby spinach, packed (or 2 big handfuls)

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente.

2. Sauté garlic and anchovy paste in oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat, until garlic is lightly browned.

3. Add 5 eggs gently to the oil, and cook until the whites are set, but the yolks are still soft (“over easy”).

4. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining pasta.

5. In a large serving bowl, toss cooked pasta with eggs and oil mixture (when tossing, the eggs will break up and form a creamy sauce). Add 2 ladles of the reserved pasta water to the bowl to help make the sauce (the eggs will finish cooking in the heat of the pasta).

6. Add the sliced cherry tomatoes and baby spinach to the bowl, gently combining until spinach wilts. Spinach will wilt from the heat of the pasta, but you may need to add 1 more ladle of pasta water as the ingredients will absorb the sauce.

7. Serve immediately, sprinkling individual bowls with grated Parmesan cheese.

Danielle Omar, MS, RD

www. foodconfidence.com

Thursday, August 25, 2011

{recipe} Breakfast Cottage Cheese Muffins

I saw this recipe posted on the Kitchn and thought it would be a great breakfast or midday snack. After sending my husband out for fresh basil and cottage cheese, I gave it a try this morning. {I was actually going to get creative and use ricotta for the cottage cheese, but decided against it. After tasting them, I think it would have been fine.}

Being that I either burn or under cook most baked goods, I was impressed with the result. Except for a slight over-browning (of course) the muffins were perfectly cooked!

Aren't they pretty?

The ingredients seem a little bizarre, but they produced a tasty muffin. Give it a try and let me know if you like them!

Sun-dried Tomato Cottage Cheese Muffin Recipe
{Adapted slightly from 101 cookbooks}

The recipe calls for the flour of your choice. I used whole wheat flour but you could easily use gluten-free flours. I used 1 cup almond meal instead of grinding my almonds. If you do grind your own, just use your food processor and process until you get a flour-like consistency (not a paste).

Ingredients
1 cup plain 2% cottage cheese
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/4 cup flour {I used whole wheat}

1 cup almonds, very finely ground {I used 1 cup almond meal}
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), finely chopped
1/4 cup basil, finely chopped
1/4 cup water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the cottage cheese, all but 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, water, and eggs, and salt. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups 3/4 full, scatter with the remaining Parmesan, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set, risen, and golden brown. Serve as hot or at room temperature. {I had to take mine out after about 22 minutes because they were very brown, so I would lower the temp next time.}

Makes 9-12 muffins.

Enjoy!

Danielle Omar, MS, RD
www.foodconfidence.com

Sunday, August 21, 2011

{Recipe Redux} Banana Soft Serve

I love a good soft serve ice cream. Frozen custard is actually my ultimate favorite, but being quite the decadent treat, I only splurge on it once in a while.

This month's recipe redux is my answer to high calorie frozen treats.

Soft serve "ice cream" that is not only just as creamy, luscious, and sweet as the best custard, but with no added sugar or fat and just a fraction of the calories.

Sound too good to be true? It's not. To sweeten the deal even more, it only takes about a minute to prepare.

Meet the Banana Soft Serve.

Ingredients: frozen bananas. That's all, folks. Just freeze up some perfectly ripe bananas, throw them in your blender and moments later....soft serve to rival custard. Sprinkle on your favorite topping (mine is chocolate sprinkles) and enjoy.

Feeling the love for more frozen treats? Try one of the great recipes below from my fellow reduxers:

Emma Stirling - The Scoop on Nutrition