Bulgur and Cucumber Salad

Another cold winter night in Maine got thinking about summer and those great summer grain salads, like Tabbouleh. We eat a lot of grains in our house especially quinoa, couscous and barley, but I hadn't played much with bulgur, so decided to use it to put together this simple yet delicious play on the traditional Tabbouleh.

Bulgur and Cucumber Salad

1/4 cup bulgur
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 cup chopped english cucumber or seeded regular cucumber
1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
2 scallions, sliced thin
1/2 tsp of lemon zest
1 rotisserie chicken from your local store or 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked


It seems that a little bulgur goes a long way and makes a total mess when you drop in on the floor. I put the grain in a bowl and fired up the stove. More on the stove later. Once the tea kettle sang, I added 2 cups of the boiling water over the bulgur and covered the bowl with plastic wrap and threw a kitchen towel over it for good measure. I assume you can overcook bulgur, but I just let it sit until I finished prepping the rest of the meal.

Add the lemon juice and oil the another larger bowl, then add your salt, chopped cucumber, tomatoes, scallions and parsley. Mix. Once the bulgur is cooked, (10 minutes or so), add to the veggie mixture and mix well.

Add your zest and if you don't have a microplan, get one! You'll love it.

This would be a great side dish, but if you want it to be a meal, as I did, slice up your cooked chicken breast and divide it among the plates. Done!

Great recipe that is very adaptable to your dinner or lunch needs, so please try it! It's a good one!

(4 servings/395 calories per with chicken)

Mo recipes!

During my, not so brief, hiatus from blogging, I've had time to think about what I want this blog to be. As I've mentioned here, I really started this because I wanted a record of our successes and especially, the recipes that made it happen. That's what I want to focus on. I'll still be giving you a peek into our family life, talking about running, and even giving my advice on healthy eating, but mostly, I would like to continue to share the meals that my family has together.

The new year has brought great joy to me. We've moved to our favorite city in the world, Portland, ME, run a half marathon, traveled to Florida (Disney World) with our amazing family, and made many new friends. I hope you continue to check out my blog and that your new year is fruitful and happy!

Where have you been, young man?!

Sorry for the lack of post over the last few.....months (I suck). I promise to have something up soon!

This takes the cake.

Wow, can't believe that it's been 10 days since I've posted, but the next few days will hopefully be worth it. I promised in the last post to let you know how the cake turned out, so sorry that it's taken so long. The cake was in honor of my father in law's birthday and he got to enjoy it for four long days. Happy Day, Papa!!

The best story of the whole adventure had to do with the eggs. Norah had gotten up from her nap early and aided me in making the batter. She's a great sous chef and handed each egg to me as a painstakingly cracked each one into the stand up mixer which was running on low. Just a reminder, I NEVER bake and in hindsight should have cracked the eggs into another bowl first, but I didn't. So, on egg four, PLOP, in goes the egg and half of the shell. Damn. I quickly turn off the mixer, but flip the switch the wrong way. HOLY CRAP!! Once I finally got it turned off, I spend the next five minutes fishing shell out of the batter. Not good. Thankfully, I seemed to get all of the shell out, at least no one mentioned anything crunchy.

It was definitely a labor of love (started it at 2:30pm and sliced it at 7:30pm) and I screwed up a bunch, but it was SO worth it! The cake tasted great. It was moist, chocolaty (if that is a word), and crumbly. But, the best part of the cake had to be the frosting....Oh, that frosting. Make it and find out. You'll NEVER have frosting out of a can again.

Oh, and we had leftovers! Here's your piece:

Warm Salad Dinners Part 2

Wednesday night was a bit cooler here in Connecticut, so my warm salad theme worked a little better than the night before. I found this recipe, but wanted to add a bit to it to make it dinner sized.

Ham and Eggs with Roasted Squash and Pecorino

1 large butternut squash
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
18 slices of prosciutto
5 cups baby arugula
4 tbls olive oil, divided
2 tbls white balsamic vinegar (regular would work as well)
1 1/2 oz pecorino cheese
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a small bowl, add your balsamic, then whisk in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside.

Peel butternut squash and slice in half, discarding the seeds. Cut into 2 inch cubes and place in roasting pan. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over the squash then sprinkle with the chili powder and coriander. Cook for 45-60 minutes or until tender. Keep warm.

Now, the prosciutto preparation is up to you. I like mine a little crisp, but some don't. I took the slices and put them on a cookie sheet and threw them into the oven with the squash until they were just starting to get crisp. Take out and set aside. I like to cut into strips or crumble, depending on how crisp you like it.

In a big bowl, add your arugula, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add your balsamic viniagrette to your taste. I used about half. Toss well and add equal portions to 4 large plates.

The egg is up to you. I either pan fry mine, sunny side up, with a little cooking spray, cook it in a coffee mug, ala the egg mcmuffin, or poach it. Which ever way you choose, just make sure the yolk is a little soft.

Ok, after all of that, place the squash on the greens. Add the prosciutto. Grate the pecorino cheese over all of it, then top with the egg.

Enjoy!

Serves 4 (453 calories per serving)

"That's Hot!"

It's cold here in Connecticut and when I woke yesterday morning there was a fine layer of white on the grass. So, what do you suppose I would conjure up for dinner? Soup? Stew? Warm biscuits? Nope, salad.

My sincerest apologies to those of you who thought this blog post was going to be about Paris Hilton. I'm taking this opportunity to jump into a realm of food that I haven't spent much time thinking about and took it as a challenge when Amy suggested that we do another salad week. So, with respect to our favorite non-celebrity celebrity, I give to you: The hot salad.

While perusing the Internet for ideas, I came across a Bon Appetit recipe for a spinach salad and became intrigued. As most of you know, the fun of cooking these days for me is finding a recipe and lightening it. So, I set off to do just that. The salad by Bon Appetit, as written, was over 700 calories a serving and didn't have enough components to be a "dinner" salad, thus giving me two challenges: Lighten it while adding more ingredients. Needless to say, I was happy with the results. Hell, that's why you're reading about it!

Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Feta Dressing
(As adapted from Bon Appetit)

24oz cherry tomatoes
1 large red onion
4 tbls olive oil, divided
6oz turkey bacon, cut into small pieces
10oz baby spinach
6oz feta cheese, fat free
2 tbls sherry vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place tomatoes and whole unpeeled onion in separate roasting pans. Drizzle one tablespoon of oil over each pans component, sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.

When oven is preheated, add the pan with the onion and roast for 1 hour. When the onion is finished, take out and let cool. Add tomatoes to the oven and let them roast for 15-20 minutes. Take out and set aside.

While the tomatoes are roasting, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium high heat until crisp. Drain and set aside. Save pan.

When onion is cool enough to touch, cut off the root, peel and slice thinly lengthwise.

In bacon pan, place the feta cheese and vinegar, cooking over medium low heat for 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in the remaining 2 tbls of oil and turn off heat.

On 4 large place, evenly split the baby spinach and top each with equal portions of onion, tomatoes and bacon. Spoon dressing over each to taste or put it into a bowl for guests to add for themselves.

Serves 4 (375 calories per)

Dear time change,

Thank you so much for the extra hour of sleep on Sunday except, of course, for those of us with young kids. In that case, thank you for completely wrecking what was a blissful and wonderful stretch of good sleep in our house.

Zac

A corny story....

Tonight Norah had her weekly dance class and I was left alone with "the boy." I enjoy him immensely, but he is very busy and it's hard to get anything accomplished. I was in charge of preparing dinner while the girls were gone, so Cole and I headed to the market. Cole LOVES the market and the trip was uneventful. Picked up some salad greens, ginger, firm tofu and baby wipes....the wipes were not for dinner.

Headed home and unpacked while Cole drew with chalk on the deck and brought leaves into the house. Unfortunately, dinner preparations were derailed by one moment. The following is a reenactment:

Cole @ my spice drawer: "SHAKE!" (wanting one of my spice containers)

Dadda: "Ok, bubby. Here's the fennel seed."

Cole: "MOE SHAKE!" translation - "I would like another container to shake, please"

Dadda: "Really!? Fine, I need to get something done, so here are the peppercorns."

Cole: "Dank goo." translation - "thank you"


Now I'm back to prepping greens in the big a$$ bowl and start grating the ginger for the salad dressing......

Cole: "OPEN!"

Dadda: "Bubby, I am not opening the peppercorns."

Cole: "OPEN!"

Dadda: "It's going to make a mess."

Cole: "OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!"

crash......


Dadda: "Where's the vacuum?"

Hey there, cupcake!

My kids love a project. Whether it's Norah donning her apron and stirring my dressings or like right now, it's Cole ravaging my spice cabinet....."COLE, GET OUT OF MY SPICES!" Today, Amy and the kids ran behind the house and grabbed some cupcake mix.

Anyone here not like cupcakes? No one? I didn't think so. Really, cupcakes may be the perfect dessert. Moist, frosted cake in handheld form. But, I may be biased. I LOVE cake......but.

The "but" of this joke are the nutritional facts on the classic cupcake. Did you know that a Betty Crocker mix yields 12 delicious cupcakes that weigh in at 250 calories each? Oh, and those are unfrosted. Yikes!! Now, I'm not one of those ccrraazzzyy, no sugar, no way, no how sort of people. but the reason that we've been so successful with our weight loss is that we're always looking for alternatives. These are really flippin good. really. really. good.

Enter Hungry Girl's Pina Colada Cupcakes.

Pina Colada Cupcakes (modified)

For cupcakes:

2 cups moist-style yellow cake mix (1/2 of an 18.25 oz box)

1 1/2 eight oz cans crushe dpineaspple in juice (not drained)

For frosting:

4 oz canned crushed pineapple in juice (drained)

1 Jello sugar Free Vanilla Pudding snack

1 1/2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese, room temp

1 no-calorie sweetener packet

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all frosting ingredients and mix until blended. Refrigerate until cupcakes are ready to be frosted.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix with undrained pineapple. Mix until thoroughly blended.

Line a 12 cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute the cake mixture among the cups.

Bake in over for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick interted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely, then evenly distribute frosting over the tops. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutrition info: (per one FROSTED cupcake): 115 calories, 1.75g fat, 171 mg sodium, 23g carbs, <0.5g>

Dora inspired cuisine pt 2

As promised, I'm back with highlights and the taco recipe!

Overall, I was very happy with the results, although I need more practice with making the tortillas. I couldn't seem to get them thin enough for my taste, but they were still very delicious. Also, my grill decided not to work, so I had to use the broiler. Besides that, it went well. It helped that Norah sang the "map" song during most of the prep. I was certainly in the spirit!

Here's the recipe and a couple of pictures to whet your appetite. I'll be back later with yet another Dora inspired meal. This time, something souper.

Pork and Pineapple Tacos

adapted from Steven Reichlen's Healthy Latin Cooking

Ingredients:

1 small pineapple, cleaned and diced (you can use canned tidbits in a pinch)

1 lb pork loin, cut into 1/2 in cubes

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs chili powder

1/2 tbs salt

1/2 tbs pepper

1/2 tbs cumin

1 large onion

1 cup pineapple juice

2 tbls red-wine vinegar

1 cup finely shredded cabbage

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

salsa of your choice

8 corn tortillas*

*note- one 6 in. corn tortilla = 45 calories

one 6 in. flour tortilla = 110 calories

In a bowl, mix the pork, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, and cumin. Slice the onion thinly and add half to the bowl with the pork along with the pineapple juice and vinegar. Cover and marinate in the fridge for an hour.

While your grill is preheating, put the other half of chopped onion, chopped cilantro, chopped cabbage, and salsa into individual serving bowls.

Strain pork and onions from marinade and discard (the marinade not the meat....) In a grill basket or on foil, grill your meat, pineapple and onions until pork reaches desired doneness, approx 2 minutes a side. Transfer to platter or large bowl. Place tortillas on still warm grill for 10 seconds a side or until soft and pliable.

For service, take tortilla and place pieces of grilled pork, onions, and pineapple in tortilla and top with some onion, cabbage, cilantro, and salsa. Enjoy!

(1 taco = 197 calories)

What's in your glass?

Last night I had the pleasure of consuming one of my all time favorite beers, Shipyard Brewing Co's Blue Fin Stout. First brewed by the company in 1993, I still remember my first taste during my tour of the brewery. Since then, it has been the stout that I judge all others by and am thrilled to have access to it again now that we're back east.

This jet black classic Irish stout is incredibly smooth and is not overly filling. It also has a very low ABV% (alcohol by volume) at 4.7, which means I can sip a couple and not feel badly about it.

What's in your glass tonight?

Dora inspired cuisine

I'm sure we're not the only ones, but our house has been invaded by Dora. Dora dominates the conversation, pretend play, and pretty much everything else. So, I've decided to embrace it.

Latin cuisine has always been a passion of mine and I tend to steer toward those flavors when I'm just throwing something together. I love the way cumin seeds and chilies smell when they're toasting. I love the way a simple pork dish tastes after it has simmered in tomatillos and cilantro. I love the taste of fresh made corn tortillas. Ummm.....starting to get hungry.

This morning, Dora, Boots (Norah and Cole) and I headed to Whole Foods to procure a bag of Masa Harina which is a type of corn flour used to make tortillas. Tacos are a major favorite of mine and it's so nice to have warm homemade tortillas to fill. They're (tortillas) very easy to make, but living in New England limits my access to Masa Harina. It seems that it is sold seasonally here, which makes no sense to me. Back to the taco topic.

Tonight's taco of choice: Tacos al pastor, a pork taco made on a vertical rotisserie (think gyro meat style) with a giant ring of pineapple placed on top while it cooks. Since I have no such gadget, I will be marinading my pork loin cubes (1/2 inch sized) in pineapple juice.

I'll be back later today with pictures and the recipe.

Bright like the son

A couple of posts ago I introduced you to my daughter Norah and so, felt it was time to introduced the other member of McBee party of 4. Cole Michael. Born at a robust 10.5 lbs (God bless my wife) he has remained large in more ways than just his size.

Someone asked me one time whether my daughter was a happy baby. I answered "I guess. Aren't all babies happy?" Well, Cole changed that for me. He was/is happy....almost always. We were very worried about how he was going to change the dynamic of our little family when he was born, but he has added pure joy.

That said, we think he is brilliant. I know, I know, everyone thinks their kids are brilliant, but I really think he might be. He's very verbal with somewhere around 60 words and he also has about 50 signs that he uses as well. And, last night, he counted to 8.....really. Not just once. He glances over the 5, but the kid can count to 8. Now I'm sure there is some logical explanation for it, but this is my blog, so I get to brag and think he's amazing. By the way, he's only 16 months.

So, that's Cole. More from him later.

Cool Running

I am a runner.

Wow, that doesn't seem possible. See, I have never had any interest in running. Pretty much zero. When I was in 8th grade track, I switched to the field sports after two weeks....I was maybe 100 lbs.

But, after dealing with the ups and downs (mostly ups) of my weight over the last ten years and ballooning to nearly 220lbs after the birth of Cole, I decided enough was enough!

We (Amy and I) started running in December of last year. At first, I could barely make it 10-15 minutes without stopping, but we slowly progressed. In Jan, we took the kids to Disney World and fell in love with the idea of running the Disney Half Marathon the next year. I even talked my sisters and brothers in laws into running it with us.

And so, we have been training. It's been a lot of fun and we've had a lot of hurdles, like finding time to run 4 times a week with 2 young kids and one of us having a VERY full time job. But, we've figured it out and we have just completed our second really long run: 7 miles. I've amazed myself, really, considering where I'd been 9 months earlier.

Why am I just talking about this now? Well, if you've seen me in the last year, you would know that this is all I talk about..... If you haven't, I figured that we still had 3 months to go, it will be one of the bigger parts of my life during that time, and assumed it would make the blog a couple thousand times.

Stayed tuned!

You think you're SO smart...

Just in case you didn't know or don't know me, I have kids. Two, actually. This is where I could go on and on about how they're the "light of my life" or the "best thing that ever happened to me" and......that would all be absolutely true! Seriously, I love my kids. They are a joy and they make my days very interesting.

As a stay at home parent, I have lots of opportunities to enjoy them and to deal with the moods that come over most 3 year olds and 1 year olds. Most moods are great! Lots of giggles, hysterical laughter, and all around silliness. Some are....not so good, but those only come up from time to time. For this post, I'll stop and leave you with an anecdote and an introduction to my 3.5 year old:

Norah is my daughter. She is, well, her mother. Amazing, emotional, intense, brilliant and an absolute joy to be around. As the first born and a pure gift (we had 2 miscarriages before we were blessed with her), she has stolen my heart. With all of that, the best thing about Norah is that she is a walking "sound bite." I couldn't begin to retell the stories about Norah and the way she sees the world, but every once in a while, I'll post a little snippet:

Yesterday, Norah and Amy (my wife) were looking at a toy catalog that we had received in the mail that day. After Norah had flipped through it a few times, she began to tell us what she wanted for Christmas and her birthday. The one that stood out to her was a large play hospital for Playmobil figures that had everything from the doctors and nurses to the beds and ambulance. Amy asked her if we should start her letter to Santa to let him know and she responded, "No. He'll only bring me the ambulance. I think I'll write to Nana. She'll bring me the whole thing!"

Texas surprise

For the last four days, I have been in Texas.....more specifically, North Richland Hills, TX. It's between Dallas and Fort Worth, but it is more Fort Worth than Dallas. The moment I landed, I began to sweat. Not a, "Oh, it's a little warm here" sweat, but a "OH MY GOD! IT'S F'ing HOT HERE! sweat. It was 9am.

Anyway, I headed to Texas to spend a little time with my father in law, by myself, no kids. It was the first time I had left the fam for this long and I was very anxious. But, Amy approved the visit and we called for reinforcements; Nana. They were in good hands.

So, the trip to Texas was a little break from the norm for me, but it was also a working trip. My FIL retired in June from his job down there and needed to move his things back to Maine, so I volunteered to help. The days were very busy, but we did find time for some football (bar for OSU v Miami (FL) and great seats for TCU v Tennesee Tech @ Amon Carter Stadium), beer (lots of Shiner Bock....mmmm), and a couple of amazing meals (Old Barn BBQ for brisket....yum and tacos al carbon @ Anejo.)

"What's the surprise?" you ask? Well, in a word, Sangrita. No, not the Spanish wine made with fruit. That's Sangria, no T. This, my friends, is an amazing concoction of tomato juice, orange juice, lime juice, worchestershire sauce, chilies, and onion. Fan-flippin-tasic! Picture a very spicy Bloody Mary with orange juice served in a shot glass.

I've had this many times, as it's commonly served with tequila (future post), but this specific Sangrita was so spicy, so pungent, yet a little fruity, that I had to have more. The first two shots I consumed as I was savoring a shot of Don Eduardo and a plate of lightly fried plantains, but the last came in a tumbler which I enjoyed with one of my favorite Mexican beer, Modelo. Happy!

All in all, a great trip to Texas (Thanks, Mike) and a rediscovery of a favorite beverage!

Ode to the Tomato part 2

When it comes to these delectable spheres, I'm a purist. I do mostly salads with herbs (basil/oregano) or cheese (goat/mozzarella) or other veggies (fennel/cucumber/olives) or just throw together a huge bowl of gazpacho (see recipe below). This time, however, we had some unexpected guests stop by and I wanted to show off at least a little bit. Enter the Tomato Tart.

Now, I'm pretty new at this blog thing and so some of you might not know what my biggest culinary fear is. Well, it's flour. I have a fear of flour or really, anything that has to do with baking. I suck at it. Really, truthfully, suck. Thank god for puff pastry. Two sheets of frozen dough that, once thawed and cooked, makes you look like Julia Child.

This stuff was as hard as a rock when it came out of the freezer, but a quick zap of the microwave allowed me to unfold and roll out the dough pretty easily. The key to this tart thing is to make sure that the tomatoes don't make the dough too mushy, so they suggest making a barrier under the tomato. I decided on mustard, as I didn't have the sour cream that the recipe suggested. On top of the mustard, I layered the tomatoes and put the whole thing in the oven. 45 minutes later, we had a piping hot masterpiece.

Did I mention, Thank God for Puff Pastry!!

Chunky Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 4 cups coarsely chopped tomato (about 2 pounds)
• 16oz tomato juice
• 1 cup coarsely chopped peeled cucumber (about 1 large)
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups finely chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Cover and chill.

(4 servings - 95 calories per serving)

Ode to the Tomato part 1

There is but one season that Amy and I live for: Tomato season. It's exciting! It's glorious! It's....tomato-tastic!

Seriously though, there are few foods that get us more excited during the summer growing season. Why? Well, in short, it is one of the few foods that cannot be duplicated during it's "off" season. *Those tomatoes that you buy in the grocery in December just can't stand up to the August tomato. Sure, they taste fine, but they are best left to soups, stews, and sauces.

With that said, the McBee family made their way to our favorite farmer's market over the weekend and ended up with a plethora of heirloom and garden variety tomatoes. So many that we pretty much had some sort of tomato dish for every meal from lunch Sunday to lunch Thursday....well maybe not EVERY meal, but I did contemplate adding some to my rice krispies this morning.

*no, I am not a tomato snob and yes, I do make salsa in December. Ok, I got that off my chest.

Vacationland!

To all of my reader (ahem), I apologize for my lack of posts as I have been on vacation. A wonderful, relaxing, food filled trip to my beloved Maine: where lobster throw themselves onto your plate ready to be cracked and dipped into butter. A full report to follow!

Beet It!

Amy is a beet fanatic. Really, she loves the things. So, because of that, I try to find a lot of ways to prepare them. Let's call them "brownie points." We've enjoyed them in many ways (see post #1), but our absolute favorite has to be with goat cheese and oranges.

I've made this recipe a bunch of different ways, but tonight I decided to make a quick vinaigrette and throw everything onto a bed of greens. After roasting the beets all afternoon, ok, actually I bought them precooked from Trader Joes.....so, after opening the package, I diced them small and put them in a bowl with a little of the vinaigrette I made using orange juice, a little beet juice, and canola oil. Tossed in some segmented orange that I diced and then added crumbled goat cheese. Remember, a little goes a long way with goat cheese......An 1/8 -1/4 cup is fine for one orange and 6 medium beets. Little salt and pepper and set it aside while I prepared the greens.

Greens went into the BAB (big ass bowl...see last post) with vinaigrette to taste and then to the platter where they were united with the purple (and orange) goodness. Very simple, very easy and VERY delicious!

Tomorrow, Bean Supper!