Hot Pockets

Coach

Are you as curious about the contents of food wrapped in a pocket as you are about the "let's make a deal" finds that might be lurking in some one's pocketbook?  I find that food pockets and pocketbooks often hold equal allure and interest. 
Unlike the uber funny comedian, Jim Gaffigan, infamous Hot Pocket monologue (look for on YouTube as you truly are missing out if this is not currently in your repertoire of must-see comic pleasure), my post is not referring to the ready made hot pocket that you slip out of a box. 


Allow me to first introduce you to the world of possible food pocket options:

• Phyllo dough...a Greek invention of tissue-thin unleavened pastry most often associated with classics such as spanakopita or baklava.  Challenging to make from scratch, most of us will purchase a common brand such as Athens in the freezer section and thaw before using. 

• Puff pastry...a French creation of layers upon layers of leavened dough and butter.  You can make your own and even attempt to use whole wheat flour, but Pepperidge Farm would love for you to opt for their product in the freezer section located near phyllo dough.

• Pizza dough...an Italian staple that needs little explanation.  Make your own with or without a breadmaker or purchase premade dough at your local grocery store in a refrigerated case near pizza accessories.
• Tortillas...corn or flour, wheat or white, if you have ever had the pleasure of eating this Mexican staple homemade hot off the griddle, it could help explain intoxication from calories and pleasure.  You can find tortillas in a variety of sizes and places resting at room temperature, refrigerated or in the freezer.  Maria and Ricardo's is only one of many options. 

• Pita pockets...a Middle Eastern bread leavened with yeast that most of us, unless culturally familiar or interested, will be opting to buy freshly packaged before scooping ingredients into or onto.

Inspired by my desire to create a tasty menu for a New Year's Eve party and my continued interest in successful "food delivery systems," I put some of the aforementioned pockets to the test over the past month.  My first observation is that while phyllo and puff pastry tend to sit next to each other in the freezer of the grocery store and may often be combined with similar ingredients, they are distinctly different once you begin experimenting with them. 
Phyllo dough is, as noted, much thinner with 5 sheets (57 gram portion) containing 160 calories and 1 gram of fat.  Do your best to work quickly and keep the thawed dough covered to prevent the sheets from drying out so they don't crumble.  Once you have layed out the sheet, you bathe it with melted butter before adding a filling, yielding a flaky, buttery end product.  Key point - phyllo isn't a butter rich dough until you add the butter.
Puff pastry is much thicker than phyllo with 1/6 of a sheet (41 gram portion) containing 160 calories and 10 grams of fat, half of which are saturated.  When puff pastry is thawed optimally, you can unfold the intact square of dough quite easily.  But if you find you can't easily unfold it, use a lightly floured rolling pin and roll out the dough on a lightly floured cutting board.  Key point - puff pastry is a butter rich dough.

faux spanakopita: phyllo filled with a mixture of firm tofu, diced spinach and seasonings

This is a great delivery system for vegetables.  Use your food processor to pulse vegetables into small pieces that can be added to tofu or mixed with cheese. As I was making these, they caught the eye of each of my family members who walked by wondering, "mmmm, what's in this?"

soon to be baked puff pastry rolled with pepper jack cheese, spinach and red pepper

Another great delivery system that can hold endless combinations of chopped veggies, lean meats and cheese.  Because packaged puff pastry, as mentioned earlier, is not low in fat or saturated fat, this might be a great area of experimentation for any of you interested in this concept but desiring less fat and potentially more fiber via whole grain flour.  And, if you figure out how to achieve that, please share your advice with The Food That Fits!

homemade pizza dough topped with sauce, Alfresco Chicken Meatballs and cheese

homemade pizza topped with ricotta, spinach, tomato & shrimp less 2 bites

The last two photos, while technically not pockets, could have been if I folded them over into a calzone so let's think of them as open-faced pockets!  When you make your own you can decide if you want to enjoy them open or closed.  Most of my experimentation was in the savory direction but you can certainly explore sweet options as well.  My pockets were a success with my family and my New Year's Eve party guests. 

Food pockets really are like pocket books...they are a great place for leftovers, a.k.a the spare change of your refrigerator.  They are both timeless in that their contents may change but the basic concept never will.  And, perhaps, most importantly, I find both of them utterly irresistible as one never satisfies me and I always seem to be in constant pursuit of another - now, I forget, are we talking about hot pockets or hot pocket books?

Here's to picking your pockets!

The Food That Fits

Seasons Eatings

Leftover Halloween candy often marks the beginning of the slippery caloric slope we tend to slide down over the winter holidays.  Average holiday weight gain has often been generalized without scientific reference to be as much as 10 pounds.  But let's see what the science has to say.  In 2010, elementary age children were studied and while they did gain just over 1 pound, they also grew in stature.  Most remarkable was that overweight children became more overweight over the holidays whereas normal weight children did not. 

A study dating back to 2000 found that 195 participants gained an average of 0.8 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And, like the elementary age children mentioned earlier, overweight and obese people  were more likely to gain more weight. 

College students were studied in 2006 to assess the impact that the holidays had on body weight and body composition and the results indicate that while body weight was unchanged, the students increased their percentage of body fat.

Lastly, in 2008, a study compared holiday eating strategies of successful weight losers from the National Weight Control Registry with normal weight people who did not have a history of obesity.  The successful weight losers worked harder with their food and their movement during the holidays to prevent holiday weight gain than did the normal weight people.  Given that the first two studies referenced in this post found that overweight and obese children and adults gained more weight during the holidays, people with a history of being overweight are smart to work harder during this time as they appear to be more vulnerable to holiday weight gain.

In almost all of these studies, the researchers commented that while the actual holiday weight gain was less than expected, it has the potential to contribute to lifelong weight accumulation in which weight is being accumulated and not lost year after year. 

While the  Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmakwanzakah-Super Bowl Party extravaganza can feel like a season, it does not have to be a season of eating.  Reserve your splurges for special foods like Grandma's annual popcorn balls instead of predictable packaged food that you can find all year long.  Resist the urge to save yourself up and arrive ravenous as you will find yourself eating the bread and the wicker basket.  In fact, better to eat a safe mini-meal at home prior to arrival.  And, instead of adding another log to the fire, add some more minutes to your exercise log.

Lastly, remember to include seasonal eats from mother nature's calendar as you enjoy this holiday season.

Seasons Eatings,

The Food That Fits

A Gift to Inspire Fashionistas and Shoppers

If you are scrambling for gift ideas, information is never a bad idea.  And, information with an inspiring message is a great idea.

Check out the Amazon reader reviews to get a taste of what others experienced. 

We are fast approaching the time for New Year's Resolutions and first on many people's list is diet and weight loss.  While this book is not strictly about weight loss, it is about saying no to unsuccessful food fads once and for all and yes to developing a lasting food style.  A lasting food style can help you achieve a healthy weight and optimal health so that you look better in everything you wear.  Don't forget, food is the outfit you wear everyday!

Here's to embracing your fashion and your food this season and into 2012!

The Food That Fits

Mushrooms Continued...

Dinner this evening was, once again, compliments of the work within The Natural Gourmet by Annemaire Colbin.  I had portobello mushroom caps and baby bella mushrooms staring me in the face for the past few days and I was in search of a recipe that wasn't too time consuming as we near the end of the week.
Mushrooms Stuffed with Garlic and Rosemary enters the scene...
1 pound of mushrooms suitable for stuffing
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 teaspoon powdered rosemary
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 cup parsley sprigs
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Wipe the mushrooms with a damp paper towel and separate the stems from the caps.  (Note:  Iris would love this recipe as you DON"T DISCARD THE STEMS - reference to Iris comes from the frugal measures of my mother.)  Place the caps underside up on a cookie sheet, drop a couple of drops of olive oil in each cap and bake for 5 minutes.  Set aside.
3.  Peel the garlic.  Lightly pulse the garlic and mushroom stems in food processor.
4.  Heat the remaining olive oil in a 8 or 9 inch skillet.  Add the garlic & stem mixture, add sea salt and rosemary and cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. 

5.  Add the breadcrumbs and stir.  Remove from heat.

6.  Chop the parsley and mix with the mushroom mixture.  Using 2 teaspoons, spoon stuffing into mushroom caps:  scoop up some filling with one spoon, then tap it down and scrape into the mushroom hollow with the other.  Pat down to pack.

7.  Just before serving bake 7 to 8 minutes and serve!

I served these stuffed mushrooms with a simple salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  For my gluten sensitive readers, substitute corn meal for the whole wheat flour. 

Similar to a scarf that can double as a skirt, stuffed mushrooms which are generally reserved for an appetizer can happily stand in as a light meal and while they are stuffed they won't leave you feeling stuffed!

The Food That Fits

Much Ado About Mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of those foods that, for me, stick out like rhinestones on a menu.  When I spot them, I pause and read further to see if the complimentary ingredients they are costarring with make my salivary glands swell. 

Mushrooms have long been revered for their health benefits including reducing risk of breast cancer, immune system support and protection against cardiovascular disease.  Mushrooms can be a significant source of bioavailable iron and trace minerals while being extremely low in calories. 
For any of you who have been keeping up with my posts and my personal food journey, you are aware that I was impressed with the documentary Forks Over Knives and have since strived to consume a largely plant-based diet.  Inspired and in pursuit of fulfilling vegetarian recipes, I visited my local library's book sale and bought a collection of vegetarian cookbooks including The Natural Gourmet by Annemarie Colbin.  The Natural Gourmet Institute is a vegetarian cooking school in New York City.  Other than references to combining proteins to form complete proteins, a theory which has been debunked for quite some time now, the book contains timeless classic recipes that are in fashion today as much as they were in 1989.
A must share recipe for Simple Cream of Mushroom Soup (sans cream, of course!)
1 cup shallots
4 tablespoons butter or extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock
3/4 pound mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
1/2 tablespoon umeboshi vinegar (I could not find this ingredient and just omitted; some online resources suggest substituting red wine vinegar)
freshly ground pepper to taste
(I added ground thyme as I love the taste of thyme with mushrooms)
1.  Mince the shallot.  In a 4-quart soup pot, heat the butter or oil and saute the shallots over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until softened.
2.  Sprinkle the flour over the shallots and continue to saute, stirring constantly, until the flour begins to give off a nutty aroma.
3.  Pour 1 cup of the hot stock over the flour-shallot mixture, beating rapidly with a whisk to incorporate all the flour.  Add the remaining stock while you continue whisking, making sure no lumps of flour remain.  Bring to a simmer.
4.  Chop the mushrooms and add to the soup pot.  Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stir occasionally.  Puree in a blender or food processor and return to soup pot.  (I used my food processor, but also think you could use a hand immersion blender.)
5.  Adjust the seasonings to your taste with sea salt, pepper or herbs.  Serve hot.
This dairy-free recipe was super easy to prepare.  You can adjust how much you puree the mushroom stock mixture if you want to have some notable mushroom texture.  This recipe is certainly a soup but it can also be used as a sauce over rice, pasta, polenta or potatoes......(and for carnivores, you will love this over grilled sirloin or chicken).  While I have not experimented with substituting a gluten-free flour such as montina for the whole wheat flour, you could also try thicking this soup with corn starch or adding some potatoes and then pureeing to help provide a thicker consistency.
Finding this recipe was like finding the perfect scarf that goes with everything!  My perfect scarf with mushroom-like hues compliments of Cynthia Rowley pictured here:

Consider adding this recipe to your weekly no-fail cook list and use it flexibly all week long. This recipe is a perfect solution to a cold, a cold night and a low-calorie counterpart to an otherwise calorie-filled season!

The Food That Fits