After my voice losing bachelorette party in Vegas I came home to realize that I have a fridge full of vegetables nearing their expiration date and a body that needs cleansing. How convenient.

So I have some big plans to clean out my fridge and make some healthy, affordable (I blew a lot of money in Vegas) yet delicious easy to make dishes. Did I mention figure friendly? Because the wedding is in less than a month. My body better take heed.

So I'm thinking about this red cabbage is have sitting in my fridge. A cabbage that I bought because the color was so lusciously pretty and the idea that I could bring a new vegetable into my Fiance's favorites was just too much to pass up. I'm going to make that guy love vegetables if it's the last thing I do!

Here is my recipe I submitted to caloriecount.about.com.

Braised Red Cabbage

I have this Red Cabbage staring at me every time I go into the fridge pissed that I haven't eaten it yet.

Ingredients

4	slices turkey bacon, thinly sliced
2	onions, thinly sliced
1	cinnamon stick
1	bay leaf
1	teaspoon salt
1	head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
2 1/2	cups chicken stock
1/2	cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1	tablespoons Splenda or sugar substitute
1/2	teaspoon black pepper
1	tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Saute onions and turkey bacon in olive oil until onions are golden and bacon is crispy.
   
   
2. Add cinnamon, bay leaf and salt and stir in the cabbage until soft.
   
   
3. Add chicken stock, apple cider vinegar Splenda/sugar substitute and black pepper.
   
   
4. Cook on low for 45 minutes.
   
   
5. Cook uncovered for an additional 5 minutes until the water is reduced. Remove bay leaf and cinnamon before serving.

99 Cent Store Turkey Chili

My upcoming nuptials have really brought out some new and healthy habits that some might call unconventional. For instance, the need to save up tens of thousands of dollars to blow on one day of my life has forced me to cut my food budget. Less eating out, less gourmet ingredients and more of the discount chains. But cheaper doesn't have to be less healthy.

I have started frequenting the local Farmer's Market more often, where I can buy a week's worth of fruits and veggies for under $20. I have been to the Hispanic markets which have some of the lowest prices on meat and produce, though there isn't a whole lot of selection. Lastly, and the one I've gotten the most quizzical stares about is the 99 cent store.

Well I showed those naysayers, it turns out that the 99 cent store actually carries a good amount of organic foods like blackberries, mixed greens, celery, etc. In their frozen foods section you'll find a good amount of turkey based meat products including ground turkey, turkey hot dogs and turkey bacon. Their canned and jarred foods are also pretty extensive, having a large variety of the staples like tomatoes and beans. But yowza, check out jars of herbs for $0.99! That's a steal!

Anyway, perusing the shelves I came across all the ingredients to make a healthy and delicious chili. Here it goes:

Ingredients

24	oz. chili beans
12	oz. white beans
1	lb ground turkey
24	oz diced tomatoes
1	onion
7	cloves of garlic
1	yellow bell pepper
4	tablespoons chili powder
1	teaspoon cumin
1	teaspoon bay leaves
1	teaspoon olive oil
2	cups beef broth
1	package chili seasoning

Directions

1. Dice the onions, garlic and bell peppers.
   
   
2. Add olive oil to a hot skillet and sauté the onions, garlic and bell peppers.
   
   
3. When the onions garlic and bell peppers start to slightly brown, add the ground turkey and the chili seasoning. Break apart the ground turkey and allow to brown to develop a depth of flavor.
   
   
4. Add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chili beans and 1 can of white beans to the crockpot.
   
   
5. Add the ground turkey mixture to the crockpot.
   
   
6. Deglaze the skillet with the 2 cups of beef broth and then add the broth to the crockpot.
   
   
7. Season the chili with chili powder, cumin, and 1 teaspoon of bay leaves.
   
   
8. Cook on low for anywhere between 3-8 hours. I leave mine on all night or all day, it just gets better with time.
   

Enjoy!

Mocktails - Bay of Pigs

I mentioned over at lanadefemme.blogspot.com that I had given up alcohol. That's right folks, no more vodka club sodas for me for a few months. Goodbye delicious dirty martinis, how I occasionally miss thee. Bay of Pigs, you are definitely missed. One of my biggest challenges was dealing with what I was going to do while everyone around me got their party on with alcoholic beverages. Enter my current favorite mocktail!

Bay of Pigs
Traditionally this drink is made from a Mexican beer (I prefer Sol) and Clamato. Salt rims the glass and the drink is kicked up a notch with some Tabasco. It's a lighter, more freshing and nighttime appropriate version of a Bloody Mary.

1 pint glass
1 bottle of Clamato
1 bottle of Sparkling Water/Club Soda/Non-alcoholic Beer
1 bottle of Tabasco
Margarita Salt
Limes

Take a pint glass, rim with salt, fill 1/3 to 1/2 with Clamato depending on your preference, fill the rest of the way with Sparkling Water/Club Soda/Non-alcoholic Beer. Dash Tabasco to your liking, I have usually 5+ dashes because I like it spicy. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Personally, I skip the salt (sodium just causes bloat) and I use sparkling water because it's also low in sodium. My friend prefers Non-alcoholic Beer, but it just seems like wasteful calories to me for none of the fun of regular beer!

Iceberg Lettuce Wedge Salad

Something about having to use a knife and fork to cut into a salad makes it seem more substantial doesn't it? My absolute favorite happens to include a blue cheese dressing, little diced tomatoes, black olives and bacon crumbles.

That being said, let's face it, I'm watching my waistline like everyone else in California. The amount of saturated fat in a dish that includes blue cheese dressing and bacon crumbles is astronomical. Here is my rendition.

Low Fat Blue Cheese Dressing (18 servings - 2 tablespoons per serving)
Ingredients

1	cup fat-free cottage cheese
1	cup nonfat plain yogurt
2	tablespoons chopped onion
1	garlic clove, minced
1	tablespoon crumbled blue cheese
1	tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, combine cottage cheese, yogurt, onion and garlic; process until smooth.
   
   
2. Stir in blue cheese. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
   
   
3. Whisk in lemon juice before serving.

Iceberg Wedge Salad
Ingredients

1	head iceberg lettuce
1/2	cup of blue cheese
4	serving turkey bacon
1	cup of black olives
1	diced tomato
1/4	red onion

Directions

1. On each salad plate, place 1 wedge of lettuce turned on its side.
   
   
2. Pour blue cheese dressing on wedge.
   
   
3. Sprinkle with tomatoes, red onion, black olives, crumbled blue cheese, and crumbled bacon.

Coolest Food Pics via Wired

For those who know me well, they know I love to eat weird and crazy things. It's about life experiences I guess. Here is a collection of pictures from Wired.com that I would actually eat. For the full post, you'll want to go to the article

Top 10 Wired.com Food Photos, Decided by Us.

A Culinary Wedding: Part 2

After finally making it to Napa, through a ridiculous amount of traffic on the 580 and 680, we were met by a BBQ at Phil and Shara's house. After a quick tour of their newly renovated house, glasses of wine were poured and we chatted in what is the start of Raymond Gayle, Phil's winery.
After we met the rest of the bridal party, were introduced to their 2 weimeraners, black cat
and caught up with the wonderful parents of the bride and groom, Phil got to cooking on the grill. Shara had specifically asked that Phil not cook up a storm creating a flurry of dirty dishes in his usual cooking style. After a few glasses of Syrah along side a bottle of Riesling, I think they realized that BBQ was the answer.

The Menu:
Mesclin greens topped with toasted pine nuts, fresh off the backyard tree figs, crumbled fresh cow's milk cheese tossed in a vinaigrette.
Fire roasted tomato salsa with tortilla chips.
Steak and Chicken kebabs including red onion, and multicolored bell pepper spacers.
Boiled fresh corn on the cob served with butter and sea salt.
Sliced watermelon.

Of note was the lack of starches/processed carbs with the exception of the tortilla chips. Over the course of the weekend I was pleasantly surprised by this more simple and healthier way of eating. I suppose it's easy when you live in the middle of a gourmet farmland.

(Pictures courtesy of stock.xchng)

A Culinary Wedding: Part 1

In high school the Fiance was apart of a culinary academy with his childhood best friend Phil. You wouldn't know it now, especially since Fiance will only cook a can full of Dennison's chili on the stove and leaves the rest to me. Phil, however, went onto culinary greatness at Johnson and Wales, and ended up in Napa where he started his own winery and works as a fine wine specialist.

Somewhere between college and Napa, Phil met his now wife Shara who is a Director at the Culinary Institute of America. This past weekend I had the privilege of experiencing first hand what happens when two foodies decide it's time to get hitched.

The fiance and I drove up to Napa, stopping in at Mike's Roadhouse in Kettleman City, CA.

I specifically chose this stop because the Yelpers seemed to diverge greatly on how many stars this place deserved. It also helped that the local Chevron tauts one of the lowest gas prices on the road halfway to Napa, at least compared to Harris Ranch, which I'll get to later.

Despite the fact that Mike's advertises a $4.95 Country fried steak and eggs special, I quickly forgot about all of that when I walked in and was met with farmhouse kitsch and the most impressive collection of pedal cars. There were barrels of various hard candy flavors lining the walkway that split the restaurant from the gift shop/pit stop that got my mind running about who I know that might actually enjoy a bag of hard black liquorice. I came up with no one.

We were quickly seated and given what I remember to be a pretty standard diner type menu with two very key differences: An attention to low carb and other healthy dieters and a variety of Mexican food options. Thank the lord for local farm workers or I would have never had the most expansive Carnitas Tostada salad of my life.

We started with the Chili to share because when I think truck stop, I think chili. Fiance said it tasted like Wendy's chili. I felt like Wendy's chili would have been less greasy but who knows, it might have been the chunk of cheese they stuck in the middle of it. Kudos to them for providing whole wheat crackers though, I wouldn't have expected it.

When my salad came out it was massive. A seriously generous serving of carnitas flanked with tons of avocado, beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese accompanied by salsa and sour cream on the side all on a fried flour tortilla. My mouth waters thinking about it right now. The carnitas was VERY good and in skipping the fried flour tortilla, I was pretty happy to find a high veggie, high protein lunch option in a world of fast food chains.

The Fiance on the other hand would have probably been just as happy at the locals Carl's Jr. considering the fact that he got a burger and fries that looked a little like a Famous Star with french fries.

Our bill came out to about $30 with tax and tip but we did end up buying something else on the way out for the bride and groom:

A 3d greeting card along with a bag of salt water taffy.

(Pictures courtesy of Yelp.com and Tableandhome.com)