Starving Foodie

Unfried Okra
This is what I consider a Recipe in Training (RIT). A RIT is simply something that came to mind as an alternative or twist on a traditional dish. The goal is often not well defined, but tonight I was trying to get something like fried okra.  I try to make the dish healthier, pump up the flavor, and simplify preparation.  Often, I later discover my RIT is nothing unique, but at the time, I feel like I’ve made a scientific discovery or created a work of art.

Tulsa, OK and Okra and Nutrition
I grew up in Tulsa, OK. We grew okra in our garden. Picking the stuff required a wearing a long-sleeve shirt in the middle of a hot Oklahoma summer. The oils on the plant would make you itch for days.  Despite the toils of the harvest, I loved eating it. My family’s recipe was simple — toss a corn meal, flour, salt and pepper coating and pan fry until golden.

Okra is pretty nutritious, receiving an A on calorie count. This nutrition is quickly lost when you batter it and fry it.  So I wanted a healthier alternative.

Recipe Inspiration

I’m a fan of Indian food.  Curries, chaats and nans are terrific.  A couple of years ago, I had a dish called Sindhi Kadhi, a okra dish which is also fried, but I loved the flavor.  I liked the addition of other vegetables and despite being fried, the dish was lighter than the traditional southern fried okra.  So tonight, I thought about mixing some flavors and techniques to come up with a healthier version of fried okra.

Un-Fried Okra

Ingredients:
These are approximate. When creating new dishes, I often do things to taste. I’m also cooking for two, so I try to mentally guess the amounts and scale up. When the recipe is better developed, I can give more accurate measurements.

Serves: 4-6

1/4c Green Sweet Pepper Chopped

1/4c Red Sweet Pepper Chopped

1/4c Purple Onion Chopped

2 glove garlic crushed

2c Okra cut crosswise  in 1/2 slices

1/8-1/4 Whole Wheat Panko Bread Crumbs

1 tbsp of sesame seeds

2 tbsp of salsa (smoky flavor, mild worked well)

Salt, Pepper, Paprika to taste

1/2 tbsp Butter (preferably Danish or Irish for better flavor)

1/2 tbsp canola oil

Method:

I used a wok but any heavy skillet with a lid will work.

Add oil and toss in onions, garlic, and peppers over high heat for 2-3 mins. Some char on the bottom of the fine.  Reduce heat to a simmer and add okra.  Add 1-2 tbsp of water and cover.  You basically want to steam the okra until tender. Time and taste vary. Likely 5-10 mins.

Reduce heat to very low or remove from the heat.  Add salsa and stir.

Make sure any liquid has steamed off.  Push veggies to the side.  Add butter, sesame seeds, and bread crumbs.  Raise heat if necessary to melt butter and toast seeds and crumbs slightly.

Gently stir butter crumb mixture into the okra. You’re done!

Initial Results

I was pleased with the results.  The sesame and panko crumbs add a lot of texture and flavor.  Panko add good crunch.  The salsa, especially if smoky flavored, adds some nice zip.  Overall the dish had a very similar “mouth feel” as traditional fried okra but with more flavor.

RIT Workout

I need to work on the ratios of vegetables, try to further cut the fat, and get the ratio of bread crumbs right.  Also, need to find a way to get the smoky flavor without requiring some hard to find salsa.

RIT Grade:

I give this dish a B-.  That’s pretty good for a first stab.  Often my first attempts get expelled from training where they end up in the trash can.

Beans. I like beans and they are good for you as well.  One of my quick fix meals is beans and rice.  I typically don’t use quick cook rice as I don’t like the flavor, but if you need a meal in a hurry, quick cook rice (10 minute type not instant) will do. Pair this with a good salad for a nice quick meal.  If you make large batches of salad, I suspect you could be start to finish on this dish in under 15 minutes after a few runs.

Ingredients

10 Minute Rice Like Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Boil in Bag

1 Green Bell Pepper Diced

1 Roma Tomato diced

1/4-1/2 Yellow Onion Diced

1 Can Organic or Low Salt Back Beans

1 Package of Frozen Corn (or fresh corn0

1 Clove of Garlic or Garlic Power (to taste)

Black Pepper

Salt

Spices: One or more of  Cilantro, Oregano, Cumin, Basil, Thyme, Rep Pepper Flake

Method:

Get all ingredients out.  If you do not cook often, then make sure you get everything you will need in once place.  This is a very fast meal – less than 15 minutes start to finish, so you want everything you will need right there.

We are not going to saute anything.  We essentially want to steam the vegetables but to expedite the process a little oil will be required.

Cook Rice

Cook rice according to package directions.  Cook your rice on the stove.  Don’t use the microwave.  You need to be paying attention so if you put your rice on the stove it’s right there with the beans.

Cook Beans

In a skillet over medium to medium high heat, at some oil or cooking spray.  Use just enough so that food will not stick.  Let pan come to temperature.  If the oil smokes, the pan is too hot.  On my electric range with a cast-iron pan, a setting of 5-6 is usually good.

Once pan is hot, add garlic, onions, bell pepper and cover.  After about 2 minutes, add 1-2 tsp of water.  You essentially want to rapidly steam these veggies until they are tender.  I like them a little on the raw side to add a bit of crunch.

Now add beans and corn.  If using dried herbs and spices add them now.  If using fresh wait. Add 1/8-1/4 cup of the water from the boiling rice.  The gluten in the water will help make a nice sauce.   Cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes until everything is hot. Increase heat to medium-high if water is not gently boiling.  Stir frequently to prevent burning. If pan begins to dry, add more water from the boiling rice.

Remove from heat, add fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Cover until ready to serve.

Just before serving, toss in the diced tomatoes.

Serving Size and Calories

A serving size is about 3/4 cup of the beans. Should be around 150-200 calories max depending on how much oil you used.  Rice 1/4 to 1/2 cup: 170-340 calories. So in total, likely under 500 calories.  If you really watch the oil, this can as like as 350 calories.  Do not mix the rice and beans. Simple put the beans over the rice.

Toppings

Add fresh sliced  jalapenos or bottled hot sauce.  Fresh salsa is very nice as well.  Cayenne pepper is nice too.

Time Savers

Buy pre-diced onion, peppers at the super market.

Use a mixed herb seasoning, like “Italian Herb Mix” or any other mix with Oregano, Basil and similar green herbs.

Spices

Learn to spice to taste.  This is a key to cooking on your own.  Specifying amounts of spices is really not very helpful.  The age, quality and variety of spice makes a huge difference.  Greek oregano has a more intense flavor than Italian oregano.  Fresh herbs have more aromatics than dried herbs but dried herbs can impart stronger flavor. Learning to spice to taste is key to excellent home cooked meals.

Fresh herbs should almost always be added during the last few minutes of cooking.  Dried herbs should be added early in the process so you can extract their flavor.

Fresh herbs are more forgiving since you can easily control the amount you use.

For this dish, I recommend fresh oregano and cilantro with a touch of cumin.

Leftovers

This dish travels and re-heats well provided you did not mix the rice and beans.  If you mix them, the rice will get very gooey.  By keeping them separate in tightly sealed containers,  you can easily store this 2-4 days in the fridge.  Be sure to get the beans into the fridge as soon as they are room temp.  Keep them covered after cooking.

Experiment

If you are unsure about herbs and spices, pull a small portion out and spice it sparingly.  Keep working with that small portion to try different amounts, different ingredients.  Once you find something you like, you can then try it in your main dish.

I love pepperoni, but pretty much have given it up due to the high fat and high salt. But yesterday in the grocery, I saw Armour’s Turkey Pepperoni. For a cured meat, the nutrition is much better than expected; 14 slices just 50 cals and less than 1g of saturated fat. Salt is on the high side but I don’t plan on eating more than a few slices at once.

Tip: Microwave ‘em

On its own, the product is rather lack luster. But if you put 2-3 slices between some paper towels and microwave for 30s-60s, you now have very crispy, thin pepperoni wafers. These things are amazing on a salad. Could also be added to mashed cauliflower/potatoes or used on a baked potato. At less than 4 calories each, these things pack a huge amount of flavor.

You can also microwave turkey bacon this way. You will get cracker like crunch without the fat.

Note the brand!  Hormel has more calories and fat than does Armour.  When looking at Turkey products as subs for other meat products traditionally prepared with pork or beef, read the labels.  I’ve seen the “same” product vary by as much as 3x in calories, sugars, salt and fat.

If you are on a diet, you are likely eating salad (or should be).  Personally, I love salad.  However, the salad I love is far removed from what you usually get at a restaurant or pre-made at a supermarket.

Why Salad?

Salads, properly prepared, are highly nutritious, have low caloric density, and help fill you up.  Provided you don’t lather on the dressing or add tons of other fattening items, salads can become one of the favorite members of your diet team.

Preparing Salads: Hydration

I used to live in an area where a couple of small markets had fresh mesclun greens daily.  These were always very crisp and harvested locally within 24-72 hours of arrival.  With freshness like this, you did not have to do to much to get the base of your salad ready.  However, I now have to buy the bagged or boxed variety of salad at the super-market.  Most of this salad is dehydrated.  So you have to spruce it up.

To spruce up your salad, chop it into bite size pieces.  Place it in a bowl of room temperature water for at least 10 minutes.  At the left you see a salad spinner.  This is essential.  I fill the salad spinners bowl with water and then simply dump it after 10 minutes.  Then spin away.  You will be surprised at how much more flavor and crunch the greens have.

Preparing Salad: Lettuce Diversity

Those quick mixed bags are great, but the often lack appropriate diversity for a satisfying salad.  I typically add one or more of the following … usually this comprises only 1/4 or less of the total salad: Savoy Cabbage, Radicchio,  Red Cabbage, Mustard Greens, Endive, Watercress, Romain Hearts or any other crunchy, flavorful lettuce.  Don’t forget the herbs: Dill, Lemon Basil, Oregano, Taragon or other fresh herbs can do wonders for the flavor.

Preparing Salad: Building Your Base

Your base salad should consist only of the lettuce, well drained, and other fruits and vegetables that stand up well in the fridge.  Carrots, broccoli, bell peppers and similarly, often hard, veggies will hold up well.  This is your base salad.  To this salad, you add your other items right before serving.

Preparing Salad: Mixing it Up

When you are ready to serve your salad, add in your moist veggies, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, apples or any other moist item you like.  Do this just prior to serving.

Preparing Salad: Get Nutty

Nuts and seeds are a great addition to a salad.  Try to buy raw, unsalted varieties for the best nutrition.  Most health food stores and organic stores will sell raw nuts in bulk.  Toss in some almonds, pecans, sunflower, or other nuts/seeds.  Some seeds you may want to toast.  Poppy and sesame seeds are often best after toasting 2-5′ in a skillet over low heat.

Preparing Salad: Get Fruity

Dried cherries, cranberries and yellow raisins can be  great addition to a salad.  I buy these from the bulk bins at the organic or health food stores.  Middle Eastern groceries will often have very good dried fruit.  I got to Hala Cafe here in Jax and get dried apricots, figs, cherries and other fruits.  The cost is typically lower than the supermarket and better quality than other stores.  You don’t need very little dried fruit in a salad to add a lot of zing.

Preparing Salad: Get Crunch

Croutons are often packed with hidden fat.  You can make your own by using whole wheat pita or whole grain wraps.  Just cut into bite size pieces, sprinkle with your favorite seasoning, e.g. black pepper, paprika and sparingly on the salt.  Place on baking sheet in 350-400F oven until crisp.

If you don’t have the time, take a look at Kashi’s whole grain crackers. Avoid ones with cheese as they have added fat.  Crumble 2-3 crackers over you salad before serving.

Preparing Salad: Give me the Cheese

If you can learn to leave off the cheese, then you can pretty much eat as big a salad as you want. If you must have cheese, us sparing amounts of very intense cheeses like aged reggiano, provolone or extra-sharp cheddar.  Feta is great too as are many goat cheeses.  If you are a blue cheese fan, find the most stinky cheese on the counter.  You will use less of it.

Preparing Salad: Dressing

As a dieter, you never want to put your dressing directly on the salad unless you made the dressing from scratch and you control the portion very carefully.  If you don’t, then you never realize how much fat you are adding to your healthy salad.  Serve salad dressing in a small pinch bowl or ramekin. Dip your fork into the dressing and then eat you salad.

With a fresh, well constructed salad, you may find you need little dressing.

Easy Salad Dressing

2 Tbsp Oil

2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1/4 Tbsp Oregano (dried is better for more intense flavor)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add  2 Tbsp water and put in a shaker and mix.  Taste.  Add more water and re-taste if you need more volume.  Try to use water to keep the fat content down.

Preparing Salad: Conclusion

Hydrate your Salad for 10 minutes

Mix your greens

Base salad has  greens and hard, low moisture

Add moist veggies just before serving

Spike up the salad with nuts, seeds and dried fruit

Use dressing sparingly and make your own.

Hope this helps you make a great salad!

Growing up, I remember my mother would plan meals for the week.  We would then check what ingredients we had, often frozen or canned, and then go the super market to get the missing ingredients. The lists were specific.  A bag of frozen corn, 1lb ground beef, etc.

I suspect this is how many people look at meal planning.  You figure out what your family is going to eat that week, see what your missing, and build a detailed list.  You then head out to the grocery store like you are on a scavenger hunt.

Great Food Starts with Freshness

If you ever see interviews with top chefs (not the egomaniacs that are on the reality shows), you will see one common item.  Start with the freshest, best ingredients you can find.

Now here’s a simple question?

If you plan exactly what you are going to eat before you go to the store, how do you buy the freshest ingredients?

Simple. You don’t.

Here’s a simple meal ….

Chicken Breast

Mixed Green Salad w/ tomatoes

Broccoli

Wild Grain Rice

That’s a pretty nice meal.  But consider what happens if you go to the store and find limp broccoli, aging salad, and under-ripe tomatoes? No matter how great your technique, the meal will still taste poorly.

I find many cooks, both professional and home, often compensate for poor ingredients by dumping on the oil, salt and other spices.

I’ve been to many restaurants where you cannot taste the food. You simply taste oil and salt.

Big Picture Meal Planning

Take our meal above, what if we re-wrote that meal like this:

Lean Protein

Salad

Green Vegetable

Starch/Grain

Now when we go to the store and find that tilapia is on sale and moving quickly.  It looks very fresh.  Meanwhile, the chicken breast are nearing the expiration date.  The broccoli is limp but the green beans are great.  Couscous is on sale.  The mixed green salads are looking poor but the baby spinach looks great.  Now look at our meal:

Talapia

Spinach Salad

Green Beans

Couscous

Now, here’s the best part.  Fresher ingredients are more forgiving to the novice cook.  Also, you don’t have to do as much to get the food to taste good.  This means less handling, less thought and less cooking.

Drive-by Meal Planning

When I shop for meals, I have rough ideas in mind. The number of days I need to cook, is it breakfast, lunch or dinner, and a rough idea of what I have on hand.  I then spend 10+ minutes simply looking.  I often make 2-3 trips back to the produce area.  Perhaps I intend to have one meal but find something on sale or much fresher, so I have to re-plan on the fly.  As a result I end up with great ingredients and more tasty food.

Tastier food means you eat less as satiety come quicker.  Also, those 2-3 trips back to the produce area burn more calories.

Finding the Right Path

About two weeks ago, I went to Hilton Head Health Institute (H3I)  in South Carolina.  After a 10 day stay, the sherpas at H3I had me on a path to a healthier way of living.  At H3I, you spend a good portion of your day exercising.  From aerobics to zumba, they have it all.  I greatly enjoyed the cardio boxing and kayaking.  When not exercising, you are in class learning about nutrition, stress management, fitness and health issues.  There are no gimmicks here — straightforward advice on weight management, nutrition and living a healthier life.

Oh yes, you do get to eat.  The quantity is cant (~1200 calories/day) but the quality is excellent.  With 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, I rarely felt hungry, even after a full day of exercise.

While there, you live in a bubble. Your exercise, meals and much of your social activities are planned for you.  Of course, you could go awol if you wanted but the impact would be diminished.

Making Friends

Though I was only there 10 days, I met some truly inspiring people.  Nicki started blogging about her experience at H3I. I started commenting on her blog 8 Headed Hydra.  I found I liked writing about food, fitness and seeing how others struggle with some of the same demons as I.  So you can credit her with the existence of this blog.

I met some other great people there as well. People that I hope to see again, hopefully in a much slimmer form.  Robert was a real inspiration.  Every morning you could find him on the beach for 2 mile sunrise walk – even after he’d punished his legs the day before with 45 minutes of treading water.
Cooking and Eating

I love to cook.   Over the years my culinary skills have improved significantly.  I do try to make original recipes and will try to include some of the more tasty experiments here.  One thing I learned is not to be timid.  There are nights when the dish went into the trash after one bite.  Probably more times than I care to remember.

I love to eat.  From fine dining at swanky places like Per Se to dives like Louis Lunch, I love good food.  That’s an issue when you are trying to lose pounds, but it is something you have to learn to manage.  I’m still learning.

Exercise

H3I re-ignited my passion for being outdoors.  In the week since I returned, I’ve logged about 30 miles on my bike.  Now that’s not a lot until you consider I probably only rode 10 miles over the past 6 months.  I’m getting into the routine to start the day with a good ride.