Soy Glazed Brussels Sprouts

Yesterday was father's day, and as any loving daughter would, I decided to treat my dad to all his homemade favorites for dinner: grilled NY strip steaks, squash casserole, and banana pudding. Because it was his day, I didn't lighten up these recipes one bit. Instead, I supplemented his favorites with one of my own - soy glazed brussels sprouts. 

These little cabbagy balls of goodness can be prepared so many ways, but two weeks ago I was treated to the best ones I have ever had. The crispy Brussels sprouts at Benjy's on Washington are out of this world. They are salty and crispy and savory...everything you'd want in a roasted vegetable (these are so good they must be fried, but mine are baked). 

In an attempt to recreate the incredibleness of Benjy's Brussels, I created these: 

Step one: Cut the bottoms of the Brussels and cut them in half. This will cause some of the outer leaves to shed. Save these little leaves. Spread them on a cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 5-7 minutes.  

VOILA: chips!

Step two: Place the pieces into a large ziplock bag. Add a light drizzle of olive oil, a few shakes of soy sauce, a tablespoon of minced garlic, and a hearty shake of black pepper. Let these hang out for at least an hour before roasting. 

Step three: Place into a shallow baking dish. Bake on 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Give them a good shake, and bake them 15 more minutes. If you prefer them even crispier, turn on the broiler and watch closely, but let them roast about 3 more minutes. Cooking them for 30 minutes ensure that the outsides are nice and crispy, but they are cooked through and soft in the center. 

These were nowhere near as good as Benjy's, but they were the best Brussels sprouts I have ever made! Even my meat and potatoes Daddy loved them! To all the dads out there, happy father's day, and to everyone else, enjoy!

xo,

Erica

Caprese Skewers

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while, but I'm back with a bunch of new recipes! Tonight was the first meeting of my book club, and our first book was Fifty Shades of Grey (duh!). There was much more jibber jabber than book discussion, and much more eating than jibber jabbering! We had a table filled with buffalo chicken dip, turkey corn dogs, pigs in a blanket, cookies, brownies, cheesecake stuffed strawberries, and my contribution: caprese skewers. A little lighter than some of the other options (which were all amazingly delicious by the way), these skewers were super easy to make and will be a staple on all future party menus!

Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella - with balsamic glaze for dipping!

These were so simple they don't need step by step instructions! Just buy cherry tomatoes, little mozzarella balls (I used the smallest pearl size, but you could use a big piece and cut it into cubes, or any other size as well). These can usually be found in the specialty cheese case at your grocery store Then I layered the tomatoes and cheese with a basil leaf in the middle.

Finally, I filled the center dipping bowl with my favorite balsamic glaze! Thanks to one of the greatest cooks i know, Aunt Karen Harberg, for introducing me to the balsamic glaze...it's delish! These were so easy to make, and they were a light finger food that everyone could enjoy! Going to parties and trying to eat healthy don't always go hand in hand, but with a healthy finger food that's this good, you can enjoy a few extra bites without adding a few extra pounds!

xo, 

Erica

Ms. Sally's Coffee Cake

Hello Everyone! I know I promised this recipe on Friday, but here it is now...it's been a hectic weekend!

I've discovered another reason why lawyer/judge is the second fattest profession (see post below "How to make it work...at work for the background on this one!): Friday breakfast. Every Friday people in my office bring breakfast. The options range from chick-fil-a chicken mini biscuits to huge sticky buns to tamales and breakfast tacos. WHOA...talk about some unhealthy choices. 

If there's one thing I've learned about losing weight, it's that sometimes you just have to go for it and be a little bit bad. Have a chicken mini, and remind yourself - it's better than a full sized chicken biscuit! Last week I decided to bring a contribution to this breakfast club. My mom's friend, Sally Rohrbach, makes the best coffee cake in the whole world. This is neither a joke nor an exaggeration...it's that good. 

While this recipe is certainly not for the health conscious, it's a splurge that I'm willing to take every time. Just make sure to cut a small piece and walk away, because once you start I promise you won't be able to stop! 

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla.

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup sour cream (real)

Filling:

¾ dark brown sugar

¼ cup + 2 T sugar

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 ¼ cup chopped pecan 

Step 1: Cream 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of sugar. 

Step 2: add 2 well beaten eggs and vanilla 

Step 3: add rest of the cake batter ingredients and mix well. 

Step 4: Using your hands, spread 1/2 of the dough into a well greased 13x9 baking pan. 

How to spread the bottom layer, and how it should look!

Step 5: Spread 2/3 of the filling over the bottom layer of batter. 

Step 6: Here's the hard part. Spread the remaining half of the dough over the filling.  The batter needs to be dropped by the spoonful in heaps all over the filling, and then spread carefully with your finger. Be careful, once a spoonful is dropped the filling will stick to it! It should look like this as you go: 

Step 7: The original recipe says to bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry. I find that 35 minutes is the perfect amount of time. 

Step 8: Remember that a little splurge is O.K. sometimes, just don't overdo it! Cut into small pieces, and Enjoy!

XO, 

Erica

How to Make it Work...At Work!

Waldorf Salad, Strawberries, and Blueberries!

Well, ladies and gents, I have some bad news. According to a new study your JOB can make you fat (and unfortunately i mean your body, not your wallet). According to this study, the top 10 fattest professions are:

1.       Travel agent
2.       Attorney/Judge <-- soon enough this will be me...OY!
3.       Social worker
4.       Teacher
5.       Artist/designer/architect
6.       Administrative assistant
7.       Physician
8.       Protective services (police, firefighter)
9.       Marketing/public relations professional
10.     Information technology professional

My response to this study is as follows: NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT. There are several challenges to eating healthy at the office. First is lunch break. Most of the positions above don't get one. This often to leads to people grabbing something quick at a cafeteria or a restaurant near by. Eating restaurant food for lunch can be the down fall to any healthy eating plan. When you eat out, you can't control the portion size or the ingredients as easily as when you cook at home. Eating such a huge meal for lunch can be a major set back IF you plan to eat an equally large meal for dinner. My number one piece of advice for living a healthy lifestyle is to bring your lunch to work. 

This leads to challenge number two: not having enough time to go to the grocery store to get something to make AND not having enough time to make whatever it is you buy. I have a few solutions for this. First, do all your shopping on Sunday. Get whatever it is you need for the whole week if you can. This takes a little extra time to plan ahead, but it ends up saving you time as the week goes on. Then, prepare as much as possible as soon as you get your things home from the store. On sunday nights, my fridge looks like one of the fridges at My Fit Foods or Snap Kitchen...all stocked up and ready to go. 

The third challenge is work place snacking. My office has a FANTASTIC snack cabinet, and in the 3 weeks I've been interning I haven't opened it once. It's a slippery slope, and once I start there's no stopping me. One thing my office does that helps me is charge 50 cents per snack. If there was just an open kitchen I would really be in trouble. Even though 50 cents is cheaper than most vending machines, having to take out my wallet or dig for change actually does prevent me from snacking! 

The fourth challenge to staying healthy at work is making sure to bring snacks with you. When you pack your lunch, throw in an extra bag of baby carrots. Slice a cucumber. Bring a reduced fat cheese stick. measure out 1/4 cup of almonds, cashews, or pistachios. Just ask the other intern in my office. I am a huge advocate for munching on vegetables all day long! 

Finally, the fifth challenge to staying healthy at work is coming up with good ideas of what to bring! I think the best invention are the ziplock containers that have the little sections in them. I call them homemade lunchables. See all the pictures below for some healthy lunch ideas, and please feel free to post in the comments section any others you might want to share! 

1/2 cup chicken salad, roasted brussels sprouts, pickled snow pea and radish salad.

Southwestern Quinoa (it's pronounced Keen-Wah)

Salad

1/2 turkey stuffed bell pepper (MADE BY EVAN!), cucumber and hearts of palm salad, brussels sprouts

Turkey roll ups (try rolling up a baby kosher dill in the middle!), strawberries, cantaloupe

XO,

Erica 

P.S. In the backgrounds of many of these pictures you will notice various law books propped open. I will try and stop getting items other than food in the pics, but the books kind of come with the territory!

Cauliflower "Rice"

What it will look like cooked!

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower

Spray butter

I LOVE carbs. Bread, Rice, Pasta – you name it, and I will tell you it’s one of my favorites. A few months ago my roommate Evan and I decided to try a lower carb lifestyle. We still ate fruit and products that contained sugar, but we eliminated what we called “real carbs,” like bread, noodles, rice, crackers, cookies etc.

One night I decided make chicken in the crock pot (recipe coming soon!) that would need something to soak up a little sauce. We didn’t want to use rice, so we turned to the obvious next best thing – cauliflower!

No, that’s not a typo. Cauliflower is a great substitute for starchy products like rice and pasta. If you have a food processor on hand, this recipe was super easy.

Step 1: Cut the cauliflower into florets

Step 2: Place the raw cauliflower in the food processor

Step 3: Pulse the cauliflower until it is the size of little grains of rice. DO NOT turn the food processor on and leave it, or you will end up with mush!

What it should look like raw!

Step 4: There are two ways to cook this “rice.” The first is to put it in a microwave bowl, cover, and cook on high 3-5 minutes, until steamed. Do not add water. It will give off liquid as it cooks! I added my “rice” to a pan coated well with cooking spray. After it started to brown a little, I placed a lid on it and let it steam for a few minutes. For me, it was a texture thing. I prefer a little crunch to total mush, so I went with the second cooking method.

Step 5: Add a few pumps of spray butter if you’d like. This just adds a little flavor.

Step 6: Serve with any dish that has sauce, it soaks it up just like rice! Enjoy!

XO,

Erica

Ten-Minute Tacos

WOW! Before I dive in to my next recipe, I want to say thank you to everyone for showing me so much love and support with the launch of To Health With It! I am beyond excited to share more of my favorite recipes and cooking tips with all of you!

These tacos happened by accident one night when I came home from school STARVING. When I opened my fridge, I was disappointed to find that all I had was a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and salad fixings (BORING).  I was about to throw together my go-to salad when a jar of salsa tucked away in a back corner caught my eye. It was at that moment that Ten-minute tacos were born!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it with whatever you have at home. Whether you have some leftover protein (chicken, beef, turkey, fish, shrimp – to name a few) or vegetables that you aren’t sure what to do with, these tacos will turn out great every time!

Step 1: Season the chicken. I used Zatarain’s Creole seasoning since I was starting with raw chicken. I love the little kick this spicy blend adds to any dish. Taco seasoning, Mrs. Dash, lemon pepper, or any other blend you have on hand would work too! If you don’t care for the flavors of herbs and spices, seasoning up the chicken with a little salt and pepper would work just fine! If you already have some protein leftover from last night’s dinner, just use what you’ve got…it will still be delish!

Step 2: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet. I cooked 4 thin cut chicken cutlets in this amount of oil and it was plenty. This recipe could be done with just a little cooking spray, but since everything else was so low-cal, I went for the oil!

Step 3: Sautee the chicken until golden brown on each side. I start with the heat on high for five minutes, then I flip the chicken and turn it town to medium so that it can cook all the way through. If you leave it too high you will end up with the outside charred and the inside raw – yuck!

Step 4: While the chicken is cooking, chop up whatever vegetables you want to top your tacos with. I used lettuce, tomato and purple onion for these.

Step 5: 30 second guac is the key to any great homemade taco. I mash one avocado with a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and the juice of half a lime. If I don’t have a lime on hand, I add a little bit of red wine vinegar. This adds a little bit of tang and really brightens the dish! You could also use plain avocado slices to top these tacos if you’d like.

Step 6: Heat tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds. I use Mission Low Carb whole wheat 6” fajita tortillas, which are only 1.5 points on Weight Watchers.

Step 7: Fill up those tortillas! I layer chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa, and a sprinkle of fat free mozzarella. I am all for reduced fat cheese, but I rarely like or use fat free cheese. Anything that doesn’t melt probably shouldn’t be put into your body. BUT the exception is mozzarella. I think the fat free version tastes great, and it melts, so it’s perfect for this recipe!

Step 8: At only 9 Weight Watchers points for 2 tacos, this is a great way to satisfy your Tex-Mex craving without eating something that’s deep-fried and smothered with queso!

XO,

Erica

Zucchini "Fries"

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my blog! I want to start out by sharing a few of the recipes that got a lot of attention when I first posted them on facebook, because it’s thanks to the buzz they generated that I decided to start posting here! Bear with me while I figure out how to do this whole blogging thing! Enjoy!

ps: I will eventually have step by step pictures, but since I am going back a few months I wasn't anticipating blog posts when I first started taking pictures of my food! 

I made these “fries” for family dinner one Friday night, and they were gone before the dinner was even served! Besides being a healthy alternative to deep fried starch, the great thing about this recipe is that you can use any vegetable you like (or that you have in your fridge)! There aren’t exact measurements for this one, just eyeball the quantities for the amount of vegetables you have and adjust to your liking!

Step 1: Cut your vegetables into sticks. For round vegetables like zucchini I cut off a thin strip from all four “sides,” so that I am left with a rectangle. This makes it easier to cut sticks, and prevents your food from rolling around as you cut it!

Step 2: Make sure to pat your vegetables dry. This will ensure maximum crunchiness, which is clearly a must!

Step 3: Combine Italian seasoned bread crumbs, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a few shakes of garlic powder. 

NOW, here’s your chance to shake things up a little bit. If you like spicy, add some heat. If you like herbs, chop some up and mix them in. If you like a punch, add a little of your favorite curry powder or other seasoning blend. There’s no wrong way to season a fry!

Step 4: Beat some egg whites. I always start with two, and if I need more I just add them one at a time as I go.

Step 5: Dip your vegetables in the egg whites, and then in the crumb mixture.

Step 6: Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Spread your breaded vegetables in an even layer on the cooling rack. Vegetables give off liquid when they cook, so by raising them above the pan you are allowing them to reach their crispiest potential since they won’t be baking in moisture.

Step 7: Spray the tops with olive oil cooking spray (or whatever you have on hand) so they get nice and golden.

Step 8: Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until desired crispiness is reached!

Step 9: Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, and enjoy!

XO,

Erica