Grilled Cheese with Guacamole

It has been three weeks, seven pounds, 120 hours of work, and one major thesis since I've last blogged. It feels like at least that long since I've had a decent meal. Now that life has kind of settled I think I deserve a little treat. Remember when I said that everyone was allowed to be a glutton? Well, today was the day. This is one of my go-to indulgence meals. Grilled cheese sandwich with guacamole. It's simple. It's easy. It's oh-so-yummy. It's just a small tweak on the grilled cheese with ketchup standard, but I think you'll agree it's a good tweak. And hey, avocado is considered one of the top super-foods so its at least half sinless.

Two slices of multigrain bread
Butter
Fresh cut slices of cheddar cheese
One ripe avocado
Half of a lime
Two teaspoons of chopped cilantro

Butter one side of each piece of bread. Place one slice of bread on a frying pan, butter side down. Place the cheese on top of the bread and cover with the other slice butter side up. Cook until both sides of toast start to brown and the cheese is melted.

I like to keep my guacamole simple: mash-up a ripe avocado in a bowl, squeeze half a lime, and sprinkle with cilantro.

Jerk Chicken Lettuce Wraps

So I'm listening to the Drive @ 5 Street Mix on z1035 and it is making me crave something feisty for dinner. My sister from another mister is coming home from St. Kit's in a few days so I think I'll cook up something with a little island flavour. Spicy lovers will not be disappointed. Sinful confession: though I would like to stick to my "make it yourself" credo, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know jack about jerk. So I buy an organic jerk chicken sauce for this recipe.

1/2 cup of chopped red pepper
1/2 cup of chopped green pepper
a handful of chopped broccoli
1/2 cup of chopped red onion
1 chicken breast (you guessed it...chopped into cubes)
3 heart of romaine lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons of Sable and Rosenfeld's Tipsy Jerk

Pre-heat a skillet on medium heat. Pour two tablespoons of Tipsy Jerk until it starts to sizzle. Then add chicken and cook for 10 minutes. Once the chicken is almost cooked add the broccoli, peppers and red onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked after the veggies have been added (test one piece to make sure it is white all the way through). Once everything is cooked you can scoop the mix into the grooves of the romaine lettuce leaves.

Word to the wise, have a tall glass of water beside you while you eat this. This will set your soul (and taste buds) on fire.

Roasted Garlic Bruschetta Sandwich

Tuesday afternoon and I am transcribing interviews for a story I am working on. In case you are wondering, that is not very fun. Nothing fills you with self-loathing more than hearing your voice on a tape recorder. I find my current self getting angry with my past self for asking such ridiculous questions. The worst part is when I hear myself say, "Oh, that's interesting." Translation: I have no follow up question to what you just said and am stalling until I figure one out.
So I decided to give myself a break and finally pay attention to my grumbling tummy. I think it is asking for a sandwich. Vegetarians, you will love this.

1/2 of a ripe tomato finely diced
1/4 of a red onion diced
1/2 a bulb of garlic
2 pieces of whole wheat toast
2 tables spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of raw spinach
1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
splash of hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In tin foil, place 1/2 a bulb of garlic (with skin still on!). Pour 2 tables spoons of extra virgin olive oil on top of it and place in the oven. It should take about 7 minutes to cook, but you will know when it is done if you can easily stick a fork through it. While the garlic is roasting, toast two pieces of bread.
In a bowl, mix tomato, onion, and hot sauce. Place the mix onto a slice of toasted bread. Place the toast with the bruschetta mix in the oven for about 3 minutes.
Once the garlic has been roasted, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about a minute. Once cool, start taking the garlic out from the skin and slice each clove into quarters with a knife. Place the garlic on top of the piece of toast with the bruschetta mix. Sprinkle mozzarella on top and put it back in the oven for another minute (you want the cheese to melt).
Once it is out of the oven, place the spinach on top and cover with the other slice of bread.
Bon appetite!

For extra zest, you can add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the bruschetta mix!

Kidney Bean Curry

This is as sinless and as delicious as it gets. I don't mean to keep posting Indian recipes, but it just so happens that this is what I made for lunch the other day. It is high in fiber and loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. This is actually my favourite Indian dish. I request it every time I go home. My version is a little bit different from my mom's, but it is also easier for you to make. You probably won't have most of these ingredients lying around so you'll have to make a trip to the grocery store!

1 tin of kidney beans
1 can of organic unsalted crushed tomato
2 teaspoons of garam masala (you can get this from whole foods)
1 teaspoon of curry powder (available in most grocery stores)
1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (more or less depending on your preference)
1 teaspoon of salt
just a pinch of turmeric (also available in most grocery stores)
1/2 of a red onion finely chopped
5 cloves of fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/2 a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of butter
2 tablespoons of fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of yoghurt

In a metal pot, with the heat on medium, add 1 teaspoon of butter, onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until onions start to brown. When the onions have browned, add in garam masala, curry powder, and cayenne pepper. Cook for another minute. (If you find it getting dry, add a bit of water)
After this, add tomato sauce and kidney beans. Fill up the tin with water and pour that into the pot as well. Let this simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. Do not turn it above medium heat. The key is a slow simmer.

After 30 minutes, season the curry with coriander. Add the yoghurt just to YOUR portion, do not mix it into the entire curry. Generally this is eaten with naan bread or basmati rice...but that wouldn't be very sinless of me to recommend.

Faux-Fried Chicken Fingers

It's Saturday night, I'm watching a Sex and the City marathon on Cosmo and the scent of dinner is still lingering through the apartment. Let me just say, its a pretty perfect night. Tonight, I had faux-fried chicken fingers. It has become my new favourite. The bonus: it tastes better that real fried chicken fingers. The bigger bonus: its totally sinless. I got this recipe from a magazine and it was absolutely delicious.

Ingredients
1 cup of Cornflakes
1 teaspoon of thyme
2 teaspoons of sage
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of mustard (I used French's hot and spicy)

Cut chicken breasts into strips and coat in mustard. In a blender, add cornflakes, thyme, and sage. Blend until ground into a fine mix. Roll the chicken strips into the mix and place on a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes - 10 minutes each side.

If doing this by hand, beware, your hands will smell like mustard despite multiple handwashes.

The Real Chai

A note to Starbucks and all those other Chai imitators out there: there is more to Chai than cinnamon! Apparently you think that the most revered black tea in all of India is based on that simple over-used ingredient. Most mainstream coffee shops have bastardized the original Chai. Luckily, you have me. Here is my recipe for mama's Chai. Notice I am not saying Chai Tea. That is because in Hindi, chai actually means tea. So when you say chai tea you are being redundant and you sound like an idiot. Also, if you want to get real authentic, it is pronounced "chaa."

In a saucepan put
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of 1% or skim organic milk
1 teabag (orange pekoe)
5 pieces of cardamom (crack them a little but biting each piece with your teeth)
1 branch of cinnamon (or two pinches of cinnamon power)
1/2 a teaspoon of annis
1/2 a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger

Bring ingredients to a boil and sweeten to taste.
Sinless Tip: Use an all-natural sweetening ingredient called Xylitol It is generally extracted from birch bark, doesn't require insulin to digest (which means you don't get a sugar rush...then crash), and is low in calories. Look it up for yourself.

Let me know how this turned out!

The Inaugural Post

Right off the bat, I have a confession to make. I've fallen off the healthy eating bandwagon. Not because I've stopped believing but because I stopped caring. You notice the effect of falling off the wagon almost immediately. Suddenly I am purchasing Triscuits instead of almonds and eating Kraft Dinner instead of making my own pasta. Food shouldn't have brand names. But the hard truth is written on those stubborn numbers on the weight scale.
To put it bluntly, I've been a sinful glutton.
But today marks a new day. From this day forward I vow to

* Make it myself
* Scrutinize ingredients
* Say "Back the F off" to salt, aspartame, grease and any other unholy substance that dare cometh into my fare.
* Buy organic when available and unprocessed every time
* Allow sins only once a week (everything in moderation right?)
* Have at least two posts a week!

Here it goes!