Spinach & Feta Puff Pastry (Spanakopita)

This delicate and delicious Hors d'oeuvre or appetizer is Greek inspired including feta cheese and pine nuts - A great starter for a dinner party. Don’t forget to keep the puff pastry in the fridge until you’re absolutely ready to work with it!

Ingredients

·         1 large bunch of fresh spinach

·         2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         5-6 garlic cloves, minced

·         1 large sweet onion, chopped (Vidalia or other sweet onion)

·         1 to 1-1/2 ounces toasted pine nuts

·         ¼ pound feta cheese, crumbled

·         2 sheets of puff pastry (packaged frozen is just fine)

·         1 egg whisked with 2 tablespoons of cold water (Egg wash)

Preparation – The Filling

·         Steam the spinach just until wilted and set aside for 10-15 minutes to cool.

·         Meanwhile, in a medium sauté pan, heat the pine nuts on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, moving the nuts around to evenly toast, set aside.

·         Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes.

·         Add the garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.

·         Add the pine nuts and stir into the onion-garlic mixture for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

·         When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much liquid as possible, handful by handful, and add to a bowl.

·         Add the onion, garlic and pine nut mixture to the bowl, along with the feta cheese. Stir to mix well.

Working with Puff Pastry

Assuming that you’re using frozen pastry, when you remove the pastry from the box you’ll have two sheets, tri-folded to work with. Don’t worry, that’s all you need – just work with one pastry sheet at a time, leaving the other in the fridge until ready to work with. It is essential that puff pastry stay as cool as possible at all times until it’s time to bake.

·         Remove ONE pastry sheet from the package and return the other to the fridge until you’re ready to work with it.

·         Sprinkle flour on the pastry sheet. This will make it much easier to work with. (You will probably have to sprinkle more flour onto the pastry as you work with it)

·         Next, cut the tri-folded pastry sheet vertically down the fold lines, making 3 long strips.

·         Cut each strip horizontally into 3 squares, making 9 squares from the 3 long strips.

Filling the Pastry 

·        Pre-Heat the oven to 350 degrees

·        Place a tablespoon or so of the spinach mixture on the first pastry square, filling the pastry diagonally, corner to corner and leaving ½ inch at the ends - Don’t overfill or the pastry will burst when baking!

·        Once you have the filling in place, fold the pastry dough corner to corner, making a triangle shape with the filling covered in the middle.

·        Seal the triangle by folding the dough back onto itself with your fingers or crimp the edges – just get a good seal. Don't worry if it's not pretty , it will be just fine when it's baked and puffed out!

*Repeat with the other 8 squares from the first sheet of pastry. When you finish with the first sheet, remove the second pastry sheet from the fridge and repeat the entire process until finished forming all the pastry triangles.

Brush each pastry with the egg wash just before placing in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Delicate deliciousness!

"Death by Pumpkin" Pumpkin Pie

You've heard of 'Death by Chocolate', well this is the pumpkin version! Yes, yes I know, this is a healthy blog and we’re not supposed to talk about ‘bad, fattening food’. Well, facing reality, the truth is that when certain holidays come around, we’re all going to cheat a little. After all, we’re talking about maybe 3-4 days out of the year…and that leaves 361 to do the right thing. Besides, this pie isn't that bad for you! Anyway, I’m not a pumpkin pie lover by any means, but I helped my cousin Karla make this pie for Thanksgiving and it is one of the most incredible pies I’ve ever eaten. Without question, this is the very best pumpkin pie I have ever put in my mouth. You missed it for Thanksgiving so I suggest you put the ingredients on your shopping list for Christmas!

Ingredients – Filling (8 servings)

·         1 ¾ pound of pumpkin meat, pureed (if you get canned get a good quality!)

·        3/4 cup dark brown sugar

·         2 cans of unsweetened evaporated milk

·         2 eggs beaten thoroughly

·         1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt

·         ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ½ teaspoon ground ginger

·         ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

·         ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Ingredients - Crust

• ½  cup whole-wheat pastry flour  (Whole-wheat pastry flour contains less gluten than regular whole-wheat flour and helps ensure a tender result in delicate baked goods.)
• ½  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼  teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (I know, I know – but you’re only going to eat 1 slice)
• 1/8  cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1-1/2  tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons ice water
• 1 large egg white, beaten, for brushing

Preparation

To Make The Crust:

·         Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

·         Cut butter into small pieces and, with your fingers, quickly rub them into the dry ingredients until smaller but still visible.

·         Add sour cream and oil; toss with a fork to combine with the dry ingredients.

·         Sprinkle water over the mixture. Toss with a fork until evenly moist.

·         Knead the dough with your hands in the bowl a few times; the mixture will still be a little crumbly.

·         Turn out onto a clean surface and knead a few more times, until the dough just holds together. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using – the colder the better.

To Make The Filling:

·         Blend all filling ingredients thoroughly.

Putting it all together:

·         Remove the dough from the refrigerator; let stand for 5 minutes to warm slightly.

·         Roll dough between sheets of parchment or wax paper into a thinnish 12-inch circle.

·         Peel off the top sheet and invert the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Peel off the remaining paper.

·         Moisten the outer edge of the dough with water.

·         Place dough into a pie pan, making sure that the dough is ‘seated’ fully into the pan and leaving 1“ extra at the top of the pan. (you may have to trim off any excess dough)

·         Roll the extra dough under itself to create a thick, high-edged crust at the top of the pie pan.

Flute the top edges of dough by using one hand on the inside of the pan and one hand on the outside of the pan and pushing the dough with the index finger on the inside hand between the thumb and index finger fingers on the outside hand, creating a ‘U’ shape, at 1 inch intervals all around the top of the pie.

 

·         Fill pie pan with filling and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Let cool on a wire rack for 2 hours before serving. Serve with a dollop of homemade whipped cream (Optional)

Nutrition

Per serving: 190 calories; 5 g fat ( 2 g sat , 3 g mono ); 40 mg cholesterol; 11 g added sugars; 4 g protein; 2 g fiber; 90 mg sodium; 240 mg potassium.

Turkey Hash

A delicious breakfast recipe for some of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey!

Ingredients (6-8 servings)

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapenos, seeded and diced
• 1-1/2  pound leftover turkey meat (white, dark or mix)
• ½  teaspoon sea salt
• 1-1/2 pounds red potatoes, diced and cooked to ¾ done
• ½  cup Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 lime
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Poached eggs (2 per person)

Directions

·         Pre-heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a sauté pan.

·         Add onions and peppers and sauté until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

·         Add turkey and brown on all sides. Season with salt and pepper.

·         In a separate pan, heat the remaining oil to a high heat and fry potatoes until crispy.

On a serving plate layer the turkey mixture on top of the crispy potatoes. Serve each with a helping of hash topped with two poached eggs…what a way to start the day after Thanksgiving!

Salsa Verde

This refreshingly bright salsa is excellent with whole-grain tortilla chips, on top of poached eggs or on Fish Tacos

Ingredients

·         1/2 cup cilantro

·        3 large tomatillos, peeled and halved

·         1 small onion, chopped

·         2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

·         2 Serrano peppers, seeded and stemmed

·         1 avocado, pitted and peeled

·         2 teaspoons raw sugar

·         ¼  teaspoon fresh ground sea salt

Preparation

·        Place the halved tomatillos face down on a baking pan and broil for 5 minutes.

·        Blend  the tomatillos, along with all other ingredients, until pureed.

·        Chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.

How easy was that!?!

Lobster Salad with Mango-Avocado Salsa

This lobster salad is elegant, light and refreshing to the palate. Perfect anytime.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

 

·         * 2 cooked lobster tails and claw meat

·         * 1 yellow or orange pepper, diced

·         * cherry tomatoes

·         * 1 ripe mango, diced into small cubes

·         * 1 avocado, diced into small cube

·         * 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         * 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

·         * 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

·         * 1/2 of a fresh squeezed lemon

·         * Mixed baby greens

·         * salt and pepper to taste

·         * chives for garnish

 

Preparation

·         Add pepper, mango and avocado to a bowl.

·         In a separate bowl, whisk olive oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

·         Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of the dressing over the mango salsa, stir and let marinade for 10 minutes.

 

Plating the dish

Start by arranging a bed of greens on four plates.

·         Top with mango salsa and lobster meat.

·         Add cherry tomatoes around the mound of salad over the mixed greens.

·         Insert a few stalks of chives in the center of the salad tower.

·         Serve with the remaining dressing on the side.

Heart Smart Vegannaise (Aioli)

If you're like me you love mayo! This healthier, vegetarian-style mayo version is light but still maintains that creamy mayo texture and flavor that we all know and love. The chervil and garlic come from the original roots of mayonnaise in Spain (I bet you thought it came from France – nope) and add a different flavor that I think you’ll love. This ‘mayo’ also makes a great dip for steamed artichokes or, with 3-4 cloves of garlic, an aioli.

Ingredients: For 3/4 cup

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½  cup soymilk
• 1 small garlic clove, minced fine
• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ cup fresh chervil leaves, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon prepared mustard
• 6 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

• Blend all ingredients, except canola oil and chervil, on medium speed for 30 seconds, until frothy.
• Turn the blender on high and very slowly drizzle in the oil - the mixture will start to thicken.
• Continue blending and slowly drizzle the oil in until thick and smooth.
• When the sauce is thick, remove from blender and stir in the fresh chopped chervil, chill and serve.

**Do not rush this! The process of slowly incorporating the oil into an emulsification should take several minutes and is a crucial element to the success of this sauce. Transfer to an air tight jar (Mason jar is best but any will do) and store in the fridge.

Nutrition (1 Tablespoon):  Calories =  90; Total Fat  =  9grams; Saturated Fat  =  1 gram; Sodium =  85mg; Total Carbohydrates =  0 grams; Polyunsaturated Fat =  0 grams; Monounsaturated Fat 0 grams; Cholesterol = 0mg

Butter vs. Margarine: Which is better for my heart?

(From Martha Grogan, M.D., Mayo Clinic cardiologist as well as the Cardiology department from the Cleveland Clinic)

I want to get this debate straightened out right away: Butter is bad, it’s that simple. Even though it seems obvious that plant-based oils in margarines (or should I say 'spreads') would be tons better for you than animal-based butter, there are still some folks out there that think that ‘butter's better’…well listen up, IT'S NOT! The reason is the type of fat contained in each product – but you still have to become an educated consumer and choose the right spread.

Let’s take a look at the differences between butter and margarine or spreads. First up, butter.

Butter

The problem with butter is that it contains two cholesterol-raising ingredients: dietary cholesterol and saturated fat. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal products so you won't find any cholesterol in a plant-based food, such as margarine.

The thing is that some of us are more affected by cholesterol in the diet than others, meaning some people can consume a diet high in cholesterol without blood cholesterol levels being affected; but others need only eat a little dietary cholesterol and their cholesterol levels soar. Overall, it is recommended that healthy persons consume no more than 200 milligrams cholesterol each day. Butter has 33 milligrams of cholesterol in one tablespoon alone!

Cholesterol aside, butter's biggest trouble is its saturated fat content. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and are found largely in red meat, high-fat dairy products (like butter) as well as coconut and palm oils. When eaten in excess, saturated fats increase the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) as well as the "good" cholesterol (HDL). Despite the fact that saturated fats raise good cholesterol, they don't raise it enough to warrant you eating it. Cardiologists and nutritionists agree that saturated fat intakes are associated with increases in the risk of heart disease. They also agree that a healthy range of saturated fat is 10 – 15 grams each day. Just one tablespoon of butter contains over 7 grams of saturated fat!

Margarine (Spread)

Margarine is by no means void of artery clogging fat. The controversy with margarine lies with its level of trans-fat, basically a man-made fat. Trans-fats are formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oils, making the oil more solid and less likely to spoil. This process is called hydrogenation or partial hydrogenation which allows stick margarine to be firm at room temperature. Trans-fats have been shown to increase the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) similarly to saturated fats, and they tend to lower the "healthy" (HDL) cholesterol when eaten in large amounts. Further, trans-fats may make our blood platelets stickier. 

Another factor is that not all margarines are created equal — and some may even be worse than butter. As a general rule of thumb, the more solid the margarine, the more trans fat it contains — so stick margarines will usually have much more trans fat than do tub margarines. 

Margarine: Stick, Tub or Liquid? It DOES make a difference!

A little margarine or spread know-how will help you reduce the amount of trans-fat you eat. Stick margarine contains the most trans-fat  at 3 grams per one tablespoon. Simply by switching to tub or liquid margarine you'll cut that by almost 2/3, to 1–2 grams trans-fat.

Further good news is that margarine manufacturers are now cutting their trans-fat levels even further, to less than 0.5 grams per serving! This low level is allowed to carry the claim "trans-fat free or zero trans-fat". How do they do it? They switched their first ingredient from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil to water or liquid vegetable oil. As a result, you keep the total trans fat close to zero  and saturated fat under 2 grams per serving.

 
Selecting a Good Spread

Rule number one is to always check the Nutrition Facts panel on the product and pay particular attention to the grams of saturated fat and trans-fat. Look for products that have the lowest combined amount. Also, look for products with a low daily value percentage for cholesterol. Keep in mind, margarines contain greater amounts of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils, which helps reduce bad cholesterol when used to replace saturated and trans-fats found in butter.

 

Look for a healthy blend of oils that include olive oil or canola! Also, if you haven't tried margarine in awhile because you didn’t like the taste, things have changed dramatically in the past few years. There are healthy margarines out there that taste just like butter…so you won’t miss out on flavor.

So, now you have some choices and your answer: margarine (the trans-free tub or liquid kinds) is recommended most highly, over both stick margarine and butter. So, if you’re a regular user, aim for the growing number of tub and liquid trans-free margarines available on the market today and rest-assured that you are eating a more heart-healthy diet.

Cook, eat, live!

Hair and Nail Facts

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime!

Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.

Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.

One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.

The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.

There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.

Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.

You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.

Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.