Erica's Infamous Pecan Pie *not a healthy recipe*

I know, I know, it's hard to find good low-calorie dessert recipes at Thanksgiving.  But, this is not going to be one of them, unfortunately.  Check out my post on Chocolate Toffee Mousse for that - it's a family favorite!  Anyway, this IS a healthy recipe for me, because I don't like to eat pecan pie.  Yes, I apparently make it well and so I get asked to make it every year, therefore I figured I'd better digitize the recipe before my cookbook disintegrates.  But, I still won't eat it myself.   Anyway, it's a very simple, classic recipe, from my 50s-fabulous Culinary Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook.  If you have one you like better, let me know.

Pie Crust Recipe:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 4-6 tablespoons cold water

Put flour and salt in a bowl, then cut in shortening with a pastry blender.  Add water a couple of TB at a time, until mixture holds together but is not wet.  Be careful not to over-mix.  Divide dough into 2 balls.  Roll each ball out on a floured surface to desired width.  Fold in quarters to transfer to your pie plate, then unfold.  Recipe makes two pie crusts.  (Or, if you're making a fruit pie, you may choose to use the second crust as a "top" for one pie.)

Pecan Pie Recipe:

• 1/4c butter
• 2/3c brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c dark corn syrup
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c pecan pieces
• About 20 pecan halves, preferably well-formed
• 1 uncooked pie crust (note that the crust recipe makes 2 crusts, so you may decide to double the quantity on this filling recipe)

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Add salt, corn syrup, eggs, pecan pieces, and vanilla, mix.  Pour into pie crust.  Bake in a hot oven (450) for 10 minutes.  You should have a hard crust on top of the pie.  Place pecan halves in two concentric circles on the top of the pie.  If you need to break through the crust slightly with the pecan to let the liquid filling help hold the pecan in place, that is appropriate.  Reduce oven temperature to 350, and bake another 35 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.  FYI, I find this quite often takes more than 35 minutes, so let the pie tell you when it is done.  Makes 1x 8" pie.

No-Bread Meatloaf

Currently, I'm doing a low carb diet and really trying to stay away from all forms of carbs.  Even though it doesn't have a ton, most meatloaf has some bread crumbs, and sugary ketchup, which are enough to add unnecessary carbs to my day.  This recipe uses no carbey items and tastes AWESOME.  The key is cooking the veggies before putting them in the loaf - adds an extra pan, but YUM.
Ingredients:
 2

2 finely chopped green onions

1⁄2 cup finely chopped green pepper

1⁄3 cup finely chopped celery

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 

1⁄4 teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper

1⁄8 teaspoon nutmeg 

2 bay leaves 

1⁄2 cup tomato sauce, with no sugar or wine in it (I used a little more than called for, and like Michael's of Brooklyn tomato basil sauce)

1⁄2 cup low fat half-and-half

2 lbs ground beef (or mix with part veal or pork or beef) - I mixed with veal

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 1⁄2 teaspoons red pepper / tobasco sauce

Olive oil spray

1. Spray a nonstick pan with olive oil spray.  Add the green onions, green pepper, celery, and garlic and cook until softened.
2. Stir in salt, cumin, peppers, nutmeg, and bayleaves and cook 1 minute.
3. Stir in ketchup and half and half and simmer 2 minutes.
4. Cool and remove bay leaves.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Combine meat, eggs (lightly beaten), worcestershire, red pepper sauce in large bowl.
7. Stir vegeable mixture into meat mixture unil well blended.
8. Spoon mixture evenly into a 9 x 5 pan or freeform the mixture 
9. Bake 70 minutes or until temperature of meat registers 160 degrees.  Add a layer of extra tomato sauce to the top part way through cooking.
10. Cool in pan 5 minutes (at least) and drain and unmold onto serving platter.

One Pot Dominican Chicken and Rice

I've made this dish 4-5 times already and it is TERRIFIC.  It's got a great blend of favors.  And, it's nice that you can cook it all in one pan.  It takes a bit of time, but it's totally worth it.  They pretty much had me at "olives."

• 1 small onion
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1 TB canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 large pimento stuffed green olives (OK, I used more than 4)
• 2 TB tomato paste
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 2 1/4 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1 c quick cooking brown rice
• 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 1 pound)

Thinly slice the onion into half moons and chop the bell pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet that has a tight fitting lid, at high heat.  Add the onion and the pepper and cook until softened and browned around the edges, about 5 min.  Meanwhile mince the garlic and slice the olives.

Add the tomato paste to the skillet and cook, stirring, until it is incorporated and slightly darker in color, 1 min.  Add the minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cayenne, and cook, stirring, for 1 min. Add the broth, rice, olives and then the chicken.  Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Then, lower heat to medium low, and simmer until nearly all the liquid is absorbed, the rice is soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 15 min.

Serves 4, serving size = 1cup rice mixture and 1-1.5 chicken thighs.

Calories - 410, Total fat - 18g, sat fat 4g, mono fat 7.7g, poly fat 4.5g, protein - 36 g, carb - 26g, fiber 3G, cholesterol - 110 mg, sodium - 600 mg

Beef Bourguignonne with Egg Noodles

This recipe takes a while to make, but is AWESOME.  Best stew recipe ever, and doesn't taste the least bit "diet-ey."  This is a great Sunday dinner kind of dish to make.  Everyone loves it.  But, as I said, fair warning, it is a lengthy process.

• 1/3 c flour
• 2 tsp salt, divided
• 3/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper, divided
• 2 1/4 lbs lean beef stew meat
• 4 bacon slices
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 c dry red wine
• 14 oz low sodium beef broth
• 8 c halved mushrooms (about 1.5 lbs)
• 2 TB tomato paste
• 2 tsp fresh chopped thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 16 oz package frozen pearl onions
• 7c hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 6c uncooked)
• 3 TB chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Combine flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a zip plastic bag.  Add beef, seal and shake to coat.  Cook half of bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp.  Set aside.  Add half of beef to grease in plan.  Cook 5 min, browning on all sides.  Remove beef from pan, cover and keep warm. Repeat with remaining bacon and beef.  Remove and keep warm.  

Add chopped onion, sliced carrot and minced garlic to pan.  Sauté 5 min.  Stir in red wine and broth, scraping browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add bacon, beef, remaining salt & pepper, mushrooms, tomato paste, chopped thyme, bay leaves and pearl onions.  Bring to a boil.  Cover reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.  Uncover and cook1 hour or until beef is tender.  Discard bay leaves.  Serve beef mixture over noodles.  Sprinkle with parsley.

Yield 9 servings, 447 calories, 14.6 g fat, 5.1 g sat fat, 32.7 G protein, 45.7 g carbs, 3.9 g fiber, 117 mg cholesterol.

Broccoli Bacon Mac & Cheese

OK, people, I am a whole foods kind of eater these days, but - like many children of the 70's - I grew up on that nasty, totally fakey-fake Kraft Mac & Cheese.  And, truth be told, I like it.  I thought that, once I started eating healthy, that I would need to pretty much give that up.  BUT NO!  Cooking Light has come up with a brilliant way to make vegetables taste like Kraft Mac & Cheese.  And, it's easy.  And, it has bacon in it.  Note that this one tastes a bit better the night you make it than via leftovers.  But, that didn't stop me from eating it for several days - grin.  Awesome new find.  Think I'll make it again this week.

• 2 slices center cut bacon
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2c unsalted chicken stock
• 1 cup 1% fat milk
• 1x 10 package of frozen butternut squash puree, thawed (OK, this is tough to find, but is really the magic ingredient in this dish.  I found frozen squash chunks that I had to puree myself, but they say you can also use mashed sweet potatoes if that is easier to find)
• 10 oz uncooked elbow macaroni
• 3 c chopped broccoli florets
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 5 oz (1.25 c) shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used a bit more but used 2% milk cheese, tradeoffs!)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon, cook till crisp, flipping often.  Remove from pan.
• Add garlic to drippings in pan.  Sautee 30 seconds.
• Add stock, milk and squash.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• Add pasta.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in broccoli.  Cover and cook 3 minutes or until pasta is done and sauce is thickened.  (NOTE: I like my broccoli softer, so I pre-cooked it a bit before cooking the bacon.)
• Stir in salt, pepper and 4 oz cheese.
• Sprinkle bacon and remaining cheese on top.  Cover, let stand one minute, then serve.

Serves 6

Calories: 339, Fat 10 g (sat fat 5.7g, mono 2.8g, poly 0.7g), Protein 18g, Carbs 45g, Fiber 4g, Chol 29 mg, Iron 3mg, Sodium 566 mg, Calcium 267 mg

Blue Cheese Veal Chops and Yellow Rice

This is a recipe I've been making for a couple of years now and it is not only gourmet but very fast to make.  Definitely a must-try!

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 4x 6oz lean veal chops, trimmed (lamb chops work as well if you can't find veal)
• Cooking spray
• Boil in bag rice
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 14 oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c chopped green onions
• 1/4 c / 1 oz crumbled blue cheese
• 1 TB yogurt based butter spread (e.g. Brummel & Brown)

Preheat broiler.  Combine salt, pepper, paprika and sprinkle over both sides of chops. Place chops on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray.  Broil 6-7 min each side.  While chops are broiling, boil water and cook rice to package instructions.  Once rice is cooked, add in turmeric, 1/4 tsp salt, artichokes and green onions.  Combine blue cheese and yogurt spread in a small bowl, spread over chops.  Broil for 20 seconds or until cheese is melted.  Serve chops over rice.

Apricot Teryaki Chicken Thighs

I got this recipe from an Ellie Krieger cookbook, my new favorite chef, since everything she makes is real, delicious and easy.  Try these - they're so simple I was able to make them for 20 people at a Boy Scout campout, and I got rave reviews.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all fruit apricot preserves
• 3 TB reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1TB unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1.5 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs

Instructions:
Put apricot preserves, soy sauce and vinegar into a large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 30 sec then whisk until the preserves are dissolved.  Whisk in ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.  Add chicken and marinate for 15 min.

Preheat broiler to high.  Transfer chicken pieces to a broiler tray.  Broil about 3" from the heat until cooked through and well charred on the surface, about 5 min per side.

I can't find my cookbook at this particular moment, so I don't have calorie counts, but will add those back in once I come across it.