Monday, January 20, 2014

January 20, 2014

The past few weeks have been going well.  I have been watching what I eat, and portion control has been in  check.  I did go out drinking twice, which I'm not happy about consuming all of those empty calories.  I've decided to limit myself to only two more times drinking before this is all over.  Those are going to be the Daytona 500 and Tigers Opening Day.

There was one think that I forgot to mention in my original post, but my BMI was 30.2.  I don't really have a goal for this, but am interested to see how low it is on June 1st.

There are two recipes that I've recently tried that taste great, and are also a good way to eat a lot of kale and broccoli.

Kale Tart:

2 pounds Swiss chard or Kale, washed and spun dry
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped to yield 1/8 cup
3 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup bread crumbs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bring 8 quarts water to a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.
Roughly chop the Swiss chard, discarding the rough stems. Add the Swiss chard to the boiling water and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain thoroughly and set aside.
In a 12-inch saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over a medium flame until hot but not smoking. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and the parsley. Let cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, break the eggs into a small bowl. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano and, using a whisk, mix until the ingredients are well-blended. Add the egg mixture to the cooled Swiss chard and toss to combine.
Using the remaining olive oil to lightly grease a shallow 9-inch round or oval baking dish. Dust the bottom of the baking dish with 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Carefully place the Swiss chard and egg mixture into the pan. Dust with the remaining Parmigiano and then the remaining bread crumbs.
Bake until the top is golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve hot or room temperature.



Baked Broccoli

Chop a head of broccoli (do not rinse, immediately prior to preparing!)
Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic
Put broccoli, garlic, 2 tbsp. olive oil, and a few shakes of salt and pepper in a ziploc bag.
Shake it up!!
Spread out on baking sheet, place on top rack, and bake for about 30 minutes.

I added some Parmesan cheese and lemon juice when it was done...tastes great!

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