Category: Food/Drink

My friend Erin got me started with Hungry Girl by getting me the first Hungry Girl cookbook, cleverly titled “Hungry Girl” by Lisa Lillien. Next thing you know I’m signed up for the email alerts and buying their latest book “200 Under 200”. Curse you Erin! For those of you unfamiliar with Hungry Girl, it’s a website with a sense of humor that talks about trying to eat a low calorie, low fat, high fiber, diet. They email out nutritional information about dishes in restaurants, offer alternative recipes to classic dishes, and let you know about new food products that are out there that taste great and aren’t a sin to indulge in. (Can anyone whose eating those Skinny Cow Truffle ice cream bars give me an amen?)

Thanks to Hungry Girl my husband and I have discovered the joy of soy (Holy crap soy crumbles taste a lot like meat and have no calories and fat when compared to hamburger!), the wonders of Laughing Cow cheese wedges (A whole wedge, the entire thing is only 35 calories?!), and thanks to their product alerts my husband finally found a hot dog he could eat that I won’t beat him up about (Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Beef Franks, only 40 calories per dog and they taste so good!). And it’s that very same hot dog that features in something so wrong, so in violation of the natural order, and yet, is quite tasty.

My husband love hot dogs. Left on his own they would most likely be his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Before you say it, yes, I’ve seen him eat hot dogs while drinking coffee so hot dogs for breakfast aren’t out of the question. Anyway, on July 16, 2009 (a day that shall now live in infamy) I got my email from the Hungry Girl website. “Yesterday was National Hot Dog Day. Today is National Corn Fritters Day. We’re getting creative and merging the two. Happy Corndog Day, people! ” it started out. And then, the first recipe was revealed, the “Corndog Millionaire Muffins”.

Yes folks, a muffin designed to recreate the taste of eating a corndog. I said to myself, this is too funny, I should email it to my husband. Next thing you know, I’m coming home from work to a piping hot batch of corndog muffins! There they are in the tin, looking like a tasty yellow cake cupcake with hot dogs protruding out of them! “Ack!” I told my husband, “Muffins should not have a wafting aroma of hot dogs about them!”

There was a brief discussion as to what to drink with a corndog muffin (Does it pair well with a red wine perhaps?). We decided that only an equally great violation against nature could be paired with this meal. So I made myself a rum and diet caffeine free coke using rum from my $50 bottle of 15 year old Rhum Barbancourt.

It seemed like a sin to use such a good rum for a lowly rum and coke, but boy did it taste good! And the muffins, as wrong and evil as they are, tasted like corndogs. They look freakish and wrong, but they tasted just …. like …. corndogs. They tasted good and at only 160 calories a muffin their appearance is the only thing twisted and wrong.

Want to become your very own Corndog Millionaire by making these muffins? Click here! Want to visit the awesome Hungry Girl website to get great low cal recipes and tips to buying yummy guilt free food? Click here.

As you will remember from my attempts to master the flaming mojito it was decided that flaming mojitos just weren’t worth the effort or the nasty Bacardi 151 taste. Upon that decision I asked my husband, Jim, what are we going to do with the 151 that’s left? He told me that we would flame drinks again, just not mojitos. And so I foolishly asked, what the heck mixed drinks are you going to set on fire? How about non-alcoholic ones? Ha, how about a Shirley Temple?

He loved the way flaming Shirley Temple sounded. He liked a flaming Shirley Temple Black as a name even better.

I love Shirley Temples! Most of my memories of eating out with my parents as a child involve me being given a sweet Shirley Temple in a cocktail glass with a swizzle stick, just like the adults had. Even now that I’m well past 21 years-old I’ll occasionally order one when I want something that looks like a cocktail but doesn’t have any alcohol.

For those of you who don’t know, a Shirley Temple is a pretty simple drink. My childhood memories are of a glass of 7-Up with the juice from a jar of maraschino cherries with a few of the cherries dropped in. Since we weren’t positive we took a quick peak online and came up with this standard-ish recipe for a Shirley Temple.

Glass.


1oz. grenadine syrup



8oz. ginger ale and add ice



Jim handed the glass to me and I took a sip, minus the cherry to eat, it tasted like the Shirley Temples of my childhood. This is when I pointed out that if he took a shot of Captain Morgan Tattoo rum and added it gently, it would probably make a black layer on top, and then it could be called a Shirley Temple Black (Which is also a drink, with many different recipes ranging from the addition of vodka, kahlua, orange juice, and more).

We added the Tattoo, and sure enough, it made a crimson red drink with a black layer on top. Perfect in appearance for any vampire or goth or goth vampire event.

Now for anyone that hasn’t tried Captain Morgan’s Tattoo, it has an odd spiced flavor to it. Not good for shots or sipping, but I find it okay for rum and cokes. I was concerned as to how my beloved Shirley Temple would taste once we stirred the inky spiced blackness of the Tattoo into it.

The answer….awesome. In fact, you can’t even tell there is any alcohol in it. This could potentially be the most dangerous mixed drink ever because there seriously isn’t even a hint of alcohol to it.

In fact, it tasted so good that neither Jim or I could bring ourselves to light it on fire. Which is probably for the best, I’m running low on pint glasses.

Post Script: After much debate, and suggestions from Greg at What Greg Eats, Jim and I decided to call this drink, Naughty Shirley.

If you’re like me, you love watching “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel with Anthony Bourdain. And if you do watch, you know that Bourdain has a thing for Vietnam, and even more specifically a Vietnamese noodle soup called pho (pronounced fuh, like duh with an f). Every time he’s anywhere in Vietnam you get treated to watching him and his cohorts slurping down this soup while an elaborate voice over explains why this is the soup to end all soups (I suspect the voice overs are because he doesn’t want to stop eating to discuss.).

Now many of my readers live in large cities and I suspect getting yourself a bowl of pho isn’t too rough if there’s any kind of Vietnamese population where you live. With a little research I found two places about 30 minutes from where I live that serve pho, so I picked the one that had good reviews for its pho and was located somewhere I felt confident I could find. So, at the end of May, for my birthday, my husband took me there for lunch so I could finally try pho.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with pho, let me break it down for you, at least in respect to what I had. It’s a very complex broth soup, in the case of what I had, beef broth, that has rice noodles, a variety of onions (yes, there was heart burn, exquisite, delicious heart burn), and since I ordered the pho bo, which is pho with thinly sliced beef, there was a load of thin slices of beef in there. On the side you’re given a variety of things to add to customize the pho to your tastes. I got a plate with fresh bean sprouts, lime, hot peppers and basil, and a small dish that had a spicy chili sauce and I think fish sauce.

Never having had pho before, I first had a few tastes of it without adding anything. It was a yummy soup that tasted exotic and yet oddly familiar. Vietnam meets childhood broth soup. After a few tastes I decided the lime would be good in it and squeezed the wedge into the bowl. Also, since I like bean sprouts I put a bunch of those in right away. Not being able to handle overly spicy food I opted to skip the fresh hot peppers and I didn’t love the idea of fresh basil in the broth so I skipped on that. Since basil is a staple, I’m sure it tastes fine; it just didn’t seem to click for me. I enjoyed the pho like that for a while and then decided it was time to try out the sauces. I tasted both sauces, and the chili sauce was very spicy. I put in a healthy dollop of the fish sauce and a tiny touch of the chili sauce. For me, this is when the soup went from good to awesome. Ironically, my husband doesn’t care for fish sauce, so for him it went from awesome to okay.

And that’s how I enjoyed my pho bo. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but at the same time I couldn’t work up the near fanatical adoration for it that Bourdain possesses. I ate half the bowl and took the other half home. End of story? Guess again.

Once I was home, I kept thinking about the pho bo in my refrigerator. I thought about it so much that despite having a filling dinner I found myself heating up a small bowl of it for a snack later that night. And once it was gone, that’s when it began. I would find pho sneaking into my mind a lot. I found myself looking at the calendar, trying to figure out when I could get down to that restaurant again for more. And that’s when I realized what Bourdain was talking about, pho gets inside you, and I’m not just talking about in your belly when you eat it. It’s combination of home-cooked noodle soup memories from your childhood laced with exotic flavors from another land…it’s a heady mix indeed.

So yes Bourdain, now I get it.

Post Script: I recently got to go back for more pho. This time I had pho tom, which has shrimp instead of beef. Delicious!

I can’t clearly recall when the idea struck my husband and I, but at some point we just went, “We should make flaming drinks for our friends.” And thus began our quest for fire.

It only takes about two seconds with Google to see that most flaming drink recipes have one thing in common, you float a little Bacardi 151 on top. To us this seemed to imply that really, you could light any beverage on fire, as long as you float some 151 rum on top. So then, why flame a zombie or mai tai when we could flame rum drinks we truly love, like mojitos and rum and cokes?

Obviously this was going to require field testing. We went out and bought a bottle of Bacardi 151 (Which by the way, has this awesome warning label telling you that no matter what, do not use it for flaming dishes or drinks. Seriously.) and a fire extinguisher that could accommodate liquid based fires. Then we gathered up a few rum drinking buddies to see what would happen.

For those of you unfamiliar with the mojito, you’ve been missing out. It’s a fairly simple mix. Cut up some lime, toss it in the bottom of a glass with some sugar and mint leaves. Then muddle it, which means pound and mush up the ingredients. You can buy a muddler (a mortarless pestle) for the task, we did on clearance at Pottery Barn, or you can use a wooden spoon handle, which is what we used in the past, or you could try the beater of a hand mixer, which is what the folks at Hungry Girl suggest. After you’ve muddled, add one part light, or white, rum and three parts seltzer and ice. Refreshing!

We ended up making two mojitos, a rum and coke, and a vanilla float (root beer with a shot of vanilla vodka). My husband floated some 151 on top and attempted to make flame.

Only one actually lit. We put out the flames on that one. Obviously the next step was to drink. The person whose mojito actually ignited suggested letting it burn out next time because the 151 tasted pretty strong. Obviously this is what I, the other mojito drinker, and the rum and coke guy thought as well. Of course we still drank them, can’t let rum go to waste after all. My husband’s vanilla float went straight into the sink after one sip. I guess none of us were too surprised that root beer, vanilla vodka, and 151 didn’t mix well.

Although not a roaring success, we had proof of concept. You could flame a mojito. We were now treading paths that had never been navigated before.

The next time we gathered we had new thoughts on how to reliably achieve flame. It appeared that the ice broke up the even layer of 151, so this time we made the drinks without ice. And it worked!

Remembering how we needed to let it burn longer we decided to let that one burn out. Um, not the best plan.

Yep, that would be a busted pint glass.

After that we opted to extinguish the flames after a minute or so. Unfortunately the drinks still tasted as if laced with rocket fuel. Maybe there was a reason that you mostly see shots and mixed drinks that are already a heady mix of boozes lit on fire. Perhaps the reason we had gone where no one had seemed to tread before was because, maybe, just maybe, everyone else was a little smarter.

So what did we learn? A mojito is a perfect, refreshing rum drink that needs no embellishment. That Bacardi 151 tastes pretty crappy. And that spending time drinking nasty, half flamed, rum drinks with friends is a wonderful way to kill a Saturday night.

Hey, it’s Rebecca, Greg’s more diet conscious counterpart, here to talk about pasta. Yes, pasta again. Why pasta? Well, let’s face it, pasta is something everyone loves. I don’t think I could trust a person that did not like pasta dishes. Unfortunately, most noodles are high in dreaded carbohydrates and then made worse by poorly considered sauces. Don’t get me wrong; I love me a bowl of nice fat noodles smothered in a rich cream sauce. However, dishes like that should be like Cookie Monster’s cookies…a sometimes food.

What is a noodle fan to do? The common answer has always been to switch to whole-wheat pasta. Despite people’s reaction to many brands, there are good whole-wheat pastas out there; you just have to be willing to eat a few meals of gritty cardboard noodles until you find a brand you like. I mentioned it in my last post here on What Greg Eats, but I’ll say it again. I really like Gia Russa brand. Then I started hearing about this miracle noodle, tofu shirataki.

What makes shirataki so darn special? Well, a 2-ounce serving has only 20 calories and 3 grams of carbs. It even has a little protein to boot. It has no cholesterol, no sugar, and is gluten-free. How is that possible? Well, this is not made out of traditional ingredients. Shirataki noodles are made with filtered water, tofu, and yam flour. The shirataki noodles I tried were purchased at my local grocery store in what I refer to as the “hippy section”. They were with the soymilk and dairy-free cream cheeses. The noodles are in a bag of water. Preparing the noodles was a little odd, but easy. You drain the noodles and rinse them. Then microwave them for one minute and dry them. After that, you use them as you would any cooked noodle.

In my case, we divided the noodles (one package was two servings) into two large bowls. I made a broth with two cans of low-fat low-sodium chicken broth, a splash of low-sodium soy sauce, minced garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, chopped mushrooms, and a little spinach. Once the broth was piping hot and the spinach was wilted, I just ladled the broth over the noodles until they were fully covered. Tah-dah!

The real question is how do they taste. The answer is a surprising, pretty darn good. Everyone says tofu has no flavor, but anyone who has tried working with it knows that it does have an odd flavor of its own. You couldn’t taste it in the noodles at all. I even tried one before I put broth on it to check. The noodles were thin, but very elastic. They had al dente firmness and the amusing bounciness of a rubber band. Really, it was quite charming. In addition, it convinced me that these noodles could hold up to a tomato sauce.

For me, tofu shirataki noodles are a gift from the pasta gods, a low fat, low-carb, low-calorie miracle. Hallelujah!

As we all know, Greg loves to eat. Greg loves to eat well, but he doesn’t frequently talk about eating healthy. I do. I annoy Greg with talk of whole grains and vegetarian meals on a regular basis. Greg has kindly allowed me the opportunity to be the angel of healthy eating on your shoulder to his little devil of luxurious dining.

What is a healthy meal? Despite what the media tells you, people have to decide what is healthy for them. For some, fat content is an issue, but sodium is okay, others are strictly looking to lose weight and carb counting is all they care about. For us at home, it’s generally low fat, low sodium, and low carbs. We changed our eating habits at home so we could enjoy eating out guilt free. Just because a meal is without guilt doesn’t mean it has to be without taste, and just because there is no meat, it doesn’t mean it’s not satisfying.

What follows is something I cooked up for an at home date night. The recipe is great for many reasons: one, it’s simple, two; you could easily modify it to suit your tastes (like adding meat or maybe wilting some spinach in it), three, the choice of ingredients. By using black beans in the place of meat you get protein without the fat, also, the red pepper flakes add a bit of spice, which revs up your metabolism. The use of whole-wheat penne pasta makes the dish feel hearty without the carbs of traditional white pasta. (I know many people do not like the taste of whole-wheat pasta, that’s because there are many brands that taste like tree bark, at best. You will need to suck up a few less then stellar pasta nights to find the brand that suits you. Personally, I’m in love with Gia Russa’s Whole Wheat Penne Rigate, www.giarussa.com.) What follows is an excellent sin free meal to start an evening of sin.

Rebecca’s Healthy Date Night Pasta for Two
(the amounts given are general at best; everything used is really a matter of taste preference)

Boil up enough pasta for two servings. I used half of a box of Gia Russa so that I would have leftovers to take to work for lunch.

In a large high sided skillet heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Once warm, add in minced garlic, I like me some garlic so I did about two and a half teaspoons.

After the garlic has had a chance to cook, add in one, drained 14 and a half-ounce can of diced tomatoes. (You could use fresh tomatoes that you skinned and diced yourself. It would probably taste better, but I’m a lazy girl and canned seems to work fine when you’re just cooking it into a sauce.)

Add in red pepper flakes to suit your taste. I just sprinkled it in without measuring, but a light sprinkle over the entire pan seemed to be just enough to add some heat without killing us.

Toss in fresh chopped basil. I used 5 large basil leaves and thought it was a little wimpy on the basil once I was done, so you may want to go 7 or 8 depending on your feelings about basil.

Stir it all together and allow the tomatoes to cook down some and the flavors to mingle. I gave it a healthy dash of black pepper here too.

Once everything is all warm and mingled together, add in half a can of drained black beans, and stir them in until they’re warm.

When your pasta is done (Gia Russa, 10 minutes to al dente) drain it. Toss the drained penne into your skillet and stir to coat.
Serve it up in bowls with some nice, toasted up whole grain bread. In addition, a glass of red wine is not only a romantic and appropriate accompaniment for this type of meal; it’s also good for your heart’s health. Have a glass with some dark chocolate for dessert and not only are you setting the mood, but you’re helping your blood pressure and battling heart disease!

Hopefully this inspires you to take a fresh look at healthy cooking at home!

For more food talk visit What Greg Eats.