DOVE Chocolate Indulgence Giveaway

Even though we’re dietitians, when it comes to indulgences like dark chocolate, we find it impossible to resist. Last month at the Manic Mommies Escape in Napa, CA, we had the pleasure of sampling a variety of premium chocolates, compliments of DOVE CHOCOLATE DISCOVERIES (they sell decadent chocolates in people’s homes much like Pampered Chef sells fun kitchen tools).

Admittedly, we ate a few more chocolates than we should have. The scene reminded us of the hilarious I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel work in a chocolate factory and can only keep up with the speedy conveyor belt by eating most of the chocolates!  Okay, so maybe we’re exaggerating just a bit.

For this month’s giveaway, one lucky blog reader will receive a fabulous Delicious Indulgence Bundle from our new friends at DOVE. The giveaway, valued at $50.00, includes 24 sea-salted caramels and an assortment of dark chocolate-covered fruit.

dovefruitcollection

To Enter our Delicious Indulgence Bundle Giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this postdoveseasaltedcaramels telling us about your favorite holiday indulgence and/or why you want to win this giveaway. Whether it’s eggnog, pecan pie, or fruit cake, we can’t wait to hear your culinary confessions!

We Will Enter You into the Giveaway Multiple Times if you do any or all of the following (just be sure to leave us a new comment every time you do one of these things):

> Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter or tell your Facebook friends about it with a link back to this blog post.

> Become a Facebook Fan and leave a comment on our fan page wall.

> Listen to our weekly radio podcast, Cooking with the Moms, and then head over to iTunes to subscribe and post a review (you can click through to iTunes from our podcast page).

> Add one of our buttons/widgets to your blog or website. They are located in the upper left sidebar of our blog. We have three to choose from: Our blog post widget, our Recipe badge, and our Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen badge.

> Subscribe to Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen or sign up for our Meal Makeover Moms’ e-newsletter.

Our giveaway ends on Monday, December 7th at noon. As always, we’ll use Random.org to choose the winner. Good luck!

November 30, 2009 | Filed Under Desserts, Giveaways | 145 Comments 

Mango Almond Cheesecake – Bon Appetit Blog Envy Holiday Bake-Off

Bon Appétit magazine is hosting a Blog Envy Holiday Bake-Off between now and December 13th. The cool thing about the Bake-Off is that everyone gets to vote for their favorite desserts from various categories — cakes, pies, cookies, etc. Even though the contest is only open to bloggers, anyone can cast their ballot. The grand prize is a trip to New York and dinner at Le Bernadin restaurant with the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Barbara Fairchild.

We talked for quite some time about what to create. As you know, we tend to avoid excessive amounts of butter, cream, and sugar when we bake, so we knew that turning a “healthy” dessert into something spectacular would be of the utmost importance. What we finally decided to bake was a cheesecake … admittedly a challenge given that most are made with lots and lots of full-fat cream cheese for the filling and lots and lots of butter for the crust.

It took us three tries in the Meal Makeover Moms’ test kitchen (AKA Janice’s home kitchen that seriously needs a makeover) to get the recipe just right (lower down in the post,you’ll find a photo of one of our failures). For our Mango Almond Cheesecake, the creamy filling relies on 30%-reduced-fat cream cheese, part-skim ricotta cheese, agave nectar versus sugar for sweetness, and a perfectly ripe and super flavorful mango. The crust uses just 2 tablespoons of butter.

With just 5 grams of saturated fat per slice — a lot less than 99.9% of the cheesecakes you’ll find in cookbooks and on the web, you will definitely enjoy every creamy and sublime bite without even a sliver of guilt.

Mango Almond Cheesecake

Makes 16 Servings

For the Crust:

  • 1 ¼ cups crushed Graham Crackers (about 16 squares)
  • 2 tablespoons wheat germ
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon agave nectar
  • 1 egg white, beaten (save the yolk for the filling)

For the Filling:

  • 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
  • Two 8-ounce packages 30%-reduced-fat cream cheese, room temperature
  • One 15-ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup agave nectar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • Zest of one lemon, about 2 teaspoons
  • 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature

For the Garnish:

  • 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch dice
  • 1 teaspoon agave nectar
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, stir together the Graham Cracker crumbs, wheat germ, butter, agave, and egg white until well combined.

2. Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.  Press the crumb mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan and bake for 12 minutes.  Remove and cool completely on a wire rack before filling (you can turn the oven off while the pan cools and while you prepare the filling). Butter the sides well once cooled.

3. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. To make the filling, place the mango in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed, scraping the sides as necessary. Add the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, agave nectar, flour, lemon zest, almond extract, and salt and process until well combined and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, and process 5 to 10 seconds for each egg until completely incorporated.

4. Bring the oven back to 325°F. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil (come almost all the way up the sides). Wrap it well with several pieces of foil. Pour the filling into the pan and then place inside a large roasting pan. Place both pans on the center rack of the oven. Carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan so it comes halfway up the side of the springform.

5. Bake for 50 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake stand in the oven for an additional 1 hour (do not open the oven door).  Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and remove the foil. Run a pairing knife around the edge (this will help to prevent cracking as the cheesecake cools). Cool completely on a wire rack.  Chill overnight, uncovered.

6. Before serving, prepare the garnish by mixing together the mango, agave nectar, and mint in a large bowl.  Remove the cake from the springform pan (run a pairing knife around the outer edge again). Place on a cake plate. Arrange the almonds on top of the cake, around the outer edge (the cake will look like a wreath). If serving right away, place the fruit in the center of the cake, otherwise, slice and serve with the fruit on the side.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 230 calories, 11g fat (5g saturated), 230mg sodium, 26g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 17g sugar, 8g protein, 10% vitamin A, 10% vitamin C, 15% calcium

Print Recipe

After two cheesecakes that were overcooked with Grand Canyon-sized cracks, we decided that the water bath method, also known as a bain-marie, was the way to go. It may seem a bit fussy but it’s well worth it if you want a perfectly crater-free result. The bottom line: Cheesecakes can be persnickity but boy are they good.

If you like our recipe, we invite you to vote for us (starting November 30th) on the Bon Appétit site. For more photos, visit our Flickr page.

November 27, 2009 | Filed Under Desserts, Fruits, Holidays | 7 Comments 

Podcast 82: Healthy Thanksgiving

This week on Cooking with the Moms, we’re talking turkey with two family-pleasing recipes. Clearly we’re not the only ones with turkey on our minds.  According to the National Turkey Federation, every year, Americans consume an estimated 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day alone.

Our first recipe for Golden Mashed Party Potatoes calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which have a naturally creamy and buttery flavor, and sweet potatoes, packed with immune-boosting vitamin A.  The fat and calories in this simple side dish are considerably less than most traditional mashed potato recipes — typically made with beaucoup butter — because we get away with just one tablespoon.  We hope your dinner guests appreciate our slimmed down mashed potatoes. By the way, did we tell you the average American consumes between 5,000 – 6,000 calories on Thanksgiving?

Golden Mashed Party Potatoes

Makes 10 Servings

  • 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
  • 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
  • 4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
  • ½ cup fat-free sour cream
  • ½ cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • Pinch nutmeg
  • A few cranks of freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a large saucepan, and add enough cold water to cover. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, at a low boil until tender, about 10 minutes.

2. Drain well and return to the pan. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter, salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Use a potato masher or ricer and mash the potatoes until smooth.

3. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Serve out of the saucepan, or spread potato mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes until heated through.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 220 calories, 5g fat (3g saturated), 350mg sodium, 36g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 7g protein, 120% vitamin A, 25% vitamin C, 20% calcium

Print Recipe

On last year’s Thanksgiving podcast (episode #30), we featured a recipe for Rosemary Roasted Turkey, so this year we decided to switch gears with a recipe using turkey leftovers. To do that, we cooked up these Barbecue Pulled-Turkey Sandwiches, adapted from the November 2009 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. The sandwiches were tasty, filling, and best of all, kid friendly!

Barbecue Pulled-Turkey Sandwiches

Makes 5 Servings

  • 3 tablespoons light canola mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
  • 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
  • 2 slices nitrite-free bacon
  • 1 cup tomato puree
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 ½ cups shredded cooked turkey (light and dark meat), about 10 ounces
  • 5 soft rolls (such as onion, egg, sesame, or whole wheat)

1. Whisk mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and celery seeds in small bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add cabbage; toss to blend. Cover bowl and chill. Can be made 1 day ahead.

2.  Sauté bacon in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until crisp and brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from saucepan, pat with paper towel to remove excess fat, and wipe saucepan clean. Coarsely chop the bacon.

3.  Place the bacon back into the saucepan with tomato puree, apple cider vinegar, the water, dark brown sugar, chili powder, and ground cumin. Bring sauce to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4.  Add shredded cooked turkey to barbecue sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until turkey is heated through, stirring occasionally. Split and toast rolls. Divide turkey and slaw among rolls. Press tops down lightly to compress, then serve.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 390 calories, 12g fat (3g saturated), 820mg sodium, 43g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, 30g protein, 45% vitamin C, 10% calcium, 20% iron

Print Recipe

We hope all of you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving break. Let us know what your family liked best at Thanksgiving dinner, or post photos of your feast to our Facebook Fan Page!

November 23, 2009 | Filed Under Dinner, Lunch, Poultry, Sides, Vegetables | 2 Comments 

No Whine with Dinner: Whole Baked Red Snapper with Herbs

The Yummy Mummy is one of those food blogs you’ll want to visit a lot.  The Yummy Mummy is Kim and her approach to feeding her two girls, 4-year old Lucy and 3-year old Edie, is right up our alley. According to Kim, “I don’t cook ‘food for kids.’” Instead, what she does prepare are fresh, delicious meals that appeal to adults. As for the kids, she expects them to eat what she and her husband eat, and she has a great sense of humor too!

If you’re wondering how Kim manages to get her family to eat the same meal happily — even the whole baked snapper recipe below — read on. We guarantee you’ll find lots of new ideas and a refreshing approach to mealtime.

Whole Baked Red Snapper with Herbs

  • One 2-to 2 ¼-pound whole red snapper, cleaned
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or a few generous squirts from a lemon
  • 5 or 6 sprigs of lemon thyme
  • 10 chives (uncut)
  • Parsley, minced and used at the end for presentation
  • 1/4 stick butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 lemons, cut into wedges (save a few for presentation)
  • Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a good size baking pan. Butter the pan a bit to keep the fish from sticking. Wash fish, pat dry with paper towel and place it in center of a pan.

2. Season cavity of fish with garlic, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Dot cavity with butter. Arrange some lemon wedges, lemon thyme sprigs and chives inside cavity. (You really can use whatever herb combination you like – I won’t yell at you). Season outside of fish with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon over outside of fish. Salt and pepper the outside. Top with a couple lemon slices, if you like.

3. At this point, you can store the fish in the fridge for up to a day. If you can prep the fish ahead, dinner is just putting a pan in the oven. Simple.

4. Bake fish in oven until cooked through, about 35-40 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. Transfer fish to platter. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and a generous little pile of lemon wedges.

Q: Where did you get the recipe?
A: Well, I made this myself without a recipe, but I hardly created it. Better cooks than I have done this dish in their own way. The great thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever combination of herbs you have on hand and it will turn out beautifully. You can be the creator of the dish.

Q: What do you like best about this recipe?
A: This is a really beautiful dish that you can bring to the table whole out of the oven, with juices bubbling and herbs crisped. And no one will ever know how ridiculously easy it is to make. It’s great for a special weeknight dinner because you can prep the fish ahead in the morning and just pop it in the oven after you get home from work or a busy day. I think it’s also important for kids to see that “fish” does not come from a fish stick box. And this is great way to have that discussion without actually having to have that discussion.

Q:  What do your kids think about this recipe?
A: The key part of this dish is that you serve the fish whole at the table “with eyes.” My kids love all things fish, but the first time they saw a roasted whole fish at a Chinese dinner party hosted by a friend, they completely freaked out. Now, they ask for “fish with eyes” regularly. They are tickled to see the whole fish, to be able to inspect it, touch the scales, the gills, even pick up the fish head and put it on their plate and look closely at the eyes. The adults can flake the fish off the bone and put it on their plate while they are mesmerized by the fish itself or they can dive in with their own forks. It’s such a tactile dish and perfect for curious, young ones who haven’t quite figured out that a fish head might be “gross.”

Q:  Other than the fact that this recipe makes everyone in your family happy, do you have any other tips for taking the “whine” out of dinner?
A: I have a pretty un-orthodox approach when it comes to family eating. I don’t spend a lot of time making my kids eat or worrying about how much they eat. I try to recognize that sometimes kids are hungry and clean their plates and other times, they don’t. I trust they know when they’ve had enough and when they want more. I have friends who follow their kids around the table with forkfuls of food begging them to eat “one more bite.” That just makes dinner painful for everyone. I want my kids to learn to be responsible for their own eating. I’m not saying this works for everyone, but it makes our meal times much more fun.

Here are five other clever mealtime tips from The Yummy Mummy:

> Make Soup: One of the best things I ever did was introduce soup as a lunch time meal when the kids were babies. They eat some kind of home-made soup at least every other day. This has helped me feel good about what they are taking in and it has become a go-to meal for us. There is always a pot of soup in the fridge or freezer, ready for a quick, healthy meal. If they don’t like dinner, for instance, they can have some soup. When I know they’ll eat nothing else, I know they’ll eat a bowl of soup.

> No Box Mac and Cheese in the House. Ever: Nothing kills a palate like the box. It is never in our house. They can enjoy it to their hearts content at their friend’s houses and it is a real treat for them, but they don’t have any expectation that it is served at our house. Why? Because once they taste it, they’ll want it all the time. And you can never go back. It’s like a drug. So, I just don’t introduce it in the first place.

> Never Order off the Children’s Menu: Shrimp cocktail is our go-to restaurant meal for the kids. If you start ordering chicken fingers and pasta with no sauce, you’ll have to do it every time you go into a restaurant. If you start this when they can’t read the menu, they’ll have a better shot at ordering more varied items as they get older and can choose for themselves.

> Say No to Carbs Whenever Possible: Limit carby snacks, no Goldfish or Wheat Thins to curb hunger. Fruit and nuts are great as snacks, but crackers are too filling and offer no nutrition. And that’s room in their stomachs that can house fish and meat and vegetables.

> Buy Parsley: Keep a bottle of dried parsley in the fridge. Dust every dish with a little dried or even better, fresh parsley. This helps kids realize there is no such thing as “white food” and it gets them used to the idea that herbs are supposed to be in food. Nothing goes out of my kitchen that is one color. Ever. And my reward for this is that they don’t pick the rosemary out of the chicken when we are at a dinner party.

Q: Tell us about The Yummy Mummy. By the way, we love your tag line: In the Kitchen with a Couple of Spatula-Wielding Toddlers:
A: The Yummy Mummy is a humor blog that focuses on parenting and cooking with small children underfoot. I don’t cook “food for kids.” I do cook fresh, tasty, dishes that appeal to adults and we expect our kids to eat what we eat. No gimmicks, no angles, no food with smiley faces. I have some big victories, but a lot of the time, the kids just throw food at us. And that’s okay too.

If you want to follow Kim, here’s a link to The Yummy Mummy.

November 21, 2009 | Filed Under Dinner, NoWhineWithDinner, PickyEaters, Seafood | 2 Comments 

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