Eat Skinny Be Skinny Vegetarian: Stuffed Eggplant
PIN IT!Oh, hey November. You sneaky little hussy. I knew you were there, just didn’t think I’d see you pop up so soon. I’m excited for you, you bring great things. Like snow, the holiday season, Charleston (for Thanksgiving) and tons of delicious new recipes. I’m just not quite ready for you. So, give me a few days to really warm up to you being here and then we’ll be friends. Capiche?
Hope y’all had a fabulous Halloween! It was lowkey over at the Volkman household (thanks to my pesky stomach) but it was still fun. I dressed Oscar as a little devil and, although he hated his life while that costume was on him, he looked absolutely adorable.
We had a few trick or treaters and there was a Halloween [Michael Myers] movie marathon on. Which, as always, gave me nightmares that a deranged serial killer was coming after me. As much as I love Halloween, I’m happy its over. All of the sweets I’ve been eating have wreaked havoc on my figure and my intestines. I’m ready for a much needed fast (more on that tomorrow!) Because I’ve been eating chocolate after chocolate, cupcake after cupcake, I made a really light and hearty dinner last night as we eagerly awaited the trick or treaters. And yes, I know, it involves eggplant.
I know, I know. Eggplant weirds me out. But I’m forcing myself to eat more of it. Because of my stomach, I’m going to try to really limit my gluten and lactose consumption (where I can) and limit the amount of meat I eat. So, weird Eggplant, we meet again. Except, this time, I stuffed you with caramelized onions, mushrooms, feta cheese, tofurky and Greek seasoning. The only way I could overcome my discomfort with you was to disguise you amongst other delicious things.
And thankfully, it worked. I have found another way I can eat eggplant! I think what really made this dish delicious was how the eggplant filling was cooked. I caramelized it with the onions, tofurky and mushrooms, so the flavor was totally different than normal. Plus, I’m pretty sure I could eat anything that’s caramelized. Bugs, livers, kidneys, you name it. Throw it in a pot with some olive oil and I’ll eat it. In addition to tasting amazing, I love the presentation.
Talk about an easy “dishes” night, right? Anything I can do to avoid doing dishes. Dishes are the devils work, I’m sure of it.
Stuffed Eggplant
Yield: 2 servings
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 1 small – medium size eggplant, cut in half
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 cup of chopped mushrooms
- 3 tofurky breakfast sausages, sliced
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons of feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon of Greek seasoning (recipe for Greek spice here)
- Dashes of salt and pepper
- Cooking spray
How to Make Them:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a roasting sheet with cooking spray.
- Scoop out insides of the eggplant. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Set aside for at least 20 minutes.
- In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add onions, mushrooms, tofurky, cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add eggplant filling, cook until heated, about another 5-7 minutes.
- Stuff the sausage mixture into the eggplants. Top with crumbled feta and Greek spice. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is melty.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutritional information per eggplant half: 250 calories, 8 grams of fat, 11 grams of fiber, 10 grams of protein and 25 grams of carbohydrates.
A Lesson on Living in the Moment
Whew! What a whirlwind week this has been, for both my personal life and my professional. I need to first thank you all for being awesome people, reading everyday and just being here for me. My virtual community has really become such a strong part of who I am and I just want to thank you all for being you 🙂
Now guys, I honestly can’t believe it’s almost November. October has been a wonderful month, jam packed full of winery tours, haunted houses, Halloween decorating, pumpkin picking and endless scary movies. October is my favorite month of the year, not only for the scary stuff, but because of how beautiful it is. [All photos below taken at Unicorn Winery in the Shenandoah Valley].
I love that crisp air, the eerie glow of creepily carved pumpkins, the crunch of the fallen leaves under your boots as you walk to get your mail. But especially, I love the colors.
I love the bright reds, oranges and yellows of the trees. Each leaf changing a slightly different color than the next. Fall, to me, is nature as it’s most beautiful. This time of year symbolizes not only a new season, but also forgiveness and starting over. The trees shed their leaves and return back to their most primal state, only to blossom with entirely new, gorgeous leaves in the spring. A signal of starting fresh, to me, it’s a season of new beginnings. This October has also been such a miraculous one. I’ve noticed that I’ve allowed myself to slow down and take everything in. I’m allowing myself to live in each day. I think it’s because I now love my job so every day is new, interesting and fun. I don’t want to miss a single moment. Plus, as the leaves start to fall, one by one, I find myself not wanting to miss watching a single one hit the ground.
Now, living in the moment is something I struggle with. It’s not a state of mind that comes naturally. I’m always looking for what’s next, what big event I can plan for, my future plans, the future “me.” This whole look to the future mentality really set in when I got my first job out of college. I know it’s not like this for everyone, but when you hate your job like I did, the only thing keeping you going is Friday. The miraculous weekend. Everyday for those hard 2 years, all I had to my sanity was the fact Friday was just a few days away. I hated where I spent my 9 – 5, so of course the dream of the weekend and the dream of my future, in grad school or a stellar new job, become a big a part of me as my name. Almost every word out of my mouth was future oriented. Even last October, with all of my fun fall festivites and cozy weekend nights at home with my fiance (now hubby), I was so filled with dread for Monday, I couldn’t let myself enjoy it. I missed everything, every beautifully colored leaf was bypassed by my clouded eyes. My life was passing me by and I didn’t even realize it.
It took my wedding day and finding a new job to realize how much I let pass me by because I was too transfixed on the future, on moving forward. However, I didn’t just click a light switch and change how I perceived my life. It’s taken a lot of internal struggling to just be. One thing (besides my colleagues encouraging words) that really helps me, though, just live in the moment is photography.
In photography, you can’t fast forward. And you don’t want to. Every second of everyday holds something beautiful, why wish that away and miss one of the most incredible shots of your life? You have to shut off your mind and let each second take you as it wants to, let each day happen as it should and allow every beautiful moment unfold without pushing or wishing it away. When I was at the winery last weekend, snapping away these pictures, I wasn’t concentrated on the fact Monday was just hours away or what we were doing next weekend. I was concentrating on those bright red leaves, those gorgeous little figments of nature, and how I could capture them. I was admiring and breathing in every little thing as if it was the most important in the world. Because when you are taking pictures, everything is. At that moment, all that matters is whats in front of you and how you can take a little piece of that beauty, of that moment, home. If that’s not living in the moment, I don’t know what is.
Another thing that helps me stay present? My dog. I know, sounds crazy right? But dogs don’t have the ability to look forward to the future. They don’t have the ability to “wish for 5pm” or count down until Christmas. Every second of every day for them is important. (Especially that second you walk in the door after being gone all day!) They take in every scent, every movement and every sight as if it’s the most important thing that will ever happen to them. Watching Oscar at the winery, especially, was proof of this. Every moment we were there he was looking around, smelling and taking it all in. Dogs know how to live in the moment and seriously, there is so much we can learn from them.
This whole “seizing the day thing” is something I will always have to work on. However, now I truly realize how important it is. I don’t want to wish away another day, regardless of how bad it is. You truly aren’t guarenteed any more days than the one you are in, so make it count. For something at least 🙂
So now, I ask you all, are you a past, present or future kind of person? Are you happy that way?
Have a Spooky [& Delicious] Halloween
GUYS! GUYS! Halloween is only a few days away!! Are you freakin’ excited? Because I am. As you may have noticed, I’m sort of a Halloween junkie. This year is even bigger for me since we FINALLY have an actual house to decorate! Take a look at some of our spooky decor!
If you think this is much, you should see our neighbors. Their house is CRAZY. The whole thing is OOZING Halloween. I have a bit of a competitive edge so I might have gone to Party City, spent $70 dollars on more decorations just to upstage them. It’s a real life keeping up with the Joneses. Just wait until Christmas. I’ll get all Christmas vacation on their arse!
Now, they may have us beat in yard decorations, but I’m pretty sure I’m winning the in the spooky food department. At least, I think so. I haven’t actually challenged them to a duel yet. Regardless, I had SO MUCH FUN this month baking up spooky, gross (looking) and delicious Halloween themed concoctions. So, to share the fun around, I’m compiling all of my gory, bleeding, ghoulish, festive and tasty concoctions all in one post!
And to kick off the fun, I’ll share the gross little appetizer I made last night 🙂 Adapted from this recipe!
Bloody Toes
Yields: 8 little toes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 7-8 minutes
What You’ll Need:
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8 mini low fat cocktail weiners (can be found at Whole Foods, Wegmans)
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2 large flour tortillas (can use corn)
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Ketchup
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Cooking spray
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Plastic spiders for garnish 🙂
How to Make Them:
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Preheat oven to 375. Grease a cooking pan with cooking spray.
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Using a knife, cut a wedge out of the top of weiney to create a toenail look. Discard wedges. Cut the tortilla into 1/4 inch slices.
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Wrap the bottom half of the wiener with the tortilla, making sure the end piece is on the back side of the wiener. Place wiener, back side down onto the cooking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minute or until tortilla is a bit brown and crunchy.
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Place a dollop of ketchup into the wedged finger nail and enjoy!
Nutritional information per wiener: 90 calories, 7 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of protein.
Don’t they look really gross? Well, don’t let that fool you. They taste amazing and make the perfect Halloween party app! Ready for more fun, ghoulish (and a bit gross) party food ideas? Check out these tasty treats below!
Salted and spicy chocolate bark
and everyone’s favorite (I’m looking at you Carly!)….
I have one more spooky inspired recipe I’m making tonight for She Knows, so stay tuned for that! Plus, tomorrow I’ll be sharing a photo of my costume so stay tuned! Happy Thursday!
Claire
Tags:apple cider, easy Halloween decorating, easy home decor, ghost cupcakes, Halloween, halloween cupcakes, Halloween decor, Halloween food, Halloween recipes, low fat red velvet, party appetizers, recipes, severed fingers, spiked cider
Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Low Fat Corn Chowda
Y’all, I have been waiting FOR MONTHS for soup season. I like summer, don’t get me wrong, but autumn and winter are my favorite seasons. I love curling up in a soft, cashmere sweater next to a roaring fire, a pot of homemade soup simmering on the stove. I love being bundled up, watching snowflakes fall outside and know that I’m warm and comfy inside. Plus, my birthday AND Christmas fall in the winter months, how could I not love this snow-filled, chilly season? Whether you hate the winter or love it, you’ll enjoy this chowda. (I sometimes enjoy talking in accents, what of it).
It was creamy, chunky and amazingly flavorful, plus, had the addition of my favorite ingredient: BACON! Although I just sprinkled a little on top, I’m certain bacon makes everything better. The crisp, saltiness of the bacon is such a fabulous compliment to the soft, mild flavor of the chowder. Plus, the great thing about chowder is you can pretty much add whatever the heck you want to it to make it taste good. Peppers, cheese, bacon, sour cream, spices, meat, bread, whatever tickles your little fancy.
We paired our chowda with homemade garlic bread sticks made with part skim cheddar cheese, garlic powder and a dash of salt and pepper. So easy and tasted AMAZING when dipped in the soup. If you don’t like wet bread, just eat the bread sticks on their own. For some reason, I love wet, soggy bread with soups. On it’s own, a little creepy. With soup? The best thing ever.
I know I’m weird. Just go with it.
Low Fat Corn Chowda
Yields: About 6 one cup servings
Prep time: >15 minutes
Cook time: About 15 minutes
What You’ll Need:
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2 slices of turkey bacon
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1 celery stalk, chopped
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1 medium onion, finely chopped
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1 yellow pepper, chopped
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2 16 ounce packages of frozen corn
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2 cups of low fat (or skim) milk
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Dashes of salt and pepper
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3/4 cup part skim cheddar cheese
How to Make It:
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Cook bacon in a large dutch oven until crispy. Remove and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan.
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Add celery, onion and bell pepper, cooking until soft. Add in one package of corn, salt and pepper, reduce heat.
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In a blender or food processor, place the second package of corn and 1 1/2 cup milk. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture into the vegetable mixture. Add in additional 1/2 cup of milk.
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Once soup is warmed, add in cheddar cheese and cook until cheese has melted.
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Serve soup and garnish with crumbled bacon and additional cheese!
This soup is perfect for those chilly, autumn nights of October and November. I highly recommend serving it with a crispy bread (like those garlic bread sticks, hey-o!). And wine. It’s magnificent paired with a Pinot Noir. Or, heck, any kind of red wine. Who am I to discriminate?
Nutritional information per 1 cup: 215 calories, 6 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber
Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Low Fat Apple Cake & Food Day!
Did y’all know that it’s Food Day today? Food Day is a day geared towards inspiring people to “eat real food” that is affordable, healthy and made in a sustainable way. Talk about my perfect day, right? This cake recipe couldn’t have come at a better time because it’s made with all whole, organic and healthy ingredients! Wanna participate today and you don’t have time to cook or visit a local farmers market or farm today? Luckily, there are hundreds of events going on all over the world today promoting organic and sustainable eating! Check out this site for a listing of events and how you can coordinate your own Food Day!
[via]
Now, in honor of this fabulous day, let’s talk about food! More specifically, this orgasmic low fat apple cake I made on Saturday.
I really hate to toot my own horn, but this cake was OUT OF THIS WORLD. So moist, so flavorful and so friggin’ easy. Plus, it’s really low fat and healthy, due to the fact I added no additional butter or oil and used whole wheat flour, farm fresh organic eggs and organic applesauce.
I knew this was a keeper recipe when it was gone in less than 6 hours. The entire thing. Demolished. I owe much of that to my husband, who, if he likes something, will eat ALL OF IT. I’ve already been asked to make it again. That, my friends, is winning.
Low Fat Apple Cake
Yields: 1 8inch by 12inch cake [about 8 slices]
Prep time: 12 minutes
Cook time: 32-35 minutes
What You’ll Need:
For the cake:
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 medium apples, finely chopped and seeded
- 1 large organic egg
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- 1/4 cup organic applesauce
- Cooking spray
For the topping:
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
How to Make It:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat your baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt with a whisk. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl, mix white sugar, apples, chopped nuts, egg and applesauce. Stir until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into the greased pan.
- In a seperate bowl, mix brown sugar and white confectionars sugar together with a fork. Sprinkle mixture over the apple cake and bake for 32-35 minutes or until cake is browned.
Seriously, if you ever listen to ANYTHING I tell you, it’s this: MAKE THIS CAKE. Now. And don’t share 🙂 Because if you do, your husband will end up eating the whole thing, leaving you only a slice!
Nutritional information per slice of cake: 200 calories, 5 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of protein.
