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Expert Chef | Oven "Fried" Chicken Parmesan (2 stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/comfort-food-and-nutrition/
This is my comfort food. Sure, it starts with boneless skinless chicken breasts and that’s great. Then you coat it in white flour, whole eggs, bread it, fry it, and top it with sauce and a ton of cheese. Well, as much as I love it, it does not love me back. So, challenged by Guiding Stars to come up with a star-rated comfort food dish, I tweaked things around to highlight my favorite parts: the crunchy texture of the chicken coating and the toasty cheesy flavor.
Panko, a Japanese bread crumb, is the perfect tool for low-fat crunch. Generally found in the Asian section of most grocers, it’s already super crispy, but it’s pale and tasteless. So intent on achieving the browning necessary for flavor (and almost always impossible to perfect without frying), I decided to toss the crumbs with oil and Parmesan and brown them in the oven before coating the chicken. The Parmesan takes on that toasted cheese flavor without much added fat, meaning I can top my final product with less mozzarella. Capped with a few spoonfuls of my Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce, and tossed under the broiler to melt the cheese, mission accomplished. With garlicky whole wheat flour standing in for white for dredging, egg whites instead of whole for the wash, and fresh herbs nestled beneath the crispy coating for bright flavor, I shocked myself (and apparently the entire Guiding Stars team) by producing a two star recipe.
As with all cooking–but especially with low-fat recipes–the key to rich flavor is to ensure that every step of the recipe is seasoned properly and cooked perfectly. Cooking is all about balancing flavor and texture. So stay intent on using the freshest ingredients and with careful preparation. You’ll find, like me, that your favorite dish can nourish our bodies appropriately, evoke the attached memories, and keep us around long enough to make new ones.
Expert Chef | Roasted Salmon with Veggie Sushi Salsa (1 Star)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/roasted-salmon-with-vegg...
Salmon doneness is strictly a matter of preference. The good thing about oily fish like salmon and tuna is that, unlike meats, peeking inside to see how done it is won’t really affect the final outcome: fish won’t lose any appreciable moisture through the cut you make. Many prefer salmon medium rare to medium, meaning the interior is still slightly translucent. Do whatever works for you. Just remember, as always, that the fresher the better: fresh salmon has no fishy odor whatsoever. And at-risk groups such as young children, the immunocompromised, and pregnant women should err on the side of caution and cook their fish well-done: opaque through the entire filet and easily flaked with a fork.
Expert Chef | Warm Beet Salad with Pistachios and Gorgonzola (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/warm-beet-salad-with-pis...
As the crisp air of fall approaches, our priorities start to shift. The kids are back into the routine of school, the beach gear is getting put away, and the grill is getting a bath before it goes in for the winter. Here at my place, the garden is waning, and what’s left in the ground heralds the coming chill: potatoes, onions, and winter squashes will be cured in the breezy and cool shade to prepare for their winter home in my root cellar. Dried onion tops will be braided to hang from the rafters like sleeping bats—they last until the following May at least—and the final batches of pickles and tomato sauce have been canned and stored. The firewood is in, next year’s logs are already bucked and starting their curing, and soon the herbs will be snipped and hung to dry to flavor holiday dinner. Even the chickens are wandering less and less from their home in the barn: they feel it coming too.
For those of us who love to cook, the coming winter also brings with it the promise of hearty stews, braises, and roasts—all the things too long-cooking and too body-warming to work in the dead of summer—the comfort foods that we associate with snowy days full of sledding or skiing or, in the case of us Mainers, the inability to leave our homes until the snow blower starts or the plow guy gets here.
Read more:
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/warm-beet-salad-with-pis...
Expert Chef | Garlic-Lime Black Bean Avocado Spread (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/taste-experience-doesnt-...
I am a sucker for dips. Nothing satisfies me more than something creamy and piquant spread on something texturally satisfying. A truly fundamental exercise in Cooking 101, dips and spreads teach us the value of combining simply prepared and minimally processed ingredients into exciting new taste experiences. Unfortunately, I’ve also learned over the years that when the go-to dip starts with cream cheese or sour cream, the new taste experience can result in a new pant size experience as well.
Hummus is a delicious and nutritious dip, but its ubiquity has made it a tad boring for me lately. So looking to my pantry and finding a few cans of black beans kicking around, I naturally started toying with a recipe for a Mexican-style dip: something creamy, crunchy, tangy, and most of all, healthy. The end result is a dip that is very guacamole-like. I guarantee if you like a good lime-y guac, you’ll love this. My goal with this recipe was to create something that I would feel proud to eat for a meal, and frankly, used as a quesadilla filling or as a stuffing for peppers in a raw vegan dish, I think it works. The more I toyed around with this spread, the more ideas I had for its use.
The key to this recipe is the balance of the flavor components within it. Carrots and bell pepper add vitamins and a sweetness that offsets the slightly bitter taste of the black beans. Avocado adds a creamy mouth-feel. The lime juice compensates for the lower sodium content, tricking your brain into thinking the dip is saltier than it is. The green onion, tomatoes, and cilantro brighten the dull (but creamy and super-nutritious) nature of the black beans. The secret ingredient in this recipe, believe it or not, is one measly teaspoon of honey, which brings everything together perfectly. You may try to convince yourself you don’t need to bother with it, but try it before and after, and you’ll be a believer, too!
EXPERT CHEF | Moroccan Pork Loin (2 Stars)
and Athenian Couscous Salad (1 Star)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/moroccan-pork-loin-and-a...
Each year my friends Nancy and Andy raise a couple of pigs on their farm: one for their family and one for ours. Nancy’s 8 year-old daughter is a master pig scrambler, selecting the first piglet at the Monmouth Agricultural Fair and then we buy another one to round out the pair. They’re fed on culled fruits and vegetables from our gardens and the produce section of our local supermarket and natural grains provide them with the protein they need. It only takes three or four months for them to balloon from puppy-sized piglets to the 125 pound finished product. By the time the snow flies, the freezer is packed with the most wholesome pork we can source. It feels great to know that our food is raised humanely, naturally, and locally, and the finished product is super lean and tasty...
Moroccan Pork Loin and Athenian Couscous Salad
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/moroccan-pork-loin-and-a...
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EXPERT CHEF | Herbed Blue Cheese Dressing and Dip (3 stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/greek-yogurt/
I couldn’t live without yogurt. It’s my go-to breakfast and snack, convenient protein source, and low-fat lunch. I add it to a cake batter to moisten it, add it to muffin batter to bump the protein and extend the shelf life, and I’ve drained it and used it in savory dips and spreads.
I often mix 3 tablespoons per cup with milk to substitute for buttermilk in pancakes, waffles, and biscuits. I love full-fat yogurt, but I generally reserved that for an occasional treat, sticking instead with a part-skim version for general use.
Expert Chef | Holiday-Everyday Punch (2 stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/drink-to-your-health-wit...
Canned sour cherries are generally found in the canned fruit section at your grocery store. As they’re not generally a big seller—though they should be—they’re usually on the top or bottom shelf.
Frozen berries and cherries are perfect for this recipe. Thaw the fruit in the refrigerator overnight (in a bowl to collect the juices) and proceed with the recipe exactly as written.
Tip: To avoid watering down the final product with ice cubes, make a punch cube: before adding the seltzer and lime juice, pour about 1 ½ cups of the punch into a round plastic bowl or food storage container. Add a few fresh berries into the container and freeze until solid. Use your punch cube to keep everything nice and cold during service.
EXPERT CHEF | Pumped-Up Pumpkin Bread (1 Star)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/pumped-up-pumpkin-bread/
Two words often strike fear in the minds of moms: Snacks and Breakfast. Well, there’s Dessert too, because they’re always asking, and we’re always balancing the desire to please with the need to monitor sugar intake, both in terms of nutrition and also our wish to keep the Hyperactivity Gremlins in check. My friend Marilee recently posted her frustrations on Facebook, pleading for ideas for school snacks, and I’m not going to lie, the suggestions were not exactly stellar.
With my big garden and three kids, I’ve always relied on quick breads and cakes—baking powder and/or baking soda-leavened loaves—to use up excess produce from a bumper crop. I’ve done carrot, summer squash and zucchini, winter squash like butternut, and I even have a recipe for beet cake. The nice thing about quick breads is they’re versatile, tasty, they freeze well, and best of all, they’re multi-taskers, operating as breakfast, snacks, and even desserts. They fit the bill perfectly. Unfortunately, most traditional recipes are utterly loaded with...
Expert Chef | (1 star)
I chose to use tamari rather than soy sauce in the interest in keeping this recipe gluten-free. Tamari is basically a soy sauce without any of the wheat products that are typically part of the soy sauce brewing process. Regular--or better yet, reduced-sodium--soy sauce is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
If steak isn’t your thing, try substituting shrimp or extra-firm tofu. Or just use extra veggies and noodles. And remember that when assembling the rolls, arrange the ingredients in neat parallel lines for the best visual effect when you cut them in half to serve.
www.guidingstars.com/recipes/fresh-spring-rolls-with-sesame-tamari-grilled-steak/
Expert Chef | Buckwheat Pancakes (Gluten-Free) (2 stars)
The mix blended in Fort Kent, Maine, by the Bouchard Family is intended to make traditional ployes, or Acadian buckwheat pancakes. I find the mix to be as versatile as any baking mix on the market. Though the ploye mix is not gluten-free, the pure buckwheat flour that the Bouchard's sell is.
www.guidingstars.com/recipes/buckwheat-pancakes-gluten-free/
EXPERT CHEF | Grilled Tuna with Fire and Ice Salsa (3 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/grilled-tuna-with-fire-a...
If you’re having trouble finding good quality fish in your area, I know several people who have used Catalina Offshore Products to mail order source their sushi-grade fish. They offer $20 overnight shipping anywhere in the U.S. and their prices are beyond reasonable.
EXPERT CHEF | Whole Food: The New Convenience Food (3 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/whole-food-the-new-conve...
I’m fairly certain we can all agree that focusing our menus on the most pure, unrefined, and natural foods possible makes good sense. We all agree—at least in theory–that fresh fruits and vegetables, lean fish and meats, legumes, and grains provide our bodies with the easiest access to the nutrients we need and allow us to avoid the preservatives, trans-fats, and other undesirable elements of convenience foods. Eaten in reasonable portions, these foods help us to naturally maintain a healthy weight because they’re inherently balanced in terms of fat, fiber, sugars, and salt, and they’re filling to boot.
But in a world full of people living busy lives and balancing grocery budgets, this preferable model is very often perceived as near impossible to embrace because: 1) processed foods are often cheaper than their healthy counterparts; 2) our unfamiliarity with exciting whole food options breeds boredom with the status quo and a suspicion of new possibilities; and 3) there exists an assumption that non-convenience foods are neither convenient to make nor delicious to eat...
Expert Chef | Roasted Tomato Sauce (2 Stars) www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/oven-roasting/
I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise...
Expert Chef | Roasted Tomato Sauce (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/oven-roasting/
I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise...
Expert Chef | Roasted Tomato Sauce (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/oven-roasting/
I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise...
Looking for great taste that’s high in nutrition? Our Expert Chef helps you bring Guiding Stars into your kitchen.
Erin Dow is a chef with over 14 years of experience. She’s cooked for Anthony Bourdain and now she’s cooking for Guiding Stars. Erin creates original recipes using the Guiding Stars nutrition rating system each month to help you plan nutritious meals that everyone will enjoy.
Expert Chef | Roasted Tomato Sauce (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/oven-roasting/
I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise...
Expert Chef | Roasted Tomato Sauce (2 Stars)
www.guidingstars.com/expert-chef/oven-roasting/
I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise...
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