Pizza! Pizza!

No, it's not Little Caesar's. It's Deep-dish Eggplant Pizza. What? - you say? Eggplant and pizza? I found this recipe in my Cooking Light Cookbook and was intrigued. Not only does it ask you to make the dough, with yeast, but it also had eggplant on it. Eggplant is in season currently and while I'm not in love with the vegetable, I hardly use it, so I wanted to add more of it into my diet. Variety is your body's friend!

So how beneficial is eggplant? This magnificently beautiful vegetable is full of minerals and vitamins, but most importantly it has phytonutrients. Many phytonutrients have antioxidant activity and eggplant contains one main one - nasunin. Nasusin has been shown to protect our cells from damage, more specifically our brain cells. It has more detail to it than that, but I don't want to destroy your brain cells by describing it. ; ) Eggplant has also been shown to lower blood cholesterol. So tell me, why aren't you eating eggplant?

Try it and try this pizza - it was good!! And don't let making pizza dough scary - it was easy.

Sicilian Deep-Dish Eggplant Pizza

1 Tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. dry yeast (~2 ½ teaspoons)
1 c. warm water (~105˚ to 115˚)
2 ½ c. all-purpose flour

½ c. yellow or white cornmeal

1/4 Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
`
Cooking spray

************************************
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
4 c. diced peeled eggplant
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. dried italian seasoning
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. canned quartered artichoke -hearts; drained
1 c. cubed tomato; 1/2 inch cubes; seeded
1 c. minced red onion
2 Tbsp. capers
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
--or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tsp. fennel seeds; crushed
4 garlic cloves; minced
2 c. shredded part skim mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)

1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water in a bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a
knife. Place flour, cornmeal and salt in a food processor. Pulse twice. While the food processor is on, slowly add the yeast mixture and oil. Continue to process until the mixture forms a ball. Continue to process for 1 minute.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and
elastic (about 5 minutes).

3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat
top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85˚), free from drafts, 45 minutes or
until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down; divide dough in half. Place
dough in 2 (9-inch) cake pans coated with cooking spray and each sprinkled
with 1 1/2 teaspoons cornmeal; press dough up sides of pan. Cover dough,
and let rise 20 minutes or until puffy.

4. Preheat oven to 375˚F.

5. Combine eggplant, 2 tablespoons oil, Italian seasoning, and 3/4 teaspoon
salt in a bowl. Place eggplant mixture on a jellyroll pan, spreading
evenly. Bake at 375˚ for 25 minutes or until tender. Increase oven temperature to
400˚.

6. Combine artichokes and next 6 ingredients (artichokes through garlic) in
a bowl. Divide eggplant mixture and artichoke mixture evenly between the
pizza crusts, and top each with 1 cup cheese. Bake at 400˚F for 30 minutes
or until the crusts are lightly browned. Cut each pizza into 4 slices.

Yield: 2 pizzas, 8 servings (serving size: 1 slice).

Vitamin, I "C" You!

Hello! Long time, no type. My first semester of summer classes in nutrition are complete and I have learned a lot! Fall semester has already started, but with the Democratic National Convention in town, I have had a bit of a breather. And therefore, time to blog again! Yay! I have some great recipes to share.

First of which is this recipe for Greek Stuffed Peppers out my favorite cookbook. Such a wonderful meal-in-one that you can add to a delicious side of fruit salad or a glass of wine. Plus, I like to use ground buffalo to up the flavor and reduce the fat.

So what is so great about this recipe? The Vitamin C! Red peppers are chock full of the immune boosting vitamin. One red pepper gives you 100% of your daily value. It is also an anti-oxidant, improves iron absorption, and lowers your cancer risk. There is no reason not to snap one of these beautiful orbs into your mouth. Skip the orange juice when you are skip - grab a red bell pepper!




Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers
(adapted from Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave")
1 pound lean ground beef (I use ground buffalo)
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
1 small onion, minced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup bulghur
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, cores and ribs removed (Ellie's recipe only calls for 3, but I find that 4 works better)
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium stewed tomatoes, finely chopped
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine the beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, bulghur, egg, oregano, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Arrange the pepper halves cut side up in a 9 by 13-inch and a square baking dish and fill each pepper half with the meat mixture. Pour the tomatoes over the peppers and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the meat mixture is completely cooked and the peppers are tender, about 25 minutes longer.

Yield
8 Servings (1 pepper)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 210
FAT 6g (Sat. 2.5g)
SODIUM 400 mg
CARBOHYDRATES 19g
FIBER 6g
PROTEIN 21g

Have gotten a little behind.

Since the end of spring semester and the start of my nutrition courses, I have gotten behind in posting. Bad blogger!
And I have a TON of recipes to share when I do post again. So many good things for you to cook!

I shall return...

Tofu, don't I know you?

Aaaah, hummus. The dip with the grainy mouthfeel and somewhat odd taste that is great with carrots, celery, pita chips, and many more vegetables. Usually made with chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) and tahini, hummus is a traditional dish in the Middle East. I have another version of hummus that I usually make that is much spicier and contains the traditional ingredients, but found this recipe in my favorite cookbook The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger and just had to try it.

I wanted to make this because I had leftover tofu from the Peanut Sesame Noodles that I made the other night and I love edamame. But not as much as Dooce does, apparently. Tofu is not a regular staple in my household, as most recipes that I make must contain some sort of meat - or so demands my carnivorous hubby. However, I have also found that he will most likely eat what I make, even if he doesn't like it a lot. And even if he has to add more salt. Which is quite often.

I digress. Uuuuhhhh ... tofu! I was talking about tofu. Tofu is loaded with tryptophan, which does not make you sleepy by itself and is an essential amino acid. Tofu is also very high in protein and iron, both of which are very good for your blood. Tofu usually comes in soft or firm and can be fried, sauteed, baked or eaten raw. The beauty of tofu is that it usually takes on the flavor of the sauce it is served in or the food it is served with. I dare you to try this inexpensive vegetarian staple!

Edamame Hummus (from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger)
2 cups shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions
1 cup silken tofu, briefly drained of excess liquid
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice, plus more, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, plus more, for garnish

Set 1 tablespoon of edamame aside for a garnish. Place the rest of the edamame, tofu, salt, garlic, oil, lemon juice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin in the bowl of a food processor and process until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper, plus more lemon juice, if desired. Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with reserved edamame, and some cumin.

Yield
12 Servings (1/4 cup each)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 90
FAT 6g (Sat. 0.7g, Poly 0.8g, Mono 3.5g)
CHOLESTEROL 0mg
SODIUM 110 mg
CARBOHYDRATES 5g
FIBER 2g
PROTEIN 4g

Sesame for me

When I first saw this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog, I thought, mmmm, looks good, but it's probably too difficult. Then I read further and realized how easy and good it sounded.
It was easy and quick!!! And oh, so so good. Hubby and I both loved it and we barely like tofu. However, I must warn you, this is NOT a light recipe. It does have lots of nutrients, but this is definitely one of those recipes that fits in the "once in a long while" category of your moderate diet. ; )

On that note ... what is good about this recipe is the sesame! Both the sesame oil in the dressing and the toasted sesame seeds offer lots of unsaturated fats and are a very good source of copper. Sesame also contains fibrous groups called lingans that have been shown to lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure. Sesame seeds, although mostly known as being white, also come in yellow, red and black.

I also have to say that I loved how many vegetables were in this. And the soba noodles (buckwheat) cooked really quickly and were exceptionally tasty. I can't wait to make this again... in oh, 4 months. ; )

Peanut Sesame Noodles

(as seen in Smitten Kitchen blog [Adapted from Gourmet, June 2002])

Servings: Makes 6 side-dish or 4 vegetarian main-course servings.

For peanut dressing
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium to control the salt)
1/3 cup warm water
1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons Asian toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes or a splash of the hot sauce or chili paste of your choice

For noodles
3/4 lb dried soba nooodles (dried linguine fini or spaghetti will work in a pinch)
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
Half a seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cup firm or extra-firm tofu, cubed
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Purée dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth, about 2 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until tender. Drain in a colander, then rinse well under cold water.

Add pasta, scallions, bell peppers, cucumber and tofu to dressing, tossing to combine. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
(for one main serving)
CALORIES 740
FAT 31g (Sat. 5.5g)
CHOLESTEROL 0mg
SODIUM 1,524 mg
POTASSIUM 965mg
CARBOHYDRATES 94g
FIBER 6.6g
PROTEIN 35g