Half-the-Guilt Truffled Mac and Cheese

Being from Memphis, I have a weak spot for Southern comfort cuisine.  There's just something about the rich taste and warm culture behind it.  Last weekend, I got my fix at Moonshine Patio in Austin, cornbread, mason jars and all.  But if you ever find yourself in need of a homemade Southern side that doesn't nix your 2013 health kick, try this recipe.  The light[er] dish allows the intense truffle flavor, creamy cheeses and earthy bay leaf to really come through.  Let me know what you think!
photo credit: cooking light magazine
half-the-guilt truffled mac and cheese

Serves 6 (1 cup serving)

418 cal | 13.2g | 18.9g protein | 55.2g carb

2 ¼ cups skim milk, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
12 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup shredded fontina cheese
½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1 ½ teaspoons white truffle oil
2 ounces French bread baguette, torn
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Heat 1 ¾ cups milk, onion and bay leaf in saucepan until tiny bubbles form around edges. Do not boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 15 min.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

3. Strain milk mixture through colander over a bowl. Discard solids. Return milk to saucepan over medium heat.

4. Whisk remaining ½ cup milk and four in small bowl until well blended. Gradually stir flour mixture into saucepan, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

5. Gradually add fontina and Gruyere cheeses, stirring until cheese melt. Stir in pasta and truffle oil. Transfer mixture into a 2-quart baking dish.

6. Preheat broiler.

7. Combine bread, Parmesan and garlic in a food processor until course crumbs form. Drizzle with olive oil and pulse. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta. Broil dish for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Bon appétit!

adapted from cooking light magazine 

I served mine with rosemary lamb chops and apricot-glazed asparagus spears.  What will you serve your mac and cheese with?

Veggie Quinoa Fried "Rice"

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Who doesn't love a cup of fried rice from your favorite hibachi restaurant?  This healthy version (I even think The Slender Student would approve!) incorporates delicious ingredients from my 2013 healthy foodie grocery list.  It's easy to make and satisfying...and it won't leave you feeling guilty at the dinner table.  My family enjoyed this meal the other evening with Asian-inspired, sesame seed-encrusted grouper.  I'll post that recipe soon, too!

veggie quinoa fried "rice"
Adapted from one of my favorite blogs, Love & Lemons

Serves 3-4

3 cups cooked quinoa
1 tablespoon canola oil
6 garlic cloves
4 green onions, thinly sliced
4 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 cup frozen edamame
1 cup baby bok choy
1 cup snow peas, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauc
Sesame seeds
Salt
Sesame oil

1. In lightly-salted, boiling water, blanch the bok choy until tender; drain and cut into 1-inch pieces. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat and swirl to coat pan. Add garlic and green onions and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and snow peas until golden, about 5 minutes.

3. Add quinoa, edamame and bok choy. Cook until quinoa is golden brown, about 3 minutes.

4. Make a well in the center of the mixture, exposing bottom of the pan. Put the beaten eggs and soy in the middle and stir until just cooked through. Break up the egg mixture and stir into the veggie quinoa mixture. Stir fry until the edges are golden, about 3 minutes. Taste and add more soy sauce or a drizzle of sesame oil accordingly. Serve immediately!

*Keep in mind that you can add or subtract any vegetables you choose! That's the beauty of a mixed vegetable recipe.

Redfarm (NYC)

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Anyone enjoy ordering General Tso's Chicken on any Chinese restaurant menu?   Well, the guy who invented that dish owns this restaurant, RedFarm.  Maybe it's just me, but I think that's a pretty big deal.

My family therefore knew that we could trust anything on the menu, so we went all out.  From spicy crispy beef to four different types of dim sum, I was continuously impressed with RedFarm's creative preparation and presentation of organic ingredients.  They truly take innovative Chinese cuisine with "greenmarket sensibility" to a whole new level.

ambiance
As my father wisely put it, you "feel like you've won the lottery" when your name is called for a table inside the 42-seater restaurant.  Basically, we had to call at 11 a.m. to put our name down for an 8 p.m. reservation on Christmas Day.  And the five of us still didn't sit 'til 9 - and when I say "sit," I mean squeeze in a four-person booth in the corner.

But please, do not let the wait turn you away from the West Village gem.  Clearly, the demand means something.  You will never experience such impeccable Asian fusion cuisine in your lifetime.  I promise.

food
While I could go on forever about every dish, I'll let you enjoy our meal through photography.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

steamed lobster dumplings with a mushroom ragu

chicken dumplings with basil, cashews, sweet & spicy sauce

diced lamb with chinese broccoli & white asparagus | asparagus, corn, brussel sprouts

shrimp noodle special
mushroom & vegetable spring rolls

katz's pastrami egg roll with dijon mustard dipping sauce

Big Bite of the Big Apple (NYC)

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New York City is known as the "Big Apple"—but I ate everything in sight except the apple.

We all know that New York is a food paradise. But I never imagined just how fantastic the food could be until four days and eight restaurants later—from the Bowery to the West Village; from the Meat Packing District to the East Side.

So here's a taste of my New York.

When we landed in the city on Christmas morning, Pulino's in the Bowery was our first stop. Bloody Marys, mussels and creative pasta dishes kept us in the holiday spirit after a long morning of traveling. My favorite was the cappalletti di zucca: a sweet and savory squash-filled pasta with brown butter and pomegranates. Unbelievable.

Chinese food and Jews on Christmas clearly go hand-in-hand; so we just had to check out Zagat's top-rated Chinese spot for 2012. We were five of 42 people in the cozy West Village Red Farm NYC restaurant. And, oh, did this restaurant win the top spot in my book.  The highlight was the Katz's Deli pastrami eggroll with a spicy mustard sauce.  How "New York" is that?! It was so delicious that we had to order another halfway through our meal.

Chelsea Market, if you haven't been, is a gourmet food court of restaurants. I was having trouble deciding which to choose, until I noticed a woman walk by with a full lobster on a paper plate.  Decision made.  The picture below doesn't even do it justice.  The Lobster Place is the way to go.

The award-winning db bistro menu on Wednesday evening brought instant satisfaction before even tasting the dishes, simply because every dish included mushrooms (my favorite)! Their special db burger, stuffed with fois gras and black truffle, melted in your mouth (if you could manage to get your mouth around it!).

Todd English Food Hall, housed in the basement of the Plaza Hotel, was the most overwhelming lunch I’ve had in a while. Why? The “dining hall” set up offered everything from sushi to homemade pastas and salads.  Whoa.

BLT Fish served seafood elegantly and provided a fabulous dining experience, even with a cotton candy finale. The pacific hamachi appetizer matched the avocado and grapefruit with perfection. The cheddar cheese biscuits also hit the spot.  Our waiter provided us with the take-home biscuit recipe, so I'll be sure to whip up some of those before heading back to Austin.

The meat-packing district, a gem of the city I wish I had discovered sooner, became my favorite area for its quiet atmosphere and high-end scene of restaurants and shops. At Fig & Olive, we started with a cucumber martini in the middle of the day.  How fun is vacation!  I kept my eyes peeled for celebrities, since I have heard this was a hot spot; but no luck.  At least the crab salad was tasty.

Hungry yet? Some caramelized critiques are coming your way in the next few weeks! Put these on your list for your next visit to NYC.

Cookies with Mrs. Fields

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Yesterday was such a “treat” in countless ways. I had the privilege of baking cookies with the cookie master, Debbi Fields Rose, famously known as the one and only “Mrs. Fields.”

When you think of the iconic Mrs. Fields character, you’re probably in for a shocker. She is definitely not a tollhouse elf, but indeed a woman with more energy than I could ever convey—maybe it’s all the sugar? Heck, she even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro last year and will judge a new TLC show next season!

peanut butter with hershey bars.

Mrs. Fields has discovered that the perfect cookie requires dancing to the Kitchen Aid for a full ten seconds before turning off the mix master. She vouches that you can never have too much butter, vanilla extract or chocolate (Guillart is her favorite milk chocolate; Bakers is her favorite white chocolate). She believes that sweetness—literally and aesthetically—and joy are key assets to baking in the kitchen.

Clearly, there’s something behind the cookie.

And while I can’t go into too much detail on exact measurements and steps to make these irresistible, buttery, rich cookies, I can tell you that my sister Julia, Cassidy and Carly Gubin, and I learned many baking tips that will carry us through the holidays and beyond.

Taste testing the cookie dough perfection. Debbi approves as well.

- The vanilla extract should overflow in the measuring spoon. Trust Debbi.

- Cut the butter in small pieces before adding them to the blender. And keep the butter cold.

- After blending butter and sugar, make sure the butter pieces are “no larger than the size of a pencil eraser."

- Dancing to the Kitchen Aid adds entertainment and preciseness!

- Use a scooper to perfect your cookie’s roundness.

Baking cookies with Mrs. Fields is like throwing a football with Tim Tebow or discussing politics with President Obama.  Basically, you won't find a better teacher and expert in the field of cookie making.

I deeply appreciated her approval regarding this blog thus far.  She shared with me the value and importance of creating a "brand" that an audience can connect to.  I am taking her words to heart and hoping to make this "brand" a successful and enjoyable one.

We laughed.  We danced.  We shared baking secrets.  We ate too much cookie dough.  We were so full, we didn't even have room to try to the cookies after they cooled.

Thank you, Debbi, for the extra two pounds I woke up with this morning...and the friendship we have formed.

[Make sure you follow Debbi on Twitter or Instagram - her name is @butterisbest.  Fitting, right?]

Team Slender

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My friend, Claire, has an unbelievable blog called The Slender Student.  It has hit big in the UT community and beyond, and I am fortunate enough to be part of her new guest blogging crew, "Team Slender!"  I'll be writing for her blog throughout the year with healthy recipes, restaurant reviews and exercise ideas. [But don't worry, chocaholics: I will be posting baking recipes from Martha Stewart's cookbook on here too.]

The Slender Student posted my introduction today [http://www.theslenderstudent.com/team-slender-cara/], which I have copied below.  Be sure to check out her blog today and every day!


http://www.theslenderstudent.com/team-slender-cara/

Any healthy recipe ideas for me to blog about on The Slender Student? Let me know!