Category: Weight Loss

Weight loss strategies.

Recipe: Cottage Pie w/ Mushrooms

IMG_4278As much as I hate to admit it… winter is coming. Calgary is already getting snow, and while it’s still in the 80s in the Philadelphia area, there is a chill in the wind when it blows. I’m already dreading the cold, dark months to come, but I’m taking advantage of the cooler weather to cook some stick-to-your-ribs comfort food, like cottage pie! You may have heard of shepherd’s pie, but not cottage pie, because in the United States many places are serving cottage pie as shepherd’s pie. So what’s the difference? Traditional shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, while cottage pie is made with beef.

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Ingredients! Not shown: ground beef, potatoes, mushroom seasoning.

I’ve been reading a lot about umami lately since I’m writing an episode of my upcoming podcast about the Five Basic Tastes, and I wanted to utilize some of the knowledge I’d gained in my research. This recipe contains not just one, but FIVE sources of the revered umami: ground beef, cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms and tomato paste, which makes it intensely satisfying.

I’m pretty good at managing cooking a few different things at once, but for those of you who might not have the confidence to do so, I’m going to order this in a way that makes the most sense.

The very first thing you should do is peel and boil your potatoes until a knife stuck into the center of the largest potato slides out without catching. Drain them well, and mash with a potato masher. Add in the cheddar cheese and butter and mash through until smooth and the butter and cheese is well incorporated. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large non-stick skillet, brown 1 lb of lean ground beef until no longer pink. Scrape the ground beef into a colander and rinse with hot water. Set aside. (You don’t have to drain or rinse the beef, but it will reduce the fat content of the dish.) In the same skillet with the residue from cooking the beef, add the onions, carrots,  garlic and mushrooms and cook over medium low heat until the vegetables have exuded all of their water and the carrots are tender. Add the tomato paste, bouillon cubes, Worcestershire, mushroom seasoning (I used this one) and black pepper and cook over low heat until the tomato paste has caramelized a bit, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add in the frozen peas. Mix the corn starch into a cup of cool water, and pour it into the skillet, making sure to fully dissolve the bouillon cubes. Allow to thicken for a minute then stir in the ground beef. Mix thoroughly and turn off the heat.

Spread the filling evenly in a 9″ pie plate. Spread the mashed potato mixture evenly on top, smoothing it right to the edges. Once the top is smooth, use a fork to make ridges across the top. This will help with getting little brown bits on the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

I suggest you allow this to sit for 5-10 minutes before digging in, as it will be like molten lava at first! The filling is rich and savory, the mashed potatoes hearty and mildly cheesy, and this cottage pie will keep you full for hours! I hope you’ll give it a go.

Cottage Pie with Mushrooms

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Hearty filling loaded with umami flavor topped with browned cheesy potatoes.

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 lb. peeled white potatoes (approx. 2 lbs before peeling)
  • 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 tbsp. salted butter
  • 1 lb. lean ground beef
  • 1 c. chopped onions
  • 1 c. chopped carrots
  • 8 oz. crimini mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 2 beef bouillon cubes
  • 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp mushroom seasoning blend (I used this one)
  • 1 c. frozen peas
  • 1 c. water
  • 1 tbsp. corn starch

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain well and mash with butter and cheese. Set aside.
  3. Brown the ground beef in a non-stick skillet until no longer pink. Drain and rinse with hot water. Set aside
  4. In the same skillet, cook the carrots, onions, mushrooms and garlic until soft and all of the water has evaporated. Add in the tomato paste, bouillon cubes, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper and mushroom seasoning and cook for 2-3 minutes until the tomato paste is caramelized slightly.
  5. Add in the frozen peas. Mix the cornstarch with the water and add to the pan, stirring until thickened. Add the ground beef back in and mix well. Remove from heat.
  6. Spread the meat mixture evenly in the bottom of a 9″ pie plate, then top with the mashed potatoes. Smooth the top of the mashed potatoes, bringing them all the way to the edge, then graze with a fork to create ridges.
  7. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes then serve.

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Recipe: Eggplant “Chips” for Nachos

I love nachos. Who doesn’t? I’ve made various incarnations of nachos in the past: Greek Nachos (ground pork on top of pita chips with tzatziki and feta), shredded chicken nachos on baby bell peppers instead of tortilla chips, and the really delicious Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potato Nachos over on Recipe for History at Blazing Caribou Studios.

IMG_4066But recently I’d been seeing these gorgeous Sicilian eggplant at the Farmers’ Market right out front of my day job and I couldn’t pass up using such striking local produce in a delicious meal! It was a 90+ degree day but since I only had to set the oven to 250 degrees, it wasn’t so bad.

The first step was making eggplant “chips”. I cut off the stem end and sliced the tubby eggplants into 1/8th inch slices. The benefit of Sicilian eggplant is their shape: all the slices you make will be pretty close in size. You want the slices to be sturdy enough when cooked to withstand the hearty toppings but not so thick that they never quite turn into chips.

I sprayed two large baking racks with vegetable oil cooking spray and laid the slices out on top, spraying the tops of them with additional cooking spray. Then I set both racks in a 250 degree oven and waited. And waited. And waited. After 90 minutes I lowered the oven even further, to 170 degrees, and let them back another 30 minutes. What came out of that low and slow oven were sturdy eggplant chips with a slight bendiness: a bit like the texture of dried apples. Turns out it was the perfect platform for the heavy toppings that often accompany nachos. You will not pick these up, take a bit and have the chip disintegrate and lose your toppings all over your lap!

I topped mine with seasoned ground beef, shredded cheddar, black olives, pickled jalapenos, shredded lettuce and tomatoes. Each “chip” held up to being smothered in toppings but gave between the teeth without being tough. Will it replace crunchy pita or tortilla chips? Nah. But is eggplant a way healthier and low calorie substitute to grain based chips. They held up well to a couple of minutes in the broiler to melt the cheese without burning, too. I will definitely make these again!

Eggplant Chips

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Firm eggplant slices perfect for topping with nacho stuff!

Ingredients

  • 2 large Sicilian eggplants
  • vegetable oil spray
  • 2 cooling racks

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
  2. Slice the stem end off of each eggplant and slice into 1/8″ thick slices.
  3. Spray two large cooling racks with vegetable oil spray and place the eggplant slices in a single layer. Spray the slices with additional vegetable oil spray.
  4. Bake for 90 minutes, then lower the temperature to 170 and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
  5. Top with your favorite nacho toppings and enjoy!

AML’s Upper Body Kettlebell Workout

Hidey Ho, Kettlebellers or wannabe Kettlebellers! Wanna try something challenging but fun? I decided I didn’t want to do my old standard dumbbell upper body workout on Monday, so I decided to make my own KETTLEBELL ONLY upper body workout! I included some example videos so you can see how each move is performed. At the end of the blog there is a compact, downloadable image that you can save and print for yourself if you like.

AML’s Upper Body Kettlebell Workout

Kneeling Halos

I did 10 in one direction and then switched instead of alternating like he’s doing. Doing this on your knees makes you need to stabilize your core more and throws your balance off, making this more difficult than your standard halo.

Single Arm Bench Press

These are fairly similar to a dumbbell chest press, but the way the kettlebell weight is distributed is asymmetrical, where as a dumbbell is symmetrical, so you’ll need to focus more on stability.

Single Arm Bottoms Up Press

This move is WAY harder than it looks. If you look closely you can see how wobbly my arm is. You really need to concentrate to keep your grip on the handle tight and keep the weight directly over your elbow. That’s why there’s only 5 per side. The key to this is to tense your entire body and grip the bell moderately. Move slowly and focus on keeping the kettlebell stable as you push it upwards. Try to lower at the same pace as you raise it if you can.

Single Arm Bent Over Row

This is basically the same as your standard bent over row with a dumbbell.

Upright Rows

This is, by far, the easiest exercise to learn. Use as heavy a weight as you possibly can, and try to move slowly and at the same pace in each direction. Always make sure your elbows are higher than your hands.

Half-Kneeling Single Arm Overhead Press

This one is fun because the kneeling increases your instability and requires you are more careful in engaging your core. You want the kettlebell over your kneeling leg, and press from shoulder straight up.

Biceps Curl

The key to this move is planting your elbows firmly against your ribcage. Watch how her upper arms DO NOT MOVE: the entirety of the movement is from the elbow down. Squeeze at the top.

Single Kettlebell Renegade Rows

My form is NOT PERFECT here, but I can’t locate a video of someone else doing this with a single kettlebell. Begin in a high plank with the kettlebell between your hands. Shift your weight to one side (I’m shifting too far) and perform a row with the kettlebell on the opposite side. Alternate sides.

Note: This workout is harder than it appears. I own a 20-, 30- and 40-lb kettlebell, and I didn’t use my 40-lb at all. I did the single arm bench press, bottoms up, overhead press and renegade rows with my 20-lb, and the rest with my 30-lb. Remember, the goal is to be almost at muscle failure at the end of each set, so you want to choose as heavy as you are capable, since this is a strength workout as opposed to a cardio/endurance workout. Have fun!

upper-body-kettlebell

If you give this workout a try please come back and let me know what you think!

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