Kathleen Rowland's Blog, page 35

Eat– for Good Health

Chicken Chow Mein can be low calorie fare and easy to prepare with a purchased show mein seasoning mix to get that authentic Asian taste. I like to add many vegetables with the chicken and top with crunchy chow mein noodles.

Ingredients


Chow mein crunchy noodles
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 med onion
2 cloves of garlic, pressed (or leave out if you don’t like garlic)
2 cups bean sprouts
extra vegetables: bok choy, carrot, celery, spinach, cabbage
1 chicken breast, baked previously, and sliced
A pkg of chow mein seasoning mix (such as Sun-Bird) with 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3/4 cup water




Combine seasoning package, soy sauce, water and set aside.  Add sesame oil to a frying pan or wok. After oil is hot, add vegetables other than bean sprouts and stir fry.  Prepare Noodles according to directions and drain.  Add the bean sprouts to the vegetable stir fry, add chicken, and seasoning mixture.  Bring to a boil to thicken.  Serve with crunch chow mein noodles on top.

Places– of Charm

Most of us have favorite flowers, and mine are the common daylilies.

The Tawny Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)

My grandmother grew them in her country farmhouse garden in South Dakota, and my parents’ summer home on West Lake Okoboji, Iowa abounded with them.  Today I ordered bulbs to plant here at our new house in Irvine, CA.

Eat– for Good Health

Today is the last day our daughter Marla and her boyfriend Alex will be here from Austin.  They requested my Turkey-lentil meatloaf for lunch.  Alex doesn’t care for onions, and I will omit them.

 Low calorie and delicious TURKEY-LENTIL MEATLOAF

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 cup cooked black or green lentils (use from a can of your favorite lentil soup)

1 large carrot, diced

1 large onion, diced (omit if someone doesn’t like onion)

2 cloves garlic, minced (omit if you don’t like garlic)

2 cups mushrooms, chopped

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tsp salt

1/2 T olive oil

1/4th tsp black pepper

3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/3 cup milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

glaze:

2 T ketchup

1 T pure maple syrup

1 T balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the diced onions and saute for about six minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the carrot and garlic and cook for three minutes. Add the chopped mushroom and cook for another five minutes or so, until the mushroom has turned soft and all the veggies are nice and juicy.

Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add the cooked lentils, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and Panko bread crumbs. Let sit for three minutes so the breadcrumbs can absorb a little of the milk. Add to veggie mixture.

Add ground turkey and beaten egg and mix well. It’s easiest here to use your hands. Transfer to a greased loaf pan and press down to smooth top.

Combine the ingredients for the glaze and pour over top of meatloaf. Spread with a spoon to cover the top. Bake for 55 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.

Eat– for Good Health

Friends, sometimes we eat a small meal (which is the case when we want to lose a couple of pounds) and then want to eat something else.  Go ahead– have some Mushroom Barley Soup.  Is it possible to get slim when you feel like eating all the time?  Yes, it is!  Breakthrough research has taken the traditional diet soup to a whole new level, and my recipe combines diet scientists’ newest waist-shrinking favorites– barley, mushrooms and kale.  The result is nutritionally powerful.  Barley triggers get-skinny hormones.  Barley is layer upon layer of fiber boasting 400% more fiber than brown rice.  It also delivers protein and antioxidents which enhance hunger control and metabolism. Ultra low calorie mushrooms have a meaty flavor while delivering vitamin D.  Any dark greens are good, but kale gives us 134% of vitamin C.  I’m making this soup as I’m writing this post and took the photo before adding kale and carrots.  Follow directions for barley on the bag or bring beef broth (8 cups) to a boil and then drop in the barley and simmer about 40 minutes.  While it’s cooking, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet.  Add 2 cups chopped onion, 6 diced carrots, chopped white or cremini mushrooms, garlic if desired, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce. 1 teaspoon vinegar, and some chopped kale or spinach.  Is it lunchtime yet?  Enjoy 3 generous servings.  I promise you’ll eat intelligent portions for dinner!

Eat– for Good Health

It’s a cinch to serve up this delicious dish, TUSCAN MEATBALL STEW, chock-full of hearty vegetables.

Ingredients are a can of white cannellini beans, 4 cups water, 2 carrots, chopped, 14-oz can diced undrained tomatoes, 1 cup small pasta, 2 chopped zuchini, fresh green beans (1 cup is good).  Serve with grated parmesan cheese, a tossed salad, and crusty baguette.  Would someone in your family enjoy meatballs with this?  My husband would, and I’ll thaw about 4 frozen meatballs and place them on top of his bowl. 

I follow my own advice from a book I penned with my daughter Janice– GOLD STANDARD OF THIN– and stay south of 120 pounds. 

Eat– for Good Health

Would you believe Southern Californians love the change of seasons?  Ours are subtle but recognizable.  Liquid Amber trees, in the gum tree family, look like Sugar Maples.  Our Sycamores turn golden, and flowering trees carry fall colors.  Clever, huh?  You might know I love cooking and also weighing south of 120 pounds.  Here’s a little confession– I swim laps daily for 45 minutes which burns huge calories  What about dessert?  I say yes to (one of) these amazing pumpkin muffins.  Photo is courtesy of Jackie Jill.

 

1 (18 ounce) box spice cake mix
15 ounce can of pumpkin (not the mix which is pie-ready)

1 cup water

 

Directions:


Mix all ingredients in mixer.


Makes 24 muffins.


Cook for 20-25 minutes at 350°F.


They will be very moist.

 

Wordsmith– I also write books

Authors are both writers and readers.  After the fun of writing a scene, I enjoy the more passive and relaxing experience of reading. I know what I like– a fast-paced story with character growth. The more the heroine and hero suffers from angst, the better their journey.  They have good qualities with imperfections sprinkled in.  In my work-in-progress, TO VENUS WITH MARCHAND, heroine YARDLEY is the odd one out at home.  She promised her dying mother she’d continue working the greenhouse to feed the family, but family dynamics have changed.  Usually brave and capable, Yardley is fragile when confronted by her dad’s fiancé.  Hero MARCHAND is a fun-loving “action figure” who can’t express himself.   Yardley and Marchand take a trip together.  The trip changes them for the good, but what happens when the pressure is off and they arrive?  They can’t dwell on the past.  The twist or dark moment? Allowing old habits and ghosts tear them apart.  

 

Places– of Charm

Living in Southern California with my childhood home in the Midwest means I like fall color and find ways to blend it into our yard.  Grasses look amazing in large containers.  ”A” is blue fescue, “B” is familiar chrysanthemum, “C” is strawflower, and “D” is purple fountain grass. 

Kathleen Rowland </

Eat– for Good Health

Last night I made PASTA WITH BEANS, SPINACH, AND FETA for a 350-calorie dinner.  This dinner is very Tuscan, and it reminded my husband of our trip to Italy last July.  I could picture the Umbria area which to us looked a whole lot like Napa Valley in California without the beautiful old, old buildings.  Italy is a beautiful place, and I think about the way things are viewed. 

The photo above is from Howard L. Pucket
Ingredients:


8 cups coarsely chopped spinach leaves
4 cups hot cooked cavatappi (about 6 ounces uncooked spiral-shaped pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed (if you like garlic)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Feta cheese
1/2 cup green and black olives
1/2 cup pine nuts

To prepare all you have to do is toss everything together.  I sprinkled pine nuts on the top.

Fresh ground black pepper (optional)

Wordsmith– I also write books

In the futuristic young adult book I am presently writing, Earth is in a second Ice Age.  The seventeen-year-old hero, Marchand Laurent, sails an iceboat.  Sailing an iceboat fits well with my young thrill-seeker’s personality, but he’s the guy who saves the world.  Or should I say new world.  After the solar system was bombarded with asteroids that caused Earth’s Ice Age, Venus becomes habitable.

Incidentally, an iceboat is a hull attached to a perpendicular cross piece called a runner plank. Three long “skates” or runners are attached to the boat, one on each end of the plank and at the fore end of the hull. Iceboats are strictly wind powered and need relatively snow-free ice to sail.

I’m writing young adult under the pen name of Rudyard Rowland so that I don’t annoy readers of Kathleen Rowland (my real name) who writes sensuous romantic suspense.  ”Rudyard” also writes heart-stopping suspense but not spicy.  A kiss is a really big deal in young adult books.