If you want to be skinny, and stay skinny, there’s one thing you need to do: Love Your Vegetables. I mean, really LOVE them. You have to find a way to cook them, without fancy high-fat creams and sauces, that causes you to crave them as much as you would crave a candy bar. Heck, you don’t even have to cook them. I still carry a bag of raw radishes in my car whenever I run errands, because I LOVE THAT CRUNCH!!

But, roasting them, that’s the ultimate, cheesecake, of all cheesecakes in the vegetable world. Trust me on this. For this one, I’ll show you how I roast cabbage — stop groaning — it’s DELICIOUS!!! When you roast the cabbage, it gets rid of all of that smelly stuff, and transforms the cabbage into some kind of caramel — because the sugars do come out. This taste so good, that I’m wondering of maybe roasting cabbage adds calories, and I just don’t know it, yet.

So, this is similar to the way I make Krispy Kale, but takes a bit longer. I do this one in the oven, because the heads of cabbage are thicker, and needs “surround heat.”

First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Chop up your head of cabbage into wedges… and go ahead and nibble on those stray pieces… get used to that cold, crunch freshness… it’s delicious!

The cabbage is already a little bit roasted — I pulled it out of the oven to grab a picture. (I was hungry).

Then, rub a large pan with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Go light on the olive oil — you want enough to keep the cabbage from sticking — maybe a tablespoon or two — or less.

Next, dredge your cabbage, on both sides, in the olive oil and spread the oil around the pan. If you are lucky enough to have an olive oil “sprayer” that you trust, just use that. The ones I find usually end up getting moldy.

Then, lay the wedges nicely along the pan — then sprinkle with a few more grinds of sea salt.

Pop the whole tray into the oven, and roast for 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes and flip at the halfway point.

Here they are, halfway roasted.

They look done… but another 10 minutes, and I got this:

Now, what to do with it? Does it look scary to you? Think of it as a roast… all caramelized and yummy with onions on top.

Next, grab yourself a big cereal bowl, and plop one of those caramelized wedges inside. Then, drizzle it a bit with balsamic vinegar — if you like that sort of thing — and a few more grinds of salt.

Next, pick out your favorite cheese (you need a protein to make this a full-filling meal!) — a hard cheese is nice — I have been using Manchego, and it has been delicious.

Eat this — and be truly satisfied. Trust me, you will be. You will start to wonder if you’re cheating… maybe this is LOADED with calories. If it is — I don’t want to know.

Now — here’s the key: Limit yourself to just one wedge… for now. Seal the rest of the wedges in an airtight container. Then, later in the day, when your stomach starts to growl, just remember that bowl of cabbage in your fridge… with that hard cheese, just waiting for you.

Pull one out, and pop it into the microwave, grate some cheese, and enjoy. Soon, you’ll be craving cabbage all day long. I’ve stored the wedges up to ten days — so make a big batch, and have it one hand for cravings.

So, friend, this is what I ended up making for that dinner party. This cobbler cheesecake was so beautiful when it came out of the oven. However, by the time I had the camera ready, this is all that was left.

It was so gorgeous, with the parchment paper all crinkly and brown and the perfectly round cheesecake nestled inside of the brown scorched parchment paper… all of those almonds glistening on top.

January is a tough month to come up with a creative dessert. It’s hard to follow Christmas, without doing Christmas. I didn’t want anything to chocolately-peppermint-Christmassy… but something sweet. Cheesecake was too pristine… so this combination of black berries/cobbler cheesecake was humble enough to offer just the right amount of coziness post-Christmas in dreary January. Do you know exactly what I mean?

I ended up messing up the original recipe, (I messed up on the part that said, “reserve” — I used it all up.) so I ended up with my own version, using the recipe for the world’s greatest crumble as the base… which was far better than what was printed in that magazine.

So, here’s the recipe:

• 1 3/4 cup of flour
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salts
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes.
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup black raspberries… or berries of your choice, mixed with 1/2 cup sugar.
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened1/4 CUP SUGAR
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
2. Mix flour, sugar and salt with a fork.
3. Using a fork, or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Add oats, stirring them into the mixture.
5. Reserve!!!! Stop! Get out a measuring cup and reserve 1/4 – 1/2 of this mixture.
6. Pour the rest of the cobbler mixture into a spring-form pan… of if you don’t have one, like me, use a 9″ cake pan. Line that with parchment paper… but do not oil or butter the pan or the parchment paper. (It will burn.) (Go for the 9″ pan… because the parchment paper gives a beautiful “covering” to the cake.)
7. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar for 1 minute. Add egg; beat just until combined. Spread over crust. Carefully top with berries. Top with almonds and reserved crumb mixture.
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until center is set. Cool on a wire rack. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; remove sides of pan. Store in the refrigerator.

Since NBC dubbed me last night officially as a “recipe tester” (I AM NOT!)

(My kitchen… my moms with blogs friends ((we are not mommy bloggers!!))… my gifted friend’s mugs.

Visit them here: Momofali, and Rachel (awesome for you gadeners!). Amy, you know her. And my new friend Wenderly. And of course, Mikaela, from NBC.)

I thought I would give you the low-down on those lettuce wraps that I created for the babysitter.

I found the recipe last summer, on, of course…Pinterest… and I had not realized it at the time, but I learned later that this is a low-fat recipe for lettuce wraps! You wouldn’t know it… it’s delicious.

You can find the recipe on IowaGirl eats, here:

But here’s a rundown of the ingredients:
Ingredients:

1lb ground chicken breast

1/2 medium onion, minced

salt & pepper, a dash of each

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 inch nob fresh ginger, peeled & minced

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 Tablespoon water

1 Tablespoon natural peanut butter

1/2 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (or more if you like it hotter)

dash of fresh pepper

3 green onions, chopped

1/2-8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained & chopped

1/4 cup peanuts, chopped

10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry

The only thing I do differently is to double the amount of sauce. To adapt this for the crockpot… I simply used already cooked chicken breasts that I had leftover from another meal. (Want to know how to quickly shred your chicken? Use your mixer… not kidding… it’s works, amazingly.)

Then, I added the chicken to the crockpot… and then just threw in the sauce ingredients… skipping the microwave step. I left out the peanuts… and saved them to sprinkle on at the end.

Turned the crockpot on low, and after about an hour, I lifted the lid to stir up the ingredients throughout the chicken. It was technically “ready” at this point, but we weren’t ready to eat… the extra simmer time just deepened the flavor.

Then, we pulled off the lettuce leaves, wrapped, and enjoyed.

Prior to our visit to Chicago, I was scrambling around trying to find a babysitter. The girl I normally use for overnights was going to be out of town… but her boyfriend wasn’t! The boys already knew him… he’s a biology major, and KNOWS WHERE TO FIND FROGS… even when we’re not at the lake!!! What a score!!!

I was rest assured that the boys would be throughly entertained… no problem there… but what would they eat? Frozen pizzas and Two BOX TOPS can only get you so far…

So, I decided to package up some of the boys favorite meals, precooked, as slowcooker meals. This plan worked like a charm:

Here are my notes to the babysitter:

Your crockpot will be your friend this week. It helps to rub the bottom and sides with a bit of olive oil before you start to keep things from sticking. To clean the tough stains, let is soak with a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. (Both are under the sink.)  FYI: The garbage disposal switch is under the sink.

Meal 1: Lettuce Wraps

Pour contents in crockpot. Chicken is pre-cooked. Cook on high 3-4 hours.
There are two heads of lettuce in fridge. Use peanuts to throw on top.
Serve with baby carrots, and fruit in fridge.
Keep leftovers in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

Meal 2: Turkey Sandwiches.

Place contents of ziplock bag in crockpot. (Turkey is pre-cooked)
Cook on low 3- 4 hours.

Cook frozen vegetables in microwave for 2-3 minutes in bowl with a green glass plate as a lid.

Meal 3: Sweet potatoes.

Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork.
Place sweet potatoes in crockpot and cook on high 3-4 hours.

Meal 4: Pork Burritos.

Pour contents into crockpot (pork is precooked) and cook on low 3-4 hours.
The kids can grate the cheese for you.
They can build their own burritos.
Serve with baby carrots, pears and broccoli cooked in microwave.

Even though the party doesn’t start until 7:30, I like to have everything done before the kids walk into the door from school. Because, after that, I could loose my cool. Cucumbers, onions and tomatoes are already cut, covered and on the porch (it’s cool there) and waiting to be turned into Greek Nachos. (Don’t you just love the thought of cool, crunchy fresh vegetables in winter, smothered on top of something warm?)  The roast is simmering in the crock pot (smothered in Greek spices like mint, cinnamon), the yogurt is drained for the Tzatziki Sauce.

The cheese is cut on the board, with chalk labels on brown craft paper. The board is covered on the porch with the veggies.

I’m sipping this big chai latte that I made for myself…

trees are not done — but my friend suggested a dowel stuck in STYROFOAM! ( How genius is that?) … but I’m making these wreaths for the back kitchen windows. Honestly, they are not turning out. But with a sprig of fresh garlands, it should be fine.

I’m covering the tables in white and brown craft paper and the platters are sitting dining room table. All I have left to make are the onion crostinis.

I’m making this for brunch this morning:

All except for the following adaptations:
I’m not too keen on having that many carbs… so I decided to boil/saute some potatoes to substitute for the bread crumbs. Then, it hit me. Potatoes are full of carbs…. so I’ve been visiting this amazing recipe site that substitutes califlower for potatoes, (which I also found on Pinterest) and it is awesome… and cauliflower gives you so many more vitamins than potatoes.
So, instead of bread crumbs, I’m substituting cauliflower… and everything else is exactly the same. Except for the fact that my kids like their eggs “invisible.” Except for the single egg lover, they don’t want to know they’re eating an egg… so I will probably mix the egg with some cream to make the eggs invisible and pour it over the top. Other than that, it’s exactly the same.

The result? There was barley any left after I came downstairs after my shower… and I had yet to eat.
P.S. I have so much fun with Pinterest.

There is a fabulous tiny restaurant within walking distance of our house that my husband and I sneak off to when the little boys are asleep, and the older boys are doing homework.

We like to talk to the chef while he pours us a drink, and he tells us about some of the exotic “local” ingredients his suppliers brought to him that day, and what “dish” he is planning to make. Then, he always gives us a taste. He has served us exotic mushrooms, truffle buttered popcorn, and caramelized leek flatbreads while he’s busy cleaning up the kitchen, the regular staff are saying good night, and the restaurant seats are empty.

When I told him that Hellmann’s® had asked me to use mayonnaise in a left-over Turkey recipe that included cranberries, potatoes, and mozzarella cheese, he smiled.

“Ahhhh,” he said, as he reached for an old French cookbook from his collection.

He couldn’t find the original recipe that night, so I am unable to share the original name with you. But he assured me that the combination was tried and true, and one that we would love.

When I settled down to pull out the turkey leftovers to make this French-inspired casserole, I checked the recipe details…making sure to reserve the mayonnaise into two sections–as you need one batch for the cranberries, and the second for the mashed potatoes. Keep all the layers separated and layer the ingredients on, one at a time. While the kids ran in from practices, and snatched cranberries when I wasn’t looking, I had the entire casserole ready to into the oven.

Finally, I pulled it out of the oven, and grabbed the bag of dried cranberries my boys had already grabbed off the counter, had opened, and were eating by the handfuls. I took what was left out of the bag and sprinkled them on top of the bubbly casserole.

My son placed it on the table and, with those glistening cranberries and stuffing, it almost looked like Thanksgiving again. By the end of the meal, when I was “stuffed” I still found myself grabbing another spoonful, just so I could ingrain the recipe into my taste bud-memory forever.

Sweet, creamy, and satisfying.

Too bad turkey leftovers only come once a year.

Hellmann’s® is on a mission to help us rethink leftovers and help us get through the busy holiday season. Mayonnaise, which is so utterly unpretentious, is simply made with good, basic ingredients, like eggs, oil and vinegar, and heart-healthy oils.

Each week, you can visit and vote at Hellmanns.com as Turkey Casserole goes head-to-head with other tasty, juicy turkey recipes. Vote for your favorite and enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win one of four $250 grocery gift cards each week.* (If there are more than 10,000 entries, the prize value doubles to a $500 grocery gift card!)

This weeks’ recipe is Turkey Casserole–although after tasting this, the word “casserole” barely does the name justice. Unless your Momma is French, this is a combination that may be unfamiliar to you. This is comfort food at it’s best: Sweet, creamy, and oh so filling.

Here’s the recipe:

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 15 Minute(s)

Cook Time: 40 Minute(s)

Ingredients: • 4 cups leftover prepared stuffing, divided • 4 cups coarsely chopped leftover cooked turkey (about 1 lb.) • 3/4 cup Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise, divided • 1/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce • 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes • 1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 6 oz.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 8-inch baking dish with no-stick cooking spray. Spoon in 2 cups stuffing, then top with turkey.

2. Combine 1/4 cup Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise with cranberry sauce; evenly spread over turkey.

3. Combine remaining 1/2 cup Mayonnaise, potatoes and cheese in large bowl. Evenly spread on turkey, then top with remaining 2 cups stuffing.

4. Bake 40 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish with dried cranberries.

Also terrific with Hellmann’s® Light Mayonnaise.

In addition to the contest at Hellmanns.com, BlogHer and Hellmann’s® are teaming up to offer you the chance to win a $100 gift card to cooking.com! For a chance to win, just leave me a comment letting me know your favorite way to use turkey leftovers during the holiday season.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion, adding @hellmanns to the end of your tweet, and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

For more opportunities to win, visit the Hellmann’s Round-up page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers’ reviews!

For more information on the recipe contest or Hellmann’s® products and recipes, visit Hellmanns.com

*No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. The Hellmann’s Turkey Challenge is sponsored by Conopco, Inc., d/b/a Unilever. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 & older. Begins 12:00 a.m. ET on 9/12/11 & ends 11:59 p.m. ET on 12/5/11. For official rules, visit Hellmanns.com.

I may have had a couple of zucchini’s left… but the mother-lode of the season was clearly, hands-down, the Nasturtiums.

Yes, our front yard looks amazing this fall… which might explain why I had so many squireels snacking on my front porch?

This was taken before the squirrels arrived…

Desperate to get those flowers and leaves harvested before the frost, I made pesto, I dried them (storing them in little glass jars),

and then I came up with these nasturtiums quesadillas.

Wash the ants off the nastriums and let them drain.

First brown chopped onions on a lightly oiled hot skillet.
After 5 minutes, add some black beans.
Remove the beans and onions and set aside.
Next, throw the tortillas onto a hot skillet, and top with your favorite cheese — something like Monterrey Jack, or even better — Pepper Jack.
Next sprinkle the nasturtium flowers and leaves, and fold the tortilla over.

Once cheese has melted, cut into strips, and sprinkle with Paprika.

Miraculously, just before the frost hit here, I still had some zucchinis thriving in the yard — with blossoms.

So, I made these. And I ate them up.

To make them, slice your zucchini into little rectangular shapes.

Mix some olive oil, basil,  Parmesan cheese, salt and bread crumbs — yes… I used Rice Chex — don’t ask me why and put on top. Top with a blossom. You could still use Nasturtium blossoms if you have some left.

If you don’t like the raw crunch of the zucchini, just pre-bake the zucchini before adding the toppings.

Two out of four is pretty darn good. I didn’t even serve them a kale shake yet (because mine is gone before they’ve had a chance to taste it– and they are grossed out by the look of it.) This method, “frying kale” tastes so good!!!

You can wipe that vision in your head of a vat of oil… I only use a tablespoon — if that much oil. I tried making Kale Chips — you know, baking them in the oven. Although I could never really “master” that method. For me, it works better, I seem to have more control, when I use the stove top.

My boys can entirely wipe out a head of kale in just a few minutes now. Can’t make it fast enough!

First, why all the fuss? Kale, one of the dark green leafy vegetables is a great source of  vitamin K, the B-vitamin folic acid, and betas carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the liver. They are full of powerful antioxidants that protect us from cancer, cardio-vascular disease. Plus, a better source of calcium than diary products — because kale is loaded in magnesium.

Plus… it tastes so gooooood! Espcially when prepared this way.

Kale Chips: The Method

Spread olive oil and your preferred seasonings (we’re fine with just plan old sea salt) all over a pan —  just enough to coat it. (Butter might be a nice addition too.) Then, I lay the freshly washed kale all over the pan. Yes, it’s bumpy and they stick up… but a slow, low heat takes care of that.

Turn the pan onto a low flame, and just leave it. There is a variety of Kale that I have grown from seed, and that you can find at Whole Foods called Lacinato Kale (a.k.a. Dino Kale).

This one cooks up the nicest, but don’t fret if you can only find curly Kale… it will do just fine, if you are patient.

Keep the heat low, as you don’t want to char your kale. Soon the leaves will crisp up… then you can flip it. The whole process, depending upon how much water is in your kale, takes 15-25 minutes.

I just start a batch while I’m in the kitchen doing something else, and before I know it, the kale is done, and the kids are walking by the stove — two of them — asking if it’s cool enough to eat. Because this never makes it to the table as a side dish. Fried kale is gobbled before I even get the kale down to a respectable cool. If I did, I’d store them up and keep them like potato chips.