From my good friend Natalie Bourdeau-Legris comes this tantalizing and totally unexpected creation – A Pork and Pear Tart filled with mouth watering goodness, an incredible discovery on my continuing Taste Odyssey!

Serves 4

What You Need

* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 5 ounces pork sausage, casings removed (or ground pork)
* 1 medium onion, halved lengthwise, 1/2 finely chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
* Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
* 1/2 medium green cabbage, about 1/2 pound, cored and shredded
* 2 dried juniper berries, slightly crushed with the flat side of a large knife (optional)
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
* Short Pastry Crust (see previous foto)
* All-purpose flour, for work surface
* 4 pears
* 1 egg yolk (for brushing crust)

What You Need To Do

1. Cook the meat
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage/pork; cook until well browned, about 3 minutes, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Add chopped onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add sage; cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute more. Transfer to a medium bowl; season with pepper. Stir in cheese; set aside.

2. Cook the Cabbage
Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in cabbage, juniper berries, bay leaf, cider vinegar, and sugar, scraping bottom of skillet to loosen any browned bits. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is wilted and tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Discard juniper berries and bay leaf.

3. Make the pie shell
Roll 3/4 of the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 21-by-12-inch rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Line a 13-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan (or any pan close to this) with dough, allowing dough to drape over edges.

4. Prep the pears
Using an apple corer, remove 3/4 of the core from each pear, leaving stem end intact. Remove another tablespoon flesh from each cavity. Spoon 2 tablespoons sausage/pork mixture into cavity of each pear; set aside.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Assemble pie: Spread cabbage mixture in an even layer over dough. Set stuffed pears on top. Roll out remaining dough on a lightly floured surface to a 14-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out four 2-inch circles from dough along centerline, where you will place the pears. Place dough over pie, with pears poking through the holes. Gently crimp edges of dough to seal.

6. Whisk egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush crust with egg wash. Bake pie on a rimmed baking sheet until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 45 to 50 minutes.

Tags: interesting baking ideas, poirs et porc, tarte

A life-long lover of food in all its glorious variety, I’m a latecomer to cooking. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten in to the habit of seeking out delicious-sounding recipes and trying them out, often with great success.  It’s been slow-going, though, and it’s left me with a somewhat limited repertoire and a tendency to fall into ruts.

What occurred to me recently is what I really need is to build up a base of go-to dishes that I can easily throw together. Dishes that require with minimal time and effort to prepare, and can be made using whatever ingredients I happen to have on hand. Dishes simple enough that a recipe isn’t even required.

This weekend I whipped up my first such improvised dish. I had a large bag of pre-washed spinach in the fridge, and wanted to use it in a hot dish (spinach salad is all well and good, but I love the way cooked spinach absorbs flavour). First, I did a quick web search and peeked at a handful of recipes to get a general sense of what ingredients might be common to a cooked spinach dish. Then I boldly headed to the kitchen sans recipe, but in possession of a rough plan of action.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 bag pre-washed spinach
• 1 can white kidney beans
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 a medium-sized cooking onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg*

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

• Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic (Time-saving hint: you can purchase fresh garlic that has already been minced and frozen into to cut down on both prep and clean-up time). Rinse and drain the canned beans and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and cumin seeds, and warm over medium heat.
• Once the onions started to turn transparent, add the full bag of spinach (don’t worry if it seems like way too much: it’s going to shrink down. A lot. You probably won’t be able to do much more than poke idly at it with a kitchen implement until it begans to wilt).
• When the spinach begins to wilt, add the lemon juice and a  vinegar (Note: white wine vinegar would probably be an even better choice, but I didn’t have any on hand when I whipped this up)
• Add dried thyme and nutmeg. (Quantities in the ingredients list are approximated, as I threw this together on the fly. You could definitely add more or less to taste).
• At this time you could also add some ground black pepper and sea salt.  If you’re watching your sodium intake, it’s probably best not to add any while cooking — you get a lot more bang for your buck if you salt your serving to taste.
• Add the drained and rinsed beans to the saucepan.
• Stir/flip everything everything a few times to evenly-distribute the flavours, and then let beans warm up until the pan is sizzling again.

And that’s it! The whole process probably took about fifteen minutes end-to-end, with the most time consuming portion being the chopping of the onion. As a main course, this produced about two servings; as a side dish it should comfortably serve four. I had some the next day and it reheated well.

One note: if you’ve never cooked spinach before, you may not realize how much it shrinks when you cook it. It shrinks a lot. So don’t be alarmed if you feel like you’ve added way too much: I often find that what looks like enough spinach to feed a small army at the outset ends up seeming quite reasonable in the end. My giant bag of spinach was visually overwhelmed by a single can of beans in the finished product.

So that was my first experiment in basic, intuitive cooking. If you try it — and especially if you make any modifications — please let me know. I’d love to hear about your experience. As for me, I’ll be continuing to experiment with simple, recipeless dishes and will share all my success stories here.

*Thanks to my cousin Nicole for this tip: she always uses nutmeg in cooked spinach dishes. I never would have thought of it but it was indeed delicious!

Tags: quick and easy vegan recipes, spinach recipes, vegetarian recipe, white bean recipe

Being busy is no excuse to be forced to eat poorly, at least not with The Fresh Diet!  You can just take your cooler bag with you, which holds all you need for your long day.

I took a day off this weekend from The Fresh Diet, partly because I had company in town, and knew I would have to take them somewhere for lunch and/or dinner, and wasn’t up for the torment of being called a party pooper, and I partly took a day off to try and stretch my delivery days a day longer! My trial month is quickly coming to a close and I’m getting sad, and a bit worried that I’m just not ready for it to end.

It is definitely very difficult for me, to try to eat as well as I do on the Fresh Diet without having that wonderful Green cooler on hand.  Needless to say, I was relieved when I got my delivery the next day, I felt back on track!

ALC with The Fresh Diet Cooler Bag

The Fresh Diet has proved to be the perfect solution for eating healthy. I’m just far too busy in life to worry about what to make to keep my body up and running. It actually keeps me on a schedule of remembering  to eat. I love having discovered The Fresh Diet and having it in my life.

Here is my menu for Wednesday with pictures.  Enjoy!

Breakfast:

Cajun Style Egg White Omelet with Bell Pepper, Onion, Turkey Sausage & Roasted Roma Tomato

• Lunch:

Roasted Turkey Breast Whole Wheat Wrap with Fresh Guacamole and Spring Mix Lettuce

• Hors D’Oeuvre:


Grilled Shrimp Skewer with Fresh Mango Salsa

Dinner:

Grilled Tofu with Orange Tea Leaf Sauce with Steamed Asparagus and Lemon Parsley Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Dessert:

Sugar-Free Butterscotch Pecan Brownie

~Until Next Time!

Eat Well. XO
ALC

Please note – TasteOdyssey.com is not affiliated with the company in any way – I won a contest to try it out for 30 days and I am journaling my experience.

Tags: Dieting, Healthy Eating, The Fresh Diet

Just because you are on a diet doesn’t mean you can’t continue to eat amazing meals. The key to your success is portion size, portion size, portion size!

I thought I had a pretty good idea of what 1200 calories looked like, until I started The Fresh Diet.

Everything is portioned out perfectly for me.  I was very surprised at how much less food there is at each meal, then I thought it would be.  We are in the land of the Super-Sized everything, so it has been quite an eye opener to see just how much food my body needs a day to work properly and lose, or maintain weight.

Today with my menu, I’m adding pictures of each dish, so you can see what an average daily menu looks like on The Fresh Diet.  After a while, it will be a cinch for me to use the eyeball method if I am unable to eat my Fresh Diet meals that day.

• Breakfast: Hawaiian Pineapple Stuffed Whole Wheat French Toast with Strawberries and Blueberry Cottage Cheese

• Lunch: Turkey Souvlaki on Whole Wheat Pita with Minted Yogurt Sauce, & Celery Sticks

• Hors D’Oeuvre: Chicken Skewer with Tequila Lime Glaze

• Dinner: Grilled Chicken Breast with Citrus Chipotle Sauce with Spaghetti Squash in Fresh Basil Pesto and Sauteed Baby Bok-Choy

• Dessert: Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcake with Mocha-Hazelnut Cream Cheese Frosting

As you can see each portion is about the size of a hand or two-fists, and really your body doesn’t need much more. Each meal I ate today was just enough for me to feel satisfied, not to mention VERY delicious. So, the moral of today’s post is DON’T BE FOOLED by portion sizes that restaurants serve, that is TOO much foood for one person to eat! If you must eat out, share your meal with a friend, or eat ONLY the amount you should eat using the “EYEBALL METHOD” and pack up the rest for lunch the next day.

Once you get in the routine of controlling your portion sizes you will be well on your way, to a healthier, fitter you!

If you want to know more about THE FRESH DIET follow them HERE on their Fresh Diet Facebook page, and be the first to hear about all the contests they have for free weeks, and months of The Fresh Diet.  You have nothing to lose but weight! That bathing suit is calling your name 😉

~Till next time,

XO

ALC

Please note – TasteOdyssey.com is not affiliated with the company in any way – I won a contest to try it out for 30 days and I am journaling my experience.

Tags: Aimee Lynn Chadwick diet, calorie counting, healthy meals, low calorie meals, meal delivery service, portion control, the eyeball method, The Fresh Diet, whole food diet

Today, I not only want to share my menu from the Fresh Diet for the day, to get you just as excited about this diet as I am, but also to share some of the changes I have noticed with myself since I have been on it.  For starters, there was a period of time (a rather LONG period) that I suffered from Acid Reflux.  I have noticed that in the short week of being on The Fresh Diet, I haven’t needed to run to the refrigerator and grab the Mylanta.

Another thing I used to suffer with, stemmed from eating or drinking dairy products.  Let’s just say they didn’t sit well with me, as I am Lactose Intolerant.  I haven’t had any problems with my stomach in the week of being on it either.

I also have noticed my cravings for such “vices” as salt, caffeine, alcohol and sweets have dwindled immensely, if not vanished all together.  I haven’t even had the urge or a need to “relax” at the end of the night with a glass of vino;  I feel completely satisfied with just having a hot cup of caffeine-free tea.

At the Fresh Diet website, they explain in the FAQ section other benefits for people with High Cholestoral, and Diabetes, and how this system really helps balance out insulin levels, with amazing results.  Here is an excerpt:

“The Fresh Diet creates balanced meals that steer clear of cholesterol-hardening carbohydrates thereby helping you lose weight and decrease unhealthy cholesterol levels.  The Fresh Diet is the only program that targets the correction of insulin levels. People that suffer from Type I diabetes also find The Fresh Diet program beneficial. We encourage you to consult with your doctor to see if this program is suitable for you.”

With all that said, here is my menu for Tuesday (it most certainly is a menu fit for a queen!)

• Breakfast: Ruby SwissChard, Oyster Mushroom and Mozzerella Egg Bake with Fresh Pear.
• Lunch: Seared Tofu Wrap with Alfalfa Sprouts, Snow Peas, Watercress, Baby Lettuce, and Soy Dressing
• Hors D’Oeuvre: Apple Pistachio Muffin
• Dinner:Roasted Pork Loin with Pineapple Mango Chutney with Carrot and Rutabaga Mash and Roasted Fennel
• Dessert: Mango Vanilla Pudding

Can’t wait to try it all!

I’ll let you know how it tastes – or – if you are curious go on their site and try it out yourself!

THE FRESH DIET

Happy and Healthy Dieting!

~ALC

Please note – TasteOdyssey.com is not affiliated with the company in any way – I won a contest to try it out for 30 days and I am journaling my experience.

Tags: Aimee Lynn Chadwick diet, calorie counting, health benefits, healthy meals, low calorie meals, meal delivery service, The Fresh Diet, whole food diet