don't make your own pastry dough...

Unless you are ready to get messy and work your ass off.
I am too lazy to write up the recipe for these Plum Galettes but I already took the photos so here they are.

These are the main ingredients. Eggs are for the egg wash.

Flour, cornstarch, salt and water for the dough

And of course butter. Lots of butter. Two cups to be exact. You roll out the butter onto the dough until it is pliable.

After lots of rolling, folding and chilling in the fridge, you assemble the galettes (or tarts) and here's what you get... sort of. These didn't quite turn out like the ones in the cook book but home made pastry dough is delicious.

Lemon Herb Pacific Cod baked in Foil

Here is a low calorie dish I'd like to share with you.

Pacific Cod baked in Foil (with lemon, butter and herbs)

This dish is simple, quick, easy and you can prepare it however you like. I used thin lemon slices and dried herbs de provence seasoning (fresh thyme would work best for this dish). Cooking in foil makes it easy because it is one less dish to wash. Score. When trying to eat low calorie and healthy, I try be positive about every little bonus I get from the dish to help ease the pain that I am not scarfing down a bowl of sour cream bacon dip at the moment.

Ingredients

1 (6 oz) filet of Pacific Cod
Thin lemon slices (about three) - or you can use thin slices of tomato and onions if you like.
Seasoning for the fish (I used Blackened Seasoning but you can also use Creole or just simply salt and pepper).
Butter or Olive Oil Spray (or a tablespoon of melted butter or olive oil just take into account the added calories).

Spray or brush the filet on both sides with the butter or olive oil.
Season both sides with seasoning then place on a large piece of foil.
Sprinkle herbs de provence or three sprigs of time on top of the filet.
Place on a foil and place thin lemon slices on top of the filet.

Optional: Place a serving of frozen vegetables (I chose broccoli) in the foil with the fish. Note that when you put frozen veggies the cooking time for the fish will be longer.

Close the foil at the top and sides forming a roomy pouch.
Bake on 400F for 20 min. (if filet is frozen or if you have frozen veggies in the foil pouch, otherwise bake for about 12 min.)

Serve over Brown Rice.

I know the dish isn't fancy and it is a little boring but I will take not fancy and boring for 20 minutes of cooking time on a weeknight :)

Calorie Count for Entire Dish:
Pacific Cod - 140 cal
Brown Rice (1 cup) - 150 cal
1/2 Serving of broccoli - 15 cal
TOTAL: 305

I recently purchased two cookbooks, Healthy Cooking for two (or just you) and Tartine.

The Healthy Cooking book is perfect for me at this time because the recipes are written for if you're making a meal for one or two. There aren't photos in the book (which I think is essential in a cookbook) but I like how each recipe has a detailed nutritional value.

The Tartine book I couldn't resist at the book store and spent $35 on it. Tartine is a bakery in San Francisco and everything in the cookbook looks delectable. I have never been to the bakery but the next time I will be sure to visit the next time I am in the city. 

I have made one recipe from the book so far, the Banana-Date Tea Cake and it was absolutely delicious. As usual, I brought the loaf to work and it has been my co-workers' favorite so far out of all of the cupcakes, cookies and cakes I have brought to them. I can't wait to bake more.

Call me sadistic. Here I am trying to count calories but I buy a dessert book and I want to make every single recipe it offers. The trick to avoiding eating it is to bake it on a Sunday and bring it all to work the next day to share.

Happy Cooking (healthy :P)

Whoop! There it is (Red Velvet sort-of Whoopie Pies)

My last couple of posts have been less about food and cooking but more about, well, nothing really. I confess that I have been much too lazy to cook. In fact, in the last couple of days I ate cheese and crackers for dinner. I don't mind that at all because cheese (fancy shmancy cheese) and crackers for dinner is such a treat. It's right up there with eating eggs and bacon for dinner. However, in the span of my lazy cooking-free days, I did manage to make some whoopie pies -- sort of. The only reason why I made these strange cake sandwiches is because I bought a whoopie pie mold from Sur La Table. Another confession. Sur La Table is one of the unnecessarily expensive stores I can't resist. The other two are Whole Foods and Anthropologie.

I made red velvet whoopie pies for my co-workers.

The recipe I got from Homes and Gardens

Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 cup packed brown (or white) sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 1oz bottle of red food coloring.

Combine dry ingredients. Mix softened butter and sugar then beat in egg and vanilla. Alternately incorporate dry ingredients and buttermilk. Add food coloring last. The batter is very thick.

It's red, it's velvety... 

Bake for 7 - 9 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

And of course, like most things I make, the product never looks exactly like the way I envisioned it in my head. I put way too much batter into the molds. The whoopie pie halves are much too big to put two together, but too small to be called cupcakes.

So, I frosted the tops and I called them "Cupcake Tops." What can I say. I am brilliant.

Frosting/Filling recipe: half 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 7oz jar of marshmallow cream, 1/4 cup of softened butter. Mix together.

I did assemble one whoopie pie, which was very messy to eat.