Fresh (no-cooking needed) Spaghetti Sauce and Getting Back-to-the-Basics and Eating Right!

This is going to be your NEW favorite spaghetti sauce!  We all know, pasta always makes a great year-round side dish.  My fresh, no-cooking-needed, sauce is pareve, quick, easy, fresh and points-friendly and perfect for our still-hot-days-to-come!

Yochi's Fresh (no-cooking needed) Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

1.   Whole wheat spaghetti. Half a box of uncooked spaghetti makes four to six portions of cooked spaghetti.   

2.   Large pasta pot

3.   Hand-stick blender

4.   Tomatoes (either two large tomatoes or ten or more cherry tomatoes)

5.   1 medium onion

6.   2-3 fresh cloves of garlic, (depending on how "garlicky" you want the sauce)

7.   Mushrooms

8.   Garlic powder

9.   Freshly ground pepper

10.                Paprika

11.                Chopped fresh parsley

12.                Oregano (fresh or dried)

13.                Basil (fresh or dried)

14.                Thyme (fresh or dried)

15.                Water

16.                PAM

How to work:

1.   Preparing the spaghetti: I'm sure you've heard this a million times: to make good el dente spaghetti you need to start with good quality spaghetti (in our case, whole wheat spaghetti), a large pasta pot and lots of water.

2.   Fill the pot with water, a little bit less than three-quarters full.  This should be enough water to cook the spaghetti.

3.   Bring the water to boil.  I no longer add oil or salt to my boiling water to prevent the spaghetti rom sticking; I shpritz the water with PAM before adding the spaghetti. 

4.   Measure out half of the spaghetti from the box and add a quarter or half that amount to the boiling water at a time, to avoid sticking.  Stir and then add another quarter or the second half of the spaghetti.  Stir gently to avoid further sticking.

5.   Cook the spaghetti until it is el dente: pliable, but not soggy. 

6.   Once the spaghetti is cooked; immediately take it out of the cooking water and strain; so it will STOP cooking.  You can rinse the spaghetti with warm water if you wish or just leave it as it is. Try to prevent the spaghetti from cooling completely. If the spaghetti gets too dry, spritz with a bit of PAM or pour hot warm over it.

7.   Now begin to make your sauce.

8.   Clean the tomatoes, onions and garlic and blend to a semi-chunky-saucy consistency using a hand-stick blender.  The consistency depends on how you like your sauce.  Ask yourself: do you like a sauce with pieces of vegetables or a smooth sauce? Blend to the consistency you like.

9.   Working with the mushrooms: you can either slice them and add them to the sauce “as is” or gently sauté the mushrooms in a bit of PAM and then add them to the no-cook vegetables.

10.                Add all the spices to the sauce.  If you are using fresh spices, I warmly suggest you mince the spices by hand and then add them into the sauce. Mincing the spices with the stick blender may turn them into a paste.  The spices should add a fresh aroma and distinctive taste to the dish.

11.                Mix the sauce completely and pour over the warm pasta.  Gently toss and serve.

Remember that portion control is the name of the game – watch your portion and you’ll watch your weight!

Portion size:

Spaghetti is a tough dish to portion out as tablespoonfuls.  I suggest using the plate method: a quarter of a plate, NOT PILED HIGH, is a sufficient amount.

How to store:

Always store in a closed plastic container in the fridge. 

Be’Tay a’Von and Chag Sameach!

Getting Back-to-the-Basics and Eating Right

I was recently talking to a close friend who wanted to lose weight and had heard about and tried just about every diet program out there.  She heard how much Sid and I lost weight and she wanted to UNDERSTAND how we did it.  Not the points – but the how we did it.  I began by explaining the general idea to her; but that was not enough for her.  She wanted and needed to hear the exact details – the “hows” and the “whats”.  I knew with whom I was talking: I know her lifestyle, how she thought and how she felt.

I told her exactly what I ate for each main meal and then what I ate for the small meals.  Except for the Chagim, I eat just about the same foods/combination of foods every day (including similar Shabbas menus). 

Then I got down to the basics and the emes - it was simple - you must never be hungry.  Your mind and your body must know that it will never starve.  Once that lesson is internalized, your body will not store fat and you can lose weight!   As I said this statement out loud, I realized it really made sense TO ME and I had internalized the message:  three main meals and the two-three small middle meals keep me at an even keel and a good weight. 

I told her that I eat breakfast EVERYDAY.  I don’t “wait” to eat until I am starving.  I make the time to eat.  I eat lunch on Fridays!  Believe me, each of these little steps is a minor miracle. 

I shared with her another important step: portion size.  I explained to her that a tablespoon of food is one tablespoon – not two, not two and a half and not some kind of rough measurement. That you need to treat losing weight and changing your eating habits as a semi-religion where you set the rules and framework and you work within it.  Not following your framework – only hurts you.

Exercise is another big step.  I always exercised, but if you never did or do not at this moment, then it is time to introduce yourself to the concept.  Start moving.  Start walking up and down stairs.  Start walking around your neighborhood. 

I know that there is a common theory that walking/exercising with a partner is a great way to exercise and I say – maybe – it depends on your exercise buddy.  If you choose a friend who is - how should I put this – as exercised-challenged as yourself - you may never get into the “shvung”.

So listen to Tante Yochi: find an exercise that suits you, that is: it's reasonably easy to do on a long term basis.  I warmly recommend WALKING.   Walking suits everyone and every body shape, take music along as your exercise buddy and just get out there.  No excuses.  Your body will thank you!

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NEW! Want to change your eating habits and change your lifestyle? I now provide one-on-one weekly mentoring meetings and weekly group classes.  Learn to cook healthy meals, set your own goals and learn to love yourself! Contact me today!

yochi.eisner@gmail.com     052-3413249

Rice noodles and vegetables – how to work with them and Treat yourself – it won’t kill you!

To my horror I realized that I did not publish an article last week.  It was a crazy week work-wise and I had a cold and I spent two wonderful days with my daughter and “the girls” , my two beautiful granddaughters (ok, also with my son-in-law).  So it was crazy.

I have a theory about colds, which contradicts my old theory about colds.  I used to believe that if you felt a cold “coming on”, you could nip it in the bud, as it were, early on with oranges, sleep, tea and cold medicine and it would simply sulk off into the sunset.  The cold would never really get going in your system and you would be fine.   Now I believe that if you “get it early”, it will just wait a week or so and then come back at you with a vengeance. That’s my new theory and I am sticking with it!

So let’s get back on topic.  RICE NOODLES.  I love these noodles.  They are lighter than noodles made of regular/whole wheat flour.  They are easy to make, once you know how and like most rice products they have a very subtle flavor that does not overpower your food.  These noodles are prepared without the benefit of cooking/boiling/baking, just left to their own devices in water, but more about that later.

Rice noodles come in various thickness, I prefer the thicker/wider rice noodle.  Try all the thicknesses to see which one(s) you and your family prefer.

Yochi’s Rice Noodles and Vegetables

Yup, you've see this picture before, but this time I am talking about the vegetable and rice noodle side dish only!

Portion size: A 250 gram package of rice noodles can make between six to eight portions or more. *

Preparation time for this dish is two and a half to three hours.  I know that sounds crazy, but the two and a half to three hours is spent soaking the rice noodles.  If this is a planned lunch meal, then soak these lovelies in the morning or if this is a planned dinner meal, then soak them in the afternoon.  If you haven’t planned this meal in advance, then this recipe not for you (not today, at least)!

All you need to do is soak them, they do not need looking after, story time, prodding, coaching or lengthy therapy.  Just place them in water and go about your day.  If you have pesky curious animals (that also means pets) in your home (like I do) you may want to cover the bowl before you leave these poor defenseless noodles to their own devices.  Otherwise you may find dead noodle all over your floor and along with a lake the size of the Kinneret.  I know from whence I speak!

By the way, I do not recommend these noodles for a Shabbat meal, unless you prepared and cooked this dish on Thursday, as these noodles tend to get hard easily and quickly, unless they are surrounded by copious amounts of sauce.  This is a true during-the-week-dish!

Ingredients:

·        One package of long, thick rice noodles.  I work with a 250 gram package.

·        Large bowl (a really large bowl)

·        Large colander

·        Large wok

·        Vegetables: squash, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, red peppers, red and/or white cabbage*, mushrooms**

* A note about red cabbage.  The red (really purple) cabbage tends to bleed and color the rice noodles.  There is nothing wrong with this and they still taste good.  I just wanted to warn you.

** A note about using mushrooms:  I've discussed mushrooms in previous articles, make sure to add them near the end of the cooking process as they tend to soak up all the liquid like a sponge.

·        water

·        PAM

·        Basic spices:

o   garlic powder

o   freshly ground pepper

o   paprika

o   chopped fresh parsley

·        Sauce additions: (you can add a little of each or just one or two choices on the list)

o   1-2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce

o   1 tablespoon of soy sauce

o   1-2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard

o   1-2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce

How to work:

1.   Preparing the rice noodles: No cooking necessary.  This stage is critical to the ENTIRE dish.  I have been experimenting with rice noodle preparation for quite some time.  Proper preparation is essential for this dish.  Ah, you can say that proper preparation is essential for every dish, true, but if you do not prepare these noodles correctly, you might as well eat the noodle’s plastic packaging, because that is how they will taste and FEEL.  Believe me, this not what you want!

Carefully remove the noodles from the packaging.  You do not want to break the noodles.  Prior to preparation, these noodles are fragile.  Which leads me to another point: when buying these noodle packages, look for a package that contains noodle “bundles” that are unbroken.  There should be no noodle chips at the bottom of the package. 

2.   Fill a very large bowl with warm tap water.  Now how large is a large bowl?  (How long is a piece of string? How many roads …? Sorry I got carried away!) I have found that the best, most suited-for-the-job bowl is one with a bottom that comfortably fits the width and length of the noodles.  Let me explain: you can find bowls with a wide center; this bowl can hold the noodles and the water in its wide center area.  But a very large bowl can easily allow the unprepared noodles to rest easily at its bottom, thus enabling the noodles to soften more quickly and evenly.

Once the noodles begin to soften, about an hour into the process, you can pour off the old water and refill with clean water (it should be a bit cloudy) and turn the noodles over.  I change the water and turn the noodles about three times during the process.  You do not HAVE to do this, but if you have the time and are visiting the kitchen anyway, why not do it?   

3.   When are the noodles done?  I could say, whenever they want to be.  But once they are pliant and you can bite into them and chew them they are basically done.  I usually allow the noodles to soak in the water for an additional half hour once they have reached the chewing stage.

An important caveat: do not be tempted into rinsing the noodles and cooking them, either in boiling water like “regular noodles” or cooking them in the sauce of the vegetable dish.  They will either become uneatable mush or end up a combination of a very hard and very soft mess.  Not appetizing!

4.   Keep in mind: you are not working with wheat pasta.  Rice noodles cannot get over-cooked or soggy, if you prepare them correctly.  Just keep them resting nicely in water until you need them.

5.   Now begin to cook your vegetable accompaniment.  As I always say, I believe you should match the length and cut of your vegetables to the size and shape of your pasta.  So with long thick noodles, you should prepare Julian sliced vegetables.

6.   Clean and cut your vegetables into Julian slices (the kind you would see in a stir fry).

7.   Use a wok that is big and deep enough to comfortably cook the vegetables and later hold both the vegetables and the rice noodles.  Spray with PAM and put on the flame.

8.   Add the vegetables to the hot wok in the order they cook; harder vegetables that take longer to cook should be added first and then the softer vegetables.

As you saw, I did not list the quantities for the vegetables, as I truly believe that there is no such thing as too many vegetables in this dish!

9.   Always cook and toss the vegetables with a wooden spoon, to avoid cutting or ruining the vegetables' (and the pasta's) shape.

10.        As the vegetables cook they turn a deeper shade of their natural color, this is the time to begin to add your spices.  Stir continuously. 

11.        Begin to create a sauce for the vegetables.  Sauce making is a delicate art.  Work slowly. Add in any and all of your sauce additions.  Remember to go very gently on the soy sauce, as this is a salt mine and a sodium killer! 

Rice noodles need a greater volume of sauce than ordinary noodles. Wheat noodle can stand on their own and I believe, should not be drowned in sauce.  This is NOT the case for rice noodles.  The reason is twofold: firstly the rice noodles are nearly tasteless and need a full-bodied sauce to give them flavor and secondly, you want to ensure that your rice noodles always stay soft and chewy.  They can “re”harden very quickly.

12.        Once all your sauce ingredients are added, you should have a reasonably thick, nearly strong-tasting sauce that can hold up to the rice noodles.  Taste the sauce and re-spice if needed.

13.        Now pour the water out of your noodles and drain in a colander.

15.        At this point you can either mix the noodles with the vegetables OR keep the vegetable and rice noodles separate and plate the noodles and then pour the vegetable dish on top.

a.   Mix noodles and vegetables:  With tongs, add tong-fuls of rice noodles into the wok and mix.  Once all the rice noodles are mixed in the wok, ensure that you have enough sauce to neatly cover the noodles and vegetables.  If not, make more!

b.   Plate separately: Plate out the noodles on to each dish and then pour a vegetable portion over it.  You may be tempted to simply pour more prepared sauce on top of this.  Do not do this!  Measure out teaspoon/tablespoonfuls, do not go back to indiscriminate portion sizes.  ALWAYS MEASURE!

16.        Whatever method you choose, leftover noodles and vegetables should be combined and saved together in one covered dish, to ensure the noodles stay moist.

17.        This dish can be served hot or room temperature.

Be'teyavon!

* A note about portion size.  As we are dealing with large noodles – portion size is a difficult issue.  Again the vegetable to rice noodle ratio is high on vegetables and low on noodles, but a portion size is about a quarter of an average dinner plate.

Treating myself.  I mean really treating myself!

I was never big on “treating myself”, with food that is.  I do believe in listening to your body and giving it what it craves from time to time, but not, well, treating it.  Let me explain:  At times I have felt the need to eat something salty or something sweet or something a little starchy and the answer was – pickles for salty (don’t judge…), sweet was anything from carrots to pudding to even a glass of Cola or Sprite and starchy was – well I guess pretzels.

But actually treating myself with food was not what I was looking for.  A treat was always a pair of shoes (or jewelry, or a handbag or clothing).

 

But recently something happened:  I needed something sweet, truly sweet and it had to be (drum roll please) ice cream. I can hear the gasps of shock and horror.   I understand.  I was shocked and horrified myself!  But I allowed it.  

I asked Sid to (wait for it) buy us ice cream. What some husbands have to do for love.  Now, when I said ice cream, I meant an ice cream cone or maybe a small container of ice cream.  What he brought home (well, you know men from Venus and women from…) was two tubs of ice cream, in yummy flavors.  I love ice cream with stuff in it – preferably chewy, chunky stuff.  So there we were with two, TWO, TWO (!) tubs of great stuff.

I am proud to say we ate our fill that night and it took us several days to finish off the tubs.  We only ate the ice cream together; no sneaking a bowl in the middle of the night; no sneaking a lick, leck or tablespoon when the other wasn’t looking.  I got the need out of my system.

 

No, we did not start to buy ice cream on regular basis or a just-Shabbat treat regular basis.  We’ve been down that road before and I prefer to send the sales girl back to get me a smaller size dress than start with treats, if you know what I mean.  And IT WAS A GREAT TREAT. 

So go ahead.  Do something nice for yourself and treat yourself.  I know, Jimmy Choo is also a treat, but I am talking about the little treats that do not require the sale of a kidney. 

Shabbat Shalom y’all!