for your VINformation

The Lazy Chef love cooking, which is probably why the Lazy Chef is, um, chubby – he doesn’t whip up seven-layer-cakes or five course meals on a regular basis or anything, but he likes to make muffins and experiment with what’s in his cabinets every so often.

The Lazy Chef loves that cooking isn’t an exact science and you can always improvise. Today, he made Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins. He had the ingredients, flour, old bananas, sugar, eggs, etc., etc.,- everything but chocolate chunks, which became quite the quest as he traveled from corner store to corner store, eventually making his way to the local grocery to buy a big Hershey 4.4 oz Bar – you get nice big chunks and it’s cheaper then buying chocolate chips.

The Lazy Chef makes his muffins as follows – it’s a combination of the standard Betty Crocker Banana Tea Bread recipe and a friend’s much simpler Banana Bread recipe, he’s made it his own and now it’s low-ish in fat and the applesauce adds necessary fiber.

Sinfully Rich Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons of Baking Power
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
• 3 or 4 Over-Ripe Bananas
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup Veggie Oil
• 1/2 Cup Applesauce
• 1 4.4 oz Hershey Bar
• Optional: 1/2 Teaspoon of Orange Zest
• Optional: 1/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 400º. In a bowl put bananas, egg, OJ, oil and applesauce. Mash, mash mash – get your aggressions out on your boos or your flailing career that you’ve started posting recipes on what supposed to be an acting blog, but I digress… There should be no large lumps. Chop Hershey Bar into small cubes. Set aside. Mix in all dry ingredients into the wet mixture, when thoroughly mixed, but not over mixed, there will be lumps add the chopped chocolate. Pour batter evenly into 12/18 baking cups and bake for 45 minutes. Checking often. Yield: 12 large muffins or 18 small muffins. Options:

• When using the chocolate chunks you can omit any or all of the sugar, the chocolate and OJ adds enough sweetness.
• You can substitute another 1/2 Cup of applesauce and omit all of the oil to make your muffins even lower in fat, this yields a denser muffin.
• Substitute 1/2 blueberries for chocolate chunks for a heart healthier version.

Tip:

• Spray the insides of the muffin cup with Pam for baking, they have a tendency to stick to the paper.

• Serving Size – 1 Muffin

• Preparation Time: 20 min

• Cooking Time: 40 min

• Level of Difficulty: Easy

• Course: snacks

• Servings: 12

• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 4

Notes:

• I didn’t add any sugar and used all applesauce instead of oil.
• The Muffins were very "heavy" and quite filling.
• I didn’t spray the inside of the cups and it’s a bitch getting the paper cup off.

Tags: baking, banana muffins, recipe, betty Crocker

Not everything the Lazy Chef touched turns into culinary gold…

This bread, in theory, should have been wonderful, instead, it was a dense mess – I welcome anyone to take this recipe and make it work.

ABC Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup(s) carrot(s), Shredded
• 1 1/2 medium banana(s), Mashed
• 2/3 cup(s) canned sweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 cup(s) whole wheat flour
• 1 item(s) egg
• 1 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup(s) sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Do not over-mix and do not beat!

Place in standard loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes.

• Serving Size – 1 slice
• Preparation Time: 15/20 min
• Cooking Time: 60 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: snacks/breads
• Servings: 9
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 4

Leafing through one of my favorite magazines, the Reader’s Digest, the Lazy Chef found this recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup. Not a fan of cooked carrots, the Lazy Chef wasn’t sure if he’d like it, but it was right up his alley -quick, cheap and easy – so he tried it.

The Lazy Chef says, "don’t fear new foods."

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups carrots – peeled and chopped
• 1 medium potato – peeled and chopped
• 1 small onion – chopped
• 2 two-inch pieces of ginger – about the size of you thumbs – peeled and chopped
• 32 oz water
• splash of Olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne pepper

Instructions:

In a large pot, over medium heat, add oil. Add all veggies, salt and pepper. Just work the veggies, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water – or vegetable stock -  and cook until everything is very, very, very tender – think you’re making mashed potatoes but you won’t drain them – about 30 minutes. Then grab your immersion blender and start pureeing. A sprinkle of parsley and you have soup! Soup can be served hot or cold.

Shown: One Serving

Serving Size: 1 2/3 cups

• Preparation Time: 10 min
• Cooking Time:  30 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: Soup
• Servings: 4
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 1

Tags: the lazy chef, carrot, ginger, soup, weight watcher

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The Lazy Chef’s very favorite Weight Watcher, Roseanne, brought the most fantastic dip he’s ever tried to a BBQ – the Lazy Chef made one like it once, but lost the recipe and could never duplicate it. 

The Lazy Chef doesn’t know if it’s her’s or Weight Watcher’s, but he’s going to share it with y’all.

It was just DE-lish, and not fattening at all. It’s great with baby carrots and raw peppers or even as a spread on a steak or grilled chicken sandwich…

I call it:

RoRo’s Rockin’ Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients:

• 15 oz roasted red peppers, packed in water, drained
• 1 cup fat free sour cream (I used low fat or you can use yogurt)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground or to taste
• 2 tsp of fresh cilantro, freshly chopped

In a blender combine peppers, sour cream, basil and garlic powder. Puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with cilantro.

1 serving = 1/4 cup = 1 point

The cold weather brings out the soup-master in the Lazy Chef, and this soup couldn’t be easier or simpler or for that matter, lazier!

It takes only about 30 minutes and would impress anyone served…

A healthy take on cream of broccoli soup – with no oil and no cream, this is truly a no added fat/fat free recipe.

Creamy Dreamy Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 good sized head of  broccoli, chopped
• 1 small potato, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 32 oz water

Instructions:

Throw everything in a big pot. Boil until veggies are tender. About 15 minutes. Grab you hand blender and go to town, spend a little more time on this step, the longer you blend, the smother the soup gets. Simmer 15 minutes more to reduce.

Makes 4, 2 cup servings

• Serving Size – 1 1/2 cup
• Preparation Time: 5 min
• Cooking Time: 30 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: soup
• Servings: 4
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 1

The Lazy Chef  love Eggplant Parm!

Fried eggplant slices, layered with mozzarella cheese, basil and tomato sauce.

Yum! But alas, it’s like taking a salad and deep-frying it – not exactly something the newly health-conscious should be dining on…

He made his own lighter version: no oil, no breading, no frying!

Mock Eggplant Parm

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced thinly
• 8oz part-skim mozzarella cheese
• your favorite tomato based pasta sauce
• seasoning to taste
• 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese

Instructions:

Putting this dish together couldn’t be simpler: in a baking dish, layer sauce, eggplant & cheese, repeat until you have 4 or five layers – don’t over pack the baking pan, eggplant has a lot of water and most of it will dissipate during cooking, but it has a habit of overflowing… Slow bake, covered with foil, at 350º for about 30 minutes, uncover, bake another 30 minutes. Enjoy.

• Serving Size – 1/4 pan
• Preparation Time: 15 min
• Cooking Time: 60 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: Main Course
• Servings: 4
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 3

The servings are huge and so filling, this dish also tastes great cold on a sandwich.

The Lazy chef gets super lazy today as he re-posts his favorite soup recipe again…but this time even lower in fat and even simpler. The Lazy Chef visited Atlantic City, at one of the wonderful buffets he had the opportunity to sample an awesome Roasted Eggplant Soup. He figured, "hey I can cook, I bet I could replicate it at home…" and he did! Roasted Eggplant Soup Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 medium white onion
• 10 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes
• drizzle of olive oil
• 40 oz cold water
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 15 good shakes of red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400º – cube onions and eggplant – place in roasting pan with cherry tomatoes and 7 cloves of garlic. Drizzle with Olive Oil. Roast. When the tomatoes burst, it’s just about done. On stove top, in a large pot, add water, cause come on, what is veggie stock anyway but water in which vegetables were boiled (and you want to use cold water, ’cause the water in your hot water heater may’ve been sitting a while…) – crushed tomatoes,  a 3 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes- bring to a rolling boil. Take off flame. When roasting is complete, add roasted veggies to pot, return to boil. Remove from flame.  You all should know the next step – When sufficiently cooled, blend mixture in blender – hot soup can be dangerous or use your handy immersion blender to puree in pot. Once mixture is pureed, simmer to thicken. Delicious und healthy!!

• Serving Size – 2 cups
• Preparation Time: 10 min
• Cooking Time: 60 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: Soup
• Servings: 6
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 2

Optional:

• Replace stewed tomatoes for cherry tomatoes
• Add one package of white mushrooms to roasting pan for a creamier soup
• Add one chopped red bell pepper, two teaspoons of red pepper flakes and tobacco before pureeing, for a soup with a kick!

Tags: The Lazy Chef, Eggplant Soup, Eggplant recipe

One of the best salads the Lazy Chef’s ever eaten! He had to get the recipe and share it with everyone.

Glory’s Glorious Candy Salad

• Salad greens
• Pears, (not too ripe) cut in pieces
• Dried cranberries (Craisons) – optional
• Red onion, sliced
• Cucumbers, sliced
• Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• Glazed pecans or walnuts (packaged from the grocery store)

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing:

• Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Onion salt
• Garlic salt
• Fresh pepper
• Chopped parsley

Combine vinegar and oil – 1 part vinegar to 4 parts oil. Add a couple shakes of garlic and onion salt, a few grinds of pepper and chopped parsley. Mix well. Combine all the good salad stuff and pour dressing over. Toss. Nummy!

The Lazy Chef always looking for meals he can take on-the-go – healthy eating does not include stopping for a quick burger and fries. This pasta salad is a great light lunch that packs a big filling wallop. Feel free to change up the veggies, but remember to chop them up real small – what makes this dish, is the fact you get a bit of everything in every bite.

It lasts about five days, tightly covered in the fridge and travels quite well.

It also makes a quick and easy great addition to any pot luck…your friends and family will marvel at how eating healthy can taste so good.

Garden Pasta Salad with Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup fat-free Italian salad dressing
• 1 tbsp Grey Poupon Classic Deli Mustard
• 1/4 cup honey mustard
• 5 oz grilled chicken breast fillet
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 medium sweet red peppers
• 11/2 cups mushrooms
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, without oil
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 pound cooked pasta
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook, drain and set pasta aside in a large bowl to cool – you want to work with cold pasta ’cause you don’t want the veggies to cook – I used mini-wagon wheels ’cause that’s what I had in cupboard from the last "5 for $5.00" sale over at the Pathmark, but you could use anything you have on-hand…of course, whole wheat pasta adds a boost of fiber to the meal and lowers your carb intake if you track such things.

Dice all veggies and chicken – finely, I’m talkin’ real small – 1/8 cubes. You can used canned chicken or tuna if you prefer, but The Lazy Chef always has grilled chicken portioned out into 3 oz servings in his ‘fridge.

In a small bowl mix dressing and mustards – give a good whisk.

Add all ingredients to the pasta and stir well – I, personally, stir in each pile of chopped veggies one at a time to ensure an even mix, I might be lazy but I’m very anal…but you should get a bit of everything in each bite.

Shown: One Serving

Serving Size – 2 cups/1 cup

• Preparation Time: 15 min
• Cooking Time: 10 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: light meals/side dish
• Servings: 6/12
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 4/2

Tags: Lazy Chef, Pasta salad, weight watchers

The Lazy Chef loves his eggplant. He’s been making this recipe for years, and has perfected the process. It’s a quick, light snack that you can make and have on hand for up to a week. It’s great with pita or carrot sticks or melba toasts.

Eggplant Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant, chopped w/skin
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 9 cloves garlic
• 1 Splash olive oil
• A good shake of grated Parmesan cheese
• A good slosh of balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Drizzle Olive oil over eggplant, onion and garlic – roast at 400, about 20 minutes. While hot, using your immersion blender, blend all ingredients together.

Blend to consistency of oatmeal.

Serve cold with toasted wheat pita chips or use as sandwich spread.

• Serving Size – 1/2 cup
• Preparation Time: 10 min
• Cooking Time: 20 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: Snack
• Servings: 6
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 1*

*Point Value does not include dippers…

The Lazy Chef is really really lazy this week!

The Lazy Chef was invited to an awe-inspiring amount of holiday parties this year – he didn’t realize he’d that many friends or maybe, because he’s not working Saturday nights anymore, he’s able to go to many of them and it just seems like a lot, or…for all he knows, he could’ve been getting the invites all the time and was never able to go and in reality, he’s been left-off lists this year and it’s really not too many parties at all!

Anyway, he can’t go empty handed to this shin-digs, so along with obligatory bottle of red, the Lazy chef is bringing Vinnie’s Cinnamon-ie Nuts!

I found a recipe in New York Magazine for Sugar-and-Spice Candied Nuts from Elizabeth Karmel of Hill Country “A mason jar full of nuts and a pretty ceramic bowl is my favorite gift. If you bring these to a party, tell the host or hostess to hide them, or they will disappear.” You can read her original recipe here. Of course, I had to make it my own, so I added this and that and now call it:

Vinnie’s Cinnamon-ie Nuts!

• 1/3 cup lite-brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 pound walnuts
• Splash of vanilla extract
• 1 egg white, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 dollops of honey

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix sugars, salt, cayenne, nutmeg, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps; set aside. In another bowl, with whisk, beat egg white, water, vanilla and honey until frothy. Add walnuts, stir to coat evenly. Toss nuts with sugar mix until evenly coated. Spread sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so. Remove from oven. Separate nuts as they cool.

Notes:

The Lazy Chef’s nuts were a huge hit, everyone who got their hands on them loved them!

• Serving Size – 1/4 cup

• Preparation Time: 15 min

• Cooking Time: 30 min

• Level of Difficulty: Easy

• Course: snacks

• Servings: 24

• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 7

Tags: The Lazy Chef, New York Magazine, Walnuts, Cinnamon, hostess gifts

The Lazy Chef loves when one pot cooking yields two different meals.

The soup doubles as a pasta sauce and it couldn’t’ be quicker or easier to make.

Tomato Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 9 oz grilled chicken breast fillet
• 16 oz canned tomatoes
• 16 oz canned stewed tomatoes
• 16 oz canned tomato puree
• 6 oz canned tomato paste
• 8 oz canned diced tomatoes
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 5 cloves of garlic – coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 handful of basil
• 1 handful of dried oregano
• 1 handful parsley
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• A Splash of Olive Oil
• 16 oz water

Instructions:

In a large pot add oil, chopped garlic and fresh cherry – or grape or beefsteak or plum or whatever you have on-hand, The Lazy Chef’s all about convenience – tomatoes. Cook down for a few minutes. Add all canned tomatoes – now, honestly, they don’t have to be the exact amounts and kinds I used; I used what I had on-hand – The Lazy Chef always makes sure he has plenty of varieties of canned tomatoes for soups and sauces; they go on sale often, when they do, stock up – water, and spices.

Stir and let simmer for 15 minutes. With your handy-dandy immersion blender, puree until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion – get one, what are you waiting for?!? – you must wait for everything to cool before pureeing in a blender, hot liquid can be very dangerous…

Once pureed add your leftover grilled chicken breast – or canned chicken if that’s all you have, but The Lazy Chef grills up a pound of chicken at the beginning of the week so he can add it to anything or make a quick and easy sandwich – let simmer for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally, then grab your blender again and go to town on the chicken until nice and chopped-up.

After another 15 minutes, you’ve got soup!

Shown: One Serving

Serving Size – 2 cups/1 cup

• Preparation Time: 15 min
• Cooking Time: 60 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: Soup/Sauce
• Servings: 4
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 2/1

Tags: The Lazy Chef, Tomato, Soup, Chicken, Recipe, Sauce

Always on the look-out for eggplant recipes…and not finding many that don’t include the word "dip," I’ve started creating my own.

I was watching Rachael Ray and she was making fried sweet potato pancakes and while they did look yummo, they also looked fat.

What could I do to make them skinny? My thought process was this:

1. potato pancakes – yum –
2. potato pancakes – fattening –
3. baked potato pancakes?
4. substitute eggplant for potatoes?
5. fried eggplant pancakes?
6. baked eggplant pancakes!

So today, I give you:

Eggplant Pancakes!

Ingredients:

• 1 large raw eggplant
• 1 1/2 cups onions
•  4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 second spray of PAM Cooking Spray w/ Olive Oil
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat Oven to 400 – you want a really hot oven to crisp-up the pancakes or you could fry them but that sorta defeats the purpose…

Julienne eggplant with or without skin – I like the skin, so for me it’s in. Place in colander, sprinkle with salt, place two paper towels on top and then something heavy, like a gallon of oil or maybe some dishes, to help push some the the liquid out. Let sit for a few minutes in the sink.

In food chopper, chop onion, garlic and a pinch of kosher salt, very, very finely.

In a large bowl combine all ingredients, stir until evenly coated in flour.

Using a tablespoon scoop 12 dollops evenly onto an un-greased cookie sheet.

A quick spray of Pam w/Olive Oil over top and into the oven.

Bake 30 minutes, flipping at the halfway point.

Shown: One Serving

Serving Size – 3 Pancakes

• Preparation Time: 15 min
• Cooking Time: 30 min
• Level of Difficulty: Easy
• Course: side dish
• Servings: 4
• If you’re a Weight Watcher: POINTS® Value: 1

Tags: The Lazy Chef, Eggplant, Pam, side dish, Rachael Ray

Being a Weight Watchers has brought out the chef in me.

But, the chef inside me is lazy.

He’s The Lazy Chef.

He like’s trying to make simple, hearty foods, with the spices he already has in the kitchen – red pepper flakes, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, oregano, garlic powder, parsley flakes and kosher salt – he like’s to come up with ways to make grilled chicken breast new and exciting and always has some grilled up in the fridge ready to go. He can’t get to grocery store more then once a month  – no money, no car – so he stocks up on staples – crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, diced tomatoes – and he knows they’re all pretty much the same so he gets whatever’s on sale…he goes a fresh vegetable market once a week and buys about $20.00 worth of fruit and veggie – whatever is cheap and in season.

The Lazy Chef thinks the Cuisinart SmartStick Immersion Hand Blender is one of God’s gifts to man.

The Lazy Chef doesn’t use measuring spoons unless he’s baking – a pinch, a dash, a handful, a palmful – he eyeballs just about everything.

The Lazy Chef is so lazy he may even simply repost recipes which have already been published, but rewritten in his own distinct style…

He tries to rethink fat to skinny and he uses a hell of a lotta eggplant!

The Lazy Chef is going to hijack for your VINformation every Tuesday until he gets so popular he gets his own blog.

Keep an eye open, soon he’ll be posting tutorials up on the YouTube.