Grilled Caeser Salad and 4th of July

This weekend is a nice long weekend and a time to celebrate America!  I love the 4th of July because it reminds of my youth and the long days of summer in Okoboji.  I lived in Spencer so Okoboji was only a quick 15 minute drive to get to all the action and summer fun.  When I was younger it was all about going to the beach or going to a friends house and jumping off their dock into the lake and swimming for hours.  As I got older Okoboji and the 4th of July was more about getting a group of friends together and going boating for hours, having a grill out and eating a lot, "cruisin' the loop" to see all the people that were out, and fireworks on the lake.

Even though I cannot be in Okoboji this weekend for the festivities I will still get together with family and friends and watch fireworks and have lots of food and a couple grill outs.  With so much fun and excitement already going on this weekend, why not make meal planning a little easier?  I have a salad that will not only be easy but it's a small little spin on a classic salad that will make a huge taste difference.

Grilled Caesar Salad is what you should be making this weekend.  Use it as a side dish, or add some chicken or salmon to it for a hearty main entrée.  Whatever you do, just try it, you won't regret it!

So there's not a lot of ingredients that you need to go out and buy which is a plus.  You will need a head of romaine lettuce, and not that stuff you find in a bag, you will also need some parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, red onion, and black olives.

So now first step is that you will want to go and preheat your grill.  Get that puppy hot because as soon as you have cut your ingredients it will only take a couple minutes and then you will be ready to eat.

Now we are just going to take off any leaves that are wilted or don't look the best.  Then we are going to wash it and cut it down the middle lengthwise. 

That's all the cutting for the lettuce right now, so just open up the romaine lettuce and set it on a plate, or tray to take out to the grill.

I then spray the cut end of the lettuce with olive oil spray and season with freshly ground pepper and Kosher salt. 

Last thing we are going to cut is the red onion.  Just cut the ends off, and take the skin off the onion.

Cut in thin slices, which you should get between 6-10 depending on how big your onion is.

Now we are ready to pack up all our ingredients and take it out to the grill.  Yes, you can take it all out to the grill because we will prepare the salad outside.

So the first thing after the grill is preheated we are going to throw on the red onions since they take longer than the romaine lettuce.

**You can grill your onions until very soft, I usually only throw them on for about 3-4 minutes because I like the crunchy texture but I love the smoky grill flavor.**

As soon as you turn the onions over is when you will want to put the romaine lettuce on the grill, cut side down.  Shut the lid to the grill, but whatever you do don't leave!!  This step only take 2- 2 1/2 minutes. Let your lettuce cook for only a couple minutes.  You want to get some nice grill marks on your lettuce with a little smoky flavor but you don't want it cooked all the way through.  The lettuce should just start to wilt but still have a delicious crunch.

Look at the lovely little lettuce

Now that you take the lettuce and onions off the grill, go ahead and cut up the lettuce.  First start by cutting through the leaves lengthwise about 4 or 5 times.

Next turn the lettuce 90 degrees and cut the head of lettuce in about 1 in. square pieces. How easy was that?  You don't need to buy bagged lettuce again!  When the lettuce is cut just throw it in a bowl to serve.

 

From here you have 2 options.  #1 option would be if you are serving the salad right away, than go ahead and put the dressing right on the salad and mix until all incorporated.

Add on your cooked red onions, shredded parmesan cheese, black olives, and croutons.  Serve and Enjoy!!

If you are taking this salad to a friends or won't be serving this salad right away, I suggest putting the salad in the bottom of your dish, topped with grilled red onions, parmesan cheese, and black olives.  Wait to put the dressing and croutons on until right before serving so that the salad is fresh and crisp.

 

Hope you enjoy the salad, I know my family loves it.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Grilled Caesar Salad

1 head Romaine lettuce, cut in half

1 medium red onion, sliced in rings

Olive oil spray

Kosher salt and pepper

½-3/4 c. Caesar dressing

½ c. black olives

¼ c. parmesan cheese

½ c. croutons

Preheat grill to medium heat.  Spray romaine lettuce and red onions with olive oil spray and season with salt and pepper.  Grill the red onion for about 2 minutes on each side and lettuce for only 2 minutes with the cut side facing the grill.  Grill lettuce until grill marks appear and the it becomes wilted.  Remove red onion and lettuce.  Place lettuce onto the cutting board and cut into small bite size pieces.  In a medium bowl toss the grilled romaine lettuce with the Caesar dressing, top with red onion, black olives, parmesan cheese and croutons.

-Cool

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Summer for me equals a plethora of events absorbing my weekends. The best part about the majority of my summer travels is that my childhood home and my Mom is quaintly nestled between Waukee and Omaha via an easy exit off I-80 down Highway 191. 

I get to stop by for a visit, a little spoiling and A LOT of food options. Why is it when I go home and have a craving my Mom has everything I need to make it? 

Recently when I was back home, we decided to whip up a couple of delicious  cheeseburgers to kick off summer. These burgers were HUGE. Prior to dinner, we indulged in a "few" kettle chips and bowls of white cheddar popcorn as appetizers before dinner, resulting in my eyes being bigger than my tummy. I was totally down for leftovers the next day. 

However, leftovers sounded amazing at 9 am in the morning. I decided to channel my inner Chef Cool and think out of the breakfast box. I really wanted my cheeseburger but I really wanted eggs and bacon. Boom! WELCOME to the WORLD CHEESEBURGER OMELET!!!! (Can you tell how very proud I am of my recipe baby?)

This recipe couldn't be simpler and I know you will have grilling leftovers at some point over this season. I simply took my leftover bun, burger and pickles and diced them up. I popped the cubed bun in the broiler on low for about 2 minutes to make them into croutons. I shredded some of the sharp cheddar cheese with sliced for the burger. 

In a medium heat butter coated non-stick skillet, I cracked 2 eggs and until blended the yolk with the white with my spatula. Once the eggs were 1/2 cooked (about 2-3 minutes), I placed the burger ingredients in and let cook for another 2 minutes. 

I then topped off my omelet with about 1/2 cup of cheese and let cook for about 1 minute to start the cheesy goodness melting process. Finally flip one side over of the omelet. Reduce heat to low and let the cheese finish melting for about one more minute. 

Here it is!  Seriously, one of my most favorite omelets to date. If you have your fancy pants on, top it off with pretty decorative ribbons of ketchup and mustard with a few sprinkles of diced dill pickles. I chose to get my red and yellow from raspberries, mangos and peaches.

Being home may not be a tropical beach but I was lucky to have 2 versions of cheeseburgers in my hometown with my Mom, which is pretty close to my idea of paradise. 

Cheeseburger in Paradise Omelet

Serves 1

2 eggs, whisked together 

1/2 cooked 4 ounce hamburger, diced 

1/2 hamburger bun, toasted and diced 

1/4 cup diced dill pickles 

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheese 

Ketchup, mustard as garnish, optional

1. Heat a non-stick small skillet over medium heat and place 1/2 tsp of butter in the pan

2. Add eggs, let cook for about 2 minutes.

3. Add burger, bread and pickles. Let cook for another 2 minutes. 

4. Add cheese and cook for 1 minute. 

5. Flip over one side of the omelet with a spatula, turn heat to low and finish melting the cheese for 1 minute. 

6. Decorate top of the omelet with ketchup, mustard and pickle sprinkles.

~Crazy 

Friendly Competition and Freekah Parfaits

Let me tell you guys something that I am excited about this month.  It's a little friendly competition that I have with two of my friends to become healthier and get back on track so that my pants fit a little better.

I am a very competitive person and always have been so this has been great way to jump start my road to getting healthier!   Again this is just a friendly competition so we are all in this together for the end goal of refocusing our life to become healthier with a little fun!

Here is the email I sent out with the rules: 

"Alright so it's the first day of our 21 day healthy challenge, done on June 21st!!

I'm excited to do this with some fun and crazy friends and get our fitness together!

So here's the rules so we are clear:

#1. You get 1 cheat food day a week to maintain balance in your life, any other food cheat days will cost you $5 to the "kitty"

#2  work out each day!  Remember this should be hard for you so be honest and if you don't meet it each day $5 to the "kitty"

#3. Vodka!  You can have 3 drinks a week, any drink past that is $5/ea to the "kitty". You are allowed 1 "binge day" for drinking in the 21 day challenge. 

Whoever contributes the least amount of money to the kitty will win all the money.

If nobody contributes money than we will plan a fun girls night of sushi and vodka!!!

Good luck all.  I don' t like to loose so it's on!

Use this email to respond when you all owe me money"

I am a very cheap person so this competition is keeping me motivating because I don't like to spend money.  Especially if all I have to do is eat more health focused meals, exercise more, and drink less.  

One of the many trails I have discovered around my house because of this competition.

Because of this competition I have gotten back to having grains and proteins already pre cooked in the fridge for the week to use for healthy and convenient meals.

This brings up my recipe of the week that fits into all diets and lifestyles.  It's a freekah parfait.  If you have never heard of freekah it's an ancient grain that has a very nutty flavor and a chewy texture.  It's has 4 times more fiber than brown rice and has about 6g of protein for a cup.  

Freekah is delicious for all sorts of recipes.  Anything you would use rice or quinoa for you can use freekah for.  This recipe is fun because it brings more bang for your buck to a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Look at these cute little treats!

All you need to get started! As you can see I have just scooped out the freekah from the fridge that I had pre cooked to use all week.

 

After the freekah is cooked and cooled, just add in the cinnamon, agave nectar and almond milk and mix until all incorporated.

Next divide the freekah mixture equally between the 4 bowls/ cups.  Add the vanilla Greek yogurt on top.

Finish off each one with some assorted berries and banana slices.  I choose blueberries and raspberries this time because they were on sale and looked delicious.  Mix it up to keep things interesting. I will tell you that I have done coconut yogurt with mangoes and pineapple for the fruit and it was also good.

So delicious and makes me feel more satisfied when I get done eating it, rather than a snickers!!

Happy hump day all!!

Freekah Parfait

Serves 4

2 ½ c. water

1 c. Freekah, uncooked

½ c. Vanilla Almond Milk, unsweetened

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp. Agave Nectar

2 c. Assorted Berries 

1 banana, sliced

1 c. Vanilla Greek yogurt

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add freekeh and reduce heat to a simmer until liquid has absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Drain thoroughly and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  In a medium bowl add the cooled freekah, vanilla almond milk, ground cinnamon, and agave nectar and mix until combined.  Set aside.  In another medium bowl mix the berries and sliced bananas together.  Set aside. 

To assemble: Take 4 plastic cups and equally divide the freekah mixture, top each with 1/4 c. of Greek yogurt and top with about 1/2 c. of the fruit mixture.  Enjoy!

Cool

May is Mediterranean Diet Month

Did you know that May is Mediterranean Diet Month? This diet is much more than what you might think of when you hear the word “diet” – it is a healthy eating lifestyle that has been shown to reduce risk of numerous diseases. In fact, an analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults showed that people who followed the Mediterranean diet had lower risk of death from heart disease and cancer. They were also at lower risk of getting Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases. Ready to reap the rewards of this healthful diet? Here are some tips to get you started.

• Focus on produce. Include fruits like mangos, the Dietitian Pick of the Month, and vegetables at every meal. Enjoy them for quick, healthy snacks as well.
• Go whole grain. Choose whole-grain breads, cereals and pasta and try other whole grains too, including brown rice, quinoa and farro.
• Bring out the beans! Dried beans and lentils are low in calories, but full of fiber, protein and other important nutrients.
• Make fish your new meat. Seafood is packed with protein and a top-source of healthy omega-3 fats.
• Choose healthy fats. When cooking, swap butter for olive or canola oil to get the heart-healthy benefits of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats.
• Go nuts! Since nuts are calorie-dense, limit servings to one to two ounces a day to get their nutritional benefits without breaking the calorie bank.

~Crazy

Crazy Cool Chow Down and Low Down: Review of Enlightened Ice Cream and Novelties

Crazy's Comments:

With the summer months quickly approaching us, ice cream is one of those food essentials on our grocery lists.  Well at least mine anyway. I am always in search of a healthier option and I stumbled upon the Enlightened line of ice cream and bars.

What caught my dietitian eye was the lower calories and fat, higher fiber and protein and an ingredient list containing words like milk and cream. For all flavors, there is less than 100 calories per serving, 4-6 grams of sugar, 6-7 grams of protein and around 4 grams of fiber.


With quite a few flavors to choose from in the ice cream, Enlightened also has varieties of novelties including bars and sandwiches. We each chose the flavors most appealing to our palates:  Sea Salt Caramel, Mint Chocolate Chip, Frozen Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Caramel Oatmeal Cookie Crunch (all pints) and Frozen Hot Chocolate and Mint Fudge Swirl bars.


As I was getting my spoon ready to dig into my first pint of Mint Chocolate Chip, I quickly realized this ice cream was FROZEN solid. This was true of each of the pints. We quickly determined it is best to let the pint sit out for about 15-20 minutes to eat and to appreciate it's creaminess. Once it was thawed, the Mint Chocolate Chip did not disappoint. It had a great mint flavor and crunchy chips of chocolate.


The next one I tried was the Sea Salt Caramel bar. I also recommend this to be thawed for about 5 minutes prior to eating. This was delicious!  There was a perfect swirl of caramel throughout the whole bar, which is a really nice and satisfying size. No skimpy bars in this line.


I moved onto the Mint Fudge Swirl bar and enjoyed it even more than the Mint Chocolate Ice Cream. Again, perfectly swirled fudge throughout the whole bar.


Hands down, these two bars were my favorites. I would pick the bars over the ice cream first and foremost for better portion control. I am much more disciplined when I have a portion to eat instead of an open pint container.


The other ice cream flavors were ok. The Frozen Hot Chocolate Ice Cream was better than the bar because the Marshmallow swirl was more plentiful in the ice cream. In the novelty, it made the bar fall apart while eating it. The cookie flavors were nice and I enjoyed the chunks of cookies in both, but there could have been more (there can always be more when it comes to chunks of sweet treats in ice cream, but that's just me).


I would recommend purchasing this product as a dietitian and as a human being who enjoys ice cream. I felt really satisfied with this healthier alternative!
 

Cool's Comments:

So I took this product review very seriously and tried each ice cream a couple different times just to make sure I was being an equal opportunity taste tester.  My children and I love ice cream and at least 4 times a week we go on "ice cream walks."  It's just a walk after dinner in the nice weather and we enjoy ice cream cones or novelties and we talk about the day, run, and enjoy being outside.  They love it and look forward to them and in turn it makes me happy.  The problem is that when I am trying to eat healthier ice cream isn't really in the "healthy diet" plan.  I have tried anything from not eating ice cream on our walks and dodging questions from the kids "... But mom why aren't you having any? You love ice cream."  I've also tried just not buying the kinds I like and so that works out pretty well except I've never been very good at eliminating a specific food just because it wasn't healthy.  Lately I have been just having a small baby cone with the kiddos and this has seemed to work well.  When I saw this Enlightened ice cream and novelties I was excited that maybe I could have an adult portion of ice cream without having the guilt and calories.

When I tried the ice cream I was taken back on how hard they were.  We then found the set out to achieve maximum creaminess label on the packaging and that made a world of difference. 

The Salted caramel ice cream bars: YUMMO! This was my favorite, hands down.  It was nice and creamy and had some delicious smooth caramelness running throughout the bar.  It wasn't overly "salty" but very nice and subtle.  I recommend this one as a good one to try  if you are going to try this product. They have the ice cream or bars in this kind and both are delicious.  I like the bars for portion control but again I love ice cream cones so I'm sure I will be buying both the ice cream and bars on a regular basis.

We also tried the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and bars and this was my second favorite kind.  It wasn't overly minty, and had chunks of chocolate chips that were delicious.  

The frozen hot chocolate was one that I didn't like at first but lucky for you I tried it 2 more times to make sure I was giving it a far chance.  The description sounded delicious but when I tried it it just tastes like an alright chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips.  Well the description said that it had marshmallow cream running throughout it and I wanted to find it.  I thawed out the pint of ice cream for about 30 minutes and then inspected the container.  I found the white marshmallow  ribbon in the bottom so I flipped that ice cream out and tried the bottom of it.  Oh man was that a whole new delightful experience?  Could it be that that just made the ice cream unbelievable?  I think it could of!  So my opinion was changed about this particular kind and I like it a lot as long as you have some of that magical marshmallow goodness in every bite!  

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Caramel Oatmeal Cookie Crunch were also consumed and they were alright I just don't know if I would buy them again.  

I hope you guys try out these new ice cream and bars.  I recommend them and hope the product stays around for awhile.

We're back!

Hello blog world and Crazy Cool in the Kitchen fans.  Don't worry you are not hallucinating, it really is an updated blog from us!  I know it's been a long time since we have had a new post or recipe for you to try out, but we are trying to change that.  It's been a crazy rollercoaster of emotions for the two of us the past 6-8 months, from fun trips to working long hours, to family deaths and opening a restaurant, we have been more scattered brained than normal.

Now, we are ready to get back to writing and creating some new recipes for you to try out in your house.  Since we are close to Cinco de Mayo (that's the 5th of May for anyone that isn't fluent in Spanish) I thought I would bring back the wonderfully delicious and easy tostada recipe!  Hope you all enjoy!

 

First things first is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray the flour or corn tortillas with olive oil and place on a sheet tray.  Bake for 4 minutes on each side.  Now when they are done set them aside for tostada assembly. 

Now you need to cook and brown your ground beef.  Cook on medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes.

While the beef is cooking, open up and drain the beans.  The beans are my way of making my money go a little farther and also adding fiber into my families diet.

Wash the beans, nobody likes dirty beans!

After the ground beef is cooked, add the beans, taco seasoning, and some water and mix.  Heat on medium heat until beans are hot and sauce starts to thicken. 

Now that the meat mixture is ready add it to the tops of the toasted tortillas and add cheese.  From here you can pop the tray back in the oven if you want to melt the cheese otherwise just add cheese and start adding toppings that you desire.  The cheese usually melts anyways with the meat being so hot from the pan.

And now the fun part.  Add the topping that you like and desire. 

 

Sometimes I go with what is in my fridge and top my tostada with the standard lettuce, salsa, and Greek yogurt.

Other times I just want to spice things up and have more of a fiesta.  These times I add lettuce, salsa, Greek yogurt, diced tomatoes, sliced avocados and jalapeños.  

It's your tostada, you do what makes your belly happy!  

 

Have a happy week!

Tostadas

Serves 8

 

8 8-inch flour tortillas

1 lb. ground beef or turkey, cooked

1 15-oz. can pinto or kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp. taco seasoning

1 Tbsp. water

1 ½ c. Shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese

Additional Toppings if desired:

Cut romaine lettuce

Diced tomatoes

Salsa

Greek yogurt

Avocado slices

Jalapeno Peppers

Black Olives

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray the tortillas with olive oil, place on a sheet tray and bake 4 minutes on each side.  Set aside for assembly.  In a medium skillet over medium high heat add the ground beef or turkey and cook until browned, about 6-8 minutes.  Add in the beans, taco seasoning and water and cook until meat and beans are coated and sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.

For assembly take the tortilla shell, top with bean mixture, shredded cheese and top your tostada with any other toppings that you desire.  Serve immediately.

 

-Cool

 

Lactose Intolerance and Scoring Big in the Dairy Aisle

Being Lactose-Intolerant and Scoring Big in the Dairy Aisle

Originally published for the Midwest Dairy Blog:  Dairy Makes Sense on February 2nd, 2016 https://www.midwestdairy.com/being-lactose-intolerant-and-scoring-big-in-the-dairy-aisle/

Now that the holidays are over, February, my favorite month, is just around the corner. My customers are excited for 2 things:  The Big Game and Valentine’s Day. As a Registered Dietitian, I am excited for February because it is Lactose Intolerance Awareness Month.  All of these February themes mesh perfectly together because many of my customers suffer from lactose intolerance and feel they will suffer enjoying the food at football viewing parties or special Valentine’s Day dinners. When heading to the Dairy Aisle to prepare for these special events, there are many low-lactose foods available to make all food taste good and tummies feel good. Here are my tips for tackling the Dairy Aisle:

1. Cheese, Please! Cheese is delicious on everything and luckily, there are a variety of cheeses with a low-lactose level, especially aged cheese. When a cheese is aged, the lactose diminishes. I encourage you to choose high flavor cheese because individuals will tend to use less of it, but still get the flavor and oooey gooey goodness in a recipe. My favorite choices are Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Asiago. My favorite game day appetizer is a whole-grain pizza crust, topped with tomato sauce, fresh vegetables, Asiago cheese and fresh basil.
2. Delicious Dips – Who doesn’t love dips?  Unfortunately, sour cream is one of those higher lactose foods. An easy substitution is mixing equal parts low-fat ricotta cheese and plain Greek Yogurt as your dip base. Ricotta is lower in lactose because during processing, the whey is separated from the curd and with it goes most of the lactose. Greek yogurt is more easily tolerated because of the live and active cultures and lower lactose content.
3. Sweet Indulgence – A party or special dinner would not be complete without ending it with something sweet.  Did you know there are creamy and delicious lactose-free ice cream varieties?  I recommend topping it with your favorite fresh or frozen fruit and sliced almonds or drizzling with warm peanut butter and toasted coconut.

If you have lactose intolerance, never be intimidated by the Dairy Aisle. There are many friendly foods that fit in with your health needs and the special and fun events in your life.

~Crazy