Meet Kelly Hunt of "Eat Yourself Skinny"

If you haven't heard of Kelly Hunt yet, you soon will.  Although she just started her blog, Eat Yourself Skinny, in March 2011, she has already garnered herself well over a thousand Google followers, hundreds of Foodbuzz friends, nearly 5000 Facebook "likes" and about 1500 Twitter followers.  That's a lot of networking!  

And it's paid off . . .  her blog has been nominated for not just one, but two, awards at the upcoming 2011 Foodbuzz Festival.  (Winners will be announced the weekend of November 5-6.)   Kelly's up for "Best New Blog" and "Best Healthy Blog."  She's also been mentioned In Cooking Light, Glamour, NYC Resident Magazine, Honest Cooking, Taste and Tell and ROS:  Your Culinary Network.  Her photographs have appeared on just about every photo site you can name!

Kelly is a fun-loving and vivacious food blogger who has a passion for cooking and eating well and right.   She's determined to show us all that cooking healthy can not only be easy but fun.  She throws herself heart and soul into all she does, from loving her Yorkie (named Ollie,just like my daughter's!) to cheering the Caps. And her enthusiasm is contagious.  It's also totally ingenuous and sincere. Take a listen . . . .

You've come a long way in a very short time, Kelly.  What do you think you've done "right?" Well, one of the most important things I think any blogger should do is first connect with other bloggers. I love to spend any free time I have during the day to comments on other blogs, find new blogs and "friend" them , as well as really getting to know people personally.  Twitter is the perfect outlet, and if you don't have a Twitter account already, you should definitely get one!  I've made such amazing bloggy friends and it makes networking so much more fun!  Also, practicing your photography and having your blog designed professionally helps a lot, too :)

Tell us a little about your day job.
Oh, if only it was cooking and photography, right??  Nope, I'm currently a full-time paralegal at a law form outside DC and I absolutely love my job!  It keeps me really busy, but it also gives me access to a computer all day, so in my spare time I'm able to find recipes, check out fantastic blogs and maybe even do a post of my own.
What do you do for lunch?
I typically bring my own lunch to work since we have a nice kitchen with a fridge and microwave so it makes trying to eat healthy pretty easy :) I always have fruit and/or carrot sticks in the fridge for a ready snack when I'm hungry as well as plenty of diet coke to give me my daily sugar fix.  {Terrible, I know.}  I usually make a salad with cranberries and walnuts with a vinaigrette or else I bring in some leftovers from the night before.  My favorite leftovers would have to be my Skinny Chicken Enchiladas. Just sayin' . . . .
How do you fit in exercise?
This is where I've had to tweak and have had trouble with since I started food blogging -- not gonna lie!  I don't know about you, but since I have a full-time job and I live in a little one-bedroom apartment with few windows, finding time to cook and photograph my food is hard!  I used to exercise about 5:30 every day after work until about 6:30 or 7. Now, I've had to switch it to finding time in the morning before work in order to get a good workout in so that I can run home and cook before the sun goes down so I can get a good picture!  {Sigh.}  It's quite the change but my body has grown accustomed to waking up at early every day and heading to the gym. Makes me feel better, too.
How do you calculate the nutrition content and the Weight Watchers points for the recipes you share?
If any of y'all know of a quicker way PLEASE let me know!  Actually, I just to it the old fashioned way by writing down the nutrition facts for each item I'm using, calculating the entire dish including all the ingredients and then dividing that by the number of servings.  And, yep,  . . . I just use my nifty, thrifty calculator to do all this.  I don;t have a special program or anything.  To calculate the Weight Watchers Points for each recipe I do use this little site that calculates both the old and new points, which is really helpful to me.
Most of us food bloggers love to watch cooking shows. Do you have a favorite show?
YES!  I sure do.  I'm completely addicted to the Food Network and my absolute favorite show is Giada at Home.  Her cooking style and the way she carries herself is so fun to watch and I love learning from her!  Also (believe it or not) I LOVE Paula Deen!  I know she's in no way considered a "healthy" cook, but her recipes are always fabulous and I love taking them and trying to find ways to make them healthier:)  It gives me a challenge and, well, she's just super fun to watch!
One of my favorite recipes from your blog is your Strawberry Bruschetta.  Name a favorite -- or two -- of yours.
Aw, thank you so much!  My favorite recipe to make {and EAT!} is my Lemon and Rosemary Chicken.  Your entire meal in ONE skillet, takes little to no effort to whip up and is so healthy and delicious!  I found this recipe through the Food Network and everyone who has tried it loves it:)  I also love my Minty Mango Salsa which tastes great on its own or even with pork chops.

Have you ever attended a food blogging conference?
Unfortunately, no, I haven't :(  I had wanted to attend this year's Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco, but being on the East Coast in Virginia made it difficult to try and make plans ahead of time for.  I'm hoping to go to one next year, though!
How did you first learn of blogging?
Well, I've always LOVED cooking and anytime I wanted a recipes I'd just type something into Google and would come across a few food blogs here and there.  It wasn't until I found For the Love of Cooking that I became fascinated with the idea.  I couldn't stop reading all her recipes and ultimately she inspired me to do my own, just for my friends and family.  Then I stumbled upon Foodbuzz and decided to go all out and see what happens!
What's one piece of advice you'd give someone considering starting a food blog?
Network, network, NETWORK!  Making friends through food blogging is not only fun, but I feel is really essential to bringing traffic to your blog.  The more you comment on other blogs, the more people want to come and check out yours.  I also try and respond back to each and every comment I receive; that way, I get to know the people who are commenting and find new blogs to be inspired by.  I also like to practice my photography as much as possible :)  The more attractive your photos, the more acceptance you get on sites like Foodgawker and Tastespotting, which allows even more exposure to your blog. See?  Easy peasy!

* * * * * * *

She sure makes it sound easy!  And she just got herself a spanky new camera, so she's planning to dial up her picture-taking a notch or two.  So, watch out, world!  Kelly's coming!

Too Many Green Tomatoes? Make Chutney

There’s something about the very word “chutney” that I’ve always thought exotic.  I suppose that’s because it was something foreign to me as a child.  We had Welch’s grape jelly (in Flintstone glasses or maybe Tom and Jerry) or we had pickle relish.  Chutney kind of mixes those together.

I do vaguely recall Christmas gift packages my parents would receive, filled with cheese, meat, crackers and a jar of something with “MajorGrey” emblazoned on it.  Since then I’ve seen jars of all kinds of chutney, including the Major, in gourmet food shops. But still I kept my distance.  It was unfamiliar.

So why make chutney?  Why now?

1. I’ll eat anything.  (Just ask Mr. Rosemary.)
2. I love to experiment. (Ditto.)
3. I had a whole bunch of green tomatoes still sitting on the vine.  With a heavy frost sure to hit any day now, I needed to do something.

Enter Martha.  I often turn to one of my big bible-type cookbooks when I have a need to make an indefinable something with a particular something.  I found this Green Tomato Chutney recipe in the huge The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, The Original Classics.  That’s the orange one. I have the blue one, too; that’s the New Classics version.  And I do consult them often.

So I had all the ingredients, I knew the chutney would keep a long time and I had visions of, not sugarplums, but pretty jars of my homemade chutney as charming Christmas gifts.

This particular recipe was pretty time-consuming, though.  And I found that paring green tomatoes is a whole lot harder than with ripe tomatoes.    

My verdict?  It’s pretty good.  And I didn't waste the tomatoes.  I’ve been eating it on my morning toast, on top of a smear of mascarpone cheese.  My neighbor Dick stopped by soon after I finished making the chutney and I made him taste it.  He’s a great guinea pig.  He just took the cracker I offered  without even asking what it was and immediately declared, “Tastes like mincemeat.”  A spot on description.

Chutneys are just a condiment, and as varied as any salsa or relish.  Usually, it’s a sweet-sour mix of fruit and vegetable combinations with vinegar and sugar, cooked well down. Next time, I’d use apple instead of raisins.  (Mr. Rosemary's comment:  "I relish relish; I don't 'chutney' chutney.")

But my visions of Christmas presents of chutney?  Sorry, but not gonna happen.

Green Tomato Chutney

from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, The Original Classics

1 large bunch fresh mint, roughly chopped

4 pounds green tomatoes

2 yellow onion (1 pound), finely diced

1 ½ cup white vinegar

1 ½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup golden raisins

1. Cover and bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Tie mint in a piece of cheesecloth.  Set aside.  Prepare an ice water bath. Set aside

2. Using a paring knife, remove the core and score the end of each tomato with a shallow “x”.  Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for 30 seconds.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to the ice bath.  Using a paring knife, peel off the skin and discard. Cut the tomatoes into ¾ inch chunks and set aside.

3.  Combine the onions, vinegar, mint bundle, sugar, salt, raisins and 1 cup water in a low-sided 6-quart saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat.

4.  Add the tomatoes and reduce to a simmer.  Cook, stirring frequently until the tomatoes are tender, about 1 hour.

5.  Increase the heat to high and continue cooking stirring frequently until almost all the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and discard the mint bundle.

6.  Transfer the chutney immediately to a large bowl over the ice bath to chill. Chutney can be stored, refrigerated in an airtight container up to 4 weeks.

Makes 6 half-pint jars.

Tomato Soup Comfort and the Fairy Hobmother

When you’re under the weather, there’s nothing like a friendly visit from neighbors to cheer you up.  When they’re bearing gifts, even better.

When they’re bearing food gifts, well, that’s off-the-charts better.

Last week, the day after I returned home after an overnight stay in the hospital – it was a scheduled trip and everything’s okay --  I answered the door and there were my neighbors bearing a whole box of homemade goodies.  Chicken noodle soup,  vegetable soup, tomato soup, pickles and a freshly baked loaf of  wheat bread, wrapped in a linen tea towel, still warm from the oven.  (That has to be one of the world’s best aromas! No wonder real estate agents recommend baking bread before a buying prospects visit.)

The week before, my sisters had armed me with a week’s worth of freezer meals, too – a sausage barley stew, a chicken and bean stew, chili, and spaghetti sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes.  All delectable.

I was all set for a no-cooking recuperation! At least no cooking out of necessity . . . there was that pumpkin cheesecake!

Great comfort food from wonderful cooks and wonderfully generous people can’t be beat.  I’m lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.   And Mr. Rosemary has attentively nursed me back to good spirits.  (And he didn’t have to cook!)

A visit from the Fairy Hobmother was another recent surprise.  After I made a comment on Sam’s blog at My CarolinaKitchen, I received a visit from The Fairy Hobmother.  The Fairy Hobmother, who represents Appliances Online, granted me a wish with a nice gift card to Amazon.com.  Thanks, Fairy Hobmother.  The good news is that the same thing can happen to you.  All you have to do is leave a comment here and the Fairy Hobmother could visit you, too. 

A surprise visitor  bearing gifts!  Pretty comforting.

No recipe today . . . just comfort.  (And just one more fall picture, I promise.)

P.S.  I have to add that my neighbor's tomato soup was simple and delicious!  Nothing at all like the stuff we got at the school cafeteria!

Pumpkin Cheesecake and Compromise

“It should either be a pumpkin pie or a cheesecake.  Just not together!

That was Mr. Rosemary’s response when I told him what I was making for his sister’s birthday.
 

“You made this before, didn’t you?” he asked.

I nodded demurely.

“And I didn’t like it then, did I?”

“Well,” said I.  “You didn’t rave about it.  But you ate it,” I quietly reasoned.  And, after all, it wasn’t his birthday.  (I didn’t say that last part out loud.)

“Hmmph.” he said. I took that as a concession and proceeded on my merry way in the kitchen.

 

The next day as he saw me unmolding the cheesecake from its springform confines, he wanted to know if I was happy with the way it turned out.
 

I wasn’t sure how to answer because I didn’t know yet. I daringly mixed up two different recipes, because I liked pieces of each.    The cheesecake looked good, but you (or at least, I, unconfident baker that I am) never know until you cut into a cake, even a cheesecake.  I feared it was going to be a bit dry.  Over baking (or is it under baking?) is my biggest baking sin.

So, just for insurance, I was ready with my secret weapon – a jar of caramel ice cream topping in the pantry.  I’d drizzle that on top of the cake in a spider web fashion and it would look moist and pretty and  the eye would fool the discerning tasters.

.

I needn’t have worried.  It wasn’t dry. It was very good.  Very, very good.  So, next time, I’ll make my own caramel sauce.

As for Mr. Rosemary’s verdict?  Since there were two cakes for the crowd that celebrated Liz’s birthday, he opted for the chocolate-mint cake.  When he heard other people comment on my cheesecake, though, he said, “Okay, I’ll try a piece.”

“Hmmm,” he said, as his face crinkled in that way I know means he likes it.  “This is really good.” --  like he didn’t believe everyone else until he tasted it himself. 

I’d call that a win, wouldn’t you?

Blending two recipes – plus winging it a little – works sometimes.  And sometimes it doesn’t,  I got lucky and have me a keeper.

My marriage of the recipes was a compromise, just like any marriage.  One called for an 8-inch pan; I only have a 10-inch springform pan.  One said bake longer at 350.  The other said to bake at 325 lower but keep in the turned off oven.  One asked for 3 eggs, one for 4. I wrote down what I did as I was doing it so, here it is . . . . . 

 Pumpkin Cheesecake

An adaptation based on combining recipes from Joy of Baking and Peter Christian’s Recipes

Serves 10-16 people, depending on how fat you cut your slices!

Crust: 

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

½ cup crushed ginger snap cookies (about 10)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

5 tablespoons melted butter

For Filling:

! ½ pounds cream cheese (3 8-ounce bricks), softened

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup maple syrup

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

1/ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon ginger

4 eggs, room temperature

¼ cup melted and cooled butter

For Topping:

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare graham cracker crust and pat into a 10 inch springform pan.  Bake in oven 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool while getting the filling ready.

In mixing bowl cream well and mix on high speed the cream cheese brown sugar maple syrup and vanilla on high speed.  Then add and mix well the pumpkin, flour and spices, scraping often and incorporating all lumps. 

Then add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Finally add the butter.  Spread filling in pan.  Place an empty cake pan half filled with water on the bottom rack of oven.  (This helps add moisture to the baking process.)

Bake for 40 minutes.  Meanwhile make topping by blending the sour cream, vanilla and sugar.   Remove cake from oven and spread with the sour cream mixture.  Return to oven and turn the oven off.  Leave cake there with door closed for another 40 minutes.  Remove from oven to rack and cool.  When cooled completely, refrigerate overnight or at least 4 to 6 hours.

Indian Summer Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad

What an absolutely gorgeous Indian summer weekend we just had here in western Pennsylvania!  Sunny skies.  A kaleidoscope of color. I wish I could have just freeze framed it.

We almost felt we were cheated out of this all too short season by some premature chilly weather last week.  (We cleared slush off the car one morning.)   “Isn’t this still September?” I asked.  But then we were blessed with four straight days of this glorious weather.  Can’t complain.

And it called for the perfect Indian summer treat, one that still celebrated the bounty of fresh harvest. The colors just mimic all the bright colors of the weekend.

I'd frozen leftover roasted corn from a Labor Day picnic and had just roasted some peppers.  All the makings of a great pairing. This was a pretty mild salad and I’d spice it up more next time --  jalapeno, maybe, or cumin, or just a dash of sriracha or Tabasco.

Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad

3 cups roasted corn, cut from cob

2 cups roasted red pepper, diced

½ cup scallion, sliced

½ red onion, diced

¼ cup parsley

For dressing:

½ cup sour cream

½ cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon pepper

Combine vegetables and parsley in bowl.  Whisk remaining ingredients, pour over vegetables and toss lightly to combine.  Serve chilled.

And here was the big finish.  I took this picture Sunday evening from our hilltop.  It was breathtaking in real life.

Tomato Granita

I don’t want to complain abut the tremendous tomato season I’ve enjoyed, especially after I’ve been cursed with some pretty meager harvests in recent years, but I’ve been running out of things to do with this bounty.  I’ve canned sauce, frozen sauce, roasted tomatoes, made soup, tomato pies, caprese salads, panzanella., eaten plenty of tomato sandwiches.  Need I go on?

But they’re still coming!  And me, out of  ideas – not to mention time and space. And I hate to waste all this good stuff.  My sister told me about a tomato bacon jam that sounds too irresistible to pass up and I’ve been tempted by some very interesting drink recipes  but  the first thing that intrigued me as I searched for something new was this Tomato Granita.  Only three ingredients and a bit of time and attention. Imagine!  Frozen tomato slush!

The recipe comes from a book called The Essential Mediterranean, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, who wrote the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. 

This book has off and on been great bedside reading because it’s not just recipes (although I can read recipes just like fiction) but great descriptions of  the intimate connection of food and culture that have so colored the countries that surround the Mediterranean– how the same ingredients take on new forms and taste as they make their way around the sea.

The name of this dish sounds so pretty in Italian – Granita di Pomodoro.  (Much better than tomato slush.)

The author says that this dish "makes an elegant entremet for a dinner party  . . .  or a startling but delicious dessert."  I had to run straight to Wikipedia to look up entremet.  It just means something served between courses, what I grew up calling "palate cleanser," which was usually some kind of sherbet.

For me, the granita was just a pretty tasty treat.  And it was just for me.  Mr. Rosemary loves tomato sauce and will eat cooked tomatoes, but not fresh.  Me?  I can eat them like apples.  And have.

Because it has both chili pepper and corn syrup in it, it's a mix of spicy and sweet.  And the chunky cold texture of the granita somehow enhances both the spiciness and sweetness.

And when you have pretty much just tomatoes in a recipe, they have to be nearly perfect and very ripe tomatoes.  The recipe specified romas -- and I had plenty -- but says any fresh red ripe tomato will do nicely. My trouble was finding a substitute for chili pepper.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins advises that you want the flavor of a chili but not the mouth burning qualities of some Mexican or Caribbean types.  So I had some dried peppers I'd ground myself and used them but they weren't well-labeled so I can't tell you for sure what they were.

My bottom line? A great experiment but probably not something I'll likely make again. If I ever host a really fancy dinner party and need an entremet, however, this is the one I would make.

Tomato Granita
from The Essential Mediterranean, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Makes 8-10 servings as an entremet, 6 as a dessert

1 1/2 pounds very red ripe tomatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon fragrant ground chili pepper
1/4 cup light corn syrup

The day before making, halve the tomatoes and gently squeeze out the seeds and excess liquid.  Coarsely chop and store, covered in the fridge overnight.

The next day, combine the tomatoes and the chili pepper in a food processor and process in brief spurts, adding the corn syrup as you do.  Don't make a puree; you want a chunky mixture.

If you have an ice cream maker, follow the manufacturer's instructions for sorbets and granitas.  Or turn the mixture into a stainless steel bowl, cover well, and freeze. Every 20 minutes or so, stir the mixture with a fork.  Within an hour or two, you'll have the granular ice chucks typical of a granita.  (I used this second method.)

Hula Hoop the Chocolate Chip Cupcakes Away!

Like any self-respecting home cook (especially one who keeps a blog!), I watch the The Food Network and The Cooking Channel when I can.  You always need new inspiration. That’s in addition, of course, to the half-dozen magazines I get, the 100 + cookbooks that grace my shelves, the myriad clippings I collect (some quite yellowed), the yet-to-be-organized print-outs from the internet, as well as the 50-odd food blogs and websites I try to visit regularly.  That’s a lot of inspiration!

Trouble is, I have trouble working in some kind of routine exercise into that food absorption.  Often, I will watch food shows while I hula hoop.  A half-hour show is perfect for this kind of multi-tasking:  I do my hula hoop for twenty minutes and then concentrate on the show for ten minutes (or maybe fold laundry).

The irony of exercising while slobbering over food possibilities is not lost on me.

A couple weeks ago I was going doing my hula hoop while watching Giada De Laurentiis.  Can’t remember which show.  (Which made finding the recipe just a little bit of a search.) But she made these chocolate chip cupcakes look so irresistible, I was drooling over my hula hoop. 

And I had a couple of real good excuses:  my friend’s birthday was coming up, the grandsons were camping with their parents nearby, and my college girlfriends were coming for a visit, too!  So . . . I made them.  Twice.  And they were doubly delicious.

When Giada said the recipe started with a brownie mix from a box, she only half-apologized and said they were that good. I believed her.  And it's true.   I only made a couple changes from her original recipe:

• I subbed coffee for the water she used.
• I used regular sized chocolate chips instead of the mini-chips she recommended.
• And I added peanut butter to the mascarpone-cream cheese frosting.

A word on the hula hoop:  It really works.  It’s a weighted hula hoop – 4 pounds. 

This is not me.

When I first used it, I had a tough time keeping it going for more than a minute at a time, but I do 20 minutes at a time and although I’m don’t do it all the time, I sure notice when I don’t!  Makes a big difference and really works whittling away my midriff.  Which is a very good thing if you like to eat brownie cupcakes like these.  And I do.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cupcakes

only slightly adapted from Giada Di Laurentiis

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus ¼ cup for garnish

1 (21 ounce) box brownie mix (Giada recommended Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge)

2 eggs, room temperature

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup brewed coffee

Frosting

4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Place than oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In small bowl, combine the walnuts, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of the brownie mix.  Toss until the nuts and chips are well coated and set aside. (Doing this helps keep the chips and nuts from sinking to the bottom.)

In large, bowl, mix together the remaining brownie mix, eggs, vegetable oil and coffee.  Stir for 30 seconds until blended.  Fold in the nuts and chips.  Spoon the mixture into the prepare pan.  (Cupcakes will be full.)

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist fudgy crumbs.  Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting, about 30 minutes.

For the frosting, using an electric hand mixer, beat the two cheese together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Then gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable. Then mix in 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.  Spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes and garnish with chocolate chips.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, but serve at room temperature.