Baked Chiles Rellenos

I cooked dinner with some of the ingredients I got from Compare Foods today.

Baked Chiles Rellenos:

Peppers and filling:
4 poblano peppers
4 oz. shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
4 oz. queso fresco, crumbled
2 green onions, minced
Batter:
1 egg
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup water

Roast poblano peppers over a gas flame or under a broiler until they are black and blistered all over.
Let cool in a 1-gallon Ziploc bag, and then remove the skins under running water. Cut a slit in each pepper and remove seeds and ribs.

Mix the cheeses and green onions together, and stuff the peppers with the cheese mix. Coat the stuffed peppers in the batter. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes 4 chiles rellenos, 230 calories each.

Served with yellow rice, refried beans, and a salad of tomato and avocado with lime juice and cilantro.

Out to Lunch: McAlister's Deli and TCBY

Today I was doing some errands in Blakeney and stopped for a quick lunch at McAlister's Deli. I had their "Choose Two" option with a cup of chicken tortilla soup and a veggie spud.

Chicken tortilla soup: 200 calories
Potato: 390 calories

I then went next door for dessert at TCBY, one of the many local self-service frozen yogurt stores. I like this because they charge by weight, so if you want a small taste, you pay a small price!

I had fat-free fruit punch flavored sorbet, with a small spoonful of waffle cone bits and a small spoonful of granola. The whole thing was 3.2 ounces, which had approximately 75 calories, and cost $1.57.

Lynx to Food: Sharon Road West and Arrowood Road

Today's episode of Lynx to Food brings us to the Sharon Road West stop, where the sum total of food establishments is two convenience stores and a Papa John's pizza. I didn't choose to eat a meal at any of these places, but I did buy these:

in honor of Sharon Road West being the closest Lynx stop to the Lance snack factory.

I then proceeded to Arrowood Road, where I paid a visit to Compare Foods.

I got poblano peppers, limes, cilantro, green onions, and queso fresco for about half the price I would have paid at Harris Teeter. The three things at the top are frozen fruit purees - mango, blackberry, and tamarind. I'm going to try using them to make syrups for cocktails or to add to sparkling water.

Thanksgiving wrap-up

Take-aways from this holiday meal:

This was the first time I brined a turkey, and I'm not going to do it again. The turkey was saltier but not appreciably juicier, and the whole thing was kind of a pain. I've made better turkeys without such a hassle.

Gravy and stuffing were spot on - I'll continue to do turkey stock in advance.

I seasoned the carrots with a spice mix called "Tagine seasoning" - in other contexts it might have worked but in this one it ended up tasting too much like pumpkin pie. (I should have known, given that cinnamon and ginger are in that mix along with cumin, paprika, and cayenne.) I'm sticking to unsweetened carrots with dill, or carrots sweetened with maple syrup from now on.

The big winner was the mini pecan tarts - the flavor of pecan pie without the leftovers hanging around to tempt me. I ran the recipe through a nutrition calculator - they're 210 calories each! Not bad!

A Yankee in the South

I read somewhere a few years ago about the way to identify a Yankee. The saying was, if you ask a southerner, then a Yankee is a northerner. If you ask a northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander. If you ask a New Englander, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And if you ask a Vermonter, a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast. I'm from New Hampshire, not Vermont, but I proudly claim my Yankee heritage.

The Feast

Roast beast:

On the plate:

Appetizer time

Time to start munching: