Drying, Chopping, & Storing Fresh Parsley

A few weeks ago I shared a very useful method for preserving parsley by freezing it in "logs". I've since used some of my frozen parsley, and I'm very happy with the turnout. The frozen parsley had a nice strong flavor that added a pleasant kick to my Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce. 

I also wanted to try an alternative method for preserving herbs, which is drying them.

Drying herbs takes a significantly longer amount of time to get from start to finish if you're using the traditional air-drying method, which is what I used. (The other option would be to quick-dry the herbs in the oven. I haven't braved that territory yet.)

I used the 'ole "hang your parsley bunch by the string on the kitchen blinds" method.  They added a a touch of style to our kitchen for a couple of weeks.

The first step to preserving any herb is, of course, cleaning the herbs to rid them of any dirt or bugs that have taken up residence on the aromatic leaves. You can see how I clean my herbs here. After cleaning and blotting dry with a paper towel, parsley should be hung upside down. I gathered my stalks into a loose bundle and tied the ends with a plastic hair tie before hanging.

It's also important that the parsley hangs in a mostly humidity-free environment so that it doesn't get moldy.

It's takes about 2-3 weeks for the parsley to dry out completely. Properly dried parsley leaves will appear shriveled and crumbly to the touch. 

Once your parsley is dried, it's time to get to work. 

Use a pair of scissors to trim the leaves off of the stems. You could just as easily pull them off with your fingers.

Once the leaves are removed, place them into an air-tight jar, like a mason jar. You have two options here: (1) store the leaves whole and chop them right before cooking or (2) chop them now and save yourself a step later. The benefit of storing the leaves whole is that you will get more flavor our of the leaves by chopping them right before use.

I wanted to save myself a step later, so I chopped my parsley before storing. 

I've discovered that the fastest and easiest way to chop fresh or dried herbs is by putting a handful of them at a time into the bottom of a glass and using a pair of clean scissors to snip away the leaves until they are minced in appearance.

Once your leaves are all chopped, place them in an air-tight container and store them in a cool, dry place. Dried parsley will maintain it's flavor for over a year if stored properly. 

 

Happy Drying, 

 

Preserving Fresh Parsley

 I'm discovering quickly that fresh herbs can quickly overtake a garden.

 And being quite inexperienced in the fine art of gardening, I've had to do plenty of research to figure out a way to prevent my beloved parsley from going to waste. 

My options seemed to be either freezing of drying

I experimented with the former and have been very pleased with the results. 

Here's a very simple way to preserve fresh parsley.

1. Snip off several stalks of parsley with a pair of scissors, starting from the outside of the plant and working your way in. Cut the stalks close to the ground (about 2 inches).

2. Gather the fresh parsley by the stalks and swish it around in a bowl of clean water to remove all dirt. You may need to use your fingers to remove caked-on dirt from some of the leaves.

(My parsley was pretty dirty!)

3. Separate the stalks and lay them out as flat as possible onto paper towels to let them dry. I let my parsley stalks sit out overnight to make sure they were completely dry.

4. Once the parsley is dry, snip the leaves from the stems with a pair of scissors.

5. Place the parsley leaves into a small plastic baggie, tightly packing them to form a log shape at the bottom of the bag (see picture below).

6. Tightly roll the parsley "log" toward the top of the bag, releasing air as you go. The log should be firm. You'd be surprised how much parsley can fit into such a small space!

7. Seal the plastic baggie and secure it with rubber bands on both ends. Label it so that you can identify it when you're ready to use it. I plan to freeze my cilantro this way to, and I definitely don't want to mistake the two!

8. When you're ready to use the parsley, simply remove the frozen "log" from the baggie and slice it according to your need (see picture below). It doesn't take a big slice to yield an ample amount of parsley. The rest of the parsley can be put back into the baggie and then into the freezer for future use.

(It's very easy to cut into.)

9. Chop parsley to your liking and use it in a delicious recipe!

Enjoy!

 

Banana Cream Pie Milkshake

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I'd share a little dessert that's big on flavor but small on calories. Let's face it, there aren't many of those around. And even fewer worth writing about. But I think you'll be happy with this little gem. This recipe for Banana Cream Pie Milkshake makes one serving, so double the ingredients if you're sharing it with your Valentine today!

Banana Cream Pie Milkshake

(adapted from Eat What You Love cookbook.)

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup low-fat milk
1 rounded tablespoon sugar-free instant banana cream pudding mix
1/3 cup light, no sugar added ice cream (Blue Bell makes a delicious version)
2/3 cup crushed ice
2 tablespoons light whipped topping (optional)
1 tablespoon crushed graham cracker crumbs (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Place milk, instant pudding mix, and ice cream in a blender and blend until well-mixed. Add ice and continue to blend until the consistency is thick and creamy.

Pour into your glass of choice and top with whipped topping and graham crackers.

Enjoy!

Weight Watchers Points Pus (without whipped topping and graham crackers): 4
Weight Watchers Points Plus (with whipped topping and graham crackers): 5

Hope you all are having a Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Clean Eating White Bean and Vegetable Soup

I thought I'd share a recipe that I've made twice this week! It was a little experiment I called "kitchen sink" vegetable soup because I put everything but the kitchen sink in it! After making it the first time around my husband pronounced it the best soup he had ever eaten and requested that I make it again. The second time around I carefully measured ingredients so that I could turn in into an actual recipe. It was just as good the second time around.

Clean Eating White Bean and Vegetable Soup

1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons minced garlic
8 cups (2- 2 lb. cartons) vegetable broth
4 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup corn
2 (15.5 ounce) cans great northern beans, undrained
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, diced (washed and unpeeled)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried sweet basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons salt (more to taste)

Spray a large stock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Saute the carrot, onion, and garlic over low heat until softened (about 5 minutes). Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmered, covered, for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Serve hot.

Makes 15 one cup servings at 3points plus values per serving. 

Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce

As I mentioned in a previous post, we hosted a gathering for all of our church leaders last week. I have very little experience cooking for large groups so I was a little nervous going in. I decided to serve pasta and Italian meat sauce because it goes a long way, it's cheap, and it is really easy to prepare. It also goes well with simple sides like salad, garlic bread, and a veggie. I adapted a recipe I found online, and it turned out to be a great success. This recipe feeds 30-40 adults. As far as pasta noodles, 4-5 pounds should be enough. If preparing this sauce for my family, I divide everything by 4, and it turns out just as delicious. We usually have leftovers, but, in my humble opinion, spaghetti sauce leftovers are even better the next day!

**Pay attention to the ounces in this recipe. The can sizes may not be what you're used to buying. 

Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce 

 Ingredients

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 4 large onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) tomato paste
• 1 can (29 ounces) tomato sauce
• 3 cups water
• 2 cans (4-1/4 ounces each) chopped ripe olives, drained
• 2 cans (4 ounces each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 4 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons pepper

Directions

Cook 2 pounds of beef, 2 onions, and 2 cloves of garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Add the cooked meat mixture to a large stock pot and cover to keep warm. Repeat the process with the rest of the beef, onion, and garlic. Once all the ground meat is cooked down with the onion and garlic, add the rest of the ingredients to the large stock pot. Simmer over a low heat for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Serve over pasta. 

Ingredients (minus the ground meat)

Browning ground meat to add to the stock pot.

When I say large stock pot, I mean large.

Enjoy!

 

Sweet & Spicy Orange Salad + Reader Q & A

  Hey friends! It's good to back after a busy weekend! I won't be posting my complete food logs for the next week because our church is participating in a corporate partial fast, which we do annually at the beginning of each year. Basically, we're denying our physical appetites in order to deepen our appetite for God. John piper echos our reasons for doing so, "Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is this path of pleasant pain called fasting... If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great... If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God." 

So you'll only be getting snippets this week, but I hope to be back next week with more complete food logs!

This is a salad I made over the weekend. I adapted it using this recipe. It was 6 PPV. I really loved the flavored tuna, but it was really expensive so I think I'll just season my own from now on!

Today I wanted to share a couple of really good questions that I've gotten from readers recently about Weight Watchers. I think these questions are probably really popular with people interested in the program so I thought it would be helpful to share my answers with others who may be interested. (P.S. If you have any questions, please Facebook message me (https://www.facebook.com/bcelestin), and I'll be happy to answer! They may be featured on the blog, but I'll never disclose your personal identity!)

So with no further adieu...

Q: Do you find it's [Weight Watchers] easy? How do you deal with making food from "scratch" and having to have all the ingredients out and adding it all to the tracker? I did it before, but for some reason I found it extremely hard to track those pestering point.

A: I have to admit when I first started Weight Watchers, it took a little getting used to. We pretty much ate the same things over and over again for a while until I felt more comfortable venturing out. The weight watchers phone app allows me to save my favorites so that I don't have to look things up all the time. If you don't have the app, you can keep a little notepad in the kitchen to write down all of the regular foods you eat and their point values. It's like a cheat sheet!

As far as cooking from scratch, I don't find that Weight Watchers makes me cook any more from scratch than I was already doing. We try not to eat a lot of processed food, but we also don't eat elaborate meals. We also don't eat a lot of casseroles, which are probably harder to calculate. Also, I've found lots of recipes online that have the points already calculated.

Our typical dinners include:
**Baked fish with a side of rice and veggies
**Tacos or Fajitas (these are our favorite tacos: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/12/slow-cooker-chicken-black-bean-tacos.html)
**Slow Cooker Lasagna with a side salad (I use the weight watchers recipe: http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeId=135321)
**Red Beans or White Beans and Rice, which is pretty easy to calculate)
**Hamburgers (http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeId=115221) on a low calorie bun with a side of chips
**Pulled chicken sandwiches (http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1284) with ranch roasted potatoes (http://www.laaloosh.com/2011/01/24/ranch-roasted-red-potatoes-recipe/)

 **Asian Chicken (http://www.bethcelestin.com/2011/10/asian-chicken-recipe.html), Easy Fried Rice (http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeId=182921), & Veggies

Q:  I am so glad you are blogging you Weight Watchers food log! I am just beginning to try to follow Weight Watchers, but can't afford to join right now so I'm a little lost. I only get 26 points a day and have yet to eat less than 29! I usually have a serving of fruit a few times a day to...my coffee cup is a struggle and so is breakfast because we eat big breakfasts. Any tips? I'm not much of a fan of diet foods with artificial stuff.

A: I lost all my weight eating 29 points per day. Weight Watchers changed the point system a few months ago, but I stuck with 29 because I was successful with that number and felt hungry eating less. Plus you get 49 weekly points that you can use however you want. I always used most of mine, and still lost! Some people add 7 points to each day, and some people save the 49 for special occasions. It's totally up to you. As far as breakfast, you can save some calories by choosing lower calorie breads and butters. Nature's Own makes a wheat bread that's only 1 point/slice (http://www.naturesownbread.com/products/ReducedCalorieBreads/40CalorieWheatBread/) . Also, Land O' Lakes makes a light whipped butter (http://www.landolakes.com/Products/Custom/15116.aspx) that's only 1 point per tablespoon. When I buy things like this, I strictly use them for Kevin and I's meals. I buy the regular butter and heartier breads for the boys. Eggs are two points per egg, but you can get 4 egg whites for only 1 point. You can either put whites in with your whole egg or mix in plenty veggies with your whole egg. It helps to fill you without many points. I use NuStevia (https://nunaturals.com/product/122) in my coffee. I order it in bulk from iherb.com because I get good deals and coupons from them. It's a zero point sweetener. It's PERFECT for lemon water as well- no aftertaste with the lemon water. There's a slight aftertaste with the coffee, but it doesn't take long to get used to. Almost any flavored creamer will be 2 point for 2 Tablespoons. I use those sometimes, but if I want a lower-point cup, I use 2 Tablespoons of evaporated milk (the regular whole kind- not low fat) for 1 point. Or even better 2 Tablespoons of whole milk for zero points! You can buy the small little bottles of whole milk and use it just for coffee. We also like turkey bacon. You can get 3 slices for 2 points. Other grab-and-go breakfast ideas are a banana with peanut butter or a granola bar. We hardly ever eat oatmeal or cereal for breakfast because we prefer an eggs-and-toast-type breakfast. I hope this helps!

And I hope it helps you to!