Cookies and Cheesecake

What a busy last few days. Yesterday we had a breakfast sale benefiting the Integrative Medicine Club at school. I managed to pump out some granola bars, muffins, steel cut oatmeal, and iced green tea. And our VP made some amazing carrot applesauce muffins, oat bars, and trail mix bars. We did pretty well and I'm so thankful of everyone that came and donated. I really really appreciate it. The club was not very active last year and we are working hard to change that. We are really trying to get the word out about integrative medicine and get people interested in it. I cannot tell you how many people have asked me "What is Integrative Medicine?" It is a difficult question to answer, but I think it is very important as future physicians to be aware of it. Many patients embrace and practice some form of integrative medicine, and that means we need to be educated on it.

A lot of people consider integrative medicine synonymous with alternative medicine and have these visions of people trying to cure cancer by drinking an elixir of herbs or poking needles in their body. They see integrative medicine as just plants, acupuncture,mystical chanting, and a lot of hocus pocus. It's frustrating because integrative medicine is exactly what the name says: integrative. It is not an alternative to replace modern allopathic medicine. Rather, it works to combine other therapies to complement the modern treatment. I am in allopathic medical school, so of course I believe in modern drugs and published research. But I think there is a lot to say about items not .marketed by pharmaceutical companies.
I agree with the philosophy that doctors should work to treat the whole person rather than solely focusing on curing a disease. I think a lot of doctors and medical students have the mindset that drugs are the only answer to fixing a person, when in reality, many of the drugs we use today are derived from plant sources and have been staples in traditional practices for centuries. There is a view that taking some pills or injecting this drug will make you better. But what is wrong with adding an integrative approach and using supplemental treatments to help ease the pain? We live in a society now that makes it okay for a person to take 10 different pills in the morning and another dozen at night, this almost seems like the norm. It's like the iphone and apps: you have high cholesterol? there's a pill for that. you have hypertension? there's a pill for that. you have a headache? there's a pill for that too. Why don't we try to prevent these things before they even happen. Let's focus on nutrition to help your cholesterol, let's work on stress management techniques to prevent headaches, let's look at dietary supplements to help your hypertension. This is what integrative medicine is and that is what I want people to embrace.

And then there is the lingering image of Dr. Weil. My stance on him: I think he is a great public speaker and a great businessman. He says interesting things that I would like to learn more about. I think people should take his words with a grain of salt and use what he says as a beginning of a new learning experience. Not everything he says is true and not everything is says is a lie. I do respect that he has been able to introduce the field of integrative medicine to the public, but that has downsides as well. I haven't read any of his books, I don't take his vitamins, I don't use his face products, and I don't always follow his diet recommendations. But I do love True Food Kitchen, great restaurant. Those are my thoughts on him, take it or leave it.

Enough on my rant about integrative medicine. Let's get to the food. I was commissioned by JC to make dessert for a Societies get together. I have been eying this recipe for a while and now was the perfect time to finally try it out. As integrative and healthy as I try to be, these little guys are anything but healthy. But they are definitely very delicious. I am a huge fan of cookies and cream ice cream, so mini oreo cheesecakes sounded excellent. I have actually never attempted cheesecake before because I don't have a spring pan. These are so cute with the oreo cookie on the bottom and the cheesecake is perfectly rick and creamy. These go perfect with a nice cold glass of milk. They are so simple, yet so elegant. Just ask Brian how many he ate at the party and he can attest to how yummy these are!

Oreo Cheesecakes
from Handle the Heat

• 42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Sweet and Creamy Lasagna

I made this recipe about a week ago, but I needed to post it because it is one of my new favorite dishes. Last week we had butternut squash in the CSA. I have never worked with it, and generally when I think about that vegetable, all I can think of is butternut squash soup. I did a little searching on tastespotting and found a great recipe for butternut squash lasagna. To be honest, I have never actually made lasagna before, so I thought this would be a great first. It was so creamy with the sweetness of the squash and the hearty flavor of spinach. I could have eaten a whole pan (or a couple) of this pasta. It was creamy and so pretty with the orange/yellow and green sauce. I made the sage lemon butter sauce, but it really isn't necessary if you don't want to do it. The dish took a bit of prep work, but once that was done, pop it in the oven, get some studying done, and voila! Delicious dinner ready to go. And to make things even better, this recipe is from Top Chef contestant Brian Malarkey. We all know how much I love Top Chef...

One other side note: I ran out of mozzarella cheese for the top of the dish. Be sure you have enough cheese left to cover the top because this is what keeps the top layer of pasta nice and moist. If you don't cover it sufficiently, that top layer with dry out and crisp up to almost a raw pasta state. No good. If you happen to have butternut squash, make this dish, you won't regret it (and you have leftovers for a week!)

Butternut Squash Lasagna
from design*sponge

• 1 or 2  Large Butternut squash – Peeled, cored and sliced thin 1/4  inch 
• 10 to 14  Pasta Sheets – Cooked
• 1 handful  Spinach
• 6 cloves  Garlic
• 1 bunch  Italian Parsley
• 1 stick Butter (114g)
• ¼ Cup  Flour
• 3 ½ Cups Whole Milk
• 3 Cups  Shredded Mozzarella
• ½ Cup  Parmesan
• 10 each  Sage Leaves – Sliced Thin
• 1 each Lemon – Zest
• Salt and Pepper and Olive Oil

Pre-heat oven to 375F

You will need a 13×9x2 baking dish (a regular glass one or any type of casserole will do)

Drizzle the sheet tray with olive oil and place the slices of butternut squash on it, season with salt and pepper, repeat another layer until all the butternut is layered.  Cover with foil and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes until the squash is cooked yet still firm enough to break apart.

While that is working start on your roux:  ½ stick of butter in the pot and melt until almost browned, whisk in the flour and continue to cook for about 30 seconds, slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, Add the garlic and continue to cook at a medium heat until mixture thickens.   Transfer the mixture to the blender and blend in the Spinach/parsley.  Season with salt and Pepper.

Rub the Baking dish with a little butter and begin the layers:  Cream Sauce, pasta, Mozza, Parma, butternut – Repeat.  Make sure the top layer has cheese on top.  Cover with Foil and Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 15 or until the top is crispy golden brown.  Let rest for 10 minutes before serving

Serve with Sage/Lemon Brown Butter:  In small sauté pan bring the remaining butter to a light brown color – Very hot and bubbling add Sage, Zest, salt and Pepper.   Spoon over a little on each piece.

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

One of my favorite Thai dishes is Gai Pad Krapow or Thai Basil Chicken. It's a great mix of spicy savory chicken with sweet thai basil. I can gobble it up in a second. And it's on lunch special at one of my favorite Thai places in town. I thought I would attempt to make this scrumptious dish.

I searched for recipes online and realized that it actually is pretty simple and doesn't call for any extremely exotic ingredients. It's basically chicken, garlic, chilies, shallots, fish sauce, soy sauce, and thai basil. That's it! Seriously! When you mix these seemingly mundane ingredients, you get something incredibly fantastic.

I was lucky enough to have some bird's eye chilies in my freezer from my grandmother's plant. If you manage to get your hands on these things, scoop them up, throw them in a ziploc, and toss them in the freezer. They'll last near to forever. They look very cute and innocent, but trust me, these little guys pack a huge punch. They're like scorpions, the little ones are the most poisonous. I'm not kidding. I put in just four chopped chilies and I was sweating eating this dish. And whatever you do, don't touch any sort of mucus membrane after you cut them with your bare hands. I recommend wearing gloves if you can. I made the grave mistake of cutting these guys and then blowing my nose. My left nostril feels like someone has stuck a match in it. Ouch. Don't do it. And whatever you do, do not touch your eyes. You might actually die. I'm not even exaggerating. If you can't find these, you can substitute jalapenos or even just sriracha sauce, but it obviously won't be as good. So just find these, suck it up and cut them, and throw them in the wok! (That's a birthday candle in the photo with the chilies to show just how tiny they are)

I also had trouble getting my hands on Thai basil. It is very different than regular sweet basil. It has a deep purple stem and tastes very different. Theoretically, you could substitute sweet basil in this dish, but it would create a very different flavor. Generally, you should be able to find it at any sort of Asian market or specialty grocery store like Sunflower Market or Whole Foods. I went to four different stores and no one is carrying it right now. Maybe it is out of season, I don't know. Next option, Vietnamese pho dinner. If you ever go out for pho, those green leaves they give you on the condiments plate along with the limes, jalapenos, and bean sprouts, that's Thai basil. Last night, we went out to dinner and I asked for extra extra basil, and voila, I had my last ingredient for my dish.

Gai Pad Krapow (Thai Basil Chicken)
adapted from gimme some oven!

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 “bird’s eye” chilies, minced with seeds (use more/less to taste)
• 2 shallots (or 1 small onion), diced
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken (thigh or breast meat), ground or finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 big bunch Thai basil leaves, stems removed
• Pepper

Heat a wok or a heavy skillet over medium high heat until very hot. Add the oil, garlic and chilies and stir fry until until the garlic is very fragrant. Add the shallots (or onions) and continue stir frying until the onions have wilted. Add the ground chicken and fry until the chicken is cooked.

Stir in the fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and pepper. If your pan was hot enough you should not have any liquid at the bottom of the pan, but if you do, continue cooking until the liquid is gone. Add the basil and toss a couple of time until the leaves are wilted and bright green.

Serve immediately with jasmine rice.

GARLIC!!

Two posts in one day, crazy! Today was a busy cooking day. This will definitely end on Monday when school starts, so I need to take advantage of my free time now.

I have a new obsession: The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green. It is about two gay city boys, Brent and Josh, who decided to start a farm in upstate New York. They bought a beautiful old mansion and have chickens, goats, pigs, and a llama named Polka Spot. They have started a business selling fancy goats milk soaps and cheese. To make things even better, Brent is an MD turned farmer. My new aspiration in life: become a doctor and own a farm on the side. And I want Polka Spot, she's such a diva.

After spending the day watching Beekman Boys episodes, I wanted to do something a little healthier for dinner using the rest of my CSA share. I was in the mood for salmon and I thought it would go great with roasted wax beans. They are almost exactly like regular green beans, but yellow. But they taste virtually the same. I went to 17th Street Market to pick up some fish and was informed that I would have to wait to pick up my fish until I checked out. I asked why and they said that they had a problem with people getting fish from the counter and then stealing it and selling it out on the street. How ridiculous!

This dish took me about 10 minutes to prepare and virtually has no cleanup. It was pretty tasty, but definitely only if you like garlic. Scratch that, LOVE garlic. This salmon has a lot of garlic, which I didn't mind, but I could definitely see that it could bother some. A complete meal in under 30 minutes.

Garlic Herb Salmon
adapted from ...in sock monkey slippers

• 2 4 oz salmon fillets (always use wild, not farm salmon!)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Spice blend (I used Penzeys Spices Mural of Flavor)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven 425 degrees. Coarsely chop the garlic. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on it. Drizzle some olive oil on top and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and spice blend. Add the garlic and gently press into the salmon. Place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the salmon is cooked and flaky.

As a side dish, I put the wax beans on another baking sheet lined with tin foil. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and place in the oven with the salmon.

Healthy Southern Food, seriously.

Okra: you either love it or hate it, there's no in between. For me, I'm on the love side. It's slimy, green, crunchy, and oh so delicious. I used to buy it frozen and simply saute it with some tomatoes. But by far my favorite way to eat the little green gooey guys is fried. They are like bite size, pop in your mouth little nuggets of happiness. It is a Southern classic and one of my favorites. I think I might have been from the South in a past life because I love all food from that region--crawfish, cornbread, collard greens, sweet potato pie, sweet tea, shrimp and grits... it's all happy in my belly.

I made tempura battered fried okra a few days ago and they were delicious. Today I wanted to do something a bit healthier so I found a recipe for oven fried okra. It sounded interesting and I was curious to see if they really would get just as crispy as the fried version. Another plus to this recipe was that I didn't need to buy buttermilk. To make really traditional Southern fried okra, you need buttermilk, cornmeal, and a ton of frying oil. This recipe didn't call for any of those, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I modified the recipe just a bit. I used half panko bread crumbs because I had some leftover from another night. I also threw in a bit of sriracha hot sauce to give a little kick. It didn't come out as crispy as I would have liked, but it still was tasty. It took me only about 15 minutes to prep it all and with cooking time took only about 30 minutes. A great snack or side dish, but definitely does not replace the real thing.

Oven Fried Okra
adapted from Knoxville Healthy Food Examiner

• 2 cups okra, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds
• 1 tsp sriracha sauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. original bread crumbs
• 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, Boil sliced okra for about 5 minutes or until tender. In a bowl, beat together the egg, sriracha, and 1 Tbsp water. Remove the okra from water, pat dry, and add to bowl. In a large ziplock bag, add the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Remove okra from bowl with a slotted spoon and add to bag. Close bag and shake to coat okra. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and pour bag mixture on top. Place pan in oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Serve immediately while still hot.

Semi-Homemade

I'm back! The pharyngitis is gone so I can eat again, thank goodness. Unfortunately, I still have painful phlebitis in my hand, so it limits what I am able to cook. I went to a pool party today and wanted to bring a cool, summer snack. I decided on a pina colada pie. Please don't judge me, but it's a Sandra Lee recipe. I still hate her, and I didn't think this pie was that great, but I wanted something super super super easy to prepare, and when you want that, you go for "semi-homemade." Usually her recipes consist of a can of crescent rolls, pudding mix, and frozen pie crust... and voila, you have chicken parmeasan! Sandra Lee is a sellout.

This pie was definitely easy to prepare, sans the fresh coconut meat. I have never worked with a fresh coconut before, except in Costa Rica when I drank out of one with a straw. I bought one at Safeway and went at it with a screwdriver and hammer. After much pounding, I finally managed to puncture a hole to drain the water. Then we went at it again to crack it in half. That was only half the battle, it was so difficult to get the actual white meat separated from the shell. I almost sliced off my finger three times, granted I was using a spoon, but if that was a knife I would be down to just nine phalanges.

I made a few modifications to the recipe because I couldn't find all of the original ingredients. If I were to do this again, I would probably use a larger box of vanilla pudding rather than the smaller box of coconut cream pudding. I think this would thicken up the pie because it turned into a runny mess. Because I couldn't find pineapple-coconut nectar, I used just normal pineapple juice and used coconut pudding. Try this recipe out if you want something super easy. It's not that tasty, but it's easy.

Pina Colada Pie
adapted from Pina Colada Pie

• 3/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp rum extract
• 1 (3.4 oz) box instant coconut creme pudding and pie filling
• 1 cup shredded coconut meat (scrape out coconut meat and shred in a food processor)
• 1/2 container of 8 oz whipped topping
• 1 (9-inch) frozen pie crust, baked
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut meat, toasted (bake on a pan at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes)

Pre-bake the frozen pie crust according to directions on package. In a large bowl, combine juice, coconut milk, and rum extract. Sprinkle pudding mix over liquid and whisk for 2 minutes. Fold in coconut and the whipped topping. Pour into pre-baked pie crust and chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Top chilled pie with toasted coconut.