The Experience of Eating

I am a firm believer that eating should be an enjoyable experience and that all foods can fit in a healthy diet in moderation. In fact, those who restrict themselves actually tend to be more overweight, have higher levels of body dissatisfaction, and are more concerned with their appearance (1). With that said, I am going to start this blog by posting recipes of delicious (according to my husband) meals I have made with the respective recipe. Life has been busy, so I will try to keep up with this as much as possible. I am hoping to post more nutrition facts and information once the semester is over and things simmer down a little.

The first recipe for the blog is from a good friend of mine, Sarah Jadin. It is called Farmer Tomato pie and is a delicous, pizza-like dish. This recipe is great to use in the fall when tomatoes are in season-if you grow your own tomatoes, you often have so many you do not know what to do with them and if you do not grow your own, the tomatoes are often very inexpensive at your local farmer’s market or grocery store. This dinner is loaded with lycopene, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin D, and fiber!

• 1/2 package of pre-made, folded, unbaked pie crust, or your own homemade pie crust (we made a potato-wheat crust because we had potatoes to use up…see recipe below)
• 1.5 cups of shredded cheese (we used part-skim mozzarella, feta, and Colby-jack)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 TBSP of dried bread crumbs (we didn’t use these, because we forgot!)
• 2 pounds of ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 cup of halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
• 1 cup of cooked onions (we added this…it wasn’t in the original recipe)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Unfold pie crust and roll into a 12″ circle. Place in a 9″ quiche dish or pie pan (we used a cake pan because wanted A LOT of filling).
3. Line the pastry with a double thickness of foil and bake for 8 minutes; remove the foil and bake for 4-5 more minutes. Remove from the oven.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 375F and sprinkle 1/3 cup of cheese over the pie shell.
5. Top with 1/3 of the tomatoes, 1/3 of the basil (and other seasonings/onions, if desired) 1/3 of the cheeses.
6. Sprinkle with 2 tsp of the breadcrumbs and repeat step 5 until the pie is full.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the tomatoes and cheese are starting to brown.
8. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Potato Pie Crust (original recipe source, see 2 below)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of mashed potatoes, cooled to room temperature
• 1/3 cup of oil
• 2 TBSP of ground flax seed meal
• 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 TBSP of water (more if needed)
• optional: 1 TBSP Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Whip potatoes and oil together, using a fork.
2. Mix the flax, flour, baking powder, and salt and then add to the potato mixture.
3. Blend the mixture, but do not overwork; if the mixture is dry, sprinkle with water.
4. Roll the dough out on waxed paper.
5. Bake as instructed by the recipe it is being used for.

I hope you enjoy this lycopene, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin D, and fiber rich dinner!!

Sources:

1. Gingras J, Fitzpatrick J, McCargar L. Body image of chronic dieters: Lowered appearance evaluation and body satisfaction. J Amer Diet Assoc. 2004;104:1589-1592.

2.Orignial Recipe found at Recipe Source: http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/pastries/00/rec0031.html. Modifications were done to the recipe.