This dish is a perfect example of why everyone has urged and pleaded with us our whole lives to read through a recipe in its entirety before starting to recreate it.  It’s really not just something your mother says to wind you up or question your cooking abilities.  Case in point, these ricotta pancakes that almost made me quit cooking for good.  No sympathy please.  It was my own fault.

I had just finished making that Mojito Pound Cake, and I really should have gone in the other room and passed out on the couch in self-satisfied exhaustion, but I’d been staring at a highly stylized image of golden fluffy pancakes sprinkled with plump summer berries for several weeks now and I desperately wanted to know what they tasted like.   Plus it was only 10:00 AM.  I could make two recipes in one morning, right?  Not so much apparently.

My first error in judgment occurred when I decided to use the last of my so-called “grammy eggs” in hopes of achieving the ultimate in vibrant yellow coloring.  I separated the yolks from the whites and promptly tossed the whites down the sink.  I was happily mixing my way through the first step and moving onto step two when it dawned on me.  The egg whites were part of the recipe!  I frantically read through the rest of the instructions getting more annoyed by the second.  Then I cracked three more eggs and threw the yolks down the sink.  At this point I’d wasted a total of three eggs for this recipe and I wasn’t even close to being done.  CK sat at the kitchen table staring at me warily, I glared back and he put on his headphones.

The rest of the construction went without incident.  I whipped the whites into peaks and folded them into the bright and sunny batter.  I ladled the correct amount onto my readied pan and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  But apparently not long enough because my pancake promptly broke in half and made a complete mess of its sister pancake when I attempted a gentle flipping motion.  Then I had a hissy fit, because when frustrated in the kitchen I tend to revert to my kindergarten level coping skills.   After listening to me curse out our breakfast, CK saw fit to relieve me of my cooking duties.  I sat off to the side pouting while he patiently cooked the remainder of the pancakes.  Let’s just say he’s had more than a little practice as my “kitchen closer.”

The pancakes ended up being very fluffy and light and the citrus coated berries and powdered sugar were great on top, but I would never make these again unless I had one of those large grill pans that fits over two burners.  I just don’t have the patience to cook two pancakes at a time in a medium skillet for 10 minutes.  Next, time I think I’d rather have a handful of Dunkin Donut Munchkins and call it a day.

Ricotta-Lemon Pancakes (originally published in Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Healthful Cooking).
Serves 4 (Note: If they don’t stick to the pan).

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup 1-percent milk
3 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Kosher salt
Pinch of cream of tartar
4 cups mixed berries such as whole blueberries and raspberries or trimmed and sliced strawberries
1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon juice
1 teaspoon canola oil
1-2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Preheat over to 250 F (120 C)

Place the ricotta in a large bowl. Add the milk, egg yolks, and granulated sugar and whisk together until blended. Add the flour, lemon zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and using a rubber spatula, fold until just blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and the cream of tartar and, using a whisk or a handheld electric mixer set on medium speed, beat until soft peaks form. Using the rubber spatula, carefully fold the beaten whites into the ricotta mixture just until blended.

In a bowl, combine the berries and lemon juice and stir gently to blend. Set aside.

Place a large nonstick griddle or frying pan with low sloping sides over medium heat until hot enough for a drop of water to sizzle and then immediately evaporate. Brush the surface with a thin film of canola oil. For each pancake, ladle a scant 1/3 cup batter onto the hot surface. Reduce the heat to a medium-low and cook until small bubbles appear around the edges of the pancakes and the bottoms are lightly browned, 4-5 minutes. Carefully turn and cook until the other sides are lightly browned, 2-3 minutes longer. Transfer to an ovenproof platter and place in the oven to keep warm; do not cover the pancakes or they will get soggy. Repeat with the remaining batter. You will have enough batter to make 12 pancakes, each about 3 inches in diameter.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, dust the warm pancakes generously with confectioners’ sugar to taste. Serve the pancakes with the berries on the side.

Local eatery b.good is having a contest to name their new salad. It contains baby spinach, arugula, blue cheese, dried cherries, dried apples, almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette. One of the options is the “Cherie Johnson.” Obviously I voted for that. Punky Power! And because I want nothing more than to be able to order a “Cherie Johnson” salad of my very own, you should go vote for it too! If you don’t, Cherie might be stuck in that abandoned refrigerator in the backyard forever and we wouldn’t want that to happen now would we?!

So…I’ve put myself on a diet. Not a Nicole Ritchie starvation diet or anything, just a normal watch what you eat, and exercise more often diet. I’ve been feeling awful lately so it needed to be done. I hope to accomplish simple things like stop making Chocolate Chip Cookie dough just to eat Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, and lay off the second helpings of pasta.

That means there will probably be a few more recipes like these:
Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu
Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw
Fettuccini with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce

And a few less recipes like these:
Peanut Butter Fudge
Double Shot Chocolate Cake
Aunt Joyce’s Brownies

To assist me in this endeavor I’ve enlisted a fabulous little online tool called “My Food Diary.” My Food Diary is absolutely brilliant! For the bargain price of $9 a month (less than two Grande Non-Fat White Chocolate Mochas) you can track your food consumption online — my favorite place in the world.

After entering your height and scary weight info it tells you how many calories you can eat in a day while still losing a pound per week. The most conveniant part is that they have a huge searchable database of food items (everything from Quaker to P.F. Changs) that you can manually add to your day’s tally. You can also enter nutritional information for products that are missing from the site and save them for future use in your “fridge.” In addition, MFD allows you to add recipes ingredient by ingredient. Then you enter how many servings the recipe is and voila — those cookies are 175 calories a piece. Oh My God! Ahhh! I just had 5…

Anyway, it really takes so much of the guess work out of counting calories and fat. It definitely makes me think twice about what I eat and don’t eat. For instance a conversation in my head might go something like this:

Do I really need to eat those Thin Mints? Ugh…Yes! But then I have to log them on My Food Diary and I wont make my goal, and they’ll give me frowns at the end of the day instead of smiley faces. *sigh* I guess I don’t need the cookies…

You’d be surprised how powerful the little “smiley and frown” breakdowns are. If you exercise, you not only get to eat more food, but you also get a big green smiley! If you consume too much sodium MFD frowns at you. There are other “bells and whistles” too like forums, and inspirational quotes…if you’re into that sort of thing. Anyway, that’s the last time you’ll probably hear about this whole diet thing, because this is a food blog and I like to cook and eat, but I do think that moderation is my biggest obstacle to overcome and MFD definitely helps give me some excellent perspective on hunger and portion control.

My love of potatoes knows no bounds. I’m especially fond of breakfast potatoes. This morning when I woke up and started rummaging around in the refrigerator for something to eat on this bright Sunday morning I was instantly drawn to last nights leftover casserole of scalloped potatoes, zucchini, red peppers and ham. “Eat me Erin! Eat me Erin,” it seemed to call from under its snug Press’n-Seal cover. I somehow managed to resist the cheesy temptation momentarily before I moved on to another, slightly more morning appropriate option. I decided to make sweetly spiced sweet potato latkes and bake them. Baking was the ultimate concession as yesterday morning I shamelessly coaxed CK into picking up a box of munchkins for us to snack on all day.

These latkes are thicker than the baked russet potato version that I made previously, and much more hash-brown like in consistency. Don’t forget to top them with your favorite condiments. I prefer sour cream, light of course — sticking with the whole donut guilt theme, but apple sauce or a fruity yogurt would also be a great addition.

Peel & Prep	Grate (the Easy Way)
Combine Potatoes & Spices	Drop by 1/3-Cupfuls
Flatten	Sweet Potato Latkes on Parade

Baked Sweet Potato Latkes (based on the recipe originally published in Women’s Health Magazine)
Makes 12 Latkes

2 pounds grated sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use a silpat.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Drop by 1/3-cupfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten with spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes; flip and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve with light sour cream and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

For the most part I try to bring my lunch from home, but on Friday’s I like to go out and leave the office far far behind. After all, a girl can only handle so many Amy’s Frozen Dinners and Lean Cuisines in a week. I tend to take the T to The Pru and meet CK on these days. Lately we’ve been having a lot of lunch dates at PF Changs.

I’d describe PF Changs as the asian Olive Garden. It tastes good, the portions are large, and the wait staff tempts you mercilessly with sinful deserts. Just wait until they wave the Great Wall of Chocolate cake in front of your eyes (all 2200 calories of it). It’s painful to decline, but a necessity since the lunch portion of basic Beef and Broccoli packs a whopping 900 calories (without the rice). I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to consume that many empty calories they better be wine or cheesecake based.

So Asian take-out dishes are a “no no” and will cause much internal grief by forcing you to choose between rice or Happy Hour…not if you make Ellie Krieger’s Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame and Tofu. You can eat a cup and a half of this dish (if made to exact specifications) and you’ll only consume 400 calories. Plus all of the tofu, brown rice, and vegetables are incredibly filling and I guarantee that you won’t experience post lunch hunger pains (damn you Lean Cuisines!)

Never cooked with, bought, or looked at Tofu before? Well neither had I! Yes, this was my first foray into cooking with Tofu. It honestly couldn’t have been easier, just drain it and slice. I actually used the whole 14 ounce block of Tofu in this recipe (as opposed to the 6 ounces called for). Mostly because I had no idea what I was going to do with half a block of leftover tofu and I hated the thought of it just going to waste; so into the rice it went. And for once I’m looking forward to a non-Friday lunch!

Dice & Slice	Make Rice
Slice the Tofu (Don’t Be Scared)	Heat Garlic, Ginger & Scallions
Add Rice, Veggies & Tofu	Scramble the Eggs
Stir in Soy Sauce	Actual Serving Size

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame and Tofu (Originally Published by Ellie Krieger)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided
2 large cloves garlic, minced
4 scallions, greens included, rinsed, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 cups leftover cooked brown rice
3/4 cup finely diced red pepper
3/4 cup cooked, shelled edamame
1/2 cup fresh or frozen, thawed, corn
6 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or large skillet until very hot. Add the garlic, scallions and ginger and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice, red pepper, edamame, corn and tofu and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Make a 3-inch well in the center of the rice mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of canola oil, then add the eggs and cook until nearly fully scrambled. Stir the eggs into the rice mixture, then add soy sauce and incorporate thoroughly. Serve hot.

One of my favorite new finds (ok…so Chris found it, not me) since moving back to Boston is B. Good. B. Good is a small chain with one store located in Harvard Square, one in Back Bay, and another soon to be opened in Coolidge Corner (my old home turf). B. Good is all about providing hungry consumers with healthy fast food alternatives. They serve baked french fries (which I’ve been duplicating in my own kitchen pretty successfully lately), lean cuts of meat, and poultry that is hormone and anti-biotic free. Their burgers are topped off with an array of fresh vegetables and delicious sauces and served on whole wheat buns. I’m the self-proclaimed “Queen of Cheese” and on my first visit I didn’t even realize that my burger didn’t have any on it at all — that’s how delicious these are! Their menu is small but so full of flavor you’re guaranteed to enjoy anything that you try. I tend to order the Carolina BBQ Turkey burger most often since I’m in love with the tangy/spicy sauce, and at only 325 calories it doesn’t completely ruin all of the yoga and elliptical work I’ve been doing lately. In addition, B. Good lists the nutritional information for all of their menu items right in plain sight so you know exactly what you’re eating even before you order it. I honestly can’t gush enough about this place! So if you’re in the area and looking for a quick and healthy bite to eat definitely stop by. I know you wont be disappointed!

PS: They have amazing shakes too made with skim milk and non fat yogurt — so delish!