«

08 AugLow in Fat – High in Protein!

No Comments »
Print This Post Print This Post

Hooray – we are still eating healthy after three months!!   Thanks to the 90 day extreme fitness program we are following, everyone in the family has lost weight…not to mention looking and feeling better.     I’m always on the lookout for recipes for snacks that are a great source of lean protein.

One of the snacks we need to eat regularly is turkey jerky…but, have you seen the price of it in the stores??    The only kind we can find at our local supermarket comes in a tiny 3 oz. bag and costs $6.   Unbelievable!!

Faced with that cost shocker, I knew I had to make my own.   Here is the recipe I’ve used – hope you enjoy it!

Turkey Jerky

Ingredients:

2 lbs. boneless skinless turkey breast

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

3 Tablespoons honey

1 Tablespoon chile-garlic paste (we use sriracha – the kind with the rooster on the label)

2 teaspoons dried chile flakes

Instructions:

Cover turkey breasts with plastic wrap and freeze for two hours (this makes cutting much easier).  When turkey is ready, place on a cutting board, trim any visible membranes and slice into long slices about 1/4 inch thick.   Try to make the strips as uniform as possible to ensure even drying.

turkey jerky

ready to dehydrate

Place all marinade ingredients in a resealable plastic bag and add turkey strips.  Toss thoroughly to coat and place in the refrigerator for 12 hours, turning occasionally.

Remove turkey from the refrigerator, place in a colander to drain off excess marinade and let come to room temperature for 30 minutes.  I drain over a large bowl and freeze the extra marinade to use as a starter for the next batch.

Remove the racks from the oven, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Heat the oven to 170 degrees.  Blot any excess marinade from the turkey strips with paper towels and arrange across the oven racks.  I use a vegetable steamer basket for any strips that are too small for the oven racks.

Place the racks back in the oven and dehydrate jerky until dry – about 2 hours.  for chewier jerky, dry an additional 1/2 hour.

finished turkey jerky

ready to package!

Cool completely and store in plastic bags in the refrigerator.  For longer storage, you can use a vacuum sealer if you have one.   I weigh the jerky on my kitchen scale and package in one ounce portions.

PS – if you have a dehydrator, just use the same ingredients and follow the directions that came with your unit for making jerky.

Category(s): Food Experiments, Snacks, Uncategorized
Tag(s): , , , ,

27 JunSummertime….and the livin’ is easy

1 Comment »
Print This Post Print This Post

Well,  it’s not like I haven’t been cooking all this time…it’s just that I haven’t been blogging about it!!   Shame on me…I know!   I am happy to report that we are still following our great new healthy eating plan and I have some fabulous recipes to share with you.

One of the evening meals on our 90 day plan calls for artichokes as a side dish.  They don’t give you a recipe so I took the liberty to make grilled artichokes – which is our favorite way to eat them.  (well there’s a Paula Deen artichoke dip that’s awesome, but healthy it’s not.  So let’s not torture ourselves by talking about that right now).

Okay, back to the grilled artichokes:  this could not be any easier.

Trim 2 artichokes (go here for a video about that) and cover with cold water and two quartered lemons in a large stockpot.   Bring water to a boil and simmer for about 30 mins.   Carefully remove the artichokes, let them cool for a while and cut in half.

While the artichokes are simmering, make a basting sauce:
4 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme

1/2 lemon, juiced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pre-heat grill to medium high heat.

Brush both sides of cut artichokes with the basting sauce.

Place on grill with cut side down….grill for about 5 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don’t start to burn!).  Turn and grill cut side up for another 5 minutes or so.

Serve on a platter drizzled with the remaining basting sauce.

Enjoy….if you try it, let me know what you think by leaving a comment below!


Artichoke

Category(s): Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Meals
Tag(s): , ,

29 AprMy Own Personal Cooking Challenge…

No Comments »

Up at 6:15 am on Day One: chopping, sauteing, mixing, measuring, actually FOLLOWING recipes!! What in the world is going on?? I’m barely a morning person at all.  I don’t cook this early and I don’t cook like this!

Well, my dearest hubby (bless his heart!) has started a 90 day program to get himself even more fit and fabulous than he already is.   And I have committed myself to helping him with the nutrition part of the program. So while he is doing serious cardio and strength training in the early morning hours, I’m in the kitchen fixing his breakfast and lunch for the day.   Oh the things we do for love…  :)

Repeat after me: "I can do this"

As a household we are not breakfast eaters AT ALL during the workweek so this is already a big change. But my challenge is that the food part of the program is VERY specific about ingredients and amounts. Am I up to it?? So far, so good….although the flurry of activity this morning left my kitchen a total wreck!

So, I pulled out my kitchen scales and measuring cups and made a mushroom omelette and cottage cheese with blackberries for his breakfast. And a chef’s salad, all chopped and stored in little containers, for his lunch.  I’m NEVER hungry at 7 am, so even though it was yummy and healthy, none of this even looked good to me! (I had yogurt and granola at about 9:30…my normal breakfast time).

Yes, all the recipes are totally do-able. Yes, they are totally healthy. Yes, we will all benefit from the family dinners. Yes, I will miss cooking with butter and cream and cheese and having bread and making up recipes based on what’s on sale and what is seasonal and great. But I will do this for my sweetie and after the 90 days is up I’m sure we will all have learned something we can take with us going forward.  (and if I drop a pound or two…well, that would be a great bonus!)

So, here’s to good health and wish me luck with my part of the Challenge!   And if any of the recipes are share-worthy, I’ll post them here!

Category(s): Food Experiments
Tag(s): ,

16 AprRotisserie Chicken….you know you love it!

1 Comment »
Print This Post Print This Post

Yep, I’m talking about the kind of roasted chicken you can buy at your local grocery store. Sometimes we just have to give in and buy one – and it’s always an easy meal the first night, plus some great chicken salad a couple days later, plus a batch of delicious chicken broth to have in the freezer. All this for less than five dollars – WOW!

Yes, I love making delicious roasted chicken from scratch, and there’s nothing better than using the rotisserie on the grill but last weekend was just one of those times I needed something fast, cheap, and yummy to feed the family. Busy with yard work, we took a late afternoon trip to our local Sam’s Club and came home with what we call chicken for the pickin’ to have for dinner. (that phrase was coined by my daughter a long time ago).

Then a couple days later, here’s what we came up with for a new Chicken Salad (note: there are only three of us so the leftover chicken made just enough for one dinner. If you have more in your family, you may need to buy two rotisserie chickens, or eat less!)

Tex-Mex Chicken Salad
Makes about 2 cups
Serve with tortilla triangles or chips

Dressing:
3 Tbsp Sour Cream
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
mix together in a small bowl and set aside

Salad:
1 1/2 cups (approx) chopped or shredded rotisserie chicken meat
3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed – broiled until browned
1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup diced avocado
2 Tbsp thinly sliced green onion
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp minced fresh jalapeno

Spread corn in a single layer on a baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper and broil for a few minutes until it is browned.
Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Add dressing and browned corn. Toss together and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste before serving.

We made tortilla triangles to serve with the salad. Cut your favorite flour tortillas into wedges (we used the whole wheat kind). Lay on a baking sheet and brush lightly with olive oil. sprinkle with salt and broil for just a couple minutes. Keep an eye on them!! I confess I burned the first batch so hubby took over and cooked the rest of them :) Hey, it happens!!

Today I’m making chicken broth with what was left of the chicken and a few veggies from the fridge…..it smells wonderful and I’ll have several cups of broth to keep in the freezer for using in soups, or whatever, in the future.

Have any great chicken salad recipes you want to share? Leave a comment!
Bye for now….

Category(s): Recipes
Tag(s): , , , ,

05 AprWholly Guacamole….

No Comments »
Print This Post Print This Post

Inspired by our recent lunch in San Antonio, I decided to try and re-create the guacamole we had at Boudro’s Bistro. It turned out great!!

Best guacamole ever!

Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients:
2 Avocados (soft-to-the-touch ripe, of course)
3 tomatoes (I used two small packages of cherry tomatoes because they were buy one, get one free)
Peppers (I used one red, one yellow, and one anaheim – use jalapeno if you want more heat)
1/2 orange
1 lime
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt

Directions:
Prepare the tomatoes: halve or quarter the tomatoes and get out as much juice and seeds as you can. Use your own favorite method…I just take my thumb and smoosh all the liquid and seeds out. This is important because you don’t want a soggy guacamole! Place tomatoes on baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt and broil for approx five minutes. Turn them over and go about another 5 mins under the broiler. Keep an eye on them…they should be brown but not burned. When they are done, you can take the skins off if you want.

Prepare the peppers: (you can put them on the same baking sheet as the tomatoes). Cut peppers in half or quarters and scrape out insides. Broil with the tomatoes. It’s okay if the skins have blackened spots.

Once these are done, chop tomatoes and peppers and place in a bowl together. Set aside
Chop the onion and place in a bowl. Set aside
Chop the cilantro and place in a bowl. Set aside
Halve the lime and the orange. Set aside
Halve and seed the avocados. Set aside

Avocado on FoodistaAvocado

Okay, now you have all your ingredients ready…here comes the fun part!

In a large bowl (I’m going to ask Santa for one of those cool guacamole bowls!), squeeze the 1/2 orange (pick out any seeds).
Then squeeze in the lime.
Then put all the avocados in and cube them up into nice chunks with a knife and fork.
Then add the tomato/pepper mixture
Then add the chopped onion
Then add the cilantro
Add kosher salt to taste

Toss it all together and grab your friends and a bag of tortilla chips. It will go really fast so I suggest you double or triple this recipe if you have more than 4 people. We ate it all in one sitting – it probably won’t save very well so plan to eat it all right away.

Muy Delicioso….Try it and let me know what you think. Did you change anything?

Category(s): Uncategorized
Tag(s): ,
« Older Entries