Broccoli Salad - Debbie style

I used Paula Deen's recipe but made a few changes; I blanched the broccoli a couple of minutes (raw broccoli and I don't mix well), I used stevia instead of sugar and pecans instead of raisins. Came out delish!
Here is the recipe I altered;
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/broccoli-salad-recipe.html

Cheesy Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Quick and easy dinner idea.

I'm sorry the picture just doesn't do them justice, they were way more delicious than they look here.

Ingredients

4 large Portobello Mushrooms

2 yellow onions, sliced

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 cups frozen spinach

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 oz. cream cheese)

2 oz. crumbled feta cheese

sea salt and pepper to taste.

Turn oven broiler to high.

Rinse tops of mushrooms and remove any debris. Wipe with a paper towel. Remove and chop just the stems and set them aside. 

Place mushroom caps top side up on a tray and broil for 5 min. Then turn them over and broil another 5 min. This will draw the moisture out, make sure the mushrooms are not so close to the broiler that they burn. Once they are done remove them from the oven and set aside.

Sauté the onions in the coconut oil until golden (not browned) and then add the spinach, chopped stems, nutmeg and cayenne, continue sautéing. Once the spinach is tender turn down the heat and add the cream cheese. Once the cream cheese has been completely mixed in, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the mushroom caps on their tops and fill the well with the onion/spinach mixture. Top with feta cheese and place the filled caps back under the broiler until the feta is lightly browned. 

Enjoy, and make sure you share!

Lamb Stuffed Acorn Squash

We love Winter Squash, but we mostly stick with Spagetti and Butternut Squash. I ventured out a little and decided to use Acorn which I have only prepared a couple of times. I saw a stuffed Acorn squash recipe recently but I didn't take the time to see what they stuffed it with, I just thought the picture looked delicious. I choose to stuff it with lamb because I could season it with spices I thought would be complementary with the Acorn squash, it was!

Ingredients:

2 Acorn Squash

1 pound ground lamb

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp organic worchestershire sauce 

1 tsp sea salt, plus a little.

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp cardamom 

1/2 tsp nutmeg, plus a little.

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes

Cut squash in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds and season with a little sea salt and nutmeg. 

Mix the lamb with the rest of the ingredients and stuff in the acorn halves.

Place in baking pan, I used aluminum foil to "cup" them so they would sit up straight.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven until the lamb registers 155 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.

These were delicious, but I revisited this recipe and made the following changes:

1. I roasted the halves cut side down for 40 minutes in 375 degree oven.

2. While the halves were roasting, I browned the onions in a little coconut oil, added the meat and seasonings plus 1 tsp of Garam Marsala and browned the meat throughly. Lastly, I turned the heat down to low and put a lid on the pan until the acorn squash was done.

3. Once the squash was cooked, carefully scoop out as much flesh as you can without destroying the shell (you will not remove all of the squash because the shell is very thin).

4. Mix the flesh with the meat mixture and refill the the shells.

5. Top with goat cheese and place in the oven on broil until the cheese is browned a little.

This tastes even better than the original and is a lot simpler.

Mediterranean Chicken (in the pressure cooker of course!)

I prepared Mediterranean Chicken for our Nutrition Connect meeting this month. I am trying to win others over to pressure-cooking, it is safe, easy and so fast. I am amazed at the great meals that you can put together in very little time.

Ingredients:

• A 3-4 pound chicken
• 1-2 TBSP. Coconut Oil (or cooking oil of choice)
• 2 1/2 cups frozen, bell pepper/onion mix (you can use fresh as well)
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes (you can use fresh, you will need 8)
• garlic powder
• dried basil 
• dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• sea salt

I did not put down measured amounts of the spices because you can adjust to personal taste, start with 1 tsp of everything and you can add more or less as desired. 

 I cut the chicken up, it is easiest to put the cutting board in the sink and cut it up there. After you are finished, you can wash your cutting board and sink, rinse then sanitize both. (Sanitizer recipe - 1 cup water, 2 drops of plain un-scented bleach, spray or slosh over the entire surface of the sink, don't forget the back splash, water handles and sprayer attachment, leave on for two minutes).

Season the cut up chicken with the garlic powder, basil, oregano and sea salt.

Heat 1 TBSP. of coconut oil in pressure cooker pot and melt over med-high heat.

 Saute bell pepper/onion mixture until onions are translucent and water is mostly reduced (do not completely dry it out). Remove peppers from pot and set aside.

 Add one more TBSP. of coconut oil to pot if needed. Brown seasoned chicken pieces.

Once chicken is browned, add peppers/onion mix, tomatoes and bay leaf.                                                                                                                                                        

 Place lid on cooker and build pressure over high heat. Once pressure has built start timer for 8 minutes and turn heat down to medium (this will vary according to type and model of cooker).  When timer goes off, remove pot from heat and vent. When venting is complete the lock will disengage and you can remove the lid (be careful of steam, the contents are very hot). Remove bay leaf. You can serve as-is or over "Riced" Cauliflower.

Enjoy!

"Riced" Cauliflower

This is a wonderful substitute for those who want rice but are trying to limit their carbohydrate intake (I wouldn't try it in rice-pudding though ;-)

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Chop fresh cauliflower florets into rice-sized pieces. You can use the shredder attachment on your food processor to make this process quicker. Place chopped/shredded cauliflower into an oiled cast iron frying pan. I used coconut oil, you could also use butter or regular (not extra-virgin olive oil).

Roast cauliflower until it starts to get brown flecks, stir and then continue roasting. Keep an eye on it you do not want to burn your cauliflower. It may take as long as 25 minutes to complete, quicker if you are using a convection oven.

 Once browned, remove from oven and season as you would rice, I used butter, sea salt and pepper.

Coconut and Almond Crusted Fish

You know that eating fish is good for you,
but are you eating it on a regular basis? You should be at least 2 six ounce servings per week. Fish is brain food, rich in Omega 3. Some fish are higher in Omega 3 than others, but all fish are part of a healthy diet. Coconut and Almond Crusted Fish is a delicious way to enjoy fish and easy to prepare (it is also low-carb with 6 net carbs per serving).

32 ounces of fish (eight fillets) I used frozen Barramundi from BJ's
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp of Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp of Lemon or Lime Juice 
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
2 cups of ground almonds (or use almond flour)
2 cup or un-sweetened flake coconut  (you can make your own, you will have milk as well, you want to use the strained solids).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Defrost fish if necessary. Mix mayo, mustard, juice, 1 tsp salt and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl mix coconut and almonds. Coat fish fillets in mayo/mustard mixture and then coat the fish with almond/coconut mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.

Here are some neat NC Fish websites:

http://marinersmenu.org/
http://www.fishwatch.gov/

Low Carb Pie Shell

My co-worker Lori inspired me to make Quiche for dinner. Even though Quiche is a Recipe I have covered before, I needed to change the shell to fit into a low-carb eating plan. This shell  has about 2 grams of Carbohydrate per serving (1 shell serves eight). 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup shredded Unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tsp sea salt

Mix ingredients, it should form a soft dough, if it is too loose add a little more flour.





Mix dough by hand for about 1 minute until a ball is formed. You are going to roll the dough out. It is easiest to do this between two sheets of waxed paper. I didn't have waxed paper so I used plastic wrap. Wrap a cutting board  with the plastic wrap, put the ball on top and cover with another piece of plastic wrap.

Roll out the dough between the two sheets of waxed paper (or plastic wrap).  Then you need to flip it onto the pie dish and peel off the plastic wrap. Be careful because the shell might crack and fall apart.








Fit the shell into the pie plate, press out any cracks and replace any pieces that may have fallen off. Smooth out the shell into dish.

Now you can follow the quiche recipe. DO NOT PRE-BAKE THIS SHELL. Coconut flour cooks a whole lot faster than wheat flour. Bake in the center of the oven and cover the filled shell with aluminum foil to protect against burning.

What a Low Carb Breakfast Looks Like

I want to thank Anne Houston for sharing her breakfast with us. If you are wondering what to have for breakfast when following a Low Carbohydrate Diet, take a look at what she whipped up: Veggies (peppers, spinach, onions, jalapenos) Eileen's (Head) eggs and turkey bacon. When Anne emailed her photo she added "yummy" and it certainly looks yummy. Thanks Anne.

Send me pictures of your low carb creations and I will post them.