Salmon Poached in Herb Broth

David asked if I would make “the salmon in the broth”…I knew what he meant, I love the dish. You really cannot eat anything that is as tasty and healthy as this in the springtime, a perfect lunch or dinner.  This was the dinner we had after my birthday lunch at Chez Panisse, even Cooper loved it.

This recipe can be altered to fit a pre competition (not less than 6 weeks out for me) or a dieter, or a non dieter, just by not adding the olive oil.

Don’t let this recipe scare you, in fact, I have made this with almost completely different ingredients and it has been wonderful. I have used chervil instead of tarragon, shallots instead of green onions,  fava beans instead of peas, because I believe that cooking is an art, not a science and you shouldn’t worry about measurements or specific ingredients too much!

This is salmon that is poached in an herb broth, served with spring vegetables such as sweet peas, favas or asparagus (I use all!)

For 3

½ bunch tarragon (1 tablespoon chopped and set aside)

½ bunch chives (1 tablespoon chopped and set aside)

1 ½ cups water

½ cup white wine

½ cup parsley leaves

2 medium green onions, white and light green parts cut into thirds

1 celery rib, cut into thirds

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 large thyme sprig

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

1 ½ by ½ inch strip lemon zest

Kosher salt

3 6 ounce skinless center-cut salmon fillets

½ cup fresh shelled peas (or frozen)

½ cup blanched asparagus, cut into ½ inch pieces

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a medium saucepan, combine the unchopped tarragon and chives with the water, wine, parsley leaves, green onions, celery, garlic, thyme, coriander seeds, peppercorns, lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to moderate and simmer the broth for 20 minutes.

 Strain the vegetable-herb broth into a very large skillet; discard the solids. 

Bring the vegetable-herb broth to a simmer. Season the salmon with salt and carefully add the fillets to the skillet, skinned side up. Bring the broth back to a simmer. Cover the skillet and reduce the heat to moderately low.

Cook the salmon for 3 minutes, then turn the fillets and add the fresh peas. Cover and cook until the peas and asparagus (or favas) are bright green and the salmon is barely cooked through, about 4 minutes.  (Yes I have an extra piece of salmon, it was a funny shaped piece and it was removed very quickly and eaten as a snack!)

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the salmon to shallow bowls and scatter the vegetables on top. Whisk the olive oil into the broth. Pour the broth over the salmon, sprinkle with the chopped tarragon and chives and serve. 

Ground Turkey Breast

I found this at Smart and Final. I have never seen EXTRA lean ground turkey breast!

Now, to most people this isn't a big deal, but to someone like me, who is just starting to diet for a Figure competition, this is a fantastic treat!

There is a huge difference between losing weight and losing body fat. I never want to lose weight, I only ever lose body fat.

When you lose weight, all you do is drastically cut calories, do way too much cardio, and you become smaller.

A "mini me"

So, if you have ugly saddlebags now, you will still have them when you lose weight, but they will just be smaller. (I guess this is a whole other post).

When dieting down to lose all your excess body fat, you retain the lean body mass and lose the fat only, so those saddle bags? Gone, like magic.

The trick is eating the right foods. And one of the "must do's" is limiting your fat intake. I didn't say eliminate, I said limit. You still need some "good fats" (and I suppose this is yet another post).

Fat has more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrate. It's really easy to be fooled by labels, so you need to learn to read them.

For instance, many people think "ground turkey" is fine. Well, it is not. Ground turkey is loaded with skin and fat. very, very bad, might as well eat a nice tasty piece of beef.

Ground turkey BREAST is what you want. But it comes in different fat percentages, just like ground beef does.

Usually I can find 93% fat free, but this is 99% !!!

You cannot always count on the label to give you the low down though, you need to know how to figure it out for yourself. Here is how:

Look at the label for the grams of fat and the calories. In the instance of this turkey, the fat grams are 1.5 grams and the calories are 120. Figure out the percentage:

Grams of fat x 9 = fat calories

divide by Total calories= % Fat

1.5x 9 = 13.50 fat calories
divided by 120 total calories = .11% fat


Ideally you want to eat foods that are 10% or less fat.

What did I do with my extra lean ground turkey? I made chorizo, and then sauteed it and mixed it with egg whites and spinach. Yum!

In a bog bowl combine (hands work great) the 20 ounce package of turkey, 2 Tbsps chili powder, 2 Tbsps chipotle powder, 3 Tbsp white vinegar, 1 Tbsp oregano crumbled, pepper and 3 cloves garlic crushed.

This is not science, use more or less, all one kind of chili, use garlic powder instead of salt. I then formed it into patties and froze them, except for the 2 ounces I had with my egg whites and spinach.

Halibut Soup

I love soup! I made this and enjoyed it quite a bit. It is an adaptation from a recipe from my cookbook "Gourmet Nutrition" by Dr. John Berardi.

I love his recipe but didn't have all the ingredients and I rarely run to the store for something when a craving hits, I just make due with what I have.

So how did I make this?

I first started out by hitting the fish market on the way home from work for some halibut, one of my favorites. Then I went home and looked in the fridge to see what jumped out at me.

I sauteed some chopped onion in coconut oil, then added garlic, smoked Spanish paprika and a few tablespoons chicken broth.

I added a few cups more chicken broth and an 1/8 cup quinoa and then simmered about 10 minutes, until the quinoa was cooked.

I added some chopped carrots, some peas and lots of chopped dried kelp. The kelp is a fantastic flavor! Then I let is simmer about 5 minutes.

I sauteed my halibut in a separate pan until just cooked through and then poured the soup into a huge bowl, pulled the fish apart into large chunks and added it to the soup.

Soup is so easy to make, by using some strong flavored ingredients such as onions, garlic and paprika, you are guaranteed a great broth.

The peas and quinoa serve as the starch, get used to eating your soups without bread!

Slow Cooker Turkey Lasagna

I love lasagna. I rarely eat it though as it is not unusual for a serving to contain well over 1000 calories, not to mention all the saturated fat.

I saw a recipe on Facebook from Recipes for Gals in Figure and Bodybuilding, Jen posts all sorts of recipes that are simple and usually really low calorie. I decided to give this a try and I was really pleasantly surprised!

I will make a few changes and adjust a few things next time. First, I am not a slow cooker kinda gal! I actually got a beautiful, huge one for Christmas in 2009, and I just opened it today. So that means I have had it for 10 months and never even opened the box.  I need to use it a few more times to get used to it I think.

Some of the edges of my lasagna were extremely dark and crispy, I guess you might say "burned" but as long as I chucked out those pieces, the rest was fine. The recipe said to cook 4 to 5 hours on high, I set it for 4 1/2 and I guess 4 was sufficient! I would suggest that you just check it periodically.

Also, I think I might saute my onions and garlic first, then add the turkey. This way the onions can get a caramelized, sweet flavor. I also realize as I type this that I forgot the nutmeg...and as far as "cooking wine"- never cook with anything that you wouldn't drink!

I must caution you, this isn't going to satisfy anyone who loves lasagna.It does not have the silky, tender pasta or rich, meaty sauce with the melting cheese running throughout.  But, I love a lean body, and the thought of eating all those calories just puts me off, it would undo everytihng I work so hard for.

So, given my goals, and the fact that I need to make a choice and also like some variety in my life, I enjoyed this.

What did the family think? My husband David didn't say much, (his mother taught him that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all), and he didn't finish it .

My son Cooper said it was OK, but then said "this is turkey isn't it?! Lasagna  needs beef!" and he ate almost all of it, but only because he was hungry.

Maybe the fact that I slightly burned it had something to do with this, I have never prided myself on "slow cooker cooking" because I don't consider that cooking at all, so maybe it was my lack of technique.  I mean I can whip up a souffle, a cassoulet, a tart, but this dumb as a doornail slow cooker recipe seemed to get the better of me.

I will make it again (for myself) though!

Here is the recipe as she gave it:

Makes 10 servings (10 average servings or 8 large ones)

Ingredients:
 
6 oz whole wheat lasagna noodles (basically enough for 2 layers)

12 oz 99% fat-free ground turkey (precooked on the stove top)

1/2 cup fat-free cottage cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (could sub for fat-free, but I didn't have any one hand)

8 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

6 oz low-fat part skim mozzarella cheese

6 oz can tomato paste

29 oz tomato sauce

1 cup chopped white onion

2 minced garlic cloves

2 tbs dried parsley (divided)

Mrs. Dash to taste

1/4 cup red cooking wine

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

Saute turkey, onion, and garlic til browned and tender. Add tomato paste, sauce, 1 tbs parsley, and Mrs. Dash to meat mixture. Simmer for a few minutes on low. Remove from heat. Stir in cooking wine and set aside.

In another bowl mix all cheeses along with 1 tbs parsley and nutmeg.
Spoon one layer of turkey mixture into bottom of slow cooker. Add one layer of dry lasagna noodles (you'll have to break them to make them fit). Add layer of cheese and then turkey mixture. Repeat again with noodles, cheese, turkey. Top lasagna with a pinch of parsley, cheese (optional) and 1-2 more tbs of cooking wine.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for around 4-5.

Nutrition:
Calories: 266
Total Fat 7.4g
Cholesterol 36.7mg
Sodium 868.8mg
Total Carbohydrate 25.85g
Dietary Fiber 3.38g
Sugars 10.51g
Protein 23g

Butternut Squash and Turkey Soup

This soup was very nice, creamy (yet no cream), spicy and very healthy.

It is from the Precision Nutrition Cookbook by Dr. John Berardi.

I love soup. I usually tend to make the broth based soups because I just cannot eat the cream, so having one with a creamy texture is great!

This is one I would make again, and it was easy to do.  This serves 8 ( a big guy gets double)


Soup Base:

1 Tbsp coconut oil
5 cups butternut squash (skin removed, roughly chopped)
1 cup roughly chopped onion
1 Tbsp grated or minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup water

Soup Garnish:

1 lb, 10 ounces ground turkey
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

Olive Oil cooking spray

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

 

Soup base:

Preheat large pot on medium high heat, add coconut oil and squash, saute until lightly browned. Add onion, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg and 2 Tbsp of broth; saute for 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Add remaining vegetable broth and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until squash is soft (approximately 30 minutes). Prepare garnish while soup base is cooking. Let soup cool a few minutes. Puree in blender or food processor until smooth and pour back into pot.

Soup Garnish:

Season turkey with salt, pepper and cumin. Preheat large non-stick frying pan on medium heat and lightly coat with spray. Saute turkey until lightly browned and completely cooked, breaking up meat into small crumbles. Add cooked turkey and cilantro to soup base. Reheat and serve immediately or portion soup into storage containers. To maintain tenderness of meat, avoid bring soup to a boil after meat has been added.

I make one batch, and do not add the garnish. I divide the base into 8 servings (7 containers and 1 small pot), and then mike the turkey and cilantro together, and divide that equally between the 8 containers. I have one bowl for dinner and other 7 go in the freezer for later.

Calories 219.8

fat 9.8 grams

carbs 14.3 grams

sugar 2.6 grams

protein 18.8 grams

Pincho Morunos Chicken

I am forever attempting to keep the family well fed and happy, and maintain my fairly strict diet at the same time.

For those of you have have known me long, it is no news that my hobby used to be cooking.  In fact, I even won the "build a better burger" contest for the western United States for my Gorgonzola Beefburger with Sun dried Tomato relish...I have always loved burgers.

I made this dish with pork tenderloins for the boys, and I  used ground chicken breast to make some 'patties" for myself. The only difference was theirs had olive oil in the marinade, I left that out of mine. They loved it, said it was a
keeper and I liked mine too!

This makes 8 patties

2 pounds ground chicken or turkey breast (only use breast, the other stuff is skin, fat, garbage, don't use it).
1/2 medium onion minced fine
2 cloves garlic minced fine
1 Tbsp parsley minced fine
1 1/2 tsp Spanish paprika (I like agri-dulce)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp saffron threads (I know it's expensive so leave it out if you don't have it) I am lucky that my brother lives in Spain and it is cheap there! My sister is bringing some back this month in fact.

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp dry sherry or dry white wine

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together. It will be a sticky mess!  Form into balls as best you can, wrap individually in plastic wrap, then "shape" into patties to freeze them.

Heat a cast iron skillet and spray with olive oil cooking spray, fry on each side until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. You can tell by pressing on the patty, it should be quite firm when done.

Great with lemon squeezed all over...

If you are cooking for someone who is not watching oil intake, you would mix 1 1/2 Tbsps olive oil in the marinade, and marinade whole pork tenderloins or pork chops several hours or overnight. Bar B Que over medium high heat.

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

I am in heaven!

I made turkey meatballs and had them with shirataki noodles for lunch. Life has blossomed again! 

I adapted this recipe from musclemag and changed the proportions since it was designed for a huge bodybuilding male. 

To be completely truthful, it isn't as good as the big, beefy, breadcrumb laden, olive oil coated, Parmesan cheese meatballs that I make for my family (and if you want that recipe, let me know, it's fantastic!)

Considering the amazingly low calorie and carb count though, I am a happy camper eating this, in fact, I froze 7 single serving bags for myself and stocked up on shirataki noodles.

This recipe makes 4 servings. If you were feeding a big guy, you may want to give him double :)

Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey breast
3 egg whites (or use 1/2 cup liquid egg whites)

1 cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt

pepper

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees, lightly coat a cookie sheet or baking dish with cooking spray.

Remember that spray has no calories only when you use the recommended amount, which is 1/3 of a second spray! I kept testing to see if I was using the correct amount and I am a slow sprayer, I couldn't spray in 1/3 of a second....a can of Trader Joe's olive oil spray has 564 sprays in it, maybe when I am bored some time I should track my usage to see if I am over using it, but I am fairly sure I am.

Mix all ingredients together, if using whole, dried spices, rub them together in your hands to pulverize them.

Scoop out spoonfuls of mixture to form 1" to 2" meatballs and place on tray.

Bake approximately 15 minutes. These won't brown, there isn't anything to brown, no fat, no bread, nothing.

While the meatballs cook, make the noodles. For 2 people use 2 packages shirataki noodles.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Drain and rinse noodles very well under lots of water, then boil 3 minutes. Drain again and place onto paper towels, blot well. It is very important to do this and dry them well to reduce the gelatinous texture. Leave noodles there until ready to add to sauce.

Sauce: 

1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken or beef broth


Place sauce ingredients into a skillet, then transfer meatballs into the sauce, simmer 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked noodles, stir together and warm for a couple minutes. 

This will have very little sauce, only enough to coat the noodles. Feel free to add as much sauce, prepared spaghetti sauce, anything but remember that tomato sauce has a great deal of carbohydrate, so if you are really watching your weight, try to use more broth based sauces, with just a small amount of tomato sauce added, or use fresh tomatoes, chopped up finely.

Sauces can all be made more flavorful by using mushroom soaking liquid (from dried wild mushrooms), beef broth, a small amount of balsamic vinegar, truffle salt or chicken stock.

This dish, when prepared as I describe, without extra sauce or any cheese has the following nutritional breakdown: 

212.5 calories (yes that is the noodles and the meatballs!)
15.2 grams carbs (yup!)

33 grams protein (wow!)
3.5 grams fat (I love it!) 

Give it a try.

Chorizo Turkey Cutlets

We returned home from a lacrosse game, about an hour and a half later than I thought we would. Of all people, I didn't bring food with me! The game was a one hour indoor game, and was smack dab in between meals.

Shaydon Santos, the program director asked Cooper to stay a bit longer, Telemundo was filming and wanted some of the Cali*Lax players in the footage.  

 
By the time I got home, I was hungry and missed a meal. Missing a meal is a real problem when you are prepping for a competition, it may even be worse than eating too much!

I had a rice cake and some peanut butter to hold me a bit, then started making dinner.

David was making cooper "a little snack". He had a chorizo quesadilla, dripping in melted cheese. It made me really, really hungry for chorizo. I knew the cheese was out of the question though.

Dinner was turkey cutlets, they are pre sliced, thin rounds of turkey breast that cooks very quickly. I decided to make turkey cutlet chorizo!
 

I got a large non-stick skillet, sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray, then placed the turkey cutlets in the pan. I generously sprinkled them with chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder (be sure to use the powders and not the salts), pepper and salt.

Once they browned, I turned them over and sprinkled the same thing on the other side then poured in a generous amount of red wine vinegar, which sizzled and began to cook off quickly. One more turn, a bit more vinegar and it was done.

I served it with a side of plain brown rice, (2 ounces), I am now eating to lose fat so starches are restricted, steamed cauliflower and a mixture I had made the previous day of roasted cubed eggplant and sauteed red bell peppers, poblano peppers, and pimiento de padron peppers.

It satisfied my chorizo craving, and I now have a new tasty meal in my repertoire.

Vietnamese Glazed Tilapia

One of my favorite things to eat and it is super healthy too! This is a recipe from a cooking magazine (I think it was Bon Appetit) and is intended for thin pork chops. While pork chops are great prepared this way, I don't eat them often as they aren't the best choice of protein. My family does like them though, so I will prepare a double batch of this marinade, in one container I will marinade tilapia or turkey cutlets for myself, and in the other, thin beef steaks or pork chops for the boys.


TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN PLUS OVERNIGHT MARINATING

SERVES: 4
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium shallots, minced
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
16 ounces tilapia or
8 thin beef steaks or center-cut pork loin chops
Salt
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts (optional)


In a large bowl, combine the vegetable oil with the honey, fish sauce, garlic, shallots and pepper. Add the tilapia (or beef steaks), turn to coat thoroughly with the marinade and refrigerate overnight.

Tilapia:

If only cooking a small portion of this, for one or two people, you an microwave it. Place the tilapia in a shallow glass dish, pour some of the marinade over and add a half cup water. Cover with domed lid, microwave until cooked through, approximately 4 to 6 minutes (depending on amount of fish cooked at one time).

If cooking all of this, I suggest placing the fish, along with most of the marinade and one to one and a half cups water into a large skillet, simmer until fish is cooked though and firm, about 5 minutes.

Serve the fish on top of a bed or rice and steamed vegetables, and then scatter the peanuts on top. Pour a bit of the cooking liquid over for moistness.

Beef, pork or turkey cutlets:

Light a grill. Lightly season the meat with salt. Brush the grill with oil and cook the meat over very high heat until nicely charred and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side (less for turkey cutlets). Scatter the peanuts on top and serve right away with rice and vegetables.

I am available for hugs and kisses once you try this; I guarantee it will be one of your favorites. You can marinade several batches, then portion them out and place into the freezer for a very quick meal when you have no time to prepare anything. I will always have marinated portions of tilapia already measured out in the proper weight. If I can remember, I take one out and leave it in the refrigerator in a bowl to thaw while I am at work. If I forget, it can still be microwaved straight from the freezer, although I think it tends to cook better if thawed.