Baked Apple Custard

For Thanksgiving I wanted to make something special, that would still be in keeping with my diet.  I've been enjoying baked apples as sweet treats, and thought something along those lines would be perfect.

Recipe:

3 apples
1 tablespoon butter
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar (or 2 tablespoons stevia)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-4 teaspoons spices (apple pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)
2 tablespoons ground almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.
Butter a 2 quart baking dish, sprinkle with ground almonds and shake to coat.
Core apples and cut into thin slices.
Melt butter and pour over apple slices.  Stir to coat.  Arrange apple slices in baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs.  Add milk and sugar or stevia and mix well.  Add vanilla and spices.
Pour custard over apples.  Place the baking dish in a 9x13 inch pan and fill with hot water. The hot water should come at least 1 inch up the side of the baking dish.
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours or until a sharp knife inserted into the custard comes out clean.

Lovely!  It may not be entirely diet friendly, but it's not completely diet unfriendly, especially since I used stevia instead of sugar.

The ground almonds on the outside add a nice texture and nutty flavor, but they're totally optional.

It went together very easily, and I think it's quite tasty.

Cranberry Orange Relish

Cranberry orange relish is one of my family's traditional dishes.  It's made around this time of year, and divided into lots of containers, one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, a few in the freezer to last through the year.  It's sweet, tangy, and will always remind me of holidays.

Recipe:

2 oranges
1 - 1.5 pounds fresh cranberries
2 medium apples
1 - 2 cups sugar (or 3 tablespoons stevia)

Remove the orange peel with a vegetable peeler.  Core the apples and chop into large pieces.
In a food processor, grind orange peel, cranberries, and apples.  Add sugar or stevia and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate.  Can be frozen.

So delicious and festive!

The recipe above is half of what we usually make, but it's still plenty.

Also, to my eternal frustration, fresh cranberries are now sold in 12 ounce packages instead of 1 pound packages.  I ended up using 2 12 ounce packages, and it was fine, but it's still annoying.  What recipe ever calls for 12 ounces of cranberries?

Quick and Dirty Chicken Paprikas

I've been in the mood for comfort food lately.  I think it's the weather - it's chilly out and that makes me want to curl up with a cup of tea and a plate of something familiar and delicious.  Chicken Paprikas (Paprikas Csirke) is an old Hungarian family favorite, so I improvised a single-serving version that's quick and diet friendly.

Recipe:

1 chicken breast
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 teaspoons paprika (I like Penzey's smoked paprika)
1-2 ounces yogurt
Sea salt

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a skillet, add 1 teaspoon of paprika to water.  Pierce chicken breast in several places and insert garlic cloves into the chicken.  Rub chicken with paprika.
Simmer chicken breast for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally.  When chicken is done, remove from heat, and take the chicken out of the pan.  There should be 1/2 - 1 cup of liquid left in the skillet, if not, add a little water or chicken broth.  Add yogurt to cooking liquid and stir until smooth, add more paprika if desired, and salt to taste.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Delicious!

Salsa with Roasted Jalapenos

Today I decided to throw together some salsa.  I can mix vegetables now on this phase of the hCG Diet, which is exciting, and I've been wanting some kind of sauce or topping to put with things, but store bought stuff usually has sugar, which I'm still avoiding.  So, homemade pico de gallo style salsa!

Recipe:

3-4 Tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 Jalapeno peppers (I roasted mine, see below)
1/2 Onion, diced
3-4 coves Garlic, minced
Cilantro or parsley
Lime juice
Salt

Dice tomatoes.  Carefully seed jalapenos (I wore gloves until I was totally done handling the peppers) and dice.  Dice onion and garlic.  Mix tomatoes, jalapenos, onion and garlic.
Stir in 1-2 tablespoons cilantro or parsley, juice from 1/2 lime, and salt to taste.

This makes about 1 pint of salsa.

Voila!  Yummy fresh salsa.

This ended up being about medium-hot to my taste, which is fine with me.  For milder salsa I would either add more tomato or less jalapeno.  And this ended up being nice and garlic-y with only a hint of onion, which is about as much raw onion as I like.

And it pairs quite nicely with thin sliced beef.



















About the jalapenos:

I roasted my jalapenos, using my handy kitchen torch (in a skillet, because I didn't want to set my cutting board on fire).  You can also use a broiler or an open flame on a gas stove.  Basically, you want to get them evenly blackened.

Then, while it's hot, put it in a plastic bag and seal it up.  The bag will quickly fog up with steam from the pepper.  Let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Take the pepper out of the bag and use a paper towel to scrub off the blackened outside.  You should be left with a nice, roasty smelling, skinned pepper.  Take the seeds out and you're ready for anything!  Well anything you'd want to do with a jalapeno.

Be careful when handling the peppers.  I wore gloves until I had washed the knife and cutting board, because getting pepper juice in your eye is one of the worst things ever.

Fish Soup

So this is a retry of this subpar fish soup and it is, of course, vastly better.  The recipe is mostly the same, but I used really good fish, and I'm now of phase 3 of the hCG Diet, which means I can mix vegetables and eat a small amount of good fat (cheese, avocado, olive oil, etc.)


Recipe:
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded (or 1 can of diced tomatoes)
2 cups Water
6-8 oz. Halibut
3 oz. Cabbage, shredded
Sea salt and seasoning


In a medium saucepan, bring water and tomato to a boil.  Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and water.  Return to heat and season to taste.

Place the fish in the broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Remove fish from soup and flake it apart.  Return fish to broth, add cabbage, simmer 8-10 minutes and serve.

I used leftover fish from a night or two ago, so for seasoning I used what I initially used on the fish (which was Greek).  I also added a little pepper and smoked paprika.


This totally looks like food from the Old Country.  It's delicious and comfort food-y.

Crab Cakes

This is another hCG Diet version of a dish.  This is tasty, easy, and only took a few minutes to throw together.

Recipe:
3 oz. Crab Meat
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
2-3 teaspoons Parsley and other seasoning (an Italian mix or other herb blend is good)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine crab, garlic, lemon zest, and seasoning.  Carefully form two patties and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake 15-18 minutes, until lightly golden on top.  Sprinkle with parsley and lemon juice and serve.

Forming the patties was a little tricky, since there's nothing to really hold them together.  But once they were formed they held up really well.

These were very good, and really felt like a treat!

Coleslaw

So here's another hCG Diet friendly version of a classic side dish.  This is a great refreshing salad and pairs very well with hot and spicy things.

Recipe:
6-8 oz. Cabbage
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Salt, pepper, and seasoning

Slice or shred the cabbage.  Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.  Toss to coat.  Add any desired seasonings (I like to add a little of Penzey's Mural of Flavor or Fox Point seasoning).  I also like to add a little stevia.

Yum!  This makes a nice change from lettuce salad, and it pairs very well with spicier things since it's cooler and a little bit sweet.