Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

I actually made this dip awhile ago, and I've been struggling with what to say about it, because I really have mixed feelings - more on that later.

Recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the brown sugar and stir until it dissolves.  Continue stirring over heat until the mixture just starts to boil.  Stir in vanilla and remove from heat.

Beat the cream cheese, add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Turn mixer to low speed and stir in the butter and brown sugar mixture.  Add salt and mix until well combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Before serving, garnish with additional chocolate chips.  Serve with Nilla wafers, animal crackers, or graham crackers.

Now, as I said, I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, it went together very quickly, tastes good, and was quite popular.  On the other hand, I've been off sugar for awhile, and to me it was just overwhelmingly, tooth-achingly sugary after about two bites.  And this was after I cut the sugar down from the original recipe.  I also felt guilty about making something so obviously unhealthy since I've gotten into better eating habits.

So I guess if you're used to mass quantities of sugar, go for it.  If you're not, make it for your friends and have one or two bites.

Caprese Salad

I threw this salad together the other day, and it was delicious!  The light flavors are so refreshing, perfect for spring and summer.

Recipe:
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 - 2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt

Slice tomatoes in half.  Add cubed mozzarella and chopped basil.  Drizzle olive oil over all, and stir to coat.  Add sea salt to taste, and stir again.
Garnish with some fresh basil and serve.

I picked up some Perlini Mozzarella at my local store.  They're tiny fresh mozzarellas, and so cute!

Marinara Sauce

Here's a quick and easy, single serving marinara sauce, that is also hCG Diet friendly.  For those not on the hCG protocol, it's still a great single serving marinara sauce, that could easily be modified to your tastes -- start by browning a little ground beef or sausage, toss in some extra veggies, or however you like your sauce.

Recipe:
1 tomato, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
Water or chicken broth
Basil (I also used some Italian Herb Mix)
Sea salt, pepper

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add tomatoes and garlic.  Cook for 1-2 minutes and add about 1/4 cup water or chicken broth.  Add basil and other seasonings to taste.  Simmer 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add more liquid if necessary.  Serve.

Quick and easy!  And very tasty.  I had mine over sliced baked chicken breast for a diet friendly chicken marinara.

Just as a reminder, you can now follow Uncanned Foods on Facebook!

Grilled Baby Bok Choy

I'm fairly new to bok choy.  I've had it before, certainly, but I haven't cooked it myself very often.  The other day I picked up a few baby bok choy because a) I wanted to try something new-ish, b) there's just one of me, so the baby bok choy seemed more manageable than a full-size bok choy, and c) they're super cute.

Looking around online, it was hard to find a way of cooking them that would be diet friendly, so I improvised.

Recipe:
1 baby bok choy
1-2 teaspoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (a versatile and delicious natural alternative to soy sauce)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Sea salt

Cut the baby bok choy in half lengthwise.  Fill a bowl with cold water and place both halves in the water, soak for about 5 minutes.  Remove from water and pat dry.
Meanwhile, pre-heat an electric countertop grill or sandwich press.
Squeeze lemon juice over both sides of the bok choy halves.  Sprinkle liquid aminos over the cut side (so it goes in between the leaves).
Place on the grill, cut side down.  Cook for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom.  Sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve.

These still had good crunchiness, but were nicely warmed through. I paired this with a piece of steamed haddock, and the wilted leaves were very tasty with the fish.

The bok choy itself has a nice flavor, so it was really good with just the lemon juice and liquid aminos.

Beef and Onion Soup

I'm a big soup fan.  I could eat soup everyday, even in the summer.  It's been cold and grey, which always puts me in the mood for nice, warming comfort food.  Like soup.

Recipe:

1 cup beef broth (Pacific makes an organic beef broth that has no fat)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 oz. onions, sliced thin
3 oz. beef, cut into small cubes (use a good cut, like sirloin)
Sea salt, pepper, thyme

Place a saucepan over medium heat, when the pan is hot, add sliced onion and 2 tablespoons of water.  Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add garlic and beef broth.  Bring to a boil, add seasoning, then simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add beef.  Simmer 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mmm...nice and comfort food-y.

I've started another round of the hCG Diet, so coming up with good wintery comfort food takes a little creativity, but this really did the trick.  It has a good meaty flavor and really felt like a hearty soup.

Spinach and Artichoke Pasta from The Local Epicurean

While I was home in Grand Rapids, Michigan over the holidays, a new shop opened in my neighborhood: The Local Epicurean.  This place is amazing - flavored organic pasta, salt blends, sauces, and chocolate truffles.  All made in house.

Inside the Local Epicurean

I went twice in one week, and both times I was blown away by how great this place is.  The space is beautifully used, full of natural light, gorgeous window displays, and rows and rows of delicious food!  The owners are very friendly and obviously passionate about their products.

I picked up four kinds of pasta: spinach and artichoke, portobello and parmesan, sage and garlic, and aged gouda and black truffle.  So the question I have with flavored pasta is, how do you highlight that flavor?  This question came up while talking with one of the owners, and he explained to us that the sauce should be fairly minimal, just a little olive oil, herbs, salt.  Simple and clean.

So, here's what I did with some of my pasta...

Recipe:

1 package Spinach and Artichoke pasta
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 cup Marinated Artichokes, chopped
Sea Salt

Bring water to a boil, cook pasta 4-6 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet.  Add garlic and artichokes and cook 3-5 minutes.  When the pasta is done, drain it and add to the skillet.  Sprinkle with salt and toss lightly to coat.

Serve.

With the minimal sauce, the flavor of the pasta really comes through, and it's delicious!  Great flavor, and amazing texture.

So if you're in Grand Rapids, Michigan, take a drive down Wealthy Street and stop at the Local Epicurean.  Pick up some pasta, some sauce, maybe a hand made truffle...it's a beautiful shop!

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.

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.

Pulled Chicken Soup

So I made last night's pulled chicken into soup tonight.  It's almost a chicken chili, but with more of a smoky barbecue flavor.

Recipe:
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded
1 teaspoon Barbecue Seasoning (same as used on the chicken)
2-3 teaspoons Cilantro or Parsley
3 oz. Pulled Chicken

Heat the chicken broth over medium heat.  Chop the peeled tomato and add it to the chicken broth.  Add seasoning.  Cook 5-7 minutes.  Puree with immersion blender.

Add chicken and simmer for 8-10 minutes.  Serve.

Like I said, it's kind of a chicken barbecue chili.  Very flavorful and spicy, perfect on a cold and rainy day like today.

Waldorf Salad

This recipe is pretty much out of the booklet I got when I started the hCG diet.  It's quick, easy, and pretty tasty.

Recipe:

2 ounces Chicken (cooked)
1 stalk Celery
1/2 Apple
Sea salt, lemon juice, and seasoning.

Chop the chicken into small pieces.  Dice the celery.  Chop the apple.  Combine the chicken, celery, and apple together, sprinkle with sea salt and lemon juice, season as desired.  Mix until well combined and serve.

Tasty!  And a good way to use up chicken leftovers.  I have a container that I put all of my little extra bits of chicken in when I'm measuring out my mealtime portion, so I had chicken from 2 or 3 different occasions in there.  But, chopped up fine and mixed with other things, it wasn't really noticeable.

And again, for mixing, I just put everything into a lidded bowl and shook it, so this took less than 5 minutes to throw together.

Fish Chowder

I recently made the mistake of buying some frozen cod fillets.  Now, I love fish.  I love all kinds of fish and I love fish prepared all kinds of ways.  I even like cod, which isn't the most flavorful or interesting of fish.  But these were just...subpar to say the least.

Instead of being flaky, tender, and flavorful these came out tough, dry, and bland.  There were 3 of these things and they always came out bad, no matter what I did to them.  So with the final one I made soup, and it's actually not bad and I'd like to try it again with higher quality fish.

Recipe:

1 Tomato (or 1 can of diced tomatoes, do not drain)
1 cup Chicken Broth (omit if using canned tomatoes)
1 fillet of Cod (or other white fish)
Sea salt and seasoning

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth (or canned tomatoes) to a boil.  (If using a fresh tomato) Peel and seed tomato, chop roughly, and add to hot chicken broth.

Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and chicken broth.  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, simmer 5 minutes and serve.

Considering the poor quality of the fish I had to use, this was actually pretty good.  The cod gave a good flavor to the broth, and the fish itself didn't really detract from the soup, although there were a couple of larger pieces and those were tough and dry (in soup even!).

Again, this was good in general, and I'll try it again when I get some better fish.  And I'm sticking to fresh.

Celery & Shrimp Salad

Here's something I made for myself for lunch recently.  It's super easy, especially if you have precooked shrimp around.

Recipe:

3.5 oz. (approximately 9) Shrimp (I used precooked)
2 oz. (1 large stalk) Celery
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Sea salt
Herbs/seasonings (I used Mural of Flavor)

Dice celery.  Add apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt and desired seasonings.  Toss to coat.
Chop shrimp, add to celery and toss to coat.

I have a set of lidded prep bowls so I just threw everything in one of those and shook it, so this whole thing took about 5 minutes.  For those not on the hCG diet, this would make a nice refreshing side salad.

I really enjoyed this, it has a nice mix of textures with the shrimp and raw celery, and as far as the flavor you can pretty much do whatever you want with this.  I decided I wanted something citrusy and sweet, which is why I went for the lemon juice and an herb blend.

So, a tasty lunch in less than 5 minutes and under 100 calories.  Woo!

Grilled Tomatoes

There are going to be some changes around here.  For the past 2 weeks, I've been detoxing, and now I'm starting the very low calorie phase of the hCG diet.  It's a change that I'm feeling really good about, and as far as food goes, I'm sticking to the diet and being very strict with myself.  I packed up all my olive oils and balsamic vinegars and put them in a box in the basement, cleaned out the fridge, and stashed away anything not on the diet that I might use inadvertently.

So what does this mean for the blog?  Well, I'm not turning this into a diet blog, and I really don't intend to write about the diet very often.  The agenda is still the same: to share food and recipes.  It'll just have a different focus for awhile.

And here I am on day 2 of the low calorie diet, and I find myself thinking more about seasoning (not that I didn't before), and texture (again, I've always been big on texture), and I'm thinking more creatively about vegetables.  So tonight I decided to have a tomato as my dinner vegetable and I was just going to slice it up and sprinkle it with salt, but then I remembered the grilled tomatoes that are usually part of an Irish breakfast and decided to try something like that.

Recipe:

1 fresh Tomato
Sea Salt
Fresh Basil, chopped
Pepper

Heat a frying pan over high heat.
Slice tomato in half.  Rub sliced side with sea salt and chopped basil.  When the pan is very hot, place both halves, sliced side down, in the frying pan.  Reduce heat to medium.  Cook for 5-8 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

These were so good!  The acidity of the tomatoes paired very well with the fish, which is halibut pan seared with Tuscan Sunset seasoning.  They're still quite firm, but they're warm all the way through and have a nice herb-y/saltiness and the fresh pepper at the end adds a little kick.

Blueberry Sauce

This is a quick and easy (and delicious) way to use fresh fruit and berries.  It's versatile and not too sweet, so it's great on lots of things.

Recipe:
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
1-2 pints Berries

Bring water to a boil, add sugar and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add berries and stir to coat.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.  Puree with an immersion blender or regular blender until smooth.

I flavored my blueberry sauce with vanilla and balsamic vinegar, which I added along with the berries.  I think fresh herbs would also be a good (and seasonal) addition.  It's nice and summery, and a great way to use up fresh produce.

And of course it's good on ice cream.

Tuna Steak

I love tuna steak.  It's like a magical combination of fish and red meat -- two things I love.  It has an amazing texture, and it's very easy to do well.  I threw this dish together in under 15 minutes, and it came out fantastically, if I do say so myself.

Recipe:

Tuna Steak (The one used here is about 4 ounces)
8-10 Crimini (Baby Portobella) Mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons Malt Vinegar
1 cup Red Wine
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Olive Oil

Stir together malt vinegar, wine, and seasoning.  Slice mushrooms and add to wine mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet, and add mushrooms and all of the wine mixture.  Bring to a boil, and simmer 5-7 minutes until the wine is reduced.  Remove the mushrooms and reduction to a separate bowl.  Set aside.
Return the skillet to heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add tuna steak and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes.  Flip the tuna steak, turn the burner off after 1 minute, and remove steak from pan after 2 more minutes.
Serve tuna steak and mushrooms.

I had this over udon noodles that I tossed with basil infused olive oil and sea salt.  The earthiness of the mushrooms and the meatiness of the fish worked very well with the sour tang of the malt vinegar and red wine, and the noodles with basil olive oil provided some needed sweetness.

If you don't like rare meat or fish, cook the steak a little longer.  I like mine rare to medium rare, and the time I used in this recipe will get you this:

Mmmmmm...perfect.

Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls

I'll be honest -- I'm not a fan of popcorn.  I don't especially dislike it, but I don't choose to eat it often.  Usually, at the movies, if I have a taste for popcorn, I'll just snag a handful of someone else's (that I'm with, of course) and that satisfies my popcorn craving.  Well this afternoon I was at a movie, I had a taste for popcorn but was by myself, so I actually ordered a thing of it.  And ate less than a quarter of it before I was totally over my craving for popcorn.

Being thrifty, I brought it home thinking that I'd just eat it later, but then I realized it would be totally gross by the time I felt like eating it.  So I hit the internet, hoping to find a way to use up a giant bag of movie popcorn, and found this.

Recipe:

4 cups Popcorn
1/4 cup Honey
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Measure the popcorn into a large bowl.
Melt honey and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla and peanut butter.  Mix until smooth.
Pour over the popcorn.  Stir to coat the popcorn.
Form into small balls while still warm, and store in an airtight container.

Now, I wore a pair of surgical gloves while forming the popcorn balls and this served two purposes.  First, it provided some protection from the hot peanut butter mixture, and second, I was able to form the balls without getting my hands all messy.

Quick, easy, and delicious!  And yes, apparently I'm also the kind of person who has surgical gloves around.

Sweet, salty, buttery, peanuty...yum!

And I had enough popcorn left to make a double batch.  Yes, 8 cups of popcorn.  Because my local theater has psychotic servings.  Seriously, a small drink is 32 oz.  Ridiculous!

Hummus

Hummus is so easy to make, and it's good on so many things.  Since I figured out how I like my hummus, I've been eating it with crackers, with veggies, and on sandwiches.  This recipe is basically a combination of a few different ones, plus I adjust the seasonings depending on what I'm in the mood for.

Recipe:
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained
1/4 - 1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/4 - 1/3 cup Tahini
2 - 3 cloves Garlic
2 - 3 teaspoons Lemon Juice
Sea Salt

In a food processor, combine garbanzo beans, olive oil, and garlic.  Add tahini and lemon juice.  Remove mixture from food processor and stir in sea salt to taste.

Here it is with feta cheese and parsley.  If I have fresh parsley on hand I like to add some to the hummus itself (usually with the tahini).  It's also good with a little Greek seasoning, oregano, or cilantro.

Burrito Soup

This started with a recipe that I found online, but then when I actually started cooking I totally ignored that recipe.  This is really a versatile soup now, basically whatever you like in or on Mexican food can go in or on this.

Recipe:
Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
Garlic (to taste)
2-3 stalks Celery, chopped
2 cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
Broth (vegetable or chicken)
1-2 cups Salsa
Chili powder

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add onions, garlic and celery and cook until onions are transparent.  Add black beans, salsa, and enough broth to cover them, bring to boil.  Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (or regular blender). Return to heat, add more salsa and season to taste.

You can also add browned ground beef to the soup (after it's pureed). It's good topped with sour cream or cheese, and I love it with Fritos.  And Guinness.