Here's another dish that I recently modified to be hCG diet friendly.
Recipe:
2 Chicken Breasts
2 tablespoons Barbecue seasoning (I use Penzey's BBQ 3000)
1 tablespoon Chili or Taco seasoning (I use Penzey's Chili 9000)
1 cup Water
3/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Sea Salt
Season chicken breasts liberally, and grill or pan fry until done (I use a little electric grill).
Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken into small pieces.
In a shallow pan, bring water and apple cider vinegar to a boil. Add shredded chicken. Add more barbecue seasoning if desired. Salt to taste, if necessary. Simmer for 8-10 minutes and serve.
Delicious! I eat mine in a lettuce wrap, but it would also be good in a sandwich or taco. It's very flavorful and juicy, you'd never guess that it has no sugar and no added fat!
16 October, 2011
08 October, 2011
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.
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.
07 October, 2011
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.
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.
01 October, 2011
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!
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!
28 September, 2011
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.
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.
19 September, 2011
Carrot Ginger Soup
So finally, it's starting to feel like fall! Fall is my favorite season - I love the cooler weather, the changing colors, the smells...and of course the food. So here's one of my favorite cold weather soups to kick off the season!
Recipe:
1 large Onion, chopped
6-8 large Carrots, cut into large slices
Garlic, to taste
2 handfuls Cashews
1-2 inch piece of fresh Ginger, chopped
Sea Salt
Butter
Water
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan. Add chopped onions and cook until transparent. Add carrots, garlic, and ginger, cover with water and cook until the carrots are tender.
In a small fry pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add cashews. Cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Add to carrot mixture.
Puree soup, adding water as needed, until smooth. Return it to the pot and add salt to taste.
Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt (I prefer Greek yogurt).
Here I sprinkled some chopped fresh cilantro into it and that was pretty good. This is a nice spicy soup, it's not an immediate hot-and-spicy, but the ginger packs some heat that kind of builds up slowly. The spicy ginger and the sweet carrots are great together and the cashews add a nice earthiness.
This soup also gets surprisingly creamy, even if you don't add sour cream or yogurt to it.
Like I said, this is a great cool weather soup - it's warming, easy to make, and look at how cheerful that color is!
Recipe:
1 large Onion, chopped
6-8 large Carrots, cut into large slices
Garlic, to taste
2 handfuls Cashews
1-2 inch piece of fresh Ginger, chopped
Sea Salt
Butter
Water
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan. Add chopped onions and cook until transparent. Add carrots, garlic, and ginger, cover with water and cook until the carrots are tender.
In a small fry pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add cashews. Cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Add to carrot mixture.
Puree soup, adding water as needed, until smooth. Return it to the pot and add salt to taste.
Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt (I prefer Greek yogurt).
Here I sprinkled some chopped fresh cilantro into it and that was pretty good. This is a nice spicy soup, it's not an immediate hot-and-spicy, but the ginger packs some heat that kind of builds up slowly. The spicy ginger and the sweet carrots are great together and the cashews add a nice earthiness.
This soup also gets surprisingly creamy, even if you don't add sour cream or yogurt to it.
Like I said, this is a great cool weather soup - it's warming, easy to make, and look at how cheerful that color is!
15 August, 2011
Beef Stroganoff Soup
This is my first attempt at making something like the amazing beef stroganoff soup at Uncle Cheetah's Soup Shop. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty tasty. And soon I'll be on my own again and I won't be able to just pop down to the soup shop and get delicious foodies.
Recipe:
Olive Oil, Water
1/2 pound Stew Beef or Ground Beef
3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 cup Guinness or other dark beer
1/2 pound Crimini or Portobella Mushrooms, chopped
Salt, Pepper, Seasoning
1/2 cup Half & Half
Noodles
Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add garlic and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add beef, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook until brown. Add beer and desired herbs or seasonings (I used fresh sage, basil, and a Bavarian herb blend from Penzey's). Add enough water to just cover the meat, bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook another 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles of your choice. Something a little heavier such as egg noodles or bow ties are better.
Reduce heat to low and slowly add about 1/2 cup of half and half. Simmer until soup is somewhat thickened.
Serve over noodles.
I'm pretty happy with how this came out, I think it's be better with a little sour cream stirred in, but I didn't have that on hand. But it's still delicious! Nice and earthy and herby. Very comfort food-y.
Recipe:
Olive Oil, Water
1/2 pound Stew Beef or Ground Beef
3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 cup Guinness or other dark beer
1/2 pound Crimini or Portobella Mushrooms, chopped
Salt, Pepper, Seasoning
1/2 cup Half & Half
Noodles
Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add garlic and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add beef, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook until brown. Add beer and desired herbs or seasonings (I used fresh sage, basil, and a Bavarian herb blend from Penzey's). Add enough water to just cover the meat, bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook another 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles of your choice. Something a little heavier such as egg noodles or bow ties are better.
Reduce heat to low and slowly add about 1/2 cup of half and half. Simmer until soup is somewhat thickened.
Serve over noodles.
I'm pretty happy with how this came out, I think it's be better with a little sour cream stirred in, but I didn't have that on hand. But it's still delicious! Nice and earthy and herby. Very comfort food-y.
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