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19
May
2013
 Szechuan Peppercorn Fish Marinade



I recently posted my new favorite marinade and/or sauce for fish here. The marinade is made of spicy, numbing szechuan peppercorns, olive oil, mayo, garlic, lemon, and Thai red chili paste.

It is amazing! It kind of reminds me of sriracha sauce (also a new favorite of mine).

sriracha

Anyway, we have perfected the recipe ingredients, so here you go:

Ingredients:

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
  • 2 tsp. szechuan peppercorns, ground (you can do this with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle)
  • 1-2 Tbsp. light mayonnaise
  • 3 Tbsp. roasted red chili paste
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. crushed garlic
  • pinch of salt

Pour this mixture on the fish:

szechuan fish sauce

We have also used the sauce on white fish, and it turned out just as tasty!

spicy fish recipe

4
May
2013
 Crock Pot Recipe: Lentils, Chicken Sausage, Kale



I discovered this light and more natural chicken sausage at the grocery store the other day:

Lean chicken sausage

healthy chicken sausage

Most turkey and chicken sausage you find will be closer to 9-16 grams of fat per link, and will contain many more preservatives or additives. Since this sausage was so light, the taste was so-so. I would not recommend using these sausages for cooking in a mixed dish because of the lower fat content. They do not add flavor to the meal because they are so light (and typically, that is what you use sausage for!). These sausages would be much better grilled by themselves. Or, cook your dish first, and then add the sausage at the very end.

For recipes, I would use a slightly higher fat sausage–I tend to choose this Al Fresco brand  (or Aidell’s brand) when they have it at the store. Their products have 5-10 grams of fat.

Anyway, let’s move on to the recipe!

crock pot lentils with kale

Crock Pot Lentils with Kale and Sausage

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 shallot, minced (optional)
  • 2 tsp. minced or crushed garlic
  • 1.5 tsp. dried sage (fresh would be better)
  • 1 tsp. dried parsley
  • 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 10-12 oz. natural chicken or turkey sausage (not too low fat like the ones I used!), sliced
  • 1.5 cups dry lentils
  • 1 large bunch of kale, leaves torn from the stems
  • 1 cup water
  • 1.5 cups reduced sodium chicken stock (you may need to add a little more as it cooks down)
  • 1 cup red wine

Directions:

  1. Heat your crock pot on high. Meanwhile, prep your vegetables.
  2. Add olive oil, onions, shallots, garlic, and seasonings and allow to heat up in the crock pot.
  3. Next, add your sliced sausage, and stir to combine.
  4. Next add the lentils, liquids, and lastly, the kale.
  5. Cover and heat on high for about 1 hour.
  6. Reduce to low heat for 4-5 more hours.

This dish could cook all day if you were to go to work and come home for dinner. The lentils need a while to cook and soften. This is an easy, full of fiber, complete meal!

23
Apr
2013
 It’s the Beet!



Beets seem to be one of the most disliked foods out there. Every time I go through consults with patients, the most popular dislikes are beets and liver.

I am not a huge fan either. However, I do like beet chips that have been baked in the oven and I like them cut up in small itty bitty pieces on a salad.

beet salad

I was inspired to make this salad recipe after I went out to eat and enjoyed a similar goat cheese and beet salad.

Ingredients: Greens (spinach), sliced red onions that you have marinated in the pickled beet juice, sliced pickled beets, goat cheese, and candied pecans.

For dressing: A tiny drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette or just a little balsamic glaze.

beet salad with goat cheese

Easy! And, it has a nice pretty color for presentation. Even if you are not a fan of beets, I suggest trying them this way!

16
Apr
2013
 Quinoa and Egg Breakfast Bake



I found this recipe from Whole Foods and Fit Sugar while on Pinterest.

What a  great idea it is! They use quinoa as the bottom “crust” part and then the egg filling with some spinach, and topped with a small amount of cheese.

quinoa breakfast bake

I only modified the recipe slightly because I used frozen spinach (and more of it) and a few other tweaks.

Quinoa and Egg Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon butter or butter substitute to grease the pan
  • 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 6-7 eggs
  • 2-3 egg whites
  • 1 1/4 cup nonfat milk
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 3 tablespoon chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 cups chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
  • 1 cup finely shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese (and I mixed in some leftover Gruyere we had)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease your baking dish (the recipe called for an 8×8 dish, but I used an 11.5 x 8.75 baking dish). Do not use 9 x 13–it will be a little too big.
  2. Rinse your quinoa in a colander.
  3. Whisk together your eggs, spices, and milk. Stir in the quinoa.
  4. Pour into the baking dish. Then, stir a little and shake pan a little to let the quinoa fall to the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry–you probably won’t be able to see this, but it will work.
  5. Gently stir in your onions and spinach into the egg/quinoa mixture in the pan.
  6. Bake covered for about 40-45 minutes until it has set. Uncover and sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for another 17-20 minutes until golden.

quinoa egg bake

You could even eat this for lunch or dinner (I am going to eat for lunch today with a side of raw sliced peppers). It is the perfect balanced meal because it contains complete proteins, fiber, vegetables, and a pinch of fat ;-)

Tip: Make it ahead of time, the night before, and then you can just reheat in the morning. Since it takes a while to bake and cook, I made mine at about 9:30 pm and finished cooking it close to bedtime!

28
Mar
2013
 Lightened up: Macaroni and Cheese Cups



As usual, I was browsing Pinterest for recipe ideas, and I saw this mac ‘n cheese recipe with spinach from Emily Bites.

I am picky about my pasta dishes, and don’t typically eat too much pasta. But, I love baked pastas!

Since this recipe is made in a muffin tin, you get these cute little portion sizes (and yes, you may want to eat more than one!). Another benefit is that you get crispy edges, and this dish cooks more quickly. If you don’t like crispy edges, you may want to bake this in a large casserole dish.

macaroni and cheese muffin

I followed Emily’s recipe exactly, except I added more crushed garlic to mine, and I used half gluten free pasta/half regular elbow white pasta.

You can use whatever pasta you like, but I recommend cooking it so that it is barely done as it will continue cooking in the oven.

We ate ours with some leftover chicken, and a side salad. Yum!! I loved it, and Mr. Cyclist said it was OK (he said you could tell it was healthier). I was happy to eat more of it the next day as leftovers ;-)

21
Mar
2013
 Szechuan Peppercorn Salmon



I have been MIA in the blogging world the past week because I have been in full-swing wedding planning mode. Yep, I’m getting hitched. Perfect time to talk about being healthy and fit. Haha.

I won’t bore you with details, but wedding planning does take up a good chunk of time… so I was happy to come home one day to this super tasty salmon. It is my new favorite recipe! It’s a little spicy, but has a unique flavor from the peppercorns (you can buy the peppercorns at a larger grocery store like Whole Paycheck–I got mine from a large farmer’s market).

They are the ones that look a little pink/dark red in color. You can even order them online if you don’t want to pick them up from the store!

Szechuan Peppercorn Salmon

spicy thai salmon

Ingredients:

  • 1 filet of salmon (or about the amount pictured above)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp. ground pepper
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp szechuan peppercorns, ground
  • 1-1.5 Tbsp. light mayonnaise
  • 3.5-4 Tbsp. roasted red chili paste
  • pinch of salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
  2. Meanwhile, mix your marinade.
  3. Place your salmon on a baking sheet or baking dish and coat with marinade. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked medium-well.

Yum!

baked salmon with peppers

We had some salad and edamame to go with it.

17
Mar
2013
 Fish in Foil



Happy St. Patty’s Day!! Today, I have a recipe for you with a little bit of green ;-)

I rarely cook fish in a foil packet or parchment paper because it doesn’t get crispy. But, what I discovered is that it becomes super moist and packed with flavor.

fish in foil packet

I followed this tilapia recipe from Key Ingredient, except I used green beans instead of asparagus for the vegetable. It turned out like a gourmet meal! And it was nice and light.

Here is how to lay out the foil with fish and ingredients on top:

cook foil packets

how to make foil packets

Wrap them up tightly and place on a baking sheet. It makes for easy clean-up!!

You can use parchment paper as well for a more natural choice.

Then, Mr. Cyclist made some homemade french onion soup to go with it!

homemade french onion soup

It felt like a gourmet dinner! But, the fish recipe was so easy.

11
Mar
2013
 Protein Almond Butter



I was getting a little creative with my normal almond butter spread for breakfast. I mixed a brown rice protein powder with almond butter and almond milk. Spread it on top of Ezekiel bread, and you have a balanced breakfast!

almond butter with protein

  • 1 slice Ezekiel
  • 1.5 Tbsp. almond butter
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla brown rice protein powder
  • sprinkle of cinnamon
  • almond milk or any milk to moisten the mixture
  • drizzle of real honey on top (1 tsp.)

I eat this warm out of toaster oven. I’m sure you could eat it cold, but it always tastes better when the honey becomes warm.

Nutrition Facts:

nutrition facts for almond butter toast

I ate some blueberries to go with this to make it more of a complete meal :)

25
Feb
2013
 Healthy Mug Muffins



For a long time now, I have seen other bloggers posting their cake mugs or mug muffin ideas online. I didn’t think much of it because I immediately thought of it as an unhealthy cake.

But, you can easily turn it into a healthy snack or breakfast!

healthy mug muffin

healthy cake mug

I found this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie for the mug muffin pictured directly above. It came out great, so I used this as my starting point to make a healthier mug muffin.

Healthy Protein Mug Muffin

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 a banana (or 1 small) mashed–or you could use applesauce, sweet potato, or pumpkin
  • 2 Tbsp. brown rice protein powder
  • 2 Tbsp. oat flour
  • 2 packets stevia
  • 3-4 Tbsp. almond milk (or until the consistency of cake batter)
  • 1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • splash of vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • dash of cinnamon
  • pinch of walnuts or almonds for the top

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients until you get a cake batter consistency. Top with walnuts.
  2. Microwave about 60-75 seconds.
  3. Cool 2 minutes before attempting to eat. It will be VERY hot.

Approx Nutrition Facts: 300 calories, 35 g carbohydrates, 7 g fiber, 9 g fat, 28 g protein, 38% of your DV for iron! Very low sugar–only from the banana.

Perfect nutrition for the morning. I ate some more cantaloupe, and the rest of the banana to go with it all!

21
Feb
2013
 Baked Eggplant Sandwiches



Yummy in my tummy!

baked eggplant sandwiches

Mr. Cyclist tried to recreate these eggplant sandwiches from Food Wishes. I bought the ingredients, and he cooked them up.

They tasted so sinfully delicious! They did have a thin slice of salami and some cheese inside, but they were baked and not fried. And at least you get to eat a vegetable. OK, enough. I made it seem as healthy as I could. But, I would classify these as neither healthy or unhealthy–maybe neutral.

Below you will find the Food Wishes video on how to make these eggplant bites.

Don’t worry, we didn’t use too much oil or butter. He suggests to eat them room temp, but I loved eating them still warm. And we did cook ours much longer than 20 minutes. However, I love eggplant no matter what, except maybe completely raw. So, I am easy to please when it comes to eggplant.

You could make a variation on these sandwiches, too! Perhaps using mozzarella, basil, and sun-dried tomato! Or, turkey instead of salami. But, we only used a tiny thin slice of salami on eat sandwich. So, it was an easy way to portion control.

Well, I have been super busy this week! How about you? I just need some time to get a good relaxation. Maybe go take a bubble bath!

relaxation

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