Monday, July 23, 2012

No Bake Cookie Dough?

In search for a clean treat over the weekend, the hubby and I (mostly me) whipped up this amazing, super tasty cookie dough! The best part...no oven required..which means staying cool while keeping the diet clean!

Raw Vegan Cookie Dough
½ cup raw walnuts
½ cup raw almonds
3 Tbsp. coconut flour
¼ cup old-fashioned oats
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
1 packet Stevia
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp. almond milk
1/3 cup dark chocolate mini chunks


Place all ingredients, except for chocolate chunks, in a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles cookie dough.
Add chocolate chips and pulse a few more times until well combined.
Shape into 15 little bite size dough balls, making sure to scrape the bowl well so as to not leave any of the cookie dough for the sink/dishwasher. 
Serve with a shot of almond milk or coconut milk (as my buddy Jillian would). Regular milk or soy is allowed.
60 calories, 2 grams of protein, 5 grams of carbs, 4.5 grams fat and 1 gram of fiber per cookie dough bite..not bad at all!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Orgasmic Burger Recipe!

After a long enduring day of recipe development at its best (11 baguette recipes for product packaging), I decided to treat myself to an amazing and ORGASMIC dinner. After all, it has been a long day and I deserve to eat well (and clean). And I may even be able to use this recipe for work purposes; a request for 2-3 new recipes for each meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey,lamb, duck,veal) listed in a future publication came in today...its nice to be needed!

At an estimated 188 calories, 18 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber and 6.5 grams of fat...it's pretty lean and clean

He goes...

Pork Burgers with Sage and Peach Aioli
 2 cloves garlic, divided
¼ cup light mayonnaise

1 ripe peach, cut into 6, divided (can use canned in light syrup)
1/2 small onion, rough chopped
1/3 cup old- fashioned oats
9 large sage leaves
¾ lb. lean ground pork or cubed pork tenderloin
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Lettuce, tomatoes, red onions


First of all, here is an enticing image of the end product...hungry yet?


Place 1 garlic clove in a food processor and pulse until minced; add 3 peach slices and mayo. Puree until smooth and transfer to a small bowl. Dont worry about cleaning out or scraping the edges the bowl of the food processor; using the sweet gooey aioli that is left will add moisture to the burgers.
Add remaining garlic, onion, oats and sage to bowl; process until fine.Add pork and remaining peach slices; season with salt and pepper and pulse until minced.
Divide mixture into 4 patties and grill for about 5 minutes of each side. Internal temperature must reach 160F!

Build it: stack tomatoes over lettuce greens, then the burger, the aioli, more tomatoes and red onion. Add whatever fun garnishes you have, such as home grown scallions. You can serve it on a whole wheat bun if you like, but some of us need to save calories in order to recover from the massive amounts of food eaten on their recent trip to Cali.

Ok, so I managed to sneak in a slice of cheese...its Swiss cheese, so it is lower in calories, fat and sodium! It was either the cheese or the bun...I chose the cheese...always will!





Monday, July 2, 2012

Shrimp Madness

Shrimp, oh glorious shrimp! I will never forget this triumphant day, as peeling and deveining 8 pounds of these little crustaceans were part of my agenda. From purchasing and thawing to sanitizing and temperature control, my HACCP(Hazzard Analysis Critical Control Points) plan was surely in place.

Precious little shrimpies; I don't think I ever want to hang with you again!
Shrimp, Whole Wheat Orzo and Tomato Toss with Feta Cheese; Meets the "Better for you" criteria!
Fiery Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa...my favorite!
Perfectly measured Corn and Zucchini Relish prep.
There was so much smoke in the house from the grillin' at one point, that Chris set up a fan at the window to suck out all the heat and smoke...how convinient to both be working from home on shrimp recipe testing day (lucky guy!).

Super Mean and Lean Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Fresh Corn and Zucchini Relish-Dietitian approved!
Crispy Coconut Crusted Shrimp with Apricot Dipping Sauce. I cant wait to run the nutrition facts on these babies; the entire batch absorbed 1/3 of the oil used for frying...weighing oil before and after,weighing the burnt stuff left from frying and even weighing the paper towels where the shrimpies drained =super fun
And this is how my evening ended; pineapple and mint mocktail, a super healthy dose of monounsaturated fats, bug spray/citronella candle to keep nature off my skin and Jean Inman's Review materials...good times!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Super Satisfying Wheatberry Burgers

I must say these little veggie burgers turned out quite nicely. Even the hubby was loving them! He said (in his own words), " tasty and satisfying"!! I am somewhat surprised since he has never used those words to describe a meatless meal. They must be good right?

So, as I was carving out some space in my freezer for the bags filled with the cut watermelon (for my signature cocktail) for the upcoming July 4th cook-out, I ran into some par-cooked wheatberries that were screaming to be used. I immediately wondered if I could make them a star ingredient in veggie burgers for the non-meat eaters (mostly just Tracey) at the event.And so my journey to make them is as follows:

Wheatberry Burgers

1 ½ cups uncooked red wheat berries or farro (3 ½ cups cooked)
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 diced red bell pepper or other diced veggies, such as onion, zucchini and/or carrots
1/3 cup chopped fresh mixed herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, cilantro or parsley
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. smoked paprika
1/8 tsp. turmeric
3 eggs
1/3 cup corn meal for coating

When Chis heard these little guys frying up and asked, "are the furgers ready", as in faux burgers. He is just so darn clever!
1. Cook wheatberries in water for about 1 ½- 2 hours or until tender. Some varieties are pearled or polished and require less cooking time. Varieties such a hard winter berries require soaking overnight. I like to cook them like pasta; lots of salted water and then drain once tender. And seriouly, you do need to salt the water (unless your blood pressure is over 130/90).
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook peppers for 5-8 minutes until tender. Remove from heat and stir in fresh herbs. Some shredded carrots would also be fun. Zucchini too (unless your hubby/boyfriend/roomate likes it only in chocolate cake).

3. Place wheat berries, ½ pepper mixture and seasonings /spices in a food processor; pulse until finely ground. Add eggs and pulse until well combined. You can use the flaxseed/water combo for the binder if you are vegan. Use 1/4 cup flaxeed meal mixed with 1/2 cup water; let it sit until it thickens and add into mixture.
Transfer mixture to bowl and mix in remaining peppers. Here, you can more fresh herbs, a handful of chopped green onion, peas, sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts....all kinds of goodies.

3. Use a ½ cup measure or scoop to shape 9 patties. Let rest in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Coat with corn meal before cooking. This makes them super crispy (thats what Chris said).

4. Heat a skillet with remaining olive oil and cook patties, in batches, 4 minutes on each side. Add a sliced of cheese (or crumbles) if you are a cheese-addict (like I am) and heat until melty.
5. Dress them up in whole wheat buns with Heinz ketchup (it must be Heinz!), mustard and mayo; garden lettuce and Giant Eagle sliced tomatoes. For a lighter, less carby meal, have these little burgers naked over freshly tossed salad greens.