Tag Archives: low carb

Rosemary Lemon Chicken Thighs with Roasted Cauliflower

Posted on March 15, 2010 | 1 comment

In certain circles, dark meat gets a bad reputation. I don’t really get it. Dark meat is much more juicy and flavorful than it’s white meat counterpart. A boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 4 ounces) has about 2.5 grams of fat and 110 calories. A 4 ounce thigh, with the bone and skin removed, has 4 grams of fat and  also 110 calories. (Nutritional info courtesy of a great website). So why not live on the wild side and make chicken thighs for dinner? Ok. done. Oh, and chicken thighs are also a LOT cheaper than breasts.

We bought a nice big tray of chicken thighs from Giant. These did have bones and skin on them, both which keep in a lot of flavor and natural juices. We started off by making a braising liquid, using the shallots, jalapenos, lemon and wine (unfortunately we only had red wine, which is why the chicken is purple/red hue).

we seasoned the thighs and sprinkled them with some ground rosemary (I used the bullet for this).

and in they went

just a few minutes on each side and into a baking dish

Now on to the roasted cauliflower. We first discovered roasted cauliflower from our friend Candace and it was love at first bite! We’ve made it several times now and usually marinate it in something different each time.

The marinade this time consisted of oil, hot sauce, lots of seasonings and some mustard.

The cauliflower roasted in the oven along with the chicken.

I like it really roasted, on the border between cooked and almost burned! It’s amazingly flavorful.

Recipe for Rosemary Lemon Chicken Thighs

Recipe for Roasted Cauliflower

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Posted in Chicken, Sides

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Pistachio crusted flounder with creamed veggies

Posted on March 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

We bought some fresh flounder at Giant the other day and decided to try it with a bread crumb-less pistachio coating. I perused the internet and found that most pistachio crusted protein recipes included bread crumbs in the breading (go figure!). I didn’t want to use them though, so I just left them out. I also did not dredge the fillets in flour prior to dipping them in egg either, aiming to keep this recipe as low carb as possible. I started off with about 6 flounder fillets.

I crushed the raw pistachio nuts in a food processor, but left them sort of “chunky”. I think next time around, I will just pulverize them into crumbs completely to try a different “breaded” texture than what I got this time. Really, it’s up to you how chunky you’d like it!  A dip in the egg and then they were covered on both sides with the pistachio “breading”.

Into the baking dish they went.

They cooked for about 12 minutes or so. I knew they were ready when I could break the meat apart with a fork.

Interestingly, Greg and I cooked in a rather unusual fashion for us for this meal. I was responsible for one thing and he the other. I had a vision for the fish that didn’t match his so I took over on that. He focused on the veggie side dish, which was pretty amazing! He started off by sauteing some carrots, onions, and broccoli and then made a decadent cream sauce to pour over top.

The flavors of this meal were very rich and decadent. A little went a long way here and it was very filling for being a fish and veggies dinner. The pistachio crust still needs a little perfecting, but I was intrigued by the prospects. I may incorporate some almond flour to make it more breaded than coated next time. We’ll see…

Recipe for pistachio crusted flounder

Recipe for creamed veggies

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Steak Chili

Posted on March 9, 2010 | 1 comment

I love making chili in the winter time and there are so many different styles to try. I asked Greg to make chili for us one weekend and he decided to make chili with steak (beef chuck roast) instead of traditional ground meat.  He began by trimming the meat and cutting down the 3 1/2 pound roast into cubes. Coincidentally, this occurred during Maryland’s nail biter against Virgina Tech and provided him with a good outlet for all that anxious energy. Maryland won by the way!

We used the dutch oven again for the chili, like we did with the Cincinnati Style Chili we made several weeks ago. For this chili version,  start off by browning the meat on the stove top and drain the excess liquid.

It does not have to be cooked all the way through at this point, because it will go in the oven for another 3+ hours.  However, once you get a nice brown coating, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

At this point it is pretty chunky, but it will cook down over the next few hours and each part will be rather indistinguishable.

Before three plus hours in the oven (above) and after (below).

It thickened up quite a bit and all of the bug chunks of meat cooked down and became much smaller with an almost shredded like consistency.Similarly, most of the other ingredients (tomatoes, onions, peppers) also cooked down and created a thick sauce like texture.

We topped it with some shredded cheddar cheese, raw yellow onion, and avocado. YUM!

Chili is so good for leftovers too! Hope you like it!

Recipe for Steak Chili

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Posted in Beef

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Flourless peanut butter cookies

Posted on March 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

My peanut butter obsession of late is clearly not going anywhere. I happened to be watching Paula Dean when she made a recipe that I would actually considering making. This cookie, which she deemed “magical”, is sugar free and is not made with flour, therefore it is very low carb! The ingredient list is short (only four ingredients) and I have all them in my pantry/fridge so it was just a matter of time… Well, the other night I decided to make her recipe.

I reduced the Splenda by nearly half because although I love sweets, Splenda is super sweet and artificial tasting and I prefer to have the peanut butter be the main thing I taste. I also did not dip my fork in Splenda when I flattened them nor did I sprinkle any Splenda on top.  Other than that, I did not make any changes to her recipe and believe me, they were sweet enough! Next time though, I will cook them for longer than the suggested cooking time of 12 minutes, since they did come out a little crumbly. Although the texture is a bit off and these cookies are very dense due to the lack of flour or baking powder, they taste pretty good! I will probably play around with this recipe a bit more in the future, but overall a decent recipe from the queen of all things butter.

Like I said, it’s a pretty simple recipe. First you combine peanut butter and Splenda. I have been into the Natural Jif lately, which does not have any added sugar.

and add the remaining two ingredients, an egg and some vanilla extract

roll into balls

flatten.

I baked them for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Next time I’ll probably bake them for about 15 minutes.

These have been great with my morning cup of coffee or with milk. You will definitely need a beverage of some kind with these! Hope you like them.

Recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

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Spaghetti (Squash) and meatballs!

Posted on March 4, 2010 | 1 comment

I have heard a lot about spaghetti squash throughout the winter on the many food blogs I read and I finally tried it a few weeks ago. I REALLY liked it and I found it to be a great alternative to pasta or rice, or really any starch you need to soak up some sauce. It’s almost like tofu in the sense that it has very little flavor of it’s own and conforms to whatever you want it to be. It is relatively easy to make and did I mention there are like 50 calories in the entire squash and very few carbs!

I decided to pair it with on of my favorite things to make and eat, meatballs!

First the making of the “spaghetti”.

Conveniently, the directions for how to cook the squash are on the sticker. I microwaved it for about 12 minutes and then baked it for an hour in the oven.

Now doesn’t this look scrumptous! Yeah, it’s pretty gross looking but forge ahead and it will be worth it!

Scrape out all the parts that remind you of a pumpkin, ie: the seeds and orange clumps. After that you basically just use a fork to pull out the strands.

Looks like pasta right?

It produces quite a bit of  “spaghetti”. I would say at least six servings, if not more.

On to the meatballs!

It’s all pretty self explanatory from here on out.

Yeah, enough meatballs to feed a small army. Leftovers!

Recipe for Meatballs

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Posted in Beef

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Pesto Shrimp Bake

Posted on March 1, 2010 | 1 comment

Recently, we hosted a dinner party in which we featured one of our best talents: cooking shrimp perfectly- of course!  Last summer, or fall actually, when the garden was reaching some of it’s last days, Greg whipped up some pesto and we froze several jars of it for occasions such as this. We did not want to be busy cooking when our guests arrived, so it was the perfect thing to use since it was already made.

First, check out the table scape complete with real dining room chairs! wahoo, we’re adults now!

For an appetizer we used our new cheese board to display four cheeses: parmesano reggiano, pecorino romano, some really sharp cheddar, and parano (my recent fave).

We also served a salad that if anything was Greek-esque: romaine, cucumber, tomato, feta and pine nuts.

Now on to the main event. Like I said we used some pre-made homemade pesto. When making pesto ahead of time, it is suggested that you add the cheese when you are ready to use it, versus adding the cheese before you freeze it.

The pesto as it dethawed:

and with a generous heap of cheese:

This thickens it up quite a bit and adds a ton of flavor.

The raw shrimp were peeled and placed in a casserole baking dish. The pesto went over top of the shrimp…

…and was thoroughly mixed in

Next, a layer of freshly grated cheese atop the scrimps.

Pine nuts! Whenever we make the trip to Pittsburgh, we always stock up on pine nuts. They are worth the price, but especially at the price Penn Mac sells them for! YUM.

This went into the oven and baked while we sampled the cheese and ate salad.

We topped it with fresh tomato once it was done baking and the shrimp were cooked through.

We had the romantic mood lighting going- sorry for the flashy picture!

We served it along side of some pasta… along side, not on top!

This was a key point Greg wanted me to stress. The dish is meant to stand alone and is not intended to be a pasta sauce per se, although it went quite well with the pasta.

This is the best picture I have of it– extreme closeup, ahh!

With the scent of basil in the air, this dish made me even more ready for summer! It was a crowd pleaser too, which is always good.

Recipe for Pesto Shrimp Bake

Recipe for our Simple Basil Pesto

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Peanut Chicken and Broccoli

Posted on March 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

I have become slightly obsessed with peanut butter lately! So when we were wondering what to do with some leftover chicken the other night it only made sense to have it with said new obsession. We stir fried some broccoli and chicken in an Asian inspired peanut sauce. We topped it over some jasmine rice and garnished it with some (more!) chopped peanuts and green onion, mmm. We made it rather spicy by adding a diced jalapeno, but the spice level you desire is completely up to you.

Unfortunately, we did not take many pictures of the cooking process. Here is a shot of the peanut sauce, which is comprised of 2 types of oil, vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter, and some chicken broth.

We added broccoli- actually cooking it in the sauce and some already cooked chicken.

This was an easy recipe that took very little time. It was a great way to utilize the leftover chicken to make an awesome new dish. I highly recommend this one!

Recipe for Peanut Chicken and Broccoli

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Balti Beef

Posted on February 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

We have a recipe book that is all about curry and one night this week we decided to make a recipe we have made once before called Balti Beef. In following this recipe you primarily make a sauce using onion and tomato and serve it over beef and red bell pepper (along with some more onions!) and Indian spices. It is very delicious and full of flavor and it was a good excuse to give the new blender a test drive.

Lots and lots of onions in this dish! It was a little tough to get through all the chopping without shedding a few tears.

Along with the onions, we sauteed garlic and ginger. The recipe called for garlic paste and ginger paste, but since we couldn’t find those at Giant we just used fresh chopped garlic and ginger. Along with that, we added a can of chopped tomatoes and 8 different seasonings.

After simmering on low for about twenty minutes and cooling for another 10 or so, it was time for the blender. Check it out!

You can get a general idea of the thickness of the sauce here and look at that beautiful red orange color!

Once the sauce was finished  it was time to make the rest of the dish.

More onions and garlic!

Some fresh red bell pepper added to the mix.

Next, we added the beef and sauteed for two minutes, followed by the Balti sauce. We let it summer for another 5 minutes.

We served it over some jasmine rice with some fresh cilantro for garnish. If you want to go without the rice it is equally as good on it’s own (I just had it for lunch this way 🙂 ).

Anyway, it was good mush! Foods of the Indian/Paki persuasion often look like mush to me- tasty mush though!

Hope you enjoy this one!

Recipe for Balti Beef

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Valentines Day Surf and Turf

Posted on February 21, 2010 | 1 comment

For valentine’s day dinner we decided to make something we don’t eat often and make something that would be a special treat for us. We went with surf and turf, lobster and lamb.

We got two beautiful lobster tails from Harris Teeter.

We did not want to alter the natural flavor of the lobster and decided to steam them and serve them with melted butter for dipping. Greg put a little Old Bay on his, but my lobster tail went au naturale. Both were steamed in water that was infused with Old Bay and vinegar.

Talk about simplicity! Simple food, done well. The “surf” was a great way to kick things off.

Now on to the turf portion of the meal. We bought two racks of lamb from Whole Foods, that were conveniently frenched already. We have made lamb before, but never rack of lamb. We’ve learned that when making lamb at home it’s important to spend a little extra money and buy a nice cut. The cheaper cuts are grizzly and much more gamey in flavor, not good things. We tried two different recipes, so each rack had a different preparation, set of ingredients, and taste. Both sets were first seasoned with salt and pepper before going on their unique paths.

For the first rack we decided to tap into some Greek flavors, involving mint, lemon, and rosemary.

Greg combineded these ingredients with some olive oil to create a marinade.

Before actually baking this rack, we heated a glass dish in the oven for about half an hour. The rack was placed in the hot dish to sear it. Greg brushed on the marinade and baked it for about 15 minutes or so.

We made the second rack in a more traditional French way, using dijon mustard and bread crumbs.

We began by searing the rack in a pan with a little hot oil.

Once it was seared, we coated it with dijon mustard.

The next step was to cover the rack with bread crumbs (which had been mixed with oil).

Once it was well coated, it went back into the pan for the final leg of cooking. We covered the tips with tin foil so they did not burn.

It cooked for a few more minutes in the pan and then it was ready.

We tried both versions and they were both SO good. Very different from one another and it’s hard to say which one was better!

The bread crumb version is in the back, the lemon/rosemary/mint variety in the front.

This was a delicious meal and I love when we make two (or more) versions of things to try them out and then we also to get to eat a nice variety within the same meal. I really loved them both!

Recipe for Mediterranean Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb

Recipe for Bread Crumb Rolled Rack of Lamb

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Top Scallop?

Posted on February 16, 2010 | 2 comments

Scallops are one of our favorite foods to eat, but making them at home can be a little tricky. We have made many attempts at cooking them though and I think we got one step closer this time.We picked up some really nice looking scallops at Giant.

We prefer the bigger sea scallops rather than the smaller bay scallops.

They have an almost “meaty” texture. We seasoned these with salt and pepper.

We definitely have not yet mastered the searing technique for scallops!  But here we go…

Notice we used the all-clad pan, which is not teflon, and no oil…

We wanted some stickage in order to get the rough seared exterior, but this did not quite work out the way we wanted…

Rest assured, the pan was just fine (after a wine de-glazing) and the scallops still tasted great, they just were not the right texture. We don’t know why we can’t sear scallops! Should we have added oil to the pan? Did we not flip them soon enough? Was the pan too hot? So many questions…

Anyway- as I said, they still tasted really good. I sauteed some spinach and placed this on the plate (er, small bowl) for the base.

Then placed the scallops on top— kinda seared actually!

The sauce we made was a white wine butter sauce with lemon and garlic and red pepper flakes, of course.

We topped it with green onion.

All in all, they came out tasting pretty good. It’s tough to really infuse scallops with much flavor, which is why I like to serve them atop the spinach, which tends to absorb some of the sauce so you can get some really tasty bites!

Recipe for Seared  Scallops in White Wine Sauce

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Posted in Seafood

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