Dukan Buffalo Parmesan Turkey Burgers

We both liked these, but we weren't falling ourselves over them.  They were definitely juicier without the oat bran but we didn't use enough hot sauce.  If you don't like spicy, this is fine the way it is, if you like spicy food, definitely add more hot sauce.

These were our spicy miso turkey burgers, but the
buffalo ones looked the same.

Decided to throw this together...weren't sure how it would turn out.  Several months ago we saw a food show on the Travel Channel and the "original" buffalo wings restaurant in Buffalo, New York was featured.  Being lovers of buffalo wings, we just had to try it.  We really enjoyed it but since starting Dukan, all that butter is off limits and now that's we've gotten used to eating low fat, not sure we really would enjoy butter in that amount.

So, we found ourselves with a bottle of Frank's hot sauce, the one used in most copy cat Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing recipes.  Sounded like a great opportunity to try a buffalo turkey burger!  We found a 'Buffalo Burger' recipe on the internet and tweaked it a bit.

RECIPE:
Serves 3-4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10-20 minutes (depending on how large your pan is, ours is small)

1 lb. ground turkey, lean
2 T. Frank's original hot sauce
1 t. dried minced onions
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated (from the can)
1/2 c. egg whites

Mix all ingredients together and form 8 patties.  Pan fry with a little bit of olive oil spray until juices run clear.

Enjoy!

Dukan Vanilla Lavender Oat Bran Muffins

Since the male half of this couple doesn't really care for muffins, etc...we're not requiring him to sample muffins :-)

These are our orange muffins, but the lavender ones look
the same except you can see the lavender in them.

These were great...if you like lavender that is.  Some people don't care for the taste of lavender.  Lavender buds are pretty expensive, but this recipe uses 1.5 to 2 tsp of lavender buds and the buds are very light in weight so it won't break the bank.

We used the same recipe we've been using for our oat bran muffins replacing the flavored extract with the lavender.  If you have an herb or coffee grinder, you may want to grind the lavender buds up to release more flavor.  We don't have a grinder, so we usually just rough chop the lavender buds.

RECIPE:
Makes 8-9 medium sized muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes or less
Bake Time: 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven)

3/4 c. oat bran
1/4 c. wheat bran
2 t. baking powder
4 t. truvia or other natural sweetener
2 T. sugar free vanilla pudding mix (powder)
1.5 to 2 t. lavender buds (ground or rough chopped)
1 - 6 oz. nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 c. egg whites

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Add yogurt and egg whites and whisk.  Pour into muffin pan (we line ours with muffin liners).  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!

Dukan West Lake Fish

We both liked this, but the sauce was too thick and sweet for us.

West Lake Fish

We weren't sure we would like this recipe...we never tried it or seen it any Chinese restaurant here, but since the female half is trying to stay away from four legged animals to try to finish up her Cruise Phase, we wanted to try different fish recipes.  This one seemed pretty different than most we found on allrecipes.com and most other recipe sites.

We set out to buy some sea bass from Whole Foods but it was $25.99 per pound!  Ouch.  Then we overheard someone else asking for some opah...mmm..we haven't had opah in so long.  Up until about 10-15 years ago, many restaurants in Hawaii offered opah as one of their fresh catches...now we hardly see it on the menu.  If you haven't had opah, it's a very mild flavored, medium textured fish.  Oh and the reason why we didn't go for a whole fish...we don't like picking out the bones :-)

If you don't like vinegar, you will not care for this recipe.  This does have a strong vinegar flavor which we both love.  Next time in Chinatown we will be picking up some black vinegar to see if it changes the taste.

RECIPE:
Serves 2
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

1 1/4 lb. opah (if you have thick pieces, you'll want to cut them down to approx 1 1/2 - 2" thick) or 1 - 2 lb. whole fish (carp, snapper, seabass or other white fish)
1 1/2 quarts water
4 to 5 ginger slices, thin
1/4 c. natural sweetener (next time we'll probably use 1/8 c.)
1/3 c. black vinegar or cider vinegar
2 T. low sodium shoyu (soy sauce)
2 T. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 T. cornstarch (but we are going to reduce this to 1 t. since we don't care for thick sauces)
kosher salt to taste

Rinse fish and pat dry.  Using a knife, slice two or three diagonal cuts into the fish.  Add the water and ginger to a wok larger enough to hold your fish.  Bring to a slow simmer.  Place fish in water and poach gently for 8-10 minutes or until cooked.  Remove cooked fish and drain, place fish on a warm serving platter.  In a bowl, mix natural sweetener, cider vinegar and soy sauce together.  Remove all but 1/2 c. of water from the wok, remove the ginger slices.  Add the vinegar mixture to water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sweetener.  Turn heat down a bit.  Mix cornstarch into rice wine, pour slowly into the wok, mix constantly.  Remove sauce from heat, add salt to taste and pour sauce over fish.  Serve immediately.  This dish is served family style with diners removing pieces of fish from the platter.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Spicy Miso Turkey Burgers

We both loved these.

Spicy Miso Turkey Burgers

The female half of this couple wanted to make jalapeno burgers to use up the ground turkey we have in the freezer to make room for the fish filets we are picking up at Costco...but she left the jalapenos at her house.  Decided to scrap that idea and searched for a miso burger recipe.

Decided to try this recipe...added some spicy chili paste to it since we both love spicy food.  Also increased the amount of miso and oat bran.  Next time we'll add either some chopped oyster mushrooms (which we forgot we had) or chopped water chestnuts for texture.

RECIPE:
Serves 3
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes if you have a small pan like we do

1 lb. ground turkey (lean)
3 T. oat bran (omit if you prefer a juicier turkey burger)
3 T. finely chopped green onions
3 T. organic white miso paste
1 T. chili paste (sambal oelek)
1 T. sake
1/4 c. egg whites

Mix all ingredients, shape into patties.  We made 6, you can make mini burgers too.  Pan fry them or grill them until no longer pink.

If you want a stronger miso taste we would add another tablespoon of miso paste and if you want more heat, 1/2 T. chili paste should do it.

Enjoy!

Dukan Chicken Sofrito Stew

Mmmmm, is what we both had to say.

Chicken Sofrito Stew

We came across this recipe while searching for low fat recipes.  It needed just a little bit of tweaking to become a Dukan recipe.  We've missed using sofrito and this is a great simple recipe for sofrito.

It also calls for sazon and we love cooking with sazon.  Plus side to using sazon, it makes your food really yummy...down side to using sazon, it stains.  

Although we are trying to really watch our fat intake due to our upcoming trip, next time we will try this recipe using chicken thighs.  Also, it was a bit salty for us, maybe due to the crushed tomatoes we used versus using fresh diced tomatoes.

RECIPE:

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Cook Time: 30-45 minutes

For Sofrito:

6 green onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 -14 oz. can crushed tomatoes or 2 tomatoes, diced (the later is preferred)

1/3 c. red bell pepper, diced

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 t. kosher salt

1 packet sazon

For Stew:

1 lb. chicken tenderloins or 8 pieces chicken drumsticks, skin removed

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

6 oz. light beer

1 c. water

salt to taste

1/2 c. cilantro, chopped (ok to add more)

Heat saute pan, spray with a little bit of olive oil spray.  Add green onions and garlic, saute 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and peppers.  Season with salt, cumin and sazon, mix then set aside.  Season chicken with salt and garlic powder.  Add chicken to pan allowing chicken to brown lightly on both sides.  Combine chicken with sofrito, then add beer, water and cilantro.  Adjust salt if needed.  Cover pan and simmer on low until chicken is cooked through, about 20-30 minutes.  

Dukan Pan Seared Tilapia with Parmesan Noodles

We both liked this, but our noodles didn't seem to have enough flavor.

Pan Seared Tilapia with Parmesan Noodles

We found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  It sounded and looked yummy.  The tilapia was well flavored, we used more than a pinch, but our noodles needed a little more flavor...next time.

You'll want to be sure your noodles are dry before you add them back to the pan and perhaps add a little more of each spice to the noodles.  All in all it was a tasty, light dish as we kick off our countdown to vacation (meaning we need to lose a few pounds before we go).

RECIPE:
Serves 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

2 pkgs. House Brand Tofu Shirataki Noodles - Spaghetti or Angel Hair shaped
3 tilapia filets, rinse and pat dry

For fish:
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/8 t. dried basil
1/8 t. dried cilantro
1 pinch salt and pepper

For noodles:
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese (fresh is better, but from the can is ok too)
1 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. dried basil
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. dried cilantro
1 pinch of salt and pepper

Boil noodles in salted water for 5-7 minutes.  Drain and dry.  Sprinkle fish with fish ingredients.  Pan sear for about 2 minutes on each side (until flakey and brown). Remove from pan.  Add noodles back to pan, add cheese and stir.  Then add other noodles ingredients, toss and divide noodles onto two plates.  Top with tilapia.

Enjoy!

Dukan Diary Entry #9

It's been a crazy week or so for both of us...we haven't had time to post new recipes lately.  Good news is the female half of this couple is down almost 12 pounds.  Her original goal was 20 pounds, but still considering stopping at 15 pounds...but then again, maybe will stick to the 20 pound goal.  The male half of this couple is feeling good, no alerts from the doctor about high cholesterol.  Bad news is our Cruise phase was supposed to end last week but since we haven't met our goal (well the female's goal) we are sticking to Cruise.

We noticed the simple eating as compared to eating with lots of sauces and cheeses (even though they are non or low fat) really sped up the weight loss.  The female half started some toning exercises so she's noticed some weight gain, but the clothes are still getting looser.

We have an upcoming trip to Vancouver planned so we've been busy researching what we might want to do, etc.  We hope to be in Consolidation by then or should we say, we are setting that as a goal, to be on Consolidation by the beginning of October.  It's an ambitious goal seeing as how our weight hasn't melted off like many of the other Dukan'ers but we're going to try!

We'll probably be making more fish dishes in the next couple of weeks and eating fat-free turkey hot dogs.

If anyone has any Vancouver or Vancouver Island travel tips they would like to share, please do!

Dukan Sake Salmon en Papillote

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID:  Good, but doesn't care for baby bok choy
SHE SAID: Very good, but needed more sake

Sake Salmon En Papillote

This week as Costco shopping week and we love the huge slab of salmon in the "fresh" section of Costco, not the frozen pieces.  The fish is previously frozen, but it tastes great.  This week we also discovered "en papillote" cooking...we've seen it and we did something similar with our foil packet crock pot fish recipes on this site, but we never tried the parchment paper way.  After researching several recipes and "how to's", we decided to cook our salmon this way.  This was another great article about en papillote.

Although we overcooked our packets, these turned out great and we're looking forward to cooking this way with other sauces and flavors.  This recipe was very mild in flavor, if you're looking for something with more flavor try using fish sauce, more spices, miso paste, etc.  

RECIPE
Serves 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 8-10 minutes (this is the adjusted time)

3 - 2" wide pieces of salmon filets, rinse and pat dry
4 bunches of baby bok choy or other greens, rinsed and chopped
1 can straw mushrooms (or any other mushrooms), rinsed
salt and pepper
6 T. sake (or dry white wine)
1 inch piec of garlic, sliced thinly
3-5 green onions, sliced
3 - 15 inch pieces of parchment paper cut into heart shapes

Sake Salmon En Papillote (Before)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  In the center of one half of parchment paper is where you want to place your food.  Layer a couple slices of garlic, then mushrooms, then greens.  Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, pour 1 T. sake on the pile of food then a couple more slices of ginger, the fish, more salt and pepper, another T. of sake, then top the pile with green onions.

Close parchment paper, place in baking pan.  Repeat with the remaining ingredients.  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Cajun Inspired Chicken Pasta

RECIPE RATING:
We liked the sauce, but it wasn't spicy enough.

Cajun Inspired Chicken Pasta

This recipe needs a little work, but if you want a hint of cajun seasoning and are not big on spicy food, you may enjoy this.  We decided to give the House Brand Tofu Fettuccine shaped noodles another try and at first we were ready to swear them off.  We made this dish last night to take to work for lunch today....we sampled it last night, the noodles were rubbery like our first Fettuccine dish.  However, after microwaving the dish for almost 4 minutes on medium high heat, the noodles softened a bit and don't taste too bad.

The strange thing about the House Brand tofu noodles is they are a bit chewy and we're used to that taste/texture since as Asians we grew up eating konnyaku/shirataki noodles in Asian dishes.  We guess it's a mental thing!  Not sure we'll run out and buy more Fettuccine shaped noodles :-)

We were going to add 1/2 a red onion sliced, but we forgot to pick one up.  Also, the original recipe called for a medium tomato chopped, but since the male half of this couple doesn't care for chopped tomatoes, we left those out.

RECIPE
Serves 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken (thighs or tenderloins), cut into strips or 1 inch cubes
2 pkgs. House Brand Tofu Fettuccine Shaped Noodles, boiled for 5-8 minutes
Cajun seasoning (we should have used 3 t.), see below for recipe
1 small red bell pepper, sliced or chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. fat free evaporated milk
2 t. cornstarch

Boil pasta and drain.  Toss chicken with 3/4 of the cajun seasoning mix.  Stir fry chicken with a little bit of olive oil spray until no longer pink.  Remove and keep warm.  In the same pan, saute peppers (if you're using onions, saute them with the peppers) for about 1 minute.  Add garlic and saute another minute.  Stir in 3/4 c. of milk.  Bring to a boil.  Combine remaining cajun seasoning with milk and cornstarch until smooth.  Gradually stir milk mixture into peppers.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes or until thickened.  Return chicken to the pan, heat.  Add pasta and toss.

Cajun seasoning recipe
1 t. paprika
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. cayenne pepper

Enjoy!

Dukan Broiled Lobster with Ginger Soy Sauce

RECIPE RATING:
We enjoyed this also.

Lobster Tails

The female half of this couple has always liked her lobster plain, no butter...enjoyed the pure taste of lobster.  We went to dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant the night before and the chef let us take some of their shoyu (soy sauce) ginger dipping sauce.  It was so good.  It probably had a little bit of sugar in it also, we decided to use the sauce any way.

These lobster tails came from Costco and were broiled in the oven for about 8 - 10 minutes.  Spray them with a little bit of olive oil spray, salt and pepper, a splash of lemon juice and a splash of dry white wine.  It was great....but then again, we like our lobster very plain.

Dukan Baked Tilapia

RECIPE RATING:
We actually enjoyed this.

Baked Tilapia

We were a bit skeptical about using oat bran as a coating even though other Dukan-ers have used it successfully.  It just didn't sound appetizing.  We found a recipe for Baked Tilapia on a low fat recipe website which we Dukan'd by changing the breadcrumbs out for oat bran and adding some italian seasoning instead of just oregano as the recipe called for.

This recipe is simple and you can use a variety of spices...not just italian seasoning.   You can also use different types of fish for this recipe.

RECIPE
Serves 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 8-12 minutes (425 degrees Fahrenheit)

4 tilapia filets (ours were very thin)
1/2 c. fine oat bran (if you have a grinder, grind your oat bran up)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated (the kind from the can)
1 t. garlic powder or garlic salt
1 t. italian seasoning (next time we will use 2 t..we love this stuff)

Mix all dry ingredients (we put our mixture on a plate).  Rinse and pat dry fish.  Spray fish lightly with olive oil spray, coat fish with oat bran mixture, spray fish lightly again, coat one more time with oat bran mixture.  Place coated fish in a foil lined pan (spray foil lightly with olive oil spray).  We sprayed our coated fish lightly.  Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

We sprayed our fish a little too much so some sections were soggy, but it still tasted great.

Enjoy!

Dukan Pan Seared Scallops

RECIPE RATING:
We loved these scallops.

Pan Seared Scallops

We actually prefer eating our fresh scallops raw on sushi rice...mmmm.  These were frozen scallops from Costco and they made a great pan seared addition to our dinner.  It was simple and light although we still prefer our scallops raw.

We had these on a pure protein day (with a lobster tail each), but the leftovers went well on our protein veggie day with some stir fried red bell peppers.  If you don't like raw scallops, you may want to cook these a little longer.

RECIPE:
Serves 2
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: approx 6-8 minutes

16 scallops, thawed and rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
dried chives, approx 1-2 t.
1/4 c. dry white wine

Use high heat on stove top.  Spray pan with a little bit of olive oil spray.  Season scallops with salt and pepper.  Place scallops in pan, sear scallops approximately 3 minutes per side, if you prefer your scallops cooked, pan fry them longer.  When almost done, pour in wine and chives, toss.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Dukan Oat Bran Muffin Tops

RECIPE RATING:
We all loved these.

Photo from Vicki C.'s Dukan Blog - we forgot to take a
pic of our muffin tops

A couple weeks ago we tried Vicki C.'s oat bran cookie recipe and after throwing it together in a rush and not measuring correctly, the cookie didn't seem to turn out.  Last week we tried the recipe again and still came up with a very dry mix, nothing like a cookie dough, so we added an additional 3-4 T. of vanilla yogurt to the recipe, liked the consistency of the dough and baked the cookies.   The cookies turned out great, but they really reminded us of muffin tops, so we're calling this adjusted recipe "Oat Bran Muffin Tops".  We made two batches, one of the muffin tops and one of the recipe exactly like Vicki's and did a taste test with our family...the results....the family members who are also trying the healthy eating lifestyle enjoyed both styles while the non-dieters preferred the muffin tops.  One of our family members said "for healthy food, that tastes pretty darn good!"

We ended up making a couple batches of these muffin tops and leaving them in the fridge.  Warm the muffin top for approximately 10-15 seconds (depending on your microwave) and they taste almost fresh baked.  The recipe Vicki provided is great...very cinnamon-y like she says.  Next batch we're hoping to try a lemon oat bran muffin top.

Dukan Diary Entry #8

We just got back from vacation and stayed with family which meant some home cooked meals.  It seemed to work out great since we both lost a few pounds while on vacation! However, perhaps the weight will come in the next day or two?  (we did cheat here and there)  We're still sticking with "Dukan Diet works".

We are on day 62 of Cruise and have only 7 more days on Cruise, BUT, will be staying in Cruise since as of today the female half of this couple has only lost 10 pounds.  The original goal was 20...yikes!  Aiming for 5 more pounds before moving on to Consolidation.

During our vacation there were some meals we ate Cruise and sometimes we ate like we were in Consolidation, so we are hopefully that we can still make it to our goals.  We definitely want to make it before the holidays.  Now that we're back from vacation we'll need to exercise again (only had time and energy to exercise 3 days while on vacation).

Will post recipes of a couple of the meals we made while on vacation!

Dukan Mini Cheesecake

Fat Free Mini Cheesecake

The female half of this couple was trying not to make any more Dukan desserts because the weight hasn't been melting away like other Dukan bloggers.  However, in order to not cheat by eating sugar and fat loaded desserts, she decided to use up the fat free cream cheese in the fridge and make some fat free mini cheesecakes.

When they came out of the oven, they did not look appetizing.  It actually took us a couple days to want to try it.  It's actually not bad.  Not too sweet, due to the size, it's not too heavy.  The female half has had two every other day of this week!

It was very simple to make also.

RECIPE:
Makes 6-8 mini cheesecakes (depends on the size of your muffin pan)
Prep Time: 30 minutes (includes time to soften cream cheese)
Bake Time: 20 minutes (or until done) at 325 degrees Fahrenheit

1 - 8 oz. package fat free cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. natural sweetener
1 egg
1/4 t. vanilla extract
2 t. lemon juice (add more if you like yours lemony)
1 t. cinnamon sugar (homemade with natural sweetener), optional

Mix cream cheese until smooth.  Line muffin pan with cupcake liners (easier to clean).  Add sweetener and beat until smooth.   Add in egg and beat.  Add in vanilla extract, lemon juice and cinnamon sugar.  Pour batter into muffin pan about 2/3's full will give you a half size cheesecake.  Bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cool, refrigerate, then enjoy!