Dukan Southwest Turkey Burgers (it's Paleo too!)

Southwest Turkey Burger

We loved this recipe!

This was very simple to make and very tasty!  We used Rachael Ray's recipe and made some changes so the meal would fit both Dukan and Paleo.   We did use bacon which we wouldn't use in Cruise (too much fat).  We used lettuce in place of a bun.

Not sure if it's just my imagination, but the leftovers tasted even better.

RECIPE:
Serves 2-4
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: approx 15-16 minutes, we cooked our burgers in two batches

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
2 slices bacon, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 t. dried thyme leaves
2 T. freeze dried or fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 small bell pepper, seeded and chopped finely (any color)
2 small serrano peppers, seeded and chopped finely
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. adobo seasoning (Paleo folks, making your own is best)
4 pieces of romaine lettuce to fit burgers like buns

Heat a grill pan over medium heat.  Mix all ingredients except lettuce together.  Form 4 large patties and
grill.  For the Dukan folks, spray your pan lightly with non-stick spray and for the Paleo folks, extra virgin olive oil or your choice of fat.

Grill patties approx 4 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.  It'll depend on how thick you make your patties.

Serve with lettuce pieces.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Grilled Ono with Aji Criolla Sauce (it's Paleo too!)

Grilled Ono with Aji Criollo Sauce

We loved this dinner!

It was very, very simple.  We made the Aji Criollo sauce from this post to go with this simply grilled Ono or Wahoo recipe.  We were feeling the need for a healthy, lean and easy to prepare meal, so we pulled out the Ono we had in our freezer from our fish guy.  It was perfect and the Aji Criollo gave it a nice kick without making the dish heavy.  The male half is not a fan of sauces, but he actually like this since it was spicy and light.

You don't have to use Ono for this recipe...Mahi Mahi or most other fishes would go nicely with the Aji Criollo.

RECIPE:
Serves: 2
Prep Time: less than 5 minutes (not including the making of the Aji Criollo)
Cook Time: around 10-12 minutes, depending on how thick your fish is

1 1/2 lbs. of Ono or pretty much any other fish that tastes great grilled
adobo seasoning (for the Paleo folks, we will be making our own adobo seasoning soon and will post the recipe)
Aji Criollo sauce

Heat your grill pan over medium heat.  Cut fish into pieces (not too thick and not too thin).  Rinse and pat dry your fish.  Lightly season with adobo seasoning ....you can use more...we have high blood pressure, so we usually go easy on the adobo seasoning.  

Place fish on grill pan (lightly sprayed for the Dukan folks and lightly wiped with extra virgin olive oil for the Paleo folks).  Cook until half way done, flip the fish over and finish cooking.  Be sure to cook your fish through if it's not fresh but don't overcook or it will dry out.

Top fish with some Aji Criollo sauce.   We had ours with some grilled asparagus.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan and Paleo Update

I will be on a business trip soon and have lots to prep for the trip.  Cooking in our household will be on hold until I return.

While we haven't committed 100% to Paleo, we are still following the Dukan Diet but still haven't been able to lose weight.  I'll probably need to go back to Attack when I return from my business trip to jump start the weight loss.  We're keeping away from carbs and still eating a very low fat diet.  In addition, we are back to exercising 5-6 times each week (cardio and muscle toning).  We've definitely gained a little bit of muscle, but argh!   Luckily though, no weight gain.  Whew!

Guess June will be a reboot for us!

We're still trying to find recipes that would fall under both the Dukan Diet and the Paleo Diet and have found several great tasting recipes.

Hope to be cooking again by mid June!

Dukan Aji Criollo (it's Paleo too!)

Aji Criollo Sauce

We loved this recipe!

To be honest, it didn't wow us by itself, but when eaten on fish or an omelet, it's yummy!  It's a great low cal sauce.

We came across this recipe...ours looked closer to the second photo on Laylita's blog post.  We used jalapenos since that's all the farmer's market near us carries but we'll be trying this recipe with other peppers.  We actually have a couple aji amarillo peppers in our freezer we'd like to try.  NOTE: remove seeds from the peppers if you don't want your sauce too hot.

We've eaten a similar Aji Sauce at a Peruvian restaurant in San Francisco which they serve with bread...mmm!  We used this sauce on some ono or wahoo we grilled up.

RECIPE:
Makes about a cup and a half, sorry I forgot to measure!
Prep Time: less than 10 minutes
Blend Time: just a couple of minutes

4 hot peppers, seeds removed
1/2 bunch cilantro (stems and leaves)
1/2 c. water
3 garlic cloves
Juice from 1/2 a lime (or lemon, we used lime)
3 T. green onions, finely chopped
Pure sea salt, to taste.

Cut peppers into smaller pieces for the blender.  Add peppers, cilantro water, garlic and lime juice to the
blender and blend until peppers are very small pieces.  Pour sauce into a bowl, add green onions and mix well.   Add salt to taste.  We chilled ours before using it on our fish.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan and Paleo Rockin' Turkey Meatloaf

Rockin' Turkey Meatloaf

We have mixed feelings about this recipe...it was tasty and easy to prepare but the almond flour made it a bit mushy.  Texture-wise, not the greatest.

This is the original recipe in case you want to try it.

We're definitely planning on making this again and hope to try a couple substitutions to see if we can get the texture right.  We halved this recipe since it's just two of us in our household and we didn't add spinach (none at the Farmer's Market).  Half the recipe made a lot for the two of us.  We had it for dinner one night, the next morning I had a couple slices with an overeasy egg and a couple more slices the following day.

If you're on the Dukan Diet, use oat bran instead of almond flour and the carrot can be optional if you're in Cruise and omitting carrots from your diet.  In addition, for those in Cruise, omit the bacon.

RECIPE:
Serves 2 with lots of leftovers or 4-6 people

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: approx. 45 minutes or until juices run clear

3 slices of bacon, chopped into fine pieces (we removed some of the fat)
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into smaller pieces (for food processor)
1 small handful of basil
1/2 small onion, chopped into smaller pieces (for food processor)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 - 7 oz. can of tomato paste (or half if you can use the other half for something)
1.25 lbs. ground turkey
1/4 c. almond flour
1 t. pure sea salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Over medium heat, cook bacon until it starts to brown and crisp up.  While your bacon is cooking, start on the veggies.  Place the chopped carrots, basic, onion and garlic in a food processor and process until fine.

Add veggie mixture to bacon and saute until veggies are soft (shouldn't take too long).   Add tomato paste, stir to mix.   Transfer mix to a mixing bowl and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Add ground turkey, almond flour, salt, pepper and mix.   Line a baking pan with parchment paper and shape your mixture into a loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 45 minutes or until cooked.

Enjoy...we kind of did!

Paleo Pizza Crust - Take 2!

Last month we posted our first attempt at trying a Paleo Pizza Crust made from Tapioca Flour.    We figured we made a mistake which led to a gooey dough and after baking the gooeyness, we ended up with a pizza cracker!

We tried the recipe again (even though I'm supposed to be losing weight)...we had extra homemade pizza sauce and Canadian Bacon leftover.  It came out great!  Once I lost the weight I want to lose, this is going to be our 'go to' pizza recipe...although we can't promise it'll be our only pizza recipe we'll use...we still have to try the coconut flour pizza crust recipes we found.

Back to this one....it is a bit oily for me and I may experiment using less oil to see how it comes out, but as a once in a while treat, this is great!  You don't feel bloated or sluggish after eating it.

Sharing some photos of our pizza crust...so, if you try this recipe, be sure to let your oil boil a minute or two before removing from the stove.  That's the mistake we made...we took our oil off the stove as it started to boil.

Paleo's Whole 30 Rules

Although Whole 30 isn't exactly like Dukan's Attack Phase, the concept is similar.  I've started to collect recipes that qualify as Whole 30 recipes and eventually when I have time I want to go through all my recipes to see which ones qualify as Whole 30 recipes or can easily be changed to fit.  Take a peek at your existing recipes, you'd be surprised how many are already (or close to it) Whole 30 or even Dukan recipes.

This post is what we refer to when reminding ourselves what's not allowed during Whole 30.   It's a great, simple list that's easy to understand.

Dukan Crock Pot Herb Chicken (It's Paleo too!)

Crock Pot Herb Chicken

We loved this recipe!

We've mentioned in the past we are trying to ease our way into the Paleo Diet (but I'm still more Dukan since I need to lose weight again!).  So we've been trying to find recipes that are both Dukan and Paleo friendly.  Last week we decided to read up on Whole 30.  It's a similar concept to Dukan's Attack Phase where you cut out sweeteners of all kinds, etc.   There are a lot of differences too but the bottom line is, if you weren't already on a sweetener free diet, you may have sweetener cravings during this stage.  Oh and Whole 30 lasts for 30 days.  Wow.  I'm not sure I could do a whole 30 days and the male half of this couple has no desire in following all the rules of Whole 30 for even a week.

We both agree on natural foods (not processed), little to no chemicals, etc.  He isn't quite ready to give up white and red potatoes although he's been a good sport about trying to eat more sweet potatoes and we no longer cook rice at home.  (FYI - for a lot of Hawaii people, rice is a daily thing for us!)  He has also been a good sport about eating pretty much whatever I cook, but once in a while he wants Rosemary Red Potatoes and if we have friends over, he eats rice with them.

That said, I proposed we try Whole 30, sent the male half this great post and from there the negotiations began haha!  He even got his mother's opinion which is "her parents lived into their 90's and they ate grains and potatoes all the time and were pretty much disease free"...I pointed out they lived and grew up in a different time with much less toxins, they didn't eat a lot of processed foods like we were brought up on but I could see I wasn't going to win the battle.  After some negotiations, we settled on me proposing Whole 30 recipes I think he's gonna like, he'll have a say on whether we'll try it or not.

So far, the three meals I proposed (I snuck one in, only had two approved ha ha!) he really enjoyed

with the exception of the Paleo Meatloaf we will post soon.  He didn't hate it, he just didn't care for the texture.

Back to this recipe....it was easy to make, tasty and moist.  If you're in Cruise, nix the carrots if you prefer.  We forgot to buy Sage at the Farmer's Market but the chicken was still yummy!

RECIPE:
Serves 3-4
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 6-7 hours on low (used our 4 qt crock pot)

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (free range if you can)
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped (omit if you're in Dukan Cruise)
1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped (yellow is ok, we had red on hand already)
3/4 c. organic chicken broth
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh rosemary, minced
1 t. dried thyme (1 T. if you use fresh)
optional - 1 T. fresh sage, minced
pure sea salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and pat dry chicken.  Remove extra fat, we left some on so the chicken wouldn't dry out.  Spritz chicken lightly with olive oil.  Rub chicken with spices and garlic.  Place carrots and onion in the crock pot.  Place chicken on top of vegetables.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour chicken broth over everything.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until chicken is cooked.  We cooked ours for 6 hours.

We had our chicken with som grilled lemon pepper asparagus.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Crockpot Salsa Chicken (it's a Paleo recipe too!)

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

We loved this recipe...even though we overloaded it with salsa.

A couple years ago we invested in our very first crock pot (slow cooker).  Then we found a fabulous crock pot recipe blog and tried a few of the recipes.  We loved this one - simple and tasty.   After I saw the recipe for 'Fire Roasted Salsa' we just made, I wanted to make the crock pot salsa chicken again...but had to nix the corn, store bought salsa and black beans.

Not feeling very creative, we decided to just use salsa and chicken but overcompensated on the salsa.  We should've stuck to the one cup of salsa.  We had way too much leftover salsa in the pot.  It was very tasty though.

If you come up with additions to this recipe, please share them in our comments section.  We'd love to try variations!

RECIPE:
Serves 3-4 people
Prep Time: approx 15 minutes (not including making the salsa)
Cook Time: 6-7 hours on low

6-7 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (we used antibiotic free chicken - 'Open Nature')
2 c. fire roasted salsa (adjust to 1 c.)
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped and reserve for garnish

Rinse and pat dry chicken.  Remove excess fat.  We left some fat on so the chicken wouldn't dry out.  Cover evenly with salsa.  Cover pot and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  We cooked ours for 6 hours and it was perfect.  Garnish with cilantro before serving.

The male half had his with avocado, I had mine plain.  We also had asparagus with this.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Ono Fish Tacos (It's Paleo too!)

Dukan Ono Fish Tacos

We loved this recipe!

Decided to use up our leftover Fire Roasted Salsa for the tacos and another avocado salsa recipe to garnish our tacos.  The male half of this couple is not a big fan of sauces so I figured the salsa and avocados were enough.  These were very tasty.  We followed most of this recipe which we found while searching for Whole 30 recipes.  We used Ono instead of Salmon because we already had it on

hand.

We'll try this recipe again but with a softer fish (but not too soft).  For me, the Ono was a bit too stiff...the male half of this couple didn't mind.  The fish was frozen, but when we purchased it it was fresh from the fish auction so after defrosting it still tasted great!    Oh and we didn't have coriander (darn beetles got to them) but the original recipe does call for 1 t. ground coriander).

A couple notes relating to Dukan - while in Cruise the first time around, we didn't eat avocado but the second time around, we've had avocado on a couple of occasions but not often and not a lot per serving.   So for those in Cruise still needing to lose weight, have this without the avocado salsa!

Speaking of the avocado salsa, it was good, but not one of our favorites.  We actually prefer our Avocado Tartare recipe.

We ate three tacos each!  It was a nice refreshing dish on a very voggy and humid day.

RECIPE:
Serves 2 very hungry people
Prep Time: 30-40 minutes (not including the time to make the salsa)
Cook Time: about 15 minutes or so

1 1/2 lbs. fish (your choice, depends on what you like in your fish tacos or what you can get your hands on, we used Ono)
olive oil spray - we spritzed our fish with olive oil, I think we used less than 1 t)
nonstick spray if you're on Dukan, olive oil for the pan if you're on Paleo
small head of romaine lettuce or lettuce of your choice
Fire Roasted Salsa


Fish seasoning
1 t. pure sea salt
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. paprika
1 t. onion powder
1 t. black pepper

Avocado Salsa ingredients
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 sm. red onion, diced small
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced (I wish we minced ours)
Juice from 2 limes
1 T. extra virgin olive oil (we used less than this)
2 T. cilantro, finely chopped
Pure sea salt to taste (we added very little due to high blood pressure)

Rinse and pat dry fish.  Cut into 1 1/2" sticks that are approximately 3 -4 inches long or whatever shape
you can make from your piece of fish.    Mix fish seasoning together in small bowl, spritz fish lightly with olive oil, place fish in a large zip lock bag, rub seasoning all over fish and let marinate in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.

Remove fish from refrigerator.  Start on avocado salsa.  Add all ingredients to a bowl, mix gently and chill until the tacos are ready to assemble.  Rinse, clean and drain lettuce.  We made 3 tacos for each of us.

Heat your grill pan on medium high heat.  Coat pan according to which diet you are on.  Cook fish.  When fish looks about half cooked, flis fish over and cook until done.  Ours took about 3 minutes on each side.  While the fish is cooking, dry your lettuce.

When fish is done, assemble tacos.  We placed a piece of fish in the lettuce, drained as much liquid as we could from the salsa, added a layer of the drained salsa to the fish and topped with some avocado salsa.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Fire Roasted Salsa (it's Paleo too!)

Fire Roasted Salsa

NOTE: We're not very good at planning out meals in connection with holidays like a lot of other recipe bloggers are...but we have noticed all the Cinco De Mayo recipes being posted and remembered we have a Fish "Taco" recipe and this salsa recipe scheduled to post next week.  So, we're pushing out this salsa recipe and tomorrow, the Fish "taco" recipe in case you want to use it for your Cinco De Mayo celebration.

We loved this recipe!

Made this the other weekend, we only had one jalapeno and the jalapenos at both the Farmer's Market and grocery stores looked old and wrinkled.  We could have used at least one more jalapeno in our salsa but this is very tasty and easy to make.

We made the salsa for our Crock Pot Salsa Chicken recipe which will be posted soon.  Thinking about using the Paleo Pizza Crust recipe we tried the other week to make "chips" for the male half of this couple to eat with the rest of the salsa.

We're definitely making this again!  Forgot to take more photos of the salsa.

RECIPE:
Makes between 3 and 4 cups (I forgot to measure it)
Prep Time: approx. 10 - 15 minutes

2 - 15 oz. cans of organic fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 jalapenos, chopped into smaller pieces, seeds removed (leave some seeds if you want some heat)
1/2 cup cilantro, rough chop
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 t. oregano
Pure Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything into a food processor or blender and blend until thoroughly combined and in small enough chunks.  We like our salsa less chunky.  Chill for 30 minutes.  Yummy!

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Green Chili Turkey Burgers (it's Paleo too!)

Green Chili Turkey Burgers

We loved this recipe.

The burgers were juicy and tasty...plus, very easy to make.  We found this recipe during one of our initial searched for Paleo recipes.  It's listed as a Gluten Free and Paleo recipe on Elana's Pantry blog....and it's Dukan!   Elana's Pantry has a lot of great recipes that fit into the Dukan Diet.  Some you will have to wait until Consolidation.  She has a lot of Gluten Free recipes too.

The burgers are soft when you're trying to form them and place them on the grill pan, but once they start cooking they are fine.  We're definitely having these again...perhaps in meatloaf form.

RECIPE:
Makes 8 small patties or 4 large patties
Prep Time: 10 minutes or so
Cook Time: 20 minutes (2 batches in our grill pan, but would have taken less had we used a grill and cooked all 8 patties at once.

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 - 7 oz. can of diced green chilis
1 c. cilantro finely chopped
1/2 c. onion, finely chopped
2 t. ground cumin
1 t. chili powder
1 t. pure sea salt

Wish we had a larger food processor to mix all of this up, but oh wells.  Mix all ingredients together.  Form patties and cook in a grill pan over medium high heat.  Cook approximately 3-4 minutes per side or until juices run clear.

We had these with asparagus.  I should've made myself a fried egg!

Enjoy...we sure did!