Grilled Asparagus - Dukan Diet

You can't really see them, but the fresh grilled asparagus
are behind the quiches

Last week the female half of this couple's sister read on a gentleman's Dukan Diary Blog that he just loved asparagus for it's diuretic abilities.  We decided to give it a try.

Saw some very nice looking skinny asparagus in Chinatown in Honolulu this past weekend!  (We don't care for the large Costco ones although very inexpensive for what you get, they just aren't as tasty as the skinnier ones).

After we got them home, we realized the way we usually bake these (in butter) is not allowed on the Dukan Diet.  So, we decided to pan fry them with a little bit of salt, pepper and lemon juice for about 3 minutes (until they were bright green) and were they delicious.  Also, the female half of this couple had asparagus for lunch on Monday and Tuesday (had to double up on PV days this week) and she's lost 2 pounds since Sunday!  Coincidence or is she enjoying the diuretic value of asparagus also?  Could also be the 45 minutes of zumba every day?  In any case, the asparagus was delicious, both grilled and in the mini quiches.

If you're looking for some asparagus recipes, check out allrecipes.com.  Dukan the ones that don't fit the Dukan Diet!

House Brand Tofu Shirataki Noodles

UPDATED: Cooking tip - boil your noodles for 5 minutes and add salt to your boiling waters..cuts down on the taste and it seems less rubbery.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Don Quijote here in Honolulu carries all three types of the House Brand Tofu Shirataki Noodles.  We both enjoyed the angel hair pasta shape...it tastes more like somen noodles.

Last night we made some turkey meat sauce to go with the spaghetti shaped noodles and while they did satisfy our pasta needs, the spaghetti shaped ones are really spongy....we could get use to it though.  It's so nice to eat pasta and not feel so heavy after.  

We will be trying the fettucini shaped shirataki noodles this weekend with a Dukan Alfredo recipe!

The funny thing about this shirataki craze, the female half of this couple is part Japanese and grew up on eating Shirataki noodles as part of Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki dishes...but we never thought about using it as a pasta substitute!

Dukan-ing and we didn't even know it!

This morning we went through some of our favorite recipes...wow, we ate a lot of creamy and fatty things! Then I browsed the crock pot recipes we've tried since the beginning of the year and quite a few of them were either Dukan type recipes or pretty close and easily Dukan-able.

Will definitely be working on Dukan-ing more crock pot recipes since we miss our crock pot meals.  Well, the female half of this couple misses the "throw everything in the pot and it's done in 6 hours" thing!

Last night we made some mini veggie quiches - low fat and they tasted great!  We used reduce fat shredded cheese, but found a recipe using non fat cottage cheese, so we'll be trying that soon too.

Will post our mini quiche recipe soon!

Just a couple pounds loss for us this week, but the clothes feeling a bit baggy is nice!

Dukan Buttermilk Chicken Tenderloins

Looks dry, but it was moist.  This was actually
what was leftover.

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID:
SHE SAID: It smelled so good while we were cooking it!

Decided to try another recipe from Dukanitout.com since everything we've tried from this site has been delicious.  Again, we altered the recipe just a tad to use what we had in the kitchen and what we could find in the market.  We fried these up in our stir fry non-stick wok because the Forman grill seems to make everything way too dry.  Also, we live in two separate households and the female half of this couple forgot to bring her grilling pan.

Still, it smelled so yummy while we cooked the chicken up.  We had this chicken with some green salad which was just right.

RECIPE
Serves 4-6 people
Prep Time: 10 mins, plus 4+ hours to marinate chicken
Cook Time: 10-20 minutes, depending on how large your pan or grill is

1 1/2 lb. chicken tenderloins, skinless
1 c. soy milk
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. dijon
1 T. honey
1 1/2 t. dried rosemary
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. fresh ground pepper

Make buttermilk by combining 1 cup soy milk with 1 T. lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes.  Then add all other ingredients except chicken, mix well.  Rinse and pat dry chicken, place in a large baggie and pour marinade in the baggie.  Seal and place baggie in a foil pan (just in case) and refrigerate for 4+ hours, but no longer than over night.  Grill or pan fry chicken until done.

We haven't used any spray or oil in our non-stick stir fry pan and everything fries up nicely without sticking..plus, it's been easy to clean.

Enjoy!

Dukan Chocolate Oat Bran Muffins

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Not bad for healthy muffins, but I'm not a muffin guy
SHE SAID: Yum!

Dukan Chocolate Oat Bran Muffins

A couple weeks ago we came across a couple of recipes for Dukan muffins.  We tried the Vanilla Moist ones which are great, but we are chocolate lovers, so we had to try this recipe.  Oh heaven!  The female half of this couple has been eating them pretty much every day!

We tried adding raw cacao nibs (0 grams of sugar) which are great in smoothies, but seemed a little too bitter in these muffins - perhaps we need to add less nibs.  In smoothies, the nibs taste just like chocolate chips! The cinnamon version is also very delicious.

We've made these with all oat bran and with oat bran with wheat bran and both taste great.  The ones with wheat bran are a little more muffin like.  A great way to get your daily does of oat bran.

RECIPE
Makes 6 regular sized muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 15-18 minutes (for our oven it usually takes 20 minutes)

1 t. baking powder
2 1/2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
3-4 T. natural sweetener (REVISED - original recipe called for 6-8 T, but it was too sweet for us)
4 T. oat bran (fine)
2 T. wheat bran
6 T. plain Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add wet ingredients, stir well.  Pour batter into muffin pan (we use muffin liners for less clean up).   Bake for 15-18 minutes or until done.  Cool and enjoy.

These muffins make a great breakfast or snack.

Dukan Angel Hair "Pasta" with Tofu Sausage and Veggies

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Pretty good for a low fat meal.
SHE SAID: Wow, loved it!

Angel Hair "Pasta" with Tofurky Sausage and Veggies

We've been trying recipes from a lot of Dukan diaries, but Dukanitout.com is our favorite so far.  Tonight we tried this recipe with a few adjustments.   We didn't use zucchini since the male half of this couple doesn't care for them.  Also used Japanese mushrooms since the male half will eat those but doesn't care for other types of mushrooms.  We added wine because we love cooking with wine and more red peppers because we both love spicy food.

Don Quijote in Hawaii sells the three types of tofu shirataki noodles made by House and they were on sale this week!  We also made ours with Tofurky sausages since we are trying to not eat sausages.  We loved the recipe.  The two bags of pasta made 3 large servings for us.

RECIPE
Serves: 2, plus a little leftovers
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

2 Tofurky sausages cut into small pieces (or 1 lb. italian sausage casings removed)
2 packages House brand Tofu Shirataki Angel Hair Noodles, rinsed and drained
1/2 small red onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 or 1 package Japanese mushrooms (or mushrooms of your choice, slice the larger ones)
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 - 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
3/5 c. red wine
2 T. dried parsley
1 t. dried basil
1 1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. red pepper flakes
2 T. fat free cream cheese (or 1/2 c fat free sour cream)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, brown sausage with onions, bell pepper and garlic.  Add mushrooms and saute for approximately 5 minutes.  Stir in crushed tomatoes, wine, spices and pasta, stir, cover and cook for 5 more minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in cream cheese.  Return to heat for approximately 3 minutes or until hot.

We will definitely have this again and we may leave out the cream cheese next time.

A Change In Our Eating Habits

It's been a while, but it's been a hectic couple of months! First of all, a family emergency meant not as much time to cook. Then life just got busy. During all of that we decided to follow some of the Dukan Diet ways...less fat, healthier eating, exercise, etc. We haven't been as successful as others (according to their online diaries), however, we still have some weight loss and feel much healthier.

We've tried several recipes from other Dukan diaries...most have been great. We've changed some of them because we either can't find all the ingredients here, the ingredients are too expensive or just adjusted them to fit our tastes.

We are currently in the second week of the Cruise Phase. The Attack Phase where you intake pure proteins only was difficult, but we planned our meals and snacks which made eating healthy easier. As others mentioned, eating pure proteins all day can get quite expensive, yes, you do get constipated and yes, we got sick of eating chicken and beef! Now that we're in the Cruise Phase, the digestive system is back to normal and we're enjoying a wider variety of foods.

We do miss fruits, but that will come later. It is quite a challenge when eating out. We only ate out once during the Attack Phase and were lucky enough to be at a Japanese restaurant - ordered a sashimi platter and grilled hamachi kama. During the Cruise Phase we've had to entertain guests, etc...which made it a lot more difficult while eating out but we managed to not gain back too much weight.

Since starting the Dukan Diet, the female half of this couple has tracked her weight and she's lost approximately 4 pounds. The goal is 20 pounds. The Attack Phase for us lasted 4 days. The Cruise Phase will end at the beginning of September. We've missed some exercise due to entertaining guests, etc...but for the most part have kept up the Zumba workouts to at least 5 days per week or more. Oh, also, although the female half has only lost 4 pounds, she must have lost fat because her jeans are now baggy, the love handles are shrinking and the tummy is flattening a bit.

We will share some of our favorite Dukan recipes soon! We haven't tried to make any of our Dukan recipes in the crock pot, but we do want to!