Dukan Phoenix Salmon

Phoenix Salmon

We loved this recipe.

It was light, tasty and easy to make.  Plus, we love salmon.   The salmon we used was frozen, from a slab of fresh salmon we bought a couple of months ago.  We washed it, dried it, wrapped it in paper towels and then in a gallon sized freezer ziploc.  We've seen most of our fishermen friends do the paper towel thing.

The original recipe came from the Electric Kitchen's website.  The Electric Kitchen was a cooking show sponsored by our electric company, Hawaiian Electric.  It is no longer on the air, but we've used quite a few local recipes from the site.  The recipe called for oil, but this is another recipe where the oil wasn't missed.

RECIPE:
Serves 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8-12 minutes, depending on how well you like your salmon cooked and how thick your salmon filets are

1 lb. salmon filet (we cut ours into 3 pieces to fit all pieces into the pan at once)
1 t. garlic, minced
1/8 t. dried ginger (or 1 t. grated ginger)
1 t. cornstarch
1 T. white wine or whiskey
1/4 t. salt
dash of Chinese five-spice powder
dash of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 c. green onions, chopped

Rinse and pat dry your fish.  Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.  In a pan over medium heat sprayed with a little bit of nonstick spray, add salmon.  Turn salmon over after a minute and pour sauce evenly over your fish.  Cover pan, lower heat and cook until salmon is done to your liking.  We prefer ours just cooked and sometimes a little under done if the fish is very fresh.

If you're eating this dish with rice or quinoa, it would probably feed 3 people.  We used more than a pound of fish since it's what we had and we didn't want to leave a quarter pound piece in the freezer.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Vacation Pig Out, Hiking and a Necessary PP Day

Vacation photo collage

Happy Belated New Year everyone!

We are back and rested from our New Years vacation - and boy did we need the rest.  It was great catching up with family, meeting new friends and exploring trails on the neighbor islands.  We live on Oahu and while Oahu has a lot to offer, each island has something (plant, animal and/or site) unique to that island.

Each day we intended to read Dukan blogs since we do enjoying reading about everyone's progress but after being out from 7AM until about 10PM each day, we were just too tired to turn the computer on.   The weeks before our trip it was very rainy and windy around the islands.  We planned out what we wanted to see during our vacation and of course a plan b in case we were rained out.  Luckily the weather changed and we had blue skies almost the entire time!

We braced ourselves for non-Dukan meals since we were meeting up with family, attending a New Year's Eve bonfire and knew we'd sometimes be in relatively remote places with little to no food choices.  There were also the necessary traditional New Years foods we wanted to consume like mochi.  We allowed ourselves one mochi each even though we both love mochi and it really was enough.  Also had to try one of my uncle's homemade cookies, fresh baked.  Being on the Dukan Diet has helped with cravings and food splurges.  We no longer consume a lot of sweets.  We treat ourselves to one or two pieces once in a while and we're satisfied.  We don't even feel the need to have a sweet or dessert with every celebration meal.

It wasn't an entire week of pigging out though.  We did make healthier choices when we could and we hiked approximately 2-4 hours each day over all kinds of terrain.  Sometimes hilly, gravel paths.  Sometimes over lava beds.  Sometimes up mountains (not too steep).  We expected to gain at least five pounds each, but the hiking must have helped, the female half of this couple gained about two pounds on vacation and the male half lost two pounds!

By the last two days of our vacation we were really wanting to eat healthier.  This past weekend we did a PP day and it was great.  Made some quick, but tasty meals and looking forward to more.  We are also making it a point to hike more on Oahu.  It's not that we don't like to hike, we just never set aside the time to hike.

Dukan Easy Chinese Pork Stir Fry

Easy Chinese Pork Stir Fry with Rice (his portion, mine = no rice)

We loved this recipe.

Happy New Year everyone!  The holidays are over and it's time for us to get back on Dukan.  For us, it'll happen next week :-)

This recipe was quick, easy, and tasty!  You can make this dish with or without veggies, with pork, beef, chicken, turkey or fish.  We took a simple Kung Pao sauce recipe and made some adjustments.  We actually made this before New Year's but haven't had much time to blog.

We were pigging out over the holidays and didn't have many PP days during the last three weeks of December.  Yike!  Decided a PP day was a must and luckily we had two lean, uncooked pork chops left from one of our other meals.  The two small pork chops were actually not quite enough for a PP meal for two people, so we are adjusting the recipe to make a meal for two.  If you're having this with brown rice or quinoa or adding a lot of bulk veggies like broccoli, two thick cut pork chops should be enough for two people.

RECIPE
Serves 2
Prep Time: 45 minutes (30 of those minutes are for marinating)
Cook Time: less than 10 minutes

3/4 - 1 lb. lean pork chops (no bone), thinly sliced (slice at an angle)
2 Thai red chili peppers or something similar (deseeded and cut into thin strips)
5 thin slices of fresh ginger (skin removed)
2 garlic cloves (we used minced since we have the Costco bottle or you can thinly slice your garlic)
1 stalk green onion, chopped (next time we'll probably do two inch strips)

Marinade:
3 t. cornstarch
2 t. soy sauce
1 T. Shaoxing rice wine or your choice of substitutes

Sauce:
1 1/2 T. soy sauce
1 t. natural sweetener
1/4 t. black vinegar (or regular white vinegar)
2 T. water
1 t. cornstarch

Rinse pork slices and pat dry.  Mix marinade ingredients, we usually mix ours in a ziploc baggie, then add meat, mix again (using your hands on the outside of the baggie), then refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Mix your sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.  Heat up a stir fry pan (high heat), spray a little bit of  non stick spray (we use a coated nonstick stir fry pan), cook marinated pork until 70% cooked.  Set aside.  Clean pan, spray with non stick spray again.  Add ginger and garlic to pan, stir fry for a few seconds, then add red chilies.  Stir fry until it is aromatic (about 20-30 seconds).  If your pan starts sticking, spray a little more non stick spray.  Add pork back to pan and continue to stir fry.  For a celebration meal or during consolidation, add cashew nuts or peanuts.  Add in sauce and continuously stir fry until pork is coated with sauce.  Turn heat off, add green onions, stir and serve immediately.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Spicy Tuna (Ahi) Bowls

Fresh ahi

We loved this recipe.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we made spicy ahi (tuna) bowls for the male half of this couple's birthday.   The way we've always made spicy ahi has been with a little bit of Japanese mayonnaise (which seems creamier) and chili oil. Since it was his birthday, we decided to turn it into a Celebration meal and have it the way we usually make it but using low fat mayonnaise.

You can substitute fat free mayonnaise if you can find it in your local market.  Omit the chili oil if you are wanting it to be closer to a Dukan recipe and use just the cayenne pepper.

This is a recipe we usually don't measure, we just add stuff, then taste, add more if needed, etc.  We will try to do our best in guesstimating what we normally use.

RECIPE
Serves 2

3/4 - 1 lb. of raw fish (tuna, salmon, etc, make sure it's fresh) usually feeds the two of us (one eating the fish with rice and the other just eating it without rice or wrapped up in nori or seaweed
cayenne pepper

Spicy Ahi

mayonnaise (Japanese, low fat or fat free)
chili oil

Sauce for rice:
soy sauce (low sodium)
water (only if you want to water your soy sauce down like we do)

Cut fish into desired size.  Sometimes we do small cubes and if we have time we sort of mince the fish, add to a bowl.  Sprinkle a small amount of cayenne pepper on your fish, if you love spicy food, use more cayenne pepper, but keep in mind you will add chili oil too.  Mix fish and cayenne, let sit for a few minutes.  In the meantime, prepare your mayonnaise/chili oil mix.  We normally make 1 T. at a time since we don't like our fish with too much mayonnaise.  Take 1 T. of mayonnaise and mix well in a small bowl until creamy.  Add a couple splashes of chili oil, mix well and taste add more chili oil is desired.  We like ours hot, so we use quite a bit of chili oil.  Add mayonnaise mix into fish.  Make and add more mayo/chili oil mix if desired.  Once you have the spicy taste you want, put your spicy fish mixture into the refrigerator.

If you're eating this over rice, we usually mix soy sauce with water and dab the soy sauce mixture on the rice before placing the spicy fish mixture on the rice.  The amount you use depends on how much rice you are eating and how many people you are feeding.  For two bowls, we normally use 1 - 2 t. soy sauce and 1 t. water.

Since it was his birthday, the male half of this couple got some avocado cubes added to his bowl!

Enjoy...we always do!

Dukan Korean Turkey and Veggie Bowl

Korean Turkey and Veggie Bowl

We loved this recipe.

We wanted to try bibimbap for the longest time, but knew we had to make some changes to make it a Dukan friendly recipe.  Although time consuming, this is a very easy dish to prepare. Bap means rice in Korean and we've usually seen this served with white rice...that we replaced with quinoa.  We used less oil for the veggies and used olive oil spray when stir frying the turkey and veggies.

This was a great light dish although it took a while to prepare.  Almost an hour!  It looks pretty when you put your bowl together, but you end up mixing everything up.  Next time, to save time, we'll probably cook certain veggies together.  For example, the cucumbers, carrots and mushrooms we'll cook together instead of individually.  The only time we'd cook them separately is if we were making bibimbap and banchan.  This dish can also be made as a vegetarian dish, omit the ground turkey and add more veggies.  Also, lean ground beef, chicken or pork can be substituted.

The garlic and sesame are what makes this dish tasty.  Not recommended for Cruise.  Eat in moderation during Consolidation.  If we were in Cruise, which we may go back to in January, we might make this dish without quinoa and very little sesame oil.  Sesame oil is very strong, a little bit can flavor up your dish a lot!

RECIPE
Serves 4
Prep Time: 40-50 minutes
Cook Time: 10-20 minutes

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/4 c. chicken broth
1 lb. ground turkey, lean
1 carrot (small), sliced into strips
1 cucumber (small), sliced into strips
1 1/2 c. bean sprouts
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. hydrated shiitake mushroom pieces (or your favorite type of mushroom), thinly sliced
soy sauce (1 t. for the cucumbers or whichever green veggie you use, 2 t. for the mushrooms, 1-2 T. for the ground turkey)
garlic cloves, minced (1 for the bean sprouts, 1 for the green veggies, 6-8 for the ground turkey)
sesame oil (you'll use a splash or two for each item)
kosher salt (1 or two pinches for the bean sprouts, 2 pinches for the green veggies)
natural sweetener (1 - 2 t. for the mushrooms, 1 T. for the ground turkey)
pepper, a dash or two for the ground turkey
4 uncooked eggs
gochujang or chili paste (it also tastes just fine without the hot sauce)
platter to hold all the cooked ingredients
4 bowls to eat from, you'll want to use larger bowls since the dish is usually mixed up

Usually each item is cooked separately.  We will show you how to put this together how it usually is cooked, then how we would cook it next time (and how our Korean Aunty told us she cooks it when she doesn't have time).

Cook your quinoa in a rice cooker with 1 1/4 c. chicken broth (use more liquid if you prefer your quinoa softer, we prefer ours the same texture as tabouleh).  While the quinoa is cooking start on the other ingredients.  Bring bean sprouts to a boil in about a cup or two of water, add 1 t. salt and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Drain water, add 1 clove garlic (minced), a pinch of salt and a small splash of sesame oil.  Mix and set on your platter.  Depending on what kind of green veggie you are using, either boil it (if it's something like spinach) or saute it if it's cucumbers or zucchini.  We sauteed our cucumber slices in a pan with a light bit of non stick spray.  Remove from pan and mix with a pinch of salt, 1 t. soy sauce, 1 clove of minced garlic and a small splash of sesame oil.  Set cucumbers on your platter.  Saute carrots in a pan with a little bit of non stick spray if necessary, set on the platter.  Stir fry mushrooms in a pan with a little bit of non stick spray, add 2 t. soy sauce, 1 - 2 t. natural sweetener and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add a small splash of sesame oil, continue to stir fry for another minute, then transfer to your platter.  Cook ground turkey in a pan with a little bit of non stick spray, 6-8 minced garlic cloves, 2 T. soy sauce, 1 T. natural sweetener, a little bit of pepper and a splash of sesame oil.   Transfer to platter.  Cook eggs, each person will get one egg for their bowl - either over easy or sunny side up.  We've seen people eat this with a raw egg too.  We suggested heating up your bowl of food before mixing in a raw egg to the dish.  Add desired amount of quinoa to each bowl, build bowls to each person's liking, top with an egg, mix it all up, then enjoy!

Shortcut way - next time, we are taking a shortcut.  We'd boil the bean sprouts along with any veggies that we would normall boil (i.e. spinach), saute all the sauteed veggies together, cook the ground turkey separately, cook the eggs, then build bowls.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Holiday Pig Out

Along the way to Ka'ena Point (it was very windy)

Wow, we tried to be good this weekend, but it lasted all of about 3 hours!  We had a busy but great Christmas weekend.  We haven't had time to post recipes, but we did manage to cook a couple of dishes this weekend.  This week will be another busy week with friends in town (lots of friends), then we're doing some neighbor island hopping for New Years to see family.

We intended to cook a healthy dish on Friday night, but at the spur of the moment we decided to drive out to Ka'ena for a sunset hike.  The hike lasted about an hour and we walked quickly due to the sun setting...so the good part, we got in exercise.  It was VERY windy.   The bad - to get there from town, the drive is over and hour and with holiday traffic, even longer. It's nothing compared to driving on the mainland United States, it's really the amount of cars on our island that makes driving so long.

It was getting late and we were driving around a town called Kapolei looking for a restaurant to eat at but nothing called out to us.  Finally, starving, we decided to stop at a place at a pizza joint near the airport (still about 20 minutes from home without holiday traffic).  Celebration meal for the week.  The pizza was tasty (closer to deep dish), but too doughy for us.

The next day (Christmas Eve), we decided lunch needed to be a healthy dish since we had already planned our Christmas Eve Pasta Night like we usually do.  Ended up trying a dish called Konbu Maki, an Okinawan dish made with pieces of pork rolled in seaweed and simmered in a soy flavored sauce.  Asian families usually eat this during New Year's ...it took a long time to make, we can see why our families don't have this regularly.  Will post the recipe...it is a healthy dish and you can make a bunch of the rolls for a few meals.  Every Christmas Eve we make some sort of pasta dish, this year we made a Baked Rigatoni which was a cross between our lasagna and baked ziti recipes.  Will post this recipe too.  We considered it another celebration meal, even though we had a celebration meal the day before but we used whole wheat pasta and low fat cheeses.

Ka'ena Sunset

On Christmas Day, another celebration meal.  Uncle's family brought over a Korean feast - nothing was Dukan.  Chap Chae - a Korean stir fried noodle dish with definitely a lot of sesame oil, kalbi  - Korean grilled short ribs, fish jun - battered and deep fried fish, and seafood pa jun - or seafood pancake.  Everything was delicious, but as mentioned, not Dukan!

We finally did get a healthy dish in last night, will post this recipe too...we used a Kung Pao Chicken sauce recipe, Dukan'd it and used thin slices of pork.  It was great, we didn't miss the oil normally used in stir fries.  This recipe was inspired by Flamidwyfe's blog...she always has sliced beef stir fried with garlic and scallions or cilantro, it made us hungry for stir fries!

We did gain a pound each and now we're going on vacation!  Yikes!  Luckily the vacation will include some neighbor island hiking.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Busy in the kitchen, but not with cooking!

The other day was the male half of this couple's birthday.  He doesn't get excited about food (it's just fuel to him) but whenever the female half of this couple asks him what he wants her to make for him (special days) he always wants either spicy salmon bowls or baked ziti.  We decided to save the baked ziti for our Christmas Eve dinner.  We were ready to head over to Marukai, our local Japanese store for some toro salmon or fatty salmon and tobiko (fish eggs) when our local fish guy called us...he had fresh ahi (tuna).  Oh my.  Although we love spicy salmon bowls, our local fish guy gets his fish right from the fish auction which means very fresh fish at a fraction of the market prices.  We picked up our pound and a half from the fish guy and decided to not fight holiday traffic to pick up the tobiko.

The spicy ahi bowls were a success and the rest of the time in the kitchen this week was spent making Christmas gifts for family and friends.  We've been in the kitchen from pau hana time (after work time) until 1AM every night this week!  No time to cook.  We did bake some lower fat pineapple cupcakes though.

We will post the spicy ahi bowls, pineapple cupcakes and bibimbap recipes soon!  There won't be a lot of cooking this weekend also since we have family coming in from Maui and we decided to have a Korean feast for Christmas lunch :-)

Side note: yesterday we had another holiday get together with a bunch of friends at the Prince Court Buffet at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki.   If you're a Marukai Wholesale Market member, take your membership card for a 20% discount for up to 6 people.  The buffet is huge (we forgot our camera).  There were many Dukan or close to Dukan dishes to choose from including a shabu shabu bar where you boil your meats and veggies and use a soy based or sesame based sauce to dip your food in.  The beef on the shabu shabu bar was too fatty for us to eat, but we did have some fresh spinach, oyster mushrooms and a little bit of tofu.  The made to order sushi bar was more than happy to make handrolls minus the rice!  Awesome!

Just a few more holiday gatherings, then it's probably back to Cruise or even some PP days (mini Attack Phase) for us. :-)

In case we don't get to blog before Christmas, hope everyone has a great Christmas!