Dukan Fish Moco

Fish Moco (minus the over easy egg)

We loved this recipe!

Gosh, it feels like we've already typed this post, but can't seem to find it.  Perhaps we just imagined what we would say about this dish.  Just before the female half ended up with illness after illness, our fish guy had some fresh shutome or swordfish.  The female half reminisced about "small kid days" when her grandparents cooked fish with just Hawaiian salt and pepper.

For reasons we can't remember, we decided not only to pan fry our fish but to make a fish moco.  Loco moco's as we mentioned before is a local favorite.  A "traditional" loco moco in most cases is a mound of white rice topped with a hamburger patty, over easy egg and lots of gravy.  As the male half puts it, a heart attack on a plate.

This meal was very easy to prepare!

For the gravy, we used Dukanitout's mushroom gravy recipe without the mushrooms and we used chicken broth.

RECIPE:
Serves 2 (one of us has no carbs/starch)
Prep Time: 10 - 30 minutes (we had to remove the skin from our fish, etc)
Cook Time: 10 minutes

1 lb. shutome (swordfish) or any other fish you'd like, cut into thinner "medallions"
salt and pepper to taste
egg (usually 1-2 per person - this is optional)

For Dukanitout's gravy - minus the mushrooms:
1 c. chicken broth
1/4 t. Dijon mustard
1 t. fresh thyme
1 T. cornstarch
salt and pepper

Prepare your gravy ahead of time, then reheat just before serving.   Combine all gravy ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.  Pour gravy into a small pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until your gravy thicken.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Salt and pepper your fish...you can even use Adobo Seasoning to season your fish.  Heat a grill pan over medium heat, spray your pan with a little bit of non-stick spray and fry fish until cooked.  Our fish took just a couple minutes to cook on each side.  Try not to over cook your fish or it'll dry out.

Just before your fish is done, in a small frying pan, fry up an over easy egg for each person (or two).  Plate goes like this...fish first, egg, then your heated gravy.  Sorry, we forgot to take a photo with the egg on the fish.

If you're in Consolidation, you can have this over brown or red rice.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Curry Turkey Burgers

Curry Turkey Burgers

NOTE: This is a scheduled post...trying to catch up!

We loved this recipe!

The male half of this couple enjoys curry...the female half doesn't....but we came across some curry turkey burger recipes (can't even remember how we came across it) and it sounded pretty good.  We're glad we tried the recipe.  (Note, the female half does love Thai curries, but doesn't care for Indian curry).

You can adjust the amount of curry to the type of curry you want to use.  We actually used curry powder we found in Chinatown here.

RECIPE:
Makes 8 burgers
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: Approximately 20 minutes

1 lb. ground turkey
1 small shallot, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. curry powder (adjust to your taste)
1-2 t. red chili flakes (we used 2)
1 egg
1/4 c. oat bran
kosher salt (I think we used 1-2 t.)
pepper (approx 1/4 t)

Mix everything in a bowl and portion our 8 servings.  Make each serving into a patty and fry over medium high heat...we used our grill pan.  Cook the patties for approximately 6 minutes on each side or until there's no pink juice coming from your patties.

The male half had this over brown rice and the female half had it with a side salad.  Have it alone on Cruise PP days or even during Attack.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Chicken Broccoli

Chicken Broccoli

We loved this recipe!

Oh gosh, it's been a while since we've accessed our blog (see why here) we almost forgot the format we posted our recipes in!  Now to remember what kind of changes we may have made to the recipe!

The female half of this couple isn't a big broccoli fan...well, actually, the female half of this couple isn't a fan of restaurant cooked broccoli because there are quite a few restaurants who overcook their broccoli.  We prefer our broccoli cooked but still on the crunchy side...not almost mushy and discolored.  For months the male half of this couple has hinted it would be nice to have broccoli once in a while, so we found a small broccoli crown in Chinatown and decided to try Simply Recipe's Broccoli Beef recipe.  In most Chinese restaurants here, it's known as Beef Broccoli, so we're calling ours "Chicken Broccoli".    Ours isn't nearly as beautiful as Simply Recipe's, but it sure was tasty!

We'd definitely make this again and would use different vegetables from time to time.  We ate this during Cruise PV days even though it has oyster sauce and we saw no weight gain from it.

RECIPE:
Serves 2 (with no carbs)
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (all fat removed), cut into pieces
Small crown of broccoli, cleaned and cut into smaller pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. cornstarch dissolved in 1 T. water

For the chicken marinade:
1 t. soy sauce
1 t. Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry sherry
1/2 t. cornstarch
1/8 t. pepper

For the sauce:
2 T. oyster sauce (FYI - not Dukan friendly, you can try it without it, but it may not be as tasty)
1 t. Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry sherry
1 T. soy sauce
1/4 c. chicken broth

Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Add chicken and mix until well coated, let marinate for 10 minutes.  Mix your sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Bring salted water in a pot to a boil and blanch your broccoli until tender-crisp, approximately 2 minutes.  Drain thoroughly and set aside.  We put ours in the microwave to keep it warm.

Heat a wok up over high heat.  Once your wok is very hot, spray with a little bit of non-stick spray and add chicken.  Spread the chicken out (preferably not touching in one layer).  Let chicken cook until it's 3/4 done without touching it, then flip chicken pieces over.  Add the garlic to the wok and cook for about a minute longer.  When chicken is almost done, pour the sauce over the chicken and add broccoli.  Give everything a good mix and let your sauce come to a boil.  Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and let boil until sauce thickens.  We mixed our chicken while doing this.

Serve as is or over brown or red rice on Consolidation Days.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Ugh...All The Way Around

We're happy to see other Dukaners still tapping into our recipe blog...and after a quick search on the internet for "Dukan Recipes" we're happy to see so many recipe blogs out there!

It's been an interesting and trying four months plagued with illnesses unfortunately.  Nothing serious, but it was one after the other.  Energy levels were low, the immune system was shot (well, it's still not that great)...which meant, hardly any cooking or very simple cooking for the past four months.

In a nutshell, here's what happened over the past year....last summer we started the Dukan Diet.  Then we started it again a couple weeks later and found success.  Both of us lost weight and were pretty healthy.  How we did it?  We followed the Dukan guidelines almost to a tee...both the eating guidelines and the exercise guidelines.  It was low fat, no carbs, no fruits, little to no refined sugars with a 45 minute cardio workout daily (well, almost daily).  The female half didn't lose all the weight she set out to lose, but she was pretty close.  4-5 months later we were pretty happy with our weights, how we felt, etc.

We made it through two vacations and the holidays gaining about 4 pounds total.  It was around April we started loosening up on what we consumed.  We weren't following the Consolidation Rules very well.  Too many cheat meals, no exercise.  We then attempted a Dukan Reboot and while we lost a few pounds, we didn't keep to the diet and still hadn't added back an exercise routine.

Once the illnesses set in, it was difficult to keep up with the diet.  A few more pounds were gained and finally in an attempt to feel stronger, we moved ourselves into Consolidation in order to consume fruits and a more well-rounded diet.

The plan is, once we're feeling very healthy, Dukan Reboot #2.  Our weight has been holding steady, exercise has been added to our daily routine again and our body fat has gone down.  Once we start Dukan Reboot #2, we hope to lose approximately 10 pounds between the two of us.

Funny...we almost forgot our log in information for this blog!  Once we finally logged in, we read through some of Vicki's posts...we feel the same.  We're happy to see how well Flamidwyfe is doing!  She looks amazing and we're hoping to follow in her footsteps once we start Dukan Reboot #2.

We do have a handful of recipes to share...hoping to type up those recipes fairly soon!

We'll Be Right Back...

View from the top of Diamond Head Crater

 Wow, we've been on the go for over a week with family and friends in town!  It's been fun, just no time for the computer...no time for anything at home!  We've been eating out so often, we're pretty sure we've gone out to eat more in one week than we have since January!

The food has been fabulous and as usual, we started out trying to eat healthy, but a lot of meals are ordered family style here and we let the family and friends pics the places and dishes.  One more week and we're back to our regular lives.

Lanikai Beach at sunrise

We're definitely doing a few days of Attack once everyone's gone back to the mainland!

The nice thing was hiking and snorkeling were included in last week's activities, we got our exercise in!

Hope everyone's doing well on Dukan.  We're afraid to weigh ourselves!

The Diamond Head Hike has been modified.  The State built a second route to the top of the crater which is nice and offers better views of the island.  Park outside the park if you ever visit (near Kapiolani Community College) and walk into the crater...great exercise and it's only $1 per person.  The cost per vehicle is $5.  Or better yet, email us and if we're free, we'll join you on the hike!

Lanikai Beach is of the top 10 beaches in the United States according to the Travel Channel (or maybe the world, can't remember).  It's beautiful at sunrise and there is a Pillbox hike not too far from the beach.  The hike is strenuous, uphill and some places are steep.  It's great exercise and offers wonderful views of Lanikai Beach and the windward side of Oahu.  If you'd like more information on the Pillbox hike, check out Yelp or email us!

A Couple Minutes of Your Time Could Make a Difference

Sandi's granddaughter - photo from Flamidwyfe's blog

As mentioned in previous posts, one of our favorite Dukan Bloggers is Sandi over at Flamidwyfe.   She's quite an inspiration to anyone setting out to lose weight...whether you're following the Dukan Diet or some other diet.  We enjoy reading her blog...she should really write a book about her Dukan experience!

A good majority of her posts are extremely positive and you can't help but think, man, that's the way to enjoy every minute of your life...to be open minded, open hearted and to not be afraid to try new things.  Although we don't always have time to jump on the computer, we always save all her posts and read them the soonest we can.

Today is a busy busy day for us but sitting in my email box was an email notification from Flamidwyfe's blog entitled "My Granddaughter Celeste Alena".  We opened the email to do a quick read through which is what we usually do.  Then we read it again, wow...if you have a couple minutes to spare, please read Sandi's post.

We've already voted for Celeste and we will be voting every day.  We hope she and her family win the van!

Dukan Pollo Asado en Cazuela

Pollo Asado en Cazuela

We loved this recipe!

Side note: It's been a crazy, busy week with unexpected get togethers with friends and the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival is on, so not a whole lot of cooking going on!   The Merrie Monarch is known as the "World Series" of Hula competitions with festivities throughout this week and ends with a 3 day hula competition.  We have our turkey ham recipe we'll try to post...hopefully by the end of the weekend.

Back to this Cuban dish!  It's not the most colorful dish, but it was very tasty.  As mentioned in previous posts, we love Cuban food and this recipe is similar to Chicken Fricassee in taste.  Since this recipe calls for 1/2 c. of sour orange juice, we've classified it a Consolidation and Stabilization recipe.

For the sour orange juice, we used 1/4 c. freshly squeezed orange juice mixed with 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lime juice.  We got this recipe from several blogs...most of the recipes call for the same ingredients but use slightly different cooking techniques.

This past weekend was supposed to be our mostly fish weekend but we ended up dining out a few times due to putting in some overtime at work, etc.

RECIPE:
Serves 4-6 (the female half did a Pure Protein Day, so she ate more chicken than she normally would)
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: approximately 45 minutes

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat removed
1/2 large red onion, sliced
3-6 cloves garlic, minced (we used 6)
1/2 c. sour orange juice (1/4 c. orange juice, 1/4 c. lime juice)
salt to taste (we used 1/4 t. since we're watching our sodium intake)
olive oil or nonstick spray
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1 t. black pepper

In a large ziploc bag, mix the garlic, salt and sour orange juice.  Add chicken (we usually rinse and pat dry our chicken after removing most of the fat).  Marinade at least one hour (overnight if you can), we marinated ours for about 6 hours.

In a large pan (we used our stir fry pan) brown chicken on high heat, set chicken aside.  Lower heat to medium high, add onions to pan and saute for a couple minutes.  Deglaze pan with wine, then add marinade, bay leaf and pepper.  Add chicken back to pan and simmer for 25-35 minutes.  We simmered ours for about 35 minutes.

The chicken was tender and very tasty.  The female half had chicken only, the male half had his over brown rice.

Enjoy...we sure did!