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!