Dukan Moo Shu Turkey (it's Paleo too!)

We loved this recipe!

I should say, we loved the taste of this recipe, but boy was it time consuming!  While I prepped the meal I told the male half of this couple, I don't think I want to make this again...it took me a while to

clean the bean sprouts (we clean each piece).  Plus I was prepping veggies and fruit for breakfast at the same time.  Just seemed like I was standing at our sink for hours.

We found this recipe on an about.com site.  I haven't eaten plum sauce for several years -- ever since I started trying low carb and low sugar diets...so we didn't try the sugar free plum sauce recipe -- if you try it, let us know how it was!

After tasting the dish, I announced I would be willing to make this again...maybe I need to look into growing our own bean sprouts.  By the time bean sprouts hit our markets, the ends are mostly

brown.

For this dish, we used some carved turkey, but you can use chicken if you wish.

RECIPE:
Serves 2-4
Prep time: 30 minutes + (depends on what kind of veggies you use and how you end up cleaning your veggies)
Cook time: 8-10 minutes

Marinade:
3 T. Tamari gluten free soy sauce
1/2 T. sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 t. fresh grated ginger
1/2 t. Chinese Five Spice Powder

Other ingredients:
1 lb. turkey, cut into thin strips (we used precooked, but you can use raw turkey or chicken)
2 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T. fresh grated ginger
6 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
1 c. sliced green onions
4 c. sliced cabbage (we used Napa, about 1/2 inch strips)
8 oz. bean sprouts
1 T. Tamari gluten free soy sauce
1/2 T. sesame oil

Mix together marinade in a large ziploc bag.  Add turkey and mix to coat.

Have your other ingredients ready, this will cook pretty quickly.   Heat a large wok over medium-high heat.  NOTE: Because we used precooked turkey, we added it in last just to heat it.  If you are using raw meats, stir fry your meats first until they are just about cooked, then remove from wok and set aside.  Add sesame oil to wok, then the celery, garlic and ginger.  Saute for one minute.

Add vegetables in this order, stir frying each for about 1-2 minutes after each addition:  mushrooms, green onions, cabbage, bean sprouts.  Add the soy sauce and turkey with marinade.  Toss to combine.

Serve as is or you can try about.com's sugar-free plum sauce recipe.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Thai Style Chicken Burgers (it's Paleo-ish too!)

We loved this recipe!

I asked the male half of this couple what kind of burger he wanted the other weekend and he said "chicken!"....so after a quick search on the internet, we came across Gwyneth Paltrow's recipe for her Thai Style Chicken Burgers.  We made a few changes and it became an easy, tasty Dukan/Paleo-ish recipe.

We usually make turkey burgers in our house but the male half after all these years finally told me he doesn't care for ground turkey because it's mushy to him.  So, we have one more ground turkey recipe coming up since we had one package of ground turkey left in the freezer...from now on it'll be chicken burgers for us.

We are still using our old bottle of fish sauce, so we don't have the Paleo-friendly brand, Red Boat which is why we are calling this a Paleo-ish recipe.

RECIPE:
Makes 4 burgers
Prep time: approx. 15 minutes
Cook time: approx. 13-15 minutes

1 lb. ground chicken (dark meat, but if you're in the Cruise phase, you can try ground chicken breasts)
2 garlic cloves, very finely minced
1/2 c. cilantro, finely chopped
2 shallots, very finely minced
1 tsp. very finely minced red chili
2 tsh. fish sauce
1/2 t. pure sea salt
2 tsp. black pepper

Mix ground chicken with garlic, cilantro, shallots, red chili, fish sauce, salt and pepper.  Form 4 burgers.  Heat a grill pan over medium heat.  If you're on the Dukan Diet, spray your pan lightly with non-stick spray...if you're on the Paleo Diet, wipe some oil on your pan (we used Extra Virgin Olive Oil).  Grill for 8 minutes on the first side and about 5 minutes or until cooked on the second side.

We ate our burgers with broccoli steamed with adobo seasoning.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Paleo Pesto Salmon Skewers

Pesto Salmon Skewers

We loved this recipe!

The other day we posted a recipe for Dairy Free Pesto which we used on these salmon skewers.  Hindsight, although the lemon slices on the skewers made the dish look pretty, the lemon over powered the pesto...but it still tasted great!  (the lemon was inspired by this photo -- we might try this recipe too!)

The asparagus was ok...but this bunch was so skinny it was difficult to put them on the skewers -- they kept splitting.

This made a nice, light dinner for us on a humid Sunday evening.

RECIPE:
Serves: 6 skewers
Prep time: not including making the pesto, approx 15 minutes
Cook time: we used a grill pan, so we could only grill 3 skewers at a time, approx 16 minutes

24 cubes of wild caught salmon (approx 1 1/2 lbs.)
3/4 c. Dairy Free Pesto
18 slices of lemon (optional)
veggies if you like (we would have used cherry tomatoes if the male half liked them)
6 bamboo skewers (soaked in water for an hour)

Marinate your salmon in the pesto (we left it in the bag for about 30 minutes) -- we used a large ziploc bag.  Thread salmon and lemon on the skewers.  Heat a grill pan over medium heat.  We lightly wiped our pan with olive oil then place the skewers on the grill pan.  Grill for approximately 3-4 minutes on each side, cook until done.  The salmon we picked up was from Costco and definitely isn't fresh, so we don't like to eat it underdone.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Cheddar Rosemary Bread

UPDATED 7/1/2013 - Thanks to reader Stephanie K. for pointing out we forgot to mention what to do with the eggs!  This recipe was originally posted back in 2011, but we've bumped it up since we amended the instructions.  

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: It's ok, I'm not a bread kind of guy.
SHE SAID: Pretty good for non-fat and no flour!

Cheddar Rosemary Bread

Once in a while we miss having sandwiches...especially our favorite, Chicken Philly from Island Subs.  For the most part, we haven't craved sandwiches or bread since starting Dukan, partly because the male half of this couple doesn't get excited over bread (only when he's hungry) and the female half is determined to drop two sizes!

Came across this Dukan bread recipe on mydukandiet.com and since the female half of this couple loves cheddar and rosemary and we wanted more oat bran options, we decided to try this recipe out using rosemary instead of dill.  It makes a small loaf, but we had these with over-easy eggs and it hit the spot.  The original recipe calls for 3 t. of fresh dill, but if you're using dried spices, use between 1/4 and 1 t. of your desired spice. The bread does come out slightly on the spongy part, but it's easy to get over that.

RECIPE
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 28-30 minutes, 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Serves 1-2

1.5 T. fat free cream cheese
1.5 T. non-fat Greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 t. baking powder
2 T. oat bran
1.5 T. wheat bran
3/4 t. dried rosemary (ok to use fresh herbs - use 2-3 t.)
couple dashes of salt and pepper
1/4 c. fat free cheddar cheese, grated

Soften cream cheese.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix yogurt and cream cheese (it won't mix well until you add the brans).  Mix in the 2 whole eggs, then the 1 egg white.  Add the brans, baking powder, salt, pepper and rosemary, stir well.  Stir in grated cheese.  Pour into a small loaf pan (not the mini loaf pans) lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 28-30 minutes, toothpick should come out clean when done.

Enjoy!

Paleo Dairy Free Pesto

Dairy Free Pesto

We loved this recipe!

We came across Against All Grain's website a couple month's ago and loved a lot of the recipes...tucked a few in our file to try later but since we were given two big bags of fresh basil last week, we decided to try this pesto recipe.   We didn't even miss the dairy :-)

Made the pesto and used it on some salmon skewers...we'll post that recipe soon!

This pesto contains olive oil and cashews - we wouldn't consume this during Cruise, but would use it in moderation during Consolidation and Stabilization.

RECIPE:
Serves: approx 1/2 c.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: no cooking involved

3/4 c. packed fresh basil leaves (we cut ours into smaller pieces)
3 T. cashews (original recipe calls for pine nuts, but we couldn't find any at Safeway)
1 garlic clove
3/4 t. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. pure sea salt
3 T. extra virgin olive oil

We smashed our cashews a bit before placing them in our food processor.  Add the rest of the ingredients except the oil into the food processor.  Slowly incorporate the oil while the machine is running, until a smooth paste is formed.  Blend for 15 more seconds to thin the sauce out.

We chilled our pesto then used it to marinate our salmon.

NOTE:  the second batch we made we used 2 T. cashews and the pesto came out a bit creamy.  We mixed the two together and it still tasted great!

Enjoy...we sure did!

Dukan Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken (it's Paleo-ish too!)

Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken

We both loved this recipe...and we loved how easy it was.

Finally found some time to work on recipes!

Came across this idea after seeing several recipes like this one on the internet.  We were happy to find Herdez Salsa Verde in Safeway down the street from us.  It has no preservatives or fat which made it allowable for both our Dukan and Paleo sides.  We didn't use free range chicken for this dish though.

The photo doesn't look the greatest, there really wasn't a whole lot of color going on, but it was easy and delicious!

RECIPE:
Serves 2-4 (depending on what you eat or do not eat with it)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes
Cook time: approx. 6 hours on low

1 1/2 lbs. skinless chicken tenders
1 - 16 oz. jar of Herdez Salsa Verde
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. oregano
1/8 t. cumin
1 T. fresh lime juice (optional) - we actually used more and realized we should have used less!

Rinse and pat dry chicken.  We lined our crock pot with a Reynold's Crockpot Liner for easy clean up.     Place chicken in pot.  Mix herbs together - season chicken with herbs.  Pour lime juice over chicken evenly.  Cover and cook for 6 hours on low.  At the 5 1/2 hour mark, open the lid, quickly shred the chicken and cover.

The male half had his with brown rice and veggies and I had mine with just veggies.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Slowly Getting Back Into the Swing Of Things

We hit the ground running after our business/vacation trip....tenants moved out...wow, people do not clean their living spaces anymore!  Gross!  We did takeout (mostly salads because we're trying to get back into eating lower fat and it's been pretty humid here) most of the time but last week I did get a chance to cook.

I haven't downloaded the photos of the food yet, but will try to get that done this weekend.  The dish I really liked from this past weekend - a lighter version of Moo Shu Chicken without the plum or hoisin sauce and made with turkey instead of chicken.  Even before we started Dukan, I already stopped using hoisin sauce on my Moo Shu Chicken.  

The only reason we used turkey is because we had some leftover turkey I wanted to use up.  It's a labor intensive dish if you clean your bean sprouts like we do...picking off all the browned ends.  It took me over half and hour just to prep the veggies.  While I cooked the dish, I vowed outloud to never make Moo Shu again because of the time spent in the kitchen but I really enjoyed the taste...so I may make it again...maybe without bean sprouts this time!

While on our trip, I did gain a couple pounds...I ate everything, no dieting.  Did a lot of walking and hiking...which may be why I only gained two pounds.  The male half didn't gain anything!  Arrgh.

In the last two weeks though, I've been eating more salads and pretty much have been eating like I'm in Cruise (but no PP days) and I've lost about 3 pounds.   We'll slowly but surely get back on track...we have to!