Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I just got back from the gym. I'm proud of myself for getting there today. I am not cooking dinner, but I am going to my brothers house. I always do the big Christmas dinner for about 25 or so, and I enjoy the one day that I can go and relax and enjoy our family. I was assigned two appetizers to bring. I decided to make deviled eggs and a hot dip. Both of these are BFC friendly. The dip, which is called Santa Fe Dip, does have corn in it, but you can really do without it or just dip around it.  I'm not sure where I got this dip recipe, but I have made a few changes, like adding hot sauce instead of the chipotle, just because I didn't have it. I also change up the cheeses alittle bit depending on what I have. I like the shredded Mexican Jack blend from Sargento. If you double the recipe, you can make a batch ahead of time and stick it in an oven/freezer proof dish and freeze it.It's great to pull out and stick in the oven when someone drops by. I'm going to bring the dip with chips for those who want them, and some celery sticks and zucchinit sticks for the me and whoever else wants them. The deviled eggs I am taking will also be a nice pre dinner treat. I am using a new recipe that I got from Rachel Ray's website. I haven't tried it before, but it sounds delicious.

As far as the rest of the meal, I am going to fill up on the appetizers and just have a few bites of the bad stuff ( sweet potatoes, stuffing). I'll skip the rolls and fill up on turkey. I'm not that big on dessert anyway, so sipping some coffee after dinner should be just fine. Sounds like a plan right?
Wishing you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving!

Thought for the day: If you fail to plan, then plan to fail!

Picture of Caesar Stuffed Eggs Recipe
Caesar Stuffed Eggs

Ingredients
  • 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 12 eggs
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
  • 1/2 small onion, grated
  • 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
Yields: 6-8 servings

Preparation
Put the eggs in a saucepan and fill halfway with cold water. Set over high heat and cover the pot with a lid. When the water boils, turn off the heat and place the lid over the pot of eggs and let sit 10 minutes. I find 13-15 minutes is just perfect.
Place the pot of cooked eggs in the sink and run some cold water over the eggs until both the water and the pan feel cool. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, roll each egg on a work surface to crack the shell. Carefully peel off the eggshells and discard.
Place the eggs on a cutting board and cut a quarter off the egg from the fat rounded end to expose the yolk. Next, cut just a sliver off the opposite end, the pointed end so the egg is able to sit upright without rolling over. Once all the eggs have been cut, scoop out their yolks into a medium size mixing bowl. Place the egg white halves back into the egg container for easy transport and filling, making sure the holes are pointing up so that you are able to fill them with the Caesar mixture.
To the bowl with the yolks add the anchovy paste, Worcestershire, mayonnaise, garlic, onion, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mash up the yolks with a fork until the mixture is paste-like. Mix in half of the shredded romaine, reserving the rest for garnish.
Spoon the egg mixture into a plastic, re-sealable bag and squish it all into one of the bottom corners. Snip off the corner and squeeze out a bit of yolk mixture into each of the egg whites.
Once all eggs are filled, garnish them with a sprinkle of extra cheese and some additional shredded romaine. Close the container lid and you are off to that party!

Santa Fe Dip

Ingredients
  • 2 cupss shredded cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
  • 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup light mayonnaise dressing or salad dressing
  • 1 8 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained (3/4 cup)
  • 4 ounce can chopped green chili peppers, drained
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped canned chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce (* I omitted this and used tabasco sauce to taste, 1 -2 tsps depending on how spicy you like it)
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • medium tomato, seeded and chopped (3/4 cup)
  • 1/4  cup sliced green onion
  • 2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
  • Vegetable dippers such as sweet pepper wedges and sliced jicama
  • Lightly salted tortilla chips or baked tortilla wedge
Directions
1. Stir together cheeses, mayonnaise or salad dressing, corn, chili peppers, chipotle chili peppers, and garlic powder in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture into a 9-inch quiche dish, shallow 1-quart casserole, or 9-inch pie plate. Cover and chill up to 24 hours. Combine tomato, green onion, and cilantro. Cover and chill up to 24 hours.
2. To serve, bake cheese mixture in dish in a 350 degree oven about 25 minutes or until heated through. Spoon tomato mixture in the center. Serve with vegetable dippers and tortilla chips.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Autumn breezes!

Hello everyone. Hope you are doing well. The weather here in Pennsylvania has taken a turn towards Autumn. The high temperature today is in the low 70's and the nights are cool in the 50's. I really like it, but what a fast change in just a few days. We were in the mid 80's a few days ago. It's great to turn off the AC, throw open the windows, and let the cool breezes blow through the house. We decided against a trip to the beach this weekend, and while I do love it down there, it's nice to relax here without driving back and forth. Autumn weather invigorates me. I think it is remembering school days and all the newness that the fall season would bring.
Last flowers of summer
I love all the different blog posts this week, and I have so much to talk about. I tried to have another blog going where I could just blab on about whatever, but just didn't have time to keep up with it. I am a nurturer and a sharer by nature, and I always love to share new tips, ideas, and thoughts about what's going on. I'm not sure if this blog is the place to do that, or if any of my 17 followers would want to hear about anything other than the BFC and our weight losses, or gains. So some days I don't feel I have anything special to say.  Some days I don't even want to talk about my weight. Last week I was up a bit, so I felt like a loser posting about that. I was so happy the week before, and then I am back up. I'm afraid to jinx any loss I have by talking about it. I'm creeping down again and made some changes, so hope to have a better result this week. I'm very busy with work these days, so I haven't been able to post as much.. All of you west coasters that wouldn't mind a job, I wouldn't mind having you for some help. That's my biggest issue right now. I really need to hire some part time people to help out in our offices. I'm doing too much myself and when I don't have time for me, I get grumpy. Real grumpy! Ok, so enough about that
So I'm going to broaden my horizons and talk about some other things on this post some of the time. I hope you will indulge me a bit, and I hope you might find something of interest..

One of the things that I'm really going to miss about summer is all the wonderful fresh herbs that I have available to me right out my back door. Since I travel during the summer weekends, and work alot of the week, it's hard to tend to a large garden. My husband has all my plants rigged up with a sprinkler drip system. So all my pots, hanging baskets, and urns are lovely all summer long. I have a large pot of perennial herbs right off my kitchen.  There are wonderful perennial ( they come back each year in case you didn't know) herbs growing, like thyme, tarragon and chives They all grow together, and come back bigger and better each year. In the spring the chives get lovely little purple round balls of color. So pretty. I'm getting ready to freeze some and I will post about that later.

I have been loving the chives in my scrambled eggs this week. They give the eggs a great flavor. They have a mild oniony taste, but fresh and not at all overwhelming. I just snap off a few strands, fold them over a few times and using kitchen shears, snip them right into my eggs.
I am pretty fussy about my eggs, and almost no one makes them the way I like. They have to be very moist and no brown spots from sticking to the pan. I pour them in a  non stick pan sprayed with non stick spray or if I'm feeling a little decadent, some olive oil. Pour in the beaten eggs, snip in some chives ( basil works great too) and then sprinkle in some reduced fat cheddar cheese. Cook them slowly because protein can toughen up if cooked to fast. They come out cooked, but still moist and creamy in texture, and the cheese melts in and makes them alittle gooey.

Plate them up, add a few slices of bacon, and you have a great BFC or fast track breakfast. This week, I'm trying to stay away from the grains, but any other morning some coconut bread or a few slices of ezekial with butter would be just great.

Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing weekend....and maybe some scrambled eggs with herbs too!!

Thought for the day: " A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg, even though he knows that you are sightly cracked"  B. Meltzer

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Found this great web site!

Hello  Everyone;

Just wanted to share this recipe that I found. The blog site is lowcarbrecipetransformation.blogspot.com. This mac and cheese looks great!

Recipe and photo by Cathy Ghavamian
1 - Head of Cauliflower
1 - 8oz Package Cream Cheese
4 - oz Pepper Jack Cheese grated
Salt, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Powder to taste

Break up cauliflower into pieces and boil until tender

Place cream cheese in a large microwavable bowl and microwave for 1 minute

Strain cauliflower and pour into bowl with the cream cheese

Add salt, lemon pepper and garlic powder to your liking

Mix with a hand mixer until creamy

Portion the mixture into individual Pyrex/casserole dishes or larger single and sprinkle the cheese on top.

Broil until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I served this with baked chicken for two people but if you have another side dish, it could easily feed four people. Great comfort food and really delicious with the cream cheese adding a rich tangy flavor.

Guaranteed to be the best cauliflower recipe you've ever eaten!!

605 calories, 10.5 net carbs - 2 servings

Monday, August 15, 2011

Good morning!

 Good morning everyone. Back from the beach. I had such a good week before I left, but those shore weekends tend to really challenge me. Got off track a little over the weekend. Had a big family dinner last night to welcome my son home from Chicago. He just finished an internship there and is home for a few weeks before he starts his senior year of grad school. Meghan, his fiancee was here, as well as my parents. I made some homemade pesto and we had fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and italian bread. Then it was on to bacon wrapped shrimp. Dinner was made by my Mom, and it was a delicious lasagna and meatballs. Salad and fruit completed things, as well as the delicious wines we had with all of the above. I'm not even going to try and figure out how many carbs were in that meal. But that was then, and this is now. Yesterday is in the past. Today is a gift and that is why it's called the present. So as Monday dawns, I renew my commitments, and plan for a great week ahead.

 One of my favorite breakfasts is poached eggs over an ezekial english muffin or toast. I top off the toast with some reduced fat cheddar cheese, a little baby spinach, a tbs. of Chia seeds, and top it off with the poached eggs. 

The ingredients



Break your eggs into a bowl
 Poached eggs are very easy. You don't have to have alot of time or get very fancy. Some people add some vinegar to the water, swirl the water before putting in the eggs and other little tricks. I keep it simple and just add some water to the pot, bring it to a low simmer, crack the eggs into a dish and then gently add them to the water.

I like mine very runny, so I time them for about 1 minute, 15 seconds and then drain them. You have to figure out how large your eggs are and how you like them. It takes a little practice, but for me, I never go longer than 1 1/2 minutes.  I use one of those spider things to drain, them, but a colander, or mesh strainer will work as well.
Gently pour them into the simmering pot of water.
Drain them immediately after timer goes off.
While the eggs are simmering, toast your bread or english muffin in the toaster. Top the toast with some baby spinach leaves, some shredded cheddar and some chia seeds. Top this with your poached eggs. I also like some fresh cracked black pepper, and sometimes alittle hot sauce.


The finshed product. A great way to start the day!
Wishing you all a great week ahead. Start it off with a good breakfast!

 Thought for the day: Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden oppotunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false
start or no start at all. You were not born to fail. Og Mandino

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters!

I can't remember where I saw or read about making these little treats.  I think it was somewhere on the BFC facebook page or on Jorge's website. But wherever it came from, I changed it up slightly by adding the salt. I just like the sweet and then the little taste of salt. By all means leave it out if you're not weird like me!! You can alter the amounts, more chocolate, less nuts or vice versa. They chill up very fast in the fridge and then you can peel them off the cookie sheet and put them in a container. I store mine in the fridge because I like them cold! I also bought some lavender salt when I was in California and used that last time I made them.

Here are the ingredients I used:

3 bars of dark chocolate, at least 85%
2 or more cups of nuts, rough chopped ( I like macadamia and walnuts)
Fleur de sel, or other fancy large grain salt

1)Line a baking sheet with wax paper

2)Break up chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1- 2 minutes stirring intermittently until chocolate is melted

3)Roughly chop nuts and add to melted chocolate


4)Drop a tablespoon full onto the tray spread out like you would do with cookie dough

5)Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt....or not depending on how you like 'em

6)Chill in the refridgerator about 15-30 minutes

Store in sealed container or in fridge. Calculate the s/c value based on how many your batch makes and the amount of nuts and chocolate you use.