Asian Fusion

This week, I dabbled in asian chicken lettuce wraps and ginger beef, mushroom, & kale stir fry. Big fan. 

I find myself frequently adapting asian recipes at least once a week. Fresh ground ginger is a go-to! 

Disclaimer: I made up my own recipe. 




First, I put about a 1 pound chicken breast in the crock pot for 6.5 hours. It cooked in some water, chicken broth, splash of olive oil, toasted sesame oil, and organic soy sauce. I prefer to cook my chicken in the crock pot to decrease the mess and hassle. Also, it always comes out moist and falls apart, which is perfect. 


I chopped up or peeled the following veggies (this can be to your preference): 

• Jicama (high in fiber and antioxidants!) I used a potato peeler for thin pieces
• Carrots: also used a potato peeler
• Kale
• Bell peppers
• Green onion
• Red onion
• Mushrooms

I used romaine lettuce for the wrap portion. 

In a pan I heated up the following to sauté the veggies in (of course I didn't measure): 

• Olive oil
• Toasted sesame oil
• Red pepper flakes
• Fresh ground ginger
• Pepper
• 2 tablespoons corn starch (to thicken sauce)

Once the veggies were cooked a bit, I added chicken. Voila! 

Dish onto lettuce and serve! Enjoy. 




Another great one, ginger beef, mushroom, & kale stir fry!

This one was not my recipe, but it was good!  My own touch: quinoa to increase the amount of food to ensure leftovers for a few days. I don't typically cook with beef, but I enjoyed it for one week. 



Here's the recipe: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/ginger-beef-mushroom-kale-stir-fry-recipe/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%2Bgimmesomeoven%2B(Gimme%2BSome%2BOven)

PANCAKES!

I am SO excited to share this recipe! So, stinkin' excited! 

Blueberry gluten free pancakes. Yum. AND a non-GMO, organic syrup to boot that tastes great and is completely guilt free! 



I adapted this recipe: http://www.livinpaleocuisine.com/2012/08/25/raspberry-coconut-flour-pancakes/ and made it my own with a twist. I also doubled the recipe so I could have leftovers, as you can see below. 

4 eggs
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
4 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or coconut milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup blueberries (or raspberries)
2 bananas pureed
1/4 cup oats
1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)


1. Mix together wet ingredients and whisk together: eggs, coconut oil, almond milk
2. In a food processor puree bananas, oats, and chia seeds. 
3. Add banana mixture to wet mixture. 
4. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients: coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. 
6. Fold in 
7. Grease pan with coconut oil. 
8. I used a 1/4 cup to put pancakes into pan for size. 
9. Top with pure maple syrup or the syrup made by Madhava that I found! It also comes in blueberry maple agave!

ENJOY!

Smorgasbord

There typically is no rhyme or reason to why I cook what I do and when. So, here it is, a smorgasbord of some of the dishes I have created. 

Kabobs. Enough said. The goal here is to marinate the meat in anything or everything you have in your cupboard. They ALWAYS turn out great. Yes, two girls created that and ate ALL of it. Just kidding, we shared. 

Veggies. Use as many and as many different kinds as possible. They are pretty, taste good, and are good for you. Is what I hear. 

On the right, that was a portion of a veggie, chicken stir fry. It was good. 

Chicken with asparagus

What makes this so special? Nothing, other than my asparagus had a garlic-wine sauce and poached egg on top! So ya, thats special. 

For the chicken I simply cooked it on the stove with olive oil, splash of balsamic vinaigrette, water and seasoned to my own taste (salt, pepper, cumin, garlic and onion powder). 

Asparagus I baked in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper on 300 for about 30 minutes. 

The poached egg? Google or You Tube it, took me two tries. May not look good, but it got the job done. Good luck with that!

That roasted garlic-wine sauce? My inspiration came from this recipe: http://hapanom.com/asparagus-with-a-poached-egg-and-roasted-garlic-miso-butter/

Here's my modifiers: 

• I did not use butter, white miso, or rice vinegar. I only used olive oil, splash of pinot grigio (cheapest most finest), salt and pepper. 
• I did follow the roasting of the garlic part exactly as it was stated. 
• Put the roasted garlic in the food processor with the olive oil, white wine, salt, and pepper
• Put the sauce on the stove just to heat up prior to plating
• I baked the asparagus, the garlic was in the oven anyways so I put it in there with it

Asian turkey meatballs. 

Ok, so I kind of used a recipe for this one. Well, part of it. 

http://traceysculinaryadventures.com/2013/03/asian-turkey-meatballs-with-lime-sesame-dipping-sauce.html

Here's my modifier: 

• I did not use panko bread crumbs. Instead, I followed the recipe other wise fully except I baked the meatballs in muffin tins so that they kept their form. This did not change the flavor, I believe.

Instead of 'fried rice' I made a zucchini 'fried' quinoa. I made 1 cup of quinoa, put it in a pan with carrots, zucchini, scallions, and two eggs. Voila, zucchini fried quinoa. 

Food from Underwater

I love fish and I really should use it more. The little exploring I have done has lead me to scallops and shrimp. Yup, and I'm obsessed. 




Scallops with green beans
Recently, I've been all about the scallops prepared with some of the left over bacon grease (baked nitrate-free bacon) and olive oil with a little salt, pepper, and parsley. I have used green beans (boiled) as a side topped with lemon and sautéed onion, mushrooms, green pepper, and baked bacon. I will bake the bacon in the oven at about 350 until i see its done to my liking. This is one of my favorite recipes. Such a quick and healthy dinner. 



Shrimp. Grilled shrimp. Spicy mango salsa. Yum. 
Due to time constraints and convenience I used deveined and shelled frozen shrimp. You can use it however you'd like, of course. I marinated it in foil with lime juice, cilantro, olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh garlic diced, and red pepper flakes for about 20-30 minutes. I then put my foil boat on the grill for sometime less than 10 minutes. Not for sure. I was having a #frozenfriday drink with my good friend, Megan and we lost track of time. But the shrimp was not overcooked! There wasn't exactly a recipe for this one so here is what we came up with: fresh mango (3) diced, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. 

Exploratory Breakfast

The infamous egg white scramble

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day…

For me at least. Otherwise I would starve, I swear!

I definitely continue to steer towards my 'go-to' weekend breakfast consisting of an egg white scramble with any variation of veggies and of course, avocado.

However, during the week I don't exactly have time for that. Unfortunately. Here's what I've put together and find myself running (literally) to most frequently.

So, on the left. This is a desperate attempt at breakfast, a stop at Starbucks for their blueberry steel cut oats. I almost always make my own at home in bulk and just portion them and keep them in the fridge. I  add a variety of ingredients, mostly depending on what fruit is in season. I also add chia seeds, light agave syrup, and sometimes cinnamon. 

On the right is one of my many variations of protein smoothies. I ALWAYS put in one frozen banana, chia seeds, unsweetened almond milk, protein powder, and ice cubes. Where I mix it up is the flavor of protein powder, any additional fruit, cold coffee or toddy, and more water. I also may add fresh spinach to boot. I love adding toddy (cold brew coffee) for a coffee and breakfast two-for-one deal. 

This is the protein powder brand I use. I love it and its all natural, non processed and doesn't have weird ingredients. My favorite flavors include vanilla spiced chai and vanilla.

I love cold brew coffee (toddy) for a few reasons. It is lower in acid, which is awesome for those of us with acid reflux. It is more concentrated. You will typically only use 1 part toddy to 3 parts water, almond, soy, or cows milk. Whatever floats your boat. Also, its brewed ahead of time so it can last in you fridge for up to two weeks!

The Aftermath

Ummm so, I guess you can say its been awhile…

No, I didn't take a break from the diet (exactly) rather a little sabbatical from the blog thing.

This does NOT mean that I've put my cooking to the wayside or a stop on the eating clean thing.

To answer a couple questions…

How was that Easter dinner? 

Not all that it was cracked up to be. I honestly felt guilty eating those potatoes with cheese on them! Even though I really have no reason to feel that way, that's how I felt. As a whole, there wasn't any kind of digestive disaster that I expected. :) So, thats good.

Did I continue the diet post Easter? 

Crawfish bloody mary

Yes and kind of and well, ya I guess sort of….? Immediately following Easter I felt the need to jump back on the diet ASAP. And I did. However, there were definitely moments where I was out to dinner with friends and I ate the Feta on my dish or had some bites of something with gluten in it. And everything was just OK.

Beignets from Cafe du Monde. A must!

Where things went downhill was when I went out of town consistently for 3 weekends in a row. The first stop, New Orleans. I really do and do not regret the food I ate here. Holy cow, amazing. My friends and I aren't quite sure if it was the excessive amount of spice in the cajun diet or the fact that I never held back and ate anything and everything that involved dairy and gluten. In reality not much of it could've been processed. The food was fabulous and I am so glad that ate everything I did. I'll go back someday…and eat it all again. No regrets. My body however disagreed and I officially experienced the anticipated digestive disaster that I thought Easter would be. Yup, too much information, thats OK. Sorry. The following two weekends included a trip to Newport beach with some of the best company and a trip home to celebrate my brothers graduation. I tried my hardest to follow it as closely as possible. Yes, there were many slip-ups and yet again I found myself in the bathroom. Too much information again…

Andouille gumbo with Shrimp Po Boy. To share, of course!

Shrimp jambalaya. Amazing.

SINCE THEN….I have gotten back on the horse and everything seems regulated. I really do need to slowly integrate certain foods at a time to attempt to target what exactly my body isn't agreeing with. But hey, that takes time.

BUT I have made some pretty bomb recipes in the past month so check them out. AND check out the amazing food I've had in the mean time that isn't exactly on the 'diet'.

Pho from Flowerchild in Phoenix. This place is awesome and has so many options. This does count!

Check out what I have made since then. You won't regret it. 

Routine

Here we are 6 weeks later, just days before Easter. Never thought I would've survived and now I feel like I cheated my way through it since it was so easy. Not sure how that happened. 

My 'diet', 'cleanse', or whatever you want to call it has been one of the best things I've ever done for myself. I  do feel SO clean! I feel accomplished and I feel challenged. The original purpose was to 'give up processed foods, gluten, and dairy for lent.' 

What did it turn into? 

A lifestyle. I have no intention of reversing all the hard work and preparation its taken to get to this point. I love how good I feel and how 'clean' the fuel I give my body is. 

Cheesy? 

Ya, probably. That's ok. I get one body and one chance to take care of it, so for me this has been a fabulous way to do that. 

Enough of my cheesy saga, how about some recipes? 

This week's recipes have been some of my absolute favorites! 

First up: Louisiana fillets and baked broccoli and cauliflower

Louisiana Fillets (http://www.paleoplan.com/2010/01-03/louisiana-fillets/)

• Tilapia
• Coconut oil (was so excited to use this because I've had it but haven't used it!)

Baked Broccoli and Cauliflower

• I prepared this just as I would kale chips! Refer to:http://jessicadoesclean.blogspot.com/2014/03/challenge-kale-and-sweet-potatoes.html
• Holy Moly! I don't know that I will eat broccoli and cauliflower any other way ever again!

Next up: COMFORT FOOD!

Shredded chicken with home made barbecue sauce and ginger-lime coleslaw and sweet potato fries

FINALLY! I found some 'comfort food' healthy style. 

Essentially I put chicken in the crock pot for 6.5 hours, per usual. Then just shredded it with a fork. 

Home made paleo barbecue sauce?: http://paleogrubs.com/bbq-sauce-recipe

Ginger-lime Coleslaw: http://www.food.com/recipe/ginger-lime-cole-slaw-395163

• Modifications to the dish
• Substituted light agave syrup instead of cane sugar
• Substituted olive oil for all other oils 

Sweet Potato Fries: refer to: http://jessicadoesclean.blogspot.com/2014/03/challenge-kale-and-sweet-potatoes.html

Try these recipes! So worth it!