Category Archives: low carb

Roast Chicken with Cilantro Pesto

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Roast Chicken with Cilantro Pesto

Roast Chicken with Cilantro Pes

I make roast chicken a lot for my family. Mainly because it’s easy, and I know everyone will enjoy it. However, because I make it so often, I am always trying to come up with ways to make it differently, ways in which I can add flavor, this pesto does exactly that. It adds a ton of flavor, but requires minimal extra work. You throw all the ingredients in the blender or a food processor, push a button and it’s done! Leftover, pesto, if you have any, can be spread on bread as the condiment to leftover chicken salad sandwiches…talk about yum! If you don’t want to roast an entire chicken, you can scale this down and use just 2 chicken breasts, it doesn’t matter. I find that buying a whole organic chicken is often less expensive than buying just 2 organic chicken breasts. So I always prefer to save money and buy the whole chicken. I reinvent the leftover chicken into tacos, salad, soup or tostadas.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:
1 whole Organic Nongmo Air-chilled Chicken
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 Tablespoons of Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of thyme
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Ingredients for Cilantro Pesto:
2 cups of cilantro
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 425F. Season the chicken generously with sea salt and black pepper, then rub it with the garlic and oil. Line a baking dish with foil, place the chicken on it and place it in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the pesto in a blender or processor, and blend until smooth. Serve the pesto however you’d like, I smear it on the chicken, with an additional spoonful or two, so that I can dip as I go. It’s so delicious!!!! If you haven’t read my blog on How to roast Chicken, Steps to making the perfect roast chicken now would be a great time. My recipe for Roast Chicken with Lemon and Garlic works the pesto as well.

Roast Chicken with Cilantro Pesto

Roast Chicken with Cilantro Pesto

Za’atar Spiced Chicken

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Za'atar Spiced Chicken

Za’atar Spiced Chicken

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile now, then you know that I’m enamored with Mediterranean spices, and food. One of my favorite things to have when I go out for dinner at a middle eastern restaurant is a naan bread with za’atar spices on it. What’s not to like? Piping hot crispy bread with a tangy spice, and hot olive oil…yum! I’m drooling at just the thought, it’s just so yummy. If you’re not familiar with za’atar you’ve been missing out. It’s simply a mixture of thyme, sesame seeds, marjoram, cumin, and sumac. With the exception of the sumac, you probably have all the ingredients to make it in your cabinet right now. You can’t make this without the sumac though, it’s tart and tangy flavor would be missed. The herbaceous smell of this spice is reason enough to use it. It pairs well with many meats, not just chicken, but on chicken it is amazing. I will share my recipe for my own homemade za’atar spice in a future blog, but for this, a store bought version will do. I got a packaged za’atar spice blend at Whole Foods in the spice aisle. While it’s not as good as my homemade version, it’s very close.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of za’atar spice
Juice of half a large lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic grated
5-6 (1lb) boneless skinless chicken thighs
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 425F. Mix the za’atar, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil together in a medium bowl. Season the chicken with sea salt and black pepper, then toss in the bowl with the marinade and mix well. Line a baking sheet with foil, then add the chicken, and place in the oven, for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy!

Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

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Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

One my favorite salads, besides Caesar salad is Greek salad. I could eat one every day, and when I was pregnant I did. While most pregnant women crave chocolate or some other weird concoction of things, I craved the crisp freshness of salad. I loved romaine lettuce with an almost unhealthy passion. It’s crunchy and crisp texture was comforting to me, paired with the tanginess of my favorite Feta cheese, I was in heaven. I often made Greek salad for dinner when I was pregnant, because it was soothing to my unending nausea. I would eat it without chicken, because meat just wasn’t my friend when I was pregnant. However, my husband needed something more substantial so I would grill chicken for him, and add it to the salad, which made it a satisfying meal for us both. Now that I don’t have a meat aversion, this Greek salad with grilled chicken is one of my favorite meals. It’s light, but filling, and oh so satisfying.

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Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
4 cups of organic romaine lettuce, chopped and washed
1/2 cup of organic cherrie tomatoes
1/2 cup of Feta cheese, crumbled or cubed
1/2 cup of kalmata olives
1/2 cup of organic Persian cucumbers cubed
1/4 cup of sliced bell pepper
4 organic boneless skinless chicken thighs, or 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Marinade for chicken
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/3 cup of lemon juice
1 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium clove of garlic grated
2 Tablespoons of organic full fat Greek yogurt
Sea salt to taste

Ingredients for Salad dressing:
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic minced
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Mix the ingredients for the chicken marinade in a small bowl, then pour it over both sides of the chicken. Meanwhile preheat your grill pan, over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, it should be nice and hot–smoking before your chicken goes on, so that you get nice grill marks. Place your chicken on the grill and cook without turning on one side for 5 minutes, then flip it on the other side for an additional 7-10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest while you assemble the ingredients for the salad.

Place all of the ingredients for the salad dressing in a mason jar, seal it and give it a good shake. If you don’t have a mason jar, just put the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.

Place all the ingredients for the salad, save for the resting grilled chicken, in a bowl and toss well. Assemble the salad on plates and top with the chicken, I slice the chicken just before adding it to the salad. Drizzle a few tablespoons the salad dressing over each plate and enjoy!

Mint-Chocolate Tofu Pudding

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Peppermint-Chocolate Pudding

Peppermint-Chocolate Pudding

One of the great things about Tofu, is it’s ability to take on flavors. My recipe for Tofu fried chicken is a prime example of that! If you haven’t tried that yet, then you might want to do so, and pair it with this recipe. I love puddings, and Justice De La Torre our staff Nutritionist has taught me many ways to enjoy them without the guilt of added sugars, or ingredients that aren’t so good for me. Like my recipe for Chocolate Avocado pudding—hey don’t knock it until you try it! I’ve yet to serve it to anyone who didn’t convert! Try it! If tofu or avocado are not your ingredients of choice, my recipe for Chocolate pots de Creme will more than suit your taste buds. They’re super creamy and so delicious, the perfect dessert for Valentines day, or any day! My daughters first experience with peppermint was with peppermint bark candy at Christmas. She fell in love with the flavor of peppermint and chocolate. So much so that for a while she referred to plain peppermint candies as peppermint bark. Since Valentines day is tomorrow, I decided to give my love, what she loves, chocolate mint, but in the form of pudding. She loves it. I almost didn’t get a picture to share with you guys, because she couldn’t wait for me to take pictures she wanted to eat it as soon as it was done.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
4 ounces of semi sweet dark organic chocolate (60%) melted or 1/3 cup of powdered chocolate
5 tablespoons of maple syrup or agave
1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 14 oz package of silken or soft Non-GMO organic tofu

Directions:
Melt the chocolate over a pot of water with a double boiler. Drain the tofu and place in a blender and blend until smooth, add in both extracts, your choice of sweetener, and the melted chocolate.
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Blend until smooth, place in a glass bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or just enjoy sans whipped cream.

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Homemade Ranch Yogurt dip and salad dressing

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Ranch yogurt dressing/dip

Ranch yogurt dressing/dip

So now that you’ve made my Dry Ranch Seasoning mix, it’s time to have some fun with ways to use it. The uses for my ranch seasoning are nearly endless, but this yogurt dip/salad dressing is a really easy way. This single dip is responsible for my daughters newfound love of carrots! She loves dipping carrots in this. Frankly she likes the ranch dip more than the carrots, but as a mom you pick your battles. Luckily this is a win-win for both of us, since this dip has no added oil and is made from yogurt and herbs, there really isn’t any thing wrong with her love for it. Most ranch dressings contain mayonnaise as a base. Organic Greek yogurt is great for this if your main use for it is as a dip for veggies and chicken wings. I prefer Bulgarian yogurt, it’s more tart than Greek and not as thick, it’s the perfect texture for both a salad dressing and a dip, but go with a yogurt that you love. It’s important to pick one that you love, because this is the base of your salad dressing or dip and you want the base to taste good.

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Ingredients:
1/2 cups of Organic Greek or Bulgarian yogurt
3 tablespoons of butter milk (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of my Dry Ranch Seasoning, or the fresh ingredients below:

If you have fresh herbs you can skip my ranch seasoning and use the below:
1 tablespoons organic parsley chopped finely
1/2 teaspoons of organic dill weed chopped finely
1 clove garlic grated
1.5 teaspoons of onion powder
sea salt to taste
pink peppercorns ground ( you can sub black pepper) to taste

Add the ingredients to a mason jar or glass bowl and mix well.
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Cover the bowl and refrigerate to allow the flavors to meld for at least 30 minutes. Serve with veggie sticks, over salad, or with my recipe of Lime and red pepper flake wings. You really can’t go wrong! I have a few upcoming recipes that I’ve made using the dry ranch mix, stay tuned!

Homemade Ranch Dry seasoning

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Homemade ranch dry seasoning mix

Homemade ranch dry seasoning mix

One of my favorite condiments is salad dressing. I love making my own salad dressing from scratch. Most salad dressings are filled with way too many preservatives for my taste, not to mention hidden and not so hidden calories. I love simple vinaigrettes, but every now and again, I crave a creamy salad dressing. I resort to making this recipe for ranch, or my Caesar salad dressing. Both are fantastic in their own separate ways. I’ve come up with a recipe for a dry ranch seasoning. This ranch seasoning is extremely versatile, and can be used in a host of recipes, I’ll post 2 more ways to use it in the coming week. But first let me give you the recipe for the ranch seasoning.

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Ingredients:
2.5 tablespoons of dried organic parsley
1.5 teaspoons of dried organic dill weed
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2.5 teaspoons of onion powder
2 teaspoons of dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of pink peppercorns ground ( you can sub black pepper)

Add the ingredients for the dry ranch mix to a mason jar, or a re-sealable bag, and mix well. 1 tablespoon of this mixture is all you need to make my low calorie Ranch yogurt dip/salad dressing.

Lime and Red Pepper Flake Chicken Wings

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Lime and Red Pepper Flake Chicken Wings

Lime and Red Pepper Flake Chicken Wings

I am not a huge sports fan, and thankfully neither is my husband! I can’t sit through games. In our house politics is what has us yelling at the television and calling the players idiots. That doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy game day foods like chicken wings. I for one am a huge fan of spicy buffalo wings, but they aren’t huge on my husbands list of favorite things to eat. So if I want them, I have have to invent ways to indulge my craving and make them palatable for him. This recipe does just that. The tang of the lime, matched with the spice of the red pepper flake, make for a tasty and satisfying wing!

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Prep Time: 5 minute
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb of chicken wings
1/4 of lime juice
3 cloves of garlic crushed or grated
Zest of 2 limes
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Sea salt to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 425F. Pat dry your wings with a paper towel, In a bowl season the chicken with sea salt, then add the lime zest, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and mix well. Place the chicken on a foil lined baking sheet and place in the oven, cook for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is crisped and cooked through. Remove from the oven, sprinkle evenly with lime juice and enjoy! My ranch dip make these even more awesome than they already are, and while you’re at it try my Ranch Potatoes!

Sautéed Kale with Mushrooms

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Sautéed Kale with Mushrooms

 

One of the great things about Kale is that it’s so versatile! You can dress kale up with almost any flavor and still end up with a soul satisfying side dish. I love pairing greens of any kind with mushrooms! Mushrooms give the greens a great counter texture, and let’s face it, mushrooms make everything fantastic!

 

Ingredients

3 cups of Lancinto kale chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of sliced mushrooms

1 Tablespoon of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Sea salt to taste

 

Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms take on some color(10 minutes) add in kale and sauté until greens wilt, add in soy sauce and cook for another 5-7 minutes or until greens are tender. Season with sea salt if necessary, serve and enjoy!

 

 

Wine Braised Kale

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Wine Braised Kale

Braised Kale

Thank goodness that the Holidays are over. I feel like I’ve been on a fast moving train for the last 2 months! I don’t know about you, but I love being home and settled into my routine. The Holidays always take me out of routine.  It’s nice to get out of routine, but it’s heaven to get back into routine also. While I’ve been away from you, I’ve been indulging in comfort foods, like stews in wine sauces! I love adding wine to sauces and stews. A wine sauce always makes me want to lick the plate clean! This recipe for Kale is so extremely yummy that if you’re not a Kale lover, you may just become a kale lover overnight! Kale gets a bad rap, I think it’s because most people don’t know how to cook it. People always pull me aside in the grocery store and ask me how I cook it. They whisper the question as if my responding answer will contain the secrets of the earth! Maybe for them it does. If you are not eating kale because you haven’t a clue how to make it, I hope that this recipe changes that!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Lancinto Kale washed and chopped finely

1/4 cup of shallots or brown onion finely chopped

1/4 cup or more of a good white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)

1 large clove of garlic sliced thinly

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

Heat olive oil add garlic and shallots and  cook until you can smell the garlic, (20 seconds), add in kale, and sauté until wilted. Add in white wine, sea salt, and pepper, bring to a simmer and lower the heat. Cook covered for 5-7 minutes. It’s done when Kale is tender.

Sautéed Kale with Mushrooms

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Sautéed Kale and Mushrooms

One of the great things about Kale is that it’s so versatile! You can dress kale up with almost any flavor and still end up with a soul satisfying side dish. I love pairing greens of any kind with mushrooms! Mushrooms give the greens a great counter texture, and let’s face it, mushrooms make everything fantastic!

Ingredients
3 cups of Lacinto kale chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1 Tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
Sea salt to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms take on some color(10 minutes) add in kale and sauté until greens wilt, add in soy sauce and cook for another 5-7 minutes or until greens are tender. Season with sea salt if necessary, serve and enjoy!