Chicken and broccoli revisited

This could not be easier.  The original was pretty dang easy. This is even easier. I even went the extra lazy route and made it with frozen meat and broccoli. Yes, really. 

In a large roasting pan (mine's 9x13) mix:
- 2 pounds frozen boneless chicken breast
- 2 bags (10 cups) frozen broccoli
- 1 T chopped ginger root
- 1 T ground ginger
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 T garlic powder
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 T onion powder
- 16 oz mushrooms, quartered or sliced

Place in the oven at 375F and bake for 45 minutes stirring once half way through.

Delicious.  And by far the #1 thing I get comments on when I'm eating lunch at work. 

Fajita Bake

Makes: 1100g, about ~6-8 servings
Nutrition (per 100g): 90 cal, 11g protein, 3g fat, 6g carbs

Ingredients:
2 poblano peppers
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
1 red onion
1 white onion
1 pound steak
1/2 T olive oil

Seasoning:
1T chili powder
1/2 T paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne

* Mix together seasoning ingredients in a small bowl

 

 * Chop vegetables and onion into 1/4" strips
* Slice steak into 1/2" strips

* Place vegetables and steak into 9x13" pan.  Sprinkle seasoning on top.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Mix until well coated.

* Bake in oven at 350F for 45 minutes stirring once half way through.

* Once complete place in broiler for 5 minutes.  This was great, it added the 'charred' grilled fajita taste that was missing from the baked version.

Pumpkin Quiche

 

This is remarkably similar to the butternut squash version of two weeks ago but is even easier since it doesn't involve actually roasting a squash on your own.

Makes: 8 servings

Nutrition:  71 calories, 9g protein, 1g fat, 7g carbs

Ingredients:

1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree

1 onion, sliced

8oz mushrooms, sliced

8oz spinach, chopped

2 cup liquid egg whites

1/2 cup coconut milk

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 400F. Spread pumpkin onto bottom and sides of non-stick cake pan.  

*Saute onions over low heat just until they start to soften.  Add mushrooms and cook over medium heat until tender.   Add chopped fresh spinach and continue to cook, stirring frequently until wilted.

 * Add the sauteed mixture to the crust

 * In a separate bowl mix the egg and coconut milk.  Pour over the sauteed vegetables in the crust.

 * Place in the oven and back at 400F for 50 minutes

* The center should be fully cooked and not liquid when complete and the edges just starting to brown.

Thai coconut salad

 

Makes: ~6 servings

Per serving: 152 calories,

7g protein,

7g fat,

16g carbs

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut water

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup ground almonds or almond butter

1/2 T sesame oil

2 clove garlic, chopped

1/8 tsp ground cayenne

1 small onion, thinly sliced

6.5 oz mushrooms, sliced

6.5 oz bok choy, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1/2 T dried cilantro

1/2 bunch red leaf lettuce

8 cups shredded cabbage

6oz coconut 

1 chicken breast grilled and shredded

Directions:

First up, the dressing... 

Simply put everything together and puree it.  I used by food processor. You can use whatever you'd like!  Mix coconut water, chopped ginger, juice of 1 lime, 1/4 almonds, 1/2 T sesame oil, 2 clove garlic, 1/8 tsp cayenne.

  

Grill chicken breast and shred.

Saute together the onion, mushroom, bok choy, carrots and cilantro. 

   

I was excited about the mason jar packing idea so I split the ingredients evenly in 6ths and layered all of my ingredients in 6 jars as follows and had a small jar of dressing left over for later. 

-- 1.5T dressing

-- chicken

-- sauteed vegetables

-- cabbage

-- coconut

-- lettuce

Eggplant a la Adithi

This one really isn't mine to share.  I took a few liberties with the recipe but Adithi took pity on my overabundance of eggplants and provided an Indian recipe for me.  It works quite nicely on cauliflower rice and is such a great combination of spices that I don't really miss any of the things I'm not eating... grain, dairy, soy, sugar... 

Simple... chopped eggplant, tomato & onion.

 

Lots of spices- garlic, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, ground mustard...

 

Cover, simmer for a while and then it turns into something like this... 

  

Pineapple Coconut Chicken Curry

I'm not sure curry is the right description but it is definitely a Thai flavored concoction.  Spicy, sweet and filling.  You can easily add or remove vegetables as you see fit - or get rid of them all together - add this would still work. On the flip side, leave out the chicken and you've got a great vegetarian/vegan dish.  If you have a particular aversion to one of the spices or can't find it anywhere, leave it out, I imagine this is still going to work just fine.

 

Makes: ~6 servings

Per serving: 244 calories,

31g protein,

7g fat,

13g carbs

 

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 pounds chicken

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 1/2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp coriander

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1 can (14oz) lite coconut milk

1 cup coconut water -- I used this because I had recently opened a fresh coconut; you could easily substitute for store bough coconut water or just plain old water.

1 red onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

2 cubanelle pepper, sliced

1/2 lb snow peas

3 oz coconut meat -- Possibly substitute unsweetened shredded coconut instead if you don't have or don't want to deal with opening and shelling your own coconut

8oz mushrooms, sliced

4 oz pineapple sliced and cut into 1" pieces

2 T chopped ginger

1 tsp guar gum*

1 tsp xanthum gum *

*(you could substitute 1T of corn startch, flour or thickener of your choice)

Directions

Cut the chicken into roughly 1-inch cube sized pieces. Mix with the spices, 1/2 of the coconut milk, and 1/2 of the chopped pineapple.  Place in the refrigerator overnight to marinate (or chill for at least 1-2 hours)

 

You can also prepare the other ingredients ahead of time if you wish.  I prepped everything and was able to have everything cooking at the same time in different pans to speed things along. 

Mix the snow peas with the sliced mushrooms and coconut in one container.   In a second container prepare and combine the onion, peppers, garlic and ginger.

 

Mix the onions, peppers, garlic and ginger in a saute pan and quickly saute just until onions start to turn translucent.  Add 1/2 of the coconut water and allow to simmer until fully cooked - about 20 minutes.

 

Remove the pepper mixture from the pan and replace with mushroom mixture, add remaining pineapple.  Saute until the mushrooms just start browning and simmer covered for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

 

Place chicken in large pan and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked, about 10 minutes.

 

Add remaining coconut milk, coconut water, guar gum and xanthum gum and simmer until desired consistency, about 15 minutes.

 

Combine pepper mixture with vegetables in pan and stir to mix.

 

Combine to serve.  Serve alone or over your choice -- as below with glucomannan noodles, regular pasta or rice noodles, rice, shredded cabbage, salad greens, etc.  I initially left the chicken and veggies separate and combined over the noodles but later mixed them all together and it works just fine as well if you want to combine before serving.

  

Butternut squash crust quiche

 

Quiche with a butternut squash crust. This was perfect for mornings avoiding grains.  I never put much thought into it before but we really tend to carb load for breakfast... 

Makes: 1 9" pan, 8 servings

Per serving: 90 calories,

7g protein,

2g fat,

14g carbs

 

Ingredients:

1butternut squash

2 large eggs

1 1/8 cup liquid egg whites

5 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

about 1/4 pound asparagus

Directions:

1. Roast butternut squash in over at 375F for approximately 1 hour.  Depending on the size it may take longer or shorter.  It is done with easily pierced with a fork. 

 

 

While the squash is cooking you can prepare the remaining ingredients.  Saute the onion and mushrooms over medium heat until the onions are translucent.

Grill  (or saute) the asparagus.  I cut these in half and only used the tip half in the quiche.  Both halves would be fine and you can feel free to use smaller or larger pieces. 

Prepare the egg mixture by mixing eggs and egg white together in bowl.  You could add milk here if you're eating dairy, I did not seeing as it's whole30 time right now. 

Remove squash from the oven.  Remove the peel (I should basically just fall right off if it's done).  Mash the squash and press in an even layer on the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Place the pan in the over for approximately 5-10 minutes and bake at 375.

 

 

 Remove the pan from the oven and increase temp to 400F.  Place mushroom and onion mixture on top of crust.  Pour egg mixture over mushrooms and onions. 

 

 Arrange asparagus over top of the egg mixture and return to the over at 400F. Cook for 40 minutes or until firm and lightly browning.

 

Turkey and vegetable casserole

 

  

I thought about making meatloaf.  Then I got a whole bunch of vegetables into the mix.  And this turned into more of a vegetable medley with a little meat thrown in.  Somehow that seems to keep happening. 

Makes: 9x13 pan (12 servings)

6g carb, 11g protein, 1g fat per serving

 

Ingredients:

1 lb (16oz) ground turkey

1 egg or 3T liquid egg whites

3 large roma tomatoes halved (~300g)

2 large carrots, sliced (~200 g)

1 Anaheim pepper, sliced

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 small zucchini, cubed

1 small onion, chopped

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 325 F

* Place tomatoes, peppers and carrots on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spray or coat lightly with olive oil.  Place in oven and cook for 40-45 minutes.

 

* After 45 minutes, place mushrooms, zucchini and onion on baking sheet and add place in oven with other vegetables.  Continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.  

* Increase oven temp to 350F

* Chop tomatoes and peppers into small pieces.  

* Mix vegetables with ground turkey and egg in large mixing bowl.   

* Spread evenly in a 9x13 pan. 

 

* Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. 

 

Variation... 

* This holds together moderately well.  You could easily double the meat and it would hold together much better and be more "loaf" like.  

* Add some seasoning.  I did not season this since I have 12 servings of it to eat myself I like that I can top it with some of my Apple BBQ Sauce one day and herbs the next.  If you wanted something more 'ready to eat' you could easily add it BBQ sauce, A1 sauce, ketchup, etc. or herbs and seasonings of your choice. 

* Mix and match your vegetables.  I picked an assortment of what I had on hand.  They went well together and are to my taste (thus what I keep on hand...) but is by no means the only way to do this.  Note that I resisted adding pumpkin (though it was a close call and I baked some to go with it...)

Eggplant lasagna

.

 Having been grain free for 2 weeks I started thinking about all the things I used to cook.  For anyone I've cooked for prior to the last 6 months, that pretty much involved pasta.  And more pasta with a side of pasta and maybe some bread to go with it.   Among my favorite meals was lasagna. 

I somehow happened to have 4 eggplants (I really don't know how these things happen when I'm at the store...) and got inspired to see if I could come up with a comparable grain free alternative. I am pretty satisfied with it and will rest easier at night knowing this option exists...

Makes: 9x13 pan (~15 servings)

15g carbs, 18g protein, 1g fat per serving

Ingredients:

3 medium eggplants (you could get by with 2 med-large ones)

20 oz ground turkey

8 oz mushrooms, washed and quartered

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

3.5 cups tomato pasta sauce

3 roasted tomatoes (optional)

2 tsp crushed garlic

2 cups (8oz) mozarella cheese, shredded

2 cups (1 small container) ricotta cheese

1 egg or 3T liquid egg whites

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

salt, pepper

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 375F

 

* Peel eggplants and slice about 1/4" thick lengthwise. 

.

* Place strips of eggplant on baking sheets in the oven and bake for 5 minutes flipping about half way through.  The eggplant won't be fully cooked but this does make it a little more tender and take some of the moisture out. 

* Cook the onions in a skillet over low heat until they begin to turn translucent.  Add garlic and mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are tender. 

.

 

* At the same time in a separate skillet combine ground turkey, 1 tsp basil and 1 tsp oregano and brown the meat.

 

* In a large bowl combine ricotta, mozarella (1 set aside ~1/4 cup to sprinkle on top), egg, 1 tsp basil, and 1 tsp oregano

 

* Spray your pan lightly with cooking spray and place a small amount to sauce in the bottom of the pan. 

 

 * Begin layering with the eggplant on the bottom...

 

* Add about 1/3 of the cheese mixture 

 

* Top with 1/3 of the meat and 1/3 of the mushroom mixture 

 

* Add 1/3 of the sauce

 

 * Repeat layering with the eggplant and continue as above until all layers have been made. 

 

*In the second layer I added roasted tomatoes and peppers in place of the sauce.  If you don't have or don't want roasted tomatoes/peppers you can omit these and just layer as above with additional sauce in its place.

 

* Finish by topping with a 4th layer of eggplant and remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese if desired. 

 

* Cover with aluminum foil and back at 375F for 1 hour.  Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. 

 

* Cut and serve.