Carrot Coconut Ginger Soup

Friday, February 22, 2013

I will be honest, I am not a huge fan of carrots. Made this soup yesterday as part of a cooking challenge. Our mystery ingredient was carrots, so I had no choice.

This soup was surprisingly good-- very coconut-y taste. I found it on Pinterest and adapted it from www.eatingalive.com. Will definitely be adding this to soup repertoire. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 TBSP coconut oil
2 large onions diced
4 minced cloves of garlic
1 knob of ginger minced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
10 large carrots cut into circles
3 cups of chicken stock (homemade preferred) 
4 cups of water
3 bay leaves
Salt to taste
1 can of lite coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup cilantro for garnish (optional)

In a large pan, saute onion in coconut oil till soft on medium heat (about 5 minutes). Add garlic, ginger and chilli powder. Sautee another 2 minutes. Add carrots, stock, water, bay leaves and salt. Increase heat to high, bring to boil. Reduce flame to low, cover and cook till carrots are soft, about 20 minutes.

Puree soup using emersion blender. When smooth, add coconut milk. Heat up but don't boil. Taste for salt and spice, may want to add.  Garnish with cilantro if using.

I served mine with Wonton Crisps. Made these by cutting up Nasoya Egg Roll wrappers into strips, spraying with cooking spray and baking at 375 till golden.




Baked Potato Chips w Truffle Oil

Sunday, February 17, 2013


Words can't describe how much I love and crave potato chips. Rarely allow myself to have them because let's face it, they really are total JUNK.  Not these babies. Took a while to make these but so worth it!

Made these the other night just playing around in the kitchen and they really were so good!

Definitely a must repeat, may even try with sweet potatoes next.

 I used baby dutch potatoes but I think any potato would work, if it's an old variety with thick skin, you need to peel. For unbruised baby varieties, leave the skin on.


3 baby dutch potatoes
1 1/2 tbsp of truffle oil (or another oil)
Salt to taste
Cooking spray

Wash potatoes well, remove blemishes. Slice thin using a mandoline. I have this one: Kyocera Mandoline it does the job. 


Pat dry so slices are not wet. In a bowl, toss with oil of choice and a salt.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray paper with oil. Spread the potatoes. Roast at 300
for 30-40 minutes. Watch carefully as some slices may be ready sooner then others.  As any chips do, these shrink a lot. If you don't want the slices to stick together, don't overlap. I was too lazy and mine did overlap because I wanted to fit as many as possible. Did not impact the taste as all.


Lay out on a paper towel to absorb oil. Watch them disappear.


Arugula Salad with Shrimp, Magno, Avocado, Cilantro, Red Onion and Toasted Coconut

Friday, February 8, 2013


What I really love is a one meal salad. Tasty, filling and healthy all at the same time.

This is a truly tasty salad, especially if you are a lover of Asian flavors. 

All the amounts are an estimate but below makes enough for 2 as a full meal. If you have extra shrimp, you can always reserve for another use, perhaps some stir fried rice.

FOR SALAD


1/2 pound of shrimp shelled, deveined, butterflied and patted dry
                       I used patagonian shrimp which is pinker in color but regular shrimp will do
3 cups of arugula washed and spun dried
2 cups of mango diced
1/2 to 1 whole avocado diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro stems removed
1 tablespoon sesame oil (to cook the shrimp in, any other oil is ok)
Salt to taste--a tiny bit b/c ponzu is salty

FOR DRESSING
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons of ponzu sauce (ponzu is a combo of soy sauce and lemon juice)
juice of 1/2 lemon


Preheat skillet w sesame oil. Cook shrimp till pink and cooked through, about 2- 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat, allow to cool. Serve whole over salad or chop up and toss with the rest of the salad.

Combine all the other salad ingredients. Add cooled shrimp.

Wisk together sesame oil, ponzu and lemon juice. Dress the salad. 

If you wish to use coconut--totally optional, preheat a small skillet and add shredded coconut flakes. Toast about a minute or two, careful not to burn.

Sprinkle on top of salad.

Serve immediately.




Carb Free Zucchini Lasagna with Turkey (Trust me, the Cheese makes up for lack of Pasta)

Tuesday, February 5, 2013



  • So the noodle free lasagna kick continues. A few months ago I made a carb free Eggplant Spinach Lasagna recipe here:
    family that I decided to try another version of this beauty—Zucchini Lasagna. Still carb free but this one with meat.
    I should note that this recipe is adapted from http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/zucchini-lasagna.html but I made a bunch
    of tweaks to make it my own.

    INGREDIENTS:

    3 zucchinis sliced thin the long way
    One 15 ounce container of part skim ricotta
    ½ cup of fresh chopped basil plus more for garnish if you like
    2 12 ounce jars of tomato paste (more or less, depending on how much sauce you like)
    2 cups of shredded part skim mozzarella
    1 egg
    Salt and pepper to taste
    1 diced shallot or medium onion
    3 chopped garlic cloves
    1 pound ground turkey
    1-2 tablespoons of oil (I use grape)
    Cooking spray


    1) Wash and dry zucchinis. Do not peel. Slice the long way into thin long slices. This is best done using a mandolin. Watch your fingers when you are doing this. Seriously, because if you don’t you may get hurt (trust me, I speak from experience).

    2) Sprinkle with salt and leave for a few minutes. This will make zucchinis release water. That’s good; you don’t want the water in there. Do not rinse but dab with paper towels.

    3) In the meantime, spray a medium sauce pan with cooking spray and heat.   Brown your ground meat till cooked through.  Remove from pan. Add a bit of oil, add garlic and onions and cook about 3 minutes. Add the meat back, add tomato paste, 2/3 of the basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

    4) Preheat oven to 375. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray, add zucchini slices. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove, allow to cool and PAT DRY one more time.

    5) In a large bowl, combine ricotta with egg. Mix well. Add remaining chopped basil. Mix in.

    6) Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray, add meat mixture to cover bottom. Add baked and dried zucchini to cover sauce. Ok to overlap slices of zucchini.  Place ricotta mixture on top. Repeat one more time (or more if you have enough ingredients). I had just the right amount for 2 layers.

    7) Top with shredded mozzarella and basil leaves, cover in foil. Baked covered for 40 minutes and uncovered for another 15. Allow to rest about 10 minutes before serving.

Citrus Mahi Mahi with Roasted Butternut Squash

Sunday, February 3, 2013



Mahi mahi is not a fish I usually make but it was on sale from Fresh Direct so I figured, why not. Was digging around Pinterest and came across this recipe from loveveggiesandyoga and decided to check it out. Love me some fish in a citrusy sauce!  Could not locate some of the ingredients the recipe called for so I made some substitutions still came out pretty tasty and not fishy at all which was my big fear with this mahi mahi.

I served it with my version of fried rice and some lovely roasted butternut squash.


MAHI MAHI with Citrus Sauce
3 Mahi Mahi fillets
Juice of one orange
3 tablespoons Ms Dash's Salt Free Poultry Mix (containing sweet chili pepper and other yummy ingredients like thyme, cayenne pepper, etc)
3 tablespoons sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet till hot. Wash and dry fish well. Place fish on skillet, add about 1/2 of juice over it and also drizzle another tablespoon of oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 the Mrs Dash, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes or until the bottom corner of fish begins to brown. 
Resist the urge to move fish around or you won't get a nice sear. 
Flip fish over. Add another tablespoon of oil--drizzle carefully on all the pieces. Add remaining Mrs Dash and OJ. Cover and cook another 3-4 minutes till white and opaque. Remove to plate and allow to rest.
Adapted from:
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/02/caribbean-citrus-mahi-mahi-with-brown-rice-noodles.html

Healthy Fried Rice:

Cooked brown rice is something I usually have on hand either homemade or from leftover take out (hanging head in shame). Always nice to spruce it up and make into a yummy side.

Some things you might consider adding are an egg, ginger, carrots, edamame, corn, and a bit of soy sauce.

No strict rules here. This time what I did was heated up rice in a bit of sesame oil, added a bit of powdered ginger, added an egg which I promptly scrambled. Added a bit of low sodium soy sauce and voila! Healthy fried rice.

Roasted Butternut Squash
Use the recipe I posted here http://www.saladgirlnat.com/2012/12/roasted-root-vegetables.html for roasted root veggies, substitute squash. If you wish, add a bit of maple syrup at the end.

Hope you enjoy!





 
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