Yogurt – Dill Salmon w/Zucchini

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients:

1.  16 ounces of Salmon filet, its best if you cut it into 4 ounce pieces.

2.  1/2 cup greek yogurt

3.  2 tablespoons of dried dill, divided into 2-1 tablespoons

4.  1 teaspoon salt

5.  1 teaspoon lemon zest (dried or fresh, whatever)

6.  2 Zucchini cut into 1/2″ segments for easy bites

Recipe:

1.  Mix the yogurt, 1 tablespoon of dill and a grind of pepper into a bowl and let sit for a few minutes.

2.  Rinse your salmon under cold water to get the salmony smell off it.

3.  Place on a pan, skin side down, even if there is no skin, and put into an oven at 350 degrees.  This will cook for about 6 minutes.

4.  Saute your zucchini in a pan over medium heat with the lemon zest, salt and the other tablespoon of dill.  Keep this moving to prevent sticking.  You can use non-stick spray if you are into that kind of thing.  But if you keep them moving and your heat is not too hot, you should be able to prevent them from sticking.  They will be done in about 6 minutes for al-dente texture.

5.  Pull the salmon out and liberally spread the yogurt-dill mixture over it.  Do not save any, use it all, trust me its worth it.

6.  Put back in to the oven for 6-12 minutes, or until your zucchini is done.  You want the yogurt to remain whitish, if it starts to get translucent then it is breaking down into something a lot less tasty.

7.  All in all, the ideal time for the dish to be in the oven kind of depends on your oven and how you like your salmon.  Chances are, the salmon was 80% done cooking before you put the yogurt on it.  So if you were to pull it out at 6 minutes (12 total) then it may be slightly underdone for you.  The extra 6 minutes will definitely ensure that it is done.

As usual, this is divided into 4 servings, 2 for now, and 2 for lunches at work or whatever.  Salmon reheats fine, but you want to eat it within a day or two.

Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and Beets

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This recipe is a hearty awesomeness that is sweet, savory and very filling while being light on the calorie load.  Beets help lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation and have been known to increase endurance.  Sweet potatoes are ridiculously high in vitamin A and help reduce inflammation overall all as well.

Ingredients

1.  3 medium beets, cut into 1/2″ squares

2.  2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4″ squares

3.  3 medium chicken breasts, about 12 ounces total.  Cook these in the oven first to save time (350-375 for about 30 minutes, they will stay fresh in the fridge for aobut 3-4 days).

4.  1 tablespoon garlic powder, roasted garlic powder or some other garlic based powder, but not garlic salt.

5.  1 teaspoon lemon zest, black pepper, salt

6.  4 tablespoons of H2O

Recipe

1.  Combine water, garlic powder, lemon zest, and black pepper in a small bowl and set aside. This is called blooming and works well for any dish that is not a soup to save time and increase the flavor of dry spice before use in a wet sauce.

2.  Saute the sweet potatoes and beets separately with a tablespoon of water each in order to keep the color.  If you don’t care about the color, saute them together, but everything will be red.

3.  The beets give off more liquid than the sweet potatoes.  When they are done, they might have given off as much as 2-4 tablespoons of beet juice.  Keep this, it’s the basis of the sauce.

4.  Add the spice water to the beets and saute for about 10 minutes longer than the sweet potatoes.

5.  When plating it, put the beets in first, then the chicken then the potatoes.  Pour the liquid over all of it.

Per usual, this makes 4 servings, eat 2 now with someone you feel warmly towards, and save the others for work lunch.

Black Beans and “Rice”

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients:

1.  1 cup yellow, red and orange peppers diced

2.  1 medium onion diced

3.  1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

4.  1 cup vegetable broth

5.  1 tablespoon cumin

6.  2 teaspoons each of salt, pepper, dried basil and coriander.

7.  1 head of cauliflower “riced”.  This refers to taking a head of cauliflower and grating it so that it is the size and consistency of white rice.  Not as small as doing a cauliflower pizza crust, but close.

Recipe:

1.  Saute the onions, peppers with about 2 tablespoons of the vegetable broth.

2.  When soft, add the spices and saute for about 3 minutes, it should smell pretty awesome

3.  Add the vegetable stock and black beans. Bring to a boil.

4.  Cover with a lid and turn the heat to medium low and simmer for the amount of time it takes you to grate your cauliflower.

With the cauliflower, you can do a couple of different things.  If you want a more “al dente” feel, do not cook it, the heat from your bean mixture will make it plenty hot enough.  So just put it on a plate and pour some black bean mixture over it.  If you want a softer feel, then microwave the whole cauliflower for about 4 minutes before you grate/dice it.  Once ti cools, you will notice it is a little softer.  Choice is yours.  Picture above is the more “al dente” version.

Brussels Sprouts Awesome

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is the best damn brussels sprouts recipe that I have ever come up with.  It’s awesome.  I look at the picture and really just want to go make it again.

Ingredients:

1.  12oz shredded brussels sprouts

2.  4oz of chopped chicken or chopped turkey

3.  1/4 cup of pine nuts, untoasted is best

4.  2oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese (white is what I used)

5.  1 teaspoon of olive oil

Recipe:

1.  Fry up the lean ham and pull out of pan.

2.  Put pine nuts in pan with olive oil and cover for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan often to keep them moving.  The idea is to toast them so that you can get as much flavor out of them as possible.

3.  Add the brussels sprouts and some salt

4.  Cook the brussels sprouts until just wilty, not too much or they will get sulfurous and gross

5.  Take off heat and add the lean ham and toss

6.  Put onto two plates and top with 1oz of shredded cheddar cheese each serving.

This is designed to be a two serving dish.  Each serving will contain approximately 3 ounces of protein,  1.5 cups of vegetables.  Enjoy.

Soy-Sesame Tilapia w/Zucchini

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is such a simple recipe that I marvel that more people have not tried.  It is completely clean without any oils, sugars or starches involved.  Some people say “what about the soy sauce and the horribleness of soy with the sodium and blah blah blah blah”.  I say to those people, look up soy sauce and read about the magic of all things fermented.  Fermented soy sauce contains a lot of oligosaccharides and this is beneficial to the digestive tract of the gut.  These oligosaccharides promote the growth of beneficial gut flora which leads to less lower intestinal tract inflammation which is an overall good thing.

Ingredients:

1.  16 ounces of tilapia filets or loins (loins are pictured).  Unless you are protein restrictive or are trying to lose a lot of weight fast, the serving size for this should still be 4-6 ounces.

2.  6 tablespoons soy sauce (read your lable, make sure it is fermented, not just brown colored salt water)

3.  6 tablespoons sesame seeds

4.  3 medium zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Recipe:

1.  I highly recommend soaking the fish and zucchin in in soy sauce, but that can be wasteful, as you will toss a lot of soy sauce out.  So basically toss the zucchini in the soy sauce, then brush the leftover onto both sides of the fish until it is gone.

2.  Sprinkle and pat 3/4 of the sesame seeds into the fish.  Sprinkle the rest over the zucchini.

2.  Put it all on the same pan and roast for about 20 minutes or so (depending upon the thickness of the fish) at 375 degrees.  You will need to check the fish to make sure it is done.  The zucchini will still be a little crunchy, which is good.

3.  Put on a plate, eat, yummy.

Consequently, tilapia is one of the few fish that will actually keep and microwave later at work.  So, true to form, we made enough for our meal plus two more to-go dishes for work.  Delish.

Pork Fried Cauliflower “Rice”

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This one allows me to have chinese food.  The flavor profile is dead on, with 0 net carbs and lots of protein and vegetables.  The most unhealthy thing in this dish is the sesame oil and maybe the pork, depending upon how you feel about swine.

Ingredients:

1.  1 whole cauliflower, riced.  What this means is you take, leaving it raw, and put it into a food processor or grater and blitz it.  It creates a substance that is a little smaller than white rice but still have some body.  It is important to leave it raw, otherwise you will make paste, which is another blog post.

2.  2 medium onions, chopped as big or small as you like

3.  16 ounces of pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1″ squares/chunks.

4.  1 cup of frozen peas.

5.  1 tablespoon of sesame oil

6.  2 tablespoons of minced garlic

7.  1 teaspoon of ground ginger

8.  1 teaspoon of dried basil

9.  4 tablespoons of soy sauce (low sodium is a good idea)

10.  2 eggs, lightly beaten

Recipe:

1.  In large skillet or wok, put the wok with 1/2 of the sesame oil over high heat.

2.  When the pork is about 1/2 cooked, add the onion and garlic with the rest of the sesame oil.

3.  When cooked through, add the peas.

4.  When heated through, push to one side and add the lightly beaten egg and scramble,

5.  When eggs are scrambled, add the whole mixture together and add all the spices, soy sauce and cauliflower rice.

6.  Stirring near constantly, move the entire mix around until most of the soy sauce either absorbs or evaporates which should only take about 30-40 seconds.  If there is still a bunch of liquid, then keep going till it is gone.

This should serve 4 people.  Or as usual, two people with two leftovers.  This dish is pretty awesome and allows for a chinese craving to be met without a lot of the MSG and extra calories.

Smoothies

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Sorry for being away.  I have been busy.

There are no pictures to go with these recipes, simply because I usually am too busy stuffing these down my gullet to stop and take a picture.  Plus, we have ugly glasses.

 

Chocolate Covered Almond Smoothie

1.  3oz coconut milk

2.  3oz skim milk

3.  3oz of frozen water (also known as “ice”)

4.  1tblspoon unsweetened baking cocoa

5.  1 scoop of vanilla flavored protein shake/nutrition shake (I use the TLS Vanilla for this, but any brand vanilla will work fine)

6.  1.5tblspoons of almond butter

Blend the hell out of this.  We do it in a single serving cup with our Ninja and blend on “single serving” for about 40 seconds.  The wait is worth it.  Great for breakfast and if you need a desserty type thing and its snack time.  If you look at the ingredients, there is no added sugar, the coconut milk and almond butter will trick you into thinking there is a lot more sweetness going on than there is.  (Phase III)

 

Hawaiian Smoothie

1.  1oz coconut milk

2.  3oz frozen pineapple

3.  1 banana

4.  1/4 cup milk powder

5.  tablespoon coconut flour

6.  1 peeled orange

7.  1 teaspoon ground ginger

8.  3oz plain water (you may not want to do this, but trust me you should.  The coconut flour will turn this into paste if you do not make it thin enough in the beginning.

Blend the hell out of this as well.  The coconut flour will turn this thick as much as you want, plus will reduce the smoothie will separate out later.  I highly recommend frozen pineapple as the temperature of this is best served cold.  Ice is difficult to use because of the coconut flour.  The reasoning behind the coconut flour has to do with the fact that there is about 3gm of protein and 4gm of fiber in a single tablespoon.  Use this with caution and be prepared to do it a couple of times before you get the hang of it.  When it goes bad, it’s quite awful, but fun to give unsuspecting spouses with a sheepish grin.  (Phase II-III)

The Green Smoothie

1.  3 stalks of celery

2.  3oz of cucumber

3.  3oz of spinach leaves

4.  tablespoon ground ginger (minced fresh ginger is better, but I am not a chef, I work with what I got, and I gots ground ginger)

5.  1 banana

6.  1/4 cup milk powder

7.  2 pitted dates

8.  1 teaspoon of chia seeds

This one is an acquired taste.  If you do not like vegetables, then you will hate this.  But also, why are you looking at a blog about eating healthy?  There is enough sweetness to make this work well but it will be loose and will be “fibrous” in feel.  If you grew up hating tons of pulp in your juice, then this will probably not sit well with you. (Phase II)

 

These are just 3 of the ones in rotation in my life right now.  Any suggestions for others, let me know.  Did you try one and it was awful and I am lying about them, let me know that too.

Parmesan Tilapia

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a super simple recipe that falls square into Phase III.  It takes a little practice but keep in mind that tilapia is a very forgiving fish and parmesan is a very forgiving cheese.

Ingredients

1.  24oz of tilapia, thawed rinsed and pat dried

2.  8oz of shredded parmesan cheese

3.  1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried basil, garlic powder and onion powder

Recipe

1.  Liberally salt every piece of fish with the spice mixture.  Do both sides else it will end up bland.

2.  Bake the tilapia in a broilable pan/sheet at 325 for about 15 minutes or until the flesh is between translucent and white.  It will not be finished.

3.  I suggest draining any liquid off the pan.  Place all the cheese on the fish.  If you have 3oz filets, then you should have about 2oz for each filet.

4.  Turn the oven to broil and give it about 1 minute to get to temperature.  Put the fish in.  This is something that gets tricky, but gets better with experience.  It generally only takes about 90 seconds under the broiler to get the cheese all melty and awesome.  I usually pull it out and rotate the pan 180 degrees to get the most even meltiness.

5.  Pull it out and put a couple of lemon wedges with and yummy.

Blueberry Flax Breakfast Bar

Posted on by Emily Dodd

blueberry flax breakfast bar

This is a good one for on the go people, people who just woke up, or, you know, hungry people.  Very satisfying and full of protein but also just tasty!  And easy.  Also, the fruit, nuts, and coconut are negotiable.  If you don’t like the fruits I chose or hate coconut, use other fruit.  I’ve tried this with dates and apples and walnuts (with a tsp of cinnamon) and it is just as awesome.  You can also skip the almond meal and double the flax for extra protein.  You should note that extra flax will alter the taste somewhat and this might be less appealing to those unaccustomed to the taste of flax.  Hope you enjoy!  Em

1 Cup dried blueberries
1 Cup coconut
1 Cup almonds
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup flax meal
2tbs almond butter
2 tbs coconut oil
Egg
Banana

Blend everything together in a food processor.  Spray the baking pan with coconut oil spray (or whatever spray you choose.  Bake 20 minutes on 400 degrees.