Phase II – The Healthy Us

Egg Muffins

Posted on October 5, 2015October 5, 2015 by Sam Boyd

Egg Muffins are great. More importantly outside of being awesome and tasty, they make people want to measure everything happy in their warm place. Basically, egg muffins, like soup, is an equation.

Take the ones pictured for instance, to make twelve of them.

Ingredients

12 eggs, beaten till liquid and slightly frothy, the main thing is you don’t want anything to make them harder to pour
4 ounces of diced orange pepper, measured with a scale
2 cups cooked spinach (yields far less)
4 ounces of Feta cheese, measured with a scale
KEEP EVERYTHING SEPARATE

Look at them, do you see anything in common. Yup they are divisible easily into 12. For example, each muffin will consist of 1 egg, 1/3 ounce diced orange pepper, 4 ounces of uncooked spinach, and 1/3 feta cheese. But it would be a superb pain in the but to make that one muffin, so you batch cook.

Recipe (there will be some things in this that look weird)

Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray. Don’t worry it won’t touch your food, it’s for heat conductivity.
Put a muffin cup in each space. I prefer to get the pretty awesome aluminum foil ones like these so that the heat conducts well and you get some crunchy edges. Sounds weird, but hey it’s my recipe.
Pour roughly 1/12 of your egg mix into the cups. You may have to practice to get it right. I say add a little bit at the beginning, you can always go back.
Add 1/3 ounce diced turkey, 1/3 feta cheese and about , 1/12 of the spinach. The spinach is the weird one, I actually spread it out on a cutting board after its cooked and divide it into 12 piles. You may not be this anal or weird about it, but I am. I suggest adding the cheese last (I should have said that earlier).
Bake in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or so.
Take out and let rest until you can easily get the cups out without burning yourself, about 20 minutes
Before packaging them, two things: remove the cups (don’t reuse them) and let them come to room temperature before attempting to store them. They become a condensation making mess in the container they are in if you put them in there too hot.

These are good and pretty easy to make. 1 of them goes well with a bunch of veggies, 2 of them is a meal (with a bunch of veggies on the side). They travel well, reheat well and are quite tasty.

Now, you can substitute anything in these. I like 2 veggies with feta, or 1 veggie and turkey with cheddar, the point is you can do whatever you want with them. They are quite versatile.

Southwest Chicken Chili

Posted on August 11, 2015August 11, 2015 by Sam Boyd

This is a milder and tangier chili recipe meant to be better for summer. I find that a robust chili is better in the winter, this one feels more summery to me.

Ingredients:

16 ounce of chicken breasts cooked off and set aside to rest completely (reserve any liquid that came off)
3 cans of diced tomatoes washed and drained
2 cans of light red kidney beans, washed and drained.
3 medium onions chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
6 cloves of garlic, minced
10-12 mini peppers sliced into 1/4 slices
1 teaspoon of the following: celery seed, coriander, cumin, white pepper, lemon peel
1 tablespoon of the following: paprika, dried chives, black pepper
2 tablespoons of the following: tomato paste, salt, lime juice
3 cups of veggie broth
1 cup of water

Recipe:

Put all the veggies in the pot: onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic. Sweat for about 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring often. If you hear sizzling, turn your heat down a little.
Add the liquid: veggie broth, water, bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover to speed up the process.
When boiling, add the beans and the chicken liquid (yummy, chicken liquid, let’s call it stock instead).
Uncover and keep uncovered until boiling again. Add the chicken and spices into the liquid and stir vigorously to get the paste all mixed in.
Reduce heat to low, cover and let cook like this for about 30 minutes or so, stirring every so often to keep it from sticking, but not too often as you don’t want to lose your heat.
Turn off the heat and let come to above room temperature. We use a dutch oven for most soups so it keeps heat for a long time. I let it sit for about 4 hours, then it’s cool enough to eat. You know your cookware, so you should do it how you see fit.
I am notorious for undersalting my food, this one is good for me, but you may want more salt in yours. Do as you wish.

Black Bean Miso Stew

Posted on November 26, 2014February 19, 2015 by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1. 4 tblspoons of Yellow Miso Paste

2. 4 carrots, cut into 2in segments

3. 3 stalks of celery, cut into 1in segments

4. 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

5. 2 tblspoons minced garlic

6. 1 tblspoon dried basil

7. 1 medium onion coarsely chopped

8. 1 cup of spinach

9. 1 teaspoon sesame oil

10. 3 cups of water (clean water is best)

11. 1/2 lemon juiced

12. 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

Recipe

1. Combine carrots, onions, celery, garlic and spinach in to a pan with the sesame oil, salt, pepper and basil.

2. Sweat the ingredient for about 4 minutes or so, you want the onions to start sweating more than anything. This is done over medium heat.

3. Add the miso paste and lemon juice and stir briskly, the paste should loosen up a little.

4. Add the water and black beans and scrape the pan for anything that has stuck (you are deglazing without using alcohol or acid here)

5. Stir briskly to get the miso combined with the water.

6. Cover and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes. Then remove from heat and leave covered for another 10 minutes.

The stew will be good at this point, but will really come together the next day. The above recipe makes 4 servings.

Smoothies

Posted on November 23, 2014November 23, 2014 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.

Herb’d Turkey with Sweet Potatoes

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1. 1lb of ground turkey (the leaner the better, you are trying to be healthy!)

2. 1 tablespoon each of dried basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram and chives.

3. 2 – 1/2 teaspoons each of salt and pepper (4 1/2 teaspoons total smartypants)

4. 4 sorta medium sweet potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks.

5. 1 teaspoon olive oil

6. 1 cup vegetable broth

7. 1/8 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Recipe

1. Take the ground turkey, all the spices and 1 each teaspoon of salt and pepper and put into a bowl and knead like you were making bread.

2. When it is really well mixed, put it into a pan and cook it, stirring often. You are looking for an appearance similar to breakfast sausage when you don’t make it into patty’s. Just a bunch of loose meat really.

3. When it is fully cook, reduce the heat to medium-low, add vegetable broth, stir well and cover.

4. Bowl the sweet potatoes until they are boiled.

5. Your choice here, the picture is of a sweet potato mash. You can make it as lumpy or smooth as you want. It’s your world. It’s really about how much of the water you boiled it in do you add to it to get the consistency correct.

6. Put roughly 1/4 of it onto a plate. Should be about 4 ounces or so.

7. Measure out 4 ounces of the turkey mixture, put on sweet potatoes. Then spoon out 2 tablespoons of the brothy goodness and put it on top of that.

8. Put the shredded cheese on top of that.

Its pretty yummy and a great dish for phase II people. It is also infinitely changeable. Substitute cilantro, coriander, cumin and dried chiles for the spices in the same ratio and you got something a little different. Experiment and let me know what you think.

Herb Chicken with Lemon Veggie Puree

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1. 16oz of chicken

2. 2 cups each of chopped carrots, celery, onion

3. 4 cloves of garlic

4. 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and vegetable broth

5. 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried lemon peel.

6. 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, dried lemon peel

7. 1 teaspoon olive oil

8. 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

9. 1 teaspoon dried chives (for garnish and flavor)

Recipe

1. Rinse and wash your chicken then pat very dry

2. Rub the chicken with the olive oil (yes there is enough)

3. Cover in spice mix from #6

4. Bake in 375 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes (till its done, all ovens are different, relax, chicken is very forgiving when its rubbed with oil and spices)

5. Combine all veggies, vinegar, lemon juice, vegetable broth and remining spices in a pan and sweat. Over the next 20 minutes or so, there should end up being some decent amount of liquid.

6. Take a hand-mixer to it till its what professionals call a “puree”. Your are looking for a texture sort of like loose mashed potatoes or even grits. Chunks will not alter the flavor, but you want it well combined.

This recipe will divide up into approximately 4 servings (we ate 2 for dinner, then took the other 2 for work lunches, yes they microwave well). At the end, you have 4 ounces of chicken, and about 1-1/2 cups of veggies. Its pretty yummy.

Squash Pizza

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Sam Boyd

Holy Crap was this easy and awesome.

Ingredients

1. One Delicata squash, peeled, halved and seeded.

2. 2×1/2 cup of clean pizza sauce (14 oz drained and rinsed canned tomatoes, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, pureed with a hand mixer, yummy, will keep for about 1 week in this form, won’t last that long though)

3. 2×1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

4. 2×1 tablespoon shredded parmesan cheese

5. 2×1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Recipe

1. Bake the delicata squash at 400 degrees for about 12-18 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.

2. Remove from oven and turn on the broiler.

3. Cover the squash with the grated parmesan cheese

4. Pour 1/2 cup clean pizza sauce, trying to keep all or most of it in the squash cavity

5. Cover with the shredded cheese

6. Put in the broiler until the cheese melts. Bubbly cheese would be better, but really really high risk of burning it. Shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes,

7. Take out and sprinkle the oregano over the whole thing as a garnish and for flavor.

8. You may or may not need salt, depending upon your taste. I suggest putting it on before baking if you want it to be salty.

9. Enjoy and tell your friends.