Tequila Turkey

Back in the day, I made just about everything posted by Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman. It's all completely non-compliant for me, but if you feel the need for a cheat day, make her steak with blue cheese cream sauce. I made it for myself on my birthday, and it was amazing.

I used to make this dish regularly in its original form with chicken. Now, I substitute turkey and omit the hot peppers, but it still tastes great.

Tequila Lime Turkey (adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 3 whole limes, juiced 
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped 
• 1/2 cup tequila (I used Jose Cuervo)
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil 
• 4-6 boneless, skinless turkey breast fillets

Directions

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a food processor (or chop what needs chopping by hand) and marinade the turkey breasts overnight.
2. When you're ready to cook, fire up your grill and let em rip. And by that, I mean cook for 10 minutes per side.
3. Serve with salsa, pico de gallo, and/or mixed salad. 

Are They Real?

Of course they are!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been asked by a few people whether I actually make the food on my blog. Since I haven't taken many pictures, it's easy to assume I would just adapt things I've seen around, and then post them.

I make everything you see on this blog. Often, I make it more than once to try different variations and get things just right. This is why I sometimes go for long periods without posting - because I'm in the midst of recipe development. My process is to try everything at the same time and come up with a gem of goodness that works its way into my rotation. I don't stick with one thing and keep at it until it's perfect. That would be boring.

I have some more adaptations to post in the coming days that I have already drafted, and then you'll start to see more things with pictures. I have a small digital camera in my kitchen, and I've been using it while making dinner most nights. It's been pretty fun for me, and you'll all be able to see what I do, step by step.

Turkey Burgers with Pear Salad

Are you ready for... the Umami Burger?!

It's a meat burger with beautiful Vietnamese flavours. The original recipe can be found here, and I've modified it o make it more BTD friendly. This is not a 100% compliant burger because of the fish sauce (anchovies), but it just tastes so darn good that I can overlook the small deviation from the diet.

As for the original recipe from Bodyrock.tv, I'm not keen on sauces with meat, so I made a pear fruit salad, which really involved grilling pears and pineapple and adding them to a salad of tossed greens and some walnuts.

Ingredients - Burger

• 2 lbs ground turkey (mixed breast and thigh)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp honey or agave
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions - Burger

1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for at least 20 mins. The longer, the better.
2. Form into patties and grill. I grill mine for about 10 mins per side.
3. Serve with salad. What salad? This salad!

Ingredients - Salad

•  2 pears, chopped into large chunks
• 1/2 a pineapple, chopped into large chunks
• small handful of basil and parsley, minced
• drizzle of olive oil
• skewers for grilling

Directions - salad

1.  Combine all ingredients together (except skewers) and let sit for a few minutes.
2. Thread the fruit onto skewers and cook on the grill with your burgers.
3. Combine the grilled fruit with mixed greens, lemon juice and olive oil. Top with walnuts for some crunch. 

Indian Dish

Or, Dahl done another way. The original recipe here called for chickpeas (Garbanzo beans), which I can't eat, so I substituted lentils. I have a had huge success making Dahl, so I used the spice mix from this dish with the technique of making Red Lentil Dahl, and a beautiful new recipe was born!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 onion, diced 
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 average size broccoli, cut into florets
• 1/4 pineapple, cut into small pieces 
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 
• 1 ¼ cup red lentils 
• 4 cups vegetable stock or water
• Juice of 1 lime 
• 2 Bay Leaves 
• 1 cup chopped cilantro (for garnish) 
• Plain yogurt or sour cream (for garnish)

• 3 tbsp of Mustard Seeds 
• 1 tsp ground Cumin 
• 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds 
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder 
• 1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon 

Directions

1. Toast the spices (not the cinnamon) in a large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from skillet, cool, and then crush into a fine powder with the cinnamon. I used my spice grinder in this case, and it worked great.
2. Heat the oil in the same large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onions for 3-4 min or until translucent. 
3. Add garlic and ginger and sauté another 3-4 minutes. Add spices and salt and sauté 3-4 minutes more. 
4. Add lentils, vegetable stock and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then lower heat and simmer uncovered for 20 min. 
5. Add broccoli and pineapple and stir to combine. Add lime juice and some water if it looks too thick. 
6. Simmer 5 minutes more or until lentils are tender and broccoli has softened, but still has some bite and colour. Garnish with cilantro and some plain yogurt or sour cream. 

Veggie Quiche

Oh how I love me some eggs! Quiche, frittata, omelette - whatever you like, it's eggs cooked with savory goodness, and it's awesome for any meal of the day.

This quiche doesn't have a crust. The original calls for baking the quiche in one big pan, which works, but I wanted cute little quiches, so I put mine in muffin tins. Not a bad plan, and they looked cute, but I destroyed my muffin tins because I forgot to grease them first. So word to the wise, grease your bakeware!

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1 onion, fine dice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 large handfuls of fresh spinach or kale (if using kale, cut into small pieces and remove the ribs)
• olive oil for sauteing and greasing
• salt
• mixed herbs of your choice (parsley, oregano, etc)
• feta cheese, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat  your oven to 400F.
2. Saute onion, garlic, and broccoli over medium heat for a few minutes with a pinch of salt, just to get them a little soft.
3. If using kale, add it with the other veggies, if using spinach, wait until the veggies are soft, turn the heat off, and add it at the end, mixing until it's wilted.
4. While the veggies are doing their thing, scramble the eggs with a splash of water (makes them fluffy), a pinch of salt, and your chopped herbs.
5. Grease the muffin tins, then all the veggies to the tins first. Fill the tins about 1/2 way up. I got about 8 standard-size muffin tins filled with veggies.
6. Add the eggs! Just pour them in until they come close to the top, but not all the way up. They will puff up while cooking.
7. Sprinkle each one with a little feta cheese.
8. Pop in the oven for about 15 mins, or until the tops are brown.

Curried Turkey Broccoli Soup

So I was really skeptical about this one, but since it combines a bunch of things I love, I decided to give it a shot.

You know what? It's good! Really good!

And a very pretty colour, don't you agree?

Ingredients

• 1 cup of soy milk
• 1 head broccoli, chopped
• about 1/2 lb of chopped turkey breasts
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• olive oil (about two table spoons)
• 1 cup of crushed walnuts
• 1 medium size bowl of grated carrots
• 1 teaspoon of curry
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• salt

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil. When it's good and hot, add the turkey and some salt and sear the outside. We're looking to get it brown, not necessarily cook it all the way through. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes.
2. Remove the turkey to a plate and set aside.
3. In the same skillet, add onion and garlic with a pinch of salt. Let everything cook down for about 5 minutes, then add spices. Let the spices cook for about a minute, then add the broccoli and mix. Let that cook for a minute or two, then add the soy milk.
4. Reduce heat to low and let everything cook uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Turn off the heat and grab your immersion blender and blend til everything is nice and, well, blended. It will look like a mint green smoothie.
6. Add the meat back in and turn the heat back on. Cook on medium for another 5-10 minutes to get everything nicely mixed. Add the lemon juice to give it some zip and check for seasonings.
7. Serve with grated carrots and walnuts for garnish.

Yes, that's a giant bag of red lentils in the background. I lurve me some lentils. :)

Portobello Pizza

I've made stuffed mushroom caps before, but this was much better. The only reason it is remotely in the realm of "pizza" is because of the shape: this is wheat-free, and very pretty when served with a salad.

Ingredients

• 1 package large portobello mushrooms (mine had about 8 caps)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 handfuls of spinach or kale (I used spinach) 
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 leek, fine dice
• 1 onion, fine dice
• fresh basil
• fresh parsley
• winter and summer savory 
• olive oil
• salt
• feta cheese, crumbled 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. 
2. Clean the mushroom caps by scraping the ribs out with a spoon and discarding the stems. Put them on a cookie sheet.
3. Heat up a large skillet and add some olive oil. Saute the onion, leek and garlic with a good pinch of salt until they are soft, about 8 mins.
4. Give the herbs a rough chop and add to the pan, letting the mixture cook for another minute.
5. Turn off the heat and add the spinach and lemon. The residual heat will wilt the spinach. Keep mixing until everything is well incorporated.
6. Spoon some of the mix into each mushroom cap. I used a tablespoon measure and got about 2 Tbsp per cap, give or take. Crumble some feta cheese on each cap and pop in the oven to brown for about 10 minutes.
7. Serve with salad for a lovely summer meal.

Whiskey Grilled Salmon

This recipe started life as Whiskey Grilled Pork with Couscous from Bodyrock.tv. Since I can't eat pork, I substituted salmon because of its robust flavour. Now, hard liquor is also forbidden, but since we have a bunch of it that we can't drink, I use it in marinades. All the alcohol burns off when you cook it, anyway.

This tastes kind of like whiskey BBQ sauce, even though it doesn't have tomatoes or vinegar. Somehow, whiskey just lends itself to grilled meats. It's tough for me to describe, but suffice it to say this is delicious.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp whiskey (I used Rye, being Canadian and all)
2 Tbsp honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Splash of soy sauce
2-4 salmon filets

Directions

Combine the first four ingredients and let the salmon marinade in the yummy mixture for at least two hours, if not overnight.

Fire up your BBQ and grill for about 4 minutes per side.

I served this with a plain tossed salad, but it would work beautifully with rice, couscous, or quinoa as well.

Homage to BodyRock week!

This week I decided to adapt recipes from one of my favourite sites, Bodyrock.tv. I found Bodyrock in 2009 when looking for bodyweight workouts. I've drifted away from the site in favour of heavy weightlifting, but now I've gotten back into bodyweight and the Bodyrock community in a big way.

In addition to workouts, there is a big section featuring recipes! You can't out-train a bad diet, and they have great recipes, including reader contributions, full of flavour and nutrition.

Here are the recipes I used for one week of meal planning (my adaptations to follow in future posts):

Recipe For Whiskey Grilled Pork And CousCous 
Delicious & Healthy Pizza Recipe
Broccoli Cream Turkey Breast Soup 
Healthy Veggie Quiche Recipe – Pre Workout Meal 
Our Anniversary Dinner Recipe – Indian Dish 
Tasty Chicken With Pear Sauce

The recipe names are exactly as labeled on the site - no, I haven't lost my mind and started eating chicken and pork again. I substituted turkey for chicken, and salmon for pork, which turned out way better than I expected.

Spanish beans

Back in the days before the BTD, I had a love affair with chorizo. I still love chorizo, but I don't eat it as regularly as I used to because it's a) pork, and b) smoked. All the same, if you love chorizo, I definitely recommend adding it to the bean recipe, below. Although this dish is great without any added meat, the chorizo puts it over the top.

Spanish Beans (inspired by Epicurious) 


Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling (about 1 tsp)  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 tsp paprika 
• 2 cans (19oz) Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• Small handful of parsley, minced 
• 4-6 sprigs of winter and/or summer savory, leaves removed and minced
• 2-3 big handfuls of baby spinach (or more if you wish)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup water
• Juice of 1 lemon 
• Pinch of salt 

Directions

1. Cook the onion with a small amount of oil and a pinch of salt in a medium pot over medium heat until onion is soft, about 6 mins, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the garlic and paprika and let cook about 1 min.
3. Stir in herbs and beans, then add spinach and a scant 1/4 cup of water. Mix until combined, and let cook for a couple of minutes, uncovered, until the spinach wilts a bit. If the mixture looks too dry or is sticking to the pot, add more water.
4. Just before serving, add lemon juice for added zippiness.
5. Check of seasonings and adjust as necessary, then comer!

Quinoa Veggie Burger

It's burger season here in Vancouver, and this one is absolutely divine. I adapted the recipe from Chatelaine without too much hassle or difficulty. It was more or less compliant off the bat, which I liked. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and full of flavour.

I've been looking for a good vegetarian alternative to your standard meat burger. Though these can be made in standard burger size and served with a salad - you'll see in the directions how this is done - they would also make great mini burgers, dolled up for a cocktail party as finger food with a dab of sour cream and chives on top.

Quinoa Veggie Burger (adapted from Chatelaine)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (about 2 cups cooked) 
• 1 tsp olive oil, plus more for frying
• 1/2 227 g pkg cremini mushrooms, coarsely grated (1 cup) 
• 1 cup coarsely grated zucchini (about 3/4 of a zucchini)
• 3/4 cup coarsely grated carrot (1-2 carrots)
• 1 small shallot, minced 
• 1 garlic clove, minced 
• 1 egg, beaten
• small handful of parsley, minced  
• 2 tbsp arrowroot starch 
• pinch of coarse salt 

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions, about 14 min. I buy my quinoa in bulk, and this is my method: rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil and then add the 1/2 cup quinoa (ratio is 1:1.5). Give it a good stir, put a lid on, drop the heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and fluff with a fork. Let it cool with the lid off. 
2. Grate your veggies. I have done this in with a hand grater and a food processor (with grater attachment). It works well, and if you aren't pressed for time, use the hand grater to save yourself some dishes. 
3. Heat a large, wide non-stick frying pan over medium. Add oil, then mushrooms, zucchini, carrot, shallot and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5 min. 
4. In a large bowl, mix egg, starch, salt and parsley. Add quinoa and mix thoroughly and then add veggies and mix.
5. Heat the same non-stick frying pan over medium. Add a little more oil if the pan looks too dry. Firmly press quinoa mixture into a 1/2-cup measuring cup. Turn and release into pan. Gently press to shape into a patty about 4 in. wide. Repeat, cooking 2 patties at a time. Cook until golden and warmed through, about 4 min per side.

The Blood Type Diet for Travellers

Hello everyone!

As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting as regularly lately. This is because I have been away on vacation in Las Vegas with my friends for a birthday celebration. I love the hot, dry weather, the nightlife,  the shopping, and how Vegas is so unapologetically over the top.

While there, I tried my best to stick to the blood type diet as much as possible. For an AB who can't eat wheat or corn, that proved to be somewhat problematic, especially when grabbing food on the go. I'm of the opinion that in a city like Vegas, someone somewhere will have what you want, so we didn't do so badly. Sometimes too much choice and temptation can be problematic, of course ("It all looks so good! Can I have one of each?!").

In less diverse places, sticking to the diet can prove much more challenging due to lack of options. I did come up with some tips that I think would be helpful, and I hope you find them useful as well:

• When eating out at a restaurant, go vegetarian. Most vegetables are acceptable to all types, and you will feel pretty light after your meal.

• Bring some food with you. My friends and I flew out of Bellingham rather than YVR, so once we drove across the US border, we bought some snacks at a grocery store and brought them with us. This was a less expensive option than going out each time we wanted a snack, and helped me stay compliant. We didn't buy much: almonds, cranberries, oatmeal, banana chips (not for me) and carrots. The hotel gave us a fridge to keep everything fresh. I put them in my checked luggage, but they will also go into carry-on without a problem. 

• Allow yourself one cheat day. I did this the day we ate at Thomas Keller's Bouchon for brunch, and it was awesome. It will also save your sanity.

Pastries at Bouchon? Yes, please!

• If you find standard portion sizes too large, order an appetizer or two instead. This gives you some nice variety and won't make you feel over-stuffed. 

• For breakfast, find a place that does omelets and get a custom one. You really can't go wrong with that, and it will fuel you up for the rest of the day. 

• Cocktails are tempting, but just say no and order wine instead. The mixes and juices used in cocktails are usually packed with sugar or HFCS and other stuff you probably shouldn't be consuming. AB's can't touch hard liquor, but wine is A-OK, so just stick with a glass of wine or two and enjoy your meal. 

• Drink lots of water!

• Have at least a little discipline. If you're with a group of people who aren't familiar with the diet, just explain that you're on a restrictive diet and you need to be selective in your food choices. Most people will respect this.

I hope you find these tips helpful and useful in your upcoming travels!

More Nomato Sauce! Now with fresh herbs!

Folks, it's the last variation on a theme, I promise.

I changed my nomato sauce recipe to accommodate the lovely fresh herbs I have growing on my deck right now. I received some baby plants and a huge planter for my birthday at the end of May, and despite my east-facing deck and the constant rain we've been having all Spring, my plants are growing like, well, weeds.

The 2011 Garden of Doom has multiple varieties of parsley, basil, summer and winter savory, dill, red-veined sorel, thyme, oregano, and cilantro. It smells so! freaking! good! It took a couple of hours to plant everything and I water most of them every evening before bed, and fertilize once every two weeks. If you have a small patch of earth or even a planter on a deck, I recommend giving it a try.

Nomato Sauce Redux

Basic Sauce

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 beet, peeled and chopped

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 celery stick, sliced

1 bay leaf, whole

1 1/2 cups of water

Flavour ingredients

 

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, fine dice

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup winter and/or summer savory, chopped (this really makes the sauce - don't skip it!)

1 tsp dried oregano (or 1/8 cup fresh... you get the idea)

2 tsp. olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

salt to taste

 

Directions

 

Place all ingredients of the basic sauce in a pot and boil, covered for 30 minutes, then puree with an immersion blender. Add water, if needed, until mixture has a tomato sauce texture.

Saute garlic and onion over low heat in olive oil with a little salt until soft, about10 minutes, then add herbs and saute for 5 minutes more.

Add basic sauce and bring to a boil, then add wine and lemon juice, if using. Cover and simmer for a few minutes. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy over pasta, pizza, or anything else you would make with tomato sauce.

 

My favourite pizza crust

I like to make pizza about once every week or so. Before starting the BTD, my favourite pizza was served at Cat's Social House on Granville Island in Vancouver, and it was full of things I'm not allowed to eat: chicken, bbq sauce, corn, wheat, and a few other things I can't remember.

The pizza I make at home is very simple and straightforward, topping-wise: mushrooms, kale or spinach, goat cheese, mozzarella. And a little sauce. That's it.

Making a wheat-free pizza means loving thin-crust pizzas, which fortunately, I do. You just can't get that same fluffiness from a rice flour pizza, no matter how much yeast you use. It also gives me the opportunity to get creative and fun with the flavourings by adding herbs and spices for extra flavour.

Pizza Crust

Makes enough for two crusts. They freeze well.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. yeast
• 1 1/3 cup warm water (you can use milk, but arrowroot gets slimy when mixed with dairy)
• 1 tsp. sugar

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 2/3 cup arrowroot starch
• 2 tsp. xanthum gum
• 1 tsp salt

• 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 tsp garlic powder (or one clove garlic, minced)
• 1/2 tsp each dried oregano, basil and marjoram

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the warm water with the sugar and yeast in a small mixing bowl, stirring gently to dissolve the mixture. Let it sit for about 10 minutes so it can get bubbly.
3. Combine the brown rice flour, arrowroot starch, xanthum gum and herbs in a larger mixing bowl, in the bowl of your stand mixer if you don't want to mix everything by hand.
4. Add the oil and lemon juice to the yeast mixture, which should have some air bubbles by now.
5. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir well, or mix well with a dough hook. Mix until well combined.
6. The dough will be somewhat sticky, so sprinkle some rice flour on it and let it rest while you get your pizza pan ready.
7. Use a pizza stone or pizza pan with the holes in the bottom. Do not use a regular cookie sheet for this - it won't get crispy enough.
8. Divide the dough in two and set one half aside. Roll out the other half on a well-floured surface until it's about the size of your pan, then just like a pie shell, roll it onto your rolling pin and unroll it on the pan.
9. Don't worry if it's not perfectly round. We're going for rustic here.
10. Before adding your toppings, put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until it gets a little golden. This will help the bottom stay crisp so you don't have to torch your lovely toppings waiting for the crust to cook.
11. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a couple of minutes while assembling the rest of your toppings.
12. Once the pizza is all assembled, put it back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once everything is golden and lovely, remove from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes (it's hard, but at least try to let it cool), then slice and munch!

Nomato Sauce, part 2

The ER4YT has a basic nomato sauce recipe that is absolutely fabulous. Texture-wise, it is very different than your standard tomato sauce, but taste-wise, it's amazing, and I prefer it to my other Nomato Sauce recipe for use as a pizza sauce or dip.

No-Tomato Tomato Sauce (shamelessly copied and slightly amended from Eat Right for Your Type)

Makes enough for two servings of pasta or as sauce for one large pizza.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 an onion, fine dice)
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 4 ounce jar pimientos, undrained
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Sea salt to taste
• Pinch of sugar or agave

Directions

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat a few minutes, until onions soften. Add a pinch of salt while they're cooking to help them soften.
2. Add parsley and stir.
3. Puree pimientos in food processor or blender with lemon juice.
4. Add to pan with basil, oregano and wine.
5. Simmer lightly until thickened. 
6. Turn off the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes. The sauce will thicken a bit once cooled.
7. Taste and add salt and/or sugar as needed.

Nomato Sauce

You know what I like? Tomato sauce.

You know what I miss? Tomato sauce.

It's that sweet and acidic tang that takes your basic starch and makes it extra awesome. Tomatoes are the one and only nightshade that are all kinds of fine for AB's, but not for A's. So, unwilling to go sauceless, I researched substitutes. This is sauce 1, which is very easy and cost-effective to make in large quantities. Sauce 2, made with pimentos, has the great tangy flavour, but lacks in texture, and is more expensive to make. I'll be posting that recipe in an upcoming entry.

Nomato Sauce (inspired by The IC Chef)

Ingredients

Basic Sauce

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 beet, peeled and chopped

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 celery stick, sliced

1 bay leaf, whole

1 1/2 cups of water

Flavour ingredients

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 leek, cleaned and minced

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp. olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup red wine

salt to taste

Directions

Place all ingredients of the basic sauce in a pot and boil, covered for 30 minutes, then puree with an immersion blender. Add water, if needed, until mixture has a tomato sauce texture.

Saute garlic, leek, and herbs for 5 minutes in olive oil with a little salt, and add parsley and saute for 10 minutes more.

Add basic sauce and bring to a boil, then add wine. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add lemon juice and keep cooking until sauce thickens to desired consistency. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy over pasta, pizza, or anything else you would make with tomato sauce.

I'm in the Newsletter!

I'd like to say hello to any and all readers who have been directed here by the June ER4YT newsletter, or from anywhere else on the web, of course. I hope you all enjoyed my article, and I welcome any feedback and questions you may have, so please don't hesitate to introduce yourself and say hello.

The June newsletter can be found here: http://www.4yourtype.com/2011_newsletter_v8n6.asp

I'm absolutely delighted that I was given the opportunity to write about my success thus far with the BTD. I had a great time writing the article and it gave me a good chance to reflect on how far we have come with our health, nutrition and lifestyle since February.

I turned 30 this past week, which required a massive cheat day, which unfortunately turned into kind of a cheat week. Case in point, my birthday dinner was a grilled steak with blue cheese cream sauce. Totally non-compliant but 100% delicious. We're back on the straight and narrow now, and I'm looking forward to sharing more recipes and adaptations.

Feta-stuffed Turkey

Don't let the title fool you - you're not stuffing an entire turkey with feta, although that would be awesome. No no, this is for stuffing either breasts or thighs - your choice - with a beautiful mixture of feta and goat cheeses and sauteed vegetables. It also works with chicken, if you can eat chicken.

If you're stuffing the breast cavity, just make an incision and create a pocket to fill. Or butterfly the whole thing and roll it up. I made this dish with two turkey thighs, which I rolled, stuffed, trussed, and grilled.

Feta-stuffed Turkey (serves 2 very generously, or serves 2 with leftovers)

Ingredients

Two turkey thighs or breasts, ready for stuffing or rolling
Extra-virgin olive oil for sauteing and coating the outside, so about 1 Tbsp
1/4 of an onion, fine dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
250g (or so) sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp minced parsley
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 oz. goat cheese
1/4 c feta cheese, crumbled
sea salt, to taste

Directions

Preheat your skilled on medium and add a little oil. Saute onions and garlic for about 2 mins, then add mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Let everything cook for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms have released most of their water. Add herbs and cook a minute more, then turn heat to low and add the cheeses. Stir until combined then turn the heat off.

If you have time, let the mixture cool before stuffing the turkey. If you're in a pinch like I was, put the mixture into a metal bowl and stick it in the freezer to cool down quickly.

Hot cheese burns, you know.

Stuff and truss as appropriate, and coat the outside with a little olive oil and a touch of sea salt. Everything inside is pretty salty, so you don't need much.

Cook on a preheated grill for about 18 mins per side. Let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

You can also cook them in a 350F oven for 30 mins. I recommend searing the sides in olive oil first, then popping them in the oven.

Jewelled Salad

In my last post, I talked about a pared-down Easter dinner and promised a jewelled salad to go along with the tasty kebabs.

This salad uses a lot of dried fruit, some of which has been specifically noted as beneficials for both A's and AB's. The dried apricots remind me of little amber pieces, and I feel that the abundance of dried fruit gives this salad a Middle Eastern vibe.

Jewelled Salad


Ingredients

1 recipe Basic Citronette

Green salad mix (I use Spring Mix)
handful of dried apricots, rough chop
handful of dried tart cherries
handful of dried dates, pitted and rough chop
1/3 of a cucumber, chopped into bite-size pieces

Directions


Mix all ingredients together and toss with dressing. Serve immediately and admire the lovely colours!

Two meats, one marinade

Happy Easter, everyone!

Later today I am going to my in-laws' house for a huge family dinner. It's going to be awesome! I hope you all have an excellent day as well, whether or not you celebrate Easter, or if you're just enjoying a lovely Sunday.

Easter can be marked by a host of meats, and when I was younger, it was always ham or some kind of pork product. Once I started cooking for myself, I decided I enjoyed the Greek tradition of serving lamb, which fortunately, is allowed for AB's. The other day, I made a pared-down easter (small "e" on purpose) dinner of kebab and jewelled salad, using Mediterranean flavours for the marinade and Middle Eastern flavours for the salad. Since my husband can't eat lamb, I came up with a marinade that also works for chicken, which he ate.

Before making kebab, soak your skewers in water for as long as possible, preferably overnight. I use bamboo skewers and put them in a plastic container with a little water, and just leave them to soak.

Mediterranean Marinade (Remember, it's a marinade, not a sauce - one recipe goes a long long way)

Ingredients

8 cloves garlic, minced
A few glugs of extra virgin olive oil (or about 1/4 c, if you need to be precise)
juice and zest of one lemon
pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (lamb)
1 tsp fresh thyme (chicken)

Meat of choice (lamb, cubed; and chicken, cubed)

Directions

I set up my station by opening two large Ziploc bags and folding over the openings so it was easy to pour things in. Mince and juice everything together (by hand or food processor, doesn't matter) and then divide evenly between the two bags, adding the specific herbs as needed (so, rosemary in the lamb bag and thyme in the chicken bag). I didn't feel like cleaning my food processor, so I cut everything by hand and just added to each bag as needed.

Add the appropriate meat to each bag, seal it, give it a good massage, and then let it marinade for a least a few hours, or overnight if you can.

Kebabs

Once I was ready to grill, I threaded the meat onto bamboo skewers, about 4-5 pieces each. Cook each kebab for 20 minutes. On my grill, I heat it up to high and do 5 minutes per side, then rotate.

I have used both metal and bamboo skewers, and I like the bamboo ones better. It's true that the metal ones conduct heat into the meat much better and they are reusable, but I find I have more control with the bamboo ones, so I prefer them.

Need a wine pairing? Both lamb and chicken go well with Pinot Noir in my opinion, so we drank a Wild Goose (BC) 2008 Pinot Noir.