Rosemary Chicken with a Blueberry Balsamic Reduction

I took two things I really love - balsamic vinegar and blueberries - and put them together for a delicious sweet and savory sauce.  The blueberries take a bit of the zing out of the balsamic vinegar and it really pairs well with the rosemary in the chicken.  You could also use this sauce over a white fish or even salmon.

Ingredients
For the sauce

• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp local honey
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• black pepper to taste

For the chicken

• 2 boneless organic chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp grape seed oil
• 2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take out a glass baking dish and place aside
2. Heat grape seed oil in a large sauté pan
3. Rub dried rosemary on both sides of the chicken breasts. Set aside while you start the blueberry sauce
4. Pour balsamic, honey, garlic and salt into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  You should start the chicken as you wait on this.  
5. When the sauté pan is hot, add the chicken and sear both sides for approximately one minute each side
6. Remove the chicken from the pan and place it in the baking dish.  Set in the oven and cook for 7 minutes
7. While the chicken is cooking, your sauce should be coming to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook the sauce for a few minutes.  Once the balsamic is cooked off a bit, add blueberries (and pepper, if desired). Stir intermittantly over low heat while you prep the chicken.
8. At 7 minutes, your balsamic should be cooked off enough so that it is a thicker sauce consistency. The blueberries should also collapsed at this point and added a gorgeous deep blue/purple color to the sauce.
9. Take the chicken out of the oven and pour the balsamic sauce over the chicken.  Place back in the oven and cook until chicken is done (approximately 4 minutes - until internal temperature reached 170 degrees)

I made this dish with a sage honey glaze butternut squash.  Super easy... take a small butternut squash, skin it, remove the seeds and cube it.  Place it in a plastic bag and add 1 tbsp honey with 1 tsp sage.  Place it on a baking sheet in your preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes (about how long it takes to cook the recipe above!).

St. Patty's Day Corned Beef

So you're looking for a great corned beef recipe that you can just throw into a crock pot so you can watch March Madness?  Great!  This is my Grandmother's Recipe (ish... funny how when you ask for pointers the generations ahead of us just tell us to put in whatever feels right.  Well, I am pretty sure she makes the best corned beef this side of the pond so I'll just go with it).

Ingredients
Corned Beef (at least two pounds with some good chunks of fat on the outside)
1 bottle Guinness (or heineken... if you wanna go Full Brawders)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp whole cloves
2 bay leaves
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 shallot, chopped

Directions

1. Take out your large crock pot 
2. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients with the exception of the beer, bay leaf and beef. Stir
3. Place the two bay leaves in the bottom of the crock pot.  Add the beef on top.  Pour both the beer and mixture over the meat and set on a low setting for 8 hours.
4. (OPTIONAL:  if you like cabbage, potatoes and carrots you may add them to the crock pot at the 5 hour mark and cook.  I usually just roast the carrots and bake the potatoes... and omit the cabbage all together)
5. Enjoy with your favorite green beer/wine/water/milk

Thai Coconut Shrimp Over "Rice"

We're back and playing with jalapeños and cauliflower... you know you're excited!

This recipe is delicious AND very low on carbs... there are less than 250 calories in a serving and the fat content is belly-friendly fat.  The coconut milk in the recipe does not drown the shrimp in that tropical taste but the subtle hint does make a nice counterpart to the spice in the jalapeño and chile.

Ingredients

• 20 medium raw shrimp, deveined and without tails
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 cup water
• 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped or julienned
• red chile powder
• salt 
• 1 Tbsp grape seed oil (or fat of choice)
• 1/2 cup low fat organic coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 head of cauliflower, separated into florets

Directions

1. Place garlic cloves and water into a food processor and blend well.  Place the shrimp into a bowl and pour the garlic mixture over the shrimp.  Marinate for 15 minutes
2. While this is happening, (clean your food processor first) put the cauliflower into the food processor and blend until the pieces look a bit like rice.  You may have to do this in a few batches. Place the riced cauliflower a large bowl and microwave on high for 3 minutes.
3. Once the cauliflower is warm, place into a large sauté pan (if you do not have a non-stick pan, be sure you spray it with cooking spray to ensure the vegetables do not stick).  Start cooking over medium heat.  You will want to cook the cauliflower for at least 10 minutes or more, depending on how crispy you want the "rice".
4. In a skillet, heat the grape seed oil over medium heat.  
5. Strain the shrimp from the garlic mixture (it is okay if much of the garlic stays with the little guys because it makes the final product taste so good).  Transfer  the shrimp back into the bowl and add lime, chile powder (to taste), jalapeño and salt (to taste).  Mix.
6. Place the shrimp into the skillet and cook for one minute.  Turn the shrimp over and add the coconut milk to the pan.  Finish the shrimp (should be another minute to two minutes).
7. Plate the cauliflower and pour the shrimp mixture over it!

Serves 2

Carnitas for the Homesick Texan

Blame it on the rain... but I was homesick for Texas this morning as I was pondering what I should do with this massive pork loin I had in the fridge.  I was feeling a bit lazy so the crock pot instantly came out of the cupboard.  Add a little spice, some beer and the proper accoutrements and we had ourself a nice little tex-mex meal this evening.

Ingredients

• 3 pound pork loin
• 1 can green chiles
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp Adobo spice
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cilantro
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp grape seed oil
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 bottle of mexican beer (I say that since it's appropriate for the genre but I used Miller Lite since it's what was in our fridge)

Directions

1. Place bay leaf in the bottom of the crock pot.  
2. Cut a few slices into the pork loin and stuff them with garlic
3. Place the loin into the crock pot, add vegetable stock and the remaining spices.  Pour beer over the top of the loin and place the pot on medium
4. Cook for 6-8 hours and if possible, flip the meat halfway through.
5. Serve with tortillas, guac, salsa and sour cream (and maybe a margarita... if it's Sunday Funday)

berry coffee Cake... or Death???

Cake?? Or death?  Ah there's something about that Eddie Izzard skit that makes me crack up every time I hear the word cake... feel free to Google it.  I'll wait.


Anyways... just because this recipe says its cake, does not mean it is going to be the death of your diet.  It's been a while since I baked and since I started a new job, I decided it was time to bring back my usual routine of testing recipes out on the masses.  Since I work at a spa (where obviously, a healthy way of life is a priority), this recipe includes antioxidants and very little fat.  It went over quite well at our 7:45a meeting this morning.  I've made another coffee cake before but I have to say that this one is a bit more delicious.

Ingredients
Cake

• 1 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 cup stevia baking sugar (or like-substitute)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or your preferred milk)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 cup fresh or frozen berries

Topping

• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 3 tbsp dark brown sugar (I used the real stuff for the topping)
• 2 tbsp cold Earth Balance (or butter)
• 1/4 cup quick oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients from the cake listing.  
3. In a smaller bowl, blend together the egg, milk and applesauce.  
4. Pour the contents of the small bowl into the mixing bowl and stir until moist, then fold in the berries.
5. Coat an 8 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray and spread the batter into the dish.  Ensure the mixture reaches the edges as it will be a bit thick
6. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the topping.  Use a fork so that the mixture is crumbly.  Pour the topping over the batter.
7. Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Bellini anyone? :) Enjoy!

Nutrition Information: (courtesy of Spark Recipes Nutrition Calculator)

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories   142
Total Fat  2.7g
Cholesterol  0g
Sodium  217mg
Carbohydrate  33.5g
Fiber  5.1g
Sugar  6.8 g
Protein  3.6g

Eggplant "pasta" with chicken

So I'm not saying I "gave up" on the Whole30,  just decided that I am not one of those people who can live without wine.  Let's be honest, I cook with wine and bake with tequila so although I am a healthier person... it just did not fit my lifestyle.  I can get my wedding body together without sacrificing that.  Seeing as I cannot eat cheese and most gluten anyways, I'll keep the one thing I enjoy the most about eating... wine.

Anyways, so on to dinner.  Tonite I had a wicked craving for pasta.  Since I am keeping up with the whole mantra of "no carbs at night", I decided to faux it out and call it a night.  I had a nice eggplant sitting in the vegetable bowl so I figured I would slice it up and give it a go.  Amazingly, the meal came out delicious (or at least, I think so... Zack is out of town so the opinion is one sided).

Ingredients
for the eggplant
1 large eggplant
kosher salt
1 Tbs grape seed oil

for the sauce
1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped
1 small jar of organic roasted red peppers, chopped
1 Tbs fresh basil
2 cloves minced garlic (I really hope you bought that large jar of it already...)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp marjoram

for the chicken
2 organic chicken breasts
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional... if you cannot stand heat)
2 tsp grape seed oil

Directions

1. Prep your eggplant - slice the top and bottom off of your eggplant, then slice the eggplant in 1/4 inch wide planes (from top to bottom). 
2. Sprinkle kosher salt on both sides of the eggplant slices and place on a cookie rack.  Let the vegetable bleed for about 30-45 minutes
3. Prep your chicken - cut the breasts into strips (optional... this just makes it cook quicker) and place in a glass dish.  Add garlic and red pepper to the glass dish, stir and let sit in the fridge while your eggplant bleeds
4. For the sauce, add all ingredients (under sauce) to a smaller sauce pan.  Let the sauce simmer over medium-low heat.  Stir as needed.
5. At this time your eggplant should be ready.  Rinse the eggplant strips under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Slice the eggplant strips into fettuccini size slices then set aside for cooking.
6. In a non-stick medium sauté pan, add 2 tsp of grape seed oil and heat over medium heat.  Once warm, add the chicken mixture to the pan.  Cook thoroughly
7. In another sauté pan, add 1 Tbsp of grape seed oil and heat over medium heat.  Add the eggplant fettuccini and cook for about 7 minutes.  Stir constantly to ensure even cooking
8. Serve and enjoy!

Makes 3 servings (or two, if you're hungry) at 350 calories