Beet and grapefruit salad

There is nothing more refreshing then a fresh beet/grapefruit salad in the winter. Beets are plentiful in the winter so is e grapefruit. They go together very well, the sweetness in the beets is balanced with the tangyness of the grapefruit I got 3 kinds of beets (purple, golden and a white one with pretty red swirls pattern inside) and a bunch of radish from the local farmers market on Saturday. I was able to assemble the salad in 20 minutes because I had roasted them the day before. To roast them just wrap them in parchment paper and them wrap that in aluminum foil (don't wrap any food directly with aluminum foil because aluminum is linked to risk of Alzheimer's disease.) put it in a 400 degree oven. If the beets are small they should cook in 25 min. If its medium size it may take 40 minutes. Try not to over cook them, it should be soft with slight bite to it and not mushy. Remove the skin after the beets are cooked and cooled. Then store. You can roasted all of the beets and you will have them for salad through out the week. Beet salad looks really pretty with rainbow colors and can be great serve to guests. I think it could be an elegant first course for Sunday brunch

1) put some spinach or spring mix in the plates ( this will make 5-6 servings)

2) slice about 6 small beets 1/4 inch thickness of different colors (today I only had purple and white left because we ate all the golden ones yesterday) evenly distribute it to the plates

3) slice one avocado and evenly distribute to all the plates

4) slice 4 or 5 radishes and distribute to all the plates

5)peel the 2 grapefruit and cut out the flesh and distribute the, to the plates. Squeeze all the remaining juice out of the grapefruit for the dressing. You should end up with about 1/3 cup of juice

6) add to the grapefruit juice 2 table of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of mustard and 1 tablespoon of shallots, salt and pepper. Spoon 1 tablespoon of dressing in each plate.

This recipe will serve 6 people for appetizer size salad. It has 128 calories, 12 g of carbs, 9 g of fat, 2 g of protein, 8 g of sugar.

Shrimp chile relleno with zucchini and mushrooms

Today dinner I made beet salad (recipe in separate post) and shrimp chile relleno with mushroom and zucchini. This dish does that some time to prepare but if you like Mexican food, this is a lighter version that you can make at home without deep frying.

Here are the steps:
1) preheat oven at broiler setting. Put the rack at 6 inches away from the top of the oven. While the oven heats up we can prepare the filling

2) tup 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a big pan. Add 1/2 diced onion and 4 cloves sliced garlic to the pan and cook for a few minute until translucent. Add 1 lb of the cleaned sliced mushroom and a pinch of salt and cook for a few minutes until mushroom browns and some water comes out, add 2 cups of chopped zucchini to the pan . Cook at high heat so the liquid in the pan reduces without burning.



3) at this time the oven should reached the broiler 550 degrees. Use a long tongs and mittens to protect your arm from the heat carefully place the 10 poblano peppers on the rack. Cook it in disturbed for 4 minutes then flip them and cook another 4 minutes. The skin should blister and blacken. Then them out after 8 minutes and put them in a pan. Cover it will foil or plastic wrap. Leave in ere for 5-10 min until it cools down a bit so you can handle them without burning your hand

4) add the shrimp into the pan and stir it for one minute. Turn off the heat. It's ok if shrimp is still half raw because it will cook some more in the oven. Do not over cook now or your shrimp will shrink so much you will need magnify glasses to find them in the end product.

5) pour 2 cup of any kind of tomato sauce in a conning ware that will fit all the peppers snugly. when the peppers have cooled down remove the skim, make a lengthwise incision and remove the seed. Then grab a handful of filling and stuff the peppers and put it in the conning ware.

6) sprinkle and cover the dish with cheese. I use quest fresco, but it didn't melt well, I think next time I will use Monterey Jack cheese. You need about 8 oz to cover the whole dish

7) bake at 350 covered with foil for about 40 minutes. The sauce should bubble and the cheese should be melted

At this time you can cook some rice to go with it, if you want. I use 1 and 1/2 cup jasmine rice with 2 tablespoons of homemade sofrito (i will post this recipe another time) and 2 tablespoon of the tomato sauce, a dash of olive oil, salt and about 1 cup of water and cook it in the rice cooker. This way when your shrimp relleno is ready,the rice will be ready too.

8) after 40 min take it out, let it rest covered for 5 minutes before serving. Fernando and I each ate 2 peppers without the rice, but everyone else had the rice and liked it.

This recipe serves 5 people. (2 chiles per person) and the nutritional value are as follows: 380 calories, 19 g of carb, 20 g of fat, 34 g of protein, 5 g of sugar.

Kale salad with figs and goat cheese and steak with Gorgonzola

Today lunch I made kale salad with dry figs and goat cheese. Some people like to use cranberry for this salad, I personally don't like cranberry because inevitably they are always sweetened to balance it's natural tartness. However if you don't have figs you can replace it with cranberry, raisin, or dry cherry.

You can also add an chopped apple or pear to the salad, i think it will taste good. This an easy salad that takes 10-20 minutes to prepare.

Kale salad

1) remove the hard steam of the kale and discard. Measure 4 cups tightly packed (8oz) Wash the kale carefully and dry. Add a small pinch of salt and massage the kale until it wilt a bit. The color will darken just a bit. Set aside

2) chop about 50 grams of figs (1/2 cup) toast 1/2 cult of walnut in oven at 350 or low heat on the stove. After it cool, chop it. Chop the apple. Thinly sliced a few radish if you have them. Add all ingredients to the kale.



3) make the dressing. Mix 3 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or any kind of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 &1/2 teaspoon of raw honey, black pepper

4) mix the dressing with the salad and add 2 oz of goat cheese. Serves 4-5

When serving 5 people, each serving has the following nutritional value: 242 calories, 16 g of carb, 19 g of fat, 6 g of protein 7 g of sugar.

Gorgonzola sauce for steak

1) sauté one shallot in a tablespoon of butter

2) add 1 cup of heavy cream and let it boil and reduce by 1/3 or even half. After the cream is reduced and 1/4 lb of Gorgonzola or blue cheese and let it melt. Serving size is 1 tablespoon. If you have leftover keep it covered in the refrigerator and when you need for your veggies like broccoli or steak take out the amount you need and heat it in the microwave for 30 sec at 80% power. It is delicious.

Never never give up!!!

I found this amazing inspiration video on youtube and wanted to share with you all. I'm so touched by his story. It has a beautiful message I hope you enjoy it.

Lamb kafta with cucumber salad, hummus wrapped in lettuce

Tonight I was really craving for Sarah's Mediterranean grill. There is one dish there that I always get and that is kafta beef. I go there so often that the owner sees me coming in, automatically put the kabob on the grill before I even order. Fernando and Jose also love this dish.

Like I said, I was craving the kafta beef, but Fernando says he is particularly busy today with testing and can't take time out to go to the restaurant. So after I finish my running (I run around Costco and whole food south) I stop by whole foods and brought 1 and half lb of ground lamb and a cucumber and try to reproduce it. I must say it came out even better then what I expect. Jose says is better than the one sold in Sarah's. Jose served with rice but Fernando and I just wrapped in lettuce paired with hummus and cucumber yogurt salad.

Kafta lamb
This recipe needs a lot of spices luckily we have pretty well stocked pantry, having the right tools, like mini food processor and kitchen aid mixer also makes cooking so much easier and enjoyable. I can't imagine without them. This recipe makes 6 portions. 1/4 lb kabob each.
1) blend one small onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic in the food processor.
2) put 1&1/2 lb of ground lamb in the mixer bowl then add the garlic, onion mix. To it add 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of salt,1&1/2 tablespoon of coriander, 2 teaspoon of cumin, 1&1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of all spice, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Add a big bunch of chopped parsley
3) mix it with mixer for 3 minutes or so at medium speed.
4) separate the content into 6 equal size balls and use our hands to form a long patty along the metal skewer.
5) cook them in the hot grill for 4 min each side

Israel rice:
This rice was inspired by an Israel man who I met in a hostel in bariloche, Argentina. Mom and I met him and another Australian doctor at the hostel and really enjoyed each others company so we decided to rented a car to tour the many lake around the area. He (can't remember his name now) showed me how he made this rice with limited ingredients
1) wash basmati or jasmin rice I use 1&1/2 cup
2) add some butter to a heavy pot like le cuset. Add 1/2 onion and a garlic to brown. Add dry dill, oregano, dry chive, and fresh mint (he only use oregano, but I had lots of other spice so I decided to go for it, I think dill in particular adds a nice flavor, but oregano would do if that is all u have) add a handful of raisins and sliced almond.
3) add the rice and stir it until its coated with oil. Add 1&1/2 cup of boiling water. Cover and simmer for 20 min.

Cucumber yogurt salad
1) dice 1 cucumber (I think skin has a lot of nutrients so I just wash organic cucumber well and dice it with the skin on )
2) add cucumber to 1 cup of yogurt. Add some fresh mint if you have it. Add a pinch of salt



Ninja pantry items used:

A few personal observations of my low carb experience

After watching the video "Why we get fat" I immediately started a 2 week personal experiment to rid all pasta, rice, bread, sugar, beans, legumes from my diet. I started on Sunday Feb 17, and thanks to the meticulous food log i have been keeping I can look back and write this review.

This list below is my personal experience. I'm not sure if its correct, but it is how food makes me feel this week:

1) before I started watching for the carbs i was eating between 1250 and 1560 calories and about 150-170 grams of carbs. After I implement the low carb, except for the first day Sunday I had 104 g of carb the rest has been lower than 60 grams. The last 2 days has been below 50 grams and calorie wise i have been less than 1250 every day.

2) I always eat something when I'm hungry. I believe that hunger is our body's way to tell us a message. I never starve myself or miss a meal. the first 2 days on low carb I ate 104 g and 74 gram respectively and like I said i felt really tired and hungry by 4/5 pm. I was so tired i had to lay down and take a nap. I think my body was used to use the carb in the food, but since i was eating less carb, and the body hasn't gotten used to use stored fat as energy, its nagging for me to feed it more carbs. I notice that if I feed my body cheese or protein or nuts, the hunger will not go away until i give in and feed it a bit of starchy carb. The second day i had to eat some whole wheat pasta (1/4 of cup) because of this same reason. However once my body readjusted to this diet for the past 2 days I was able to eat less total calories and feel full all the time. I think my body is burning stored fat and absolutely no carb craving.

3)I have to get rid of milk and yogurt. I have switched from low fat to whole fat yogurt and milk for a while. I usually drink a milk after work out. I have been doing this for more than a month, but I have to stop. I'm never too crazy for milk any ways and it has a lot of sugar even the whole milk. I cut back on dairy and now I feel much better.

4) I'm enjoying a new found freedom with this new food paradym. Like most of you I'm sure, I have been brainwashed in thinking that low fat is better. Now i think moderated fat (fattier cut of meat, cream, butter, avocado, coconut oil, coconut milk and nuts) are all good for us and I feel no guilt eating one of the home made grapefruit panacotta, or home made coconut chocolate both without using sugar or honey, just al natural.

5) I eat a lot of colorful veggies now that I'm low carb then when i was eating balance. colorful veggies such as kale, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, spaghetti squash all have low carbs compared to fruits and super low glycimic index. Fernando says our bodies have evolved to eat this kind of veggies as opposed to fruits. Because fruits are only available in certain seasons, and climates and they weren't as abundant or as sweet as now.

6) over all i feel better with low carb diet and i feel it is more healthy for me. I think carb (rice, pasta, bread) are addictive. Once you have a little it is impossible to stop. So my strategies is not to eat them during the week and only eat them on the weekend. This way, I can satisfy my cravings for say Chinese food and ramen, but still during the weekday i don't have any temptation of over eating, because no rice is available lol. I will implement this lifestyle once the two weeks are up. I may extend it to 1 month. I'm planning on getting blood work done after 30 days.

7) I'm very happy that this diet is good for Jose, my diabetic father in law. He doesn't cook at all, so he has to eat whatever I prepare lol. He has replaced his old breakfast of 2 or 3 thick slices of whole wheat bread with 1 banana and blue cheese to a nopales omelet and an apple or pear. His portions have reduced for all meals. He is eating lunch with us now where before he was so stuff with the bread he would skip lunch and not eat anything until dinner. Myrna also likes all this new foods I've been preparing. I think the rice with arsenic article really got to her.

Homemade olive oil mayo and chicken salad

There are so many advantages for making homemade mayonnaise. Let's see:
1) taste 100 times better
2) no weird ingredients
3) you have control over the highest level of ingredients (organic free range eggs from farmers market and olive oil for instance)

Some of you may wonder what to do about storage. Since home made version doesn't have any preservative so you need to use it within a few days. Trick is to make just a little so you will not need to store it for long. It is so yummy you will eat it quickly.

To make the mayo it is so much easier if you have food processor or blender. I have this small Cuisinart since college days. I brought it used from a garage sale for 10 dollars and I have been using it almost every day. Invest in one if you don't have it. You can buy it from target for 30 dollars. It is worth it. I didn't use blender because I didn't want to clean the oily mess afterwards :)

1) separate the egg yolk and egg white and just put the egg yolk in the food processor. Add teaspoon of Dijon muster, juice of 1/2 lemon, some fresh ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Pulse and blend.

2) slowly drizzle 1/2 a cup or 2/3 up of olive oil into the food processor. My food processor has 2 small holes on the cover that allows the oil to come in while it is blending. If yours don't have this feature then may be just use blender. Keep the cover off and drizzle the oil slowly.

3) I use 1/2 of this mayo in chicken salad for lunch, and 1/2 later that night when i made fish tacos :)

Chicken salad:

 This is only 1/2 portion because i forgot to take photo until we all finished. (there were a tiny left over)

1) poach the chicken. This is super easy use a shallow but wide pan and fill may be 2 cup of water, add 1/2 of white wine, one celery, one carrot, a few bay leaves, 1/2 onion, some fresh theme, a few pepper corns (whole) and salt. I like it a bit salty so I put 1 table spoon. put the chicken in and turn low heat, and let it go to a boil very slowly. This will result in a very intense flavored chicken. I use 1 lb of skinless boneless chicken thighs, because I needed to use what I have in the freezer. But i would have prefered chicken breast with bone  or chicken thigh with bone. This is becuse the bones will keep the chicken from shrinking as much thus make the meat more juicy and less tight. Water should just cover the chicken

2) once the chicken is cooked you can take it out and let it cool. You can strain this broth for other applications (such as adding it to the cauliflower pure, or when you steam broccoli, replacing the salt, this broth is very flavorful but too salty to just drink it.)

3) chop the chicken or shred the chicken if you use chicken with bones. put it aside until it cools. In a bowl mixed diced 1 apple, 1/2 cup of celery, 1/4 cup of home made mayo. You can add some walnuts too but i forgot.

4) once the chicken is cool. Mix it all together and enjoy it cold. If you chicken is hot it will melt your mayo and you will end up with a mess. So a little patience is advised.

This recipe will make 4 servings with each serving to be 284 calories, 7 gram carbs, 19 g fat 22 gram of protein and 6 grams of sugar (from the apple mainly)

I paired this with some roasted cauliflower and butternut squash.