Bun-less Burgers

So I pretty much have given up all grains so eating a hamburger is a different experience all together. I usually would go bun less out at restaurants and just have the patty on a bed of salad or wrapped in large lettuce leaves. The difference now is I did not want to miss out on the taste of the mayo, mustard and ketchup goodness that I would get from eating my burgers at home on a G-free bun. So I decided why not just make a dressing for my salad with those flavors.

Makes enough dressing for four dinner size salads:
two tsp of Dijon mustard
two tbsp of Mayo or Vegenaise
five basil leaves
1/2 cup of white balsamic vinegar
pinch of kosher salt
two good pinches of pepper(I use garlic pepper)
two good pinches of Creole seasoning
1/2 tbsp of EVOO
zest and juice of half of a lemon

Add all ingredients in a mini prep food processor or blender and mix until smooth.


















Go ahead and grill or cook your burgers. We got yum, yum burgers on special from Whole Foods. I usually stock up on their pre-made flavored burgers when they go on special and freeze them. They have all kinds usually some made with lamb, salmon, chicken and of course beef and bison. They mix in all kinds of different things like different cheeses and different spices into the patties.

I chopped up a beautiful Heirloom tomato and avocado to top off the burger. I am a huge Sour Kraut fan to and I will top mine with a couple of huge spoon fulls or chop up some of my Moms home made dill pickles. She made them spicy this year really great!

So I add the dressing to my greens, which is usually pea shoots and some kind of lettuce, toss and plate a generous helping to each plate. Then top with the burger and then the tomatoes and avocado. YUM!!!! I do not miss the bun at all.

Stuffed Tomatoes with Chicken Salad

          Tomatoes are in season and I like to try to use them in everything I possibly can. I have been craving very southern flavors lately. So I got some beauties in my CSA box and what else to do with them then to make stuffed tomatoes with Southern done right Chicken Salad, YUM!

          I used three chicken legs salt and peppered them with some Cajun seasoning under the skin and squeezed a lemon over the chicken and rubbed them down. Placed them in a oven set at 450 for about 30 minutes. Check the temp and once the juices run clear and the temp hits 165 with a meat thermometer they are ready. Be careful not to hit the bone or the bottom of the pan with the meat thermometer.

I usually based them with their juices or some broth and finish the chicken under the broiler for about five minutes to get the skin crispy so it is easier to pull off.

So pull off every inch of chicken from the bone. I usually just let it cool a little bit and use a fork to pull it off. Then I will chop up the chicken and throw it in a dish.

Add about a half of a green bell pepper chopped, 1/2 cup of corn( I use frozen and thaw in some warm water), half of a smallish purple onion chopped, 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley, one heaping tablespoon of Vegenaise or organic mayonnaise, two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper some creole seasoning, zest of a quarter of a lemon and its' juice. Mix and let it mingle in the refrigerator if you like for a couple of hours or make the day before.

Grab some huge slicer or nice heirloom quality tomatoes and cut the top out and pull out. Then with a spoon scoop out seeds and water. You make have to cut out some of the ribs with a knife to make plenty of room for the salad. Then fill with chicken salad and sprinkle with some cheese or parsley.

I like to serve it on a bed of lettuce and avocado that is tossed in lemon juice, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Yum! Enjoy:) This would make a great entre' for a luncheon or ayou could use smaller tomatoes and would make a fun party appetizer.

Makes about enough to stuff six large tomatoes.

Cashmere usually begs at the table for scraps this time sitting patiently, this is a rarity;)

A Monday....

      Mondays are always crazy and a mad dash so I keep it as easy as possible when it comes to cooking.

     The morning started with  a Winter Earl Grey White Tea Latte and a half of a Udi's bagel with almond butter and a sliced Banana. I found this White Earl Grey at the Berkley Bowl in Berkley by Harney & Sons Fine Teas.  A White Tea Earl Grey was a great find because the caffeine level is so much lower and packed with more antioxidants then any other tea.  White Teas are not toasted so they are more of a "raw tea" so you get more out of them then any other.

      Later came two loads of laundry, stripping the bed, answered 12 emails and it was lunch time.

     Daiya grilled cheese and sauteed kale. I used this great Gluten Free bread made with Quinoa flour that I found at the Berkley Bowl. It is baked by a Gluten Free bakery called the Grindstone located in Northern California. They do mail order so check them out. Such great breads. I added sauerkraut to mine Ben had his without and asked for five more when he was done. One pan, fast clean up and sooooo good! 

 Now back to working on my secret project. So exciting!!!  I made a Matcha Green Tea latte with Almond Milk which is sooo good. Matcha is another antioxidant power house. It takes a little practice to work with because it is in powder form, but with a latte you just make the steamed milk and whisk in the powder directly in your mug with a small whisk and add maybe some vanilla extract and some stevia and you are good to go.

Tic-toc Ben is home and it is time for dinner. Again, super fast dinner. I made salmon under the broiler just eight minutes and rub the salmon with a Asian rub I buy from Dean and Deluca. Toss  a salad with some left over red quinoa and dinner is ready!

I hope everybody got through their Monday without many bruises or battle scares.

Later,
Shara

Clean Day 4 & 5

We started off the morning with another Thanksgiving themed shake. I know from my nutrition training it is better to keep things consistent. When I get sick of the shake I will switch to my Island Paradise shake recipe. So lunch was another "make enough for two days" which again is from the same school of thought. So this recipe is all my own. I make these with meat and also without some times and totally vegan. These are my meat loaf balls. Same principle of making a meat ball but adding things that go in meat loaf instead and some things that you may never thought to add. I pack mine with lots of vegetables so the are nutritionally dense. Ben eats them right up so that is what counts. I make them tomato free or with because of the clean limitations these are tomato free and the cheese I am using is a Almond milk cheese that I was trying out before the diet. It actually taste like real sharp cheddar and melts really well. It is by Lisanatti Foods and called The Original Almond Cheddar Style. Now this does have casein in it and some expelled pressed canola oil(already e-mailed the company about using grape seed oil instead and finding a different protein besides casein or whey as well). I would actually use Daiya usually because of the diet also that it is casein free as well, but this bag was already open so I wanted to use it up. You can leave the cheese alternative out and add four tablespoons of nutritional yeast instead to get that cheesy flavor and loads of B vitamins as well if you are fallowing Clean to the letter.

What you need to make them:
1 1/2 or a little less pounds of extra lean(99% fat free) organic ground turkey (basically a package)
1 cup of shredded carrot
1 cup of finely chopped kale
1/2 cup of finely chopped red onion
4 chopped garlic cloves or 1 tsp of garlic powder
1 cup of finally chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of Daiya cheese or whatever you like  (four rounded tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast)
1/4 cup of brown rice flour
2 tbsp of Dijon mustard
about 7 cranks of a pepper mill
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1/2 tsp of Creole Seasoning
*I used 1/2 tsp of each organic blend of pepper and garlic seasoning and Organic No-Salt seasoning from Costco as well.
3 flax seed faux eggs (three rounded tablespoons of flax seed meal with six tablespoons of water)
2 tbsp of grape seed oil
1 tsp of tapioca starch if you have it

Turn oven on to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and make your faux flax seed eggs in a small bowl and set aside.

I have a mini prep food processor and I finally chopped my onions, carrots and kale in it. If you do not have one just chop the veggies as small as you can and add to a large bowl. Add your faux flax seed eggs and don't for get the oil!

Add your meat and the rest of your ingredients and mix well. Then take about a little more then a 1/2 cup of the mixture an shaped into tight balls.

Place on parchment paper and put the tray in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you are using ground Turkey with more fat then the balls could take about 30 minutes, maybe 40 depending on your oven.

They will be darker in color and hard when pushed when done. Also you could cut one in half a bit if you are not sure. They should be cooked all the way through and no pink!

I made some quinoa with veggie broth, some spices in our rice cooker. Also a  nice dark leaf side salad with a a simple lemon, olive oil, Dijon mustard, pepper and Organic no-salt spice blend dressing. Ben at it before my eyes!


We had our after noon shake which was a repeat from yesterday. The we went to the gym and came home had humus roll ups and some coconut water mixed with sparking and a wedge of lime. The roll ups where Brown rice tortillas, dark leaf lettuce mix, slices of avocado. Dijon mustard, Fallow Your Heart Grape seed Vegenaise and some Cajun spice. These are great for a quick lunch as well and they make a great lite dinner option for the Clean diet.

We are doing well and feeling great.

BLT Salad

Love my Turkey Bacon!!! Also Tomatoes are pretty much almost over here in Cal so I have to use them as much as I can until I have to say bye, bye to nice locally grown Tomatoes until next season:( I also love a BLT with Gluten Free bread. I would eat a BLT everyday in the summer if I could afford to eat that many calories that comes with GF bread. So I decided to hold the bread and make a salad instead. I usually buy a few packets of Turkey bacon and keep them in the freezer to have them on hand for a fast lunch or breakfast. Turkey bacon takes no more then 15 minutes to thaw in a sink filled with water. So don't worry about the thawing issue.

This recipe makes two large entree size salads.

For the salad you will need:

1 large tomato chopped sliced whatever you like
1 medium red onion sliced
1/4 cup of chicken or veg broth
1 package of nitrate free organic Turkey bacon or Vegan un-bacon
as much either Spring Mix lettuce as you like or Spinach leaves or combo. I think I put about 12 cups if you need some kind of reference. 
couple of cranks of the pepper mill



1. Fallow package instructions for preparing your bacon of choice. Just make sure it is nice and crispy when you are done.
2. Slice the red onion and then pour a little oil in your pan and turn heat up to medium (low medium for gas) add your sliced onions and let them sweat a bit. Once they start to soften add the broth and pepper then saute until caramelized. Once done turn off heat.

3. Place you lettuce in a big bowl
4. Cut up your tomatoes and place in bowl with lettuce and place in the refrigerator until bacon is done.
5. Once bacon is ready take out of oven and let it cool just enough to handle then cut into short strips.
6. Grab your salad from the refrigerator and dress the salad.


For the dressing:

1 tbs of Vegenaise I like the Grape Seed oil one or you could use Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise
2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
1 half of a organic lemon juiced and zested
a few pinches of Organic Garlic Salt
a few turns of the pepper mill
If you have some Creole Seasoning it goes a long way and adds a nice zing to the tomatoes just a few shakes.

Top salad with all the salad dressing ingredients and then toss salad altogether, or mix in a separate container and serve on the side.

Dish salad into individual plates and top with caramelized onions and bacon. Enjoy!




additions if you have them:
Chopped avocado
Trader Joes Broccoli slaw
Chopped Purple or Napa Cabbage
Chopped broccoli florets
Chopped Zucchini

Velveeta Free Con Queso Dip/Gluten Free

So I was on the hunt for a Velveeta Free Con Queso dip. I lived in Texas for a long time and love good Con Queso dip. Trader Joes had a great jarred Con Queso. I lived off the stuff in college. But it vanished off the shelves. I was so upset. So one of my friends at work brings great Con Queso dip, but the Velveeta is just killing me. I know it is made of horrible things. It is a oil by product, yuck! So I was messing around with the help of my Mom ,and figured out a recipe that is pretty close.

What you will need

1 cup of finely shredded extra sharp Cheddar

1 cup of finely shredded monetary jack cheese or some kind of white Mexican cheese

or you could get the bag of pre-shredded lite Mexican blend cheese from Trader Joes use two cups

1 tbsp of butter

1 cup of whole or low fat milk

1/2 brick of low fat cream cheese (cut into cubes and let it become close to room temp)

half can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies( you can use the whole can if you like)

1 cup of cooked or canned Pinto Beans

2 tbsp of pickled jalapeno peppers chopped and 2 tablespoons of juice from the peppers

2 tbsp of brown rice flour
2 tsp of tapioca starch

1/4 tesp of cayenne pepper

2 chopped garlic cloves or 2 tesp of garlic powder

Sea Salt to taste

a few cranks of a pepper mill

a few drops of chilly oil

optional half of a chopped yellow onion (if you do add I would cook in a separate skillet until translucent and then add to the cheese sauce)

Optional but do add for sure is two links of chicken or some kind of hot sausage. I take the cases off the sausage before I cook it and then break them up with my fingers into small pieces and cook in a separate skillet. You could cook the sausage with the onion and some olive oil as well.

You can also use one cup of already prepared Pico De Gallo instead of the Rotel and chopped onion to make things easier.

So making Con Queso is like making Mac and cheese from scratch. You make a cheese sauce first combining butter, milk, cream cheese, flour and the cheese on medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. Stir constantly, but not quickly. Make sure the sauce does not burn or get to hot. If you see it starting to boil take off the burner. A little bubbling and steam is ok. After the mixture has thickened and the cheese has combined into the liquid. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until incorporated completely. Let cook for about five more minutes so the mixture combines and heats up together. Then the mixture will darken in color a bit and give it a couple more good stirs and your done. Then transfer to a Pyrex and you can re warm it up in the Microwave when you want more later. I like to dip with Organic Blue Corn chips from Trader Joes.

Other great Tex Mex recipes from http://www.texmex.net/Rotel/main.htm

and http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Pumpkin Soup from New Zealand with Love:)

Right now in California we are experiencing a preview of Spring, but we are told to prepare for Winter returning next week. I am missing Winter terribly. I love Northern California's Winters. No snow, but cold crisp days with a nice cleaning of rain showers. Most think I am nuts, but I know I was meant to live in Seattle. I love gray skies and days where coffee and soup are your main diet. Also a nice cold day with sunshine is great too. We are lucky to have that kind of winter living in the Bay. The picture above was taken in Napa right before Christmas. I love Napa especially in the winter it reminds me of some of the places I have traveled in New Zealand. New Zealand is beautiful in the Summer which is their Winter time, but Summer for us. 

When I was 18 I got the opportunity to travel to the South Pacific. I played in the Sydney Opera house and then traveled to New Zealand. One of the things that I most remember is a soup that I was served. It was a pumpkin soup. This was a very foreign recipe to me. I come from a family of very good cooks, but Pumpkin Soup is something I had never experienced. The family that I stayed with said it was a pretty common dish in New Zealand. So for years I have been trying to duplicate it. I have found recipes that are sweet soups, but it was hard to find one with a savory taste. So I found three different recipes and combined them together and I think I have nailed the recipe. 

This time a year I make my Pumpkin Soup and love every spoonful of it, but the weather has been so weird I have not made it once. So I decided this weekend I was going to make it in hopes to make the cold weather come back quickly. Enjoy:)

2 tablespoons butter

1 shallot chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 15oz cans of pumpkin pure or one large can, you can also roast your own pumpkins if you want
2 cups chicken stock or broth or vegetable broth, you may want to add one more cup of veggie stock for not such a thick soup, but you can add that after you puree to gage the thickness.
1 teaspoons sea salt, I like to use the Hawaiian red salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage, or 1 tablespoon dried if your not into sage then just use 1 teaspoon of fresh sage or a 1/2 tablespoon of dried
1 cup light cream or 1/2 cup of half and half and 1/2 cup of low fat milk
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil


DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, heat the butter over moderately low heat. Add the onion, garlic, shallot

and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Add the pumpkin, stock, salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, about 30 to 40 minutes. Stir in the sage and simmer 5  to 10 minutes longer.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. You may have to do half of the soup at a time. Pour the puree back into the pot and add the cream. If you want a really silky smooth soup put through a stainer, but I like it a little chunky. Stir in the pepper. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Top with some fresh sage, and I like to drizzle a little chilly oil as well for a kick. You could also grate some Gruyere cheese and sprinkle rather than the chilly oil. This recipe makes about 10 to 12 servings in a normal size bowl. I usually cut the recipe in half and add extra pumpkin for a really thick hearty soup. 

Vera Bradley's Yum Yum Cake Gluten Free

So I purchased Vera Bradley's cook book in July and love reading the recipes. They take me back to my Mid-Western roots with every flip of a page. I saw this great cake recipe that could be easily transformed into a Gluten free cake.

What you will need:

If your making this with normal flour you can use a yellow cake mix or make a yellow cake from scratch. This makes a huge sheet cake so four a family of four cut the recipe in half. If your having a party then make the full recipe.

Gluten Free Flour Mix:

6 cups of Finely ground Brown Rice flour

2 cups of Potato Starch

1 cup of Tapioca Flour

Mix in a large air tight container and store for other bake goods recipes. 

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

4 large eggs

2 1/2 cups of Gluten free flour mix

1/2 tsp of salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp of xanthun gum

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Recipe:

-Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

-Center your oven rack

-Butter and Line with parchment paper the bottom of one 9x13  brownie Pan (if your doing 1/2 the recipe line one 8inch or 9inch square pan)

-Take 2 cups of sugar and and mix with 4 large eggs on medium speed for 1 minute.

add 2 1/2 cups of flour mix 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of xanthun gum mix for for one minute on medium speed.

-Pour into prepared pan and place in oven for 35 to 40 minutes until cake has pulled away from sides of the pan and is slightly brown on top. Do not open oven door until at least 35 minutes have passed.

-Let cool completely and then take knife and cut around the edges. Flip pan over and pull off pan and then pull off parchment paper. Put cake in pan a rimmed or deep dish pan that fits the cake. 

Topping:

16oz container of Ready Whip or make a two Packs of Dream Whip as Directed

1 packet of vanilla instant pudding mix

1 cup of milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 bar of softened cream cheese

1 bag of frozen strawberry's

1 cup of pecans or walnuts

1 cup of shredded coconut

-Pour milk in a mixing bowl and add packet of pudding mix and mix for a minute with electric mixer.

-add softened cream cheese about a table spoon at a time with mixer on medium speed until combined. Add your vanilla

-fold in your whip topping

-spread over cooled cake

-sprinkle pecans and coconut

-place strawberry's on top and cover and refrigerate for two hours.

In a large bowl empty contents of pudding mix in the bowl, Pour in milk and turn mixer on medium speed and combine. Add cream cream cheese make sure it is softened and not cold. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cake and spread evenly. Place thawed strawberries over whipped topping and sprinkle pecans and coconut. Cover and place in refrigerator for two hours. Ready to serve and will last about four to five days as long it is refrigerated.