Monday, July 27, 2009

French Toast

French Toast for me was a way to eat "pancakes" even on this crazy plan of mine. I know they aren't the same, but I get the same satisfaction out of them. When I was formulating my sugar free plan a while back I was sitting eating pancakes and thought "These could be the last pancakes I ever eat". That was tough... I love pancakes. With this simple French Toast recipe I can enjoy that same sweet breakfast any time.

Frech Toast is simple and really not much of a recipe, but...

This is good for 2-3 pieces of French Toast (serving for one)

Beat one egg in a bowl.
Dip your sugar free whole wheat bread in to coat both sides.
Lay the coated bread on a hot griddle (with butter or non-stick cooking spray)
Cook both sides to desired "browness" (I like mine pretty brown)

Topping Ideas:

Butter and sugar free syrup (simple, but delicious)
Sugar free peanut butter and sugar free syrup (My favorite!)
Cream cheese and sugar free syrup (and maybe some fresh blueberries or fresh strawberries :)

If the sugar free syrup isn't working for you so much, try adding a bit of Agave Nectar. It helps it to be a bit sweeter and syrupy. Enjoy!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Lasagna Ideas

Lasagna is a great meal and it's easy enough to do sugar/starch free. I don't have a recipe really because everyone has their own idea of what lasagna should be. Here is an idea of how it could be.

Use whole wheat lasagna noodles. Layer some sugar free tomato pasta sauce (Classico Tomato and Basil for example... keep in mind that it's not "sugars free", it's no sugar added. Tomato's naturally have some sugar content... read the ingredients list for added sugars.). Use Cottage cheese as a layer and maybe some mushrooms, spinach, black olives, ground turkey and Mozzarella cheese.

Take it easy on the cheese so you aren't overloading on the dairy and fats. I prefer reduced fat cheese, but not fat free cheese. Reduced fat cheese is still just cheese without all the extras they have to put in fat free cheese to make it hold together and have some flavor.... again, read the ingredients list.

A lot of people like to have some garlic bread with their lasagna... I do too. Take some sugar free whole wheat hamburger buns, add some butter and garlic salt. Toast in the oven. I like the hamburger buns because it feels more like a thick slice of garlic toast instead of another boring slice of bread loaf.

Experiment with lasagna and let me know how it went!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sloppy Joe

This recipe has been loaded to my new blog too!

http://daddykirbs.blogspot.com/search?q=sloppy+joe

The family was having Sloppy Joe so my wife wanted me to be a part of that meal. She bought some basic ingredients and brought them home for me to whip it up.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 onion (i used a small white onion)
3 cloves of fresh garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can tomato sauce (this was a small can, not sure of ounces)
1/2 can tomato paste

Preparation:

Brown ground turkey, reduce to simmer. I chopped the pepper, onion and garlic in the super cool pampered chef chopper. Add chopped ingredients and paprika. I let those ingredients simmer for a little bit before adding the tomato sauce and paste then let simmer again. Simmer down to a thick consistency. Serve on a sugar free whole wheat hamburger bun with dill pickle!

This recipe is so easy and so modifiable! I'd love to hear how you made it :)


Mushroom Gravy over Baked Chicken with Brown Rice

I used olive oil to cook down the mushrooms then added whole wheat flour. Once that thickened I poured in the milk, seasoned with salt and pepper, reduced to simmer and voila... gravy. I put some chicken tenders in a small baking dish and covered with the gravy and baked at 400 for about 30 minutes. I put all that over some long grain brown rice... yum.

Chili

I wasn't going to include this in the recipes, but I just had it for lunce again and thouroghly enjoyed myself. :)

This is a very simple recipe and probably won't win any chili competitions, but it's easy and tasty.


Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 large can of V8 juice
1 can of black beans (read the lable... some bean companies like to sneak sugar in there)
3 handfuls of dry whole wheat pasta ( I use penne )
1 Tbsp. Chili Pepper (more or less to taste)

Preparation:

Add V8 juice and dry pasta to medium sauce pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and to slow boil until pasta is cooked. While boiling the juice and pasta, brown the turkey. Add at any time to boiling juice. Add black beans and chili pepper, stir well and you are done. I told you it is simple.

Chicken and Classico Sauce

I don't know if this qualifies as a recipe or just an easy lunch idea...

I was struggling with what to take to work for lunch. So I looked in the freezer and found skinless boneless chicken tenders. I placed them in a microwave dish and covered the chicken with Classico Tomato and Basil sauce. At work, to heat it up I put it in the microwave for two minutes, turned and stirred then two minutes more.

To go along with the chicken I put a slice of sugar free whole wheat bread in the sauce. For crunch I ate a small handful of triscuits. I suppose it would be just as easy to throw some frozen peas or something in the dish as well.

Turkey Burger

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup oatmeal
1 tsp season salt
1 tsp olive oil

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Form patties and brown both sides in a skillet (I use pam non-stick spray in the skillet). They need browned because the patties are to soft to put directly on the grill. Once brown, move them to the grill. Be careful not to turn them too much for they will break apart. This recipe yields two nice size burgers. Keep in mind that my measurements are "more or less"... you may find that you want more or less of any of them.

The turkey burgers do great in the George Forman style grill too. In fact if you prefer your burgers a little thinner that is the way to go. It's difficult to make a thin patty on the outdoor grill because the turkey patties don't hold together like beef does.