Low-carb Zucchini Bread

Zucchinis start to be plentiful in the garden. This is a tasty single-serve, sweet and low-carb zucchini bread, fast to make.

1/3 cp carbquik (or NS pancake mix, or heartsmart bisquik mix)
2 TB any whey
1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 TB brown splenda
1/4 ts cinnamon
1/4 cp egg beaters
1 TB sf apple sauce
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1/3 cp shredded zucchini (I use a kuhn rikon mandoline)


Preheat oven to 400F. Mix all the dry ingredients first; then add the wet ingredients. Stir well, and pour into a PAM-spray small spring form (or any small single serve baking dish of your liking). Bake at 400F for 25 min.

1 breakfast entree + 1 protein (240kcal with carbquik).

Sweet Garlic Pickles

The weather was not so great, so time to get some canning and jamming done. I tried out an easy recipe by Cooking light, the sweet garlicy pickles. Can't wait to try them in four days.

Swordfish with Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh
1/4 cup bulghur (cracked wheat)
1/4 cup hot water
4 gherkins, diced
1 green onion, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1/3 English cucumber, peeled and diced
1/3 green bell pepper, diced
large bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
bunch fresh mint, chopped
salt, pepper
1/2 ts cumin seeds
juice of 1 lemon

Soak bulghur in the hot water for 1 hour. Meanwhile, chop the vegetable, and put in a medium sized bowl. Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper to the bulghur as well a 1-2 TB liquid from the gherkin jar to the cracked wheat. Now, mix in all the vegetables, stir gentle, and chill for 1-2 hours.

(makes 2 servings for lunch or 1 serving for dinner, ca. 220 kcal alltogether)

Swordfish
3 oz of swordfish
1 ts ghee (clarified butter)
salt, pepper

Heat the ghee in a skillet til smoking point. Salt and pepper the swordfish, and caramelized from both side for 3 min in hot skillet.

Serve swordfish and the tabbouleh (half for a lunch, and the entire serving for dinner). Enjoy!

Another great recipe!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Perfect for those summer Sundays when friends come over, or to bring to a potluck occasion.

Strawberry Rhubarb mix:
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons heartsmart bisquik
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 cups diced rhubarb

Crumble:
1 cup heartsmart bisquik
1/4 cup brown splenda
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup rolled oats

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix white sugar, heartsmart bisquik, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9x9 inch baking dish. (or 10x8 inch if you like IKEA).

Melt butter. Mix 1 cup of bisquik mix, brown splenda, and oats. Add butter, and mix all until crumbly. Distribute crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until crisp and lightly browned. Cool and serve with ff coolwhip

Makes about 12 servings a 226kcal.

Chicken Tandoori

A slightly different version of chicken tandoori, but all the flavors and very healthy.

1 organic small chicken breast (on the bone)
2 TL Patak Tandoori marinade
1 container Danone nonfat plain yogurt (or other brand)

1 orange bell pepper, sliced
1/3 white onion, diced
1 ts red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp Tandoori paste
1 Tbsp Danone (or other) non-fat yogurt

Mix tandoori paste and yogurt and fill into a ziplock bag. Add chicken breast, and marinade overnight in the fridge.

Heat BBQ, and grill marinated chicken breast with marinade in a "bowl" made using aluminum foil on the BBQ (it is juicier and more baked than grilled). "Bake" for ca. 25-30 min on high. Take off BBQ, and slice chicken breast into strips, and use half (!) of the breast for the remaining dish.

In a PAM-sprayed pan, saute the bell pepper, and onion with the chili flakes. After 5-7 min, add the chicken stock, the tandoori paste and yogurt. Stir, and add the chicken. Serve!

1 dinner protein + 1 veggie + 1 fat

Make your own notebook

So, it is Sunday, time to slow down. I saw these great notebooks made by an art student the other day in a store. This sounded like a fun project to reuse old magazines, and made some personalized gifts or notebooks for recipes. As you can see, I had a few Williams-Sonoma catalogs and Gourmet magazines on hand.

1 notebook
glue, scissors
magazines
see-through packing tape.

Maine Mussels with Tomato Marinara

One of the great things of summer in Maine are: going clamming or getting your own mussels from the coast. Unfortunately, no longer this summer, because the 'red tide' closed most areas again for the next weeks. But the fish monger at the local farmers market still had (pricey) mussels from a certified dealer. So, it was time for mussels in a tomato marinara, garlic, white wine, and fresh rosemary. With it, some fresh french baguette from Chase's in Belfast.

1 can fireroasted tomates (with garlic)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 ts extra-virigin olive oil
morton lite salt, fresh ground pepper (to taste)
Mrs. Dash garlic and herbs
1/4 cup white wine (Chardonnay)
a twig fresh rosemary, chopped

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onions. Once transluctant, grate the garlic into the pot, and stir. After 1-2 min, add the white wine, and let the liquid evaporate. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, Mrs Dash and rosemary. Heat well and sautee for 3 minutes on medium-high heat. Make sure the mussels are well clean and de-bearded. Add mussels to the pot, and close the pot with a lid. Steam the mussels in the tomato marinara for 5-7 min, until all mussels are open (discard those that do not open), and cooked. Serve with pasta or a piece of baguette!

Haddock with Rainbow Chard

A light meal for those warm summer days, with ingredients from the local farmers market. Haddock, young rainbow chard, garlic scapes, cherry tomatoes, and an orange bell pepper with some lemon and some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Delightful!

1/2 haddock fillet
PAM, salt, pepper

1 ts extra-virgin olive oil
small bunch of young rainbow chard, sliced
2 garlic scapes, sliced into small pieces
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 orange bell pepper
salt, pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Grill the haddock with salt and pepper in a hot, PAM-sprayed skillet until cooked (ca. 5 min, both sides). Remove fish, and keep warm on the serving plate. Add the olive oil to the pan, the garlic scapes, rainbow chard, tomatoes and bell pepper. Sautee for 5 min, then add the lemon juice, salt and pepper (not much salt, the parmensan cheese is also to add saltiness!). Sautee for 2 more minutes, and microplan in the parmesan cheese. Stir, and serve with the haddock!

Elderberry Soda

It is the time of the year again. The elderberry bush is rich with white flowers, and it is time to make elderberry syrup this year. Elderberry is wonderful in different varieties: syrup, juice in the fall made from the black berries and elderberry liquor. Elderberry syrup is not common in the US to be able to buy in many stores (IKEA is an option). But you can plant a tree or look for a tree, and make your own syrup. It tastes very refreshing in the summer, and has numerous health benefits, we won't even mention.

Elderberry Flower Syrup
(makes 1 l of concentrated syrup):

20 elderberry flowers
1.5kg sugar
1.2 ltr water
3 organic lemon (washed), peel and juice

In a large pot, heat the water and dissolve the water. In a non-reactive bowl (porcelain, glass or metal), place the rinsed elderberry flowers (green parts removed), and the lemon peel. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon juice, stir and take off the heat. Pour over flowers, and mix gently mix. Let sit for 5 days, and stir twice a day. Strain using a cheese cloth, and fill in a sterilized bottle with a cork or a fliptop.

Elderberry Flower Soda

1 ounce elderberry flower syrup
1 cup sparkling water (plain)
Lots of ice

Fill a glass or pitcher with ice, just before serving. Use a ratio of 1 ounce syrup to 1 cup sparkling water. For a pitcher, use around 6 ounces of syrup and six cups of sparkling water. Stir well and enjoy!