Turkey Low-Carb Meatloaf

Captain Handsome is heading out to watch the hockey tonight (which I don't favour) and I had some extra lean ground turkey thawed in the fridge. Perfect combination for meatloaf (which the Captain doesn't favour). The Captain won't touch the stuff and I needed to use up the meat.

I searched online for low-carb meatloaf recipes, and adapted this one from Keto Krazed. Right now my Meatloaf is in the oven. If it's awesome, I'll be heading back to Keto Krazed for more recipes. Ha

Ingredients:
Meatloaf:
1 1/4 lb extra lean ground turkey (it's embarrassing how long it took me to find out how much turkey I had in my Costco pack, I needed to do a google search, then a conversion, now I've revealed that to you, loyal reader/s. When I discovered that it was just over a pound of meat and I thought of the 42 I've now lost, I felt pretty good, though.)
1 oz Balderson aged cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tbsp Heinz ketchup (I have to pick up some low-carb reduced-sugar ketchup, I used the regular stuff, as that's all we have right now.)
2 eggs

My best kitchen tool - the garlic roller!

2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried cilantro
1 tsp fresh ground sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Sauce:
1/3 tomato, chopped into tiny pieces
1 tbsp ketchup
1.5 tsp Splenda

Process:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mixing it up!

-Mix all meatloaf ingredients in one bowl (remove eggshells if you broke some into the bowl, as I did)
-Mix sauce ingredients in another bowl
-Spray a loaf pan with Pam (and try not to drop greased pan into sink full of dirty dishes, as I did)

The raw meatloaf.

-Spread meat mixture in loaf bowl

Sauced up.

Sauced up - from another angle.

-Spread sauce on top of meat mixture
-Place in oven and cook for 42 minutes

(Makes four servings)

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 14 g
Protein: 34 g
Carbs: 8 g
Fibre: 0 g
Sugar: 4 g (that's the ketchup!)
Net carbs: 8 g

Yum or Not:
I intended to cook the meatloaf for 35 minutes, but when I peeked in, the internal temperature was not yet at 145 degrees and there was a juicy looking layer on top. I gave it another 8 minutes to see if it would cook off. It didn't really.

Fresh out of the oven, complete with meat thermometer and juicy, fatty liquid.

I'm not sure why this fatty/juicy coating emerged. I suppose I usually drain off some fat when I cook turkey, but it's not a lot. I guess with meatloaf, you usually use breadcrumbs, and those would soak up this stuff.

The meatloaf with the juicy, fatty topping removed.

It wasn't a big deal, as I scooped off the juicy looking layer (it was a bit like meat fat/egg yolk) and the meatloaf looked better.

Fortunately, I didn't judge until I tasted and I'm glad I waited. The meatloaf is really tasty. I'd say this is another yum. The meatloaf is flavourful and moist. The topping is especially tangy and nice. The mix of herbs and spices in the meatloaf worked perfectly. I will be making this again. I wonder if I can convince the Captain to eat it? Perhaps if I form it into a patty and tell him it's a burger!

Grandpa's classic asparagus - boiled in a pan of water, drained, and topped with Italian dressing and asiago cheese.

I served my generous slice of meatloaf with asparagus topped with Italian dressing and asiago cheese. It may not look like it in this picture, but the meatloaf slice was awesomely hearty and satisfying.

My leftovers. Three meals worth.

Overall, another yum (and low-carb) dinner.

Next steps: I would like to make a Low-Carb Turkey Shepherd's Pie with a cauliflower topping.

Maple Dijon Chicken

This past week has not been a great one for food. Well, it's been great taste-wise, but health-wise it's been less than awesome. I have returned to work on a volunteer basis and that's been exhausting. I don't even have energy to do the groceries or cook. I need to get myself back on track. I've worked so hard to get to where I am and I still have a long, long way to go.

Tonight's dinner got me right back on track and was fresh and tasty.

Without further ado, Maple Dijon Chicken.

This recipe is based on dinner I had at a friend's house several years ago. She was using the last bits and pieces of what was left in her fridge and came up with this yummy combo. Over the years, I've made versions of this, and tonight I tried to go as low carb as possible (next time, I'd reduce the maple syrup, maybe use a little maple extract).

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, sliced into little pieces with all the nastiness removed
1/2 c reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
3 tbsp Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese - Garden Vegetable flavour (this was the only flavour I had in the fridge, I would have preferred to have had plain cream cheese)

Process:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Cut chicken into itty bitty pieces and place in cooking dish
-Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle olive oil on top
-Cook chicken for 10 minutes
-In a bowl, combine mustard, syrup and chicken broth
-Flip chicken and cook for another 5 minutes
-Cover chicken with mustard, syrup and chicken broth mixture
-Cook for another five minutes in oven

I love how simple it is to whip up a sauce that complements a meal.

-Pour drippings from chicken into saucepan on stovetop, add cream cheese, heat and reduce (about 5 minutes) (this creates the sauce)

A few minutes of broiling does a lot for the chicken's texture and gets rid of any sliminess.

-Set oven to broil, cook chicken for 3-5 minutes to crisp up a little bit
-Serve chicken with a little bit of sauce

(creates 3 servings)

Nutritional Information:
(per serving, includes sauce)
Calories: 190
Fat: 8 g
Protein: 14 g
Carbs: 15 g
Fibre: 0 g
Sugar: 13 g
Net carbs: 15 g

Yum or Not:
I served this with a great big pile of brocolli. The Captain got butter on his, mine was plain. The chicken was flavourful and the sauce added a nice creaminess. This was extremely yum and very easy. We will definitely be having this meal again.

Like I wrote earlier, I could have cut the maple syrup in 1/3. If the taste wasn't maple-y enough, I would add some maple extract (yes, that's a thing. It's awesome with bacon). This dinner could retain the delicious taste without being so high in carbs (as I'm trying to stay under 20 net carbs a day, 15 in one meal is high!).

I'm such a fan of making sauces from the drippings. This cream sauce added a lot of texture and deliciousness for very few calories. I wish I'd had an open bottle of white wine, because a little splash of that would have been lovely.

My 30th Birthday

Despite the connotations associated with hitting this milestone, I could not have had a more perfect day with kind and thoughtful friends and family.  

After a morning Barre Blend class (my new favourite work out), I made a frittata.  Spinach, mushrooms, broccoli and goat cheese.   Only 3 eggs and topped up with Beaters Egg Whites.  Seasoned with white truffle oil

The most spectacular bouquet I've ever seen, sent by my sister-in-law and partner in blogging.  

The Olla Urban Flower Project is a unique flower shop in Gastown that creates socially-conscious arrangements and living containers.  They designed this spectacular bouquet according to my sister-in-law's specifications.  It fits my home decor colours perfectly, and some of the flowers are edible!

My birthday present, a cooking class at Dirty Apron Cooking School.  I love these classes and was so excited to go with my husband to the It Takes Two: Couples in the Kitchen Class.

I love the kitchen stations at Dirty Apron.  

Friendly and helpful Chef Takashi. 

Dr. Gold stuffing a Cornish game hen's orifice.

Some more beautiful flowers in our kitchen station.

Amazing dining room, where we enjoy each course and some wine, before returning to the kitchen for our next adventure.

Plating our salad.

I'm having so much fun.

Goat cheese cake (with dried apricots and chives), dusted in panko and pan seared.  Watercress and hazelnuts in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Garnished with proscuitto and sherry-seasoned oyster mushrooms.

Cornish game hen atop truffle and thyme risotto with morel mushrooms and asparagus.  Grainy dijon mustard pan jus.

Dessert trio - Grand Marnier creme brûlée, chocolate souffle, and chocolate dipped strawberries.

(Everything But) The Kitchen Sink Pasta Sauce and Shiritaki Noodles

In my ongoing search for a low-carb pasta replacement, I've learned about shiritaki noodles, which sounded too good to be true. It turns out, they may be. The Yum or Not jury's still a little out here in Ottawa.

The Captain and I used to eat 2 meals on rotation: tacos and pasta with red sauce. I am really good at making those two things. I'm rarely missing carbs, but every now and then, I crave my old pasta-packed lifestyle.

On reddit, I read about shiritaki noodles, a Japanese noodle made from yams and/or tofu that can have 0 calories and 0 carbs. I have added them to my shopping list. In our last-minute emergency Easter brunch shop, I spotted packs of the yam/tofu ones with low calories/low carbs at Herb and Spice. They were only $1.99 for each 8 oz pack, so I picked up two to try.

Apparently, shiritaki noodles are sort of a miracle as they look and behave like pasta but without the high carb issues.

In reading about them, there were a few worries:
#1. A fishy smell.
#2. A slimy texture.

Those of you who know my food issues will understand why these are problems.
#1. I am not a fish/seafood fan. I also have the nose of a bloodhound and can sniff out any lingering unpleasantnesses.
#2. I am a textural eater. I love the taste of them, but cannot eat bananas because of the texture. I often cannot eat fruit because it has to be ripe to the day. One day too hard or one day too soft and I'm turned right off. I can't eat Jell-o. And, don't even get me started on yogurt. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who eat big spoonfuls of yogurt. Slimy things, oh dear.

Read on to see if I was able to overcome even more of my food issues. (In writing this blog, it seems like I have a lot of food hangups. The count is now at three: vegetarian hangover, seafoody smells, slimy texture issues)


(Everything But) The Kitchen Sink Pasta Sauce and Shiritaki Noodles
It's just about grocery time for the Captain and I, so we're down to very few fresh ingredients. I scraped up whatever I could find in the fridge and cupboards to whip this together (don't tell him, though - he's got ten times the food hangups I do!).

I should plan out these photos better. The fake Neo-Citran, cat food in Tupperware and lint rollers were NOT included in this recipe. Almost everything else in this photo was.

Ingredients:
1 jar of Classico Spicy Red Pepper Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp Classico Basil Pesto
4 tbsp grocery store bruschetta
1 tsp squeezable basil
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp garlic powder (not garlic salt)
2 tsp dried red pepper flakes (I didn't actually measure any of these dry spices, I just shook liberally until I liked the look!)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup light cream cheese (leftovers of three different kinds of light cream cheese - roasted garlic, plain and herb)
500 g extra lean ground turkey

Spice Storage Protip: We have a drawer underneath our countertop range. I have our bajillions of spices in that drawer, but they're all standing up and I used to have trouble finding which one was which. As you can see in the above pic, I label the spices with Sharpies (and sometimes even the help of duct tape. Spicy time saver.

Procedure:
Sauce:
-Brown turkey in saucepan on stove (if you usually use ground beef, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the comparatively small amount of fat that drains off).
-Spice up your meat.
-Add basil, bruschetta, Classico sauces, and cream cheese. Increase heat and stir rapidly. Don't let it all burn to the bottom of the pan, but get everything mixed in a lovely way.

Back left: shiritaki noodles trying to un-goo. Back right: Captain Handsome's penne. I now realize that, with just one pasta eater eating reasonable serving sizes, we don't need to boil a whole box of pasta. Whoops. Front: The sauce (pre-tomatoes).

-Strain diced tomatoes and add to sauce.
-I also added a little splash of some red wine we had leftover from a few nights ago.
-Serve over shiritaki noodles.
-Makes 8 servings

Crud. I should have rotated this for you. Sorry. This is the other package of shiritaki I have for later. I used the fettucine shaped ones tonight. This one is full of spaghetti shaped ones.

Shiritaki Noodles:
-Open plastic bag containing noodles and don't breathe in too deeply (it's not horrible, but you don't want to really savour the smell either).

-Pour noodles into collander in sink and run cold water over top for a good several minutes until no smell remains (this took me longer than I care to admit here in a public forum).
-Shake as much water as possible from noodles and place in dry pan on stovetop over heat. This is supposed to change their texture from gooey to more al dente. I did it for about 5 minutes, experimenting with heats and they stayed pretty stretchy with some crispy ends. Not perfect.
-Makes 2 servings


Nutritional Information:
(for one serving of sauce)
Calories: 183
Fat: 4 g
Protein: 20 g
Carbs: 9 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugar: 6 g
Net carbs: 7 g


(for one serving of noodles)
Calories: 20
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 1 g
Carbs: 3 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugar: 0 g
Net carbs: 1 g


Yum or Not:

The best part of this dinner, I'd say, was the chunkiness of the meat and tomatoes in the sauce.

For the amount of fresh ingredients, the sauce was yum. Overall, though, I'd say it was a medi-yum. The Captain kindly rated it an 8/10, but he only had one serving (he did have a big bowl of penne noodles with his, though). I missed my fresh tomatoes, garlic and onions. Also, I'd usually throw in some sundried tomatoes, but I skipped on those tonight.

In terms of how darn low they are in net carbs, the noodles are good. I see on the website that the manufacturer (House Foods) sells macaroni shiritaki, too. I'd like to try those. I tasted a few of the pan fried noodles and didn't love the texture, so I cut them into little pieces before pouring the sauce on. Meh. They were medi-yum. It was an OK base for pasta. A bit better than spaghetti squash, but really, I wasn't fooled. I knew I was not eating pasta.

We have a fair amount of leftovers, so I'll be eating this again tomorrow. I wonder how the shiritaki will keep with sauce on top.

Fried Eggs on Cheese Crisps

I've been skipping breakfast lately and really noticing it. I've been waking up and not feeling hungry, so haven't bothered to whip up my regular egg scrambler/messy omelette. That ends up sabotaging me later in the day, though. I end up feeling really hungry and overeating.

I have realized that breakfast is, indeed, the most important meal of the day and that if I have a huge dose of protein first thing, I feel much better all day. 


On the weekend, we planned to pick up amazing breakfast treats for a visiting friend at the Art-is-In Bakery (I was going to have an open-faced breakfast sandwich). We drove up to the loading dock that houses the amazing bakery and found it was closed (oh yeah, Easter is a holiday for bakers too).

Luckily, there were two little shops open in nearby Westboro and Captain Handsome picked up fresh Montreal-style bagels and bacon at The Bagelshop and I got some eggs at Herb and Spice.

When we got home, I got cooking and decided to skip the open-faced part of my breakfast sandwich and stick the eggs and bacon on cheese instead. Yay, fewer carbs!

The Captain and our guest both passed on eggs, so I whipped them up some pancakes (I didn't even have a bite, despite the real maple syrup!)


My mega protein brunch kept me going and helped me to resist having thirds of my brother-in-law's amazing stuffing later in the evening!


Ingredients:
2 fresh eggs
1/2 c Kraft Tex-Mex shredded cheese (light)


Procedure:
Eggs:
-If you're having bacon, cook it first and leave some of the fat in the pan to make ultra yummy fried eggs. Otherwise, melt a little bit of butter into the pan.
-Crack two eggs over the pan, heat on med-high, cover, cook for 2 minutes or until most of runny bits are no longer runny.
-Flip eggs and cook for another 15 seconds or so.
-Serve on top of cheese crisps.
Cheese Crisps:
-Rip a piece of parchement paper so that it fits on top of a microwave safe plate.
-Take a handful of shredded cheese and split into two even piles on top of parchment paper.
-Flatten cheese out evenly.
-Cook in microwave for 1 minute.

(makes one serving)

Nutritional Information:
(per serving of 2 eggs and 2 cheese crisps, bacon would be extra)
Calories: 305
Fat: 23 g
Protein: 25 g
Carbs: 3 g
Fibre: 0 g
Sugar: 1 g
Net Carbs: 3 g

Yum or Not:
This was really tasty. I didn't include the bacon, because the bacon I had wasn't awesome and I didn't include it in the photo. Overall, a simple and yum breakfast. I didn't feel deprived. The cheese underneath the eggs was crispy but a little melty because of the heat of the eggs.

When I was little, one of my favourite breakfasts was fried eggs with toast fingers to dip in the yellows. The crisps under the eggs served as a bit of a toast consistency and soaked up some of the yolks. These were a lovely substitute for bread.

Once again, yay for cheese crisps!

In other related news: My mother-in-law, who is incredible chef and loyal reader, has oven-baked cheese crisps for years, but has always had to move ultra fast to remove them from the cookie sheet so they don't stick. She is now using parchment paper (at my recommendation) and has realized what a wonder it is! 

Poached Eggs, Pre-Exam Protein Powerful Italian Chicken and a Beef Wellington Preview

Poached Eggs in Silicone Muffin Liners

Poached eggs make for a healthy breakfast served on whole grain toast or an English muffin.  Or if you're going low-carb work atop steamed asparagus and lox.

My mom gave me the handing little yellow egg poacher pictured below (FREE! with purchase of Helmann's mayonnaise).  But, making a single poached egg at a time would be painstakingly slow so I had to improvise.

A couple of years ago I was on a clean-eating morning muffin kick, and I bought these silicone muffin liners because I was sick of half of my muffin sticking to the paper liner.

I coated them with a little butter and they made picture-perfect poached eggs.

Poaching eggs is actually a bit of an art.  Here are few tips I've come across:

- Choose a shallow wide pan that's easy to slip the eggs in and out of.

- Be sure to only let the water get to a simmer (never a boil), otherwise you end up with chewy eggs.

- Eggs only take about 3-5 minutes to cook (be careful not to overdo it and end up with solid yolks).

 Pre-Exam Protein Powerful Italian Chicken

My sister-in-low and fellow blogger extraordinaire has been inspiring me to experiment with low-carb cookery.  It's agonizing for me to try to swear off scrumptious breads, pasta and cereals.  I needed a quick, healthy meal the night before one of my big exams so I invented this modified version of chicken parm.
Choose boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have been cut open to create thinner, flatter piece of chicken.
I dipped the chicken in egg whites and then in spelt flour (a gluten-free flour alternative).
Then I pan-fried the chicken in a few tablespoons of coconut oil, to make it brown and little crispy.
With the oven preheated to 375, I topped my pretty li'l breasts in thinly sliced roma tomatoes, chopped fresh basil and bocconcini mozzarella.
I baked them in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheese was sizzlin'.
Serves with mixed greens and balsamic vinaigrette.


Super YUM!

Easter Dinner

I will post details of the recipes in the Easter feast in the coming days, but wanted to post up a little tantalizer in the meantime.

On the menu last night:

Beef Wellington

Scalloped Potatoes with Leeks

Japanese-inspired Asparagus with Wasabi Mayo and Panko

Caesar Salad

Picture Perfect Portobellos!
Used to create a layer of duxelles deliciousness atop the beef ...

Sliced portobellos looked like moustaches!

3 lbs of potatoes on the nose!

Ta-da!

Turkey Peri Kebabs

Aw! Look who else thought their dinner was Yum! Introducing Ap and Trixie. Two more taste testers at Yum or Not. They gave two yums up for their Fancy Feast Chicken Liver Pate tonight.

Tonight, I created a super simple dinner. I thought we'd be keeping half of the food for leftovers tomorrow, but the Captain had three servings!

Turkey Peri Kebabs

Ingredients:

4 tbsp Nando's Medium Peri sauce
12 oz boneless skinless turkey breast (leftovers from one of the huge ones I got from Partyville, USA - the Kosher Butcher), sliced into small strips
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped into large pieces
Sea salt and pepper
4 wooden skewers

Procedure:
-I marinated the turkey overnight in 3 tbsp of Nando's Medium Peri marinade (purchased at delicious Nando's. If you haven't been there, go.)
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-Slice turkey into small chunks
-Slice onion into small chunks

-Thread alternating chunks of turkey and onion onto each skewer
-Sprinkle remaining marinade onto skewers, season with salt and pepper

The skewers got a little burnt. I'm going to look into how to prevent this in the future. Can you soak them before putting them in the oven?

-Bake in oven for 10 minutes, flip, cook for another 10 minutes
-Broil for 5 minutes (to add a little crispiness and emulate BBQ)

(makes 4 kebabs)

Nutritional Information:
(per one kebab)
Calories: 127
Carbs: 5 g
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 23 g (yay, turkey!)
Fibre: 1 g
Sugar: 2g

Yum or Not:
I served this with green beans and baby carrots. Like I said, it was an ultra simple dinner.

I told the Captain that I wouldn't be offended if he didn't like this dinner, as it was
SO freaking simple. He ended up loving it. He did have a little trouble getting the meat off the skewers, though.

This will be a great one to replicate when I have no time to prepare something, I can just whip this together.

You could easily add different veggies to this or use a different marinade.

Really, it's probably not worth posting this recipe, it's that simple, but today was a big day for me. Dinner was a simple success after a wonderful weigh in. I reached a milestone. I've lost forty pounds since December! It's a pretty exciting milestone for me and I felt like blogging!

So, a yum dinner and a happy night!

Spaghetti Squash Low-Carb(onara)

Tonight, I tried something completely new. I roasted a spaghetti squash and had it sitting in the fridge and wanted to have a decadent, pasta-type meal. I also had a few slices of the yummiest bacon left from my new favourite store, The Produce Depot, just hanging out in the fridge.

One of the message boards I lurk on Reddit is keto (people doing a ketogenic, low carb, high fat/protein diet) and someone posted a photo of their version of low-carb pasta carbonara. I didn't read or save the link or recipe, but I think I had the basic idea. I was inspired as I considered what I had in the kitchen.

I gave 'er a go.

Read on to see how it went.

Spaghetti Squash Low-Carb(onara)

Ingredients:
1 small spaghetti squash (nets about 2 cups of squash "noodles")
5 slices of smoked bacon
1/2 c frozen peas
Thin slice of red onion, diced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light plain cream cheese
2 tbsp 0% plain Greek yogurt
1/4 c part-skim Mozarella cheese
1/4 c Asiago cheese

Procedure:

-Pre-cook the spaghetti squash (slice in half, roast at 350 degrees for 45 min-1 hour, face down in a little bit of low-sodium chicken broth)
-Spoon out the seeds from the squash and use a fork to pull out the strands of deliciousness, put aside (this refrigerates and keeps nicely for a few days)

-Pre-heat oven to broil
-Cook the bacon on the stovetop

Gratuitous bacon shot.

-Remove the bacon and cut into small strips, return to pan
-Add garlic, butter, onions and peas and to pan with bacon, sautee for about 5 minutes (or until peas are thawed and warm)

-Add cream cheese and Greek yogurt and sautee for another few minutes

-Add spaghetti squash, stir

-Add mozzarella cheese, stir until cheese is melted

-Divide mixture into 3 oven-safe dishes (ramekins, if you have them), top with asiago cheese

Pre-cheese.

Cheesed-up.

-Broil in oven for a few minutes (keep an eye on your cheese and watch that it bubbles, but doesn't burn)

Three little soldiers, hard at work, getting yummed up.

I had to top two of the servings with mozzarella, as I only had enough asiago for one. The mozzarella browned/burned really quickly. Next time, I'd put asiago on top for all of them.

-Enjoy!

(makes 3 servings)

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 245
Carbs: 8 g
Fat: 17 g
Protein: 12 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugar: 4 g

Yum or Not:
This was really, really delicious, and because Captain Handsome's wary of both peas and spaghetti squash, I have two leftover ramekins of Spaghetti Squash Low-Carb(onara) leftover for myself. The taste of spaghetti squash is nice. It's a little nutty and inoffensive, but the consistency isn't quite pasta-esque. The taste of this dish was terrific, but still doesn't replace a pasta craving entirely. I wonder how this recipe would be with a larger veggie base, something like roasted cauliflower.

Overall, the taste was super-yum and the consistency was good, but a little like baby food. I'm sure you can see that in the pictures. Don't let that turn you off the recipe, it was really great!