The UnDiet Weight Loss Guide » April 2015

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Gluten Free Kid Friendly Paleo Recipes Starches Vegan Vegetarian

Sweet Potato “Fries”

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baked sweet potato friesI’ve been posting a lot of recipes lately with quotation marks around them. “Fries”, “rice”, “potato”, “guac”. Oh well, this one is one of my favorites. It’s quite simple and really nothing new but I thought I’d post it anyway as a reminder of how easy it is to eat healthy and enjoy what you’re eating. Why feel deprived while eating to lose weight and get healthy if you don’t have to?

I peeled these potatoes because they were a little old, but I prefer these “fries” with the skin on. Cut sweet potatoes into fry shaped sticks or wedges. You can cut them as thin or as thick as you like, the important thing is to cut them all roughly the same size so they’ll cook evenly.

Place them on a baking sheet. Spray or toss them with your choice of oil, coconut oil or olive oil are my oils of choice with these. Sprinkle with sea salt and arrange so they’re in one layer and not too crowded. Pop them into an oven preheated to 450 degrees. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes depending on how large your slices are. Take out of the oven and flip them after 15 minutes, 10 minutes if your slices are especially thin.

Variations

1 teaspoon (per potato) of a spice or spice combination of your choice:

  • chipotle powder (small pinch)
  • wasabe powder (small pinch)
  • smoked paprika
  • fajita seasoning
  • taco seasoning
  • Chinese five-spice
  • cumin
  • pumpkin pie spice
  • garam masala
  • Cajun seasoning

Eat them as is or serve them up with ketchup, mustard, mayo or as you’ll see in the photo above I served mine with mayo to which I’d added mashed cloves of roasted garlic.

You can thank me later 🙂

Gluten Free High Protein Low Calorie Low Carb Paleo Recipes Vegetarian

Provincial Cauli”rice”

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cauliflower riceShredded cauliflower used in place of rice is the new Paleo and Low Carb Hero. I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting to find the easiest and foolproof way to prepare it and have come up with lots of options which I’ll be sharing in upcoming posts. Today I want to share my Provenical Cauli”rice” recipe. Warning: this recipe does not mask the taste of cauliflower. It will taste like a French vegetable dish, not like rice. I’ve found that the cauli”rice” recipes that taste closer to rice are those that are heavily spiced such as curried “rice”, Spanish “rice”, and those with tomato paste.

I’ve been shredding cauliflower for these recipes using my food processor which involves cutting the florets away from the core. Getting out the food processor and fitting it with the shredding disk. Shredding the cauliflower. Cleaning and putting the food processor away. Today I wanted to see if using a box grater would be easier – and it was – significantly easier. I trimmed away the green leaves and that was all the prep needed. I shredded the whole cauliflower with the box grater, stopping when I reached the core. It took less time than it took using the food processor (including the setup and cleanup) and I burned a few calories in the process. So in the future I’ll use the food processor if I already have it out for other projects but otherwise I’ll use a box grater.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 head cauliflower

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Trim the green leaves from the cauliflower and shred the florets using a box grater or food processor. Discard the stem and core.

Heat oil in large saute pan over medium heat. When oil is hot add the shredded cauliflower and stir to coat with oil. Stir in Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper. Cook until cauliflower is al dente. Remove from heat. Taste and add salt and/or pepper if needed.

Variation

Drizzle the finished dish with extra-virgin olive oil or melted butter. If you’re doing Paelo you’ll want to avoid the butter though.

Use Italian seasoning in place of Herbs de Provence.

Gluten Free Recipes Starches Vegetarian

Brown Rice Milk Semi-fail

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brown-rice-polentaMy attempt to make brown rice milk by using a blender to buzz cooked brown rice and water was a complete failure. It tasted like dirty water. However I decided to make this into a creative challenge and see if I could make it into something edible.

I poured the water and rice into a pot and started heating it up. After being buzzed in the blender the rice was almost a mash. Once it got hot it very quickly thickened up into what looked like a porridge. I added a vegetable bouillon cube, tasted and was in seventh heaven. What I had was a savory porridge or rice polenta. Since I’d picked up some spinach from the farmers market that morning I decided to add some curry to my rice polenta, spoon it onto a platter, top it with spinach and onions sauteed with some garlic and call it a meal.

While the brown rice milk experiment was a complete fail, I’m excited to try some variations of my rice polenta. Here are some of my ideas:

– Use nondairy milk instead of water, add some raisins or dates, and your sweetener of choice for a delicious rice pudding. Top with diced or pureed berries.

– Use canned roasted tomatoes with their juice in place of the water.

– Top with any of the following:

  • cubes of non-dairy cheese
  • sauteed tofu
  • cubed tempeh
  • soy chorizo, non-dairy cheese, avocado, salsa
  • roasted veggies
  • ratatouille
  • vegetable stew

Please share with us in the comments below if you try this rice polenta with your own spin.

 

High Protein Low Carb Paleo Recipes

Scrambled Redux

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Thank you to Erica Rivers Cooks for this fab pic of her version of this meal.

This breakfast is a great way to use leftovers from dinner. Use any cheese, meat and veggies that you have available. Don’t be shy, this works great with chicken, steak, crab, lobster, sausage … and pretty much any veggie you have cooked up with the exception of maybe fennel, beets, cabbage, or okra.

The proper way to make this meal is to heat the meat and veggies in a separate pan from the eggs, but I usually just use a large pan and cook the eggs on one side and heat the meat and veggies on the other side. I don’t worry if some of the egg gets onto the meat and veggies side, I just move it back to the egg side and keep cooking.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter
3 large eggs
1 glug half and half or heavy cream
salt and pepper
cheese, shredded or cubed
any cooked meat
cooked veggies

Instructions

Heat butter in small skillet. Add eggs and cream, season with a pinch each of salt and pepper and stir to combine. Stir occasionally and when eggs are almost completely set sprinkle cheese on top, cover and remove from heat.

Reheat meat and veggies in a separate pan. Slide onto serving platter or individual plates. Top with eggs.

High Protein Low Carb Paleo Recipes

Scotch Eggs

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scotch-eggs-large

4 servings

The Scots are famous for deep frying pretty much anything. Deep fried Mars bar anyone? They have them in Scotland. This recipe is a healthier version than the traditional deep fried Scottish recipe.

To make breakfast easier you can hard boil the eggs the night before or use leftover Easter eggs. You can even make them completely, refrigerate them and serve cold, room temp or reheated the next day.

 

Ingredients

1 pound breakfast sausage, divided into 4 equal portions
5 large eggs
¼ cup soy flour (or any other non-wheat flour)
1 cup finely crushed pork rinds

Instructions

Bring a small pan with 4 cups of water to a full boil. Carefully place 4 of the eggs in the boiling water. Place a lid on the pot. Turn the heat off but leave them on the burner. Set a timer for 20 minutes and then remove from burner and pour off the hot water. Run cold water into the pan and when the eggs have cooled enough to touch them, peel them.

Place the flour on a plate.

Place the fifth egg in a pie plate and lightly beat.

Place the pork rinds in another pie plate.

Roll the eggs in the flour to coat. Wrap each egg with a portion of the sausage. Dip sausage wrapped egg in the beaten egg and then coat thoroughly with the pork rind crumbs patting lightly so they adhere well.

Place coated eggs in a lightly oiled baking dish and chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake eggs until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition Info

Calories 242.4
Total Fat 17.4 g
Saturated Fat 5.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.7 g
Cholesterol 296.8 mg
Sodium 518.6 mg
Potassium 196.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.8 g
Dietary Fiber 0.5 g
Net Carbs 2.3
Sugars 0.6 g
Protein 17.4 g

 

Paleo Version

Skip the pork rinds, flour and fifth egg. Just wrap the sausage around the hard-boiled egg and go from there.

Living Food Low Calorie Neutral Recipes

A Very Simple Salad

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lettuce-salad

 

I’ve been working on recipes for the new cookbook for so long that I’ve gotten into the habit of more elaborate meals and it feels good to not only enjoy but look forward to an easy lettuce salad with a very simple salad dressing and one garnish.

The Salad

Fill a bowl with lettuce torn into bite-size pieces. Toss with dressing. Garnish with one item.

The Dressing

Shake or whisk together fresh lemon or lime juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and adjust to your taste.

The Garnishes

  • avocado
  • hard-boiled egg
  • toasted nuts or seeds
  • shredded chicken or turkey
  • bacon
  • sliced pepperoni, pastrami, corned beef, or prosciutto
  • feta cheese
  • blue cheese
  • shredded Parmesan cheese
  • fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese
  • sun-dried tomatoes
  • orange slices
  • thinly sliced red onion
  • artichoke hearts

Now go enjoy your lunch 🙂