Easter Dinner – Turkey & Cumin Green Beans

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Happy Easter all!

Today’s Easter dinner will be real simple and healthy.

Roasted Turkey
Green Beans with Lemon and Cumin
Mixed Green Salad

Nothing to fancy with the turkey today. Normally I would do a maple glaze (very yummy, but very high carb). So today the turkey will just go in a roasting bag and into an oven. For folks who have never tried a roasting bag before, your turkey will consistently come out juicy.

I normally I add my spices to about 1/2 stick of soft butter. The spices can be simply salt and pepper or chopped rosemary and thyme. Today will be just salt and pepper. I rub the butter mixture over the turkey and under the skin. Then truss your turkey.

I add 1 tbsp of flour to the roasting bag and shake the bag to make sure the flour coats the inside of the bag. This is to make sure the Turkey skin doesn’t stick to the bag when cooking. Just follow the instructions that come with the roasting bag on oven temp and how long to cook the bird. The beauty of using the roasting bag is that you don’t have to baste the turkey or constantly check on it. You just need to be sure that when you place it in the oven, the bag has room to expand – you don’t want it to make contact with your oven walls.

Green Beans With Lemon & Cumin
Carbs: 3g
Servings: 6

Ingredients
1 lbs. Green Beans, trimmed
2 Tsp Butter
2 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Freshly Grated Lemon Zest
2 Tsp Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/8 Tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions
Bring pot of salted water to boil and add green beans and simmer until tender – 3 minutes. Drain pot and plunge beans into a large bowl of icy water to stop cooking. Drain beans again.

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add cumin and saute until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add beans, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice and pepper. Saute beans until they are tender crisp and lightly browned – 4 minutes. Serve hot. Yum.

Marinated Tuna Steaks – I Hope This Turns Out Good

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Image courtesy of franky242/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of franky242/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m making a Tuna Steak today. This is a big deal because I am not the biggest fish fan. Well, actually I hate fish. There I said it.

Part of it is the texture. It feels too mushy for meat. But mostly, its that awful fishy taste. Yuck!

My two exceptions – tuna steaks and orange roughy. Both are very good. I won’t say delicious, but they are good. So today, I’m making tuna steaks. The orange juice and olive oil are what brings the carbs here, but the total grams is still below my 6g of carbs per meal. The rest will come from some mixed greens.

I’ll let you know if this is good.

Marinated Tuna Steaks
3.7g Carbs
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 4-ounce Tuna Steaks
1/4 C Orange Juice
1/4 C Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Clove Garlic, Minched
1/2 Tsp Chopped Fresh Oregano
1/2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper

Directions
For marinade, mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, oregano and pepper. Place tuna in plastic bag, add marinade and seal. Turn bag to coat tuna. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, being sure to turn once.

Preheat grill for high heat. Lightly oil grate. Cook tuna steaks for 5 – 6 minutes, then turn and baste with marinade. Cook for an additional 5 minutes (or until done). Discard remaining marinade.

Lime Chili Grilled Wings

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Wow. Just wow.

I made Lime-Chili Wings yesterday. A very easy to make Atkins recipe. Also pretty damn tasty. If I had one change to it, I would limit the lime juice. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup. However, I think that makes the marinade too thin. I think I would prefer more of a paste that really clings to the wings. But that is just me. I ended up baking these instead of grilling due to the weather. Nonetheless these are delicious.

Lime Chili Grilled Wings
Serving Size: 3 wings
Net Carbs/serving: 1g

Ingredients
1/4 C Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
1 Tbsp Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tsp Chili Powder
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
3 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro
12 Chicken Wings

Directions
Combine lime juice, oil, chili powder, ground cumin, salt and cilantro in a large bowl. Add wings and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours, turning occasionally. Heat grill to medium-high. Grill wings until browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

If baking in oven, preheat oven to 375 and back wings until browned and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Quick & Tasty Caprese Salad

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Caprese Salad - quick and easy lunch that is only 6g of carbs.

Caprese Salad – quick and easy lunch that is only 6g of carbs.

Behold! The simplest and most delicious salad. Caprese salads are my favorite. I made this in 2 minutes.

It looks small but I find it filling. Plus, I normally snack at about 2:30, so this carries me well into my snack time.

When making this for friends, I normally would layer the fresh mozzarella slices on top of tomato slices, but I was hungry. No fancy presentation needed. 

If you’ve never had this before, I encourage you to try it. Now normally I would use balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I went with apple cider vinegar this time because balsamic is slightly higher in carbs.

Caprese Salad – Serves 1
Carb Count: 6g

Ingredients
1 Roma Tomato, cut into large chunks
4 ounces Fresh Mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1-2 Tsp of Cider Vinegar Dressing
4 leaves Fresh Basil, cut into thin strips

Directions
Place tomatoes and mozzarella into a bowl. Add dressing and toss. Sprinkle fresh basil on top.

Kicking Chicken Up a Notch: Rubs!

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Image courtesy of Dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I tend to use Sunday to cook for the week. Just makes it easier as I plan out my weekly menu. This week’s main staple: Chicken! Excited? Yeah, me neither. Since chicken can get a bit dull, and I’m making about 12 breasts, I have 2 rubs and a marinade I’ll be using on the chicken – 4 breasts per concoction. I find that I’m more likely to eat the chicken during the week if there is a bit of zip to the tasty goodness. Below are recipes for a blackened cajun rub and a moroccan rub that I discovered on the Atkins site. The amounts for each ingredient is what I use to make each rub in large batches. I started making the rubs in bulk so that I don’t have to constantly pull out all of the ingredients each time I want a rub. The batches can usually last about a month.

Rub 1: Blackened Cajun Rub
Good with beef, chicken or fish

1/2 C Paprika + 2 tbsp
1/2 C Dried Oregano
1/4 C Salt
1/4 C Garlic Powder
4 tsp Dried Thyme
4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Place ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside a small portion of the rub, enough for 4 chicken breasts.

Rub 2: Moroccan Rub
Good with chicken, lamb or shrimp

1/2 C Cumin + 2 tbsp
1/3 C Ground Coriander
1/3 C Salt
2 Tbsp Black Pepper + 2tsp
2 Tbsp Ground Ginger + 2 tsp
2 Tbsp No Calorie Sweetener (granular is better than powder)
4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Place ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside a small portion of the rub, enough for 4 chicken breasts.

Applying The Rub
After you’ve cleaned your meat, pat it dry. Take the rub in your hands and being rubbing it onto the meat, making sure to coat all sides. Some of you might be inclined to drop the rub in a baggie add the meat and shake the bag a la Shake n’ Bake. You could, but I like to physically rub the seasoning on the meat. Its the best way to ensure the meat is fully coated and that you have enough rub mix actually on the meat and not just a dusting.

Once you have rubbed the mix onto the chicken breasts, place it in a large resealable baggie and add 1-2 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil. Let the bag ‘o meat sit for about 30 minutes, flipping half way through. You want the olive oil to coat the chicken. After 30 it’s ready for grilling or baking.