Arroz Con Pollo Pink Style

It was Cinco de Mayo yesterday which meant we had to have some form of Mexican food for dinner. One of my favorite Mexican foods is arroz con pollo. Prior to following PINK method, it is what I would order when we would go out to a Mexican restaurant. One day when eating some cauliflower fried rice, it hit me...I should try to make arroz con pollo using cauliflower rice, this is what I came up with. Not to toot my own horn but it was really good.

"Arroz" Con Pollo (serves 4)
1 head of cauliflower
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 onion
1 red pepper
1 tomato chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper
olive oil

Method

Start by cutting up your chicken into bite size pieces and sprinkle with the tumeric, paprika, cumin and salt and pepper

Cook the chicken on medium heat with a mist of olive oil

While the chicken is cooking chop your onion and peppers either by hand or if you are lazy like me in the blender or food processor. Also mince your cloves of garlic.

Next create your cauliflower rice by adding your cauliflower florets to the food processor/blender and pulsing until the cauliflower resembles rice.

When the chicken is cooked through, add in the chopped onion, peppers and minced garlic and cook until it softens.

Add in the cauliflower rice and stir to combine the chicken and rice. Pour in the 1/4 cup of water and cover pan with a lid so that the "rice" can steam.

While the rice is cooking, chop your tomato and cilantro.

Add the chopped tomato to the pan and stir to combine.

Let cook a few more minutes and just before serving stir in the chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!

A great side would be some lightened up guacamole served with some chopped vegetables.

Nachos, I want nachos!

I must admit it, I have a block right now when it comes to creating new recipes. I can't seem to find inspiration or maybe it is that I can't seem to find the time. Either way, I am bored with food and I have found myself really wanting to stray from the PINK eating plan. (Note, I said wanting to. I have remained, yeah for me and will power.)  Let's hope that changes soon or else it is going to be very difficult to get this last 40 pounds off my body.

This isn't a recipe per say, more of an idea on how you could switch up a typical taco meal if you don't want to have taco salad yet again. Last night's dinner was "nachos" if you want to call it that. I was wanting nachos all day so I started to think about what I could use for the base of my nachos that would give me the crunch that the chips give you when you are eating nachos. I decided to cut some mini bell peppers in half and use those as my "chips." Yes, I know that they don't taste like chips but they do have that crunch factor so it was a decent swap. I topped my "chips" with a couple of tablespoons of re-fried beans and some ground turkey taco meat. I also added a little homemade pico de gallo to the top. A dollop of lightened up guacamole dip would also have been great on these but of course my avocados were not rip yet so I had to go with out. Yes, I shed a tear over that one. I do love some guacamole.

Help me out, I need some inspiration, if you have a great recipe, send it my way.

Coconut Cauliflower "Rice"

I just have to share a funny story before we get to the coconut cauliflower "rice" because it is too funny. I apologize if you are friends with me on Facebook because you probably already heard about it but who cares laugh at me again, it is okay.

So I went to the gym today to run and as I start my run, I realize that I am going to have an issue with my panties. They just don't fit anymore due to the weight loss and with every step, they are rolling down my booty. So annoying but what is a girl to do? I decided to just let them do what they are going to do. Eventually they settle around my hips just under my booty. So I continue to run. Yes it was uncomfortable but I pressed on. At around the 1 mile mark I decide to pull them up so I reach down to grab said panties around my hips only to discover that not only have my panties rolled down around my hips but that they have taken my pants right along with them thus revealing my back side to the gentleman behind me on the elliptical. Yes, go ahead and laugh. I showed my full moon to a stranger. Well, you'd think I must have run screaming from the gym right? No I simply pulled up my pants, walked to the bathroom took off those granny panties and returned to finish my run commando. My old self would have been mortified but the new more confident me, thinks it is funny. That man behind me got a pretty good show if you ask me, my booty is looking pretty good these days thanks to the PINK workouts.

Coconut Cauliflower"Rice"
1 head of cauliflower
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. minced ginger
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup coconut milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
Start by taking the cauliflower florets off the head.

Take the florets and put them in the blender or food processor.

Pulse the florets until they are chopped and resemble rice.

Add the coconut oil, onion, garlic and ginger to a large pan and saute until the onion has softened.

  Add in the cauliflower "rice" and Stir to combine.

Add in the coconut milk.

Cover and let simmer/steam for about 5-10 minutes.

Uncover and let simmer for a few more minutes just to let any standing liquid evaporate.

Taste the "rice" and add salt and pepper if you feel it is necessary.

Stir in the unsweetened coconut.

Serve with the Sticky Chicken I posted yesterday and enjoy!

Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

This meal was a treat for most of my family. Why? You ask, well we don't generally eat beef in our house. My husband's body just doesn't process it very well so he doesn't eat it. I am not a fan of making several different meals so we have just gotten use to not having beef. I however love beef so once or twice a year when I find it on sale I will make something with beef which is a treat for myself and my kiddos. This beef and broccoli was a hit with my family and much to my dismay there wasn't a morsel leftover for my lunch the next day because my kids all had seconds. I know I shouldn't complain that it was all gone because that means my kids ate a really healthy meal full of vegetables but man was I looking forward to having some for lunch the next day. For the kids, I served this over Yakisoba noodles, for myself since I was on reset, I served it over cauliflower "rice" but you could also serve over brown rice if you are in the primary phase. Give it a try, it was really good.

Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry (serves 5)
20 ounces beef (I used a London Broil cut)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp Bragg's aminos
7 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup stir-fry sauce

Stir-Fry Sauce
I found this recipe in Rocco Despirito's book Now Eat This and modified it to make it PINK appropriate.
1 tbsp. Seasame oil
2 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
2-3 tbsp Bragg's aminos
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 ounces of tomato paste
8 drops stevia or sweetener or your choice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Slice the beef into thin strips

Add the garlic, ginger, vinegar and Bragg's to the slice beef and stir to coat the beef. You will want to marinate your beef for at least a few hours in the garlic, ginger, vinegar and Bragg's mixture.

After the beef has marinated for a few hours you will want to make your stir-fry sauce.

Add your chopped garlic, ginger and green onions to a pan that has been misted with olive oil. Saute until you can smell the garlic and ginger and the onions have softened.

While the the garlic and ginger are cooking add the remaining ingredients for the stir-fry sauce to a bowl and whisk to incorporate any lumps from the arrowroot powder and incorporate the tomato paste.

Add in the liquid mixture you just created to the saute pan with the garlic, ginger and green onions. Cook until the entire mixture has thickened. Take the sauce off the heat and set aside. This will make about 2 cups of sauce, you will not use it all in this recipe so use what you need and save the rest for another meal. It will last in the refrigerator for about a week or you can freeze it to use later.

When the sauce is done, you will saute your marinated beef in a mist of olive oil. If there is a lot of marinade or juice in the beef, be sure to pour it off.

When the beef is browned, add in your broccoli and let cook until the broccoli has softened to your likeness.

When the broccoli is soft, add in about 1/2 cup of the stir fry sauce and stir to combine.

If you like your stir-fry a little more saucy, add in a little more. The 1/2 cup will not make a super saucy stir-fry but the sauce is pretty strong so start with a little and add more if you want.

Serve over brown rice or cauliflower rice and Enjoy!

Turkey Burgers and Zucchini Chips

Turkey burgers are a staple meal in our house. They are quick and easy, perfect for a night that is full of baseball and softball practice. The zucchini chips are easy to make but do take quite a while to achieve the crispy texture, what is nice is you can make them stick them on a low temperature and step away and do something else while they cook.

Zucchini Chips

1 whole zucchini 

olive oil

Mrs. Dash original

nutritional yeast

Method

Slice zucchini thinly using a mandolin or a knife, you want your slices to be about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Mist the slice with olive oil and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash and nutritional yeast, stir so that all the slices are coated.

Lay the zucchini slices out on a cookie and bake at 200 degrees until they are crispy, mine took about 1 hour 25 minutes but you will want to check yours every so often. I also turned mine over about half way through.

Turkey Burgers

1 package lean ground turkey

1/2 cup vegetable puree

1 egg

2-3 tbsp water

1 tsp Mrs. Dash

Dash of salt and pepper

Lettuce (used to wrap your burgers)

Method

Start by making your vegetable puree, to do this add any variety of vegetable to your blenders, I used carrots, mushrooms, colored peppers, spinach and onion along with a little water, just enough to help blend the vegetables, you don't want to make a soup.

Add your vegetable puree to your ground turkey along with you choice of spices and 1 egg. They egg helps to bind everything together, yes it is more protein than 4 ounces but I ended up getting 7 burgers out of the recipe so in the end I think you are not over on your protein portion. 

Form patties and grill. These are fairly loose burgers, I think they would fall apart on a BBQ but they were great on an indoor grill pan, just be careful when flipping so they don't break apart.

To serve, wrap lettuce around your turkey burger and serve any toppings you desire, I used tomato, onion and avocado. 

Enjoy!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Harvest Salad

When I told my hubby about salad week here at "Losin' it" he said you must post your harvest salad recipe. It is his absolute favorite salad, yes I had to modify a little bit because the original recipe calls for feta cheese which PINK asks you to avoid. Even without the feta it is spectacular. Most people when told about the salad crinkle their nose slightly due to the long list of items in the salad but every time I bring it to a potluck or party I am inevitably asked for the recipe. What is so great about it is you eat it and feel satisfied like you ate a meal instead of just a salad. Try it and let me know what you think.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Harvest Salad (makes 2 large salads)
4 ounces chopped cooked chicken
1 hard boiled egg
4-5 cups lettuce (I used romaine but use what you like best)
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped apple
4 mushrooms sliced
1/4 of a red onion chopped
2-3 tbsp raisins or dried cranberries (choose if you want to use, I know dried fruit can be high in sugar. I chose to use because I was only having half of an apple when we are allowed a whole apple and I used so little but it is your choice)
2-3 tbsp chopped raw almonds (again choose to use if you want, almonds are a protein and with 2 ounces of chicken and 1/2 of an egg, you are technically getting your allotment of protein for the meal, but I often add an ounce or two more protein in a day which the PINK method book says is okay to do if you feel you need it.)

Balsamic Dijon Dressing
2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp. Olive oil

Method

Chop and cook your chicken, be sure to include enough seasoning to flavor your chicken, I used pepper and an herb and garlic flavored Mrs. Dash

Chop and wash your lettuce

Chop your apples, tomato, onion, mushrooms and egg

Make your dressing by adding your oil, balsamic vinegar and mustard to a bowl and whisking together until it is combined and in consistency.

To serve make a bed of lettuce on two plates and top with the apples, onions, mushrooms, tomato, chicken and egg. Sprinkle the almonds and raisins or cranberries over the salad and drizzle with your dressing.

Enjoy!