All posts by Rene Averett

Asian Recipes, Recipes, Seafood, Soups and Stews

Thai Coconut Soup Bring the Flavor

Photo: Thai Coconut Soup

This week’s “Meatless Monday” recipe isn’t entirely without “meat,” but as I understand it, seafood isn’t included in the ban. I’m using shrimp in this tasty and slightly-spiced soup, but if you’re vegetarian or don’t want to eat seafood, then you can leave it out or replace it with cubes of firm tofu.

The base recipe came from the Atkins web site; however, I added more to it to make it a heartier soup. While it is delicious, it isn’t completely filling, so maybe you can add a salad and/or a low carb roll or even make a grilled cheese sandwich to accompany. Although the recipe makes six one-cup servings, it is low enough in carbs that you can make four servings and gain another half cup of yum. You can also increase the amount of shrimp in it.

Thai Coconut Soup

3 cups Chicken Broth
13.5-ounce can Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 piece fresh Ginger, 1-inch, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices
1/2 cup Spinach or Bok Choy, chopped
2 tablespoons Fish Sauce or Worcestershire Sauce
1 Jalapeño Pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated Lime Zest
1 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
1/2 pound medium Shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 ounces Mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup Daikon Radish, cubed
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh Cilantro (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh Lime Juice

Peel and chop or slice all the vegetables before you begin to cook. Cut the daikon into  small cubes so it will cook quicker.

In an eight cup pot, add the chicken broth, coconut milk, ginger, jalapeño, fish or Worcester Sauce, lime zest, and sugar substitute. Cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil, stirring a few times, then reduce the heat to low, partly cover the top, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger slices and discard. Add the daikon and cook another 10 minutes to soften the daikon.

Add shrimp, mushrooms, and bok choy or spinach, Stir well and cook until shrimp are cooked, about four minutes. Stir in the green onions, cilantro if using, and the lime juice.

Spoon into bowls and enjoy.

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Info: Thai Coconut Soup with Shrimp

Nutrition Info for Thai Coconut Soup

 

Asian Recipes, Condiments and Sauces, Recipes, Vegetarian

Quick Vegetable Stir-fry

Photo: Vegetable Stir Fry

Ready for “Meatless Monday?” Here’s a quick to make rice-less fried rice. This replaces the starch with a variety of crumbled or riced vegetables to give you a deliciously satisfying Asian-flavored vegetable stir-fry. To make this even easier, you can start with a bag of Green Giant’s Cauliflower Crumbles “Fried Rice” Blend, which is cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and onions. If you are on phase 1, you might want to make your own riced vegetables and omit the carrots.

If you can’t find the mix at your grocery, you can use your food processor or grater to process cauliflower, broccoli stems, carrots, and onions to make your own mix. You’ll need three cups for the recipe with about 2 cups of it being cauliflower with the rest split between the broccoli, carrots, and onions.

I added in mushrooms and my adapted recipe adds in fresh spinach, but I didn’t have any in the house. I’ve listed even more possible add-ins at the end of the recipe.  Even on Monday, you can add any seafood to the stir fry. Shrimp is a great option. Any other time you want to make this, you can add chicken, beef, or pork to it.

For my friend and others who are trying to keep sodium low, I’ve included a recipe for a substitute soy sauce. It doesn’t taste like soy sauce, but it brings flavor to the dish without a lot of sodium.

 

Vegetable Stir Fry

3 cups (1 package) California Crumbles Fried Rice Blend (GG)
2 Eggs, beaten
1 cup Mushrooms, sliced (optional)
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Ginger paste
1 cup Spinach, fresh (optional)
2 stalks Green Onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Oil

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add garlic and ginger and stir for a minute or two. Add in the fried rice blend and mushrooms. Stir them in. Cook and stir for about 5 to 7 minutes until the vegetables are almost tender.

Stir in the beaten eggs and mix them into the vegetables, continuing to stir until the eggs are cooked. Add soy sauce or Non-Soy Sauce, which is much lower in sodium. Stir to mix. Top with chopped green onions if you wish.

Makes four servings.

Optional add-ins: peanuts, almonds, cashews, shrimp, any greens chopped, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, chopped celery or chopped peppers. Add Hawaiian flare on a non-meatless night by stirring in 1 cup of diced SPAM and 1/4 cup of chopped fresh pineapple. (The pineapple will boost those carbs a bit, but it really adds the island vibe.)

Just add in the carb counts for the additions.

Nutrition Information for Vegetable Fried Rice

Non-Soy Asian Sauce

For those with worries about low sodium or gluten or soy allergies, here’s a soy sauce substitute that adds flavor to the stir fry or anywhere else you might use soy sauce.

1 Beef Bone (sometimes butchers have these under soup bones)
3 cups of Water
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
A pinch of garlic powder, ground ginger, and white pepper
Or Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning

Put water in a small pot and add the beef or soup bone. Bring to a boil, then lower to a low simmer. Cook for about one hour for the bone to flavor the meat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Continue to simmer until the mixture is reduced to about two cups.

Let cool, then pour into a jar. If you have more than you can use within 10 days, pour the rest into an ice cube tray and freeze. When frozen remove the blocks to a plastic bag to store until you need them. Each cube will be about one tablespoon.

Makes 32 1-tablespoon servings.

Nutrition information for Non-Soy Asian Sauce

Desserts, Recipes

Easy Pumpkin Pie – Regular and Heart Healthy

Photo: Easy Pumpkin Pie

Hey, it’s Autumn… and that means Pumpkin Pie season! Actually, I love pumpkin year ’round, but it’s definitely a Halloween treat in my book.  This recipe is the easiest one I’ve found for making a rich, tasty pumpkin pie.

But there’s a twist… I have a friend who is on a limited-sodium, low-cholesterol  diet for her heart, so I wanted to adapt this recipe to make a crustless pumpkin pie that is within her range. What a revelation learning how much sodium is in almost everything. I trimmed this down as much as I could, and it still tastes delicious.

So I am printing the regular recipe and the heart-healthy recipe. The instructions are basically the same, only the ingredient list changes a little.

If you use a baking mix such as Bisquick, Bakesquick, or Carbquick, it will make a thin crust that adds just a little more support for a pumpkin pie. If you just make it as a crustless pie, you can put it in 1/2 cup ramekins or cups for a pumpkin pudding. If you use Bisquick, it will add many more carbs as that isn’t a low-carb flour.

This recipe is super-easy to mix and cooks in about 45 minutes to an hour. It’s rich and creamy. I’ve used a couple of specific brands to make this since they are the lowest I could find in both carbs and sodium. Swerve Brown Sugar Blend is 0 carbs and 0 sodium, which is the only brown sugar substitute I’ve found that meets that criteria. It is optional in the recipe. If you omit the brown sugar, then add 2 more tablespoons sugar substitute.

Easy Mix Pumpkin Pie Regular

1 cup canned Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup Bakesquick or similar low carb flour mix (optional)
6 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Swerve Brown Sugar Blend (optional)
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 tablespoon Butter, softened
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 eggs
Pinch Salt
1/4 cup Pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Prepare a 6-inch square baking pan or an 8-inch round pie tin by putting parchment paper on the bottom. (This will prevent it from sticking to the pan.) Lightly grease the pan’s side with a little butter or a baking spray.

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients and stir until it is well-mixed. Add chopped pecans, if you wish. These will add 0.4 net carbs to each serving.

Pour into pan or pie tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. The pie tin will be closer to 45 minutes, while the baking pan will be closer to the hour since it is deeper. Check with a toothpick. It should come out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from oven and let cool about thirty minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours before serving. Top with a little whipped cream or Cool Whip.

Makes six yummy servings.

Photo: Nutrition Info for Pumpkin Pie

Photo: Pumpkin Pudding

Easy Mix Pumpkin Pie Heart Healthy

1 cup canned Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
6 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Swerve Brown Sugar Blend (optional)
1 cup Unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk
1 tablespoon Butter-flavored Crisco, softened
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 cup Liquid Egg Whites
1/2 cup Pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Prepare six 1/2-cup ramekins or cups by lightly greasing with Crisco.

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients and stir until it is well-mixed. Add chopped pecans, if you wish. These will add 0.4 net carbs to each serving.

Pour into ramekins and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Check with a toothpick. It should come out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from oven and let cool about thirty minutes. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours before serving. Top with a little Cool Whip.

Makes six servings.

Photo: Info for Pumpkin Custard with Coconut Milk

Info: Pumpkin Custard with coconut milk & Egg Whites

Asian Recipes, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Meatless Asian Stir-Fry is Yummy

Photo: Broccoli and Mushroom Stir Fry

An Asian stir-fry is a great way to make a vegetable dish that is full of flavor and satisfying. Since meatless Monday allows seafood, you could add shrimp or white fish to this easy stir-fry, but I made it strictly vegetarian.

The biggest part of making a stir-fry dish is prepping all the food before hand. With this many vegetables, you need to get them all cut and ready to go. I split mine into groups — the onions, garlic, and ginger first, then the bell peppers. The next group has the vegetables that take longer to cook, broccoli, carrots, and Daikon. The last group is zucchini. Then add the liquid and thickener and cook before adding the mushrooms to cook a bit before adding the bean sprouts.

I used an Asian Chile paste for a spicy bite, but it is optional. Omit if you prefer a milder dish. You can serve this over riced cauliflower or lightly sauteed angel hair cabbage if you wish.

If you want a non-meatless version, add chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp to the recipe. Cook the meats either before cooking the vegetables or mid-way through the cooking, before adding the zucchini, by shoving the vegetables to the edges of the pan, adding a little more oil and putting the meat into to middle to quickly sear. Stir them in and continue the recipe. If adding shrimp, wait until you add the mushrooms as the shrimp will cook in about five minutes.

Broccoli and Mushroom Stir-Fry

Photo: Stir-fry in the pan

1 cup fresh Broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup Portobello Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Bell Peppers, sliced into strips
1 cup Bean sprouts
1/2 cup Daikon Radish, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup Zucchini, sliced or chopped
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Asian Chile Paste (optional)
1/2 tablespoon Corn Starch
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 tablespoon Ginger, shredded or use paste
2 tablespoons Garlic, minced
1 cup Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup Carrots, sliced into strips

Cut all vegetables as indicated and have them ready to go. Stir-fry comes together quickly.

In a wok or a deep skillet, add 1 tablespoon to heat, then add the minced garlic and onions. Stir and cook until they are fragrant, then add the sliced bell peppers and ginger, and cook a couple of minutes longer.

Add broccoli, carrots, and Daikon and stir to mix well. Cook and stir for about five minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for a few minutes. Add the vegetable broth and soy sauce and stir into the vegetables. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook the vegetables until almost tender.

Meanwhile, add about 1/4 cup boiling water to the corn starch and stir to dissolve. Add to the skillet and stir it around then add the mushrooms. Cook a few more minutes, then add the bean sprouts last along with the chile paste (if you are using). Cook about two more minutes.

Serve with riced cauliflower if you wish. Makes four servings.

Photo: Nutrition Information

Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dish, Recipes, Sandwiches

Amp Up the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Photo: Deluxe grilled cheese sandwich

Still looking for a “meatless Monday” option for lunch or dinner? Here’s an easy but delicious suggestion. A grilled cheese sandwich! Not just any grilled cheese, but the deluxe version.

I’ve heard about using cheese on the outside of your sandwich for some time now and I decided to try it while elevating the basic grilled cheese sandwich a little. To do this, you need a non-stick skillet. I used my copper saute skillet to make it. It worked perfectly.

I used a low carb Muffin-in-a-Minute made in a bowl to make a tasty low-carb bread roll that I sliced in two horizontally. You can find the basic recipe link below. While I used flax meal and Bakesquick for my roll, this is easily adaptable to any low carb flour options you prefer.

To complete your meal, you can add a side salad or fried zucchini sticks, or turnip, kohlrabi, acorn squash, or celery root fries.

Low-Carb Muffin in a Minute recipe.

Deluxe Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2 Muffin-in-a-minute rolls, sliced horizontally
1 cup Cheddar Jack cheese, or Cheddar Cheese, shredded
2 slices Colby Deli Cheese
2 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 teaspoons Mrs. Dash Chipotle Pepper Seasoning
2 small Sweet Peppers, seeded and sliced or chopped
2 to 4 slices Tomato, depending on tomato size
2 slice Onion, sliced (optional)

Prepare muffin bread in the microwave and slice across to form the top and bottom of each roll.

Mix cream cheese with seasoning and add 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Spread 1/4 of the cream cheese on the inside of each slice. On one slice. On one side, place the chopped sweet pepper. On the other side, place sliced tomatoes to cover the top. Add onion, if you wish.

Preheat skillet on burner until hot, then turn to medium heat.

Place cheese slice on top of the pepper side. Put about 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese into the middle of the pan and spread it around to form the shape of the bread. Combine the two sides of the roll with filling in the middle. Place sandwich on top of the shredded cheese in the pan. Press down with the spatula to make sure the bottom of the sandwich is sticking to the cheese.
Grill for about 1 minute or until the middle cheese is beginning to melt. Put another couple of tablespoons of shredded cheese on the top of the sandwich. Place a lid over the top to keep the heat in and melt the center piece of cheese.

Carefully, using the spatula and pressing down on the top, turn the sandwich so the grilled cheese is on top. Cook for another minute until the cheese on the bottom is grilled and toasty. Remove the pan and serve.

Makes two sandwiches.