Gobble Gobble, It's a Wrap!

Well I am trying to be diligent in keeping up with my blog; I seriously need something to occupy my brain from thinking about the crap that has been going on over the past several months: the lies, the games & the deceit.  Cooking has always been such a therapeutic measure for me so being able to use my knowledge and talents to create healthy meals AND get paid for them is actually keeping my mind and thoughts occupied.  

I met an individual almost 2 mos ago who works for a very prominent oil & gas company who is also an avid baseball player.  He has been thoroughly impressed with my knowledge of nutrition and my cooking so he asked me to help him get leaner and faster.  As a person who runs several miles daily, works out in the gym daily and lives at a baseball lab to hone in on his skills, my goal was to watch carb intake but not delete it completely, increase his protein intake, fiber, and stay under the fat per calorie ratio as well.  After talking with one of my friends, who happens to be a medical professional and avid Crossfitter, I take into consideration several Paleo aspects when meal prepping for him.  It has now been 5 wks, and he was excited to report the other night that his energy has increased tremendously and he can see more muscle definition.  My other client is an MMA fighter, and his needs are on the severe opposite spectrum of the board since he needs to stay bulked and build more muscle.

I get asked where I find my recipes, but in actuality what happens are several things:  I have a wall of cookbooks, magazines, research online, do Pinterest and follow several individuals on Facebook.  What happens most of the time is I come up with an idea for something I want to work on, research and pinpoint about 3-5 different recipes.  I pay attention to the ingredients and start piecing components of each to create that dish; once that is done, I run a nutritional analysis to see how "bad" it is, lol.  Then what I end up doing is substituting ingredients with healthier options, scale down measurements for 2 people, add spice elements from my cupboard and find extra ways to sneak in protein and fiber.  Then I run another nutritional analysis and calculate everything to see how far under I came with things such as sodium, carbs, fat etc., and TADA, I have my recipe!

This recipe just so happens to be one of those gems I am thoroughly thankful and pleased to share with all of you because it tastes AMAZING!!!  The calories are awesome, the fat content is under the recommended per calories, plus the protein is super high, the fiber has been boosted past the recommended levels and the sodium is just under recommendation as well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with anything here.....PLUS HERE'S THE ADDED BONUS:  IT IS SUPER EASY AND FAST TO MAKE!!

Ingredients:

6 oz. Honeysuckle White Extra Lean Ground Turkey, cooked & drained

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp low sodium soy sauce (I use Kikkoman)

1 tsp water

1 tsp Sriracha

1 oz water chestnuts, diced

1 Tbs chopped green onions

1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

2 tsp chia seeds

8 Romaine Heart Leaves

1 Tbs chopped raw, unsalted cashews

Preparation:

Brown and drain the turkey.  

Mix all of the ingredients (except the cashews) thoroughly until everything is completely incorporated.

I find that doubling the Romaine Hearts holds up better.  I see places that use iceberg lettuce, but there is really zero nutritional value in it so I went for the Romaine.  (I wonder how it would do with kale?!?! lol)  Spoon turkey mix onto leaves and sprinkle with chopped cashews.

Note:  this recipe is a one-serving recipe and easy to calculate double, tripe, etc...

Here's the nutritional skinny:

Calories:       333.0
Total Fat:         8.6 g
Sat Fat:             0.9 g
Cholesterol:    76.0 mg
Sodium:         544.0 mg
Potassium:     181.0 mg
Total Carbs:    11.5 mg
Fiber:                 8.4 g
Sugar:                8.9 g
Protein:             45.2 g

Vit A:      29%
Calcium:  4%
Vit C:       8%
Iron:       40%

Well I hope you enjoy making these and that they are enjoyed thoroughly as well.  

Until next time, Happy Eating!!

Why Order Takeout, When You Can Make It At Home In Under 15 Min!

As luck would have it, I have unintentionally neglected my blog.  My life gets a bit turned around when Chris is back home as spending time with one another is crucial since we never know where the next job will take him and for how long.  THEN there's that God-awful incident from which I am STILL recovering from, the dreaded flu.  It will have been 2 weeks this Friday; thankfully, I am 99% better but still have lingering issues with my voice and a very light, occasional productive cough.  

I do have another recipe to post that I made a few weeks ago, just before I fell ill, that I will try to post up by this weekend.  Blog, I am sorry for my neglect; please forgive me! LOL

OMG, let me tell all of you that for the first time since I have lived on my own (nearly 15 yrs now), I have NEVER EVER not had chicken or seafood in my freezer.  For those who know me well, I am not, nor have I EVER been a really big beef eater.  That day has now arrived:  our freezer is completely overloaded with C-O-W!  Seriously. I can't believe I have no chicken, seafood, lamb or pork in there at all.  How did this happen?  I know how:  we got a really fantastic deal on what the guy liked to refer to as "cow in a box".  In this box, we got 8-10 Kansas City Strip steaks, 8-10 ribeyes, 18 hamburger steaks (patties) and 8 peppered beef tenderloins.  We bought this a few months ago because the meat is good for up to a year; and as evidenced by this email, we still have tons left!  Surprisingly the meat has turned out to be very tender and juicy so we have yet to be disappointed.

Chris commented the other day that he was "steaked out" which is funny because I made ribeyes for us over a week ago.  Yesterday I asked him to stop by the store and pick up some chicken or fish, and he came home with catfish fillets which I seasoned up really nicely, broiled and served with a salad.  I told him last night that today we WERE having beef, lol.  I researched and researched different recipes for ideas on how to prepare the Kansas City Strip Steaks that I had moved to the fridge last night.  I wanted to cook them differently and not as an actual steak (I think the chefs on Chopped would call it re purposing  lol.)  After reading through dozens and dozens of recipes, I concocted the following:

Sesame-Ginger Strip Steak

1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tbs sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs hoisin sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dark sesame oil, divided
2 Kansas City Strip Steaks, trimmed of fat and sliced against the grain
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
1 onion, quartered & sliced
1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts
8 oz uncooked wide rice stick noodles (banh pho)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted

Soak your rice noodle sticks in warm water for about 45-60 min.

Combine the first 8 ingredients, whisking until sugar dissolves.

Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil to pan. Add half of steak; sauté 4 minutes or until browned.

Remove steak from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and steak. Add vinegar mixture, carrot, onion, and sprouts to pan; cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently (this resulted in nice crispy veggies; you may want to stir fry longer if you want your veggies less crispy). Return steak to pan. Add noodles; cook 3-4 minute, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds.

If your eyes are sharp, you will notice there are no sesame seeds in the dish; I did not realize I was out of sesame seeds so my plan did not work out completely.   I can see how my plan for the toasted seeds would add a nice texture and flavor profile to this dish.  

Suggestions:  I would say that sugar snap peas, red or yellow bell peppers and broccoli (for you enthusiasts, lol) would also be a great addition to this dish; personally, I used what I had here at home.  As far as the noodles are concerned, I can suggest using regular rice noodles if that is all you can find; I used these because it's what I had in the pantry.  If you don't have an Asian market in your area, look in the international aisle of your grocery store for these noodles.

Dinner was a success!  Chris agrees that this dish beats take out for sure (makes me very happy)  Hope you give it a try and that you like it as much as we did.

Until next time, Happy Eating!!

What the Phở?

So let's do it, let's talk Phở.  Dare I give a little history on this dish for those unfamiliar it? Phở is a Vietnamese dish made of broth, rice noodles, meats & herbs.  There are two main kinds: beef and chicken.  Ok, I think that about sums it up about what it is & where it is from.

Now, I did lots of research on this dish because it is a favorite in our household; both Christopher & I are fans of the dish and are always up for a good bowl of Phở.  After what I felt to be sufficient research, I came up with my take on the dish.

The first thing I did was go directly to Viet Hoa which I like to refer to as a city within a store.  If you have not been there, go because they have everything imaginable plus then some.

This is what I had after my first trip to Viet Hoa; notice I even bought the right bowls, tea cups, tea ball infuser & strainer.  (the small bags to the left are meatballs)

Here is a better view of all my main ingredients from the second time around. On the left back are beef bones, then oxtails, thinly sliced sirloin (that they kindly sliced paper thin for me), beef tendon & chuck.  In the middle the herbs are Thai basil, mint, cilantro and those little hot things in the front are Thai chilies.

These are the necessary spices and are best toasted first.  Starting clockwise from the top we have: star anise, cloves, cardamom pods, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds & cinnamon sticks in the middle.

So here go the actual ingredients:

5-6 lbs beef bones
4-6 lbs oxtails
1 lb chuck (or you can also opt for brisket)
2 lbs beef tendon
1/2 lb sirloin, sliced paper thin
3/4 - 1 cup fish sauce
1 pkg meatballs (these are in the frozen section)
1 rock Chinese yellow sugar
2 large yellow onions, unpeeled & cut in half
2 medium-sized ginger roots, split down the middle
Tea infuser ball -OR- mesh herb bag (I liked the bag better, size wise)
8 star anise
1/2 tsp cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
4 cardamom pods (smashed)
2 lbs rice noodles
2-4 sprigs green onions, chopped
1-3 limes cut into wedges
Thai Basil
Mint
Cilantro
Bean Sprouts
Thai chilies or jalapeños, sliced
1 onion, cut in half & sliced paper thin
Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce

Preparation:

Place your onions & ginger, cut side up, on a baking sheet and broil in your oven until nice and charred (black is good).  Prep your spices by toasting each individually in a pan until the start to smell nice; and crush slightly using a mortal & pestle (or as we latinos say, molcajete) & place in your bag or tea ball (except the cinnamon sticks).

You will need a very large stock pot to boil your bones & build your stock.  Rinse your beef bones add to the stock pot along with your oxtails and your chuck or brisket, and fill the entire pot with water; bring to a boil.  Don't get freaked out but a whole lot of nasty scum will accumulate at the top which you will need to skim.  After 15-20 min, drain your bones & meat, rinse very well and also wash your stock pot to clean all the mess out of it.  Return the bones & meat the pot, fill with water, add your onions, ginger, fish sauce, herb bag or tea ball, rock sugar and cinnamon sticks.  Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer; cover and simmer for 8-10 hours (yes, very long but so worth it).  Periodically skim off any scum and/or fat; make sure to keep at a simmer or you will lose a lot of broth.  ***Remove the chuck after 2 hrs, let cool down & refrigerate***

Here is a very important thing you need to know about beef tendon: it is hard and if not cooked properly will be hard and chewy.  My trick is to boil for 2 hours in my Dutch Oven with a piece of ginger & 1/2 onion.  After 2 hrs, turn off the heat and put the lid on and leave it alone for 3-4 hrs.  I then come back, rinse it very well and am now able to get my knife through it; I cut it to the size I want and return to the pot with water and boil, with the lid on, for another hour.  This makes for an incredibly buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture to the tendon!

Once your are done boiling, strain your broth into another pot; I use a cheese clothe in a strainer to make sure I have an extra clean broth.  Remove the meat from your oxtails and put aside.  (keep your broth on a very low simmer because it needs to be hot when you serve).  At this point, do a taste test: you made add a touch of salt but mostly we have found that a tad bit extra fish sauce may or may not be needed.

Prep your herbs:

For the onion here, slice paper thin and place in a bowl with water and ice for 30 min; this will ensure nice, crispy onions.  For the rice noodles, follow the directions on your package; for the meatballs, boil in the broth to heat through, remove & set aside.

What I do is set small bowls out with the tendon, cut chuck chunks, shredded oxtail meat, meatballs and the raw, paper thin sirloin (your broth must be super hot so that it will poach the meat cooked; trust me it will cook and be super tender)

To serve:  place about 1/2 cup noodles into a bowl, allow each person to add the meats they prefer, and ladle broth on top to cover the meats.  Top with your favorite toppings.  Oh yeah Sriracha is a must add!!

My babe is a super happy camper!

This is how I like my bowl!

Phở party with family and what a success it was!

I totally hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do; it was fun getting the ingredients down to exactly the flavor we liked.

If you're ever in Houston, you really must try out Phở Saigon in Midtown on Milam street; they have by far the best Phở we have found in Houston so far.

Phở Saigon

Les Givral's is pretty decent also, but they have super awesome Banh Mi!!

If you're in Pearland, you definitely need to head over to Pho Anh Asian Bistro on Broadway.  They have kick ass Phở, spring rolls and a wide variety of flavored teas.

                                          Enjoying the Phở at Pho Anh

                                                      I love their Phở Ga

Okay enough about Phở.  If you love it, try these places out and the recipe; if you've never had it, try it cuz you'll love it!

Until next time, Happy Eating!!!