Miso Ginger Chicken

I am so sorry I have not posted in so long. I'm a student so sometimes I get backed up with homework. I should be doing homework right now but I just tried a little "experiment" and it tasted so good - I wanted to blog it before I forget the recipe.

I have had mad cravings for Chinese food lately. I also had a few weird ingredients here and I wasn't sure what to make with them. I tried making fish with miso ginger vinaigrette and toasted sesame oil in the past but it didn't turn out so great. The miso ginger vinaigrette wasn't very tasty on salads either. However today I tried them both with chicken & carrots and OMG... you must make this. 

I'm calling this Miso Ginger Chicken

Ingredients: 

• farm raised chicken breasts

• miso ginger vinaigrette

• toasted sesame oil

• organic carrots

• sesame seeds

• garlic cloves (2 or 3)

• sea salt & pepper 

Put the chicken breast in a baking dish and covered it with miso ginger vinaigrette. Then slice up the carrots and garlic cloves and mix them with sea salt, pepper and toasted sesame oil. Dump the carrots & garlic over the chicken and cover everything with sesame seeds. Cover the dish with foil and bake it around 400° for about 45-50 minutes. 

I usually check chicken around 30 minutes, flip it over and take the foil off for the remaining cook time. There will be sauce left in the dish after cooking so pour that over everything before you serve it. 

I didn't even make it to the table with this one - I ate the whole thing standing up at the counter! Please forgive my half eaten chicken phone picture. I didn't realize I would be photographing & blogging it until I ate a few bites. 

I used Wegmans brand miso ginger vinaigrette (with the salad dressings). Hopefully you can find a good substitute if you don't have a Wegmans nearby. This definitely will do the trick next time I'm craving Chinese food.

Ouch!

So I had a little accident in the kitchen. I received a mandolin for Christmas this year. It was a very thoughtful gift and a cool product, especially if you slice lots of veggies. I will spare you the gory details. Let's just say I recommend if you decide to try a mandolin....

ALWAYS use the finger guard!!!

"She who does not use finger guard... must live with flat fingertip."

Spagetti Squash & Meatballs

I was a little intimidated by spagetti squash at first but it is SO good and super easy to make! To prep the spagetti squash cut off the ends and then cut it in half. It can be little tough to cut so eat your Wheaties and roll up your sleeves. Spagetti squash have guts on the inside like a pumpkin. Scoop all that crap out and throw it away. Then bake the squash open sides down on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350° and bake 30 minutes. 

When you can stick a fork in the outer skin it is done. After it is finished baking, scrape out the insides with a spoon. This squash I made was a mutant. They are not normally this huge. Here's what you get after scraping. 

(Ignore the date stamps on these pics apparently I have to reset it)

I also make homemade meatballs for this dish. Here are the meatball ingredients: 

• 1 lb grass fed ground beef
• 1 organic egg
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I use brown rice breadcrumbs from the gluten free section)
• 1/4 cup minced onion 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Combine everything in a large bowl and mush it together with your hands. Roll meatballs about 1" in diameter and put them in a broiler pan. You cook the meatballs for about 30 minutes at 350° (same as the squash) so you can bake everything at the same time. 

I use an organic spagetti sauce to top it off. This is a really healthy alternative to spagetti and it's great if you are avoiding gluten/carbs. Pasta is verboten in my diet so this has been a fantastic substitute when I am craving Italian!  

Unfortunately I have to skip the cheese due to the diet but if you know of a non-dairy cheese substitute that actually tastes good please let me know! My friend Karla tried and reviewed a vegan cheese in her blog (sounded like an epic fail) but so far we can't find anything good in the non-dairy cheese department. 

Grocery List

A friend of mine asked me to blog my grocery list. I thought that was a great idea! Grocery stores can be totally overwhelming. It's so confusing to make healthy choices when you are confronted with a wall full of soup that all looks the same.

Before I got into the habit of reading ingredients on labels, I used to buy whatever had the coolest packaging. Unfortunately nicely designed labels on the outside do not always equal healthy food on the inside. 

ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS! I was amazed to find that very few foods have just the basic ingredients. Almost everything has sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial color & flavor and a host of other additives I can't even pronounce. 

My rule of thumb, if I can't pronounce it... I don't eat it. 

Here is an example of my typical grocery list: 

• almond milk (Silk)
• honey
• onions (2 or 3)
• red bell peppers (2)
• baby spinach 
• carrots 
• squash (1) 
• cucumbers (1)
• free range chicken (1 or 2 packages of 3 breasts)
• grass fed ground beef (1 or 2 packages) 
• 1 bag nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts)
• hard tofu (1 package)
• multi-grain wraps (1-2 bags)
• hummus
• Mary's Gone Crackers 
• bananas
• strawberries
• blueberries
• cantaloupe 
• refried beans
• organic brown or wild rice (1 bag lasts awhile)
• salsa
• veganaise (dairy free mayonaise) 

I may not get all of these items every week but those are the basics. I usually make a seafood run every week or so to Valley Seafood in Wilkes-Barre, PA for salmon, haddock or flounder. 

The Lyme diet has some handy shopping lists online if you are following the main diet:

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Recipe Swap

Recipe thread!

 Post some organic recipes you've tried in the comments, I love trying new things! 

Free Range Chicken & Organic Veggies

I had no idea what chicken is supposed to taste like until I tried free range chicken. It's sooo good! 

I make several variations of this recipe. Sometimes I marinate the chicken in organic italian or greek dressing before cooking. Sometimes I grill it, sometimes I bake it in the oven. Sometimes I add fresh dill to the veggie mix. I get bored making things the same way all the time so I like to experiment with different ideas. 

Ingredients

• free range chicken breast
• organic onion
• organic red bell pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper

Slice the onion and pepper and toss the veggies in a bowl with 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper (to taste). Arrange a little bed of the veggie mix on tin foil and put the chicken on top. Cover the chicken with remaining veggie mix like this: 

I make the same veggie/chicken sandwich arrangement in a covered baking dish for oven cooking. For grilling I wrap it in a tin foil pocket like this: 

Grill the chicken and veggies at 450° - 500° for 15 minutes on each side (30 minutes total). If your chicken breasts are very thick you may need to cook an extra 5-10 minutes. 

If I am baking in the oven I cook it covered with foil at 425° for about 45 minutes. I usually check it after 30 minutes and take off the tin foil for the remaining cook time. 

Unwrap and serve! I like to add another veggie with my chicken. I made the dish below with half an organic sweet potato. 

Sometimes I serve the chicken on a bed of organic brown or wild rice and grilled carrots on the side. Like I said I like to vary things. 

If you try this with any new ingredients leave me a comment and tell me what you did! 

Wild Caught Salmon with Herbal Rub

This is a great recipe for beginners. Salmon is good for you! Wild caught salmon (as opposed to farm raised) is better. You can bake salmon in the oven or grill it. Cook times may vary depending on your oven temperature and the thickness of your salmon fillets. In general if your salmon is flaky, it is done.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup basil
• 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon roasted organic garlic
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 wild caught salmon fillets

Mix the basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 days. Rub it on your salmon steaks and bake or grill. 

Grill - fold each salmon steak in tin foil (I make a little tin foil pocket) and cook 10 minutes on each side around 400°

Oven - fold each salmon steak in tin foil, place in a baking dish and cook around 375° for 35-45 minutes

I like to eat this salmon on top of a giant salad. You get a few servings of veggies all at once which is nice. This salad has (all organic) spinach, broccoli, carrots, onions, yellow squash, cucumbers, almond slices and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. 

Salad dressings can be tricky. Here's another food that can come in deceiving packaging to look "all natural" when it's not. Read the ingredients! If there are ingredients you can't pronounce, artificial colors/flavors or excessive grams of sugar, put it back on the shelf. 

You can also serve this on a bed of organic brown or wild rice with a side of veggies. 

My mother hated salmon before she tried this recipe. She always said it tasted too "fishy"but she LOVES this salmon dish.