Why we need to give up sugar

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Barbecued Salmon

This is one of my all time favorite salmon recipes.  It's so incredible tasty, and never fails me or company.  It's definitely one that impresses.  My cousin Christina turned me onto it, so a big thanks to her.

Barbecued Salmon

From:  Gourmet, April 1996

Makes/Servers:  6

2 tbsp	chili powder
1 tbsp	salt
1 tbsp	sugar (replace this with 1/4 tsp powdered Stevia or coconut crystals)
1 tbsp	onion powder
1 tbsp	garlic powder
1 tsp	ground cumin
1/8 tsp	cayenne pepper, or to taste
6	salmon filet, 6-ounces each
1/2 cup	tomato vegetable juice
2 tbsp	balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup	olive oil
1 pint	grape tomatoes, sliced into small wedges
1/2 lb	mesclun mix

In a small bowl, stir together the first set of ingredients to create the spice mixture.  Reserve 1-1/2 tsp of the spice mixture for the vinaigrette.

Divide remaining spice mixture among the salmon pieces, rubbing into fish, and arrange fish in one layer in a shallow dish.  Chill fish, covered, for 2 hours.

 In a bowl, whisk together tomato vegetable juice, vinegar, and reserved spice mixture.  Add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.

Grill fish until just cooked through, about 5-7 minutes on each side.

While fish is cooking, in a bowl toss tomato and mesclun with enough vinaigrette to coat lightly and divide among 6 plates.    I also served this with Jillian Michael's Body Revolution Spinach with tomato salad, which I'll post later.

Divide salmon pieces among plates and pour remaining vinaigrette over each serving.

Week 3 of Jillian Michael's Body Revolution Complete

I've completed Jillian Michael's 3 weeks now, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised.  My muscles are sore from the new workouts this week, and sore is good when you're into being in shape and staying in shape.  Your muscles won't change and develop if you keep doing the same thing over and over, so through muscle confusion you surprise your muscles and keep them developing.

I love that the workouts are only 30 minutes, but in general I have to say that 30 minutes for me just isn't enough for the calorie burn that keeps me energized all day.  I'm finding I'm burning between 300-400 calories a workout, which is certainly great, but I prefer to burn more than 500.  So I have started to add a little extra cardio in on the weight and cardio days to give myself a little more burn.  I suppose it's unfair for me to use week 3 as my week to judge if 30 minutes is enough, primarily because I was on vacation and decided to indulge in wine and sugary deserts.  Not only did I gain 5 pounds, but I felt gross, so I'm now back to my low sugar happy eating habits.  It's the only thing that works for me to make me feel good and keep my weight at bay.

This morning instead of doing the Jillian cardio DVD, I decided to go for a run.  The run was great.  I did almost five miles, but for the last mile I did intervals of walking and running since my legs were revolting against me.  I absolutely hate running - it's painful, but I LOVE the feeling I get afterwards.  You can tell from the look on my face in this photo that I was in the last 1/4 mile and hurting but happy to be done.    Here's what I did on my run:

Warmup running slow: 9 Minutes
Run fast: 4 minutes, Run slow: 4 minutes
Run fast 3.5 minutes, Run slow 3.5 minutes
Run fast 3 minutes, Run slow 3 minutes
Run fast 2.5 minutes, Run slow 2.5 minutes
Run fast 2 minutes, Run slow 2 minutes
Run fast 1.5 minutes, walk 1.5 minutes
Run 1 minute, walk 1 minute until I got home
Total: :53 minutes
Calories Burned: 907
Stretch (very important!!)


I'll be baking some more Paleo treats this week, trying to make things that don't impact my blood sugar but make me feel satisfied, and I'm looking forward to sharing them here.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's another recipe from Delightedmomma.com.  I'm starting to LOVE her recipes, and so far we're two for two, and totally worth sharing.   These were yummy, and didn't make my blood sugar go soaring through the roof and craving for more and more.  I kind of thought they tasted like chocolate chip macaroons, but my husband didn't agree.   He did like them though, and was thrilled that he could eat them without a lot of guilt.



Source: Delightedmomma.com  
Servings: 27 cookies
Nutrition per cookie: 95 calories, 4 net grams carbs, 3 grams of protein.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of coconut flour (you can find this at almost any health food store)
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 3 tbs of  Organic Coconut Nectar (Delighted momma used raw honey)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 cups of gluten free chocolate chips (if you can not find gluten free you can use regular)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt the honey and coconut oil together in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
3. In a large bowl mix together the coconut oil, raw honey, eggs, vanilla extract and sea salt.
4. Stir in the coconut flour, shredded coconut and chocolate chips.
5. Line and baking sheet with parchment paper and roll out little tbs size balls of cookie dough. Place on the baking sheet and gently press down so they look pretty once baked :)
6. Bake for 12-15 or until golden brown.

Paleo Zucchini Brownies

I just got back from 6 days of being away and indulging in real sugary garbage.  Not only did it make me pack on an extra five pounds, which will be off within a week, but it made me feel just overall gross.  It did get me thinking to figure out some great recipes for healthy deserts or treats.  One of my virtual workout friends recommended some Paleo Brownies from delightedmomma.com.  So I gave it a whirl and they came out pretty good.  Here's the recipe:

Source: Delightedmomma.com
Servings: 9 Brownies
Nutrition per brownie: 260 calories, 14 net grams carbs, 8 grams of protein.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup of almond butter. You can make your own if you want to save a few bucks.
• 1 1/2 cup of grated or chopped zucchini. I used a peeler to make the zucchini really thin and then chopped it up into really small pieces.
• 1/3 cup of raw honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg (I made these again without this and it was MUCH better)
• 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. I used gluten free chocolate chips. (2nd time I made these I melted the chips and mixed them into the batter - amazing!!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix everything together.
3. Pour into a greased 9x9 baking pan.
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

These brownies are delicious, but there was something in the taste I didn't love.  I think it might be the nutmeg and I'm considering taking out the nutmeg the next time.  I also wonder if it might be amazing made with cocao powder mixed with 1/2 cup of chips instead of only the chips.  You can see from the picture that the chips sunk to the bottom instead of melting throughout.  But don't get me wrong, these are satisfying to the palate, and my now gluten free and low carb husband thought they were yummy.

Week 2 done, on vacation and Sunday's

I love Sundays, primarily because it's a rest day from exercise, I get to spend quality family time, and just be a little lazy. This week is particularly good because I'm off of work next week. Being off of work doesn't mean off of exercise or eating well - in fact it means even more time to enjoy it all and try new healthy recipes. We are currently visiting Albert's uncle on the North Fork of Long Island and Nancy made us this amazing recipe last night. It was so good it's worth sharing:

CORIANDER CRUSTED TUNA WITH CARAMELIZED ONION
It takes just minutes to sear tuna to a rosy, rare center. The slow cooked onions can be completely cooked ahead and served at room temperature.
Serves 4

For the onions
3 large red onions, peeled and sliced paper thin
2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 bunch arugula leaves, washed and spin-dried for presentation
Lemon juice and olive oil to dress arugula

For the tuna
1 1/2–2 pounds sushi-quality tuna
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons crushed coriander seeds
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
sea salt to finish, optional

1. Slice the onions thin with a chef’s knife or slice in a food processor with the thin blade in place. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet, and put in the onions. Cook, stirring the onions to coat in the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add thyme leaves and stir into onions. Sauté onions slowly over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring every once in a while until tender and golden. Onions can be prepared up an hour ahead and served at room temperature.
2. Sprinkle arugula leaves with a little coarse salt and olive oil, if desired, and toss to coat. Divide on four plates and set aside.
3. Cut the tuna into four even-sized slices about 1 to 11/4-inches thick. Mix lime juice in a bowl with the coriander seeds, olive oil and salt and pepper, and turn the tuna slices in the mixture to coat. Marinate for 10 minutes before cooking. Heat the skillet dry, drizzle in a little oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Sear the tuna in the hot skillet about 1 1/2 minutes on each side turning with tongs, basting with marinade. Transfer to a cutting board, let rest for a few minutes and cut each piece into 3 to 4 slices. Divide equally and overlap slices over the arugula. Spoon a clump of room temperature caramelized onion over the tuna, Sprinkle with sea salt to finish, if desired, and serve.

I'm ready for week three of Jillian, and psyched that the weight workouts will change to something different. This past week I wasn't so good diet wise, and definitely paying the price today. Yesterday I not only indulged in Hastings on Hudson farmers market fudge tart, totally decadent and worth it, but also in dairy which I am allergic to. So today leaves me bloated and feeling overall gross. That part isn't worth it. What I always preach is how important it is to get right back on the horse, and today I am back on. Armed and ready with healthy food options in my pocket.

Week 1 Jillian Body Revolution Results

Week one of Jillian Michael's revolution complete. The kickstart diet was great, and got me into some new simple meals and snacks I hadn't considered eating as part of my clean eating plan. Had I really stuck to the eating plan exactly for the last two days, as I had for the first 5, I would have been down 3 pounds, but I indulged a bit yesterday and saw 2 pounds on the scale (it will be off tomorrow), so my week one results are 1 pound down, .5 inches from my lower belly, and .5 inches from each thigh. I definitely feel leaner, and my legs feel much tighter. Stay tuned as I continue for the next 83 days.

Here are my thoughts in general:

Diet: Excellent, but hard.  1200 calories isn't a lot for someone used to eating and burning a lot.  But I started to feel lean immediately, and the meals were very satisfying.  The biggest challenge was between breakfast and lunch since I workout early morning and eat breakfast between 6:30 and 7:00.  But once I got to lunch, I was never hungry the rest of the day, until snack time, which tied me over till dinner.  I loved her recipes and it gave me a lot of new and improved eating ideas.

Workouts:  Loved both the cardio and the weights, but I got bored of the cardio very quickly.  I can't really imagine doing the same cardio workout only for an entire month.  Good for me that I have a ton of other workouts I could incorporate, so I did cardio 1, then insanity pure cardio, etc.  I pushed myself to the "bad ass" levels on the workouts, and I felt it.  So far, so good!! 

End Result: I was exhausted but feeling great at the end of the week, and really enjoyed my day of rest on Sunday.  

I am ready to start Jillian's kick-start tomorrow.  I'll do all my measurements and weight in the morning, and go from there.  Tonight I grilled two 6oz pieces of salmon and made a nice salad for lunch for tomorrow with 2 cups arugula, 1/4 avocado, 1/4 yellow pepper, sliced cucumber, and tomato.  I also made some homemade hummus (recipe to follow tomorrow) with roasted organic garbanzos and roasted garlic.  My snack for tomorrow is 8 baby carrots, 1 red bell pepper and 1/4 cup of hummus.  Dinner is going to be filet mignon on the grill, and a cup of spinach with some tomato salad.  Sounds good...  here's a pic of my lunch and snack, packed and ready for me to bring to work.

Jillian Michael's Body Revolution

Tomorrow I start Jillian Michael's Body Revolution.  I am really excited about it as everything I've seen seems to indicate some pretty amazing results.  I shopped yesterday for most of the food I need for the 7-day kickstart program, which surprisingly is a diet that it looks like I can follow.  So, wish me luck and I'll post results weekly here.

Laura's Miracle Muffin

This recipe was derived after lots of trial and error from tweaking the Dr. Oz Miracle Muffin.  I've finally gotten it to a place where it's delicious, and worth sharing.  One of the hardest parts of following a low carb, high protein diet, is the breakfasts. Gone are the days where bagels, pancakes and muffins start my day.   Every once in a while I crave something that feels like I'm not eating eggs or a piece of meat, or a protein smoothy.  Here's my latest favorite recipe:

Recipe name: Laura's Miracle Muffin
Number of servings: 1
Ingredients:
1/2 to 1 tsp Ground Cinamon
1 tsp Coconut Oil
1 scoop Vanilla Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder (don't ask me why, but this brand is the best for this muffin)
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
3 Tbsp Organic Ground Flax Seed.
1/4 cup Almond Breeze - Original Unsweetened Almond Coconut Milk (or whatever kind of milk you want to use)

Total calories per serving: 292
Total carbs: 11 grams
Total fiber: 8 grams
Total net carbs: 3 grams
Total protein: 27 grams

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil just enough to in a microwaveable cup.  I use a 1 cup silicon measuring cup when I make mine.
2. Beat egg and milk into coconut oil
3. Add all other ingredients and still well
4. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
5. Enjoy

The Perfect Flank Steak

It's BBQ season and flank steak is one of the easiest things to cook on the grill.  This recipe is the simplest to make and always goes over well with company.

Ingredients:
Flank Steak
1 bottle Soy Vey Very Terriyaki marinade

Directions: Marinate flank steak in Soy Vey for up to 24 hours before cooking.  Cook over med heat until desired temperature.  Enjoy with grilled marinated vegetables, a nice fresh salad, whatever makes you happy.