Edamame Corn Sesame Appetizer

This is a recipe that I just had at someone's house for an appetizer party and it was great.  Thought I'd share it here for you to enjoy as well.  It's from the Yeahthatveganshit blog.

 INGREDIENTS:
Dressing:

• 2 T. toasted sesame oil
• 1 T. rice vinegar (or any vinegar works fine)
• 2 t. tamari or soy sauce

Appetizer:

• 2 c. frozen, shelled edamame
• 1 c. fresh corn (1 or 2 ear, depending on the size) or partially frozen corn
• 2 T. toasted sesame seeds
• Endive
• Generous pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

Bring a a big pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk all the dressing ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl.

Boil the edamame for 3 minutes. Add the corn and boil for another 2 minutes. Drain into a colander and run under cold water until cool enough to touch. Add the edamame and corn to the dressing and toss to combine. Add the sesame seeds and toss again. Salt to taste. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes.

Place salad into separated endive cups and serve on a platter.

Broccoli Soup (Clean and Dairy Free)

Inspired from Gordon Ramsey, this broccoli soup is so easy and fast.  The last time I attempted to make broccoli soup was a couple years ago, where I badly burnt myself and had brocolli soup splattered across the entire kitchen.  Follow instructions carefully to avoid this from happening.

Ingredients:
Water
Salt
2 bunches of broccoli
Walnuts (optional)
Goat Cheese (optional)

Time to prepare: 5 minutes
Time to cook:  5 minutes

- Put pot of water to boil, high enough to put all the broccoli into.
- Cut broccoli right at the base of the florets (this recipe does not use the stems)
- When water is boiling, season water with plenty of salt
- Add broccoli
- Add more salt on top of the broccoli
- Cover and let boil 4 to 4 1/2 minutes until broccoli is tender

Drain broccoli into colander that is over another pot, or scoop broccoli out into colander.  This is important.  We are going to use the broth made in cooking for the soup.




Put as much broccoli as will fit into the Vitamix. Using the broth that was made when cooking the broccoli, add enough water to fill half the Vitamix.



Start with blender on low speed and pulse up and down a few times to slowly and carefully (remember exploding broccoli soup problem) break up the florets and mix in the broth.  When mixed, slowly raise level up to 10, then flip to high to blend into a smooth puree.  Taste soup and add additional salt to taste.  I added a LOT of salt, this is not a low sodium soup (but it is fat free, vegan, paleo, full of fiber, etc. etc.).









Gordon Ramsey served it in a bowl with a few walnuts on the bottom, and two thin slices of goat cheese, then poured the soup on top.  I tried it with a few walnuts mixed in and it was really yummy.  

Sweet Potato Brownies (Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, egg-free)

Well, I had so much fun making and eating the first set of paleo brownies that I posted about, I decided to try another. This one used sweet potato instead of zucchini and I have to admit these brownies were amazing. You could not tell they had no refined sugar, or egg, or flour... they were just yummy rich, decadent and gooey brownies. When you refrigerate these brownies they are even better - like eating some really great fudge.

I served these for family and they loved them.  If you don't like rich chocolate deserts (is there really anyone out there who doesn't?), this is not for you.
 
Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour 1/3 cup almond butter (you could use coconut butter as well)
1/2 cup of almond butter for topping.
1/3 cup raw cocao powder
1TB flax meal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 TB vanilla
1 cup cooked sweet potato
 ½ cup coconut milk (or more... I use the canned type) 
 ¼ cup melted coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut nectar (you could use stevia instead - just play with the amount for the correct sweetness)
  
I always try and use the microwave for melting everything. For those averse to microwaves, you can do this in a small pan. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 8×8 pan with coconut oil.
3. Melt the almond butter and coconut oil.
4. Put all dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl and stir.
5. Add wet ingredients including melted coconut oil/almond butter.
6. Mix all ingredients until well mixed.
7. Put into greased pan.
8. Swirl softened topping almond butter into a pattern on top of the batter using a spoon and knife. The recipe I adapted this from said "Add almond butter or nut butter (needs to be soft) topping by using a spoon to create 4 parallel lines. Use a butter knife to marble or swirl the almond butter by running knife perpendicular one way and then the other way back across the brownies."
9. Bake at 350 deg for 30 min or until a knife comes out clean.

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.