More Dr. Oz green grub

I enjoyed last week’s smoothie based cleanse so much, I went on to try another Dr. Oz created diet this week. This 3-day formula claims that if you eat the same 3 meals, at about the same time each day, you will lose 3 pounds. The three meals required are specifically designed for weight loss. One of the ideas behind this diet, is to consume most of your calories early in the day when you’ll be most likely to expend them.

I like the idea of having my meals all planned out, but eating healthy does have its price. The pre-diet trip to the grocery store is not an inexpensive one. Whole, organic foods can translate to whole paycheck without much effort. I’m looking forward to summer when some of these veggies can be harvested from my own garden.

I talked my husband into participating in this diet with me. I thought it would be fun to have someone to commiserate with. I think he enjoyed knowing what he was having for each meal, and even more, having all his meals made for him.

Breakfast consists of protein (egg), dairy (reduced fat swiss cheese), monounsaturated fats and fiber (avocado), salsa (a plethora of vitamins), carbs (whole wheat English muffin). This was filling. I usually grab a piece of toast and slather it with peanut butter or almond butter with my coffee in the morning, so this is more than I usually eat before noon. I was full until after lunchtime.

Did you know that avocado is a superfood? Two-thirds of the fats in avocados are monounsaturated, which helps lower bad cholesterol and maintain, or increase good cholesterol. They’re a rich source of vitamin E too, which is a powerful antioxidant. A two-tablespoon serving contains 2 grams of fiber and an entire fruit contains about 10 grams.

Lunch is the largest meal of the day on this diet, and a bit too much food for me to consume at one time. Not sure who Dr. Oz had in mind on this one. It would have been the perfect amount if I had run a marathon in between breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately, I had not.

I opted for one bean burger instead of two. I’ll give you specifics on the nutritional values to look for when purchasing these prepackaged veggie burgers a bit later.

A side of sweet potato fries go with lunch. They were my favorite part! Sweet potato (or yam), sliced, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with oregano, baked until crispy. 

Dinner is a green smoothie. Fruit and vegetable drinks are a really good way to get plenty of fruits and veggies into your system. Imagine trying to chew as many fruits and vegetables as you can drink. Your body is able to digest them and absorb the nutrients so much easier in liquid form. If you tried the green lunch smoothie I posted last week, and found it to be somewhat hard to swallow, you’ll love this one. Really! Trust me on this. The addition of banana and vanilla whey protein powder make it creamy and delicious. If I didn’t know what was in it, and I had my eyes closed while drinking it, I never would have guessed it was green.

You should consume the least amount of calories at dinner time. This shake will burn fat and help to build lean muscle. The recipe makes about 4 cups, which was about 2 cups too much. It really was delicious, but I was too full to finish it, so on subsequent nights, my hubby and I shared the single serving amount.

The Recipes: 

All recipes from Dr. Oz

Breakfast: Tex-Mex Egg and Cheese Muffin

Ingredients

1 egg

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 slice of reduced fat Swiss cheese 

2 slices avocado 

1 tbsp medium salsa 

1 whole wheat English muffin 

Directions

Lightly oil a small ramekin with some olive oil and crack an egg into it. Use a fork to scramble the egg a bit, or at least pierce the egg yolk so the egg won't explode. Ladle one tsp of salsa on top of egg and layer the cheese slice (folded in half) over it. Microwave on 50% power for 1 minute and 20 seconds (time may vary depending on strength of microwave). Carefully remove ramekin from microwave – ramekin may be hot, use potholders if necessary – and let sit a few minutes to settle. Run a small knife around the rim of the cooked egg and gently invert over the toasted muffin half. Top with the remaining 2 tsp of salsa, remaining olive oil and slices of avocado, and the top half of the muffin.

Lunch: Double Bean Burger

Ingredients

2 pre-made bean burgers (see note below)
Iceberg or butter lettuce (2 whole leaves)
1 portobello mushroom, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
1/2 yellow onion, sliced into rings
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

When mushrooms are done, remove to a plate and add onions. Add half the oil to a large non-stick sauté pan and cook the mushrooms in one layer on medium heat, flipping over once until nicely browned on both sides. Add remaining oil and cook the onions until softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Add back mushrooms and stir together.

Buying Guide for Bean Burgers:

• Beans must be listed in the first two ingredients
• 150 calories or less per serving
• 5 grams fat or less per serving
• 400 mg sodium or less per serving

Side: Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

1/2 sweet potato, skin on 

1/2 tbsp olive oil 

1/2 tbsp dried oregano 

Directions 

Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Scrub potato under cold water until clean. Cut potato in half and save for later use. Cut potato half into long wedges. In a bowl, combine potato wedges, olive oil and dried oregano. Spread on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake until browned and cooked through, about 30 minutes, turning halfway through.

Dinner: Lean Green Supper Shake

Ingredients 

3 cups of green veggies – kale, spinach, chopped romaine, celery 

1 green apple 

2 cups of ice

1/2 banana  

1 scoop vanilla whey powder 

3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk 

Directions 

Combine all in a blender and blend well. Pour into glass, garnish with a celery stick or slices of green apple. 

Thoughts and tips:

• The almond milk selection out there is confusing. Choose one that’s unsweetened. I liked Blue Diamond brand. It’s available in two lines, sweetened and unsweetened. In each line they offer three flavors: original, vanilla and chocolate. I like the vanilla flavored, and since it wasn’t specified, you could go for the chocolate flavored.

• The selection of bean garden burgers is even more confusing. I found several, most of which did not fit the criteria for Dr. Oz’s buying guide. I picked up several brands and mixed and matched to get to where they needed to be in terms of fat, calories and sodium intake. 

• I loved the green shake! It’s rich and creamy!

• The baked sweet potato fries are a great snack!

• The meals are substantial. I gained a pound after the first day. You can alter the amounts to suit your own appetite. 

• Just to be clear, I am volunteering to do this Dr. Oz diet, but I am not affiliated with him, or anyone representing his ideas in any way.

• After the diet, my weight was exactly the same as when I started. I can’t recommend this for weight loss, but it’s great for eating healthy meals, and I’ll be saving the green drink and sweet potato fries recipes for future use.

Dr. Oz 3-day Detox Cleanse, from my point of view

We spent last week at the Oregon coast. Games were played, walks on the beach, movie watching, a beach bonfire, ball throwing sessions for doggies, and a trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium... and lots of eating. What is it about the ocean air that makes us want to eat, eat, and eat some more? The sun went down, it must be time for ice cream and cookies. Never mind the fact that I’d already consumed too many M&M’s to count, Guinness, and a large mango smoothie topped with whipped cream earlier in the day. Not to mention the breakfast, lunch and dinner we consumed in-between snacks.

Time to cleanse! I’ve never participated in anything like this before, but then I have not been the age I am now, with a brand new tendency to collect a few extra pounds around my mid section.

Recently, a friend told me about her 25 pound weight loss through a Dr. Oz diet that begins with a 3-day smoothie based cleanse. The initial cleanse claims to reboot your system and balance hormones. Sounds promising. I like the fact that everything can be found at a local grocery store, and it’s all recognizable, healthy, simple food. 

Just to be clear, I am volunteering to do this Dr. Oz developed cleanse, but I am not affiliated with him, or anyone representing his ideas in any way. I brought this challenge on completely unaided. This cleanse was developed several months ago, and many people have done it and survived, maybe even thrived, I don’t know. All I know is that I really like the idea of eating super healthy for a few days.

Graphic from The Dr. Oz Show web site

Day 1: I got up extra early to create the breakfast concoction that would kick start my Monday. While sipping a hot green tea with lemon, I dropped ingredients into the blender one by one... Raspberries, banana, spinach, almond butter, lemon juice, flax seed, and cold water. Yum! This made one full glass of goodness. Just before I finished it, I took a multivitamin with the final sip and followed that with about three ounces of a strawberry flavored probiotic supplement yogurt-like drink. So far, so good!

At 11:30 I started making my lunch. I’ve never met a vegetable I didn’t like, but that was before I met celery and cucumber blended together. I peeled the cucumber and removed the seeds, peeled the skin off the apple and removed the core. Chopped up four celery stalks. Cut up a whole pineapple, removed the core, cut it into chunks, and placed the remainder in the freezer. It took me exactly two hours to choke this smoothie down. This made two large glasses full (or about 4 cups), which was a glass and a half too much. This green concoction was followed by another multivitamin and an Omego 3 supplement.

I chose the breakfast smoothie as my snack, since it was by far the best out of two. By 5:30 I was starving, but I managed to put off drinking the dinner smoothie until around 7pm. So far, the dinner drink was my favorite. The combination of mango, blueberries, avocado, kale, coconut water, and a bit of spice from the cayenne, was good.

I ended the day with a luxurious 30+ minute extra hot Epsom salt and lavender oil bath... ahhhhhhhh.

BREAKFAST

LUNCH

DINNER

Day 2: I woke up with a slight headache, but that quickly disappeared after a cup of green tea with a slice of lemon. I’m feeling less hungry than I did yesterday and much more energetic. And, guess what? I lost 4 pounds!! Seriously! Probably just fluids, or my scale is wonky, but I’m psyched and motivated to continue.

After I consumed the morning smoothie, vitamin and probiotic, I got to work putting together the lunch smoothie. It’s so large, and my least favorite, so I wanted to take a little of it with me to drink on the way to yoga. I figured this would give me a head start on tackling this green monster, which consists of more chewing than drinking. Note: Keeping it as cold as possible helps a lot.

I doubled the recipe for the dinner smoothie and drank half of it for the snack portion and the other half for dinner. I’m really craving real food, but I’m sure I can handle one more day of this. I had to make a trip to the grocery store tonight for a few more ingredients I’m running short on. That was torture. When did grocery stores start with all the samples?

Day 3: I had a slight headache in the morning again, but I guess that’s to be expected since I haven’t had any caffeine since Sunday. After drinking a cup of green tea on my morning commute, the headache magically disappeared. I drank the morning drink on the way to a meeting. I’m starting to get used to this to-go food in a cup.

By lunchtime I was starving, but not looking forward to having that green drink. Much to my surprise, it actually tasted decent today. I’m not sure why, there was no difference between today’s lunch drink and yesterday’s or the day before that, but the flavors tasted better. Acquired taste? This reminds me of when I was in my 20’s and wanted to be able to order a simple drink in a bar. I forced myself to like gin so I could order a dry martini up with two olives. Ha! I felt so grown up. Now I’ve taken another maturation step and acquired a taste for celery and cucumber!

The dinner drink was again fabulous, but left me wanting hot, chewable food. I was really looking forward to morning, planning my breakfast of a farm fresh egg and... coffee.


Thoughts and tips:

• Buy the best fruits and veggies you can afford. I purchased everything at my local New Seasons. They were very helpful with the vitamins and supplements I needed too. Everything I used was fresh, locally grown and organic, which makes a difference for me psychologically as I’m consuming it. It’s so comforting to know you’re putting only good things in your body.

• I am a protein addict. I don’t feel right unless I have regular protein based foods, but I never felt deprived during the 3-day cleanse. Each drink has some form of protein in it. I never thought one tablespoon of almond butter would be enough protein for breakfast, but it seemed to be fine.

• Keep the drinks cold. It really helps to have at least one item in each drink that’s frozen when you put it in the blender. I purchased fresh frozen blueberries, which added a lot of sweetness to the evening drink. After cutting up a whole pineapple, I froze the chunks in a sealed container. The raspberries I used were already in my freezer from our last crop. Keeping these drinks ice cold helps their palatability immensely.

• Drink plenty of water throughout the day. This will help keep you hydrated and keep things moving along.

• Stay close to a bathroom. Make sure you are relatively close to a bathroom the whole time you’re on this cleanse. All that liquid has to come out, not to mention how these fiber-filled smoothies clean out your colon.

• You don’t need an expensive blender to make these drinks. The glass container on our old 15-year blender broke a month ago, so we borrowed an inexpensive one from my Mom. It worked fine.

• Coconut oil and almond butter. The benefits of these fats are astounding, and they became my friends during the cleanse. But remember, these are good in moderation, because they are some of the only sources of protein you’re consuming during the cleanse. Don’t go adding these in large quantities to your existing diet, they’ll definitely make you pack on pounds.

• Remove the peeling, or not. The recipes don’t say anything about whether certain fruits and vegetables should be peeled. I did peel the apple, cucumber, and lime, but I suppose if you’re feeling adventurous you could leave them intact. I find those parts too bitter and tough for my taste.

• My cravings have been curbed. Now that I’ve completed the cleanse, my cravings for anything remotely unhealthy have been eliminated.

• Questions? You can ask me anything about the cleanse you want. I might even know the answer.

Enjoy the cleanse! I’m going to go chew on something now.

Soup's On!

Last week I was ready to fire up the barbecue, raise the shade umbrella, clean the layer of green scum from the outdoor furniture, and let the outdoor dining season begin. The month of March has fooled me before, and this Portland spring was no exception. Rain, along with cold temperatures, returned as quickly as they had briefly departed. 

Because the soup days of winter are not yet over, I want to share one of my favorite soups with you, my dear readers. This is the kind of soup that can easily be thrown together without much effort. You may already have many of its necessary ingredients on hand.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

1 (6-ounce) box long-grain and wild rice mix (such as Uncle Ben's) 
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped red onion 

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrot 

2 garlic cloves, chopped 

1 (8-ounce) package mushrooms, halved 

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups water

2 tablespoons dry sherry

2 (15.75-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 (12-ounce) can fat-free evaporated milk

3 cups shredded roasted skinless chicken

DIRECTIONS:

• Prepare rice according to package directions; set aside. Roast 2-3 large chicken breasts; shred and chill.

• In a large Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and next 4 ingredients (onion through mushrooms), and sauté for 6 minutes, or until the onion is tender. Lightly spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Stir the flour, tarragon, and thyme into the onion mixture, and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add 2 cups of water, sherry, broth, and evaporated milk; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in cooked rice and chicken; cook for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Great with a loaf of warm, buttered artisan bread for dipping.

Why would I want to eat kale?

Before 2012, I may have seen this leafy vegetable, probably even taken a bite of it. I don’t recall. It must not have left an impression.

I read recently where kale was being roasted and eaten as a snack. Kale chips. The crunch of potato chips without the fat and grease? Okay. The minute I tried this crispy, crunchy form of kale, I was hooked!

There are several varieties of kale, each full of nutritional value and gobs of fiber. The only one my local grocery stores stock is curly kale. Curly kale has ruffly leaves and a slightly pungent, peppery flavor.

According to AliveRaw.com, researchers have discovered that kale is rich in calcium, lutein, iron, beta-carotene, and vitamins A, C, and K. One serving of kale provides 192 percent of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A, which acts as a preventative against lung diseases. Kale’s abundance of phytochemicals is what bumps it up to a superfood. Phytochemicals are substances associated with the prevention of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Phytochemicals are believed to help prevent cell damage, prevent cancer cell replication, and decrease cholesterol levels.

To think I was just trying to get more vegetables into my daughter’s tummy. By the way, she can eat an entire bunch of roasted kale in one sitting.

If there’s any left, I add it to soups...

Or throw some raw kale into our morning smoothies...

Roasted Kale
PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 bunches kale
2 Tablespoons good olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Rinse the kale and pat it dry thoroughly. Remove and discard the thick ribs and roughly chop or break up the leaves a bit. Pat leaves dry again. In a large bowl, toss with olive oil, garlic, sea salt and pepper. Spread out onto a large rimmed baking sheet. The kale leaves do not need to be in a single layer, they shrink in volume as they bake. Bake for 15-20 minutes, giving them a stir every five minutes or so, until its tender, crisp on the edges and slightly browned.

Pour votre santé!

St Patrick's Day Dinner

My daughter is a vegetarian, my husband is eating low carb and high fiber, and I’m trying to keep everyone fed, which creates challenges both at the grocery store and in the kitchen. Regardless, I’ll be slow roasting a chunk of corned beef tomorrow. It’s a tradition I look forward to.

If you missed last year’s post on corned beef, you can find it here. In that post, I educate you on what type of meat to purchase that will provide the most flavorful, nutritious option. I was clueless as to why the cuts of beef differed so dramatically, so I needed to do some research. What I found rocked my world! Check out last year’s post before you’re disappointed by mediocre, unnaturally colored, stringy corned beef.

However you choose to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day (or not), I highly recommend this soda bread from one of Portland’s local bakeries, Grand Central Bakery, I’ve included that recipe here too. With a hint of sweetness, an amazingly moist crumb, and subtle flavors of orange and caraway, this bread is the perfect accompaniment to just about anything.

For instance, it’s really good with this...

Sláinte!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit!

Fresh Fruit Tarts with Pastry Cream

I guess you could call these tartlets, if you must.

Note to self: when baking pie, tarts or tartlets, make sure your house will be filled with friends and/or family who will actually help eat your creations.

Weekday dinners at our house generally consist of light fare lately... salads, soups, brown rice with sauteed veggies, fish. Pasta, bread, and desserts have loosely become weekend foods. I do mean ‘loosely,’ since sometime around Wednesday I start to crave a good juicy burger. Midweek also happens to be when cooking nightly dinners has worn thin and I want someone else to cook and do the dishes.

It’s hard to believe two weeks already passed since I created these. Fortunately, they freeze really well, so we were able to enjoy them for a few weekends. I want to share these little tarts so you too can experience their amazingness. Holy cow they’re incredible!

Unlike a pie shell, a tart’s shell texture is more like a shortbread cookie. It has to be sturdy enough to cradle its contents without crumbling.

I want to apologize right now for all the eggs you will need to make these. Oh, and you’ll also be needing cream and butter. Splurge on the best ingredients you can. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

You can make the shells days in advance of the custard filling. I like desserts that allow me to do things in steps so they seem much less time consuming. The custard can also sit covered in the fridge for a day or so. Just add the freshly washed fruit and whatever other toppings float your boat just before serving.

I used three kinds of berries... blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.

Fresh Fruit Tarts with Pastry Cream
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Makes ten 3 1/2 inch or two 7-inch tarts

(a slightly modified recipe from Miette pastry shop in San Francisco)

Pastry Shells:
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 large egg yolks
6-8 Tablespoons heavy cream
1. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds using your paddle attachment. Add the cubed butter and beat until the mixture is as fine as cornmeal (about 5 minutes).

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of the cream. Add this to the flour mixture in the mixer bowl and mix it all until just combined. Add more cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together into large chunks. Gather the dough into a ball, pat it into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. Divide the dough to make the portions you need and pat gently into disks. Roll out each dough disk on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick and 1 inch larger in diameter than the pans you’re using. Drape the rolled-out dough into the tart pans, gently pushing it into the bottom edges and against the pan sides to make a strong, straight shell. Trim the edges flush with the top rim of the pans. Prick all over the bottom with a fork and place them in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the shells for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in the pan, remove and cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Pastry Cream:

2 cups whole milk

1/2 vanilla bean

7 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan. Use a sharp knife to slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk. Throw in the pod. Heat until almost boiling (bubbles will begin to form at the edges). Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 1 hour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch until smooth. Set the bowl on a kitchen towel or nonskid surface and whisk the egg mixture while pouring about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the mixture to temper. Gradually pour in the rest of the milk, whisking constantly. Pour the contents of the bowl into the pan and turn the heat to medium-low.

3. Cook, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a slow boil, about 2 minutes. Immediately strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean container. Discard the vanilla bean. Let the pastry cream cool to room temperature, for about 10 minutes, then whisk in the butter until it’s completely incorporated.

4. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

Final assembly: Divide the chilled custard among the shells evenly. Top with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or your favorite fruit. Make sure to wash the fruit just before placing it onto the cream filling so that it stays firm and fresh.

Blueberry Pie

It seems a bit early here in the Northwest to be making berry pies, but blueberries are showing up at my local grocery stores and I couldn’t help myself. Not only is blueberry pie delicious, it’s healthy (except for the butter, shortening, and whipped cream parts), and blueberries are the easiest berries to bake with. No peeling. No slicing. No seed removal.

Aside from using fresh, sweet berries, here are a couple tips to creating the perfect blueberry pie: do not over bake it; and keep the berries slightly firm by freezing them first. Don’t completely thaw them before you place them in the pie shell. I don’t mean you should leave them as frozen as the ones shown below. You can thaw them to perfection by running some cold water over them for a minute or two. I prefer that the berries still have a bit of tooth after the pie is baked, but if you don’t, then go ahead and skip the freezing part. See the little nubbly fruit pieces peaking out? Whole berries wrapped in a buttery, flaky crust. That’s the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh.



My go-to blueberry pie recipe is very uncomplicated, as it should be.


Blueberry Pie
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Freeze 4 cups fresh blueberries overnight. Rinse the frozen berries in a colander by running cold water over them until they are slightly, but not completely, thawed. In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix well. Pour contents into a 9" prepared crust. Dot with 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter and 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Place a top crust over the filling, and cut slits in the top of the dough. Crimp the edges together. Brush the top with a beaten egg white and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar. Place into a preheated 425°F. oven for 35-40 minutes, or until juices begin to bubble through slits. Remove and place on a wire rack until cooled. Serve room temperature with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream on top.