Moroccan Chicken

You know how we all find diet food bland? Well, I really want to stick to this diet, but still experiment with different foods. My South Beach Diet book had a recipe for Moroccan Chicken w/Summer Squash. The Moroccan part didn't stick out to me as much as the summer squash part, b/c I need to use up our squash!

This was a little different-so you picky eaters-be weary about trying it. Cinnamon + Chicken seems a little weird to me, but it was good. Not GREAT by any means, but good. The only difference in this recipe is that I used black olives instead of green. And I made some whole wheat cous cous to round out the meal.



Moroccan Lemon Chicken w/Summer Squash and Green Olives
South Beach Diet

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 lemon
4 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
¾ lb summer squash
1/3 cup pitted green olives
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Pound chicken breasts between wax paper until ¼ “ thick
In a small bowl, mix cumin, ginger, cinnamon, pepper, allspice, salt & cayenne. Squeeze 1 Tbsp juice from the lemon and add to the spice mixture. Add 3 tsp oil to spice mixture. Spread over chicken, on both sides.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, in batches if necessary and cook, turning, until blackened on the outside & cooked through. 3-4 mins per side. Transfer to a plate & keep warm.
Add remaining 1 tsp oil to the skillet & return to med high heat. Add onions slices & cook, stirring w/a wooden spoon & scraping up any brown bits, about 3 minutes. Add squash, olives & water. Season lightly w/ S&P. Cover and cook until the squash is tender, 4 to 5 mins. Remove pan from heat, squeeze a little more lemon juice over chicken & veggies, sprinkle with parsley & serve.


No parsley for us- we have a bunny that is attacking our garden!

Vegetable Hash

We eat a lot of egg beaters/egg whites on this diet. It truly is the easiest way to get a lot of protein in your morning meal. I like this "hash" because it is hearty, but it doesn't have any potatoes in it. I have been adding it to our morning eggs, but you could also serve it as a side dish to any meal. The best part is that I cooked this up on Sunday so I was able to just add it into my eggs without the added sauteing time.



Chunky Vegetable Hash
South Beach Diet Book

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
pinch of dried thyme
pinch if paprika
1/8 tsp salt
1 small red pepper, diced
4 large button mushrooms, diced
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 small garlic clove


In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, thyme & paprika, reduce heat to medium low & cook, stirring occasionally, 7 minutes or until soft. Stir in remaining items. Cover & cook, stirring occasionally 4 more minutes.

Spicy Shrimp & Bok Choy Stir Fry

This was so good, but I didn't make enough! I always forget that ingredients like bok choy, spinach, etc... They cook down. So I thought, oh one head of bok choy will surely be enough. Yeah, not so much.



Spicy Shrimp & Bok Choy Stir Fry
South Beach Diet Book

1 ½ lbs large shrimp
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 lbs bok choy, sliced crosswise
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp chile garlic sauce

Combine shrimp, scallion whites & garlic
In a wok, heat oil. Add shrimp mixture & cook until shrimp are pink, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Return pan to heat, add bok choy, cover & cook until crisp & tender, 3 to 4 mins. Drain any liquid from the pan & add to the shrimp.
Return pan to heat, add soy sauce & garlic sauce. Stir to combine, bring to a boil. Add shrimp mixture & toss to coat. Cook just briefly. Stir in green scallions & serve.


** This was really good, the sauce had just the right amount of spice to it. I will use the sauce again, but probably add more stir fry veggies. It just seems really plain-not in taste-just in looks.

Turkey Meatloaf

This recipe is packed with protein and fiber. It filled us up pretty quickly.



Home-style Turkey Meatloaf w/Mushrooms & White Beans
South Beach Diet

2 tsp olive oil
1 ½ cup chopped onion
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cayenne
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¾ lb mushrooms chopped
4 large garlic cloves minced
1 15oz can great Northern beans, drained & rinsed
1 ¼ lb ground turkey
2 large eggs
½ cup chopped parsley
4 tsp Worcestershire
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Heat oven to 375F. Spray 8x4x2 ½ w/ olive oil.
In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions and seasonings. Reduce to medium low & cook for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook until onion is softened & mushrooms are Incorporated, about 5 minutes. Add beans & stir to combine. Transfer mixture to a bowl & let cool.
In a large bowl, combine cool bean mixture, turkey, eggs, parsley & 2 tsp Worcestershire. Mix well with wet hands to combine, form into a loaf & place in a pan. Stir together mustard & remaining sauce. Set aside.
Bake for 50 minutes. Brush with reserved Worcestershire sauce & return to oven. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until temp registers 170F.


** 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper is a lot. I only did 1/4 tsp
** I also used 93% lean ground beef for this since we had just had turkey burgers
** My husband doesn't care for Dijon mustard, so my glaze was just ketchup.

I served this with some baked sweet potatoes & grilled summer squash

Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken

I grabbed a copy of South Beach Diet at the library a few weeks ago. A lot of the allowable food items on that diet are approved for P90X so I've snagged a few recipes from it & will be making them this week.

Last night was Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken. I found sun dried tomatoes in a bag in the produce section-kind like craisins- and I was so excited. See usually sun dried tomatoes are in a jar with lots of oil. This is a much healthier option.



Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken
SB Diet
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1 Tbsp EVOO
S&P

Mix the tomatoes, cheese, basil & EVOO in a bowl.
Lay mixture in chicken & roll the chicken up. I use a toothpick to secure the chicken in place.
In an oven proof skillet, spray with Misto & heat over medium-high heat.
Heat oven to 425F.
Place chicken in pan & brown on one side. Season with S&P.
Place pan in oven & cook until chicken is no longer pink.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

On this diet, I almost always make salads to go with our dinners. Since typically do not get carbs, I like to fool myself into thinking I am not missing them. Ask yourself, if your meal choice was either a chicken breast, sauteed squash & steamed green beans OR chicken breast sauteed squash & a Greek salad-which would you pick?

So I look for ways to make salads a little more fun than just your basic side salad.

IE:
Greek Salad: mixed greens, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, feta cheese. Balsamic Vinaigrette
Apple Cheddar Salad: Mixed greens, apples, cheddar cheese, balsamic vinaigrette.
Spinach Mushroom Salad: Spinach, mushrooms, red onions, Italian dressing

You get the idea. Just something to give us a better variety of vegetables. Sometimes I will even top them w/almonds or pecans. (I am crazy like that)

Anyway, 1 oz of goat cheese is equivalent to one dairy serving in this diet plan. I bought some to stuff into chicken but had some leftover & was trying to figure out what to make with it. I found this recipe on myrecipes.com

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

1/3 cup olive oil --> OMIT
1/3 cup lemon juice --> OMIT
1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onions --> OMIT
1 tablespoon honey --> OMIT
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard --> OMIT
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs --> whole wheat breadcrumbs that I seasoned w/Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds --> OMIT
3 (4-oz.) goat cheese logs
1 large egg, lightly beaten --> 1/4 cupegg beaters
3 tablespoons butter --> OLIVE OIL
1 1/2 (5-oz.) packages sweet baby greens, thoroughly washed
12 pitted ripe olives, sliced --> OMIT


1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients.

2. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and sesame seeds.

3. Cut each goat cheese log into 4 slices. Dip in egg, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Cover and chill 2 hours.

4. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry goat cheese, in 2 batches, 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until browned; drain on paper towels.

5. Toss salad greens with olive oil mixture. Top with olives and warm goat cheese rounds.

As you can tell, this isn't very diet friendly. So I had to adjust. I didn't use their dressing-i just used a store bought low fat balsamic vinaigrette. I didn't chill the goat cheese (oops!) and i just drizzled a little olive oil in the pan to "fry" the logs.

This was really good & made my grilled chicken breast dinner a little fancier.

More Salmon

We bought a huge salmon fillet at Sam's Club that I portioned out for our meals. This was salmon dinner #2.

I used my chicken with sherried mushrooms recipe & applied it here. Only I broiled the salmon & seasoned it with S&P.



Here is the recipe for just the sherried mushrooms & sauce
1 (14.5oz) can fat-free low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp minced shallots
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1. Place broth in a small saucepan & bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 7 minutes.
2. heat a medium skillet and add butter, mushrooms, and shallots to the pan. cook over medium high heat until mushrooms are light browned, stirring constantly. Add sherry; bring to a boil. Add 1 cup reduced broth, cook until reduced to 1 1/2 cups (about 7 minutes).

I just drizzled the sauce & mushroom mixture over the salmon when it was done cooking & served it with a little whole wheat couscous.

Italian Pork Tenderloin

This is a really simple meal to make and whenever I run out of ideas I know I can just defrost a tenderloin, season it up, and bake it-then be good for a few days (it makes a lot).

This time I marinated the pork tenderloin in a light Italian dressing for about 6 hours. I baked it in the oven until the internal temperature reached 180. I believe I had the oven set to 350-so it took awhile. (That's about the only downside to this recipe, the hour or so it takes to cook this)



Served with some cauliflower & cheese and 1/2 cup of wild rice.

Updating fool!

I hope I have time today to make some updates-finally! I really hope to keep this blog. It has been so helpful to me since starting P90X again because I have been able to go back to the recipes I posted when we did this diet the last time. Saving me TONS of time by not having to search the Internet for new recipes. Now I am sure my updates & posts will die down, sometimes I just don't have time for a picture and I do a lot of repeats for simplicity sake, but I will try my hardest to post a bit more often.

That being said, P90X is here. We haven't been completely committed to the workouts, as we are still trying to figure out routines & schedules these days, but we have started the diet. And by diet, I don't mean a lot of food restriction. There are so many foods you can eat on this diet, but its mostly high protein, low carbs, eat 5 times a day type of deal.

First up is an oven roasted salmon w/spinach & tomatoes.

I served this is 1/2 cup of cous cous.

I marinated the salmon in olive oil and minced garlic. I spread a layer of spinach in the bottom of a 9x9 pan, layered on tomatoes, then placed the salmon on top of the veggies. Seasoned it with S&P and some more garlic, then roasted it at 375 for about 20 minutes or until flaky. (I can't remember if I covered it. I think I did)