Chicken Chorizo "No Potato" Hash and it is GOOD!!!!

Chicken Chorizo "No Potato" Hash

When I told my oldest son about the diet I had started he got on the Internet and found a DELICIOUS main dish at http://aspicyperspective.com which he prepared when I visited last weekend and was it ever good!! 

This recipe is indeed a find if you like you food a little spicy and full of tender crisp veggies which results in a "dynamite dish"!! His version was so good neither of us would have ever thought of it as diet food. I thought I would devote a new section to really terrific "slow carb" dishes we try and like.

This one is REALLY good. It goes like this.

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion diced
1/2 of a bunch of cilantro chopped
4 medium zucchini cut into 1/3 " cubes
1 red pepper cored, seeded, and chopped
8 oz. Mexican Chorizo sausage
2 C. cooked chicken shredded or chopped
1 T. oil
salt and black pepper to taste.

Heat a large skillet over medium -high heat. Brown the crumbled chorizo for 2-3 minutes until browned. Add the chicken and heat until it is warmed through. Remove the meat and set it aside.

Add the onions to the skillet and saute for 1 minute, add the zucchini and red pepper and an additional 1 T. of oil if needed. Saute for 2-3 minutes. The vegetables should be just cooked and NOT mushy. 

Salt and pepper and stir in the cilantro.  Serve pipping hot and you have a wonderful main dish.

If you don't care for cilantro try parsley instead or pass the cilantro on the side  if you have a mixed crowd as we do (Brian doesn't like a lot on his,)  Everyone can flavor the dish to suit themselves.   This dish will for sure be a "do again" at our house,  diet or not.

Three Cookie Recipes, Soft Sugar Cookies, "Forgotten Cookies," and Brownie Drops.

Forgotten Cookies and German Chocolate Brownie Bites

I am on the prowl for new cookie recipes that might appeal to little ones. Meaning terrific taste, not overly messy, and shippable or transportable!!

Big Soft Sugar Cookies

My husband Brian and anyone who is handy have become OFFICIAL TASTE TESTERS for me as I am still dieting. I can't wait for Sunday (binge day) to taste for myself!!

"Cooking with Big Love" is a cookbook put out in 1978 by the ladies of the Lutheran Church I was raised in and my Mother still belongs too in Noblesville, Indiana. I have found several rather interesting and somewhat unique recipes that I have adapted for today's baking!!

The first is for a Soft Sugar Cookie and is interesting because of the ingredients. It calls for oil (I used Canola) and buttermilk rather than shortening or butter and you scoop the batter out in a 1/4 C. measure to form big soft cookies I embellished with sugar sprinkles.

Here is my version: SOFT SUGAR COOKIE

1 C. vegetable oil
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 C. buttermilk
1 t. soda
3 C. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 T. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer combine the oil, sugar, and eggs until creamy. Stir together the buttermilk and soda and add immediately to the oil mixture. Mix together the flour and baking powder and add to the batter. Fold in the vanilla.

Even using half sheet pans and 1/4 C. measure you can only bake 6 cookies at a time.

Pour by 1/4 C. measuring cup onto an ungreased cookie sheet, forming only 6 per pan. Sprinkle the cookie tops with sugar and bake for 8 minutes. These are enormous cookies.  I used a 1/4 C. measure and they are about 5-6" across!! Yield 18 giant cookies.

Offset spatulas help loosen large cookies.

Using the offset spatula to loosen them helped to remove them intact and with ease.  Just run it all of the way around the plate sized cookies before removing them with a spatula.

Yellow and Orange Fall colored sprinkles made for a festive cookie.

I expect the little ones will have to have these enormous cookies cut in half while Grandpa will gulp them down just like the big boys do. 

My next "FIND" was Forgotten Cookies which fascinated me from the start!! When I read the recipe I thought they would be great for anyone pressed for time. YOU BAKE THEM IN THE EVENING AND LEAVE THEM OVERNIGHT IN THE TURNED OFF OVEN!! They are ready to go next morning, just remove fro the pan. They have to be great, sweet crunchy clouds with tiny chocolate chips. Away I tried them and was not disappointed!!

Forgotten Cookies couldn't be a quicker to mix and easier to bake treat.

Here is my take on the FORGOTTEN COOKIES:

2 egg whites
2/3 C. sugar
1 small bag of mini chocolate chips
1 t. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. before you start!!

Completely cover cookie sheets with aluminum foil.

Forgotten Cookies do not spread or rise so more can be placed on the baking sheet.

Beat the egg whites. Slowly add the sugar, then add the vanilla. Keep beating until very stiff. (The batter should stand up like pointy little mountains that don't lean over when you remove the beater.

Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop the mixture by teaspoon full onto the prepared cookie sheet. Place the cookies in the hot oven.  Yielded  28 cookies.

IMMEDIATELY TURN OFF THE OVEN AND DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING.  Just remove from the pan and you've got treats any child will love.

NOTE:  Egg whites have a lot of proteins and nutritional value.

German Chocolate is the main ingredient in these delightful cookies.

Last but not least this recipe called to ME.  A few years back my newest daughter-in-law, Julie brought a lovely brownie type cookie she had baked in the bottom of a cupcake pan that was brownie like and really yummy.  Since then I have been on the lookout for a chocolate brownie type cookie and this one fills the bill.

BROWNIE DROPS:

2 (4 oz.) bars German Chocolate
1 T. butter
3/4 C. sugar
1/4 t. baking powder
3/4 C. chopped pecans if desired (I used walnuts instead.)
2 eggs
1/4 C. flour
1/4 t. vanilla
dash of Cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking pans.

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Beat eggs until foamy and then add the sugar, 2 T. at a time; beat until thickened. Blend in the chocolate; add the flour, baking powder Cinnamon , and salt mixing well. Stir in the vanilla and the nuts, if desired.

Shinny fudge like batter marks this cookie.

Drop by teaspoon fulls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until cookie feels soft when lightly touched at the center. Cool and store in an airtight container.  Yield 30 cookies.

That is all for today's baking and I hope you will try one of these and enjoy them!!

Day 9, Food and Thoughts on the DIET, or How Many Ways Can I Eat Eggs?

Tomatoes and Eggs.

Nine days have passed since I committed to the slow carb diet and every day I seem to see or realize something new I either missed or that makes sense to me. 

I have never been a breakfast every morning kind of girl, more like 2 cups of black coffee and I am good to go!

I have learned there are lots of things I like to scramble into eggs. Diced green onions and Shitake mushrooms are my favorite so far. I cannot bring myself to add beans or peas to breakfast but the veggies sauteed and scrambled are quite doable. I do not get hungry at all if I get breakfast in within the prescribed 30 minutes to an hour after waking up. No hunger for hours, until maybe 2 or 3 in the afternoon before there is even an inkling of hunger.

No toast and no sandwiches is difficult. They were easy and a habit. 

Now lunch is the biggest challenge because I am not hungry in 4-5 hours, I have to stop and make something instead of grabbing something.

I am leaning towards homemade soups to be a partial remedy. Chili without pasta, vegetable beef without potatoes, ham and beans, and split pea soup all seem to fall within the perimeters of the diet.

Yesterday I made my first pot of chili as the temperature dropped over 30 degrees to the 60's and last night we dropped into the 50's!! (Last week we hit 100 degrees.) It was great for supper and will be a great lunch today and perhaps tomorrow. 

Yesterday I made a small chef's salad for lunch that included lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery, diced chicken and ham, and a hard cooked egg. As I finished it the light came on as I realized I should have added either a spoonful of cold drained kidney beans or some thawed peas to have gotten it just right!!

After a lot of thought I have decided mood swings are my enemy and to just be very matter of fact and methodical is the best way for me to achieve success. I have told myself 4 months is the first goal then I will decide where to go from there.  (I will either be satisfied with the results and quit, continue,  or modify.) I have also decided not to weigh myself until the week before Christmas as that is the marker I am setting. No highs from losses and no lows for lack of loss, just steady as she goes I am thinking!!

The thing is, I have not cheated and do not intend to.

The binge day was a breeze and compared to the binge days detailed in, "The 4 hour Diet," by Tim Ferriss. I had the regular breakfast as prescribed followed by a glass of grapefruit juice. Then lunch was a beloved sandwich, ham salad, yummo!! For supper my hearts desire was a cheeseburger and fries from Steak and Shake with a cherry coke!! Am I easy or what?? Dessert was of course the delectable Jar of Pecan Pie, and was it ever good!! (My last post.)

My challenge will be when I take a trip and am not at home. I will have to suck it up, put on my big girl panties, and I guess we will all see what I am made of won't we??