Cuban Eggs

I don't know why this is called Cuban Eggs.  Anyway, I found this recipe in the South Beach Diet for Beginners. Beginner cooks or beginner SB dieters? However you see it,  it can be either or both. This dish is quite easy to make and takes just half an hour. I made some adaptations to the recipe as you'll see from the notes in brackets. The sauce was quite flavorful with the tang of tomato but it overpowered the cheese. AJ enjoyed these eggs and we both pronounced this recipe "a keeper."

Eggs
8 large hard-cooked eggs (I used large eggs; egg size wasn't stipulated in the recipe)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese (I used mild)
3 tablespoons non-fat half and half (5 tablespoons non-fat milk)
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
1/2 cup onion, chopped (I used scallion, minced)
1/2 cup sweet green pepper (for color contrast; but any color will do. I had red pepper on hand)
1 tablespoon butter (Oh, no! Use olive oil instead)
2 tins (8 oz.) non-salt tomato sauce (I used 1 salt and 1 non-salt)
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce, optional (my addition)
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped (I used cilantro)

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Hardcook the eggs. Put eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Cover the pan and heat the water to boiling. Turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes. Rinse in cold water and remove shells. Split the eggs in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and put into a small bowl. But the whites in a 9-inch square baking dish.

Season the yolks. Mash the yolks with the back of a fork. Add the cheese and the milk. In fact, add just enough milk to make the yolks a thick consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill each egg white with a heaping tablespoon of the yolk mixture. Place the filled eggs in a single layer in the baking dish.

Make the sauce. In a small skillet, heat the oil. Add the scallions and sweet pepper and cook until fragrant. Mix in the tomato sauce and add the Sriracha, if using. Pour over the eggs.

Bake the eggs. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and garnish with cilantro, if using.

Serve. For Phase Two, serve with hot cooked brown rice.

Chicken Salad

This is a delicious low fat, low salt chicken salad from the South Beach Diet Cookbook. Instead of mayonnaise, I used sour cream.  I did not need to add any additional salt to it. The taste is light and slightly tart, just perfect for a Phase One cold lunch.

Ingredients
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
3/4 cup (fat-free) sour cream
3 scallions, minced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (parsley in the original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Cos, romaine, and/or iceberg lettuce, chopped
Tomato cut into wedges, optional

In a medium bowl combine chicken, sour cream, scallions, cilantro, lime zest. Toss well to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Scoop into a mound on a bed of lettuce. Add tomato wedges, if desired.

Egg Muffin

That's right. I didn't leave out no "Mc"!

I made these muffins at 3 a.m. I have have such bad insomnia since I went back on the South Beach Diet. Anyway, I found this recipe for Egg Muffins on Kalyn's Kitchen which has a number of recipes dedicated to SBD. I liked it because it's been improved upon, but I used large eggs and had left over egg mixture. The recipe did state to use 12 eggs but did not stipulate what size eggs. Obviously large eggs were too large. I wish I had known that before. Still, it gave me the opportunity to use up the mummified veggies and leftover broccoli and peppers from dinner. I chopped them up along with three scallions and added them to the egg mixture. As you can see, I also have trouble following directions because I was supposed to put them in each cup before adding the beaten egg. I used salt and pepper instead of that Spike Seasoning, whatever it is. I know I'm grouchy. It's the lack of sleep.  The egg muffins came out pretty looking and didn't fall in the center as they did when I made them before. And how did they taste? As they say in Oz, not bad!

Marinated Steak and Roasted Asparagus with Shiitake Mushrooms

Beef tenderloin, roasted asparagus with mushrooms, broccoli with peppers, mashed cauliflower

 It's been years since I had a steak. I bought beef tenderloin, an expensive choice, but I might as well make my re-introduction to steak a class act. So here it is:

"Jo Anne, beefsteak."

"Beefsteak, Jo Anne."

Exeunt to the kitchen. After the introductions, now, how to cook this marvelous meat? This is a Phase One (South Beach Diet) recipe for Marinated London Broil. I made some adjustments to it for herbs I didn't have.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry sherry (dry red wine in the original recipe)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dried parsley (fresh minced parsley in the original)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (fresh oregano in the original)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin

Whisk together oil, sherry, garlic, parsley, rosemary, bay leaf, and black pepper in a small bowl. Place the steak in a deep bowl and pour on the marinade. Turn once to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least four hours.

Spray a stove-top grill pan with cooking spray and heat it. Remove the herbs and bay leaf from the steak and put it in the pan.  Grill the steak for 5 minutes on one side then turn it over and grill the second side for an additional 5 minutes. Cut into thin slices across the grain. It came out medium rare, somewhat tasty, and quite chewy. Thai beef isn't particularly tender, which reminds me why I gave up beef in the first place.

Veggies prepared for roasting

I found this on another blog with South Beach Diet-type recipes. I adapted it because I didn't have Spike Seasoning. Unfortunately, it came out mummified as you can see on the plate above! According to the original recipe, the roasting time is less than 20 minutes. That's a pretty big leeway! After five minutes I noticed the asparagus had turned a bright green. I ought not to have taken my eyes off of it.

1 lb asparagus, trimmed
1 lb mushrooms, (I like shiitake) stems trimmed and caps sliced in half
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt (Spike Seasoning in the original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Combine all ingredients and spread on a single layer in a baking pan. Roast vegetables for 10, not 20 minutes, is my best guestimate.

Paper Wrapped Chicken Bundles

Poulet en papillote. Chicken in parchment. There is a recipe for it in the South Beach Diet cookbook but I got bored with it. Since I'm cooking for Phase One, I left out the sugar. I also left out the salt because it really didn't need it.  In my iteration, marinated chicken is wrapped in parchment bundles with bits of vegetable, and,  instead of deep frying, it is baked for just 5 minutes. The secret is to add a little oil to the marinade and slice the chicken into thin slivers with a sharp knife. Try these variations, such as, other kinds of meat, fish, and shrimp. This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Oriental Cookbook.

Ingredients for marinade
2 chicken breasts sliced thinly on the diagonal
1 tablespoon minced scallion
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Sliver of chicken sliced on the diagonal

Slice the chicken breast on the diagonal into 32 slivers of meat. To make it easier to slice, partially freeze the chicken. Place in a medium bowl with the marinade ingredients. Toss to coat thoroughly. Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cut parchment paper squares and prepare vegetables for bundles.

Ingredients for bundles
32 five-inch squares of parchment paper
32 snow pea pods sliced in half on the diagonal
4 scallions sliced on the diagonal in 1 1/2 inch lengths

Ingredients ready for assembling into paper bundles

Place a parchment square with a pointed side facing you. Put two halves of pea pods in the center with a few scallions. Put a sliver of chicken on top.

Fold the bottom of the parchment towards the top, covering the filling. Crease. Fold the sides towards the center. Tuck the top flap into the folds.

Paper wrapped chicken bundle

As you wrap, preheat the oven to 400˚F. Place the bundle on a baking tray. Continue bundling and wrapping.

Bundles on a baking tray

Bake the bundles for 5 minutes. Through the parchment paper, you will see the chicken has turned a creamy color and will no longer be pink.

Chicken "en papillote" with sesame rice salad

Shrimp Kabobs

This is a quick and easy meal to make that only takes half an hour from start to finish. The white soy sauce is a light brown soy sauce that barely colors the marinade but adds just the right amount of flavor. I adapted this recipe for Fish Kabobs from the South Beach Diet cookbook. So delicious!

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon Colman's mustard powder
1 tablespoon white soy sauce
36 medium shrimp, shelled and deveined, with tails (large shrimp is okay)
9 bamboo skewers (not necessary to soak them)

Preheat oven to 450˚F. Lightly oil a grill and place it over a pan lined with a sheet of aluminum foil for easy clean up.

In a medium glass baking dish, add the oil, lime juice, mustard, and soy sauce. Blend well with a spatula. Add the raw shrimp and toss to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes.

Thread 4 shrimp per skewer and place them in slightly overlapping rows. It's okay for the tails to touch. Put the shrimp kabobs in the oven to bake for 5-10 minutes, slightly longer if you are using large shrimp. The shrimp are cooked when they turn pink on both sides and are no longer translucent. Serve immediately.

The shrimp can also be grilled or broiled and will be cooked in half the time.

Balsamic Chicken and Surprise South Beach Mashed "Potatoes"

Dinner was light--but filling! To go with oven baked balsamic chicken, there was sugar snap peas with tomatoes, cole slaw, pickled vegetables, and a creamy delicious mashed "potato" made from cauliflower.  Both recipes for the chicken and the cauliflower come from the South Beach Diet book.

Balsamic Chicken (adapted from the South Beach Diet Cookbook)

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more or less
1 teaspoon salt, more or less
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 tablespoons white wine, optional
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Marinate the chicken, preferably overnight. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Mince the rosemary leaves (I didn't do it and  I think it would have tasted better without the big leaves of rosemary). Mince the garlic. Combine rosemary, garlic, pepper and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Place the chicken in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil and rub with the herb mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 10 hours.

Bake the chicken. Preheat the oven 450˚F (200˚C in my convection oven). Spray a heavy roasting pan with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the pan and bake for 10 minutes (7 minutes in the convection oven). Turn the chicken once. If the dripping sticks to the pan, stir in 3-4 tablespoons water or white wine (if using).

Make pan drippings. Bake about 10 minutes more (7 minutes in the convection oven) or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 160˚F. If the pan is dry, stir in 1-2 tablespoons water or wine to loosen the drippings. Drizzle the vinegar over the chicken breasts.

Serve. Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate or serving dish. Stir the liquid in the pan and drizzle over the chicken.

Surprise South Beach Mashed "Potatoes"(adapted from the South Beach Diet Cookbook)

4 cups cauliflower florets (about 1 1/2 heads)
1 ounce butter (tastes better) or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
1 ounce fat free half and half or fat free milk
salt and pepper to taste

Steam or blanch the cauliflower until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Puree in a food processor, adding the butter or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and the half and half or milk. Season with salt and pepper.