Teriyaki!

Have I mentioned how wonderful I find 2-pot cooking with 2 ingredients on the menu? Talk about SIMPLE!

Teriyaki is a wonderful flavor, and it's easily done without all the sugar and additives you may read on a bottle of commercial stuff. I whipped this sauce up in about one minute, with a few more minutes of cooking to reduce it to a saucy consistency.

This sauce is super with chicken, fish,shrimp, or beef! Today I had chicken on the menu for lunch, so this is how it turned out, served on a bed of steamed chard:

Good as Yen Lui's, eh?

TERIYAKI

Pour 1/3 c. water into small fry pan. Add about 1/8 tsp. EACH of garlic powder, onion powder, dry ginger, chili powder, and 1-2 T. of low sodium soy sauce (I prefer Tamari, which can be found gluten-free). A good alternative to soy sauce is Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

Bring to boil, stir in 4 oz. raw chicken breast cut into 1/2" pieces or less. Stir a bit while the chicken cooks, about 2 min. Remove chicken to serving bowl, reserving sauce in pan. Lower heat a tad, and continue to simmer sauce about 2-3 minutes more, until reduced and thicker.

Remove pan from heat, THEN stir in 1/2 packet (your taste) of SweetLeaf plain stevia powder.
Never add stevia while cooking, it will get bitter. Play with the seasonings in this sauce; sometimes I add Chinese 5-Spice powder instead of the garlic and onion powders.

My preferred soy sauce (which does have a small amount of alcohol for preservation):

Add the chicken back to sauce and stir briefly to reheat. Pour over steamed greens.

A dish fit for the Emperor! A nice accompaniment: 1/2 c. cold apple sauce (my raw apple sauce recipe will be posted later).

A NOTE on greens: when I find my system "backing up" for more than a day or two, rather than resort to any sort of laxative I have a big serving of steamed leafy greens - preferably CHARD or KALE! Loaded with fiber and other good things, these natural brooms efficiently help sweep things clean.

Supreme a grapefruit...

Once I saw how easy it was to supreme a grapefruit, I've never looked back! It works on oranges of all types, lemons and limes, too! A really useful kitchen skill, minimum work, easy technique. Here is how it goes...

Using a SHARP knife, cut both ends off the grapefruit, make sure to get to the "meat". Then holding it sort of on edge, start at the top and cut down around to the bottom. This takes a tiny bit of practice, but isn't difficult.
Continue on around...

...until you have a nekkid grapefruit! If there is still the white rind left on in a few places, it's ok but you can go back and slice that off. Sharp knives are a MUST in the kitchen!!

Pro chefs then slice each segment out, and it's not hard - just loses some of the nice juice. So I separate each segment one at a time, and peel the membrane off - it is pretty easy.

Takes a little longer to peel the membrane than to slice, but the end result is the same...a lovely sparkling bowl of delicious refreshing grapefruit!

Orange Prawns

One thing I really do like about oranges and seafood - the color effectively zips up a potentially bland plate - and as a cooking instructor, I'm all about presentation! The other thing I like about oranges and seafood - the citrus notes also give delightful zing to fish, especially white fish. (Again, noting that oranges are not on Siemen's protocol; listed on other sites.)

This is so simple it's embarrassing.

Tear up about 1 1/2 c. cold crisped lettuce, place on colorful serving plate. Cut one orange into slices. Peel the slicesSqueeze enough slices to make about 2 T. juice, and put into small fry pan with 1/4 c. water. Using one or two orange slices, chop coarsely and add to water. Cut the remaining slices into quarters, set aside.

Season water/juice with powdered ginger, some garlic and onion powder. Bring to boil, then add 4 oz. raw, peeled prawns (I like the 41-50 count, they are medium size and you feel like you are getting more to munch rather than the big guys!). Cook 1 minute, then flip over and cook additional minute, until opaque. Don't overcook, it's easy to do at high heat.

Plate the hot shrimp on the lettuce, drizzle with some pan juice making sure to get all the bits of orange.

Garnish with the remaining orange quarters.

See how fast that was?! Took longer to peel the prawns than to put the whole dish on the plate!

Lemon Rock Fish with Steamed Napa

I use lemons a LOT in raw cuisine, so I didn't know if I'd survive with a one-lemon-per-day limit. But I've found it is just fine, thanks to no cravings with hcg! And here's one of my favorite really fast recipes including that ray of sunshine - Fresh Lemon!

In steamer top, put 2 c. of Napa cabbage wedges. Turn on heat to bring water in bottom to boil, let steam until tender crisp. Just about the amount of time it takes to cook the fish, which is started in the other pan, after turning on the heat under the steamer.

In small fry pan, bring 1/4 c. water to boil, adding 1 T. fresh lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper, and dash of seasalt. Add a 4 oz. fillet of rock fish (or other white fish ie lingcod). Let cook about 1 minute, until bottom and a little of the sides are opaque. Carefully turn the fish over, turn off the heat, and let finish cooking, other minute or so, depending on thickness. (This type of fish is generally less than 1/2" thick and cooks quickly. By turning off the heat for the second side, the fish stays tender rather than getting tough from too high heat.)

Serve on a colorful plate (color is happy, good for weight disposal!), with 1 or 2 small lemon wedges to squeeze over the Napa and fish if desired. After plating the steamed Napa, give it a good grind of fresh pepper.

This is a very simple, quick, but filling dish. Don't forget the Melba, and 1/2 grapefruit goes well with it - citrus notes, doncha know!

Braised Beef Tips with Sauteed Caraway Cabbage and Apple

Oops. What happened to simple? The fancy-schmancy title makes it sound hard, but it is still a really simple prep, with just the basic three items for the meal: 1 protein, 1 veg, 1 fruit!

A beautiful dish, and VERY filling.

The 6" fry pan is such a great tool for this mini-gourmet dishes. Starting with 1/3 c. water, bring to a boil with a 1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash seasoning. Add 4 oz. raw measure beef sirloin tip steak thinly sliced. Moving the meat around, cook until pink barely shows. Remove meat to dish, reserving liquid in pan.

Add 1 cup mixed Napa cabbage and red cabbage, sliced thinly, with about a tablespoon of chopped green onion and a good pinch of thyme, to the pan juices. I'm stretching the envelope here, combining more than one veg.

Saute on high, for about 1 minute, until cabbage wilts, but is still tender-crisp.
Add one apple, peeled and chopped, with a good sprinkle of caraway seed.

Continue tossing and stir-frying until apples are warmed.

Return beef strips to pan, toss gently to rewarm.

This truly a gourmet meal-in-a-dish! A whisper of thyme, the notes of caraway, sweetness from the apple taming the cabbages - and tender beef strips.

Good enough to company! If I wanted to share. That would involve another 5 minutes of cooking. But such easy cooking!

Scrambled Wraps

One of the things I've found in researching online re: hcg protocols is that there are some options to the original program established by Dr. Siemens. For one thing, there are expanded food lists. For the most part, I have choosen to stick with Siemen's orginal program and lists, from "Pounds and Inches"/.

That being said, I know from long-time "dieting" experiences, that there are some things my body reacts to better than others. High quality proteins are really key to my personal weight reduction efforts. Eggs are a superstar protein, in my book. Being on one of the expanded lists, I decided to experiment just a bit. This is what happened:

SCRAMBLED WRAPS

Fork-whip one whole egg (organically produced) and two egg whites. Mix in some lemon pepper, seasoned salt, a bit of turmeric, and a grind of fresh pepper. Heat 3 T. water to boiling in the small fry pan. Slip in the egg mix, reduce heat, and let set, stirring carefully a few times to get it all cooked but not dry. Let cool several minutes, then serve spooned into crispy Buttercrunch lettuce leaves.

I love the freshness of grapefruit with eggs, so that was my fruit choice to go with a slice of Melba and the savory egg wraps. Filling and fun!

Organic options

Aside from cleaning the unnecessary fat out of my body, this eating protocol is a wonderful opportunity to clean up the chemical load that accumulates each day. The organic options have no added chemicals, freeing the digestive and other operating systems to do do their jobs without overtime on the chemicals clogging up the works.

My first choice would be to purchase meats from a local farm that raises organic beef, chicken, and lamb. Since I can't always connect with their schedule, the next best thing are the organics I can find at Fred Meyer and Safeway. Limited choices, but do-able.

The beef I prefer is the tri-tip steak, or sirloin. Thinly sliced, these are tender cuts cooking up in 2-3 minutes and staying tender.

The fruits and veggies are easier to find. When the garden shuts down for the season, I always shed a few tears, because I KNOW what's in my lettuce, kale and chardwhen I grow it myself!

I love my "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean Fifteen" list, it makes it easy to choose just which fruits and veggies to put my money on. I carry the list in my wallet, for quick reference no matter where I shop. Number one: ALWAYS buy organic celery!!

The other place I try to search out the organics are in condiments and spices. Again, the labels are helpful, but I always spend some time reading them anyway. Some products, like Braggs ACV, are old friends. Others are pleasant surpises, like the garlic and onion powder I recently found. Not all herbs and spices are organic, or processed with the same integrity.

Yes, organics are usually a little more pricey. But I consider it health insurance, which I can't afford to buy in the policy form. And for this food protocol, organics are an additional success formula in my humble opinion.

Sweet Ginger Shrimp

I love things wrapped in lettuce leaves! Especially crunchy Butterhead lettuce out of our raised bed lettuce garden, cold and crispy from the frig. This tangy shrimp recipe is punchy with ginger and a sweet orange sauce.

Mix in small fry pan:
1/4 c. water, 2 T. fresh lemon juice, 2 T. fresh orange juice, 2 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos, 1/4 tsp. dry ginger powder, pinch of chili seasoning, large dash of garlic and onion powders, dash of seasalt and ground pepper. Add stevia to taste, not TOO sweet

Bring to boil, slide 4 oz. peeled prawns (41-50 count, which are medium size) , cook about 1 min. until turning opaque on sides. Turn each shrimp over, turn off heat and let set in pan juices while asssembling plate. The shrimp won't overcook this way.

Lay cleaned whole lettuce leaves on plate. Put shrimp in a small bowl. Turn up heat under pan, let pan juices simmer a few minutes more to thicken. Pour into another small bowl. Set the shrimp and sauce bowls on plate with lettuce.

This is the fun part! Put one or two shrimp in the lettuce leaf, spoon on some sauce, fold the END up on the lettuce to keep the sauce from escaping, and take a good bite! Be sure to lean over the plate, the sauce will try to run away! For small leaves and one shrimp, I just fold it over and eat it in one bite - yummers!

NOTE: Oranges are not on the Siemen's protocol, but are listed on other sites. I wanted to try it, as oranges and seafood are a good pairing. It didn't seem to bother the wt. loss, but I won't use oranges often.

Chili Napa Beef Bites

Just the thing for a coolish almost fall day!

Slice Napa cabbage and place in steamer. Turn on burner to start the cabbage steaming and proceed with the meat.

Slice 4 oz. beef sirloin tip steak. Put 1/3 c. water into small fry pan, add chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, dash of salt, a grind of fresh pepper. Bring to boil. Add the beef, stirring gently until pink just barely dissapears. Turn heat to low, let simmer while the cabbage finishes steaming.

When cabbage is done tender crisp (about 2 minutes total once the steam starts hitting it), put into a bowl, and top with the chili beef and juice.

Serve with one Melba toast, a mug of green tea and your fruit choice for dessert if you want it with the meal.

Love Napa cabbage! It's wrinkles-and-crinkles hold so much of the saucy juice. Yum!

Curried Chicken and Chard

The garden continues to keep the chard on hand - at least until the frost hits. The big green ruffled leaves with bright red stems(Rhubarb Chard) fill the colender, but steam down to a much smaller amount. I'm still trying to decide, is it one cup raw (which makes about 1/4 c. steamed), or one cup after steaming??

The chicken is easier to figure out. Weigh 4 oz. (100 g.) raw skinless organic chicken breast. Cut it into 1/2" cubes. Put aboutt 1/2 c. water into the fry pan, bring to a boil with curry powder, onion and garlic powder, a dash of seasalt and grind of pepper. Then drop in the chicken, stir to separate all cubes; cook about one minute,then turn each cube over and let simmer while the chard steams. The liquid will reduce and thicken a bit, making a nice curry sauce.

Put the chard in a deep bowl, top with chicken and curry sauce. I like the sauce to fill the bottom and up the sides a tad, sorta like soup. It helps flavor the chard.

A traditional curry, especially if it's got any heat to it, is usually accompanied by something cooling, like yogurt or fruit. So I made fast applesauce with one apple and a dash of cinnamon: cubed one peeled apple into a small pan, added 2 T water and the cinnamon, brought it to a boil then turned it off and stirred in a small amount of stevia. I medium apple equals about 1/2 c. of apple sauce, I found.

This is definately on the "keeper" list of experiments!

Napa Shrimp

I've found I often really love crinkly crispy Napa cabbage in place of lettuce with the shrimp.
A mixed salad of allowed veggies might include a bit of tomato and cucumber, a pinch of snipped chives or green onion. It makes a colorful meal!

Napa embraces the ACV vinegrette - great flavor! Sometimes I'll prepare for the day by getting the greens chopped/torn into my favorite bowl the night before; covered and refrigerated, it does save a few more moments on a time-eating day.

# 1 Go-to recipe

A quick calendar scan of the coming week on Sunday evening: hmmm, a couple busy times in there. Not to worry. Make sure there's crisp lettuce and small pink shrimp in the frig.

One of the things I'm really really enjoying about this eating protocol is how SIMPLE it is. Two items to prep, twice a day. Not counting fruit - other than washing or cutting. I mean, how hard is it or how long does it take to whack a grapefruit in half?!

This salad is probably my favorite thing of all time.

I'm blessed to live right on the bay where we have a seafood processing business just blocks away. Fresh fish and shrimp, at my beck and call. I keep a few measured (weighed) out packages in the freezer, but get to use fresh most of the time. Lucky me!

These succulent little pink shrimp get a good rinse in the seive, then drained a few moments while I tear up lettuce from my garden that has been previously washed and rolled in a towel then refrigerated to stay crisp.

Dressing? Easy breezy. A simple vinaigrette. 2 T. organic apple cider vinegar, 3-4 T. water, some stevia to taste, makes a nice sweet-sour type dressing. I throw in some dried herbs, which ever are calling my name at the time, a dash of seasalt and grind of pepper. Wah-la.

The little cup came with shrimp in it one day. It measures 1/2 c. With the lid, it makes a great little shaker for mixing this dressing. I use about half on one salad, pop on the lid and the rest goes into the refrigerator for the next salad.

The melba toast is kinda fun. Sometimes I break it up and drop the little croutons over the salad, other times I just munch little nibbles inbetween bites of salad. One slice of melba doesn't look like much - it's amazing how satisfying it is.

I love to supreme grapefruit. Cutting off the outer rind, then dividing each segment by peeling off the membrane. Grapefruit is good ice-y cold from the frig, but sometimes I prefer it room temp - the flavor really comes through. I always take several good whiffs of the rind before composting it. Grapefruit has got to be the most refreshing scent of all the fruits!

So there's my #1 meal. Shrimp Salad with Grapefruit and a melba. Usually with a cup of green tea.

THIS IS MY IDEA OF SIMPLE!!!

And oh-so-good!

Investing in ME!

Each time the calendar ticks off another year it's hard to reconcile my mind's image of me with the mirror image. It's interesting to note that I have matured in matters of personality, thought processes, knowledge, choices, and so on, while a part of my mind has maintained that sort of 20's exuberance for life and adventure.

The challenge seems to be, the body has a mind of it's own. Literallly. So we have to find a way to live together in harmony and support.

Which brings me back to choices. A relaxed mostly vegetarian lifestyle has always resonated with mind and body. Recently I moved into the raw realm, with great comfort and joy. The experimenting has cost me, though. Recent blood work revealed low protein and Vit. D3. And a gain of about 25 pounds - ditching the nuts, for sure.

Weight has always been an issue. I just love to work with food, an artistic outlet. It loves me, too. Add to that genetic blessings of poor conformation in the feet and knees, and it's a formula for a lot of discomfort and frustration when my body can't carry out my mind's enthusiasims.

Eventually, something has always kicked me into gear to make the effort, once again. This time it is just age, pure and simple. I'm 63. I have young-t0-teenage grandpunks that I want to spend time with and TRY to keep up with. I am my aging mother's live-in caregiver. If I can't keep up with her 84-year-old mental and physical issues - well, not a pretty picture.

So. While contemplating the need for foot surgery, and some knee surgery down the road, it struck me forcibly I had to find a better way. A better way of dealing with the weight, a better way to keep my life simple (always a quest), a better way of relating to food.

And - it had to be IMMEDIATE. Too much riding on this. And I'm just danged tired of the clothes battle, too.

Enter a friend who was having great success with HCG. A lightbulb went on. Lots of late night hours online researching, gathering info to support that lightbulb. It didn't take long to conclude that this was worth doing.

Now I know just what other friends and family would have to say - so I'm not confiding. They can see the results in time, and ask if they want. I loved one forum comment regarding the question, "What have you been doing?" Answer: "I get abducted by aliens evernight and they do liposuction before returning me." I mean really - do your own homework, people. That is one of my favorite personal sayings.

So this blog is going to be partly my journal, partly building a resource combination of menus and recipes, and maybe finding others who will share their own insights into the whole weight-body image-health and SIMPLE LIVING realm.

I don't have time to keep up with forums and such, so this is it. I know from doing my other blogs, that posting won't be daily, but enough to help keep me focused and give me another reason to stay the course.

Here goes!