Blueberry Beef Burger

Don't be put off by the slightly purplish colour of these burgers. Once they are cooked nobody will even be able to tell that they once looked so strange. This is another one of those recipes I just had to try because of the strange mix of ingredients...blueberries, ground flax and oatmeal to name a few. The end result was a pretty decent tasting burger. In fact for extra lean ground beef these burgers came out super moist. This recipe makes 4 hearty sized patties. My husband liked them and said he would definitely eat them again. We enjoyed our first barbeque of the season and took advantage of the nice weather and ate out on the porch.

SERVED WITH: Asparagus and a side salad topped with beans and corn. Just make note that corn is a yellow light item from the GI Diet.

COOKING TIPS: Don't wear white when working with the blueberries. It is also a little tricky to tell if the burgers are done until you become familiar with what ground blueberries look like in your meat. About 4 to 5 minutes per side on the barbeque should just about do it.

RATING: 7. I was pleased but not blown away. A decent tasting burger considering the recipe called for extra lean ground beef.

Herbed Cheese Omelette

This week I learnt how to make an omelette. May not sound very exciting to you but it was to me. Doesn't seem like a hard thing to master but if you just "wing" it like I had been doing you may wind up with the same result: scrambled eggs. So I followed the directions and "ta daaaa" a delicious omelette was served for a speedy week night supper.

SERVED WITH: I was lazy and in a hurry so I had it with a slice of bread. A side salad and some asparagus would have made a better dinner.

COOKING TIPS: Have patience. The trick to making an omelette is letting it slowly cook in the pan while gently lifting up the edges and letting the uncooked egg run underneath. After about five minutes, or when all of the egg is just about firm, you can flip one side onto the other.

RATING. 10. The tanginess of the lemon mixed with creamy cheese created a wonderful fresh tasting flavor.

Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

I still can't decide which pancake recipe I like the best. This one or the cottage cheese pancake recipe that I posted last month. I was never a fan of pancakes because I found them to sweet to eat first thing in the morning but I now look forward to a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning so I can cook up a batch for breakfast. The left over pancakes are even good the next day as a snack. The thing I like the most about this recipe is the texture and nutty flavor of the flax meal.

SERVED WITH: Fresh fruit, 1 sausage (yes I cheated and had a sausage but they are the slightly healthier Rowe Farms brand) and 1 egg

COOKING TIPS: Make sure to cook over a medium heat, if the temperature is to hot the pancakes will burn on the outside.

RATING: A perfect 10. How could I give it less, I am now a pancake lover.

Grocery Shopping

I am always pleased at the end of a trip to the grocery store when I survey everything I am about to purchase on the checkout counter. This week there is not one single thing that I would consider an unhealthy food purchase. The worst items in our cart, and they are not all that bad, are the flavored yogurt (which has more sugar then really allowed) and the Kashi granola bars. No chips, no ice cream, no chocolate, no white flour products. This week we will be eating wholesome fruits, veggies, and whole grains. All good food that will fuel our bodies.

Salmon, Red Potato and Asparagus Salad

Delicious! This is one of those meals that tastes so good I can hardly believe that I made it. The left overs taste great cold the next day. You may think a salad is not a hearty enough to fill you up for dinner but this salad certainly is. It is loaded with fish, potatoes, fresh vegetables and cheese. This salad would be the perfect dish to bring to a summer pot luck barbecue.

SERVED WITH: Nothing. It's perfect and filling on its own.

COOKING TIPS: Try not to over cook your potatoes or you may find they fall apart in the salad. If fresh herbs are available definitely choose them over dried ones. The fresh herbs really add a huge amount of flavor.

RATING: 10 for this one!

Strawberry Tea Bread - Sub in Blueberries

I actually made these muffins by accident. I was making a batch of banana bread but unknowingly looking at the wrong recipe the whole time. It wasn't until near the end of the recipe that I thought to myself "That's weird, when am I supposed to add the bananas?" That was when I discovered I was looking at the wrong page. So I ended up making these as well as the banana bread.

COOKING TIPS: I made strawberry tea bread last week and didn't enjoy the texture of the strawberries so I subbed in some blueberries instead. I was pleased with the end result but still prefer eating blueberry rock cakes.

RATING: 8.

Banana Bread

I bought extra bananas at the grocery store with the intention of making banana bread at the end of the week. I have made this bread before and was anxious to try it again. When something healthy tastes just as good as the unhealthy fattier version deciding which one to bake is not a hard decision to make.

SERVED WITH: A slice is great with a cup of tea or served with some yogurt as desert.

COOKING TIPS: The flax meal in this recipe is what I would consider to be the secret ingredient, it not only gives it great texture but adds a delicious flavor. Make sure your bananas are good and ripe for a sweeter flavor.

RATING: A perfect 10! This sweet treat is moist, healthy, tasty and full of flavor.

Tuna Salad

This tuna salad reminds me of my honeymoon in Italy. It is absolutely incredible! It is not the traditional heavy tuna salad that is loaded down with fatty mayonnaise. Surprisingly, mashed up white kidney beans are used in place of the mayo to bind all the ingredients together.

SERVED WITH: I toasted a piece of whole wheat bread and top it with the tuna salad. I served it open faced with a side salad. If you are looking for a brand of wholewheat or whole grain bread that is tasty and not full of sugar check out the Sha Sha bread company. This company uses sprouted grains (no yeast in these breads) and a mixture of whole grains to create a variety of delicious breads. Once you get used to eating this type of bread you will never go back to any other brand. I find all other bread way to sugary now.

COOKING TIPS: If you are making this ahead of time (such as the night before for your lunch the next day) I recommend adding the chopped up tomato the day you plan on eating it.

RATING: 10. Yummy, filling and healthy, how could you go wrong!

Coffee and Spice Rubbed Chicken Breasts

Have you guessed what the secret ingredient is in this dish? Coffee! I tried this recipe simply because I thought "how weird" when I read that you coat the chicken in a mixture of spices and COFFEE of all things. I was not disappointed. The GI Diet cookbook created another winner. Check out the first photo above. It's a shot of all the spices just before I mixed them together. There are a lot of different spices in this dish and I couldn't resist taking a picture of all the rich colours.

SERVED WITH: I served this spicy chicken with some nutty brown rice, broccoli and slices of tomato's. A friend of mine recently introduced me to a really delicious new tomato called a "Kumato". If you can find them in your local grocery store I encourage you to try them out. Don't let the funny brownish colour fool you, they are yummy and full of flavor. I made enough chicken so that I would have left overs to chop up and mix into my salad for lunch the next day.



COOKING TIPS: Instead of grilling the chicken I chose to pop the chicken under the broiler. It took about 15 - 20 minutes to cook all the way through. The recipe is easy and straight forward.

RATING: 9. This chicken is spicy and delicious.