Coconut Curry Beef

I did not attempted this recipe before because it had a number of odd ingredients in it that I just didn't feel like buying. But this week I sucked it up, purchased what I needed and gave it try. What I am going to do with a leftover jar of yellow curry paste, some coconut milk and and fish sauce I am not sure of yet. The fun thing about this recipe was tasting it to see how what flavour the mixture of ingredients concocted. Also added to the above items was peanut butter, cilantro and peanuts. It was very pleasant. I could even see this sauce working on chicken.

The only down side of this recipe was that some of the ingredients were loaded with salt. The fish sauce for instance has of 1350mg of salt in 1 tablespoon and you need 2 tablespoons in this meal. Add to that the 235 additional mg from the yellow curry paste and we are really getting up there. I haven't even added in the soy sauce either. Just to put that in perspective, the amount of salt an adult needs in one day is 1500mg.

Now to be fair I do purchase lower sodium soy sauce. There is a possibility that low sodium curry paste and fish sauce exist but there was only one grocery store in my neighbourhood even sold those two items and they only offered one type.

SERVED WITH: Broccoli and brown rice

COOKING TIPS: Don't forget to give yourself a good 30 minutes to let the meat marinate before you start cooking it.

RATING: 6.5. The flavour was good but the amount of sodium is not!

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

There is more to this recipe then the title implies. Not only are you cooking your meat but you are also preparing a delicious sauce to serve with it at the same time. The secret ingredient in this sauce is sure to surprise you. What is it you may wonder? For those of you who have cooked from this cookbook before you may not be surprised because you are getting used to using food in strange and unexpected ways but for others it may come as a complete surprise. The secret ingredient is oatmeal. It's great because it not only adds some texture, it fills you up at the same time.

When I was doing my groceries the store was out of my favorite brand of diced tomatoes so instead of substituting for one with way to much salt content I used whole canned tomatoes instead. Click here for my post about tinned tomatoes and a great brand I found with way less salt.

SERVED WITH: We ate this meal with broccoli and some brown rice to soak up the yummy sauce

COOKING TIPS: Make sure to really pound your chicken flat. I found out the hard way that I didn't get the meat thin enough. When it came time to roll up the chicken with the spinach stuffing inside it just wouldn't roll. So I did a amateurish job and stuck a ton of tooth picks into each one to hold them together while they cooked.

RATING: 8. This is a heart warming dish for a cold winter's night

Fish Tacos

I really think the name of this recipe should be changed to fish burritos or fish wraps. The word tacos in the title is a little misleading. The meal though is absolutely yummy and super easy to make. Simply bake the fish in the oven with a little bit of seasonings - chili and paprika - then add it to a soft shelled tortilla along with a bunch of veggies including cabbage, carrots, cilantro, onion and some lime juice. It's as simple and that! It is a great dish for one of those nights that you are arriving home late and just want something simple to make.

We have recently cut wheat out of our diet (nothing to do with the GI diet) and we recently found these brown rice toritlla wraps in the frozen food section of our local grocery store. They are the best we have tried yet because they taste good and they don't harden and fall apart on you.

SERVED WITH: I was a little lazy and enjoyed one on its own but it would have been wise to have a salad with it.

COOKING TIPS: Get your fish cooking first in the oven. By the time it is ready you will have finished making the veggie mix that goes along with it.

RATING: It's a 9 again because it is quick to make and tastes great.

Cheesy Lentil and Bean Bake

This has got to be the healthiest meal I have ever made in my entire life. Two years ago I wouldn't have touched this recipe. It would have just looked like to much of a crazy health nut recipe to me. How times have changed, I am practically a crazy health nut now myself. And proud of it!

So what is in here that is so off the wall? Beans, lentils, and kale - all in one dish! I have never even tried kale and I was hugely surprised by the amount of flavor in this green leafy vegetable. It was so delicious that I am looking forward to the next time I get to slot it into my meal plan.

SERVED WITH: We at this all on its own but over some brown rice would have been lovely.

COOKING TIPS: This recipe calls for dried lentils. You could use canned lentils if you are in a rush but that increases the GI rating. When using the dried variety first soak the lentils in water for one hour, then simmer them on the stove for approximately 30 minutes. I know it is a lot of work but I usually spend a few hours in the kitchen anyways so I just prepare them while I am cooking other things and come back to them later.

RATING: 9. It is full of flavour and nutrition, how could you go wrong.

Tuna Muffins

I am trying to branch out a little more and try even more GI diet recipes. I basically choose a recipe by its name and tuna muffins never sounded very exciting. Once I actually took the time to read through the entire recipe I learned that these "muffins" were really more like mini meatloaves, made out of tuna of course. The reason why I like this recipe so much is that it is basically made with staples that I have in the kitchen at all times. Tuna, celery, onions, spices, bread and oat bran. It would even be nice to add in some shredded carrots. So this is a good "go to" recipe if you find yourself stuck one night.

SERVED WITH: My favorite mushroom and arugula salad

COOKING TIPS: Let the muffins cool down for a few minutes before removing them from the pan. The tuna muffins don't really stick together as you think they would. I found the best way to get the paper liners off was to place it on the plate, peel down the edges and slide it off the paper onto the plate.

If you are looking for some great muffin cups check out this brand. If you care baking cups. They are the only ones I have purchased so far that didn't stick to whatever it was I was baking or cooking. And the are environmentally friendly!

RATING: A solid 7.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins - Sub in Wheat Free Flour and sub in Spelt Flour

This week I experimented with two different wheat free flours. I made two batches of chocolate zucchini muffins, one with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour and the other with Bob's Spelt Flour. If you take a look at the pictures above the muffin on the left is using the all purpose flour and the one on the right is using the spelt flour. Unfortunately spelt is a yellow light item on the GI diet.

Here are the results of my experiment.
- The gluten free all purpose flour created a fuller and fluffier muffin than the spelt flour.
- The texture of the spelt flour was smoother and more like whole wheat.
- You could tell that there was zucchini in the gluten free all purpose flour, where as with the spelt it blended right in.
- The gluten free flour had an unusual flavor, it seemed to taste slightly "tinny"
- The spelt flour cooked faster then when I made it with whole wheat flour (reduce the baking time by about 2 minutes)
- Both flours made a muffin that was a little too dry

COOKING TIPS: If you are experimenting with a recipe start by just replacing one item in the recipe at a time. See how it tastes and then make adjustments according to what you taste buds think. The next I try these out I think I will add a little extra zucchini to see if it helps with the moisture issue.

RATING: 7. If the muffins were a little bit more moist they would have gotten a better rating

Pumpkin Pancakes

As I mentioned in a previous post we have a suspected wheat allergy in the family. So we have eliminated wheat from our diet, for the time being at least. Over the next month I will be posting some recipes that I have converted to wheat free recipes but kept GI friendly (as much as possible) at the same time.

For the holidays this year I wanted to cook up a delicious meal on Christmas morning. I found this recipe on a blog I frequent called Design Sponge. It is for wheat free pumpkin pancakes. These pancakes are made using pumpkin puree and Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour. I was skeptical of what they would taste like especially considering what the flour was made from - garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour and fava bean flour. These pancakes came up thick and fluffy and tasted good to.

You can find the recipe by clicking on the link below.
Yummy Pumpkin Pancakes

If you are sticking to strictly green light recipes this breakfast would not be the right choice as pumpkin is a yellow light item.

SERVED WITH: We had them with fresh fruit on top. Including pomegranates which are also a yellow light item. But hey it was Christmas and we deserved a special treat.

COOKING TIPS: Don't leave them in the pan for to long once they have been flipped. The second side takes about half as long to cook.

RATING: 8. I was delighted by the flavour in these pancakes and will definitely keep this recipe on hand for special yellow light occasions.

Starting Off the New Year Right by Getting Organized in the Kitchen

This was the state of my spices. I had been searching high and low for large spice jars for quite a while. I wanted a jar that would hold an entire bag of spices so I wouldn't wind up with half empty bags taking up even more valuable cupboard space. Luckily my husband spotted some 5oz jars at Ikea the other day.

So I whipped out my handy label maker and got organized.

I ended up with 24 neatly labelled jars of spices.

Which fit perfectly into my spice basket and right into the cupboard. It feels great to get organized. Now I will save a bunch of time cooking in the kitchen as I will no longer be rooting through a messy spice basket cursing when I can't find what it is I am looking for. What a great way to start of the new year - organized.