Whatever Wednesday: Slow-Cooked Gingered Beef and Vegetables

For today's "Whatever Wednesday Post" I'm posting a favorite new slow-cooker recipe, which includes one of my all-time favorite (and anti-inflammatory) ingredients; GINGER!

Gingered Beef and Vegetables

Slightly modified from a recipe in Fitness Magazine

Serves: 6

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef round steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
  6 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1/2 cup sliced scallions (the green part of scallions are FODMAPs friendly!)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1teaspoons instant beef-bouillon granules
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 cups loose-pack frozen green beans (optional)
Cooked brown rice

Directions
1. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow-cook combine beef, carrots, scallions, and garlic. In a medium bowl, combine the 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, ginger, bouillon, and crushed red pepper; pour over mixture in cooker.

2. Cover; cook on low-heat setting 9 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

3. If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and the 3 tablespoons cold water; stir into meat mixture along with bell pepper. Cover; cook 20 to 30 minutes more, or until thickened, stirring once. Stir in green beans, if desired. Serve with brown rice.

NOTE:  To make this meal more FODMAPs friendly, omit the garlic, and use different spices instead of the instant beef granules (I have yet to find any without garlic and onion).  I only used 1 tsp. of the granules, as you can see (the original recipe called for more).  The 1 tsp. didn't cause me issues since it made so much!

BEFORE....

AFTER!  This meal was so simple, and of course, so delicious.

As you can see, I did not add the green beans. Actually, I forgot to add them.  I had them, but it wasn't until after we ate this that I realized I forgot to add them!  This is why I made the green beans "optional".  This meal lasted three days, so we added them to the meal the next night.  The original recipe called for sugar snap peas, which is definitely an option, but they aren't FODMAPs friendly.

Estimated Nutrition Facts for 1/6th of recipe (includes 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, and includes the green beans!)

QUESTION:  What's your favorite holiday recipe that calls for ginger??  You can say gingerbread, I suppose.  Any others?!

Thanks for reading!

The Candid Rd

NOTE: I love comments!  But, be sure to come back to read any replies to questions or comments, as they do not go directly to your e-mail.

White Beans, Chicken Sausage, and Kale (A Simple Meal For Multiple Situations)

I found the perfect recipe that's perfect for multiple situations (and I know this because each of these have been tested!);

Situation #1: Walking in the door after a long day of work and not feeling like making dinner, at all.

Situation #2: Having my parents over for dinner, last minute.

Situation #3: Nick's playing poker later in the evening and he wants me to pack him a dinner to take with him.


The following recipe takes about ten minutes and involves minimal clean-up. It's great! And that's not to mention the amazing nutrition profile (see below).

White Beans, Chicken Sausage, and Kale

Source: Nutrition Action Newsletter

Serves 4

1/2 lb. italian chicken sausages (nitrate free is best)**
5 garlic cloves, sliced**
1 T olive oil
2-15 ounce cans of great northern beans**
3/4 lb. kale (about 5-6 large handfuls)
1 T balsamic vinegar

** Note: If you are following the low FODMAPs diet, omit the garlic cloves and use garlic EVOO instead of regular EVOO (so you can still get that garlic taste).  Also, be aware that most Italian sausages have garlic and/or onion in them, so limit your portion.  Lastly, take a Beano with your beans!**


Directions

Remove sausage from its casing (if it was in casing) and chop into small pieces. Saute in the oil until browned (about 5 minutes). Remove the sausage and reserve it to the side.

Saute the garlic until just golden, about 1 minute. Add the beans with their liquid and stir in the kale, a few handfuls at a time. Simmer until the kale is tender, about 2 minutes, adding more water if needed to keep the beans moist.

Stir the sausage into the beans and kale. Season with black pepper and balsamic vinegar.



VOILA!

I know, I know, this is the worst lighting ever. Sorry. I promise this tasted better than it necessarily looks.

I served this (when my parents came over) with roasted brussel sprouts. Yeah, it was a lot of "green", but I really wanted roasted brussel sprouts on this particular evening.

Nick said, and I quote "I could eat this every night".

Ummm.... OK!

And if you're wondering how you can tell if your sausage contains nitrates or nitrites, check out the ingredient list;

They would be listed on here in the ingredient list if they were added to the product (ex: sodium nitrate).

Estimated Nutrition Facts
(Serving size: 1/4 of total recipe)

QUESTION: Do you like kale? I recently read a fun post about kale on Lauren's blog (Foodtrainers). It's basically the "cool vegetable" this year (last year it was brussel sprouts). I even have a shirt that says KALE!

What are your plans for the weekend?? I work on Saturday but have Sunday off. I plan to get outside if it's nice again, and go for a wedding dress fitting. I can't wait to finally get in it again!

Slightly Southwestern Salmon Soft Tacos

First off, can you believe it's September first? I feel like just yesterday it was Christmas. Do the years fly by these days, or is it just me?! My goodness!!

Recently, with hopes of getting Nick to eat salmon, I set out on a mission to create the perfect salmon soft taco (Nick loves tacos). I failed on getting Nick to try the salmon, but I succeeded in coming up with a great recipe!

Salmon Soft Tacos

(serves 6)

Ingredients

For the Salmon

1.5 pounds salmon (wild caught, preferably)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

*** Don't have fresh salmon? You could use canned salmon instead.***
*** Following the low FODMAPs diet, like me? Omit the garlic!***

For the Soft Taco

6 whole wheat soft tortillas
1.5 cups broccoli slaw
1 avocado
2 limes
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup cilantro
Your favorite salsa

** Don't have broccoli slaw? Add something else for crunch and nutrition, such as cabbage or shredded carrots. **

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray and place the salmon on the sheet, skin-side down.

3. Bake the salmon for 15-20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, arrange the other ingredients for your soft taco. Warm your tortillas in a skillet until slightly brown.

5. Once the salmon is finished you can build your soft taco! I prefer this order; soft taco shell, broccoli slaw, salmon, lime juice, cilantro, avocado, plain Greek yogurt and salsa (you can mix the two together if you'd like).

6. ENJOY!


Nick made his soft tacos with shrimp. Oh wait, you can't see the shrimp? That's because Nick likes to make salsa tacos, with a bit of shrimp added..... HA!

Estimated Nutrition Facts for Salmon Soft Tacos
(For 1 soft taco)

QUESTION: Do you like salmon? What's your favorite way to eat salmon? Or, if you don't like it, what's your favorite type of fish?

Shrimp. It's What's For Dinner!

Shrimp is one of those foods that I love, but never buy. Why? I don't know. I thought about this question the other day before I left work. Instead of passively thinking about why the heck I never cook with shrimp, I bought some! While I was debating (out loud...) which shrimp to buy, a customer in line gave me a suggestion. He said to buy the fresh, uncooked, wild-caught shrimp with the shell still on. He told me shrimp should always be cooked with the shell because they hold onto flavors better that way. He then suggested making an orange and butter sauce in which to saute them. I thought that sounded simple enough....

Orange Shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 pound fresh, wild-caught shrimp, with the shell
2 T Smart Balance butter/margarine sticks
1 orange
Salt and pepper to taste

(sorry the font is so huge, I don't understand Blogger sometimes...)

Directions

1) Add the butter to the pan and turn the heat on medium
2) Add the zest and juice of one orange
3) Wait until the sauce gets slightly thick (shouldn't take too long since it's not a whole lot of sauce!)
4) Add the shrimp

5) Get the shrimp nice and coated in the sauce

6) Cook until shrimp is slightly opaque (about 5-6 minutes)

7) Serve over sauteed veggies and brown rice (or however you would like!)

Obviously you don't want to eat the shell, so be sure to shell the shrimp after they are cooked, or before you eat them. And of course, make sure you don't cook your broccoli until it's really pale green and soft. Nick likes it that way, I don't argue.

I served mine over spaghetti squash and stewed tomatoes. NOT a good idea. The orange flavor didn't go well with the tomatoes, what was I thinking?! Nick, however, loved his (with the rice and broccoli).

Question: Do you like shrimp?! Read about the multitude of shrimp benefits on WHFoods.com!

Any fun plans for the weekend? I work tomorrow, then have Sunday off :) I'm going to start taping a series of video blogs all about "Why Americans Can't Maintain a Healthy Weight". Stay tuned!

Black Bean....Pancakes!

The votes are in! The two most popular names for my granola bar were Candid Bar and Complete. There were also several votes for Gina Bar and Ceres. The two I like best are Complete and Ceres (Ceres means "goodness of agriculture and grains" in Latin). You can still give me your opinions if you haven't yet, as I'm still deciding....


I've been completely preoccupied lately by my granola bars, my e-book (I'm about half way done already!) and house decorating (I met with our decorator yesterday and I'm so excited to get the ball rolling), but I'm still making time to cook healthy, yet simple meals for dinners and lunches. Once a week I take about 90 minutes to prepare meat, vegetables, and all of the components for Nick and my lunches for work the following week. For about a month I was making Nick bean burritos with whole wheat tortillas, refried beans, cheese and salsa, but the other day I decided to try something with my food processor.

I remembered I had put this in Nick's stocking:

Nick claims he "will eat anything that has bacon in it", so I just had to give this a try! It was sort of a joke, but at the same time, it tastes really good.

I decided to create a new bean burger recipe. After creating the bean burgers I realized they were more like bean pancakes. Here is the recipe;

Black Bean Pancakes

Ingredients
(Makes ~ 9 pancakes)

1 can black beans (15 ounces)
3 cups old fashioned oats
2 large handfuls of spinach
1 egg
Any seasoning you choose

** I added a bit of salt and some of this bacon flavoring, which also has salt. This was not included in the nutrient analysis below. **


Instructions

Drain the can of beans, but leave a little liquid (don't drain them until bone dry!). Add to your food processor with two cups of oats and the two handfuls of spinach. Puree until smooth. Add your seasonings, puree again. Next, add the last cup of oats, but do not puree, simply mix them into the bean and oat puree.

Get a skillet and heat it to medium heat. Drop several clumps/balls (a little more than 1/4 cup each) onto the skillet and let the one side get cooked. After about 30 seconds flip the clumps/balls and then flatten the clumps with your spatula and cook on other side for about a minute. Then flip to other side for another 30 seconds. Finished!

Nutrition Facts
(Serving Size: 1 pancake)

I know they do not look appealing, at all, but they were delicious!

** No, I do not always buy organic ketchup. This ketchup, however, happened to be the same price as the conventional, so I bought it! **

Question: Have you ever set out to create something, but then ended up creating something else instead?!

Pizza From Scratch, and Being Active at Work

I hope you are all having fantastic weekends. Mine has been productive, and relaxing. Today I'm planning on doing some cooking for the week, and working on some blog posts for our workplace wellness company. For today's post, I'm finally celebrating "from scratch weekends"! Melinda, this one is for you.

Quick, Cheap, and Healthy Recipe #14

Oat Bran Pizza Crust

Ingredients
3 cups oat bran flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t oil (for your fingers when spreading the dough)
1 t salt
1.5 T sugar
1 cup warm water

Possible Modifications

• Use whole wheat flour, or all purpose flour (less nutritious if you use the latter)
• Use canola oil or just regular olive oil

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Combine and mix the flour, salt, sugar, and the yeast in a medium sized bowl. Next, add the EVOO and water.

(It sort of stuck to the side of the bowl. I just scrapped it off and put it back into the ball.)

3) Coat your hands with some oil, or non-stick spray. Use your hands to spread the dough evenly on a pizza pan, the larger the better.

4) Add topping as desired. Cook for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven and how crispy you like your pizza!)

I put pizza sauce on Nick's half, and EVOO on my half. Pizza sauce has spices in it that I cannot eat, as they are part of FODMAPS.

I ended up putting sauce on 3/4 of the pizza, because that's how much Nick typically eats. One-fourth (or two large pieces) of the pizza is always sufficient for me, especially because I usually have pizza with a nice beer. On this particular night, it was a Great Lakes Burning River (pale ale).

Toppings

• Sauce or EVOO

• Mozzarella cheese (Organic, I usually buy organic dairy) (~3/4 cup)

• Chunks of grilled chicken (Trader Joe's) (~3 ounces)

• Green pepper (~1/2 cup, only on Nick's side)

• Spinach (~1/2 cup, only on my side)

• Tomato (~1/4 cup, only on my side)

Basil (~1 T)
Garlic (~2 t)
Cayenne (~1/2 t)


Nick's Rating: 10 out of 10


My Rating: 9 out of 10
** While this pizza was AMAZING I will use a larger pizza pan the next time I make it. The pieces were really thick and that made it difficult to get the middle crust completely cooked. It was so thick I could barely eat my two pieces, and in fact, Nick only had two pieces himself!! I have never seen him eat only two pieces, EVER. **


Nutrition Facts for the CRUST Only
(Serving Size: 1/8 of the pizza)
** This crust received a C+ rating, but once you add some healthy toppings, like lots of veggies and calcium-packed cheese, it will be a healthier meal!! Also, it is better than a crust made with white flour, as this one provided almost 5 grams of fiber per slice! **

Being Active During the Day

Many people responded to the comment I made on my post a couple days ago, regarding the fact that working out once a day isn't necessarily the end all be all when it comes to weight management and overall health. Some people think they can workout for an hour, then sit on their butt all day, but this just doesn't cut it! I'm not saying you need to be walking and moving all day, but if you workout for 60 minutes, then go to your job and sit all day, that's a problem. What can you do to get a little more activity into your day?

• Park far away whenever you go anywhere. This will force you to walk more.

• Get up and walk to the furthest bathroom whenever you have to go.

• Get up and walk to the furthest drinking fountain, whenever you need a drink.

• Instead of paging someone, get up and personally tell them the message.

• Walk to your car and back during your lunch break.

• Do a set of push-ups (10 slow) every 30 minutes

• Ask about getting a Wii for the office!
  

• Ask your boss about sitting on a stability ball during work. Sitting on a stability ball, rather than a chair, will require the use of different muscles, rather than sitting in a nice relaxing chair, which requires use of very few muscles.

Question: Are there any other ideas you would like to add to this list?

Have a great day everyone! As always, thanks for reading :)