Teriyaki Salmon Meal Prep

 It is back to school for me. Back to quick lunches and a communal fridge. That takes some planning. This September issue of the Diner News is filled with ideas for meal prep. That small bit of work that keeps you eating well all week. It may be brown bag lunches, or it could be a full dinner already cooked and ready to reheat on a busy weeknight. I promise, I am often just too tired to cook after long hours away from home. I have a couple great ideas for you though that I am personally putting to the test. Idea #1 tonight.

One super easy meal prep idea is the sheet pan dinner. So simple to roast a protein in the oven with a frozen veggie blend baking alongside. All you have to do with the timer goes off is to package the food into individual meal containers. One baking session and 2- 4-6 lunches!

This salmon dish is super delish and so easy to make. Looks like you fussed much more than you did. One of my secret flavor ingredients is from Trader Joe's. Umami paste. Yeah. The flavor is all in there. It makes this dish taste like gourmet faire. I also like TJ's frozen veggies. Good prices and far less washing and chopping. This really couldn't be simpler!

 I didn't want to freeze this one, so I made this recipe just for two. I also didn't plan to eat fish every day of the week, but you could if you wanna. Go ahead and double the recipe. Make it yours!

Teriyaki Salmon with Stir Fry Veggies

2 salmon fillets (approx. 4 oz)

Sauce:

1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger ( or homemade ginger juice)

1/2 tsp erythritol / stevia blend

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp Trader Joes Umami paste (optional)

14 oz  Trader Joe’s Frozen Stir fry vegetable blend

Combine sauce ingredient in a quart size zipper bag. Add salmon fillets. Marinate several hours. Transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment.  In a large bowl, combine stir fry vegetables with oil. You may add a bit more oil if you like. Stir to coat well and add to the baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until fish flakes at the thickest point. Divide fish and vegetables between 2 lunch containers.

 

Serves 2:   196 calories  7 net g carb

I like my veggies a little more done, and I really thought the fish might be overbaked. It was great though. My fillets were from the thickest part, so if yours are thinner, you should shorten the oven time.

Want to see some of the other dishes in this month's Diner News? Here is a glimpse.

Chipotle Fish Fillet with Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Real Cranberry Oolong Tea Sipper

Good for you Green Lemonade

Pesto Chicken and Roasted ItalianVeggies

Soup Base 3 ways, Italian

Soup Base 3 ways, Greek

Salad Buddies for a Week

 

Thai Tuna Salad Bowl

Greek Chicken Salad Bowl

The Diner News is just $6 for all of 2017. Order yours now, and get tons of super recipes for the low carb life. I will have some other take to work or school ideas in this month's issue. And one more to share on the blog.

Order:  http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com/html/newsletter.html

Charleston Okra Soup

Southern cooks can make anything taste divine. I swear they specialize in taking scraps and turning them into food fit for kings. Take okra for example. I grew up scared of it. It seemed prickly on the outside and slimy everywhere else. And those seeds! They looked more like what I found in the pond water I played in. I did try the fried version. Most were good but there were the occasional bites that burst into my mouth with a slimy weird, what was that? texture. Okra. Pass. Even worse for my husband. He did not consider it human food. He claims it was grown only for the horses in his Colorado and Ohio homes. But now...

Older and wiser. I love okra in all sorts of forms. Once I faced my fear of the slime pop, I was hooked. I fell in love with roasted okra. I started asking friends who garden for all their extras. I found lots of folk are afraid of okra. They might eat it battered and fried, but cook with it? Few and far between. When I created a Diner News devoted to foods of the South last fall, I discovered stewed okra with tomatoes. Love! Still trying to convince my old Dude Ranch horse-hand hubby. He is no fun sometimes!

Seeing that there is often an abundance of okra this time of year, I explored some new recipes to take me new places. Oh the things people are doing with okra these days. It is actually a very international food. Some call the pods ladyfingers. I found lots of Trim Healthy Mamas putting okra in so many strange concoctions. Seems it is all the rage to put this much misunderstood vegetable into smoothies, soups and even baked goods. So I tried a few recipes floating around the web. I have joined the okra band wagon for sure. So sad that my gardening sources from the last couple years have dried up. I am having to purchase it at the grocery store now. I am ashamed at how few of my stores carry this nutritional powerhouse. I like it fresh, but my freezer will never be without a bag or two now...as long as Walmart carries it at least.

According to Organic Facts, Okra can help us lower cholesterol, improve our digestion and guard our eyesight. It gives us glowing skin, strengthens bones and our immune system, may help prevent cancer and lower blood pressure too. How have we been ignoring this goodness and giving it all away to the horses for so long?

If you are not ready to table up to a big bowl of roasted okra, start with this soup. It is beefy and full of rich flavor. The uninitiated will barely notice anything green in the bowl, and may never need to know it is indeed okra. Give this one a try. I made an easier go of the Charleston original recipe, skipping a few steps here and there, but I gotta say, this soup is delicious. You may find the authentic recipe several places online:(I altered a recipe at Oysters and Pearls) so purists may want to try that one first. Or if you  just want to get your feet wet in the ocean of okra goodness, get busy with this soup recipe.

Charleston Okra Soup

This Southern soup is well known in Charleston, a tradition so they say. The original recipes calls for the slow simmering of a shin bone, but I wanted a quick version that used garden fresh okra and tomatoes. I turned to my pressure cooker for that slow simmered taste, and skipped the bone, going with thinly sliced beef. In my area, it is labeled as Carne Picada. You may use any thinly sliced, shredded beef. You may also double the recipe.

6 oz shredded beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomato

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp dried marjoram

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 cups sliced okra

2 cups water

Turn the pressure cooker to brown mode. Brown meat and onion. Stir tomato paste and spices into the meat. Add okra and water. Bring up to high pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Release  pressure and serve.                   Serves 4:  108 calories  5 net g carb

Be watching for the August edition of the Diner News. It will be out tonight. If you would like to order the 2017 24/7 Low Carb Diner Newsletter, just click here. I made some other mouth watering okra dishes too. Plus some fun ideas for the overload of zucchini, the plethora of peppers and the tubs of tomatoes. Ahh--the best thing about summer.

Now for your sneak peek at the other great garden fresh recipes we have for you this month at the Diner: 

Garlic Butter Roasted Okra

Italian Flag Salad

Italian Sausage Red Sauce pver Zoodles

Lemon Garlic Zoodles

Lemony Okra Creole

Lemon Zucchini Crockpot Snack Cake

"Never Tell" Dark Chocolate Brownies

Salchicha Stuffed Peppers

Yesterday's Bell Pepper Slaw

Zucchini Gondolas

Microwave Zucchini Chips

Hide the Vegetables Red Sauce

Okra and Maters Southern Style

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Miso Ginger Salmon Salad

I haven't used miso much in my life. To tell the truth, I didn't even know where to find it in the grocery store until recently. It kept popping up as an ingredient that chefs around the world adore. And not just for Japanese inspired dishes. I decided to see what all that hoopla was about. Gotta say, now I get it. By the way, miso is made from fermented soy beans. The red paste is a stronger flavored variety. Mine has 3 carbs per tablespoon, so it fits well in our eating plan. Hint: I found a good organic paste with the vegan foods in the cooler section.

THIS SALAD! This salad is not the winner of a beauty contest, but the taste is incredible. It had me at first bite! My hubby looked at me sideways and requested leftover pork roast. That is the kind of guy he is. I don't know how I married someone with so little adventure in his soul. His only idea of salad is something covered with ranch dressing. Gotta love him--but love this salad too.

It starts with that miso based sauce. More than half of that pours into the salmon itself. Now this would be amazing with freshly baked salmon. It would be prettier too. My canned salmon is not so pink. But I was developing the recipe for a summer Diner News. No cooking here. This sauce certainly elevates a humble canned fish. Now that the fish tasted amazing, the rest of the sauce combined with sesame seed oil, a personal favorite of mine, to make a dressing. This stuff bursts with flavor! The lettuce is a simple carrier for all that taste. I also like the tangy flavor from my jicama pickles. (The small white cubes in the photo) I made those for April's Diner News. Crunchy still, after 3 months in the fridge! I will include the recipe at the bottom of the page, but you really should make sure you have all the 2017 Diner News issues in your collection. To do that, go here.

Miso Ginger Salmon Salad

6 oz canned salmon

1 tbsp red miso paste

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp erythritol/ stevia sweetener

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 tbsp sesame oil

3 oz spring salad mix

2 baby carrots

¼ cup jicama pickles

1 oz roasted peanuts

Drain canned salmon. Remove skin and bones or mash in. In a small bowl, combine miso, vinegar, soy sauce, sweetener and ginger. Add about 3/4 of this mixture to the salmon and flake with a fork. Set aside. To the remaining mixture, stir in sesame oil. This will be the dressing.

Divide salad greens between 2 bowls. Place half of the salmon into a ramekin. Turn it out over the greens. Finely chop carrots, jicama pickles and peanuts. Sprinkle over the salmon and salad. Drizzle the dressing over each salad.

Serves 2:   338 calories   7 net g carb

Please, do use fresh ginger for this one. It really is amazingly different from powered. Of course, the peanuts are a favorite too. So much going on in this salad. So very much Umami. That's the 5th taste receptor that is so hard to explain. The miso and soy sauce add that factor in, as well as the fish itself.
I just can't describe what a wonderful salad experience. If you are tired of chicken and ranch, give     this one a go. It is just one of the cooling summer recipes I will be featuring this month in the Diner News. Order for just $6 a year, 12 monthly issues.

http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com/html/newsletter.html

I am out of school right now. No paycheck coming in, so if you ever thought about ordering any book or Diner News, this would be a great time to go for it. The good news, is that John finally got a job. Not in his field, and definitely a paycut, but we are grateful for any employment after more than a year and a half. He can keep his part time ministry work, but he will be a busy guy. I am proud of his good attitude and humility. I know God is going to bless him. It has been a tough season for the Marshalls the last few years, but we are keeping our eyes focused on the blessings. Hope you do too.

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

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http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Tropicana Pulled Pork Soft Tacos

So here we have a couple of ingredients which are normally off limits for low carbers. Pineapple. Just a tad for a sweet burst of flavor. And tortillas made with real corn. Amazing. We had these for dinner last night and the guys loved everything. Sweet and savory. Slightly tangy with a pineapple barbecue sauce over slow cooked pork. Oh yeah! I am thinking that this really ought to be two posts, because I have so much info. But one recipe is simply not as good without the other. So, here we go.

I got the inspiration for the Masa based tortillas from a Trim Healthy Mama blogger, Nana's Little Kitchen. She was inspired as well, from a video post from Tisa Fournier on the THM Facebook page. They were, of course, building on ideas from others as well. The idea, as I understand it from Gwen's Nest, the Masa is not just a fine cornmeal. It has been treated with lime (calcium) before grinding, and causes it to have a lower glycemic index. Win! This treated corn actually is even healthier. Now we can't go crazy, but it is not taboo either. BTW,  try Gwen's marvelous corn muffin recipe too. It is excellent. Only wish I had created it! I am so happy to live in a time when we can all share our kitchen adventures!

Speaking of adventure, I did have a little trial and error here, so I modified the recipe a bit. The original recipe calls for oat fiber or psyllium husk. When I tried that, my mixture was much thicker than what I saw in the video. I added water, but had problems with my tortillas sticking to my non stick pans. grr. I tried a new batch, but this time left out the psyllium/oat fiber all together. Just egg white and masa. It worked great. I didn't have a pan I could swirl the batter in. I had the most luck with my old standby cast iron skillet. I simply poured the batter in and smoothed it out from the center in circles using the back of my spoon. Success. If you do want to try the psyllium husk, work quickly. I got called away to the phone and mine set up fast! I haven't tried the oat fiber yet because I found I didn't seem to need it. I think it was because I used egg whites from the shell, not a carton. They seem to be much thinner when purchased in that form.

Tropicana Pulled Pork Soft Tacos

3-4 lb pork roast

1 tsp smoked sea salt

3 x recipe Masa Wraps

2 bell peppers, sliced

1/2 cup pineapple chunks

4 oz shredded  cheddar cheese

1/4 cup diced cilantro

2 green onions, chopped

Sauce:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple chunks

2 tbsp sugarfree orange marmalade

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 tsp glucomannan

Slow cook the roast, sprinkled with smoked sea salt for 8 hours on low. Cool, pour off broth,  and use two forks to shred the meat.  Add a tsp of coconut oil to a skillet. Brown the pork in the skillet while preparing the rest of the meal. Just before serving, pour in half the sauce.

To prepare the sauce, add all ingredients into a blender and puree. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan and simmer on low while you  saute the vegetables.

In a sprayed non stick pan, saute sliced bell peppers and pineapple chunks.

Heat the tortillas and arrange on a plate. They will remain very soft and flexible. Fill each with the pork and vegetable mixture. Top each with a sprinkle of cheese, diced green onion and cilantro. Drizzle with remaining sauce.

Sauce alone serves 8:  18 calories  4 net g carb

8 servings (3 small tacos each)  592 cal.   10 net g carb

 Masa Taco Wraps 

6 egg whites

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp Masa Harina

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

Coconut oil spray

Beat egg whites with water. Stir in masa, onion powder,  garlic powder and salt.

Spray a non stick skillet with coconut oil spray. Heat skillet. Add the batter to the center of the skillet. Use the back of a spoon to smooth it out into a thin tortilla shape. Circling the edges works well. Cook until the top is no longer glossy and the wrap releases without tearing. Flip and cook the other side until just beginning to brown. Remove to waxed paper to cool. Repeat with remaining batter.

Yield: 6-8

Serves 3:  55 calories

                   5 g carb

These are so delicious. Perhaps a bit time consuming, but you can easily break the work into doable chunks of time. The pork slow roasts all day. The tortilla wraps can be made ahead and reheated easily. The tropical flavor is unexpected, and a real crowd pleaser. Give this one a try. Of course, you can use a low carb tortilla from the grocery store, or serve it as a salad. Do what works for you!

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 

http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php