Simple Salmon Frittata – For Dukan Protein Thursdays or Any Thursdays

Tags

dukan, egg, frittata, salmon, smoked salmon

You may recall that during the summer I went on the Dukan Diet. This diet consists of four stages, the last one of which is “the rest of your life”. Scary sounding or what? It’s not that bad really. Dr. Dukan makes you promise that after you’ve lost the pounds and stabilized your new weight, you’ll stick to three rules. For ever. These are:

• Eat 3 tablespoons of oat bran per day (it’s got magical powers!). Not oats mind you, oat bran. It’s different. Oat bran is the outer layer of the oat grain and contains loads of good stuff. See this and this for more info.
• Walk at least 20 minutes per day and never use lifts or escalators again. Gulp.
• Once a week on a day you’ve set, go back to the Attack phase (1^st stage). That means eating only protein. Lean meats, fish, seafood and fat free dairy. Dr. Dukan calls this Protein Thursday.

Another thing you’re supposed to stick to although not actually mentioned in the rules, is drinking 2 litres of water a day.

To be honest I’ve broken 2 out of the above 4 rules. I can’t keep up with the water and I can’t deal with the metro station stairs at 8:00am. I know I know, water is vital, I’ve read all the same magazine articles as you. But I just don’t get thirsty enough to guzzle that much, plus the loos at work are on a different floor (sorry, too much info). Anyway. I try. As regards the walking, I figure since I ride twice a week I can get away with not walking that often. Or, ahem, not walking at all. Moving on.

Oat bran and Protein Thursdays are a different story. These I have stuck to religiously. My Thursdays are actually Mondays, but you’re allowed to switch. Mondays are crap anyway, so how much worse can they get? To be fair, eating pure protein (even back in the diet days) wasn’t as hard as I had expected. I’m lucky because I like all the allowed foods – and really love cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs, which are stars in this particular show. The only really hard part was, still is, thinking up creative and exciting meals for those times when a plain chicken breast just doesn’t cut it.

Last Monday I decided my dinner was going to be smoked salmon and eggs. Now normally I would scramble the eggs and have them on the side, but I was in the mood for something different. And I’d already had one scrambled egg for lunch! So I went with a frittata, which I think is one of the most versatile dishes you can bake up. The proper way to make it is start it off like an omelet in a skillet, and finish cooking it under the grill. But you can also just bake it (less washing up).

It’s a great “clean out the fridge” dish, as you can throw in a number of veggies or leftover meats. This one is of course pretty basic, as veg is not allowed on Pure Protein (PP) days, but if you’re on the Cruise Phase (or not on a diet at all) some chopped red pepper, or cooked broccoli florets, or spinach would work well. Cooked chicken, bacon, sausage or deli ham and turkey are also great in frittatas. Since PP days allow a little greenery as flavouring, chopped chives and dill were what completed my version. I could have also added some capers but I, um, just thought of that now. Just so you know, I ate the whole thing all on my own which upped my intake to a total of 5 eggs that day. I’m on the side of those who say the egg/cholesterol thing is a myth.

Another cool idea is to put the mixture into silicone muffin cups (don’t use your muffin tin. Egg sticks. Trust me.) and make egg muffins. Perfect to keep on hand for snacking as the protein will keep you going for much longer than a carb-loaded regular muffin, or sandwich, or bag of crisps. Unless it’s one of those days when only crisps will make you feel better!

Simple Salmon Egg Frittata – For Protein Thursdays or Any Thursdays

Ingredients

4 eggs
2 Tbs milk (0% fat for Dukan)
200g smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
2 Tbs chopped fresh dill
2 tsp chopped chives (or some chopped spring onion, according to you taste)
pepper to taste (don’t add salt as the salmon is salty enough)
Sprinkle of chili pepper flakes or paprika
Low fat cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a small baking pan with the cooking spray. Don’t skip this step!
2. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and milk.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir.
4. Pour mixture into the pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until the egg is set and cooked through.

Note: Stabilisation (4^th) phase Protein Thursdays are stricter than Attack and Cruise phase PP days, so by rights I shouldn’t have eaten 200g of smoked salmon – max is 125g for oily fish I think. Just FYI.

Other eggy bakes from around the web Kalyn’s Kitchen (I didn’t need to look further, check out this fab collection of egg recipes)
Breakfast Casserole with Spinach, Leeks, Cottage Cheese and Goat Cheese by Kalyn’s Kitchen (easily adaptable to Dukan Diet Cruise Phase by omitting oil and goat’s cheese. Sautee leeks in a non-stick frying pan with a tiny bit of water and use more low fat cottage instead of goat’s cheese)
Roasted Green Bell Pepper and Roasted Tomato Breakfast Casserole with Feta and Oregano by Kalyn’s Kitchen (easily adaptable to Dukan Diet Cruise Phase by omitting oil and substituting feta with rinsed low fat cottage cheese)
Egg Muffins with Ham, Cheese, and Green Bell Pepper by Kalyn’s Kitchen (easily adaptable by omitting cheese (try rinsed low fat cottage cheese if you want) and using low fat ham. I’ve also made them with leftover cooked chicken chunks and they were great)

Upside Down Plum Cake – A Tasty Surprise

Tags

baking, cake, plum, upside down

I had a natter about this recipe over on my Greek pages yesterday. The gist of the story is that after a friend of mine noshed through about a quarter of this cake in one sitting, I concluded it was a winner. The day I made it I had several very ripe plums in the fridge begging to be consumed a.s.a.p., but although I was in the mood for baking I didn’t have much time. So I scrolled down my (long) list of bookmarked favourites and saw this recipe from Real Simple. It was just right, not too many ingredients, not too much faffing around (well, a bit of faffing with chopping and in some cases peeling plums); it looked like a good option.

I used the sweet round plums rather that the Damson variety (the smaller, egg shaped ones), but any type would work I think. Some of them were really soft and a bit gooey, they were so overripe. Not at all deterred I just cut those in half, scooped out the soft flesh and threw some of the skins away in case they got too chewy. For this reason I used a few more plums than the recipe says, so I could completely cover the base of the pan. Also for this reason my pictures look nothing like the magazine’s!

The result was lovely. A beautifully light cake, with a tasty layer of tangy sweetness on top. You can easily eat through half this cake without feeling caked-out. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee. Try it!

Antique silver Russian spoon from the early 20th century. With many thanks to The Collector.

Upside Down Plum Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup (110g) + 1 Tbs butter (+ a bit more for greasing pan)
5-7 ripe but firm plums (it’s a good idea to have a couple extra on hand)
1/4 cup + 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter an 8 or 9 inch cake pan and line it with grease proof paper. If you’re using a springform pan cut the paper into a slightly larger circle so it goes up the sides a little. There will be juices and syrup at the bottom of the pan which might leak. Trust me.
2. Stone the plums and cut each one into 8 wedges. If you have some mushy ones just pinch the skin (it should fall off) and put the gooey bits to one side.
3. Melt the one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add the plum pieces and 1/4 cup sugar, and cook till the sugar melts and the juices turn to syrup, stirring and tossing frequently. This should take about 3-4 minutes, maybe longer. Add the mushy bits towards the end, so they can soak up some of the sweetness from the syrup.
4. Put the plum pieces into the cake pan, shaping them into concentric circles (a new word for me that – hey, I did know the Greek one). Pour the juice from the pan over the top.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Use a whisk to mix them up (this is a great way to avoid sifting, which is a pain). Set aside.
6. In a medium sized bowl, beat the 1/2 cup butter with the 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, at least 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and keep beating (on low!) but only until it’s mixed in, don’t overbeat it. There shouldn’t be any floury bits.
7. Pour the batter over the plums. Now, it may seem like there’s very little batter, or that it’s too thick. It certainly did to me. It’s at this point that I thought it was going to be a disaster. Luckily I didn’t chuck it all in the bin; I just gently spread the batter out with a spatula so that it reached the sides of the pan. Be careful you don’t disturb the plums underneath.
8. Bake until a cake tester, aka toothpick, comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. If it starts browning early, cover it with a piece of tin foil (mine did).
9. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about an hour. Cover the pan with a large plate and flip over so that the cake falls on the plate with the plum side up. Gently peel off the grease proof paper and admire your work!
10. Quickly make a cuppa and sample a piece. Just so you know whether you’re going to share it.

Other interesting cakes with fruit (and one veg!)
Peach Cobbler Upside Down Cake, by Apron Strings Blog
Crackly Banana Bread, by Smitten Kitchen
The Perfect Apple Cake, a Community Pick on Food52
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, by Susan Branch
Sweet Zucchini Bread, by On Top Of Spaghetti (that’s me!)

Easy Slow Cooker Applesauce with Pears

Tags

apples, applesauce, crockpot, ginger, pears, slow cooker

Greek yogurt and applesauce topped with crunchy granola.

It’s currently 8:00am and I’m at the bus stop waiting for my bus (and furiously scribbling on my notebook). I’m on my way to work you see.

Oops, I’m now on the bus. I’ve been feeling really bad about falling behind with my posts, but I’ve had quite a bit going on lately which has been stressing me out. And blogging is supposed to be a fun hobby isn’t it? At least at my level! So I decided to stop beating myself up about it and do what I can when I can. This is my intro to a very quick post and an even quicker recipe!

Despite all my “goings on” I still spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and couldn’t help but jump on the seasonal bandwagon. That means recipes with apples and pumpkin! Seasons are slightly different here in Greece, I mean we had pumpkins all through the summer, but when you read blogs from the US all the time, you get carried away by the beautiful descriptions and transferred into their atmosphere. So even though we’ve had 30^oC degrees heat this week (that’s 86^oF), I’m thinking applesauce, soup, hot chocolate and so on. I did do a little experiment to try and combine the two worlds, but more about that another time (after I know it was successful!).

Aaand I’ve now reached the metro station, next train in 2 minutes. So, applesauce. What a gorgeous, versatile, adaptable concoction. It especially goes with the granola I talked about here and here; in fact all granolas or even porridge can benefit from a spoonful of applesauce dolloped on top. Add a little Greek yogurt and… perfect breakfast or snack. It also goes well with ham or turkey in a sandwich. Or with cheese. As I said, versatile.

On the train now, so glad you can’t see my handwriting. I saw this recipe by Cookin’ Canuck on Slow Cooker from Scratch, where there is a great round up of applesauce variations. It’s quick to prepare, has few ingredients and tastes lovely. A winner in my book! I made a much smaller batch because I only had two apples and The Mister doesn’t really eat much applesauce anyway. Check out the original here, as well as all the other recipes on the Slow Cooker from Scratch round up here. Hey, thanks for keeping me company on my morning journey!

Makes just under 2 cups

Ingredients

2 red apples (I used a crispy, juicy Greek variety like Red Delicious)
2 pears
1 Tbs brown sugar
½ tsp dried ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup water

Instructions

1. Peel, core and chop the apples into large pieces. I only peeled one of them because I got impatient and I don’t mind the skin, it gets soft anyway. Do the same with the pears. If their skin is tough (it can be sometimes) don’t leave any on.
2. Pop them all into the slow cooker and sprinkle the spices and sugar on top. Mix well.
3. Add the water to the slow cooker, you can use less if you want, I wanted to coat the bottom of the stoneware but I don’t think there was any need to, the fruit releases lots of moisture.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-5. Cooking time depends on how hot your slow cooker gets, and how much fruit you use (the more the fruit, the longer it takes). Stir occasionally and break up with a spoon or fork.

Other recipes for or with applesauce from around the blogosphere
CrockPot Applesauce Recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking (another slow cooker version)
Homemade Applesauce by Framed Cooks (a stovetop version)
CrockPot Applesauce Chicken Recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking
Perfect Roasted Pork Loin & Homemade Rosemary Applesauce from the LeMoine Family Kitchen

Macadamia, Olive Oil & Honey Granola – Clumpy, Crunchy, Crave-Worthy!

Tags

breakfast, granola, honey, macadamia nuts, oats, olive oil

I am a breakfast person. It’s my favourite meal of the day. Maybe it’s because breakfast is the fuel that gets us through the next 15 hours or so. Maybe it’s because breakfast calories “don’t really count” towards our daily intake as we can burn them all off (yes, I will continue to tell myself that, thank you). Or maybe it’s because we can get away with eating anything in the morning! Sweet, savoury, fresh, fried, baked, slow cooked; fruit, veg, sausages, bacon, cookies, porridge, spinach pie, apple pie, cake… literally anything! I draw the line at drinking Coke in the morning, but I know many people do.

Oats are considered one of the best options for breakfast, due to the slow releasing energy they provide, which keeps us going for much longer and helps us avoid snacking. That sounds really cool, slow releasing energy… Makes me feel a bit super-womany! Recently I’ve realized that it’s actually true. Oats and protein rich foods are best in the morning. Carbs are worst. This is my personal opinion and I have no idea if it is backed up by science! My philosophy is that our bodies speak to us and tell us what they need, what they want, what’s wrong. Ok, not always, or we’re not always in a position to understand the language it uses, but if we try I think usually we can get a good idea of what’s best. After being on the Dukan Diet for a couple of months, I came to realize that protein rich breakfasts are what’s best for me. If I have bread, or a pasty (popular in Greece), or fruit or cereal, I’ll be hungry by 10 and will probably get the shakes and a drop in blood pressure (especially if I have coffee as well). Eggs, ham, yogurt, cheese, all keep my energy going for longer, and my mind free of food related thoughts – at least until lunchtime! Oats also do that. I think they are high in carbohydrates so I’m a bit confused as to why, but they are definitely different to any boxed cereals I’ve ever tried.

During winter I love me my porridge. My Grandma used to say if you eat porridge when it’s hot you get itchy (again, no idea what science has to say about that!) so I don’t usually eat it in the summer. Itchiness aside, a hot breakfast in 40 degrees Celsius is not very appealing. A few years ago, I discovered another fabulous way to enjoy oats. Granola! The reason granola came into my life so late is that you can’t get it here in Greece, at least not easily. You definitely couldn’t get it until very recently. So I made my own! And since then I think the only recipe I’ve made twice is this Coconut Cranberry Granola. There are so many variations, so many ways to experiment, so many tasty ingredients to use, I always want to try something different.

Today’s recipe is based on the Coconut Granola by Two Peas & Their Pod. I’ve changed quite a few ingredients but the base is the same, with the same dry to wet ingredient ratio. And it works perfectly. I’ve read many granola recipes and a lot of them mention clumpiness as being a desired but hard to accomplish result. Well, I think the combination of honey with olive oil is great for this. My granola was super clumpy, which is exactly how I love it. It tastes brilliant and it keeps fantastically well in an air tight container or jar. Try it!

Macadamia, Olive Oil & Honey Granola

(adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod Coconut Granola)

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup desiccated (shredded) coconut
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs vanilla extract (that was supposed to be 1 tsp but I messed it up. It turned out great anyway! If you’re using the expensive store bought type stick to a teaspoon. Or sub with coconut extract)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 150C and line a baking sheet with grease proof paper.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients (oats through to salt on ingredient list) in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the honey and olive oil in a small saucepan and heat gently till the honey has completely melted. Whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and stir.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the oats and stir well with a wooden spoon till the dry ingredients are well coated with the honey mixture.
6. Turn mixture out on to the baking sheet and spread it out so it’s in a single layer. Try to press it down firmly (a rubber spatula is good for that) as this helps make it clumpy.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes or until granola is golden. Don’t let it brown as it will turn bitter.
8. Enjoy with Greek yogurt, milk or –my favourite- buttermilk. It’s also great as a topping over porridge (oatmeal).

More granola goodness:

Morning Time Breakfast Granola Cups by Mommie Cooks
Cookbook: The Homemade Pantry and The Nutty Granola Bar by Food In Jars
Low Fat Granola Bars with Mango, Hazelnut & Ginger Recipe by Cookin’ Canuck
Small Batch Honey-Pistachio Granola by Mountain Mama Cooks