Kale Cauliflower Salad

This weekend I went to the farmers market in my hood to pick up some pulots and mini heirloom tomatoes!  I was also there to try and complete my first photography assignment for the class I just started.  The end of summer produce looked great, but I do need more practice changing all my settings.  Here’s a few of my favorite pics!

I’m well into my second month of boot camp and my healthier eating and though the pounds shed are not that high (yet) I can definitely see the results!  The most motivating thing is of course when friends tell you- “you look awesome” or “you lost weight!”.  Once I hear things like that I am even more motivated to eat right!  This is one of those salads that can serve as a meal, with some soup or even a pumpkin cheddar muffin. 

While my outdoor photos seem to be improving, I still struggle taking my food pictures indoors at night.  Hopefully I’ll figure that out soon….

Kale Cauliflower Salad
adapted from Heat Oven to 350

1/2 head of cauliflower, grated
1 cup mini heirloom tomatoes, halved
1 stalk green onion, chopped
2-3 cups of kale
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
ground pepper
parmesan cheese, grated

1.  Discard the tough stalk of the kale and finely chop the kale leaves. *I used the pre packaged kale from Trader Joe’s!*

2.  In a bowl combine kale, tomatoes, green onions, and grated cauliflower.  In a small bowl combine lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, sea salt and garlic.  Mix well and toss with kale and cauliflower mix. 

3.  Season the salad with pepper and grate some parmesan cheese over the salad. 

This salad was yummy and definitely filling.  I took it into work the next day and the kale held up well, but I think the cauliflower let out a stinky smell.  So that’s a warning if you are self conscious or have co workers with sensitive noses.  I am definitely going to start making this to bring to parties cause I think it holds up really well! 

Lomi Lomi Tomato

As you may or may not know, I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Growing up in paradise I was exposed to beautiful rainbows, amazing ocean views, daily treks to the beach and a wide variety of food.  Hawaii is literally a melting pot of food, cultures and people.  While ads and TV/movies depict Hawaii a certain way (some better than others) for some reason every dish with pineapple is associated with Hawaii!  I have breaking news- no one in Hawaii eats pineapple on pizza, on their hamburgers or on most savory dishes.  Yes I would say 95% of the people in Hawaii do not eat pineapple on their pizza or have never had it on a burger. 

I thought I would share with you some real local/Hawaiian foods!  I grew up eating Lomi Lomi Salmon whenever I had Hawaiian food.  My friend Jon was the first person to serve me Lomi Lomi tomato.  “Lomi Lomi” means to massage in Hawaiian, which is the way that this dish was traditionally prepared.  All of the ingredients were mixed or massaged by hand to combine.  This recipe is super easy and comes together so quickly.  If you can get a Maui onion or sweet onion, definitely use it!  Maui onions are great and so much milder with a great flavor.      

Lomi Lomi Tomato
16 oz. (1 lb.) grape tomatoes, or 4 large tomatoes
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 Maui onion (sweet onion), chopped
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Hawaiian Salt (rock salt)
Tabasco

1.  Cut up tomatoes into bite size pieces.  Add in green onions, Maui onion, apple cider vinegar, Hawaiian Salt and Tabasco and mix well.

2.  Chill thoroughly and serve.

Serve with Kalua Pig or your favorite Hawaiian dish!  One of my favorites is to eat this with Poi!  Poi is a Hawaiian side dish which is steamed taro that is ground into a paste like texture.  It sounds weird, looks gross, but you either love or hate poi,  Try it with lomi lomi tomato and you will fall in love! 

Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken

I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a long time but I just never got around to using it!  In an effort to clean my cupboards I’ve been trying to use up what I already own and only buy fresh veggies or herbs to add on to it.  This recipe was perfect for that since I had some corn, beans, and a wide variety of different tomatoes all ready to go.  Bonus- this recipe was low fat too! 

If you haven’t been over to Gina’s Skinny Recipes you are missing on some tasty low fat dishes.  In fact if the word skinny wasn’t in her title, you would never know by her pictures of the name of her dishes that she was counting calories/points.  

Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken
adapted from Gina’s Skinny Recipes

1.5 lbs. chicken breast
15 oz. can black beans
7 oz. can green chilies
11 oz. can corn
14.4 oz. can roasted tomatoes with green chilies
14.4 oz. fat free chicken broth
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 stalks green onion, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt

1.  In crockpot combine beans, chilies, roasted tomatoes, chicken broth, cilantro, green onion, cumin, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and salt.  *Save corn for later unless you are using frozen corn in which case you can put it in now.*

2.  Season the chicken breast and lay on top of the mixture.

3.  Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hour.  Half an hour before serving shred the chicken and add the canned corn.  Return the chicken to the crockpot and stir mixture well. 

Serve over Lime Cilantro Rice and garnish with green onions, cilantro.  Top with non fat sour cream (or Greek yogurt) , fresh tomatoes, avocado and low fat cheese.  You know a dish is great when you can transform the leftovers into other things as well.  I had some tortilla’s in the fridge and wrapped this mixture up with some of my cilantro rice and added some cheese and it was delish!   

Truffle White Bean Dip

The other day my friend A asked me if I had tried the Truffle White Bean dip from Whole Foods yet.  She had me at the word truffle, my interest was peaked, especially since I love any kind of dip or hummus.  A told me it was delish, especially when paired with pretzel chips.  For a few days the description of the dip stayed in my mind, so I decided rather than go from Whole Foods to Whole Foods in hope of finding it, I would make my own!  It was the best decision I made that week, it could be yours too.  This dip is so simple and tasty you will fall in love with it.  Thanks A for your great find.   

These pics are the first that I’ve taken with my new DSLR.  Please bare with me as I stumble around and figure out how to use all the functions it offers.  Any tips and tricks people want to share are also appreciated!   

Truffle White Bean Dip
inspired by Whole Foods

1 can Cannellini beans
1 lemon
1.5 Tbsp. Truffle oil
1 tsp. truffle salt
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
pepper

1.  Take four cloves of garlic, with skin on, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  *You can roast a whole bulb, cause who doesn’t love roasted garlic.  I just did the 4 cloves in my toaster oven.*

2.  Rinse the cannellini beans and place in food processor or blender.  Add the zest and juice of one lemon, truffle oil, truffle salt, roasted garlic and parmesan cheese.  Blend the mixture until all ingredients are finely combined. 

3.  Season with pepper (or any other fresh herbs that you like) and mix in the yogurt. *I added some fresh sage on top and it was so good!!  I’m sure basil, rosemary and any other fragrant herb would be great as well.* 

Servings: 6, Calories: 145, Total Fat 5.2g, Carbs: 19g, Protein: 7.8, Fiber: 4.3g. 

Serve with veggies, pita crackers, pretzel chips or any kind of dipper you like.  It was also amazing in a sandwich wrap that I had during the week.  I subbed the mayo for this flavorful dip! 

Crockpot Chicken Adobo

Hope you all had a great weekend!  This weekend was jam packed for me as I had two friends who graduated from USC with MBA’s and doctorate degrees and two celebrations!  Congrats again to SL and Momo- great job ladies, so proud of you both!  This weekend the Brazilian and I also attempted to play a game of laser tag after our sushi dinner.  We spotted it across the street as we were walking back to the car and decided to go check it out!  Unfortunately just as we put on our vest and the doors to the laser labyrinth opened, we found out that our lasers weren’t working.  It took them a while to figure things out so the Brazilian and I had to leave before we got to play a game. 

Because…. we had bought tickets to see one of the funniest movies we’ve seen in the longest time!  Bridesmaids!  If you have not seen this movie, you need to see it ASAP.  The Brazilian was a little hesitant to go see this, afraid that it was going to be a “Chick Flick”, but it was hardly that.  Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wig are hil-ar-ious!  The whole cast is actually great- go see it, you won’t be sorry!   

Anyways, on to the cooking!  It seems like everyone around the web is making Chicken Adobo.  Growing up in Hawaii, this Filipino dish would often make appearances at various potlucks.  Even up here in Los Angeles, almost every Hula potluck has a savory vinegary dish of Adobo.  While I enjoy this dish, I have never tried making it myself.  But when I saw Stephanie from 52 Kitchen Adventures version in the crockpot, I knew I had to try it.   

I also thought it would be the perfect recipe to finally use some of the ghost pepper salt that I had bought at my last trip to the Spice Station.  Also known as “Naga Jolokia” salt, it is the hottest salt in the WORLD!  The pepper that is used in the salt is known as the King Cobra Chili, if that gives you any indication of how much punch this gives.  

Crockpot Chicken Adobo
adapted from 52 Kitchen Adventures

2 to 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 bay leaves
garlic salt
pepper
ghost pepper salt (GPS) /chili pepper, optional

1.  Cut off any excess fat from the chicken thighs.  Season them with garlic salt and pepper and place into the crockpot. 

2.  Add in soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, bay leaves and a pinch of ghost pepper salt.  *Careful this salt is spicy, but this dish is a good one to add it to since the long cooking time mellows it out.  I put in about 1/2 tsp.*

3.  Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or on high for 2.5 to 3 hours or until chicken is cooked through.  *Cooking time will vary depending on power of crockpot.  Chicken with bones still in may also take longer to cook.* 

Serve with rice.  I decided to take some of the sauce in the crockpot and reduce it on a stove top to thicken up and spoon over your chicken.  This dish was so good and so easy, it is no wonder everyone is making it!  I’m not sure who originally posted, but thanks to Stephanie from 52 Kitchen Adventures for introducing me to her crockpot version!  I think she might be the next slow cooking queen, her weekly slow cooker Monday posts are some of my favorite.  Go over and check out her site if you want more slow cooker goodness!     

Gaji Namul, Korean Eggplant

Recently Marukai (a Japanese market) opened on my route home.  I actually already live within 2-3 miles of two other Japanese markets, but for some reason Marukai is my favorite.  Maybe because I grew up with it in Hawaii and the fact that they have lots of Hawaii stuff as well.  This basically means a lot more Japanese cooking, as well as some great deals on Asian veggies and fruits. 

During my last trip, I picked up some Japanese Eggplant for under 2 bucks.  Due to the hot weather in LA recently, I decided to try my hand at a cold dish, a Korean panchan called Gaji Namul.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Korean BBQ, one of the best parts is that with your meal you get served a wide variety of fresh and pickled veggies.  These serve as the perfect compliment to the sweet and savory marinades on the various cuts of meats.  If this hasn’t convinced you to try Korean BBQ, please call me- I will take you.  LOL   

Gaji Namul
adapted from kourmet

3 Japanese style eggplant

Sauce

1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. green onion
1 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. sesame seed oil
1 tsp. jalapeno

1.  Quarter the eggplant and place them in the steamer.  Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft enough to easily pierce with a fork. *Time may vary depending on size of eggplant*

2.  Cool down and tear/cut eggplant into bite sized pieces.

3.  Combine the sauce ingredients together and mix with eggplant pieces.

The longer you let this sit, the more delicious it gets.  I love this as a vegetable side dish with a hot scoop of rice.  I also added this into one of my salads and it was great.  This can last for about a week in your refrigerator in an airtight container.  

Galinha Ensopada, Soupy Brazilian Chicken

Hope you all had a great Cinco de Mayo.  While you may be tired of Mexican food, hopefully you still have room for some Brazilian goodness.  My lightened up Brazilian Chicken Strognaoff recipe is one of the most viewed and searched for blog entries that I've done.  I wanted to take a stab at another Brazilian recipe and saw a picture of Galinha Ensopada and thought it looked delish! 

Galinha Ensopada (Soupy Brazilian Chicken)

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp parprika
1 can plum or diced tomatoes
1 can hearts of palm, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup green olives
3 green onions
1/4 cup cilantro
2 cups chicken broth
2 lbs chicken (I used BSC Breast, but it would probably work great with thighs as well)
Olive oil
Flour

1.  Heat pan with olive oil and season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.  Gently dredge the chicken in flour, shaking off the excess.  Then sear chicken on both sides for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.  *Let's be honest, this probably would be best with chicken thighs (bone-in and with skin on), but since I'm trying to keep it light I used boneless skinless chicken breast.*

2.  Add onion, garlic, paprika and tomatoes to pan.  Once the onion has softened, add in chicken stock and bring to a boil.

3.  Slightly reduce heat and cover and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.  Add chicken back into the pot when there is 10 minutes left to go.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

4.  At the end add in hearts of palm and olives and cook for another 5 minutes on low.   

Garnish with green onions and cilantro.  This dish is traditionally served with polenta, but it would probably also be great over rice.  I served this with the slice and bake roll of polenta.  The Brazilian and I enjoyed this dish but both agreed that chicken thighs would have made it better since the breasts did feel a little dry.  I totally love the addition of hearts of palm and olives in this chicken dish, I may or may not have stolen some hears of palm off the Brazilians plate when he wasn't looking...  :)

Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

I love Mexican food, so does my boyfriend however when we are trying to do healthy eating it’s not something we can indulge in all the time.  In honor of Cinco de Mayo I wanted to make us a healthy version of Chicken Enchiladas!!  The other day when I was cruising the aisles of Whole Foods, I saw some packets of Enchilada sauce from Frontera Grill!  For those of you who are Top Chef fans, you may remember Rick Bayless from Top Chef Masters (doesn’t he seem like the nicest guy?).  I recently had the chance to visit his new restaurant in LA, Red O and it was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had.  Definitely recommend it if you are in Los Angeles.  So you can understand my excitement when I saw his new line of products called Mexican Everyday!  The best thing about his products is that they are low calorie and they use all natural products.  On the packaging it states that the ingredients are all natural with no preservatives, made with fresh ingredients. 

I had been dying to make Cilantro Lime Rice since I had been seeing recipes pop up on the web for the past couple of weeks.  So in order to make it a bit healthier and enjoy my rice at the same time (yes, this is how my brain works- constant negotiations) I decided to forgo the tortillas for something healthier.  I had two beautiful eggplants in my fridge that I thought would be the perfect wrapper and absorb the flavor of the Green Chile Enchilada sauce at the same time.   

Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

1 large eggplant
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup shredded chicken
2 cups spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
2/3 cup low fat shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 package Frontera Grill Enchilada Sauce
salt
pepper

1.  Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Cut off end of eggplant and remove peel with a fruit peeler. 

2.  Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices.  Place slices in a bowl and sprinkle salt over pieces.  Let the eggplant sit in the bowl for 20-30 minutes.  *This step is not necessary, but it removes some of the bitterness that can often be found in the eggplant seeds.*

3.  Drain bowl of water the eggplant released and rinse eggplant several times to rid of salt.  Heat up a grill plan on medium high and lightly brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil.  Cook on each side until eggplant is tender.  Once cooked remove from heat and let cool. 

4.  In another skillet add the last Tbsp. of olive oil and cook the onions until tender, season with chili powder and cumin.  Add in the 2 cups of spinach and allow it to quickly wilt down.  In a bowl mix with shredded chicken, yogurt and 1/3 cup Mexican shredded cheese.  Season with salt and pepper. 

5.  Place several scoops of the chicken mixture in the middle of each piece of eggplant piece. 

6.  Roll each piece into a log and place seam side down in a 8x8 pan. 

7.  Cover the eggplant rolls with the Frontera Grill Green Chile Enchilada sauce mixture. 

8.  Sprinkle the enchiladas with the remaining 1/3 cup of cheese and bake for 15 minutes. 

I ate this with the Cilantro Lime Rice from Two Peas and their Pod, which was totally easy and so delish.  But you could also eat this with some black beans, chips and of course garnish with avocado, salsa or sour cream!  The Frontera Enchilada sauce was so good, it was a little spicy and jam packed with so many fresh flavors.  Two thumbs up, I definitely want to try the rest of the Frontera Grill Everyday Mexican products.  I loved the enchiladas with the eggplant as a wrapper, but I may be biased since I love eggplant.  I guess if you don’t like the texture of eggplant, this might not be the route you want to go, and you might want to just make this with tortillas instead.     

Protein Acai Bowl

Acai Bowls are one of my most favorite breakfast treats or afternoon snacks.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I am obsessed with Acai Bowls.  By now I'm sure you have heard of Acai and it's wonderful health benefits.  This fruit which hails from Brazil, has gained a lot of popularity in the past several years.  During one of my trips home to Hawaii it seemed that the Acai Bowl had swept the island and this delicious treat was available everywhere.  One bite and I fell in love!  To the simple eye it might look like a simple parfait, but somehow it's so much more than that. 

One of my favorite places to get an Acai Bowl when I am home is at Blue Hawaii in Ala Moana Shopping Center.  I have yet to find an Acai Bowl as delicious as any that I've had in Hawaii, in a pinch I will go to Robeks or Jamba Juice to quench my Acai cravings.  That was until I discovered these Acai packets at Whole Foods and could make my own!  I've been playing around with adding Protein Powder into the mix and I love the results.  This is a breakfast that will keep you full till lunch. 

Acai Bowl at Blue Hawaii

Protein Acai Bowl

1/2 of an Acai Smoothie Pack
6 oz Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (Or any other liquid you want to substitue)
1 scoop Banana/Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
1 cup frozen berries (I used strawberry and blueberry mix)
1 Tbsp Flaxseeds
Honey
Granola
Fresh Fruit (Sliced Banana, Strawberries, blueberries, etc)

1.  Run Acai smoothie pack under water for a couple of seconds.  Snap frozen pack in half, cut open and place half into blender. 

2.  Fill blender with almond milk, protein powder and berries and blend until a smooth consistency.  *You can add more liquid if you would like to turn this into a smoothie*

This pic has sliced banana's but I actually like it better without when adding Protein Powder

3.  Pour mixture into a bowl.  Top with a couple handfuls of granola, sliced bananas and berries.  *At this point if you wanted to add in additional nutrients like green tea powder, spriulina, noni juice, flaxseeds, etc layer it on to the Acai mixture* 
4.  Drizzle honey over entire mixture.  *The better the honey you have, the more awesome it tastes!  In Hawaii one of my favorite places uses locally grown Lehua Honey which kicks it up a notch*

The combinations for this are endless.  Yesterday I added some spinach into my Acai mixture and squeezed some lime over the mixture to give it some added freshness and tang.  Hope you give this a try, Acai Bowls are the new parfait!!  I really hope this gets more popular in LA, cause I would love to find a place like Blue Hawaii up here, for when I'm out and about.

Momofuku, Made Skinny

I finally got to go to the Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York.  I had seen the pictures, read other bloggers reviews and heard my own friends talk about everything from the pork buns to the cookies and crack pie.  On one of her last visits to LA, A had trekked down to Momofuku and bought a bunch of the cookies for us to try.  *Love her!*  Pre-blogging days I had even made the copycat Marshmallow Cornflake cookie. 

Once we got seated we quickly ordered a couple orders of the Pork Buns.  It was love in a bun!

Hello lover...

We also tried the grilled rice cake, David Chang's take on a classic Korean dish.

For our mains a couple of us ordered the Momofuku Ramen and A ordered the Ginger Scallion noodles.  Of course I sampled some hers as well.  During dinner A shared that the recipe was super easy to make!

Yes, more pork belly

Of course I made the Ginger Scallion Noodles as soon as I came home!  I made some slight changes (which I've italicized). 

Ginger Scallion Sauce

from Momofuku

Makes about 3 cups

Mix together the ingredients below.  Taste and check for salt, adding more if needed. Let the sauce sit for 20 minutes so that flavors absorb.

2½ cups thinly sliced scallions (greens and whites; from 1 to 2 large bunches) Japanese Garlic Scallions
½ cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger
¼ cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
1½ teaspoons soy sauce,
¾ teaspoon sherry vinegar Rice Wine Vinegar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste

As you are letting the sauce set, you can prep your noodles and quickly pickle some cucumbers.

Pickled Cucumbers
1 Japanese Cucumber
1 Tbsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar

Thinly slice cucumbers and sprinkle salt and sugar and mix well so that they are evenly coated.  Let sit for 20 minutes and taste.  If it is too sweet you can give them a quick rinse. 

For the noodles, you can use any type of noodle!  I decided to try it two different ways,  First with some fresh Yakisoba noodles and a lighter option with Pasta Slims Shirataki noodles! 

Prepare noodles as directed on the package.  To serve, spoon 3 large spoonfuls of the Ginger Scallion sauce over each serving of the noodles and mix well.  I added some additional soy sauce and a sprinkling of salt and Schichimi.  Add any additional toppings like veggies, chicken, boiled egg that you have on hand. 

And the lighter version on the spinach Pasta Slims, which clocks in under 100 calories per serving with all the toppings. 

The verdict?  The ginger scallion sauce is great over both noodles.  The sauce is powerful enough to pair well with the Pasta Slims.  If you have extra sauce you can also use this flavorful sauce on so many things.  Over hot rice, over eggs and my favorite over chicken!  It's very similar to the Chinese style Cold Ginger Chicken, I put it over some left over Rotisserie chicken that I had and it was so yummy.  My co-workers were even curious, since it looked delish!