Tuna Lettuce Wraps

Something Different...

Tuna Lettuce Wraps!

 

     I'm tired of salad for lunch everyday, and tired of making them too.  I sent my husband to the store and he came home with iceberg lettuce...blech!  I have dubbed it the "polyester of all vegetables."

 

 

so...here is what I came up with to shake up lunch and use up that iceberg...

 

     I took an envelope of light tuna in water, added about 1 tablespoon chopped onion, a dash of cilantro and parsley, one chopped hard boiled egg, 1 stalk of celery with leaves, and 1-2 tablespoons of greek yogurt ranch dressing.  Spooned it onto a half lettuce leaf  and rolled it up.  It made about 5 or 6 rolls.  I put them in a container, and into my lunch bag it went with a few cherry tomatoes, an apple and some homebrewed and chilled green tea...LUNCH!!! (well, except for the one I ate...it ripped, I had to eat it!)

According to My Fitness Pal, the lettuce rolls are about 200 calories, 2.7g carbs, and 24g protein.

Happy Lunch, Kris

Sauerkraut Salad

 

Sauerkraut Salad

 

 

Sauerkraut is a probiotic, and low in calories...

but not so much when you pair it up with Polish Sausage in your crockpot. 

So here is an alternative good for Cycle 1! 

 

*Actually...

Rinse the sauerkraut (to cut down on salt),

add a dollop of local honey, a bit of seasonings,

and use Turkey Kielbasa.

Cook on low in crockpot. 

1 cup of Sauerkraut and I link is only

140 calories...but NOT a Cycle 1 dinner (good for Cycle 3)

 

Sauerkraut Salad:

Ingredients:

1 (32oz) package of Sauerkraut

1 Cup diced Celery

1/2 Cup chopped onion

1/2 Cup chopped green or red pepper

6 packets Truvia (1 Cup sugar)

5 Tablespoons Olive oil (1/3 Cup cooking oil)

5 Tablespoons Vinegar

Herbs of Choice (oregano, pepper, parsley, celery seed, garlic...NO added salt)

Directions:

Rinse and drain Sauerkraut. Squeeze out excess moisture.  In a large bowl, combine the sauerkraut, celery, onion, and green/red pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, sweetener, and vinegar.  Add herbs of choice.  Add to the sauerkraut mixture and stir well.  Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).

1/2 cup = 52 calories, and counts as one probiotic serving for the day.

 

I also adjusted to make half a bag (and used the other half in the crockpot) 3 packets of Truvia, 2 Tbs oil, 2 Tbs vinegar, 1/4 cup onion and pepper, 1/2 cup celery.

Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette and Yogurt Dip

 

Lunch Please...

Hmmm...what to eat?  This is pretty typical of my lunches lately.

I sure do love the Farmer's Market and the summer produce!

 

Start...

with a bed of lettuce, the darker the better, like a combination of curly red lettuce,

baby Kale, and baby spinach.

 

Then comes the fun part...

basically, what ever I have in my crisper drawer of the refrigerator

or in a basket on my counter top...

Green onions, tomatoes, fresh cilantro and basil, red and green peppers,

sliced hard boiled eggs, and whatever else...

(it was toward the end of the week...not my usual variety, but not bad.)

 

Protein???

An envelope of tuna. (I prefer the envelop over the can when eating it plain especially)

I also like to cook extra chicken and have it on hand to slice up and add to salads.

 

Dressing??

Why Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette of course!

Hmm...better add that recipe to this post huh?

 

Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

1/4 cup water

juice (and pulp) of one large lime

1/2 cup olive oil (or a blend of Olive and Flax Oil)

fresh chopped Cilantro

 

Mix together in a jar or dressing cruet and keep refrigerated.

 

 

A little something crunchy?

...some more veggies of course!! 

I had cauliflower, green beans, and celery.

 

And to dip???

 

Yogurt Dip!

Much less guilt, calories and fat!! and yet delicious!  WooHoo!!

Prepare the night before...

 

 

Put two white paper towels in a sieve and place over a deep bowl.

Pour in a 32 ounce container of Plain Low-Fat yogurt.

(Or...Fat Free or Plain Low or No-Fat Greek yogurt if you prefer)

Cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator.

After 8 hours (usually I leave overnight), you will have yogurt cheese.

Yogurt cheese is a lot like cream cheese. Delicious as is, but to make it into dip,

add your seasonings of choice...such as garlic and onion.

One of my favorites...add 1/2 to whole envelope of dry Ranch Dip Mix.

Try to stay out of it until it has had a chance to season through nicely.

 

 

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:

• boneless skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and trimmed, cut into smaller pieces if desired
• fresh grated parmesan cheese
• gluten free chicken coating (substitute bread crumbs if you want)
• egg whites
• chopped fresh herbs (chives, parsley, cilantro)
• olive oil
• lemon (optional)

Directions:

• prepare ingredients
• dredge chicken in egg whites
• coat both sides with the grated cheese and bread crumb mixture (sorry, I didn't measure for this meal...I probably used a cup of cheese, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the gluten free coating I used)I also sprinkled in a little ground black pepper
• LIGHTLY coat a baking dish with olive oil (I used my favorite lemon infused olive oil)
• place coated chicken in baking dish and sprinkle over any remaining cheese mix
• Sprinkle chopped herbs over chicken

Bake:

• 350 degrees until internal temp reaches 170 degrees (30-345 min depending on the size of chicken pieces) and juices run clear
• optional: place briefly under broiler to brown cheese

Serve:

• lift from pan with spatula careful to keep the cheese coating on the bottom in place (and not left behind in the pan)
• serve with fresh steamed asparagus and quinoa with brown rice
• optional: squeeze lemon wedge over all three and garnish with a lemon slice

Sautéed Cabbage

Sautéed Cabbage

       

so...I had used a big, beautiful head of cabbage brought to me fresh from a friend's garden, to make some delicious cabbage rolls (see previous post)...but, I only used the large outer leaves.  What to do with the rest of the head of blanched cabbage???

 

I started with a little flax oil (you could use olive oil) in my pan, warmed it up, chopped up the cabbage and got busy chopping and adding what ever else I had on hand (see suggestions below). Toss it well with your hands.  Then I sautéed it until tender and starting to brown up (about 5-8 minutes) and stirred it every 30 seconds or so.  When done, I added a bit of lemon oil (Tastefully Simple or Wegmans) and seasoned to taste. PS: the above picture is BEFORE I sautéed it.

 

Suggested Additions:                            

cabbage of course!*

onion (red*, yellow, white)

green peppers                                

red or yellow peppers*                              

leeks or green onion                               

mushrooms 

rapini (or broccoli rabe)*                             

spinach 

garlic* 

carrot shavings*

Flax seeds*

Kale or other dark greens

Suggested Seasonings:

course sea salt*

black pepper*

cilantro*

oregano

chives

Parsley

Basil

lemon juice

lemon or lime zest

 

*these are the things I used (shown in picture)

 

went nicely with the cabbage rolls as a side dish...

 

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

 

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Galumpki)

 

Cabbage Leaves:

I wasn't sure how to do this, but this worked for me...

 

Set a LARGE pot of water to boil

Cut the core out of the head of cabbage

Once the water boils, submerge the whole head of cabbage

Bring back to a boil

The leaves should soften and start to pull away from the head

Drain and rise in cool water just so you can handle it to remove full leaves
 

Sauce:

In a bowl whisk together:

 

1 (8oz) an tomato sauce

1 (12oz) can tomato paste

1 to 1 1/2 cups water

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire  sauce

1+ Tablespoons of Agave (or 3 Tablespoons brown sugar)

Spices or fresh herbs of your choice (I added cilantro, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley)

 

Filling:

In large frying pan, heat slight amount of olive oil or flax oil.  Add 1/3 cup chopped red onion and several cloves of fresh crushed garlic.  Then add 1-1.5 pounds lean ground turkey. (You could use, lean beef, venison or your ground meat of choice.) Cook until turkey is browned, and onion is tender.  Drain. Set aside to cool slightly.

Mix in to meat:

  1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

  1egg-beaten
  1/4 to 1/2 cup medium chunky salsa (gave it a nice flavor kick!)

  pepper (and other seasonings of choice-I found no salt was necessary because of the salt in the canned sauce I used)

  about 1 cup cooked rice (I used ready to serve brown and wild rice)

  1-2 Tablespoons flax seeds (optional)

 

Putting it all together:

lay out the cabbage leaves (trim off the tough end if necessary)

put about 2 heaping Tablespoons of filling in the center of each leaf. 

Fold over the ends and roll up (mine ended up more like squares then rolls)

Place a little of the sauce and some carrots sliced thinly by length (optional) in the bottom of a baking dish.

Place the cabbage rolls in the baking dish-Seam side down.

  I ended up with about 6 BIG rolls and 8 medium rolls, so I used two dishes and froze one!

Cover evenly with the sauce. (Be sure sauce gets between them and around the edges too)

Bake It:

Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 (preheat oven) for about an hour.  Remove foil last 10 minutes.

Serve with a bit of fresh grated parmesan

 

What to do with the rest of the head of cabbage???  See my next blog for a great side dish idea to serve with these cabbage rolls.