Crock Pot Chicken - any way you want it!

A patient came in today and wanted to share a recipe idea with everyone so here goes!!

4-6 celery stalks
1, 5-6 pound chicken
Rub of your choice (mango salsa/garlic powder + teriyaki/sriracha/herbs de provence/taco sauce or whatever you can think up!)
Chicken broth

1. Spread celery stalks on the bottom of crock pot.
2. Rinse and dry chicken, place in crock pot on top of celery
3. Rub chicken with spices or pour salsa/sauce over top.
4. Pour about 1 inch of chicken broth into bottom of pot.
5. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours, there will be a lot of liquid in the crock pot when you are done.
6. Remove chicken from crock pot.

ENJOY!!!!

Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Plum Sauce

Original Recipe: Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery, edited by the fab 

intern Lumi Bota to follow our program guidelines

When we were trying to come up with an Asian-style pork recipe, almost every one we researched contained hoisin sauce (very heavy on sugar). So we 

concocted this plum sauce, which not only tastes incredible, but is

incredibly versatile as well.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon paprika

1 packet artificial sweetener (Splenda or Sweet ‘N Low)

½ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground thyme

1 pound lean pork tenderloin 

Fresh plum sauce (makes approximately 1 cup):

Cooking spray

½ cup onion, chopped

3 large red or purple plums, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Brown-sugar artificial sweetener (1 teaspoon equivalent)

Method of preparation:

1.      To make the plum sauce: coat a nonstick saucepan with cooking spray. Heat and sauté onion until just translucent. Add all other ingredients and cook over low flame for 10 minutes until thick. Let cool slightly, pour into food processor, and blend until smooth.

2.      Preheat the oven to 375° F.

3.      In a small bowl, mix all spices and sweetener together to form a dry rub.

4.      Rub spice mixture all over tenderloin and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

5.      Spoon ¼ cup of the plum sauce onto tenderloin and bake for another 10 minutes.

6.      ENJOY!!!

Toasted Coconut Custard

8 large eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla

2-4 packets of Stevia or Truvia (depending on how sweet you like it)

2/3 cup shredded coconut (you can add more or less depending how coconutty you like it)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet spread coconut out in one layer. Toast in the oven until it starts to brown. Remove from oven.

2. Beat eggs in a bowl with vanilla and stevia. Add toasted coconut.

3. Use Pam/pan spray to coat a pyrex glass baking dish. (A pie dish or smaller will be appropriate in size. You also will need to be able to sit this glass dish inside a roasting pan so find one that is small enough to work but also has sides that are higher then 1". Its ok if your custard is thick/deep, it will just take longer to cook.)

4. Once glass dish is sprayed with Pam, pour the egg/coconut mixture in. Set glass baking dish into the roasting pan and set on the rack of the oven. Using a pitcher (or coffee pot) pour water into the baking dish until it comes at least 1/2 way up the sides of the glass baking dish. This helps the custard to cook evenly and not burn on the sides. Cook custard until a toothpick or knife inserted into the middle of the custard (all the way to the bottom) comes out without chunks of wet egg on it.

ENJOY!!

Simple Suppers - Smoked Salmon

Who says you actually have to cook for dinner? There is no reason why your meal needs to look like a 'stereotypical American meal'. If we remember that we are eating to no longer be hungry, not to be full - something as simple as smoked salmon with whole wheat/grain crackers can be put out and enjoyed on a spring or summer evening. No cooking, no clean up! Even the 5 year old loved it!!

Additional accoutrements or substitution ideas:
-whole grain mustard instead of cream cheese
-diced onions instead of/in addition to capers
-mango salsa
-mix Old Bay seasoning into cream cheese for some zing!
-pickled ginger
-lemon or lime wedges
-mix fresh dill and lemon juice into some plain, nonfat yogurt
-roasted asparagus (on the side)

Sweet & Salty Fix

Patients are always wanting a sweet & salty fix, and while we focus on trying not to give into cravings for different foods if they are connected to times of stress or emotions and instead work on controlling the behaviors behind these 'food attacks', you still might need something in your arsenal for other times when you are looking for something sweet & salty because you stomach is growling and that is what you would like to have.

I had never seen the 100% cacao bars in super markets before (the closest I had come was 99% bars from the Lindt store). These bars are not for eating straight (unless you are crazy like me), they are bitter and a little alkaline because they contain 0 sugar and 0 artificial sweeteners, but they will give you the taste of REAL chocolate/cacoa. When mixed with some other flavors like peanut and graham (or banana) you have quite a delectable item. The taste of the pure cacao will take some getting used to, but give it a chance, you will probably never want to go back to milk chocolate again!


*1 graham cracker (look for one that is low sugar - most name brand crackers have 8 grams of sugar and they have added sugar and honey to them)
*1-2 tablespoons natural peanut butter - I like Smucker's because I find it to be the most salty (bad dietitian) and I like the peanut butter to be slightly salty (100-200kcals, 1-2 grams sugar, 3-7 grams protein)
*2 squares from a 100% cacao bar (146 kcals, 0 grams sugar, 4 grams protein)

Enjoy!!!

**Your best bet to find them in the super market is to look in the baking section**

Breakfast Bruscetta

This came across my desk from the Fruit and Veggies - More Matters group. I have added a tweak or two to accommodate a bariatric patient.

Serves 4-6

1 ripe avocado
2 medium tomatoes
1 green onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
4 hard boiled eggs, shells removed
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
whole wheat baguette, sliced or whole wheat crackers
cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Dice up the avocado, tomato, eggs, and green onion - mix in a bowl with fresh ground black pepper and olive oil. Toss in most of the basil - reserve about 1 teaspoon for garnish.
2. Toast baguette slices then spread ricotta over them (or just spread ricotta on crackers)
3. Top with the avocado mixture and sprinkle with more basil.

ENJOY!!!

Food Trend: Extend Nutrition's SF Protein Bars

New brand of protein bars that I came across - Extend Nutrition. Initially created for diabetics these bars have roughly 4.5 grams of fat, 150 calories, 0 grams of sugar (about 8 grams of sugar alcohol) and 10 grams of protein. Click the link below to be redirected to their site!

Extend Nutrition Protein Bars