Category Archives: Recipes

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Pumpkin Coconut Cornbread Pudding

Cornbread pudding is relatively easy to make, especially when baking with pre-mixed boxed cornbread. But to add a little variety, here’s an autumn spin on cornbread pudding:

Cornbread ingredients (adapted from Comfybelly.com):

  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (for greasing pan)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8 baking pan. Mixed dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Then fold together and stir well. Pour mixture into pan and smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes until inserted pick comes out clean.

Remove from pan to cool, then chop into cubes. Meanwhile heat oven to 250F. Place cornbread cubes in pan, lay flat. Bake until toasted, about 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit on counter to continue dry and cool.

Pumpkin custard ingredients  (adapted from HealthyRecipesBlogs.com):

  • 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (for greasing pan)

Beat eggs, mix all wet ingredients together. Fold in cornbread cubes and mix with custard until incorporated. While the bread soaks up the custard, heat oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8 pan with coconut oil. Pour bread and custard into pan, and use a spatula to flatten the surface. Bake for 30 minutes.

Dining, Fitness, Recipes

Recipe: Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette

Is there such a thing as too much garlic? Nooooo!

I love this as a salad dressing or a marinade to fish/salmon.

  • Garlic – Raw, 85 g
  • Pompeii – Lemon Juice (From Concentrate), 2 fl oz 
  • Truvia – Artificial Sweetener, 3 tsp
  • Food Club – 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 10 Tbsp
  • Kroger – Garlic Powder, 3 tsp
  • Kroger – Coarse Kosher Salt, 1/4 tsp

Chop/mince garlic, then throw all the ingredients into a blender until thoroughly incorporated. I store it in a shaker dressing bottle so that the sediment can be stirred up when used. 

MFP Recipe Calculator estimate per 1 oz (2 tbsp) serving:
112 Calories
4g Carbs
12g Fat
0g Protein 
0g Sugar

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Chili Garlic Mukimame with Crab and Salmon

Oh, mukimame…how I love thee. You’re the soybean of my dreams, unfettered and free. (Why is it that edamame removed from husks are referred to as “shelled” while imprisoned they are “unshelled”? Seems backward to me.)

While I was shopping at the grocery for a low-fat meat ingredient to go with soybeans, I recalled an edamame salad I once enjoyed from Central Market that featured smoked salmon.  That cinched it, I was going to match soybeans with crab and salmon. (Yes, real crabmeat is a splurge, but it tastes delish!) Edit: I also made this recipe with crawfish and crab (shellfish delight)!

  • Atlantic Salmon Fillets (Farm Raised), about 1/2lb (cut into 4 sections)
  • Garlic – Raw, 20 clove
  • Kroger Private Selection – Frozen Shelled Soybeans (Mukimame),  16oz
  • Kroger’s Private Selection – Wild Caught Claw Crabmeat, 8oz container
  • Huy Fong Foods – Chili Garlic Sauce, 2 tbsp (less if you don’t like spicy)
  • Sempio – Grapeseed Oil, 1 tbsp
  • Abc Kecap Manis – Medium Sweet Soy Sauce, 2 tbsp

Preheat oven to 350F. Place salmon fillets on baking sheet or oil-sprayed pan (I omitted spray). Season with garlic powder, black pepper, salt, or whatever suits your fancy. Place pan in oven and broil for about 10-15 minutes. (It’s okay if still a little rare in center, it will cook out later.) Set aside to cool.

Steam a 16oz bag of mukimame in the microwave for 5 minutes, or boil according to package instructions. Set aside.

Chop garlic. Heat grapeseed oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Fry garlic until golden brown.

Add steamed mukimame and toss in pan for 5 minutes. Stir in chili garlic sauce and sweet soy sauce until beans are coated. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, carefully break apart salmon into small chunks with a fork. Transfer salmon to pan. Empty container of crabmeat into pan. Toss mixture until everything is coated, about 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Serves 8.

MFP Recipe Calculator estimate per 4oz serving:
205 Calories
11g Carbs
9g Fat
20g Protein
5g Sugar
4g Fiber
Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Baked Panko Coconut Yogurt Chicken

This recipe got the stamp of approval from my fiancee. I had been thinking about doing something with the leftover coconut flakes from my mango bread pudding recipe from last week. I also had some panko breadcrumbs that I thought about using in another chicken recipe. After surfing the net for some ideas, I came up with a plan to make panko coconut yogurt chicken. Talk about protein! The only thing I worried about was that the yogurt might make the chicken too sour. So I had to sweeten things up a bit.

  • 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast W/ Rib Meat, about 3 pounds, thawed
  • All Natural Plain Non Fat Yogurt, 1 cup
  • Major Grey Chutney, 2 tbsp (substitute with mango chutney or any fruit jelly/jam/preserve)
  • Truvia – Artificial Sweetener, 1 tablespoon (substitute with sugar or other sweetener)
  • Panko Bread Crumbs – Japanese Style, 1.25 cup
  • Unsweetened Coconut Flakes, 8 tbsp

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread 4 tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes on a cookie sheet or broiler pan. Bake coconut flakes in oven until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of yogurt with 2 tablespoons of Major Grey chutney and 1 tablespoon of Truvia. Add more sweetener to taste. Set aside.

In a second mixing bowl, combine panko bread crumbs, browned coconut flakes, and the remaining unbaked coconut flakes. Toss and set aside.

Place chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap. With the flat side of a meat tenderizer (or rolling pin, brick, something really heavy), pound chicken breast from the center to the edge until 1/4″ inch thick. I left the breast whole, but you can slice the breast in half for smaller portions. Repeat with the remainder of the chicken.

Toss the pounded chicken breasts into yogurt mixture until they are completely slathered. At this point, you can cover the chicken yogurt mixture and refrigerate until ready for baking.

One by one, transfer chicken to bread-coconut mixture and coat thoroughly. Transfer coated chicken to a an oil-sprayed baking sheet. (I omitted oil in mine, but it helps prevent the chicken from sticking and creates a lovely golden crunchy skin.)

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until juices run clear. If additional browning needed, place oven on broil until chicken reaches desired color. Serves 12.

MFP Recipe Calculator estimate per 5 oz serving:
205 Calories
11g Carbs
5g Fat
31g Protein
4g Sugar
1g Fiber 
Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Finding the perfect cheese bread recipe

It’s been largely miss in my hit-or-miss attempt to perfect the pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) recipe.

I think I’ve nailed down the ingredients and nearly all the measurements, but I still can’t get my bread to contain all the air pockets and produce a “LIGHT” bread. Most of my attempts have resulted in dense or undercooked textures that make some of them unpalatable.

1 jumbo egg
1 cup tapioca starch (exact)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder (substitute for real minced garlic)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar, finely shredded
1/4 cup parmesan, finely shredded

Most recipes I’ve found have indicated to heat up butter and cream then add to starch/salt/garlic mixture. This results in a dry batter until the egg  is added…which turns into a wet (not drippy) batter with the consistency of oatmeal. Continue to stir until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Then add cheese and continue to knead, stir, mix until incorporated. The dough gains a little stiffness and dryness from the addition of the cheese, but is still wet enough to require molding before dropping into the muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 min at 400F degrees.

Some of the failure may come from the cheese taking up too much space and not allowing air pockets to form in the bread. One video called for grated cheese mixed with the egg to alleviate this issue. Another recipe indicates hand kneading for 15 minutes before using a stand mixer to knead the dough for another 5-10 minutes.