FoodieCuisine.com

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Crockpot Beef Stew

This beef stew is low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates but is super flavorful!  It’s easy to make with a crockpot and some time.

• 2x Kroger Beef for Fajitas (prepackaged beef, marinated)
• 1 large carrot
• 2 large green bell peppers
• 2 large yellow onions
• 1x 24 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 small bottle of gravy master
• 2 cans Campbell’s beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 3 cups uncooked long-grain rice

Preparation

• Dice the bell peppers
• Peel and dice the carrot
• Peel and dice the onions

Cooking

• Place everything in the crockpot
• Set on high and cook for 8-12 hours
• Cook the rice per instructions
• Serve beef over rice and enjoy!

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

If you like uni sushi (sea urchin,) or have never tried it, Oceans at Arthurs in Little Rock, AR has it almost weekly now!  It is by far the best sushi I have ever eaten and nothing out there can describe it.  Give them a call, see if they have it in, and go get some!

Uni Sushi at Oceans

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Blackened Grouper with Crab

Ingredients (makes 1 serving, multiply to make more)

• 8 ounce grouper filet
• 8 ounces jumbo lump crab meat
• 1 ounce of red bell peppers in water
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbs Cajun seasoning
• Cooking spray
• 4 small carrots
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

• Spray the carrots with cooking spray and lightly season with salt and pepper
• Put carrots on cookie sheet
• Heat oven to 425F
• Coat the grouper with the Cajun spice
• Thinly slice the red bell peppers
• Drain the crab meat
• Slice the lemon

Carrots

• Bake the carrots for 25 minutes or until slightly tender
• Remove from oven to cool
• Cover with foil

Fish

• Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium high
• Spray with cooking spray
• Pan fry the grouper and ensure it is completely touching the surface of the pan
• Turn only once, after about 5 minutes
• Cook until temp reads 145F in the center, before fish starts to fall apart but is not translucent

Putting it all together

• Place a fish filet in the center of the plate
• Top with the crab meat
• Top with the red bell peppers
• Top with a slice of lemon
• Side with the carrots

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Tuna Sandwiches

I love tuna sandwiches when they are prepared properly and here is the recipe for some that are not too goey which means they are healthy too!

Makes enough for 4.5 8 ounce sandwiches (which is a lot!)

• 6 ounces granny smith apple finely diced
• 24 ounces Solid White Albacore Tunafish in water (Starkist used here)
• 2.5 ounces Celery finely diced
• 4 ounces Sweet Gherkin Pickles finely diced (Mt Olive used here)
• 4 ounces Low fat may0nnaise (Kraft used here)
• 2 ounces Durkees Sauce

Preparation

Finely dice all of the fruits and veggies.

Drain the tuna.

Mix all very well in a bowl.

Place 8 ounces on two slices of bread.  I used Nature’s Own White-Wheat bread in this case.

Nutrition – Tuna (1 serving)

• 301 Calories
• 17 grams carbs
• 11 grams fat
• 35 grams protein
• 866 grams sodium
• 8 grams sugar

Nutrition – Natures Own White-Wheat (2 slices)

• 120 Calories
• 23 grams carbs
• 2 grams fat
• 5 grams protein
• 220 grams sodium
• 3 grams sugar

Nutrition – Total with Bread

• 421 Calories
• 40 grams carbs
• 13 grams fat
• 40 grams protein

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Healthy Chicken Parmesan

You don’t normally think “healthy” when you think of Chicken Parmesan but I’ve come up with a deviation that tastes good AND is good for you!  Start to finish I cooked the entire dish in 20 minutes.  And yes, there is no Parmesan cheese but you could add a little if you really miss it!

Ingredients (makes 1 serving)

• 1 5 ounce chicken breast
• 1 regular can original Rotel (or diced tomatoes if you don’t like spicy food)
• 1/4 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese (shredded)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cooking spray
• Fresh basil (4 leaves)
• 1 clove garlic

Preparation

• Put the chicken breast in a large plastic bag and pound it with a mallet until thin
• Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray
• Remove from the bag and place on the cookie sheet

Cooking

• Bake at 400 degrees F (convection if you have it) for 6 minutes
• Finely dice the garlic
• Remove from oven and top with the tomatoes and cheese
• Sprinkle the garlic over the top
• Shred basil and sprinkle on top, reserve one leaf
• Place back in oven and back for another 6-8 minutes until the thickest part reads 145 F
• Remove from oven
• Top with the remaining basil leaf
• Let sit for 5 minutes and serve

Nutrition

• 289 calories
• 11 grams carbohydrates
• 6 grams fat
• 42 grams protein

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Crab meat with Rice Noodles

Ingredients

• 0.5 green onion chopped
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 4 ounces jumbo lump crab meat
• 0.5 TBS fish sauce
• 0.5 yellow or red bell pepper chopped
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 0.25 Serrano chili pepper finely chopped
• 1 TBSP cilantro freshly chopped
• 1 TSP ginger diced
• Annie Chung’s Rice Noodles (Vermicelli) – 56g worth
• 1 bowl to contain the results
• 1 lime wedge

Preparation

1. Chop and dice the ingredients as listed in the Ingredients section
2. Boil the rice noodles per the instructions on the box
3. Drain the jumbo crab meat
4. In a non-stick pan, add the bell peppers, ginger, and garlic and cook over medium-high heat until slightly tender, about 5 minutes, remove from heat

Putting it all Together

1. Add the rice noodles to the bowl
2. Top with the crab meat
3. Top with the bell pepper, ginger, and garlic mixture
4. Add the Serrano chilies
5. Drizzle the fish sauce, soy sauce, and lime over everything
6. Top with the freshly chopped cilantro

Nutrition Information

• 339 Calories
• 54 g carbohydrates (mainly from rice noodles)
• 1 g fat
• 31 g protein
• 2185 sodium (mainly from fish sauce and soy)
• 4 sugar

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Healthy Steak and Shrimp

Ingredients for 3 Servings

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 ounces shrimp
• 3 Filet mignons @ 5 ounces each
• Package Raw spinach 10 ounces
• Package Raw mushrooms (1 lb package)
• Worcestershire Sauce, 1 TBS
• 1 Head of Cauliflower
• 1/2 TSP Land O Lakes Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt
• 1 Can Quartered Artichoke Hearts (14 ounce can)
• Garlic salt, salt, and pepper to taste.
• 2 TBS lemon juice

Notes

I prepared this meal by cooking everything at the same time.  For example, I started the water boiling for the cauliflower and then started the mushrooms reducing and then started the grill for the steaks and shrimp.  Lay out your ingredients and have everything ready to go before you start.  The total time for me to prepare the meal was under 45 minutes due to this.

Cauliflower and Spinach

Place a large pot of water on the stove at high boil.

Trim the core out of the head of cauliflower, resulting in 3-4 large pieces.

Trim the garlic cloves if not skin-free.

Once boiling, add the garlic and the cauliflower to the pot.

Boil for 10 minutes.

Remove the cauliflower and garlic to the side to rest for 5 minutes.  Do not drain the water!

Add the cauliflower and garlic to a blender, add garlic salt and pepper to taste, add the butter, and blend for a few minutes until smooth.

Remove to the side and cover to keep warm.

Add the spinach to the boiling water and let boil for 1 minute.

Remove the spinach with a slotted spoon and put in a strainer over the sink or bowl (if you sink is dirty.)  Let drain while you finish everything else.

Mushrooms and Artichokes

In a medium sauce pan add the mushrooms and artichokes to the pan over low heat.

Add the Worcestershire over the mushrooms.  Salt with garlic salt and pepper to taste.

Let cook on low until it boils and reduces to where the mushrooms are tender (about 20 minutes.)  Stir as needed.

Remove from heat once cook and cover to keep warm.

Shrimp & Steaks

Remove the steaks from the oven before you start cooking and let them get to room temperature.  If you do not do this, they will not cook properly!

Light the grill and bring to a temp of 400-500 degrees F.

Drizzle lemon juice, garlic salt, and pepper over the shrimp.

Place the shrimp on a skewer.

Add garlic salt and pepper to both side of each steak.  Add this liberally as much of it will cook off.

Grill shrimp on each side until they are done (or dark red if pre-cooked.)

Remove shrimp from the grill and cover on a plate.

Add the steaks to the grill and grill until they reach an internal temperature of 135-145 degrees F depending on how done you like them.  You can go higher if you want but personally 135 is my favorite.

Remove from the grill.

Assembly

Pour 1.5 cups of the puree onto the plate.

Add 3.3 ounces of cooked spinach to the middle of the puree.

Place a steak on the spinach.

Add the mushroom and artichoke mixture over the top (about 156g of mushrooms and 3 pieces of artichoke in total per serving.)

Add 2 pieces of the jumbo shrimp to the top.

Nutrition Information from MyFitnessPal

416 calories
21 grams carbohydrates
23 grams fat
51 grams of protein

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

I have written about my sous vide machine in the past but have not really used it much since.  The other weekend I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs and remembered that I have the perfect machine for such an adventure, the sous vide supreme!

To start with I prepare a batch or “normal” meatballs with ground veal, ground beef, fresh breadcrumbs, onions, seasoning, and an egg.

Raw meatballs rolled and ready to go

I then vacuum seal the meatballs in batches of four in preparation to put in the water bath (aka sous vide supreme.)

Sealed meatballs

I fill the sous vide supreme with hot water and set it to 60 degrees Celsius which should result in perfectly Medium meatballs. Once heated, I add the sealed meatballs to the water bath.

Sealed meatballs first into the water bath

I set the temp to 60 degrees Celsius, close the lid, and let it do its thing for four hours. Once done, I open it up to nice smelling meatballs (you can smell them through the plastic.)

The meatballs after four hours.

I remove the meatballs from the sous vide machine, dry off the plastic, and prepare to cut them open with scissors.

The cooked meatballs still in the packaging.

Once removed from the packaging the meatballs do not look that appetizing. They are cooked perfectly but the sous vide method results in “grey” looking meat. This is easy enough to fix though with some hot oil and butter in a skillet.

Removed from the packaging but not seared yet.

And voila, once I sear them in a skillet they look as good as they taste. Perfectly moist and bursting with flavor. I forgot how much I love the sous vide method and will be sure to remember in the future.

Seared and perfectly cooked!