The Kitchen

Stretch your meal's volume by making soup. When calories are restricted it seems like cravings and the will to stuff yourself increase. How can you stretch those meager diet portions? Make soup! For very few added calories, you can get a lot of milage bit of a little bit of food.Recipe: 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped carrot 1 cup canned plum tomatoes 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 cup sliced mushrooms 8 oz chicken breast, cut into chunks 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp extra virgin oil 4 cups chicken stock 1 tbsp chopped basil Directions: Heat 1 TBS olive oil to a pre heated 4 quart sauce pan and add the onion, salt and pepper. Lower the heat and cook the onion until it's browned and well caramelized. Add the chicken and sauté with the onion until the chicken turns white - about three min. Then add the chicken stock, tomatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms and basil. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 min, or until the celery and carrots are tender. The entire dish contains:Calories: 880Carb: 44gProtein: 101gFat: 24gWith 1 cup no yolk noodles:Calories: 1083Carbs: 84gProtein: 109gFat: 25g

Healthy fish tacos are made really easily using a poached fish filet from a previous episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF3NVKyfvrg&list=PLu9f_nDQuTh-crNahQVzHndTS-wZ1sgFG&index=3). Ingredients: 1 poached fish filet 2 tbsp prepared salsa (I like Willy's) 1/4 small avocado 1/2 cup shredded cabbage 2 tbsp Goya black bean soup squeeze of lime 1 oz low fat cheddar cheese (optional) chopped cilantro Directions: Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray and slide in the fish filet. It can be cold, right out of the fridge. (That's the great thing about having these cooked ahead of time. All I'm doing here is crisping up the outside. Since the fish is already cooked, a few minutes in the frying pan isn't going to stink up your kitchen). While that's going on, lay out the tortillas and spread a little cheese down the middle. So, why the cheese? Other than the fact that it tastes amazing for very few grams of fat, I'm using it to replace the mayonnaise they use in Mexico. They do that for the same reason Americans slather their hamburger buns with mayo. You're basically water proofing the delicate, flower based item that would more easily fall apart if it got soaked with juice from the burger, tomatoes, ketchup, salsa, beans..... of course you can omit this step and just grab an extra napkin. If you did use the cheese, lay half a crisped fish filet on top of the cheese (the filet should have automatically split down the middle when you flipped it over), grab the tortillas up by the ends, and lay them back in the pan to melt the cheese. Once the cheese melts, slide the tacos onto a cutting board and pull them open. Top the tacos with shredded cabbage, avocado, black beans, salsa, cilantro and lime. For both tacos you get:Calories: 345 (not including the Corona)Carbohydrates: 13gProtein: 29gFat: 8.5g

This is a quick and easy way to insure you don't ruin two perfectly good (and not cheap) swordfish steaks. Ingredients: 2 - 6oz swordfish steaks 3 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste. Directions: Season both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper to your liking. Next, spray the surface of a pre heated non-stick pan - half at a time, or a spot just big enough accommodate each steak - and lay in one steak with each spritz. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side. Once the second side is cooked, add the lemon juice and the parsley. Continue to cook until the juice reduces by half. Transfer the steaks to a plate, and top with the sauce left in the pan. Each steak contains:Calories: 310Carbohydrates: 40gProtein: 13gFat: 2g

Shark is an incredible source of lean protein, if for nothing more than just its name, has “bodybuilder” written all over it. It has a taste and texture similar to swordfish, only less fishy.  It's readily available at most fish markets, and is relatively cheap compared to premium cuts of swordfish, Chilean sea bass and high end tuna. It's pretty versatile too. These kabobs are one of my favorite ways to cook shark. Under your oven's broiler, or on the grill, These shark kabobs can be made in bulk and used for several meals down the road.  Ingredients: 1 lb shark steaks, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 lb cherry tomatoes 1 lb large mushrooms 1 large onion, quartered and cut into 1 inch slices and  separated  ½ cup low sodium soy sauce 2 TBS lime juice 1 TBS honey 12 inch bamboo skewers Soak skewers in water for an hour prior to prep – this will keep them from burning during cooking. Alternately skewer onion, shark, tomato, and mushroom. Repeat until skewer is full. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice and honey. Broil or grill kabobs on all sides. Basting with the sauce before and as they cook, every five minutes for 15 minutes, until shark is done.  This should make about four skewers, each containing: Calories 229 Carbohydrates 18g Protein 26g Fat 5g

A Healthy Hearty Meal For a Cold Winter Night Usually meals that are qualified as “hearty,” “stick to your ribs,” “comfort foods,” are breeding grounds for all kinds of saturated fat calories to make their way into your diet. Is it possible to prepare a bold, chocked full of flavor, healthy meal? Of course it is. This is one of my favorites. It's made with tons of onions that get cooked down into the most amazing flavorful sauce that goes a long way. 1 LB boneless, skinless turkey thigh, cut into large pieces, with the obvious pieces of fat removed 4- 5 Large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 10 cups) 2 cups chicken stock 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese 2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 8 oz of your favorite shaped pasta Cooking spray Season the turkey thighs with the salt and pepper, spray a deep pot with cooking spray and brown the turkey meat, over high heat. Once well browned, turn the heat down to “medium,” and add the sliced onions, covering the meat and filling the pot. If all the onions don't fit, wait a few minutes until those in the pot cook down and make more space. I know, it's a lot of onions. But, as you'll soon find out, they're mostly water. Leave the pot uncovered so that all that water can evaporate as it slowly boils away. This step is going to take quite a while, probably 40 min – an hour. Maybe more. Just let it go until all the liquid is gone. Then add the chicken stock, ¼ cup at a time, stirring continuously until it evaporates, then add another ¼ cup. Repeat this step until all the stock has been incorporated and you are left with a thick brown sauce. Turn off the heat and add the grated cheese, and stir it in. By now, the meat should have completely fallen apart and be incorporated with the onions. Cook the pasta in lightly salted water until it's “al dente.” Drain it, while retaining about a cup of the cooking water off to the side. Add the pasta to the sauce and mix it in. If the result is too thick for you, thin it out with some of the reserved pasta water – use the pasta water because it contains the starch that boiled out while it cooked. That starch works as a thickener without watering down any flavor. This recipe makes four servings, each containing: Calories - 388 Carbohydrates - 55g Protein 28g Fat 5g

Enjoy in a low-calorie, high protein shake that tastes like a gingerbread cookie! This easy to make recipe is a delicious and macro friendly, with no sugar and no fat, but tastes delicious! INGREDIENTS 1 scoop of Gaspari’s Vanilla Ice Cream Proven Whey™ protein powder 1 cup unsweetened almond milk 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ground ginger 1/2 tsp. butter extract 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 2-5 ice cubes for desired thickness