Paleo Brunch Crostini with Tomato Caviar

Happy New Year!!! In this New Year we have decided to be healthier, as I believe everyone says they will be! Michael being a chef makes it difficult for him to adhere to this, but I have decided to try and eat Paleo-ish for a bit. I mean why not!? For a paleo dish we have created a Paleo Brunch Crostini with Tomato Caviar, not all brunches need to leave you feeling heavy!

Ingredients: makes about 5-6

Crostini:
1 cup almond meal
1 egg
1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped

Toppings:
5 eggs
3 small avocadoes
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
2 large tomatoes
4 slices thick prosciutto or any other meat you would like to put on top

Start by making the crositinis, since they are made with almond meal, they are gluten free and very low carb which is awesome. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and combine all the ingredients in a food processor and combine until you make a dough. Roll a small ball in your hands and pat down to make your crostini about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Bake for 16 minutes, rotating half way through.

Next prepare your toppings!

Avocado: With a fork cream together red wine, avocado, and a healthy pinch of salt.

Egg: Slow cook you eggs. Place eggs in water, then on the stove. Bring to a boil, once boiling, remove from heat and let cover for 2 minutes. Remove from water and place in cold water to stop the cooking. Remove the shell and chop.

Tomato Caviar: cut the top off of the tomato so that you can see all the pockets with the seeds. Using a sharp knife, slice in between the meat and the seeds of the tomato so that you are removing the meat from the seeds. Next carefully detach the seeds and they should come right out!

Prosciutto: Chop into pieces, you can either crisp it on the stove for about 3 minutes, or leave as is.

To put the crostini together first put down the avocado, then the egg, top with prosciutto, and tomato caviar, and sprinkle with salt. Enjoy your deliciously healthy and awesome brunch crostini!

 

Healthy-ish Pasta Salad

As summer quickly approaches, Memorial Day just passed, weather heats up;  our invitations to BBQs rapidly increases. There is a typical BBQ spread of hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, guacamole, chips, and the ever mayonnaisey (new word you guys) pasta salad. Did we mention that summer is also bikini season/ buff man season? No need to add extra fat to your diet, but also no need sacrifice flavor.

We have made for you a healthy-ish pasta salad! Bring this to the next BBQ you go to or the one that you have!

Ingredients: serves 5-10 people (depending on the size of your sides!!)

1 box of whole wheat pasta
2 pieces of corn
2 large beefsteak tomatoes
2 large carrots
3 green onions
3 Tablespoons lite mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons lite Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sea salt

 

Start by boiling a large pot of water with a pinch of salt.

Create your mise en place for your pasta salad. Cut all the kernels off the corn by holding the fat end of the corn and using a knife, run a blade down along the center the corn, cutting the kernels off. Set aside. Dice the two tomatoes into small pieces, set aside. Peel, and thinly slice the carrots, once sliced, chop into smaller pieces, set aside. Cut any browned ends of the green onion, and the little frizzle as well, thinly slice, from end to end, set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together yogurt, mayonnaise, and white wine vinegar.

Once water boils, add pasta and let cook about 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is slightly al dente. Once cook, drain water, and add pasta to a large bowl. Add yogurt  and mayonnaise mix to pasta, and lightly toss while adding salt a little at a time. Add in vegetables.

Set in refrigerator to cool, and then take to whatever lovely eating party you are attending! YAY!

 

Detox 2014

Hello!!! Isn’t it wonderful to be living in 2014! No hover crafts quite yet, but amazing new things are happening every day. To update you on what we have been up to, it has been so incredibly busy for us, that is why we haven’t posted yet!

Michael has been cooking his butt off, getting back in touch with nature by going snowboarding and surfing. I have been applying to graduate school, and trying to keep my head on straight.

As part of our New Year’s resolutions we have resolved to live healthier, surf more, go to the spa more often (that’s for me), and to travel at least once out of the country this year!

What are your resolutions?

To help with this resolution here are three detox shakes, one is great for breakfast, one is great lunch, and the other is a great desert treat! They are very healthy, but very tasty. Enjoy!

To make all, just combine, and blend!!!

Breakfast Shake:

¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 Tablespoon almond butter
5 large strawberries
½ a banana
½ cup frozen blueberries

This shake is delicious, it has great protein to start your day, and antioxidants that will give you a burst of energy.

 

 

Lunch Shake:

½ cup carrot juice (organic unsweetened)

½ cup water

½ an avocado

Teaspoon grated ginger

1 large granny smith apple

This shake is great it has healthy saturated fats, and has great bold flavors that will quench your hunger and will satisfy that craving for something savory.

 

 



 

Desert Shake:

¾ cup unsweetened almond milk

½ cup frozen peaches

1 Bartlett pear

½ a banana

This shake is great because it has that bit of sweetness that we all want after a meal, but it will not pack the pounds on.

Blend away and enjoy!



Low Calorie Breakfast Sandwich

Mikey and I are now winding down form our 7 day detox, so we are still on a health kick at the moment. We always crave something really hearty at breakfast, which tends to mean really fatty at the same time. We came up with the idea for this potentially high calorie breakfast, by replacing some of the ingredients with other things, and using low calorie options. Opt for these ingredients and you will not only be extremely satisfied by your waistline will be thanking you after your eat this low calorie breakfast sandwich.

*The deli thins that we use are by Oroweat, and they are basically an uber thin hamburger bun, and are 100 Calories for the two slices!

Ingredients: for 1 sandwich

1 bun of 100% Whole Wheat deli thins
½ a yellow squash
¼ orange bell pepper
1 egg
2 slices turkey bacon (as low fat percentage as you can find)
2 slices of avocado
1 Tablespoons humus
1 slice low fat cheddar cheese
Hot sauce

It doesn’t really matter what order you make your ingredients in, because ultimately you just need to make the ingredients then assemble and devour.

For the vegetables julienne your orange bell pepper, then thinly slice your yellow squash into slices which would fit across your bun.

Cook your bacon in a sauté pan until it has nice deep brown spots, then lay on a paper towel to absorb any of the extra grease, once cooled slice in half in order to lay the bacon across your sandwich. To make the sunny-side up egg, spray a nonstick pan with a little bit of cooking spray and the crack the egg into it. You want to cook it at a medium high heat until you cook all of the white of the egg.

Next toast your bread, and spread the bottom piece of bread with hummus, then the other slice with avocado.

To assemble the sandwich start with the bottom piece with hummus, lay the squash, then pepper, then bacon, cheese, then egg. Put as much hot sauce as you want on the egg, then top it off with your avocado piece of bread!

Devour it! Yum!!!!

Detox Slaw

Mikey and I have not been giving Food Nasty the love it deserves because he and I have been on a detox! Oh my! We are detoxing from all the muffins, pasta, cheese, and chocolate we consumed over the holidays. We wanted to feel light and at the top of our game, so we have been on an intense detox where we can’t eat gluten, lactose, sugar, caffeine, red meat, shellfish, basically anything fun. It has been torturous, but I feel radiant, Mikey has a ton of energy, and we look marvelous!

To go along with our detox guidelines we created a delicious slaw, which not to toot our own horns, but is great detox or not. Make this, enjoy, and feel healthier.

Ingredients: serves 4-6

1/4 small red cabbage

1/4 small green cabbage

3 large carrots

2 Tablespoons Fresh ginger

1/3 cup Shelled edamame

1 Tablespoon White miso paste

1 Tablespoon water

Pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 clove garlic

3 radishes

½ a shallot

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lime

This is such an easy recipe to make, it is basically two things, making the dressing for the slaw, and chopping the ingredients for the slaw. Put the slaw together by thinly slicing your cabbage and two radishes. Next peel and grate two carrots. If your edamame is frozen, heat and measure out the amount you need. Now mix all together.

To make the dressing peel and chop one carrot, two tablespoons of ginger, one radish, one clove of garlic, and ½ a shallot. Blend together until super fine. Next put the miso, vinegar, and water in and continue to blend. While continuing to blend, pour the oil in, and blend until smooth.

Pour the dressing over the slaw, you can use all of it if you want it super saturated, or some of it. Mix together and serve with some lime slices on the side! You will love it!