Your Baked eggs sound delicious Theodora, I’ll definitely have to try them.
I did a big shop last Thursday but was then away all weekend (unplanned), so tonight after work I did some cooking to use up things like an opened pack of smoked salmon that has to be used within 72 hours of opening (and was opened on Friday), plus veggies I had in the crisper for a few weeks (I use the long life Vegetable bags which seem to keep them fresher for longer).
Anyway I made some salmon frittatas in a muffin pan, so that will be breakfast for a few days, they freeze really well too.
I made the spicy beetroot salad from the book (red cabbage, beetroot and red onion with cumin, coriander and chilli – really lovely). I also cut up and roasted pumpkin and red capsicum (delicious in salads) and some cauliflower.
Lunch tomorrow will be roasted cauliflower and the spicy beetroot salad with leftover corned beef from dinner tonight.
I’m becoming more adventurous/confident with making up my own recipes & meals, now that I’ve tried some of them in the book. Today I made a salad for lunch with spinach & rocket mix, sliced pear, walnuts and cannelini beans, with some shaved Parmesan cheese. For the dressing I just used olive oil, lemon and black pepper. It was really fresh and tasty.
Before BSD I wouldn’t have thought to use fruit in salads – I love the way that this WOE is expanding the range of foods that I eat.
I’m happy that cauliflowers have come down in price this week – they were almost $7 each but now selling for $2 – much more affordable 🙂

Lovely ideas. I will definitely try the eggs. I love smoked salmon but not cooked. I usually have it just with scrambled eggs or in a salad or even with avocado.

I didn’t get around to cooking yesterday but did use some of the asparagus in my stilton and broccoli soup. I sliced the asparagus and put it into the soup and put the lot into the microwave for a few minutes. The asparagus had a nice bite to it and it made the soup more substantial. Lovely. I am going to make some pea soup to use up the watercress and in fact I’m off to do that now!

Have a good day!

Yesterday I made kelp noodles with crumbled turkey sausage, garlic, roasted zucchini, a chopped green onion and two ounces of herbed chevre. It came out far better than I expected for such basic ingredients. The chevre lent the dish a bit of a creaminess plus a lovely tang. My OH loved it. He ate two thirds of it, bless his heart.

If you can’t get kelp noodles, you could make this with zucchini noodles, although in that case I would change the roasted veg to something else, just for variety’s sake. Eggplant could work, or you could go in a totally different direction and use spinach. That sounds really good, actually. I might do that myself next time. 🙂

I made a few more recipes from the BSD recipe book yesterday – the Cajun burgers (made with a can of 4 bean mix), and the lentil & spinach Dahl. Both are delicious. I had the Dahl with some cauliflower rice for dinner last night & I had one of the burgers for lunch today with a yoghurt and mint dressing and some of the spicy red salad (I absolutely LOVE that salad). Also made some vegetable soup with all the leftover veggies in my fridge – quite a productive day and a few meals sorted for this week 🙂

Verano – March is almost over, so was wondering if you are going to continue the recipe theme and do an April one? All these new recipe suggestions are really helpful, so thank you for organising them.

Mind you, struggling with an alliterative title for it 🙁

Can come up with Awesome…………………..for April, but struggling on the food word part. 🙁 Any ideas anyone?

Hi Theodora

I though this month the ideas had gone a bit flat with not many posts. If you fancy continuing we could have
Awesome April Appetisers?????

I think we definitely should continue. Awesome April Amuse-Bouches?

I’ve been searching for a really good turkey burger recipe for a long time. The feta and spinach burger in the Recipes section is great, but that’s because spinach and feta are great and that’s what it tasted like. I was looking for something closer to traditional burger flavor. Others I’ve tried have been dry and bland. Last night I had a breakthrough: turkey zucchini burgers. The zucchini acts like it does in quick breads. You can’t taste it at all as itself. Its job is to provide reliable moisture and it does its job impressively well. Without further ado…

Turkey Zucchini Burgers with Blue Cheese

4 oz ground turkey, dark meat if you can get it
1 cup grated zucchini (I used a whole medium zucc weighing 5 oz to get a cup)
1 chopped green onion (16 grams)
1 tablespoon mayo
1/2 teaspoon salt
however much black pepper you feel like
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1/2 clove fresh garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
.5 oz blue cheese

Mix everything but the blue cheese in a bowl and squish together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Form into two patties. Cook in a non-stick pan sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat until browned on one side, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and do the same on the second side. While it’s cooking, sprinkle half the blue cheese on each pattie. Serve hot and melty.

Serves one. Calories: 253, net carbs: 3 grams (2 from sugar), fiber: 1 gram, fat: 14 grams, protein: 27 grams.

They’re great on their own and give you tons of topping options because the cals and carbs are so low. If you’re looking for that complete burger experience, stack them and serve on a carbless bun like this Keto classic: https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/the-low-carb-bread.

You could easily quadruple the recipe for family and friends or just fridge or freeze the extra. It’s also very versatile. I’m a blue cheese fanatic, so that was my cheese of choice. Swiss, cheddar, herbed goat cheese, all kinds of other cheeses would work just as well. You can also add additional veg toppings like roasted mushrooms, roasted red pepper (exceptional when paired with goat cheese), shallots, or have a veritable feast and top with a poached egg, avocado slices and a few grams of mung bean sprouts.

ERROR! ERROR! It was a half cup of zucchini for 4 oz of turkey. I made a double recipe last night and forgot to make the adjustment in the single serving version above.

Esnecca, thanks for the turkey burger recipe (and the duly noted correction), they sound great and will come in really useful now that the BBQ season is approaching. Presumably any meat could be substituted – lamb burgers, beef burgers etc? Thanks also for the link to the low carb bread – have you tried making it? If so, is it any good?

Good suggestions from you and Verano with the A suggestions – Appetisers / Amuse Bouches. Happy with either of those. 🙂

You could certainly substitute any meat you’d like, but because meats like lamb and beef have more fat naturally than poultry, they don’t always need to extra moisture the zucchini the provides. I’d suggest that whatever type of meat you choose, go for the leanest you can find. That will help keep the calories low too.

I have tried the carbless bread and it’s a surprisingly reasonable facsimile. I haven’t used it as a burger bun (just as garlic bread), so I’m not sure how it would deal with a very moist burger like the zucchini turkey combo. My plate had an actual puddle of juice in it at the end. I’m going to make them again this weekend with the buns, so I’ll report on how well they work in practice.

Oh, thanks for that Esnecca, I will look forward to your report.

And thinking about it, you are right, beef or lamb definitely wouldn’t require the extra moisture of grated courgette.

I was just contemplating the alternative meats issue during my 10,000 steps and it occurred to me that the zucchini moisture would be very effective for game burgers. Venison, bison, even ostrich or kangaroo if you have access to that sort thing, are all extremely muscular and lean meats. Zucchini could perform the function that a panade (bread soaked in milk) or added animal fat usually does in those kinds of burgers.

Last day of Marvellous March although must say it’s not been one of my best months!

So spring is here at last in the northern hemisphere and I guess we need a new maybe more upbeat thread to match the season.

In the absence of any further suggestions I suggest we go with ‘April Appetisers’ only on the basis that it ‘flows’ a little better than ‘Amuse Bouches’. So hopefully will see you over there …..

Angela 06 , how about a mushroom curry with green beans , or a coconut egg curry ?