Bloody Mary Mocktail Mix
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe. I adapted this recipe from Food.com's Best Ever Bloody Mary recipe. It's so good you won't even miss the alcohol. For all you Bloody Mary drinkers out there, the ingredient list will not surprise you. If you do not drink Bloody Marys often, you may need to purchase a few things to make this at home (like prepared horseradish). You can find this in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
Servings: Makes 4 drinks
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of tomato juice
- 2 Tbl lemon juice (fresh is best)
- 2 Tbl lime juice
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp prepared horseradish
- 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp olive brine (or pickle juice)
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt (you can use 1/4 tsp of celery salt and 1/4 tsp of celery seed if you want less salt)
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- a drop of liquid smoke (optional)
You'll also need:
- Ice
- For the rim: Old Bay seasoning and kosher salt
- Optional garnishes: celery, lemon wedges, olives, cocktail onions, your favorite pickled vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes -- or...bacon. YUM.
Instructions:
Put your tomato juice in a blender with the lemon juice, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, Tobasco sauce, garlic powder, and olive brine. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a glass pitcher and add celery salt and black pepper to taste. If you want, add a DROP of liquid smoke -- this stuff is really strong so less is more. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours so it gets nice and cold.
If you are getting fancy, wet the rims of your glasses and then press them into a small container with Old Bay seasoning and Kosher salt, so the seasonings stick to the outside of the glass. Add a few ice cubes to each glass. If you are making these with alcohol, now is the time to add 1 oz of vodka to each glass. Then add the Bloody Mary mix and stir well. Garnish each glass with your favorite Bloody Mary garnish.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Celebrating Halloween COVID-Style
I like Halloween more than Christmas. My husband and I used to have huge celebrations on Halloween. We’d throw a costume party and would invite friends over for food and drinks. Obviously, this year we will not be doing that, but Halloween is still my favorite holiday.
Apparently, we’re not the only adults who get excited about Halloween. Even with COVID-19, statistics show 148 million consumers are going to celebrate Halloween in 2020. This year, 46% still plan to dress up, and 62% (in communities that are not experiencing a high number of COVID-19 cases) plan to hand out candy. That’s the part that makes me queasy…all that candy.
Did you know people buy twice as much chocolate for Halloween than they do for Valentine’s Day? Last year, parents purchased more than 90 million dollars worth of chocolate to give out on Halloween. Yikes! To make matters worse, 90 million dollars was just for the chocolate. That doesn’t even count the other stuff like the little gummies, the pop rocks and the mini tootsie rolls. And we wonder why so many of our children suffer from obesity.
I used to pride myself on having the best Halloween candy bar selection in the neighborhood. Now that I know what all that sugar does to a child, I'm no longer interested in having the best candy on the block.
Since starting Plan Z I no longer give out candy. Now I get better stuff. I decided the smarter and healthier thing to do is to treat Halloween like a mini-Christmas.
Get my drift?
At Christmas, the tradition is to give gifts. I like that tradition very much. So instead of giving candy, I give toys on Halloween. There is no rule that says you must give kids candy on Halloween. There are all different kinds of “treats” that can make Halloween enjoyable.
I have found the perfect place to buy Halloween treats is at the craft store. This year I bought Halloween themed pencils, whistles, kazoos, crazy glasses, plastic monsters, flying frog toys, spider rings, and stretchy skeletons. Since we are not expecting as many trick-or-treaters this year, I spent a little more to get some high-quality swag. How fun is that!
In years past (pre-COVID-19), my husband and I would set up a card table by the front door and play board games, eat pizza and drink cocktails while we waited for trick-or-treaters to ring our bell. We will still be eating pizza and playing board games this year, but unfortunately, we won't be handing out our toys in person. This year we will be practicing a socially distant Halloween by leaving a small container with Halloween swag outside our door for trick-or-treaters to help themselves. To make sure the treats last all night, I will refill it periodically throughout the evening.
And yes, you heard me correctly. For dinner, we're ordering pizza. Don’t freak. Even I eat pizza. I just only eat one piece of crust. For the rest, I just pick off the toppings with a fork. My husband is an expert at piling even three sets of toppings onto one piece of crust and eating that. But I digress...
There are other things you can do to celebrate Halloween safely without all the candy. You can decorate the house, carve pumpkins, and bake low-carb cookies. You can have a spooky craft night. You can watch age-appropriate Halloween themed movies with your kids. You can even host a scavenger hunt for your kids and a few of their friends. That way you can celebrate Halloween at home with healthy food in a safe environment.
For me, knowing that I'm not contributing to childhood obesity makes me feel really good. By celebrating Halloween by focusing on toys and games, I know I am giving kids hours of fun. They can flip their flying frog across the table over and over again. They can tease the family cat with it. They can use their Halloween pencils for weeks. They can blow on their kazoo or their Halloween whistle til they drive their parents nuts.
And that makes for a Happy Halloween.
Cheers,
Toys for Halloween
I don’t give out candy on Halloween anymore. I give out toys!
The kids love it. They like to see something different in that basket. When they dip in, I tell them they can pick a toy or even two. They giggle like crazy! Then they show off what they picked to the other kids. No kid shows off the baby Snicker bar they just took from the basket at the other house. They just stuff it in their bag and move on.
So where do you get toys instead of candy?
It might mean one extra stop on your shopping trip but it’s worth it. I go to a craft store or someplace like Target. Craft stores are my best bet.
I’m featuring a few items from Michael’s Craft Store, but you can choose your favorite store. I have even found some toys in a big candy display at a grocery store. Just keep your eyes open.
Check out these spooky Halloween pencils.
Who doesn't love fake teeth?
Don't forget the glow in the dark toys!
If you’re thinking you can’t give out toys because they are more expensive than candy… well, it’s just the opposite. Toys are cheaper. When you pick things like toy rings, stickers, glow in the dark items and more, the math works. Per item they are actually cheaper than the mini chocolate bars so many offer.
Granted you don’t want to eat the leftovers, but they keep for the next year in a ziplock bag just fine.
Happy “Sugar Free” Halloween!
Cheers,
54 pounds in 50 days!
Dieter Jeremy from South Carolina is a dedicated father and a hard-working husband who used to consider himself a functioning alcoholic. Jeremy fought with his weight for years. Recently, he decided to completely quit drinking alcohol which caused him to, “[lean] into the ice cream and cookies and things.” Hopping on the wagon uncovered intense aches and pains in his joints. He believes the alcohol was numbing the pain. During his interview, Jeremy said, “I had severe pain. I mean, just agonizing pain in my knees, in my back, in my elbows, in my neck. And it never really went away and I just dealt with it… I kind of knew in the back of my mind it was because of my weight.”
Dieter Jeremy hit a breaking point when he began struggling to get up from a seated position, and that’s when he turned to Plan Z. He liked that Plan Z is an all real food diet with no shakes, pills, or surgeries. Jeremy didn’t need help with motivation; what he needed was clear directions. And that’s what you receive with Plan Z.
Dieter Jeremy lost a whopping 54 pounds in just 50 days. He averaged around one pound a day! He also re-ignited a past love of roller-blading and was able to get off his prescription for Nexium. His interview is very inspiring and entertaining. Have a listen below!
Tessemae's Salad Dressings
So much more than just a salad dressing.
- Organic
- Non-GMO
- Made with Cage Free Eggs
- No Sugar Added
- Dairy Free
- Gluten Free
Tessemae's is the nation's best tasting #1 selling Organic salad dressing and condiment company. We are proud of our pure ingredients – no fillers (like xanthan gum, tapioca starch, and gum acacia) in any of our products, only the highest quality organic oils and organic herbs and spices.
Taking Back Control
Dieter Sarah noticed her body slowly changing since becoming a mother. She started to feel hopeless and thought the change was inevitable, that it was out of her control. Her boyfriend suggested she try Plan Z and all of that changed. Dieter Sarah received, “a whole new outlook on how to manage [her] health and [her] weight.”
Sarah had tried other weight loss programs in the past like Weight Watchers and Atkins. All these programs helped her get the weight off but only Plan Z taught her how to keep the weight off. Sarah lost 26 pounds in 50 days and said, “The weight just kept coming off.”
The re-education Sarah received with Plan Z empowered her to take back control of her health. Now she’s outside playing more, and her daughter told her that, “She thinks [she’s] a better mom now.”
After making such huge changes in such a short time her friends reached out and begged her for her secrets. Even though the ZR50 Crave Control spray behaves like magic, the real trick is in the education and the support. Sarah attributes her success to the amount of support the ZTeam provides and from her fellow dieters in our Insider’s Forum on Facebook.
Plan Z covers everything you need to know. Take it from Dieter Sarah, “No other program that I’ve done has really shown me how to change my lifestyle the way that this one has.”
Have a listen to her interview by clicking below:
Chicken Tender Chunks in a Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3.5 (ZReboot3.5) recipe.
Servings: Serves 2.
Ingredients:
-
- 1 package of chicken tenders, trimmed (to trim the tenders you’ll be cutting off the white tendon from the back*). Then cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- 2 Tbl of oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes
- Grated sea salt to taste
- Grated pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes cut into thin slices
- 1/2 cup of diced shallots
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1/2 cup of dry white wine (or water if you don’t drink alcohol)
- 2 Tbl of fresh basil chiffonade (chiffonade just means cut it into thin strips)
Instructions:
Heat the tomato oil in a medium saute pan. Add the chicken tender pieces and cook on medium-high heat until no pink remains. Season with grated salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl or plate.
Add the shallots and sundried tomatoes to the saute pan. Cook, stirring for one minute on medium-high heat to loosen up the shallots. Reduce the heat to medium and add the cream and white wine. Add the chicken back to the pan and heat until the cream reduces a bit to thicken and heat the chicken.
Serve with basil chiffonade on top.
Enjoy!
Other Notes:
I served mine with a little cooked angel hair pasta. In the picture, you’ll see a small piece of garlic bread made from naan. A portion of pasta is one cup cooked. I usually only serve myself a half-cup. That’s plenty for me to get the pasta experience without an abundance of carbs.
*Here’s a little video to show you how to trim the tendons. Instead of a plier, you can do it with a tweezer. Just hold the tendon and follow the same instructions.
Cheers,
Partners in Life and Dieting
Together, Dieters Jeff and Trisha lost 72 pounds collectively and 40 and 32 pounds respectively. They embarked on a journey to lose weight and feel more in control of their lives together. They both emphasized the importance of having a buddy to diet with. It's about more than having someone to commiserate with, dieting with a buddy is crucial for motivation and support.
In fact, Jeff (pictured below) told us, "Get yourself a partner. Find somebody that you can go through [Plan Z] with because that is just such a huge - HUGE - advantage."
Dieter Claire's Taco Seasoning
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. Taco seasoning is usually chock full of preservatives. This delicious, DIY taco seasoning recipe was submitted by Plan Z dieter Claire, so you can enjoy seasoned ground beef without all the added artificials. Yum!!
Serves: Serves 2-3 (enough to season 1 pound of ground beef). Can easily be doubled. Or tripled.
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1-1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you could use a pinch instead)
- pinch of red pepper flakes or to taste
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Add to 1 lb of ground sirloin when meat is partially browned. After the meat has browned, add 1/2 cup of water and cook down to blend flavors.
I make this in bulk and store it in a jar. It's less expensive than taco seasoning packets and has no fillers. Plus, I can tweak the flavors to suit my family.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Dieter Claire
Introducing Chooey
Chooey and his littermates were found in a culvert on the side of a Tennessee highway. Their kitty momma was nowhere to be found. The Good Samaritan packed the four kittens into a box and transported them to the McKamey Animal Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That’s where they began their life out of the wild. They were treated and raised by human caretakers.
Now, this is where we come in.
We lost our 20-year-old kitty, Tattoo on July 2nd. I was heartbroken. I lost my cuddle kitty. We also have a 10-year-old kitty, Titan. He’s a purring machine but he’s not much of a cuddler, and at 18 pounds he’s a load. I missed my cuddle time immensely. A notice came over my computer by way of the NOOGAtoday electronic newsletter. They were getting out the word that the McKamey Animal Center was FULL. It’s kitten season on top of that and they really needed to clear the shelter. I had been pondering the purchase of another pure-bred cat but was also fond of the idea of adopting from a shelter. That notice made my decision. It was time to help them clear the shelter, but I was not going to fall in love with just any ball of fuzz. If I could not find the exact cat of my dreams, I was willing to wait.
We arrived at our appointed time. Because of COVID we could not just stroll in. They are limited in the number of guests they can have at any time and of course we had to wear masks and social distance. We could wander freely through a few rooms that held kittens. These rooms concentrated on kittens who were older and socialized. If you are going to take a kitten home to a household with small children, you need to take home a cat that can handle the situation. We liked many of those kittens. Interestingly, most of them were black or black and white. I did not fall in love with any of them, so we moved on.
I told our guide that I was interested in the youngest kitten they’d let me take home. I thought that would mean 12 weeks old because that’s when they get their last vaccination. I was wrong. She told me they had some younger kittens that were ready to leave the center but that they are housed in the nursery and we could not go down there. They had to be brought up one at a time and because of COVID precautions, you could only look at three.
As part of the appointment process I was required to tick boxes on the website for kittens I was interested in. They cannot promise the ones you focus on will still be at the shelter when you arrive but that they update regularly. The guide told me they had two of the three kittens I had picked as possible choices.
She went off to bring the first one up. She opened the lid to the box and the kitten exited to explore the private room she had put us in. We checked for cuddle potential and held the kitten to see how comfortable it might be with us. I was ready to see the next one. She came back with the next kitten in his box. She slid open the lid and the 9-week-old kitten named Norcross pranced out. He stood upright – perfect posture - and immediately took command of the room. He raced right over to me to be picked up, squealed with delight and purred like a jet engine. We cuddled. When I put him down, he raced around the room playing with any random bit he could put his paws on. He bounced off walls and delighted in the freedom from his box.
My husband held him and flashed a smile over at me. I don’t know exactly what either of us said but it was something like, “This is the one, isn’t it.” Not even a question; more like a statement. I fell in love with my ball of fuzz.
We started in on the paperwork. We could take Norcross home for $10. In fact, we could have two for $10 if we wanted. They really needed to clear the shelter. I was tempted...
After we completed the paperwork and were preparing to put him in his carrier, I announced that his name was going to be changed to Chooey. My husband had come up with that name the day before. I thought about it all night and it made perfect sense whether we picked a male or female.
Buy why Chooey?
Because we moved to Chattanooga. This kitty is our Chatt kitty. We live right behind the forever famous Choo Choo Hotel. That’s why it’s spelled Chooey and not Chewey or even Chuy. And lastly, we had a cat at our home in Wisconsin when I was much younger that we named, "Choo Choo." She got her name because she preferred the dark kibble in the Purina Cat Chow mix. We thought that looked like coal and she was a Choo Choo. Yeah, I know… kids come up with crazy things.
Chooey is settling into his new home. He’s 10 weeks old now. He’s learning his limits. He’s already been to the vet and was granted a clean bill of health. He’s had his claws clipped and races around like he owns the place. Our only challenge is Titan. The 18-pound kitty has become a chicken. He’s afraid of Chooey so we are balancing time between when they are experimenting being together and begin apart. The best news is during a time of COVID and working from home we are all here most of the day and evening. Chooey gets lots of training time, and attention. Hopefully soon, the two kitties will be buddies.
And you can bet I’m getting my cuddle time.
Cheers,
P.S
Pictures are courtesy of Jennifer’s talented professional photographer-husband. Thank you Flint!
Air Fryer Fish Fry
Plan Z Phase: This is Z3.5 (ZReboot3.5) recipe.
Servings: Serves 2
A fish fry is a big deal in Wisconsin. The tradition is to eat fish like this on a Friday night. It dates back to when so many Catholics ate fish every Friday. Traditionally, the fish is served with French fries, coleslaw and a slice of rye bread with butter. It’s usually made with cod or perch.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb of cod, sliced into 4 strips
- Grated sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of white flour
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 cups of panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp of seasoning. Some folks use Old Bay or you can go wild and use Cajun or your favorite.
- Tarter sauce for serving.
Instructions:
Pat the fish dry and season with sea salt and pepper.
Set up a little assembly line with three containers or plates. One has the flour and seasoning in it. Another the egg, and the third has panko crumbs.
Dip the fish in the flour mixture, then the egg and then the panko. Press to make sure it sticks.
Place the fish in the basket of your air fryer. If all four pieces don’t fit, you can do this in batches. Cook at 400 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes. Carefully flip the fish halfway through. Cook until they are brown and crispy. They should flake easily with a fork.
Serve with tartar sauce for dipping.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Sane 101
https://youtu.be/U36XJaETbh8
When it comes to most things in life, we welcome research and progress. From the convenience of our smartphones to technology in our hospitals, scientific advancement allows us to live better. So why are we still following weight-loss advice from the 1950s? Why haven't we ever questioned the "calories in/calories out" model at the foundation of every diet and fitness plan—a formula that, not coincidentally, has accompanied record-breaking levels of obesity?
This video explains why starving ourselves does not make us lose weight. It also shows why no quantity of high-quality, clean foods we were designed to eat will ever clog our bodies.
More than a temporary fix
Dieter Danette has been skeptical of the diet industry because no other plan has ever offered more than a temporary fix. She was looking for a long-term solution. That is why she finally decided to try Plan Z. Doing Plan Z helped her to lose weight fast and offered education to help her maintain her goal weight.
Being overweight and battling with chronic inflammation, Danette knew that losing weight would help. Carrying around all that extra weight affected her mood, her energy and physical well being. Even though she knew that putting better food in her body and removing excess sugar will reduce inflammation, she needed help and more guidance. That's where Plan Z comes in. After purchasing the diet, Danette received an education that allowed her to lose 11 pounds in just 18 days. She was feeling good enough to skip around the house and she called it, “A 98% difference.”
She also said, “I feel so much better every day. It’s not hard to walk past the chips and the chocolate because I just feel so good.”
Have a listen to her interview below.
There are a lot of ways that carrying extra weight can affect your health and mental welfare. If you want to get the weight off and keep it off, now is great time to try Plan Z. And consider this advice Danette received from her orthopedist,
“You have the power within yourself to make yourself feel better by eating better.”
The Story of Slab Pie
Slab Pie. It’s a thing. Really!
I have to admit I never heard of it until I moved to the mid-South. Up North, ya hey, where I came from in Wisconsin, the closest thing we might call it would be a tart. They were mostly free-form crusts baked on a cookie sheet and topped with sweet or savory ingredients.
I read up on the history of slab pie and learned a few things. The originals were probably two-crusted pies; top and bottom. They were meant to be cut up and eaten out of your hand, so you didn’t need a fork. They might feed a farmhouse crew or a family gathering.
Up North, back in Wisconsin, the Cornish miners took a thing called a pasty in their lunch bucket to eat at mealtimes down under ground. Those were usually made of meat and potatoes and resembled what you might think of as an Italian calzone today. Sort of the same thing. Just different names.
It looks like what we call a cookie sheet today was available in most homes by the 1700’s. Most history accounts date that time as the invention or inception of what we now know as a slab pie.
Probably the biggest benefit of slab pie is that it feeds a lot of people. A regular pie, a specialty of the women of Iowa, is round, baked in a pie plate, and serves 8. A slab pie is baked on a cookie sheet and serves 12 – 20. Slab pies are easy to transport. Just cover the pie with aluminum foil and off you go. It can be re-heated when you reach your destination or served cold depending on the ingredients.
Southern Living Magazine did a feature on slab pie recently so you can click this link and get several recipe options for slab pie.
My offering today is going to be a lower carb slab pie. My crust will be made with almond flour. The featured fruits will be peaches and blueberries. We are smack dab in the middle of peach season in Tennessee with the Georgia peaches coming in every day. My co-worker, Jennifer, was campaigning for me to make a new peach recipe. So here it is!
Peach and Blueberry Slab Pie
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Peach Blueberry Slab Pie
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe.
Servings: Serves 8 - 10
I can’t really take 100% of the credit for this recipe. In fact, it was so low carb to begin with I hardly had to even tweak it. So, I should give credit to Melissa Sevigny. She’s a low carb cook who blogs and posts. I did tweak it a bit but not enough to call it a Zola original.
One piece of advice on this recipe, eat it fast. That means invite some folks over and try to polish this off in one seating. You can store it covered in the refrigerator but after a day or two the crust will begin to get mushy and the blueberries will wrinkle. That doesn’t mean it will taste bad at all! Hide the mushy creation under a small scoop of ice cream and you’ll hardly notice.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 1/4 cups super fine almond flour (Bob’s Mill makes a good one. Be sure to get SUPER fine.)
- 1/2 cup brown granulated erythritol (I used Swerve or ZSweet. You can order online or you may find it in your grocery store.)
- 1 tsp organic vanilla
- 4 cups of peaches, sliced about 1/2 inch thick (If you’re making this and it’s not peach season you can use frozen peach slices, thawed.)
- 1 cup blueberries
- 2 Tbl butter
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the half of the melted butter, almond flour, erythritol, and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Stir with a fork until combined and a dough is formed.
Turn the dough out onto a small cookie sheet (about 13” x 10”). Press the crust, firmly and evenly, into the bottom of the pan and up the sides to form a small rim. You can do this with the back of a spatula and your fingers. Bake 8 minutes, then remove from the oven.
Spread the peaches out in a thin layer on top of the crust. Sprinkle with blueberries. Combine the remaining melted butter, sweetener and cinnamon together and stir. Drizzle the butter mixture over the top of the fruit.
Bake the pie for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the peaches are soft, and the juices are bubbling up through the fruit. Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing.
For extra oomph, serve with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Servings: Serves...a LOT
Ingredients:
- fresh tomatoes -- garden-fresh is best! The smaller ones will "dry" faster than the bigger ones (like Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, etc.). Use as many as you want. 3 - 4 pounds is a good place to start. You can always make more later...
- parchment paper (this makes cleanup a breeze)
- olive oil (optional)
- mason jar (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
Wash your tomatoes. If they're medium size, cut them in half. If they're large, cut them into smaller chunks. Squeeze out the seeds.
Place tomato chunks on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until the texture is nice, leathery, and sun-dried tomato-y. No need to salt them. No need to season them. They will be delicious and have PLENTY of flavor.
If your tomato pieces are different sizes, you'll need to keep an eye on them, the smaller pieces will take less time. Roma tomatoes cut in half should "dry" in about 4 hours. Cherry tomatoes will be done in less than 2 hours. Bigger tomatoes can take 8 hours or more! But they all taste great when they're done.
Once they are dried to your desired toughness, you can put stick them in a freezer bag and freeze them for safekeeping. Delicious!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Tuna Nicoise Salad
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. Tuna Nicoise is one of my favorite summer dishes. It is light, healthy, and filling. Unfortunately, it usually has potatoes in it. This is a low carb potato-free version that is a-ok for ZReduction. I have used canned tuna in this recipe (for ease) but using freshly grilled tuna steaks would make it sublime.
Servings: Serves 2. Can be doubled easily.
Ingredients:
For the Salad
- 8 oz canned tuna, drained
- 2 hard-boiled eggs (peeled and quartered)
- 1 cup asparagus spears, blanched or slightly cooked and cut in half
- 1/2 tomato
- 1/4 cup cucumber
- a little bit of red onion, sliced thin (to taste)
- your favorite leafy greens (they are unlimited, so you can go bananas if you want)
- pinch of tarragon or chives (optional)
For the Dressing (if you're in a hurry, you can use your favorite vinaigrette instead)
- 3 Tbl olive oil
- 1-1/2 Tbl champagne vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp garlic (jar garlic is fine)
- 1/2 tsp Truvia
- 1 anchovy, drained (optional)
- dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
For the Dressing
In a small bowl, mash the anchovy, garlic, salt, and pepper with the back of a fork until it is smushed and combined. Then whisk in the lemon juice, vinegar, and mustard. Add the olive oil and whisk fast -- this will give you an emulsion and make your dressing thicker. Taste it. Add Truvia, Worcestershire sauce, and additional salt/pepper if needed.
For the Salad
This salad is easy to make because you just layer everything together. You can even buy hard-boiled eggs at the grocery store. If you are making your own, here's how:
Use eggs that are 1-2 weeks old (fresh eggs are tough to peel). Throw your eggs in a pot of cold water. Cover them so that there's about an inch of water above them. Heat the water on high heat until it starts to boil. Once it is boiling turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 8-10 minutes. Voila! Perfect hard-boiled eggs! Dunk them in cold water, and peel (you can also peel under running water to make peeling easier).
For the asparagus, cut off the whitish fat ends (they are really tough, you don't want to eat those). Cut them in half and saute them in a pan with a little bit of oil, salt, and pepper (you can even add your favorite veggie seasoning if you want). I usually cook mine for about 10 minutes or so. I like my asparagus to still have a little bit of a bite. If your asparagus spears are young and pencil-thin, you might want to cook them less.
To assemble your salad, add your leafy greens to a big bowl and toss with your dressing. Arrange the rest of your ingredients on top of your greens, and garnish with the herbs.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Asian Barbecue Salmon (Roasted or Grilled)
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3.5 (ZReboot3.5) recipe.
Servings: Serves 4.
This dish can be roasted or grilled. I am going to give instructions for roasting. Grillers usually know what to do. I grill on medium-high and cook 7 minutes per inch thick when I am doing fish.
This dish can also be made with any sturdy fish like mahi-mahi, tuna, or swordfish. The sauce can be made spicier. I made mine “medium-spicy”.
Ingredients:
- 4 Tbl hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbl rice vinegar
- 1 Tbl white wine (or water if you don’t drink alcohol)
- 1/4 tsp of hot chili oil (or to taste)
- 2 Tbl of minced, ginger (ginger in a tube or jar will work, or fresh)
- 1/2 tsp of citrus zest. I use lemon or orange
- 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
- Olive oil
- 4 4-6 oz salmon filet pieces (or other fish)
- Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees or preheat your grill.
In a medium bowl whisk together the hoisin sauce, vinegar, wine, chili oil, ginger, zest, and garlic powder.
Brush the salmon with olive oil. Place the salmon in an ovenproof pan skin side down. Roast the salmon about 10 minutes or until it’s done to your liking. Take it out of the oven and brush on some barbecue sauce. Put it back into the oven just long enough to heat the sauce. Sprinkle on your sesame seeds and serve.
You can heat the extra sauce and serve it on the side. I served it with a small cluster of green grapes on the side and a veggie eggroll.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
SweetLeaf Monkfruit Sweetener Drops
SweetLeaf® Liquid Monk Fruit Sweetener Drops in portable plastic bottles will have you saying OM yeah! With flavors like Caramel Macchiato and Strawberry Guava, these drops make sweetening up your favorite foods and drinks a breeze.
Sweeten water, yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies, coffee and tea, or any recipe you are making. Plant-based SweetLeaf® Organic Monk Fruit Liquid in squeezable bottles is sweetened by nature with no sugars, calories, or carbs, and with no artificial ingredients.
The convenient plastic bottle lets you put them in your purse, keep em’ in your desk drawer or take them with you on-the-go. Find your flavor now.
Conquer the Quarantine Fifteen
We’ve all had those backslides after weight loss. Slowly, bad habits creep back in and we see the scale creep back up. Hayley St John is a radio spokesperson for Plan Z on Nashville’s WBUZ, “The Buzz” and encountered this all too familiar scenario recently.
Back in 2017, Hayley tried Plan Z and lost 26 pounds. She kept the weight off for years until her home state of Tennessee went into lockdown in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. While stuck at home she found herself surrounded by temptation and gained the dreaded "quarantine fifteen." Luckily, Plan Z is the best diet to do when at home because there's no exercise and it's all real food.
This time around, Hayley had the support of her boyfriend, Josh, doing the diet with her. Hayley believes the extra support and motivation she received from dieting with Josh helped her lose more weight. She said, “If you start to kind of fall off track you have the other person to lift you back up and it’s…a bigger reason that I lost more [weight] this round than the first time because I had somebody dieting with me.” In 50 days Josh lost 24 pounds and Hayley lost 31 pounds.
Even though the pandemic is behind us, many people are still struggling with losing pandemic weight. Because Plan Z is a healthy, real food diet, the habits you'll pick up in the process will help you keep the weight off for good. Take this time to prioritize yourself and get hooked on recipes your whole family will love. And, if you diet with a buddy, you qualify for special pricing.
“I reached out to Plan Z Diet two months ago for help. You know me. I love my craft beer, my burritos, my red wine, and my iced coffees. I like to live life and have fun. But recently it became too much.
The picture on the left is from March at GnashVegas. Truth is, I photoshopped the picture when I initially posted it. I made my arms and face smaller so I was comfortable enough to make it public. Why am I living like this?!?! Photoshop can save my pictures, but it can't save me in real life.
Plan Z didn't ask me to post this. I'm just ecstatic enough to personally share with you my results. After completing almost seven weeks of proper education and guidance from Plan Z, I've lost 26 pounds, and besides red-eye removal, the current photo of me on the right remains untouched!!"
Hayley St John
102.9 FM WBUZ
Nashville, TN