heidrun
New member
Hey everybody
I have started to really enjoy cooking since my lifestyle change. I never use recipes, just my imagination, so the recipes that follow are not very accurate but will give you an idea on how to do the basics, and then its up to you to use the ingredients that you like the most.
First of all is my experiment with orange juice. I dont eat sugar at all in any form, but I eat a lot of fruits, so I started to experiment with 100% orange juice (no added sugar) to make sweet sauces. This was my result:
1. If you fry some lean chicken or other white meat, try add a half a cup or less of orange juice on the pan, let it cook down untill it thickens. Then it becomes like a thick BBQ sauce that you can let the chicken fry in so it get covered in sweet tasty sauce, that doesnt even have a dominant orange flavor, more like bbq sauce. Try to use various spices when it is cooking down, like strong chili or mexican spices, to make various bbq sauce flavors. This thing is so tasty, easy, lot less calories then sauces with sugar, no artificial stuff in it, tastes better and is healthy!!!!!
2. Fry white meat on a pan, put a half a cup orange juice and a small cup of pure youghurt or sourcream (5-10%) plus spices and voila, tasty youghurt-orange sauce. Dont know where this comes from. I have never seen those two used together but they actually taste great together. Instead of orange juice you can use a good tomato pure and italian spices, then you have a nice youghurt sauce italian style (I like that one a lot, plus its super easy).
3. Fry white meat plus vegetables that taste good in a sour-sweet sauce. Put a whole cup of orange juice plus soyasauce (1-2 tblsp), oyster sauce (1-2 tblsp), ginger and other spices (or other asian sauces). Let the sauce cook down, and when it starts to thicken a little bit, make it as thick as you want (f.ex. with maizestarch or whatever you like to use to thicken sauce) and then you have a sour-sweet sauce without a grain of sugar (except the small amounts in the asian sauces), plus this sauce tastes great, in fact better then any sour-sweet sauce I have bought ready-made.
When I started my lifestylechange I didnt have sauces at all the first months, and I LOVE sauces. Then my sourcream-experiment-era began, and I found out that its the easiest thing in the world to make a sauce that tastes great, is easy to make and low in calories.
The base of the sourcream sauce is basically:
- sourcream (preferably with low fat content, 5-10% fat)
- stock (depends on what you are having with the sauce, beef stock with beef, fish stock with fish etc.)
- spices (it is all up to you what you like to put in the sauce and what you are eating with the sauce).
- Something to thicken the sauce. You can have the sauce as it is, but I always prefer to thicken it a little bit. Be careful to choose thickeners that dont have much fat and sugar in it. Maize starch is always good to use and very low in calories. Just put the starch in little bit of water, stir it together, and poor small amounts into the sauce untill it reaches the thickness you want. Be careful that you always have to have the sauce very hot for the starch to thicken, and sometimes you have to wait a little for it to work. Just remember not to put too much in the sauce.
This is basically how you make the sauce. If you are roasting meat/fish in the oven, then try to get as much liquid from the meat/fish as possible, because it really has wonderful flavors in it that make the sauce much better. If you take the meat/fish from the oven and leave it for a few minutes then most often you get liquid from it. If you are frying meat or fish on a pan, then its best when the meat is fully fried to take it of the pan and put the sourcream directly in the pan, because then it absorbs all the spices and taste from the meat that are still on the pan. Stir the sourcream and let it melt, then try to taste it to valuate how much stock and spiced it needs. If it needs stock and spices, then put it in, let it cook for a minute to get the heat up, then thicken it. If you see liquid in the cooked meat/fish then add it to the sauce. It normally takes around 3-7 min to make the sauce.
You can also make a cold sourcream sauce. It is best to use fresh spice herbs if you have access to them, but you can also use plain spices. Just try to put all-round spices in sourcream, maybe a little bit garlic and lemon. Its all up to you to use your favorite spices and herbs in sourcream sauce. It really doesnt have to be complicated to work. Just use spices that fit with the meat/fish/vegetables you are having. Sourcream sauce always tastes extra good, if you let it set in a refrigerator for 30-60 min before using it.
TURNIPS.....TURNIPS.........TURNIPS.....
I dont even know if you can have them in USA, but they are my special, special vegetable. The thing I do with them is that I make turnips-french-fries that my hubby says tastes actually better then real fries........!!! I take a whole turnip, peal her (you have to cut deep, because the peal goes deep and doesnt taste good), then you cut it in frenchfries
like pices (long and thin). Put little bit of salt on them and put it in the oven (put it in something that the turnips dont get stuck on) and cook them for at least 50 min (They are better the longer they are cooked, 1-2 hours) in 350-390 fahrenheit. They actually taste like sweet potatoes but with a lot less calories. I always make a steak with them, sourcream sauce with beef stock and pepper and turnip-fries, yummie...... Funny thing though. I was having myself this course one time, and a friend of mine dropped by, and when she saw my plate she nearly screamed "ARE YOU EATING FRENCH-FRIES" thinking I had dropped my weightloss plan.... Kind of funny, specially when she had some of them and said it was the best healthy thing she had ever tasted.
I have started to really enjoy cooking since my lifestyle change. I never use recipes, just my imagination, so the recipes that follow are not very accurate but will give you an idea on how to do the basics, and then its up to you to use the ingredients that you like the most.
First of all is my experiment with orange juice. I dont eat sugar at all in any form, but I eat a lot of fruits, so I started to experiment with 100% orange juice (no added sugar) to make sweet sauces. This was my result:
1. If you fry some lean chicken or other white meat, try add a half a cup or less of orange juice on the pan, let it cook down untill it thickens. Then it becomes like a thick BBQ sauce that you can let the chicken fry in so it get covered in sweet tasty sauce, that doesnt even have a dominant orange flavor, more like bbq sauce. Try to use various spices when it is cooking down, like strong chili or mexican spices, to make various bbq sauce flavors. This thing is so tasty, easy, lot less calories then sauces with sugar, no artificial stuff in it, tastes better and is healthy!!!!!
2. Fry white meat on a pan, put a half a cup orange juice and a small cup of pure youghurt or sourcream (5-10%) plus spices and voila, tasty youghurt-orange sauce. Dont know where this comes from. I have never seen those two used together but they actually taste great together. Instead of orange juice you can use a good tomato pure and italian spices, then you have a nice youghurt sauce italian style (I like that one a lot, plus its super easy).
3. Fry white meat plus vegetables that taste good in a sour-sweet sauce. Put a whole cup of orange juice plus soyasauce (1-2 tblsp), oyster sauce (1-2 tblsp), ginger and other spices (or other asian sauces). Let the sauce cook down, and when it starts to thicken a little bit, make it as thick as you want (f.ex. with maizestarch or whatever you like to use to thicken sauce) and then you have a sour-sweet sauce without a grain of sugar (except the small amounts in the asian sauces), plus this sauce tastes great, in fact better then any sour-sweet sauce I have bought ready-made.
When I started my lifestylechange I didnt have sauces at all the first months, and I LOVE sauces. Then my sourcream-experiment-era began, and I found out that its the easiest thing in the world to make a sauce that tastes great, is easy to make and low in calories.
The base of the sourcream sauce is basically:
- sourcream (preferably with low fat content, 5-10% fat)
- stock (depends on what you are having with the sauce, beef stock with beef, fish stock with fish etc.)
- spices (it is all up to you what you like to put in the sauce and what you are eating with the sauce).
- Something to thicken the sauce. You can have the sauce as it is, but I always prefer to thicken it a little bit. Be careful to choose thickeners that dont have much fat and sugar in it. Maize starch is always good to use and very low in calories. Just put the starch in little bit of water, stir it together, and poor small amounts into the sauce untill it reaches the thickness you want. Be careful that you always have to have the sauce very hot for the starch to thicken, and sometimes you have to wait a little for it to work. Just remember not to put too much in the sauce.
This is basically how you make the sauce. If you are roasting meat/fish in the oven, then try to get as much liquid from the meat/fish as possible, because it really has wonderful flavors in it that make the sauce much better. If you take the meat/fish from the oven and leave it for a few minutes then most often you get liquid from it. If you are frying meat or fish on a pan, then its best when the meat is fully fried to take it of the pan and put the sourcream directly in the pan, because then it absorbs all the spices and taste from the meat that are still on the pan. Stir the sourcream and let it melt, then try to taste it to valuate how much stock and spiced it needs. If it needs stock and spices, then put it in, let it cook for a minute to get the heat up, then thicken it. If you see liquid in the cooked meat/fish then add it to the sauce. It normally takes around 3-7 min to make the sauce.
You can also make a cold sourcream sauce. It is best to use fresh spice herbs if you have access to them, but you can also use plain spices. Just try to put all-round spices in sourcream, maybe a little bit garlic and lemon. Its all up to you to use your favorite spices and herbs in sourcream sauce. It really doesnt have to be complicated to work. Just use spices that fit with the meat/fish/vegetables you are having. Sourcream sauce always tastes extra good, if you let it set in a refrigerator for 30-60 min before using it.
TURNIPS.....TURNIPS.........TURNIPS.....
I dont even know if you can have them in USA, but they are my special, special vegetable. The thing I do with them is that I make turnips-french-fries that my hubby says tastes actually better then real fries........!!! I take a whole turnip, peal her (you have to cut deep, because the peal goes deep and doesnt taste good), then you cut it in frenchfries
like pices (long and thin). Put little bit of salt on them and put it in the oven (put it in something that the turnips dont get stuck on) and cook them for at least 50 min (They are better the longer they are cooked, 1-2 hours) in 350-390 fahrenheit. They actually taste like sweet potatoes but with a lot less calories. I always make a steak with them, sourcream sauce with beef stock and pepper and turnip-fries, yummie...... Funny thing though. I was having myself this course one time, and a friend of mine dropped by, and when she saw my plate she nearly screamed "ARE YOU EATING FRENCH-FRIES" thinking I had dropped my weightloss plan.... Kind of funny, specially when she had some of them and said it was the best healthy thing she had ever tasted.