Health Habits

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Posts Tagged ‘healthy recipe’

Homemade Good Luck Soup

January 9th, 2010

So, Christmas – Done. New Years Day -Done! Another year older and hopefully wiser.

Have you noticed all the food traditions associated with the new year? Of course my Texan Missus has hers, which involves black eyed peas and leafy greens (representing good luck, good health & good fortune), which is now a tradition I’ve adopted.

I’m thinking the feast you just had on Christmas might have yielded some leftover turkey or ham and with a lot of you in the midst of winter right now one of the easiest, healthiest & quickest meals to put together is a great big ol’ pot of soup, which is also a great way to use up the leftovers. (If you don’t have any ham check out this turkey soup recipe.) I bunged this together in about 30 minutes (hassle-free indeed) and man was it good! You’ll love how good this smells cookin’ up in your kitchen and will probably serve you well as a good hangover munchie.

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Posted in Diet - General, Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, nutrition, organic

Tags: chef Christmas diet fitness food Gavan Murphy health healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe los angeles nutrition nutritious organic sustainable The healthy Irishman weight loss

Braised Holiday Brisket

December 19th, 2009

The first time I had brisket was when I was working for a caterer at a Hanukkah dinner here in LA. I was fresh off the boat so I wasn’t versed in this Jewish tradition, though over the years I’ve become well versed in the variety of foods served around this time of year. This is in honour of all my Jewish peeps.

I’m a huge fan of braising meats because this technique of slow cooking over longer periods of time makes the meat super tender and intensely flavourful. Plus it’s hard to mess up. What I’m doing with this recipe is laying flavours on top of each other so that when the meat is cooked it’s tender like ‘butta’ you get this deep rich flavour that shows how much care and time has been put into preparing it. Now, I know brisket is more of a Hanukkah type dish but for those beef eaters coming ’round for Christmas dinner, this’ll go down a treat and can (and should) be done ahead so all you need to do is reheat. Doesn’t get any easier than that!

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, nutrition, organic

Tags: Christmas Gavan Murphy Hannukah healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe los angeles meat nutritional organic pork sustainable The healthy Irishman

Winter Split Pea Soup

December 12th, 2009

Winter is arriving if not already here for a lot of you (apparently there’s snow in Houston?) so this is defo soup season. You all know there’s nothing better than a delicious bowl of homemade soup with a nice sangwich. I remember growing up in the tropical Isle of Ireland and the odd day it might be cold and wet my Mum would always make us soup for lunch. It’s always been one of those things that was a staple in our house as any leftover veg from dinner would be made into a delicious soup the next day. Those were the days.

This soup recipe is one of my faves and you’ll definitely love the fresh pea flavour and earthy texture. Off you pop and get the pot out.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, organic, vegetarian

Tags: Christmas Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe los angeles low-fat lunch nutritional organic soups stews sustainable The healthy Irishman vegan vegetarian

Chipotle Lime Catfish

December 5th, 2009

I remember as a young fella going fishing with the boy scouts (ahh, I was Angelic looking as you can imagine) and on occasion catching a catfish. We’d always just throw them back in as we were told they were inedible, though the people in Texas would beg to differ! There are Catfish Parlours all over the map there. According to Wikipedia, the most commonly eaten catfish species in the States are the channel catfish and blue catfish, both of which are common in the wild and increasingly widely farmed. Farm-raised catfish became such a staple of the diet of the United States (I’m pretty sure Texas played a substantial role in it) that on June 25, 1987, President Ronald Reagan established National Catfish Day to recognize “the value of farm-raised catfish.” Catfish is eaten in a variety of ways; in Europe it is often cooked in similar ways to carp, but in the United States it is typically crumbed with cornmeal and fried. Now, how ’bout that for some good info?

I think usually catfish is one of those fish that we don’t always gravitate to in the store because some people just don’t know what to do with it but once you get the hang of it, you’ll really enjoy it especially since it’s not expensive and it’s sustainable. I’ve made some delicious fish tacos with catfish and most recently Cajun spiced with Chard & Leek Saute. This is another tasty way to whip up a quick n’ easy dinner. How times have changed!

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, nutrition

Tags: catfish parlour chef fish Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe LosAngeles low-fat nutritional nutritious protein Seafood southern food Texas The healthy Irishman

Leftover Turkey Soup

November 28th, 2009

Ah, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. By now you’re all probably completely and utterly over turkey. I wouldn’t blame you. With the size of turkeys nowadays there’s enough meat on there to feed a whole African village! We began our gorging with the actual turkey which lead into turkey sandwiches the next day and the next. Finally taking off whatever meat is left in order to make stock with the bones, the next obvious step is to make a delicious easy soup with the stock (and if you have turkey still left over–good luck!!)
Here’s how it’s done:

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, nutrition, organic

Tags: Christmas Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe leftovers low-fat nutritious organic protein Thanksgiving The healthy Irishman

Persimmon Couscous Stuffed Turkey Breast

November 21st, 2009

Gobble Gobble (as the actress said to the bishop). It’s Turkey time! If you saw my turkey post recently you’ll now know what type of turkey you should be getting as we know there’s going to be lots eaten over the next month or so. There will be soups, sandwiches, stews, stocks, casseroles and God knows what else we can think to make with Mr. Turkey. Salting, roasting, brining–each American family has their own style to cook the bird. But what if your family is small and you’d rather not cook an entire turkey? I’ve got you covered!

I’ve made stuffed turkey breasts before (here and here) but for this recipe I wanted to give you the idea of stuffing the breast with something a bit more out of the ordinary yet still in keeping with Thanksgiving flavours. Guess you could say it’s a modern twist on the classic turkey & stuffing. I came across Persimmons in my CSA box and though I don’t have much experience with them after one bite I knew I had to use them. In November and December persimmons are at their peak. I kept expecting the fruit to soften like a peach but as it turns out this type of persimmon, the Fuyu, is eaten like an apple. The taste of the flesh inside reminded me of a sweeter cantaloupe with the texture of a firm pear. The persimmon’s delightful flavour and texture turned out to be lovely addition to this dish.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, healthy recipes, nutrition, organic

Tags: chef Christmas Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe holidays los angeles low-fat cooking nutritional protein Thanksgiving The healthy Irishman turkey

Almond Crusted Chicken

November 14th, 2009

Now I know it’s coming up to turkey season with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner (where’d the year go?) but I get asked a lot of how to spice up boring old chicken.
Previously I made a pecan crusted turkey dish and had some great feedback from that so I decided to do something with it’s step-cousin, chicken. I know you can’t beat a perfectly roasted chicken but here’s a great alternative if you fancy some nuts ‘n’ spice (as the actress said to the bishop).

I love almonds and I snack on them quite a bit so I figured why not try them as a breading. I added some gluten-free breadcrumbs and toasted cumin seeds to the mixture and it turned out quite tasty.

I served the chicken with grilled veg which I tossed with fresh tomatoes then quickly sauteed with freshly chopped oregano, thyme and olive oil–the business!

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Tags: chicken food Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe los angeles The healthy Irishman

Rainbow Chard & Leek Saute with….+

November 7th, 2009

I’m really diggin’ our CSA box delivery service. So far the produce has been great and in order to use it all we’ve had to use our noggins and think outside the box a bit, so to speak! Who said you can’t have looks and brains?

This week our box contained organic Fuji apples, spinach, leeks, rainbow chard, broccoli, Valencia oranges & mixed peppers. I turned to old faithfuls for some of these—I used the oranges for Jerk sauce and the mixed peppers went into a pot o’chili.

Each week when our box arrives there’s a newsletter inside from the farm talking about what’s in season and giving tips and such about the fruit n’ veg. They also give a recipe highlighting one of the veggies. I was intrigued by this particular chard recipe not only because I really like leafy greens but also because it used the entire bunch of chard, stems & all. Usually one would remove the stems and either put them in the stock pot as I do or into the compost heap. Either way they’re getting used but I’d much prefer to eat them. They have a lovely peppery flavour and they add brilliant colour to the sauteed chard. I can’t take any credit for this but it did turn out great and I combined it with a rice recipe which uses up some of the apples. Usin’ my noggin!

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Fueling your body with healthy food. Fueling your mind with the wealth of health.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Recipe

Tags: cajun catfish chef Figi apples fruit Gavan Murphy healthy cooking healthy food healthy recipe los angeles low-fat nutritious organic poultry protein Seafood The healthy Irishman

Miso Marinated Cod with Sesame Soba Noodles

October 24th, 2009

The first time I had Miso was in soup at a sushi bar, which I’m sure is the case for a bunch of you guys. Then a few months later I ordered the miso-marinated cod, which is usually an appetizer at most sushi restaurants and I was blown away by how good it tasted. I knew I wanted to recreate the dish but in more healthy way because typically this marinade is made with sugar and several ounces of mirin, which has a high sugar content. So I hit up the kitchen to make a better alternative without using Mirin or granulated sugar. I’m delighted with the outcome.

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Fueling your body with healthy food. Fueling your mind with the wealth of health.

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Posted in Diet - General, Diet/Nutrition, Recipe, fitness, health, healthy recipes, locavore, nutrition, obesity, organic, weight loss