Thursday, November 18, 2010

Recipe 2: Low Iodine Spaguetti Carbonara

With LID you can eat pasta. Just make sure it doesn't contain any of the non desired iodine ingridients. Yes you will be missing a few of the awesome ingriedients in regular carbonara (bacon, ham and such) but I can guarantee you that you will love this dish. It's once again simple to make and delicious!

Low Iodine Spaguetti Carbonara                     

Ingridients
  • 1 box of spaguetti (I use whole wheat or whole grain)
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 3 Garlic cloves chopped
  • Olive oil
  • Pepper
  • Dried Oregano
  • Fresh Parsley
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Salt (non iodize, not sea salt)
  • 1/3 cup of white wine (NOT cooking wine kind...it has not specified salt) Use regular drinking wine.
  • Egg whites ( I used the one that come in container -organic)
  • Portobello Mushrooms ( If you don't like...don't use them)
Instructions:

  1. Boil pasta until Al Dente - not too hard not saggy...just perfect to chew! (7 -10 minutes apprx)
  2. In a separate pan, poor Olive oil (enough to caramelize onions and to have some sort of "Juice" for the spaguetti), mushrooms, chopped onion, chopped garlic, Oregano, Parsley, Pepper, Cilantro to taste (I used a lot) and let them simmer until blend. Add Wine and raise the heat until all alcohol is evaporated. If you dont like the taste of wine in your food you can eliminate wine and just use the olive oil. It's great either way.
  3. Rinse Spaguettin out of boiling water.
  4. Insert Spaguetti into pan with all other ingridients and mix in medium to hight heat. Then poor egg whites and mix and move spaguetti in pan as the egg whites cook.
  5. Serve and enjoy!
I absolutely love this dish! It's my own carbonara version low iodine! Who said low iodine is bad...not in my kitchen :)

Dish of the day : Steam Basmati Rice, Rosemary Chicken Cutlets with Cilantro Onion Mojo

This is a recipe I always had since a little girl. I just made it Low Iodine by using Basmati Rice (the rice recommended for LID if you want to eat rice), the accepted type of salt. Very easy to make and very tasty!
First, make sure that you buy chicken from your butcher or meat department at your grocery store. The chicken that comes in frozen bags tends to be injected with flavor solution which may contain iodine. Remember...you are eating low iodine, NOT low salt. You can use salt as far as it is not iodized or sea salt. If possible, season your chicken the day before as that will give it an amazing flavor. If you can't...don't worry you can do  it before cooking. Remember, in low iodine diet herbs and spices are your best friend :) The following seasoning I use for every meat I always eat and it happens to be low iodine.

Seasoning for meats:

1 jar or box of peeled garlic
Pepper
Oregano
Olive Oil

Instructions:
In a food processor, place all garlic cloves to mix. Once they are in pieces, remove them from food processor and place them in the same jar they came from or use another container.  Once inside the jar, add pepper and oregano (to taste- I use a good amount) and poor olive oil until all garlic is covered. Stir and leave it in your fridge. It last forever!!!! Use it in every meat...it's delicious! Ohhh and add salt to taste separately to your meat of choice.



Steam Basmati Rice, Rosemary Chicken Cutlets with Cilantro Onion Mojo

Ingridients:

  • Chicken Breast Cutlets (Remember to consume no more than 5 oz per day of meat, save the rest for another day)
  • Whole Wheat Organic Flour
  • Fresh Rosemay or Dried Rosemay
  • 1 cup of Basmati rice or two (you can save the rest for another day)
  • Olive oil
  • Vinegar (regular, balsamic or red wine vinegar)
  • 1/3 or a red onion (or white if you dont like red)
  • Cilantro
  • Pepper
  • Oregano
  • Salt (non iodize, NOT sea salt)
Instructions:
  1. Using a rice cooker or a regular pot, cook Basmati rice. I just add water until I cover it and let it cook. You can add a little salt if you want a little taste. I don't do it though.
  2. Get seasoned chicken cutlets (using the garlic seasoning recipe above) and add salt to taste.
  3. On a separate plate, poor some whole wheat organic flour with a little pepper and oregano and mix.
  4. Place chicken cutlets in flour until fully covered.
  5. Heat 2 Tbsp of Oilive oil in a pan. Place chicken cutlets to cook in oilive oil and sprinkle the rosemary while in cooking in pan (Rosemary to taste)
  6. Turn cutlets on each side until brown and cooked.  Cutlets will be very moisty inside as flour helps them retain their juicyness.


PREPARING YOUR MOJO

 
On a separate bowl mix : chopped onion, chopped cilantro, Olive oil to cover onions and cilantro, vinegar to taste, salt and pepper. This is a fantastic mojo you can use with chicken but I love it on Sirloin strips (hint hint ;-)

Now that everything is prepared. Poor some Basmati Rice in your plate, place chicken in plate, poor mojo over it....and ENJOY!!!

Low Iodine does not means BAD FOOD....I actually like it!

I am not goin to lie, when my doctor said I need to do low iodine diet to get me ready for radiation treatment I almost fainted! When I heard I COULDN'T consume any dairy or dairy products ( I am a HUGE dairy eater) a big light bulb came to my brain and said "Michelle just use soy milk then!"....STOP! Nope....no soy based products either. That's when I became the most bitter person I could be. How would I live for 17 days without any Dairy? I could not consume any sea salt or iodized salt either, so right there I can't consume anything already made because there is no way to know if they used either salt for preparation. That's the reason I have to make my own meals. I also can't have any egg yolks (egg whites ok), sea food or sea food based products such as sea weed, any baked goods unless I prepare them. Ahrrrrrgggg....that means NO BREAD! ....no no no! That's when I became the proud owner of a bread machine. My mother gave it to me as an early birthday preasent. I've learned to make the most delicious breads, cakes (Yes! Cakes) and outstanding tasty food on a low iodine diet. I hope that what I share with you, will make this journey to become cancer free a positive and tasty one. :) ENJOY!