How to diet fast 1 week

When you're living in a completely land-locked state like Utah, frozen fish is the name of the game, so I'm always checking at Costco to see if they have any new seafood offerings.  Recently I bought a package of Kirkland Wild Caught Hake Loins to experiment with.  I didn't find much about Hake in my cookbooks, but from checking Google I learned that Hake is often cooked with moist ingredients to keep it from drying out.  It was just a serendipitous combination of ingredients (and maybe memories of Grilled Salmon Packets) that led to this recipe for Roasted Hake topped with tomatoes, Kalamata olives, capers, red onions, and garlic, but the results were delicious. 

Even in families who are committed to Meatless Monday meals, I'm guessing tofu can be a tough sell sometimes.  And the idea of convincing people who think they don't like tofu to try it as a snack might be even harder!  But don't give up on getting your family to enjoy tofu unless you've tried pressed and  baked tofu, because pressing out the water and baking the tofu makes it firmer and more chewy, and that should make it more appealing to people who don't like the texture of softer tofu.  And if you have a delicious peanut buttery sauce to dip those tofu sticks into, I think that makes it even better.  I tried three versions of these Baked Sesame Tofu Sticks with Peanut Butter, Tahini, and Ginger Sauce to get one I thought was just right.  The tofu sticks were delicious warm, and I even liked the leftovers that had been in the fridge for a few days!

I often make Egg Muffins, but this recipe for Baked Mini-Frittatas with Mushrooms, Cottage Cheese, and Feta is different, something I'd eat with a fork, maybe with a dollop of light sour cream.  For the mini-frittatas I used Jumbo Muffin Cups, and the recipe has lots of mushrooms and cheese, for a baked egg dish that's a fairly dense in texture.  I love starting the week out with Meatless Monday for so many reasons, and one of them is how it encourages simple meals when you've had a weekend that was slightly indulgent, and I'd love this for a meatless breakfast, lunch of dinner.

Twice-Baked Spaghetti Squash with Kale, Feta, and Mozzarella is delicious for a side dish or a Meatless main dish.

I don't have any kind of clever creative story about how I came up with this Twice-Baked Spaghetti Squash with Kale, Feta, and Mozzarella except for the fact that my local store had organic kale on sale for $.99 a bunch (!), and I went a little crazy buying kale.  So then I had to start thinking of ways to use it, and I had a big spaghetti squash on the counter staring me in the face.  Most definitely this is a riff on the Twice-Baked Spaghetti Squash with Pesto and Parmesan that's been so popular on the blog, but the generous amount of kale makes this feel like a more substantial dish, to me at least.  I'd love this for a low-carb side dish but it would also be great for a meatless main dish.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and these Low-Carb Baked Swedish Meatballs that I first made in 2007 are delicious and easy to make.  This recipe could certainly use a photo update, so I think I need to make them again soon.)

Way back in my recipe archives I have a recipe for Swedish Meatballs in Paprika Gravy. (I kind of cringe when I see some of those very earliest recipes now, although they did taste pretty good.) Then in January 2007 I spotted the Oven-Baked Swedish Meatballs from Anne's Food. When I saw Anne's recipe, I realized I'd never tasted authentic Swedish Meatballs with seasonings like ginger, cardamom, and allspice. Since Anne is blogging from Sweden, I trust her on this recipe. I decided I had to try them, and despite the fact that they weren't terribly photogenic, what a great flavor with all those lovely spices. I loved this recipe, and the fact that they're baked instead of fried was a nice bonus.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  This is one of the recipes I got infatuated with after I discovered my now-favorite turkey breakfast sausage, and I loved this combination.)

I love eggs for breakfast, especially things like egg muffins and breakfast casseroles that keep in the fridge and are easy to pop into the microwave for a quick breakfast.  Technically this recipe is probably a breakfast casserole, but I didn't call it that because my breakfast casseroles are mostly eggs, baked with other ingredients mixed in.  This dish is turkey breakfast sausage, sauteed mushrooms, and Feta cheese baked with just a little egg to hold it together, so that the emphasis is on the other ingredients and not so much on the eggs.  (And if you want to see why I updated the photo in 2011, scroll down past the step-by-step photos to see the original picture!)