How to diet fast 1 week

Twenty-five deliciously healthy low-carb recipes from June 2014, from Kalyn's Kitchen and my favorite blogs.

It's the first day of a brand new month, and since March 2008 I've been starting each month with a round-up of South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes found on Kalyn's Kitchen or spotted on other blogs.  It's been a fun way to feature healthy recipes from my favorite blogs, but six years later I now have readers who follow many different types of low-carb eating plans and the South-Beach only focus was feeling restrictive. That's why I announced last month that I'd decided to change it up a bit.  So what has changed, and what's staying the same?

Chili Rellenos Bake is a healthier and easier-to-make version of Chili Rellenos.  And just as delicious!

This recipe for Chili Rellenos Bake is a healthier and easier-to-make version of Chile Rellenos, a well-known Mexican dish of stuffed, battered and deep-fried green chiles filled with cheese. The recipe came from my former neighbor Brooke, who shared it with me after I tasted her version at a neighborhood block party.  I changed the recipe slightly to make it a bit more South Beach Diet friendly, but essentially this idea of layered green chiles and cheese held together with a little egg came from Brooke's recipe.  (Thanks Brooke!)

This vegetarian cheesy treat is my post this week for Meatless Monday, and if you're looking for something easy but knock-your-socks-off delicious for holiday visitors, this is sure to be a hit.  I've enjoyed this many times for a breakfast dish, but you can also cut it into small squares and serve with toothpicks for a holiday appetizer.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Artichoke, Kale, and Ricotta Pie is a dish that would be perfect for Easter brunch. I'd love this with any variety of kale to start out the day with a healthy dose of greens.)

How do you feel about kale?  Truthfully it's something I hadn't eaten much until a few years ago when I started growing Red Russian Kale in my garden.  That sweeter and less bitter red kale turned me into a kale convert, and for years I grew both Red Russian Kale and regular dark curly kale.  Growing kale is so much fun; I loved snipping a few leaves off the kale and cooking with them.  I tried this recipe when I also had half a container of ricotta in the fridge left from something yummy, and when I searched for recipes to use ricotta and kale, I found this interesting recipe for Artichoke, Kale, and Ricotta Pie from The Kitchn. 

This Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado has a dressing that's seasoned with green chile salsa.

I'm a big fan of taco salad, so recently when my niece and cooking assistant Kara was doing the Whole 30 challenge, I thought it would be fun to come up with a taco salad that's Whole 30 approved.  I also wanted a taco salad that didn't have beef, and this delicious Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado is the combination we came up with.   Simmering the meat with green chile salsa and other seasonings, using a little of the same salsa to add flavor to the dressing, plus adding green and red bell peppers and finely chopped fresh Poblano chiles to the salad greens gives this salad a lot of savory chile flavor with just a little heat.  Kara and I both loved the flavor of this turkey taco meat mixture; if you have family members who don't want salad it would be delicious inside tortillas for regular tacos as well.

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.

It's time to be breaking out the grill, and unless you're brand new to my blog, it's probably pretty obvious that I love grilling.  But some nights you just want an easy dinner, so I hope you enjoy this updated recipe for kabobs that I've used many times with different types of sausage, and truly, these have to be the easiest kabobs in the world. There are a few ways you can do the kabobs, depending on how much time you want to invest, but even if you just stick the sausage and veggies on skewers, brush with Italian salad dressing, and grill, this is a pretty good tasting easy dinner.

I have a couple of friends who have embraced the Paleo Diet, so I've been learning more about it.  Happily, there's a lot of overlap between my South Beach Diet way of eating and Paleo, so it's not that much of a stretch for me to try to feature recipes occasionally that will work for my Paleo friends.  What *can* be challenging is that everyone who does Paleo seems to have their own rules about what they can or can't eat!  That's why when I redesigned my blog and added the new row of tabs to categorize the recipes by more diet types, I made a tab that says Can be Paleo.  Under that tab you'll find recipes that most Paleo eaters will be able to enjoy, like this Slow Cooker Southwestern Beef Stew with Tomatoes, Olives, and Chiles.  And even if you're not eating Paleo, I bet you'll still like this a lot if you like Southwestern flavors!

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.

I have high standards about what recipes actually end up making an appearance on Kalyn's Kitchen, so if you see a recipe here you know I really enjoyed the dish.  And then in that growing collection of recipes I enjoyed, occasionally something pops up that's a complete wow!  These Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls were so delicious that when my nephew Jake and I tested the recipe, we both kept saying over and over how good they were. 

The Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls are definitely an offspring of the Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowls I made last year, also a wow for me.  Obviously I love cabbage, so if you're not a cabbage fan this may not be for you. However, if you like fish tacos with slaw and spicy mayo dressing give this a try and I bet you'll love it just like I did for a quick and healthy dinner!

(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.

Spaghetti Squash Low-Carb Taco Bowl has all the flavors that make you love beef tacos in a spaghetti squash bowl!

I seem to be on a little spaghetti squash binge at my house and if you haven't discovered the deliciousness of spaghetti squash yet, maybe this Spaghetti Squash Low-Carb Taco Bowl is going to be the recipe that gets you to try it!  I know some people think of spaghetti squash as mostly being a low-carb substitute for pasta, but personally I put it in a class all its own, and I've enjoyed it in casseroles, sauteed with vegetables, in a gratin with chard, and in a twice-baked casserole with pesto, to name just a few. 

The only hard thing about this recipe is cutting the raw squash apart before you season it and roast it.  Some people like to microwave the squash for a few minutes to make it softer, but I just hack away at it with a big knife.  I prefer roasting the squash for spaghetti squash bowls like this, because you can season the squash and the roasting process dries it out a little, but if you prefer you can cook the spaghetti squash in a slow cooker, cook it in the microwave, or cook it in a pressure cooker.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for Low Carb Stuffed Peppers with Turkey Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella is something I love to make and freeze individually for quick meals later.  This recipe was featured in January 2012 for a Month of Daily Phase One Recipes, and it's been a big hit ever since.)

If you watch the left sidebar where it shows the most visited recipes, you might have noticed that Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are almost always there as one of the most-visited recipes.  Who knew stuffed peppers were so popular?  That recipe contains rice, but I also love this version of Phase One Stuffed Peppers and I recently made it again with Jake to update the photos.  We each enjoyed one, and then I had leftovers with my brother Mark, who also thought they were great.  This recipe makes six peppers, and this is the type of thing I'd make ahead and keep in the freezer to take for lunch when I was teaching school, so even if you're only cooking for one or two people I recommend making the whole recipe and freezing some. 

The very best recipes of all are probably ones that people excitedly describe and urge their friends to try, and if that's true, then this recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans must be doubly good. First my friend Trudy told me about the roasted brussels sprouts with pecans that were such a hit when she made them. Pecan Brussels Sprouts from The Blackberry Farm Cookbook were the ones Trudy made, and I found that recipe online and adapted it a little for the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans pictured above.

Then, when I mentioned on Twitter that I was making them, Sean from Hedonia shared that he makes roasted brussels sprouts with hazelnuts, and always tosses the hot sprouts with a little bit of crumbled blue cheese, like the photo above. I loved the idea, so I tossed half the batch with some Gorgonzola cheese as Sean had suggested. Whether or not you're opting for the addition of blue cheese or Gorgonzola, this recipe is a keeper!

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites. Phase One Recipes are also Low-Carb and Gluten-Free.   This recipe was first posted a few years back with my collection of Carb-Conscious Thanksgiving Recipes, and I think this would make a great side dish for the big Thanksgiving celebration.)

Obviously you can use different cheese and meat, but it needs to be fatty.  Butter tends to be at least 80% fat so is good to use in everything.  I estimated this meal to be 754 calories.

To make this I first cooked the eggs then added the topping and placed in under the grill to melt the cheese.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product so here is another one I made the next day with the salami diced.