Home / Articles / Recipes / Reader Recipes

Reader Recipes
Practical meals from the jb.com faithful

Printer friendly version

Readers have been bugging us to expand the recipe section of our site for some time now, so we've set out to do so. We've asked our regular contributors to come up with some full-length recipe articles, and now we're soliciting your best. If you've got some great recipes you'd like to share, forward them along to info@johnberardi.com.

Also, look forward in the near future to a recipe book based on the principles found No Nonsense Nutrition DVD.

First Installment

Thanks to reader Kirk Vidrine for supplying the recipes for the first installment of 'Reader Recipes'. Here's some of what he had for us:

BBQ Chicken

1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
Lettuce
Spinach
Red onions, thinly sliced
1 small onion (yellow or white), finely chopped
3 to 4 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (found in cans I Mexican food section)
4 tablespoons of tomato paste
¼ cup orange juice concentrate
¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
Zest of ½ an orange
1 cup of water
1-tablespoon olive oil (for drizzling)
Steak seasoning blend (Montreal seasoning by McCormick or salt and pepper)
3 Whole wheat bread rolls
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar

Heat up cooking pans, season chicken with steak seasoning. Chop onion, toss into small pot, then put chipotle peppers, tomato paste, orange juice, orange concentrate, orange zest and water into a blender and blend. After blended add to onions and heat to boil then reduce heat and let sit. Place chicken to cook. While chicken cooks and sauce sits put together four salads, two salads add one roll to first salad and two to the second salad. When chicken is cooked base generously with BBQ sauce then place 4 oz into two salads (snacks) and 8oz into two salads (meals).

Pan-Seared Salmon

1 1/2 lbs salmon
Olive oil (for drizzling)
Salt and pepper
½ cup water
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoons coarse black pepper
1 lb green beans (trimmed)

Pre-heat a pan over medium-high heat. Brush the salmon fillets with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook salmon until just cooked through, abut 3 minutes on each side.

While salmon cooks, bring water, vinegar, citrus juices and brown sugar to a boil over high heat. Reduce glaze 3 or 4 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper.

To second pot add green beans, pieces of orange and/or lemon rind and ½ inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook 3 or 4 minutes. Drain the beans, toss with a drizzle of oil (optional) and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle glaze over salmon fillets and serve with citrus green beans.

Sirloin Burgers

1 1/2 lbs x-lean beef
Worcestershire sauce (for brushing)
Steak seasoning blend (McCormick)
Olive oil (drizzling)
4 Cloves of garlic (crushed)
Sliced mushrooms (any kind)
Salt and black pepper
¼ cup dry cooking sherry
Grainy, stone-ground prepared mustard

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Place the meat in a bowl and score it into 4 equal sections and form the meat into patties. Pour a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce into a small dish and using a pastry brush, lightly baste the burgers with the sauce. Add steak seasoning blend or salt and pepper. Drizzle a little oil into the hot skillet, add the burgers, and cook for 2 minutes. Then turn and sear the reverse side to caramelize the meat. Lower the heat slightly and cook 3 to 5 minutes longer on each side, for medium-rare to medium-well burgers. Remove meat to a warm plate and return skillet to the stovetop, adding 2 tablespoons oil, the garlic, and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, and sauté, 5 to 7 minutes until mushrooms are just tender. Deglaze the mushrooms equally over the burgers. Use mustard on burgers.

Rio Grand Beef

1-½ lbs of x-lean beef
1 tablespoon of dark chili powder
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Pre-heat pan to medium, then slice beef into strips. Mix seasoning and coat meat thoroughly with seasonings. Cook on pan for 5 – 10 minutes until desires doneness (rare, medium-well, well done).