Monday, February 28, 2011
No Posts for a few days...
Gerald is out at the mine so I'm trying to finish the leftovers (chili and meatloaf) I have in the fridge before I leave for Seattle tomorrow after work. I will be gone for a few days and probably won't cook again until Friday. Let's hope that doesn't mean I will get totally derailed from healthy eating while I'm away! I'm still working on learning how to cook smaller amounts of things so I don't have to eat so many leftovers (or throw out so much food when it goes bad). Anyway, I hope you all have a great week....look for updates this weekend!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Puffy Apple "Omelet"
I'm not sure why they call this an omelet (hence the quotations in my title). At any rate, I got this recipe from from a magazine rack recipe card book I picked up last week "Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet." I love apples so I thought I would give it a try. The original recipe calls for sugar and all-purpose flour but I substituted Splenda and whole-wheat flour.
Puffy Apple Omelet
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp. fat-free milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. sugar (or substitute)
TOPPING:
1 large tart apple thinly sliced
1 tsp. sugar (or substitute)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1. In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk and lemon juice. Stir into dry ingredients, mix well and set aside.
2. In another small bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar 1 tablespoon at a time on high until stiff peaks form. Fold into yolk mixture.
3. Pour into a shallow 1-1/2 qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange apple slices on top. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.
4. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve immediately.
Makes 2 servings.
Surprisingly, this was REALLY GOOD! It wasn't super sweet like most apple things. I'm pretty sure you could get kids to eat this too. I'll be making it again sometime for sure!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Bison-Veggie Loaf
I've used Bison in place of ground beef in the past, but I've never made a meat loaf with it so I thought I would give it a try. 
Bison Veggie Loaf
1 lb. ground bison
1 egg
1 slice grain sprouted bread
shredded carrots
chopped green onions
chopped spinach
chopped red & yellow peppers
minced garlic
chili powder (I used a heaping teaspoon)
Worcestershire sauce (I'm guessing I used a Tbsp)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients together and form it into a loaf. Put in a pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until done. Adding veggies to a meatloaf is a great way to eat more veggies and to feed them to your kids without them really noticing. If you are going to use carrots that are chopped rather than shredded, you will want to cook them a little before mixing them into your meat mixture or else they will still be crunchy...I learned that the hard way once before. However, shredding carrots isn't the easiest task in the world for keeping the skin on your fingers either....However, my veggies were still a little bit crunchy so if you don't want them to be firm, you will definitely want to saute them a little before mixing them with the chopped bread, egg and meat.
This meatloaf turned out great! I ate it with a small baked sweet potato and some steamed broccoli. I almost didn't even miss the BBQ sauce I normally put on my meatloaf...the chili powder gives a nice little kick of flavor that kind of replaces the BBQ though.
Bison Veggie Loaf
1 lb. ground bison
1 egg
1 slice grain sprouted bread
shredded carrots
chopped green onions
chopped spinach
chopped red & yellow peppers
minced garlic
chili powder (I used a heaping teaspoon)
Worcestershire sauce (I'm guessing I used a Tbsp)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients together and form it into a loaf. Put in a pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until done. Adding veggies to a meatloaf is a great way to eat more veggies and to feed them to your kids without them really noticing. If you are going to use carrots that are chopped rather than shredded, you will want to cook them a little before mixing them into your meat mixture or else they will still be crunchy...I learned that the hard way once before. However, shredding carrots isn't the easiest task in the world for keeping the skin on your fingers either....However, my veggies were still a little bit crunchy so if you don't want them to be firm, you will definitely want to saute them a little before mixing them with the chopped bread, egg and meat.
This meatloaf turned out great! I ate it with a small baked sweet potato and some steamed broccoli. I almost didn't even miss the BBQ sauce I normally put on my meatloaf...the chili powder gives a nice little kick of flavor that kind of replaces the BBQ though.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Chicken Chili
First I would like to say THANK YOU Alberta for sharing this recipe. This is the white bean chicken chili recipe I had a couple weeks ago and fell in love with. When Alberta made it, it was probably the best soup I've ever eaten. I'm not sure what is different or if she adapted the recipe when she made it, but mine didn't taste like hers. This is the original recipe: 
Richard's Chicken Chili
3/4 c. chopped onions
1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic
lg can garbanzo beans
lg can white corn
lg can cannellini beans
black beans (optional)
1 lb. cubed chicken breast
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. crushed red pepper, cayenne or chili powder
1 can chicken broth
small can of diced green chilies
Put a little oil in a pot and saute the garlic and onions. Add the cumin and the pepper/cayenne/chili powder. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook over medium heat for 40-45 minutes stirring often.
You can top the soup with fresh cilantro (THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST!). You could also add sour cream, cheese or tortilla chips but keep in mind all these things are calories!
One thing I know she did differently was used shredded chicken (I think she had cooked a whole chicken and shredded it off the bone). I used boneless, skinless chicken breast and I definitely think it was better when it was shredded. I'm also pretty sure that one can of broth would not have been enough. I buy the cartons, not cans, and I definitely used more than would have been in a can. I'm going to need to talk to her to see what else she did differently because although this turned out good, it wasn't nearly as good as hers...but then again, I very rarely follow a recipe so I can't expect that someone else does either!
I have some bison burger laid out for tonight so I'm currently trying to decide what I'll make with it....
Richard's Chicken Chili
3/4 c. chopped onions
1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic
lg can garbanzo beans
lg can white corn
lg can cannellini beans
black beans (optional)
1 lb. cubed chicken breast
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. crushed red pepper, cayenne or chili powder
1 can chicken broth
small can of diced green chilies
Put a little oil in a pot and saute the garlic and onions. Add the cumin and the pepper/cayenne/chili powder. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook over medium heat for 40-45 minutes stirring often.
You can top the soup with fresh cilantro (THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST!). You could also add sour cream, cheese or tortilla chips but keep in mind all these things are calories!
One thing I know she did differently was used shredded chicken (I think she had cooked a whole chicken and shredded it off the bone). I used boneless, skinless chicken breast and I definitely think it was better when it was shredded. I'm also pretty sure that one can of broth would not have been enough. I buy the cartons, not cans, and I definitely used more than would have been in a can. I'm going to need to talk to her to see what else she did differently because although this turned out good, it wasn't nearly as good as hers...but then again, I very rarely follow a recipe so I can't expect that someone else does either!
I have some bison burger laid out for tonight so I'm currently trying to decide what I'll make with it....
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Smoked Salmon and Veggie Frittata
I'd like to say this turned out AMAZING, but I think I ruined it with the salmon. Normally, I'm pretty sure it would have been good but there was a really fishy gross taste to this salmon that didn't sit well with me. So it is a good thing I didn't use much of it. This was also my first attempt at making a frittata so those of you who are experts don't laugh at me! The first thing I did was chopped up a SMALL Yukon gold potato into tiny squares. I put it in the pan with some olive oil and put the lid on. I cooked it until the potato was tender (have to flip a time or two). While that was cooking, I chopped some green onion, tomato, spinach and the smoked salmon. Once the potatoes were tender, I added the veggies and salmon along with garlic and pepper. Let that cook for about a minute. I scrambled 3 Omega 3 brown eggs and a splash of milk. I poured that over the top of the veggies and put the lid back on the pan until the egg firmed up and was done.
I would caution you to be VERY careful if you have a flat top stove. I hate mine and wish I had a gas range, but I don't. The heat stays really high on the stove I have so I have to be extra careful. I was also cautious to make sure I used a non-stick pan. Eggs can be a mess if you don't use the right pan! Anyway, I ate half of the frittata with a slice of grain sprouted bread (flour-less). Now I have the other half for breakfast before work! Tonight was my first time trying this specific brand of grain bread and it is so good! I used to eat Ezekial 4:9 bread but I didn't like how dry and cardboard-like it was. This brand is great though! It is chewy and tasty and I think I may have found a new love!
And a little off topic, but a few other things I've been doing lately. The first is using a smaller plate (salad plate). Most of the time I'm totally satisfied after eating from a small plate. If I eat a bunch of salad with my meal then I will still use a big plate, but I'm trying to be sure that even when I use a big plate that I don't fill it. Water has also been critical for me. This water bottle has helped me drink so much more water! I'm not sure what it is about drinking through a straw but it makes the water go down so much easier. This is a 24-ounce bottle and I fill it at least 4 times but usually 5 times a day....that is almost a gallon of water! I've cut back to only drinking coffee one or two days a week. So aside from hot tea, water is pretty much the only thing I drink nowadays.
I've got History class tomorrow night and a Biology test to take at lunch so I likely won't be cooking tomorrow. I'll try to think of something good for you guys to cook over the weekend...it's almost here! Yay!
Leftovers for lunch
It took every ounce of willpower I have to not go to McDonald's for lunch today! Someone had something at work that smelled like french fries and it made me salivate. I got in my car thinking I was going to go to McDonald's and get a kid's meal for lunch. But by the time I got to the intersection towards my house I had talked myself out of it. I decided to come home and make do with what I already had here. 
Most of the ingredients are self explanatory by looking at the picture. In the little container is the rest of the Greek yogurt from yesterday that I made ranch out of. I just stirred in a little bit of the powdered Hidden Valley ranch dip until it tasted good. I spread that on the inside of the pita and added the spinach, tomato, onion and 1/2 the chopped up chicken breast from last night. I ate it with a mandarin orange. Yum! I'm glad I found the willpower to skip McDonald's!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken
I've been looking for more ways to use spinach because I know how good it is for me. But quite frankly, when it is cooked and slimy (think canned or frozen) it makes me want to vomit. I love spinach salads and I don't mind chopping up fresh spinach and putting it in things. You still can't get me to eat a blob of it by itself though...its all about the texture for me! Anyway, I found a recipe that looked good but needed tweaking (as in it used mayonnaise and bacon) so I started with it and adapted it into this: 
Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast
3 chicken breast (or however many you want to make)
1/2 a cup of plain, low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup feta (I like the flavored ones)
garlic
onion powder
Mrs. Dash (Tomato, Basil & Garlic)
Spinach--chop up a handful
I started by mixing together the yogurt, feta, garlic powder, onion powder and Mrs. Dash in a small bowl. Once that was thoroughly mixed I added the chopped spinach. Then I butterflied the chicken breast. This would have been a lot easier to do if the chicken breast was thicker or still a little frozen. I purposely chose smaller breasts because I figured it would cook more evenly. The best thing is to just try and make sure you cut it pretty close to the mid point and don't cut yourself...or cut all the way through! Don't cut it into 2 fillets, make sure you leave it connected a little on the one side. Once the chicken was cut, I spread some of the filling on one side. After closing it up I sprinkled it with some more Mrs. Dash and garlic. Then I sprayed a small glass casserole dish with olive oil and put the chicken in it. I cooked it for about 35 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.
For sides I chopped up a really firm roma tomato and sprinkled it with salt and pepper (once again, I'm still trying to force myself to like tomatoes again...slowly I'll get there!). I also sliced a small zucchini and very thinly sliced some red and yellow pepper. I cooked those in a little bit of olive oil with more garlic and pepper. I don't like my zucchini overly cooked so I was sure to keep the peppers really thin so they would cook in the same time as the zucchini. I would guess I cooked the combo for about 4 minutes before taking it off the heat.
Seriously, my taste buds are in heaven after eating this meal! You should try it and I guarantee if you like the ingredients, you will love this meal. The original recipe used mayo instead of the Greek yogurt and then also wrapped the chicken in a slice of bacon. As you can see, I left that out to make it healthier. I look forward to making this again in the future and I'm really glad I have leftovers! I think I will chop up some of it to eat in a pita with more raw spinach tomorrow for dinner! YUM!
Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast
3 chicken breast (or however many you want to make)
1/2 a cup of plain, low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup feta (I like the flavored ones)
garlic
onion powder
Mrs. Dash (Tomato, Basil & Garlic)
Spinach--chop up a handful
I started by mixing together the yogurt, feta, garlic powder, onion powder and Mrs. Dash in a small bowl. Once that was thoroughly mixed I added the chopped spinach. Then I butterflied the chicken breast. This would have been a lot easier to do if the chicken breast was thicker or still a little frozen. I purposely chose smaller breasts because I figured it would cook more evenly. The best thing is to just try and make sure you cut it pretty close to the mid point and don't cut yourself...or cut all the way through! Don't cut it into 2 fillets, make sure you leave it connected a little on the one side. Once the chicken was cut, I spread some of the filling on one side. After closing it up I sprinkled it with some more Mrs. Dash and garlic. Then I sprayed a small glass casserole dish with olive oil and put the chicken in it. I cooked it for about 35 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. 
For sides I chopped up a really firm roma tomato and sprinkled it with salt and pepper (once again, I'm still trying to force myself to like tomatoes again...slowly I'll get there!). I also sliced a small zucchini and very thinly sliced some red and yellow pepper. I cooked those in a little bit of olive oil with more garlic and pepper. I don't like my zucchini overly cooked so I was sure to keep the peppers really thin so they would cook in the same time as the zucchini. I would guess I cooked the combo for about 4 minutes before taking it off the heat.
Seriously, my taste buds are in heaven after eating this meal! You should try it and I guarantee if you like the ingredients, you will love this meal. The original recipe used mayo instead of the Greek yogurt and then also wrapped the chicken in a slice of bacon. As you can see, I left that out to make it healthier. I look forward to making this again in the future and I'm really glad I have leftovers! I think I will chop up some of it to eat in a pita with more raw spinach tomorrow for dinner! YUM!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Roasted Pepper-Sweet Potato Soup
I bought peppers from Costco this weekend and since Gerald is gone this week at the mine I wasn't sure what to do with them. I figured I should try something new. I searched for some recipes for soups but didn't find one that totally suited my taste so I took the base of a few of them and meshed the recipes to come up with my own. It turned out quite good actually (even though it looks a lot like baby food!).
I started out by halving a red pepper and two orange peppers and scraping out their seeds. I then put them on the ickiest baking sheet I had and under the broiler on high. While these were roasting, I chopped up two small sweet potatoes. I put the sweet potatoes in the pot and just barely covered them with reduced sodium beef broth and turned them on high. I let them boil until tender. I also chopped up two tomatoes and half an onion and added those to the potatoes when they were about done.
I flipped the peppers about halfway through (I put the skin side down for a while first so the meat of the pepper would get cooked). I finished the peppers with the skin side up and started to blacken them. Once they were good and tender I pulled them out, let them cool for a while then scrapped the skin off of them. If they are done enough, the skins should come off relatively easily. I then sliced the peppers and added them to the potato mixture.
I turned off the stove and put the whole mixture in the food processor and pulsed it until it was smooth. I realized that it was probably a tad thicker than I wanted it to be so once it was fairly smooth I put it back in the pot and added a little more broth. I also stirred in some cumin, pepper, garlic powder and Sriracha. I tasted it once then decided to add a little more cumin (I wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it!). I heated it back up and ta-da! It was quite flavorful!
And for those of you that are readers but aren't my Facebook friends, I lost 2.6 more pounds this week for a total of 8.3 in the last 3 weeks! This healthy eating and exercise thing really works! I'm now a firm believer that you don't need to go on a "diet" to lose weight...you merely need to make sensible, healthy choices and cut out the processed junk that we all love so much!
I started out by halving a red pepper and two orange peppers and scraping out their seeds. I then put them on the ickiest baking sheet I had and under the broiler on high. While these were roasting, I chopped up two small sweet potatoes. I put the sweet potatoes in the pot and just barely covered them with reduced sodium beef broth and turned them on high. I let them boil until tender. I also chopped up two tomatoes and half an onion and added those to the potatoes when they were about done.
I flipped the peppers about halfway through (I put the skin side down for a while first so the meat of the pepper would get cooked). I finished the peppers with the skin side up and started to blacken them. Once they were good and tender I pulled them out, let them cool for a while then scrapped the skin off of them. If they are done enough, the skins should come off relatively easily. I then sliced the peppers and added them to the potato mixture.
I turned off the stove and put the whole mixture in the food processor and pulsed it until it was smooth. I realized that it was probably a tad thicker than I wanted it to be so once it was fairly smooth I put it back in the pot and added a little more broth. I also stirred in some cumin, pepper, garlic powder and Sriracha. I tasted it once then decided to add a little more cumin (I wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it!). I heated it back up and ta-da! It was quite flavorful!
And for those of you that are readers but aren't my Facebook friends, I lost 2.6 more pounds this week for a total of 8.3 in the last 3 weeks! This healthy eating and exercise thing really works! I'm now a firm believer that you don't need to go on a "diet" to lose weight...you merely need to make sensible, healthy choices and cut out the processed junk that we all love so much!
Slacker over the weekend!
Sorry readers, I was a slacker over the weekend and never turned on my computer...and I wasn't about to post a blog using my iPhone because it would be filled with type-o's!
Anyway, Friday we had a Costco run and a trip to Fred Meyer to do and since I hadn't grocery shopped in over a week I didn't have much fresh food. So, we had Subway for dinner. It sure was delicious but then I started to worry about eating the bread and how I have such an addiction to it....
Saturday, my other half made me scrambled eggs with red and yellow peppers, onions and spinach and some turkey sausage. Yum!
We had his family over for dinner on Saturday and I was scrambling to have everything ready so I forgot to take a picture of my plate or the cooking process. So for that, I apologize, the pictures are of the leftovers...definitely not pretty! Someday, I will invest in a super sweet camera that can even make leftovers look good...until then, you are stuck with what I show you!
The menu consisted of crock pot pork tenderloin in apple cider, mashed potato/cauliflower/carrots and spinach salad.
I LOVE pork cooked in apples! I started by chopping up 3 apples and putting them in the bottom of the crock pot. Then I chopped half an onion and put that in there too. I browned the tenderloin on the stove top before putting it in the crock pot. Then I poured in about half a bottle of apple cider (not the sparking kind like Gerald thought I was talking about!...the kind that looks like apple juice!). I cooked it on high in the crock pot for about 4 hours then turned it down to low for 2 more hours. Mine was actually in there for longer than that due to a power outage for an hour in the beginning but it hadn't gotten hot yet when the power went out so I'm not sure how to account for that time!. Anyway, as you can see, it was so tender it totally shredded before I could even get it out of the crock pot....DELICIOUS!
The mashed potato/cauliflower/carrot recipe is one I had previously gotten from Weight Watchers but I no longer remember that one exactly. I use 4 Yukon gold potatoes (peeled), a large head of cauliflower) and about 1/2 a bag of baby carrots chopped small. Cut up and peel the potatoes just as you would for making mashed potatoes, cut the cauliflower into flowerettes and chop the carrots. Add it all to boiling water and boil the hell out of it until it is all tender. Then you can either put it in the food processor if you like it really smooth, or just mash it with a potato masher. I added some Butter Buds, chopped green onions, garlic, pepper, salt, chives and a little fat free milk before mashing it. Gerald's mom really enjoyed these....not sure about his brother but he isn't much of a veggie eater (so I'm pretty sure he would wither away if he lived with us!).
I also made a spinach salad and a green bean salad. You can see the spinach salad recipe in a prior post but the green bean salad is french cut canned green beans (chilled), diced onions, oil, vinegar, maggi, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and some other random seasonings.
We also got some super delicious fruit that was probably the best part of our night after going to see Just Go With It for the second time!
Anyway, Friday we had a Costco run and a trip to Fred Meyer to do and since I hadn't grocery shopped in over a week I didn't have much fresh food. So, we had Subway for dinner. It sure was delicious but then I started to worry about eating the bread and how I have such an addiction to it....
Saturday, my other half made me scrambled eggs with red and yellow peppers, onions and spinach and some turkey sausage. Yum!
We had his family over for dinner on Saturday and I was scrambling to have everything ready so I forgot to take a picture of my plate or the cooking process. So for that, I apologize, the pictures are of the leftovers...definitely not pretty! Someday, I will invest in a super sweet camera that can even make leftovers look good...until then, you are stuck with what I show you!
The menu consisted of crock pot pork tenderloin in apple cider, mashed potato/cauliflower/carrots and spinach salad.
I LOVE pork cooked in apples! I started by chopping up 3 apples and putting them in the bottom of the crock pot. Then I chopped half an onion and put that in there too. I browned the tenderloin on the stove top before putting it in the crock pot. Then I poured in about half a bottle of apple cider (not the sparking kind like Gerald thought I was talking about!...the kind that looks like apple juice!). I cooked it on high in the crock pot for about 4 hours then turned it down to low for 2 more hours. Mine was actually in there for longer than that due to a power outage for an hour in the beginning but it hadn't gotten hot yet when the power went out so I'm not sure how to account for that time!. Anyway, as you can see, it was so tender it totally shredded before I could even get it out of the crock pot....DELICIOUS!
The mashed potato/cauliflower/carrot recipe is one I had previously gotten from Weight Watchers but I no longer remember that one exactly. I use 4 Yukon gold potatoes (peeled), a large head of cauliflower) and about 1/2 a bag of baby carrots chopped small. Cut up and peel the potatoes just as you would for making mashed potatoes, cut the cauliflower into flowerettes and chop the carrots. Add it all to boiling water and boil the hell out of it until it is all tender. Then you can either put it in the food processor if you like it really smooth, or just mash it with a potato masher. I added some Butter Buds, chopped green onions, garlic, pepper, salt, chives and a little fat free milk before mashing it. Gerald's mom really enjoyed these....not sure about his brother but he isn't much of a veggie eater (so I'm pretty sure he would wither away if he lived with us!).
I also made a spinach salad and a green bean salad. You can see the spinach salad recipe in a prior post but the green bean salad is french cut canned green beans (chilled), diced onions, oil, vinegar, maggi, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and some other random seasonings.
We also got some super delicious fruit that was probably the best part of our night after going to see Just Go With It for the second time!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Mango Curry Chicken, Veggie Pasta & Spinach Salad
I'm not normally a fan of curry, but I found a mango curry marinade at Safeway (store brand) that I actually really like. So I marinated some chicken breast in it for a couple hours today. Then baked it for 35 minutes at 375.
While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up veggies (peppers, onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, olives). I sauteed the veggies in a little olive oil. While the veggies were sauteing, I boiled some rotini. I like Barilla Plus multigrain pasta. It takes a little longer to cook than normal pasta, but it has protein and omega 3's so it is much better for you. Once the veggies were tender, I stirred the pasta in, added some garlic and some feta cheese. You can add salt and pepper or other spices to taste.
I also made a spinach salad with a few dried cranberries, mandarin oranges and slivered almonds. I thought I would be creative and make a new dressing. I mixed together a little bit of the juice from the can of mandarin oranges with some vinegar and a little oil. I added salt and pepper and stirred it all together. It turned out great and the salad was a nice sweet treat.
While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up veggies (peppers, onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, olives). I sauteed the veggies in a little olive oil. While the veggies were sauteing, I boiled some rotini. I like Barilla Plus multigrain pasta. It takes a little longer to cook than normal pasta, but it has protein and omega 3's so it is much better for you. Once the veggies were tender, I stirred the pasta in, added some garlic and some feta cheese. You can add salt and pepper or other spices to taste.
I also made a spinach salad with a few dried cranberries, mandarin oranges and slivered almonds. I thought I would be creative and make a new dressing. I mixed together a little bit of the juice from the can of mandarin oranges with some vinegar and a little oil. I added salt and pepper and stirred it all together. It turned out great and the salad was a nice sweet treat.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Pita Pizza
Pita Pizza
Quick and easy dinner tonight. I bought some whole wheat pitas and lowfat cheese. I chopped onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, garlic, tomato and spinach up. I sauteed the onions, garlic and peppers in a little olive oil until they were tender. Then I mixed up some tomato sauce and herbs and spread it on the pita. I sprinkled on a little lowfat shredded cheese and the warm veggies. Topped it with some chopped spinach and tomato slices and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. Ate it with a spinach salad with vinaigrette and YUM! Delicious!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Another day of not cooking
My boyfriend's friend is in town so he cooked tonight. He made gingered deer meat and rice. I skipped on the rice and had leftover quinoa instead. I also made some brussel sprouts and ate some leftover broccoli salad from this weekend. Today wasn't a great day for eating because I was in a meeting ALLLLLLLLL day! Lunch was catered so I didn't have much of a choice. They had turkey sandwiches on a croissant with chips and canned peaches...so not thrilled about that! I ate half of the croissant sandwich and the turkey and tomato off the other half. I skipped the chips but ate the peaches. I only drank one bottle of water throughout the day and now I feel like crap! I'm used to refilling my 24oz bottle about 4 times during a normal workday so I'm definitely feeling the missing hydration. Here's hoping that tomorrow goes better and I get back on track! I know I could have done much worse, but I'm just disappointed that I didn't eat as well as I could have today.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!
It's Valentine's day and I'm not cooking! My boyfriend is BBQ'ing steaks...which is quite the treat since it is 18 degrees and snowy right now. We are having steak, baked potato, salad and some delicious fruit he got...heart shaped watermelon! :)
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Chicken Adobo and Quinoa Pilaf
One of my friend's was talking about Adobo all last week so I decided I had to make some this weekend. Before moving to Alaska I had never even heard of Adobo, much less made it. One of my boyfriend's best friends told me what he uses in his and it tastes pretty darn good. If you cook it long enough it completely falls apart.
Chicken Adobo
*3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (many people use legs, some use whole chickens cut up, I prefer to not mess with bones or skin)
*water
*3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
*3/4 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
*pickling spice
Trim the fat off the thighs and put them in a big pot. Cover the chicken with water then stir in the vinegar and soy sauce. Then add about a cupped hand worth of pickling spice.
I was a little anxious today so I decided to put it together and then let it marinate in the fridge for a couple hours. I then brought it to a boil on the stove and turned it down to keep a soft boil and put the lid on. I let it go like that for about an hour then turned the pot down to low and left the lid on it for another hour and a half. By the time we ate it the thighs had completely fallen apart...tender goodness!
Sides tonight were quinoa pilaf and broccoli salad. If you've never cooked quiona, you should try it. It is a much healthier alternative to rice and is pretty tasty. Boil 2 cups of water and then stir in 1 cup of quinoa. Turn down the heat, add a lid and let it cook )just like you would rice) for about 20 minutes. While it was cooking I chopped up some vegetables to saute. I usually use spinach as well but I was out. So tonight's "pilaf" consisted of carrots, onions, celery and red and yellow peppers. Once quinoa was done cooking I stirred it into the cooked veggies.
The broccoli salad I make is always a hit and is pretty easy to make. Because I don't measure it might be hard for you to duplicate my recipe. The dressing is vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic and maggi. Once I mix that up I add cut up broccoli, tomatoes, red onion and olives. I always make this in a bowl with a lid so I can shake it up. Stirring doesn't work very well for coating the broccoli. It is best if you make it ahead of time so the broccoli can soak up the dressing for at least an hour.
Sorry this post is kind of quick. If you want more details, please let me know and I'll be sure to share them...back to my homework for now! Weigh in tomorrow morning for the Lose to Win contest, we'll see how it goes!
Chicken Adobo
*3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (many people use legs, some use whole chickens cut up, I prefer to not mess with bones or skin)
*water
*3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
*3/4 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
*pickling spice
Trim the fat off the thighs and put them in a big pot. Cover the chicken with water then stir in the vinegar and soy sauce. Then add about a cupped hand worth of pickling spice.
I was a little anxious today so I decided to put it together and then let it marinate in the fridge for a couple hours. I then brought it to a boil on the stove and turned it down to keep a soft boil and put the lid on. I let it go like that for about an hour then turned the pot down to low and left the lid on it for another hour and a half. By the time we ate it the thighs had completely fallen apart...tender goodness!
Sides tonight were quinoa pilaf and broccoli salad. If you've never cooked quiona, you should try it. It is a much healthier alternative to rice and is pretty tasty. Boil 2 cups of water and then stir in 1 cup of quinoa. Turn down the heat, add a lid and let it cook )just like you would rice) for about 20 minutes. While it was cooking I chopped up some vegetables to saute. I usually use spinach as well but I was out. So tonight's "pilaf" consisted of carrots, onions, celery and red and yellow peppers. Once quinoa was done cooking I stirred it into the cooked veggies.
The broccoli salad I make is always a hit and is pretty easy to make. Because I don't measure it might be hard for you to duplicate my recipe. The dressing is vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic and maggi. Once I mix that up I add cut up broccoli, tomatoes, red onion and olives. I always make this in a bowl with a lid so I can shake it up. Stirring doesn't work very well for coating the broccoli. It is best if you make it ahead of time so the broccoli can soak up the dressing for at least an hour.
Sorry this post is kind of quick. If you want more details, please let me know and I'll be sure to share them...back to my homework for now! Weigh in tomorrow morning for the Lose to Win contest, we'll see how it goes!
Flax Seed Pancakes
I've been craving pancakes...one of my favorite foods in the world is fluffy pancakes with peanut butter and syrup. BUT, I won't be eating that any time soon! So I decided to try out a new flax seed pancake recipe this morning. Although, they weren't the same as the pancakes most of us are used to, they were definitely edible. Flax Seed Pancakes:
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup of egg substitute)
3 Tbsp Ground Flax Seeds
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 packet of Splenda (I used PureVia, a Stevia extract)
Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Mix all the ingredients together really well. Warm up a skillet and spray it with olive oil (I have one of the Pampered Chef refillable, non-aerosol pumps that I love! No need to buy those cans of Pam anymore!). Once the skillet is hot, pour in 1/2 of the mixture. Cook it until it bubbles just a little and then flip. The baking powder does allow it to rise like regular pancakes, but they are a bit drier than I'm used to. Cook the second pancake and then decide what to top them with!
My topping consisted of frozen berries (blueberry and strawberry) that I microwaved and mashed up into a syrup with chunks. Living in Alaska, we don't always get the freshest and best tasting produce...especially when it is out of season. So I always keep a bag of frozen fruit in the freezer. I also sprinkled a few chopped pecans on the top. Served with a side of cut fruit (that had also been frozen...Spectrum blend from Costco). Overall, a satisfying breakfast.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Greek Burgers and Sweet Potato "Fries"
Tonight was girls night at a friend's house. A few of us are eating healthy so I thought I would make a healthier version of burgers and fries. This is actually one of my favorite meals but I don't make it very often. Again, they never turn out exactly the same because I don't measure, but this is what I put in them:
Greek Turkey Burgers
Ground Turkey (93/7)
Chopped Olives
Red Onion-diced
Garlic-minced (LOTS!)
Feta Cheese
Pepper
1 Egg
Oregano
Parsley
Mix all of the ingredients together and form patties. You can cook them on the stove top or using the broiler. Because they aren't greasy they are a bit fragile so be careful when flipping them.
You can eat the burger plain on a plate or on a sandwich thin with red onion, tomato, lettuce and tzatziki. I tried my hand at making some tzatziki today and this is what I came up with:
Tzatziki
1 package plain Greek yogurt
fresh dill
cucumber
lemon juice
garlic
pepper
Make sure the yogurt isn't watery. You can strain it I guess, but I don't. Shred up the cucumber and drain it really well...I actually patted it dry with paper towels so it wouldn't water down the yogurt too much. Mix the cucumber with lemon juice (I'm guessing I used about a teaspoon), a heaping spoon of minced garlic and pepper. Once that is mixed, stir in you yogurt. Chill it for at least an hour.
As a side dish I made some sweet potato oven fries. These are really easy and delicious. Just cut up some sweet potatoes to resemble fries (or wedges), put them in a gallon size ziploc back and drizzle them with a little olive oil and sprinkle them with rosemary, a touch of salt and whatever other spice sounds good. Shake the bag and mix them all up until they are seasoned. The trick to even cooking of these is making sure the pieces are cut in similar sizes.
Preheat your oven to about 425. Spread the sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven for about 15 minutes then turn them over. Cook for another 15 minutes or until done to your liking. I also like to put them under the broiler for an additional 5 minutes or so to add a little crispiness.
Trisha also made a spinach salad that is always a big hit and it looks pretty! She makes an orange vinaigrette to pour over the spinach, mandarin, almond mixture.
This was the first time all week that I ate any form of potato and it was delicious! I don't feel like I missed out on any of the grease that comes with the traditional burger and fry meal because this one was full of so much flavor.
Greek Turkey Burgers
Ground Turkey (93/7)
Chopped Olives
Red Onion-diced
Garlic-minced (LOTS!)
Feta Cheese
Pepper
1 Egg
Oregano
Parsley
Mix all of the ingredients together and form patties. You can cook them on the stove top or using the broiler. Because they aren't greasy they are a bit fragile so be careful when flipping them.
You can eat the burger plain on a plate or on a sandwich thin with red onion, tomato, lettuce and tzatziki. I tried my hand at making some tzatziki today and this is what I came up with:
Tzatziki
1 package plain Greek yogurt
fresh dill
cucumber
lemon juice
garlic
pepper
Make sure the yogurt isn't watery. You can strain it I guess, but I don't. Shred up the cucumber and drain it really well...I actually patted it dry with paper towels so it wouldn't water down the yogurt too much. Mix the cucumber with lemon juice (I'm guessing I used about a teaspoon), a heaping spoon of minced garlic and pepper. Once that is mixed, stir in you yogurt. Chill it for at least an hour.
As a side dish I made some sweet potato oven fries. These are really easy and delicious. Just cut up some sweet potatoes to resemble fries (or wedges), put them in a gallon size ziploc back and drizzle them with a little olive oil and sprinkle them with rosemary, a touch of salt and whatever other spice sounds good. Shake the bag and mix them all up until they are seasoned. The trick to even cooking of these is making sure the pieces are cut in similar sizes.
Preheat your oven to about 425. Spread the sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven for about 15 minutes then turn them over. Cook for another 15 minutes or until done to your liking. I also like to put them under the broiler for an additional 5 minutes or so to add a little crispiness.
Trisha also made a spinach salad that is always a big hit and it looks pretty! She makes an orange vinaigrette to pour over the spinach, mandarin, almond mixture.
This was the first time all week that I ate any form of potato and it was delicious! I don't feel like I missed out on any of the grease that comes with the traditional burger and fry meal because this one was full of so much flavor.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Overcoming temptation
I went to the grocery store after work tonight which is never a smart idea...especially when I'm hungry! However, I went in with a list and vowed to only buy what was on it. After going through the produce section I had to walk through the bakery to get to the meat department for my ground turkey. I found my most favorite cookies staring me in the face with a big sale sign. Yup, that's right, I'm talking about those extra soft, super sweet, frosted pink sugar cookies! You know they've gotta be good when I can use seven words in front of the word cookies to describe them! However, I was reading a Prevention magazine the other day and saw something about temptation. It said to clench your fists or tense your muscles when you are faced with a temptation like that. Supposedly it is easier to just keep going by it if you are tightened up. I don't know if it's just another "brilliant" idea someone had or if it is legit, but I tried it and it worked. By the time I got done looking at the chicken and the turkey I no longer was thinking about those cookies. I continued on my shopping journey only buying the things on my list. Tomorrow we are having girls' night and I'm making my super tasty Greek turkey burgers and sweet potato oven fries so I was after specific ingredients (I'll post about that tomorrow night or Sunday). I was dedicated to only buying those ingredients and the food I would eat this weekend. I figure I will grocery shop for the week on Sunday when I'm not hungry and have made a better list.
To my dismay, I was faced with another temptation at the checkout line. My second favorite sweet treat appears to be out a little early this year. They had two boxes of Cadbury Cream Eggs on display! Ahhhhhh the temptation! I almost started to reach for one before reminding myself to clench my fists and turn my head. I'd have to say my shopping trip was a success. The old Michelle would have bought the cookies AND the cream eggs...the new Michelle bought grapes instead! :)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Black Bean Soup
Last night was a busy night with Zumba and going to friends' house for a birthday celebration but I managed to make a pot of black bean soup in between work and Zumba. Since we had dinner with our friends (tacos---I skipped the shell and just made a salad), we will eat the soup tonight. Here's a pic:
I got the original recipe from the food network website:
* 10 slices bacon, finely chopped
* 2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
* 6 garlic cloves, pressed
* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
* 2 tablespoons ketchup
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 bunch cilantro
* juice of 1/2 lime
* Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
* Sour cream, for garnish
* Grated cheddar, for garnish
It tastes amazing the way the recipe is written but I have tweaked it the last 5 or 6 times I have made it. I always get rave reviews though. What I have done is left out the bacon, added bell peppers and corn. I don't usually put cheese on it but of course it is good that way. Whatever you do, don't leave out the cilantro, it makes this soup taste amazing! There is something about the smokey flavor of the Worcestershire that makes it so delicious though...give it a try, you won't be disappointed!
I got the original recipe from the food network website:
* 10 slices bacon, finely chopped
* 2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
* 6 garlic cloves, pressed
* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
* 2 tablespoons ketchup
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 bunch cilantro
* juice of 1/2 lime
* Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
* Sour cream, for garnish
* Grated cheddar, for garnish
It tastes amazing the way the recipe is written but I have tweaked it the last 5 or 6 times I have made it. I always get rave reviews though. What I have done is left out the bacon, added bell peppers and corn. I don't usually put cheese on it but of course it is good that way. Whatever you do, don't leave out the cilantro, it makes this soup taste amazing! There is something about the smokey flavor of the Worcestershire that makes it so delicious though...give it a try, you won't be disappointed!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Spaghetti Squash
Today was a success in the eating department! I went to work prepared with snacks and my oats and had a good idea of what I was going to make for dinner.
99% of the time, my breakfast during the week is steel cut oats. On Sunday, I make a pot of them and once they cool I divide it up into 5 containers so I have one for each week day morning. I usually switch it up by putting apples in them one week, cranberries another, raisins another, or sometimes berries. This week is a combo of cranberry and apple. For those of you that have never tried steel cut oats you really do not know what you are missing! They are not the pile of mush your grandma used to feed you when you were two. Depending on how long you cook them, you can leave them pretty firm or make them more tender. I like them with some chewiness to them. I always put cinnamon in the pot when I'm cooking them too. Yum!
I wanted to be prepared with snacks today. We were doing interviews for nearly four hours for a new faculty member today. Since I'm on the interview committee I knew I'd be tied up. Alberta did bring in a big pot of white bean chicken chili that was to die for though! I've asked for the recipe so once she gets it to me I will be sure to share! Anyway, this is what my desk looked like this morning:
Blueberries (my boss brought them in for me), an apple, a tangelo and a Trio bar. Have you ever tried Trio bars? I know I said I was getting away from packaged stuff but man these are good! They are called Trio because each bar has 3 kinds of fruit, 3 kinds of nuts and 3 kinds of seeds. Yes, they are a little high in calories at 260 and 16 grams of fat, but those are good wholesome calories and a great way to get a good supply of those needed fats in your diet once in a while. Speaking of fats, this was another one of my prepared snacks:
For those of you that know me, you know that I LOVE peanut butter!!! I absolutely love it! However, I'm trying to get away from the choosy mom kind and Skippy and moving on to natural peanut butter. I know it is a lot better for me because it doesn't have sugar or other oils added. It is kind of messy when you first open the jar and have to stir it up, but it is still really tasty. And yes, you do have to refrigerate it or else it will go rancid too fast! If you stir in the oil though, it really doesn't get too hard in the refrigerator. Give it a shot and see what you think! This bag of celery from Costco is SUPER crunchy so it was quite a treat with the peanut buttery goodness!
I ended up only eating the blueberries, apple and celery so I still have the tangelo and Trio bar for tomorrow.
Dinner was another creation. Gerald ended up getting to come in from the mine for a few days because someone stole their ramp so they can't load the miners at echo cove right now. I was excited to get to try my new creation out on him but I think he was a little weary when I told him I was making spaghetti squash. He had never even heard of it much less had it. It is a great substitute for pasta! Stick it in the microwave whole for about a minute and a half. Take it out and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the guts and put it face down on a plate with a little water on it. Microwave it for about 12-13 minutes and then scrape it out with a fork. Soooo good! While the squash was cooking, I cooked some extra lean ground turkey and stirred in diced up red onion, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, a heaping spoon of garlic, pepper, Mrs. Dash (tomato basil flavor) and some rosemary. Once the peppers were tender I added 4 diced up tomatoes (I don't like really mushy cooked tomatoes so by adding them later they don't turn to yuck!). I let it cook for about 10 minutes. I also steamed some broccoli. Overall, it turned out quite satisfying and I didn't miss the pasta at all! Gerald actually put his turkey/pepper/tomato mixture on his spaghetti squash and stirred it in just like he was eating a plate of spaghetti. Now I need to start thinking about what I'm going to cook tomorrow!
99% of the time, my breakfast during the week is steel cut oats. On Sunday, I make a pot of them and once they cool I divide it up into 5 containers so I have one for each week day morning. I usually switch it up by putting apples in them one week, cranberries another, raisins another, or sometimes berries. This week is a combo of cranberry and apple. For those of you that have never tried steel cut oats you really do not know what you are missing! They are not the pile of mush your grandma used to feed you when you were two. Depending on how long you cook them, you can leave them pretty firm or make them more tender. I like them with some chewiness to them. I always put cinnamon in the pot when I'm cooking them too. Yum!
I wanted to be prepared with snacks today. We were doing interviews for nearly four hours for a new faculty member today. Since I'm on the interview committee I knew I'd be tied up. Alberta did bring in a big pot of white bean chicken chili that was to die for though! I've asked for the recipe so once she gets it to me I will be sure to share! Anyway, this is what my desk looked like this morning:
Blueberries (my boss brought them in for me), an apple, a tangelo and a Trio bar. Have you ever tried Trio bars? I know I said I was getting away from packaged stuff but man these are good! They are called Trio because each bar has 3 kinds of fruit, 3 kinds of nuts and 3 kinds of seeds. Yes, they are a little high in calories at 260 and 16 grams of fat, but those are good wholesome calories and a great way to get a good supply of those needed fats in your diet once in a while. Speaking of fats, this was another one of my prepared snacks:
For those of you that know me, you know that I LOVE peanut butter!!! I absolutely love it! However, I'm trying to get away from the choosy mom kind and Skippy and moving on to natural peanut butter. I know it is a lot better for me because it doesn't have sugar or other oils added. It is kind of messy when you first open the jar and have to stir it up, but it is still really tasty. And yes, you do have to refrigerate it or else it will go rancid too fast! If you stir in the oil though, it really doesn't get too hard in the refrigerator. Give it a shot and see what you think! This bag of celery from Costco is SUPER crunchy so it was quite a treat with the peanut buttery goodness!
I ended up only eating the blueberries, apple and celery so I still have the tangelo and Trio bar for tomorrow.
Dinner was another creation. Gerald ended up getting to come in from the mine for a few days because someone stole their ramp so they can't load the miners at echo cove right now. I was excited to get to try my new creation out on him but I think he was a little weary when I told him I was making spaghetti squash. He had never even heard of it much less had it. It is a great substitute for pasta! Stick it in the microwave whole for about a minute and a half. Take it out and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the guts and put it face down on a plate with a little water on it. Microwave it for about 12-13 minutes and then scrape it out with a fork. Soooo good! While the squash was cooking, I cooked some extra lean ground turkey and stirred in diced up red onion, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, a heaping spoon of garlic, pepper, Mrs. Dash (tomato basil flavor) and some rosemary. Once the peppers were tender I added 4 diced up tomatoes (I don't like really mushy cooked tomatoes so by adding them later they don't turn to yuck!). I let it cook for about 10 minutes. I also steamed some broccoli. Overall, it turned out quite satisfying and I didn't miss the pasta at all! Gerald actually put his turkey/pepper/tomato mixture on his spaghetti squash and stirred it in just like he was eating a plate of spaghetti. Now I need to start thinking about what I'm going to cook tomorrow!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Veggie Delight?
I bought a bunch of vegetables this weekend and wasn't sure what to do with them all. Since I only had about 45 minutes at home after work before needing to go to my cardio dance class I decided I would chop some up to see what I could come up with. This is what it turned out to be:
I chopped up broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, carrots, onions, tomato and one chicken sausage (details to follow). I then drizzled it all with a little bit of olive oil and stirred in some garlic. I topped it off by sprinkling it with Mrs. Dash and pepper. I turned the oven on to 375 and put it in there for about 20 minutes. The veggies were still pretty tough but I had to leave for my workout so I just turned the oven off and left it in there. When I got back an hour and a half later it was still warm and cooked to perfection! Yum!
As a side I decided to add a little more color by making a salad. I chopped up a little orange, yellow and red pepper, a bit of tomato (I'm still trying to train myself to eat them again), and a couple olives sliced up. I topped the salad with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing and it was done..and what a beauty it was!
And to get back to the chicken sausage....I love these little guys! I like to keep a pack of them in the freezer for days when I forget to thaw out some meat or I just want to add a little extra protein to whatever I'm eating. Gerald even loves them which is great! Anyway, Costco sells them in a pack of about 15. They are only 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 carb, 15 grams of protein and I can pronounce all of the ingredients (as in they aren't loaded with a bunch of genetically modified crap!). I've used these by chopping them up and putting them in vegetable soup, sauteing peppers and onions and mixing that with chopped up sausage in eggs, or just eating a link by itself. They come in several flavors but unfortunately, the Costco in Juneau isn't as well stocked as they are in some other places so we don't have all the variety. But this spinach one is quite tasty!
I chopped up broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, carrots, onions, tomato and one chicken sausage (details to follow). I then drizzled it all with a little bit of olive oil and stirred in some garlic. I topped it off by sprinkling it with Mrs. Dash and pepper. I turned the oven on to 375 and put it in there for about 20 minutes. The veggies were still pretty tough but I had to leave for my workout so I just turned the oven off and left it in there. When I got back an hour and a half later it was still warm and cooked to perfection! Yum!
As a side I decided to add a little more color by making a salad. I chopped up a little orange, yellow and red pepper, a bit of tomato (I'm still trying to train myself to eat them again), and a couple olives sliced up. I topped the salad with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing and it was done..and what a beauty it was!
And to get back to the chicken sausage....I love these little guys! I like to keep a pack of them in the freezer for days when I forget to thaw out some meat or I just want to add a little extra protein to whatever I'm eating. Gerald even loves them which is great! Anyway, Costco sells them in a pack of about 15. They are only 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 carb, 15 grams of protein and I can pronounce all of the ingredients (as in they aren't loaded with a bunch of genetically modified crap!). I've used these by chopping them up and putting them in vegetable soup, sauteing peppers and onions and mixing that with chopped up sausage in eggs, or just eating a link by itself. They come in several flavors but unfortunately, the Costco in Juneau isn't as well stocked as they are in some other places so we don't have all the variety. But this spinach one is quite tasty!
Cabbage Salsa
Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday and I decided to stay home and do homework instead of indulge in all the deliciously bad for me food that is usually present at the annual event. So between breaks I decided to whip up a batch of cabbage salsa. I initially got a recipe from a former classmate but I'm not sure what I did with it so I kind of went from memory. One thing you will notice is that I DO NOT measure! I hardly ever do even when "following" a recipe. The only time I measure anything is when I'm being really strict with my diet (which as you can see is virtually NEVER). So here you have a makeshift version of the recipe:
Cabbage Salsa
1 head of green cabbage (or a bag of coleslaw mix)
4-5 Roma tomatoes
1/2 a red onion
1 bunch of cilantro
2 limes
1-2 jalapenos
minced garlic
salt
pepper
Start by chopping the cabbage really fine. Then chop up the tomatoes and onions pretty small and the cilantro. Mix it all together. Cut open your two limes and squeeze the heck out of them so all the juice is over your cabbage mixture. Stir in a heaping spoon of garlic (I buy the minced garlic from Costco because I cook with lots of garlic and quite frankly I'm too lazy to mince it myself!), then salt and pepper it to taste. Then comes the kicker...add your diced jalapenos. You can either use them out of a can so you don't have to chop them, or you can use fresh. I start with a few then stir in more and taste. I found the biggest thing with this recipe is you have to keep tasting it until it is right. Once you think it is right, refrigerate it for a few hours then taste it again. Chances are, you will want to add something to it. If not, you rock! Enjoy!
This is a picture of the cabbage salsa on a mixture of venison and orange peppers and onions on a low carb tortilla.
Cabbage Salsa
1 head of green cabbage (or a bag of coleslaw mix)
4-5 Roma tomatoes
1/2 a red onion
1 bunch of cilantro
2 limes
1-2 jalapenos
minced garlic
salt
pepper
Start by chopping the cabbage really fine. Then chop up the tomatoes and onions pretty small and the cilantro. Mix it all together. Cut open your two limes and squeeze the heck out of them so all the juice is over your cabbage mixture. Stir in a heaping spoon of garlic (I buy the minced garlic from Costco because I cook with lots of garlic and quite frankly I'm too lazy to mince it myself!), then salt and pepper it to taste. Then comes the kicker...add your diced jalapenos. You can either use them out of a can so you don't have to chop them, or you can use fresh. I start with a few then stir in more and taste. I found the biggest thing with this recipe is you have to keep tasting it until it is right. Once you think it is right, refrigerate it for a few hours then taste it again. Chances are, you will want to add something to it. If not, you rock! Enjoy!
This is a picture of the cabbage salsa on a mixture of venison and orange peppers and onions on a low carb tortilla.
The Beginning
I guess I should start from the beginning...I'm fat! I've always been overweight and looking back I know why. I've let myself be lazy and I've eaten lots of foods out of boxes and pretty wrappers. Well guess what? I'm on a mission! My mission is to be lean and healthy by the time I'm 30. That means I've only got 19 months to reach that goal so I've got work to do! Ultimately, I want to lose about 80 pounds. However, I'm taking it day by day and tweaking little things to lead me to an overall healthy lifestyle.
I've started going to workout classes at the gym. I have a new found love for Zumba and a love hate relationship with Body Pump! Zumba makes me feel like a fool but I know that I burn tons of calories moving and grooving and even find myself smiling sometimes! Body Pump on the other hand is a chore! It is an intense barbell workout with tons of repetitions. I'm almost always really sore the next day. Aside from those classes I'm trying to incorporate a nice long weekend walk and some dumbbell workouts at home.
Aside from working out, one of my biggest goals is to move away from packaged foods and add a lot of color to my diet. Not too long ago I was doing the Weight Watchers plan. Sure, it worked really well when I followed it but I found that I didn't have much energy. I realized that I was eating things to use my daily points but wasn't really taking into consideration their nutritional value. So here I am with a new outlook. I'm really reading labels now. If there are a bunch of things I can't pronounce I figure I probably shouldn't be eating them! I want to limit my consumption of food out of packages to things such as tuna, oats, olive oil, vinegar, spices, yogurt and maybe a few other things. So we'll see how it goes!
I've decided to start this blog in part to share my meal ideas and pictures of my creations but mostly to hold me accountable. I hope you enjoy it!
I've started going to workout classes at the gym. I have a new found love for Zumba and a love hate relationship with Body Pump! Zumba makes me feel like a fool but I know that I burn tons of calories moving and grooving and even find myself smiling sometimes! Body Pump on the other hand is a chore! It is an intense barbell workout with tons of repetitions. I'm almost always really sore the next day. Aside from those classes I'm trying to incorporate a nice long weekend walk and some dumbbell workouts at home.
Aside from working out, one of my biggest goals is to move away from packaged foods and add a lot of color to my diet. Not too long ago I was doing the Weight Watchers plan. Sure, it worked really well when I followed it but I found that I didn't have much energy. I realized that I was eating things to use my daily points but wasn't really taking into consideration their nutritional value. So here I am with a new outlook. I'm really reading labels now. If there are a bunch of things I can't pronounce I figure I probably shouldn't be eating them! I want to limit my consumption of food out of packages to things such as tuna, oats, olive oil, vinegar, spices, yogurt and maybe a few other things. So we'll see how it goes!
I've decided to start this blog in part to share my meal ideas and pictures of my creations but mostly to hold me accountable. I hope you enjoy it!
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