Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Today
Today is the day I.... drink water instead of soda
Today is the day I.... eat apples instead of apple pie.
Today is the day I.... eat what i want my children to eat.
Today is the day I.... take a 30 minute walk at lunch time.
Today is the day I.... dust off my rollerblades/running shoes.
Today is the day I.... check my heart health.
Today is the day I.... take the stairs rather than the elevator.
Today is the day I.... get my blood pressure checked.
Today is the day I.... burn 250 extra calories.
Today is the day I.... get my cholestorol checked.
Maybe just try and do 2-3 of these things this week, every day and see how it makes you feel!
Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Nutrition Information
Calories – 298Protein – 27 gTotal Fat – 9 gSaturated Fat – 2 gCholesterol – 80 mgSodium – 610 mgCarbohydrate – 34 gFiber – 5 g
INGREDIENTS
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely diced
• 3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons grated or finely minced fresh ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground chicken (at least 90% lean)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup bottle Chinese plum sauce
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste, such as sriracha (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted cashews, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish (optional)
• 1 head Boston or Bibb lettuce
Liberally coat a large skillet with oil spray, and preheat it over medium-high heat.
Add the carrots, celery, bell pepper, water chestnuts, scallions, ginger, and garlic. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften slightly, about 5 minutes, adding a tablespoon of water at a time as necessary to prevent scorching.
Reapply oil spray if necessary, and add the ground chicken to the skillet. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink, breaking the meat into a fine crumble with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Season with the salt and pepper.
Add the plum sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili paste and stir to coat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until heated through.
Remove the skillet from the heat, and stir in the cashews and cilantro. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
Clean the lettuce and break off 12 individual leaves (trim away the stem end of the leaves if they are tough). Fill each lettuce cup with roughly ½ cup of the chicken mixture. Garnish with additional cilantro if desired.
Friday, March 26, 2010
My thoughts on healthcare
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Half and Half
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Time is of the essence!
- 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1.5 teaspoons finely chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, (see Note)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat (8 ounces)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Preheat grill or broiler to high. Lightly oil the rack.
- Whisk orange juice concentrate, chiles, vinegar, molasses and mustard in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle chicken with salt. Grill or broil the chicken for 2 minutes. Turn the chicken, brush with the chipotle-orange glaze, and cook, brushing occasionally with more of the glaze, 4 minutes more. Turn the chicken again, brush with the glaze, and cook until no longer pink in the middle, 2 to 5 minutes more.
MEDITERRANEAN ROAST VEG ON COUSCOUS
Ingredients2 eggplant cut into in 1/2 inch slices
3 zucchini, cut into chunks
2 red peppers, seeds removed, sliced lengthways into fingers
4 red onions quartered
half small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
fresh rosemary needles, or fresh thyme leaves
16 cherry tomatoes
1 cup couscous
4 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp French dressing
Serves 6
- Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a baking tray and place the aubergine slices on it, brush with a little oil.
- Place all other veg in a bowl, drizzle over some olive oil and scatter with herbs. Turn to coat, then place in a roasting tin.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes, turn the eggplant slices over. Give the other veg a stir, throw in the garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes and roast for another 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, prepare the couscous by placing the grains in a bowl and pouring over 1 cup boiling water. Cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the grains with a fork.
- Mix together the pesto and French dressing. Place a helping of couscous on each plate and top with the roasted vegetables. Pour some dressing over.
- You can top each portion with grated Parmesan cheese, or for a more substantial dish, poach one egg per person for 5 minutes until the yolks are just set and serve on top of the vegetables.
GRILLED SALMON WITH A YOGURT CRUST
Very quick, very tasty. What more do you want?4 salmon steaks. For the crust 2/3 cup low fat natural yogurt, small bunch fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped, 1 garlic clove, crushed, 1/2 tsp each ground cumin, smoked paprika
Serves 4: Mix the crust ingredients together and spread over the salmon steaks. Cook under a pre-heated grill for about 10 minutes, turning once, until fish is cooked through.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Portion Control
One reason so many people in America are gaining weight is because of a lack of knowledge when it comes to portion control. This is something I have really had to learn throughout the last five years of losing weight. Before, I would eat a HUGE bowl of sugar cereal in the morning in one of those huge bowls that seem very common nowadays, which equals to about 2 1/2-3 cups of cereal. Now, I try to follow the recommendations for serving sizes so conveniently located on the nutritional information. I admonish everyone to READ READ READ the nutritional information before you eat. Read what the serving size is. Often we look at a package of something and it says 150 calories and we think "Sweet!" but we don't look at the serving size, which may say 2 oz, and the WHOLE package equals 8 oz-- making the snack to be very high calorie if we consume the whole bag. Make sense?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Splenda Whole Wheat Banana bread
ingredients
- 11/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda no-cal granulated
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
11/4 cups mashed bananas
1 tbsp oil
1/3 cup skim milk
1/2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Prepare 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Add vinegar to milk or substitute with low fat buttermilk.
Blend dry ingredients.
Blend wet ingredients.
Pour wet mix into dry, do not overmix.
Add nuts and stir.
Pour into pan and bake until set, aprox. 45 min.
Loaf slices into 8 generous servings.
Number of Servings: 8