Okonomiyaki Recipe

Okonomiyaki

Due to my recent venture into a Japanese grocery in Midtown Manhattan, I was inspired to make my own okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake). This dish is savory, and not sweet as the usual American breakfast pancakes are. I based this recipe on this one, but made a few modifications of my own because

1. I was lacking some ingredients like red pickled ginger, tempura flakes, seaweed powder and bonito flakes
2. I'm vegetarian (most of the time)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup stock or water
• 1 egg (per batch, this makes about 4 batches)
• Dole classic coleslaw mix
• Canned corn (about 2 tbsp per batch)
• 4-6 tbsp chopped green onion (I didn't have this but I would use it if I did)
• 1/2-3/4 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)  2 tbsp crushed French's fried onions (per batch)
• A dash of powdered ginger
• 12-18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• vegetable oil
• For toppings:
• ao-nori (dried seaweed powder)
• okonomiyaki sauce (buy at Japanese grocery, for example Sunrise Mart)
• mayonnaise (kewpie brand, buy at Japanese grocery)
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) *optional
• beni-shoga (pickled red ginger) *optional
  

Preparation:

1. Put flour in a large bowl. Pour water/stock and mix to make batter. Rest the batter for about an hour in the refrigerator. 
2. To make one sheet of okonimiyaki, take out about 1/2 cup of the batter in another bowl. 
3. Mix about 1/4 bag of the coleslaw mix, about 1 Tbsp of chopped green onion, 2 tbsp corn, a dash of powdered ginger (depending on how ginger-y you want it) and about 2 tbsp of tempura flakes crushed fried onions in the batter. 
4. Add an egg in the batter and stir. (*Tip: The batter needs to be mixed in for a bit with the coleslaw and egg so the consistency is less like putty)
5. Heat an electric pan or skillet and oil lightly. Pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape. Cook for about 5 minutes. (*Tip: Check the cooking side at 2 1/2 mins to make sure it hasn't burned, flip if you think it's brown enough)
6. Meanwhile, fry a couple slices of meat on the side and place the meat on top of the okonomiyaki. 
7. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi and beni-shoga if you would like.

I experimented a bit with sprinkling Worcestershire sauce on each side as I cooked one of the pancakes. I also used more oil with one, and less oil with one. Your cooking time will be less if you use more oil/heat and the pancake will be crispier. If you're not into crispy okonomiyaki (which isn't the standard), then use low to medium heat, and less oil. Either way, it tastes GREAT! Bon appetit! :)

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Posted in: recipes,vegetarian

Vegetarian Secrets for Quick, Everyday Meals

Amy's Mattar Paneer, and Mock Salmon

Since I started the whole vegetarian thing I've been asked the question "Isn't it difficult?" plenty of times, and many more questions regarding nutrition, especially "Where do you get your protein?" Well, the answer to the first question is, surprisingly, "not really". I find there's plenty of restaurants in New York city that cater to vegetarians, and there are a lot of possibilities for cooking. Now, it's not always an option to cook a whole meal from scratch, because I do work full-time. So I usually go halfway and just alter whatever quick meals I may have. My secrets (which may just be common sense to some people) for everyday quick meals are the following:

1. Frozen Entrees (Amy's, Cedar Lane, Morningstar Farms, Tandoori Kitchen)
2. Spices
3. Alter, alter, alter until you're perfectly happy

Most frozen entrees will not be as good as freshly cooked meals. Therefore what I do is add some or all of these spices:

1. Garlic powder
2. Onion Powder
3. French's Fried Onions - This may sound terrible, but what I do is just sprinkle a tiny bit on top for the taste and texture
4. Fried Garlic (from Asian grocery store) - Same as above
5. Chili
6. Salt (in moderation)
7. Pepper

Some entrees will need even more adjustments, like I usually add some coriander, cumin, and garam masala to Indian food. Sometimes I sprinkle in some diced, fresh onions or green scallions.

As for the questions regarding nutrition, I try not to take any chances so I take Women's Centrum vitamins every day. For protein I eat a lot of legumes, such as chick peas or garbanzos, which have 15 grams of protein per cup, and I do eat dairy so cheese adds to my protein intake as well. Tofu and other soy products are also a good source. Morningstar Farms makes some great fake meat products that usually consist of vegetable protein and some starch. Their Maple Flavored "Sausage" Patty is one of my favorites. I also recently discovered a pretty great online store for vegetable mock meat called Vegecyber. Their products have saved my butt plenty of times when I'm in the mood for something "meaty". I had their mock salmon with the Amy's meal I had above. Some of my other favorites are their vege. lamb chunks, vege. BBQ ribs and vegan bacon slices. Believe it or not the bacon slices actually taste pretty close to bacon when fried to a crisp (I use Smart Balance cooking oil, to make it somewhat heart-healthy). I was a little concerned about the ingredients in the fake meat, so I looked them up and here's a sample:

Vegan Bacon - Non-GMO Textured Soybean Protein, Non-GMO Soybean Protein (Powder), Wheat Fiber, Wheat Protein Concentrate, White Pepper, Sea Salt, Brown Sugar, Soybean Bean Oil, Natural Vegetarian Seasoning, Monascus Powder.

Definitely not scary-sounding.

To summarize, basically the only reason I can be vegetarian is because I live in New York city, and have access to all these awesome products.

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Posted in: grocery,vegetarian

I'm VEGETARIAN??!!

Vegetable Green Curry

Aside from my being lazy, one of the main reasons I haven't posted on this blog lately is that I seem to put a curse on any diet I write about in this blog. I start writing about it then immediately stop dieting. So I wanted to wait 'til I had stuck with one diet for awhile before posting about it.

I've been vegetarian for almost 2 months now. The most surprising thing about this isn't that I tried it (judging from the variety of diets I've been on I was sure to try this one at some point), it's that I actually DON'T MIND IT! This is crazy coming from someone who, in the back of her mind always thought vegetarians are weird. How can anyone live without meat? Turns out it's not as bad as I thought it was.

I haven't lost that much weight. I've lost about 2 lbs since I started, but you'll understand how amazing this weight loss is if you know how much I've been eating for the past two months. I started a new blog Not Bored NY, which basically has me going around New York checking out sights and stores and sampling as much food as I can. I've eaten dinner twice so many times I've lost count. Basically I eat whenever I feel like it, and my weight hasn't gone up at all. It's like I'm not even making an effort and I'm maintaining.

Now, I know the point of most diets isn't just to maintain, but this is already amazing in itself because I have NEVER found a way to maintain without having to count calories or workout like crazy. This is why I've never stayed at my target weight, because there will always be weeks when I just need to let go and eat whenever I want. I've found a simple rule that will allow me to maintain: no meat. Dieting doesn't have to take over my life for me to maintain anymore.

To actually get to my target weight I GUESS I'm just gonna have to workout once or twice a week and NOT eat dinner twice. Since October is coming, it's a good time to start eating sensibly. :)

Here's my first recipe post as a vegetarian. I used the Vegetable Green Curry recipe from epicurious.com, although I replaced the red peppers with frozen spinach because I hate bell peppers. I also added French's fried onions as a topping. This recipe is great over brown rice.

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Posted in: recipes,vegetarian

Why Can't I Have Coffee, Dr. Atkins? :(

I mentioned in my previous post that South Beach hasn't really been working for me. Despite that, I've been trying to cook mostly low carb since I bought those new cookbooks (they've been excellent so far). The food is delicious and my hubby seems happy that I'm cooking a lot more. This is really the reason why I haven't gone back to Jenny, which has been proven to work. I've mostly been maintaining though, and haven't really been taking dieting seriously.

I started reading up on Atkins this week, because I feel I need a more carb-controlled lifestyle as opposed to going on South Beach Phase 2 and bingeing on all the 'good carbs' I want. So far it seems reasonable, although I am still a little scared to have full-fat everything. But it has worked for a lot of people, so I'm willing to try it before I go back to paying a ridiculous amount of money for tiny portions of okay food. The only real problem I have with it is the part about giving up caffeine. Seriously. I can't. Sorry Dr. Atkins.

I've been pretty strict about the diet this week, although I've really only lost a pound so far. It seems like it's going to be one of those weeks. I'm not going to give up though. I'm going to start my real induction phase next week with the following menu:

Hopefully I don't get lazy and keep posting my results :).

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South Beach Blah

My husband told me a few weeks ago that he had a desire to start eating healthy because Rite Aid's blood pressure machine told him he was 'pre-hypertensive'. I immediately thought of South Beach, since the diet was originally created for people with heart ailments, so I started making weekly menus based on phase 1(for myself) and phase 2 (for my hubby). Phase 1 was very successful for me. I lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks. My husband started feeling better in general, so I continued cooking SB meals, weaning myself off of phase 1. Unfortunately, I've gained most of the 7 lbs back, so I guess maybe South Beach in its entirety really isn't a good fit for me. I'm starting to realize that maybe I have to count carbs as well. Overall, I think I might be over South Beach, because nothing but phase 1 works for me. And I'm not going to live life eating like that.

Just in time for me to start planning mostly low carb meals, my 3 new low carb cookbooks arrived today! These are going to be soo much more helpful (assuming  the recipes are actually decent without too many changes). The main reason I can't live off of phase 1 is because there are only so many recipes for it in the SB cookbooks. These 3 new cookbooks are packed with so many more side dishes and snacks! I can't wait to try them all. This isn't an actual review of the books, since I won't be cooking from them til next week. So watch out for that post.

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach

Eat This, Not That - Louvre Chocolate Cake, Shepherd's Pie and Eggnog

Today I found out that my two Eat This, Not That books that were ordered for me by my hubby were supposedly delivered last week. They are not here. So we've been bugging USPS about it, and while being all stressed out I started looking up recipes and treats for the holidays. NOT A GOOD IDEA. I've been pretty good about my portions recently (lost 8 lbs so far) so I tried to figure out what I could do to curb the cravings I'm having for holiday yummies.

First is the Louvre chocolate cake, http://www.payard.com/louvre-cake.aspx which I found out about when my sister showed me the link to their Pain Surprise, a French appetizer that we've been looking for in New York for sometime now. This cake was featured on Sex and the City I believe. It was the $70 cake that Miranda couldn't get herself to buy, and so bought a box of easy to make chocolate cake.

My take on it was to devour a 100-calorie pack of Hostess chocolate cupcakes. They're sweet, they're delicious, they're chocolate, and you know exactly when you should stop. They can be found at most grocery stores.

My second craving was for a Shepherd's Pie. I wanted to make one with turkey today because I had some leftover turkey and instant mashed potatoes and found this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Humble-Shepherd/Detail.aspx. Unfortunately it's more than 500 calories per serving, and my hubby wasn't even that into the idea since he just made a huge batch of mac & cheese.

So I rummaged through the freezer and found the Smart Ones Slow Roasted Turkey Breast frozen entree. It has turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, for only 200 calories. I'm telling myself it'll be just as good, and I'm sticking with it.

My last craving was for eggnog. Most mixes are about 400-500 calories a cup. YUCK. So, unless you're planning on having eggnog as a meal, go with this recipe from hungry-girl, which is at 88 calories a cup.



Low-Calorie Eggnog

Ingredients:


5 cups 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soymilk (or another light vanilla soymilk**)

1 small (4-serving) package Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding mix, Vanilla

6 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda)

1 tsp. rum extract or imitation rum extract

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg



Directions:

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend on high until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow it to thicken. Makes five 1-cup servings!

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Posted in: eat this not that,low calorie

I Can Eat Indian Food Without Feeling Guilty Now!!

My hubby was craving Indian food today and asked me if I wanted to order some for dinner. I groaned inwardly since I knew I would not be able to resist, and I ALWAYS end up bingeing and going into a food coma after. He suggested I get the small portion and just eat that. I thought about it a little and went even further. I researched the calorie content for basmati rice and lamb rogan josh, and portioned them with the help of my always helpful kitchen scale. Here are the numbers:

Basmati Rice, Cooked - 1 cup - 205 calories
Lamb Rogan Josh - 150 grams - 250 calories

That was a total of 455 calories, which was well under my calorie budget since I had a light breakfast and lunch.  For the first time ever, I ate Indian food at home without overeating and taking a nap 5 minutes after the meal. This is a huge step for me, since I mostly attribute my being overweight last year to too much naan and basmati rice. Small triumphs like this help keep me going :).

Speaking of triumphs, I finished the entire Jillian Michaels Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism workout for the first time ever the other night without stopping for more than 5 seconds. This is another big thing because I have NEVER finished this workout and I have been trying to for a long time. One review for it says:

"If there is one consensus about the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD it is the difficulty of the full on workout. Some users have been completing gym workouts, running and intense cardio for long periods of time and still have difficulty completing the entire 40 minutes non-stop, without alterations."

I have to admit, I still do a few alterations such as "girly" push-ups, but I still feel great about finishing it. Hopefully I can continue to be as motivated as I am now.

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Posted in: low calorie,workouts

AARrrggHHH

I maintained today. Despite the fact that I went to the gym yesterday and ate well (calorie-wise). I'm a little pissed about that. The only thing worse is if I had gained.

I added The Biggest Loser to my DVR show list. Maybe if I constantly watch Jillian Michaels yelling at overweight people I'll subconsciously think I'm one of them and stay true to my diet.

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Posted in: low calorie,why i hate dieting

Calories, Calories, Calories

I've lost about 4 lbs so far since I started dieting again. I know. Some of this is probably water weight since it hasn't even been a week. But I'm definitely deep into a calorie-counting frenzy. Due to a recent aversion to cooking vegetables (my hubby doesn't eat them anyway), I've been taking multivitamins everyday. My desserts have mostly been 100-calorie packs from Hostess and other such brands (ala Mark Haub's Twinkie diet).  I toss in some 100-calorie Sun Chips once in awhile as well. Main meals have been from Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice. Some of the meals have vegetables, so I can force them down and feel a little less guilty about not buying and cooking them separately.. I especially love the Smart Ones Mini Cheeseburgers, because they're deliciously similar to White Castle burgers. I'm thinking of buying the following books, which are guides to getting what you're craving for, for less calories:

Eat This, Not that
Cook This, Not That

However, I'm a little low in budget this coming month, and I really wanted to get some outfits for my upcoming vacation (woot! woot!). So I might settle for using my Jenny Craig "Dining Out Success Guide" book (which has been busy gathering dust in the bookshelf) and "The Calorie King Calorie, FAT & Carbohydrate Counter" (the title literally has fat in all caps,  I'm not sure how I feel about that). Both of these list nutrition facts for the most popular fast food and restaurant chains in the US. The Jenny Craig guide is good for when I want to make a fast, easy choice, since they only list the things they approve of, while The Calorie King is better for when I want something specific, and decide to eat only half of it since it's way too many calories. For everything else, I'll have to use my LoseIt! app, which is still as helpful as always. I guess Eat This, Not that will have to wait 'til the new year.

I've been working out a lot too. This week was hard schedule-wise for going to the gym, although I did get one gym visit in last Thursday. However, when I did one of my workouts tonight that I usually could only do half of, I ended up making it through the entire 1 hr and 15 minutes. Those New York Sports Club classes have really been helpful with pushing me past my comfort zone. I just feel too embarrassed to stop when I'm with a bunch of people, and it's helped with my at-home workouts as well!

I've been working on the psychological side of things as well. Mostly about my perspective with regards to eating. Recently while reading Unbreaded, my friend and her best friend's blog about a low-carb lifestyle, I got into thinking about 'eating as entertainment'. I think this is the thing I have a problem with more than stress eating, even. I always think of what I could eat when I'm bored. Heck, I've planned out almost every single meal for my vacation in December. So whenever I'm bored, I try to think about what I could do that does not involve eating now. Due to this, I've achieved the following things:

1. A very clean sock drawer
2. Gotten ideas for outfits I want in the future (yes, online window shopping has been essential)
3. Taken very relaxing naps (yes, naps are helping me lose weight)
4. Exercised more

I expect I'll find more ways to pass the time without eating. But so far, just identifying this problem has helped a lot.

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Posted in: goals,low calorie

Panic Dieting

After about a month and a half of trying to count calories I am now 4 pounds heavier than when I originally started this blog, which was around 4 months ago. If you think about it, I guess gaining 4 lbs in 4 months is not that terrible. I seriously feel better about it, coz I've actually been feeling out of control most of the time. Especially regarding those post-dinner chocolate binges (Damn you Twix!).

But now it's time to PANIC. It's about 5 weeks until my best friend's wedding, and a much needed tropical beach weekend.

That's right. Be jealous.

I have about 25 pounds to lose.

I know. That sounds insane. Considering Thanksgiving and Christmas are both in those five weeks... So maybe my goal will be 15 pounds. Although I will keep in mind that Jillian Michaels got some people to lose 15 pounds in a week.

I started going to the gym last week. It was pretty brutal, but I surprisingly got through 2 classes without giving up. I'm going to one today, and hopefully that will kick off five weeks of unswerving dedication to losing weight.

I'm giving myself 2 days off. Thanksgiving and Christmas. Wish me luck!

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Posted in: goals,low calorie,why i hate dieting

LoseIt!

I've been so exhausted recently that I've barely had anytime to prepare food for myself. I've been cooking once in awhile but I don't have the energy to do the dishes. It's either all my energy is being sapped by work, or it's because I haven't worked out in so long. Which makes me think I should start counting calories again, and say goodbye to Low-carbing for awhile. :( I thought I would have the time and energy to do it once the wedding was over, but it doesn't seem like it. And I don't want to look the part TOO much when I'm the Matron of Honor at my best friend's wedding (I did my measurements last weekend, and the numbers were quite horrifying). So I'm going back to frozen entrees, which really aren't that bad especially when I get a lot of Amy's frozen meals. This will give me the time to start working out again as well. It will also be cheaper and will give me more options than if I went back on Jenny.

I use a very handy iphone app for my calorie counting called LoseIt!. It has a basic database of ingredients and common grocery items. You can also add your own items if you can't find them in the app. It shows your weight trend, and also calculates how many calories you should have every day depending on your age, your weight loss goal, your current weight and your target date. You can add friends as well and see how you're stacking up to them diet-wise. I friended my old roommate and we had a bit of fun comparing what we'd eaten and what exercises we'd done. I'm still deciding whether I should be completely shameless and tell everyone about my daily menu.

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Posted in: low calorie,technology,why i hate dieting

Menu for the Week - 9/23/2010

I forgot to post my menu for last week coz I've been so busy with work. It's not a big deal though, it was pretty boring because I still had a lot of the ingredients from the week before, so there weren't a lot of new dishes. I'm moving on to Phase 2 now, and if you see anything that's made with flour it's probably made with whole wheat or 10 grain flour (anything with a decent amount of fiber). Phase 2 also allows for brown rice and fruits, although at this time I'm not including a lot of fruits in the menu. I'm limiting myself to 1 carb-heavy meal per day (such as pancakes or rice).

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuZCIl3H85D3dHRFZHBTUm9LUWt0dVZHMlR1X2I1ZUE&hl=en&authkey=CJLx4cEL

I'm very excited to try the boeuf bourguignonne (and my new Le Creuset dutch oven)!

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Posted in: low-carb,menu for the week,south beach

Creamy Chili Short Ribs

olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup of cooked cut up short ribs (or any other leftover meat)
2 cups cauliflower and broccoli
heavy cream
oil chili (found in Asian stores)

Saute the cauliflower and broccoli in olive oil (if not yet cooked). Add salt and pepper to taste (if needed).  Add the short ribs and chili and saute until heated. Add some heavy cream and saute, saute, saute. Give it a taste and add more salt if needed.

I've found that making a meal out of leftovers is more enjoyable for me than cooking regular meals. I never really look up recipes for them online, and always end up improvising. I guess it brings out my creative side, which really doesn't come out that often.

I usually saute a bunch of vegetables for the week when I'm on South Beach. Last week it was broccoli and cauliflower (I usually add onions but I ran out). So I had some veggies. Last night I tried a slow-cooker short rib recipe without using flour. Unfortunately since I'm still getting used to our new slow-cooker, I thought it lacked salt (it was extremely tender, at least!). So tonight I figured I'd have the veggies and the short-rib, but I wasn't too excited at the prospect since neither of them had any sauce, and who gets excited over veggies anyway? I though of sauteing them with chili first, because that's my go-to spice (that and sesame oil) for when I'm cooking originally bland leftovers. I looked in my fridge and saw some leftover heavy cream from when I made green bean casserole last week, and thought, 'Why not?'. So I added in some cream at the end, and boy did that make a difference. I can imagine shrimp, beef or chicken would work with this as well. This is one of the most delicious leftover meals I've ever made. For any people who don't really care about dieting but are just reading my blog to support me (:P) this would go well with rice or noodles (My hubby actually had it with some ramen and removed the veggies lol).

This is the short rib recipe for those interested: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooked-German-Short-Ribs/Detail.aspx I didn't use flour of course.

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Posted in: leftover fun,low-carb recipes,recipes

My Office Neighborhood is AWESOME... When I'm Not Dieting

The area around my office is overflowing with amazing restaurants. St Marks (japanese, mediterranean, etc.) is in our backyard, Veselka (eastern european) is a couple of avenues away,  so is Butter Lane cupcakes (one of their cupcakes is the best thing he ever ate according to Ted Allen), Otafuku (japanese street food) is near us as well,  and there are so many other choices if you want to eat great food. Except if you're low-carbing.

I have one go-to cart for when I have to buy a low-carb lunch near the office. It's one of those middle-eastern carts that sell the heavenly "chicken on rice". I usually order the chicken on salad, which isn't as popular but tastes almost as good.
I didn't cook last night for today's lunch because I realized I'm going to be in CT all weekend therefore whatever I cook will just go to waste. Of course, because it sells one of the few decent low-carb options here, the cart disappeared today. Lucky me. I detest salads, so I ordered a $15 salmon meal from a deli. I asked for just vegetables to go with it. The lady kept asking me if I wanted potatoes, or rice, or bread with it. She asked about the bread three times. I wanted to wanted to say "Please don't ask me again because the next time I might just have to say yes." but I didn't. The salmon was pretty bland, and I'm not sure why I even ordered the vegetables because I hate squash. I probably should have gone to Cozy for a low-carb burger platter but I didn't feel like having that (stupid, stupid). Please come back, cart!!

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach,why i hate dieting

Low-Carbing for the Nth Time

It's been about a month since my wedding. Around that time I was more or less 113 lbs. After post-wedding binging and a 7-day cruise, I am currently at 120.8 lbs. *sigh* I figured it was time to either go back to Jenny Craig, or time to take out my South Beach Diet cookbooks yet again. After consulting with my husband and a bit of persuasion from my low-carbing and karaoke buddy Katie, I went with the South Beach cookbooks. Michael convinced me it was better to be more in charge of my food options. So, here I am starting South Beach Phase 1.

Phase 1 is basically a very low-carb, low-fat diet. I cheat a little bit with bacon or mayo sometimes, but it's better to add those every once in awhile rather than eating white bread or things full of sugar. It's the strictest phase of the diet and lasts about 2 weeks. I generally last until the weekend when Michael asks if I want Indian food. :) It's been years since I actually got through 2 weeks bad-carb and sugar free. Here's to hoping!

The original SB book had menus for every phase. When I started it for the first time I followed the menu religiously. Since then I've realized it's very boring and unrealistic. First of all, I can't make a different dish for every single meal and snack of every day. That'd be a full-time job. So I now make several servings of 4-5 entrees for the week (breakfast is usually pretty easy so I don't count that). It also helps that I have 2 other South Beach cookbooks and plenty of recipes I can tweak online.

Here's my menu for the week starting tomorrow:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuZCIl3H85D3dGhfQk8wb0xYV1BWQVg0N3p1WWZlOWc&hl=en&authkey=COef9_UB

Technically today was my first day low-carbing. I'm proud to say I went to Olive Garden with Katie and DIDN'T HAVE THE BREADSTICKS. But since I didn't really follow a menu, I'm not counting it. This weekend should be a challenge too since we're trying out our raclette grill (a gift from my aunt) with Michael's family. I guess the cheese will just have to go over broccoli instead of potatoes.

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Blast

1 tablespoon Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Smart Balance peanut butter
1 cup low-sugar vanilla soymilk
2 packets of Splenda or any other artificial sweetener

Put everything in a blender. Blend on a low setting for about a minute. Enjoy!


There's a breakfast drink in one of the South Beach cookbooks I have called 'Almond Energy Blast'. I was sooo excited to make it last week, since we finally have a blender again. Of course, Peapod didn't deliver either the tofu or almonds (because nothing ever goes my way). After pouting for a couple of minutes, I decided to put peanut butter in instead (Smart Balance supposedly has Omega-3s in there, but you can use any low-sugar variety of peanut butter). I put in some unsweetened cocoa powder as well, just coz it seems right to have chocolate with peanut butter. The result was delicious, and I've been somewhat addicted to it this week. I finished an entire carton of soymilk this week which NEVER happens. It basically tastes like drinking a peanut butter cup.

The 'Energy Blast' in the name is true as well. I had one 30 minutes before a workout, and it really helped me get through it. Usually I'm dying and thinking of quitting halfway through that particular workout. Powered by the drink, I made it 75% of the way before I felt the usual fatigue.

** I just want to add my opinion on soymilk. For anyone who judges it because the word 'soy' is in there, I think you should try it at least once. The healthier milk alternatives, which are usually 1%, 2% or nonfat, actually taste like water to me. Soymilk is soo much creamier.

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Posted in: breakfast recipes,low-carb,low-carb recipes,south beach

Low-Carb Italian Meatloaf

2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 cup pesto (I used the bottled kind)
1/2 cup of crushed almonds
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 egg
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a shallow 11-by-7-inch baking dish (if you don't have this, use whatever you have and just form the meatloaf so that it fits). In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix gently and thoroughly with your hands. Form the mixture into a rough loaf in the baking dish.
2. Bake until the loaf is firm, the top is richly brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees F (it was about an hour when I did it, but you'd have to keep checking the first time). Let the loaf stand in the pan for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I recently had a very bad craving for meatloaf, and found a basic recipe for Italian Meatloaf in a cookbook my soon-to-be-mother-in-law gave me (Simple Suppers by Williams-Sonoma). Unfortunately I am on South Beach Phase 1. Also, I had a lot of ground turkey, and no ground beef and pork (which was called for in the original recipe). So I thought of using the ground turkey obviously, and thought about what could replace breadcrumbs. I put in the parmesan to add a dry ingredient that might help hold the entire thing, but it didn't seem enough. So I put in some crushed almonds as well. It worked out perfectly and was absolutely delicious. I ended up eating this for an entire weekend, which never happens because I hate eating the same thing for consecutive meals. Don't be concerned if the mixture seems a little too wet, as long as it can be formed. It will dry up a bit after it's cooked.

Enjoy!

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Posted in: low-carb,low-carb recipes,meat recipes,recipes,south beach,turkey recipes

Why I'm Not 400 Pounds

I love food. There is rarely an hour that passes in my life when I'm not craving food or thinking about food. If I didn't care about what society thinks, or about living a full, happy and healthy life, I would probably weigh about 400 pounds. Fortunately (or unfortunately, however way you see it), I do care about these things. So I turn to diet and exercise whenever I realize I've gone overboard with my food addiction.

I've been on several diets in my lifetime. Some of these include:

1. The 6 o' clock diet - Eating whatever you want before 6:00 pm and not eating anything after 6:00 pm.
2. South Beach - Too complex for me to summarize here
   
3. No-carb diet - This is basically the version of South Beach Phase 1 in which I delude myself that I can eat all the bacon and butter that I want.
4. Nutrisystem - Pre-packaged, non-frozen, absolutely disgusting food
5. Calorie counting
   
6. Jenny Craig - A calorie-counting program supported by a consultant and pre-packaged food

Most of these have worked for me when I actually had the will-power to enforce them. Out of all these, the two that have really been successful are South Beach Phase 1 and Jenny Craig. I went on Jenny a couple of months ago in order to whip myself into shape for my upcoming wedding. The food was definitely decent (much, much better than Nutrisystem), and having to answer to a consultant every week was definitely helpful. I also loved not having to cook and do dishes all the time. However, I found that it was quite expensive, and also got to be pretty boring after awhile. It also wasn't helping me lose weight fast enough, since I went on several trips this summer and ruined my chance of losing weight slowly by vacation binge-eating. So I've switched back to South Beach Phase 1, which I've gone on about 3 times before. It's not working as fast as I'd hoped it would, but it still will be easier for me to pick dishes when I go out to dinner several times with my family and friends during the weeks leading to the wedding. Expect many posts regarding low-carb food from me this summer.

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Posted in: jenny craig,low-carb,nutrisystem,south beach