Tofu Pad Thai

I am really happy with this recipe. If you ever cook tofu again do it this way!!

So easy and SO good!
Here is what I did:

Drain Tofu
Purchase firm or extra firm tofu
Drain from the storage water and place on a plate on top of 2 paper towels
Top tofu with another 2 paper towels and a second plate
Place a weight on top of the tofu "sandwich"
Leave here for 30min - 1hr

Slice Tofu
I cut mine into 4 steaks

Salt Tofu
Simple, add salt to the surfaces- we used Kosher salt but any salt works

Heat Pan
This is *very important*
TE gets very upset when I do not wait until the pan is fully heated to start cooking

Add Oil
You really only need a little bit

Add Tofu
And cook it! Simple!

I ate mine with quinoa pasta (yum!) and a store-bought pad thai sauce (eh)
We also added scallions and grape tomatoes for some color, enjoy!

Winter Breakfast

In an effort to keep blogging I thought I would update you all with my current favorite breakfast. It is great for cold winter mornings. We first had this combination of oats, berries, and nuts in Texas while visiting our dear friends A&K. It was not necessarily as cold as it is here- but everything is relative...

Looks good, right?! I love my selection of mugs too, haha!! Also- notice my handy measuring tools in the background. Such a kiss-up!

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal

serves 2
420 calories/serving

1C Mixed grain oats (260c total)
1.75c Water to cook the oats

1tsp cinnamon
1oz chopped walnuts (200c)
30g (one serving) dried cranberries (130c)

Cook Oatmeal according to directions (boil water, add oats)
Add cinnamon, nuts and berries to the oats about 5min before all of the water is absorbed
Put oatmeal into 2 bowls

Top each bowl with:
1T maple syrup (50c)
2T skim milk (25c)

Enjoy!

Snacking Tips

I am a snacker and I like to eat often.

I usually get stuck eating the same things all the time: Fiber One granola bars/Lara bars, fiberful fruit leathers, 100-calorie popcorn bags, yogurt and granola/cereal... You get the idea.

I also get bored with food, so my latest helpful diet tips will relate to snack ideas!
Complete with calorie information:

1. Medium apple and 1T peanut butter- 170cal
2. 10 baby carrots, 4T Sabra hummus- 140cal
3. Red Pepper slices (1/2 of medium pepper), 4T baba ghanoush- 115cal
4. Hard boiled egg- 80cal
5. Kashi crackers and Laughing cow wedge cheese- 165cal
6. 15 grapes, light string cheese- 105cal
7. Stacy's pita chips (my favorite) with salsa/dip (150-200cal)

Want more ideas?
Hungry Girl lists their favorite snacks. I am a fan of some of these...

Do you have a favorite healthy snack?

Savory Muffins

So I realized when I was looking through my blog recipes- I do not have many meals/foods I can just go to for an easy, tasty, diet-friendly recommendation. I have a binder full of my go-to meals so I decided to recapture them here. Also look for new tags on old posts for easy perusing :)

This post will be dedicated to a recipe for Savory Breakfast Muffins. First I made these as instructed... Photo courtesy of Eating Well... My muffins do look pretty similar to these photos!


Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup thinly sliced scallions, (about 1 bunch)
• 3/4 cup diced Canadian bacon, (3 ounces)
• 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, pepper and salt in a large bowl.
3. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil and butter in a medium bowl. Fold in scallions, bacon, cheese and bell pepper. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until just moistened. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan (the cups will be very full).
4. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Nutrition:
Per muffin: 217 calories; 9 g fat (3 g sat, 4 g mono); 50 mg cholesterol; 24 g carbohydrates; 9 g protein; 3 g fiber; 339 mg sodium; 113 mg potassium.

The end result was, eh. They were fine. Very strong pepper flavor, not much cheese flavor. And maybe a little dry.

The second time was also good, less fiber than the original- but these will be the ones I will make again.

Liz's Savory Breakfast Muffins

2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, made as directed
1 bunch of chopped scallions
1/2c chopped red pepper
30z Canadian Bacon

Mix, Bake, Enjoy!

Easy!!

Calorie information is similar, if not less, than the original.
And the muffin is much more moist and enjoyable!

Soul Food

I was going through my computer and realized I have some meals that I have not blogged about yet- so here we go!

My ultimate easy-happy meal is pasta with meat sauce. I like beef but really after 7 years of being a vegetarian-- I would be happy eating no beef other than ground beef. I know it is the worst- but I do not care if it is 95%lean- I love it as much as 80%.... maybe...

My favorite part of this meal is the sauce. The noodles are really just a vehicle for sauce.
The diet has taught me that 2oz of pasta is a very small amount-- to get around this, I just add whatever greens I have on hand to bulk up my meal. In this dinner I used petite Brussels sprouts. But anything would work- asparagus, broccoli, green beans.... anything.

Here is the recipe:

Pasta, Veggies and Meat Sauce

1lb 95% lean ground beef
Victoria brand marinara sauce (my personal favorite, feel free to use any variety)
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes
Hot pepper flakes to taste

2oz Pasta (Barilla Plus or Ronzoni Smart Taste are my favorites) per serving
1c green veggie per serving


Brown meat in large pan, drain fat
Add sauce, diced tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste
Cook until hot

Cook pasta according to directions, at the last 3-5min of cooking pasta- add the green veggie
Drain

Serve with 1c of sauce and 1oz of shredded Parmesan cheese!

April Inspired

There is no easy/nice way to post this so I am just going to write it and hope that the message is not misconstrued.

April is a girl who writes a CR blog-- full of recipes, CR tips and other diet/personal stories-- much like this blog, but with the one exception that a ton of people read her blog!

I first found her blog when I enrolled in this study and wondered how people actually maintain a CR diet. I tried out her cauliflower soup recipe and while I did not love it- it was decent. I did not make it again though.

I still read her blog to keep up with the life of someone else who is restricted- but I will comment that none of her recipes have struck me as anything I would make. We all have our own tastes. In her defense, she does CRON (a CR diet where you eat all your vitamins/nutrients) because it makes being restricted easier for her. If you are going to embark on a CR diet you need to find a way to do it that will work for you- no one is going to have the same eating preferences- and it is a personal adventure on how to feel full/satisfied while eating less.

So recently I was reading her blog and was intrigued by one of her recipes: clam chowder. I recently went to BJs and bought a stack of canned clams and I am a bit "over" pasta with clam sauce right now- so this seemed like a great way to use the leftover clams.
I modified it a bit because TE recoils like I am killing him if I even mention "cream of mushroom soup!" Also I wanted to use a more natural product than canned condensed soup.
So here is what I did:

Liz's "April Inspired" Clam Chowder
~350cal/serving

2 bags/1 box of Frozen Corn Chowder, thawed
2 bags/1 box of Frozen Cream of Spinach Soup, thawed
2 cans of chopped clams (3.5oz ea)
1c frozen shelled edamame, thawed
6T shredded Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes to taste

Mix and aliquot into 3 containers for lunches! Microwave when ready to eat and enjoy!

It turns out that TE was so mortified watching me make this he did not eat it anyway (it does look gross- see below!) but I loved it!!



After this adventure into April's cooking- I was inspired to stuff something (if you look around April's blog she stuffs pretty much everything- peppers, cabbage, eggplant....). I was also reading Eating Well and they had an online recipe/article about stuffed mushrooms. That was all I needed! I was making stuffed mushrooms. I would say that this concoction was more inspired by EW, I will give additional credits to April, the queen of stuffing veggies.



Stuffed Mushroom Caps
~125 calories per cap

4 Portobella mushroom caps
1c Full fat cottage cheese
1 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove water
Seasonings to taste (I used fresh thyme and red pepper- of course)
2 reduced fat string-cheese sticks

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray/tin foil.
2. Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mash cottage cheese, spinach, and seasonings in a medium bowl.
4. When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Mound a generous 1/2 cup cottage cheese filling into each cap and sprinkle with the "string-ed" cheese. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes.

*Served here with a Quorn Gruyere cutlet! Yum!

Nutritional Info:
Clam Chowder
1/3 Recipe

*Not perfect (vitamin wise) because CRON-O-Meter does not have the soups in it and I was too lazy to add them.
===========================================
Energy | 354.2 kcal 21%
Protein | 26.2 g 52%
Carbs | 25.2 g 19%
Fiber | 4.7 g 19%
Fat | 17.5 g 27%
Water | 304.8 g 11%

Vitamins (31%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 1676.7 IU 72%
Folate | 163.8 µg 41%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.4 mg 41%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.4 mg 34%
B3 (Niacin) | 2.9 mg 21%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 0.4 mg 9%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.1 mg 8%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 28.0 µg 1167%
Vitamin C | 32.6 mg 43%
Vitamin D | 0.0 IU 0%
Vitamin E | 0.2 mg 1%
Vitamin K | 0.3 µg 0%

Minerals (43%)
===========================================
Calcium | 322.5 mg 32%
Copper | 0.4 mg 46%
Iron | 11.5 mg 64%
Magnesium | 67.1 mg 22%
Manganese | 1.0 mg 56%
Phosphorus | 358.1 mg 51%
Potassium | 833.2 mg 18%
Selenium | 16.7 µg 30%
Sodium | 1140.4 mg 76%
Zinc | 2.6 mg 32%

Lipids (29%)
===========================================
Saturated | 4.7 g 23%
Omega-3 | 0.5 g 44%
Omega-6 | 3.7 g 34%
Cholesterol | 40.5 mg 13%
Stuffed Mushrooms
1/4 of recipe
Energy | 124.5 kcal 7%
Protein | 13.4 g 27%
Carbs | 9.4 g 7%
Fiber | 3.3 g 13%
Fat | 4.7 g 7%
Water | 189.0 g 7%

Vitamins (35%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 8456.9 IU 362%
Folate | 128.8 µg 32%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.1 mg 13%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.7 mg 62%
B3 (Niacin) | 4.2 mg 30%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 1.6 mg 33%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.2 mg 18%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 0.4 µg 15%
Vitamin C | 3.9 mg 5%
Vitamin D | 0.0 IU 0%
Vitamin E | 2.1 mg 14%
Vitamin K | 264.3 µg 294%

Minerals (27%)
===========================================
Calcium | 236.1 mg 24%
Copper | 0.5 mg 51%
Iron | 1.9 mg 11%
Magnesium | 69.5 mg 22%
Manganese | 0.6 mg 35%
Phosphorus | 283.3 mg 40%
Potassium | 716.9 mg 15%
Selenium | 20.3 µg 37%
Sodium | 323.3 mg 22%
Zinc | 1.4 mg 18%

Lipids (6%)
===========================================
Saturated | 2.2 g 11%
Omega-3 | 0.1 g 8%
Omega-6 | 0.2 g 1%
Cholesterol | 16.6 mg 6%

Dear Mark Bittman,

My husband is your biggest fan. We love the Minimalist articles in the NYT. I know this is not news or unusual. Last night we made your latest recipe for Tortillitas with Shrimp.

I am now your #2 fan.
I have loved your no-knead bread best and have thoroughly enjoyed most of your articles, but before last night did not fully understand all of the adulation.

Today: I am on board.
You rock.

My dinner last night got overwhelming praise from my foodie husband, and it was quick, tasty, and so so easy! Most people may not have chickpea flour in house- but we do- and we had frozen shrimp and fresh herbs. It was perfect.

Thank you for a fast, easy dinner that restored my confident love of cooking.

Sincerely,
Liz- your newest groupie

PS. I am still working on my food photography skills, so I apologize that my picture does not do your recipe justice. And what I mean by "working on-" is thinking about how I can make the picture better about 30 seconds before I need to take it...

Tortillitas With Shrimp

1/2 cup chickpea flour

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Water (1-1.5c)

1/3 cup chopped onion or scallions (I used ~1/4c scallions)

About 1/2 cup raw shrimp, chopped, or scallops or other shellfish or fish

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives, parsley, thyme or cilantro (I used 3T parsley)

Olive oil (used 1.5Tbsp).

1. In a bowl, combine flours and baking powder with salt and pepper. Add a little more than a cup of water and stir to combine; consistency should resemble pancake batter (if batter is too thick, add more water, a little at a time). Stir in the onions, chopped shrimp and herbs.

2. Put a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and film its bottom generously with olive oil. When oil is hot, pour in half the batter until it fills center of pan; spread gently with a spoon to form a large pancake.

3. Cook about 3 minutes, or until pancake is set around edges; flip pancake and continue cooking for another 3 minutes, then flip it again and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until it is crisp on outside but still moist inside. Remove from pan and serve immediately, while remaining batter cooks.

Yield: 4 or more servings (we just made 2 pancakes).

For 1 serving (1/2 recipe)
Energy | 386.7 kcal 23%
Protein | 26.0 g 52%
Carbs | 38.8 g 30%
Fiber | 3.8 g 15%
Fat | 13.5 g 21%
Water | 83.8 g 3%

Vitamins (37%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 1003.2 IU 43%
Folate | 170.2 µg 43%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.4 mg 36%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.2 mg 21%
B3 (Niacin) | 4.5 mg 32%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 0.5 mg 11%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.2 mg 17%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 1.0 µg 41%
Vitamin C | 13.4 mg 18%
Vitamin D | 129.2 IU 65%
Vitamin E | 2.7 mg 18%
Vitamin K | 116.8 µg 130%

Minerals (32%)
===========================================
Calcium | 72.7 mg 7%
Copper | 0.5 mg 55%
Iron | 5.2 mg 29%
Magnesium | 81.2 mg 26%
Manganese | 0.6 mg 36%
Phosphorus | 287.4 mg 41%
Potassium | 440.3 mg 9%
Selenium | 44.9 µg 82%
Sodium | 144.9 mg 10%
Zinc | 1.9 mg 24%

Lipids (30%)
===========================================
Saturated | 1.9 g 9%
Omega-3 | 0.6 g 52%
Omega-6 | 1.8 g 16%
Cholesterol | 129.2 mg 43%

Pi(e) Day

I survived the rest of my physical (more stories to come) and now I am at my in-law's house relaxing and preparing for tomorrow's "baby girl party" to welcome TE and my new niece who is expected to make her grand appearance in April! We are making some fabulous stratas and french toast casseroles for the brunch party so I will be sure to update the blog with those recipes.
Today for Pi day (3.14) I made two quiches that I have been trying to make for a little while- it was actually only supposed to be one quiche but when TE and his mom saw me putting canned pineapple in the eggs they made faces, so I left the pineapple out of one of them and made a "safe" quiche.
This recipe was from Mel (via J) and I agree with her that it is a keeper- very tasty and easy.

I will call it a...

Canadian Quiche
3 eggs
2/3c Milk (I used 2% -- the "real" recipe calls for cream)
1/2 bunch of asparagus: diced and sauteed in 1tsp olive oil and 1tsp garlic salt
3oz smoked salmon
1/3c crushed canned pineapple (drained) OR
2T whipped cream cheese, dolloped on top of quiche
1 pie crust (Mel made hers with a homemade crust- I made mine with a local made (still store bought) whole wheat crust)

Beat eggs and milk together
Layer sauteed asparagus on bottom of pie shell
add diced smoked salmon and crushed pineapple
Pour egg/milk mixture on top of the veggies/fruit/fish
If making it with cream cheese- now add the dollops to the top of the pie
Bake for 1hr at 350

*Also the "real" recipe calls for fontina cheese with the pineapple, but I did not have it, nor did I need the extra calories- so I omitted it!

Before going into the oven:
The cream cheese version:
The pineapple version:

Snow Day Cooking/Baking

I got busy on Monday after feeling the guilt of doing nothing- busy cooking that is!

First up: Homemade Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. TE said it was lacking "something:" which is probably fat, or sausage flavor ;-) Any additional flavors/spices would go great with this- it is a pretty simple garlic flavored bean dip. Note the photo highlights TE's Christmas gift from me- an immersion blender! It was perfect for this use. Sorry for the lame tupperware bowl... I need to work on plating things better that I am showing off on this blog...


Homemade Hummus
1 15oz can of chickpeas
1 medium red bell pepper
1 head of garlic
1tsp olive oil (for roasting garlic)

Roast pepper and garlic/oil in [toaster] oven at 350 for 25min
Peel skin from pepper and remove garlic cloves from head and blend with chickpeas
Season with salt to taste

Next I made an EW recipe for dinner. Pork with mushrooms and thyme. It was yummy and a keeper for my cookbook-in-progress. I served it with a side of quinoa topped with feta cheese and grape tomatoes- mmm!



Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Thyme
2 5-ounce boneless, center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed and pounded to 1/4 inch thick (I bought them thin already- and used only 5oz total)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (about 4 ounces)-- I used 10oz baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup dry vermouth (I used 1/4c sherry cooking wine)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I used dry)

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the pork chops and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to 2 serving plates; tent with foil to keep warm.
2. Swirl oil into the pan, add shallot and cook, stirring, until soft, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and begin to brown, about 2 minutes. Add vermouth and cook for 15 seconds. Stir in mustard, thyme and any juices that have accumulated from the pork; cook until the sauce is thickened and slightly reduced, 1 to 2 minutes more. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and serve immediately.


And finally I made Swag Bars- a recipe makeover from the most recent Cooking Light. I am happy to report that these yummy bars turned out very well considering that I changed almost every ingredient :)

Swag Bars- Liz's Changes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter (I used chunky)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) chopped lightly salted, dry-roasted peanuts (I used a mix of 3oz cashews and 3oz pecans)
3 1/2 cups (4 ounces) whole-grain flaked cereal (such as Total), finely crushed (I used 2.37oz fiber one cereal, and 1.63oz graham crackers)
Cooking spray
1/3 cup (2 ounces) chopped dark chocolate (I used semisweet)

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook 4 minutes or just until mixture begins to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in peanuts and cereal. Spread mixture evenly into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray.
2. Place the dark chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until chocolate melts, stirring every 20 seconds. Drizzle chocolate evenly over peanut mixture (my chocolate didn't drizzle- I had to smear it). Score into 36 bars while warm (I waited until they cooled and it was v. difficult! I used TE's muscle power).

Tortilla Soup

This soup was an interesting adventure.... It turned out way too spicy- I needed to add 2x the amount of chicken broth than the recipe called for just to cut the heat and so my guests could survive the meal.
They were good sports about it- I think they remembered my first chili experience... The recipe was called 5-alarm chili and I am not sure if it called for 3 whole habanero peppers or that is just what I used, not knowing any better... Regardless- it was HOT. TE and Kate ate it at a 1:1 ratio of chili:sour cream (I have good, supportive friends!). This meal reminded me of that experience...
It was tasty in the end, but I will have to rethink the adobos and jalapenos next time.

The original recipe was from my favorite chefs at CI, but I modified it (or butchered it) so I could cook it in my slow-cooker. Here it is, in all it's spicy glory!

Tortilla Soup

(makes way more than 12 servings... I overestimated the calories to be 200/cup)

Tortillas
Each soup gets 1 toasted tortilla broken into pieces (60cal each)
Spray with cooking spray/oil and salt
Bake at 350 until toasted to preferable doneness

Soup
1.5lbs bone-in skinless chicken breasts
8c Low sodium chicken broth (that ended up being 16c)
1 large onion, quartered and peeled
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 medium tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 canned chipotle chili, with 1T adobo sauce
1 chopped jalapeno

Garnish
Lime wedge
1/4 of a diced avocado


Add all of the soup ingredients to slow-cooker and cook for 8hrs+ on low
Remove the chicken from pot and remove all bones and shred chicken
Strain vegetables from broth
Put chicken back into pot, keep warm until ready to serve
Serve with tortilla chips, lime, and avocados and enjoy!

Single Girl Dinners

TE has been traveling for work every Tuesday to Wednesday- leaving me free to make whatever I want to eat on Tuesday nights. These dinners have ranged from practically nothing (cereal and junk food/snacks) to some pretty creative (so I think!) single serving meals! Here I will highlight some of my favorites!

1) Quorn cranberry and goat cheese cutlets. 280 calories and so yummy! This is exciting for me because TE has turned up his nose at most Quorn products (maybe from my overuse of these items when we were vegetarians) but I still love them.

2) This is my own, not-even-close-to-the-original-mee-rebus-but-still-yummy, creation. I will call it Liz Rebus. My favorite restaurant serves Malaysian food and I order this soup every time. It is heavenly. I do not live close enough to this restaurant, so this is what I make to tide me over between visits. *I have attempted in the past to make a "real" Mee Rebus Soup, but it was disastrous. Imagine soup all over the kitchen walls and floor, disastrous. This is good and easy enough :)

Liz Rebus

~300 calories

1 pack of Tabatchnick cabbage soup

1oz spaghetti noodles (Ronzoni smart taste or Barilla plus)*Pictured meal does not include noodles

1 hard boiled egg

1/4c canned diced tomatoes with juice or salsa (whatever is available)

Lime juice

Garlic, spicy, chili sauce (sriracha)

3) Amy's/Trader Joes Roasted Vegetable Pizza. I love love this pizza. I almost prefer it to some of our local pizza places. Again- no meat means TE does not love this meal as much as I do. Two 270cal servings for dinner (if calories permit) and 1 serving leftover for lunch- perfection!

Last night my friend JT made me dinner (whole wheat spaghetti with organic meat sauce- Thank you J!!) so I did not have to cook for myself. I wonder if my dieting would be more or less difficult if I had to cook for myself alone every night.... I'd bet I would eat cookies or cookie dough more often :)

Halibut Recipe

This was a great dinner. TE and I both enjoyed it!

The original recipe is from Cooking Light, and the recipe below is how I made it...

Halibut in a Tomato-Shiitake Broth

Serves 2
400 cal/serving

4 oz Barilla Plus Spaghetti

1t olive oil

1t bottled minced garlic

1 2/3 cups bottled clam juice

2t red curry paste (I used a mild Indian curry paste instead)

1 pint thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 3.5oz of mushrooms)

1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained

crushed red pepper

1lb halibut steak

2T jarred chopped basil

salt

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
While noodles cook, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Add garlic; cook 1 1/2 minutes or until tender, stirring constantly.

Add clam juice and curry paste, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

Add mushrooms, tomatoes, and pepper to pan; bring to a simmer.

Add fish

Cover and cook 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork (mine took about 15min).

Serve over noodles.
Enjoy!

Mother's Day Breakfast

TE and I cooked for our mothers (and grandmother) on Mother's day. I got the recipe from epicurious- it was very well received!

Eggs in Brioches

1 Brioche (top removed, guts removed for a hollow filling for egg) (120c)

1 slice Canadian bacon (20c)

.3oz Gruyere cheese shredded

Add cheese to hollow brioches, then add the bacon, and next one egg.

Bake at 400 for 20min

Serve with toasted brioche top

We also made a fruit salad, and sliced potatoes as a side. Yum!

Friday Night Stew

I successfully made a beef stew about one month ago for a small dinner party, and it was great. I basically threw whatever I had available into a slow-cooker in the morning before leaving for work, and when I returned home, dinner was ready for the party! Totally easy!

I wanted to make the recipe again last week for another after work gathering, but I have been recording my recipes on a few different computers-- so when I was ready to make the stew again, I could not remember which computer had the original recipe. Remembering that I basically threw everything together I figured, "How hard could this be? It was not that long ago..." (*I was also running late for work, as usual, so I did not have time to hunt down original web recipe)

This is the most recent recipe

Beef and Mushroom Stew
7 servings- 242cal each

1.5lb Lean Stew Beef

1 medium potato (412g)4 Carrots (223g)

2c Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms

1.25c Victoria brand marinara sauce

1- 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with green chili (juice and all)

2 small onions (210g)

1/3c Worcestershire Sauce

Pepper, Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning, and salt to taste

1c Beer (*I was leaving the house when TE asked me which beer I used for the stew- I forgot to add beer- so I ran to the fridge and selected a Magic Hat Spring 08 -at his recommendation)

This recipe has very little liquid added. That did not cross my mind as a problem until I was calculating the calories on CRON-o-Meter during the day. I found the other recipe on my laptop, and had a mini-freakout when I realized that the other recipe had 3c of vegetable broth in it!

I had visions of the King clawing his way out of our burned down apartment (dramatic- I now know). Needless to say I finished what I had left at work and rushed home to save my puppy. As you can all appreciate in my before and after photos, the recipe did not need another drop of liquid! I do not know where it came from but it was perfectly stewed and there was no fire or burning puppy!

Having left work early, I time though to thoroughly clean my apartment, walk/play with the King, and make some CR friendly snacks! Gotta love the crock-pot....

Serving Note: I served this stew with 1/2c barley, sliced sourdough baguette (for the non-CR), and a hearty red wine (red zinfandel). Mmmm.

Pasta Recipe

I know I have a lot of catching up to do but I wanted to start updating my faithful readers with recipes that I have been making so I do not get too bogged down later.
I should be working right now but this seems more important :)



Pasta with Grape Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
(from Cooking Light- serves 1- approx 300cal)

2oz Barilla Plus Rotini (it seems like a tiny amt)- cooked without fat
1/2c Grape tomatoes quartered
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dry basil
Hot pepper flakes to taste
2 Tbsp vegetable broth
1 Tbsp goat cheese

Boil pasta
Heat garlic, tomatoes, hot peppers and broth in frying pan (2-3min)
Once the pasta is cooked and drained, mix with basil and goat cheese
Add in garlic/tomato mix
Stir and enjoy!

I could not believe how good this tasted. This is going to be a regular for sure!