Chinese Breakfast and Salad Day

After the bottle of wine last night, I woke up a little bit hungover and craving Chinese. Luckily I had an option here in the house and didn't have to order in. Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza potsickers are easy to make, curb my cravings, and are not an entirely unhealthy option. Granted, I could have made a much healthier decision, but I'd still be craving Chinese, and might cave and order something far less healthy.

So yes, I had potstickers for breakfast. I'm an adult. We can do that!

I went with the full serving size, in part so I didn't have to do any math. (Hangover, remember?) I washed the whole thing down with a sparkling water, so the carbonation could calm my stomach and I didn't incur any more calories.

Breakfast:

Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza Potstickers (7)

Target Brand Sparkling Water

Nutritional Info on Breakfast:

Calories: 230

Carb: 36g

Protein: 13g

Fat: 3.5g

Saturated Fat: 0.5g

Cholesterol: 30mg

Sodium: 640 mg

Fiber: 2g

Sugars: 2g

Vitamin A: 0 IU

Vitamin C: 9 mg

Calcium: 20 mg

Iron: mg: 2.7 mg

Potassium: 0 mg

Not an awful way to start the day, but certainly not the best choice. Besides, by the time 2 o'clock came around, I was hungry again and dying for some vegetables. Specifically I was craving avocado again. (Ok, so it's technically a fruit. It's still green!) I decided to go out and eat at a place that had outdoor seating and would prepare my food for me.

Taco Mac just opened up the corner, and I remembered they make an amazing Shrimp and Avocado salad. So I grabbed some of my writing, drove up the street, found a nice table on the patio, and ordered a salad. It was so good! Exactly what I wanted. It has blue cheese, black beans, and tomatoes in addition to blackened shrimp and creamy avocado. I ordered honey mustard on the side and used only a tiny portion; the salad didn't need it!

Nutritional Info on Lunch:

Calories: 530

Carb: 40g

Protein: 25g

Fat: 33g

Saturated Fat: 6.5g

Cholesterol: 155mg

Sodium: 1310 mg (Whoops! Too high)

Fiber: 15g

Sugars: 14g

Vitamin A: 16000 IU (Wow. Good on Vitamin A today!)

Vitamin C: 36 mg

Calcium: 250 mg

Iron: 4.5 mg

Potassium: 0 mg

Then I didn't get hungry for dinner until around 8. I had originally planned to make Chicken Pot Pie, but after that salad, I really wasn't wanting anything so heavy. Husband wasn't hungry either and was craving a smoothie. What a great idea!

I whipped up a fruit smoothie with a cup of strawberries, half a cup of mixed berries, and a cup of 2% milk. I forgot to sweeten it, so it could have used some honey. But it was still good.

Smoothie Nutritional Info:

Calories: 173

Carb: 34g

Protein: 5.5g

Fat: 2.9g

Saturated Fat: 1.5g

Cholesterol: 9.8mg

Sodium: 54 mg

Fiber: 7.2g

Sugars: 21g

Vitamin A: 380 IU

Vitamin C: 106 mg

Calcium: 188 mg

Iron: 2mg

Potassium: 510mg

I was a little low on calories by the time I finished, so I made a quick Tuna salad with a touch of mustard and some shredded carrots atop a bed of spinach. Now, I'm ridiculously full and I hit my calorie goals and many of my nutritional goals as well. Yay, healthy day.

Nutritional Info on Dinner:

Calories: 233.9

Carb: 7.2g

Protein: 43.5g

Fat: 1.7g

Saturated Fat: 0.4g

Cholesterol: 50mg

Sodium: 251 mg (not the best)

Fiber: 2.7 g

Sugars: 3.1 g

Vitamin A: 13,597 IU (Damn)

Vitamin C: 12.2 mg

Calcium: 69.2 mg

Iron: 3.5 mg

Potassium: 763 mg

So I did an awesome job on calories, carbs, protein, Vitamins A & C, & even fiber. I feel pretty good about my choices today despite my potsticker breakfast. Even though I didn't spend much time cooking, I had a very healthy day.

Absence Followed by a Good Day

I apologize for disappearing for quite a few days. My life has encountered a few crises/tragedies/events which have prevented me from writing much of anything. I've only just been able to keep up with the writing that pays my bills, so my non-paying/joyful writing in my blogs and novels has taken a bit of a back seat for a bit.

I'm back now, though, and should be for some time.

So, I've received a request from one of my friends. I've managed to drop over 10 but less than 20 pounds in two months. This is a great record, and I'm proud of it. But just sharing my favorite recipes doesn't share much in the way of my mistakes, missteps, failures, and cheats... of which there are many. So, I'm going to start laying it bare. You're going to be able to call me out when I stop at Burger King for a Whopper because I'm lazy or cave and get a 700 calorie chicken quesadilla because I just want it!

So, gods help me, I'm going to attempt to be honest online in front of everyone...

Today's menu:

Lunch:

So, it's the weekend, and breakfast is rarely something I do anyway. At most, I have a glass of water and wait until I'm hungry around noon. Maybe it's not healthy, but I really don't like to eat when I'm not hungry. So I eat when I feel like it. And at 1:45, after waking up at 10:30, I was starving. So I made an epic sandwich.

Turkey Sandwich:

2 slice whole wheat bread

4 slices honey smoked turkey breast

1 slice provolone

1 cup spinach

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp light mayoniase

I toasted the bread to give it better texture. there's nothing I hate more than a mealy, soft sandwich. If I can't get a hard roll of bakery bread, I'm toasting the crap out of my bread to come somewhere near the texture. Adding the spinach gave it a touch more of crunch to my sandwich. I probably could have skipped the cheese, but, um, yum. Screw a few calories. :)

I washed the monstrous thing down with some sparkling and calorie-free flavored water. Perfect.

Nutritional Info on Lunch:

Calories: 315

Carb: 29g

Protein: 22g

Fat: 12g

Saturated Fat: 4.9g

Cholesterol: 30mg

Sodium: 1103 mg (not the best)

Fiber: 4.5g

Sugars: 5.2g

Vitamin A: 3,015 IU

Vitamin C: 8.4 mg

Calcium: 240 mg

Iron: mg: 2.6mg

Potassium: 306mg

Dinner was an extravagant affair, to say the least. Many Sundays (and Saturdays, and Wednesdays), especially ones in which the weather cooperates so incredibly as it did today, my friends and I get together to cook a communal dinner. Oh, who am I kidding? We do it as often as we possibly can. Nothing beats getting together with your favorite people, sharing food and drinks, and generally enjoying a wonderful evening together. Any excuse to get together? We'll take it.

So tonight was one of our "Please let it be officially spring so we can grill out more" dinners. We chose steaks and veggies for dinner, and I was in charge of a healthy dessert. I got about a bite into my own steak before stealing my husband's far bloodier steak (my steak had better be bleeding and mooing to be worth it!), so I only got a small portion of a steak, which was actually perfect for me. Here's my results for the night:

Steak/Top Sirloin (mostly sure that's what we were eating, but cooked rare for me over the grill)

Grilled Thick Stalk Asparagus, marinated in a seasoned salt, olive oil mixture

Full cap mushrooms

Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Asiago Cheese Loaf in olive oil and pepper (or whatever juices available)

While the nutritional facts differ depending on if you added balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes topped with fresh basil or ate your whole slice of Asiago loaf and dipped it in the olive oil or vinegar, and whether you ate the whole steak or a quarter of a slab like I did, these are the approximations:

Calories: 374 (Again, ate only a little steak. I credited it as half a steak, but I imagine it was a quarter of a serving.)

Carbs: 42g

Protein: 31g
Fat: 11.8g

Saturated Fat: 3.9g

Cholesterol: 61mg

Sodium: 1566mg

Fiber: 6.8g

Sugars: 7g

Vitamin A: 1590 IU

Vitamin C: 56 mg

Calcium: 43mg

Iron: 4.4mg

Potassium: 769mg

On top of all of that, I had dessert and at least 20 fl oz of wine! And I still did fairly okay with my stats.

My desserts were largely fruit based with a little bit of sweets. I gave everyone my favorite dessert of angel food cake with whipped cream and berries. Usually, my mother serves it with ice cream rather than whipped cream, but I chose to substitute a light whipped cream and no one complained! The fact that the berries were amazingly delicious probably helped.

Angel Food cake (divided into 12/ths)

Strawberries (at least 1 cup per person)

Blackberries (about 1/4 cup per person)

Raspberries (about 1/4 cup per person) --in my defense, these berries are off season so they're a bit more expensive than other fruits available right now

Cool Whipped Topping Lite (4Tbsp-1/4cup)

Calories: 192

Carbs: 41g

Protein: 3.6g
Fat: 3.1g

Saturated Fat: 2g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 212mg

Fiber: 7.3g

Sugars: 12.6g

Vitamin A: 105 IU

Vitamin C: 105 mg

Calcium: 82 mg

Iron: 1.2 mg

Potassium: 363 mg

In addition to all of this (I know... I'm such a glutton on the weekends!), I had about a bottle of wine across a few bottles in the night. I'm estimating this at about a full bottle of red (One, because it has more calories, so it makes me harsher on myself. Two, because I had one more glass of red than I did of white, and it's too much work to calculate the many different types of wine. If I had to calculate all: riesling, half a glass of cab sav, and two and a half reds.)

Wine:

Calories: 451

Carbs: 13.9 g

Protein: 0.4 g
Fat: 0 g

Saturated Fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 21 mg

Fiber: 0 g

Sugars: 3.3 g

Vitamin A: 10.6IU

Vitamin C: 0 mg

Calcium: 43mg

Iron: 2.4mg

Potassium: 674mg

At the end of the day, I went a bit overboard with calories (1,333 instead of 1200). If I had cut out the wine, it probably would have been a picture perfect day. I'm a bit too high on the sodium, didn't hit my fiber or iron or potassium goals (though I never do!), and was slightly too high on the calorie count. Frankly, though, I feel it was a perfect nutritional day, despite those lapses. I had a good mix of veggies, protein, carbs, and nutrients. I could have done better on some, and I could have abstained from drinking and done MUCH better on my calorie count.

And yet, these sorts of evenings make everything worthwhile. Eating is not a matter of consuming nutrients or earning energy or making good choices. It's about the experience of being with my friends and really experiencing a wide range of tastes and experiences. Tonight was perfect, and though I went slightly over, no regrets.

More like this, please!

Lasagna Roll Ups

Here's another great recipe for leftovers. I like making dishes in big batches, so I don't have to cook every night if I don't want to, and so that the husband has some healthy lunches for work.

This one I got from Caloriecount.com, but have adapted to add meat for more protein, and expand for more servings.

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles

12 oz fat free ricotta cheese (The recipe called for 14, but I actually used closer to 12 oz, mostly because I used the ricotta in another dish a week or two ago.)

three cups spinach (I used fresh spinach and tore the leaves by hand.)

4 oz reduced fat mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 medium egg

14 oz pasta sauce (The recipe called for a full bottle of pasta sauce, but I only ended up using about half that amount. You can add if you like, but I don't like too much sauce on mine.)

1 pound lean ground beef (You can of course skip this for an even healthier version. I'll include the nutrition information for both at the bottom.)

Directions:

1. Cook lasagna noodles according to the package directions. (Basically boil for about 10-12 minutes.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. While water is boiling and oven is heating, in a large skillet, brown the ground beef, draining off any excess oil when done.

4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, spinach, egg, and cooked ground beef.

5. When noodles are done cooking, rinse them with cold water and spread out on a clean towel. You don't want them to stick to each other, and it's much easier to work with cooled noodles.

6. In a glass baking dish or two, pour about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of each, and spread it out so it covers the dish.

7. Spread the cheese and beef mixture on each cooked pasta noodle, like so.

8. Roll the cheesy noodles up into rolls.

9. Set in to the dish, seam side down (This will prevent them from unrolling while they cook.) and top with the rest of the pasta sauce (or with however much you want).

10. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. The cheese will be nice and gooey and melted by then.

11. Enjoy!

Again, these make great lunches and are delicious single serve lasagna treats.

Nutrition Facts: with/without beef

makes 12 servings

Calories: 255/150

Total Fat: 11.6/4.7g

Saturated Fat: 5.1/2.5g

Cholesterol: 64/30mg

Sodium: 237/201mg

Total Carbs: 17.7/17.7g

Dietary Fiber: 1.1/1.1g

Sugars: 1.9/1.9g

Protein: 19.3/9.3g

Vitamin A: 21%

Vitamin C: 4/5%

Calcium: 18/17%

Iron: 13/7%

Filipino Rice Noodle Dish or Chicken Mei Fun

So haven't done much cooking in the past few days. The weekend took us to visit family, and most other days have been eating out or eating leftovers. But I did manage to make one of my favorite healthy meals this week.

I got this one from Suck It, Martha, and have adapted it according to the only size of rice noodles I have been able to find. Now, if you want to try this one, you need a HUGE wok to cook it in. Seriously, this thing makes like 12 servings, and they are pretty healthy-sized servings.

It also requires some serious veggies. I'm talking an entire head of cabbage, 4-5 carrots, 4-5 stalks of celery, and then some. But it's totally worth it. And the husband and I eat leftovers for lunch for a full week.

Ingredients:

4-5 carrots

4 stalks of celery

1 medium - large onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 head cabbage

1 pound mushrooms

1 pound of snap peas

1-1.5 pounds chicken, thighs work best

12 ounces rice noodles

2 tbsp vegetable oil

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

Directions:

1. Bring the chicken to a boil in about four cups of water.

2. Reduce the heat to a rolling boil and simmer 12-15 minutes or until cooked through.

3. When cooked, cool and shred and set aside. DON'T THROW OUT THE WATER! You need it later.

4. Meanwhile, using a food processor, shred the cabbage, carrots, and celery. Set them aside in a big bowl.

5. Separately shred the onions and keep them in another bowl.

6. Chop the mushrooms and garlic and add to the big bowl of veggies. (I know! It's a LOT of vegetables!)

7. Heat the oil in the wok and add the onions. Cook them until clear.

8. Throw in the rest of the chicken and the veggies (don't forget the snap peas). Carefully stir them as they cook.

9. Cook them long enough to soften up the snap peas, which doesn't take too long, less than 5 minutes, generally.

10. Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce, and bring them to a boil. Keep stirring.

11. Break the rice noodles up and add to the broth and veggies. By the time all of the water is absorbed the noodles should be fully cooked. However, some pieces may be a little brittle, so be sure to mix it all up completely.

12. Enjoy!

And wait until you see these nutrition facts! Since the dish is almost completely made of vegetables, and since rice noodles are so much healthier than any other pasta, the whole dish is amazingly good for you. And same disclaimer: these stats may not be perfectly accurate as they are just entered into a recipe analyzer, but they're enough to help you make good choices and estimate your intake. :)

Nutrition Facts:

makes 12 servings

Calories: 208

Total Fat: 1.4g

Saturated Fat: 0.4g

Cholesterol: 29mg

Sodium: 281mg

Total Carbs: 35.0g

Dietary Fiber: 3.9g

Sugars: 5.0g

Protein: 14.1g

Vitamin A: 56%

Vitamin C: 62%

Calcium: 6%

Iron: 11%