Greek, Chinese, and Dessert!

Yesterday, before work, I had prepared my chicken greek salad for lunch! Work was so slow, so I also finished reading April Oxygen magazine and finally starting doing my math hw! I picked up the may edition of Clean Eating and Oxygen magazine so I will have something to do Friday at work!

Greek salad with grilled chicken:
3 cups fresh spinach
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/4 cucumber, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup cubed grilled chicken
1-2 tbsp nonfat feta
2 tbsp Trader Joes Nonfat Balsamic Viniagrette

Once I got home from work, I was so hungry! I had left overs from the Sweet & Sour Chicken recipe so I decided to make it into a "fried" quinoa with green beans and broccoli. I was hoping that by mixing the left overs with the quinoa and veggies it would mellow the spice. It worked! It was still spicy, but not nearly as bad.

I mixed the left over chicken & bell pepper and sautéed it with 1/4 cup cooked quinoa and a lot steamed broccoli and green beans! I used Trader Joes Olive Oil Spray which has no calories! So it was a healthy "fried" quinoa.

After dinner, I was craving an apple crisp so I decided to experiment! I was determined to make a "healthy" apple crisp, so I used no butter nor oil, and added ground flaxseed, wheat germ and fresh blueberries!

Before:

After:

Final Product:

Recipe will be up soon! Putting the final touches together :)

Tofu Part 2

I used some more tofu this morning to make my breakfast shake!

1/3 cup firm tofu
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 scoop vanilla Pro7 Synthesis Protein Powder
Water & ice

Total calories: ~250 calories, 4g fat (0.5 saturated fat), 25g protein

This tofu shake turned out a lot better then yesterday's and I think it's because of the vanilla protein powder! in my opinion, vanilla protein powder is a lot more versatile then chocolate.

Now I am at work reading April Oxygen Magazine having my healthy and yummy breakfast!

Hot Hot Hot!

For dinner, I cooked Clean Chinese Sweet & Sour Chicken! Holy moly it was spicy! I do not eat spicy foods very often, because both my mouth and tummy are sensitive to foods that are too hot. However, I am definitely getting into the spicy life. I got this recipe idea from April 2012 Oxygen Magazine.

~4 oz. chicken breast, diced into bite size pieces

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 red bell pepper, diced

Sauce: 1 Tbsp ketchup (low-sodium recommended)

1 Tbsp peach preserves (low sugar recommended)

 1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard

Combine first three ingredients in a bowl until chicken is completely covered. 

Add olive oil cooking spray to a saucepan then add chicken, cook 6-8 minutes on medium to medium-high heat until browned and cooked through.

Meanwhile, dice bell peppers and set aside, then combine the three ingredients for the sauce in a separate bowl.

After the chicken is cooked, add the bell peppers and sauce to the skillet and lower heat. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until heated through.

(Makes 1 serving; 230 calories, 2g fat, 20g carbs, 28g protein)

I served this with brown rice-quinoa mixture and steamed broccoli, green beans, and carrots.

Next time I made this (which I definitely will!), I will add the steamed veggies to the chicken-bell pepper mixture for the last few minutes of cooking to give them some extra flavor and hopefully make the dish a little less spicy! 

For the boy, I made him steamed veggies, brown rice-quinoa mixture and grilled chicken. Simple, tastey and healthy all at once! He is not a fan of the spicy food, so he got the regular chicken, veggie dinner.

Cottage Cheese

In between classes today I went home to make a quick, easy, yet healthy lunch!

•1 hard boiled large egg
(80 calories, 5g fat (2g sat fat), 6g protein, 1g carb (1g sugar))
•1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
(80 calories, 1.5g fat (sat fat), 4g carbs (3g sugar), 14g protein)

Salad:
•2 cups of fresh spinach
(20 calories, 0g fat, 3g carbs (dietary fiber 2g, 0g sugar), 2g protein)
•1/4 of a cucumber (8 slices)
(20 calories)
•1/2 Roma tomato, quartered
(20 calories)
•1-2 tbsp fat free balsamic vinaigrette
(25 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs (5g sugar), 0g protein)

Total calorie count: 245 calories, 22g protein, 6.5 g fat, ~14g carbs

Final product...

Pasta!

I was watching the food network and got good ideas for "volumezing" pasta. If you want fettucini then add half a serving of whole wheat cooked fettucini with zucchini or squash ribbons (use a peeler to peel zucchini and add to cooked pasta). Add a healthy sauce and serve with a salad or steamed veggies! It will look like your eating a full serving or more of pasta with cutting calories. If you prefer angel hair pasta or spaghetti, you can do the same thing but instead of zucchini , microwave a halved spaghetti squash for ~8 minutes and with a fork create strands and add to cooked pasta + sauce.

I was craving pasta all so I decided to try this volume zing technique. I used 1/2 serving whole wheat linguini and 1 cup zucchini ribbons. For the sauce I sautéed some onions, garlic, basil and oregano in a small amount of olive oil. After the onions were translucent I added diced zucchini and tomatoes, then spinach, a spoonful of marinara, red pepper flakes and finally some red wine. I let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes and served over the pasta.

Fresh Ingredients!

Just added the red pepper flakes, it ended up having a nice kick to it.

Linguini and zucchini ribbons

I am definitely making pasta with zucchini ribbons again because I feel full and satisfied but I cut the calories! So now I feel even more satisfied knowing I made a healthy substitution that I will use again.

Paleo Vegan Pizza!

I have been wanting to try a paleo pizza with cauliflower crust. I didn't have cauliflower in my fridge but I did have broccoli! Yummm. So I decided to give it a try. First, I had to make flax eggs (since this was a vegan paleo crust). To make a flax egg you will whisk 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 3 tablespoons water (make sure to whisk while adding water to flax), and refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes (an hour is preferred).

I took about 4 cups of broccoli and put into the blender until "riced", and then transferred broccoli to a big bowl.Then to the blender, I blended about 1/3 cup of almonds to make almond flour. Once the almonds were a flour consistency I added them to the big bowl of broccoli. I then added my 2 flax eggs and mixed them all together with a big spoon until a dough ball formed. On a cookie sheet I spread the dough out, and cooked it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Once the crust was getting crispy, I took it out and added some fresh marinara, veggies (bell peppers, garlic, onions, spinach and mushrooms), fresh herbs, and the last part of my soy mozzarella cheese (pretty sure the cheese isnt a part of the paleo diet, but I wanted to finish up the cheese so I added it!). Once all the toppings were on, I put the pizza back in the oven for 8-10 minutes. And then it was all ready to eat!

 

It turned out pretty well! I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Next time I want to try with cauliflower because the broccoli had a very strong taste and the crust was a bit moist. I think this is a healthy alternative to regular pizza. The vegan cheese is very low in calories as well as the crust, and I put a lot of veggies to add nutrients! 

For the boy I made an egg white scramble with red bell peppers, spinach, onions, and turkey, with a couple grilled shrimp skewers and a glass of orange juice!

Dinner Served at Job 2 of the Day!

I am so tired after this long day, but I made dinner ahead of time as simple yet nutritious as possible. Last night I cooked brown rice and quinoa together and added a little garlic and lemon pepper. This morning I steamed up a huge handful of broccoli, put them in tupperware, and dinner was ready after a quick heat up!

Oats & Fruits!

I love hot oatmeal, but sometimes I am not in the mood for a hot breakfast. So, I will make cold oats with milk and fruit! It's simple and super easy. All it had us old fashioned oats, almond milk, chopped fruit like grapes, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries I occasionally will add ground wheat germ and ground flax to bump up the nutrient value.