Wednesday Weigh In & Baby Bok Choy

So I've decided I should start doing my weekly weigh-ins on Wednesday, since Monday's are a little skewed after my long runs on Sunday. So today's weigh in was 131.4lbs. I can't complain about that at all after a couple of months around 134, but I was hoping to be a little closer to 130! Maybe next week. I did kind of pig out last night on a few extra snacks!

Dinner tonight is going to be a bit creative.... my parents bought Sam a wok for Christmas and he is testing it out for the first time tonight. So not only are we having stir fry, but Sam is also using tofu! I was a bit skeptical about tofu, but we've had it once before and I didn't mind it. It basically just absorbs the flavor of whatever sauce you are using, so it just depends if you like the texture or not. Here's the chef at work...

Apparently baby bok choy is also involved in this stir fry, further adding to the adventure. I'm not sure I've ever had bok choy before, but it doesn't look too intimidating!

Its definitely good to keep healthy eating fun by trying new things. Sam is much better about that than I am and I appreciate it! Here's the final product - about 350 cals:

Wednesday's are also my longest weekday run, and today I am scheduled to run 8 miles but it is still really rainy so I am waiting it out and running after dinner instead. Hopefully that won't weigh me down too bad!

Low-Cal Recipes: Sesame Soy Meatballs

It's been forever since I've shared a recipe, so here's one I made Sunday night. Overall, it was pretty tasty - the meatballs were flavorful but a bit dry, so I'd recommend making a bit of extra sauce to put on top at the end.

Couscous gets bright when mixed with curry paste - yum!

Sesame Soy Meatballs

Recipe via Cooking Light

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chili paste (I actually used curry paste)

1/4 tsp salt

6 garlic cloves (minced)

1 lb lean ground beef

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Add beef, mix  gently to combine. (I'd advise making a little extra sauce and set some aside for later). Shape beef mixture into 1 1/2" meatballs (mine made about 20).

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (to be honest you could just use a frying pan probably... I used the case iron skillet and it created a lot of smoke, so depends how good your vent hood is!). Add half of the meatballs to the pan, cook 4 minutes, turning to brown all sides. Repeat with remaining meatballs. Arrange browned meatballs into a single layer on a pan coated with cooking spray (preferrably something with sides higher than a cookie sheet so that the grease doesn't overflow - I was surprised how much grease came out of mine even though I bought 96/4 ground beef. And actually, if you have one of those meatloaf pans that automatically drains/collects the grease, use that!). Bake the meatballs for 7 minutes or until done.

Serve over rice or couscous and top with the extra sauce to keep it from being too dry. I used couscous and mixed in a tbsp of curry paste & tiny bit of sriracha sauce to spice it up and also served with sugar snap peas (bought frozen).

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 6-7 meatballs, 1c peas, ~1c couscous (1/4c uncooked)
Calories: 550
Carbs: 45g
Fat: 23g
Protein: 18g
Sugar: 5g
Sodium: 500mg

This is slightly higher calorie than the other recipes I've posted, but not too bad. And now that I look at it, thats a lot of fat! Most of it comes from the sesame oil so I suppose it is "good fat" but you could always cut back on the oil if you wanted to reduce the fat & calories a bit.

Hope you enjoy this recipe, it was fun to try something different, and also gave me the idea to add some flavoring to couscous my mixing in a bit of sauce to spice up an otherwise boring side. And it is much easier than making a whole couscous or quinoa salad with multiple ingredients. Would work for rice too!

Low-Cal Recipe: Quick Chicken & Dumplings

So I'm a little late on my post tonight, but I did want to share another of my favorite low-cal recipes. We had this 'Quick Chicken & Dumplings' last week - I've made this one twice (maybe three times?) and it is consistently easy and tasty! Sorry for the tupperware picture... I forgot to take one at dinner, so I figured the next day would be better than nothing!!

Quick Chicken & Dumplings

Recipe & picture from www.cookinglight.com

20 minute prep

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1/2 cup chopped onion (try buying frozen!)

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast (~8 oz)

1 box (10 oz) frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 cups water

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

14 oz fat-free chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

8 flour tortillas (6 inch), cut into strips

Instructions

Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat

Add onion, saute until tender (~5 mins)

Add chicken & vegetables, cook until thoroughly heated (~3 mins)

Combine water, flour & broth, and gradually stir mixture into chicken mixture

Stir in salt and pepper (add a bay leaf if you have one) and bring to a boil

Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes (don't worry if it still looks a little liquidy at this point)

Stir in tortilla strips and cook 2 minutes or until tortillas soften, serve immediately!

Nutrition Info (per serving)

Calories: 370

Carbs: 40g

Fat: 9g

Protein: 30g

Sodium: 650mg

(all are approximate)

Hope you enjoy, this is one of my favorites and also reheats well if you add a little water. Also great to do in the same week as the Chicken Tostadas, since you will already be buying 6" tortillas and chicken!

Recipes: Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Sauce

This was one of the very first recipes I ever made from Cooking Light, and is one of my favorites because it is easy and tasty! We had these tostadas on Monday and I completely forgot to take any pictures... but oh well, the online pic will work.

First, the sauce. This sauce is great and could work with any variety of entrees:

Avocado Sauce
Recipe from www.cookinglight.com
5 minute prep
Yields ~12 tbsp

Ingredients
1/2 ripe, peeled avocado
2 tbsp fat-free sour cream
2 tbsp fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp canola oil
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/8 tsp salt

Instructions
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth!

Nutrition Facts (per tbsp)
Calories: 30
Carbs: 1 g
Fat: 1.5 g
Protein: <1g
Sugar: <1g
Sodium: 25mg
(all are approximate)

The sauce is great to richen up soft tacos or really anything else, but we usually eat it with the tostadas as follows:

Chicken Tostadas

Recipe & picture from Cooking Light

20 minute prep

Serves 4

Ingredients

Avocado sauce prepared as described above

4 flour tortillas (6 inch)

1 1/2 tsp canola oil (divided)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

2 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken (~8 oz)

1 cup shredded lettuce

1/2 cup chopped tomato

1/4 cup crumbled feta (reduced-fat)

Instructions

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add 3/4 tsp oil to pan

Cook 1 tortilla for ~2 mins on each side or until golden brown (keep an eye on it though or it might burn!)

Repeat for remaining tortillas, set tortillas aside

Add remaining oil to pan, saute garlic and jalapeno for 1-2 minutes

Add chicken to pan and cook 2 minutes

Top each tostada with chicken mixture, top with lettuce, tomato, cheese & avocado sauce

Nutrition Facts (per serving, including sauce)

Calories: 325

Carbs: 20g

Fat: 18g

Protein: 18g

Sugar: 3g

Sodium: 750mg

(all are approximate)

I like this recipe a lot because it is fun to cook the tortillas, and because it's easy to prepare the chicken ahead of time. Usually I will buy a rotisserie chicken on Sunday and go ahead and pull off all the meat, shred it and keep in the fridge. I make sure to plan more than one meal that week that will use the chicken, because usually I get about 5 cups, which is more than you need for this recipe. It is always helpful to have some ingredients pre-prepared!

Hope you enjoy!

Weekend Recap

So I'll share the productive things I did this weekend later on this week, but for now, how about a recap of the fun?

A few weeks ago, Sam & I went to the Humane Society for a volunteer orientation, and Friday was my first time volunteering there. Basically, you can show up whenever you want and play with a dog or cat - score! And they are very happy to get some one-on-one time! On Friday, I played with beautiful dog named Stormy, a 3 year old Black Mouth Curr, and she was so good natured and sweet. Some one please adopt her!!

Friday night, Sam & I went out for sushi (I saved up calories by eating lower cal than normal all day) and then watched NC State basketball of course!

Saturday was mostly about yard work, but we also went to Starvin Marvin's to celebrate Adrienne's birthday (my Beaumont BFF!). It's crawfish season around here, which is pretty serious business for any southeast texan! I didn't take any pictures for some reason, but it was a good time.

Today we did a long bike ride, got the grocery shopping done and mostly just hung around the house. I did make a crazy recipe for dinner (it involved swiss chard, making crust from scratch and putting broiled bell peppers in a paper bag... haha), and it turned out pretty well! I'm not going to feature the whole recipe this week, because it is longggg, but here's the link - Cooking Light Pizza Rustica.

 I'm excited for my mom and sister to be here next weekend!! Weekend project updates to come later this week... sneak peak:

Recipes: Tomato-Basil Lasagna w/Prosciutto

So I'll be the first to admit, I have never been the most confident cook. But, this calorie counting business has forced me into it and I've learned it doesn't have to be that hard. Granted, there are lots of difficult things to cook, but I try to avoid those and there are still plenty of great recipes left! I try to make at least one new recipe per week, and usually Sam does too.

This past week, I made lasagna and discovered that although it is time consuming, lasagna definitely does not have to be difficult! Also the first time I've ever bought prosciutto, which was very easy once I finally found it at the deli counter. Sorry for the lack of pics (included one from cooking light... rest assured mine was not nearly as beautiful haha), but here's the details:

Tomato-Basil Lasagna with Prosciutto
Recipe & picture from www.cookinglight.com
20 minute prep, 60 minute bake
Serves 8

Ingredients
5 tsp minced garlic
16 oz fat-free cottage cheese
8 oz fat-free cream cheese (block style)
1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 egg
12 lasagna noodles
4 oz chopped prosciutto or ham
5 cups fat-free pasta sauce (can be tricky to find in store - I used Prego light smart traditional)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (fat-free if you can find it, I used regular low-moisture, part-skim)

Instructions
Preheat over to 375F
Cook lasagna noodles per instructions on package
Blend cottage cheese and garlic in food process until smooth
Add cream cheese, basil, pepper and egg and process until well blended
Spread 1 cup pasta sauce in bottom of 13x9 pan coated with cooking spray
Arrange 3 noodles on top of sauce, cover with 1 cup cheese mixture, 1/3 cup prosciutto and 1 cup sauce
Repeat to create two more layers
Place last layer of noodles on top, cover with remaining pasta sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella
Bake covered for 45 minutes or until bubbly, then bake uncovered for 15 more minute

Nutrition Info (per serving)
Calories: 338
Carbs: 47g
Fat: 7g
Protein: 26g
Sugar: 13g
Sodium: 1531mg
(all are approximate - this is based on the exact ingredients I used)


The worst part about this recipe is the time it takes to bake - on a weeknight this had us eating pretty late! But it was delicious, and I really didn't notice a difference in overall creaminess or taste by using nearly all fat-free ingredients. As far as the nutrition facts, the sodium is really the only kicker on this one... but if you are eating healthy meals throughout the day it shouldn't be an issue. This one is also great leftover - Sam and I usually cook meals with 4 servings to have dinner and lunch the next day, but this one lasted us for most of the weekend.

Hope you enjoy!